"On the contrary." Cornered on a boat adrift to nowhere, Ochazuke surveyed the figure where she stood in the fixture of this memory. The flow of time stopped, his recall of these days so long ago stilled the further this divergence progressed.
"Time, passed without
purpose, rather swiftly loses its meaning. And adrift without direction, that can hardly be called decisive."
The silence around them was gradually broken by the trill over the horizon.
"And if where we are is not sufficient, it can hardly be the place where you desire, wouldn't you agree? Therefore, who is to say, truly, that they have both the capacity to make and understand their choices for themselves? Perhaps you presume too much."
The low, guttural call of birds. The sound of a thousand wings began to fill the air. Stuck between the Twin Tigers, the only thing he could do was settle in this semantic reprieve with the visitor.
"Them?" he said in response to her question. "There was a time I might have called them family. But friends...even now, that would be a lie."
The water around them thickened, opaque, as the blood spread around them. Though unable to escape this vision, Ochazuke pressed back and withdrew into himself. He knew all too well that the calling Cranes were not native to this area. They couldn't see it either, where he stood to carry them until it was far too late.
"...but you're forgetting, stranger. What do you do with enemies?"
Raising his hand, he pointed a finger straight towards Cthylla. A
Dodonpa.
"They never knew my name. How is it that you speak it so freely?"