[No, you don't - repeated again and again and again. I know that you don't again and again and again.
Maruki only says it twice, but it doesn't matter. An echo's impossible to stop - it bounces around his skull. Reverberating. Repeating. Akechi knows how he feels - he knows he hates Maruki.
It bounces, until it doesn't. An abrupt end. Silence. He's furious - a white hot anger erupting over all thought, all words said to him.
Akechi's gun is across the room - he doesn't know why the thought occurs to him, in that moment.]
I hate you.
[Louder without a care about a potential audience. He can't think. There's nothing else and he can't think and he's-]
What makes you so goddamn special? A shitty researcher who failed accomplishing anything in his pathetic life - all you did was work hard enough to create problems for everyone around you.
Maruki tumbles down to his goddamn level, so he rises - like he always does. Abruptly forcing his body to stand in a single, erratic motion. A phone clatters to the ground, maybe. He can only feel the rush of air hit an empty hand.]
It was supposed to be so fucking easy at this point. You don't - you're -
[It's not a unintentional stumble when vile words fight for their right to rip through his throat. Akechi's fingers wrapped around the pulse of his own neck - grounding, consoling, tightening and moving up to his cheek, his hair - words need to come out, he wants them out, everything needs to come out and-]
Powerful, beloved, not held back by anything - you're free to whatever you please. What must it be like to live so blithely, unbound by bonds or others? If only Rumi could see you now, with such a powerful gift, she -
[Feigned surprise - an acidic laugh.]
Oh, she wouldn't even recognize you, would she? The one person whose list you should be on wants nothing to do with you.
ITS FINE ITS FINE ITS FINE
Maruki only says it twice, but it doesn't matter. An echo's impossible to stop - it bounces around his skull. Reverberating. Repeating. Akechi knows how he feels - he knows he hates Maruki.
It bounces, until it doesn't. An abrupt end. Silence. He's furious - a white hot anger erupting over all thought, all words said to him.
Akechi's gun is across the room - he doesn't know why the thought occurs to him, in that moment.]
I hate you.
[Louder without a care about a potential audience. He can't think. There's nothing else and he can't think and he's-]
What makes you so goddamn special? A shitty researcher who failed accomplishing anything in his pathetic life - all you did was work hard enough to create problems for everyone around you.
[Beloved. Wanted. Adored. Maruki. Unloved. Unwanted. Maruki.
Unloved, loved, wanted, unwanted-
Maruki tumbles down to his goddamn level, so he rises - like he always does. Abruptly forcing his body to stand in a single, erratic motion. A phone clatters to the ground, maybe. He can only feel the rush of air hit an empty hand.]
It was supposed to be so fucking easy at this point. You don't - you're -
[It's not a unintentional stumble when vile words fight for their right to rip through his throat. Akechi's fingers wrapped around the pulse of his own neck - grounding, consoling, tightening and moving up to his cheek, his hair - words need to come out, he wants them out, everything needs to come out and-]
Powerful, beloved, not held back by anything - you're free to whatever you please. What must it be like to live so blithely, unbound by bonds or others? If only Rumi could see you now, with such a powerful gift, she -
[Feigned surprise - an acidic laugh.]
Oh, she wouldn't even recognize you, would she? The one person whose list you should be on wants nothing to do with you.