Warcross

Every locked door has a key. Every problem has a solution.

Everyone has a different way of escaping the dark stillness of their mind.

It is hard to describe loss to someone who has never experienced it, impossible to explain all the ways it changes you. But for those who have, not a single word is needed.

But sometimes, people kick you to the ground at recess because they think the shape of your eyes is funny. They lunge at you because they see a vulnerable body. Or a different skin color. Or a different name. Or a girl. They think that you won't hit back - that you'll just lower your eyes and hide. And sometimes, to protect yourself, to make it go away, you do. But sometimes, you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back.

But beauty can make people forgive a thousand cruelties.

When you refuse to ask for help, it tells others that they also shouldn’t ask for help from you. That you look down on them for needing your help. That you like feeling superior to them. It’s an insult, Emi, to your friends and peers. So don’t be like that. Let us in.

They believe that objects have souls. The more love you put into one, the more beautiful it becomes.

And the book (#7) is for whenever the hunt involves a lot of waiting around. Entertainment that won't eat up my batteries is always worth bringing.

What’s the point of freedom if you’re just living in a miserable reality?

But sometimes, you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back.

Zooming in on it only makes it blurrier.

They think that you won't hit back - that you'll just lower your eyes and hide. And sometimes, to protect yourself, to make it go away, you do. But sometimes, you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back. So I hit. I hit fast and hard and furious. I hit with nothing but the language whispered between circuits and wire, the language that can bring people to their knees.

She was so beautiful. But beauty can make people forgive a thousand cruelties.

You have to learn to look at the whole of something, not just the parts.

I think of Zero’s surprised voice, his anger as he faced me in the final game, the way he’d stolen my Memories. The way he’d returned them. Everyone has a price, he’d said. Name yours.

Hideo wants me off the official games and the hunt. Zero has warned me to stay away. But I've never been good at following instructions. I'm a bounty hunter. And if my bounty's still out there somewhere, I have to finish this.

Maybe they think I'm a danger to you." He smiles as he reaches me. "And are you?" "I try to restrain myself," I answer, returning his smile.

His gaze lingers on me for a beat longer. "Have you eaten yet?" Is he asking me to dinner? "No," I say, trying to stay casual. He takes a dark gray peacoat off the back of a chair and pulls it on. Then he tilts his head over toward the door. "Join me.

When you refuse to ask for help, it tells others that they also shouldn't ask for help from you. That you look down on them for needing your help. That you like feeling superior to them.

Everyone pays lip service to world peace. They use it as a pretty answer to pointless questions, to make themselves sound good.