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Post by mugenginga on Jul 20, 2010 0:06:57 GMT -5
Fading, not gone. Whether Abel had missed that much or some part of himself was screaming to stop, he dropped Dark Malik's body before the Egyptian actually lost his consciousness. He'd be aware enough of it. Humans tended not to put off emotions when out, and there was still fear. That was washed out quickly by relief. Because Abel had pulled away when he had, Dark Malik's consciousness remained at the point of hovering. As Cain was working, he pulled his shattered hand close... very quietly, very slowly.
Cain looked up as Abel walked over to them. It was only for a second before he looked back down and pulled Atsuro's jacket off Seth's back. There was a dull level of interest as he chucked the thing over to where Atsuro was at, managing to not hit the black haired teenager by a hair. Seth didn't seem conscious, he sure wasn't answering Abel. The illusion of being unconscious was lost as soon as Cain lifted up the thick flap of flesh. Seth winced and hissed, there was a clear indication that just touching it hurt the teenager, and the condition made it no wonder. Given Abel's current condition, it wasn't guaranteed his humanity would throw out the reason that Cain wasn't doing any (extra) harm to Seth...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 20, 2010 0:20:57 GMT -5
Atsuro actually flinched away from the jacket as it flew back toward him. There was no need to, due to how Cain had thrown it, and it landed on the ground next to him. Atsuro picked it up, but he didn't put it back on due to the blood soaked into it. He actually seemed rather shaken himself.
Abel's expression fell when Seth didn't answer him. He looked away, but looked back toward Seth as he gave his hiss of pain. He shot his hand out and grabbed Cain's arm. The speed at which he'd done it meant there was no way for Cain to feasibly stop Abel from doing so.
"What are you doing?" Abel growled. "You're hurting him worse."
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 20, 2010 0:27:48 GMT -5
Cain didn't show an outward reaction as Abel grabbed his arm. He didn't even pull back, so if Abel jerked it, he would be able to pull it up without a problem. The silver haired man merely lifted his head and looked Abel straight in his slitted eyes. His gaze narrowed and he seemed to be speaking down to Abel by his tone.
"I would think you would understand how fragile humans are, Your Majesty. The skin has to be flipped back over if we expect it to heal properly," Cain had worded it in a manner that framed a clear difference between 'humans' and Abel. He glanced over at Dark Malik and the smirk finally returned, "If you feel like lashing out at someone, go finish the job over there. He's still aware, which is more than I think can be said here."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 20, 2010 0:49:03 GMT -5
Abel's glare deepened as Cain's smirk finally came back. He removed his hand from Cain's arm, but didn't look away from the man. He wasn't in any mood to deal with any taunts. After a moment, Abel dug into his jacket's pocket and pulled out his COMP, which he tossed toward Atsuro.
"I want you to send Atem a message telling him what happened here. Be sure to inform him exactly what his demented little 'friend' pulled and what I'll do to him if he even thinks of attacking us again," Abel ordered. "I'm done with people thinking of us as easy targets. I'm not going to hesitate to kill the next person who attacks us, and none of you should either."
Atsuro looked away from Abel as he spoke and after a moment gave a small nod. He opened up the mail function of the COMP and got to typing.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 20, 2010 1:11:16 GMT -5
Cain's smirk remained, but he didn't say anything else. Abel was maintaining the look even as he reached into his pocket and tossed the COMP at Atsuro. It wasn't breaking, and Cain knew it wasn't going to break any time soon. The man turned away, conceding the situation to Abel. His smirk widened a bit after breaking the contact, though. It was at best damaged now, but perhaps that limiter hadn't been such a bad thing after all. Acting his status around a human, even if Cain had issues with his apparent motivation. Well, there was something to be said for maintaining one's troops.
Seth didn't react this time as Cain aligned the scarred flap of skin with the rest of the back. It wasn't fancy, merely enough to that the edges of the skin were near the edges of the wound. He operated the COMP with one hand and about a minute later a white light swirled around the teenager. With the injuries he'd gotten today, he'd need to rest for a few days. Diarahan, Samarecarm... they only healed the injuries. The time for recovery only lessened, it didn't vanish. Cain waited until Seth began to twitch before closing the COMP and placing it back in his pocket.
"Nnnngh..." Seth groaned.
Every muscle in his body hurt. He wanted to tell himself he'd had this kind of pain before, but that... his shoulders shook a bit. There was a low and dark chuckling for a few moments, but it faded quick enough. So the things he couldn't forget could fade after all. Because while he was sure the pain from Belphegor had been worse, it didn't seem like it right now. He didn't look inclined to get to his feet, in any case.
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"Atem!"
Yuugi had caught site of the Egyptian teenager just as they were coming up to the door of the apartments. The going had been rather slow so Minato and Ryoji could keep up. Honda jerked his head up when Yuugi shouted the former Pharaoh's name. The clothes were modern now, but the person who had looked up in response to Yuugi's shout was the one who had been the Pharaoh in that fight to get his memories.
Teddie had seemed to lighten up a bit on the way back. He'd gone through quite a few things in his mind. Souji was going to be okay. He was sure of that. If Izanami wanted to taunt him about trust, he'd show her. That trust had been what had defeated her back in the TV World... the first time. Souji had never been able to get back to him on what was causing the fog. He was replaying those thoughts in his head when Yuugi shouted out to Atem.
Ryoji felt sore, but he was trying not to let Minato know. Every time the other teenager so much as looked like he was gonig to turn to him, Ryoji straightened up and gave a smile. No need for Minato to worry more than he had to. Things seemed pretty crappy on the front with Souji... Ryoji couldn't find a way to make that better. But he kept up the facade for Minato.
"Par- Honda-kun?"
Atem blinked as the distance between them closed. Honda had shown up on the Island. Atem paused for a moment and one could see the thoughts running across his mind. He suddenly ran towards the group and looked at Honda. The taller teenager seemed confused at the reaction.
"Honda-kun, you don't have the Torque, do you?"
"T-torque? Uh..."
"The necklace Ishizu had! The Millenum Torque!" He didn't sound panicked, just very firm. Honda's eyes widened with realization and he shook his head.
"I've been out for the past week at the hospital with a head wound. Pretty sure they would have said something about a gold necklace. Why would I have it? Don't those things freak when someone they don't like has them?"
"Jounouchi-kun had the Scales and Anzu had the Key," Atem said.
"....wait, how many of those stupid things showed up here!?"
Yuugi felt a bit out of place. He had a nervous grin as the two talked. At least introductions hadn't been an issue. Then again, all of his friends had met Atem in this "form" before. He gave a lighthearted apologetic look towards the other three when his pocket began to beep. Atem was answering Honda about the item's "freaking" as Yuugi pulled it out and flipped it open. His eyes widened as he saw the message name, and he was beginning to look worried as he scanned it...
"Partner?" Atem ignored Honda's last comment when he noticed Yuugi's expression.
"A-Abel found..." the teenager swallowed and looked up, "D-Dark Malik..."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 20, 2010 3:17:02 GMT -5
Abel gave a satisfied smirk once Cain broke the gaze himself. Even with Cain's continued taunting, his older brother still considered him the boss. With that faceoff complete, Abel looked back down toward Seth as Cain healed him. Abel looked even more concerned at the dark chuckle, but it stopped quickly enough. Hesitantly, Abel reached forward and put a hand on Seth's uninjured shoulder.
"Seth, are you alright?" he repeated.
Worth noting was that Abel's eyes were still slitted, despite his current mood. All things considered, it probably wasn't as odd as some of the other things that had just happened.
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Minato had felt a bit guilty the whole walk back, mainly because he knew he and Ryoji were holding the group back. It wasn't like they were in too much of a hurry, but he still didn't like how he was slowing them down because he'd needlessly exhausted himself earlier. He was so very glad when they finally made it back to the apartments, though.
As for the situation with Souji, he was still worried about Souji, but there was nothing he could do about it. Souji was likely going to heal from that injury, but he was still in trouble with the police, and they weren't going to get to see him any time soon. He could only hope that Souji was going to be okay on that front.
Luckily enough, they had found Atem close to the entrance to their building. Minato frowned as Atem brought up the Torque immediately. Looked like Atem wasted no time on introductions. Minato just kind of sat back and let them talk... up until the point when Yuugi's COMP went off. Minato raised an eyebrow and looked over at Yuugi. Yuugi's expression was getting more and more worried... and then he dropped the bomb.
"W-What....?!" Minato breathed. That couldn't be right. Malik's dark side was gone. Destroyed. How was it back?!
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 20, 2010 5:21:28 GMT -5
Cain stood up after casting the Samarecarm on Seth. It wasn't one of his favorite moves to keep equipped, but he still had Holy Dance if something came up. He stepped back and to the side, putting himself a bit closer to Dark Malik. The teenager's hand would need to be set before anyone healed it unless they wanted to force a later surgery. He was still conscious, Cain was sure about that now. Cain smirked at his apparent pain tolerance before looking back at his brothers.
Seth didn't respond at first. After a few seconds of silence he began to move. He lifted his hands up, and stuck them on the thin layer of snow on the ground. A bit of pain, but it was nothing compared to how sore his back was. He pushed himself up, still feeling dizzy from blood loss if nothing else. He managed to sit up before the world span and he tilted to the side, Abel's body preventing him from collapsing. His consciousness returned enough to make him realize his back was freezing. From where Dark Malik had pulled down the shirt, most like. He looked over towards Abel and seemed to hesitate before nodding.
"I-I'll be fine..." he didn't seem to be reacting to the broken limiter or eyes? Not noticing...? "Are you okay...?"
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"A-Atsuro-kun says they found Dark Malik. He attacked K2-kun and Atsuro-kun, so K... Abel attacked him. Atsuro said he's in really bad shape..." Yuugi shook his head, "Atsuro-kun says Dark Malik is probably the one attacking people."
Atem's eyes widened, "The torture cases! Partner, did you get any information about Bakura from the hospital?"
"N-no, and no one fitting Malik's description either..."
"This may be a leap, but I think Izanagi got the Ring from Dark Malik. The only way I can see both him and Bakura being alright is in that case. As to how he came back..." Atem suddenly looked guilty, "I can think of a few reasons."
Honda looked between Yuugi and Atem for a moment. There was something he'd never really seen before. Yuugi seemed to be handling this better than Atem? The former Pharaoh seemed to be blaming himself somehow for the situation. Yuugi looked at Minato and ran up to him, handing him the COMP before he could object. Ryoji and Teddie exchanged worried glances. They didn't really know who Malik was, let alone "Dark" Malik...
"Minato-kun, can you write Atsuro-kun back and tell him we'll be right there? I think K1-kun is going to let us pick him up, and I can't write e-mails fast enough with that. Can you stay here and wait for Jounouchi-kun and Anzu to come back?"
"Partner, wait!"
"Atem, I know Dark Malik might still be active! But it's Malik's body too! He fought him off once before, we have to help him either way!"
Atem hesitated for a moment before turning back to the group, "Ryoji, Teddie, you stay here too. We'll be back soon, I promise."
The former Pharaoh looked to only be waiting for the slightest confirmation before leaving. Honda looked rather serious for a change, but was clearly ready to go as well. Yuugi seemed less likely to run off at even the thought of confirmation, but he looked like he wanted to go too.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 21, 2010 1:35:13 GMT -5
Minato blinked as Yuugi shoved the COMP into his hands and gave his request. He already had the COMP opened up as Atem objected, and was already working on a message when Atem told Ryoji and Teddie to stay too.
"We'll be fine here," Minato said. "Just go find him before Abel's group does anything worse to him."
He looked back down at the message he was working on. Malik was in bad shape from when Abel had attacked him. Minato could believe it. K1 may have just been a normal human, but Abel was a demon king with a brother complex. Dark Malik had made the mistake of attacking Seth, and Abel had freaked over it. Malik was probably lucky to be alive now...
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Abel was watching Seth carefully as he tried to sit up again, in case Seth collapsed again. His eyes widened as Seth nearly collapsed again, but he managed to catch himself on Abel's leg. Abel still looked concerned as Seth stabilized himself enough to look up at him and nod. He gave a nod at Seth's question.
"I'm fine," Abel said with a smile. "Can you walk?"
Atsuro jumped at the loud beep from the COMP. He opened it up and read the message before closing the COMP again. "They're on their way here now."
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 21, 2010 6:22:59 GMT -5
Yuugi didn't like the way Minato had worded that, but there wasn't time to argue. If anything worse was going to happen to Malik, he doubted Atsuro would have contacted them. Right now they needed to be there. Yuugi wasn't stupid... he understood that Malik was likely severely injured if he'd gotten Abel angry at him. He was already headed towards the location indicated as Minato was writing the message. Atem had gone off quicker than he had, and Honda was showing no trouble keeping up.
"Minato, who is Abel?" Ryoji had stepped forward, waiting for Minato's fingers to stop before continuing, "Is he someone you met after... I mean, when I wasn't here?"
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Seth nodded, although his face said he wasn't sure. Cain walked over to the turn of the alley, where he'd come from. He stopped and turned towards the group still there. He wouldn't have had a problem leaving "Dark" Malik to die, or pressing for Abel to finish the job. The direction Abel had chosen to go with it was completely stupid in his eyes. He'd seen more kingdoms fall for so-called "mercy"... he let out a slight snort. Including the Kingdom of God now that Abel was finally developing as he should.
"Unless you wish to be on the receiving end of a friendship speech, I suggest we leave before Yuugi arrives," Cain stated.
Seth managed to get to his feet, but only with Abel's arm as support. He still seemed wobbly. His legs were in one piece, he was just so very tired. If it came to fighting again, he could do it... but with nothing as an immediate threat and a lack of adrenaline, he just felt weak. He glanced at Dark Malik and grimaced, turning away and shaking his head. Abel's limiter had broke... and he couldn't criticize Abel. It wasn't just that he had saved his life. It was that this kind of reaction was probably what was needed, especially with everything that had been happening lately.
They couldn't be victims anymore.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 22, 2010 0:09:47 GMT -5
Minato looked up as Ryoji asked his question. He had a confused look on his face. Ryoji had met Abel at least twice before, and Abel had been up there on Tartarus during the Fall, though how much of that Ryoji actually remembered was up to debate. He closed the COMP and sighed.
"You've met him before, though he left the Island the day after you met him and he was still called Kimura Keiichi back then," Minato said. "He was a friend of Yuugi's a while back, but they had a falling out.... Anyways, he's the overlord of the demons of his world now."
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Abel looked back at Dark Malik as Seth got to his feet again. Yuugi probably wouldn't like the condition he'd left Dark Malik in, especially since even discounting the other injuries, what he'd done to his hand was nothing short of torture. Well... maybe now the torture cases would stop if he didn't have a hand to cut and maim with.
He looked back toward Cain at the man's statement and nodded. Maybe they wouldn't be on the receiving end of a "friendship speech", but he'd either catch pity for what had happened to Atsuro and Seth or hell for what he'd done to Malik. The man had deserved it in his opinion, but Yuugi and Atem likely wouldn't see it that way. He started walking toward the turn of the alley as well.
Atsuro gave a nervous laugh at Cain's comment about friendship speeches before looking over toward Seth. Seth was... no, they all had been depressed lately. Atsuro really had to wonder what the point was of staying here on the Island after all of this had happened. He followed after Abel as he started to head toward Cain.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 22, 2010 0:25:35 GMT -5
Ryoji responded with a blank look. He still didn't seem to be quite getting it. Teddie was looking at him, unsure if he should step into the conversation. Ryoji's eyes suddenly got wide and it was pretty clear things had clicked. He hung there with his mouth open for a moment before finding words.
"Those two with the lighter blue hair?" He was of course referencing that Minato's hair was of a darker shade, "Wait, demon overlord!?"
No, that... made sense. The memory of Tartarus felt more like a vivid dream, but if he forced himself to think about it he could remember. That Naoya and those twins... the one with the black cape had moved in a way entirely unhuman. With what Minato had said, he vaguely remembered before. He'd had demons then, but he'd been human. He was a demon ruler, now? He was a demon now!?
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Seth had frowned as he processed what Cain had said. He doubted Yuugi understood what they'd been through. He didn't feel like being lectured from a pedestal of peace. He pulled himself off Abel, sore but stable. He walked forward, determined to and almost succeeding in not showing how sore he was. Abel was right after him. When Yuugi, Atem, and Honda arrived, they'd be long gone.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 22, 2010 1:01:29 GMT -5
Minato gave a nod at the blue hair descriptor for Abel and Seth. Ryoji seemed to remember them, his expression was enough to tell Minato that. He gave another nod at the comment about the demon overlord.
"Yeah. There was a war between demons with 'Bel' in their names back in K1's homeworld... and K1 was the reincarnation of Abel. I don't know much about what happened back in his homeworld, but apparently he saw no choice but to become the demon overlord," Minato said.
Fact was, what "K1's" fate had ended up as bothered Minato, simply because he'd met Abel back when he was K1, when he'd still been nice and fairly trusting. K1 had reacted badly to the suggestion that the people who had ordered the lockdown be thrown in there themselves, and back when Minato had a hard time seeing K1 as the cruel, emotionless person he'd come back to the island as. Minato didn't want to know what had happened back in Abel's homeworld that had made him like that. It was easier to blame it on his demon body.
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 22, 2010 2:54:04 GMT -5
Ryoji nodded out of politeness. He didn't understand. He didn't really get how a human could become a demon, for that matter. Not if they'd always been such. But the dreamlike memories were clear, that hadn't been human. He shifted his weight, standing in one position for even a few seconds making his ankles hurt.
"I'm going to go inside," said Teddie. He seemed in a more neutral mode than before, but there was a way with how he was walking that made it clear things were still eating at him.
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Honda was following because they were his friends, but he was still quite confused abuot the situation. There were no words passed between the group. Yuugi seemed to know where he was going, at least. After a few minutes of running the group came into an alley. A few turns later and Atem managed to just avoid running into the back of Yuugi.
Malik seemed to be laying there, but the teenager was chuckling. Yuugi looked very nervous at the sound and flinched when Atem placed his hands on his shoulder. He turned back to the former Pharaoh, who gently pushed him back towards Honda and took a few steps forward.
"...Malik, is that you?"
The laughing increased. The voice alone seemed to have been what caused it. Atem grimaced when he saw the condition of Malik's right hand. His hand was in his pocket when the teenager pushed himself up with one arm, still laughing. He still couldn't get a good look at him, but given that laughter the former Pharaoh had little doubt who they were actually dealing with. Dark Malik was propped up with one hand, but his bangs were falling in front of his forehead, concealing it. Atem pulled out a card from his pouch.
"Atem, wait!"
"Partner, stay back! We're going to have to knock him out," Atem was just thankful he was in a condition they could do that in.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jul 22, 2010 3:05:36 GMT -5
Minato looked over toward Teddie as he stated he was going inside. "Alright." It was pretty easy to tell that things were still eating at Teddie as he headed inside, though. Just the way the bear was acting was proof enough of that. He frowned and looked away from Teddie for a moment before looking back toward him.
"Hey, Teddie?" Minato called. "Souji's going to be alright, okay? He wouldn't want you to worry about him over something little like this."
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Post by mugenginga on Jul 22, 2010 4:35:53 GMT -5
Dark Malik was in massive amounts of pain. With the risk of death gone thanks to Abel's foolish actions, he was able to savor it. He'd chuckled on and off as he lay there, his shattered hand close and no one arriving. No, someone would be there fast enough. He'd heard the words that group had exchanged. They'd contacted Yuugi, they would be there soon. It was rather possible he'd never be able to use his hand well again. This only caused more chuckling. The pain was exquisite.
His chuckling had continued as he heard footsteps. He needed to get up now. They had come to a sudden stop and after a few moments he heard the deeper voice of the Nameless Pharaoh. Atem, was it? His chuckling got worse. There had been that little hiccup, but today counted as a good day. He had tried to move the fingers of his shattered hand. There had been a few intensely painful twitches. It had only made him laugh more.
Now, he had to get up. Might as well share the pain with the Pharaoh, after all. Malik's hatred was centered on that man. The man that had made all the suffering he had gone through pointless. He was still laughing to himself as he placed his left palm on the ground and pushed up, using the elbow of his right arm to support himself. His bangs fell down over his eyes, but the bright glow of the third eye could still be seen shining through. Yuugi shouted at Atem to wait... knock him out? The Pharaoh wanted to knock him out? He pushed up with all of his strength on his left hand and managed to sit up. He turned towards the Pharaoh.
"It has been such a very long time since I saw you last, Pharaoh," Dark Malik spoke in the most formal Japanese he could muster. It was clear he was mocking Atem. His eyes flicked to the Ring around Atem's neck, "I see you've availed yourself to a new accessory. Can't function without your tools of torture, can we?"
Atem glared at Dark Malik for his taunt as the other Egyptian turned away.He split his deck in half and grabbed a card, lifting it into the air. It vanished into a white light and shot in front of him, spreading out until it materialized into the shape of Black Magician. Honda's eyes widened at the way Atem had clearly summoned a card without a Duel Disk. Not only that, but a Tribute Monster at that. Something clicked and he was suddenly digging into his pocket. He jerked in surprise as Yuugi grabbed his arm and shook his head.
"We just have to knock him out, Honda-kun! Atem can handle it!"
"I don't trust Dark Malik!"
Atem was focused on the fight more than the others, only barely noting Yuugi's words. He threw his hand forward, the palm spread. It was rather similar to his "Mind Crush" pose, "Black Magic!"
A light had shot up from Dark Malik about the time that Yuugi had informed Honda Atem could handle it. As Atem was throwing his hand forward, it solidiefied into a pendant like piece sporting a quartz. A beam of red electricity shot down to just behind Malik. The black and purple electricity shot out from Black Magician's staff just as the electricity from the Raise Dead pendant solidified into Iron Death Viser Death. The attack was a dead hit, and even though Atem threw up his arm, he was pushed back a bit by the force. Dark Malik had been getting to his feet, but he had to throw out his left arm to catch himself on the building beside him. He turned around as the energy faded away.
Atem glared as they both recovered from the back blast. There was only one possible way a Ka with such low attack power compared to Black Magician had survived that. Yuugi looked very worried with the situation, and released his hand from Honda. The taller teenager didn't quite understand what was going on, but with his hand free he was able to pull out his deck. Why did things always come down to him not knowing the game well!? He dug through his cards until he found one with a high attack. He had to help....
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Teddie looked up as Minato called his name. He looked a combination of irritated and depressed as Minato told him Souji was going to be alright. He hung his head for a moment at the last bit and nodded.
"Just like Nanako-chan, right...?"
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