Chapter Text
“Hey… Jumpy?”
Junpei turned around to answer June. Her voice was hoarse and hollow compared to when she spoke at the main staircase. She hadn't uttered a word since they entered the number [4] door, and it worried Junpei.
“What’s up?”
“Have you heard of the [ship of Theseus]?”
“Can’t say I have. Do you think that the ship of Theseus is the ship we’re on?”
June shook her head with a dissatisfied expression as if she was a teacher disappointed in her own student.
“No. The [ship of Theseus] is a thought experiment. Theseus was the founder of the legendary Greek city of Athens, but he didn't actually come up with it. Plutarch was the philosopher who actually came up with the dilemma.”
“Uh… what's your point?”
June narrowed her eyes at him. She pursed her lips into a thin line, then bit at her bottom lip. A fire raged inside of her as she stared at Junpei, an unexplainable force behind her expression.
Her words stung Junpei.
“Don’t interrupt me.”
The ship groaned and creaked as they stood in silence together. June broke eye contact with Junpei, and stared at seemingly nothing. She shifted the weight between her legs and played with the hem of her left sleeve. Her eyes were glazed over, as if they were nothing more but glass in an empty, hollow skull.
Junpei didn't have much to say. The tension had risen and was suffocating both of them. It had filled their lungs and drowned them in a sea of awkwardness. His legs ached as he felt glued in place- he had to bare witness to the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. June shifted her posture more times than Junpei could count.
Junpei wondered what had gotten into her. It was strange of her to act this way, but he suspected it wouldn't be a good idea to ask June about her behavior. He figured it was most likely the situation they were in- being forced to play a game of life or death for no reason apparent to them was not a particularly fun activity. Seeing someone die because of the [Nonary Game] couldn’t have helped.
He reasoned with himself that it was merely their circumstances that had made her so suddenly bitter, and not himself. Even so, Junpei was still on the fence about it.
Yet in the back of Junpei’s mind, he knew that there was one other possibility for her actions. An explanation he didn't want to even consider.
Maybe June had grown up to be a different sort of person.
It wasn’t entirely out of the question. They hadn’t seen each other in many years, and Junpei didn’t necessarily have an accurate perception of who June really was. She wasn’t a naive 10 year old child anymore. The woman standing in front of him was not the same girl Junpei met 9 years ago.
He was grateful for June as she spoke up. Junpei didn't want to think about it any more than he had to.
“The ship of Theseus is a simple question- if Theseus replaced every part of his boat with different parts, would his boat still be the ship of Theseus when he’s replaced every old part with a new one? Another philosopher named Thomas Hobbes asked what would happen if you collected the old boat parts and made a new boat out of them. People ask which ship is the ship of Theseus- the one with replaced new parts, or the one built out of the old parts? It’s interesting.”
June’s tone was flat and empty.
“What do you think, Jumpy?”
“Well, I think the ship of Theseus is…”