[WarpObscura]

FROM A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW

Spoiler:

"Hey, Rein, I'm done for today. Where should I find you?" Yuuno said over a telepathic link as he packed his things.

"Are you able to go down to Clanagan Casket by six-fifteen?" Reinforce replied.

"Clanagan Cas- Eh?"

"No, Yuu, this isn't a prank." When Yuuno failed to reply after 15 seconds, Reinforce continued, "Just come down. I know you're not geared for a funeral, so I'll bring one of your dark suits with me and you can change there."

Yuuno arrived at Clanagan Casket a few minutes ahead of schedule and saw Reinforce waiting by the door. She was clad in a long black dress and held one of his suits in her hands.

"What's this about?"

"Remember when you raised the fear of dying alone and forgotten?"

How could he? Although he did not usually dwell on such morbid topics, the chatter of that gossiper Ramuta Rikayu had struck a nerve. He had found his thoughts drifting in that direction during their recently-past honeymoon and had been glad to get it out of his system.

When he failed to reply, Reinforce pushed the suit at him and said, "Go get changed." After he had done so, she led him to Room Seven, where they were met by a gentleman wearing a hat and dark suit.

"I'm glad you could join us, sir, ma'am," he said, taking off his hat with practised ease to reveal dark brown hair. His dark brown eyes scanned both of them briefly before he offered his hand. "Gecinre Nodentcrips, Ministry of Home Affairs..." he trailed off briefly before saying, "Would you rather I greet you in the Mid-Childan or Belkan fashion?"

"Mid-Childan is fine," Reinforce said as she accepted the hand. "Reinforce Scrya."

"A pleasure," Gecinre said. He turned to Yuuno and paused. "You look familiar, sir. Have we met?"

"Yuuno Scrya," Yuuno said as he clasped the other's hand, trying to recall if he had met the other before. "Head Librarian of the Infinity Library."

Gecinre's eyes lit in recognition. "Oh yes, we spoke briefly at the 43rd Archival Expo about six months back."

Yuuno looked puzzled for a while as he attempted to recall the event in question. It was rather ironic that, with the prevalence of exotic hair and eye colours on Mid-Childa, colours and combinations thereof that Earth considered normal were the exception. "Oh, that one." He scratched his head as something occurred to him. "My sympathies on your name."

Gecinre blinked at the apparent non-sequitur before stiffening in realisation. "My parents have an odd sense of humour."

"So... Why are we here? Rein didn't go into much detail."

Gecinre started as if jolted. "My apologies for sidetracking. Come in and please... switch to telepathy."

The room was a plain affair with wooden panelling on the walls. Soft, melancholic music piped through speakers in the walls. In the centre was a simple closed casket, a framed photo of who was presumably the deceased placed on a table behind the coffin and a placard bearing a name: "Johnson Marcos".

"What is..." Yuuno, not recognising the name, started before trailing off as the truth of the matter sunk in.

He took a look around the room and was struck by how empty was. Apart from a distinctive ceiling-mounted tinted dome that could only be hiding a security camera, they were the only people in the room. A dread chill formed in the pit of his stomach even though rational thought told him there was no reason for it. Was this the ultimate fate of those forgotten by all but the impersonal apparatus of the state? He had considered the possibility that this would have befallen him as Ramuta and her ilk had speculated, admitted to himself that a selfish desire to avoid such obscurity had been a small motivating factor behind his suicidal rescue of Reinforce - and yet, confronted with the reality of the matter, found it harder to stomach, even more mortifying than his darkest, most depressive thoughts could have conjured.

"Sometimes..." Reinforce said over the mind-link, "Sometimes I wonder if it is worse to be forgotten or hated."

Yuuno turned to Gecinre and could not contain his surprise at seeing a trail left by tears down the
other man's face.

"I know, I'm a bleeding heart," Gecinre "said" with dark amusement. "However, no one deserves this fate." He chewed on his lower lip. "That said, that is an interesting question and one I have not considered."

Yuuno continued gazing upon the coffin as Gecinre filled him and Reinforce in on how Mr. Marcos had been dead of natural causes for several days, ignored and written off by most as a stereotypical homeless person to be kept out of sight, before the corpse was reported by a concerned citizen. Notice had been given, requesting for the deceased man’s family and relatives to collect him, but after a week no one had turned up and the state had decided to bury him themselves. Who had he been? What had he done from day to day? What aspirations and dreams had he had? All these were questions that Yuuno realized could not be answered any more now that the man could no longer be counted among the living.

"This is part of your portfolio?" Yuuno asked.

Gecinre nodded. "It is a great and noble role, even if many don’t think so. It may not be for much longer, though. I trust neither of you will begrudge me for the desire to seek higher office... however, I can only hope that whoever takes over will treat it with at least as seriously as it deserves."

"What follows after this?" Reinforce chimed in.

"Tomorrow, a representative from the Saint Church will carry out last rites before Mr. Marcos is buried in Rotpacdrac Public Cemetery. Then he will be…" a sigh escaped Gecinre's lips, "reduced to a statistic, a record in the bureaucracy."

Yuuno had an unbidden vision of his own face being in the photo frame, his own name in the placard. He could not help wondering if, had he died as an unknown, there would be anyone other than that alternate reality's counterpart to Gecinre in attendance.

Somehow, for reasons he could not pin down, he could not see anyone else being present.

As Gecinre led the two of them out of the room, Yuuno turned to Gecinre. "The next time you have another of these, tell me. I can’t make time to attend the rest of the ceremony tomorrow, but if you give me enough advance notice next time, I should be able to."

The other two looked at him curiously. "Yuu? What are you talk- M-maybe I shouldn't have asked you to come for this," Reinforce said.

"No, Rein," Yuuno insisted. "It was a good move. Some things just can't be appreciated until you witness them for yourself, let them sink in, and this is one of them." He turned back to Gecinre. "So, Gecinre - may I call you that? Is it okay with you?"

Gecinre tipped his hat and bowed slightly. "Of course, Mr. Scrya. I would be honoured."

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

I wrote this as a counterpoint to Death of a Nobody. To be honest, a real counterpoint would be for Yuuno's funeral to be well-attended and his achievements celebrated and immortalised, but I don't have any plot bunnies for that yet. As should be evident, or at least I hope, this is meant to come after Nonexistent Future and build on the themes I raised there.