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May. 30th, 2021 05:49 pmThe truth is, the Kon that Toki returns to isn't the one that he'd left behind - literally, not just because of his memory loss. Rather than allow himself to be rewritten, especially with the risks that come with it, Kon utilized the same power that Teiten was trying to use on him: he rewrote a monk named Kosen to take his place in Amatsuki, allowing him to escape by getting distance between himself and the shrine as it was being rewritten so that he could exit the system unnoticed.
But he doesn't just quit there. Though he could remain in the real world, he returns to Amatsuki via the virtual reality arcade chair that he's been using, planning on resuming his quest to find answers. Unfortunately, this means he misses Kuchiha being dragged into "Hell," and Toki's injuries from it, as well as a bulk of the journey. But he hired Hashita, Shiraai, Aonibi, and Wakasa for a reason - to get to the bottom of what Sensai is up to. Even if it might have, supposedly, been because he was bored, it's definitely always been more than that. Besides, he needs to help them, since it was, after all, his job that got them mixed up in this.
So he effectively disappears, though he does wind up meeting one of the oldest and most powerful ayakashi (youkai/demons) in Amatsuki beneath the Yakou, the Nurarihyon. Not much is actually known in detail of their encounter, but their deal is: whoever the Nurarihyon is doesn't matter - whether he's an avatar of someone from the real world or if he's just an NPC a part of the program that went rogue - when his goal is to dethrone Teiten. Because they both know the reality of Amatsuki - that it's a prototype for a fully immersive virtual reality - they seek to give the world over to those that wish to live in it freely. This means both humans and ayakashi, rather than start a greater war over it by simply giving it to the humans.
(The ayakashi are, after all, inadvertently created by the humans that are plugged into Amatsuki via VR pods. It makes them as real as anything else.)
There's one point where he briefly meets with his doppleganger again, after Toki and company enter a gate to "Hell," which was once the Edo castle, through which they're put through a handful of trials in an attempt to separate them as they look for the shogun, Kuchiha, and Ginshu and Shinshu along the various routes the demon path takes them on. While the group is in disarray due to the illusion created to trap Kanzou, Kosen is separated from the group, leaving Kon able to approach him.
It's there that he extracts Kosen's memories from his time as Kon, viewing them and catching himself up on what he's missed. This leads to him deciding that he'll rejoin the group in lieu of his copy, but Kosen reacts badly to the revelation that he's just a copy, and it draws Toki's attention to where they are.
But before Toki sees the two Kon together, the original manages to get away from him so that he can go into hiding. Rather than be too bothered, though, he decides that he'll continue on his path adjacent to theirs so that he can keep track of them and get answers at the same time, waiting for an opening where he can complete the switch.
This comes around much, much later, when the group is in the Amatsuki's equivalent of the Kan'eiji Temple. After dealing with yet more figments of the people they've known trying to kill them, they manage to make their way deeper into the temple, getting lost in what might be an area created by the trauma that Riri (Shinshu) went through prior to Hashita adopting her before they all wind up in a very modern medical and testing facility. Kosen is once again separated from the group, but Toki and Hashita run into the real Kon without realizing it. Unfortunately for Kon, he isn't aware of the fact that, prior to the group being split up and his doppleganger being safely tucked away, Kosen told them about their encounter, and the fact that he's not the original version. (Toki, sweet angel that he is, still considers them both important friends and doesn't treat Kosen any differently.)
With the new trio formed, they run into Bonten - who reveals everything about Amatsuki to them. It turns out that he's the mysteriously missing Midori Sensai, and Amatsuki was created by his older sister with the "help" of a young (if mad) genius in an attempt to atone for the accident that paralyzed him. But the revelation goes deeper than that, when it turns out that Toki and Hashita know both of these people - Moegi Sensai is Chitose, the woman who acted as a motherly figure to Toki, and Urushibara is the person that ended Hashita's career as a cop because of sheer madness and the horrible experiments being conducted on children, one of which being Hashita's now-daughter Riri.
But unlike Hashita (Utsubushi), Aonibi (Ainezu), and Wakasa (Susutake), Toki isn't someone that's listed as being in one of the virtual reality pods. This is the reason why he's considered an Unwritten Page - Amatsuki doesn't have his data on record, meaning that he's free to change things and rewrite the world around him. And since Urushibara is bringing more people in - and against their will, no less, given Hashita, Aonibi, and Wakasa's presence - it's obviously both for more experimentation and an attempt to cover up some weakness in the system. If Toki can find it, then he can help everyone, both those that want to escape and those who want to stay like Bonten - like Midori.
Who is taken from them, now that he's told them the truth about Amatsuki.
Teiten's hand comes crashing down on them the same way that it had on the shrine during Kon's escape, stopping Bonten from revealing any more than he already has. Kon is forced to carry Toki out of the room so that he's not killed by nearby statues when they come to life, rushing out after Hashita as the doors slam shut on them. Doors which they can't open without an administrative account, not even Toki, who opened unseen and unopenable doors as the Unwritten Page more than once since coming into his powers.
As they try to regroup, it doesn't take long for Toki to figure out that Kon isn't Kosen, but Shinonome. Kon deigns to tell them the truth, rather than keep it secret, and reveals to them that he's been working with the Nurarihyon and that they used Bonten to lure Teiten into making a move. The Nurarihyon, though he does deliver Kosen through a portal so that Toki can see he's fine, doesn't really help much being a Chaotic Neutral figure. But Kon smooths things over well enough as he explains how he managed to escape being rewritten and that it's likely Bonten is happier this way, especially with how much hope he's placed in Toki to fix everything.
"Hey now, hold on, Toki. I'm sorry for using your friends, but thanks to that we've got Teiten by the tail. If you wanna see where it leads, I'll take you. Then again, there might be oni, or there might be snakes, or there might even be the Buddha. Everything could even turn into a jigoku emaki... you know?"
But he doesn't just quit there. Though he could remain in the real world, he returns to Amatsuki via the virtual reality arcade chair that he's been using, planning on resuming his quest to find answers. Unfortunately, this means he misses Kuchiha being dragged into "Hell," and Toki's injuries from it, as well as a bulk of the journey. But he hired Hashita, Shiraai, Aonibi, and Wakasa for a reason - to get to the bottom of what Sensai is up to. Even if it might have, supposedly, been because he was bored, it's definitely always been more than that. Besides, he needs to help them, since it was, after all, his job that got them mixed up in this.
So he effectively disappears, though he does wind up meeting one of the oldest and most powerful ayakashi (youkai/demons) in Amatsuki beneath the Yakou, the Nurarihyon. Not much is actually known in detail of their encounter, but their deal is: whoever the Nurarihyon is doesn't matter - whether he's an avatar of someone from the real world or if he's just an NPC a part of the program that went rogue - when his goal is to dethrone Teiten. Because they both know the reality of Amatsuki - that it's a prototype for a fully immersive virtual reality - they seek to give the world over to those that wish to live in it freely. This means both humans and ayakashi, rather than start a greater war over it by simply giving it to the humans.
(The ayakashi are, after all, inadvertently created by the humans that are plugged into Amatsuki via VR pods. It makes them as real as anything else.)
There's one point where he briefly meets with his doppleganger again, after Toki and company enter a gate to "Hell," which was once the Edo castle, through which they're put through a handful of trials in an attempt to separate them as they look for the shogun, Kuchiha, and Ginshu and Shinshu along the various routes the demon path takes them on. While the group is in disarray due to the illusion created to trap Kanzou, Kosen is separated from the group, leaving Kon able to approach him.
It's there that he extracts Kosen's memories from his time as Kon, viewing them and catching himself up on what he's missed. This leads to him deciding that he'll rejoin the group in lieu of his copy, but Kosen reacts badly to the revelation that he's just a copy, and it draws Toki's attention to where they are.
But before Toki sees the two Kon together, the original manages to get away from him so that he can go into hiding. Rather than be too bothered, though, he decides that he'll continue on his path adjacent to theirs so that he can keep track of them and get answers at the same time, waiting for an opening where he can complete the switch.
This comes around much, much later, when the group is in the Amatsuki's equivalent of the Kan'eiji Temple. After dealing with yet more figments of the people they've known trying to kill them, they manage to make their way deeper into the temple, getting lost in what might be an area created by the trauma that Riri (Shinshu) went through prior to Hashita adopting her before they all wind up in a very modern medical and testing facility. Kosen is once again separated from the group, but Toki and Hashita run into the real Kon without realizing it. Unfortunately for Kon, he isn't aware of the fact that, prior to the group being split up and his doppleganger being safely tucked away, Kosen told them about their encounter, and the fact that he's not the original version. (Toki, sweet angel that he is, still considers them both important friends and doesn't treat Kosen any differently.)
With the new trio formed, they run into Bonten - who reveals everything about Amatsuki to them. It turns out that he's the mysteriously missing Midori Sensai, and Amatsuki was created by his older sister with the "help" of a young (if mad) genius in an attempt to atone for the accident that paralyzed him. But the revelation goes deeper than that, when it turns out that Toki and Hashita know both of these people - Moegi Sensai is Chitose, the woman who acted as a motherly figure to Toki, and Urushibara is the person that ended Hashita's career as a cop because of sheer madness and the horrible experiments being conducted on children, one of which being Hashita's now-daughter Riri.
But unlike Hashita (Utsubushi), Aonibi (Ainezu), and Wakasa (Susutake), Toki isn't someone that's listed as being in one of the virtual reality pods. This is the reason why he's considered an Unwritten Page - Amatsuki doesn't have his data on record, meaning that he's free to change things and rewrite the world around him. And since Urushibara is bringing more people in - and against their will, no less, given Hashita, Aonibi, and Wakasa's presence - it's obviously both for more experimentation and an attempt to cover up some weakness in the system. If Toki can find it, then he can help everyone, both those that want to escape and those who want to stay like Bonten - like Midori.
Who is taken from them, now that he's told them the truth about Amatsuki.
Teiten's hand comes crashing down on them the same way that it had on the shrine during Kon's escape, stopping Bonten from revealing any more than he already has. Kon is forced to carry Toki out of the room so that he's not killed by nearby statues when they come to life, rushing out after Hashita as the doors slam shut on them. Doors which they can't open without an administrative account, not even Toki, who opened unseen and unopenable doors as the Unwritten Page more than once since coming into his powers.
As they try to regroup, it doesn't take long for Toki to figure out that Kon isn't Kosen, but Shinonome. Kon deigns to tell them the truth, rather than keep it secret, and reveals to them that he's been working with the Nurarihyon and that they used Bonten to lure Teiten into making a move. The Nurarihyon, though he does deliver Kosen through a portal so that Toki can see he's fine, doesn't really help much being a Chaotic Neutral figure. But Kon smooths things over well enough as he explains how he managed to escape being rewritten and that it's likely Bonten is happier this way, especially with how much hope he's placed in Toki to fix everything.
"Hey now, hold on, Toki. I'm sorry for using your friends, but thanks to that we've got Teiten by the tail. If you wanna see where it leads, I'll take you. Then again, there might be oni, or there might be snakes, or there might even be the Buddha. Everything could even turn into a jigoku emaki... you know?"
