Chapter 15

Planeptune/Eresthian City/Hotel Room/Morning/31 Days Until Festival/4 Days Until Departure

Sean sighed.

He was feeling lethargic which wasn't really surprising. All he wanted to do was have a few days to himself so he could relax but instead he had an entire shitfest and more.

Death, it was a concept he was both familiar with and unfamiliar with. Afterall, he already died once. However seeing another die right in front of him, just... fucking annoys him. He had the power to do something... Anything! Yet he couldn't.

Personas, a manifestation of oneself's soul and personality, a manifestation of oneself's mask. All his masks denied him that possibility to save another, hence that means he surely didn't really care whether the old man lived or died, right? Then did that mean he was faking it? Or maybe...

'Hey Arsène, are you an actual entity instead a manifestation of me?' Sean asked his persona.

There was a moment of silence.

'We're spiritual entities which reside in parts of your personality.' Arsène replied.

So it wasn't him afterall.

He sighed.

'I guess I should feel... happy that these spiritual entities value me so highly.' Sean still felt like shit though.

"Well, no use wasting away my life away for reasons beyond me. " He convinced himself "I'll just have to keep trying."

He dragged himself out of the bed and mildly wondered what he should do today. Takagi and Nonaka left for Lastation in the previous day and honestly he didn't feel like accepting the money, but she wouldn't give up since she was more convinced on following through with agreements.

"Her parents didn't even give me the signal to quit cause they died..." He felt somewhat bitter.

He sighed.

"What should I do?" He muttered.

BZZT BZZT

◇◇◇

Wind Walker7: Hey, you wanna hang out today?

The Fool: ...

The Fool: Sure, I'm feeling somewhat exhausted today anyway.

Wind Walker7: I wouldn't be surprised knowing you.

The Fool: Where we meeting up?

Wind Walker7: The arcade  good for you?

The Fool: Yeah, I'm up for it.

◇◇◇

Planeptune/Eresthian City/Northern (Electronic) District/Aracde/Morning/31 Days Until Festival/4 Days Until Departure

"Yo." Sean waved at IF whom was unsurprisingly still calm. 'I'm pretty sure she's seen death more times than me.'

And Sean knows that whilst she may not be outwardly impacted she is most definitely impacted on the inside. She's trying cope but she's still worried about Sean, and this gives him a warm feeling in his heart.

SNAP SNAP

IF snapped her fingers twice in front of Sean's eyes which prompted him to push up his glasses. "Sorry, I dazed off."

"Don't worry about it, it's understandable." She seemed understanding which wasn't surprising knowing her personality and experience. "Anyway, enough dark thoughts! Today we're gonna have fun."

She gripped his hand and dragged him to a... boxing ring. 'Why is there a boxing ring in a arcade?' He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he was opposite of IF with no boxing gloves.

'Oh... shit.' He couldn't help but grimace. Sean has had very few unarmed combat experience, as he always felt more comfortable with weapons. Although, that isn't to say that he has no unarmed experience but very few, afterall he had to develop his unarmed take-downs and self-defensive capabilities somewhere right?

Although, IF is without a doubt way more experienced in that field than him which scares him.

"Welp... as they say... Leroy Jenkins." He muttered with a wry smile as he got into an evasive stance.

"Well then 3,2,1... Go!" IF darted Sean rapidly which mildly took him by surprise since she was a lot more faster – not significantly – faster than before.

She raised her fist to punch Sean in the face, and Sean knew for a fact that it was a feint. He ignored it and batted away her true attack, but she twisted that as a moment for her own advantage as she grappled onto his wrist and drop-kicked Sean which blasted him away across the ring. Sean cartwheeled backwards to give himself stability again as he returned to his evasive stance.

'Well that was annoying. He should've been able to see through that tactic like normal.' Sean muttered.

'Arsène?' Sean called out to his mentor for advice.

'It would do you a world of good to rely on yourself for a change instead of constantly asking us for our input.' Arsène lectured 'Remember this is your journey, not ours. We may assist you but we will not live for you.'

'In other words, figure it out myself.' Sean realised the meaning in his advice. 'You guys may share the same thoughts as me in different 'masks', but your telling me to train my 'own' mask. I've been so focused on training your masks that I neglected my own.'

Sean smirked as he muttered "Its Show Time."

"That's more like it." IF smiled as she dove into Sean's vicinity.

She front-flipped over Sean and tried to swipe him from the side with her leg but Sean already rolled out the way. She dashed towards him and raised her fist to smash her fist onto his cheek, Sean shifted – avoiding – it mildly and used her ongoing momentum to head-butt IF which stunned her momentarily and thus gave him the chance to attack her. A chance that he didn't take, it was obviously a trap. She realised that he realised and dropped the facade so she could punch him, he dodged by shifting his torso backwards but it seemed like that was a trap as she shifted her elbow to strike him. Sean realised this was her plan earlier on as his max level Expression made it easy to see how her muscles would move, so Sean took advantage of this by avoiding it mildly and pushed her elbow hard enough to twist her whole body around.

"Its time..." He grinned as both his arms wrapped around her and his body twisted backwards to perform a german suplex on her. Sean let go as she patted his back twice signalling her giving up.

"Well... that was fun." IF muttered as Sean nodded.

"Shows Over."

"Wow y'all sucked." Someone from the observer stands stated aloud. He had bushy black hair tied in a pig-tail, blue eyes and he wore a red chinese martial arts gi with white wrapped-up sleeves, black pants and black shoes.

"Yeah, well, screw you too!" IF pouted, annoyed.

"Hey, I'm just statin' facts." He shrugged.

'Hmm...' Sean observed his body 'He's definitely a trained martial artist.'

"Then how about you tell us about some of our flaws?" Sean inquired, even though he wouldn't deny that he felt annoyed that his 'Masterful' Proficiency was downplayed.

"Huh, okay." He nodded as he pointed at Sean "Ya, think too much when fightin', ya technique isn't bad either but ya reaction time is really dulled even though it's obvious ya can move faster."

'What the hell does that mean?! Think too much? I think just enough to react in time.' Sean was confused.

"Although ya leave a bunch of openings, I've noticed that more than half of 'em were just traps for her which was kinda useless because why bother leaving openings she isn't gonn' use? I know ya'er aware of ya'er weaknesses so there's no point in hiding your true weaknesses in a bunch of fake weaknesses when ya can just make sure to not let her make use of ya weaknesses." The martial artist explained.

"Another question, what's wrong with reacting just in time?" Sean asked, it did him good like every other time.

"Well obvious' 'cause ya can plan ahead!" He stated it as if it was obvious.

'Now that I realise it...' Sean muttered 'I usually have a plan already in motion – along with a couple of emergency plans – and I tend to stick to the main plan as much as possible, in other words he's saying I can make other plans during my plans.' He realised 'I'll have to increase my Knowledge to properly be able to put this battle-plan in motion.'

"Anything else?" Sean inquired.

"Oh yeh, ya really need to increase ya Understanding since its stupid to just do things based on jus' Knowledge." He responded and Sean nodded.

"Makes sense." Sean thanked him with a bow.

"Then what about me?" IF asked the martial artist.

"Ya leave too much openings and take too much risks which can easily fail." He responded without hesitation to the point it was almost painful.

After that he continued to give Sean and IF advice on how to improve.

"Oh yeah, what's your name?" Sean asked.

"Me? Well ma name's Ranma, Saotome Ranma!" He waved.

"Ranma huh..." Sean muttered "Hey, you think we could exchange contacts in case I wanna ask for more advice?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don' mind."

◇◇◇

The Fool: Nice to meet you, I'm the dude.

...

The Fool: Wow you're really taking a long time to type.

AnythingGoes: Sorry, haven't used a phone in a while.

◇◇◇

CRACKLE CRACK

I AM THOU... THOU ART I...

THOU HAST ACQUIRED A NEW VOW...

IT SHALL BE THE WINGS OF REBELLION THAT BREAKETH THY CHAINS OF SUBMISSION.

WITH THE BIRTH OF THE LA PAPE ARCANA THOU HAST OBTAINED THE WINDS OF BLESSING THAT SHALL LEAD TO FREEDOM AND NEW POWER...

'The La Pape? That's from a different deck. Why though?' They shook hands and they decided to part ways. 'What's your input Arsène?'

'I assume that it has to do with minor differences in which of the iterations of the arcana he suited.' Arsène replied and Messiah Picaro gave  confirmation.

"I see." He muttered as he wondered something.

'Now what to do now?' He wondered. 'I don't particularly feel like meeting anyone.'

'I think you should work on your Kindness now.' Messiah Picaro informed.

'Your Understanding needs improvements.' Arsène chipped in.

'An increased Charm may come in handy.' Lilith added.

'Honestly I think we need more Knowledge.' Succubus stated.

'He~ Kindness Ho~!' Jack Frost and Jack O' Lantern were in agreement with Messiah Picaro.

"Kindness it is then..." He muttered as he entered a nearby store and bought three books on Kindness: 100 ways to become empathetic by Raging Sociopath, Psychological processes of a 'nice girl' and why I hate them – By Hikigaya Hachiman and lastly Maria's Guide To Making Friends ♡.

"Guess I'll head back."

Planeptune/Eresthian City/Hotel Room/Evening/31 Days Until Festival/4 Days Until Departure

"Guess I'll read 100 ways to be empathetic..." He muttered whilst laying down on his bed.

'When something terrible happens to a friend or loved one it can be difficult to know what to say...' Sean read the book as he speed read it 'There are many phrases which minimises the pain rather than connect how he or she is feeling...' How interesting 'Acknowledge their pain...' He flipped a page 'Show gratitude they opened up to you...' another flip 'Share how you feel...' another flip 'Be supportive...' another flip 'Be encouraging...' And another one 'Show interest...' And after flipping for a while he reached the end 'There is no script for empathy.'

"Huh, I guess I found more ways to project my Kindness." Sean muttered as then closed his eyes to go to sleep with the book stored in his Neptunian inventory.

"I felt my Kindness increase..."