The file was still there. Untouched. Immortal.
He pressed Triangle. Copy. Yes.
He clicked on the file—not to copy or delete, but just to view its properties. The detailed information screen appeared. Creation date, last modified date, number of saves. tekken 6 save data
And on the character select screen, a second controller slot lit up on its own. The character icon that appeared wasn't random. It was Paul Phoenix. In a floral shirt. With glasses. The file was still there
Derek's PSN ID. Still linked. Still present. The system didn't see Derek as gone. It just saw an authorized user who hadn't logged in for a while. He pressed Triangle
Now for the deletion. His thumb hovered over the Delete option. He imagined the tiny icon shattering, the ghost of Derek’s Paul Phoenix fading into the binary void. He could almost hear his mother’s sigh of relief. Clean. Tidy. Moving on.