Setting is a local diner, modern day | Canon: The Booth at the End

[themaninthebooth]

There is a 24-hour diner. A diner that serves a variety of normal treats from coffee to cream puffs to pastrami sandwiches. The waitresses, the cooks, the owner have all lived normal lives and serve normal people.

Today there is a Man in the diner. A Man that you only heard about in rumors. A Man heard of in joking tones, but with eyes that said they were deadly serious. Some call him a manipulator. Some call him a mentor. Some call him an angel. Some call him a devil.

He is The Man sitting in the booth at the end of the diner.

He appears to spend his time writing down things in a large, black, leather-bound notebook. He orders whatever seems to suit his fancy at any given moment, but his attention remains on the book.

He's waiting for you. Waiting to make a deal to help get you what you want. All you have to do is sit down... and ask for it.

Comments

[themaninthebooth]

The Man slowly sets down the newspaper, opening a black book beside it. The pen comes out before resting between fingers.

"What sort of past mistakes?" He takes the opportunity to take another bite of the brownie as he waits for the answer.

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi carefully gauges what to say. Too much and he'd just come across sounding insane. Too little, and he wouldn't be able to explain the situation. He takes a breath. "There was... a place a few friends and I went to. Mostly as an adventure, an act of courage. So we told each other, anyway." He twists the ends of his scarf a bit. "I did not believe the place to be anything other than an old ruin, so I... drastically underestimated the potential dangers inside."

He bites his lip slightly. "By the time I was fully aware of what we were dealing with, I had already lost two friends. And the third I lost due to my own cowardice on facing the situation properly."

He looks down. "...I know. It's probably impossible to do anything to make up for it. Maybe this was a bad idea..."

[themaninthebooth]

The Man has no problem with "too many" details. It helps fill up the words he writes down in the notebook as Hiroshi talks. The brownie has been momentarily forgotten. There is a slight discomfort on his face as it occurs to him what Hiroshi is asking, but it disappears quickly.

"That's entirely your opinion.

Are you asking to make up for your mistakes or..." Another quick flash of discomfort that quickly vanishes. "...do you wish to bring back your friends?"

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi wavers for a bit. Could he do that? Could he bring them back? Would everything just go back to the way they were?

He bites his lip. But... even if he brings them back, it doesn't change anything, does it? His failures of character. What happened in the mansion. Anything. And what if they just come back even more wrong than they've already come back? That would hardly be an improvement, right?

He pushes his glasses up. "...Tempting. But I do not feel I could wind back the clock at this point. Even if they all come back, if they all are just as happy and healthy as ever -- and no offense, sir, but I am uncertain such a thing would be possible -- it would not change the fundamental fact that what happened to them was due to my own deficiencies. Maybe I cannot bring them back. But..."

The boy pauses, closes his eyes. "But I just... want to resolve this feeling in my heart, this guilt at my own lack of diligence, my own lapses of courage." He looks down. "Perhaps that is more self-centered of a wish than allowing them to claim their lives back, but I do feel it would better address the fundamental root of the problem."

The root, of course, being that he's a terrible human being.

[themaninthebooth]

The Man doesn't often express a lot of emotion, but he does seem slightly relieved that no one will be coming back from the dead. It seems like a needless amount of suffering.

"So what you really want is to accept what has already occurred?"

[all_onis_are_true]

He pauses, for a bit. "I... suppose that is it, yes." He looks down. "All my life, I was told to get good grades, be polite, be diligent, and I would get far in life. Yet I feel as though I have failed at something far more important, and I am unsure of how to make up for it. I have been told you can help people get what they want. I would not ask too much of you, but I will at least request this much."

He looks up. It's a look that seems oddly vulnerable, at odds with the image the boy seems so careful to try to cultivate. "Can you help me?"

[themaninthebooth]

The Man shakes his head slightly before tapping his little book.

"I can help you help yourself."

So. Yes.

[all_onis_are_true]

There's a slight bit of reticence in his eyes, like he can't believe him. But he has no reason to believe he can't help him, either, and if the rumors are true... well, he doesn't really have anything to lose, does he?

"All right. Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do it."

[themaninthebooth]

The Man flips through his book until reaching the appropriate page.

"...Find something unscientific to believe in without question."

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi's face clouds a bit again. Believe in something unscientific? That would be like asking a child who's discovered the truth about Santa Claus to start believing in him again. The doubt becomes more evident on his face, and he twists the end of his scarf a bit again. "I... do not know if that is even possible," he admits.