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TO THE PLAYERS
[The note is found on top of Ichigo's belonging, neatly folded.
It reads:]
To all the Players still alive in this Game:
If you're reading this, then you probably found it with my stuff.
Or it somehow fell out of my pocket, in which case - stop reading and give it back to me. Or burn it, I don't really care which.
But if I really am dead, then keep reading.
I'll start this off with the biggest thing first: I'm a Reaper. I've been a Reaper the entire time, though I was one tasked with hunting down the other Reapers that were forced to kill the Players.
Yes, forced - hell, some of them had never killed before this. Explains why the crime scenes were always terrible, you know? You can't just throw newbies at people and expect them to get away with murder.
...Anyway, I guess I should get to the point. The point is, it's your decision what happens next - you, the players. We can't achieve the conditions to bring back the Erased, because we're not the ones being judged here. It's all of you.
Don't play the game the way it's meant to be played. This Game's cruel on purpose, to try and get you all to focus on things like revenge, hatred, anger...all so that they can probably deny you your second chances, or at the very least prove that violent Games are the only way to keep going.
I don't have any concrete evidence for what I think is the right thing to do, but...I've thought about it a lot. What would be the way to fulfill those conditions? Why would this be set up the way it is?
In the end, I could only come to one conclusion. That you'll have to put your trust in a Reaper - knowing they are one, and that they've killed one of you - and let them live.
I know, it's asking a lot. But...sharing our secrets was a step in the right direction, according to the Composer. And if that's the case, then...wouldn't trusting a Reaper and letting them live be the answer?
This game is all about trust. About who to trust, about putting your faith in people, and talking to them, despite the potential betrayal it could bring. I...want to believe that this is the answer.
...
If you're still reading past this point, then...I hope you'll be fine with me talking about how I became a Reaper, and what I've done since then. If not...then tear this part up, I guess.
I was ritually murdered in order to create a Soul King, a being that preserved the balance between the living and the dead. But 'murdered' isn't really the right term for it - because my body is still barely alive, preserved in a crystal. It was my consciousness that died, everything that made me, 'me' - because a Soul King doesn't need a mind, or a will. It's just something that holds the worlds apart
And a dead consciousness still needs somewhere to go.
I ended up in my world's Games - which determine if a soul can be reincarnated into the living world, or if they'll be broken down into spirit particles to keep the cycle of reincarnation running - and ultimately won, even though so many other Players died in the process. I personally met my world's Composer, someone who had been removed out of the cycle and placed in Hell because his soul was so corrupted - but he was there because the original composer, the old Soul King, had died when his body did. The new Composer made it clear that I couldn't be broken down or reincarnated, because I was technically still alive, and yet dead at the same time.
So, he gave me a choice. I could either go back to my body - regain my consciousness there, but be trapped inside a crystal, limbless and unable to move or speak for eternity - or become a Reaper, and work for him and his games.
You can all guess what I chose.
Most of the time, Games are a rare thing - but in my world, because of how it was set up...Games were near constant. It was like a regular job - wake up, sigh, and get right into erasing. Because - the Composer was never gentle, and he loved to experiment with people, putting them in different violent situations to see how they reacted. A game like this...is right up his alley, the bastard.
...I don't know how long I lived like that, killing and working. Long enough to hate myself a million times over, long enough to stop caring about Players and other Reapers around me because they were probably just going to die anyway, so I shouldn't get attached. I learned how to turn off my emotions, kill the pain - with whatever I could find, wondering when I'll finally die for all the people I've killed, all the curses and screams thrown my way.
I don't deserve pity, or tears - not when I've got so much blood on my hands. I didn't even try to reach out too hard, because...I was running away. Doing what I always do, trying to protect myself instead of other people, because it hurt too much otherwise. I'm sorry - but I hope that it makes it easier for the rest of you to focus on what needs to be focused on, and not my death.
...I deserve this, no matter how you find me. Remember that, and I'm sorry that I lied for so long.
And, in the end?
I believe in all of you.
Bring everyone who's died in this game back, every last Player. Get your second chance, and never look back.
Goodbye.
-Ichigo
It reads:]
To all the Players still alive in this Game:
If you're reading this, then you probably found it with my stuff.
Or it somehow fell out of my pocket, in which case - stop reading and give it back to me. Or burn it, I don't really care which.
But if I really am dead, then keep reading.
I'll start this off with the biggest thing first: I'm a Reaper. I've been a Reaper the entire time, though I was one tasked with hunting down the other Reapers that were forced to kill the Players.
Yes, forced - hell, some of them had never killed before this. Explains why the crime scenes were always terrible, you know? You can't just throw newbies at people and expect them to get away with murder.
...Anyway, I guess I should get to the point. The point is, it's your decision what happens next - you, the players. We can't achieve the conditions to bring back the Erased, because we're not the ones being judged here. It's all of you.
Don't play the game the way it's meant to be played. This Game's cruel on purpose, to try and get you all to focus on things like revenge, hatred, anger...all so that they can probably deny you your second chances, or at the very least prove that violent Games are the only way to keep going.
I don't have any concrete evidence for what I think is the right thing to do, but...I've thought about it a lot. What would be the way to fulfill those conditions? Why would this be set up the way it is?
In the end, I could only come to one conclusion. That you'll have to put your trust in a Reaper - knowing they are one, and that they've killed one of you - and let them live.
I know, it's asking a lot. But...sharing our secrets was a step in the right direction, according to the Composer. And if that's the case, then...wouldn't trusting a Reaper and letting them live be the answer?
This game is all about trust. About who to trust, about putting your faith in people, and talking to them, despite the potential betrayal it could bring. I...want to believe that this is the answer.
...
If you're still reading past this point, then...I hope you'll be fine with me talking about how I became a Reaper, and what I've done since then. If not...then tear this part up, I guess.
I was ritually murdered in order to create a Soul King, a being that preserved the balance between the living and the dead. But 'murdered' isn't really the right term for it - because my body is still barely alive, preserved in a crystal. It was my consciousness that died, everything that made me, 'me' - because a Soul King doesn't need a mind, or a will. It's just something that holds the worlds apart
And a dead consciousness still needs somewhere to go.
I ended up in my world's Games - which determine if a soul can be reincarnated into the living world, or if they'll be broken down into spirit particles to keep the cycle of reincarnation running - and ultimately won, even though so many other Players died in the process. I personally met my world's Composer, someone who had been removed out of the cycle and placed in Hell because his soul was so corrupted - but he was there because the original composer, the old Soul King, had died when his body did. The new Composer made it clear that I couldn't be broken down or reincarnated, because I was technically still alive, and yet dead at the same time.
So, he gave me a choice. I could either go back to my body - regain my consciousness there, but be trapped inside a crystal, limbless and unable to move or speak for eternity - or become a Reaper, and work for him and his games.
You can all guess what I chose.
Most of the time, Games are a rare thing - but in my world, because of how it was set up...Games were near constant. It was like a regular job - wake up, sigh, and get right into erasing. Because - the Composer was never gentle, and he loved to experiment with people, putting them in different violent situations to see how they reacted. A game like this...is right up his alley, the bastard.
...I don't know how long I lived like that, killing and working. Long enough to hate myself a million times over, long enough to stop caring about Players and other Reapers around me because they were probably just going to die anyway, so I shouldn't get attached. I learned how to turn off my emotions, kill the pain - with whatever I could find, wondering when I'll finally die for all the people I've killed, all the curses and screams thrown my way.
I don't deserve pity, or tears - not when I've got so much blood on my hands. I didn't even try to reach out too hard, because...I was running away. Doing what I always do, trying to protect myself instead of other people, because it hurt too much otherwise. I'm sorry - but I hope that it makes it easier for the rest of you to focus on what needs to be focused on, and not my death.
...I deserve this, no matter how you find me. Remember that, and I'm sorry that I lied for so long.
And, in the end?
I believe in all of you.
Bring everyone who's died in this game back, every last Player. Get your second chance, and never look back.
Goodbye.
-Ichigo