[Maya asked a very valid question, but first things first, when she teleports back up, Ogata’s clearly vaguely startled by it again. But then he settles and reaches out. Thankfully because he’s still crouched where he’d been tucked in his Sniping Spot, he doesn’t boop her dang face like he did to Mia. Instead he grabs one of her hands, turning it over in his as if he’s looking for answers in the lines on her palm. He looks up at her face a moment before letting go.

Some level of manic energy seems to leave his body, but he’s still on edge. Still. Maya must be real. Something familiar and concrete. Centering. He looks off to the side, where Yuusaku is, though of course Maya will notice there is absolutely no one else here.]

Hanazawa Yuusaku, my half-brother.
[An answer that comes after a few more moments of silence. Maya might remember the name Hanazawa from the painting on the train, Hanazawa’s boy they’d said. One died in The War, the other, illegitimate one was Ogata.

He just wants the specter to leave him alone. He examines it, looking for seams and fuzzy edges. Proof of unreality. He shifts his gaze back to Maya. She’s real. He touched her. She’s alive and real.

He rummages in his bag and pulls out the small box that shouldn’t exist in this world. Shouldn’t be in his possession. The box is labeled with the other man’s name. Ogata doesn’t open it but it’s contents can be imagined, “what’s left of him.”]

I saw him die during the Siege of Port Arthur. He’s been dead for years, but he won’t leave me alone.