Week 3, Saturday, post-trial: Evan.

[thesettingsun]

[So that trial was a mess, and Dazai can't say he's not exhausted when he returns to their room, but he can at least lift his head off the bed when Evan walks in.]

How did I do? Not overly defensive?

Comments

[selfinserting]

[Evan is... doing better than he could be, honestly. They voted for someone innocent, and while he knows that shouldn’t have happened, he has - complicated feelings on it. As awful as it is to say, the strongest emotion he’s experiencing is relief that it wasn’t him or Dazai.]

...You did really good. I’m proud of you.

[thesettingsun]

[It could be worse. Dazai liked Yasu, but it still could be worse.

Evan praising him helps.]

Thank you! I can do it if it's for you~!

[selfinserting]

[Despite the circumstances, a smile tugs at his mouth.]

Thanks. Are you feeling okay, after all that?

[thesettingsun]

[Now Dazai's the one who's not smiling.]

...It could have gone much better than it did, and I do like Yasu and Rapunzel, but... In a way, it's surprising that this is only first time we've messed up like this.

[selfinserting]

[A pause.]

She’ll be fine, won’t she...? N-Natsuo only got put in stocks for a few hours when he voted for himself.

[thesettingsun]

Rapunzel is Yasu's partner. Yasu is going to be executed. The partnerless may not always be lucky enough to be paired up with each other.

[selfinserting]

They have been every week so far, though... Is there a reason you think it might change this week?

[thesettingsun]

Just that it seems like our luck's run out.

Misfortunes come in threes. And if a victim before Friday was the first, and executing an innocent was the second...

[selfinserting]

[He sighs.]

That's just a saying. Haven't we been unlucky enough this week...?

[thesettingsun]

Fairy tales are built on sayings and cliches.

[selfinserting]

But the good guys don't, don't get killed in fairy tales. Right...?

[thesettingsun]

...You haven't read any fairy tales recently, have you?

[selfinserting]

[A shrug.]

My mom mostly gave me, um, comic books or movies.

[thesettingsun]

Fairy tales don't always have happy endings. And they certainly don't always have happy middles.

[selfinserting]

But... The good guys don't usually die, right? That's how it goes in, in most stories for kids.

[thesettingsun]

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they get shot by the people they were trying to help. Fairy tales aren't always nice.

[selfinserting]

When did any of them get shot by the person they were trying to help...?

[thesettingsun]

"Gon, the Little Fox." By Niimi Nankichi. It's in the library if you want to read it.

[selfinserting]

I've never heard of that one, so - maybe it isn't popular because it's too harsh...?

[thesettingsun]

It's a classic in Japan. It just doesn't have the same popularity in America.

[selfinserting]

Can you give me, um, a quick summary...?

[thesettingsun]

Gon, a young fox, frequently steals food from a village. He steals an eel that was supposed to go to a villager, Hyoju's sick mother. When the mother dies, Gon feels guilty and secretly gives Hyoju some gifts he stole, but the rest of the village accuses Hyoju of being a thief and beat him up. After that Gon only gives Hyoju mushrooms and nuts from the forest. Hyoju is grateful, but when he sees Gon again he shoots him to death out of anger for the death of his mother. Afterwards he realizes to his horror that the fox he killed was the one giving him the extra food.

The end.

[selfinserting]

...That's horrible!

[thesettingsun]

It's a classic. And it was written by someone I know personally.

[He and Niimi aren't close, but Niimi's works shouldn't be insulted.]