Atlantis

[Apollymi]

In the moments that passed it seemed that Akashi at least wasn't violent at being referred to as the raccoon girl's brother. Ever the chivalrous savior, Karna stepped in to clear the air and get the pair of them moving towards whatever their goals were unknown to the pair of individuals atop the throne. His choice in words caused Miki to chuckle and Hikari to look shocked but at his beckoning she went along. 'Yosh! Nice save, Dick-sensei!~' she mentally chimed as she placed Fiona atop the pillow at Miki's side and turned to take the stairs. "Hikari-chan, heads up..." she said Miki after watching the lass take the steps two by two to head off. The young raccoon girl turned around to find a bag of coin flying through she opened her hands to catch. "Arigatou Miki-nee!" she said "Ja ne!~" she finished up more than willing not to say anything else.

'I mildly wonder what they are up to... oh well, I guess it will come up sooner or later,' Miki thought to herself. Though she'd provided the duo with about 100 gold coins for their trip she hadn't really bothered asking what they intended to get up to. Her disagreements with Karna aside, she knew the lad wasn't necessarily a bad person. And that he only really managed to annoy her so much because of the type of person she was, still that had been a fairly funny exit and she couldn't really deny that at all.

[Bloodedge]

And thus, Karna and Hikari would be on their way out of the palace. Akashi hadn't bothered questioning this. If they wanted to go about their way for whatever reason, they were free to do so. Hikari may have been considered weak, but she could surely handle herself. If not, that pest of a jester could make himself useful without a doubt.

And just like that, Akashi and Miki were left alone at the throne, excluding the chick of a Filolial. The Dragonoid's tail began to write gently in its place atop the Lancer, as Akashi himself rested his head atop the back of his left hand. All they had to do now was wait, but in the meantime, Akashi could have sworn there was something else of major importance to address. "Now, I think we were discussing something..." he said casually, almost as if bored by the atmosphere already.

[Apollymi]

They were alone, again. Miki was distinctly aware of this now more than she was when they'd gone off to the Obelisk together. At this very moment, she was still sitting in the lad's lap, with no one around as witness but their small bird companion, who after looking around for a minute decided to roost quietly atop the pillow which felt so familiar to her. Over the course of the next moment or two, the blonde lass became acutely aware of the tail wrapped around her and wiggling in her lap. There was something about this moment which was somewhat comforting, and though Akashi himself had a bit of a bored air, it appeared he hadn't truly forgotten the discussion they'd been having before this moment. There was the mention of her alternate username which though she didn't really want to discuss, seemed to be a topic that should be addressed sooner rather than later. "MisakiNeesan... that seemed to be the next thing you wanted to talk about, in the middle of getting Atlantis set up..." Miki mentioned rather calmly if she was being honest. This was a strange conversation to have with another person, but she supposed there were worst cases to have to admit things in, than simply admitting that she'd previously popped up on online leader boards and arcades he was found on for her own amusement.

[Bloodedge]

What was that thing they were talking about? Amidst all the hullabaloo, Akashi seemed to have legitimately lost it. It was right at the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn't grasp it fully, and then... Miki spoke. The first thing to leave her mouth was the username: MisakiNeesan. Indeed, that was her other identity. What many arcade-goers viewed to be the potential end of his original self as Geno Killer, was... her.

However...

His expression remained entirely unchanged. There wasn't so much as a twitch in his eye before his gaze casually shifted toward Miki. For whatever reason, he continued to boast the demeanor of an unamused emperor of some sort. With all of that, he stared at Miki for several seconds, unmoved yet again, before he finally opened his mouth to retort. "MisakiNeesan? Why would I care to talk about that?"

[Apollymi]

A few seconds of silence followed the sentence spoken by Miki. Was this another strange game to him. She noticed he had a bit of a supremacy look. In this very moment he seemed to be using it as a shell. But, it was kind of hard to pull of hard superiority properly with someone sitting in your lap, at least this was the way Miki thought about it while being seated as such. Another grin spread across the blonde lass' face, "I don't know, could be the fact that you stopped when it was said in recognition. Could be the fact that you repeated it in broken syllables, like you figured something out. Could be the fact that you almost stared a hole though me when I instinctively reacted to it..." she listed in a manner with noted sarcasm. "Or you don't really care at all, I could have imagined all of those things... guilty consciences being what they are," the girl said giving a rather casual shrug. She wasn't necessarily a liar by any means, she was very cut and dry, either he wanted to talk about it or he didn't, but she had already thought though it logically and found it to be one of those strange things about her which could have fallen to obscurity without ever mattering. A cheeky smirk came to her face soon after and she had one more thing to say. "Or you had something to say about me tagging all your scoreboards... that was just for fun by the way. I don't want your title or anything..." she said with a bit of amusement in her eyes and voice.

[Bloodedge]

Miki went on to list all of the reasons Akashi may have wanted to discuss her other identity. All of them were legitimately things which happened, and yet... he truly didn't feel a need to address it. It was now his assumption that Miki herself had it in mind between those previous moments, and the present. As such... he supposed he should entertain the topic. "I... we were wondering for a long time. There was a missing piece in the puzzle to figure out if you were MisakiNeesan. That moment earlier was the puzzle coming together." All truths. With Miki giving the reason for her placement against him on arcade scoreboards, and further claiming she didn't want his title, he snickered. "Whether you want the title or not, you have it. Geno Killer is not a title. Geno Killer is a way of playing... all because of the meta. The meta itself is Game Genocide. The mentality of Geno Killer is to go against that, and kill the meta. Genocide... Killer. When someone finally started matching Geno Killer without creating a new meta... we wondered who they could be. We wanted... to know them, but the person behind Geno Killer can't be known in that world."

[Apollymi]

Miki heard out what Akashi had to say about what had happened in the moments prior to this one. According to him, it had been simply the pieces of the puzzle coming together and it wasn't anything innately malicious. "Sou ka..." beyond this statement she didn't have anything else to say. And as such she relaxed a bit more, obviously being found out was strange but since it didn't really matter anyways it was just a bit of a weight off her shoulders. She then received a lesson about the Geno Killer's mentality directly from the man himself, which was quite strange. Since Miki herself had been online silent for quite a while, she didn't know exactly what such a thing was about. "That seems to get applied without intent, but I suppose there are worse things to end up with accidentally," she said of her apparent titling as an additional Geno Killer. Whatever the case the lad went on to finish this by stating that they'd simply been curious about the person who could accomplish the same things as them within the same constraints, but he couldn't let himself be known in their other world. "Hm, that last bit sounds lonely, I understand that... I was also pretty curious," she said thinking about her own reasons for appearing on so many leader boards. She was quite for a few seconds more before she turned to the lad giving him a bit of a smile from her perch. "And then I met you and you were just a guy having fun, and I could respect that... I'm happy I met you."

[Bloodedge]

That was all there was to it. In one brief discussion, Miki understood the purpose of Geno Killer, and he - in turn - was made to understand that the one behind Miki had her own curiosities in the other world. It couldn't be. It seemed, with their current existence in this world, it didn't have to be. Akashi understood this a bit better than Kou, with all of the latter's restraints linking up to the original personality. "Those curiosities don't matter anymore. Those lives are gone. Geno Killer is gone."

He was minus even a twitch earlier in the conversation, but the moment Miki claimed to be happy she'd met the one known as Geno Killer, there it was. His eyes widened, if only briefly... though that wasn't Akashi at all. Outwardly, the Dragonoid behaved quite differently from what struck him initially. "Sou ka," he said. With that, he moved on. "That discussion... I believe we were addressing something else, before meeting the others."

[Apollymi]

"Well, sure. Probably for the best... being alone all the time was getting pretty boring," Miki said aloud, considering her life strangely. She didn't really care much for the other world anymore either. It wasn't like gaming wasn't all she was doing to amuse herself in the first place. And here she'd replaced that with adventuring so she was pretty certain the trade was fair regardless. He seemed to really not care too much about anything in his current form, except for the gentle widening of his eyes which Miki noticed but had nothing to say about. She figured it was similar to her own earlier experience, something inside nudging just a bit at the reaction they wanted to have. A short while thereafter, Akashi did indeed have something else to say, this was in direct reference to a very different conversation they'd been having just a few moments before they'd appeared back in the palace. Miki managed to hear out this sentence with only the raising of her left brow to go along with it. He was indeed without restraint she could confirm this by how easily he broached such a topic, and in a manner which was leading at best. "Oh that? I suppose we were talking about that a bit, but I did mention I don't plan to be Tatsuki until I do what I need to... Gomen."

[Bloodedge]

"Agreed," he said plainly. As Yugi, he had conceded to a life of privacy as well, though mostly by choice. In the corner of his mind though, he never wanted the loneliness he'd resigned himself to, even in that other world. Akashi cared less than the other personas... but it remained true nonetheless. That didn't matter at all now, though. As far as he knew, he wouldn't have to deal with that situation again, bar any random catastrophe happening in this world.

Soon enough, they were onto a topic of... greater importance, as it were. Much to Akashi's dismay, Miki's rebuttal addressed her desire to remain in her current form until her business was done. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't necessarily that which gave Akashi displeasure. His eyes fell upon the blonde as he spoke again with all the lack of restraint he had in Dragonoid form. "And what of Miki? Iia... what of Ashikaga Kimiko?" he asked blatantly. In that very moment, he would make clear that he acknowledged Miki as a being at last. Not only that, but he'd made the decision to fully suppress and silence his other selves, leaving him free enough as himself to unveil his knowledge of the human Kimiko.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the boy known only to Miki as Geno Killer was also someone who knew loneliness. That was a bit strange, but it only served to make her feel for the lad a bit more. She'd been content to leave him alone, because having a friend was better than ending up alone in the world again. With this in mind, she was more than a little careful with how she chose to address the Dragonoid whose lap she currently occupied. Of course, he was without any restraint and this would become obvious due to the displeasure he would show in the next moment or two. Miki spent a moment staring at the lad her eyes widened slightly. There was too much happening in a very short amount of time. He finally acknowledged her as a singular individual which should have been a happy moment. But he also asked a very direct question which questioned not just her Avatar but the self she was truly. She'd been referred to by the pet version of her name by Seriri, but in this moment it was as if the Dragon wished to know her intentions so directly. "Sou ka, so you know who I am... or rather who I was, that is a really aggressive way to bring that up..." she mentioned. Oddly she didn't really have to think about it. "I obviously like you. Well... that sounds strange, " she said trying to correct it immediately. "I mean, I like all of you. The different parts I mean," she said that aloud and realized she probably sounded greedy. "I mean... there isn't any good way to say that. I don't dislike you in my other forms or anything like that. I just know I'm not built for the Dance of Dragons or anything like that... And you seem to like me alright but that doesn't really seem to be the case for the rest of you really. I felt like I was reaching a bit, does that make sense at all?" she asked, feeling like she'd been rambling and wondering if she'd said the important bits when addressing the Dragonoid.

[Bloodedge]

The Dragonoids eyes closed. Of course he knew who she was. Whether he knew her personally, or simply had figured it out the way he did many other things, he'd leave to mystery. More importantly, he posed a question previously, and he was keen to have it answered. Miki eventually worked her way through a proper response, even if it took a bit of rambling to do so. She got around to specifying her link not specifically to Akashi, but to the others inhabiting the body as well. That wasn't something that mattered to the Dragonoid. The answer he sought was for the Dance of Dragons, and he received that as well. Still, he considered it worthwhile to address the rest, too. "That would be a problem for the others to address. No matter. The children have been put to bed. Still... don't underestimate your ability to dance, Kimi," he said in a slightly cryptic manner as his eyes opened again. It was almost as if Akashi could see more than his eyes allowed, as if there was something immaterial that triggered his senses as of late. Perhaps that was the case. At this point, he wasn't even speaking to Miki or Tatsuki anymore.

[Apollymi]

Miki was left in a very strange situation after answering the lad's question. His eyes closed and he seemed capable of getting Miki's meaning even though she was very bad at delivering it. His reply was strange to her though, as it implied that Akashi was now the only person inhabiting his body or at the very least he'd somehow managed to quiet the other potential voices in his head, including the other character and the original self. That was a strange concept to Miki because she hadn't managed to get a pure version of herself out of any of her character switches. Beyond this point was something very very unexpected though, when Akashi spoke of her, he claimed she shouldn't underestimate her own abilities in this case, and referred to her by the pet version of her name. This was something previously only used by Seriri/Tsuki as such it was a strange thing to hear from the male. They'd had some fairly frank conversations in the last few moments, but something about him saying this version of her name struck a chord within her, which softened her expression and made her face turn red instantly. "H-hai! If you say so..." she managed in a small voice. She managed as she turned her head away, hiding the minor form of embarrassment she now felt. She tried to focus on something else anything else really while hoping for the feverish color of her face to disappear, she'd found herself looking down at her fingers gently tracing the scales of the lad's tail in her lap while she waited for her blush to fade.

[Bloodedge]

Embarrassment? That was her reaction? He supposed he couldn't expect much more, but Miki's efforts to cover herself weren't exactly working in her favor. Once his eyes were open, he could see more than anyone alive should. And, he'd be sure to bring this up posthaste. "Even without these eyes, no matter how quickly you turn your head, it won't work," he said. Every word leaving his mouth, did so flatly. If she was waiting for her face to clear up, he wouldn't exactly be making an effort to let her do so. He also had no intention of keeping silent about the odd caressing of his tail. "You would look away from a Dragon, and touch his tail simultaneously? That's the sort of boldness that makes what I said the truth."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the Dragonoid whose lap she occupied was content to tease her mercilessly. Even so, Miki wasn't really the kind to just take that sort of thing. She couldn't help the snide commentary which would come from her immediately following, even while she wasn't willing to face the lad. "You can say that. I can know that... and I still would have had the same reaction to you calling me by a name literally only one other person in my life has ever called me," she muttered still rather busily tracing the scales on his tail. Even as he went on to mention this being a strange thing for her to do she wouldn't really stop, because that would only make her embarrassment greater in the moment. "It is literally in my lap and wrapped around me, not touching would be harder at this point..." she said, finally shifting her face towards him. Perhaps she didn't see the irony of this given her own placement, but that wasn't really the point at present. She didn't like losing nor being embarrassed, but she most certainly wasn't going to seem afraid, not that she could argue that her actions were occasionally bold and likely uncalled for. "Besides, that doesn't exactly sound like a complaint..." her still red face gained a cheeky smirk, she was embarrassed but she wouldn't be letting such a normal reaction get the best of her in a situation like this.