The colour from Saizo's face disappeared as he ran past me towards Mobito. I was too stunned to move from where I stood.
At first, I questioned whether I had heard Mobito correctly. I couldn't believe he had sided with me on the argument about my Right to Justice.
"What are you talking about Mobito? You're not thinking straight!" Saizo whispered to his friend quickly.
"The pain has made everything clear." Mobito gravely said.
"No, you're wrong," Saizo begged, "you don't know what you're actually saying."
I turned to look at Kat who was watching the two men closely.
"Saizo, listen to me," Mobito wheezed, "I know what I'm saying."
Saizo continued to argue with his friend before Mobito growled like an animal to shock Saizo into silence. Mobito coughed at the pain that caused.
"Please," Mobito begged weakly, "just let me speak."
Saizo looked as if he lost the will to live as Mobito gathered his strength.
"I know that I've been out of commission for a bit," Mobito started, "Especially during the second task, I was pretty useless. You were forced to look after me while protecting yourself—"
"It was fine, the monsters were easy to deal with—" Saizo interrupted.
"—but I know that we're running out of health potions, and there's no way that we have enough to keep me alive all the way back to Shinobu City." Mobito continued. He ignored the weak rebuttals that Saizo tried to build.
"We'll find the ingredients to make more potions on the journey back! We'll figure something out!" Saizo desperately reasoned with his friend.
Mobito chuckled weakly before coughing up some blood. Saizo quickly wiped the blood off Mobito's face and grabbed a vial of health potion. He was about to automatically help Mobito drink it when he paused for a split second.
"How many does that leave? Two? Three?" Mobito flicked his eyes towards the health potion before he studied Saizo's reaction.
Saizo's gaze dropped away from Mobito's and Mobito gave a single weak chuckle.
"What is it?" Kat said out loud. She was a little bit confused about what was happening.
"It's the last one, isn't it?" Mobito asked his friend.
I could hear Kat gasp quietly as Saizo wasn't emotionally strong enough to answer the question.
"Keep it," Mobito said, "What happens if the Churchgoers are still waiting for us when we exit the Tower?"
"We'll deal with it when we have to deal with it…" Saizo mumbled.
"Please Saizo, I'm just going to be holding you all back. It's too dangerous," Mobito explained.
Mobito glanced at me and seemed to study me before closing his eyes as a wave of pain came over him. Saizo tensed as he prepared to force Mobito to drink the health potion before Mobito shook his head quickly.
"It's been quite a long time since that night," Mobito started through gritted teeth. The pain seemed to die down as his face started to relax as he continued to speak, "And with that time, I've been able to reflect a lot."
He opened his eyes and glanced over at me again.
"I'm sorry Ryuu."
The bluntness of the apology, and the fact that I was able to see that the man was completely genuine in his apology, stunned me. I didn't know how to respond, and even the heat that had been swirling in my arm so wildly moments before when I started to lose control over my anger seemed to have paused. Even it didn't know what to do.
Saizo was also stunned. I don't think he ever imagined his friends admitting to the heinous acts they did when they were younger.
"After all the years of listening to Saizo's stories about you; about how you've persevered and continued to live to the best of your ability," Mobito paused as he continued to look at me, "It was hard not to start rooting for you.
"You have this quality, this unwillingness to give up that is so powerful. Like a passion for living that is just incredible," Mobito coughed again, once more blood splattered. Saizo hurried to clean up his friend.
"It's okay," Saizo said, "it's enough. Just take the potion—"
"No." Mobito outright declared. "It's over Saizo, I'm not going to use up your last health potion, so let me say what I need to say."
Saizo was left stunned once more, and when he saw the determination in Mobito's eyes, he seemed to finally give up. He knew that nothing he could say would change his lifelong friend's mind.
Mobito turned back to me.
"I know it's too late to say it now, but I'd like to say it anyway: I truly regret what happened all those years ago."
I studied Mobito's eyes and saw the sincerity in his statement, and I felt a huge weight shift and disappear in me. I hadn't realised I had been carrying it, but it felt like I had been carrying some sort of anger that had been holding me down, and Mobito's genuine sorrow had allowed me to let go of it. It made me feel slightly better, though my longing to get payback on Mobito still lingered. This time, it felt like it was slightly purer, like my claim to my Right to Justice was more genuine, and not only a legal justification.
"I'm glad I got to know you a bit better in this short amount of time that we had," Mobito continued, "though looking at it through a clearer lens, it's pretty obvious that you wanted to get us together close to you for your Right to Justice."
I snuck a look at Saizo and saw that he looked shattered, not only had he only just realised that I meant to exercise my Right to Justice by using him to gather his friends in a Party with me, but Mobito had realised it too, and seemed to accept it.
"It's okay though," Mobito smiled, but it wasn't like the smile of confidence that he showed when he trained with me before we headed to the Tower. It wasn't the smile that he gave to Nato when they spoke about the three tasks that the Crimson Tower Quest typically gave adventurers. It was a sadder, more truthful smile.
"I got to actually meet this 'kid' Saizo kept going on and on about finally and saw what he saw," Mobito continued, "After all these years of regretting going ahead with Aoi's job offer, I finally got some sort of closure after meeting you properly in Shinobu City right before we left for the Quest.
"I'm sure Nato was starting to connect with you as well," Mobito said in a low voice, "If he had more time, he might have apologised too, although I'm sure it wouldn't have changed much."
He smiled at me with that same sad smile he gave before, "I think it's about time I faced the consequences of my actions—" He gasped as another wave of pain hit him, causing him to sputter some more blood.
Saizo once again cleaned his friend up.
Mobito turned to Saizo and nodded, "Thank you, old friend, for being mine and Nato's conscience, even though we didn't always listen to you."
Saizo started to cry, and behind me, I could hear Kat start to sob as well. I looked down in shame as I couldn't feel any sorrow for what was happening. I couldn't bring myself to comfort Kat, and I suddenly felt self-conscious about my longing to complete my Completion Quest as well as fulfilling my Right to Justice.
Mobito called out to me, and I looked up to see him watching me.
"I think I'm ready now." He said quietly.
I saw that Saizo had fallen on his knees, completely sobbing at the realisation that his only friend left had resigned himself to dying.
I slowly approached the rack.
When I reached it, standing on the other side of Mobito, opposite of where Saizo was kneeling, Mobito glanced at me with tired, sad eyes.
"Will it hurt?"
The pitifulness of the question almost got me to break down. The Mobito I had known had been a quiet and reserved man. One that observed a situation silently and acted quickly and assuredly to his observations. However, the question that he asked me betrayed that image completely.
I looked down at my arm as the heat started to stir again, though this time it didn't react to my anger, it reacted to my will. Seemingly preparing itself for the inevitable conclusion, the Completion Quest being fulfilled.
I looked up at him and said with as much confidence as I could, "I think so."
Mobito nodded, "I don't know if I deserve it, but I hope you're right."
Saizo suddenly got back up and sobbed loudly, "Wait! You don't have to go through with this Mobito!"
"My decision is made Saizo," Mobito said, turning to Saizo, "Ryuu deserves to be the one to take my life."
The absolute finality in Mobito's weak, yet determined voice destroyed Saizo. He crumpled up sobbing uncontrollably.
I turned to Kat who was also sobbing and grimly instructed her, "Close your eyes. I don't want you to see what I turn to, like last time. I want you to remember me as a human, as I am now. Not as that monster that you saw."
Kat didn't respond, and I looked down in shame, "Please Kat. Please trust me."
I looked back up and she finally nodded and shut her eyes tightly. I turned back to Mobito and nodded to him as he breathed a final, big breath.
I shut my eyes as I felt the heat from my arm expand rapidly throughout my body.