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Yes, that's it! So that story is known even in Japan, is it? That's interesting.

However, I can't say I'm satisfied. What about your climactic battle with the stalking beast? Did you outwit it?

I wish I could say I was that clever, but I really think we just took it by surprise.

[John and Minato are awfully scrawny, normal looking kids, after all.]

And we had it outnumbered. Between the two of us, we were able to find a way. It would've been pretty tough on my own, though, so I'm lucky John was there.

You're not much for storytelling, are you, Minato? I'll just imagine the details, I suppose.

[Especially not when he's lived the past year pretending he doesn't have supernatural powers. It's probably less necessary here, but old habits die very hard.]

Oh, sorry... I guess I'm not very good at it, no. It was honestly all kind of a blur. But I did get a leaf out of it.

[Yep.

A leaf.]

It looks like a regular leaf, but somehow it feels important...? I don't really understand.

Could it be the golden leaf "they" were asking us to find in a certain one of those quests?

I don't know... I guess even if it is, the quest wasn't accomplished, since I didn't find it with someone aligned with yellow.

[WHAT A WASTE.]

I guess for now I'll hold onto it? I'm not sure what else to do with it. Even if it seems silly, since it's just a leaf.

I don't think it silly in the slightest - no less than talking furniture and magic wells. Knowing this town, you must have received it for a reason. How did you come across it?

Well... it was on the minotaur's horn. But I had this really, really strong sense that I should take it with me.

[And he has not gotten this far by ignoring those feelings.]

Then I suppose it's a good thing you did. A man should trust his gut instinct on these matters.

[ although he's glad the leaf didn't poison or otherwise hurt Minato. he doesn't trust anything here. ]

Still - snatching treasure from a minotaur's horn! They'll be writing myths about you next at this rate.

[... Lupin...

He's done so much more than this. But on the other hand, it sounds like way too much to him. Especially after the last month or so that he's experienced, where nobody really remembered him at all... isn't that just asking for way too much?]

That sounds like too much for me... it'd be overwhelming. I don't really need to be remembered like that.

[Lupin's obviously joking, but being remembered has been on Minato's mind--so maybe he really can't help but give a somewhat serious answer.

According to you, they write such things about me in the future, no? It sounds like a nice way to be remembered to me.

[ it is an unusually serious answer, and not what Lupin was expecting from him. ]

In any case, it was a jest, so you don't need to worry so much.

That's different... the things you've done make for a really good story.

[... But if text can sound sheepish, this sure does:]

But right, oops. Sorry, I took it too seriously by accident.

Facing off against a minotaur doesn't make for a good story? You've got quite the set of standards on you.

[Oh... there's a point.

Lupin is genuine, and rather kind, but he does have this tendency to point out the little niggling strange things Minato says, doesn't he... Eh...]

It's hard to consider it a brave tale or anything when we mostly got through it thanks to luck, that's all.

[ he can't help himself. sorry, minato... he's just getting the sense there's something beneath the surface with you. ]

Luck is a great ally to any good lead, you know. I'm a tremendously skilled robber - naturally! - but if you believe good luck didn't play a part in my accomplishments, I regret to inform you that you're mistaken.

But I have got you figured out. You're simply too humble a man to own up to your achievements, aren't you? Are you shy to share them with me?

[... It was a nice masquerade for as long as it lasted, but going any further with it would start to feel uncomfortably like lying. And he doesn't want to lie to Lupin, even if it was nice to feel kind of normal for awhile. Because Lupin's right--he is humble, and doesn't want to talk about all of the strange and fantastical things he can do, but also...]

A little bit, I guess. It was just nice to feel normal for a little while, but I guess I haven't really been as open as I should've been.

I'm kind of used to dealing with monsters, though. We call them Shadows back home, but they're not all that different from that minotaur, so it wasn't really that strange to me, even if it still kind of took some luck to beat it.

It just didn't really feel right to keep pretending, though.

Edited 2018-04-21 00:30 (UTC)

[ Oh. Well, he might have suspected something just beneath the surface, but he certainly wasn't suspecting all of this - and not right now, either. Lupin reads over it a few times before tapping out his response. ]

If you took my comment to insinuate you were pretending to be anything, then you've misunderstood me again. You have appeared to me a clever and perfectly fine young man, who perhaps is quiet and uncertain about the future, nothing more, and I intended simply to tease you, and draw out some of your pluck in the mean-time.

That said, fighting minotaurs or Shadows or whatever else does not make you less of the person I know you as. Though perhaps more deserving of a story written about you than I'd guessed!

Edited 2018-04-21 01:42 (UTC)

[He had to come clear--he's a pretty honest person, especially to someone he respects as much as Lupin.

So...]

I don't think you were calling me out or anything, don't worry, Lupin-san. But... it didn't feel right to keep pretending, either, at that point.

[It came a bit too close to lying for him.]

I appreciate that though, honestly. I'd rather not be treated any differently because of it. I guess that's why I was so reluctant.

[ lying is easy for him, so maybe that's why he doesn't entirely understand the heaviness with which Minato treats this topic... but he gets the feeling, at least. ]

There's a difference between pretending and simply omitting a few details of your life. I've not told anyone who I really am who doesn't already know me the way you did. Still, what's done is done; I am tickled you trust me enough to tell me this. Do you mind if I ask you more about it?

[Lupin really is a good guy. It's endearing the way he reassures Minato and almost teases him a little about how he came clean so needlessly.

It's fine, though. That just makes him feel even more confident in having told him.]

Well... like you said, I knew more about you than you knew about me. Now we're a bit more even, I guess. But I don't mind. Despite all of that, I still don't think my life was that exciting, but I'll share what I can.

I'm afraid to ask what you would consider exciting, my friend.

How did you get into the business of fighting Shadows? Is that normal where you're from?

It's not. Back home we had to keep it a secret, since it's not like anyone would've believed us. I just kind of fell into it when I moved. My first proper night back, I ended up in the middle of a situation with some, so at that point I guess it was fight or die.

[He was thankfully able to do the former!!]

It was kind of shocking...

[Minato has mastered the fine art of extreme understatement.]

I would imagine so. Are you fighting to protect the clueless public from them, then?

Something like that. The public, my friends... anyone who might get caught up in it, I guess. We--my team and I--have the ability to do something about it, so it's our responsibility to do it, right?

[ inwardly, Lupin is amused at how heroic Minato sounds after how he'd stubbornly rejected Lupin's describing him that way earlier... but he won't bring it up again. ]

Indeed - though not everyone thinks that way. You're a good man, Minato. A scoundrel like myself will have to be careful around you.

How do you fight these Shadows? Guns and swords, I imagine.

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