Aftg react

Part 73

Book 4 chapter 6

The screen started up again.
|
...
|
"No," Jean said, sharp and panicked. "The master would never leave. The ERC cannot make him."
"It wasn't the ERC," Nathaniel said in quiet French. Jean finally turned to try and see him. Nathaniel was the only other person in the room, standing guard in the far corner. He looked far too calm for all of this. "Ichirou was at the game, and he saw for himself what chaos Tetsuji was breeding in Evermore. When Riko took his swing at me, Ichirou picked his side."
"No," Jean said. "I won't believe it."
"After the police left, I was invited to East Tower to watch," Nathaniel said.
"A show of respect, maybe, because everything I warned him came true.
First, he banished Tetsuji from Exy: no more Edgar Allan, no more professional teams, no more ERC. Then he handled Riko."
"I don't believe you," Jean insisted. "Riko is King. He is the future of Exy. He is a Moriyama. They would never kill him."
"He was," Nathaniel said, with a bit of emphasis, "King. Now he's a martyr."

They all looked at how things played from Jeans prospective, it was different, Neil was like someone else. They had seen how Neil reacted after what Ichirou did and how he was almost smiling when he went to them, but this was Neil being cold and spitting facts.
|
...
|
Even here, even now, denying it was instinctive: "He didn't take anything from me." He tried to pull out of her grip, but she didn't let him go. "Did you see his body?"
"No," Renee admitted.
"I did," Nathaniel said as he crossed the room. He lowered himself to a crouch in front of Jean and studied him with calm blue eyes. He waited until Jean turned a haunted stare on him before cocking his fingers like a gun and pressing them to his own temple. "Pop, and he was gone. It's impressive, isn't it? How easily these monsters die in the end." For a moment he looked far away from here. Jean didn't have to ask where he'd gone; the mess the Wesninskis had made of his face was hard to ignore.
"He's dead, Jean."
"Promise me," Jean said, with a desperation that should have killed him. Nathaniel didn't hesitate. "I promise."

"Wow I can see the whole 'was raised by a serial killer'" said Nicky, they understood what Nicky was saying, Neil looked a lot like Nathaniel there, their reactions were mixed, they knew that Neil didn't really react to death because of his past but this felt different. Neil was spitting facts, it really was a unfair death for him to die so quickly but it was still satisfying.
Andrew was amused looking at Neil on screen, Renee had a little smile watching herself on screen.
|
...
|
"I need to get back to the others," Nathaniel said.
"I have him," Renee promised. "I'll see him back to Abby's when he's ready."
Jean heard cloth rustle as Nathaniel stood, but as soon as Nathaniel stepped away Jean blindly reached out for him. He barely recognized his own voice when he said, "Neil," but it was enough the other man stopped. Jean's fingertips finally found denim, but he didn't try to get a good grip on the other man. "It was a good game."
"Yes," Neil Josten said, with a smile in his voice. "It was, wasn't it?"

"It really was, we are going to ignore everything else and focus on the game, it really was a good game, let's keep going like this" said Wymack to his foxes in an engorging way, they all cheered.
|
...
|
Jean noticed how Andrew and Neil moved like they were caught in each other's gravity, in each other's space more than they were out of it, cigarette smoke and matching armbands and lingering looks when one fell out of orbit for too long. He'd always assumed it was Neil's arrogance that brought him to Evermore over Christmas. Now he thought it was something else, but it wasn't his place to comment on it.

They didn't comment on Jeans prospective of Neil and Andrew, or Nicky almost tried but was stopped by Andrew.
But it was nice watching their teammates finding each other (even if Aaron is ignoring whatever it involves Neil and Andrew).
It was refreshing and in a very tiny way cute.
Andrew's ears might have looked redder but if anyone saw they didn't risk pointing it out in fear of any stray knifes that might come their way.

(The other two maybe three characters are going to need a bit more time, so idk when I will be posting them)