soul_campaign | 05 ✪ backdated to April 4th ✪ video

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05 ✪ backdated to April 4th ✪ video

[For anyone that happens to know Kotetsu, you might be a little surprised at the serious, almost stern features on his face. He almost looks as if he has something dire and important to say, and in fact, he does. He opens his mouth-- and then closes it, his eyes going wide slightly, and he stares down at his feet as if trying to recall what he was going to say.

Damn it, public speaking wasn't ever his strong point, but Barnaby had taken care of the first message relating to this subject so it was only fair that he'd handle it this time around. Finally, with an assured nod, he lifts his head up.]

Okay, I'd like to have everyone's attention please! I know a lot of people probably know more than enough about those killings going around, and if you haven't, get outta that rock and read yourself a newspaper. It's good for you. I'm not sure how many of you remember the message someone named Barnaby gave about this "serial killer" in the area, but it's related to that.

[Kotetsu takes a deep breath and removes his hat, his expression going serious again.]

They're calling the guy that everyone is looking for "The Crim Cutter". But that's not his name. His name is Lunatic. He's from my world, and from the looks of it, he's now in Death City. Back home, he was famous for going after criminals and giving them his own brand of justice, and that was by killing them. No one knows what he really looks like because he wears a mask and an outfit, and no one knows how to catch him. Not yet at least. He's never gone after regular, innocent people though, so there isn't too much to worry about. Still, he's dangerous, and he shouldn't be here. We can't let him stay loose for long.

...some people might think that he's not that bad of a problem because he goes after criminals, people who you think deserves this sort of thing, but that's not true. It's a lie. No matter who he goes after and why, he's killing people, and no matter what, that sort of thing can't be forgiven. You don't get any kind of justice with murder. It's not right!

[He doesn't realize the tightened hold he has on his mirror or the raised tone in his voice until he hears it slightly echo in the room he's in, and Kotetsu jolts slightly, surprised at his own outburst. Calming down, he rubs at the back of his neck and continues.]

Ah, so, if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or my partner. --oh, my name's Kotetsu. My partner's Barnaby. We've dealt with this guy a lot longer than Death City has now so hopefully, we can help out in catching Lunatic and getting this all to stop as soon as possible, because trust me, he's not gonna stop for anything.

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I DID! Do you really not get what the problem with that is?! [Hi my name is Kotetsu Kaburagi and I have issues with death and idealized justice, pleased to meet you.]

The problem with you being the person who decided this or the problem with murder as justice? Because I can see a lot of problems with that first one. [Hi my name is Hyoubu Kyousuke and I once murdered twenty people involved in the death of my comrades. I'm sure we will be great friends.]

I don't have a problem, and whatever you think it is, it's obviously not true! Listen, I don't have time to pick fights over things that don't matter right now!

I wasn't insinuating that you did. [Not overtly, anyway.] I'm just wondering who gave you the right to decide what is or isn't just.

'ch, sure sounded like you were gettin' to that point.

No one told me to think this way, and I'm not saying this to try and sound all high and mighty, as if every single person has to listen to me. I'm saying this because it's just what I believe in. I don't think killing people is right. If you tell me right now that I'm wrong, then fine. But that's not gonna make me think differently.

But would you think differently if someone close to you is murdered? Wouldn't you want to take revenge? An eye for an eye, as they say.

[There's a long pause, like Kotetsu's not even going to bother answering the question, and he almost considers not saying anything at all. It's a bit of a dirty trick, manipulating his feelings with personal questions like this, but he does have a point, and he actually does know how to answer.]

...I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't think about it, but... I really wouldn't go through with it. You might think it'll be that big answer you've been waiting for, that it'll fill something up that you lost, but it won't do anything. Taking another life doesn't bring back the ones you lost. It doesn't do anything except make you emptier, because what's left when the revenge is taken care of? Not much of anything, really...

[If his wife had been murdered instead of having passed away from some random illness, he wouldn't have been surprised if he had turned into some bitter old man wanting revenge, but honestly, that's still how he felt like sometimes now. There just wasn't anyone to blame for her death, no one to pursue or punish. He couldn't do anything about it now except accept that she was gone, and that's all he'd be able to do if someone had taken her life instead. He also knew for a fact that she'd never want him harming anyone for her sake. If it was his daughter, even if it was his partner... he just couldn't. They wouldn't want that, and he didn't want it either.]

I know someone who lived almost his entire life like that, and even though I couldn't ever tell him that wanting revenge was wrong, living like that just didn't seem worth it. You miss out on too much when that's the only thing you've got.

[He knew revenge couldn't bring anyone back, but it hadn't been about that. It hadn't even been about closure it had been about a desire for justice and revenge. He hadn't cared if it made him emptier or destroyed him, he was a person who had died once already, after all.

He had made his peace with that. As much as someone like him could be at peace any more, anyway.

Still...what an annoying answer.]

Here's a little something for you to try to wrap your mind around: some people can't live any other way. The hate, the desire for revenge, it's the only thing tying them to this world.

That someone you know...have you ever asked them if they would have survived without their revenge to hold onto?

[An annoying yet heartfelt answer, perfect for an annoying yet heartfelt person. Kotetsu's infinite bleeding heart syndrome.]

...no, I never asked him. Mostly because at first, I didn't know about it, but afterward it was just about... I just wanted him to see that there was something else other than that. He was miserable and angry and I hated it, and I always thought that if he didn't want revenge then things would be better, but...

[He hadn't ever considered it at all, what would happen if Barnaby hadn't been fueled by the urge to avenge his parent's murder for more than twenty years. He merely assumed that he'd be happier that way, but since it was all he honestly had, maybe... maybe he wouldn't have been happier at all. Like a towering stack of blocks. Remove one from the base and the whole thing comes tumbling down. Barnaby would just have been nothing.

But things had changed, Barnaby had changed, and that was more than enough proof for him that someone could learn to escape that trap of revenge.]

It's not like that anymore though. He's different, he's a lot happier. --I mean, he could be more happy but, he's improved a lot! I helped him!

[He could tell that it was heartfelt; that was what made it annoying.]

Good for him. [And even though he sounds a little mocking, he really does mean it. He wouldn't, couldn't begrudge anyone their happy ending.

He wasn't about to admit that, though.]

But that's not possible for everyone. Some people can't pull themselves out of that abyss. All they can do is drag the people who put them there down with them.

[Because there are crimes that can't be forgiven and mistakes that can never be undone.

Because there comes a point where there was no going back.

Because his ability to forgive died the moment the man he trusted more than anything put a bullet through his head. That day, his destiny had been irrevocable re-written.]

[Almost immediately, Kotetsu suspects that all this thinly-veiled frustration and anguish is coming from a source much closer than he imagined it to be. This isn't hypothetical thinking, this isn't just a spur-of-the-moment example. It sounds and feels too familiar to everything he experienced from his partner for it to seem simply like a random question, and all he really wants to say is that he doesn't have to make things out like this.

It doesn't have to be this way. For him.

You don't have to do this.]

Why?

[Oh, but he does. There is no other path open to him, you see.]

Does it matter?

Of course it matters! You can't just do that to yourself! [Kotetsu doesn't realize that he's just assumed this whole thing is Hyoubu's own experience. Of course he wouldn't bother to clarify on his own but he is just good at coming to random conclusions without gaining any solid facts (which is... exactly how this whole Lunatic thing got started. Welp)]

It's a bit too late to be worrying for me.

You should just go back to your previous charity case and pat yourself on the back for a job well done with him.

[That was not the wisest thing to say.]

Who are you calling a charity case?! You take that back! You actually think I spent all that time helping my partner just because I was getting something out of it in return?!

[That was sort of the point.]

If you're so sure that your intentions were pure, then why don't you make me.

[Because he can be incredibly immature when he wants to.]

I don't have to prove anything about what I did, especially to some stranger! I know I've got no reason to judge whatever it is you've had to deal with but you've got no right to think you know why I treat people the way I do. I don't use people to make me feel good about myself. Not in a million damn years.

[There's a lot of restrained anger in Kotetsu's voice. As much as he knows that he has no right to snap at this person what with the suspicions he has about what he's had to go through, the fact of the matter is that he can't accept someone questioning his motives for treating Barnaby the way he did. Barnaby isn't and never will be some ego-boost for Kotetsu, just an outlet to make himself feel better about himself. Hell, just thinking about it pisses him off even more.]

You try implying that about my partner again though and I'm pretty sure you'll be hearing a lot more from me. Got it?

Oh, I'm so scared. Look, I'm shaking in my boots.

[Pause.]

Except you can't, I guess. You'll just have to take my word on it.

[Kotetsu merely huffs loudly and turns off the communicator. As much sympathy as he feels for the guy, the attitude doesn't particularly make him want to deal with him for much longer.]

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05 ✪ backdated to April 4th ✪ video

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