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crimeronan · 1 day ago

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After all was settled, with the buildings built and the gardens grown and the harvest sown and the roads retread and the plumbing restored – after all was settled, the god slept.

He didn't retreat into his cavern below the earth. Nor did he raise himself a palace or a fortress or even a bed. He walked into the lobby of the community center, which for now was also a shelter and an orphanage and a food pantry and a resting place for weary pilgrims, and he lay down on the floor in a tucked-away corner in front of a heating vent, and he slept.

He spoke to no one. He asked for nothing. He curled on his side with his eyes closed and his tangle of dark hair covering his face, and he slept for two entire days.

The staff were... not sure how to respond.

It was not because they were unequipped to deal with strange men sleeping in strange places. The community center was still new and untested, as everything in the temple was new and untested, and it had become the grounds for all sorts of unexpected visitors. Procedures were still being refined. But in most cases, an exhausted man with no apparent home would be spoken to gently, and fed, and offered a warm bed, and asked about his circumstances. When those circumstances proved complicated, which was inevitable, the staff would retreat into a closed room to argue legalities and technicalities and risks and rewards. It could be dangerous to help the less fortunate.

And then they would help. They would find some way to help.

But the god... complicated things. He was holy, a creature set apart, and nobody wanted to incur his wrath. To approach a god was to sacrifice oneself. To be approached was to lose oneself. And besides, gods were fickle, selfish things – if the god wanted or needed for anything, surely the staff would know.

Most could recognize the god on sight, instrumental as he'd been in the temple's construction. But once or twice, as the receptionist in the lobby changed shifts, the new employee would take a concerned step toward the apparent pilgrim. And the just-off-shift worker would grab their wrist and hiss, "No, that's him," and that would be the end of it.

Ada was the one to break the spell. She was older, well into her sixties, with short silver hair and gnarled fingers turned akey by decades of rheumatoid arthritis. She was pointedly not one of the center's staff, because she lacked any warmth or patience or gentleness for the downtrodden, and she'd lived in this world for far too long to fear the gods.

She entered the lobby like a hurricane, a basket of fruit held in the crook of her arm, a cane braced in the other withered hand, and she hissed, "Has the stupid fuck even eaten?"

The receptionist shot her a startled, guilty look. In his unobtrusive corner, the crumpled silhouette of the god slept on.

"Useless, the lot of you," Ada spat. "I don't suppose you've checked for a pulse, either? Fat lot of good you people do. Haven't you ever seen a god die? He's still human."

This last part was debatable. The receptionist shifted uncomfortably.

Ada began to hobble toward the god, with all the stubborn intention of a crotchety old woman about to settle a score. Only then did the receptionist rise, and there was real fear in her voice as she cried, "Wait–"

"Boy!" Ada shouted, and stamped her cane on the ground. "Get up!"

This proved just as effective as whacking him with said cane would have been. The god jolted upright, wild-eyed, and scrambled to his feet.

"Got a pulse, then," Ada observed, at a normal volume, with something like dry approval. "Boy. Come here."

The receptionist was so still that she did not appear to be breathing. Her eyes were nearly as wild as the god's, darting between him and Ada. Because she was good at conflict deescalation, though, she did not immediately move into action. Her frame was taut with tension. Much tenser than she ever was with even the most unpleasant of vagrants.

The god half-stumbled over to them, his black tank top askew, hair mussed. It was the bleary, frantic movement of someone sharply woken by the sound of explosions.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "Who's hurt?"

Ada tucked her cane into her elbow and lifted an apple from the bag, not-so-delicately clutched between her thumb and two straightest fingers.

"Eat this," she said.

The god blinked.

He was young, still. Or at least, this particular body was young. Old enough for a full beard, somehow, and young enough that it looked funny on him. Like a child playing pretend in his father's closet.

As his expression cleared, Ada noted other warning signs. The ashy cast to his dark skin. The deep, nearly-black shadows under his eyes. The bloody cracks at the corners of his lips.

"For fuck's sake, get him some water," she told the receptionist. "Now."

The receptionist did not need to be told twice. She scurried off in the direction of the kitchens.

Now alone with Ada, the god began to list dangerously to one side.

She thrust her cane into his hand. "Here."

"I'm not going to–"

"What, take the mobility from an old woman? Fine. Prideful coward." She snorted, setting her basket on the ground and spreading her arms. "Let's see if I catch you. You're, mm, six feet tall? More? Yeah. Let's go, kid. I'm strong. Look at me. Bet you'll only shatter half my ribs and a single hip. I like the odds."

The god took the cane.

Not for long, though. The longer he stood, the more distant his expression became, until he gave in and gently eased himself onto the scuffed ground. He winced as he did so, but he was young – his limbs still had all the flexibility and muscle and life that Ada's lacked.

Ada herself could not so easily rise from the floor, so she accepted the cane again, and she stood there watching him.

He bit into the apple. Juice ran down his chin, dripping from his wrist. At first it was just that, a single bite. And then another. And then, as though a switch had been flipped, he began to tear into the flesh of the fruit. He inhaled the majority of the meat and reached into the basket, grabbing another, and then another, and another.

By the time he'd devoured a fourth apple, there was a new arrival on the scene. Not the useless receptionist from before, praise the gods (ha!), but a young person in a white physician's robe. Ada recognized them. One of the talents who'd walked away from a guaranteed career in the city, all to play in the mud out here with the elderly and the insane and the crippled. Idealistic fool.

They didn't look frightened. They knelt beside the god and held out a bottle of water, just as they would for any other dehydrated patient. When the god snatched it like a starving child, they said, "Whoa, hey, easy. Small sips, please. You'll make yourself sick."

The god snarled something that was either in a foreign language or just too angry to be intelligible.

The doctor didn't flinch. Neither did Ada.

No divine wrath bore down upon them, though. No choking sludge in the lungs, no twisted roots erupted from the floor. The god regarded the pair with the sullenness of the young boy he was, and then he scoffed, and then he unscrewed the cap and took small sips.

The doctor made a mistake, once the god had set the bottle down. It was a little thing, a nothing-thing. The god seemed an awful lot like a mortal man, and so perhaps both witnesses had forgotten themselves.

The doctor pressed two fingertips to the underside of the boy's jaw, in the tangled and now slightly-wet beard.

The god lashed out.

Only later did Ada realize there was nothing supernatural about the movement. The god flung an arm out against the doctor's ribs, hurling them back across the floor. They slid several feet and caught themselves on their hands, narrowly avoiding the hard wood of the reception desk.

Ada turned away from the scene and hobbled toward the door.

The god let her go, possibly because she was a crippled old lady, but more likely because he was too busy snarling, "Don't fucking touch me."

"I'm sorry," the doctor said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to–"

Ada reached the glass. The garden outside appeared deserted, a creek burbling cheerfully, birds singing praises, unaware of their patron's temper. Nobody was close enough to intervene. Still, Ada did what she'd come here to do and flipped the lock. Best not to let the wandering public see their worst fears come to pass.

When she returned her attention to the scene, the doctor had already righted themselves, brushing off the sleeves of their coat. Their hands were out, palms up, but they also had the good sense not to approach.

The god staggered to his feet, scattering apple cores across the ground. His movements were jerky, uncalculated. Unbalanced. He looked from the doctor to Ada, and he registered her steel stance in front of the door, and his expression changed.

"Fuck," he said, and then, panting, "Fuck. Get out. Get the fuck out. Get away from me."

The doctor nodded without a word. They retreated through the door to the main center. It was a wide entrance, round and warm, and it had been open every time Ada had ever set foot inside. But now the doctor unlatched two heavy swinging panels that apparently weren't decorative, and they pulled the doors shut behind them.

Despite the doctor being the sort of idiot to leave a cushy city life for an idealistic dream, Ada trusted their judgment. She knew that they would quietly and calmly move from room to room, asking the staff to please usher the children and the infirm and the unhoused outside. They wouldn't raise an alarm, both to avoid frightening the people and to avoid provoking the god. Given enough time, even a collapse of the building would have minimal casualties.

Ada remained where she was. She would not be rattled by an angry boy with wild magic.

And angry he was. When she didn't move, his lips curled back, a rictus grimace. "Get out."

If she got out, the god might follow her out into the garden. Or follow the doctor into the main center. He might pick off any number of victims from the people escaping out the back.

As long as he remained where Ada could see him, those people remained alive.

She would not be rattled by an angry boy with wild magic.

The god plucked a still-whole apple from the basket. He didn't bite into it or lob it toward Ada, both of which she expected. He just gripped it like he wanted to crush it in his fist, and the soft red began to darken into something rustier, bloodier. Black tendrils sprouted from the stem and the core, furled with leaves, crawling up the god's wrist like latticework.

Even the cleverest earth magician couldn't sprout life like that. There was something grotesque about it, something dripping with malice. The thing did not look like an apple sapling. It didn't even look like ivy. It looked like living shadows, now working up toward the god's shoulder like spidery veins.

"Get," the god started, and then paused, gasping for air, "away."

"Or what?" Ada asked, leaning casually on her cane. "You gonna kill me, kid? You gonna blight me with that magic there? You ever done that before?"

"I could."

"So could anyone." Magic and violence, after all, were not the domain of gods. "Big win, to kill a cripple. Feels good, I bet. Feels like winning. Fuck all the old people. It's backwards, you know. All this so-called respect just because we didn't die? Fuck us. Cockroaches. We didn't die 'cause other people did instead. Fuck it. Go ahead."

The god swallowed. His nails dug into what remained of the corrupted apple, gouged to the knuckle. The black veins crept below his shirt, across his chest, under his skin.

There was not enough matter in the apple to transform into that much material. The magic was something else.

Divine intervention was a hell of a drug.

Ada stood before the door, and Ada watched the god, and Ada did not move.

The god didn't kill her.

At least, not yet.

His face twisted, suddenly, into uncertainty. Once again, he seemed young. Unsure of himself. No eldritch rage, just the hesitation of a strange kid with poor footing. He sat back down, hard, beside the basket, and he drew his knees to his chest, and he hugged his arms around them.

Sludge dripped from his palm. The apple no longer existed in any recognizable form, but his fist remained clenched. Ada could only guess at how far the magic had spread over his body, under his clothes.

"I really think you should go," the god said, and his voice broke. "I'd rather not hurt you."

"Fine. Then don't."

"I'm gonna have to," he said, "if you keep blocking the door."

So he did want to rampage. Or maybe just to run. Ada wouldn't fuss about the latter – but the former was untenable.

"Then do," she said. "Go ahead. I'm close to done either way."

"Fuck." The god dragged in another jagged, painful breath, and scrubbed at his eyes with his non-corrupted palm. "Fuck."

"Don't cry for me, kid," Ada said. "Just do what you're gonna do."

"Stop it."

It was probably a bad idea to goad him. Ada had no illusions about her ability to deescalate. She wasn't searching out a secret heart of gold. The more she pushed, the more he'd feel the need to prove.

She kept talking. She'd never been one to shut her mouth.

"Why'd you come here, anyway?" Ada demanded. "Why even bother if you hate us so fucking much? Hell of a place for a guy who doesn't want to be touched. Thought you had a hermit hole you could use instead. Nobody's going down into your fucking death cave."

The god did not respond.

"Were we supposed to read your fucking mind, then?" Ada pressed, and the fury blistered her throat, curled her aching fingers. "Was there some fucking ritual you wanted? Should we have handed you a virgin? A child sacrifice? Next time, just ask. We can't read your fucking mind. You have to open your fucking mouth and speak, godling. Nothing's coming to you otherwise."

The god closed his eyes. His hand continued to drip, sluggish. Ada could no longer tell whether the liquid was magic or his own mortal blood.

"How long do I have?" he asked, very softly.

Ada couldn't even parse the question. How long did he have? Decades more in this body, and centuries after that. More than enough time to refine the particulars of his own worship. More than enough time to shape this place and its people into whatever twisted little conundrum his heart desired.

Or maybe he meant, How long do I have before everyone runs? Before there's no way left to rage, or feed, or fight? How long before I'm left alone?

Centuries, still. The fanatic would follow him for the magic, and the desperate would follow him for the hope, and the cruel would follow him for everything else. That was the way of gods.

"Fuck if I know," Ada said. "Not sure that's up to me."

The god didn't seem angered by this response. He just nodded, eyes still closed.

"You'll have to tell Nova," he said. "She still needs me on ritual nights. You'll have to work it out with her."

Now Ada had completely lost the plot. "Since when would I tell that insipid bitch anything?"

The god shook his head. "Plural you. You know, you all. You. Tell someone who can tell someone who can tell her. Just–"

He broke off, scrubbing at his eyes again. Ada's own eyesight was far from perfect, and so she couldn't see the tracks, but even so, she was pretty sure he was crying real tears.

She probably should have felt sympathetic. Maybe he even wanted her to feel sympathetic.

She was, however, who she was.

"The fuck are you crying about?" she asked, with genuine bafflement.

The god made a raspy sound that might have been a sob. Might also have been a laugh.

"I wanted a little more time," he said. "That's all."

"Time to do what?"

"To be sober, mostly," he said, which made no fucking sense at all. "To walk around, I guess. Make the flowers grow. You know. Little things."

Patience deserted Ada, if she'd ever had any in the first place. "Then just fucking be sober," she snapped. "Those fucking apples aren't fermented. Go tell the doc you're a useless fucking drunk and then fucking stop drinking. No one's stopping you. I don't give a shit that you feel sorry for yourself."

There was a long silence, only broken by the god's ragged, occasionally-snotty breaths. Ada counted seconds in her head. One hundred, two hundred, three. Many of the most vulnerable must have been out of the building by now. Good.

"Aren't you arresting me?" the god finally asked.

Somehow, Ada discovered, her rage and indignation had not yet peaked.

"Who the fuck is going to arrest you?" she shouted.

She wanted to hit him with her cane. She wanted to smack him across the face. Either of those would require her to leave the door; she compromised by slipping off her shoe and hurling it at his head instead.

He didn't even try to dodge. He might not have even seen her throw it. Regardless, she was not known for her athleticism or her grip strength, and so the shot went wide, bouncing harmlessly across the ground beside the eaten apples.

Now the god was looking at her, though. Properly looking, his brow furrowed, head tilted. The black veins had crawled over his jaw and hooked their way into the cracks in the corner of his mouth. Though Ada's eyesight was not the best, she took a few tottering steps forward and focused. The skin around the wound was rippling, twitching, like the not-plant was snaking through his actual capillaries.

The angrier she got, the calmer he seemed. The magic didn't seem to frighten him, but then again, she supposed, that was his nature. Maybe it didn't feel as wrong as it looked.

"The... cops?" he said.

Ada threw her other shoe at him.

She regretted it immediately, but not for any god-wrath reasons. Once again, the shot missed by several feet. Once again, the god ignored it. But she was suddenly, acutely aware of the rock-hard floor against her aching feet.

Why the fuck had the kid been sleeping here?

"You own the fucking cops!" she exploded. "Arrest you? We can't even fucking look at you without you throwing a fucking fit! Arrest you? Ha! What fucking army? What fucking jail? Where do we put a temple with no god? Where do we put a people with no temple? You're it for us. We don't have anything else. Don't you get that? Arrest you! Ha! No, fuck you, you stupid, spoiled child. You can rip their babies' hearts out in front of them and they can't do a fucking thing to stop you."

The god said, "Oh."

"'Oh,' he says," Ada mocked. "Oh. Oh, what a fucking revelation. What a thrill. Glad I could fucking enlighten you. Are you making plans now? Off to pick the prettiest girls, I bet. Prettiest boys? What's your type? Doesn't matter. Be as sick as you want. Be as cruel as you want. They won't refuse you, godling. Nobody will. We need you."

Finally, he moved. He unfolded his knees and pressed his palms to the ground, and he pushed himself to his feet. His arm and shoulder were all darkness, now, but the magic didn't appear to be spreading any farther. At least, not on his skin. Perhaps it was satisfied now that it had found a opening, now that it was eating through his insides.

His steps toward Ada were slow, but they were steady. He stopped an arm's length from her. From here, she could see his drying tears, and the viscous slick of rotten magic, and the mouth slit stuffed with crawling worms. Dead thing. Decaying thing.

"I'll go down to the caves," he said, as though the rot didn't hurt him at all. "I won't trouble you again. Please – please stand aside."

"I can't," Ada said.

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you."

The god's lips pressed together, a painful-looking motion, made worse by his wounds.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," he said.

"I'm not frightened."

A wan, tight smile pulled at his bloody lips. It did not touch his eyes.

Ada searched her thundering pulse and found that her hands were shaking. The ever-present fire in them was a curious afterthought, far less loud than the rest of her. It was rare for pain to take a back seat to action, these days.

Maybe she was frightened.

"You did mean to frighten me, you dumb fucking cunt," she said, with no small amount of exasperation. "You threatened to kill me."

"Yes, well. I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I – I was frightened."

He did not have anything to be frightened of. How absurd for him not to have known that. She'd never heard of a god who feared consequences.

Maybe she never would again.

As if reading her mind, he said, gently, "I'm not frightened anymore. I'd like to take my leave now. I swear to you, I won't hurt anybody. I promise. You'll never see me again."

"You fucking coward," Ada said.

She almost expected him to lash out, like he had with the doctor. Surely at some point, enough would be enough. Surely a god would do what a god would do.

But he just threw up his hands, matching her exasperation. "What?" he demanded. "Are you serious? Or are you arguing with me just to argue with me?"

"Oh, sure, go back to your hermit hole," she said. "We'll all be so safe from you. We'll all be so much better up here. Fuck everybody who needs a god. Why try to be a good one? That's too hard. You're tired. You're mean. Your little child feelings are hurt. You're sad. So fuck everyone who needs a god."

"Nobody needs a god."

"Then what the fuck are we doing here?"

The god studied her. She didn't know what he was looking for. She didn't know what he wanted from her. She didn't know whether he found it.

What she did know was that eventually, his shoulders slumped. He sighed. The magic, the rot, whatever it was, almost seemed to calm, his skin stilling.

"I'm not Nova," he said.

"Fucking obviously."

"I'm not a monster."

"Is she?"

He didn't answer.

"Doesn't matter, I guess," she told him. "You don't care. So go be a stupid, selfish cunt. Do whatever you want. Hurt us or leave us, it doesn't matter. I won't stop you. I'll just tell them all I told you so."

She undid the lock on the door, and then she stepped away, bending in a stiff, mocking bow.

The god pressed a hand to the glass. His eyes were fixed on the garden. The creek continued to burble. The birds continued to chirp. The sun peeked in golden afternoon rays down through the clouds, a beautiful autumn day.

Then he turned back to Ada.

"Please–" he started, and faltered, and tried again. "Please... go tell Cosmas I'm sorry. Tell them – tell them I'll wait for them here. And tell them I need their help."

Ada studied the boy. It was a command, sort of, but she didn't think he would punish her refusal. If anything, there was a fragility to his shoulders, to the fingers pressed to the door. The suffocating weight of shame.

She nodded, once, and then she hobbled off in service to her god.

#original fiction #my writing #devin #ada #long post #short story #pspsps fraught power dynamic enjoyers come get yall juice. pspsps devin misery enjoyers come get yall juice

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boobertronian · 1 day ago

Text

EPISODE 1 : CYAN

Wonyoung's Episode - HENSHIN : A KAMEN RIDER STORY

Proofread by @vorrentis, big thanks to @kise15 for the ideations with Kamen Riders-related contents Word counts : 12305 words All works are fiction

ENJOY !!

EPISODE 1 – CYAN

“Ok, let’s start. It’s me, Tyler Nakamura, video log today is Tuesday, time is 23:00, the day is 03/04/2171, location is Ichijou Hotel.”

“I’m back, back with some news. And this news will either shock you or make you. A few weeks passed by after my clues and leads, even though they weren’t much, but they led me to the small town of Godai Town.”

“Never heard of it my entire life, but worth a try, I’m in for the thrill anyway. Took me a long drive for this, about an hour? yeh, something like that, my lower back was sore thanks to that. But my curiosity backed me up for it, so it was worth the drive, at least the scenery is quite nice.”

I finally got to this town. It’s a small one, near the coast.

The weather is quite nice, cool and windy, not very sunny, but the sounds of the coals waves is music to my ears, reminds me of those fishing trip with my granddad back then.

But I’m not here for sightseeing or for a vacation, I’m here for that goal, to find those mysterious beings.

I started to walk around to look for some clues.

The town seems like a peaceful one, not many activities here, people is going on with their normal daily lives, doesn’t seem like a place with “dangerous” situations.

The local shops around the blocks are quite nice, lights being decorated around the area, some banners for local events, some outdoor markets, seems like your normal small town.

I stopped by a diner, name’s Amadam. Not many guests here, but the owner seems friendly enough to say hi.

“Welcome to Amadam’s Diner! How may I serve you young man?”

“Bacon & egg please! With apple pie and milk please!”

“Anything else? How about our local’s treat, it’s on the house today!”

“ I’ll take that too! Thank you!”

“Be right with you in ten minutes!”

Nice lady reminds me of my elementary school teacher, Ms. Kent.

I started to settle myself to a table near the window. I took out my notepad and laptop to search for some info about the locals, while waiting for the food.

My workaholic self didn’t let me eat in peace.

“There you go! Bacon, eggs, apple pie and a glass of milk!”

“Thank you so much! I’m quite starving!”

“Enjoy your meal! I will be back with our local treat!”

“Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome!”

I started to chow down my food. Man, good old bacon & egg, nothing more high protein than that. Gotta fuel my energy first before anything else happen.

“Here’s our local treat! Home grown chicken salad with teriyaki sauce!”

“That’s dope!”

“Say, you’re not from around here aren’t you, young man? I live in this town longer than anyone here, well not everyone but yes, long enough to remember some faces, and to recognize some new ones!”

“ You’re a natural detective! Yes, I just got here!”

“Why here in all places? This town surely isn’t the most famous tourist spot!”

“ I’m a journalist! A freelance one! And I’m here for some clues to my story!”

“Oh?”

“Have you heard anything about some mysteries, about … strange creatures?”

The owner squints her eyes a bit

“Huh... never seen anything like theses before … too blurry? Is this some of those cryptid photos that the kids normally post online?”

“ I… read some info online . I saw pictures, and some news about mysterious events happened here. My curiosity led me here because I want to know about them, let’s just say, I’m a thrill seeker.”

“ Really? well Sorry I can’t help you with that young man “

“How about these things, you ever heard of them before?”

I showed her some pics of the round-eyes beings but seems like even them are a mystery to her.

“ I ... don’t know about these things, but ... I think Old Bill from that art shop knows more. The guy seems to be into these sorts of stuffs more than anyone here, you can ask him, I think? He’s down the road a few blocks!”

“But thanks for the info.”

DING

“Starship Delivery! I have some parcels for you Ms. Kent!”

A women came in, quite tall, holding onto some big boxes and in cyan-colored uniforms.

“ Yujin! Thank you so much dear !! You can leave it next to that corner please! I’ll be right with you !!”

The owner then walked back to her counter, man, that lady sure was fast for her age.

“How are you Ms. Kent? You sure have lots of packages today! take two of us to bring it here!”

“ Thank you for helping this old lady out! Those are gifts for my grandkids! I wish they can grow up as you two! Care for something to go?”

“Sure! I would love those apple pie! Hey Wonyoung, you care for something to go? Gonna be a long day!”

Another woman walked into the diner. She’s, well, I would say very pretty, both are, but this one sure has a different vibe.

“Oh hi Ms. Kent. Here are the rest of your packages.”

“Wonyoung! How are you? Love your new hair!”

“Oh, thank you Ms. Kent. I just redo my hair a bit that’s all. I would like an apple pie like Yujin too “

“Two apple pie coming right up!”

The two women stood there a bit. Gotta say, I’ve never seen visuals like that in real life. I probably should make a move, but they might think I’m a creep.

“Here you go! Two apple pie!”

“ Thank you, Ms. Kent! Man, I always love these cuties you did!”

“Say Yujin & Wonyoung, you two will attend that dance night?”

“ Yes, I will! Not sure about Wony here though, it’s a true challenge to get here ANYWHERE ha-ha”

“ I think I’ll pass. I have things to do.”

“See Ms. Kent? This girl is quiet in everything!”

“Oh well, guess I’ll see you there Yujin! This old lady still has some moves!”

“ Right on Ms. Kent !!”

“You should get to places sometimes Wonyoung! It’ll be fun !!”

“Oh thanks Ms. Kent, I’m doing ok, I like quiet places more anyway.”

“Suits yourself ! But I won’t mind familiar faces at the dance!”

“Alrighty! Well, we must get going for our next locations! See you here Ms. Kent!”

“See you girls!”

Such a nice convo, I like it. For a town this quiet they need that energy, if not everything will be bored don’t you think ?

But oh, look at the time, seems like I need to go too, that new clue seems interesting, got to pack myself up and go. No time for too much chit chat.

As I was about to reach the door, Ms. Kent then stopped me a bit

“Hope you’ll find what you’re looking for young man! Come here again if you want more of our delicious meal!”

“ I will, and thanks for the meal!”

I then walked fast past several blocks. The rain started to fall as soon as I enter the antique shop.

“Bouken Antique” I read the sign

DING

“Hello, is anyone here?”

AN old man slowly walked out, his hands were dirty with dust from craft works. Wiping his fingers on his pants, he gave me a smile

“Eyyy welcome to Bouken Antique, how can I help ya? Ya looking for some treasures? or some souvenirs? We have it all here with a decent price!”

“ You are old Bill right sir?”

“Old? Young man, I can break that tree out there with my bare hands ha-ha!”

“ Ms. Kent from Amadam’s Diner showed me the place . I’m here for some information actually . Have you seen theses?”

I took out the photos and gave to old Bill . Suddenly, his face changed

“Where… where did you get this ??”

“ Many sources. Mostly internet. Took me a while for theses ones? You’ve seen them before?”

Old Bill then ran fast to the door, closed the windows, turn the signs into close. Then he ran back to me with full speed, quite surprising for a man his age

“Come here, I want to show you this.”

Old Bill then guided me into his workshop. To my surprised, it was full of equipment, laptop, cameras, PC, like … those superhero’s secret cave? If you know what I’m talking about.

“ I know this, because … I took it.”

“What?”

“Yes. I was the one uploaded all these pics.”

“So... were you also the one who gave me the location?”

“Yes . That was me, and I’m surprised you came here, no one did before.”

“So... you’ve seen ... it, the creature.”

“Yes, I’ve... seen It many times. But I never knew what it was. One night, I was closing my shop, then I heard some noise nears those bushes & trees over there. I thought it was just some small animals but then I heard larger sounds, like something being crushed. I rushed to it because I thought someone might got into trouble. And then I saw…”

“That thing?”

“ Yes, it was that … creature, it … looked like a human, and its eyes were glowing. The moment it noticed me... it…. jumped & ran away. I could barely take a pic, hence the blurriness, but it wasn’t human, that I can be sure. And I saw it many times more, but I couldn’t catch it nor approach it. It was like, it was looking for something... or it just ... had a fight with something.”

“Do you think, it involved in many of the missing cases?”

“Yes, I think so too. A few months ago, police noticed us about some missing people, the only thing left they could find were their clothing. Then those cases stopped for a while, then they resurfaced again, more missing people with the only thing left were their clothing, or even worst, being either hung or fell from the tree or coastal cliffs over there. They gave it a try to figure out what it was, but then they couldn’t find any for a while, and since those cases weren’t happening too often, and with this small town, don’t think the police force around here could do anything much.”

“And these cases, from what I’ve been researched, partially from your info online, are not only in this same area, but many other places too.”

“Exactly, don’ you think … there’s something in common about this? like... do you think that... thing is making people disappear all over this country?”

“That’s what I want to find out.”

“Ok, then update me if you have something, be careful young man”

“Will do.”

“Strange isn’t it. I thought things like this only happened when I was younger, but now, I’m about to hi 10 feet below ground and we still have unsolved mysteries in this time. People around here none of them believe me, well, except Ms. Kent, she’s always nice.”

“She is a nice lady. But yeh, you’re not the only one into mysterious things old Bill. That is in my blood too. I will try to find a place to stay around here for some days, will let you know”

“Sure, please do take care, things aren’t like what it seems around here.”

I exited old Bill’s antique shop. The rain didn’t seem to stop.

I managed to find a small hotel, like you already know, Ichijou Hotel, near to where Ms. Kent’s Amadam. I settled in for the night, but I hardly slept thinking about that … thing.

The next day I woke up, it was already 10 am in the morning. I quickly rushed down to the streets to see if anything happened over the night.

Nothing

People were still going on with their days.

I took my brunch over Ms. Kent’s again, same meal, nothing changed. The day just went by fast. I barely had anything to do beside ... waiting for something to happened.

I went to the coast to look for some clues. Nice views, the waves, the scent of salt, the wind was breezing through my body. I went up to the hill, the trees were quiet and such, some birds, some squirrels were running around. I guess the day would pass by quietly just like usual.

I passed by Ms. Kent for some food and just to say hi, she still greeted me just like how I first came. The delivery girls were there too for some reason, so I put myself up and said hi

“Good evening Ms. Kent, you seem to have some companies ?

“Hey there young man! Tyler, right? Did I remember your name correctly?”

“ Yes, it’s Tyler, good memories though!”

“Who’s this one Ms. Kent? Seems like a friendly one!”

The girl with the shoulder length haircut suddenly stood up and greet me

“Hello there stranger! Who would you be? The name is Yujin btw! Nice to see some new face around here!”

“Tyler, Tyler Nakamura! I’m a freelance journalist, been here since yesterday for some scoop!”

“Ooooh !! Sounds exciting! What sort of scoop? This town is rather though?”

“Well, I want to keep it a secret, will let you know if I can ever publish though “

“Mysterious guy huh? I like it! You have any plans beside being here for your gig? Oh, btw here’s my bestie Wonyoung!”

“Hello.”

“Hello there!”

The girl with longer hair nods with a small smile.

“I’m sorry she’s a bit of a quiet type but don’t worry about it! Anyway, Tyler you’ll go to the festival tonight?”

“ Uh… I’m not sure I should go honestly ...”

“Come one it’ll be fun! I’ll go with my friends and all, you should join !! Maybe you’ll find someone you’ll like hehe.”

“Oh, ha-ha thanks Yujin, guess I‘ll go then, haven’t been to festival that much in my life.”

“Then no reason to not go right ?? well then, see you there! We’ll be there at 6:30! Now me & Wony here going to be off for our last shipments and ready to partyyyyyy!”

The two girls then stood up and left, onto their daily duties, leaving me with Ms. Kent again

“Such beautiful young girls aren’t they, back in my day I used to have that energy too ha-ha”

“ I trusted you on that Ms. Kent.”

“Btw, I heard old Bill told me, you met him. Were you able to find what you need?”

“ I did yes, not too much but I got what I need.”

“Ok, I don’t want to stop you but be careful young man.”

“I will Ms. Kent.”

A few hours later, I finally dragged myself onto the festival.

I must say, for a quiet town, they really do know how to decorate the streets . A totally different vibe from the usual quiet and rather bland town during the day.

Kids are running around with their treats, people are dancing and taking food courts, if I’m telling you this was the exact town during the morning you might think I’m bluffing.

“Heyyyy Tyler !!”

I suddenly turned myself around, a group of people men & women were approaching me in colorful attires.

“Oh hey… Yujin, nice outfit!”

“Heyyy everyone, this is Tyler !! I met him this morning !! Here are my buddies : Gaeul, Rei, LeeSeo, Liz, Chad, Eddie and Jimin!”

“Oh, hi everyone, you guys look prepared!”

“Of course we do !! It’s party time !!!!!”

“Come join us, Tyler !! Let’s go, don’t want to waste our time here !!! Gotta take some boozes and goooooo!!”

I followed the crew, damn, they were loud, or maybe I was being too quiet? I kept following them through the food courts, got some good ones myself, then ended in a barn where they had loud live music.

“Good evening, folks !! Welcome to Godai’s Town festival !! This year is our 50th Anniversary so we’re going to hit it big !!! Foods are all here for you with any cultures and any flavors from Ms. Kent right there, and be careful, don’t drink too much !! We still have some safety laws here! But other than that, have a great night folks, enjoy !!”

The mayor seemed like a jolly one, not that much different from Ms. Kent. I guess this town is more interesting than I thought, more than meets the eyes, I guess.

The festival went on for a while, surprisingly an introverted like me lasted that long with that many noises, so was my bladder.

“Is it fun Tyler ??? You like it ???”

A girl from Yujin’s group asked me, her name was Liz, I guess?

“Oh, yeh it’s fun! I can’t believe this place can be this loud!”

“Glad you like it !!! Now come, you can go there and dance with us !! “

“Oh, I think I need a bathroom break a bit! Would you know where it is?”

“Ohh, down to your left !! Hurry !!, The dance competition is about to start !! “

“ I’ll be right back !!”

Little that she knew, something even more eventful, or, even worst, something terrible would occur that night.

I got out to the bathroom and done my ”duties;” man, I drank a bit much than usual. At least I got some break from the loud noises. If I stayed there longer my head might exploded.

Then I heard some sounds while walking back. Something rather … well, erotic over that empty space behind the barn.

“Hey, you are sure this place is empty? No one is going to go back here?”

“Hehe yehh, now come on baby give it to me.”

Ok…. What was that? Some teenagers were doing something silly.

My curiosity self then walked over the bushes, slowly and quietly. Then I saw two people are standing around that big tractor.

What were they doing there? Too much booze? Needed some private times, or... oh no, I think I know what they were getting into

“Come on baby show me your asses, fuck I want to see those cheeks !!! “

“Gimme that big cock of yours and I’ll do that.”

Well, now that was something I was surprised I bumped into . This was not the “mystery.” I was looking for sure.

“See, I showed you my dick, now how about you make me feel good baby, you’ll love this big meat hehe.”

“Oh, really, ok, I’ll suck your cock, you better fuck me good later if not I’ll drop you off got it?”

That … was wild

Like those pornographic stuffs I occasionally look at sometimes, well, excuse-me for that, single life could do that to you

But yeh, better leave those two to their … “activities.”

I turned my head back the other direction, giving those two some “privacies.”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!1”

A loud scream was tearing up the sky where those two were

I ran back fast, as fast as I could to give some help

“What just happened ?? You’re, ok ??”

That scream did not sound erotic at all, it was a scream for something terrifying, something straight from those horror movies

Once I leaped over the bushes, I saw Yujin screaming her entire lungs out. Her face was full of shock, sweats and full of terror, looking up to the sky

Then I looked up

The sight, I can’t describe you, how horrifying it was

A creature

Yes, I wasn’t joking

A creature, crawling from a giant web, with the man’s body being entangled in the middle of it

That creature, looks humanoid, with big red eyes.

At first, I thought, did I finally encounter those creatures in the photos ?

But something … was different

The creature kept on crawling towards the man, with him also screaming while being muffled, barely forming any words

“Mppphhhh... Helppp… Mpphhhh… someone…. Help meeee.”””

“Barry !!!!!!! NO Let him go !!! “

The woman screamed in horror, in desperation

The creature, in full speed, bit onto the guy’s neck. He screams in pain, the most feared scream of the night. Then, in matter of seconds, his body … melted down to the ground, with his remains burnt the grass below into a dark spot, only his clothing left.

No bodies, no blood, nothing, just a dark spot was what remained of his poor fate.

“OMGGG !!! BARRY NOOOOOOOOO !!! NOOOOOOO !!!! “

The woman cried out, she scared, shocked, crying with full tears, hurrying back towards my direction, running at fast as she could

“Miss, I’m here !! Come on !! I’ll cover you!”

“OMG !!! That thing… omg … that thing killed Barry… !!! “ The woman cried out while did her best to form some words

“Come on let’s get out of here!”

I helped her on her feet, and we both ran as fast as we could

But it was in vain

The creature, swinging over the trees above, caught up to us in a few leaps. It jumped right in front of us, eyes wide open, fangs were full of dark venom liquid dropping down to the ground as its was approaching us slowly.

“OMGG STAY AWAY !!! STAY AWAYY FROM ME PLEASE !!!! “

I took my courage, I grabbed a log from the side of the street, and in a desperate move, I swung at it, with the best of my self-defense knowledges.

“Get away you fucker!”

SNAP

That was the dumbest thing I ever did tonight

The creature wasn’t phase at all; he broke the log like a toothpick once I swung at his face.

At that moment, I thought maybe my curiosity really killed me

The creature then grabbed onto my jacket, then threw me away to the grass like I was a small baseball, let me fly away a few feet and crashed onto a mudhole next to it.

That hurt a lot, I could barely get up for a while.

The creature then kept on walking towards the woman, now dropped on her knees and crawling away in fear

“STAY AWAYYYY !!! PLEASEEEE !!! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME !!! ANYONE HELP ME PLEASE!!!”

The woman was screaming her heart out; she was crawling backward till her back reach the tall tree behind. The creature didn’t stop, it kept approaching her, like an apex predator cornered its prey.

The creature literally shot a giant web net into her body, then, it snatches its mandible onto her.

“PLEASE... plea-ea-...”

The woman’s body fainted to the ground, shit. Poor girl, she couldn’t handle the shocks.

And I couldn’t do anything; I guessed my useless self couldn’t be the hero today

SMASH

Something smacked towards the creature’s head, made it fall back a bit

Immediately, a figure ran towards the creature, then kicked to its body, hard. The impact made the creature flew a few feet away to the ground.

I finally got myself up from the mud, and to my surprise

The figure, in humanoid shape, with glowing pinkish eyes and cyan-colored upper body, same with his leg armors, or … “skin”.

It was him, the one I saw in Old Bill’s blurry photo.

I wiped the mud on my face to see it more clearly, and it was him.

The figure was more of an insect like, but the color was the same from the pictures. On his arms were a pair of weapons, looked like tonfas ?

The creature rose up from the ground, it seemed angry from the sudden hit, leaped towards the figure, as the two engaged in combat.

They traded blows with each other, with both launched punches and kicks towards each other violently, but it seemed like the figure somewhat got the upper hand.

The creature was no slouch, it used the webbing substances to evade and strike back at the figure, hence made it more difficult. Its venom melted the grass or any objects it touches, making the figure had to dodge left right.

The figure was able to fend back with his weapons, landed many strikes towards the creature. Each swing of his weapons accurately hit the creature in many areas on his body, making it growled in pain.

In a careless moment, the creature aimed its webbing and venoms towards Yujin, still lying unconscious over the tree, making the figure had to rush towards her to block the attack, ended up injured himself on his left arm

Taking the advantages, the creature charged in and repeatedly punched the figure, leaving him in defense mode while doing his best to wrestle it away from Yujin, still unconscious.

He was struggling for a while, as his injury seemed quite a severe one, as he seemed to be slower than few moments before

“Gotta help him” I said it in my head, then quickly pull my butt up and ran towards where woman was, with all my might carry her up and ran towards the side

“ I got her! Kick that thing ass!” I shout out

The figure, seemingly understood what I said, taking it as a cue to strike back. He used his left weapon and hit straight into the creature’s abdomen, then his right one slammed hard into the creature’s jaw, breaking the left side of its mandible.

And with a quick move, he kicked the creature away from himself and let it roll over the grass in pain.

The creature seemed to grow more feral and angrier; it created a giant web to cover the area and climbed to the top of it. In a feral move, it dove down from the top web and lunged itself over the figure.

The figure, got to his stance, his body then glow up with hazy cyan aura, his eyes were flashing, and the circle around his waist were charging some sort of energy that I couldn’t believe in my own eyes, somewhat powering him, like those finishers in video games.

In a quick movement, as the creature were close to kill the figure, he then immediately used his weapons and slammed it from both side of the creature’s body

“BAAAAAMMM”

The creature was being stuck in midair, growling in pain with the two weapons around his waist, burning him, as blue light running all over his body and ended up with an explosion.

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM”

The creature’s body engulfed in blueish flame and reduced to dust, falling down the grass.

Holy bloody hell

What did I just witness ?

A fight between … two paranormal forces? Like how my grandad used to show me in his old tv series?

I couldn’t believe I just witnessed that

As I let the women’s unconscious body down to the soft grass, the figure slowly turned towards us, kneeled from where he stood, right arm covering his left one, seemingly in quite painful moment.

A blue light ran from the top of his “antenna,” slowly dissolved the “shell,” or the armor on his body, down to his leg, reavealing a person whom, caught me in full surprised.

“Wait. wait a minute ?? You’re... you’re that girl ?? That delivery girl with Yujin ???? Wonyoung ??”

The girl then slowly looked up to me, still having hard breathing out of tiredness from the battle.

“Worry about me later, that woman, how is she?”

“She was just too shocked I think, I think she’s ok. Wait, oh no ....”

The woman’s body melted right in front of me.

“She’s gone isn’t she.”

“That was… no… I thought we saved her...”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. It happens ... Ah...”

“You look injured, we need to get you to the infirmary.And we should report to the police ”

“No, don’t go there, there’s nothing they can do for me there, police or hospital. They won’t be of help. I … must get out of here, I mean it, ah...” Wonyoung talked while still covering her arm

“But let’s cover your injured arm first, it looks dangerous, quite infecting …”

I then took my jacket and made the torn pieces into a makeshift bandage for her. Once things done, Wonyoung then insisted me again

“ I’m ok now, go, get outta here, ah …” The scar on Wonyoung’s started to spread throughout her arm darkening her biceps and forearms.

“Ok, but we need to treat you too, that injury seems to be serious, if you’re heavily injured that would be even more troublesome. If you can’t go to hospital, where should we go? And I don’t think you can get there alone in this state.”

“Ok... Guess ... I have no choice... follow my lead, I have a place, it’s outside of the town “

“My car is near here, I can drive you there, can you hold yourself up to it?”

“I can.”

We took the shortcut path towards the bushes through the parking lot. We had to be very careful not to be spotted by the partygoers. Once we got into my car, I pushed the pedal in speed just to get out of there

“Ok, go straight down that road, outside the border of the town and then make a right turn “

“ Is it, some sort of secret hideout?”

“ It’s a place where we can hide her from those creatures, for now”

“Those?”

“Just drive...”

“Ok sure.”

We got to a lodge deep inside an abandoned factory.

Wonyoung then pushed the buttons next to the fences, and an old elevator then pulled up from the ground, arm was still covering the wound while I was doing my best helping her out of the car.

As the elevator descend the underground, we got into a room, full of martial art gears and sandbags, some wooden weapons on the walls.

As we walked past it, we got into a computer system, looked quite high tech for the place.

There were some notes on a giant board, with pictures that looked like those from the online sources I saw.

Wonyoung’s wound seemed to take its toll onto her, as her body started to loosen balance, dropped down from her knees again.

Until a small totem, looked like made from stone, started to glow in blue light. The light then started to flow onto her wounds, slowly nullifying the poison running through her veins.

The process seemed to be quite painful, as she had to hold down herself just to get through it for a few moments, her eyes squinted and her teeth grinded to themselves until it stopped completely.

“You’re, ok?”

“I’ll recover soon.”

“You mind telling me… what just happened?”

“It’s hard to explain to you, things are complicated.”

“At least, well, let me know why all this happened . I mean, I just witnessed two people being killed, and you in your ... transformed state just fought off that creature, and that magical stone just “cure” you. I think I would like to know what I was dealing with?”

Wonyoung stayed quiet for a bit, then she opened her words.

“How can I trust you? We just met.”

“Well, I think it’s up to you then, at least so far, I did everything you’ve been telling me right? I guess I’m partially involved into this debacle now.”

“it’s hard for someone to believe in what just happened, and I can’t trust you that fast.”

“Well, I do, because I was looking for this this entire time here. I followed the rumors and information, pictures I could find online about this mystery, I’m just surprised You are the one I’m looking for.”

I then showed Wonyoung pictures, info on my phones, my notes, everything I could tell her about my trip until now.

“Even with your information, I still don’t know if I could fully trust you to tell you what happened.”

“I think if I even spill this out, hardly anyone going to believe a total stranger not from this town too, right? And according to you the police didn’t do a good job Like I said, I’m involved in this already and, I do want to help too, if not I already ran away after you got injured from the monster and I didn’t . So please, you can trust me on this, even if it’s just a little.”

Wonyoung stayed quiet again for a few secs, then she started her explanations.

“It was a healing process, the stone used its power to cure the poison, and it can only be cure by that light.”

I sit down to the bed next to me, then walks towards Wonyoung who was still in the process of catching her strength.

“That monster, it ...”

“That wasn’t the first one, I defeated many before.”

“Woah... ok, like, only you?”

“Yes.”

“And … that form, is it... some sort of armor? or … are you a human being?”

“ I am a human, and that was part of my body, I change into it at will”

“Oh... ok, but… how did you find us?”

“ I can sense the creature, but I should’ve got there earlier, now that Chad was being killed, it will cause some more rumors . We cannot tell the local police about this, they won’t believe us, believe me I tried before.”

“Oh ok, so, I mean, what now, what should we do now?”

“We must find the last one, so others won’t suffer the same fate. I know that thing is still out there.”

“There are two of them?”

“3, counting the one I defeated today, was 2, so the last one is still out there somewhere.”

“That sounds dangerous, should we notify the police.”

“The police won’t help you much, believe me, I tried. They listed them as missing people or someone playing pranks.”

“But we could let them know to protect people, right?”

“I can protect them; with my abilities I will do at all costs. This isn’t for debate.” Wonyoung looked at me with fierce eyes

“Ok, I guess we have to keep it to ourselves then.”

“That was also a risky move you did there, two risky moves actually.”

“But … You were struggling and I was trying to fight back”

“ I get your effort, and thankfully it did work out, but do not be that risky again. Those things won’t hesitate to kill a bystander”

I then sat down to a chair, stayed quite a bit, then I opened myself again

“So... that creature, what was that thing?”

“They’re called the Gara, they’re creature from a long time ago.”

“How do you know?”

“The belt here talked to me.”

Wonyoung showed me the belt forming around her waist, then it disappeared

“So, you transformed into that … form, through that belt? Is it some source of magic?”

“ I don’t know about it, it seems to come from ancient time, and to my understanding, there are some links between it and the monsters.”

“So, this belt, it gives you powers to transform? how long have you’ve been doing this.”

“Nearly a year, I hunted down many before the ones targeting Yujin. Keeping it a secret to people, until I recognized Old Bill were able to take pictures of me, so I had to do my best to deter the attention of others from his posts.”

“You ... hacked into his network?”

“Sort of, I used ghost accounts to stray his information, I guess, I doesn’t work with you.”

“Well, to be fair, my curiosity nearly killed me if you weren’t there, but hey at least I met you.”

“You got thrown off hard by that Gara, you good?”

“A few scratches and bumps but I’ll be good, don’t worry.”

“Good.”

“But Wonyoung, that thing it can track people, how are we going to get there faster than it can?”

“I have my ways; I’ll beat him for sure. I will make sure I will get to him being anyone being killed.”

As Wonyoung finally eased down Yujin and taking care of her, Wonyoung then turn up her PC system, then opening some files.

On the screen, there are multiple sightings of those creatures, with some videos, blurry photos from different sources online.

“You told me, you got the information about the Gara online, right? Have you seen theses too?”

“Yes, I did. and some of theses old Bill gathered online.”

I then showed Wonyoung more pictures through my tablets. She squinted her eyes at some of them, then zoom in and out on three specific photos

“These 3,they look similar to me.”

“They? I thought they were all you?”

“No, my belts and colors do not show these colors.”

“So ... does this mean, there are someone else ... with the power like you?”

“Possibly. I’ve never seen anyone around here with similar power like me. I can’t sense their presence.”

“So maybe theses are from different places outside of here? Do you think we should look for them?”

“The belt did give me a premonition about it.”

“Oh really?”

“The first time I got this power, when it awakened in me that day, I got a premonition about other people with powers like me, but it was blurry. Since then, I’ve been looking around here but I couldn’t sense anyone.”

“Should we look for them? I mean, I can help you more since now there’s two of us?”

“Why are you so interested about this?”

“Because my reporter’s blood is boiling to find the mystery, but, after today, I think, you need some companies, to help you fight back these things. And I think the other three are part of that solution. These “Gara” thing, they are dangerous, and I think we need more hands to protect people.”

Wonyoung stays silent a bit before letting out a deep breath.

“Ok, I trust you on this part, no further. Once we’re done with it, we’re also done with everything, you got me? I don’t want to drag more people into this mess. But I warned you, any sign of double-crossing, you know where it will end ” Wonyoung stared at me with a stern voice.

“I don’t think I dare to do that after seeing how capable you were today honestly.” I tried to calm her down.

“Okay.”

“So Wonyoung, do you know why they only target some people, like, not on a large scale?”

“I’ve been wondering about it for a while, and from I’m seeing, there’s a... pattern.”

“Pattern? Like they ... only kill specific people?”

“I noticed by the way I could sense them. The victims, they often had a larger aura of energy projecting from them. The Gara seems to target only those. And ...”

“And?”

“I was one of the victims too. The day I awakened my power, one of them found me, and I could sense it when that Gara attacked me, right here.”

“How did you survive?”

“I managed to defeat it, since then, I take these responsibilities seriously to not letting anyone suffer that same fate. I saved some but also lose some too.”

“Must’ve been hard for you, all that time.”

“I’ve toughened up over time. There’s no room for weakness.”

“But you can use some help, right? I mean, even if you’re capable, I think you should let others help you too. Not like you cry for help all the time don’t you think?”

“For now, I’m doing the best I can, and I want to keep it that way. Once we’re done with finding the others, and hopefully we do, we part ways.”

“Sure, whatever you say, won’t argue with you on that.”

Wonyoung finally healed from her wounds. She stood up and did some shadowboxing to test her strength. Quite impressive movements I would say, for someone her frame

“You sure trained a lot huh?”

“Since before this power in me, I’ve been training my entire life.”

“Very hardcore I see, I guess I can… spare with you sometimes? I got some moves on my own!” I tried to loosen up the tension with Wonyoung, but she seemed unfazed.

“I’ve seen your moves, very lacking.”

“Ouch, that hurts.”

“If you have nothing else to show me, I suggest you leave. I can take care of my own now”

“Sure Wonyoung, but do you think tomorrow we should get to old Bill’s, for more evidence? I think we can dig up some more there?”

“I told you I don’t want any more people involved.”

“Look, I get what you’re trying to say, but I think we should get some more leads to this, I mean, some of his leads helped me to find you, and now his photos helped us to know there are more like you in different place, I don’t think it would hurt if we check with him.”

“Old Bill, is an old friend of my late father, I want to keep him safe from all this.”

“So, you haven’t told him about any of this?”

“I want to but could never find a proper occasion.”

“I think, well, I think you should let him know. He can be the best help we can get around here.”

“I ...” Wonyoung startled for the first time that night talking to me. She paused her moves for a few minutes, then, she took a deep breath again with her decision.

“Then, if that’s the way, I’ll meet you in front of his shop tomorrow after my work” Wonyoung sounded a bit reluctant.

“Will do, I’ll see you tomorrow”

I then left the place back to my motel. The party were still going on, so nobody noticed my presence, of course beside the receptionist

“Going back so soon? The party is still on my friend! Go enjoy!”

“Oh no thanks, I feel like I need to hit the bed. Night!”

I lied.

I couldn’t sleep well that night.

So many thoughts in my head.

“Where will this going to go, what is going on, who is the Gara really is anyway? etc.”

My thoughts were running wild through the night

The morning finally came. I kept going on through my day, acting as normal as possible: loitering around, chatted to Ms.Kent about the festival last night without telling her any of those “eventful” details

I even saw Yujin and Wonyoung again, but she seemed to not noticing my presence much

Until the evening

The town seemed like it had a bit more fun than usual, lots of cleaning were on the way from the aftermath.

I rushed myself to Old Bill’sshop, and Wonyoung was already there with her motorbike, right at the door, not in her usual delivery outfit, but in a university jacket and jeans.

She looked ... well, amazing. She made me kept looking at her for a bit until she woke me up with her voice

“You’re late.”

“Got here the best I can.”

Both of us entered the shop, while Old Bill was in the process of setting and packing his stuffs and brewing his drinks.

“Ohh hey you again young man! And ... Wony, my dear, been a while seeing you here.”

“Hey Bill, you’re doing good?” Wonyoung greeted him with a smile and softer tone.

“Very well my dear, look, I just got some new collections !”

“You’re always the same Bill, reminds me of my dad all the time.”

“He sure was a fine collector himself too! So, what can I help you two? Seems kind of odd you’re in here together?”

“Remember those pics you gave me Bill? We want to talk to you about it.”

“Oh ... What happened, did you find anything else about it?”

“Actually, we do.”

“Bill, there’s ... there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, since the day my dad passed, I... discovered something.”

“Yes, my dear?”

“Something I’ve been hiding from you for a while, that was why I didn’t meet you much. I think it would be dangerous for you to know.”

“My dear, you’re like a daughter of mine. Your father entrusted me to look after you even if we don’t have many interactions, I want you to know you can trust me with anything.”

Wonyoung stays quiet for a bit.

“Then Bill, this is what I wanted to show you.”

Wonyoung stepped back a bit. She held her palms around her waist, forming a cyan light turning into the belt, with the cyan ring glowing around the circular gem in the middle.

Wonyoung then raised her right arm in diagonal across her body, palm pointing towards the left side of her body. She then spelled out a word in a calm but powerful tone.

“HENSHIN!”

As Wonyoung swiped her right palm over the circular glowing ring, the armor started to manifest from the belt, spreading across her limbs like forming a shell all over her entire body, then finished with a “melting down” process, revealing the armor from the molten shell, finished with a glowing action from her rounded bug-like eyes.

It was... unlike anything I’ve seen before.

Her body, now cladded in some sort of exo-skeleton armor, with a dominant black color, cyan over the breast plate, arms and legs. Even the “Face,” or helmet I think, is in cyan, with two antennas formed from the forehead, like an insect, and glowing pink eyes, almost if a grasshopper and a human cross-species.

Around her neck is a scarf-like piece folding down like wings behind her back, created the visual of those dirty bike rider.

“My word... Wonyoung, you’re... you’re that one, the one I saw that night!”

“Yes.”

“And the one in the pics, it’s you ... right my dear?”

“I know Bill, this is why I kept a secret. I’ve been fighting... monsters, monsters that attacked people. I use this power to protect them. They targeted people, only specific ones, and... you were one of the targets too. That night, I was protecting you from one.”

“Woah Wonyoung, so … Bill was one of the victims too?”

“Yes, luckily, I beat that one before it could get to him”

“So, the rumors online are true, there are monsters attacking people. And this, I never thought, it would be you my dear Wonyoung, who’s been protecting me and people all this time.”

“I am not sure if I’ll be able to protect everyone, but, I’m willing to carry that burden.” Wonyoung de-transforms immediately.

“My dear Wonyoung, you shouldn’t hold this to your own, I’m here for you. I won’t tell anyone about this. You can trust me, like how you dad did.”

“Promise me you will Bill.”

“I will my dear, until this old man out of his breath.”

“So Old Bill, you told me, you got more info online, right? The pics that you found, the other three humanoid creature.“

“isn’t that you my dear Wonyoung?”

“No Bill, that’s what we’re trying to find out today.”

“Come here you two, let me close the door.“ Old Bill hurried himself to close the door, then open his PC to show us his files

“According to what I found, these photos are being taken from different locations, this magenta colored one, it’s in … yes, San Wataru town. And the yellow-ish one right here… hmm, Arakawa town. And this one, huh, this one doesn’t seem to be a known location.”

“So, we located two, the last one, is still a blind mystery.”

“Yes, I’m still finding sources for the last one. But to no end. But I can keep going on.”

“While we’re going to find the last monster from this town.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes Bill, I think from what I can sense, that one will be dangerous. Don’t go anywhere much until I defeat it. Even though I already defeated the one targeted you, there’s no promise that new on will not targeting you. I must find the other victims too.”

“Sure, my dear, anything else I can do for you?”

“No Bill, please stay safe, I can .”

Suddenly, Wonyoung turned her head over the door in suspense

“The Gara, I can sense it.”

“What the, where is it?”

“I got to go, stay here.”

“Wonyoung I’ll go with you “

“NO, just stay here.” Wonyoung rushed through the door

“I can’t let her go alone Bill, she got injured yesterday, she needs help”

“Go, take this thing, go help her”

Old Bill then pulled out in his closet, a blaster, then gave it to me.

“Pull this lock, and it will activate the bullets for you.”

“What the, how the hell you have this?”

“I’ll tell you later, now go help her!”

“Ok!”

As I rushed out, Wonyoung already hopped on her motorcycle, speeding up towards a direction as I also did my best to follow her in my car.

“Wonyoung wait for me!”

I hit my pedal and speeding up after her.

Wonyoung sped up towards the direction of the coast, took me a few moments to catch up with her, but no way I could match her side by side.

Once we both reached the coastline, Wonyoung ran fast down the hill to the sand beach, where we could see a Gara monster, looked like the last one I saw, but with some noticeable difference.

This one, while visually similar, had some sort armored texture on its torso, bigger mandible and spider-like eyes, carrying a claw weapon from its right arm.

When we’re close to be there, the Gara almost attacked a small family, scared them running away and on the verge of killing them, if not for Wonyoung’s interruption by jump kick on the side.

“Run! All of you run!”

“Ok … kids, get away from here!!!” The parents yelled out to their kids.

The Gara enraged, it growled a loud sound before lunging towards Wonyoung, in which she dodged to the side, with the Spider Gara hit his claw to the sand, poisoning it wit its venom, making a dark spot in the sand.

Without hesitation, Wonyoung then striked her pose, like how she did in front of me and Old Bill.

Her belt appeared on her waist, glowing in cyan color. Swiping her palm towards the belt, she spelled out her word

“HENSHIN!”

And with that, her body started to glow in Cyan light, transformed into her full suited up, or armored up state, eyes glowing in pinkish color.

The two then engaged in a brutal fight. The Spider Gara were full of strength, delivered huge blows towards Wonyoung

“BAAM”

“WHACKK”

Wonyoung wasn’t afraid of any of its strikes, she countered his moves with her weapons, giving him hits after hits with her kicks and from her weapons.

Her hits were raw and brutal, aiming to its face and torso, with its blood bled out to the sand.

“WHACK”

“POW”

The Spider Gara even more enraged, shot out his webs to block Wonyoung’s strike, neutralized her weapons and her arms.

It repeatedly slashes its claw towards Wonyoung, as she did her best to counter with her legs by doing some kicks.

“WHACK !! BAMM”

The Spider Gara countered back, it caught onto her legs, making her lose some balance, then it slammed her down hard to the sand.

Wonyoung struggled to get up due to its left arm pinning her down, even if she did her best using her now freed left arm to hit its mandible.

I rushed it, pulled the lock from the blaster, then aim at the Gara’s head.

“BOOM”

The recoil of the blaster shook my hands a bit, therefore the shot hit its thigh instead of its head, making the Gara turned its head towards me immediately in full anger.

Taking the chance, I kept shooting at it, giving Wonyoung the chance to break free from its grip.

She used her leg to kick into its abdomen, enough force for her to escape its claw, then with her now freed right hand, hit its face in full force

“WHACK!!”

The Spider Gara fell back a bit, but it recovered right await due to its stamina.

It then delivers a shockwave through the sand by punching its fist, creating an avalanche, with Wonyoung had to shield herself by doing the same with her weapon, slamming them to the sand and created a cyan colored force field.

The shockwaves clashed into each other, knocking both down and flew away a few feet, with the Gara stuck in a sand hole while Wonyoung rolled her body down to the seawater.

I then rushed towards Wonyoung to help her the best I can without caring about the danger we were having.

“Come one Wonyoung! Let’s bail! That thing is too strong for you! We need some plans!”

“I told you to stay back! Why did you follow me ??”

“Call me stubborn, whatever, but that thing we need a plan to beat him, you’ve been fighting him for that last 15 min, and it still didn’t even feel much, come on let’s hide inside those caves over there !! We need to figure something else!”

I hurried up Wonyoung as we both escape the Spider Gara, about to escape the sand hole, angrier and full of rage than ever. I shot back at the Gara with my blaster, distracting it enough for us to hide.

“Come here Wonyoung! We should hide there!”

Me and Wonyoung ran into the hidden part of the cave, where the Gara couldn’t see us. Then we cowered down behind a large rock, with the Gara was still lurking around looking for us

“Ok, what’s the plan, should we trap it here? Lure it inside here?”

“This one is probably the strongest I ever faced. The ferocity is dangerous; I couldn’t beat it with my usual strikes like the others.”

“Then that’s the reason why we need a plan . What do you have Wonyoung?”

“I think it has a weakness.”

“Can you pinpoint it?”

“I noticed, when you shot into its thigh, I could feel that it felt something more painful than the usual hit. If I can strike a harder hit towards that same spot, I can beat it.”

“Then you need a distraction, me. I’ll distract it while you wait for the time to strike.”

“No, I will do it, you stay here.”

“Again Wonyoung, if you keep going with this pace, the fight will get longer, and that won’t end well. This one like you said, it’s way stronger, we need a teamwork, and we need it now”

Wonyoung stays quite a bit, then she peeked out towards the rocks nearby the sand, in which she found something.

“Ok, you see that part of those rocks.”

“Yeh, I see that, there’s a slump down.”

“If I. .. I mean, if WE can lure it to be trapped in between those rocks, I could hit it with my strikes. Can you distract it long enough until then?”

“Sounds like a plan, a daring one, but it’s a plan, let’s go!”

We both got out of the cave and proceed with the plan. Once I saw the Spider Gara, I gave him a few shots just to get its attention

“Fuck you asshole !! Come here and get me you piece of shit !! “ I screamed out and ran fast towards the rocks while the Spider Gara, using its spider-like abilities to swings and pursued me in full rage and growl.

Luckily for me, I had a good record of stamina to run as fast as I could, if not, I might turn into dust by now. Never thought one day I would encounter such vile creature.

Once I ran over the rocks, the Gara caught up with me. It shot the webs to my foot, made me stuck there.

“Oh shit.” I thought my life would end right there once its approached me with its poisonous claw and venoms.

Suddenly, Wonyoung, from the side, lunged herself towards its thigh.

With her charged up weapon, she hit it with the hardest hit, breaking it leg.

Dark blood spilled out to the rocks, as the Gara’s other leg were being held from the lump of the rocks due to the impact.

“GRAAGHAGHAHAHGHAGAAGGHA!!!!”

The growl of the Gara pierced through the sky. The plan worked.

Wonyoung then continue her strike, repeatedly hitting it with her weapons, weaken its strength, then in one blow, she hit it down to the sand below.

“WHACK !! BAMMM !!!! POWWW !! WHACCKKK !!”

The Gara, now severely weakened, crawling down towards the beach with its limping body just to hide from her.

But Wonyoung, in one final move, charging up the energy from her belt into her right leg.

The energy from the belt glowed in cyan, running down her ankle, making her right foot condensed of energy.

And in quick succession, she jumped up in the air, did a marvelous forward somersault towards the Gara. Then, she delivered a flying side kick towards its body, sending the Spider Gara feet away to the water.

“BAAAAAM “

A giant explosion came right after the final blow, finally destroyed the Spider Gara

“KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM”

Its body engulfed in Cyan flame, created a huge explosion, signaling our victory.

I finally get rid of the web comb on my foot, then ran fast towards Wonyoung down the sand.

“Did... did we ... did we win?”

“It’s done.”

“You beat it Wonyoung!”

“No, WE beat it. Thank you.”

Wonyoung then reverted and gave me a slight smile, the first one since we met.

Some bruises and such were visible on her body, with her trying to catch her breath from the tiring encounters.

“You’re the heroine Wonyoung, you saved everyone!”

“And... I couldn’t beat it without your assistance, you... did well, Tyler”

“No biggies, I’m glad I can help . Now come one, let’s get you back to your hideout. Can you ride back there, or you need a ride.”

“I can, let’s go, we shouldn’t stay here long.”

The two of us then walked out of the beach, then quickly getting back to Wonyoung’s hideout.

A moment later, I was helping her with some bandages for her wounds and bruises. Surprisingly, she was also a bit more open to me

“Ok, I think this is pretty ok, the wounds will heal later on.”

“Glad I can help you out Wonyoung.”

“I’m sorry I was being quite harsh and distant with you. It just, I’m not used to have companions

“Non-taken Wonyoung.”

We then settled down a bit until the night comes in.

“So, Wonyoung, you think there will be more?”

“I couldn’t sense any of the Gara’s Presence here anymore. Since we beat that one, their “senses.” were quite gone.”

“Huh, maybe that’s a relief. I hope we won’t encounter any of them anymore.”

“I hope so.”

“But Wonyoung, why are you so determined to work alone like this?”

“Because…”

“I’m sorry I asked.”

“NO, because… Because my father, he was the one who awakened the power before me.”

“What?”

“My father, he was the first one that … the Gara attacked in front of me. But his body couldn’t handle it over time, and ... he did his best.”

“So, you, and your dad, were supposed to have the power together?”

“I... think so. People thought my dad passed due to illness and such, and I wanted to keep it that way. Once it was my turn awakened my power, I worked through it, I trained hard for it, I kept it a secret from everyone, because I wanted his passing wasn’t in vain.”

“So, if your dad could awaken his power, does that mean, there were more people that could awaken their powers than just the other three we’ve seen on those pics?”

“And they might suffer that same fate as my dad too. Maybe not everyone can control the power”

“Do you think, the Gara attacked the people, who could... you know, have the power?”

“Could be, because I can sense the energy, through the victims, but not as strong as mine. I never encounter anyone with similar energy sense, or power like me.”

“Well, I guess now we’re kind of know why they were attacking only a few people.”

“And now, with the premonitions, I think, I should find the other three. We might solve the secret of my power even more.”

“I think that’s a plan, we should meet old Bill again tomorrow before we go. I’m with you Wonyoung.”

“Sure”

We stayed quiet for a moment, then I did my best to break it

“You know, for a handmade cave, you sure packed a lot of stuffs!”

“I invested in everything here, I like it.”

“It looks cool though! Man, I wish my place is this big ha-ha. Say, you want to spar with me a bit? Since, you know, you’re... kind of healed physically.”

“Are... you sure?”

“I mean, I might either get wiped by you, or I wipe you off the floor aha “

“Sounds like a challenge.”

We both stood up and walked to the mat, where I tried to impress Wonyoung by doing some shadowboxing

“So, you know how to do that.”

“Of course, I learned through some classes myself!”

I then face Wonyoung, then trying to strike a pose

“I can go easy on you.”

“Nope! Go hard on me if you can Wonyoung! I can take it!”

I surely did not know what was in my head that moment. Imagine trying to beat the person who could beat a vile creature with her bare hands.

I tried to give her some jabs, she blocked it with some counters

“Nice punches, but not good enough for me.”

“Oh, then you will love this !!”

I then lunge myself towards her, giving her a flying punch.

But, with a swift move, Wonyoung used her skill to pin me down with her arm-lock technique, pin me straight down, face up the ceiling, with her sitting on top of me.

“WHACK”

“Ouch, that hurts.”

“Told you so.”

For the first time ever, we looked at each other eyes to eyes. She looked beautiful, even with her slightly messy hair. Her features were mesmerizing during that moment; her round eyes and lips were sexy and alluring.

Something sparked between me and her while we were locking eyes

Something that made us kept staring to each other for a long while, before…

Before… this happened

In an unthinkable moment, our faces reached each other, then we gave out a kiss.

Then one kiss after another

Our kisses were slow and sensual, urging us to do more.

“What… are we doing?”

“I don’t know Wonyoung.”

“But... you seem to like it?”

“And you too Wonyoung.”

“So... are we doing this?”

“What if we do?”

“If we do this, no strings attached between you and me, got it?”

“No strings attached.”

We continued our kisses. She pinned me down with her hands, while I held onto her back, my hands moved along the silky smoothness of her dark hair, then ran down along the length of her waist, down to backside.

Clothes were starting to be removed while we were making out. I kissed her along her neckline while she was removing my long sleeve shirt, then I proceeded to remove her jacket, top and sport bra, kissing her breasts passionately.

Her scent was addictive, her skin was smooth, made me eager to do more.

Wonyoung didn’t go easy on me either, she kissed me along my chest, down to my abs, then quickly removed my pants, with my bulge couldn’t stop protruding to the heat of the moment. She didn’t wait for any sec to remove the last piece of clothing on me, then taking my hardened “friend.” and her beautiful lips.

Her movements were slow at first, and she took it deeper, made me let out a sound

“Ahh... shit... Wonyoung... that’s very good ... ahhh”

I gave her signs, she understood quickly. Then she stood up, remove her lower pants, then her thin strap undies, leaving us both naked on the mat.

We got in too far now; there was no going back.

She got to my face, then slowly dropped down her lower body onto me, letting me taste the sweet scent of her vagina, while she continued with my erected rod. My tongue ran along the softness of her folds, while her tongue was swirling around my rod in faster pace.

Her walls were tight, and sexy, my tongue couldn’t stop taking her deeper, with the help of my fingers, while Wonyoung also didn’t leave my shaft a break with her mouth, taking mine down to the base.

“Ahhh... fuckk... Wonyoung... you ... you suck me deep... fuckkkk that’s … so good…”

“Ahh... your tongue… ahh… I… I feel good... so good down there … ahh. Oh shit... ... it’s so good “

We did not stop there, not like that

She once again rode on me, this time, with my rod slowly entered her tight wet walls, leaving us both an erotic moan in unison

“Ahh… that’s... shit... that’s so tight... Wonyoung you’re so tight….”

“Ah….shit… that’s ... so big and hard... inside me... ahh...”

Wonyoung started to bounce on me. Seeing her like this, breathing in and out through the motion while having my hardened shaft inside was a sight, a beautiful sight. Her face was reddened through the bounce, her breathes were harder with her paces, while me down below enjoyed the moment with pleasure. Sweats were forming from both of us, our breathings collided with each other, so were our louder moans

“Ahhh… fuckkkk… Wonyoung… holy fuckkk... you’re… so good with this… ahhh fuckk you’re so hot… ahh fuckkk…. You’re soo tight… you’re wrapping me good... ahhhh”

“Hahh… ahhh..., fuckk. I couldn’t stop… ahhh bouncing… ahhh. … I couldn’t stop my body anymore… ahhh fuckkk …. yours are piercing me hard …fukk ahh…”

Our lips joined each other again, then I pounded her hard upward, making her moan louder, arched her body, face up to the ceiling, hair was defying gravity.

Our bodies kept on slamming into each other, our moans and pleasure reached its maximum, before we had to come to an end, at least, for this round.

“Ahhh fuckkkkk... Wonyoung… I’m … I’m gonna cummm… Oh fuck I’m gonna cummmm !!! I... can’t hold it any longer!!!”

“Hahhh… Me... me too… Oh fuckkkk … ahhhh... I’m… reaching it !! Ahhhhh”

There was nothing that could stop us at that moment anymore

Our liquids shot into each other, loud and full. My cum and hers blasted into each other, filling her up with both of ours. I couldn’t stop myself from cumming, with some of it leaking out of her, as Wonyoung stayed in the position there, enjoying her orgasm, once she didn’t have for a long time.

That was the best thing, beside this “Adventure,” that I had for a while in my boring life. My mind went blank from it.

Wonyoung then dismounted from me, lying next to me, with both of us breathing in and out like we had some hard sparring.

Sweat was running on our bodies, our skins were reddened post-orgasm, making us lie there for a while, before we were able to form some words.

“That was… woah... that was… great.”

“I ... couldn’t believe... we just ... did that.”

“Yeh …”

“You... did better than the sparring…”

“Hah... I guess... I did something good then… don’t you think?”

“Yeh... but... I don’t want to stop... not like this.”

“ME neither… I want more ... Wonyoung… it’s too good not to.”

“No, we won’t stop... not until we both want it to ...”

And we didn’t stop.

We grabbed onto our sweaty bodies again, with sloppier kisses, as if we didn’t care of anything anymore.

Sex was the only thing in our mind at that point.

I let Wonyoung in an all four position, kissing along the back of her neck, then her sexy backline, down to her backside. There, I saw her vagina was still throbbing, still leaking with my cum. The way she arched her back in this position, her sweaty body, her erotic scent, made me feel even harder and wanting to try more.

My hands then grabbed onto her butt cheeks, kneading and kissing them, then I opened them out, revealing her pinkish and small anal hole. I then dove in with my tongue, licking and circling it around her tiny entrance, with Wonyoung let out a moan

“Ah… that place... ahhh...”

“Hmmm... you’re tasting so good Wonyoung… I… I want to take you here…. Can I …”

“Hah... at this point... just do it... take me in there...”

That was erotic, even for her.

I lined up my hard shaft towards her tight entrance, then I slowly entered her.

It was too tight, tighter than I could imagine, but that didn’t stop me to keep trying.

I could feel her breathing were getting harder once I finally put my tip passed her entrance, and even harder and more lewdful once my inches went deeper inside her crazy hot and tight hole.

“Ahhh... ahhhhhh… ahhhhhh... oh fuck… … so.. so tight…”

“Fuckkkk. Omg…. Wonyoung…. Soo tight... so warm…”

“Go... go for it…Don’t stop there.”

And I didn’t stop

I thrusted into her, letting her use to the penetrations. The slow motions made me feel like heaven, her warmth were killing me with pleasure, her walls wrapped tightly around my shaft. I went deeper and faster, pounding her with the best of my abilities from behind, with Wonyoung letting out the loudest sound that I ever heard of her.

“HAHH... AHHHHH… Oh shitt... ahhhh … so hard… so hard and big in me…. AHHHHHH... Oh fuckkkk … Oh…. Aahhhhh... oh FUCKK IT’S SO HARD … AHHHH... that… so good… AHHH”

“FUCKKK Wonyoung… ahhhhh... FUCKK THIS IS FUCKING GREAT… AHHH Fuckkkk I couldn’t stop…. Ahhhh”

I pounded and pounded harder ; I didn’t want to stop this sensation. I was fully enamored into it, I couldn’t think of anything but breaking her tight anal hole. Her moans were once again colliding with mine, echoing around her hideout.

I grabbed my hands tightly on her waist, leaving some handprints, while my lower body were attacking her non-stop. I gave her kisses from behind, stimulated her vagina, pulling her hair a bit while pounding into her.

Wonyoung’s palms gipped hard down to the mat, her head curved up and down through the pleasures, her breathings were mixing with her loud moans. AT this point, we were close to our climax once again, and our bodies erotically confirmed it.

“FUCKK ... WONYOUNG ... I’M CUMMINGGG !!!1”

“AHHHH... GOOO… DO ITTT.”

My cum shot out again.

My hot cum filled her whole.

Once again for the night, I filled the beautiful girl in front of me

My cum again blasted inside her in shots, made me lose the counts.

Our minds gone really blank with the orgasm

Her juice was also leaking down the mat, so was me cum from her tight hole once I pulled out.

I gave her kisses, and so did she.

We did not waste any moment that night.

We continued our heated moments together through the night, any positions, anything we could think off with each other, until we ran dry.

We let ourselves wrapped inside our lustful desires with each other, until we couldn’t do no more.

Me, and Wonyoung, both lying on the messy mat after our “battle”.

We just stayed there, until she opened the convo

“That... was ...”

“Yeah... I ... seriously couldn’t believe... we went this far...”

“But... I like it…”

“Me too...”

“All this time, fighting alone, … I closed off to a lot of people… I didn’t want any to get close to me... even my close ones. Sometimes, I like it that way… but some days… I wish I could tell them...”

“Well... at least now... you have my help... and I’m willing too... So… don’t close off to me, ok?”

“I’ll try… but... not that fast... like I said... no strings attached.”

“Got you … on that.”

“Tonight... I like it… but... just keep it that way. Nothing further than this, deal?”

“Deal”

“I also been thinking...”

“Yeh?”

“We must find the other 3. The more this being delayed, the more stakes are rising. And, I feel like, this is only getting started. The Gara, they may be gone from this area, but I don’t believe they’re done for.”

“Sure Wonyoung, I’m with you. Any plans?”

“We will go tomorrow, it’s time I look for the others, let them know, that there are others like them, and we have to do this, together”

“We can do that Wonyoung, like I said, I’m already into this, so you have me as your ally.”

“Thanks Tyler”

“You know, the way you fight, how you look in that ... armor, reminds me of something.”

“Something?”

“Actually, not something, but someone. It’s a superhero show’s character, and my grandad was very into it.”

“Oh?”

“You might find it’s silly but, would be cool if you have that codename, just like that character!”

“And what would it be.”

“How about... KAMEN RIDER? How’s that sounds?”

Wonyoung stayed silence for a while, with myself thought it was a dumb idea to tell her, but to my surprise

“I like it.”

“Well then, from this day on, you will be known, as KAMEN RIDER, sounds cool?”

“Cool”

EPISODE 1 : END

#kpop smut #jang wonyoung #ive wonyoung #wonyoung #kamen rider #tokusatsu #wonyoung ive #wonyoung x reader #ive smut

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borderlineex · 1 day ago

Text

₊˚⊹౨ armed & adored ৎ ₊˚⊹

sam winchester x reader

It had been a long week—ghouls in Michigan, a haunted library in Ohio, and now, finally, a moment to breathe in a quiet motel just outside of Lebanon. Sam had suggested a break from hunting and a quiet night of research (classic Sam), and you happily agreed. It was rare to have downtime, especially with both Winchesters in one piece.

You sat cross-legged on the bed, scrolling through old lore books, surrounded by empty coffee cups and snack wrappers. The room smelled faintly of vanilla from your travel candle, and the hum of the A/C was a soothing background noise.

“Hey, Y/N, I think I found something…” Sam’s voice trailed off as he walked out of the bathroom, rubbing his towel-dried hair with one hand, completely unaware that your soul was about to leave your body. Because Sam was wearing a tank top. A gray, perfectly innocent, probably-soft cotton tank top.

But that tank top did things. It clung to him just enough to showcase those ridiculously toned arms, the curve of his shoulders, and the gentle dip of his collarbone. His skin still glistened slightly from the shower, and his hair—now loose and slightly wavy—framed his face like some sort of divine gift. You forgot how to read. How to breathe. How to function.

“...Y/N?” he asked, looking at you with soft, concerned eyes.

You blinked quickly. “Sorry, what?”

Sam tilted his head. “You okay? You were staring.”

“I was not!” you blurted out way too fast. “I was just… zoning out.”

A small smirk tugged at his lips. “Zoning out at my arms?”

Your face went nuclear.

“I mean, not on purpose!” you squeaked, trying to bury your face in your book and your shame.

Sam chuckled, low and fond, and sat down beside you on the bed, his ridiculously warm shoulder brushing yours. “You know, if you like them that much, you can just say so.”

You peeked at him from behind the book. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Very much.” He grinned, the dimple in his cheek making a surprise appearance. “But for the record…” He leaned in a little, voice lower now. “I think it’s cute.” Sam gave you a look that was so soft it made your chest ache. “You know... I think you’re the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

Silence stretched for a beat too long before you muttered, “Even cuter than your muscles?”

He laughed, a full, real laugh that made his eyes crinkle. “That’s a high bar… but yeah. Definitely.”

You tried to hide your face again, but Sam reached out, gently pulling the book away and tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“Next time,” he said, “maybe I’ll wear the tank top on purpose—just for you.”

You nodded, already a goner. “I think I’m okay with that.”

And just like that, the great tank top Incident became the beginning of something very good.

A few days after , things had almost gone back to normal. Except for one small problem: you couldn’t stop thinking about Sam’s arms. It wasn’t just the way they looked (though, let’s be real, wow), it was the way they moved when he carried heavy books, or swung a duffel over his shoulder, or absentmindedly scratched the back of his neck while reading lore. They were like works of art — functional and ridiculously attractive.

But the worst part? You still hadn’t touched them. You were dying. Dying. It wasn’t like you could just ask to cop a feel out of nowhere. You had dignity. You had restraint. You had—

“Hey, Y/N, can you give me a hand with this?” Sam called from across the bunker’s library.

You turned and nearly dropped your tea. He was wearing another tank top. This time, it was navy blue and even more offensive to your self-control than the last one. He was standing next to a stack of dusty boxes and looking like he just walked off the set of some lumberjack romance novel. You walked over, heart doing weird little flips, and helped him move a box of books. Your hand brushed his bicep by accident and holy crap.

“Everything okay?” he asked, noticing how you froze.

You cleared your throat. “Yep. Totally normal. Just... evaluating.”

His brow furrowed. “Evaluating?”

You sighed. “Okay, listen. This is going to sound weird, but… for scientific purposes—and only for science—I feel it’s important that I, um, touch your arm. Like... intentionally.”

Sam blinked. Then grinned. “Scientific purposes, huh?”

You nodded solemnly. “Peer-reviewed.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of science.”

With a slight chuckle, he flexed just the tiniest bit and held out his arm toward you, like some kind of Greek god volunteering for worship. You gulped and placed your hand gently on his bicep. Warm. Firm. Ridiculous. You squeezed lightly. Then again, just to be sure. You may have sighed audibly.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“I’ve concluded,” you said with all the seriousness you could muster, “that you are, in fact, built like a tree.”

Sam laughed so hard he had to sit down on the nearest chair. “A tree?”

“A big, stupidly handsome one. With very huggable branches.”

He was still chuckling when you sat next to him, letting your hand rest comfortably on his arm this time, no more hiding it. It felt... easy. Familiar. Safe.

“You know,” he said softly, voice quieter now, “you don’t need a scientific excuse to touch me.”

You smiled up at him. “Maybe not. But it helped.”

He leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to your temple. “Next time, just say you want to cuddle.”

You leaned into his side, content and giddy. “Well, if we’re skipping the peer review, then I want both arms. Full wrap-around.”

Sam wrapped both arms around you instantly, warm and secure. “Happy to contribute to the research.”

#sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x y/n #sam winchester x you #sam winchester #supernatural #supernatural fandom #spnfandom #spn #biceps #big arms #jared padalecki #jared padalecki x reader #jared padalecki x you

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lazylittledragon · 4 hours ago

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ok so

disclaimer it has been a long ass time since i read/watched any of suzanne collins' masterpieces but i'm doing my best with what i remember

i was thinking about the response to the hunger games when it first came out and how the irony of it is sort of old news at this point and now i can't stop thinking about how the exact same thing happened with squid game only worse in many ways.

context: the hunger games effect is the irony that one of the main themes in the book is everyone watching and ignoring the atrocities and societal failures at the root of it all in favour of swooning at a love triangle. and then the movies came out and everyone watching was ignoring the atrocities and societal failures at the root of it all in favour of swooning at a love triangle.

(for the most part, and way back when it came out. we've come a long way since then which is nice)

and then squid game released and the exact same thing happened but infinitely worse than just fandom discourse and somehow even MORE dystopian.

squid game at its core is about class division and how normal people are willing to do terrible things if it means escaping poverty. how the rich prey on the poor and milk them for all they're worth, for money or entertainment. how a capitalist society benefits nobody except those at the top. how someone will subject themselves to any level of pain or humiliation just to get out of debt. how even after seeing the first round of brutality and fearing for their lives, people will come back voluntarily and do it all again if they're desperate enough.

the point is not to want to be there. the point is to feel enraged at the people preying on the disadvantaged, to be horrified at how meaningless human life can become to someone for the sake of money, to wonder what it would take for you to feel the same.

and then rich people decided it was a good idea to do it for real. something something torment nexus.

i know that preaching about media literacy sounds a lot like 'look at me, i'm better than you because i understand The Themes'. but i don't understand how it keeps happening because most of it is about as subtle as a brick through a window. children forced to kill eachother = bad. poor people risking their lives = bad. surely that should be enough, even when it's muffled with nice clothes or a marketable game.

i can't be too mean to anyone back when THG first came out for overlooking the absolute atrocity of it all for 'which boy will it be', ESPECIALLY since most of us were similar ages to the characters. it's the kind of thing that doesn't really hit you until you're an adult and realise how helpless you actually are as a child, even if you don't know it at the time. honestly if anything it makes it even more effective, since it proves that people are susceptible to distraction tactics if it means they can ignore what's really going on, and if the girl is pretty enough.

and in the same way i can't fault the people who were part of squid game: the challenge or mrbeast's clusterfuck or even just going to the squid game escape room things they've made now. because it's a 'have your cake' kind of thing. you get to find out if you would survive, and you don't have to kill anyone, and MAYBE you win the lottery. and even though being subjected to filming conditions + unflattering editing isn't FUN, deep down you know that at the end of the day, you get to go home.

and you don't have to think about what you would do if the death game was real because it isn't, it's just an idea that someone has given you the most palatable piece of.

does anyone want to hear the thoughts i cooked on my commute today about how squid game got the hunger games treatment or do we just want the usual gay shit

#ramble #that's it #if i think of anything else i might add more #context i thought about this bc at some train stations there are posters for the squid game escape rooms #and it's just like. you missed the POINT

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woossexyponytail · 1 day ago

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Forbidden Treasure

Seungcheol x reader

Hi everyone!! Long time no see !! I'm back with something a little different I've been wanting to get back in to writing but wanted to do a seventeen one so this is kinda like a trial run see if people like it and hopefully I'll be back to writing more along with adding seventeen and maybe stray kids? I don't know yet, but hopefully, you enjoy it.

So this is inspired by hogwarts legacy. Also, the reader has a panic attack.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

I looked around the common room of the slytherin dorm. It was quiet, too quiet this morning, and that means only one thing Seungkwan was up to something.

Normally, every morning, Seungkwan would be walking next to me, talking my ear off as we'd make our way to the dining hall. But for some reason, he was nowhere to be seen. I shrugged to myself and made my way up to the dining hall for breakfast, wanting to enjoy the peace before he came back.

Walking past the open doors, the dining hall was lively, but thankfully, it wasn't too loud today. I spotted Seungkwan by one of the tables next to Vernon and Dino. My eyebrows raised, not believing all three were up early today.

Walking closer to them, I could overhear their conversion, being so engaged with what they were talking about that they hadn't noticed me walking up to them.

"It's got to be here. We'll find it -"

"Find what?" I asked, looking over their shoulders and seeing some sort of treasure map? Seungkwan and Dino jumped at my voice scrambling to cover the paper on the table, Vernon however just stared up, blinking at me.

"NOTHING!" Dino yelled. The hall got quiet for a second. Everyone looked over at him for yelling, Seungkwan slapped his back, glaring while Vernon tried not to laugh.

"We found a treasure map," Vernon explained, grabbing it from under the other two boys' arms showing me. "Correction one of the ghosts dropped it." Seungkwan added while the other two nodded.

I looked over it, seeing it was a place in the forbidden forest, raising my eyebrows looking between them.

"You can't be serious! It's dangerous out there, and no offence be the three of you aren't really masters of combat. I suggest you put it back where you found it." I said, crossing my arms waiting for their explanation.

"We can handle it! The three of us will be fine." Seungkwan said, folding up the paper and putting it in his robe.

"Giant bugs. Are you sure you can deal with that?" I asked, looking between Vernon and Seungkwan, knowing they hated bugs and almost fainted when they came in first year and saw the creatures here at hogwarts. Vernon swallowed, then looked over at Seungkwan. Looking back over at me, he nodded his head.

"Alright then," I sighed as I got some toast for breakfast, knowing I couldn't convince them anymore of how bad this idea is, the other boys might help but for now its not my problem.

Later in the day, I was in the library with Woozi, Wonwoo, Minghao, and Jun studying for our homework or next owls in Wonwoo and Woozis case. It was quiet, with a few students mumbling over their work. Just then, the door flew open with Seungcheol storming in looking pissed off while Jeonghan and Joshua were giggling behind him.

"Why are you so pissed?" Wonwoo asked as the three sat down with us, Seungcheol sat down next to me he looked up at Wonwoo and sighed mumbling "you don't wanna know" while getting his books out. I turned to Wonwoo, who was across from me as we both shared a look.

After about twenty minutes studying, Hoshi Mingyu and Dk came in running up to our table the excitement on their faces gave me a bad feeling, looking up at them as they stood at the end of the table waiting for our attention Mingyu bouncing on the balls of his feet with a wide grin like an excited puppy.

"Guys, we're going to look for treasure in the forbidden forest. Does anyone wanna come along?" Hoshi said, keeping quiet not to get more attention from other students or worse teachers. The boys all looked up at them, shocked.

"You spoke to Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino this morning, didn't you?" I asked, sighing at the stupid idea again, knowing they didn't think at all since they got those three to help and not the smarter boys.

"Wait, what?!" Seungcheol asked, looking at me, then back at the boys completely shocked by the information he glared at the boys waiting for an explanation.

"You're not going anywhere near there any of you, so don't think about it!" He said, getting angrier by the second. Jeonghan raised a brow, placing his head in his hand, looking at them.

"What kind of treasure are we talking about here?" He asked, ignoring Seungcheol next to him repeating the word no. The boys looked even more excited that they got someone else willing to help.

"Come with us and will show you!" They said as they started walking away and to mine and Seungcheol shock the other boys all packed up to follow, leaving us on our own.

"I guess we should keep an eye on them" I said sighing packing my thing to go and follow but Seungcheol stopped me his hand on my arm as he looked up at me with a pout on his lips.

"Why didn't you say anything to me about this idea?" He asked, looking hurt he had to find out by Hoshi, I blinked at him, not sure what to say as he squeezed my arm, not in an uncomfortable way more for support.

"I just found out this morning and hoped they'd come to their senses," I said, shrugging as Seungcheol took his hand off me and started packing too.

Once we followed them to the top of hogwarts hating, this is how I'm spending my Saturday. we ended up in the middle of the hallway while Seungkwan was smiling at the blank wall.

"Uh Seungkwan... are you ok?" Joshua asked, putting his hand on his shoulder and watching the younger boy.

"Shh," he said, glaring at him to be quiet while we waited completely confused, a door apard out of nowhere.

"What the ... you found the Room of Requirements?" Wonwoo asked, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes in disbelief.

"Yeah, guess hogwarts wants us to find this treasure too," Seungkwan said smugly, opening the doors to find the large room with a table and chairs.

"Well, this is unsettling." I mumbled as I looked over at Seungcheol, seeing him shake his head at the guys as they sat down.

"The map shows that the treasure is hidden here." Seungkwan said, pointing at a cave deep inside the forest.

"You're joking, right? A cave! That's probably filled with dangerous creatures?! Are you mad?!!?" Woozi asked as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fine with all fourteen of us going." Dino said, smiling widely at all of us. Seungcheol sighed as he rubbed his head, thinking.

"You can't be seriously thinking about going, right?! I'm not dealing with any Acromantulas!" I said, glaring at Seungcheol while I crossed my arms.

"It would be safer if we all went, come on yn you know they won't stop." Seungcheol said as he started pouting. 'Damn my soft spot for Seungcheol pouting' I thought to myself as I groaned in defeat.

"Fine, but if we see or go near an Acromantula, I'm killing you all!" I said, glaring at them as the boys started leaving the Room of Requirements Seungcheol grabbed my arm.

"Hey, listen, I promise you I will not let you near one of those things you hear me." He looked into my eyes as he said it to reassure me, I only nodded at him.

"Come on, love birds, we don't have all day!" Jeonghan yelled at us, Seungcheol let go of my arm immediately as he started yelling back at Jeonghan, calling him an idiot. I could feel my face blush as I slowly followed them out.

The guys thought it would be a better idea to go in the evening for some stupid reason as we made our way through the forest with our wands out lighting the way, Seungkwan was leading with Wonwoo next to him pointing out the right way.

"Are we there yet? I'm starting to get hungry!" Hoshi said as he rubbed his stomach, Vernon nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, and my legs are starting to hurt!" Woozi said, crossing his arms. "Shouldn't of missed leg day then." Mingyu smirked at Woozi as the older but smaller boy whacked him on the back.

"Guys, we're here!" Seungkwan said, looking back at us eyes wide like he wasn't expecting to find the cave.

"Ok, then we'll go in. Have a quick look around for the treasure, then we're out, ok?" Seungcheol said, giving a pointed look at some of the members. The guys nodded as they started going into the large cave single file.

"Guy?" I said the boys all stopped looking at me as I stared at a sign they missed on the right-hand side.

"Acromantula." I said, looking at the spider sign I stood my ground, not wanting to go in at all . " Y/n"

"No, Cheol, I'm not going in. I refuse no way in hell. I'm going in there!!" I yelled as I went to turn around and walk away. Seungcheol grabbed me, stopping me.

"Y/n, I don't want to leave you out here on your own. There's creatures out here, too, remember, trolls, thornbacks, hell, even a car with a mind of its own." Seungcheol said, reminding me.

"I can handle myself." I said, rolling my eyes at him. None of those creatures freak me out more than Acromantula.

"Ahhh!!" Someone yelled it sounded like Seungkwan, both Seungcheol and I jumped at the scream as we turned to see most of the guys had gone in while Seungcheol and I were arguing.

"Oh, you two have finished your lovers spat? Good seems like they need us." Joshua said as he pointed behind him to where the guys have disappeared to.

All three of us went running in while I was cursing under my breath for them being idiots. The cave was long and winding, not given us enough space to run past each other.

As we finally made our way to a large clearing in the cave, the guys were running around in circles as Acromantulas chased them around, and a huge one was climbing down from the wall.

If I wasn't so scared, I'd be laughing my ass off with the scene playing out in front of me right now.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me!" I yelled as Seungcheol and Joshua jumped in to action to help the others while I stood frozen staring at the large bug making me want to cry and run away.

I started hyperventilating at the scene, not wanting to be here, but I was completely frozen, also feeling guilty if I left my idiotic friends behind.

Just then, my eyes glued on to Vernon as he tripped and fell to the floor as the larger spider walked towards him, Vernon was also completely frozen in spot like me, only he was in the danger zone.

"Vernon, run!!!" Jun yelled as he quickly blocked venom that was spraying at him. Unfortunately, Vernon didn't move, still frozen. At that moment, I felt my legs moving before my brain registered what I was actually doing.

"Y/n!" Seungcheol yelled at me as I ran past him to get closer to the largest Acromantula, grabbing my wand from my pocket I raised up.

"Glacius! diffindo!" I yelled as the spider froze and then was quickly hit by the second spell. The spider turned to me as I jumped and rolled out of the way of the upcoming attack.

"Accio! descendo! glacius! incendio!" I yelled at the spider that was attacking dino, watching as the spider flew away from him to me and bounce on to the floor freeze, then got set on fire. Dino just stared, completely shocked.

I turned around to do the same combo to the larger spider wearing it down as some of the guys helped, and with one last hit, the spider fell to the floor, unmoving.

"Can we leave now?" Hoshi asks as he wiped sweat from his head. we all nodded, agreeing as we panted from exhaustion.

"What about the treasure?" Seungkwan asked everyone froze now, looking around the cave. Seeing a little indent in the wall, we all looked at each other to see if someone would look.

"Fuck the treasure." Seungcheol said as he started walking out grabbing me on the way as we walked out of the cave together.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to me, I glared, pulling myself away from his grip as we made it outside and rushed off ahead.

"You fucked up now" I heard Jeonghan say behind me, I was too pissed off to look to see who he was talking to, I just wanted to get to my dorm room.

__________

It had been two weeks since I really spoke to any of the boys, being too pissed off with them for dragging me into that mess and also almost dying. But slowly, they started showing up with their tail between their legs.

Vernon was the first to apologize and thank me for saving him. Next, it was Jun, Minghao, Wonwoo, and Woozi since as they put it, "we didn't want to go in the first place like you."

Then when we were sitting studying it was jeonghan and Joshua who apologise to everyone for not putting their foot down on how horrible the idea was and lastly it was Seungkwan and dino who full on cried hugging me for being such idiots and not listening in the first place.

Seungcheol was another case entirely he wanted to be alone he was pissed off with himself. At least, that's what jeonghan and Joshua told me.

It wasn't until a few days later that the group was studying again that Seungcheol appeared looking small with his arms behind his back.

"Hey Y/n, I'm really sorry I know I promised to protect you and didn't and I'm truly sorry I really don't know why I thought it was a good idea to leave you alone." Seungcheol rambled as he handed me a chocolate frog, exploding bon bons and some peppermint toads.

"A love offering!." Minghao gasped watching I rolled my eyes at what he said as I grabbed the sweets that Seungcheol gave me I smiled at him with a small thank you as he nodded and turned to walk off.

"Cheol!" I ran after him, he turned as we stood in the hallway. He was pouting his eyes like boba as he stared at me, waiting for me to talk.

"Look, you don't have to apologise you said sorry when we got out of the cave I was just pissed at the time but I'm ok with it now you just wanted to protect everyone that's just who you are." I explained, smiling at him.

"But I wanted to protect you the most, and I didn't. In fact, you protect us more than I did. I am sorry I dragged you in, but I'm glad you were there to save us all." He said I looked down, a little embarrassed Seungcheol stepped closer as he lifted my head with his thumb and finger on my chin.

"You know you looked quite hot kicking spider ass." He smirked as my cheeks flushed red. " Do spiders have asses?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Seungcheol blinked at that, then chuckled.

"I don't fucking know but I know I'm going to kiss you now." He said as he leaned down pressing his lips to mine, my eyes widened but closed the second he leaned closer.

His hand that was on my chin moved to my neck as his other hand grabbed my waist pulling me to his body, he deepened the kiss as I grabbed his shirt pulling him to me as well needing to be close to him.

"Finally!." We heard behind us as we stepped apart, looking to see all the guys there watching us some clapping and some handing out money to jeonghan.

"I told you they'd get together after that little stunt." Jeonghan said, counting the money he got. Some groaned as woonwoo and Woozi just shook their heads and walked back to carry on studying.

"You were betting on us?" Seungcheol asked the others, nodded as Seungcheol grumbled about not being obvious at all while the others laughed.

"Wait, so do spiders have asses though?" Vernon asked, looking confused as Joshua turned him around and pushed him as they walked off together.

Leaving Seungcheol and I alone in the hallway, he smiled down at me and leaned in again for another kiss. "I could get used to this."

"Well, not at the moment. I have to go back to studying." I said, walking back, following the guys.

"What, no fair!." Seungcheol said as he pouted again, following me whining like a baby mumbling how he deserves kisses lots of kisses. I just rolled my eyes but giggled at his antics.

#seventeen #scoups #seungcheol x reader #hogwarts #hogwarts legacy #seventeen x reader #seventeen fluff #scoups x reader

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veryace-ficrecs · 1 day ago

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The Passenger (2023) Fic Recs Part 2

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Find part 1 here!

Take The Back Seat by twoseas - Rated M

On Benson and Randy Bradley’s longest day, everyone gets to live. Eventually.

Matchmade by Coileddragon - Rated M

Benson Boudreaux is a veteran Jaeger pilot with a 100% kill rate in the Jaeger 'Savage Horizon'. The problem is he never keeps a Drift partner for long.

Man of the world by greendragon19 - Rated T

“You don't call, you don't write.” He crossed his arms over his chest feigning calm. Drawing Benson's attention to him. “And then I have to find out from my brother in law that you're getting released.” A myriad of emotion passed over Bensons features, recognition, annoyance, confusion, acceptance, a few others that Randy wouldn't dare to guess at. “Randy? The fuck are you doing here?” Randy smiled, dipping his head and looking up at Benson through his eyelashes. Something in the pit of his stomach warming at Benson’s voice and Randy’s name being the first thing he said as a free man. Twenty years after the shooting at the diner, Benson is getting out of prison. Randy goes to pick him up. Deals with somewhat more mellow versions of Benson and Randy after so much time has passed but both still equally co-dependent.

images of all that could be desired by pgndaze - Rated T

A week after Benson's death, a package arrives on Randy's doorstep.

Loves me like a dog by Syntheticpalindromes - Rated E

The woman at the school’s reception desk flat out refused to give them anything about Miss Beard, her hands laid on the countertop as she shook her head sadly. Big, plump bottom lip jutting out in what Benson might have known to be real sympathy if he had ever been presented with the emotion in a sincere way. Which he hadn’t. At least, that’s what he imagined, anyway. When she had removed her palms from the counter, the ledger beneath them had become stuck to one, slick with a nervous sweat that she hid all too well in the calm, collected way she had informed the boy she simply couldn’t give that sort of information away. The page was left greasy and she pointedly did not look at it. “And Mr. Bradley, I really think you’re doing the right thing. Good for you.” She had said, like she was his fucking grandmother. They don't make it to Miss Beard's place. Mr Sheppard lies in a pool of his own blood and Benson & Randy drive on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

Razor Sharp, White Teeth by mimomallow - Rated E

“I never watched that Twilight bullshit, Randy. Do you sparkle now or what?” or Randy has been starving since he was a child. Benson looks delicious.

did you get enough love, my little dove? by intheskywithamethysts - Rated E

The mop slapped wetly on the ground and slid across the grimy floor. Benson dug the head into the ground as hard as he could as he mopped. A sound like nails on a chalkboard ricocheted off the walls. It was agonizing to listen to. Benson didn’t care. It was the only thing louder than his thoughts. She’s not sleeping. She’s not sleeping. The sound of a door being pushed open. Two chimes. Footsteps. Benson looked up. “Hey, Benson.” Benson grunted and gave Bradley a nod as he entered. Well, at least he was working with Bradley today. (canon-divergence: Benson's Ma passes away the night before the beginning of the movie)

Side Effects May Include... by thenewgothicromance -Rated E

Listen, normally Benson’s not one to make somebody do drugs they don’t want. But they’re only three hours into the afternoon shift with another five to go, and if Bradley doesn’t chill the fuck out Chris will never stop bothering him. And if Benson has to listen to that all day, again, he is finally going to do something stupid they’ll all regret. It’s easier just to make Bradley take the pills.

Don't Forget the Joker by devovitsuasartes - Rated M

Randy had been driving home for about five minutes when he looked up into his rear view mirror and saw Benson staring back at him coldly from the back seat.

Can’t Help to Smile with those Eyes that Shine on Me (You’re Making Me Act Funny) by hellcat_shalalala - Rated T

"Thank you, Mr. Mustache Man.” She retrieves her blue crayon and scrapes it over the scribble of green she just made. “I’m sorry I dropped them. It was on accident.” A little smile twitches at the corner of his lips. Threatens to spread. He runs his tongue over his teeth to make his lips stop moving like that. “Them things got little legs," Benson continues dragging the mop. "Runnin’ off like that.” She’s delighted by that thought. “Little legs?” She repeats. She grabs one and twists it around trying to look for them. “Where?” He doesn’t respond. Just a laugh through his nose and a mindful push and pull of the mop, sweeping it under the seats. Yea. This is Bradley’s kid all right. or Randy has no babysitter for his four year old daughter, Seraphina, and has to bring her into work for his Saturday shift. His coworkers proceed to lose their minds over this new information. /pos Title is paraphrased lyrics from the song Picture Me Better by Weyes Blood

Doomsday is Close At Hand by riddlerapologist7 - Rated M

Randy’s eyes shoot open, he gasps for breath. He rips the comforter off of his body as he registers where he is: his bedroom. What? He was just at the diner. He could almost smell the greasy stench of the flat top grill mixing with the coppery scent of blood permeating the air. Could he have really dreamed everything that had happened? He reached up to feel his shoulder where he had been shot, where Benson had desperately been clutching to try and keep the blood from spilling out of him. He felt nothing, no wound, no pain, just the smooth skin of his shoulder and the cotton shirt he was wearing. He ran his hand over his chest, feeling his heart beat rapidly beneath his skin.

Ranson time loop au!! I'm not the first to come up with this idea, but this is my take on it :)

Erasure Poem (or, The Narrator Writes the First Draft of the Rest of His Life) by thenewgothicromance - Rated E

Randy almost doesn’t understand how it happened, even though he’s the one who started it. Three weeks ago he’d never had sex with anyone, had never thought about doing it with a guy, didn’t think much about doing it at all. And maybe that means there’s something wrong with him, but he’s not stupid—Benson is into him. And if Randy can use that to keep him calm, keep them on track for a little while, maybe Benson will come back to himself. Will shake off the shock, and tell Randy what the plan is.

Like Splinters Under Your Skin by pissedoffeskimo - Rated M

Maybe Benson doesn’t know exactly where he’s going or how long it’ll be before this whole thing reaches its inevitable, bloody conclusion, but he knows he’s taking Randy with him. (Canon divergent from Miss Beard's house)

cold blue summer by visceravalentines - Rated E

Elliot Sheppard, a third-grade teacher at Central Elementary, abused children for many years before being exposed and taking his own life. Now, twenty years later, the school is being demolished, and something has awakened.... Strap in for the cruelest summer on record. An homage to classic slasher movies with a summer romance flair.

the driver by visceravalentines - Rated T

They’re about 50 miles over the Missouri border when Benson asks him. “You think you could drive, man?”

Or, Benson trusts Randy to take the wheel so he can get some sleep, and Randy spends the night thinking about Benson.

#veryace recs #the passenger #the passenger 2023 #randy bradley #benson the passenger #ranson #benson x randy #randy x benson #randy the passenger #stockroom syndrome #ao3 fic recs #fanfic recs #ao3 #the passenger fic recs

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localgerman · 1 day ago

Note

transwheelchairuser tips pls?

TransWheelChairUser Tips

Includes both tips on getting a wheelchair/being given a wheelchair medically and tips on how to get a wheelchair without medical reasoning. This is basically a full transition tutorial lol.

Getting a wheel chair; medically advised/using insurance

- Weaken your legs but without making major differences to yourself, if you go to the gym slowly stop. Spend a majority of your time sitting down, if you dont have to move: dont. But the key part is ro make it seem like you havent changed at first; dont let yourself gain weight from not doing anything physical, still walk around when others(especially family) is around you. But just start sitting down more and leaning on things. But still work out your upper body! Lift weights with your hands. You do not want your upper body to become weak.

- By not moving a lot you can cause yourself fatigue, which can will further weaken you legs if your blood starts slowing down.

- Though someome may notice you arent moving as much, this is your time to start acting. Create a reason, the best one i can think of is: „My legs randomly started hurting a few days ago! I dont know why!“

- You want to get it to the point you actually cant stand up without feeling some sort of pain in your legs. Its even better if you can or start getting bruises on your legs.

- Once you get to the point where it starts to become painful you want to have some sort of injury to show that your weakness is starting to become a daily problem. And im not saying to break your leg or something extreme like that, im saying randomly stumble or collapse(make sure to practice while you are alone so it dosent look like you are faking it, though it may just come naturally!)

- At this point your parents(if you live with them/are a minor) may take you to the doctors, continue the act that the pain started randomly and you dont know the cause. If your parents dont take you to the doctors you should start going to the nurse at your school if possible. The nurse will be a convincing force that will make your parents take you to the doctors. If you are an adult, simply go to the doctors.

- The doctor may just recommend excerise. But when you start doing excerise keep acting, or maybe at this point its real, that you are in pain while trying to move your legs, now like the first tip here your upper body should still not be weak; this is your way of showing its just your lower body(legs) that are the problem and its not the lack of excerise that is the problem.

- You should by now be advised to get a wheel chair by the doctor! Overall id say this whole transition can take a minimum of a few weeks to a couple months. Just fake it til you make it

and a small side note: Insurence can pay or help pay for a wheelchair! All you need is to be prescribed a wheel chair by a doctor.

Getting a wheelchair; nonmedically

- Honestly, the easiest way is just buying a wheelchair! They can go for as low as 120$ USD new and maybe even lower if used on websites like facebook marketplace or craiglist.

- But of course, you need the people around you to believe you need one. So you can simply do some of things i said before; leaning on stuff, starting to act as if standing/walking is a pain, spend most of your time sitting. Overtime people will connect you to not being able to stand normally and so if you get a wheelchair it wont bw suprising. This will also help if you live with your parents and they are against or confused about you with a wheel chair, if you keep the act up they will start to realize you need one and this isnt just laziness.

- Overall for both ways you need to keep in mind that you should still have it so your upper body isnt weak; Lift light weights, do arm stretches, etc. Simply neglect your legs!

I hope these help! I tried my best to make this as detailed as possible whilst keeping it simple

#pro transid #transid #transid community #transid please interact #transid safe #radqueer #rq 🌈🍓#rqc #rqc🌈🍓#pro rq 🌈🍓#transwheelchair #transwheelchairuser #transid tips #rq interact #rq please interact #rq community #rq safe

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akari-of-moonlight · 2 days ago

Text

[Matchbox, Yearbook, Pen.]

Hasemura Week Day 5: [Tribute]

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Tetro Danganronpa Pink

Relationships: Kamimura Kazutoshi/Hasegawa Ken

Characters: Hasegawa Ken, Kamimura Kazutoshi

Additional tags: Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Angst, Symbolism, Freeform-ish?, who knows it reads like a fever dream, there's some mild blood and stuff but if you're into tetro I don't think it should matter, I still don't know how to tag fics help

Hi guys I still don't know how to format these fics. uh I wrote this whole thing in one day and then spent three weeks editing it and not posting it because I got scared but HERE IT IS!!! Be warned it's very long I got a little carried away.

Thank you to @thewhimsicalenderdragon for betaing I love you

Kazutoshi sits at the desk next to Ken in an empty classroom.

He’s just… there, arms crossed gently in his lap, like this is normal. As if the two of them were simply going through another day of school.

Which is strange, because they never went to school together.

He is looking out the wall of windows, to something Ken can’t see. The sky outside is blindingly white. Looking at it, the impression of clouds sears into Ken’s mind, although there are no discernible outlines. And it burns as if it is the sun itself.

A simple arrangement of objects is laid out across Kazutoshi’s desk. A small matchbox and a yearbook, with a single black pen laying over them.

Kazutoshi doesn’t touch any of the objects on his desk. He simply looks out the window. Out into the light. Maybe it doesn’t burn his eyes.

He is beautiful. Fleeting and perfect, drawn in sharp lines and rimmed by that white light.

His fingers tap light rhythms on the desk in a subconscious habit. He always did that when he was thinking. The small motion is so achingly familiar that Ken’s breath catches again.

Ken’s eyes fix upon those same small, angular, agile fingers that had traced over his hands and shoulders nervously or casually, like a light breeze, leaving burning prints behind in its wake.

Kazutoshi’s hands look like paper in the light, pale and beautiful against the warm brown wood of the desk. A blue tinge afflicts them like a layer of time and decay, and Ken can’t focus on them for too long, he just can’t.

The light from the windows burns at Kazutoshi’s figure, yet he remains undesecrate, like the pillars of stone and cement left behind after flood or famine, burning disaster, bloody wars. Relics of before times. Untouchable.

Even though Ken can’t see his face, his very silhouette is beautiful. His posture looks relaxed, casual, his small frame curving perfectly in the light like the arching porcelain centerpiece that stood in the fountain outside of Ken’s favorite restaurant.

Ken hadn’t thought about that restaurant in weeks.

He wants to reach for Kazutoshi. He knows he shouldn’t. He knows he doesn’t deserve to be here, next to the brilliant cobalt singularity that had believed that Ken would never taint his hands with the blood of another. He knows this isn’t real, can’t be real. He knows he is dead.

Terminal Agitation: the tendency of one to experience disorientation or hallucinations before death. Not to be confused with one’s life flashing before their eyes.

As a child, Ken often used to worry that nothing was real. That maybe “he” was just a single flash of consciousness in the burning, ruinous slop that was some sort of a plane of existence. That maybe he was imagining everything, a fabricated universe built around the only consciousness the void would ever know.

Maybe he was only ever experiencing this moment, and nothing else had ever been real.

Maybe he hadn’t even really started that sentence.

There wasn’t a way to know, and there would never be a way to know. He hated that. God, he hated that.

Back then, the brush of his mother’s hair would bring him back. Her touch, her soft voice, her words of reassurance.

Now, the pain brings him back.

If he really is only living in a delusion of this one moment, then it’s a stupid fucking moment to gain consiousness for.

Ken finds himself crying.

His body is crying, at least. Tears stream down his face as his limbs shake more than they should be able to, and his chest heaves in tempo with the ticking of the clock behind him.

Why is the clock so fast?

Ken doesn’t cry in public. He could never understand people who could just let themselves go under the watchful eyes of others like that. Only three people in the world had ever seen him cry before.

Well, that isn’t true anymore, he supposes.

The tears don’t stop his thoughts. They never have.

There is blood on his hands. There is death in his lungs.

He’s spent a lot of time around dead bodies lately. At a certain point you get used to it.

Ken knows he is guilty, but he doesn’t feel guilt. He should, probably. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t feel much of anything anymore. He closes his eyes, and he sees it again.

Stilted rules that destroyed everything he had planned for.

Five rotting corpses, faces in familiar fixtures of horror.

Blue eyes that had asked a question he couldn’t answer, and the tears that refracted their light that had felt somehow soul crushingly familiar and incomprehensibly foreign.

He had nothing to say to them.

A hand grabs his wrist, jolting him back to reality.

Kazutoshi had turned around, red eyes piercing as the day they had been extinguished.

“Ken.”

Kazutoshi’s grip is tight, almost fierce. Ken wants to look at him, but the light enveloping him makes it hard. He can only focus his eye on Kazutoshi’s hand, which pulls at his skin, nails digging into him like little pinpricks.

Ken is silent. He doesn’t try to pull his wrist back, or pry Kazutoshi off. Kazutoshi stares him dead in the eye as he whispers four words.

“What have you done?”

Ken closes his eyes. He deserves it, the scorn, the hate, the blame. Kazutoshi was innocent. Ken was guilty. It was as simple as that.

Kazutoshi pulls Ken’s wrist sharply, bringing it next to his head. Close, too close, to that luminescent celeste hair. Kazutoshi’s hand is tensed, still clutching, digging into Ken’s limp wrist. Ken is pulled forward, catching himself with his legs as he starts to lose feeling in his hand. Strange that he had feeling in his hand in the first place. Strange that he could catch himself with his legs.

Kazutoshi is so close to him now, but Ken still can’t see his face. He can only make out his small frame, his cerulean silhouette. His wrist hurts from Kazutoshi’s grip.

“Say something, Ken,” Kazutoshi says, and it’s desperate and angry and hollow all at once.

Ken knows he should apologize. He knows he should fall apart in front of the boy who saved him, broke him. He knows he should beg for forgiveness or stumble to explain himself. He knows he should want to lean forward and embrace Kazutoshi. He knows he should want to hold him while he still could.

Instead, Ken stays silent. He stares past Kazutoshi, into the burning sky. He realizes that his right eye is still covered by bandages.

The blazing light from outside tinges his vision red, his bandage only becoming an amplifier to the horribly beautiful, almost sentient light that comes from Kazutoshi and from beyond him at the same time.

“What… happened to you?” Kazutoshi asks. His voice is raw and broken, and Ken feels dizzy.

Dizziness is a common side effect of blood loss, due to a lack of proper oxygen in the brain. A human can usually lose about 30% of their total blood volume without a high chance of death. Vitals will likely be heavily affected.

Her body probably didn’t even have time to replenish the blood she’d lost.

“Say something,” Kazutoshi repeats. He sounds like he’s on the verge of falling apart. Ken’s head is throbbing in time with the clock, but he forces his eye to lock with Kazutoshi’s anyway.

“Please, Ken,” Kazutoshi begs. “I need to hear you. I– I don’t care if it’s an apology or some stupid fucking fact. I need–”

His breath hitches, and Ken should reach forward to comfort him. He should say something.

But he is tired. He is so, so tired.

He was ready to go. He was ready for his consciousness to fade away. He was ready to not think anymore. He wanted to die.

He didn’t want Kazutoshi back now. He wanted to never have lost him. He wanted to never have known how much he lost.

Why isn’t he allowed to die?

Matchbox, yearbook, pen.

Hand around his wrist.

Sped up clock.

“I need to know you still care.”

Ken doesn’t know how to reply to Kazutoshi’s plea. He doesn’t know how to be what Kazutoshi deserves. He doesn’t know how to be anything other than tired.

Kazutoshi waits. The clock doesn’t. It drones on, a cacophony in a single sound, and Ken wants to break it. He wants the broken glass to bite into his hand and tear into his body. He wants it to just shut up already.

“Do you care?” Kazutoshi asks.

Ken doesn’t have an answer for him.

Apathy syndrome: categorized by indifference and emotional detachment. Sources from traumatic experiences. General apathy may also be a symptom of other neurological conditions.

Ironically, he doesn’t remember as much about this topic as he used to.

Kazutoshi stands up, still holding Ken’s wrist next to his head. Every part of his body is tense, drawn taught and shaking with pressure. His silhouette almost blocks the light from behind him.

Ken lets himself slump to the side as Kazutoshi pulls his arm up instead of forward, standing over Ken and casting a shadow over his face.

Ken can make out Kazutoshi’s features now. His eyes, which before Ken could only make out the burning red of, are narrowed and marred with exhaustion. Blood drips from a few stab wounds on his face, but the rest of the damage Ken knows should be there is covered by his sweater. Tracks of dried tears trace down his face.

Kazutoshi slowly lowers his hand, never loosening his grip. Ken’s elbow folds immediately, his limp arm giving Kazutoshi no resistance. Kazutoshi pulls Ken’s wrist into his shadow. Ken can see that his jagged nails have broken skin, and Ken is softly bleeding too.

Kazutoshi watches him, quietly. It is a different kind of quiet than what they know.

The clock is almost louder now.

In his free hand, Kazutoshi grabs the pen. He lifts it, discarding the cap with a flick of his fingers. He places it on the desk momentarily, using his left hand to wrap gently around Ken’s wrist, right below where his other hand is. Slowly, he releases his tight grip, shifting Ken’s hand to rest much more lightly in his left hand. His gentle touch hurts so much more than his cutting grasp.

With Ken’s hand in his grip, Kazutoshi reaches for the uncapped pen, bringing it to Ken’s wrist.

He presses down, hard enough that droplets of blood grow atop the cuts from his nails. Slowly, strokes form under the pen, as Kazutoshi drags it across Ken’s wrist.

When he is finished, he examines his work. He shakes his head disapprovingly, as if unsatisfied, and uses his other hand to wipe at Ken’s wrist.

Ken’s blood mixes with cheap pen ink, smearing across his wrist and onto Kazutoshi’s hand. Whatever Kazutoshi wrote is ruined by blood and ink.

Ken’s eyes lay listlessly on his bleeding, ink stained hand. Kazutoshi still holds it softly in his left, gazing at it with an unreadable expression. Then he lets it fall onto the desk.

Ken is jolted by the sudden impact. He meets Kazutoshi’s eyes.

They both look tired.

A single word falls out of his mouth.

“Kazutoshi.”

Kazutoshi’s eyes widen, then he shakes his head, a small smile not reaching anywhere near his eyes slipping through his face.

“Ken,” he whispers back. It is not a question, but Ken answers anyway, reaching for Kazutoshi. He expects to be stopped before he can make contact, but his hand meets Kazutoshi’s face. He hesitates, still waiting to be slapped away. His hand brushes lightly over Kazutoshi’s cheek.

Kazutoshi stares at him unflinchingly. The Kazutoshi he knew would never have let him do this. The Kazutoshi he knew wouldn’t be doing any of this.

Ken reaches for the trail of dried tears. Instead, he makes contact with warm blood. Kazutoshi’s blood.

A small trail of it has dripped down from the small wound under Kazutoshi’s right eye. It is achingly familiar to the touch.

Kazutoshi brings his hand up to meet Ken’s, guiding it to smear the blood away, and then letting go, still staring at Ken with something unreadable.

Ken drops his hand, staring at Kazutoshi, in his blood stained, sunlit, opalescent glory.

“Ken,” Kazutoshi says again, a little bolder. A little more commanding.

He takes a breath, pushing his chair back and stepping between their perfectly aligned desks. He gazes around the room, looking at the rows of perfectly aligned desks. With a simple eye roll, he pushes his own desk out of place, destroying the perfect lines of the room. Ken stares at the broken pattern, eyes tracing lines that don’t make sense anymore.

It feels freeing, untameable. It feels broken and wrong.

The yearbook falls to the ground, opening to a white page. At the top, bold text labels it as a page for signatures.

Small scrawling handwriting drowns in the white of the page.

I’ll see you later.

No name. No signature. No goodbye.

I’ll see you later.

Kazutoshi picks up the matchbox from his desk, eyes tracing over it.

He lights a match, letting it burn in the air for a second, before throwing it away, casting it off to the side.

As soon as the match hits the ground, it lights up the floor, racing up the walls and forming a perimeter around him and Ken. He smiles another strange, sad smile at Ken, backlit by the searing light of the windows and the angry, hungry, all consuming heat of the fire.

Fire needs three things, fuel, oxygen, and a source of ignition. Heat. Classroom floors made of linoleum don’t provide enough fuel for the fire on their own to keep it going. It would have to use gasoline to burn like that.

Why is it burning like that?

Ken stands up, suddenly able to move again.

Kazutoshi looks up at him. Ken almost forgot how small he was.

“Kazutoshi,” he whispers.

“So you feel the fire, at least,” Kazutoshi notes, voice softer than Ken had ever heard it before. There was something almost provoking to it, in a way unlike the familiar teasing that Kazutoshi usually took up.

Ken knows, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Kazutoshi wouldn’t do this. That this couldn’t be him. Even if aching familiarity was imbued in his every movement. Even if Ken could swear the burning warmth of him was exactly as he remembered.

“I… Kazutoshi,” Ken’s voice cracks like glass under the heat of Kazutoshi’s gaze. The clock ticks, and no way is it going at the right tempo. The fire traces up the walls and envelops them.

Ken notices now that the room doesn’t have a door.

Strange.

Kazutoshi lets the matchbox fall to the ground, and the matches spill out across the floor. He kicks a few out of his way, then reluctantly gazes up at Ken.

“A– Are you… What is this?” Ken chokes out the question, Kazutoshi’s piercing eyes drawing out the barbed words that should come easily to him.

Kazutoshi smirks. “That’s a change. The quiz guy himself, looking to me for answers, I mean.”

Ken’s breath catches in the familiarity of Kazutoshi’s easy tone. He doesn’t find it so strange. He was always looking to Kazutoshi, after all. Even if Kazutoshi didn’t see it.

Kazutoshi shrugs. “Maybe you just need a button,” he muses.

Ken has had enough of buttons lately. He doesn’t think he could bear to stand at a podium again.

“I– I don’t have the answers. Not anymore.” The words slip out before Ken realizes. “There’s… god, Kazutoshi, there’s so much.”

Kazutoshi nods like he knows what Ken means. He sighs, hands slipping into his pockets. Ken wants to memorize this moment. The soft curve of Kazutoshi’s shoulders, the brilliance of his colors in the light, the light, thin strands of blue hair that frame his face. He really is beautiful.

“You were so close,” Kazutoshi says softly.

Ken nods. He knows. He knows, he knows, he knows.

Kazutoshi shakes his head. “I guess I did mean something, then.”

“Everything,” Ken chokes out. “Y– You meant… everything.”

Kazutoshi is silent for a few seconds.

He glances past Ken, at the fire ravaging the classroom.

“Funny,” he notes. “I never took fire to be much of our thing.”

His eyes trace the room’s slowly burning form. Posters with unreadable text blacken and crumble to ash. The fire spread across the floor and two of the walls. Only the windows and the giant chalkboard at the front of the classroom remain untouched. That, and the middle of the classroom, where the two of them stood.

“It really is clean, huh,” Kazutoshi muses. “I mean, I never had to work on a fire scene before. It kind of just… takes everything. If there’s anything left behind, it’s not exactly something that can be cleaned or salvaged.”

He locks eyes with Ken again.

“You know something about that, yeah?” Kazutoshi prompts.

Ken doesn’t respond. Kazutoshi shrugs and continues.

“I mean, you’re a facts guy. You know a lot. Maybe too much. There’s got to be some facts about fire in there.”

Kazutoshi leans in a little closer, gazing at Ken.

“I… I can’t…” Ken tries to choke out something, anything, as his vision blurs. “I don’t know.”

The heat of the fire claws at his skin, and the cuts on his wrist have started to throb.

“Right,” Kazutoshi says, almost disappointed. He moves back, and Ken chokes. It’s like he can’t breathe without Kazutoshi. Or maybe it’s just smoke inhalation.

Kazutoshi picks up the pen from the desk again. He brings it up to Ken’s face, and a part of Ken expects Kazutoshi to drive it through his flesh, making Ken a mirror image of him, bloodied and marred. A part of him wants that.

Instead, Kazutoshi slips it through one layer of Ken’s bandages. He places his other hand against Ken’s chest, bracing him, then pulls at the bandage with the pen.

Ken doesn’t stop him, but something in his face must cue Kazutoshi to his lack of understanding.

“I want to see your eyes,” Kazutoshi whispers.

He slowly pulls at the bandage, tightening the other loops around Ken’s head. Something about the pressure makes Ken lightheaded. Kazutoshi pulls a little harder, and the bandage unravels, falling away.

Ken wonders if maybe the strips of gauze were the only things holding him together.

Kazutoshi pulls the pen back. Ken’s bandages drape over it, and looking at it, Ken realizes that the outer lining has cracked from the pressure. A single fissure traces down the side of the pen, and ink flows out, staining Ken’s bandage a dark, not-quite-black tone. Dark ink spills onto Kazutoshi’s left hand as he looks up at Ken.

Somehow, Ken can see out of his right eye. His vision is blurry for a second, before it focuses.

He stares at Kazutoshi. Sea glass and coquelicot make up heaven itself in front of him. He breathes a little easier, just for a second.

Kazutoshi stares into Ken’s eyes in return, then unwraps the now more black than white bandages until he’s holding a long strip of stained gauze in his hand. He motions for Ken to lift his hand, and he does.

Kazutoshi gently wraps his wrist with the bandage, pressing hard enough to close the cuts and allow them to clot. The gauze eats up the excess blood on Ken’s wrist, ink and blood mixing in every place and consuming the white material.

Every language has different words for every color. Black and white are almost always the first two colors given a name to in every culture, with red shortly after, making black, white, and red the three most basic color terms. This is theorized to be because these colors make up the most contrast in color as humans perceive it, making it not only a cultural phenomenon but a biological one, although full research on this topic is mainly theory.

The fire is burning closer and closer. It fills the air, hammering into Ken’s skull like the ticking of the clock. The yearbook sits dangerously close to the flames.

I’ll see you later.

Kazutoshi seems to track Ken’s line of sight. He leans over to the book, picking it up and moving to sit on the edge of Ken’s desk, like they’re just classmates who stayed late to chat after class. Like the room isn’t burning around them.

Kazutoshi flips through the pages, looking unimpressed. Ken leans over to look.

“We’re not in here, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Kazutoshi says. Ken doesn’t know how to respond to that.

The yearbook is full of pictures. Terribly familiar faces greet Ken on the pages.

Isono. Sasaki. Chiba. Harada.

Tsuno.

Okazaki.

Ken wants to throw the yearbook into the fire, but he isn’t the one holding it.

Okazaki’s face fills a page, in vibrant colors and bright hues. Ken can’t look too long before his vision turns red. He coughs, and wonders how long it will take to die from smoke inhalation.

Kazutoshi flips through the pages, looking bored.

Hama and Watari. Hiroaki, Ojima, Tamba, Wada.

Yanagi. Hayashi.

Kazutoshi pauses on another page of photos with some over-the-top, flaunting caption at the top that Ken can’t get himself to read. Kazutoshi points to a small picture in the left corner. Blue hair catches Ken’s eye, and he sees the two of them, blurred and out of focus, in the background of a photo.

“I mean, it’s better than nothing,” Kazutoshi mutters.

Ken stares at it. His eyes burn, maybe from the smoke.

In all the pictures, is all proof they existed a blurred memory of someone else?

I’ll see you later.

Kazutoshi finishes flipping through the yearbook, setting it back down on his desk. Ken hopes it burns.

“I guess we didn’t mean that much, in the end,” Kazutoshi says.

Ken stares at the fire. They didn’t, did they?

Even when the others shared memories of their dead peers, Kazutoshi’s name lingered like a taboo. Even to Ken.

And now the two of them are here.

Choking on smoke, and burning to death in an empty classroom.

Background features.

“You meant something,” Ken hears himself say.

“Oh yeah?” Kazutoshi prompts, almost detached.

“Kazutoshi, you–” Ken chokes out. He cuts off.

He doesn’t know how to tell Kazutoshi that he was so much more than something. That he was the air in Ken’s lungs, the blood in his veins. That in his absence, Ken became a negative. He no longer was. He became an amalgamation of everything he wasn’t.

“You were everything,” Ken repeats, unable to say anything more.

“But I wasn’t. Not while I was alive,” Kazutoshi says, crossing his arms.

Ken doesn’t know how to respond to that. He truly doesn’t know if there was a time where Kazutoshi wasn’t his only tie to life. He knows there must have been, but…

“What do you think I am? What did you turn me into, when I died?”

Ken can’t say anything to that.

Kazutoshi’s red eyes cut into him.

“When did I become everything, Ken?”

When I became nothing.

The fire burns. The clock ticks. Ken breathes in smoke.

“I don’t want to be everything,” Kazutoshi says.

“I– I know,” Ken stammers. “I’m sorry.”

Kazutoshi’s hands reach up, and he pulls his hoodie a little tighter around his neck.

“I… I wasn’t an angel. I wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t your entire world.”

“I know,” Ken repeats.

Kazutoshi looks to Ken with something like a plea in his eyes.

“I… That scares me, Ken.”

“...It scares me too.”

Kazutoshi’s left hand is still covered in black ink. The wounds on his face have started to bleed again. The largest one leaves a trail of red down his face. It almost looks like a tear.

Ken reaches for him, wanting to wipe away the blood again, but he pauses. He doesn’t want to touch Kazutoshi. Kazutoshi wouldn’t want Ken to touch him. Even if this isn’t actually Kazutoshi.

“It’s okay,” Kazutoshi whispers, noticing Ken’s hand hovering like a hummingbird over his face.

Ken pauses, still unsure.

Kazutoshi’s ink stained hand rests on Ken’s wrist, and he can’t tell if the ink of his bandage soaks into Kazutoshi’s hand, or the other way around. Ken closes the distance, hand gently smearing the trail of blood off Kazutoshi’s face.

Kazutoshi’s hand traces up Ken’s arm, drawing a trail of black ink along Ken’s white shirt. He pauses, then brings his hand to rest on Ken’s shoulder. Ken takes a step closer.

Kazutoshi stares into his eyes, and Ken feels like he can breathe again, despite the claustrophobic fire ravaging the very air around them. Ken’s hand lingers next to Kazutoshi’s face.

“God… what happened to us?” Kazutoshi asks, letting out a dry laugh. Ken closes his eyes, content to burn with Kazutoshi, even for just a second.

Ken doesn’t know if he leans forward, or if Kazutoshi pulls him down, but in a moment, their lips collide.

The burning classroom disappears, and all that is left is them.

Kazutoshi’s lips move softly, but with warm urgency. Ken follows his motions, letting go of everything. He doesn’t think about what any of it means. He is only in the now, in the here, in Kazutoshi, as he finally breathes into what he should’ve done when they still had time. Kazutoshi feels warm, feels alive, and Ken lets his hand wrap around Kazutoshi’s head, gently intertwining his fingers with Kazutoshi’s cobalt hair. Ken feels his knees buckle under him, but he doesn’t dare pull away.

The two of them kiss, slowly sinking to the ground in each other’s arms.

Kazutoshi pulls away for air, not far enough to create any more distance between them. Ken only realizes then that both of them had slipped to their knees. The dropped matches lay scattered around and under them. Kazutoshi laughs into the gap between their faces, before kissing Ken again, pulling him even closer. Ken’s white shirt is stained with black and scarlet, and Kazutoshi’s beautiful face is marred with tears and blood from both of them like paint across his features.

Ken pulls away from the kiss this time.

“I’m so sorry, Kazutoshi,” he whispers.

Kazutoshi finds Ken’s left hand without turning away. His thin fingers pull Ken’s closer. Kazutoshi’s other hand shifts to wrap around Ken’s neck, soft but steady.

“It’s over now,” Kazutoshi replies, and it feels something like forgiveness.

Ken doesn’t know if he’s the one crying, or if maybe both of them are, but it doesn’t matter. The two of them fold into each other on the classroom floor. Ken can feel the fire burning closer and closer, and soon it is upon them.

Kazutoshi grabs for Ken’s stained shirt, and Ken pulls Kazutoshi into him, their bodies meeting flush, as fire and ink and blood and tears converge on the only thing that matters anymore. Even if it isn’t real.

As Ken’s vision goes black, his thoughts slow, for the first time that he can remember. He lets himself go as he holds Kazutoshi.

It’s over now.

#aaaaaaaaaaaaa posting writing is so scary #thank god for the late madness of a hollow shell off vocal for getting me into the right headspace to edit this #just a disclaimer I know kazutoshi is a bit ooc it's intentional #he would Not do this shit bro #anyway. symbolism go brr.#tetro danganronpa pink #tetro danganronpa #akari.txt #akari writings #kamimura kazutoshi #hasegawa ken #hasemura #hasemuraweek2025 #tetro danganronpa fanfic

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