{5th Demon; Text} Backdated to Christmas Day

[dejerate]

Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays. Mika and I are gonna go give out presents at the orphanage later on.

But ah, in light of that sort of thing. Regarding memories from this other life? How do you deal with those, when there are awful memories on happier times of the year like this? It's just such a difference in trying to juggle it? At least, for me with what I remember. Because it's kinda hard to get into things while remembering the apocalypse. Not that I'm not trying. But it doesn't make this easy.

[Okay. So he remembered that a while back now, but still. It's. Rough. Even if he's trying to do what he can to distract himself from dwelling on it, from joining in to try keep himself busy. Hence helping out at the orphanage. Even if he would be the least convincing Santa.]

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[maidofmistakes]

You remembered your world ending, too?

[dejerate]

There was this virus? Killed most of the population. Then the vampires took over. So. Yeah. Pretty much. I've mentioned it before, but it wasn't really something I tried to dwell on much. Just harder to do at this time of year since it happened on Christmas.

[maidofmistakes]

Oh, man... I'm so sorry. My sister and I both remember what happened to our planet. I know I ended up seeing a therapist over it, after we got to Earth, but... Sorry. But it's not gonna happen here, right? We're fixing the worlds, so...

[dejerate]

A therapist? I don't know. Unless there is someone as a therapist here that has the app, I'm not sure how much they might understand. And I don't remember seeing one in this other Japan, in my memories either.

But I would have been maybe eight? When it happened, so. That would have been a few years back at this point.

[maidofmistakes]

That's awful. And you couldn't get away, huh? You had to live on an Earth like that?

[dejerate]

I did. Lived with the vampires for a few years. I managed to escape from their underground city, but there's not many of us left.

[maidofmistakes]

Oh, man... I'm sorry. It's not our lives now, but it still feels really... real, you know, when you think about all the stuff that happened to your home. Even without what happened with those ornaments on the tree.

[dejerate]

It's weird. My memories are so different to how things are here, now.

The ornaments were weird. I'm just glad when that happened that I didn't actually run into any vampires or Horsemen.

[maidofmistakes]

You saw a world with no people, too? It's kinda creepy that way, isn't it? But also... yeah, kinda safe.

[dejerate]

Well, Mika was with me but. That might be because he was with me when we were about to decorate the tree and all? I dunno.

It was weird. But probably a good thing, since I didn't have Ashuramaru with me at the time.

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah. The same thing happened to me -- I went into Mr. Tsushima's ornament world, too.

I guess it's to remind us of something, but I don't know what. Maybe that we still have each other over the holidays? Or that we're supposed to save those worlds?

[dejerate]

So it wasn't just us then.

You think that might be it? About reminding us of the worlds we have to save. To remember? Part of me isn't sure if I want to, almost.

[maidofmistakes]

I guess so. I don't know. There were some bad parts, but I still want to be a hero. I still want to save everyone I can. ...Sorry. I guess I'm not helping with the Christmas thing.

[dejerate]

It's not that I was asking about Christmas specifically. But yeah, it's...hard, sometimes. To keep being optimistic with this stuff. With what I remember.

[maidofmistakes]

I don't know if I'd be the right person for that. I remember things getting better for me. But I still wonder. If that planet could've been saved, or if anyone else survived besides us.

[dejerate]

You remember things getting better? Hm. Maybe I kind of do and don't remember that at the same time. It's. Complicated.

[maidofmistakes]

You mean, better than nothing, but still pretty bad?

[dejerate]

I mean, I got away from the vampires. I escaped their underground city, but that cost me our family. I mean, not biologically, but we were a group of orphans from the same orphanage. Found out I'd been experimented on. Made myself a new family.

[maidofmistakes]

A new family, huh? In a new place without the people you knew before...

[dejerate]

Yeah. My Squad I worked with when I joined the military. And Guren, the guy that took me in after I escaped the vampires.

[maidofmistakes]

It sounds pretty nice. I know you'd still miss your family and your friends, and nothing can really step into that, but...

[dejerate]

Right. It's not like I was trying to replace the others. But, I dunno, once I found out Mika was still alive, that...that changed things. Helped me be able to open myself up to the squad more.

[maidofmistakes]

Someone else from your past, you mean?

[dejerate]

Yeah. Mika is here too!

[maidofmistakes]

That's pretty nice. My sister remembers a lot of the same stuff I do. We must have been sisters then, too. It's weird that I still don't remember her.

[dejerate]

I hadn't thought of that. People still being family or something, even in their memories. I mean, I guess that's kind of the same thing with Mika and I. We were both still at the same orphanage together, that's how we met, here and in our memories.

Maybe you will remember her later? Or you had a different sister in your memories? I dunno.

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah, but we remember having the same family, being sent to Earth, everything. We even got our dog back. I just don't remember her.

[dejerate]

Weird. You sure it isn't just, I don't know, different dimensions or something that you were sisters? Kind of weird if you don't remember her yet at all.

[maidofmistakes]

I mean, I remember an alternate timeline where there was someone named Power Girl instead of me. Something like that?

[dejerate]

I dunno how it works. I just remember reading about the idea somewhere. Probably one of my comics or something. So probably something like that? I guess?

[hauhra]

To be honest, this time of year is no less an inconvenience for terrible memories than any others since Christmas isn't a holiday I celebrate, but... [ there's an awkward pause between this text and the next as he gathers the courage to finally admit it, for once (and for the time being) resisting the urge to make a snarky comment: ] having someone to talk to about them can make a surprisingly big difference, whether it's a public broadcast like this one, or a private conversation between friends...

Otherwise, it's going to feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

[dejerate]

Christmas isn't as huge in Japan. Kind of hard to escape it here though. The US kind of goes all out with their holidays, I've noticed.

There's one person I know here from my memories, at least. I've kind of talked to them about some stuff already.

[Not everything. But most of it. Which, part of him feels guilty about, but at the same time, even if he knows Mika will eventually remember for himself, it's....hard, to break to the other, that he becomes a vampire.]

[hauhra]

I wonder what it's like for those who are the only souls that were saved from their world... who knows where I would be today if that were the case for me.

[ Bakhura, of course, has a vague idea: the same person, or nearly the same person, that his other self had once been, and probably with nearly the same grim fate, too. ]

And unless you're looking at the very small exception of the Coptic Christian population, it's the same in Egypt as well.

[dejerate]

I dunno what I'd do without Mika. Or if he were here but without the app.

[Sure. He might be hiding some things from his best friend, but still.]

I don't actually know a lot about Egypt. Other than them having a lot of Gods. And the pyramids and all.

[hauhra]

Or worse, if the other people from your world were to simply stop having the app one day.

[ It's something he worries about a lot: either the person in question disappearing, or him disappearing and leaving that person to deal with the effects of the app by himself despite not having the mental capacity to. ]

And while it's true that we had a lot of Gods in the past, the reason we're not big on Christmas these days is because we're a predominately Muslim country... even someone like me, who was born right here in this city, wasn't raised by my parents to celebrate it.

[dejerate]

I dunno what I would do if Mika forgot. I mean, sure, I'd still see him around and be friends but. That'd be rough.

But that makes sense. Not all religions celebrate. And besides, I'm from Japan, so it's. Different there in comparison to this.

[hauhra]

Make no mistake: Jesus is still an important prophet to those Muslims who are religious... it's just that celebrating his birthday simply isn't done in Islam, because for us, he's not the Prophet (pbuh), who, by the way, has a birthday celebration of his own around this time of year as well...

[ Bakhura is using "us" loosely in this context, being non-practicing himself -- but he can't ignore the impact that religion has had on his culture even if it's not something he usually talks about. Still, he'll make a point to change the subject, not wanting to make things too uncomfortable for either himself or for Yuichiro with his religious baggage: ]

And what's the difference in Japan, aside from the scale?

[dejerate]

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, not that I'm really religious myself, but. I get that different religions have their different beliefs and traditions and holy books/people and all.

And as for Japan. It's a big thing there to go get fried chicken for Christmas? I'm still not sure how that started exactly, but.