Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 7.1

Evil Gods Don't Laugh

““Let’s eat.”” 

D and I sit across from each other in the dining room on the first floor of the Wakaba family house, eating cup noodles. 

Since it was right around dinnertime, D asked if I wanted something to eat before I left, so here we are. 

The menu for the evening is cup noodles because there’s no proper food in this house. 

Hmm. Yeah, I guess I do have memories of only ever eating cup noodles and convenience-store food and junk like that. 

This is such irrefutable evidence of that, I don’t even know what to say. 

Ahhh, cup noodles are sooo good, though. 

You can’t get these complicated flavors in the other world. They don’t have a lot of interesting spices and chemicals to cook with over there. 

The array of different flavors and ingredients in these cup noodles is so nostalgic. 

Or at least it feels that way, although those memories aren’t actually mine. 

We both slurp our cup noodles in silence. 

D and I both eat very slowly, taking small bites. 

It takes about twice as long for us to finish our noodles as it would an ordinary person. 

Neither of us says a word the whole time. 

But despite the long silence, it doesn’t feel awkward at all. 

I’m not sensitive enough to other people’s emotions to feel awkward in situations like this, and I don’t know if D even has emotions in the first place. 

Since the moment we met, her expression hasn’t changed in the slightest. 

I know I’m hardly one to talk, but D’s even worse than I am. 

Her face is like a mask, without any trace of subtle emotions. 

To the point where I’m starting to wonder if she really doesn’t have them at all. 

Maybe it’s true. She’s always been pretty mysterious, but now that I’m seeing her face-to-face, she only seems even more so. 

Normally, no matter how much a person tries to keep up appearances, you can get hints of their true feelings through their words and actions. 

The tone of their voice. 

The movement of their eyes. 

Their gestures. 

If you keep track of little things like that, you’ll eventually get an idea of that person’s true nature. 

That’s the case even for powerful beings like the Demon Lord and Güli-güli. 

It might seem like the Demon Lord’s personality has changed since she fused with one of my Parallel Minds, but her actual nature hasn’t changed at all. 

Unlike me, she’s still stupidly honest and kind. 

The longer you know someone, the more you notice their little subtleties, but there are usually hints that you can see even in a short amount of time. 

But D doesn’t have those. 

Her tone, her eye movements, her gestures. 

They’re all unfathomable. I can’t read anything from them at all. 

It’s not like she’s so robotic that she doesn’t show any emotions. 

In fact, it’s the opposite. 

Her movements are very refined in a flesh-and-blood kind of way, making her captivating to watch. 

But I can’t even begin to guess what thoughts or feelings are behind those actions. 

It’s like I can see them, but I can’t understand what I’m looking at. 

All it seems like is something disguised as a human, pretending to be a person. 

At that point in my analysis, I give up entirely on understanding D. 

This isn’t the kind of thing you can figure out with logic. 

If I keep trying to do so, I can tell it’s going to be futile. 

There are some things you just can’t understand. 

And for me, D is one of those things. 

I have to approach her as such, or I won’t be able to think straight. 

This must be what it feels like to lose sanity points… 

Leave it to an evil god to whittle away at your mind just by having a conversation. 

““Thanks for the food.”” 

We finish our noodles and put our hands together in thanks at the same time. 

“Leave your trash and chopsticks in the sink, please.” 

Obediently, I put the chopsticks and the empty noodle container in the sink, and the two of us go back upstairs. 

D then turns on her gaming console and starts up a fighting game. 

“Here.” 

She hands me an arcade controller. 

Holding a similar controller, D sits down a little to the side of the screen. 

I follow suit, sitting slightly to the other side of the screen opposite D. 

Thus, our battle begins. 

For a while, the only sound is the clicking and clacking of controllers. 

The battle ends in…my crushing defeat! Dammit! 

Look, it’s not my fault! 

I’ve never held an arcade-style controller in my life! 

I might know how to use it from the memories I have, but that doesn’t mean I have the requisite muscle memory! 

I try to do a shoryuken and end up doing a hadoken! 

And why is my character crouching when I’m trying to backstep?! 

Ugh! Even I have to admit, I’m awful at this! 

But as we continue round after round, the discrepancies between my memories and muscles begin to amend themselves, and I start to get the hang of things. 

I’m making less input mistakes than before, and I can more or less move the character the way I want. 

But I still can’t win. 

The difference in our experience levels with this game is just way too severe. 

D can control her movements down to the frame and predict my movements with such accuracy that I have to wonder if she’s using Future Sight or something. 

I myself can’t use Future Sight, by the way. 

Or, at least, not very well. 

The Future Sight skill is a product of the system doing a massive amount of operations to predict the future with high accuracy. 

I don’t have the processing power to do all that by myself. 

It’s technically not impossible, but it takes so much focus that I pretty much can’t do anything else. 

So I can’t use Future Sight in the middle of our matches, but it doesn’t seem like D is using it, either. 

In fact, judging by the flow of energy, she’s not using any kind of conjuring at all. 

In other words, she’s flesh and blood. 

Which means she’s physically weak, just like me when I’m not using conjuring. 

This body of mine was definitely made based on D’s body. 

So the fact that she’s beating me so thoroughly without any kind of conjuring means that her advantage is just the sheer difference in experience. 

How much time would you have to commit to this to get so strong despite having such a weak body? 

I can’t help shuddering with fear. 

Although we’re just talking about a fighting game! 

We keep battling late into the night, and when we’re both starting to get tired, D makes another proposal: “Want to sleep over?” 

I’m mad that I’ve been losing this whole time, so I quickly agree. 

I set up camp in the empty room that’s supposedly the parents’ room, making it my own by putting up a bunch of thread, then go to bed. 

I’ll definitely win tomorrow! 

Or if not, I’ll at least take a single round! 

…Huh? 

What did I come here to do again? 

Right, right, I came to meet D. 

Yep. And now we’ve met, so my mission is accomplished. 

If I wanna play fighting games afterward, I’m totally allowed to do that. Yeah. 

…I’m not actually as shocked as I expected to be. 

I thought meeting D was going to be a huge shock. 

Since it would be unshakable proof that I’m a fake and all. 

But now that I’ve seen her, all I can do is accept it. 

That I’m just an imitation of D, the real Hiiro Wakaba. 

I first became aware of D’s existence when I acquired the Wisdom skill. 

It all began when the Divine Voice (temp.) said D’s name. 

Next was when I encountered Black for the first time. 

A smartphone appeared out of nowhere, and from it came a voice that called itself “D.” 

That was my and D’s first contact. 

After that, she continued to meddle with me once in a while. I always thought she was creepy, since I felt an unsettling sensation whenever we spoke. 

I didn’t figure out why until after I became a god. 

When I underwent deification, my soul was completely transformed. 

In the process, I noticed something that was stuck to my soul. 

It was in my divinity field, my foundation. 

In fact, it had swallowed me up entirely and become my very existence. 

It was Hiiro Wakaba’s memories. 

The existence that wrote over my original self and became my being. 

And whether I wanted to or not, I realized what that meant. 

That I’m some other being entirely who just happens to have Hiiro Wakaba’s memories. 

Once I realized that, a lot of things that I’d had doubts or concerns about all clicked into place at once. 

Like how I was always “nameless.” 

How Vampy always had her old name and her current name displayed, but I still remained nameless for some reason. 

I never had the name Hiiro Wakaba. 

That would explain why I had so few skill points, too. 

The old me was a pretty insignificant living thing. Since skill points are a part of your soul’s power, of course mine were low. 

But the last nail in the coffin was the discrepancies between D’s existence and my own memories. 

D once told me that there was an explosion in the classroom she was in, and the other students who got caught up in the explosion were reincarnated in the world I was born in. 

And as far as I could remember, there wasn’t anyone else in the classroom who could’ve been D. 

Except for me, Hiiro Wakaba. 

When I thought about it, there were a lot of undeniable contradictions and inconsistencies in my memories. 

I don’t even remember my parents’ faces. 

I thought of myself as a loser, but I also knew that I had a beautiful face. 

And there were all kinds of obvious personality differences in between my memories and my current self. 

Eventually, I realized D’s true identity and my own. 

There was a spider that had made its nest in the classroom. 

The boys were going to squash it, but Ms. Oka stopped them. 

In fact, she said it could be a biology lesson and even tried to get the class to take care of it. 

Although that last part didn’t happen, since the chosen students cried their eyes out and refused to do it. 

Nevertheless, that spider stayed in the classroom. 

It was surrounded by humans much larger than itself. 

It could’ve died at any moment. 

Most humans shunned it and thought it was creepy. 

But it still desperately clung to life. 

The lowest-ranking creature in the classroom… 

That was me. 

““Let’s eat.”” 

The next morning. 

Our breakfast table is adorned with burnt toast and microwaved side dishes. 

Hooray for this incredible society in which you can eat a proper meal without having to actually cook at all! 

My only regret is that I can’t fit all this food into the tiny stomach of this body! 

D doesn’t care about taste or amount as long as it’s edible. 

Maybe our contrasting levels of gluttony is the biggest difference between D and me. 

Well, that would make sense, I guess. 

I didn’t start living with a clear sense of self until I hatched from that egg in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

It all started when I witnessed the bloodbath of my siblings and the horror of my giant mother and told myself, I refuse to die like this! 

I’m sure I had a survival instinct in my old life as a spider, too, but it was this beginning that made me as determined to stay alive as I am now. 

And after that, when I was on the verge of starvation and had to eat the corpse of one of my siblings, the mentality of I have to eat to survive! is what made me into such a glutton. 

Without that experience, maybe I wouldn’t be quite so preoccupied with food. 

Then there was the incident where my home was burned down and I realized that just surviving wasn’t enough. 

Everything I went through after that is what made me who I am now. 

At first, I was just a substitute for the real Hiiro Wakaba. 

But my experiences in that world turned me into me. 

I might be a fake, but the history I’ve built up for myself is real. 

That thought calms me right down. 

Maybe I’m not that shocked about meeting D because I had already braced myself for it, but I think it’s also because I have this firm belief that deep down, I’m still me. 

““Thanks for the food.”” 

Feeling refreshed as I finish breakfast, I put my utensils in the sink. 

Then we go back to the room on the second floor. 

It’s game time! 

Just like yesterday, our battle begins again. 

But this time, one thing is different. 

“While we’re doing this, please listen.” 

D starts talking to me. 

“Since you’ve made it all this way, let me explain from the beginning.” 

I’m guessing she’s not talking about the fighting game we’re playing right now. 

“As you know, this all started when the Dimensional Magic of the hero and the Demon Lord interfered with this world.” 

Right. I guess I did hear about that before. 

If I remember right, a previous hero and Demon Lord tried to transcend space to do something with Dimensional Magic and failed. 

The misfired spell exploded in the high school classroom where D, Hiiro Wakaba, was sitting, and the shock waves killed all the students and their teacher. 

Then D had them all reborn in the other world as the reincarnations. 

“The reincarnations got caught up in this because of me. They’re just innocent people who were hurt because I was playing at having a fun high school life. So in order to take responsibility for that, I set them up to get reborn in that world with some extra advantages. You knew all this, yes?” 

Wait a sec. 

What do you mean, a fun high school life? 

Is that stupid idea the whole reason this evil god was pretending to be a high school student?! 

And the reincarnations got killed because D was hiding out in their high school for such a stupid reason… 

Yeah, I would certainly hope she’d take responsibility for that! 

Those poor reincarnations! 

“At any rate, that was all well and good. It was an unfortunate accident, but I set them all up for a nice new life, so my responsibility ended there. Although I won’t deny I thought it would be more entertaining this way.” 

Wait a sec. 

Are you sure the main reason wasn’t just because you thought it would be entertaining, and “taking responsibility” was just an excuse? 

Leave it to an evil god. She’s cruel in all kinds of ways. 

“But there was just one problem. How was I to fill the box that was meant for me?” 

Huh? D’s box? 

I don’t really get it, but I’m guessing if I just stay quiet and listen, she’ll explain things. 

“I was attending that high school under the false name of Hiiro Wakaba. My disguise was perfect. I had a family register and all that, and Hiiro Wakaba was even listed as an existing human in soul administration.” 

Hrmmm? 

I’m not sure what soul administration is, but if she’s mentioning it in the same category as a family register, does that mean that souls are all recorded somewhere just like a family register? 

We’re all being managed by some unknown network of the gods! 

S-say whaaat?! 

…Jokes aside, the scary part is that this might actually be true. 

Also, not that it matters, but now I know Hiiro Wakaba is a false name. 

I kinda figured as much, but honestly, who would give themselves a name with the kanji for princess in it? Isn’t that a little obnoxious? 

“My subordinates are exceptional, so they’d immediately notice even the slightest discrepancy in the flow of souls and come rushing to investigate. If that happened, then I’d lose the ordinary life I made for myself to play—I mean, for research—and be dragged back to work by force. I couldn’t have that.” 

Wait a sec. 

Were you about to say play hooky? 

And what was the point in covering it up when the rest of what you just said made it clear that’s what you’re doing anyway? 

Dragged back by force… What are you, a runaway kid?! 

Ugh, I feel a headache coming on. So basically, D skipped out on work and escaped, pretended to be a human, and was going to school to have a fun high school life or whatever. 

No waaay. 

“There were twenty-six humans who died in that classroom. However, as you can see, I’m still alive and well. I couldn’t just pop into that world myself, but if I didn’t do something, I’d be found out and put back to work. The best way to settle things peacefully was to find a living creature to be reborn in that world in my place, filling the role of a human in the flow of souls. At this point, you know who I’m talking about, right?” 

Ah. Yeah. It’s me, right? 

Uhhh, sooo…what? 

Hmm. Ummm. I dunno. 

What does this mean exactly? 

Shall I skip over the confusing parts like soul administration and sum it up simply? 

D was messing around and didn’t want to be dragged back to work, so she decided to send in a double, and that wound up being a spider that just happened to be in the room—namely, me. 

That’s sooo stupid! 

What a stupid reason for me to exist! 

Is that seriously the whole reason why I was born?! 

No way. 

No waaay. 

NO WAAAAY! 

“It was actually quite difficult, you know. I had to come up with all kinds of schemes to disguise a mere spider’s soul as a human’s, and I even fabricated memories of Hiiro Wakaba’s life and grafted them onto your soul, just in case. Although I suppose it’s my own fault, since I decided it would be more fun to trick the system than just increasing the volume of the soul to match a human’s. But I was careful not to cut corners, even if you would probably die right away, so you wound up surpassing my expectations and making for some splendid entertainment. So I guess it all worked out.” 

What exactly is this feeling welling up inside me as D proudly explains her process to me? 

Oh, I know. I really, really want to slap her. 

“Since you were a spider in the first place, I reincarnated you as a spider, which also gave you a connection to one of the major players in that world. I sent you to the Great Elroe Labyrinth for pretty arbitrary reasons—since it’d be a tough place to start out, you were a spider monster, and it was just around hatching time anyway—but it went better than I ever could have hoped. I deserve a pat on the back for making that call. Good job, me.” 

How can she say that with a straight face? 

I really, really want to headbutt her in the gut. 

The more she explains it, the more I realize just how awful the secret story of my birth really is. 

She’s puffing up her chest and acting like she did a great job, but the short version is that she just made me into a substitute because she didn’t want to work, right? 

Like a kid who swears to their mom that they’ve already finished their homework because they don’t want to do it over the summer! 

Doesn’t she realize that she’s only delaying the inevitable, and once they find out, her punishment is just gonna be even worse because of it? 

Knowing her, I guess she probably does know that. 

She just thinks it’ll be more fun this way, I bet. 

Ugh. In the end, it always comes back to that, doesn’t it? 

Maybe that really is the only motivation behind D’s actions: whether it seems fun or not. 

Honestly, I don’t know. From my perspective, D is so incomprehensible that I never have any idea what she’s thinking. 

Maybe deep down, she has a different motivation entirely. 

But her words and actions always imply that she does these things only because she thinks it’ll be entertaining. 

No matter what D really thinks on the inside, as long as it doesn’t show on the surface, the only guess I can make for her motivation is entertainment. 

I’ll just have to assume that’s true for now. 

And if so, the only conclusion I can come up with is…she’s still messing with me. 

Even I didn’t expect that the reason for my entire existence would be something so stupid. 

But maybe it’s true. 

In fact, that kind of stupid, pointless reason might be exactly what sets me free. 

Fine, see if I care! 

If that’s how it’s gonna be, then I’ll just do whatever I want, too. 

See, I was thinking about this stuff on the way here. 

I mean, I was made by the puppet master called D, who gave me part of her memories in the process. So why in the world was I created? 

What’s my purpose? 

When I finally met D, would I find out that I had some incredibly important role that I didn’t even know about? 

And if so, what would happen to me after that? 

Basically, I was a little freaked out about the possibility of this unknown future. 

I thought there was no way a super-being like D would create me for no reason at all. 

But guess what? 

Turns out there really was no reason! 

Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. 

There’s the stupid reason of D wanting to get out of work. 

But man, talk about anticlimactic. I was nervous there’d turn out to be some huge reason that I was created, so this is beyond a letdown. 

Like, I was bracing myself for the possibility that she might even get rid of me on the spot. But this is so far in the other direction that all the energy has drained right out of me. 

Although it did occur to me that, since D seems to consider me a favorite source of entertainment, she probably wouldn’t just get rid of me. 

But I did think something terrible might happen to me. 

I should probably just be happy that I was wrong, buuut that’s not where I’m at right now. 

D is technically—just technically!—kinda like my parent, and in a way it’s thanks to her that I’m like this now, so if she had asked me to do something, I would’ve been fairly willing to help her out. 

But now that I know I was made for such a stupid reason? Not so much. 

If she was gonna force me to do something, I’d have to go along with her, since she’s so powerful, but otherwise I’m just gonna do whatever I want. 

“Exactly. That’s for the best.” 

An emotionless voice interrupts my disillusioned thoughts. 

It’s completely level and unfeeling as usual, but for some reason, it has a certain ring of satisfaction to it at this particular moment. 

“It’s because you’re free that you’re able to shine so much. I have great respect for that.” 

Because it’s more entertaining that way, right? I can almost hear the unspoken comment. 

A cold shudder runs down my spine. 

At the same time, my head heats up like it’s boiling over. 

She knew everything all along. 

She knew that I wouldn’t be able to refuse if she asked me to do something, knew about the fears I was feeling before I came here, all of it. 

And she knew exactly how to give me my freedom when she told me the story of my creation. 

D could easily use me if she wanted to, but instead she chose to let me keep doing as I please. 

Because it’s more fun that way. 

Disillusioned? Yeah, right! 

It doesn’t change the fact that I was created for a stupid reason, but still, D clearly thought about what was best for me and guided me toward what she figured was the best conclusion. 

No one could pull that off unless they understood me completely. 

I can’t understand the depths of D’s thoughts, but evidently, I wasn’t even reading her surface emotions correctly. 

I underestimated how far she would go to steer things in the direction that would entertain her most. 

Scaaary. 

She can do anything she wants, but she chooses to do nothing. 

Except when she thinks her interference would make things more entertaining, in which case she won’t hesitate. 

Honestly, I think it’s pretty amazing how she’ll do whatever it takes to achieve her goal. 

But at the same time, it’s scary. Because D really would stop at nothing to get what she wants. 

And I can’t even imagine the scale of her machinations. 

Because she’s so insanely powerful that she could destroy a whole world and still have energy to spare. 

She really is a god. 

If she was to use all that power for her goals, what do you think would happen? 

I can’t imagine it, nor do I really want to. 

And I definitely don’t want to imagine what would happen if she turned that power on me. 

That could only end in my complete and total destruction. 

I’ve walked the line between life and death several times over by now. 

But if D came after my life, none of those experiences would compare. 

It’d be over for me, period. I would have zero chance of survival. 

No amount of struggling or scheming would affect that outcome. 

That’s why she’s scary. 

I’m shivering like my spine’s been turned into an icicle. 

This is crazy. 

And no, I’m not just talking about the fear. 

It’s the other thing that’s the problem. 

Even though my spine is cold, my head actually feels hot. 

While the rest of my body is frozen in fear, my brain is actually boiling with delight. 

I’m happy that D acknowledged my worth. 

It’s like someone pumped my brain full to bursting with endorphins. 

Oh man. This is totally crazy. 

I don’t think I’m the kind of person who needs a lot of approval, but when it comes from D, that’s another story. 

D is special to me, whether I like it or not. 

I mean, she’s basically the original I’m based on. 

Before I knew that, I always felt a certain aversion toward D. I could tell that she was blatantly playing with me like a toy. 

But still, I was always very aware of D. 

The more I felt avoidant of her, the more she occupied my thoughts. 

And even though I was hostile toward her, I always looked up to her as a powerful being far beyond my reach. 

I want to live freely and do as I please. 

Which means I can’t accept the existence of anyone who tries to control me. 

So I always resisted any powerful beings who tried to restrict my freedom. 

The many monsters who tried to kill me during my fight for survival in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

Earth Dragon Araba. 

My battle with Mother. 

And then I met the Demon Lord. 

Potimas, Güli-güli, and the state of the world itself. 

I’ve always fought against all of that, even if some of those fights are still unresolved. 

But among all of them, there was one being who I considered to be on another level completely, a special level that I would never reach. 

D. 

So how much would it mean for that same being to give her approval of me? 

How important would it be for a fake like me to be acknowledged by the original? 

Apparently even more than I thought. 

So much so that part of me wouldn’t even mind being restricted if D was the one to do it. 

Oh man, this is so crazy. 

Is this love?! 

I mean, I’m pretty sure I don’t swing that way. 

Then again, if you asked me if I like men, my answer would be: hmmmm? 

It seems as if I don’t have much desire for that kinda thing, maybe even none at all. 

Come on—I’m joking. Of course I’m not gonna fall in love with D. 

But at the same time, I have to admit that I’m obviously pretty drawn to her. 

I mean, the fact that I said I was disillusioned just means that I had high expectations of her in the first place. 

What’s up with that? 

Maybe this is how it feels when you’re about to have a marriage interview. 

Okay, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore! 

Whew. Calm down, me. 

You’re freaking out a little too much. 

“Ah. Maybe it was rude of me to give you a name before.” 

Suddenly, D brings her face close to mine. 

So close that our lips are almost touching. 

“Naming carries a heavy implication for us gods. The act of naming strengthens the connection between the namer and the one being named. You could even say that it binds their souls.” 

Say whaaat? 

So this indescribable something that I’m feeling right now might be the effect of naming? 

I’ve been unknowingly bound to D ever since she gave me the name Shiraori, the White Weaver?! 

“Freedom is what makes you shine. But I suppose I did want to keep you close at hand, even if it meant plucking the feathers from your wings. I know it is contradictory, but that’s just because of how deeply charming you are.” 

Her whisper in my ear fills my mind with sweet dizziness. 

Charming…charming… D’s words echo in my brain. 

“You belong to me. I have no intention of letting go. But please fly as freely as you can within my grasp. As long as you do that, I will happily dote on you until the time comes for the world to end.” 

Next thing I know, I’m back in my room in the duke’s mansion. 

I do remember making my way back here, kinda. 

After playing a bunch more games with D, none of which I came close to winning. 

She even gave me some souvenirs as a sort of reward. 

They’re all stored in the alternate dimension I made with my spatial conjuring for now. I guess I’ll check that out later. 

For now, back in the duke’s mansion, I roll around on my bed. 

It’s like I’ve just woken up from a dream. 

That was crazy. 

And bad. 

I dunno, it was just…oof. 

What was that, some kind of pickup line? 

Oh man, oh man, oh man. 

What if she really did steal my heart?! 

And the scariest part is that I don’t even think I would mind! 

At this rate, I’m heading straight down the road of being a kept man. 

Although I’m not a man. Or a human. 

Yep. I gotta go on the run! 

If I had stayed at D’s any longer, I definitely would’ve wound up under her thumb. 

I can’t let that happen. 

I gotta be strong and resist being tempted by D. 

But I don’t know if I can resist for long. 

So I have to run away, somewhere that she can’t reach me. 

Although with D, I don’t even know if it’s possible to run away from her completely. 

I certainly can’t right now. 

I have to get stronger and come up with some kind of getaway plan, or I’m in trouble. 

Right now, the only place I can run to from here is Earth. 

And if I go there, I’ll fall right into D’s hands! 

So for now, I’ll stay here and keep building my strength. 

And at the same time, I’ll start making a detailed getaway plan! 

“Aah!” The door slams open, and Vampy barges right into the room. “Where have you been?! How dare you run off without a word again! How many times have I told you to let me know where you’re going first?!” 

Crossing her arms, Vampy huffs intimidatingly to make her anger clear. 

Oh right, I guess I might’ve agreed to something like that…maybe? 

“Next time, for real, you absolutely have to tell me when you’re going somewhere! Got it?!” 

All right, all right. 

I guess that’s fair. 

If I decide to go somewhere, I’d better tell these guys first. 

Even if I’m running away. 

There’s still lots of stuff I have to do here, so I don’t think that’ll happen for a long while yet anyway. 

But if the time comes, I’ll tell them before I leave. 

I promise.