When Dekapan finally came back with the cup of coffee Ichi requested for, he dropped it at the moment he saw what saw going on. Osomatsu had his phone outstretched towards Lonely's direction while Kara was beside him, and Todo had left the other two to help Ichi, who was currently being pulled upwards to avoid falling onto his own demise. Dekapan also saw the broken colombina mask and the two swords lying on the ground, the pieces of the puzzle were put together and Dekapan rushed to Ichi's side, ignoring the voices coming out of Osomatsu's phone.
Speaking of Osomatsu's phone, Lonely's eyes were glued to the screen and he didn't seem to be planning on continuing his and Ichi's duel, seeing as how he had dropped his rapier. Despite his rather small eyes, he could clearly see what was being displayed. More look-a-likes, as well as a clone of Dekapan were present. They were all huddled into a hospital bed, with the supposed patient being the owner of the voice that was similar to Jyushi's. Except it was a bit more raspy and soft, and Lonely could only guess it was because he was sick.
Jyushimatsu, was it? His name is similar to Osomatsu's.. but he's Jyushi too? Strange..
"Did... did I do good, Osomatsu-niisan..?"
Osomatsu turned the phone back to him and made a small smile. Jyushimatsu was still tired-looking, but at least he wasn't sick enough to not speak a single word. Who knows how Ichi could have ended up if Osomatsu wasn't brilliant enough to think of such an idea? Now that he had finished stroking his own ego, Osomatsu made sure he didn't look so worried. He didn't want to make everyone feel worried for him the same way he was worried for them. "You did great, Jyushimatsu. Thanks for saving Ichi's life. And.. and don't worry about the bit about you not protecting anyone. That's fine, you're the second youngest, so you don't have that much to worry about. Heh." He heard the relieved sighs of his brothers and Dekapan. They must have been really worried.
"I'm.. I'm really glad I helped you..! I.. can't move much for now, but.. I'll.. do my best to help you, Osomatsu-niisan.. with Ichimatsu-niisan's help.. and Choromatsu-niisan's, and Karamatsu-niisan's, and Totty's, and Professor Dekapan's too.. we'll all work super hard to bring you back home with us, Osomatsu-niisan.. I'll work super hard.."
"I know you will. Muscle hustle, yeah? Don't rush trying to get better though. I did that once, and I ended up feeling more like shit. Don't want to compete with Ichimatsu in that department, eh?" Osomatsu chuckled, and he saw Ichimatsu pull the finger at him from the background, though the fourth brother was careful to make sure Jyushimatsu didn't see it. Nonetheless, Osomatsu was amused. "And Choromatsu, Karamatsu, Todomatsu. Thanks for listening to me."
"Well duh! We're not there with you, so of course we know you're not pranking us! Especially when you bring someone sick into this, Osomatsu-niisan! Also, Choromatsu-niisan told us to run like hell, and so we did! Who knows what could have been happening in there?! You got Choromatsu-niisan and Karamatsu-niisan worried about you and our other selves! Gah, of course we'd listen to you! Who knows what could have been going on over there?!"
"Totty, my dear youngest brother! You were just as worried as we were! Don't pretend-"
"Fine then, Karamatsu-niisan! I was very worried, okay?! Who wouldn't be worried?! Especially after hearing my alternate self trying to kill him-"
"You two, stop bickering right this second! Geez, and in the professor's lab too, and while Jyushimatsu's trying to rest! Ichimatsu, stop glaring at them, that's not gonna solve anything either! Argh, whatever.. Osomatsu-niisan, is the other Ichimatsu fine now? Or is there something else we should be worried about?"
Osomatsu glanced at Ichi. Well, Dekapan somehow had another pair of glasses, as if he knew Ichimatsu would somehow break his glasses again. Todo was now glaring daggers at Lonely's back, but Kara was probably watching him to prevent a murder from happening. "He's fine, yeah. Uh, the other you looks like just like you if you witnessed Nyaa-chan's skirt get flipped up." He heard Choromatsu suddenly bark out something with Todomatsu and Ichimatsu snickering in the background, as well as the weak comment of Jyushimatsu stating that Choromatsu was an idol otaku. "Wrong choice of words, don't get angry at me, Fappymatsu. The other you doesn't know yet. But I'm guessing I should let him know by now?"
"You should tell him before someone attempts to kill you again."
Thanks for your overwhelming support guys. Really helps a lot. Especially your lack of faith in me. Truly amazing.
"Alright, alright. Geez, you guys are so serious. Lonely here looks like he just pissed his pants anyway. It's best to let him know about that, right? Well. Take a nice long rest, Jyushimatsu. Nii-san hopes you get better soon. Ichimatsu, watch over him for as long as you stay there, but don't you dare stay up late, or I'll kick your ass. You three, don't get into any petty fights anymore, or I'll find a way to rip through this dimension to ours. And thanks for taking care of my brothers, Professor Dekapan." After hearing their joined goodbyes and wishes for him to have a nice evening, Osomatsu hung up and let out a sigh. At least Ichi didn't fall to his death.
And I got Lonely to stop too without having Ichi stab him with his katana, so it's pretty much a win-win situation.
When Lonely suddenly regained his senses and blinked, he nearly tripped over his own words. He was unable to voice his opinion on the entire matter. "I.. I have never.. I have never been so.. baffled in my entire life. I am a perfectly functioning adult, but this? This is something I cannot comprehend." He put a hand over his forehead. "I am probably just dehydrated or tired after such a long day. Maybe I should have eaten more." He mumbled to himself, kneeling down to pick up his rapier, as well as pulling out the same white handkerchief he used earlier. Again, he placed it over the rapier, but in an instant, it disappeared into nothingness. "I am rather curious about that unexpected character suddenly interrupting such a dramatic fight, Pine."
He's trying to kill me with his painfulness. I just know it.
"Maybe you are. But there's something I'd like to ask of you before you do the same to me. I mean, you're the weirdo here, not me." Osomatsu put the phone back in his pocket. It seemed Ichi was now fine, and Dekapan was still fussing over him. Todo was now sitting cross-legged, so he probably didn't have his guard up. Except he was glaring daggers at Lonely. "First of, how'd ya do that?"
Lonely blinked and tilted his head. It would have been a little cute if Lonely wasn't such a weird creep, in Osomatsu's opinion. "Do what, you ask? Be specific, Pine. I do a lot of things, such as breathing, walking, existing in general.."
You're really lucky you look like Fappymatsu, y'know. Otherwise, I would have punched your face so hard you wouldn't even look like us anymore.
"The sword. Where the fuck did you get it? Like, it just appeared from the handkerchief or something?" Osomatsu had never been the "straight man" when it came to hijinks he and Choromatsu got themselves into, but in this dimension, Choromatsu's other self was either painfully naive about the fact he got a sword from nowhere, or he was just acting stupid to piss Osomatsu off. He was obviously being the "idiot" in this routine.
It was probably the latter, since Osomatsu swore he saw Lonely's dark green eyes flash with mischief before he spoke up and crossed his arms in a sassy fashion. Yup. Lonely was being an ass. "The sword? Pine, my dear sir, it is called a rapier-"
"I know what the fuck it's called, and you don't want me to break your sword with my bare hands. I literally watched anime with Risingfappyski before, and thanks to his stupid fantasy animes, I know a lot about weapons that people use in those stupid little RPGs he likes to play so much." Osomatsu's eyes darkened. Another thing he didn't like was when one of his brothers were being cheeky brats. Mostly Todomatsu, but Lonely wasn't an exception to this, even if they weren't related by blood in this dimension. "Don't play games with me, Choro. If you do, I'll swear you'll need a mask for another reason besides hiding your identity."
And the cheeky bastard wasn't even fazed by Osomatsu's threat. He just licked his lips, and made an amused smirk. "Why, you're actually quite the feisty one, aren't you? I thought you were the timid type, seeing as how quiet you were last night." He murmured. "But a magician never reveals his tricks, Pine. So I do apologize, but I am not allowed to tell you such things."
So much for that. Your painfulness exceeds Karamatsu's, Choro. I'm impressed.
"Fine. I have better things to ask you anyway." Osomatsu huffed, deciding it was better to ask something else than waste time trying to interrogate Lonely for answers. "You said something about Ichi's mansion being your place?" He noticed Dekapan looked confused, so Ichi whispered something in his ear. It was probably about their supposed conversation earlier.
"Not necessarily? I mean.. I just found it one stormy night while casually flying on my hang glider as I usually do every night-"
"That doesn't give you the right to just break in and stay there! What were you even doing, flying in a hang glider in a stormy night?! You're trying to get yourself killed, you absolute moron! I wished you had died!" Ichi roared. Dekapan flinched upon hearing Ichi's voice suddenly raise in volume. "Do you have any idea how much time I wasted making sure everything was locked in there?! I even had to give my staff different jobs around the city and make sure they can't contact me anymore, just to ensure their safety after I fired them! I even had to bring Jyushi to therapy, and he couldn't sleep on his own bed two weeks after we moved in Flag Corporation's building!"
Lonely frowned, pressing one of his fingers against his cheek and tapping on it as a sign of irritation and impatience. His frown was more of a pout now, and he was glaring at Ichi the same way Todo was glaring at him. "As I was saying before I got interrupted by some rude, pompous brat.."
"You cheeky fucker, you're lucky you have Jyushi with you and I'm not killing you yet for that reason alone." Ichi grumbled under his breath. "As if you're not a pompous ass yourself, you damn hypocrite."
"Ah, and I'm pretty sure we're all around the same age too.." Kara meekly raised a finger to make his point, though it seemed only Todo payed attention to what he had said. "Um-"
"I found it. It was abandoned at the forest, and seeing as a certain someone didn't even leave any note about not going in the manor.. I decided to clean the place up a bit. No worries, everything is untouched and unmoved. Though there are newspapers all over the place. And as of now, party streamers. And some broken furniture. But nothing else." He clapped his hands together, ignoring Ichi's dark glare. "Now, I am sure those are all the questions you wanted to ask of me, Pine?"
"Where'd you get the scar?" Todo finally spoke up. "Is that what you're trying to hide behind your mask-"
"Now, I don't remember asking you, Katsuna Todo." Lonely snarled, but he still maintained his cheeky smile. "But since you asked so politely, I guess I could tell you. But then I remembered." He dropped his cheerful smile. Osomatsu could now see the obvious similarities between Lonely and Choromatsu, besides the small eyes. With his stoic expression, he looked exactly like Choromatsu once someone (minus the brothers) managed to piss him off and get on his bad side. "It's none of your business."
Todo's eye twitched, and he clenched his fist. "Why you.."
Kara glanced at him. "Todo, no.."
"And as much as I'd love to ask questions to dear Pine, I'm afraid I must bid you all adieu. It's late for now and I promised Sweets I'd be back soon." He walked over to pick up his hang glider. "Put on the costumes tomorrow, and do not forget to put on the masks. Suuji Ichi and Katsuna Todo are capable of fighting, though I do have to ask Sweets' older brother to bring his katana with him. Suuji Ichi definitely remembers the route to the mansion, so be there before the sun sets. I'll meet you once the party guests have arrived and I've made my introduction. And don't worry about Sweets."
We have like a thousand reasons to worry about Jyushi right now.
"Tomorrow, we will commence the masquerade of solitude."
And just like that, Lonely soared through the air like a bird, leaving nothing but a broken mask behind. Dekapan was still watching Ichi worriedly, who had now put on his new pair of glasses and picked up his katana. "Ichi.."
"Dekapan, get four cups of coffee. Oh, and you're dismissed as soon as you get our drinks."
"As you wish, Ichi."