#they’re just going away for the night so we’re gonna go back here to Touya before we go to bed and all | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cals-laundry · 3 years

Text

An Illusion of The End

Relationship: Touya x Todoroki Reader Words: 12,925 Tags: sibling incest, pining, jealousy, realisation of feelings, smut AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30279735

From where you're sitting on the balcony, you can see the beach. Even at this too early hour, the sun is hot and the sand is littered with people. Amongst them, you're sure to see your parents. But whoever built this hotel decided that the beach may not be enough, and below your dangling legs, you can see the hotel's outdoor pool. It has fewer people, but it still feels a little too crowded, but you’ve learned in the last few days that it’s cut off from the public. Must be why people prefer it.

“You staying in here for the day?”

Touya's voice is still thick with sleep.

“Maybe.”

Your brother leans against the railing, the side of his black swim trunks hang right beside your cheek, and you cling to the bars of the railing as you peer through them, as if you're in prison.

“You should socialise.”

“Don't wanna.”

“Come on,” he stands behind you, hooks his hands under your armpits, and pulls upward, at which you groan dramatically, but you shuffle back all the same to pull yourself up, “you have to try to socialise.”

“Or I can just relax alone! There's no reason I shouldn't!”

“You don't wanna be like Fuyumi and be able to bring a partner next time?”

You shrug.

“Not really.”

And you mean it. You like this time with them, with Touya specifically. Usually, you roomed with Fuyumi on holidays, but this time, she had brought a boyfriend. Shouto had asked to be roomed with Natsuo (something about needing his advice), and that left you with your favourite big brother. Not that you'd admit he's your favourite, of course.

“Loser. Come on,” he wraps an arm around your shoulders, “we're going to the pool. You're not allowed to complain.”

“But Touyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” you whine with a pout.

“I promise, I'll make it worth your while.”

You end up on the edge of the pool, feet in the water. You were right; your parents are already on the beach, and Fuyumi and her boyfriend, Tensei, had slipped by just after you and Touya arrived. Natsuo and Shouto are off someplace else, they said something about exploring. Right now, you wish you'd gone with them.

Touya is fully on show here; he's in just his swim trunks, and his piercings and the storybook of tattoos he's gotten over the years are fully on display. In this light, the piercings in his dimples glitter, though his nipples have the same twinkle. But with his tattoos, you often forget just how much of him is covered. Both arms and his neck, even teasing up his jaw are where you remember. But you forget about his upper back, his thighs, half his chest, even some of his stomach. You make a note to ask him about them later, but it looks like he's already getting plenty of attention. A girl laughs at whatever he's said and a pang goes through your gut. Why?

You shake it off and force yourself to look away. You can't stomach the way he's smiling at her, with a small bite to his lip and his eyes dropping over her form like she's a goddess. Another glance and she's walking two fingers up his arm and that's too much.

You pull your feet from the water, and without a look back to your brother, you grab your bag and walk to the beach. The water kisses your feet as you walk alongside it. It sounds so busy; kids screaming as they run, adults gossiping, some boys yelling as they play volleyball. It all overlaps into a cacophony on which you can't quite focus. A pearlescent shell catches your eye. You turn it over in your hand, careful as you can be and for a moment, the chaos is forgotten. Until something slaps into your arm and the shell is gone in favour of catching yourself before you hit the water.

“Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?”

“Yeah yeah,” you squeak. Your cheeks heat in embarrassment and it makes you forget about the sting of the ball.

“Are you sure? It's pretty red,” his hand, massive compared to your own, grasps your arm gently as he helps you back to standing and his thumb rubs over the mark.

“Yeah, I'm okay, I'm good,” you look up from the mark to his face and at the same moment, he looks at you. He's so pretty. His hair is dark, a mess on top of his head, and his eyes are just as dark. His face is so soft and kind that there's a flutter in your stomach.

Is this how that girl felt when Touya looked at her?

You shake the thought away as the stranger's friends call out to him. He ignores them and instead his fingertips trail over your arm, barely brush the skin, until he parts from you to offer a hand.

“I'm Yo Shindo.”

You shake his hand gently and offer your own name in return. And his smile, soft as it was, grows.

“Are you staying at the ho-”

“There you are,” Touya rests his arms on your shoulders and his chin on your head, “goin' for lunch. Y'wanna come?”

You nod without hesitation.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn't realise you had a boyfriend.”

“He's my brother,” you spit out too fast.

“Oh. Good to meet you,” Shindo offers his hand again but you can tell Touya is simply raising a brow.

“Right, okay, nice to meet you both,” Touya is already turning you away from Shindo, but you hear your name behind you. You look back and Shindo has his hand extended again, but that smile, the one that's soft enough to make your stomach twist, has returned. You reach out to him, though you hear Touya's jaw click in annoyance, and he drops the shell that started it all into your hand. Touya tugs you away, already looking off ahead and Shindo gives you a look you know all too well; the exact same look over Touya gave that girl. Your stomach flips and you smile, but you don't miss Touya's harsh breath and the mumbling under his breath.

“What?”

“I said he's a cheeky fucker.”

“What, why?!”

“He's the type of guy who thinks he can give anyone a pretty smile and a once over and he'll get anything he wants.”

“Isn't that what you do?”

Shock taints his features for only a moment before he leans in and says, “Awh, you think I've a pretty smile?”

You roll your eyes.

“It's bullshit that you're criticising someone else for doing the exact same thing you were doing, Touya.”

“I wasn't doing the same thing.”

You fumble your words and gape at him.

“I'm way more charming.”

You roll your eyes again and try not to laugh.

“Sure thing, big brother.”

But you catch a glimpse of the girl he'd been with, the way she looks at him, the way he looks back, and that sick, heavy feeling in your stomach returns.

It isn't the last you see of her.

Gathered around the table, bellies full and conversation flowing more freely than the drinks, you see her again. She's across the room, eyes bright and smile wide for your brother, and you don't even know if he sees. Except, of course he does. Your parents are in conversation with Fuyumi and Tensei, your other brothers are muttering between themselves, and you stare ahead. From the corner of your eye, you see Touya cast that same look over her and when his phone buzzes, you're certain it's her.

It's all just a little too much.

“I'm going to head up for a shower, gonna hit the hay early,” you force a smile that you know your mother can read but she simply nods and smiles.

“Goodnight, dear,” she offers, and you can see the words in her eyes; talk if you need to.

But how can you need to when you don't know what's bothering you? You wave and throw a “goodnight” to everyone. You ignore that Touya doesn't even look your way.

When you shower, it washes away most of whatever that feeling was. But it's like there's some slick layer of it still inside you, like you haven't cleaned quite well enough. When you leave the bathroom in some big old shirt and a pair of cotton shorts, he's already there. He's on his bed, phone in hand, and he waves without looking at you. You simply cross the room. You sit on the end of your bed, and from here, you can see out the balcony doors. The moon’s reflection is scattered across the waves, split into pieces that could be lost to time. The bed dips behind you.

“You okay?”

You nod, eyes still fixed on that shaky reflection.

“Talk to me.”

You shake your head.

“Nothing to talk about.”

“Come on, I know you’re not okay. Did something happen? Did that boy say something to you?”

“No.”

“You deserve better than him anyway.”

You think back to the way Shindo had looked at you. And the way Touya had looked at her.

“What makes you look at girls that way?” it comes out quieter than you want it to.

“What way?”

“Like they’re some masterpiece.”

He props his chin on your shoulder.

“Is that how I look at them?”

“That’s how you looked at that girl in the pool.”

The waves are slowing, but the moon dances at either side of them.

“People look at you that way too,” you think back to Shindo, but he keeps talking, “people who don’t deserve to,” he wraps an arm around your middle.

“Maybe I don’t deserve to have those looks my way.”

“Hey,” it’s not a greeting; it’s a reprimand, “don’t say that.”

“It means nothing when it’s a stranger.”

He pulls you with him as he lays down, and he curls around you, legs tangled, face tucked into the back of your neck. Before sleep takes you, you catch sight of a wave kissing the shore, and the moon is intact.

-----

You wake the same way. Touya’s skin is so warm against yours, and during the night, his hand had found its way under your shirt to rest on your belly. Your heart sours when you remember why he’s cuddled up to you, but the way he tightens around you soothes it. Is this all you needed? Just the knowledge that he hadn’t forgotten you?

“Mornin’,” he rasps against your neck.

“Morning,” you reply quietly as you try to untangle yourself from him.

“Hey,” another reprimand, and you still as he pulls you back to his chest, “don’t go looking for that guy.”

“Why not?”

“If you need attention that badly,” he noses along your neck, “come find me.”

-----

You don’t go looking for Shindo. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t come looking for you.

You’re dressed for wherever you end up really; swim bottoms and some t-shirt. You have shoes in your bag, just in case. Touya is far ahead of you, once more cornered next to the pool by some other pretty girl when you leave the hotel doors. His back is to you, but that same lead feeling weighs down your gut.

“Morning!”

A fluffy head of hair - a little messier from sleep - pops into view and you give Shindo a wide smile.

“Morning!”

“Before you say anything else; since your brother is busy, wanna come to the beach? With me, I mean. We can find more shells?” his head dips a little, as if he’s trying to give you puppy dog eyes from above you. The girl giggles and slaps Touya’s arm.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

-----

Shindo is nice. But he’s different to Touya. He walks close enough for your fingers to brush, he leans closer when he speaks, he looks at you like you’re a rabbit and he’s a ravenous wolf. You end up sitting in the sand, side by side. Your bag has a few shells but you forget them to focus on him. You learn too much about him, more than you know about some friends. But he asks you just as much. You sink your fingers into the sand one at a time, you draw patterns, and then, Shindo draws them too.

“Your brother is protective.”

“You think?”

“Judging from yesterday,” he smiles and bumps his shoulder against yours gently, “seems the type to kick my ass if he catches me with you.”

“Guess what.”

“What?”

“I’ve got two more brothers.”

“Oh jeez,” he falls back in the sand dramatically with his forearm over his eyes and you laugh, “I’ve gotta watch my step then, huh?”

His other hand teases at your waist until his arm falls from his face and he props himself on that elbow.

“C’mere,” his voice drops and you lean back, closer, closer until his hand on your waist pulls you toward him and you fall backwards much too slowly.

“Think I can sneak a kiss while he’s not here?” Shindo moves closer, head tilted and eyes on your lips.

“Um,” your voice cracks.

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” his eyes flick up to yours, but he turns, his elbow no longer propping him up - that hand comes to cup your cheek. He leans closer, closer, until you can feel his breath on your lips. And you don’t know what stops you from closing that gap. You cup his jaw, but your lips meet his cheek. He visibly deflates and you mumble an apology but he just helps you sit up and puts an arm around your shoulders.

“Don’t apologise, the chase is the fun part,” he winks. You smile in gratitude, but his phone calls his attention. He scans the message and sighs.

“Friends?”

“Yup, but I’ll find you tomorrow?” he stands and holds out his hands to help you up, “I’ll up my game, promise.”

He catches you in a hug, surprising but not unwelcome. You think of the moon. He presses a kiss to your shoulder before he dips to hand you your bag.

“See you tomorrow,” and he’s gone.

You make your way back to the hotel, contemplating lunch, wondering if you should have taken that kiss.

“Oi,” you look up, and spot Touya. His back and elbows are at the side of the pool, and you make your way to him with a flutter in your chest. You sit on the edge of the pool and let your feet dip into the water.

“Where’ve you been?” he looks up at you with an expression that asks his real question, “Who were you with?”

And you have a moment of courage.

“Shindo. I didn’t go looking for him, so technically, I didn’t disobey. I bumped into him this morning and we hung out for a while.”

“Hung out,” he’s not asking. More contemplating.

“Where’s your phone?” he asks suddenly.

“Uh, in my bag.”

He tosses your bag onto a chair with a balled up t-shirt - his you assume - but without warning, he’s in front of you in the pool, and he drags you forward until you slip from the edge. Your feet meet the bottom of the pool and the water up to your chest, but you don’t have time to question it; his arms cage you in and you’re left looking up at him, eyes like saucers and heart in your throat.

“Maybe next time I should say ‘don’t hang around with that fucker or there’ll be consequences’, hmm?” his voice is low and dark and it drips through your core like molasses, “or do I need to make it even clearer than that?”

He smiles, but it’s far from sweet.

“N-no, I understand,” your voice is low, and you’re embarrassed by how pathetic you sound, “I’m sorry, Touya.”

He leans closer, closer, until his chest presses to yours. His head ducks down until his lips are sinfully close to your jaw.

“Good.”

-----

The scene replays in your head over and over. At dinner, it isn’t much better. Your mother had asked nicely that everyone dress nice for dinner, and as you look around at then, you have to say, you all look your best. Formal wear isn’t easy, but you’re proud of yourself too. But then Touya shows up. His jacket and trousers are grey, and his tie is long forgotten, but his white shirt is worn with the top three buttons loose and you can see small patches of his tattoos. Your breath hitches when he sits beside you. And you hate it. It’s pleasant, all things considered. Your family are full of conversation through your meals from their days spent apart, and in secret, Shouto looks at his phone with pink cheeks. You pray Natsuo has been doing a good job with his advice.

“Isn’t that your friend?” your mother asks.

You look in the same direction as her, and sure enough, Shindo is there, standing tall and filling his shirt like it would burst at the seams if he flexed. You swallow.

“He’s handsome,” she prods and you’re sure you hear Touya’s teeth grind beside you.

“Yeah, he’s nice,” you offer, but you stay put. But then Shindo spots you, and he stares at you like you’d brought the stars in with you.

“Go say ‘hi’!” she says, and you realise you have no excuse not to.

You cross the room, and he meets you halfway in a hug that lasts a touch too long. He pulls back, though his hands linger on your waist.

“Wow, you look...wow,” he stares at every detail like he’s committing it all to memory and you can’t help but blush.

“Thank you, so do you! My mom said you look very handsome,” you giggle as his face quirks to an expression of pure pride.

“Your brother doesn’t agree.”

“Is he staring?”

“If looks could kill, doll,” he chuckles, “maybe I can meet you outside to get out of the line of fire?”

“Sure,” you smile but the second he turns around, regret seeps into your belly. You glance back at your table. Your mother and Fuyumi are nodding, your father is looking away, Shouto and Natsuo haven’t even noticed your absence, and Touya...Touya is furious. His fist is balled tight on the table. You glance at Shindo then back to Touya, and without a word, his fiery gaze says plenty. You rush back to your table and sit beside Touya, whose eyes are fixed ahead.

“Oh, I thought you were going somewhere with him,” Fuyumi sounds disappointed.

“N-no I didn’t want to just run out on dinner.”

You flinch when Touya’s hand lands on your knee.

“Oh honey,” Rei speaks and you try so hard to focus on her as Touya’s hand sneaks higher, “don’t worry about us, go! He seems like a nice boy and he dresses well, if nothing else, I’m sure he’ll be a wonderful friend to have.”

Touya squeezes. Hard. By the door, you see Shindo looking around and when he catches your eye, his face breaks into a smile.

“Oh look, he’s precious! Honey-”

“Do not invite him over here,” your father growls and your mother just laughs.

“Go, before your father kills him,” she laughs and waves you off.

You can barely pull your thigh from Touya’s grip as you turn in your chair and cross the floor to Shindo.

“Thought I lost my shot there,” he smirks and holds his arm out to you, and you’re certain your mother and sister are swooning.

“I thought it would be rude to just disappear,” you force a laugh and you make a point to not look back at your brother as you take his arm and walk out with him.

“Your family seems nice,” he asks - a prompt.

“My father was not too keen on meeting potential suitors,” you tease with a wrinkle of your nose and he laughs.

“Am I joining a queue?”

“Maybe,” you hear the lilt in your voice and your cheeks heat up and there’s a blossom of honest to God joy in your stomach.

He laughs, and his arm falls and your hand falls with it, but he entwines his fingers with yours. He leads you outside and the night air feels so cool on your hot cheeks. He doesn’t say a word, just walks you to the beach and his grip on your hand never falters, even as you strip your feet bare and he does the same. You curl your toes into the sand and watch the moon split itself apart for fun again, but you’re aware of how closely he’s watching you. Before you can ask why, he raises your hand with his and waits for you to twirl. As you do, despite the silliness of it, he catches your waist and pulls you chest to chest with him.

“I can’t believe how gorgeous you look,” his voice is low and you blush.

“I can clean up pretty nicely,” you laugh and he does too but there’s something else there. One arm wraps around your waist and the other hand cups your cheek. The brush of his thumb over your bottom lip forces a shuddering breath from you. He mirrors it as he presses his forehead to yours. Your stomach drops as you realise you don’t want this.

“Shindo-”

“Are you going to stop me again?” his voice is a bare whisper.

“I...um, I don’t think I can do this,” you match his tone and search his eyes for forgiveness.

He sighs, but he takes a step back and your heart aches for what could have been.

“Come on. I’ll walk you back.”

-----

Shindo leaves you at your door with a short hug and a promise not to bother you with this any more. You offer him your number to at least stay friends, and his eyes spark with hope. Maybe you shouldn’t have kissed his cheek before you slipped into your room. Touya is already there. He’s on the balcony looking out over where you’d just been. His jacket has been discarded, and the sleeves of his white shirt are rolled up. The chill of the balcony tiles goes up through your still bare feet when you step out beside him. He doesn’t move.

“Touya?”

He doesn’t turn, but his eyes slip toward you.

“What did I say?”

“I couldn’t ju-”

“What did I say?”

You walk back into the room as you speak.

“To stay away from him, but it’s not like I had a choice! What could I have said to mom?”

“You could have stopped playing on about how nice he is,” Touya leans against the railing and watches you.

“And let dad kill him?”

“Sounds like excuses.”

“What?”

“I said it sounds like a fucking excuse,” he pushes off the railing and stalks into the room. He feels miles above you, like you’re prey.

“Touya-”

“You apologised. Remember that?” he presses forward, closer, closer, until your back hits the wall and even then, closer.

“Yes, but-”

His hand claps over your mouth and his other hand plants beside your head.

“No, listen. He had no right to be anywhere near you and you’re not going to be near him again. You’re staying with me tomorrow. No arguing.”

But your own temper flares. You wrench his hand from your mouth and lean forward to reclaim some of your space, but he doesn’t budge.

“I don’t want to stand around while you flirt with girls!”

“I won’t fucking flirt,” he slaps his other hand against the wall and his forehead against yours forces you back against the wall, “I’ll be beside you all day, we’ll do whatever the fuck you want.”

You glance at the ground as your courage wanes.

“And- no, look at me,” he doesn’t wait; he grabs your chin and jerks you to face him, “and don’t you fucking dare try to sneak off with him.”

You nod as well as you can in his grip, but when it finally loosens, he doesn’t lean away. His knuckles brush against your cheek, down your collar, until his hand holds your waist, not too dissimilar from how Shindo’s had.

“You look fuckin’ phenomenal, by the way.”

Heat flushes through you but he pushes off of the wall. With his arm still around you, he leads you to the bathroom.

“Are you mad at me?” your voice is so small that you don’t recognise yourself.

“I don’t know,” he starts to undress you and it takes a moment before panic rises in your throat.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Did he touch you?”

“What, no, why are you-”

“I’m going to check.”

“Touya-”

“It’s happening.”

The finality in his tone makes you shudder. You just accept it when he strips you bare. The fluttering in your stomach is impossible to get a hold of.

“Get in.”

“T-To the shower?”

“Where else?”

You try to cover yourself as if he hasn’t seen it already. You slide the door closed and keep your back to him as you wash quickly, but the door slides open and you freeze as his hands meet your bare waist.

“Wai-”

“I’m getting rid of him.”

“T-”

“No, be quiet,” he squirts the shower gel into his palm and starts at your shoulders, “you’re not doing right. Let your big brother help you.”

Your breath hitches. His fingers are rough, even through the bubbles and foam of the gel, and he scrubs at you like he can see the stains of Shindo’s fingertips on you. But as his hands move lower down your back, his thumbs dig into your skin and work knots away. You sigh at the feeling, and as he meets the lower part of your back, you twitch at the tingling sensation the shoots up your spine.

“Sensitive?”

“Little bit.”

He hums, but his touch wanders to your front. You gasp as his chin plants on your shoulder and his fingers change; no longer rough, but instead, soft caresses that steal your breath and gooseflesh rises in its wake. His hand slips up the middle of your chest until his fingertips rest on your throat.

“Did he touch you? Really?”

“No.”

“At all?”

“He held my hand,” his hands leave your chest to rub down over your arms until his hands are in yours and he washes them.

“And then my waist,” he follows your words and washes your waist with a harsh breath in your ear.

“Where else?” his voice is gravel.

“My face a little, with his hand only.”

He turns you in his arms, and this is the first time you realise he’s naked too. Even more tenderly than before, his hands run up your neck to your cheeks. His thumbs work over your skin so carefully, like he’ll tear it apart if he’s any less delicate with you.

“You sure he didn’t touch anywhere else?” you can barely hear him over the shower.

There are tinges of regret, of wishing you’d let that kiss happen only for it to be washed away, when you nod. He turns, and it’s too abrupt and it hurts and you reach out to him. You hold his elbow and he looks back with droplets raining from his hair to his nose.

“Come back.”

Silent, he obeys and stands before you. Your throat burns with unsaid words but you squirt the shower gel into your hand as he had and scrub his arm until you can’t see that girl’s fingertips on his tattoos. It isn’t until his hand meets your shoulder that you realise how hard you’re rubbing at his skin.

“C’mere,” he pulls you into a hug and it’s slippery and a bit strange but everything melts away. You forget where anyone else has touched him because like this - with your chests together, your thighs kissing, your hands spreading over his back - you’ve washed him of everyone. You’re not sure how long you cling to one another, but it isn’t until he speaks against your temple.

“Let’s go to bed.”

He dries you in silence, and allows you to dry him. The shyness of being naked still tickles through you, and as soon as the bathroom door opens, you rush for your shorts. But he pulls your usual shirt away before you can dress. He tosses it aside and shoves another into your hand and he turns his back. It isn’t as big as the other one, but it smells of him. He dresses in his own loose sweat shorts and nothing else. He doesn’t look up from his phone as you cross the room, not until you crawl beside him and he wraps an arm around you.

“Suits you.”

“Thank you.”

Your cheek squishes against his shoulder and you flop an arm across his middle to trace a fingertip over the art on him.

“Will you tell me about these one day?”

“One day.”

You nod against his shoulder and curl against him. Like last night, you fall asleep pressed to him. You’re not certain you’re not dreaming when you feel his lips press to your forehead.

-----

Come morning time, he's gone, and for a moment you worry that it had all been in your head. Had he not wanted to spend today together after all? Would he instead spend it with one of those girls? But the toilet flushes and your brother emerges with tired eyes.

“Morning,” he falls onto the bed beside you and flops an arm across your stomach.

“Morning, I thought you'd left.”

“No, we had plans together. Well once you decide what you want to do for the day,” he presses his nose to your shoulder.

“I don't know,” you turn towards him and bury your face in his chest, “I didn't think about it.”

“You didn't?” he feigns shock and rolls back, “I guess I should go spend my day with someone else then, someone who wants to do stuff.”

“Nooooooo,” you whine and he laughs, “I'll pick something.”

-----

Down the beach, away from prying eyes and longing stares, there's an aquarium. The outside is all thick pillars and big windows, all glitter and light. Inside, you wait by the cavelike entrance, a little overwhelmed by the crowds of strangers around you. An arm lands on your shoulders, and you curl into Touya's chest.

“I've got you.”

The words are hushed and they feel like something else, something more intimate. You wrap an arm around his waist as you step through the entrance, to where the light disappears and instead, you're in this in between state, in that moment between light and dark, where despite the noise of the wave pool in the corner, the world feels asleep. The crowds thin in here. Everyone breaks off into groups or pairs. It's the pairs you watch. Ahead of you, two tall boys stride hand in hand. There's a pang of pure want through your chest. They pause at a tank, and one of them, with brown hair and hazel eyes, meets your gaze. He smiles, soft, knowing. You look at Touya beside you, his arm still on your shoulders and his other hand in his pocket, and you look just like them. And you're sure they're not siblings. No one can wonder why you're pressed so close. No one can tell you that you shouldn't be that way with him. Here, no one knows he's your brother. He stares ahead into the void of false ocean, utterly at peace. There are no windows, no doors, no hint that anything exists outside of here. All you know is you do and he must because you can feel him and his heat and his heartbeat above the indecipherable rhythm of waves. As those who entered with you move on, you're alone with him. You watch him still, the tranquility of his face, the lines of his features that you've studied over and over. Should you know your brother's face so well? Should you know how he sleeps, how he smells, how he sounds when he wakes beside you?

Another wave.

Should you have his tattoos, his favourite songs, his face when he sleeps memorised?

Another wave.

Should your stomach twist with that sickening pang of jealousy every time he's touched by someone that isn't you and should you wish that Shindo kissed you just so he could kiss it away and claim your lips as his and his alone and-

Another wave.

Your thoughts go silent. Moments pass.

New people filter through and his hand slips from your shoulders to grasp your hand. You follow him without a word, realisation and nausea both sit heavy in your gut. He parts from you and tugs your hand as he leads you somewhere else. When he speaks again, it's to remind you of something, some memory from when you were tiny and Touya wasn't much bigger.

“You were so scared of the sharks, and all the other dads were lifting their kids so they could put their feet on this ledge,” he brushes a finger against it and, like the world wants you to remember, a man a few feet away lifts his son the same way, “and you tried over and over but you were too scared. And then you tugged his hand and said “I can do it if Touya does it first”.”

“Threw you under the bus a little.”

“I still remember being ready to piss myself,” he admits with a laugh, “but dad caught me under the arms and lifted me and I held my breath because I didn't want the shark to see me. I looked ahead and in the reflection, I saw you and you looked fucking amazed.”

“I was impressed!” you laugh.

“And you did it yourself after. And you were so loud about it, but then dad put you back on the ground and you hugged me so hard.”

“But then you wouldn't go through the tunnel,” you remind him and he winces.

“It was fuckin' scary!”

“Can you face it now?” you tease, and you cling to his hand a little tighter as you drag him towards it. He whispers a quiet swear, but he's far from the terrified boy he was last time you came through here. It does seem that he leaves out a little breath when you finally step through. It's a little darker here, but you're not looking at the lights that lead you along, no, you're looking up. Touya keeps you steady as you walk, and your hand wrapped around his as you both look at the ocean sky brings you back to when you did this exact same walk as children.

“You remember it?”

“So well. You wouldn't walk through without holding my hand,” you chuckle.

“You two have known each other that long, huh?”

The voice comes from somewhere beside you; the man who had helped his small child see the sharks.

“Yeah,” you force a smile, gut immediately frozen.

“You're like a story book romance then,” he laughs, but his son tugs his hand and he's gone.

Your shoulders relax but Touya stops dead, and tugs you towards the side of the walkway. You panic when he lets your hand fall from his. But his chest comes to your back as you face the fake ocean and his lips tickle your ear when he whispers.

“No one cares.”

Your breath hitches.

“Look,” his arm comes up by your face and you follow it to his fingers, “these fish, they look so similar, don't they?”

You nod. They're small and colourful and they swim around each other like old friends and timeless lovers.

“No one knows what they are to each other. They could be nothing. They could be parent and child,” his other hand trails over your arm and leaves sharp trenches of heat, “they could be siblings. And the world watches them, calls them beautiful, loves their love because it doesn't know any better.”

His hand wraps around yours and his lips press to your shoulder. Streams of people roll by without a word, though occasionally you catch an old couple smile your way.

“Mommy,” you hear distantly, “why is that couple staring into the tank?”

“I think they found their favourite fish, kiddo.”

They're gone as quick as they came, replaced by another line of people eager to feel the beautiful claustrophobia. You tug Touya's hand and together in silence, you make your way to the end of the tunnel. His words play over and over in your mind.

To the left of the tunnel’s exit, there's a circular room with a pillar of a tank in the middle. Benches line the curves of the walls under glow in the dark paintings of the jellyfish that dance in the center of the room. People are slow to pass through but they dwindle and the words of strangers hang so harshly in your head that exhaustion takes you for a moment. Touya seems to know this. You end up beyond the pillar tank, opposite the door, away from speculation. You settle on the bench and Touya settles beside you, thigh against yours and hands tangled. In the tank before you, jellyfish bob from bottom to top then disappear. Every so often, the lights dip even lower, and you can barely make out Touya beside you. They come and go and you don't know how many times you watch one disappear before the room is empty and the lights dip again.

Distantly, you hear the waves crash.

You turn to him while the world looks away and he looks at the same time. You lean in first but he meets you halfway and when your lips meet, something slots into place. His hand clutches the back of your shirt like you might float away with those jellies and you cup his cheek as if you'll take him with you. It's chaste and sweet, but when you pull back, he chases you and steals another kiss as the lights come on.

His words echo; they don't care.

And you don't either.

This time, he pulls away first but he presses his forehead to yours. Above the exit to the room, the moon glows in the same paint as the jellies on the walls; full and unhidden.

-----

At the exit of it, after you'd snuck away from each other in the gift shop and you sneakily bought him something tiny enough to stash in your pocket, he pulls you aside and steals another kiss. It's softer and slower than the others you've shared. It tastes of longing and wishes and mourning for time lost. It isn't until you're outside that he lets go of your hand. You catch it – the sad look that begs for just a second longer – but you both know better. You dread going back, dread the hiding, dread to sit beside him and miss him at the same time. Your heart swells in your chest as if it's close to bursting.

“Let's get dinner.”

“You don't wanna eat with the others?”

“No.”

I want to be alone with you longer.

You've eaten well here. Your father has never been one to skimp on luxury and food is no exception, but this moment – sitting on a wall by the beach with Touya, watching the sunset tint the ocean orange, eating burgers – is better than any meal you've experienced. Even this late into the evening, the heat still clings to your skin. As you get back to the hotel, your parents meet you in the lobby, dressed to the nines. Your mother hugs you.

“I saw your friend today, honey! I think he was looking for you.”

“Oh, we went to the aquarium.”

“Gosh, I remember when you were little in there,” she pauses to reminisce, and your father lets out a rare chuckle.

“You two were inseparable then.”

Your heart skips, but they continue.

“The others are heading into the city for dinner. We have a reservation.”

“Have you two eaten?” your mother asks.

“Yeah, after the aquarium,” Touya answers for you both.

“It's awfully early to head to bed, are you sure you won't join the others for some dinner?”

“I'm going to head to the pool, actually,” you blurt out, “it's quieter and it's still hot, might as well enjoy it.”

“That's a wonderful idea. Make sure your big brother looks after you,” she says and you all but choke.

You rush upstairs with a wave goodbye and he hangs back with them. Your cheeks turn hot, but even as you change, things feel right. Like whatever was missing has found its home in you. In your swim clothes and with a towel under your arm, you head downstairs. Touya never said he'd join you, but you hope. But maybe you thought too soon. In the lobby, your parents are nowhere to be seen. Touya, however, is there, and that girl who had tainted his artwork with her fingertips is repeating her crime. You swallow the bile in your throat; you know better than to make a scene. But he's looking at her that way, the way he had before, and what was shared in the aquarium slips away. A shoulder bumps yours where you're stood dead still and you see your other brother at your side.

“Where were you all day?”

“Aquarium.”

“Good?”

“Yeah. The jellyfish room is new,” you add, only to seem more invested, “mom said you guys were going to the city?”

“Yeah, though the dress code is that lax.”

You laugh, but so does she and your stomach sinks.

“I'm going to spend some time in the pool. I missed it today, nice as the aquarium was.”

“Might as well since Touya is...busy,” Natsuo rolls his eyes but they start to walk towards the door and you follow.

Anything to not look at the spectacle. Behind you, Fuyumi is laughing.

“They're cute,” you mutter.

“With any luck, we'll be saying the same about Shou next time,” Natsuo wraps an arm around Shou and he blushes.

“Oh yeah? Is the advice working?” you beam at him; he's always been so quiet, it's good to see him like this.

“Yeah.”

“You wanna tell me about them?”

“No.”

“That's fair. They better be good to you though, or they'll be dealing with all of us.”

They split from you, taking the front door as you take the door that leads to the outdoor pool, away from the public and away from your family. There aren't many people out here, just stragglers, and when you sit at the bottom corner, your feet dangling in the water, your chest aches. It stings. It feels heartbreakingly unfair to know he's in there acting like nothing happened, like the waves had died far off shore, but you swallow the lump in your throat and try to enjoy the view. And it gets easier. The ache dissipates just a little, but it's enough to make you feel like you'll survive. But the world is not that kind. Someone sits at your side and you don't need to look to know who.

“Sorry, I got delayed.”

“You can go back to her.”

“What?” he bites, “I can't talk to people now?”

“Touya, you and I both know what she wants from you and what you want from her,” your voice drops to something just above a hiss, “and it's not like we can do that.”

You straighten your back and swallow the anger as well as you can. You don't see his face before he dips into the water. Your gut tells you to leave him. He's mad, just let him get it out. But his head pokes out of the water between your knees.

“Phone?”

“Upstairs.”

And he drags you in again. This time though, he doesn't pin you, he just swims away. You follow him, and as the other patrons clear out, a chase begins. It's unofficial tag; both trying and failing to keep away, both trying to always get close but not give in. You end up opposite the door, lungs aching from laughter and your back against the far side of where you started, and like the last time, Touya cages you. But this time, you know why that breath on your jaw felt so sinful.

“Listen to me,” you catch his gaze as he speaks, “there's no one I want to be around, no one I want this with,” he swallows, like it's hard to admit, “but you.”

He gets closer, closer, until his nose barely bumps yours and his head tilts just a little. It's only been a few hours, but the moment your lips meet, it's like centuries have passed. The softness he had shown in the aquarium has melted away, replaced by passion and vigor and lust. Under the water, he grabs your knees and hauls them over his hips before a hand presses to your back to pull you as close as you can be. He's on you again, but his tongue presses to the seam of your lips. You tease with only the slightest opening, and you hold his cheeks with one hand while the other holds you at the side of the pool. You squish them and push him back just a little at the same time, but before he can complain you flick the tip of your tongue over his top lip. His face changes, and you know you're going to pay for such a bold move. He pulls your hand away and you wrap that arm around him as he dips close again, this time catching your bottom lip between his teeth. You groan at the feeling, and the sound makes him press against you a little more than before. Enough that you feel everything. The sound of feet on tile makes you both freeze.

“Hey, uh, Touya, isn't it?”

You unhook your legs from his hips and lower yourself as much as you can, desperately hiding from Shindo.

“What?” he calls over his shoulder.

“I was just wondering, is your-”

“I don't fuckin' know,” he barks, but you can feel his heart racing.

“Wow, okay, uh, can you like... tell-”

“Yeah yeah, whatever, is that all you wanted?”

“Y-yes.”

“Cool. Fuck off, I'm busy.”

Without a word, only the slap of his feet, he disappears. Together, you let out a breath then laugh.

“Maybe we should go inside?”

You nod, and kiss him quickly before you pull yourself out of the pool.

“Fuck,” he hisses, and his hand runs up the back of your thigh.

“Pervert!” you laugh, and make your way around the pool.

You towel off quickly, but as you finish, Touya is still in the pool.

“Are you just...staying there for the night?”

“I'm waiting for things to... settle down.”

He coughs and hides his face and it hits you. Your cheeks burn and you flop onto a beach chair.

“Touya!”

“Not my fault! You got outta the pool like that!”

You hide behind your towel at the realisation that you did that and you can't help but be a little proud. When he does pull himself from the pool, you admire every droplet as it runs over him. You follow one down his throat, his sternum, his bellybutton, before it dies on the waistband of his swim trunks and your throat goes dry. He smirks and plants his hands on either arm rest as he leans over you until his forehead is against yours.

“Like what you see?” he asks, his voice husky.

“Yeah.”

“C'mon, lemme show you more of it.”

You follow him, and you're thankful that when the elevator doors close, you're alone with him. You reach across the gap and squeeze his hand and he huffs a small laugh. The doors open as you pull your hand back, and the walk through the halls is full of little laughs and sly glances. Until...

“Oh, there you are!”

Shindo's voice pops up ahead of you and you falter. He's all smiles but then his face changes.

“Your hair is wet.”

“I was in water.”

“I looked for you at the pool.”

“I was in the indoor one.”

Your stomach twists as you pray.

“The indoor one...?”

“Yeah, I like the chlorine smell.”

“Me too! Do you smell like it?” he leans forward and you jerk away.

“No, I showered but I have to shower properly and change and order dinner, so we're going to go inside now.”

Touya is silent, his face is blank. Shindo looks...lost.

“Uh alright. Did you brother mention I was looking for you?”

“Yeah. But my phone is in the room so...”

You trail off and you want the ground to swallow you. But Touya is quick. He fixes his hand on your shoulder and marches until you're at the door, Shindo long forgotten and left standing with an expression of complete confusion. Once the door shuts, you sigh and toss your towel into the open suitcase that's served as a hamper and lean on the end of your bed.

“That was weird,” you mutter.

“It's weird that he was up here at all.”

“I think it was a coincidence.”

“Did you tell him our room number?”

“No! You would literally kill him if he came to the door!”

“Yeah because he doesn't deserve you,” Touya is before you and his hands land at either side of your thighs.

“You're jealous.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“No, because he doesn't get to be here with you,” he dips his face against your neck and leaves a small kiss before he stands again.

“I do actually have to shower though,” he pushes his hair back and heads to the bathroom. You check your phone – a few missed messages from Shindo, odd notifications – but you're broken out of the haze as Touya calls from the bathroom. You get to the door and you gasp at the sight. Touya's checking the water but he's completely bare.

“You coming or not?”

“Y-yeah!”

It feels different to yesterday. Then he was just your big brother who hated the idea of you being handled by anyone. Now he's...you don't know what he is. But you know you don't feel guilty admiring him now.

“C'mere,” he mutters, and you cross the bathroom tiles, tossing your clothes off as you do until you're naked, and you don't miss the way his gaze drops over you. He steps back to let you in first with a gentle brush of his fingertips on your ass as he does. The spray is soothing. It's warm and welcoming , and you can't help but sigh as it washes over you. Touya's touch makes you jump a little but you ease back and rest your head against his chest. Unlike before, when he washes you now, he's slow, sensual. He savours every dip and curve, every scar and stretch mark and blemish, he memorizes them all. You can only reach back to him, touch where you can while he presses his nose to your ear and mouths kisses and praises against your skin. His hands dip lower, he holds your hips so gently but with a firm grasp. It's a strange sort of feeling, but something else catches your attention, something poking against your rear.

“I was always so ashamed, you know,” he murmurs against your cheek, “I couldn't understand why I couldn't stop looking at you, why I hated anyone near you, why I'd see you in your pyjamas and get so fucking hard.”

One of his hands slides over your stomach, up your chest, and he presses two fingers against your lips, not between them, just presses. You lick a stripe over them and he groans but he pulls his hand back and spits in it. His knuckles brush your back as he grabs himself behind you, and there's a shock of fear in you at the thought of him bending you over right here. But instead, he pushes his saliva coated cock between your soft thighs and groans. It's an awkward position, but you reach behind you and link your hands behind his neck. That fear trickles through again, but he kisses your cheek.

“You're tensing on me, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

“I...uh...I haven't...”

“Ever?” he's breathless. You shake your head.

“Didn't want anyone to.”

“I could. If you want.”

You do, you want to beg for him, you know he'll treat you right, he'll make it good, but that little wall is there.

“Not right now,” he continues, his hips lightly slapping against yours “but when you're ready.”

You stay silent, instead you just cling to him, allow him to use you as he needs, as he has needed. His hand slides from your hip and hovers above your sex. You grasp it and push it towards you, as eager to have his hands on you as he is. His breathing is laboured, and the smallest chance to touch you makes him mewl. You've been biting your lip to keep your own sounds hidden in you, all so you can hear him better, but at the brush of his fingertips, you gasp his name and his hips rut against you a little harder.

“Please,” he's hoarse, “I want to hear you.”

You let go, just the smallest bit, and a moan slips out.

“Fuck,” he ruts a little harder and his hand moves faster too until you whine.

“Touya, it feels so good, please,” it's a gutteral plea, one he can't resist. But that means letting go.

It's abrupt when he stops touching you, turns you forces your back against the wall. But his hand is between your legs as his arm braces against the wall, and like this, you can see the way he looks at you. It's not like he looked at her, it's more. And it only gets better when you stroke his cock at the same pace he'd fucked your thighs. He groans and swears and his hand falters between your legs, you moan softly, still eager to hear his sounds above your own, but he knows your body too well, better than anyone has before. There's a change in pace, in pressure, and it has you gasping his name again.

“Keep saying it,” his hips move again thrusting into your hand for all he's worth and you can barely keep up.

You chant his name over and over, until his eyes screw shut and his brow furrows, but then his hand moves and pleasure darts through you and you don't know what comes over you as you gasp out “big brother”. He presses against you so close you can barely move your hand and he can barely move his but he's so close and it's the desperation in his fingers that makes you moan against his chest and call his name when you cum. His breathing is messy, broken, and you know he's close. And all it takes is for you to tilt your head up that little bit and kiss him softly and whisper;

“Are you gonna cum on me, big brother?”

The noise he makes is somewhere between a gasp and a whine and you make a similar noise when his cum splashes on your belly and dribbles down over your sex. He pants hard against you, and you take his moment of peace to kiss his cheek. He turns into it, until his nose is against the side of your head.

“We ran with that one, didn't we.”

“Yeah,” you answer, even though you know it's not a question, “I'm glad we did.”

“So am I.”

Dried off but still naked, you settle into bed beside him. You look out the balcony window again as he drapes an arm across your waist. You've heard it a million times in movies and books; people want time to stand still, to live in a moment. Finally you understand, but at the same time, you don't. You don't want just this moment; you want more like it. You want more like earlier. There's a pit in your stomach again, though this one is not from disgust or fear. It's that mourning for time lost, but for time that hasn't come. When you go home, Touya can't hold you like this. You won't be able to sleep with him behind you, you won't be able to shower with him, or hold his hand. You only have two more nights. And you'll make the best of them.

-----

When sunrise peeks into the room, blinds you awake with the softest kiss of orange on your skin, you smile. That longing ache is still there, but for now, you push it down, smother it with plans for a good night. You sneak out before the world wakes up, and in the city, with a coffee in your hand, you realise you could be alone with him here. Or anywhere. You could find somewhere no one knows you, watch people love your love because they never knew you before. The cashier doesn't give you a second look when you purchase lube and condoms. You hide them in your bag on the way out, and you won't say a word until later. Not that you're not sure, no, you've never been more sure. The moment you knew it could happen, you were sure. That fear was only that he would do it unknowingly, and if nothing else, you want that first time to be as good as it can be. Excitement itches under your skin the entire way back, and as you slip back into your room, he emerges from the bathroom.

“Hey, I wondered where you were,” he hugs you, breathes in your scent and the others that have become entwined with it.

“Had to get something.”

He dips down and captures your lips in a kiss, and you know he realises the time limit of it all. Unlike you, he's brave enough to acknowledge it.

“I'll miss waking up with you.”

You don't say anything, only pull him back for another kiss. It's better than discussing what happens when you get back. It's better than realising things aren't so perfect outside of this room. Today, however, your family calls. Your brothers call Touya away, your father and Tensei go with them, and your mother and Fuyumi steal you away. It's with a longing look in secret that you part from Touya, but you'll make tonight worth the distance between you. Tonight, your mother informs you, there are reservations in the city, in a restaurant that Fuyumi had showed you, somewhere she'd always wanted to go. She wants to buy something special, and you sit outside the dressing room with your mother while she tries on what must be the tenth dress. You don't mind, instead, you lean towards your mother.

“Is he going to propose?” you whisper.

“I think so, dear,” she smiles.

“Wow,” you trail, “do you think she'll say 'yes'?”

“I think so, she loves him so much.”

“I think he's good for her.”

“I think that boy would be good for you,” she elbows you gently.

“I'm not sure.”

“Your father doesn't hate him.”

“Touya does,” you mutter without meaning to.

“Touya is very protective of you, sweetie,” she fiddles with a string on your shirt, “he's always been that way. You're his favourite and he just wants you to be safe.”

“Should we put Shindo through the hell of dealing with Touya?”

Your mother weighs it in her head.

“If you like him, maybe not.”

You laugh with her and Fuyumi steps out. Her dress is red, the same sharp red as the highlights in her hair, and you gasp with your mother.

“Fuyumi, yes! This is the one!”

“You're not just saying that because you're sick of sitting there, right?” she laughs but you can see the nerves behind it.

“No, no, it matches your hair perfectly!” You run to her and fix the strap, and the shuddering breath of her nerves becomes more obvious. She won't talk about it if you ask, but you think she has the same suspicions.

The whole way back she's quiet, but when your mother walks ahead to meet your father you squeeze her hand so she knows you know. She squeezes back, but before she can speak, your mother calls you forward.

“Wear something nice,” she says. It's all the confirmation you need.

-----

The sun is dipping as you get dressed. Shopping, it seems, took quite a chunk of your day. You turn in the mirror, check yourself at all angles, and then, the door opens. Touya slips behind you and holds your waist.

“Missed you,” he murmurs against your neck and you stroke his hair.

“Get ready, we've gotta go soon.”

“Or we can just be late,” his hands roam a little too freely and you smack his cheek, though not hard.

“No, later.”

“Fine,” he rolls his eyes but then he's stripping in front of you and you sit and stare.

“Like what you see?”

“Yeah.”

“So let me just-”

“No, get dressed.”

He huffs, but before long, he's dressed just like he was the other night, but your phone buzzes before you can enjoy it.

Make sure Touya wears a tie!!!!! x

“Mom says you need a tie.”

“Pfft,” he flops back on his bed, “can't tie one.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Nope.”

“What if I tie it for you?”

He leans forward.

“I want to say yes, but you said we can't be late.”

He winks and pulls a tie from the wardrobe. When he turns, he's fully suited, and your heart skips for a second.

“I hate wearing a suit,” he grumbles, but you hold his face in your hands and make him look at you.

“You look so handsome,” you lick your lips and whisper, “big brother.”

With a groan, he shoves you back against the wall, and his hands are all over you, desperate and far from gentle. His kiss is harsh and breathtaking and you wrap your arms around him to pull him closer, until there's no space between you, and the reservations are almost forgotten until his phone buzzes in his pocket and you're brought back to reality. This time when he groans, it's frustration.

“We're on our way now. Just needed help with my tie.”

-----

Shouto sits across from you at the table and through your meal, he whispers to you about a boy. Someone from his class, he says, who is funny and kind and a little stupid. It's endearing, he thinks, but when you're all back home he has a date with this mysterious boy.

“He better be good to you, Shou. Though, I'm glad Natsuo's advice worked!”

“Hey, I know romance!” he argues from across the table, beside Shouto.

“You know being a fuckboy,” Touya smirks from beside you and you snort.

It goes back and forth. Shou tells you more about this boy – Sero is his name – and Shou is a little ways through telling you how they first started talking when Fuyumi heads to the bathroom. And the table falls dead silent as she disappears. Tensei looks nervous, he's sweating and blushing, but your mother gives him a pat on the shoulder. When she returns, she doesn't have time to sit; he stands to meet her.

“Fuyumi,” his voice breaks a little but he corrects himself.

“On our first date, we watched “Friends”, we watched the episode where Monica and Chandler get engaged, and I remember thinking what funny timing it was. Now, I think that was a sign.”

That's when it hits Fuyumi; her eyes well up immediately.

“I went through every speech I could - every one in movies we watched, shows, even books. But every one, even your favourites, but none of them felt right. For one, none of them could prepare me for what it's like to stand before you like they did.”

Under the table, Touya's hand rests on your thigh.

“But most of all, none of them came close to explaining just how much you could love a person.”

You rest your hand on his and squeeze.

“I love you and I want to spend every day of my life showing you just how much, no matter where we are, I never want anyone to doubt that you're the love of my life,”

He drops to one knee and Fuyumi is finally fully crying.

“Will you marry me?”

There's a pregnant pause. Your mother holds her breath, your brothers stare with open mouths, your father has a tight enough grip on his glass, it might burst.

“Yes.”

Your whole family whoops and hollers and shouts with all the grace of a circus audience, even Shouto pipes up. Your father simply applauds as the ring is slipped onto her finger, but you can see him smiling. Two bottles of champagne arrive from kind spectators, and as you toast to the newly engaged couple (after sneaking just a little sip of champagne to Shouto) Touya's grip on your hand gets tighter than ever.

-----

You don't deny the buzz in your belly as you ride the elevator back to your room. Touya is beside you, and as Natsuo and Shouto get off at their floor, Touya takes your hand. His thumb strokes over the back of your hand, and you can feel it – the weight of melancholy in him.

You slip in the door with him and you separate. Even with just a few feet between you as he glances back, it feels like miles. A shudder runs though you – this can't be it. This can't be the end. He undresses and you do the same, this time with your backs to each other. It feels strange already to not admire him and the gaping hole the realisation leaves your lungs empty.

“Hey,” it's soft. His hands rest on your waist, no longer desperate and eager but instead, longing and bittersweet.

“You can bring someone else home to them. You can have that,” he murmurs against your shoulder.

“Don't...”

“They won't-”

“Just let me have you a little while longer,” you interrupt as you turn in his arms, “for just a little while, Touya, can't we just be this?”

He presses his forehead to yours and when his hands slip around your waist and link at your lower back, he kisses you like it's the last time. You don't ask him if it is. Instead, you pull back and his hands linger on your waist before he looks down between your bodies at your naked form.

“I'll miss this,” he says with that familiar smirk.

“It's yours,” you pull him with you as you walk backwards towards the bed. His breath hitches with excitement when you fall back onto the bed. His hands brace his fall at either side of you, and he stares down at you like he's waited all night for this sight alone.

With slow, sloppy, open mouth kisses, he trails down your chest, down your stomach, until he meets your sex. He licks a thick stripe with his hands digging into the meat of your thighs, but this, good as it is, is not what you want.

“Touya,” you whisper.

“Hmm?” he replies with a kiss to your thigh.

“Check my bag.”

He casts a look of sheer confusion, but crosses the room all the same. You straighten yourself up as he does, instead shuffling to the middle of the bed. When he opens the bag, he stops dead.

“Are you sure?” he stares into the bag, shoulders tense and jaw tight.

“It has to be you.”

He pulls the box of condoms and the lube from your bag and returns to you, settling beside you. On his knees, he shuffles between your peaked knees and puts the box and bottle beside your head.

“You can stop me at any time.”

“I won't.”

“But you can,” he sits back on his ankles, drags the lube with him, and drizzles it over his fingers. You tense, anticipation and fear settling in your nerves, but he closes the cap and rests his clean hand on your knee.

“Are you sure?”

“Please,” your voice breaks.

“Am I the first person here?”

You wonder for a moment what it could mean – of course, you want to say, you know this – but no. He means something else.

“Once it happened.”

“How was it?”

“Not good,” you admit, “he didn't know what he was doing.”

He presses a finger against your hole and with the lube, there's no ache. Not for one finger at least.

“I've got you. Relax, okay?”

You nod and take a breath. His finger is more comfortable now and you sigh. He's gentle with you; he pumps his finger slowly, carefully, and only when you buck your hips down does he add a second. He leans closer and you raise your head to let him slip his clean arm underneath like a pillow. With kisses peppering your cheeks, any ache subsides, and all that remains is pleasure as he moves a little faster. As the stretch subsides, he presses a third finger, and that one burns a little. You gasp at the stretch and look up at him with pinched brows, but he kisses your forehead.

“I'm making sure it'll be as good as it can be,” he mutters between kisses, and once more, you relax, though this time, there's less space when you do. All the same, the fullness steals the breath from you, and you moan against his shoulder.

“How is it?” he murmurs.

“S'good,” at that moment, his fingers curl and you squeak, “don't tease!”

He chuckles and kisses your temple.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore,” you kiss his shoulder, “I'm ready.”

He takes it without argument, and when he kneels between your knees again, you see why. He's hard. Despite your experience last night, this is your first time really looking at him naked, and until now, you didn't notice the piercing at the head. He tears the condom open, eyes roaming you, memorizing every detail as he rolls it on. Then, he shuffles forward and you reach out. You don't know where you want to touch him, you just know you need to. You hold his shoulders and he presses the tip of his cock to your hole. Once more, he meets your eye.

“Are you sure?”

You nod, your pleas lost in your throat as he pushes into you. He's so patient despite the hiss of air between his teeth. It definitely stings more than his fingers. Your fingertips dig craters into his shoulders, you bite your lip, and he kisses you as his hips finally meet your skin. The burn lingers a moment, but his kisses keep you grounded through it, until it subsides and you mumble against his lips.

“What was that?”

“I'm okay now.”

This time, he doesn't ask. He draws his hips back slowly before he sinks into you again. You gasp at the sensation; it's so foreign but so addictive. He takes his time with you. His pace builds slowly, until the pap-pap of skin on skin is dulled by your grunts and moans. You've wrapped an arm around his shoulders and the other tickles his waist, though curiosity takes you and you flick a thumb over his pierced nipple. He laughs and you do it again, this time, you earn a grunt. He leans down again, captures your lips as one of his hands curls under your armpit and holds the back of your neck, the other lowers until he's only braced on his forearm and like this, you feel so surrounded by him. His scent, his touch, the soft grit under his moans, it's all so much. You slide your hand upward, to his jaw and cup it as you pull him in to kiss you again. The thrust of his cock is not enough alone, and though you hold his kiss as well as you can, you slide your hand between your bodies to touch yourself. You gasp, and everything feels bigger when you clench around him at the sensation that jolts through you, and he moans.

“Fuck, you're so tight,” he pants against you with a small laugh.

“Feels so good,” you whimper. Desperation seeps into your voice and another spike goes through you, “fuck, big brother!”

He moans again, his hips snap that little bit faster, and you head presses back.

“There, there, please, Touya, it's so good, I think-” your voice drains into a moan, cutting yourself off.

“I've got you, baby, Touya-” he swallows and presses his forehead to yours, “big brother's got you.”

You whine again.

“It's so much, I think I'm gonna cum,” you rush out before he can make you squeal again.

“Yeah? You wanna cum for me?”

You nod frantically and your fingers find their way to his hair and pull.

“You wanna-” a moan, “you wanna cum for your big brother?”

You nod again and chant “yes” against his lips.

“Say it.”

Embarrassment washes from your stomach.

“Please,” he begs, and his pelvis hits the hand with which you're touching yourself just right, and the feeling forces the words from you.

“Big brother!”

“Oh fuck, yeah, yes, keep going,” he's panting now, his hips snap harder, his moans turn to something akin to a growl, and he kisses you hard.

That's what tips you over that sweet precipice. Your fingers twist in his hair, your other hand keeps moving, and he keeps fucking you as you fall with a breathless moan of “big brother”. It spurs him on. You pull your hand from between you and wrap it around his shoulders. His hips snap harder, harsher, merciless. You moan for him with every name; Touya, big brother, and pet names in between that you've never uttered. But it's that dirty one, the most taboo, that makes him whine.

“Big brother,” you moan again and he swears.

“Wanna hear you when you cum, wanna hear you moan my name when you cum, okay?” you pant, exhausted and aching and overstimulated but every nerve in you is alight.

Every snap of his hips is more desperate, more needy, and when you kiss his jaw and murmur “big brother, please”, his hips piston those final few times and he stills with his finger tips digging into the back of your neck. He whines your name- no, he prays it. Together, you catch your breath and he pulls away. He's so gentle with you, so kind, so loving. You clean up and again, sleep in his t-shirt. You try not to think about tomorrow.

-----

When the last night comes, he makes love to you again. Neither of you say it’s the last time, but the weight of it is in you. You hold his cheeks, kiss every part of him until you're sure nowhere will forget the touch of your lips. He leaves marks only you will see, love letters of purple and red. This time, you cum closer together, with those same words on your lips and your name a broken prayer once more. It's better than the first time, but you wonder if that's because you know how long it'll be before you feel it again.

“Maybe you can find someone else,” he offers, his face tucked into your neck, his body draped over yours as you lay on your back and he's curled against you like an infant. He doesn't want it. Neither do you.

“No.”

“But-”

“It would kill you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because if it was the other way around, it would kill me.”

“no one is you.”

“And no one is you.”

You share a kiss, a “just one more” that is never just one more. He falls asleep before you do, and you glance out at the moonless sky over the ocean.

-----

Morning comes and you cherish every fraction of a second. You wake slowly, he does too. “Just one more” turns into just once more, and the evidence is concealed.

“Just one more” turns to last one, and last one turns to ten before you stop counting. The real last one tastes of tears.

In the lobby, Shindo calls you aside for the promise you'll keep in touch and leaves you with a parting hug. You don't miss Touya's sickened stare.

Home.

Home is not what this is anymore. You lay in your bed, stare at the ceiling, sleepless and aching, knowing only a wall separates you from your lullaby. Through curtains, the moon shines. It's not a full circle here, instead it's surreptitious in its glow. You swing your legs from the bed and open them, you welcome it, unhindered. You face away from it, desperate for the reprieve of sleep. The door inches open and the bed dips behind you. You turn and your brother holds you tight, kisses your temple, and just one mores until his head hits the pillow. Over his shoulder, you see the moon. From here, the curtain obscures it again, but on the floor, it's bright. It's whole, it's together, even if it isn't from where you stand. You'll have a million just one mores. You know that when the sun comes out, the moon isn't gone. It's just an illusion of the end.

#touya todoroki x reader #tw // incest

34 notes · View notes

angst-king · 3 years

Text

Stuck in this Static void pt 5

((TW: mention of abuse, suicidal behavior, depressed behavior, and violence)) Walking into the ER’s waiting room, she sets him down in a chair. As he’d done in the car, he curls up still shaking but now his fingers are digging into his cold, clammy skin. At the front desk Fuyumi urgently asked. “Can I get some help please?!” There were a small group of nurses who looked to her, about three of them. “What can I help you with ma’am?” One of the youngest nurses at the desk asked in return. “M-My brother he tried to drown himself in the bathtub, he’s bleeding and he’s still got suicidal thoughts.” The nurse furrows her brows. “Did you pull him out?” “n-no he came out himself and told me” Coming out from behind the large desk area, the nurse goes over to Shouto. Stethoscope around her neck which she untangles as she gets down to the boy. “Hi there, what's your name?” She spoke gently as if she were talking to a toddler, Shouto looked at her and quietly replied. “Sh-shouto….T-t-Todoroki” “Alright Shouto, well you can call me Itsuki...now can you sit up a little I need to listen to your chest okay.” Shouto hesitantly sat up which had him coughing, finally a bit more water came up but then he gagged. He’d coughed enough to make himself feel nauseous. Itsuki noticed this and quickly grabbed one of the trash bins nearby and placed it under shouto’s chin. Then she looked at the women at the front desk. “Hey can one of you get a doctor over here like now!” For being so small she could command a room even at 4’8. Her voice boomed with authority which had the other nurses up and paging a doctor.

Her attention was back on Shouto as she heard more liquid come up but it’s not just water. Vomit gushing from his shaking gaping lips, Fuyumi is right next to him rubbing his back. Itsuki couldn’t do much at this time but asked Fuyumi questions. “How old is Shouto?” “he’s gonna be 14 on the other side of the year.” “Does he have any medical conditions, or any diagnosis of anything?” “No nothing he’s physically healthy but...I don’t know about mentally any more.” The way Fuyumi’s last sentence came out made Itsuki frown with sympathy. It was when the vomiting stopped, it had only lasted a minute, but Shouto felt weak on his feet. Moving the trash can Fuyumi sat shouto back down, she could feel his entire body shaking in her hold. The doctor comes over “Alright what’s going on here?” Itsuki looked at the doctor and explained that Shouto had suicidal behavior and thoughts that he’d tried to drown himself. Looking at Fuyumi he asked “and who are you to this young man?” “I’m his older sister” “okay that’s what I thought, let's get him to bed. Jima can you grab a wheelchair?”Itsuki nods to the doctor and hustles off to grab a wheelchair to put shouto in and wheel him off to a bed and give him a proper check.

When the chair is placed beside Shouto, he’s asked if he himself can get in. He nods and stands on shaky feet just barely making it to sit down. He’s wheeled off to one of the beds where the nurse points out the coloration in Shouto’s lips. “I don’t like that blue color in his lips, doctor.” “Alright we’ll see if we can fix that, I wanna see his oxygen levels and vitals in general. He may have coughed up the water but it can still cause side effects to his lungs.” All this talk was making Fuyumi anxious, what was gonna happen to her little brother. Would they focus on the fact that this was a suicide attempt, would they put him on anti depressances? Would they question them about their home life? Is it safe enough to tell them about their father’s horrible behavior? What would they do, could they even do anything about that? All these thoughts began to have Fuyumi shaking. Fear gripping her, chilling her saliva and making her feel as if she were drowning in her own cold abyss of perturbation.

“Ma’am...Ma’am!” She’s pulled from her spiraling thoughts and she sees that they’re in a hospital bay behind the curtain. Shouto’s been lifted onto a bed and the nurse is looking at her concernedly. “O-oh s-sorry, did you need something?”Itsuki sighed in relief before replying. “No you just looked to be spacing out, I never got your name by the way.” Fuyumi blushes at the kind woman and she says to her. “Oh sorry, my name is Fuyumi Todoroki.” Then the doctor speaks. “His breathing is better than I’d thought it’d be, which is great, though Itsuki these lacerations are a bit deep, the bleeding has stopped but these need suturing. Could you grab the suture kit please while I check to see if shouto has any mobility?” Itsuki nods at her doctor’s request, going to fetch the suture kit leaving Fuyumi and Shouto with the doctor. “Shouto I have a question for you.” He states while he places IV lines into shouto’s other arm. Looking up at him acknowledging the man and giving him his full attention. “Shouto are you still feeling suicidal? If so can you explain why?”

Shouto frowned, he had to think before answering and he still stammered through his words. “Y-yeah I-I do. I-I um….”He then looks at Fuyumi and she recognizes this look, she knows that Shouto is scared to tell people and keeps those things a secret. She gave him a nod so he continued. “I have a-a rough h-home life. F-father b-beats and sc-screams at me….T-tonight he t-told me to d-die.” The doctor looked horrified, Fuyumi confirms this. “He’s always hurting Shouto, gas lights him into a depressive and suicidal condition. He’s hit him so hard he threw up to the point of being dehydrated. He wants Shouto to be his business successor and wants him to be perfectly like him.” The doctor couldn’t help but give a sad look to them.

“How long has this been going on?” “the feelings or what our father does?” “your father’s behavior.” Fuyumi answered this one “It started even before Shouto was born, he tried it with one of our late siblings...his name is Touya, he died sometime ago.” “Alright” The nurse returns with the suture kit, grabbing a syringe and filling it with a numbing agent. “Alright Shouto we’re gonna numb your arm up a bit okay then we’ll get started” The doctor warns before sticking the needle into Shouto’s arm, he didn’t wince as if he couldn’t feel it. Shouto felt numb physically and emotionally. Fuyumi was a little saddened by her little brother’s lack of reaction.

Shouto’s arm was bandaged up in no time and the doctor told them that he’d like for Shouto to stay here for a little while. Fuyumi was old enough to admit her sibling through the paperwork so they didn’t have to call Enji which was a big relief. Now came the part Fuyumi dreaded, the doctor came over to her quietly while Shouto was resting, they’d put him on a nebulizer to treat any potential lung infections. She’d been lulled into tired silence by the machine until she was approached by the doctor. “Hello Fuyumi, I need to talk to you about something.” He says, alerting the girl who’s eyes darted towards him. She sits up fully from her slouched position in the guest chair. “Yes, what is it?” “I think Shouto needs to be admitted into a psychiatric unit. You’ve said he’d been gas lit several times into such thoughts and behaviors, sure medication could work but. His home is not a safe environment for him to try medications.” Fuyumi sighed “not again” she muttered as she’d remembered her mother being admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to Enji’s behavior towards her. Shuddering at the memory she’s interrupted by the curious doctor who hears her. “Again?” He repeats making Fuyumi blush from knowing he’d heard her. She had to tell him, so she did, not in the most vivid detail but answered him with an explanation. Explaining that Rei had been admitted to a psych ward when Shouto was younger because she’d had a mental breakdown from Enji’s abuse and poured scalding water on Shouto’s eye.

The doctor seemed to understand and knew of the concerns yet he held patience and replied back. “Well he’s gonna need to take a few tests and that will decide on whether he needs to be admitted so it's not definite but. It's a better option.” “So when will the test be done?” “Well it can be as soon as tomorrow, or sometime during the week or so.” Fuyumi looks down into her lap with a small nod of acknowledgement of the reality she’d be facing. Her little brother potentially being placed in a psychiatric ward. It worried her yet, she also knew that he’d be away from their abusive father.

This would give her time to try and figure out living situations. Shouto didn’t have any friends and lacked good social skills due to his upbringing. So he couldn’t stay with someone for the time being even if he weren’t to be admitted to a mental hospital. Still she didn’t know if she could support shouto, or if she could even get him away from Enji permanently. She’d need adult help and most likely a lawyer but. Fear came in, what if Enji had the power to bribe those deterring them from helping Fuyumi setting her back further to keep shouto under his rule. She needed to figure out something. It didn't matter if Shouto would be admitted or not, she had to do something for her little brother. “I’ll leave you to rest, miss, you seem to be tired and it's almost 3 am and you’ve had a long night.” The doctor says politely bowing and giving Fuyumi the time to thank him before he leaves.

The next day, Shouto didn’t wake up till sometime in the afternoon and boy did he hurt. His body was aching, and he still had a slight cough yet he couldn’t care any less. He just curled up wanting to go back to sleep but right as he was about to shut his eyes to block the bright light of the hospital and the sunshine. The doctor knocks on the door, not only startling shouto and making him grumble but. Waking up Fuyumi who had fallen asleep in the small chair. Letting himself in the doctor smiles seeing his patient and sibling are awake. “Hello there Shouto, nice to see you’re awake. I’m gonna check your vitals, then we’ll talk about the important stuff.” Shouto just sighed with a dull tired look on his face. His breathing and oxygen are checked, his heart was great, everything was great except for the fatigue and emotional numbness.

Putting his stethoscope back around his neck, the doctor took a seat in the spare seat opposite Fuyumi. “Alright Shouto, lets talk.” Nodding the doctor started his talk. “You’re going to be psychologically tested to see how we can treat this. Whether you just need medication or you need to be admitted to a psych ward, you need to be honest while answering okay.” Shouto nods remaining silent, “You’ll be taking a test or two soon, a nurse will come in and will help you if need be but all answers will be on you.” When the doctor had finished, Shouto then asked. “Can I go back to sleep now?” Huffing the doctor shakes his head. “Sorry kiddo, you have to eat something. Can’t let you starve yourself.” Shouto frowns as the doctor gets up but he knows that it's for his own good.

Eating was a challenge, he didn’t have the motivation or strength, or even the appetite, but. He tried and got some of it down by the time the nurse came in the tests and a pencil. The test wasn’t long and took no time yet it was still a draining process, then adding them having to take blood from him afterwards he really wanted to sleep now. Some of the questions stayed on his mind and whether he answered correctly or not. ‘Are you still considering suicide?’ Well Shouto hated living, sure he wanted to be happy for once in his lap but, he felt that he could only be happy if he were dead. ‘Do you starve yourself?’ Well he didn’t starve himself more like the rigorous beatings made him sick enough to not want to eat. Or he didn’t have the motivation to feed himself. ‘Do you cut?’ Yes he does, he had for a while now and it was his only way of feeling something, it let him cry which meant expressing emotions that felt forbidden when he wasn’t cutting. Then one last question rang through his head ‘Would you like to get help?’ Well that would depend, would his father have to consent to this? Could he willingly get help himself? Would he get away from Enji? He didn’t like feeling suicidal, or feeling empty inside, he wanted to feel normal but he never got to feel that so. How could he tell what normal was? Maybe they’d help him figure that out? Would they shove pills down his throat? Would the strap him down to a bed or put him in a straight jacket or even a padded room? Were those types of places real or were those just movie’s over dramatic depictions of a psych ward?

These thoughts surprisingly put Shouto to sleep, or those were the drugs.

Meanwhile Fuyumi was with Natsuo, she’d stopped by to tell him what happened and maybe get some advice? “So let me get this straight, father gaslights Shouto to the point of him trying to commit suicide, he stopped himself and asked for you to take him to the hospital. They’re saying that his best option would be to be admitted to a psychiatric facility so we can figure out how to get him away from father?” Natsuo reiterated taking in the information. Fuyumi nods “I-I just I don’t know if it really is a good idea, and I don’t know if either of us could financially support shouto on our own. We’re adults but we’re not as stable as our father is and most adults but. I think him going to the ward will give us some time to figure something out.”

Natsuo rubs his temples, “I couldn’t agree more, I mean we’re both in school and so is shouto, not that it would be the worst thing to try and take him but. It's sudden and we need time.” he hated to hear about what happened to Shouto, it reminded him of their mother but this time he didn’t want things to get any worse with Shouto and. From how much better their mother has been doing, they both knew the doctor’s suggestion would be the best option for their little brother. “I’ll come with you next time to see shouto, when are you going back?” Fuyumi thought for a moment before answering. “Most likely tonight” “Okay then call me and I’ll meet you there.” With that promise Fuyumi grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes but right before she left Natsuo called out. “Hey, I love you and...good luck with him okay” Fuyumi gave a small smile to her brother “I love you too” She waved him goodbye and left the dorm complex.

Time went by and Fuyumi found herself calling Natsuo to tell him it was time to meet up at the hospital. She soon stood in the parking lot, the street lights were turning on as the sun was setting. She smiles a little as she sees Natsuo walking towards her after hopping off of the bus. “Hey there, you ready?” He asked, Fuyumi nods “yeah, let's go in.” she says and leads him inside, she strolls towards the elevator till they’ve reached the ICU. She follows the placards till she reaches Shouto’s room. Knocking softly there isn’t an answer but she opens the door anyway.

Opening the door, Shouto is laying in bed, he’d seemed to have eaten a small dinner not long before the siblings had arrived. “Shouto?” Fuyumi’s voice calls out softly, heterochromic eyes flutter open with slight bags underneath them. Despite him resting most of the time, his eyes still held a tired look to them. “Hm?” He hummed quietly, walking further into the room Natsuo announced his presence. “Hello Shouto” Recognizing his voice, Shouto looked at them both seeing Natsuo he frowned. “Y-you dragged Nats into this Fuyumi?” Fuyumi knew what he meant but shook her head. “No Shouto, I didn’t drag him. I needed him to know so he could help us, help me, and help you.” Natsuo came over to his youngest sibling’s bedside, then brought him into a hug. Shouto tensed and flinched in Natsuo’s hold until he spoke. “Shh, I’m sorry about him and what he’d made you do and how you’ve been feeling...I’m here because I want to be able to help you get better. I know you may not want to go to the psych ward but. We’ve talked it over and it's the best option for you.” Shouto nods his head “I-I know it is….I thought about it actually” Natsuo stands up letting him go so as to not squeeze the life out of him. Both the older ones seemed curious and asked for Shouto to elaborate. So he shared his thoughts, he knew he’d be better off in a hospital, he’d get away from his father and he hated these feelings even when he indulged himself in them.

Shouto’s explanation pleased them, it made them happy that Shouto wanted to get better and was willing to do it. During this conversation the doctor came in as did another person. A woman who was sharply dressed like the man next to her. “Hello guys ah, another family member. Are you his brother?” Natsuo faces the man and shakes hands with him as he introduces himself. “Yes I’m Todoroki Natsuo” “nice to meet you, I have another person for you all to meet.” He gestures to the woman who’s holding a clipboard of paper and a pen in her chest pocket. She smiles sweetly to them all “hello I’m doctor Fumiya, I’m a pediatric psychologist.” She looked down to her patient in the hospital bed and approached him. “You must be Todoroki Shouto, yes?” The half and half colored male nods “Well I’m here to go over your test results with you and your siblings.” With a nod of approval the woman starts.

“You seem to obviously have depression but this seems to be chronic, seeing as you’ve stated that you’ve been having these feelings for so long. You do have anxiety which is traumatic induced. You don’t exactly have an eating disorder, it's more of the depression and anxiety making it hard and I’m going to guess that you’ve been beaten to the point of vomiting?” Hearing Dr Fumiya’s prediction, Shouto had to sadly confirm it. “Okay and with all of those things in consideration you’ve also stated that you’ve still considered suicide…. But you said you’re willing to get help. Is that still true?” “Still having thoughts of suicide or willing to get help?” “both.” “Yes to both of them” "Now how willing would you be to be admitted to a psych ward?"

Shouto shrugged, his tone held exhaustion but also a small hint of desperation which could faintly be detected when he said "I'm just so tired of this life, and if I could be helped then I'll try it I guess." With that Dr Fumiya wrote down some things before replying. “That’s good, first we’re going to admit you to a ward where you will be given medications and such to try to see what will work for you. You will have a doctor who you will talk to as well as a therapist but it won't be everyday seeing as they obviously have other patients. You will also have group therapy and other types of ways to develop better coping mechanisms and life skills.”

With this information Natsuo asked “Now from what I’ve heard about psych wards, there are certain things Shouto can’t take with him right?” “yes most of the rules apply to just about all psychwards. Though certain things can be gained or permitted if he’s under super vision. Like. He can’t have drawn strings in his clothes or have shoe laces. No razor shavers, no staples, anything that he could hurt himself with. He also can’t take his phone in with him and he may have 1-1 supervision, so someone may come in and check on him or be with him outside the door while he’s showering or in the bathroom. His door will never be locked and will most likely be open through the day time and unlocked during the night time.” She continued to explain more things and general rules most psychwards have.

It was a little overwhelming but what did they expect? They were young adults who were admitting their abused, depressed and suicidal little brother to a mental health hospital. “So when will he be going and where?” “Well there’s one not too far from here and he can go as soon as tomorrow afternoon actually or as soon as the doctor is willing to release you here. Though his release date from the psych ward will be unknown for a while it depends on how cooperative you are, how well you’re handling things and as well as if it's safe for you to go back considering your living situations.” “O-oh so it all has its determining factors? How much should I pack for him?” Questioned Fuyumi “I’d say pack two weeks worth of clothes, they all have laundry days and schedules so he’ll be able to wash his clothes.” “Oh that's great” Natsuo joined, then Fuyumi’s phone rang, she looked to see who it was before frowning. It was Enji.

“What is it sis?” Asked Natsuo, he leaned over and saw who was calling and paled. “Shit, I take it you didn’t tell him?” “Right, and I don’t know what to tell him.” Then Dr Fumiya suggested, “let me talk to him, I’ll see what I can do.” hesitantly Fuyumi hands the woman her phone, she soon leaves the room. Sitting anxiously, Shouto's room is silently waiting for the psychologist to come back. They’re watching the door which soon opens after a minute and she hands the phone back to the eldest todoroki in the room. “He will be here soon, so doctor I suggest you alert security right away to keep an eye out for him.” The doctor nods and leaves the room after confirming Enji’s name, Fuyumi twiddled his thumbs a little thinking about what she was gonna do. She still lived with her father but that was to keep shouto as safe as she could. “Hey, you can probably live in one of the safety lots for people who escape abusive partners or family.” Suggested the psychologist, fuyumi listened with a quizzical look on her face. “You just explain your situation to them and they’ll let you stay. Though if you feel scared going to pack you and your brother’s bags you could always ask them to have an officer or two escort you to protect you.” With this option displayed to her, Fuyumi knew it would be safer for her to live in a safe home and be escorted by officers than try and go alone. “Alright thank you Dr Fumiya” Shouto then spoke up “Fuyumi….I-I don’t want him to c-come here” everyone could hear the anxiety in his voice and then they saw him. Shouto was shaking like the previous night he’d come into Fuyumi’s room.

Eyes melting with sympathy and warmth for the teen who’s eyes welled with tears and fear. “Oh shouto sweetie” She cooed gently standing up, she goes over to him and pulls him so he’s facing into her midsection, Fuyumi is gently rubbing his back as he cries. “Shhh we’re not gonna let him near you, I promise.” Shouto’s still trembling body relaxes a little, still his hands lightly grip her sweatshirt he sobs. Natsuo added himself to the group and came to comfort his little brother, gently running his fingers through his hair. “We promise you shouto, you’re gonna be safe.”

It took a minute for the teen to calm down enough to let go of his older siblings just in time the doctor came back. “Alright I’d told them about your father, and if he somehow gets in, don't hesitate to hit the emergency call button that’s on the side of shouto’s bed and on the wall next to the door” Advised the doctor who smiles at the sigh of relief of the small family. “See shouto we’re safe, the doctor has taken precaution and knows not to let him in.” Shouto just started to play with his fingers as a way to distract himself. “Well guys if you’ll excuse me I will be taking my leave to check on other patients, have a nice night.” “Thank you so much Dr Fumiya” Just as she leaves the nurse comes in to take Shouto’s blood, which Shouto willingly gives. Not like he has much of a choice though.

Fuyumi had been there for a while and hadn’t eaten much so she’d gotten out of her chair to get something to eat. “Hey boys I’m gonna get something from the vending machine, you guys want anything?” “hm could you see if they have any instant ramen?” Fuyumi giggles at Natsuo’s request but she nods “Will do lil bro, you want anything Shou?” “u-um c-can I have milk please...strawberry?” “sure thing, I’ll be back.” She leaves the room and searches for the vending machines around the hall.

It wasn’t a long walk to find some vending machines in a small room, she found the instant ramen one and got Natsuo the spicy ramen he liked, she got herself the shrimp ramen. Next, getting a carton of milk, it took some figuring out since it ate her dollar but as she waited for her milk to be dispensed she heard a loud scream from down the hall. It made her jump but she still kept a hold on her food.

Then a crash came and she had a horrible feeling that made her run to see what was going on. ‘What’s going on, where is it coming from’ the white haired woman thought then she saw it. The door to Shouto’s room was open and one nurse was shaking on the floor while the other was protecting shouto. And right in the center of it all was him, Todoroki Enji. The red head was yelling and trying to get to shouto with force but the small woman who Fuyumi could tell was Itsuki from the night before. She wasn’t backing down, her stance was defensive but ready to throw a punch at any moment. Eyes widened as she watched Itsuki, she then noticed why her stance was defensive, she was holding a needle full of something in her back hand as she warned Enji. “Look Mr Todoroki either calm down or I won't hesitate to inject you with this!” She says in a serious but calm manor, Enji on the other hand growled at her with a sneer on his face, “Oh and was it, probably just saline, not enough to put me out even if it was a sedative.” He shoved her but, her stance allowed for her to easily maintain her balance, “Leave now sir.” Her voice is low “Why the hell should I, you’ve got my stupid son here? I want him back!” “you’re a threat to his safety and you’re abusive to those around you. I won't let you take him” Itsuki doesn’t notice Fuyumi but seeing the other nurse who had some sort of head injury Fuyumi quickly dropped her food and ran with adrenaline down to get more staff members and hopeful security.

She didn’t want to leave Itsuki to be the only barrier between Enji and Shouto but. What else could Fuyumi do! She can hear more of Enji’s yelling, more things crashing and clattering to the cold chemical tile floor. She flinches even as she’s doors and doors down. Getting to the front desk she frantically yells “please help! One of your nurses is injured and my father somehow got up here and he shouldn’t be. Please the only one protecting my brother is a nurse!” Crash! Then another scream but this sounded lower in pitch. “Shouto!” Fuyumi cried and almost ran back but grabbed someone who held her as staff members arose and went to help. It is the doctor looking after Shouto. “Hey hey he’s gonna be okay, Itsuki can take care of this I promise.” Fear paralyzed her into remaining still the doctor lets her go and it isn’t long before security shows up rushing past them to deal with the situation.

Natsuo came down the hall and security came down not long after them. He sees Fuyumi’s worried look, and becomes concerned. “Hey Fuyumi what’s going on? You okay, why aren’t you with shouto?” Fuyumi explained what had happened and as she spoke she began to shake a little. Tears raining down as she’d remembered her promise to shouto. “W-we broke our pro-promise Nats.” At first Natsuo couldn’t remember but one look of seeing Enji being dragged away in restraints by security frowned and hugged her. “I know Fuyu, I’m sorry, he won't be mad at us though. Knowing Shouto he’ll be scared but not mad, if we can get to him now he should be okay.” “o-okay, let's see if we can go th-then.” She says as Natsuo holds onto her hand protectively after letting her out of his loving hold.

Hurrying down the hall they get to shouto’s room which is a mess with shattered medical supplies and Itsuki is right there calming a disquieted Shouto who was pale, otherwise unharmed thankfully. Sighing in relief Fuyumi came over and bowed to the nurse with lots of admiration and vederanation. “Thank you so much Ms Itsuki, I’m sorry you had to deal with our father though.” Huffing a little, the small nurse shrugged her shoulders. “I did what I had to do, but it's okay, it's not your fault that man is so horrible he doesn’t deserve to be called a father.” Fuyumi then looked at Shouto “I’m sorry he tried to get to you Shouto, are you okay?” Talking through shaking lips Shouto replies “H-he didn’t hurt me...ju-just sc-scared.” Fuyumi smiles a little, kissing his forehead gently. “I’m also S=sorry I dropped your food running to get help.” Shouto and Natsuo rolled their eyes “hey don’t apologize, it was the sleeze bag’s fault. I’ll go get it this time, you stay with Shou okay.” Natsuo offered with a small chuckle before looking at Itsuki who went back to checking Shouto over. “Ms Itsuki, would you like me to get you anything...kinda a way of thanking you for protecting our little brother.” Itsuki peers over at the tall white haired teen who’s giving her a genuine smile. “Dear I’m just glad you all are safe, that is enough thanks for me..” Her voice trails a little as she focuses her mind once more. Natsuo just nods, he heads to the vending machine area and gets the milk, ramen, and a bottle of water for Itsuki. Even if she hadn’t asked for anything, he couldn’t not repay her back.

When everyone was given their respective things. Sitting down they had time to each other again in silence. At this point silence meant peace no heart ache but silence also meant suffering and they knew that Shouto would be going to the psych ward soon. Hoping to rid of his suffering whether for good or temporarily enough to find time to find even better help in a healthier. All they could do was try.

#my psych academia #bnha fanfiction #bnha psychward tododeku #depressed todoroki #suicidal todoroki shouto

2 notes · View notes

randomguywithwords · 4 years

Text

As The Dust Settles: Chapter 8 (Dabi X Geten Slowburn)

Previous Chapters: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

“Hey.” Dabi slammed the door behind him. Apocrypha didn’t turn around.

“You have 10 seconds to leave my room.” Was her soft greeting. It wasn’t a growl nor a hiss, more of a polite threat, and that signified something Dabi couldn’t pinpoint.

Dabi bit back a retort. If he hadn’t just talked with Dabi, he would have shot back with, “Or?” He leaned against the door. “Look, since we’re commanding this squad as equals,” He said, resisting a snort on the last word, “can we put a pause on this?”

“I don’t believe in ceasefires. They only lead to betrayal.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not going to. Even if I wanted to, Shigaraki wouldn’t let me.”

“Really?” She replied with sardonicism. “You mean to say your leader would favour me, an enemy-turned-ally, over you, one of his allies from before the merger?”

Ugh, when you put it like that...Dabi pulled his face with a groan. “He’s our –” He forced out the next word sourly. “Leader now.”

“Hm.” She turned around. “I find that hard to believe.”

“He’s still in the council room, if you need proof. Go ask him yourself.” Dabi jerked a thumb at the door.

“I don’t want anything to do with your leader.”

Dear god. Dabi closed his eyes and took a breath. “Fine, all I came here is to tell you that I’m going to be looking through our squad. I have their information here. Would you like to join me or keep staring at the window?”

“Do it here then. And you only need to tell me their Meta Abilities. I will know them.”

“If you say so. I’m gonna sit down.”

Receiving no reply, he muttered, “I’ll take that as a yes.” Plopping himself down on the sofa, he took out the papers in his pockets and read out, feeling quite stupid, but at least she wasn’t trying to impale him.

“There’s only three we need to care about. The rest are cannon fodder. First up, some guy with a quirk called Ethershark.”

“Charioteer,” Geten responded immediately. He’s decent, but he’s useless if his husk is attacked while he’s activating his quirk. Otherwise, he’s ideal for causing chaos and providing a distraction.”

“Uh huh…” Dabi scanned the information on him. “So he summons a ghost shark and his body can’t move.” He whistled. “Sounds cool.”

He heard Geten scoff, drawing his attention. She still was staring out the window. “Do you judge the efficacy of meta abilities based on how flashy they are? That’s a poor criteria.”

“Lighten up, will you?” Dabi said, a flicker of anger passing over his expression. “Anyway, the second guy’s quirk is Gasoline.”

Geten made a noise — a noise so foreign and unnatural Dabi’s head shot up in alarm. It took him a brief moment, a click in his head, to realise that she was laughing.

“Him? He’s one of the strongest ones in our squad?” She said, guffawing, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle it, to little effect. “The standards have really fallen, haven’t they?”

“It synergizes with my quirk very well. Maybe that’s why Shigaraki put him under me.” Dabi said the last sentence more to himself. Damn, he actually planned this decently.

“I hope so,” She snorted, and it amazed Dabi that for once, she wasn’t the target of her disdain and hatred. “Otherwise, all he can do is make people slip, or if he actually managed to use one of his lit matches. Either way, I could easily defeat him.”

“I’m sure you could,” Dabi humoured.

“Stop with your sarcasm. It’s infuriating,” Geten shot with that emotionless voice of hers.

“Stop with your hypocrisy. It’s infuriating,” Dabi replied, met with silence. Shit, is she going to –

“Whatever.” Was her dismissal. Dabi blinked. Is she really like this now?

Then it hit him. Their fight. She thought she had lost. She thought he had fire left in him. She had no idea he had been equally powerless then. That means...hmm...

“Anyway,” He continued, trying to keep his voice passive as a smile crept over his face. “The last guy, his is called Beatdown.”

“What?”

“What, what?”

“What’s his quirk?” She sounded bewildered.

“Beatdown. He has enhanced stamina and muscle strength. His nerves become more resistant to damage as he becomes more – Hey!” Dabi said indignantly as his paper was snatched from Geten, who scanned through it with wild eyes.

“Is he one of yours? Another criminal?” She interrogated.

“No, he’s from your army. What’s the big deal?” Dabi leaned back on the sofa, annoyed. “Not like you guys aren’t always trying to hook new people in.”

“This man. I don’t know him. I should. I know everyone.”

“What? All hundred thousand of you guys?”

“Only the strong ones. It narrows the list by quite a bit. And this man, whoever he is, his ability is strong. I would have noticed it. Someone’s been hiding him, and...maybe more.” Geten ended the sentence mumbling to herself, her eyes gradually unfocusing. She dropped the paper onto his lap, heading towards the door.

“Should I ask where you’re going?” Dabi said.

“No.”

The door slams behind her, leaving Dabi alone in her room. He frowned, picking up the information sheet on the Beatdown guy.

“Why’s she freaking out about that guy? Jeez…” Dabi studied his quirk for a while before deciding that it was an admittedly powerful quirk.

He looked around the empty hotel room. Geten had been holed up here since the night after their victory over the Liberation Army, and while it was tidied up slightly, it was still messy. Her bed was a mattress on the floor, and Dabi thought about the room he had in Re-destro’s mansion. It was filthy with wealth, but if he got to exploit it, he wasn’t complaining. He wondered why Geten still stayed here.

He stood up, surveying the room. He saw what looked like a notebook on the desk and snatched it. Flipping through the pages yellowed from age, he saw the first few pages filled with handwriting exercises. Messy scrawls that slowly straightened out into neat repetitive words meant for practices. Then, it was someone’s journal. Hers? Possibly.

He sat down on the chair next to the desk and began to read.

4/2/01 Thursday

Very tired. I spent the whole day training. I can separate an ice cube into two now. The Grand Commander said he wanted me to be able to split one into five by the end of the week. Hope I can do it.

7/2/01 Sunday

I disappointed the Grand Commander. He did that thing again. It hurts, but he told me he would stop once I could split an ice cube into 5 pieces. I can’t disappoint him again. I’ll make him proud.

I tried to put some ice on the bruises and make them stay as cold as possible. Maybe this is also part of my training.

Dabi slammed the journal on the table with shaking hands, and then slowly backed away.

I’ll make you proud, father. I’ll make ice, and fire.

“Fuck,” He murmured. He repeated that word to himself over and over again as he left the room. Why’d you read it? Bad idea, very bad idea.

He scrambled to the bathroom. He plunged his hands into the sink and began to wash them. He wasn’t sure what he was scrubbing off. He gasped as the familiar pain latched onto his arms and bit. It was milder than usual, but it still hurt.

Looking into the mirror once more, he saw more than himself now. He saw Touya Todoroki as a boy, a boy emboldened with a purpose to be the strongest Todoroki. At the same time, he saw a poor girl forced to do Re-destro’s bidding, till she...Dear god.

This sick, twisted army.

Dabi hated them now more than ever.

–––––

Btw, I’ve been cross-posting these to other sites, and they’re technically edited versions although I haven’t been actually doing that. But the edited versions are there, sort of. Every chapter here is the first draft.

My Ao3, Wattpad and FF.net are all under the same username: CompletelyAnonymous.

Story-wise, I really hope I didn’t make this reveal too early. Might regret this decision later on, but it’s a scene I’ve been wanting to write for a while because it’s a turning point in how Dabi views Geten. Also, uh, I’m no good at writing child abuse and it’s a touchy subject. Very sorry to those who take offense if the portrayal is not proper, and I’ll be willing to do the necessary further research and revisions.

#bnha #mha #bnha fanfiction #bnha fanfic #mha fanfiction #mha fanfic #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #dabi #geten #dabiten #dabi x geten #geten x dabi #bnha geten #mha geten #bnha dabi #mha dabi #ATDS

24 notes · View notes

kae-karo · 4 years

Text

to the stars that burn (dabihawks)

i’m so sorry there’s no happy ending i’m blaming the dabihauxs for this. credit (with permission) for touya's hero name to flightofbats on tiktok from their flashpoint au (x)

to the stars that burn - T - 3.9k

tags: angst without a happy ending, childhood friends au, dabi is touya and he’s in the same commission program as hawks, here have some emotions

----------

“Did you know that stars burn themselves up sometimes?” Flashpoint’s voice is really quiet when he talks, and Hawks lets his arm fall back down.

“I didn’t know that.”

the childhood friends au where dabi and hawks are in the same program at the commission and it's sAD bc the damn server made me have Emotions

[read on ao3]

------

“Keigo!” Hawks sucks in a breath, eyes wide when he turns around. Touya- no, no, they’re not supposed to use those names. Hawks isn’t even supposed to know that name.

Flashpoint runs up, kind of breathing fast and smiling at him. Hawks doesn’t want to smile, because Flashpoint is using the name that’ll get him in trouble, but he can’t help it.

So he squishes his face up instead, because that’s totally not a smile. And he’s mad, Hawks is mad because if he gets mad at Flashpoint, maybe they won’t.

“Hawks,” Hawks says, trying to make his face angry. He thought Flashpoint just had a hard time remembering, maybe - Hawks did, at first - but he keeps saying Hawks shouldn’t forget, that he should keep his- keep the name he had before.

“Whatever.” He’s still smiling by the time he slows down next to Hawks, and Hawks stares hard at him for a few more seconds before the dark marks on his skin start to make Hawks worry. He has to drop his head, then, and stare at his shoes, because he doesn’t want to think about it too much.

“You wanna go up on the roof tonight?” Hawks’ face scrunches up again - why does he always want to get them in trouble? Not that Hawks can’t deal with the punishment, obviously. He did really well in torture training, that’s what Kaneko-sensei said. Didn’t even flinch, except just one time.

They put fire up to his feathers, and it scared him.

“We’re not allowed, Flash.” He just nudges Hawks, though, digging his elbow into Hawks’ arm like it doesn’t bother his burned skin at all. He did a good job in torture training, too, he said.

“Aw, come on, Hawks. Don’t birds just love the sky?” Hawks presses his lips together hard. It’s not fair, he thinks. Flashpoint always says the same thing, and then he smiles and says it’ll be fine, and Hawks doesn’t really know how to say no. He doesn’t want to disappoint him.

He tried, once - telling Flashpoint he didn’t want to go. He’d called Hawks a liar, and frowned so hard Hawks thought his burns might rip open. It’d happened before, once, during training, and Hawks had felt so sick when he saw it that he had to be sent to the nurse.

Flashpoint had gotten in trouble on his own, when Hawks didn’t go to the roof with him, and the burned parts of his skin looked really bad the next morning.

“It’ll be fine,” Flashpoint says, exactly like Hawks thought he would. Even though it’s never been fine, they always get in trouble. Flashpoint always says it was his idea, and he stares really hard at Hawks, and Hawks has figured out that means he’s supposed to be quiet and not say anything.

Hawks’ shoes scuff against the ground, making an annoying little squeak every time he takes a step. He thinks really hard about the squeaking, because it’s better than thinking about what’s gonna happen if Hawks says yes, that he’ll go to the roof with Flashpoint.

But if he doesn’t go, then Flashpoint will be all alone.

And Hawks does like the sky.

“C’mon,” another elbow into Hawks’ arm, “you want to, don’t you?” Hawks glances over, then really wishes he didn’t. Cause Flashpoint is smiling big at him again, and maybe Kaneko-sensei told Hawks that making friends is a bad thing, but he thinks Flashpoint is kind of a friend, maybe. And he knows what happens if he says he’ll go.

“Okay, fine, but just for a little bit.” Flashpoint smiles even bigger, and he puts an arm over Hawks’ shoulder, and Hawks’ wings stretch out a little and he thinks it might not be as bad as Kaneko-sensei said, to have a friend.

----------

“Look, look, there’s another one!” Hawks thinks Flashpoint’s talking too loud, but he doesn’t say it. He also thinks they’ll get caught, but they haven’t yet. So Hawks looks to the end of Flashpoint’s finger and follows it all the way up to the night sky.

“Oh, I thought that was an airplane. Isn’t it?” He doesn’t tell Flashpoint, but sometimes he practices what Kaneko-sensei teaches them about how to talk, how to say things to get the kind of reaction they want. And he doesn’t want Flashpoint to be upset that he’s wrong, but he also doesn’t want him to think that’s actually a star when it’s just an airplane.

The ‘star’ flashes and moves, and Hawks blows out a breath. He isn’t really sad about it, but he likes it better when Flashpoint is happy.

So his whole body goes still when Flashpoint laughs, because it’s definitely too loud, and Hawks just said the star wasn’t a star. Why is Flashpoint happy?

“You’re right, Keigo.” Hawks flinches at his- not his name, not his name. The wrong name, he’s Hawks. He opens his mouth, about to correct Flashpoint, when a hand grabs his arm. “Oh, that one’s definitely a star.”

Hawks closes his mouth, because it is a star this time.

-----------

“I want to run away.” Hawks’ eyes go wide.

“R-run? Why?” He keeps his voice quiet, and Flashpoint isn’t too far away. He doesn’t want Kaneko-sensei to show up now, cause Flashpoint would probably get a really bad punishment for saying he wanted to leave.

“It’s bad here.” Hawks frowns - but they have a place to stay, they have food, they’re training to become heroes. What’s so bad about it?

He doesn’t say that out loud, though, because Flashpoint doesn’t say anything without a reason. And he likes to talk, when he has stuff inside his head. So Hawks waits.

Fire, blue and bright like Flashpoint’s eyes, moves up his arms all of a sudden, and Hawks sucks in a breath. His wings stretch back a little, ready to pull him away. Flashpoint must notice, though, because he looks over with wide eyes and suddenly the fire is gone.

“You know I’d never hurt you, right?” Hawks dips his head, and reddish-orange fire flares up behind his eyes. Close to his wings, hot, and too close. Not blue fire, though. Never blue fire.

“Keigo,” Hawks glances up, “you know that, right?” Flashpoint’s watching him, his face scrunched up in a way that makes Hawks’ stomach twist. Finally, after a long time, Hawks takes a deep breath and nods.

Immediately, Flashpoint’s shoulders drop, and the corner of his mouth lifts.

“Why do you keep using the wrong name?” He kind of wants to ask why Flashpoint thinks it’s bad here, because he didn’t tell Hawks yet, but now it feels like the wrong thing to say.

He always tells Hawks the same thing, though, about his name: that it’s who he is, that remembering is good. Hawks isn’t really sure he agrees, but maybe if he asks enough times, Flashpoint will give him an answer that makes sense.

“Cause, Keigo,” wrong name, wrong name, “it’s mine.” He stares up at the sky again, and Hawks frowns.

“Well Flashpoint is yours, too.” The side of Flashpoint’s mouth turns up, a kind-of smile.

“Nah, Flashpoint is just who Kaneko-sensei wants me to be.” Hawks’ face scrunches up. “But I want to be who I was before.”

“I thought you didn’t like, um, before?” He only talked about it one time, when he was really angry at something Kaneko-sensei made him do. He wouldn’t tell Hawks what it was, but he said he wished he could go back. That it was bad before, too, but maybe it wasn’t as bad as here.

Flashpoint turns to him, away from the night sky and the stars, and tilts his head.

“I dunno, I didn’t. I don’t. But I don’t really like being Flashpoint either.” Being Flashpoint, like it’s a costume he can put on and take off whenever he wants to be someone else. Hawks stretches his wings out again, checking the air to feel if Kaneko-sensei has come to punish them yet.

Silence, just Flashpoint’s heartbeat. It’s a nice sound, he thinks.

“Who do you want to be?” Hawks is quiet, still, just in case. Flashpoint smiles big, then, and Hawks isn’t sure he understands why.

“Someone good, I think. Better than Flashpoint, better than Touya.”

Hawks doesn’t say that he thinks Flashpoint is already good.

------------

Four. He counted them without even trying. He’s seen Flashpoint too many times not to recognize new burns.

“Hey Hawks.” He sounds bad, he sounds like...whatever the opposite of happy is. Hawks doesn’t think it’s sad, exactly, just...not-happy. His wings arch back a little, but he can’t sense anything different in Flashpoint’s heartbeat or his breathing.

“Hi Flash.” Blue eyes glance over to meet Hawks’, and his lips press into a straight line. Hawks’ stomach feels weird, bad-weird, but he doesn’t say anything.

Flashpoint went to the roof without him last night. Kaneko-sensei said if Hawks went up there again, he wouldn’t be allowed to train with Flashpoint anymore, so he didn’t go. He didn’t sleep, either.

“Sorry.” He says it really quiet, hopefully too quiet for anyone else to hear, but he’s close to Flashpoint and he leans in a little more, and he thinks Flashpoint heard him. Except he doesn’t say anything back, and that only makes Hawks’ stomach feel even worse.

---------

“Why won’t you talk to me?” Eleven minutes. It took Hawks eleven minutes to decide that he was going up to the roof after being sent back to his room for the night. Actually, it only took him two minutes, but he spent the other nine trying to convince himself not to.

But then he thought of Flashpoint and how he hasn’t seen him smile in two whole weeks and the only time he’s ever seen him smile a lot was on the roof and Flashpoint would probably be up here even though the burns keep getting worse and Hawks knows it isn’t just from his quirk like Kaneko-sensei says and-

“What are you doing up here, Keigo? You’re gonna get in trouble.” He sounds...not mad, or sad, just not-happy again. Like he’s saying words, but they don’t really mean anything. Hawks doesn’t even try to correct him on the name this time.

Instead, he takes a few steps forward, toward where Flashpoint is sitting on the edge of the roof, his feet dangling over the side. Hawks never understood how he felt okay doing that when he can’t fly.

Flashpoint always said it felt kind of like flying, or at least he thought it did, that he could pretend he had wings while he looked up at the sky. Hawks had promised him that once his wings were strong enough, he’d show him what flying really felt like.

“Go back to your room.” Hawks’ feet stop moving.

“Are you mad at me?” He’s surprised by the long, slow breath Flashpoint takes in, like he’s trying to calm down. His heart isn’t beating that fast, though, Hawks can tell.

“I’m not mad at you, Keigo.” Hawks’ face scrunches up.

“But you don’t want to talk to me?” Somehow, that feels a lot worse. If Flashpoint were mad, at least Hawks could try to fix it, say he’s sorry and he won’t do whatever it is that made Flashpoint mad in the first place. But what is he supposed to do if Flashpoint just...doesn’t want to talk to him?

“I want to.”

Hawks can’t decide if he should feel happy or worried now - Flashpoint has that voice he sometimes uses, the one that sounds like trouble. He’s facing away, but Hawks is pretty sure he has a half-smile on his face, and he almost wishes he could see it. Because at least Flashpoint might be smiling.

“Okay, then just talk to me?” There’s something that isn’t being said, Hawks knows, but he isn’t really sure what it is. A reason for why Flashpoint won’t talk to him. And if he waits, maybe Flashpoint will tell him.

But he doesn’t say anything, not for a really long time, and Hawks’ stomach twists up as he tries to figure out what to do. He doesn’t want to make Flashpoint more mad, or whatever he is, by trying to get him to talk. But he also doesn’t want to just...leave. Cause he doesn’t really know what’s happening, or why Flashpoint won’t talk to him, and-

And he misses it. He misses having a...a friend.

So he walks over super slow, as slow as he can, because that feels like the right thing to do. Like Flashpoint is a scared animal, even though Hawks is pretty sure he’s never seen Flashpoint be scared of anything ever.

He doesn’t move when Hawks climbs up onto the edge of the roof next to him, just keeps staring up at the sky. His legs swing a little, like the breeze is moving them the way it moves Hawks’ feathers.

But Flashpoint doesn’t get mad at him, so he sits, lets his wings stretch out behind him, and hopes that this is okay. Because if it’s not okay, he doesn’t really know what is okay, and what Flashpoint wants, and what will make him stop ignoring Hawks.

And what will make him smile again.

“I think…” Hawks points up at the night sky, because this is the only thing he can think of. “I think that one’s a star.” He watches Flashpoint from the corner of his eye, hoping he’ll look over, but he’s still looking up at the sky. Not at Hawks.

“Did you know that stars burn themselves up sometimes?” Flashpoint’s voice is really quiet when he talks, and Hawks lets his arm fall back down.

“I didn’t know that.” Flashpoint is way smarter than Hawks, he knows all kinds of things. Hawks isn’t really sure this is a thing he wants to hear, though, cause Flashpoint sounds kind of sad about it.

“Sometimes, I think maybe I’m a star. And I got stuck here, instead of up there.” He points, and Hawks follows his finger to the sky. His stomach twists - he feels like that, too, sometimes. When he really wants to fly, but Kaneko-sensei won’t let him. Later, he always says.

Flashpoint could be a star, Hawks thinks. He’s bright like one, especially when he smiles. And his fire, even though it’s kinda scary, does look a lot like the stars.

“I’ll take you up there, you can be a star,” Hawks says without thinking. He promised, once he could fly well enough to carry Flashpoint.

Flashpoint just blows out a breath that kind of sounds like a laugh, except that he’s only smiling a little bit.

“I’m afraid I’ll burn up before then, Keigo.” Afraid? Flashpoint’s afraid? Hawks doesn’t look over all the way, because he doesn’t want Flashpoint to know that he’s staring, but...but his burns look worse, don’t they? Maybe Kaneko-sensei was right, maybe his fire is hurting him too much.

“Don’t say that.” Don’t say it, because Flashpoint is smart, he knows more than Hawks does. And if he says it, then he’s probably right.

Flashpoint turns toward him, then, and he looks sad. He’s sort of smiling, but it’s sad.

“Don’t worry, Keigo, I’ll be fine.” He reaches out and grabs Hawks’ hand, and it’s warm and Hawks wants to believe him really really badly. Except that when Flashpoint says things will be fine, he’s always lying.

Hawks looks back over his shoulder, lets his wings stretch out all the way to feel the air for any sign that they’re not alone. But all he feels is the soft sound of Flashpoint’s heartbeat, the rustling that means he’s breathing slow and calm.

“Promise, Touya?” It sounds weird when he says it, he thinks, because Flashpoint is Flashpoint. But he told Hawks his name once, and Kaneko-sensei said to always remember important things, and Hawks thought that it was maybe an important thing. So he held onto the name the same way he held onto- well, onto Keigo.

Flashpoint is quiet, so Hawks turns his head just enough to look at him from the corner of his eye.

He’s...smiling. It’s a small one, really small for Flashpoint, but it’s a real smile. It’s more than Hawks has seen in two weeks.

“Promise.” He squeezes Hawks’ hand, and Hawks almost believes him. A few seconds pass, and Hawks thinks about Flashpoint and what it means that Hawks just said his...his real name, and why it made him smile like that.

“Hey,” Flashpoint squeezes his hand again. “Will you promise me something, too?” Hawks nods - anything, anything Flashpoint wants. “Don’t forget who I am. Don't forget who you are, either, Keigo. Okay?”

The words burn through Hawks like fire, like Flash- like Touya’s fire. He nods.

---------

It’s weird, inside his head. He’s Hawks.

But...but he promised Flash- Touya, he promised Touya. And then Touya had taken all of the punishment Keigo was supposed to get for going up to the roof that night. He said he’d dragged Keigo out there, forced him to come along. Kaneko-sensei didn’t believe him, not even a little bit, but he still didn’t punish Keigo at all. And he punished Touya extra bad.

For the first time in over a year, Keigo was sick the whole rest of the night.

He didn’t go to the nurse, or tell Kaneko-san, or tell Touya, even. How could he tell Touya, after it was all Keigo’s fault? Keigo couldn’t even look at him the next morning, at the burns turning his skin all kinds of bad colors.

And Touya had smiled at him. Just a little, but he smiled, and Keigo was afraid he might be sick again.

‘Don’t forget who you are, Keigo,’ he said, and Keigo thought that’s the least he could do, keeping his promise. He can’t reverse time, he can’t fix Touya’s burns, but he can do what Touya said. He can remember who they are, their...their real names.

After all, isn’t that what Kaneko-sensei has been trying to teach him? How to pretend to be someone he isn’t? So he can pretend to be Hawks, and he can still be Keigo inside his head. And he can remember that Touya is Touya and not Flashpoint, and that his name makes him smile, and that he likes to look up at the stars.

---------

Attack the mannequins like he’s always done. Blindfolded, obviously. But everything feels different. He knows it’s different. They tell him it’s the same, of course they do. He can tell they’re lying, faster heart rates. More heart rates. They sound like tiny hummingbirds. Keigo wishes they were hummingbirds.

Fast breathing, too, but it isn’t theirs. It isn’t Keigo’s either, but his starts to speed up. They tell him to attack when he hears the buzzer, just like he always does. This is no different.

It’s very different.

He can feel it, the soft weight of his feathers sinking into something that isn’t plastic. It’s wet, it’s warm. It clogs his senses, and his eyes widen behind the blindfold as if he could somehow see through it.

It’s wrong. It’s wrong, he knows it, but they tell him he’s done well. Excellent, even. Better than expected. He stays too still, because he’s supposed to stay still. But also because moving feels wrong, moving makes this real. Moving means that he can never go back, can never undo what he just did.

He can still feel it, when the- when the mannequins...no, they’re just mannequins. They told him they’re mannequins. He believes them. He has to believe them.

If he could cut off his connection to those feathers, he would. He can’t, but god, he wants to.

Warm. Warm warm warm and wet and he can feel his hands shaking. Kaneko-sensei tells him to turn around, to remove the blindfold and exit the room. Keigo’s hands stop shaking. Kaneko-sensei will be angry at Keigo if his hands shake. This is the same as it always is. He can’t feel the-

No. There is nothing on the floor behind him. He does not look. He walks to the door, reaches up for the handle. His hand does not shake.

He feels it less, once the door has closed. And then he doesn’t feel it at all. Doesn’t feel the crushing weight of-

Nothing. He feels nothing.

----------

Touya doesn’t show up at the next training session.

He doesn’t show up during lunch.

He doesn’t show up that night, when Keigo rushes up to the roof. He doesn’t show up after hours and hours. The stars show up, twinkling like they’re laughing at Keigo.

Kaneko-sensei doesn’t show up to punish Keigo.

Touya doesn’t show up the next morning, or the morning after that, or the one after that.

Keigo doesn’t think about the stars. He doesn’t think about blue fire. He doesn’t think about a name he isn’t supposed to know for a friend he wasn’t supposed to have.

He doesn’t think about the mannequins that weren’t mannequins.

----------

“Takami Keigo.” Dabi’s voice drips with humor, with acid and laughter simmering just beneath the surface, and oh, it stings.

Keigo freezes. That name...that name, it is his and his alone to know. And the Commission’s, though they hardly count. They’d taught him it was not his, and he’d allowed himself that one act of defiance. So it is his.

And now Keigo freezes in shock and burns in tandem, because Dabi has him pinned, fire singeing every inch of his back.

“Who are you?” he hisses. This matters, he reasons - for this task, of course, to know the League inside and out, and to the Commission in general. It’s paramount that he track down the leak that’d lead to Dabi acquiring his real name, that he figure out which of their employees is compromised.

And perhaps it’s a bonus if he can take his name back from whoever stole it from Keigo, whoever gave it to Dabi so flippantly. It belongs only to Keigo, and he has not given that gift to anyone else.

Almost nobody. Bright blue eyes flash at him, and he isn't sure if it's the horrible reality of Dabi staring down at him or the resurfacing of a memory he's long since buried.

Dabi grins, wild and unhinged, and Keigo can’t breathe for the smoke, but he grits his teeth. This pain at his back is nothing, the fear that claws at his throat is meaningless in the wake of Dabi's next words.

“Oh, Keigo…” His head tilts just a bit. "You don't remember? You promised not to forget.” A pause, only for a moment longer, as Keigo burns, as his heart begins to tear in two. “My name is Touya.”

And then he can’t breathe, and it has nothing to do with the smoke or the pain or the fear. He can’t breathe, because Touya…

He can see it now - god, how could he have missed it? How had he stood in front of Dabi time and time again, watched the burn of that blue fire and the bright blue eyes behind it, that grin that spoke of danger...how had he seen all of that and still been so blind?

Is it absurd of Keigo, then, to want to tell Dabi- to tell Touya that he didn't forget? That he could never forget the boy who smiled at his name and looked up at the stars?

#bnha #dabihawks #hotwings #dabi #hawks #dabi is touya obviously #bnha fic

4 notes · View notes

kurogabae · 4 years

Text

TSUBASA: TRAINWRECK CHRONICLES

And How Bee Train is Single-Handedly Propagating Cancel Culture in This the Year of Our Lord 2020

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4 -- PART 5

[[ join me on PillowFort. i have free invite codes if you need an account ]]

So last post was all filler episodes and we're well into season two of this, and I cannot stress this enough, two season anime. The only canon arc we've had was Piffle so far and it was poorly handled and out of order. Surely, absolutely surely, we are in for a canon arc. Shara perhaps? Skip right to Le Court? We all know they'd never dare touch Tokyo. How are they going to pad out the rest of the season?

Why another filler. A bad filler. The dreaded filler that goes against pretty much all of Fai's everything.

It's "A Date With a Wizard" and Kurogane isn't the one getting the date. If you haven't watched or heard of this episode before, buckle up kids. It's a doozy. And big spoiler warnings ahead.

Fort City Bit AKA Fai Dates His Own Fucking Mom (but like an AU version so it's okay I guess???):

You read that right. Fai goes on a date with this world's version of Chii, who was an artificial being he modeled after his dead mother. I could end the rant here but oh, there is so much to this. So much. It's only one episode long but it feels like an eternity.

The premise for magic use in this world is that:

Everyone has magic and that magic is specialized

Your career path is based on your magic's specialization. Like in MLP with cutie marks. And everyone is Fine with this.

Everyone recharges their magic via the sun, which is risen by their king

The king is chosen yearly after everyone in the country has the same fucking dream one night

The whole country runs on magic, to the point that if there is no magic there is no food, no power, no anything. But that's fine, because every day they get recharged by the sun. Right? WRONG! Because the current king is being a depressed little shit and refuses to raise the sun, effectively dooming the country to a slow death. Neat.

BUT BEFORE ALL OF THAT! The episode opens with Fai having a nightmare about Ashura looming like he's auditioning for a role in Attack on Titan. Vague and menacing, which is literally all we know about Ashura because we know nothing about Fai's past. And we never will. At least not in anime-land. No one knows anything. The manga isn't pulling this fakey flashback shit, so why is the anime? I don't know, but I hate it!

Anyway, the family gets the low down from Touya and Yukito - who still do not recognize Sakura and that upsets me because of the implications that there is no Sakura in this universe. (Sidenote: Kurogane recognizes them, even though he's never met them in the anime so far so honestly, just fuck everything.) While Touya is feeding them a frankly lavish meal that he's magiced up he explained their king problems. This leads to my next issue - if you're so worried about running out of magic why are you using it so flippantly and in such an extra ass way? Can you not make normal food? Does it only exist in magic form? Maybe just summon some soup? Does all food cost the same amount of mana? THIS MAGIC SYSTEM IS BAD!

So, back to the whole the king is too sad to raise the sun which powers everyone's magic which is now beginning to run low. Another problem I have. You get a recharge on your magic everyday. They have not gotten ANY recharges for, and I'm quoting here, months. They change kings every year. So even on the low end of things we're looking at 3-4 months before anyone got concerned about the king just. Not raising the sun. Personally, I would have gotten worried after a few days, a week at most. No one wanted to go and find out like "Hey your highness, why no sun? What's got you down?"

That, however, would be logical. This is a place of magic and whimsy! Not logic. Fai is asked to use his magic to figure out what is wrong with their king. Predictably, he tells them they have a better chance of meeting god, so everyone gets thrown in jail. Because refusing to solve a country's weird problems is illegal. Not that jail has ever stopped them before. Not with Kurogane and his muscles around. And while I am always up for watching Kurogane break things I do have to wonder - why are they not just warping free? Mokona said there was no feather. No one said anything about being magically held back. And yet, they are running through the castle, endangering themselves and the children!!!

Obviously this is For Plot Reasons, and I use the words "plot" and "reasons" loosely here.

Somehow the kitties and puppies get separated and Fai and Sakura end up surrounded by guards. Does Fai finally fight? Does he open that can of whoop ass we all know he's been saving? No. He leaps into the air and takes flight like some sort of stork. And while Fai's current cocky attitude is refreshing, he's working on some sort of idiot bimbo in a horror movie logic of "to escape the building I must do upstairs". This is not a man made to last on his own.

And, like Shrek to Fiona, the stairs lead him to the highest room in the tallest tower. Fai, then, promptly loses his shit as if he's not fully aware that doubles exist across the multiverse. Like, yeah, it would be a shock and anyone would be freaked out at the sudden surprise of it all, but Fai acts like he thinks he's stepped back into Celes. Like an idiot. He's better than this.

Now, we learn more things about this messed up king situation. Not only does everyone have a dream every year electing the new monarch, but the new king gets their memory erased for the whole year so that they can "rule with a pure heart" or some shit. Which seems like a baaaad fucking way to run.... anything. At all. Ever. Might as well pick up a fresh baby and put it in charge. It's bad. And it gets worse.

Chii is sad, but she wants to hang out with Fai and it's the first time she's shown any interest in doing anything but being Sad so her babysitter spirits are all like "Oh that's neat!" And Fai takes this is his chance to just... run off for a night on the town with her? They literally vanish and leave Sakura ALONE IN THE CASTLE WITH THE SAME SPIRITS WHO JAILED THEM. In what fucking universe????

Look, they are trying so so so so so so hard to sell this FaiChii shit. Fai leaves Sakura alone in a castle where they have just busted out of jail, he has no idea where or how Kurogane and Syaoran are, he's clearly uncomfortable around Chii as she reminds him of what he's running from, and, oh yeah, she's a copy of his dead mother he created in another world in order to comfort him and his dead brother as a child. Everything is Fine. Let's go get tea.

I'm gonna rapid fire some S tier bullshit:

no one knows where Chii has taken Fai - why is there no way to track your baby-brained king?

Fai leaves with Chii happily and cheerily, again, leaving Sakura behind and alone - who is this man because it isn't Fai

the only clue they have to Fai and Chii's location is that they are no longer on castle grounds, yet somehow Syaoran knows Exactly Where to Look - because sure why not?

Chii doesn't know how to drink???? - does this happen with every king? do they have to be potty trained too? omg they really are babies this is a terribly way to run a country!!!!!!

teaching someone basic life functions is not romantic but Bee Train sure wants us to think it is

"I want to stay with Fai forever and always." - at least he panics at commitment still... and probably incest

“I should be thanking you. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way.” - What? Uncomfortably reminded of your past and why your life is just shy of a living hell? Who are you? You are not Fai

Kurogane and Syaoran show up to save Fai and Chii, who have been surrounded by guards (I think, I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure they're there to take her back to the castle and her Sad Room). Fai apparently won't fight in front of Chii but whatever at this point.

It comes out that Chii is an artificial soul/being (like the Chii in Celes) and because of that she cannot leave the town or she DIES and that means the king dies and I guess they don't have a back up plan for that. Unsurprising but bad. Still, Chii begs Fai to take her away and show her the world and Fai like... hesitates? Thinks about it? Considers it?!?!? I dunno but he doesn't automatically say "Uh no, you'll die and also I have other shit to do, bye" and that's dumb for a lot of reasons.

Eventually he tells her no and convinces her to bring the sun back and be happy because she'll be able to remember him or some shit (you know, unless they take those memories too!) and they all say goodbye. And I couldn't be more thankful.

Honestly, the real MVP here is Kurogane for not just losing his shit at all of this like I have. He's a better man than I.

Tune in next time as I continue to scream, in vain, at god.

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4 -- PART 5

#tsubasa chronicle #TRC #my meta #tsubasa trainwreck chronicles #CLAMP #god will not answer for allowing these crimes to exist #and therefore will never be allowed peace by me

13 notes · View notes

ua-himiko · 5 years

Text

x9.18

@ua-touya 12:42 PM

damn, you hero school brats really are sure of yourself, huh?

ua-himiko 12:44 PM

you have no right to try and look down on us when you cant even take five minutes out of your busy schedule to help someone who is supposed to be your FRIEND

ua-touya 12:45 PM

listen, if i could have helped you, i wouldve, alright?

ua-himiko 12:45 PM

whatever

ua-touya 12:46 PM

yeah, whatever.

@ua-todoroki 4:14 PM

Wtf.

ua-himiko 4:15 PM

what

ua-todoroki 4:15 PM

Who are you.

@ua-chargebolt 4:15 PM

What just... happened?

ua-himiko 4:16 PM

lol ypu

ua-todoroki 4:16 PM

Great answer.

@ua-stopwatch 4:16 PM

lots of things happened, kaminari

ua-himiko 4:16 PM

ew ur back

my names miko who r u

ua-todoroki 4:17 PM

Todoroki Shouto.

ua-himiko 4:17 PM

wha,,,

real funny haha joke but like actually tho..

ua-chargebolt 4:17 PM

Well. I figured that, ,Damien... I mean.... new people now? What's goin on?

ua-todoroki 4:17 PM

...?

Yeah.

That's who I am.

ua-stopwatch 4:18 PM

she waltzed in the chat and started degrading people last night.

ua-chargebolt 4:18 PM

Huh.

ua-himiko 4:18 PM

lol bro... i get it ur edgey lulz but lykeeee im not falling for that i wasnt born yesterday

ua-todoroki 4:18 PM

?????

ua-chargebolt 4:18 PM

Who... are you?

ua-stopwatch 4:19 PM

ua-himiko 4:19 PM

:/ i just said my name was miko... do i need 2 go full name or what

ua-todoroki 4:19 PM

[pic of his ID]

ua-stopwatch 4:19 PM

please. If you don't mind.

ua-chargebolt 4:19 PM

lol, Miko, sounds like the main character for some anime-

ua-himiko 4:19 PM

uh real cool prop i guess I LUV ANIME xD

ua-todoroki 4:20 PM

Wtf.

:/.

ua-himiko 4:20 PM

its a cute nickname tho rite???? lololol but yea its short for toga himiko yeah

ok i showed u mine now show me urs edgey weirdo cuz im not fallin for this troll attempt rite here

ua-chargebolt 4:21 PM

Why's that name ring a bell...

ua-stopwatch 4:21 PM

it does. Doesn't it.

ua-chargebolt 4:21 PM

What's the big deal tho, he already said his name...

ua-himiko 4:21 PM

eh i was on the news once it aint no thang we dont talk about that lol

ua-todoroki 4:21 PM

I already told you.

ua-chargebolt 4:21 PM

lol

ua-himiko 4:21 PM

bro...

ua-stopwatch 4:21 PM

Miko, what's your quirk if you don't mind my asking

ua-chargebolt 4:21 PM

I'm Kaminari Denki btw but like

what's the hangup about Shouteroki's name?

ua-himiko 4:22 PM

:/... its called TRANSFORM idk why that matters tho

ua-chargebolt 4:22 PM

are you a transformer

ua-himiko 4:23 PM

cuz like??????????? todoroki shoutos been dead for like half a decade or whatever so pretending 2 be some famous dead kid is fuckin weird and dumb like... hello

ua-touya 4:23 PM

what

ua-himiko 4:23 PM

eveyrone knows that its not new info

ua-todoroki 4:23 PM

What.

ua-stopwatch 4:23 PM

..what

ua-chargebolt 4:23 PM

HAH??????

ua-himiko 4:23 PM

????????????????????

ua-stopwatch 4:23 PM

he's not-

ua-touya 4:23 PM

what do you mean he died? how?

ua-stopwatch 4:23 PM

..y'know what...she might be one of the alternates

ua-chargebolt 4:23 PM

lol what kinda AU is this

ua-todoroki 4:23 PM

What the fuck.

ua-himiko 4:24 PM

like it was a while ago but like everyone knows about this so wtf :////

ua-chargebolt 4:24 PM

You uh... a zomble there Todo?

ua-stopwatch 4:24 PM

Miko, I can assure you, that this todoroki isn't dead

ua-chargebolt 4:24 PM

Physically anyway

ua-todoroki 4:24 PM

What the fuck.

ua-stopwatch 4:24 PM

like I said. Maybe an alternate?

ua-himiko 4:24 PM

alternate of what

p-mina 4:24 PM

oooh!!!! Like me!!!!

ua-stopwatch 4:24 PM

have you heard of the multiverse theory?

ua-himiko 4:25 PM

it was like a biiiiiiiig case his mom like went crazy and off'd him like bruh

ua-chargebolt 4:25 PM

W H A T

ua-himiko 4:25 PM

the what

ua-touya 4:25 PM

she what??

ua-himiko 4:25 PM

?????? hello

ua-chargebolt 4:25 PM

WHOMST?

ua-stopwatch 4:25 PM

the multiverse theory.

p-mina 4:25 PM

ua-stopwatch 4:25 PM

or rather, the string theory

ua-todoroki 4:25 PM

...

ua-himiko 4:25 PM

fuckin google it oh my god cmon its like

h/o i'll just get an article this is so dumb

ua-chargebolt 4:25 PM

YOU google it...

ua-touya 4:26 PM

there's not going to be an article, batsy

ua-himiko 4:26 PM

dont rush me omg im working on it...

ua-todoroki 4:26 PM

Who.

ua-stopwatch 4:26 PM

in our string of the multiverse, todoroki isn't dead.

ua-todoroki 4:26 PM

Wait.

ua-himiko 4:26 PM

u keep sayin multiverse like i kno wtf that is i dont even watch scifi im not a nerd

ua-chargebolt 4:27 PM

There's like multiples of... us

ua-himiko 4:27 PM

nothing is coming up ugh fuck u google

ua-stopwatch 4:27 PM

because in this universe, he's alive.

ua-todoroki 4:27 PM

[Todoroki is offline]

ua-chargebolt 4:27 PM

I mean, have you noticed anything else strange to you lately, Miko?

ua-himiko 4:27 PM

ur fuckin with me lol 'this universe'

ua-stopwatch 4:27 PM

no I'm not. I don't "fuck" with people.

ua-himiko 4:27 PM

not rly????????? kind of been busy havin the worst day evar actually

@ua-syren 4:28 PM

[iris is online]

is she gone yet?

ua-chargebolt 4:29 PM

Who?

ua-syren 4:29 PM

that other toga.

I blocked her so I can't tell

ua-himiko 4:30 PM

who what? oh fuck i cant see whats getting sent thats lame

tell whoever she better not be talkin SHIT

ua-chargebolt 4:30 PM

Chillllllll, Mi-channnnn~

ua-syren 4:31 PM

..you're friends with her now aren't you

ua-stopwatch 4:31 PM

it seems so, cohen

ua-touya 4:31 PM

jeez.. you kids really know how to attract drama, huh?

ua-himiko 4:31 PM

michan ^w^

ua-syren 4:31 PM

and who're you?

ua-himiko 4:31 PM

fuckin shut up bitch go away

ua-touya 4:31 PM

me?

ua-syren 4:32 PM

yes you.

ua-touya 4:32 PM

what's it matter to ya, kiddo?

ua-himiko 4:32 PM

lulz i like how poseroki stopped talking once i outed him on his sherade lol

knew he was full of shit

ua-touya 4:33 PM

i doubt he was faking

ua-himiko 4:33 PM

i wasnt askin U bitch

ua-chargebolt 4:33 PM

Who are you, tho?

@ua-kuroiro 4:33 PM

He's not faking, we go to school together

ua-syren 4:33 PM

don't call me that.

ua-himiko 4:33 PM

anyway real talk thats an important part of hero history you guys should reeeeeally know that if you're trying to be heroes....

ua-kuroiro 4:34 PM

I just saw him this morning

@ua-redriot 4:34 PM

hes a pretty cool guy!! Pretty sure hes still alive!

@ua-sakku 4:34 PM

Oh...is the new person a senpai?

ua-kuroiro 4:34 PM

He hangs out with monoma.

ua-syren 4:34 PM

no.

ua-himiko 4:34 PM

ua-chargebolt 4:34 PM

He's definitely alive. Lil dead on the inside maybe but like.... maybe we all are at this stage so, valid

ua-touya 4:34 PM

seriously, why are you kids so curious about me anyways?

ua-syren 4:35 PM

because we don't know you.

ua-sakku 4:35 PM

Oh wait two people.

ua-himiko 4:35 PM

hes a loser forget him

ua-sakku 4:35 PM

wild.

ua-himiko 4:35 PM

he shouldnt even be here anyway go get some actual friends hoe

ua-sakku 4:35 PM

Woah, Miko is cool.

ua-touya 4:35 PM

im not surprised you dont know me...

ua-chargebolt 4:35 PM

Why're you so mad at him? What he do?

ua-kuroiro 4:35 PM

His friend isnt here right now.

ua-syren 4:36 PM

of course we don't know you. Are you going to tell us or no?

ua-kuroiro 4:36 PM

Well, one of them

ua-touya 4:36 PM

touya todoroki.

ua-himiko 4:36 PM

i licherally called him ALL NITE cuz i was like stranded in the middle of the road and he completely ghosted me out of NOWHERE like a bitch and then denied it all morning and tried to act like we werent friends so i GUESS we're not FRIENDS ANYMORE

ua-syren 4:36 PM

ua-chargebolt 4:36 PM

Touya what now?

I'm so confuuuuuuused right noowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

ua-todoroki 4:37 PM

[Todoroki is online]

ua-himiko 4:37 PM

which is why its a LITTLE FUNNY that ur sititng here defending ppl licherally trying to rp as your brooooooooooooooooooooo when im licherally rite here like honestly if hes just paying u guys to mess with me its a low fxckin blow

ua-todoroki 4:37 PM

You're not Touya.

ua-chargebolt 4:37 PM

Who TF is Touy--

Oh hey Shouteroki.... you OK?

ua-todoroki 4:37 PM

I don't know.

ua-himiko 4:38 PM

real talk im about to f x c k i n scream if you all dont stop MESSING with me GOD

ua-syren 4:38 PM

...I'm gonna believe Todo for now..

ua-himiko 4:39 PM

making me feel like im goin fucking crazy its rly not funny i hate this

ua-todoroki 4:39 PM

Touya's been gone for years. Idk. There's rumors he killed himself.

ua-himiko 4:39 PM

??????????????????????

ua-syren 4:39 PM

...

ua-touya 4:39 PM

ah, i was wondering about that...

ua-todoroki 4:39 PM

...

ua-himiko 4:39 PM

...

ua-chargebolt 4:39 PM

Michannnnn.... seriously, it seems liek you're from another universe...

ua-todoroki 4:39 PM

What's going on.

ua-kuroiro 4:39 PM

This shit's a lot, I'm gonna go spend time with my lizard.

ua-himiko 4:39 PM

but that makes no sense...

ua-syren 4:39 PM

the multiverse is back at it

ua-chargebolt 4:39 PM

You'renot crazy but damn this is

ua-kuroiro 4:40 PM

[Kuroiro is offline]

ua-stopwatch 4:40 PM

as Cohen said. Multiverse.

ua-chargebolt 4:41 PM

We've met alternates before....

@ua-ryuu 4:41 PM

whats going on

ua-redriot 4:41 PM

so you're both from a different universal ?

ua-chargebolt 4:41 PM

Like there's a version of me without a quirk and is in college...

ua-stopwatch 4:41 PM

ry. Have you heard of the multiverse theory?

ua-himiko 4:41 PM

this is unbelievable...

ua-ryuu 4:41 PM

yeah of course

ua-chargebolt 4:41 PM

Which means you're a version of someone we have here.... ig

ua-redriot 4:42 PM

..yeah

ua-stopwatch 4:42 PM

basically. It's not exactly a theory anymore.

It's fact. And our portion seems to be like the..middle ground of them all

ua-ryuu 4:42 PM

Ahhh

ua-chargebolt 4:42 PM

LIKE MIDGARD, OOH!

ua-touya 4:42 PM

well, the version of me from here is dead, obviously

ua-ryuu 4:42 PM

I was reading back, somthing about Todoroki-Sensei?

ua-himiko 4:43 PM

so ur gonna seriously act like this is a real thing, touya???

ua-stopwatch 4:43 PM

these new people are not from out universe. They're from another part of the multiverse respectively.

ua-ryuu 4:43 PM

Huh. Cool. If they weren't so mean I might talk to them more. @ua-himiko see I can @ bitches

ua-touya 4:44 PM

it's not the worst thing to believe, i guess

ua-himiko 4:44 PM

fuckin congrats dipshit

ua-chargebolt 4:44 PM

I guess that makes Michan outta this world? 😜 👉👉

@p-ashido 4:44 PM

you're like me!!!!! That's so cool!!!!

ua-chargebolt 4:44 PM

haha...

ua-himiko 4:44 PM

this is so stupid...

ua-redriot 4:44 PM

this is so COOL

p-mina 4:44 PM

Do you wanna be friends? O:

ua-touya 4:44 PM

sounds like one of shimura's video games, but really it's not that hard to see...

ua-stopwatch 4:45 PM

...this chat is causing a major headache...

ua-himiko 4:45 PM

ten's video games are fucking stupid tho

no i dont wanna be friends with ANY of you cuz you're all dumb weirdos who wanna lie to me about dumb shit

ua-chargebolt 4:45 PM

Who's... Shimura....

ua-touya 4:46 PM

tenko shimura, he's a pro hero i work with

p-mina 4:46 PM

Whats your world like??? Mine is violent!!

ua-touya 4:46 PM

or... worked with

ua-stopwatch 4:46 PM

huh..

ua-himiko 4:46 PM

its the same world as everybody's, stfu...

ua-chargebolt 4:47 PM

Well... I've been given to understand that some universes are more violent than others... that's what Miku said...

ua-stopwatch 4:47 PM

sorry for being hostile towards you and Miko. It wasnt "cool" of me

I'd love to hear more about your respective universes though

p-mina 4:47 PM

That was so mean :( It's okay though!

ua-himiko 4:47 PM

i don't have a respective universe. oh my god.

ua-touya 4:47 PM

obviously you do, considering i supposedly killed myself here and shouto's dead where you're from

ua-himiko 4:48 PM

...

ua-chargebolt 4:48 PM

I mean, we all have superpowers, is multiverse so hard to believe?

Maybe multiverse is osmeone's quirk idk

ua-himiko 4:49 PM

never heard of a quirk like that...

ua-stopwatch 4:49 PM

that's an interesting theory

p-mina 4:49 PM

that'd be scary!

ua-touya 4:49 PM

there's a lot of quirks we've never heard of before, that's the whole problem with em

ua-himiko 4:49 PM

...

ua-todoroki 4:52 PM

...

ua-stopwatch 4:53 PM

ua-chargebolt 4:53 PM

Are you OK, Todo?

ua-todoroki 4:53 PM

I hate this.

ua-himiko 4:54 PM

=_= don't exactly love it either

ua-todoroki 4:54 PM

...

It's insane.

There's so many...

ua-himiko 4:55 PM

...

ua-todoroki 4:55 PM

Why couldn't you have gone anywhere else.

ua-syren 4:55 PM

hey...it'll be okay

ua-todoroki 4:55 PM

Yeah, I'm sure a bunch of weird people from alternate universes running around will be okay.

ua-syren 4:56 PM

eventually it will..

ua-todoroki 4:56 PM

Lol.

Ok.

ua-himiko 4:56 PM

is2g i'm gonna start stabbing people if i hear the phrase 'alternate universe' again

ua-todoroki 4:57 PM

I'm gonna start stabbing myself if one more person has to make me say it.

ua-himiko 4:57 PM

do it then edgey bitch

ua-syren 4:57 PM

that joke is not allowed

ua-stopwatch 4:57 PM

Miko. Be nice.

ua-chargebolt 4:57 PM

Why does anyone have to stab things....

ua-himiko 4:57 PM

don't tell me what to do

ua-stopwatch 4:57 PM

-_-

ua-todoroki 4:58 PM

...

ua-touya 4:59 PM

it could be worse or whatever

ua-ryuu 4:59 PM

Well, this went off the rails real fast

ua-todoroki 4:59 PM

Whatever.

ua-syren 4:59 PM

it's not the first time

ua-stopwatch 4:59 PM

... yeah..

You're not wrong ry

ua-todoroki 4:59 PM

Message me if you want.

[Todoroki has left the chat]

#[[ ... so many names to tag ]]#himiko.log #touya #shouto #kaminari #iris #damien #ryuu #kirishima #sakku #kuroiro #pmina

8 notes · View notes

tenspontaneite · 6 years

Text

Paper Cranes (23/?)

Hikaru’s stress, and also actions, begin to catch up to him.

Chapter warnings: stress, negative thinking. More detail in end notes.

Of all the various friends Hikaru had dicked around during his demon ordeal, he probably felt worst about Yashiro.

Yashiro was just too nice. He was a grumpy bastard and too insistent on cleanliness for him to be a natural teenager, but he just…objectively was not a dickhead. After several unpleasant conversations, Hikaru could now (begrudgingly) admit that he felt guilty about how he’d treated Touya, but at least Touya had been a dickhead right back at him. He always gave as good as he got, especially when it came to being an arsehole. But Yashiro?

Yashiro had just been worried. He’d pushed once he’d overheard Hikaru on the phone to Utagawashi, yeah, but…he’d been pretty okay about it. It had been annoying, but okay. And Hikaru was hardly going to forget how he’d opened his home at the drop of a hat when he’d needed it. And he’d called Hikaru about the news, possibly saving his life in the process, because what if Hikaru hadn’t been prepared for Kaminaga to come that night? It…might have been nasty. Nastier, he amended to himself, because the night had already been plenty nasty.

Generally, Yashiro was not a dickhead, and that meant Hikaru felt much guiltier about being a cagey bastard with him than with Touya, and especially for what he’d probably put him through with calling the police and whatever else. So, logically, Hikaru had been steadfastly avoiding thinking about the boy.

This was made much more difficult when his mother brusquely informed him that she’d given Yashiro permission to stay over that weekend, because he’d wanted to visit Hikaru and couldn’t do it in the week.

Hikaru stared at her as the words sank in, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. “…When’s he getting here?” He asked, eventually, and felt far less cheerful about his imminent release from the hospital than he had been before.

“This evening, actually.” His mother said, casting a befuddled glance to the flower arrangement at his bedside. “He’ll be there when you get home tomorrow. It might be useful for you – he can be your hands while he’s here, after all.”

“Great.” Hikaru said, unenthusiastically.

“Don’t be like that.” She said, tone automatically shifting to the sternness that was her ingrained response to Hikaru-in-a-mood. “He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, a little morose. He had been hoping to get through at least two days without having any more highly uncomfortable talks, but that had probably been overly optimistic of him. “Well. I guess he can play Go, at least.”

“You’re not allowed to play a game for six weeks.” She reminded him, eyes wandering back to the flowers again.

“Verbal. Verbal Go. I’m not going to use my hands.” He clarified, shuffling on the bed. “He can place my stones for me.”

“That’s nice.” His mother answered distractedly, clearly not listening past the initial assurance. “Hikaru, weren’t there more flowers than this? I thought there were six of the sunflowers.”

He was honestly surprised she’d noticed that, but… “I gave one to a friend.” He shrugged. It was hardly a secret.

“Oh, I see. Akira-kun?”

“You think I’d give Touya a sunflower?” Hikaru asked incredulously, then paused to consider it. “…Maybe I should give him one. Just to fuck with him. He’d be so confused.”

“Hikaru. Language.”

“Yeah.” He said, already delighted at the idea. He could just imagine the faces the other pro would make. “Anyway, no, it wasn’t him. I gave it to Setsu.” He made sure to say it very casually. Dismissively, even.

Her eyes narrowed at him. “Setsu, you say. I was told that someone by that name had visited you, but I’d never heard the name before.”

Hikaru gave her an oblivious stare. “What, I haven’t mentioned Setsu before?” He said, affecting a tone of confusion.

“You haven’t.” She confirmed.

“Oh. Well, I guess we’ve not been friends that long.” He mused, consideringly, as though it all made sense now. “Well, anyway, we played a game a while back, and we’re friends now.”

“Oh.” She said, already sounding less interested. He could practically see her slotting Setsu into the ‘Hikaru’s Go friends’ category. Excellent. “I see. Is Setsu good at Go?”

“Good-ish. Better than most amateurs I tutor, but nowhere near as good as me.” He said, and threw in some more technical stuff to throw her off. “I mean, if I was going to guess, I think Setsu would probably either pass the pro exam or get one of the top spots. But, like, that joseki is old, and it’s old and clumsy so there’s tons of weaknesses. Any pro could win against that, probably.”

“That’s nice, Hikaru.” She said tolerantly, clearly not listening anymore. Success.

He nodded to himself with satisfaction, and allowed her to work out her remaining bits of small talk and idle news at him before she left for the day. He had, quite expertly, made it so at least one person would accept Setsu as an acknowledged real friend-of-Hikaru if it ever came up. After all, if Setsu was walking around embodied now, it was best to make some preparations. It wouldn’t be enough of a bastion against the bull-headed curiosity of his crazy friends, but it was better than nothing.

Later that day, after his mother had left, Waya and Isumi came to visit. Hikaru felt them approaching not long after they walked into the hospital, identifying their somewhat-familiar souls once they were close enough to ambiently feel. He made a face at his bedclothes as they lingered at reception, presumably signing in.

Clearly, he had been far too optimistic in hoping he’d manage to go two days without awkward conversations.

He sighed, resigned, and sat up to watch the door as they approached. It was Isumi who knocked, calling “Shindou-kun?” through the door. “It’s Isumi, and Waya.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said, unthinkingly, and then shook his head. Ugh. “Come in.”

The door opened, and two faces poked their way in, eyes immediately fixing on him. The mood-patterns on their souls twisted oddly as they processed his appearance, and he wondered what it was that they were seeing. Isumi stepped in, and then Waya, closing the door behind him.

“…Huh.” Waya said, looking distinctly bothered by the sight of him.

“Don’t just stand there, it’s weird. Pull up some chairs or something.” Hikaru told him, a little crossly. If he was going to have more awkward conversations, he at least didn’t want them looming over him for it. There was a distinctly uncomfortable quiet as they followed his directive, situating themselves by the bedside. Hikaru made sure to plant his hands in plain view, just to get that out of the way.

“I’m glad you’re alright, Shindou-kun.” Isumi said, once he was seated. “We haven’t heard much, just that you’d been injured and ended up in hospital but it wasn’t serious.”

Waya nodded, taking the opening to speak. “I was just kind of pissed about you not coming to the Kisei match, at first.” He ventured, tilting his head a little to stare at Hikaru’s hands with a befuddled expression. “I guess no one called the Association until later, so at first your match was ruled as a forfeit, and, uh…”

“You thought I was being a match-forfeiting tool again?” Hikaru guessed, unamused. It seemed that streak of unpleasantness would, quite literally, forever be haunting him.

“I didn’t really think anything, I was just pissed off.” Waya denied, somewhat shifty-eyed. “I may have sent some angry messages.”

“Don’t bother reading them.” Isumi advised him. “They’re terribly rude.”

“Anyway, we didn’t hear from you at all for like two days and that started to be weird, so we texted your neighbour, and she said you were in the hospital.” Waya went on, as though Isumi hadn’t spoken. “And she just didn’t say anything else, so…”

“I think I was still unconscious then?” Hikaru suggested, thinking it through. “I was out for like three days, so probably she didn’t know enough to tell you.” Both Isumi and Waya stared at him, visibly taken-aback.

“…I didn’t know that.” Waya admitted, unusually subdued. “Three days? That’s…I guess it makes sense we didn’t hear much from her, then. A day later she got back to us and said you were fine but had injured your hands, and that didn’t sound too bad, you know?” He gestured to Hikaru’s hands, which were still in plain view in their orthoses. “But that looks more serious than I thought, you know. I guess I sort of thought that somehow this whole hospital thing was just more bullshit and I’d walk in and you’d have, like, a tiny cut or something, but…”

Hikaru sighed. He was just…so tired of all of this. “I was unconscious for three days, I’ve got permanent hand damage, and also I’ve got an infection.” He said, flatly. “It’s gonna be a good two months before I can play a game with my own hands again.” Predictably, both of them looked quite stunned at that.

Any moment now, they were going to ask what had happened. And he’d have to tell them, because they’d been worried, and they were his friends, and that meant he should tell them something, because it wasn’t fair otherwise. But he was just so sick of it. This whole week had been stuffed full of horrible talks and he was completely, utterly tired. And he still had to talk to Yashiro.

At least he was starting to run out of people who he had to be somewhat truthful with.

“Do you mind telling us what happened?” Isumi asked, and despite himself, Hikaru felt some tension release. That was…an unexpectedly nice way of asking. He shrugged tiredly.

“I got attacked by a guy with a sword.” He answered, dully, slumping back against the back of the hospital bed. “And then I got away, but a load of my tendons were cut up so they had to do surgery.”

Both visitors stared at him. Isumi was observing him with a slightly furrowed brow, the look of his soul somewhere between an instinctive flash of dubiousness and a more dominant understanding, but Waya…

He folded his arms. “Shindou,” he said, a little tightly. “I swear to god, if you’re choosing now to bullshit when you’re in fucking hospital-“

Hikaru’s face twisted in tandem with the tense, unhappy lurch of his guts, and he turned away with an angry, hissing huff. “I’m not bullshitting.” He retorted. I learned my lesson there with Touya, he almost said, but he bit back the words.

“A sword.” Waya said, voice rising with disbelief, and no small edge of his own anger. “Come on, Shindou, who the fuck gets attacked with a sword? That’s not even a little believable!”

He supposed, really, that this was kind of his fault. If he hadn’t made such a habit of saying complete crap when questioned about uncomfortable topics, it might be more believable, but… “Me, obviously!” He shot back, the distinct and unpleasant sensation of stress seething in his limbs and bubbling through his voice. “I didn’t ask to get attacked by a crazy swordsman, but it happened! If you don’t believe me you can just fuck off.” His energy bristled and churned around him, but he held it inwards, not risking something like what had happened with Touya.

Waya half-stood up, looking very ready to get argumentative, and while his soul wasn’t as weirdly expressive as Touya’s, it was easy to see similar emotions there as during the fight earlier that week. It just figured that Hikaru would get the same response by actually telling the truth, didn’t it.

Then, suddenly, like a breath of fresh air, Isumi held his hand out as though to bar Waya from moving. “I believe you.” He said to Hikaru, voice quiet and sympathetic.

Waya stared at him incredulously. “What? Isumi-“

“It was on the news, wasn’t it? That man in Yokohama was killed with a sword, and it was reported that there was a linked incident last Friday here in Tokyo.” He went on, looking perfectly calm, though his soul didn’t quite match that outwards appearance. “Was that you?”

Hikaru averted his eyes from Waya, fixing them on Isumi. His shoulders loosened a little. “…Yeah.” He agreed, woodenly. “Same guy. I had to talk to the police about it, once they finished operating on my hands.”

“I’m sorry.” Isumi said, completely and sincerely sympathetic. “That must have been a horrible experience.”

He looked away again, because the sympathy was uncomfortable to look at, too. “I’m fine. I lived, didn’t I?” For a given value of ‘lived’, since one of the consequences was that he was now sort of dying. Hikaru grimaced at the thought, and then deliberately pushed it away.

Waya looked between him and Isumi, face contorted into conflicted confusion. “…What?” He asked, almost uncomprehendingly. “Are you trying to tell me you actually got attacked with a sword?”

“I fucking said so, didn’t I?” Hikaru bit out, voice positively caustic.

“Yeah, but most of the time when you say stuff like that it isn’t true.” Waya said, and Hikaru considered telling him that, in fact, a lot of the bullshit he spouted was actually true. “But…you actually, like, got attacked?”

Isumi sighed. “Waya.”

Hikaru considered saying something very uncomplimentary, but breathed, and fell back on Akari’s advice. “Yes, Waya. I actually got attacked. With a sword. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

Waya looked almost personally affronted at the last sentence. He leaned forwards in an quick, thoughtless motion. “Not even why it happened? I mean, why the hell did the murderer guy go after you? Is it someone you know, Shindou? Do you know if they caught him yet?”

It was like Touya all over again. Hikaru restrained another biting response. “I just said I didn’t want to talk about it. And no, they haven’t caught him yet.” That was probably something else he’d have to deal with, once he left the hospital. Kaminaga.

Hikaru really wished he could spend maybe two consecutive days just…resting. Not having to have horrible conversations. Not having to deal with someone who was partially responsible for some of the horrible things that had happened to him.

“So you do know him?” Waya pressed, as if he’d heard a completely different response.

Hikaru scowled. “When the hell did I say that?” He demanded.

“You didn’t, but you didn’t deny it, so-”

“That doesn’t mean it’s true! I said I didn’t want to talk about it!” Under ordinary circumstances, he’d have clenched his fists. Paced around. Maybe thrown something. Instead he held rigidly still, eyes fixed determinedly on his hands as frustration prickled at his throat.

Waya started to talk again, but barely got another syllable out before he was mercifully stopped.

“Waya.” Isumi said, firmly. Almost sternly. “He’s literally sitting in a hospital bed. Now isn’t the time to bother him, and if he doesn’t want to talk, you need to respect that.”

Cautiously, Hikaru looked over. Waya was staring at his friend, looking somewhat betrayed. “But-“

“No.” The older pro reiterated, and fixed him with a surprisingly steely look. “Don’t be unkind.”

Sullenly, Waya fell quiet. Hikaru was briefly very, very relieved that he hadn’t come to visit alone. It would have been a nightmare.

Isumi looked over at him. “Shindou-kun? Would you like us to stay for a while? We could discuss some of the games you’ve missed in the last week, if you like.”

He blinked, and leaned back. “No.” He said, bluntly. “No, I’m tired. I want to rest.”

His friend nodded, and…that, apparently, was that. He rose from his chair, pulling Waya with him. “We won’t stay any longer, then. Come on, Waya.” He ignored the younger boy’s protests as he herded him easily to the door. He looked back briefly. “I hope you feel better soon.”

“…Thanks.” He said, and held carefully still until the door was closed and his friends’ presences were receding down the hallway.

Slowly, he slumped into the bed, the beginnings of a stress-headache clawing at his brain. He wished he could look forwards to getting out of hospital, but…

Yashiro.

Hikaru sighed, and turned over to go to sleep. It wasn’t even late afternoon yet, but he was tired, and utterly fed up with dealing with everything. Sleep was easier.

---

The morning of his release, Hikaru went through the usual wound-checking and hand exercises with a distinct feeling of trepidation. He nodded through the comments on the progress of his healing, made approving noises over the apparent slight improvement of his infection, and obligingly twitched his fingers in all the ways he was told, but his thoughts were manifestly elsewhere. He had slept off some of the tension, but his mood felt alarmingly fragile, and he was not at all looking forward to another unpleasant conversation.

Then nurse Furutani brought in the clean, non-hospital clothes his mother had dropped on, and Hikaru was instantly intrigued.

“That’s a real t-shirt.” He pointed out, oddly charmed by the sight of the completely normal clothing. “And real trousers. Not….hospital crap.”

“They are indeed.” Nurse Furutani agreed, looking secretively amused. “We’ll see how well you do at getting into them, hm?”

“Why would I-“ He started to ask, then looked at his hands. They remained, as expected, within the hell-implements that controlled their positioning. “…Right. So putting clothes on is going to be a pain now.”

“I think I can safely say that lots of things are going to be a pain.” The nurse nodded, looking far too cheerful about the whole thing, and cajoled him into accepting the clothing. “See how you do on your own to begin with, I’ll help if you need it.”

In the end, embarrassingly, Hikaru did indeed need help. It was just a normal t-shirt, no buttons or anything, but manoeuvring his hands through the thing without pulling his fingers into bad-feeling positions proved to be basically impossible, so he had so sit sullenly while the nurse did it for him and pulled the shirt over his head. He managed the trousers through sheer bull-headed determination, using judicious applications of weight through his elbows to hold them in place on the bedside while he pulled his legs into them. Actually fastening them proved to be a pain, though. He managed the zip but not the button, and stubbornly pulled his shirt down over it to conceal that small failure.

“I emerge victorious.” He said to Nurse Furutani, who obligingly offered some applause. After that it was just a matter of waiting for his mother to show up and sign a load of papers.

When she did arrive, she arrived with not only Akari but also Yashiro in tow. Hikaru was thankfully forewarned to this by his far-reaching senses, but it made the initial moments no less awkward.

Hikaru ignored his mother and Akari entirely in favour of staring tensely at Yashiro. Yashiro, for his part, folded his arms and looked very accusative. His soul revealed a great number of conflicting feelings and looking at them made Hikaru feel distinctly guilty.

“Oh god, am I going to have to mediate again?” Akari said, after looking between them for a few seconds. Hikaru was inclined to forgive her the words, because it neatly broke the awkward silence.

“Mediate?” Yashiro asked, as the group as a whole led Hikaru out of his hospital room. He’d only been down the corridor to go to the toilet in the whole time he’d been there, so approaching the stairs felt almost exciting. “What did you need to mediate?”

Hikaru noticed that his mother looked quite interested in the answer, too. “Hikaru and Touya-kun had a fight and they were being idiots about it, so I sorted it out.” She peered at Hikaru. “Did it go alright, on Thursday?”

“….It went okay.” He admitted, grudgingly. “But then Waya came yesterday and made a pain of himself, like I knew he would.”

“Oh dear.” His mother said, sounding mildly concerned.

“In fairness, I feel like you’ve been putting off all these conversations for a while, so I think you’re just overdue.” Akari pointed out, with just the slightest edge of sympathy. He didn’t feel particularly comforted.

Yashiro side-eyed him, and said nothing. The silence was very expressive. Hikaru instantly felt both guiltier and more stressed.

“Maybe.” Hikaru said, vaguely, and allowed the polite conversation of his mother and Akari to fill the quiet, interspersed with an occasional comment by Yashiro.

His mother had actually hired a taxi to get them home, which was unexpected, but pleasant. He wouldn’t have enjoyed navigating public transport with his hands as they were. Humiliatingly, Akari had to plug in his seatbelt, as he couldn’t move his fingers enough to get the necessary leverage. There would probably be a lot of things like that, in the weeks to come. Hikaru produced a long and rather depressed sigh at the thought of it, and turned his head to the side.

Hikaru stared out of the window, watching the streets progressively become more familiar. At the same time, he could feel a bright patch of energy growing closer, a familiar mesh woven into brick and wiring. The house-wards. He was surprised by how much he was looking forward to walking through them, considering what he’d seen happen to the ones on the shrine. They still felt safe, even if he knew that they didn’t stand up to serious threats.

Eventually, they arrived. His mother paid the taxi driver, and then went to unlock the front door. At the sight of it Hikaru felt a lurch in his gut, and hurried after her, suddenly almost desperate to get home again. He passed through the threshold, the wardlight shimmering over him as he breathed in the familiar air of home, and felt suddenly far more emotional than he’d anticipated. He lingered in the doorway, closed his eyes briefly as he struggled for composure, and then stepped in to kick off his shoes.

When he looked up, Akari was just beyond the doorframe, and inspecting him with an annoying understanding look. “…I’ll leave you to get settled back in.” She decided, and stepped back. “I’ll drop by sometime this weekend, okay?” She didn’t wait for a response, merely flashing a smile at him and then turning away in the direction of her own home.

Yashiro shrugged, and stepped inside, closing the door. Hikaru didn’t pay much attention to him, though, instead turning to walk into the familiar space with something painful clenching in his chest at the sight of it. The walls, the doors, the light through the windows-

Hikaru shuddered, and breathed, and found himself near-running up the stairs before he could help himself. Distantly, he heard footsteps following after him, felt Yashiro’s presence trailing in unhurried pursuit, but couldn’t bring himself to care much about that.

He burst into his room, breaths coming uncomfortably fast, and wanted to weep at the sight of it. His room, his goban, his window, the kamidana-

Something guided him, some bright hint of power, something he needed – Hikaru stumbled over to his chest of drawers and pulled on a drawer-handle without even thinking about it, rummaging as carefully as he could with his mangled hands until his fingertips brushed against paper bright with energy.

He stilled. Carefully, he drew it out, balanced carefully between two fingers and the orthosis.

Quietly, he dropped to the floor, cradling the closed fan and struggling to calm his breathing. He trailed his fingertips over the paper, the contrast between the insensate skin and the undamaged fingers horribly apparent.

The door closed. Yashiro had stepped into the room and pushed it shut behind him. He stood for a moment. “…Shindou?” He asked, uncertainly. Concern moved on his soul, as oddly noticeable and distinctive as it was on Touya.

Hikaru swallowed. “Yeah?” He said, thickly, and tried to unfold his posture a bit.

“Are you okay?”

Despite himself, he laughed at that. A short, and unhappy noise. He decided against answering.

“…Stupid question, I guess.” Yashiro mused to himself, and carefully crouched beside him. “…is that your fan?”

“Duh.” Hikaru answered, and looked down at it. His gut twisted, because…it looked…well. He held it carefully and then flicked sharply with his wrist to open it, and…

The paper was stained. Almost everywhere, there were smears of blood, smudges, fingerprints. Along one edge, it looked as though it had spread out from the hand that held it, soaking along the paper and staining the ribs, dripping down in places. It was dry, red-brown, and crusted in places. The intact white paper was far more sparse than the marred part.

How oddly appropriate. Hikaru choked down another bitter noise, and brushed off some of the crusty bits with his thumb, blowing the blood-powder off.

“…Is that your blood?” Yashiro asked, just a little incredulous.

He shrugged, heavily. “That’s what happens when you try to hold a fan when your hands are all torn up, I guess.” He said, unable to force the flippancy that the words would have been suited for. The sight of the stained fan was quietly, deeply painful.

“So you had it with you when…you know?” The boy sounded terribly confused. “How is it here then? Wouldn’t it…I dunno, be taken for evidence or something?”

“…It wasn’t. It got taken back here.” He carefully avoided saying who had conveyed it. “I guess I can’t carry it around anymore, all stained like this.” Could he have the paper replaced, maybe? Would that disturb the energy imbued in it? He sighed, heavily, and resolved to ask Utagawashi about it. “What a pain.”

Yashiro looked at him, wearing the scowl his face usually settled into whenever he was thinking particularly hard. He felt concerned enough that it was practically shouting out from his soul, enough that he was actively pushing down on the edge of wanting-answers that curled in strangely coherent spirit-shapes near one edge of him.

Hikaru felt even shittier at the sight of it. “I’m sorry.” He said, abruptly, unable to bear the weight of it anymore. “I’ve been a complete dick to you during all this – I just…” He wanted to bury his face in his hands, but his hands were in orthoses. Another pitiful surge of unhappy stress rose in him at that inability, no matter how trivial it was. “Sorry.” He said, again, unable to find words any less inadequate than that.

Tentatively, Yashiro shuffled around so he could look Hikaru in the eye. Sort of, anyway, because Hikaru wasn’t exactly feeling great about eye contact right now. “There’s some stuff I’d really like to ask about.” He said, voice awkward but very serious.

Hikaru nodded, jerkily, and braced himself. He owed answers to Yashiro, at least. He owed something. He could wait a little longer to collapse into a pathetic stressed mess. He inhaled slowly, and tried to press the ambient distress a little further away. Just a little further.

Yashiro eyed him quietly for a few more seconds before he spoke again. “That said,” He voiced, standing up. “You look like complete shit. I can hold off for a while.” He sighed, and stepped back, as though to give himself more room.

Hikaru stared, uncomprehendingly. The pit in his chest where he was squashing his emotions down held firm, still braced as though for impact. “….What?” He near-blurted.

“You heard me.” Yashiro rolled his shoulders, producing a couple of distinct clicks. “I’m not going to grill you when you look like that. Have a nap, or something. I’ll just go sit with my laptop downstairs for a while.”

“…What?” Hikaru asked again, stupidly.

He gestured pointedly in the direction of the bed. “Have a fucking nap, Shindou. You obviously need some rest.” He straightened, nodded, and then went for the door.

Hikaru watched, utterly still, as the boy opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind him. His presence receded down the hall and down the stairs, engaging in brief conversation with his mother, and then settling comfortably into the living room. He…didn’t come up again.

It took at least a minute of confusedly monitoring Yashiro’s lack of movement before it started to sink in that…actually, he wasn’t going to have to talk right now. The relief came in a hesitant trickle, and then opened abruptly into a dizzying flood. Hikaru gasped for breath and shook and hunched over his knees as the rest of his denied emotions were dislodged, emerging in a horrible and stomach-twisting tide of upset.

“What the fuck.” He mumbled at himself, setting the fan aside to wipe at his face with his sleeve, and then abruptly descended into a thoroughly pitiful mess of a human being that cried all over himself for basically no reason. A while in, he wanted to go to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water, but the realisation that his hands would get in the way of that made him break out into another awful wave of blubbering. He wasn’t even that upset about his hands…was he?

It felt much as though all the collective stress and unhappiness of the last several weeks was clawing its way out through his eyes and throat, but not before it made an enormous mess of his stomach first, twisting it up into nauseating, thorny knots. Hikaru wept so hard he gagged, unable to get his breathing to settle down, even though he was fine. He’d lived, he’d survived, he was home and he was fine. He hadn’t even needed to make himself talk to Yashiro, but here he was, completely incapable of controlling himself. It was at least fifteen minutes until he managed to get anything approaching a hold on himself, and even then it was tenuous at best. Hikaru wrested a towel out of his wardrobe and buried his face in it, then finally tried to take Yashiro’s suggestion.

He crawled into bed and bawled a bit there for good measure, and then after who-knows how long finally managed to drop into the sleep of the completely exhausted.

---

He had very little idea how long he slept for, but he woke eventually, a headache pounding behind his eyes and pressing insistently at his temples. He felt no less exhausted than he had before he fell asleep, but somewhat more settled. The seething stress was still there, but…lower. Less insistent. It felt somewhat less like it would boil up and bubble out of his skin at the slightest provocation. Instead, he just felt…drained. Oddly empty.

He heaved himself out from under the duvet, and staggered out to the bathroom. He negotiated his way around the various obstacles therein, eventually managing to turn the lock on the door, and then successfully navigating the issue of the toilet, and then finally the tap and its cold stream of water. He dunked his face under the spray of it, not particularly caring that he got his hair wet, and wiped at his face and head afterwards with the bath towel. He returned to his room, and sat on the floor, and felt somewhat better for it.

Hikaru sat purposelessly for several quiet minutes, eyes resting somewhere in the region of his knee and fixing there. He sat, and breathed, and after a while felt somewhat more like a human being.

Carefully, he retrieved the fan from where he’d left it, and moved to put it in front of the kamidana. He stood there, impulses warring. He wanted to light some incense and sit at the shrine, but that was motor coordination he didn’t think his hands could manage at the moment. His lighter was a bitch to work on the best of days, and even if he had matches, those might be even harder.

He sighed, and went to try anywhere, hoping he wouldn’t set fire to himself in the process.

In the end, judicious and careful manoeuvring of his thumb managed to ignite the lighter, but it took several frustrating tries to maintain the flame while also balancing a stick of incense precariously between two fingers, and even more attempts to light the incense, and convey it successfully to the burner. All told it took a good twenty minutes to get the damn incense lit, but as soon as the smell hit he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

He swayed back, staggered by the familiarity and the way a good part of his soul thrummed in response, choking up his throat with fresh and heart-twisting grief.

It was almost pleasant, was the thing. As always, it hurt like Sai had only just gone, like he was still reeling, like he was still looking for white robes when he turned around. But…it was clean. Clear. As long as he didn’t let himself sink into it too much, the anguish was sharp and awful in the same way as the shining edge of a blade, and so much less complicated than the thorny mire of stress and exhaustion he’d found himself in.

Hikaru supposed that was as good a sign as any that he really needed a break. His literally crippling soul-wounds were less unpleasant than the accumulated muck of the last few weeks.

He stared at the kamidana, and didn’t know what to say. I survived? I nearly died, but I didn’t? I was almost possessed, but I wasn’t in the end? I broke a demon that was even older than you? I saw spirits die? I’m going to have to deal with the damage to my hands for the rest of my life?

…I survived the demon, but I’m dying anyway?

His breath hitched, and he shook, and then apparently he wasn’t done crying yet after all.

The incense had burned out by the time he stopped, this time, but the scent of it lingered. It helped, in its way. The spark in the shrine remained, as quiescent and unaware as ever.

“…ugh.” Hikaru sighed, after a while, wiping his face with his sleeve again. He wondered how puffy his eyes were now, with the salt burning at his eyelids and scouring his cheeks yet again. “Fucking hell.” He expressed to himself, and then rose to walk over and collapse on his bed.

He had no idea what to do with himself.

After a while, it occurred to Hikaru that his phone was probably around somewhere. He got up and looked around for it, eventually finding it in plain sight on his bedside table, which for some reason he’d neglected to check in the first place. He tapped at the power button, but it seemed to be out of charge. He shrugged, and plugged it in, and left it on his bedside table where he’d found it.

He looked around his room, wondering if there was anything else he should be doing. Naturally, his eyes lingered on the goban, but it wasn’t as though he could meaningfully interact with it for a while. He shook his head, and for lack of anything better to do, laid back in bed and reached out with his energy to feel the house wards.

They didn’t feel as strong as he remembered. He wasn’t sure whether that was because he was stronger, the wards actually were weaker, or because he’d seen what happened to the wards on the shine. He felt at them dubiously, and wondered if a few offerings at the house shrine would brighten them up a bit. That, in turn, reminded him that he really needed to be particularly devout at the house shrine for a while. Inari had, quite literally, directly saved his life. There probably weren’t many people who could say that they’d been saved through direct divine intervention. It was quite a thought.

Hikaru sighed, and reached out further, and further, finding a couple of fairly weak spirits that felt like Inari-foxes, who twisted away from his energy with alarmed sparks of something-powerful-reaches. He didn’t find any spirits he recognised.

Hesitantly, he moved the reach around. Directed it in the direction of his grandfather, the shrine, Utagawashi…and, presumably, Kaminaga.

Something felt odd in the ambient energy, as his reach extended. As though something was spilling, churning, exhaling sourness into the air. For a moment, he felt a jolt of pure, instinct-level fear – but it wasn’t demonic. It was utterly different. The low-level energy he felt his way through was stained with pain, as though someone had dropped hurt like ink into water somewhere up-stream, and it had filtered down as it flowed. Dilute, but still evident. Pain, said the spirit-layer, like a ripple from a stone. Something suffers.

The further he reached, the stronger the feeling became, until it fed back through into his own energy like a stain. The eddies of someone else’s agony broke on him, vague and indistinct, with a choking edge of horror and shame.

Hikaru shuddered, and pulled away. He’d felt enough.

His awareness returned to his surroundings in an odd shift of attention. He had so much energy now, and so much reach, that the sensory feedback from it seemed to block out the actual sensations from his body, though only when he was actively reaching. He cleared his throat and blinked rapidly, finding that he’d apparently not been blinking while he investigated the surrounding area.

He became uncomfortably aware of Yashiro’s presence downstairs. A distinctive soul, like Touya, and very easy to notice.

Hikaru shifted on the bed, and checked the time. There was still probably hours to go until dinner. He’d slept quite a long time, but he’d arrived home in the morning, so it wasn’t that late. He sighed, and pulled himself upright, rubbing his face lethargically on his sleeve. His cheeks felt raw and sore from all the salt, and the edges of his eyes ached even more caustically. He offered an unhappy grumble to the empty room, and then staggered out of the bedroom door.

Yashiro’s soul flickered a bit at the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and Hikaru watched it as he descended. He wandered reluctantly into the sitting room, where Yashiro was sat with his laptop, and offered a vague noise of greeting.

The boy looked over at him critically. “...Did you sleep?” He asked, tilting his head. “You still look exhausted.”

Hikaru snorted, and went to sit beside him. “That’s life, I guess.” He said philosophically. “I slept, but it didn’t help that much.” Physically, at any rate. It had helped to settle the stress a bit. “What are you doing?”

“I was reading kifu for a bit, but now I’m reading manga.” He indicated his screen, where indeed there was what looked like a manga page. Hikaru blinked.

“On the computer?” He asked, utterly confused. “You can do that?”

Yashiro rolled his eyes. “You don’t get on the internet much, do you?”

“I look at Go stuff.” He protested.

“Exactly.”

Hikaru looked at him. Yashiro, very calmly, looked back.

Hikaru shifted on the sofa, and fell into an uncomfortable silence wherein he experienced both an intense need to say something and an intense desire not to. He struggled wordlessly for several expectant moments until Yashiro finally took pity on him.

“Are you feeling any better now?”

He shuffled again. “Yeah. I mean…yeah, I guess.”

Yashiro inspected him for several seconds, and nodded. “I should maybe put my laptop upstairs.” He suggested, leadingly.

“…Yeah.” Hikaru agreed, and stood from the sofa, making his way awkwardly back towards the stairs. Yashiro shut his laptop, unplugged it, and followed.

He took a seat on the floor, not far from the goban, as though it might offer some moral support. Yashiro entered and shut the door behind him, setting his things down neatly in a corner. He took his time about it, arranging all the stuff so it looked immaculate, and seemed to be in no hurry to talk, so Hikaru gathered his courage and just…did it himself. Just to get it over with.

“You can ask things now.” He said, abruptly, forcing the words out in a brief moment of willpower. “You know, if you want.”

Yashiro made a thoughtful noise, still tidying his stuff, but sat down after a few seconds, back against the wall. He tended to look odd, sitting down like that. He was tall with particularly gangly limbs, and his legs always looked unnaturally long when he sat on the floor. “Yeah?” He expressed, amiably, as though he didn’t much care either way. He did, though. It was all over him. Outwardly he just seemed to be wearing his near-permanent serious-face, but the conflict between wanting-to-know and concern was abundantly obvious on his soul.

Hikaru stared at him confusedly, and made a face. “Yeah.” He echoed, since the other boy seemed to be waiting for some form of confirmation.

He brought a hand up to itch at an eye, and after a moment, fixed a look at Hikaru that was far more serious than his usual perma-face. “I can wait, you know.” He said, plainly. “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay.” Hikaru’s head drew back at the words, in a sort of reflexive recoiling. It didn’t seem to go unnoticed.

“…But you want to ask things.” Hikaru pointed out, stupidly. He blinked quickly, trying to figure out what Yashiro’s angle was, but…

“Yeah, but you’ve been through some nasty shit.” Yashiro said sensibly. “I do have things I want to ask, but I figure I know more than most people already. I can wait.”

Hikaru flinched back in another almost-recoil, bizarrely flustered by the words. “That’s…” He started, and stopped. That’s not what you’re supposed to say, he almost said, but that barely even made sense to him. “That’s…not…” He shook his head, oddly frustrated and distinctly off-balance. He’d expected resistance, and found none, and now… “Just – ask your questions. It’s fine.” He insisted. Get it over with, he repeated to himself.

Yashiro observed him for several more frustrating moments, and nodded. “Alright.” He said, straightening slowly. “First thing, then. Did you know that guy was going to come after you, when you were on the phone to me?”

That…wasn’t a question he’d been expecting, somehow. Hikaru blinked rapidly, and set his shoulders rigidly. “I mean, I was pretty sure he’d come after me eventually?” He hedged, in a reflexive dodge of the real question being asked. Yashiro didn’t react outwardly to the vague mistruth aside from a very slight shift in his expression, but…there was an obvious shade of disappointment, to be felt by spiritual means. Hikaru winced at it, all the painful prickling guilt surging up again, and exhaled gustily. “…Yeah, I knew.” He admitted, to the real question: did you lie when you said nothing was going to happen? Did you know he was going to come after you that night, when you made me wait?

Yashiro’s expression tightened, a little, and the breath that escaped him was almost a hiss. “That was a shitty thing to do, Shindou. Making me wait to get the police involved.” He informed him, directly. He wasn’t angry, was the thing. Wasn’t even annoyed. He was just sort of…unhappy, disappointed, and a bit hurt. It twisted in him.

This was why Hikaru didn’t like telling the truth.

“…Yeah.” Hikaru agreed, offering no defence. If he’d died, Yashiro would have been in the spectacularly shitty position of someone who could have got the police involved, but hadn’t. It probably wouldn’t have helped. But he didn’t know that.

“Why the hell did you leave the house then, if you knew he was coming after you? Why didn’t you get help?” This time, the frustration actually made its way into his voice, his expression. It rather twisted the knife in Hikaru’s gut. “I don’t get that at all.”

Hikaru bit back the first three instinctive half-truths that tried to bubble out of him, swallowing them down with considerably difficult. How to answer this that was true? “A lot of people would have died if I didn’t go out. Like, a lot.” If he’d called the police, it would have been them, to start with. The demon would have clawed its way through their unprotected souls and murdered a path through however many other people it needed to, to get to Hikaru. And if he hadn’t, and had just left the city….Utagawashi would be dead. All of the foxes, too. And who knows who else.

Yashiro visibly processed that, a heavy scowl furrowing his brow. He always looked so angry when he was thinking particularly hard. “…He was threatening other people? …Did you agree to go out and meet him?”

“No, he was just going to come for me whatever I did, and I wasn’t going to stay home for that.” Hikaru exhaled, fighting back the reflex to run his fingers through his hair, because his hands were out of commission. “I…look, I can tell you something, but you can’t tell anyone else about it.”

He looked up, at that. “If it’s something that could get you killed, I’ll tell whoever I like.” He informed, without an ounce of guile or regret.

Hikaru flinched, and shook his head. “It’s not. It’s just…I had people helping me. With Kaminaga. Not just Utagawashi. They were all at the shrine. That’s why I went there.”

Yashiro straightened, surprise more evident on his soul than his face. “So the priest guy was there?” He demanded, after a moment, and then belatedly added “How many people?”

Hikaru stared down at his mangled hands. “Does it matter? We won. I’m alive. It’s fine now.”

“If you ‘won’,” Yashiro said, and when Hikaru looked up, the boy’s eyes were very sharp. “How the hell did Kaminaga get away?”

“Uh.” Hikaru said, eloquently. He tried to say no one chased him, or they were more worried about me, but it didn’t come out.

Yashiro stared with a sort of steadily dawning horror. “Shindou,” He uttered, slowly. “Do you know where he is?”

He tried to say no, of course not. He failed. The silence was particularly telling.

“Holy shit.” Yashiro said, flatly. “Shindou, what the fuck.”

“It’s…not that bad.” He offered, weakly. “Like…it’s complicated, but he’s not dangerous anymore.”

“What, he magically saw the error of his ways?” His guest snapped, almost sarcastically. “He’s not dangerous when he killed a guy and nearly killed you?” he shook his head, as though vigorously trying to dislodge the notion.

“….Yes?” Hikaru said, and then regretted it when Yashiro’s scowl deepened and he stood up, angling himself decisively towards the door. “Where are you going?” He demanded, alarmed, rising up himself.

The boy stared at him for a very short second. “I would be a really shitty friend if I made the mistake of keeping this crap to myself a second time.” He said, and walked to the door.

Hikaru panicked. He made an abortive lunge for Yashiro, the orthoses pulling oddly at his fingers as he tried to stretch them beyond their capacity to grab- “Yashiro-“

He didn’t even turn back to look at him. Just kept going. “No, Shindou. You don’t get to-“

“It wasn’t his fault!” Hikaru near-shouted at him, and then the over-straining of his fingers fed back in a shooting pain that quivered strangely at his fingertips and then speared up to his wrist. “Ow, fuck.”

Yashiro had reacted to the first part of that, and then turned around fully at the expression of pain. His expression transformed dramatically as he took in the sight of Hikaru cradling his right hand inwards to his chest. “Are you alright?” He asked, immediately, stepping forward to hover anxiously. “Did you fuck up your hand?”

“I dunno.” Hikaru said, worried, and carefully twitched his fingers like he was supposed to for his exercises. It felt fine, and worked fine, but… “It seems okay?”

That concluded, he was worried Yashiro would go for the door again, but the burst of righteous action seemed to have left him. The wind had gone from his sails, so to speak. The fight was no longer in him. “…How can you say it wasn’t his fault?” He asked, finally, tall enough that he loomed a bit, looking down at such short range. “And don’t just say ‘it’s complicated’.”

Hikaru shuffled backwards a little, since Yashiro no longer seemed like an imminent flight risk. “It is complicated, though.” He muttered, uncomfortably, and avoided Yashiro’s eyes.

The boy frowned at him, and then shoved him lightly back into the room, guiding him over to the bed. “Sit.” He instructed, and while rather perplexed, Hikaru obeyed. Yashiro stepped back and folded his arms, but didn’t sit down. “Explain it to me, then. Is this about the mental health thing? You said he was having a psychotic break?”

Hikaru made a face. “Sort of.”

“That sort of thing doesn’t really go away, Shindou.” Yashiro said, almost gently. “If he slipped on his meds once and killed someone, it could happen again.”

“That…was kind of a metaphor.” Hikaru said, instead of responding to what had actually been spoken. “The psychotic break thing.”

Yashiro tilted his head, looking unsurprised. “Well, I did know you weren’t telling me everything.” He responded, and waited.

Hikaru took a deep, shaky breath, slumping forwards. Thinking. “There was something wrong with him and now there isn’t. He’s not going to hurt anyone.” It was a weak explanation. He knew it was a weak explanation, and Yashiro obviously thought the same. His expectant expression didn’t change at all, as though he were waiting for the real reply. Which, well…he was.

Hikaru breathed.

Then: “There’s actually an explanation for everything,” He said, a little distantly, looking away. “But it’s not really believable.”

He couldn’t see what Yashiro’s face was doing, since he wasn’t looking at it. But the soul implied anticipation. Curiosity, even. “Yeah?” He prompted, like earlier. A sort of gentle, easy-going way to prod for a response. He even sat down again, in what seemed like a calculated move to put Hikaru at ease.

It didn’t really work. Hikaru’s pulse felt uncomfortably heavy, and the stress headache of earlier had resurrected itself, pressing painfully behind his temples. He exhaled, slowly, and then did it again. Yashiro remained patiently silent for a long time, probably at least a minute, while Hikaru attempted to conceptualise the idea of telling the actual truth.

Objectively, Yashiro might be the best person to actually tell. He didn’t live nearby, so couldn’t cause too much bother by pestering him. And, on top of that, he was weirdly good at not pestering unless it was really important. And Hikaru really didn’t want him telling the things he knew to the police. “If you get me put in an asylum, I’m going to get you haunted.” He said, feeling oddly breathless and slightly hysterical with nerves.

Yashiro offered him a look that was equal parts confusion and exasperation. “An asylum?” He repeated, incredulously. “It can’t be that unbelievable.”

Immediately, without giving himself any time to back out of it, Hikaru said “A demon did it.”

The boy stared back at him uncomprehendingly, expression not really changing, as though he were still waiting for words to emerge that weren’t nonsense.

“The killing.” Hikaru clarified. “A demon did it. It was….demonic possession. Kaminaga literally wasn’t in control of himself.” He resolutely ignored the way his blood seemed to all making a concerted effort to rip its way, screaming, out of his body.

Yashiro waited, blank-faced, for a few more seconds. When more words failed to emerge, he said, finally, “You’re right. That’s really not believable.”

Incongruently, Hikaru laughed. It was just…really ironic, that telling the truth was the best way for him to not be believed. Very ironic, and in a kind of shitty way. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

The other boy sat there, wholly perplexed, for a seriously long time. A whole gamut of emotions ran over his soul while he did, too complex and fleeting to properly identify. The thinking-scowl returned in full force, transforming his face into a dire glower that failed to make Hikaru feel threatened. Miraculously, there still wasn’t any anger. No annoyance or anything of the sort.

“That’s….probably the least believable lie you could choose?” He said, eventually, voice exceptionally confused, brows still heavily furrowed. “Like…if you wanted me not to tell people about Kaminaga, there’s got to be better lies?”

“Yeah, probably.” Hikaru agreed. His emotions had gone so far past ‘anxious’ that now he just felt sort of giddy, limbs trembling oddly and his foot tapping frenetically on the floor. He fought back the urge to giggle hysterically

Yashiro stared. He waited, it seemed, for Hikaru to say something, but gave up after a while of that not happening. “Could you maybe elaborate on that bullshit?” He asked, almost hesitant.

Hikaru blinked. “Like how?”

“I don’t know. Just…explain?”

“Uh.” He offered, and then started producing disconnected bits of information. “Kaminaga’s demon wanted to possess me? So it was going to go through him and basically anyone else to do that. It got control of him and came after me?”

“And you went to a shrine.” Yashiro said. It wasn’t a question. There was an expression on his face that looked like a steady realisation, like he was thinking of things and finding they matched up. That Hikaru’s bullshit behaviour meshed quite well with this bullshit explanation. “And, you said that Utagawashi guy is a priest?”

Hikaru blinked at the reminder, and straightened. “Yeah, actually, if you ask him about this he’ll tell you the same thing.” He said, almost surprised at the realisation that, actually, there was another human person who’d back him up here.

“…Okay.” Yashiro stood up, and for a moment Hikaru was worried, but he just sort of paced in a brief agitated circle. He made no move towards the door. He stopped suddenly and looked straight back at Hikaru. “So, in this story, what happened to the demon then? Is it gone?”

“…Yeah. We killed it.” He said, watching the other boy with a considering eye. Was he actually considering it? Without needing to be actively convinced?

“There was a thing on the news,” He announced abruptly, out of nowhere. “About how a lot of people in Tokyo said they saw a pillar of light near this part of the city.”

Hikaru stared. “That’s what happened when we killed it.” He explained, a sort of weird, wondering feeling poking through him like the stem of a plant through soil. “…Do you believe me?” He asked, unable to help the question.

“No.” Yashiro answered, immediately, but it sounded like a lie. And looked like one. His soul, by all appearances, was beginning a sincere and very chaotic bid to start freaking out. Possibly his worldview was in the process of being shattered.

“You do.” Hikaru observed, utterly stunned. “You actually believe this bullshit. If you tried to tell me this crap I wouldn’t believe it. Not for a second.”

“I absolutely don’t believe this shit. Of course I don’t.” Yashiro flat-out lied, and just to make himself less credible, immediately followed that up with “Can I talk to that priest?”

He tilted his head at the boy who was trying very hard not to believe him, and failing. “…You know, I was going to go visit him, soon.” He said, completely uncertain of what to do. He had not prepared for any of this – not for trying to tell someone, and certainly not for being believed. “We could go tomorrow, maybe? Then you could talk to him.”

“…yeah, okay.” Yashiro agreed, faintly, looking around until his eyes fixed on a particular point on the wall. “Shit, is this what the ofuda are about?”

“I thought you didn’t believe me?” Hikaru asked almost mockingly, restraining a desperate giggle. Everything had become, very suddenly, completely hilarious.

“I don’t.” He replied firmly.

“The ofuda put a sort of ward up around the house.” Hikaru volunteered without being prompted, oddly elated at the ability to just say it. “It stops most spirits from getting in.” Or he thought, anyway.

Yashiro very determinedly did not reply to that, so of course Hikaru had to up the game.

“Spirits are real. Ghosts are real. Kami are real.” He said, delightedly. “I’ve got weird spirit powers. I can feel people coming from half a mile away if I’m paying attention. I could definitely find you blindfolded, if you wanted to try that.”

The boy made no sound, but the expression on his face was beginning to look somewhat pitiful.

“You’ve had a spirit in your apartment. It was following me to protect me from the demon.” Hikaru elaborated. “That’s what I was doing when I suddenly started talking about that Honinbou game out loud.”

Yashiro looked like a kicked puppy. Albeit a very large, confused one. “Stop?” He asked, a little helplessly.

Hikaru nodded, because he was trying to be less of a dickhead now. “Yeah, okay.” He said agreeably.

“I’ve got the kifu for the Kisei games you missed.” Yashiro offered, in a very blatant and desperate attempt to move the conversation elsewhere. “We could look at those?”

“Sounds good.” Hikaru said, stared at the boy for several increasingly strained seconds, and then burst into hysterical giggles. He couldn’t quite help himself. After all the bullshit, and all the secrets, he’d just told Yashiro and he’d believed him. It was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. He laughed so hard it went silent and soundless, wheezing slightly, chest starting to hurt from the force of it.

“What are you laughing at?” Yashiro asked crossly, folding his arms.

Hikaru took one look at him, managed to restrain the laughter for a second, and then burst into giggles again.

What the hell was he meant to do with something as ridiculous as this?

---

End chapter.

Detailed warnings notes: Hikaru has perfectly normal emotional responses but thinks some very uncomplimentary things about himself for having them. This involves a long-overdue stress meltdown.

Notes:

I have known for a long time that Yashiro would be the first to find out. I wasn’t certain exactly how the scene would go, and this wasn’t how I planned it, so I’m not completely sure of it. But I read it over and it didn’t immediately scream wrong at me, so idk. Feedback would be appreciated.

I was originally going to cover the Visit to Utagawashi in this chapter and make it gigantic, but…I’ve been on hiatus long enough, and this was a good place to end the chapter. Have it, and pray the next one doesn’t take me as long. It should contain Utagawashi, Kaminaga, and also Yashiro having to cope with both of those things and also Hikaru’s spirit nonsense. Poor bastard.

Currently, my estimate for something I’m Very Excited About is for chapter 26, but knowing me that’s going to be drawn out several more chapters.

#fic: paper cranes #paper cranes #paper cranes chapters #hikaru no go #hikago #shindou hikaru #yashiro kiyoharu

257 notes · View notes

elliotthezubat · 5 years

Text

DEATH CITY DAYS CHAPTER 112

atsushi: *asleep*

Kenji: *asleep upside down next to him*

Tanizaki: *splashes water on his face in the bathroom*

naho: *vibrating with excitement*

Tanizaki: *exits the bathroom, nudges Atsushi*

atsushi: *snrk-* a-WHA-WHAT-WHERE AM I?!

Tanizaki: "?! Easy, easy--you're in the hotel..."

Kenji: =w= "Zzz..."

atsushi: oh, right right. *yaaaaawn*

-BANG BANG BANG-

naho: GUYYYYS HURRY UP!

Tanizaki: "???" *checks the time on his phone*

-7 AM-

Tanizaki: -_-; "We haven't even eaten yet--"

maki: easy, naho, calm breaths.

naho: ahhh im so excited i cant stand it! >w<

Tanizaki: ^^; "Atsushi, I guess pick up the pace."

naomi: we're actually going to meet touya diaz and caleb brent and carina bishop IN. THE. FLESH.

maki: i hear the hotel's cafe is doing a morning special on toast to go.

Kenji: *bounces up* "TOAST?!"

-elsewhere-

caleb: hmmm. should i do this in costume or not?

Touya: *looking through his phone* "Depends--how much attention you looking for?"

caleb: >n< im just trying to do this right. its been a while since last i did one of these contest fan meet ups.

Estevez: "I think it's best to give the audience what they want."

caleb: i just hope that crazy wiggum girl doesnt try to break in again. she scares me. Q_Q;;

Estevez: "Caleb, I don't want you having to worry. I'll ask for increased security."

caleb: thank you sir.

amanda: hey guys. *waves* good luck with today's meet up.

caleb: t-thanks amanda.

Touya: *grunts, still staring at the phone*

amanda: hey touya.......mr estevez.

Estevez: "..." *nods*

Touya: *looks through text messages* "?? No word from Carina."

caleb: i saw her this morning earlier...

amanda: maybe she's still getting ready?

Estevez: "She needs to hurry..." *stands up*

amanda: why dont i go get her?

caleb: just dont sneak up on her, she's been a bit on edge lately...

Estevez: *looking on his phone for medicines...*

amanda: *walks up to carina's trailer* *knocks* carina? the othesr are waiting on you.

-silence-

amanda:....carina? you ok in there?

-silence-

amanda: miss bishop? helloooo?

-no answer-

amanda:.....carina? are you in there? *grabs the door handle. it's unlocked* ?? *opens* carin-......a-....*SCREAMS*

Estevez: "?!!!"

Touya: *leaps up* "What's going on?"

caleb: amanda? what happ- !!!!!

-in the trailer, carina lays on the ground, eyes wide open, throat slit open, blood everywhere-

maggi: what happened? i heard yelling. *looks* o-oh my god, oh my god!

Estevez: *calling the police*

-elsewhere-

fuyumi: *worried, making a call*

Todoroki: "Hello?"

fuyumi: SHOUTOOOOO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!

Todoroki: "...Hello. Yes, I am fine. How are you?"

fuyumi: im just glad you're ok! i just saw the news!

Todoroki: "Yes. It was frightening, but no one in my class is seriously injured."

fuyumi: will you be home soon?

Todoroki: "Yes. I-Island security wants to debrief us, however, then they seem focused on keeping outsiders away for a bit."

fuyumi: i guess that's understandable.

Todoroki: "It'll be fine, and I'll be home before you know it."

-elsewhere-

mitsuki: easy there inko, easy.

inko: Q~Q *unintelligable blubbering and screaming*

Masaru: *offers a paper bag*

inko: *takes it and starts breathing into it*

mitsuki: need something to drink? water? zinfandel spritzers?

Masaru: ._.; ("Little early for drinks, but understandable...") ^^; "I'll try calling. Again." *dials*

mitsuki: need us to set up the guest room for you for a bit?

inko: yesh pleashe Q~Q

Masaru: "... ...Come on, answer..."

eijiro: yes? this is bakugou's phone, eijiro speaking.

Masaru: "Oh, Eijiro! It's Katsuki's father, hello. Is he there?"

eijiro: yeah, he's here now. *away from the phone* bakugou, it's your dad calling!

Bakugo: "WHAT?! WHY ARE YOU ANSWERING MY PHONE?!"

Masaru: ._.; ("I've called 4 times already with no answer...")

eijiro: you were still in the bathroom-

Bakugo: "GIVE ME THAT!" *snatches the phone* "OLD MAN, I WAS GOING TO CALL YOU, BUT IT WOULD'VE BEEN 4 AM WHERE YOU ARE!"

Masaru: "I know, I know--and I appreciate that concern. But your mother and I were worried sick. Are you okay?"

Bakugo: "OF COURSE I'M FINE!"

Masaru: ^^; "Great. Let me put your mother on..."

mitsuki: thanks honeybun~ *picks up the phone* KATSUKI YOU LITTLE SHIT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET KILLED OR SOMETHING!?!

Masaru: ^^;;;;

Bakugo: "OH, HERE WE GO! WERE YOU THE ONE WHO HAD VILLAINS INVADING YOUR RECEPTION? WERE YOU THE ONE FACING OFF AGAINST SOME MONSTER AND A GUY WHO DELETES SPACE? WERE YOU THE ONE LOST WITH TWO KNUCKLEHEADS WHO WOULDN'T KNOW THEIR ASS FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND?!"

mitsuki: AND WHERE THE HELL IS IZUKU?! HIS MOTHER IS HERE WORRIED SICK ABOUT HIM!

Bakugo: "I'M NOT HIS BABYSITTER! HE'S PROBABLY CRYING AT THE HOSPITAL OVER A PAPERCUT!"

mitsuki: WELL FIND HIM AND PUT HIM ON THE PHONE!

Bakugo: "IF IT'LL SHUT YOU UP ALREADY--I GOT THINGS TO DO TODAY!" *steps outside, bangs on a door* "GET OUT OF THERE, NERD!"

Izuku: O_O; "..." ("Nope.")

Bakugo: "DUMBASS, IT'S YOUR MOM!"

Izuku: "?!" *slightly opens the door* "O-Oh?"

Bakugo: *shoves the phone in his face* "STOP MAKING HER WORRIED AND TALK, DAMN YOU!"

Izuku: "H-Hello?"

mitsuki: hi there izuku. ^^ im gonna put your mom on now, ok?

Izuku: "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Bakugo."

inko: *takes the phone* ISHUKHUUUU *unintelligable blubbering and crying*

Izuku: Q_Q *crying, incoherent blubbering response*

Bakugo: ._______. "...What the fuck am I looking at?"

mitsuki: *sigh* the fruit doesnt fall far from the tree, it seems.

Masaru: "Indeed. At least they're safe."

-elsewhere-

Kyotoku: *headbanging into the phone* "KYOKA! I'M SO GLAD YOU’RE SAFE!!!!"

jirou: yeah, im ok dad.

Kyotoku: "WWAAAAAAAAAAH!" T~T "They feeding you well? The cops aren't a problem, are they?"

jirou: -_-; im not in jail, dad.

Kyotoku: "You never know! I once shared a cell with Bowie!"

jirou: david bowie or the bird?

Kyotoku: *SINGING* "BOOOOOOOOTH!"

-elsewhere-

Mr. Uraraka: "I'm so proud of you!"

ochako: aw thanks dad. ^^;

Waiter: *sets down food*

Mr. Uraraka: "Make sure to rest up--you're going to need to re-charge."

Waiter: *sets down a cell phone charger in front of Kaminari*

kaminari: -_-;

Hagakure: *has jam on her face from the pastries* =w= "So good..."

mina: thanks for the recommendation, melissa!

melissa: no problem. ^^

Iida: *passes the steamed vegetables*

-elsewhere-

Patty: "Upsie daisy!"

shiori: ^o^

Patty: "Aren't you a cutie? How's it going, kiddo?"

shiori: *baby babble*

Patty: "Hee hee! Want to see something really cool?"

shiori: bah?

Patty: "Kid! The topiary is off on one side--"

Kid: *rushes in, already in overalls, a sunhat, and a tool kit of clippers* "Ready!"

shiori: *head tilt* ~?

Patty: "You changed so quickly, like magic!"

Kid: "I cannot afford to let one bit of asymmetry manifest in this estate." *looks behind her* "...Wait...That topiary looks fine--"

Patty: *giggles* "Trick ya!"

Kid: -~-

shiori: *reaching* ki! ki!

Kid: ^^; *sets down the clippers, pushing them away, picks up Shiori* "Hello, Shiori!"

shiori: *laughs* ^o^

Patty: "D'aw..." *snaps a pic on her phone, texting it*

-elsewhere-

Chuuya: "??? That's a lot of cupcakes..."

miyuri: ^w^

sonia: so what else do we all need?

Chuuya: "Hmmm...Some leafy vegetables."

miyuri: *GASP* papa! sonia! look! *holding up broccoli* baby trees!

Chuuya: "Yep--that's broccoli. It's good to eat."

miyuri: can we eat trees too?

sonia: broccoli isnt a tree. it's a vegetable.

miyuri: ooooh.

Chuuya: "There are things that come off trees, like fruits." *reaches for an apple--stops...grabs an orange instead*

miyuri: oooh neat!

sonia: oranges are technically citrus. ^^;

Chuuya: "Yes--good for vitamin C to grow big and strong."

miyuri: wooow!

Chuuya: "How about we make a salad tonight?"

sonia: sounds good.

Chuuya: "I'll even show you some different vinegars to try."

-elsewhere-

lavender: saaakuyaaa~ you have a visitor~

Sakuya: -____- "I'm not really feeling like visitors."

lavender: you sure about that?

mahiru: i could come by later-

Sakuya: "?!!! Ma-Mahiru?!"

mahiru: *waves* hey sakuya.

Sakuya: *smiles--then tries to play it cool* "Oh, hey. What's up?"

mahiru: lavender invited me over to hang out with you. ^^;

lavender: you're welcome~

Sakuya: "Oh...Um...How you been? Hungry?"

mahiru: sure.

-elsewhere-

Kanin: "Wow, watch out!" *holds out an arm before crossing the street*

amelia: *stops*

*a car speeds by--followed by police*

amelia: *watches*

Villain: *cackling in the car*

amelia:...

Kanin: "Someone should help stop them..."

amelia: *looks up*

*vines come down, forming a wall that--*

Villain: "!!! SHI--"

*crash*

Villain: *hits the air bags* *groans...* *starts...falling apart like slime?!*

mt lady: what the-

Villain: *tries to slither away into the sewers...*

mt lady: *pulls out a vacuum*

Villain: O____O *scurrying as fast as it can to the sewer grate--*

-VRRRRR-

Villain: "EEEEEEK--" *sucked in, but not before some splashes onto Kamui*

Kamui: "?!"

mt lady: oops, missed a spot. *uses the vacuum on kamui*

Kamui: -_-; "Watch that--you're going to pull twigs out."

-elsewhere-

ochako: thanks for the food! *eating a burger* mmm~ yum!

Izuku: ^^; "We're all finally able to get a break."

kaminari: hey tokoyami, i got a question for ya; do you ever molt?

Tokoyami: "..." *sips on his straw*

eijiro: *smiles*

Bakugo: -_-# "Don't ask stupid questions--we don't ask you whether you get static cling if we shove you in the dryer."

eijiro: *still smiling*

Bakugo: "...WHAT?"

eijiro: you called me by my first name last night. ^^

Bakugo: "?!!! ..." >\\\> "Don't make anything out of it--I'LL CALL YOU WHATEVER I WANT TO GET YOUR ATTENTION IN A FIGHT, YOU DUMBASS!"

eijiro: ^^

ochako: same old bakugou. ^^;

Todoroki: *nods* "Very tsundere."

ochako: *giggles*

Todoroki: *smiles* "Ha."

melissa: ...

Todoroki: "You see they started the concert again?"

ochako: yeah, we should check it out later.

Todoroki: *nods* "Sounds great. My sister was telling me about the instruments they're using--they change the notes by colors."

ochako: wow that's so cool!

Todoroki: "Yeah!" *smiling wider*

melissa:...say, todoroki, may i talk to you for a moment.

Todoroki: "Oh...Um, okay?" *looks at Ochako* "Be right back."

ochako: ok, im gonna get some more ketchup in the meantime.

Todoroki: "?!!!" .\\\\. "...Huh?"

melissa: you seem to smile more around her than most of the others in your group.

Todoroki: "I...smile. At times."

melissa: you also seem to look at her a lot.

Todoroki: "?!! I-I'm not trying to be creepy or anything."

melissa: ^^; sorry, if this is a bit personal-

Todoroki: "It-It's fine...Not many people have said something like that to me."

melissa: ah...well, that's all i wanted to say.

Todoroki: "...Could I ask for some advice?"

melissa: sure.

Todoroki: "If it was you...what would you do? I...don't know that I'm...deserving."

melissa: ._.; honestly, im not the best person to ask in regards to that sort of thing, but she seems happy around you, doesnt she?

Todoroki: "Y-Yes? But Ochako is a very friendly person."

-elsewhere-

naomi: were almost there!!

Tanizaki: "Right..." *looking at a map on his phone*

naho: >w<

Kenji: *looking around* "Ooooo! So modern!" *staring at the palm trees and--* "Shiny lightposts!"

maki: *snapping pics*

Tanizaki: "Sending any of those back home?"

maki: yeah.

Kenji: "Atsushi, what do you want to see while we're here?"

atsushi: i dont even know where to begin. ._.;

Tanizaki: "How about the giant 'Hollywood' sign? It's a bit of a climb, but I heard the view is incredible."

atsushi: sounds good.

Kenji: "I want to see how they put movies on the screens! How do they get all of that done in just one go?"

maki: it takes a long time to make a movie, days, months, even years sometimes.

naho: even the police get called in to make movies, see?

naomi:....guys....i dont think they're acting....

Tanizaki: "!!!"

maki: oh-oh shit!

Kenji: "??? What happened?"

naomi: i dont know. bro, stop the car!

Tanizaki: *pulls over*

naomi: *gets out and walks over*

officer: ma'am, this is a crime scene, we're going to have to ask you to vacate the area-

naomi: what happened?

EMT: *removing a body...*

naomi: !!!!

Tanizaki: "...Someone died?"

naomi: who died?!

officer: that's classified-

Kenji: "How sad. Were they an actor?"

naomi: we just so happen to be detectives!

Officer 2: "Hmm...Well, she was found dead in her trailer."

naho: who?!

Officer 2: "...Carina Bishop."

naomi: !!!!!!!

maki: WHAT, NO!!!

Tanizaki: "!!! H-How did this happen?"

officer: we're looking into it now.

Tanizaki: ._.

naho: WE WONT LET OUR JOURNEY BE FOR NOTHING!

maki: JUSTICE FOR CARINA!

Kenji: ^^ "Let's do this!"

officer: ._.;;; i'll talk to commander fold...

Tanizaki: "Th-Thanks..." *looks around*

-there are officers and crewmembers about the place-

make up artist: well, i heard amanda screaming, and when i came in, i saw the body.

Tanizaki: "It could've been anyone..."

???: it's a good riddance honestly.

Kenji: "...?"

-a short, somewhat chubby girl with brown hair is talking to an officer-

???: that mary-sue bitch was dragging the show's quality down. with her gone, things can only improve.

naomi: exCUSE moi?!

Tanizaki: "Naomi, easy--"

naomi: a person just DIED and you just bash on her?!

???: that's what she gets for being in the way of zephro!

naomi: SHIPPING SLASH DOESNT JUSTIFY HATING ON THE HEROINE! D8<

maki: YOU TELL 'EM!

naho: ESTELLA MARSHALL DID NOTHING WRONG!

Tanizaki: -n-;

caleb: what the heck is-... oh great. _you_ again.

???: nero-kun! these twats are actually DEFENDING that breeder, carina! we all know they're idiots and that zepher is your one true love, right~?

caleb: for fucks sakes, wiggum, how many times do i have to tell you, i'm caleb. nero is a fictional character.

wiggum: THE NAME IS 'KOKORO'!

Kenji: "Wow, are all fans in this city this mean?"

maki: nah, she's just one of the crazy fans most likely.

naho: it's people like her who give us fujoshis a bad rep!

Tanizaki: "And that's saying something."

atsushi: *looks at the crime scene*

Officer 3: "Careful!"

atsushi: *looking around*

*it's bloody...*

atsushi:.....

Officer 3: "Don't touch anything! We don't need some outsiders screwing this up."

atsushi: *shows his ID*

Officer 3: "Is that supposed to impress me? What are you, 16?"

atsushi: 19, actually.

Officer 3: "You ever see this kind of a murder before?"

atsushi: i am a detective, so...

Officer 3: "In your opinion, then, how do you think this happened?"

atsushi: did miss bishop have any enemies?

Officer 3: "You kidding me? Actors always do: fans, other actors, writers..."

atsushi: hmm...

Officer 3: "We're starting with interrogating her coworkers, find out who had motive and means."

-elsewhere-

lukas: so how was the trip, saria?

Saria: "A lot of fun! We roasted marshmallows, Dad tried a new grilled cheese recipe. And we got to watch the wildlife." *sets down some sodas* "How have things been for you?"

lukas: same old, same old, i suppose.

Saria: *nods* "Well, I'm excited to get back to training with you, especially before the summer desert camp work. Looking forward to the camp work?"

lukas: i suppose so.

Saria: "Let's do our best! I'm sure we can improve our resonance rate!"

lukas: right. shall we go to the training room then?

Saria: *nods* "Lead the way!"

-elsewhere-

Sakuya: "And that's been about it--just trying to stay under radar so we don't get some C3 weirdos bringing us in."

mahiru: ah. i see.

Sakuya: "...You sure you're doing okay?"

mahiru: hmm? oh, yeah im well. kuro's well too, see?

Kuro: =_= "Zzz..."

Sakuya: "...Yeah, totally." *poke*

Kuro: "Stop that."

-elsewhere-

*someone is sitting at Vortex Cafe*

Akutagawa: "..."

lucy:....akutagawa.

Akutagawa: "...Montgomery. Hello."

lucy: let me guess, tea again?

Akutagawa: "No. I'll also have some tea cookies."

lucy: .....

Akutagawa: "What, no investigations today with the Tiger?"

lucy: he's on vacation.

Akutagawa: "...He never told me that."

lucy:.....in phoenix, did you and him...talk about anything?

Akutagawa: "??? Yes. We discussed our respective visits. I was vacationing with family, he was on some murder mystery, if I recall. That is what we discussed."

lucy: i see.....

Akutagawa: "...Why do you ask?"

lucy: ...nevermind.

Akutagawa: "Hmm. I'll suppose the Tiger said something nasty behind my back. I'll have to insult him back when he returns. Where did he go anyway?"

lucy: why should i tell you?

Akutagawa: -_-# "Fine. Be difficult. I'll ask him myself when he returns."

-elsewhere-

elise: *walking through the halls*

*looks like mafiosos milling about...Motojiro can be heard in his lab...Tachihara is examining his handgun*

elise: *pokes her head in chuuya's office*

Chuuya: *has a map rolled out, circling armories*

elise: hiiiii chu-chu~ ^^

Chuuya: "Hmm? Oh, hello."

elise: how're sonia and miyurin?

Chuuya: "Quite well, thank you. They're playing with Kouyou."

elise: can i visit them?

Chuuya: "Sure...They were supposed to be in the garden."

elise: thanks. ^^ dont worry, i wont tell rintarou, he's busy with something anyway.

Chuuya: "..." *nods* "Good."

-elsewhere-

Damon: *looks at Soul's motorcycle* "How did you learn to ride a bike?"

soul: oh this? well, i've known how to ride for a while now. also it's a motorcycle, a bit different from a regular bicycle.

Damon: "I-I know the difference! I...just was curious since..."

soul: ??

Damon: >_>;;; "I'm not very good at it..."

soul: did you want to learn, buddy?

Damon: "C-Could we?"

soul: sure thing.

-elsewhere-

Fear Factory Droid: "YOUR MEAL." *shoves a sealed plastic packet of liquid into Shotaro and Mana's cells*

mana:.....

Shotaro: ._. "...Is this pee?"

Droid: "SUSTENANCE. YOU IMBIBE IT."

Shotaro: *picks it up, sniffs at it* "Hey, where's Yohei?" *looks at Mana* "We were wondering when we could talk to him."

mana: yeah. is he alright?

Droid: "HE IS ALIVE--FOR NOW. THE PRESIDENT WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU ALL FIRST."

mana: oh?

Shotaro: "??? Someone that important wants to meet with us? But we haven't had a chance to bath--and I'm kind of smelling rank."

Droid: *presses a button, revealing a giant hose, aims at Shotaro--and fires water at him*

Shotaro: "UMPH!" *slammed by the water into the wall*

mana: well? take us to your leader already.

Droid: "THE PRESIDENT WILL ARRIVE WHEN READY. UNTIL THEN, DO NOT DIE." *turns to leave*

Shotaro: X____X *spits up water, coughs*

mana: you alright, showtaro?

Shotaro: "Why are they doing this to us? They're the bad guys!" *shakes his nutrition packet* "And I got no bones to bite!"

mana:...*punches the wall* DAMMIT! this is so FRUSTRATING! i couldnt even do anything to stop them! I HATE FEELING SO GODDAMN HELPLESS! i hate this.....*she curls up and silently cries*

Shotaro: "..." *reaches out a hand through the cage--but can't reach* "...Hey. Don't cry. We'll get out of here. Yohei's smart--he's probably thinking up a plan to get us out right now!"

-meanwhile-

Yohei: *still tied to the crucifix* "...42...43...44...45..."

???: yoooooheeeei~

Yohei: "..." *looks up*

nofix?: ya miss me baby~?

Yohei: "..." *smiles weakly* "I was just counting off how long it had been since I saw something really stupid. 45 seconds. New record."

nofix?: =3= aw boo, you're no fun.

Yohei: "What are you even doing here?" *looks at the crucifix behind him* "...This is all sadly familiar..."

nofix?: *swoon* brings back memories, doesnt it~?

Yohei: "Bad memories." *struggles against his restraint* "It's bad enough to be tied here--now I have to listen to your ridiculous ass?"

nofix?: yep! nice job making the jailbait cry, THAT was hilarous, GYAHAHAHA!!

Yohei: "...If this is a hallucination, of course you would know that. But if it was a hallucination, I'd be able to influence it...So, how do I get rid of you?"

nofix?: jeeez you're such a party pooper, yo-yo.

Yohei: "I sure am...Just like I got us all stuck in this situation. Even you, you fucking insane nut-bag."

nofix?: ooh yohei~ you flatter me~

Yohei: "I'm not kidding...Chie wouldn't be in this mess if I didn't go to I Island...Shotaro and Mana would've been fine if I hadn't listened to them, bringing them to IC Prefecture...If I didn't help Fear Factory build their killing machines...Help the Dokeshi Hunt track down even people like you...I ruined a lot..."

nofix?: welp, nothing you can do about it now i guess.

Yohei: "...Maybe. Guess I got to wait for...whatever happens next...No one even knows where I am..."

-elsewhere-

nea: and that's basically the situation.

Chuuya: *tapping a finger on the table* "...A space ship? Seriously?"

Abernathy: Q___Q *just peeking over his desk* "An-And you want our help, m-ma'am?"

Bryn: *gripping her desk so hard it's cracking*

nea: that's the main gist of it, yes.

Chuuya: "This is asking a lot...I'll see what the Mafia can do."

Abernathy: "We still have leftover robot suits--my team has been modifying some for more ammo--"

nea: that will be our ground army.

Bryn: "I'M GOING TO BREAK THEIR BONES IN MY BARE HANDS! ALSO, MY SISTER CAN BABYSIT!!!"

nea: thank you for that. chie and saki will appreciate it.

Chuuya: "...Nea, Fear Factory was trying to do a lot for Dokeshi. What are we looking at here?"

nea: while that is true, but they also wish to eradicate humans as well. us dokeshi arent over-all trying to be _better_ than humans, we just want to be accepted. but i do have some schematics of some of their tech.

Abernathy: "I'll pass those onto the tech team--HEY, MITCH! READ THE SCHEMATICS OR I'LL CHOP YOUR FINGERS OFF!"

Chuuya: ._.; "...'Better than humans' is a low bar."

nea: ....

Bryn: "I'm booking a flight now...Honey! Grab the kids! We're going to Death City!"

nea: oh that reminds me, shinoda~ call up our friends on japonshima, will you~

setsuna: i'll contact minato as well.

Shinoda: *nods* "On it..."

Assi: "I put in time off with Mr. Fitzgerald--he didn't really have anything to offer because, and I quote, 'Wait, how much will this cost me?'"

-elsewhere-

David: *passed out*

{David: "Look at her...She's so tiny."}

{rebecca: hmhm ^^ }

{David: *holds out a finger* "Hello, Melissa."}

{melissa: *yawn* -.- }

{rebecca: aw, did we wake you?}

{David: "Sorry, sweetie. We just wanted to check on you."}

{melissa: *small baby babble*}

{David: *smiles* "You sound happy. And Mommy and Daddy are so happy to see you."}

David: *wakes up with a start--then cringes, gasping, clutching his stomach*

nurse: mr shield?

David: "Ah...S-Sorry..."

-elsewhere-

Iida: "Keep up, people--we only have so much time to take in all the sights!"

Tour Guide: -_-; "Sir, _I'm_ the tour guide."

ochako: ^^;

Todoroki: .\\\.;

Bakugo: -_-# "This is boring. We don't even get to have the tournament done..."

Izuku: "Yeah, it's really awful we don't get to fight each other since I-Island is dealing with injured people, property damage, and missing people kidnapped in space ships."

Bakugo: "...No one likes sarcasm, Deku, you fucking asshole."

ochako: that actually happened.

Bakugo: "HE'S MOCKING MY DESIRE TO HAVE A TOURNAMENT INSTEAD OF THINKING ABOUT MORE IMPORTANT THINGS INVOLVING CIVILIANS' BODILY INJURIES--"

Izuku: .~. *backs up to Tsuyu*

tsuyu: *chops bakugou on the head*

Bakugo: >_<# "YOU WANT TO GO, ASUI?!! I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TONGUE UNTIL YOU GROW A NEW ONE!"

Mineta: "...Frogs can do that?"

momo: now now, behave, all of you.

Iida: *nods* "This is our limited opportunity to learn as much as we can about this island before departing--HATSUME, STOP THAT!"

Mei: *trying to disassemble the security robots* "--and how do you increase processing power without losing mobility?"

-elsewhere-

Arthur: *petting the donkey head hanging on the office wall* "Good, Silver. Who's a regal steed? You are! Yes, you are..."

Vulcan: "...Why do you call it 'Silver'?"

Arthur: "??? All horses are Silver's."

Vulcan: "...It's a burro, not a horse."

Arthur: "...Okay, 'Silburro' is his name now."

Relan: *sitting at his desk* "..." *headdesk*

shinra: it's also an ass, fitting for arthur.

Arthur: "?!!!"

Vulcan: "HA!"

Takehisa: *under his desk, curled up in a ball*

iris: we're ba-. ... ._.;

Petra: "??? What the devil happened to these fools?"

Arthur: *shaking Shinra* "TAKE IT BACK!"

tamaki: *sigh* the 8th brigade at it's finest. -_-;

Akitaru: "Okay, reviewing missions. Arthur and Shinra--"

Arthur: *headlocking Shinra*

shinra: *ARM BITE*

Takehisa: "..." *sad sigh, crawls up under the desk...he doesn't look shaven...pulls out a whistle...BLOWS LOUDLY*

shinra: AH! >!<

Takehisa: "..." *sad sigh, crawls up under the desk...he doesn't look shaven...pulls out a whistle...BLOWS LOUDLY*

tamaki:....maki please get back soon.

-elsewhere-

maki: so can you walk us through the crime, mr estevez?

Estevez: "It-It all happened so fast...We heard Amanda scream, we get there--and there's Carina, dead."

maki: i see. out of curiosity, did amanda have any connections to carina personally?

Estevez: "You mean outside of work?"

maki: *nods* but really, anywhere works

Estevez: "Yeah, for drinks after a long day..."

maki: was there any hostility?

Estevez: "None that I noticed..."

amanda: oh gosh, no! i mean, it did hurt when carina got the role, but i'd never _kill_ over it!

Tanizaki: *nods* "We're just trying to determine means and motive, ma'am..."

amanda:.....

Tanizaki: "Can you think of anyone who would have a problem with her?"

amanda: other than miss wiggum, i dont know...but she did seem a bit uneasy when we had lunch together last time. she mentioned that she felt like she was being watched...

Tanizaki: "??? 'Watched'? She's had stalkers before?"

amanda: *nods* given her status, that's to be expected...

Tanizaki: "Did she speak to the police?"

amanda: i-i think so?

Tanizaki: "We'll check with their reports. Thank you, ma'am."

amanda: r-right...

Tanizaki: *opens the door* "We'll be in touch..."

-elsewhere-

Emine: *staring up at the hospital ceiling* "..."

chie: *outside, holding toru* .......

Tool: *walks up* "...We got a flight booked."

chie: ......

Tool: "..." *sits with her* "...Nea told me she's got something planned."

chie:......

Tool: "...Hey, have you had some sleep? I can watch Toru..."

chie:.....*biting her lip*

Tool: "..." *pats her shoulder*

-elsewhere-

Duncan: *following Izumi* -n# *holding ice to his face* "Stupid dodgeball..."

izumi: you probably shouldnt have been so rude as you always are. -.-;

Duncan: "How was it rude?! I said, 'I bet my grandmother can throw harder than you!'"

*looks like some students in the hall, giggling, pointing towards Izumi and Duncan*

izumi: to be fair, i dont even _know_ your grandmother, so i'd be in no position to judge, i guess.

Duncan: "Oh, she was super frail! I remember one time--"

Bully: *giggling* "Look at her hair--just pathetic."

izumi: ?? excuse me?

Bully: "Ha! The Albarn twin can talk."

izumi: i-i dont have any twins.

Bully: "Right--'cause she's dead, you faker."

izumi: *wince*

Duncan: "..." -_# "Excuse me, we were having a conversation--"

Bully: *brushes a hand over Izumi's hair* "Pigtails? Really? Jeez, you do want to be daddy's little girl, don't you? Weirdo."

izumi: *backs up* just stop it.

Bully: "Or what?" *puts hands against both sides of the wall behind her, stopping her path* "You'll go crying to the Death Scythe?"

Duncan: "!!! H-Hey! She said stop!"

izumi: i-im...-

Bully: *grabs Izumi's pigtail--and pulls down*

izumi: OW! STOP!

Duncan: "!!! She said stop!" *tries to grab the Bully's arm--*

Bully 2: *slams Duncan into the wall*

izumi: !!!!

Bully 1: "See, my big brother told me about the previous students here. And from what I heard, you're just some pale imitation. Why you even here..." *transforms her arm into a curved sword* "And if you're too weak to be a meister half as good as Maka Albarn, then what're you doing here?" *traces the blade against Izumi's face*

izumi: you...YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!

Duncan: "Ow..." *trying to wiggle loose*

Bully 1: "??? Oh, you smart enough to figure that out?" *punches Izumi in the chest*

izumi: GRK- im just trying to find a purpose in life....a real purpose......not just some test-subject of my birth father.....i just....want to find who _i_ am....

Bully 1: *picks Izumi up by her shirt* "Ha! You hear that, ladies? She's a freak! She just admitted it!"

izumi: *tears falling* just please leave me alone already...i never did anything to you…

Duncan: *wiggles loose--and bites on Bully 2's hand*

Bully 2: "OW!" *punches Duncan in the chest*

Duncan: X__X *passes out*

Bully 1: "Aw, but now your boyfriend just hurt one of my girls..." *points the blade into Izumi's chest* "And that means..."

izumi: !!!

Bully 1: "HA HA HA--"

*a whip grabs Bully 4 by the ankles, pulling her down*

Bully 1: "?!!" *turns--*

lukas: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!

Saria: "Let her go!"

Bully 1: "..." *smirks--lowers Izumi* "What? Can't some friends talk?" *puts an arm around Izumi's shoulder*

-shot by bully 1's head-

izumi: eep!

Bully 1: "?!! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

preston: *holding up a rifle* ah do believe that's our friend yer harassin'

Yafeu: "NOW STEP AWAY FROM HER, BEFORE SOMETHING BAD REALLY HAPPENS!"

Bully 1: "..." *backs up* "Hey, if you want a duel, I'm open to it. But we'd need a teacher here, now wouldn't we? Or are you just some thuggish rule breakers?"

genny: like you arent?

hibiki: picking on others just to make yourself look tougher, people like that just really peeve me off.

Bully 1: *smiles* "Just call me a tutor: if the weak-ass teachers won't build up people's strength, my girls will..."

Bully 4: *drags Duncan over, drops him in front of Genny and Hibiki*

lei-lei: HEY! beating up duncan is OUR job!

Duncan: *murmur of pain*

Bully 4: *eyes* *mumbles something, walks over to Bully 1*

genny: and we only do it when he's being a total dick. which granted is almost always-

Duncan: >_# "I GET THE POINT!"

Bully 1: *nods* "Well, this was fun." *winks at Izumi* "See you around..." *turns...*

izumi:.....

*CRACK*

izumi: ?!

Bully 1: *knocked back, her nose bleeding*

Asher: *their arm transformed, looking furious*

izumi: asher.....

Asher: "Never...touch her again..." *marches forward*

Bully 1: "!!!" *roars, leaping up*

Spirit: "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! Break it up, all of you!"

Asher: "..." *looks down*

izumi: this is my fault....

Yafeu: "?! NO IT ISN'T--"

Spirit: "..." *looks at the bullet hole in the wall* "...All of you, follow me." *walks with Izumi*

izumi: *curls up into fetal position* it's my fault for even existing to begin with....*crying*

Spirit: "!!! ..." *looks at the others* "Go to Room 101, now! You have detention!" *gets down on his knees, picks up Izumi* "It's okay--Daddy's here..."

izumi: the others didnt do anything wrong....they dont need to be punished for what i did......

Spirit: "We'll sort that out later...Come on--let's get you home."

lei-lei: yeah! it's those nasty girls that started it!

Spirit: "Lei-Lei, just...Please. I need a moment. Go to Room 101."

lei-lei:....yes sir.

hibiki: *glares at the bully squad*

Bully 4: "..." *middle finger*

Asher: *rolls up a sleeve, moving towards Bully 1--*

izumi: dont.

Asher: "..." *backs down*

Spirit: "..." *pats Izumi on the shoulder*

bully 3: looks like we get off scott free, eh?

Spirit: "I SAID ALL OF YOU! GET YOUR ASS TO 101, MCKENZIE!"

bully 3: OwO

bully 2: great going, steph.

stephanie: ooopsie~

bully 2: _this_ is why you're the dumb one of the group.

Spirit: "And ask Naigus to patch up your buddy."

Bully 1: -_-#

Spirit: "..." *looks at Izumi*

-elsewhere-

Hani: "--and let me know how the project turns out. I'm so excited to see your progress on the class project!"

student: of course, professor. ^^

Hani: *her wrist watch beeps* "Whoops! I'm behind schedule. Let's check in for coffee tomorrow, okay?" *walks towards her office*

-elsewhere-

Tanizaki: "You handled that well, Maki. Did you do police work before?"

maki: not personally, but my bro is part of the military police. ^^;

Tanizaki: "Oh, neat! Kind of runs in families with siblings, huh?"

maki:..yeah...

Kenji: "Is he like the cops on TV?"

maki: how so?

Kenji: "Does he say cool catch phrases and wear sunglasses and drive a convertible?"

maki: well.... ^^;

Tanizaki: ^^; "I'm guessing that's a 'no.' I'm sure he's working hard, though."

maki: credit where credit's due.

Kenji: "Oooooooo! It'll be so helpful to see how big city police handle crimes!" *looks around* *GASPS* "Look! It's Elvis!"

*an actor walks by*

naomi: bro, could you talk to miss wiggum? naho's not doing well without it turning into a screaming match. remember that ship war she got into a while back? turns out it's this person. -_-;

Tanizaki: "Oh no..." *runs over* ^^; "Hey, so, what's going on here?"

naho: TELL THIS JERKBUTT THAT SHE'S WRONG!

wiggum: _SHE'S_ THE WRONG ONE!

Tanizaki: "Well, I mean--Um...What led you to your conclusions?"

naho: ZEKE IS A SEME! NOT AN UKE!

wiggum: EXCUSE YOU BUT HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?! 100% UKE!

naho: SEME!!

maki: time out girls, time out!

Tanizaki: >~< "I'm no good at this...Can't you two just ship your own things and be happy with that?"

naho: you dont get it do you, tanizaki? zeke is a protective badass who will always be there for daichi.

wiggum: DAICHI'S THE ONE WHO SAID 'I'LL PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIFE'! HE'S THE CLEAR SEME HERE!

naomi: (i sometimes wonder how she can yell so much without breathing. then i remember she's a vampire.)

Tanizaki: "I mean, couldn't Daichi be _both_, um, 'seme' and...'not seme'? Or alternate at different times of day?"

maki: reba ship!

wiggum: DAICHI IS TOP! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! GET THAT THROUGH BLUE'S HEAD!

naho: i guess he has a point.

wiggum: you actually listen to HIM?! heh, show's how much of a fan you are~

naho: D8< HEY!

Tanizaki: ._.;;; "...Is this really worth getting upset over? In this world, we have such bigger problems, like a real-life murder. Shouldn't that be what we worry about? How brief life is, how tenuous it is, how we could die at any moment and need to value all moments we have left?"

naomi: in case you didnt know, we're in a CRIME SCENE, so can we save the fandom drama for some other time?

naho:....i bet she's the killer.

Tanizaki: "?!!! Naho!"

wiggum: just because im glad she's dead doesnt mean _i_ did it. if i could have i would have, but i didnt!

naomi: easy nahonaho, let's not let opinions cloud our judgement.

naho: GRRR...you're right. -n-;

Kenji: "???" *looks at Wiggum*

wiggum: the fuck are YOU looking at?!

Kenji: OxO "That's not a nice thing to say, ma'am."

wiggum: you think i care?

Tanizaki: -_-; "Could you not curse in front of him? Kenji is a nice boy."

naomi: ok sweetcheeks, here's how this is gonna work. we're gonna ask you some questions and you just answer honestly. no snide remarks or rude comments, capiche?

wiggum: tch-

Kenji: ^^;;;

Tanizaki: "Where were you before the murder?"

-elsewhere-

ochako: SERIOUSLY, HATSU-MEI?! A FLYING SHIP?! *shiny eyes*

Mei: "KUKUKU...ONLY THE BEST FLIGHT TECHNOLOGY IS SUITABLE FOR MY GRUNKLE'S SUPREME EXPERTISE IN ALL THINGS SUPERHEROIC!"

Iida: "..." -_-; *starts to walk away* "I'll take my chances on a flight--"

ochako: come on iida! A FLYING PIRATE SHIP! HOW IS THAT NOT COOL?!

Izuku: "Yeah, Iida--this is the fastest way to get back to Death City due to all the flight delays and investigations out of Death City!"

Mei: "SO WHAT DO YOU THINK, GLASSES?"

Iida: -_-# "I...can't ignore the pragmatism."

eijiro: then it's settled!

Bakugo: *staring at the ship* "...This thing isn't going to crash, is it?"

mina: WE ARE GOING HOME IN STYLE, BABY!

Mei: "NOPE, KACC--"

Bakugo: *glares*

Mei: OwO; "...Bakugo. It is air-worthy! Or you can deal with cramped seating in couch--"

Bakugo: "Let's get on board."

-elsewhere-

izumi:......

Spirit: *sets down a cupcake and some milk* "..." *sits with her* "Your classmates explained what happened."

izumi:......

Spirit: "Sweetie, I'm sorry. I just thought...until I could sort out what happened, it'd be best..." *sighs* "Don't believe that nonsense--those kids are idiots."

izumi:...it's not fair, dad.....

Spirit: "No, it isn't..." *looking away from some photos on the mantle, one of Maka...*

izumi: i thought, partially imitating her would help me feel closer, but it hasnt helped at all. i just-....i wish they wouldnt compare me to someone i never met!

Spirit: "I know--and no one is expecting you to be someone else. You're Izumi--and that's who you are."

izumi: yeah, people always say that, 'be yourself!' 'be yourself!' but how can i do that when i dont even know who 'myself' is supposed to be?

Spirit: "...That's what takes so much time to figure out."

izumi:....*sigh*

Spirit: "Sorry, I'm not much help..."

izumi:...*hug*

Spirit: *hug* *pat pat*

izumi: thanks dad.....

Spirit: "You're welcome...Let's take this one day at a time..."

-elsewhere-

Saria: T~T "How am I going to explain this to my dads..."

Asher: "Just sneak in through the window when they don't notice you're coming home."

lukas: a fine mess we're in.

lei-lei: mrgrgr! this is so unfair! those mean girls were the ones that started it, not us!

Yafeu: "IT WASN'T OUR FAULT--THOSE REPROBATES WERE THE ONES WHO HURT IZUMI!"

Duncan: "...They hurt me, too."

hibiki: that one's less surprising.

Duncan: >_<# "SCREW YOU!"

Sid: *tosses an eraser at Duncan's head* "Pipe down!"

lukas: OxO

Sid: "I think you all need a punishment to show you the error of your ways--and since you're all interested in physical activity..." *holds up toilet plungers and scrubbers*

-elsewhere-

naho: thanks, naomin.

Naomi: "Any time--we all get hot and bothered about things we're passionate about." *passes a tissue*

naho: right. *sniffles*.......

Naomi: *pat pat* "I think a walk may help--we're in Hollywood after all." *smiles* "And I got a business credit card..."

naho: *sniffing*

Naomi: "..." *hug* "It's okay."

naho: no....*her eyes go almost wild* i smell blood......

Naomi: "?!! N-Naho?"

naho: it's coming from over here! *runs inside to the staff areas*

Naomi: *follows, dialing her phone*

naho: in here! *it seems to be the trailer of the make up artist*

Naomi: *snaps a pic of the trailer, texts it to the Agency LA team* "Okay--let's be careful about this..." *looking at the door*

-seems ajar-

naho: *looks inside* in the trashcan.

-there is a note on the desk and a photo-

Naomi: *studies*

-the photo is of carina-

Naomi: "Why would this be here?"

note; mags, since mr bishop has failed to pay up, why not take his little angel downtown to visit ~Don Dios

Naomi: "...Oh man..."

naho: !!!

-in the trashcan is a bloody box cutter knife-

Naomi: "!!!" *snaps pics*

-elsewhere-

Shinoda: *hangs up* "I have finished travel arrangements."

nea: excellent. we'll be regrouping with emine and the others soon, and then we raid the fear factory's base!

Shinoda: "Right! Oh, this will be a good opportunity to finally put them down--"

*ACHOO!*

*something like spires explode through the wall, nearly piercing Shinoda and Nea*

nea: O_O WHAT THE FUCK?!

Shinoda: *had tried to block for Nea* Q__Q

Zuno: *sniffle* "Sorry--my nosehairs have been all weird lately..."

-elsewhere-

*a giant goby frog is hopping in place impatiently*

*an old farmer pets it*

Chai: <Hey, hey--it's okay, calm down. It's just a short trip. And they even got you your own seat!>

Oolong: Q_Q *nudge nudge*

kisuke: <mr chai?>

Chai: ??? <Yeah, Chibi-suke?>

kisuke: <will the marketplace be far?>

Chai: <Just a few hours--we should be back by nightfall.> *loads up the wagon*

kisuke: <be safe!>

Chai: <You know me! And don't forget your chores!>

kisuke: <yes sir!>

-elsewhere-

Bakugo: *passed out in his comfy seat* "Zzz..."

Iida: -_-

mina: woooooah! so cool!

Hagakure: "I can see the horizon!"

Izuku: ^^; *looking around the walls of the ship* "It is some impressive tech..."

-text message-

Izuku: "???" *looks*

melissa: [dont worry deku, your secret is safe with me]

Izuku: "...?" ("What is she talking about? I hadn't said anything to her even after she realized All Might--!!!!") O________O "..." [kay thanx]

ochako: isnt this fun, deku? *she's in a pirate costume*

Izuku: "... ... ..." ^^;;;;;;; "SUPER FUN YES FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN..."

Todoroki: "...Where did you get that?"

ochako: oh this? there's a room with lots of pirate themed costumes and props! hatsu-mei said it's for guests to get into the spirit of things on the ship. ^^

Iida: -____-#

Mei: *in a captain's outfit* "YAR, MATEYS!"

mina: *SQUEEEE* SHOW US THE COSTUME ROOM!

Mei: "TO THE STARBOARD GALLEY!" *swings a sword in that direction*

-elsewhere-

iroha: *looking out the window*

Iroha's Dad: "Excited?"

iroha: hmm? oh, yeah!

Iroha’s Mom: ^^ "I know this will be a new experience--but we'll get to see something new."

iroha: yeah...(and i'll find ui there....i just know it....she just has to be, that's where her hospital is after all....)

Iroha's Mom: "I think you'll like the neighborhood, too! The neighbors are friendly..."

iroha: do you think there'll be other magical girls?

Iroha's Dad: "Um...Maybe?"

Iroha's Mom: *nudges her husband* "Hey, come on! Kamihama is like a magical girl capital, right?"

iroha: i know that, i meant like in our neighborhood. ^^;

Iroha's Dad: "We could hold a potluck and see what we find out."

-elsewhere-

sayaka: wow! you were actually in the kamihama winter parade?

mami: yep. i was kind of called in at last minute. ^^;

Crona: "A-Ah..."

kyouko: they originally wanted to bring in that local artist, alina gray, right?

mami: yes, but her take on the dress was a bit.....obscene.... ^^;

Crona: ._.;;;

kyouko: yeah, she is a bit controversial. she makes art about death for cryin’ out loud.....she'd fit right in with the death city crowd.

Crona: >~<; "That's kind of creepy..."

-elsewhere-

Todoroki: *adjusting his pirate outfit* "...This seems silly."

Izuku: *putting on a bandana*

eijiro: THIS IS SO COOL!

Bakugo: *wearing an eyepatch, carrying a big-ass sword* "...Okay. I could get used to this..."

Iida: -_-; *has a parrot on his shoulder*

kaminari: yolo~ yolo~ a pirate's life for me~

jirou:....*siiiiigh* -_____-

Mei: OwO; "C-Careful--Grunkle has a rule against that song..."

momo: *squints* ... !!! oh! come look! out in the distance!

Izuku: "??? What is it?" *picks up a spyglass*

-sky whales can be seen on the horizon-

Izuku: *GASPS*

Iida: "Incredible!"

mina: WOOOAH THAT'S SO COOL!!

tsuyu: i've only ever seen sky whales in books or on tv.

Izuku: *snapping pictures*

Hagakure: "THIS IS INCREDIBLE!"

sero: huh, the world's full of surprises, huh?

Todoroki: "Hmm...I think I hear their singing..."

-elsewhere-

Asher: "..." *knocks*

sachiko: yes?

Asher: "Hello, Mrs. Albarn...How's Izumi?"

sachiko: oh, asher, come on in, she's resting right now.

lukas: ...

Saria: ^^; *waves* "Hello, ma'am..."

sachiko: and i see you brought friends.

Yafeu: "HI! YOU HAVE A LOVELY HOME!"

Asher: -____-; "..." *looks at Izumi's door*

-she has a rather adorable name plate on the door-

Asher: "..." *sighs* *small knock*

-it's unlocked-

izumi: *lying in bed, facing the wall*

Asher: "..." *opens the door slightly* "...Hey."

izumi:....hey....

Asher: "...This okay, or..."

izumi:.....*holding a pink dog plushie*

Asher: *sits down* "...Nice room...Sorry."

izumi:...you didnt...do anything wrong...

Asher: *rubs their neck* "...I let my meister get hurt."

izumi:......

Asher: "I'm not very good at this, am I?"

izumi:...thanks..for standing up for me....

Asher: "..." *nods* "It was the others who did that..."

izumi:.....

Asher: "...They're actually outside. Everyone was worried, wanted to make sure...you were okay."

izumi:....im fine....

Asher: "..." *looks at the dog* "...The plushie has a name?"

izumi: this is Wancha. she helps me feel better when i feel bad...

Asher: "She's...very pink. A gift?"

izumi: my mom got her for me when i was little.

Asher: *nods* "That's nice...She looks like a happy companion."

izumi:.....*stomach growl*

Asher: "??? You haven't eaten?"

izumi: *shakes head*

Asher: "...Want to step out with me to get something? Or we could bring something in..."

izumi:...yeah...

Asher: *nods* *opens the door--*

Saria: *ear to the door* "...!" ^\\\^;

izumi: oh, saria!

Saria: "Hey! Just wanted to see how you're doing."

Asher: -____-

-elsewhere-

PlushFix: *tapping his fluffy mitt on his phone* "...DANG GPS ISN'T WORKING!"

mimeca: *raises hand*

PlushFix: "Yes, Mimeca?"

mimeca: *makes a 'hitchhiking' motion*

PlushFix: "OOOOOO, good plan!" *holds out his leg, whistles*

-elsewhere-

All Might: *lifts his suitcase* *looks around* "..."

melissa: *waves*

All Might: "!!" *waves back, walks to her* "Hey! Come to see me off?"

melissa: yeah, dad's still in the hospital....i'll probably see him later today...

All Might: *nods* "I'm on my way there to say goodbye..."

melissa: ah....want me to go with you?

All Might: *nods* "I'd like that."

-elsewhere-

Pirate Sidekick: "YAR! Any last words?!" *aiming a sword at someone on the plank*

kaminari: OwO;;;

Mei: ^w^; "Let's not be too hasty..."

Mineta: >_>; "I'm just glad they didn't get at me for teaching the parrot new words..."

Parrot: "SQWAK! LADIES! GIVE ME SOME SUGAR!"

ochako: *offers the parrot a sugar cube*

Parrot: *TILTS HEAD...picks up the cube, happily gnaws on it* ^w^

Mineta: *relieved sigh*

*looks like other students are listening to pirate stories...*

-elsewhere-

Ogun: *puts items in the grocery cart, then notices--* "...Put the cigarettes back."

juria: *grumbles*

Pan: *checking off the list* "Don't forget your cooking responsibilities: we need nutritious meals--" *puts back Ogun's cupcakes*

Ogun: D8< "Sir!"

-elsewhere-

Poe: *looks through the newspaper--and spots a photograph of--* "..." *tenses*

karl: o^o~?

*the newspaper shows a crime scene...Touma is seen in the background...*

Poe: *small growl*

karl: *chitter*

Poe: "..." *folds the paper, hides it under a book* *frowns*

-elsewhere-

Tanizaki: *looking over the photos* "...Horrible."

naho: we figured it out!

Kenji: "Wow--so, this was about a bad relationship?"

naho: what? it has to do with local mafia!

Tanizaki: "Take us through this again--what was the mafia hoping to get out of this murder?"

naomi: from the looks of things, it seems miss bishop's dad had mafia ties, so they executed her as a way of 'sending a message'.

Tanizaki: "Where was her father last seen?"

naomi: we're trying to figure that part out, but we do know who the main suspect is.

Tanizaki: "I think the police will be interested in hearing this."

naho: we suspect the make-up artist had something to do with this.

make up artist: !!!!

maki: you found the evidence in her trailer, right?

caleb: then again, it could have been planted there to frame her too.

Tanizaki: *looks at the Make Up Artist* "Where were you at the time of the murder?"

make up artist: *shaking* i-i-i was-...i-i was...

naho: *shivering*

Tanizaki: "Hey...We're just here to make sure we got the facts right..."

Kenji: *noticing Naho* "???"

make up artist: i-i-i was just-

naho: *pounces on her, her eyes crazy*

naomi: NAHO! STOP!

wiggum: WHAT THE HELL?!

Tanizaki: "?!!! Kenji--"

Kenji: *tries to grab Naho--*

naomi: bro, give me a knife!

amanda: i-i dont feel well.

Tanizaki: "?!" *hands her one*

naomi: *makes a cut on her wrist* here naho, drink this.

naho: *sniffs and latches on, sucking on the wound*

make up artist: *in shock*

wiggum: EEEEW SHE'S A FREAK!

caleb: !!!! s-she's a vampire!

atsushi: ......

maki: naho? are you ok?

naho: *pulls away, panting and crying*

Touya: *staring*

Estevez: *rubbing his chin, staring at Naho and Naomi*

naomi: it's ok, naho, it's ok.

naho: i-im sorry....i could....smell the remnants of blood on her....and i could feel her heart pounding and i-i lost it....*sobbing*

Tanizaki: "Let's get you out of here for a bit..."

make up artist:....i...i was.....only.....following orders......

Tanizaki: "I think the cops will have more to say about this."

Touya: "..."

-elsewhere-

All Might: *sitting by David's bed*

melissa: h-hey dad....

David: *wakes up* "...All Might? Melissa?"

All Might: "Hey, buddy...How you holding up?"

David: "...In a bit of pain."

melissa:......

All Might: "...I know what you did was wrong...but I appreciate your concern."

David: "...What's going to happen when you lose it all? This world can't survive that--not like how things were before."

All Might: "..." *pats Melissa's shoulder* "You've seen what Melissa invented?"

melissa: the first on kinda....broke, but i'll make a new one soon....

All Might: *nods* "And if you have kids like this out in the world, like Melissa and Young Midoriya, then I have to have faith that our future is going to be fine."

-elsewhere-

Hani: *opens a drawer, removing a jar of honey...one of dozens of bottles of honey in just that one drawer* "..." *spoons out a tablespoon of it--*

*KNOCK KNOCK*

student: hey teach?

Hani: "Oh--it's just you, Andrea." *relaxes but has a more sour persona than her usual chipper facade* "What brings you here?"

andrea: just, uh....

Hani: "Yes? Well, spit it out?"

andrea: so, i heard that dr shield was in the hospital.

Hani: "Uh huh..." *licks the spoon clean* "He got there after that failed attack by some random thugs."

andrea: riiiight, so...

Hani: -_-# *sighs* *presses a button to shut the curtains...stands up, walks around* "What is wrong?" *pulls out a screwdriver*

andrea: well, there's a rumor going around that he might have had more involvement in the incident than just being a hostage.

Hani: *staring at the back of Andrea's neck* "Is that so? What do you mean?"

andrea: they're saying, get this, that he orchestrated the whole thing! can you believe that?

Hani: "Do you believe that?" *taps the screwdriver against the palm of her hand*

andrea: i mean, i dunno.

Hani: "Let me help answer that...my busy bee, your labor is a chant, your idleness a tune, oh, for a bee's experience of clovers and of noon..."

andrea: ugnhh... *collapses*

Hani: *groans* "Thought she'd never shut up." *drags her over to a chair* "HMPH!" *lifts her into the chair, lets her head rest on the desk...then reaches to her neck and...pulls enough of the skin away to reveal a USB port...she plugs a cable into the port and then into her computer...revealing a list of folders marked by date, and video files marked by times* "Let's see who exactly has been telling you that news."

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: *hanging upside down from a bar atop his jail cell* ;_-_ "Let us out already...I'm hungry. These liquid meals suck! I'm bored!"

Droid Security Guard: "SHUT UP."

mana: *worried*

Shotaro: "I don't wanna! I want some bones so I can open up this cell, get Mana out, watch her beat you up, then we'll go rescue Yohei and leave this-- ...How high up are we?"

Droid: "416659.162 kilometers."

Shotaro: "THIS REALLY HIGH UP PLACE!" >n< "...Do you need me to do any good deeds now?"

mana: (i just hope he remembers the plan...)

Droid: "YES. WE HAVE ANOTHER DROID THAT NEEDS TO BE RECHARGED." *drops a tiny droid-mouse into the slot, passing it into Shotaro's room* "PLUG IT INTO THE WALL OUTLET."

Shotaro: TnT "This isn't a good deed--it's just busy work..." *plugs the mouse's USB tail into the wall outlet*

Mouse Droid: O_O *its eyes fade in and out as it charges*

-elsewhere-

Rin: "Yo, Shiemi! How's studying?"

shiemi: exhausting.

Rin: "No kidding..." *flips open his notebook* "I can't figure out any of this--the Tanacu incident is just bizarre."

shiemi: *looks*

*it seems to be a mistaken case of demonic possession that led to the death of a nun in Romania...*

Rin: "Just bizarre--they screwed it up."

shiemi: how awful...

Bon: "The reason that's on the test is to make sure you look for all pieces of evidence instead of running in blind, Okumura--duh."

Rin: "Oh, really? Huh--that makes sense. Thanks, Bon!" ^w^

Bon: -_-;

-elsewhere-

Yafeu: "WOW. YOU HAVE A BIG BACKYARD, IZUMI!" *collapses on the grass*

Saria: ^^;

izumi: yeah, it is big, i guess.

axel: sweet shed! we should totally have a camp out in it sometime! bro and i did that all the time as kids, right bro?

Zeke: "Yeah, we'd pretend it was a fortress and that there were dragons outside--and hit Dad with a slingshot by mistake."

axel: ^^;

Asher: *looks at the tree* "...Maybe a tire swing...Nah, that's stupid, isn't it?"

hibiki: sounds like fun.

Asher: >_>;

Saria: "Maybe a barbecue, too!"

izumi: i'd like that...

Spirit: "Speaking of which..." *sets down a tray of hamburgers*

hibiki: oh!

Zeke: "Thanks, Mr. Albs!"

-elsewhere-

Black Star: *calling Naho* "..."

naho: hello?

Black Star: "Hey! It's the amazing Black Star! How you holding up?"

naho: im pretty good. ^^

Black Star: "Good! How's California?"

naho: it's nice. really busy. *wipes her eyes*

Black Star: "...I see...You sure you're okay?"

naho: eh? oh, im fine, im fine, really.

Black Star: "Alright--glad to hear! You enjoy this trip, okay?! Do some touristy stuff, like taking photos!"

naho: right! i will, thanks. and tell sakkun and lilac that im thinking about them ok?

Black Star: "On it! Later!"

naho: ok, bye. *hangs up and wipes her eyes*

Naomi: *knock knock*

naho: it's open.

Naomi: "Hey...Feeling better?"

naho: i guess.....

Naomi: *sits by her* "...You really helped us on this case."

naho: even though i lost control and caleb brent probably hates me now.

Naomi: "But you got control back...and you don't know that--maybe he was just surprised."

naho: .....did i mess up?

Naomi: "I don't think so...but this is something you're having to deal with."

naho: im scared that i'll lose control again and hurt someone....*whimpering*

Naomi: "..." *hug* "Has this happened before?"

naho: i-i dont think it has....

Naomi: "What do you notice before it happens? You just really want blood?"

naho: well, i can smell the blood, and then i see just their veins and heart and stuff, and i dont see anything else.....it was scary, like i wasnt even me....

Naomi: ^^; "Sure...I'm there if you need it."

-elsewhere-

chie:........

Tool: *waves down the car*

toru: baba?

Kepuri: "...Babe..."

akaderu: yo.

nea: hello dearies~

lin: EMINEEEEEEE!!!! *TACKLE HUG*

Emine: "OW!" *collapses*

lin: I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! TT^TT

Emine: "..." *hug*

chie:......

nea: well, we better get going, time's a'wasting.

Emine: "...I want to know what you intend to do and what resources we have."

nea: alright, so here's the plan.

-elsewhere-

Security Droid: *opens a slot in Mana's cell* "PUT YOUR HANDS HERE FOR THE CUFFS."

mana:...fine....

Security Droid: *puts cuffs onto her* "DON'T TRY ANY FUNNY STUFF, YOU TWO." *opens both cells...Shotaro also has on cuffs*

Shotaro: "??? Where are we going?"

Security Droid: *aims a taser at Mana* "MOVE."

mana: ...

*the doors open, revealing a hallway...the walls are clear, revealing all of outer space, with a door at the opposite end...*

mana: ......

Shotaro: "Oh, wow! Look at all the stars!"

Droid: "I SAID MOVE!" *shoves Shotaro, knocking him down*

mana: hey!

???: "Now, now--that's no way to treat prisoners...The President won't be happy, R-8."

R-8 (Security Droid): "..." *steps back*

mana: ??

Luke: *picks up Shotaro*

Shotaro: ._.;

mana: let him go!

Luke: *picks up Mana, too* "Be careful how you speak, Hinoki. You don't want to be crushed too, do you?"

mana: *she just stares at him* ....

Luke: *carries them effortlessly to the door, which slides open to reveal a dark room with curved walls and a high ceiling...in the center is a crucifix...*

mana: !!! YOHEI!

Yohei: *looks up* "...Thank goodness..." *tries to move--but he's stuck*

Shotaro: "Hey, you're alive! Great! Now we can bust out of here--"

Luke: *tosses Shotaro to the floor, as he skids to a stop, crashing into the bottom of the crucifix*

Shotaro: "...Ow."

mana: SHOWTARO!

Luke: *lowers Mana* "The President will see you now."

Yohei: "President...I crushed the President with the Fear Robot..."

{Yohei: *hands over a chip to Dr. Agei* "Here you go."

{Agei: "Finally--it took you long enough!" *waves to mechanics* "Take this and install it immediately!"}

{mechanic: got it, boss!}

{???: *walks down a stairway* *looks up* "..." *smiles wickedly* "Finally...With this, Mr. Nanami, I can strike fear into the hearts of those despicable humans...Present company excluded, of course."}

{Yohei: *lights up a cigarette* "No skin off my nose..." *exhales* "Ready to test it out?"}

{Queenie: *nods to the mechanic* "Initiate the test!"}

{mechanic: roger roger!}

{*the Fear Robot is motionless*}

{Agei: "...NOTHING IS HAPPENING, IS IT?!"}

{Yohei: "Hang on--it just needs to warm up..." *stepping back towards a Fear Factory jeep...*}

{Queenie: *stares at the Robot...*}

{Fear Robot: *its eyes brighten, and it steps forward, just tapping into the mechanics on the stairway*}

{Queenie: *her smile widens, as the Fear Robot approaches her...*}

{Fear Robot: *stops moving...then starts to shimmy in place*}

{Queenie: "??? What the hell? Is...Is that some kind of dance? Like the kind bees do to communicate?"}

{Yohei: *starts the jeep* *shouts* "Yeah, it's an interpretative dance I programmed! You know, to test the motor functions!"}

{Agei: -_-; "Madam President, I think Nanami is wasting our time, yes?"}

{Queenie: *enraptured* "--and this movement tells other bees where to find the best flowers! It's so delightful!" *overjoyed in one spot...right under the Robot*}

{Yohei: *takes out a remote...pushes a button...*}

{Fear Robot: *starts dancing faster--then lifts its foot--*}

{Agei: O___O; *steps back...then runs away--*}

{Queenie: OwO;}

{*CRUNCH, SPLAT, STAMP STAMP STAMP*}

{mechanic: 0_0}

{mechanic 2:....does this mean no raise?}

{Agei: D8< *dials his phone* "VICE PRESIDENT! WE HAVE A PROBLEM, DON'T WE?!"}

{Rodigy: "...How would I know? I'm not where you are. What is--"}

{Yohei: *drives off...looks at the rear-view mirror...*}

Yohei: "...I saw her get squished under the foot of the Fear Robot."

Shotaro: "Wow...She must be a pancake now!"

mana: -_-; that's your main concern?

Yohei: "I agree...Since the Robot's feet had markings along the bottom, it's more like she was squished into a waffle."

Shotaro: "Ha ha! Waffled President!"

mana: guys, please. -_-;

*FWOOM*

Luke: *smiles*

*something lights up in the room, in an oddly insectoid shape...*

mana: !??

Shotaro: "?!!! Hey, it's all bug-like! Kepuri must be here!"

Yohei: *squints* "Guys, Kepuri may be smart--but how would she locate us?"

Shotaro: "The GPS chip she put in your brain."

Yohei: "WHAT."

Shotaro: "What?"

mana: GUYS

*the light fades, revealing a bee-shaped human-sized container...a figure in shadows is seen against the light...the door opens, as she walks out*

mana: !!!!!

Yohei: "...No..."

Queenie Hani: *smiles* "Hello, Mr. Nanami. It's been too long..."

Shotaro: "...That beehive lady from the island got kidnapped too?"

mana: you!

Queenie: "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Hani, I Island Executive. And I am the President of Fear Factory, the one this turncoat left to die--"

Shotaro: "Waffle Woman!"

Queenie: "... ... ...Akiho."

Luke: *bumps the bottom of his laser sword atop Shotaro's head*

Shotaro: "OW!"

mana: SHOWTARO! *glares* let them go!

Queenie: "All in good time...I intend to free you all from your lives--along with the rest of humanity."

Shotaro: "?!!! You can't do that! That's just wrong!"

mana: yeah! *lunges at her*

Queenie: *holds out a hand--*

*Mana feels herself freeze in place*

mana: .....

Shotaro: "...Well?! Mana?! Aren't you going to bash her face in?!"

mana:....*lunges*

Shotaro: "?! That's the wrong way!" *blocks*

Yohei: "...So that means..."

Queenie: *smirks* "I never showed you my Dokeshi Ability, did I, Mr. Nanami?" *opens her purse, removing a spoon and a jar of honey* "I have mind control abilities."

Shotaro: "Mana! Did you go blind or something?! I'm not the Waffle President!"

mana: .....*throwing punches*

Shotaro: "Stop it! This isn't good..."

Yohei: "Let go of her, you monster!"

Queenie: "Oh, a monster am I? What is it, Mr. Nanami? Is that what you think of _my_ kind? After all, I thought you married one--"

Yohei: *snarls* "WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, I'M GOING TO DO WORSE THAN JUST STOMP YOU WITH A STUPID DANCE!"

Queenie: "..." *licks the spoon clean with a smirk* "Temper, temper. It'll be the death of you."

Shotaro: "Yohei! I don't know how to stop her without hurting her! And she punches way too hard!"

Yohei: "..."

Shotaro: "YOHEI! I don't know what to do! Help!"

Yohei: "..."

mana: *PUNCH PUNCH KICK*

Shotaro: "YOHEI!"

Yohei: "!!! You need to break off the mind control!"

Queenie: "Ha! It can't be undone. Knock me out, and she'll stay in that state until I will her to stop!"

Yohei: *smiles* "I think you forget what is Shotaro's ability..."

Shotaro: "??? But I don't have any bones!"

Yohei: "Oh, yes, you do...PUNCH QUEENIE IN THE MOUTH!"

Queenie: "...I'm sorry, what?"

Shotaro: "??? I don't understand, but okay!"

Queenie: "!!! Akiho!"

mana: *lunges*

Luke: *laser sword out, swings at Shotaro--*

Shotaro: "?!!! Mana, forgive me..." *picks up Mana by the head--and flings her right into Luke's chest--*

*CRASH*

mana: *groan*

*Mana's head is now shoved _through_ Luke's torso*

Luke: O_O;

Queenie: "USELESS!" *stamps her foot* "DRONES! GET IN HERE NOW--"

*PUNCH*

Shotaro: *punches Queenie so hard it knocks out one of her teeth*

mana: !!! WHAT THE FUCK?!

Queenie: "GAH! ...WHAT THE HELL?! Do you know how much reconstructive surgery I needed just to keep up appearances?!"

mana: *shoves herself out of luke's torso and lunges*

Yohei: "..." *glances at Mana* "..." *looks at Shotaro* "I don't think Mana is out of the Waffle Woman's grasp. Her tooth is like a bone, so shove it in your mouth and take on her power."

Shotaro: "What?! I don't want to put her tooth in my mouth!"

Yohei: "You put dead animal bones in your mouth."

-PUNCH-

mana: THAT'S FOR THROWING ME INTO A GUY'S CHEST! as for you! *PUNCHES QUEENIE IN THE FACE*

Queenie: "GAH! Why is everyone PUNCHING ME?!!!!" *stamps her foot up and down* "DRONES! GET IN HERE ALREADY! KILL THE BOY AND THE OGRE GIRL!"

Shotaro: *knocked out, sucking on Queenie's tooth* XxX

mana: *GLARES* showtaro, get yohei. im gonna-....SHOWTARO!!

Yohei: "Yeah, maybe knocking out the guy who could absorb the mind-controlling powers was a bad plan, Mana..."

*windows open around the dome, with Drones pointing bee-stinger shaped projectiles at Mana and Yohei*

mana: WHY IS HE SUCKING ON A TOOTH?! *dodging* ugh NEVERMIND!

Queenie: "KILL THOSE BRATS!"

*stingers start firing towards Mana*

mana: *dodging* *running for showtaro*

Yohei: *looking around* "Huh...Fear Factory bots still have terrible aim, don't they?"

Queenie: "SHUT UP, YOU!"

Luke: *sparking...rips himself loose at the torso, running on two arms after Mana*

Shotaro: *groans, waking up* *looks up* "!!! Mana! A gremlin!"

mana: ?!

Luke: "Get back here! The Queen commands it--" *leaps towards Mana, mouth open--*

-POW-

Luke: *knocked back into the crucifix--slamming through it...*

Yohei: "..." *stands still...as the crucifix falls to the side, with Yohei still attached to it*

mana: oh shit!

Yohei: "Hi. Could you get me out of here already before we're shot to death? Or, so that _I'm_ not shot to death?"

Shotaro: "...Mana, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

mana: cant say i am, honestly.

Shotaro: "I'll take the top of the letter T, you take the bottom of the letter T!"

Yohei: "...No."

-and so-

mana: how do we get into these scenarios?

Shotaro: "Must be luck!" ^w^

Yohei: *hanging from the crucifix, staring facedown on the floor* "YOU COULD HAVE JUST FREED ME FIRST!"

Drones: *firing at Shotaro and Mana, running after them*

Luke: "Don't let them escape, Drones!" *still running on his arms*

Queenie: *holding ice to her mouth* "Give me back my tooth!"

*up ahead is a side: Turn left for Escape Pods; Turn right for R&D; Straight Ahead for the Cafeteria; Turn around for the Video Game Arcade*

Shotaro: "Ooh! Look! An arcade! Let's go back--"

mana: TURN LEFT!

Shotaro: "Okay!" *turns...right*

Yohei: O____O;

mana: SHOWTAROOOO! DX<

*The crucifix slams onto the floor...with Yohei underneath it*

Shotaro: "..."

mana: D8

*The Drones all stop*

Yohei: "..." *muffled groan*

Queenie: "...HA! NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS!" *leaps on top of the crucifix, stamping on it*

mana: *PUNCH TO THE BACK*

Queenie: *face-first into the wall*

Shotaro: *pushes the crucifix back up...* "So...How you feeling--"

mana: showtaro, come on!

Yohei: *freed--and his hands wrap around Shotaro's throat* "...Let's get the fuck out of here already."

Shotaro: XwX *choked* " 'Kay..."

mana: let's go!

Yohei: *runs with Mana* "Escape pods. I'll need to check the trajectory inside the unit..."

Drones: *firing at them*

mana: ACK!

Yohei: *taps onto the keyboard* "Okay--I programmed it for Death City. Get in--"

*CHOMP*

Yohei: "OW!"

Luke: *biting Yohei's leg*

Shotaro: "...Oh! Now I recognize him! That's the guy Mana fought in the Robot Tournament! ...He got shorter."

mana: YOHEI! COME ON! *reaches out*

Yohei: *reaches out a hand--*

*The door slams shut on the escape pod on Mana and Shotaro*

Shotaro: D8 *slams his fist on the door* "Hello?!"

Yohei: "...Well, shit."

mana: !!! SHIT! *trying to open the door*

Drones: *approaching*

Yohei: "...Mana, Shotaro...Tell Chie...I'm sorry."

mana: YOHEI COME O-

Yohei: *slams the button on the pod, shooting it into space*

mana: NO!!

Shotaro: *slammed into the wall, as the escape pod blasts towards Earth...*

mana: GRK-

Queenie: *watching from the window* "...Initiate Phase 2. Tell our soldiers to scour Death City--scour every major city. I have given you the map of the Dokeshi's locations--so we are moving forward..."

Yohei: *stares at her*

Queenie: "And bring him to my room. I'm not through with him...AND GET ME A DAMN DENTIST!"

mana:......DAMMIT! GOD! FUCKING DAMMIT!! STUPID YOHEI! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE A GODDAMN MARTYR ALL THE TIME?!

Shotaro: "Because he knows he'll be fine."

mana: how do YOU know that?!

Shotaro: *smiles* "Because things tend to work out when you work for them! We stopped Fear Factory before! How hard can this be?"

mana:.....

*something big and blue is seen through the window, quickly approaching*

Escape Pod Computer: "ERROR. COORDINANTS NOT RECOGNIZED. PREPARE FOR CRASH LANDING."

mana: !!!!!

Shotaro: "...Hey, is that the ocean--"

*SPLASH!*

mana: !!!

Shotaro: *slams into the wall, as the escape pod turns over and over itself as it descends into the sea...*

mana: shit!

*the pod finally smashes into the ocean floor...and something drips onto Mana's head*

mana: .....ha...hahaha....well...we're really fucked now, huh?

Shotaro: *looking out the window* "Oh, fish!"

Fish: O^o

Shotaro: "Hello, little fish--"

*a shark comes by, scoops up the fish in its mouth--then spits out the bones*

Shotaro: "..."

mana: .....heh....stupid showtaro...always so optimistic...even when we're probably going to die.....

Shotaro: "..." *grabs Mana's hat* "Here, use this to breathe for the next few minutes."

mana: !!!! my hat! how did you-

Shotaro: *leans back on his hands so he can lift up his feet--and slams them into the window, breaking it open, causing water to flood into the pod*

mana: !!! SHOWTARO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Shotaro: *disappears into the water, while the water rising, with Mana's head just poking over it next to the pod's ceiling*

mana: !!!! *shuts her eyes*

*something grabs her, pulling her down the pod and out the window--and up towards the surface

mana: ?!?!? *holding onto her hat*

Shotaro: *Bone of the Angelfish, as he assumes a more aquatic appearance, one arm around Mana while his back feet are like fins, helping him swim upward until their heads over the ocean's surface*

mana: *gasps and coughs*

Shotaro: *gasps, dropping the bone out of his mouth to lose the gills* "Woo! We made it!"

mana: ha..ha.....*laughs*

Shotaro: "Hee hee! We're alive, Mana!"

mana: *laughs* i was so scared, you dummy.

Shotaro: "Me too! You were all 'Ah, we're going to die!' so I did the first thing I could think of..."

mana: i really thought...we would die....you know the last thing i probably would have done?

Shotaro: "???"

mana: *kiss*

Shotaro: "...?!"

-they seem to be...floating?-

Shotaro: >\\\\\> "If-If you needed oxygen, I could've just gotten us here faster than you kissing me--...Do you...feel like everything's gotten lighter?"

mana: m-maybe....i-it's my fi-

-PLOP-

fisherman: <WHAT THE?!>

Shotaro: O_O; "...Is this a net?"

mana:..... O///////////O;;;;;

fisherman 2: <a-are those kids?>

Fisherman 3: <That or the ugliest fish we've ever caught...>

Shotaro: *bumps into Mana in the net* "Hi! Can you point us to Death City?"

mana: d-do-<DO YOU MIND?!>

fisherman: <im gonna get the boss, she'll know what to do!>

Shotaro: "We lucked out again, Mana!"

-elsewhere-

setsuna: !!!

Shinoda: "??? What is it?"

setsuna: showtaro and mana! they're on a boat!

Zuno: "??? Is it a motherf--"

Assi: *slaps a hand over Zuno's mouth* "No."

setsuna: they seem to be on a fishing boat towards....japonshima!

Shinoda: "All the way back there? Is that where Fear Factory is operating again?"

*the front door is heard opening, as Kepuri, Chie, and others return*

nea: we're baaaaack~

saki: chie! *hugs her*

Kepuri: *storms in* "Hugs and love later!" *presses a button under the living room table--causing the TV to flip over to reveal a giant computer system--but not before the flip smacks Assi in the head*

Assi: "OW!"

Tool: *walks in* "..."

io: tuu! tuu!

Tool: "..." *weak smile, picks up Io* "Hey, buddy."

io: ^o^

Shinoda: *looks at Nea* "How much did you tell them about the plan?"

Emine: *enters with Lin* "Enough..."

nea: told them everything~

Kepuri: *marking on the computer screen's map of the world* "That covers Salt Lake City and Death City, as well as some contacts we can make in London...But that leaves too many other metropolitan areas uncovered! We don't even know anyone left in Japonshima, do we?!"

setsuna: speaking of japonshima....

Kepuri: "What what what?!"

-she explains what happened-

I Island Executive: "Andrea? Have you seen Professor Hani?"

andrea: i dont think i have.

Executive: "Darn...If you do, please have her report to the Executive Room? There's something important to discuss."

-elsewhere-

All Might: "Well, there's my plane..."

melissa: *waves*

All Might: *waves* "Be safe, Melissa! I'll call when I get back to Death City."

-elsewhere-

Chai: *loads the last bag of fertilizer onto his cart...then holds his back* <Getting too old for this...>

*some people walk by in a rather stilted fashion...*

oolong: ??

Person 1: *to shopkeep* <We want all of your fertilizer.>

shopkeeper: <um...ok?>

Chai: ^^; <Sorry about that, folks--I did buy some of it before you got here-->

Person 2: *takes Chai's bag*

Chai: D8< <Hey!>

shopkeeper: <OI!>

Person 1: *snatches more bags, carrying them effortlessly*

Chai: *grabs a broom, smacking Person 2* <Let go!>

shopkeeper: <THIEF!!>

Person 1: *their hat comes off...revealing a person with glowing eyes*

Chai: O_O; "..." *drops the broom* <Take it! I don't like that stuff anyway--it smells...>

Person 1: *swings his fist*

Chai: "EEK!" *ducks*

oolong: *TONGUE ATTACK*

Person 1: "?!!!" *pulled back by Oolong*

-yoshi nom'd-

Chai: <Good Oolong!>

*Screams are heard behind Chai, as more of these people in these outfits start terrorizing residents*

shopkeeper: what the hell is going on!?

Chai: <Must be that vaping the kids are doing nowadays--messing with the brain-->

Resident: <Dokeshi! They're all Dokeshi!>

resident 2: <what's happening?!>

Person 3: <We are taking over this village for supplies--starting with explosive material and human labor. Quake before the might of Fear Factory.>

resident 3: <fear factory?!>

Chai: <Does this look like IC Prefecture to you!> *picks up the broom again* *whap whap whap* <Go back where you came from, you city slicker!>

-elsewhere-

Izuku: *looking out over the ship, down at the clouds* "It's just...so amazing up here!"

ochako: hmm? what's that?

*sounds like thunder*

Todoroki: "??? That dark spot...A thunderstorm?"

momo: we better get inside-

*FWOOM*

momo: EEP!

Hagakure: "What the H?!"

jirou: a villain attack?!

*something loud buzzes by--dropping explosives down onto the ship*

Mineta: D8 "WE ALREADY DEALT WITH ONE!"

jirou: !!!!!!!

*it looks to be some insectoid glider, with a giant "FF" logo on its side*

Bakugo: *climbs up from below* "WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THAT NOISE?!"

swashbuckle: alright, battle stations! we got ourselves some ruffians!!

Mei: "Aye-aye, Captain Grunkle!" *jumps into a shooter seat, aiming...*

Izuku: "Battle stations?! Where do we go?!"

ochako: should we be doing this?!

Iida: "We do not have licenses, so we cannot interfere--"

*a giant blast knocks Iida forward*

momo: TENYA!

Iida: *falls over the rail of the ship, descending through the clouds*

momo: !!!!!

Iida: O___O; *desperately running--and just going in a circle downward*

ochako: OH SHIT!

Mei: "EYEGLASSES!" *presses a button--causing a claw to pop out from under the ship, grabbing him*

Iida: ._.;

momo: *phew*

Insectoid Rider 1: *calls through a megaphone* "Attention Swashbuckle! Surrender your airship to the might of Fear Factory!"

swashbuckle: FIRE!

Mei: *aims--and shoots at the Riders*

Insectoid Rider 1: "!!! Swarm them, soldiers!"

-elsewhere-

Bryn: *looking at Io and Toru* "Look at the cute babies, kids! Aren't they just adorable?"

daughter: aww, so cute!

toru: *baby babble*

Bryn: "Now, behave yourself for Aunt Helen, okay, kiddo?" *holds up a high five to her daughter*

daughter: will do, mom.

Bryn: *nods* *stands up, turns to look at Emine and the others* "Just point me where to punch."

lin: will do~

Emine: "First we have to find their target. Knowing how Fear Factory operated in IC Prefecture, they're going to try to find something they can use to power up their technology..."

Bryn: " 'Kay, so, what kind of power is used in Death City? Doubt it's hydroelectric, right?"

nea: that we're figuring out.

Bryn: "Maybe we could convince someone to give us some answers..." *cracks her knuckles, looks outside* "...That guy looks suspicious."

Hiro: *across the street, carrying groceries*

mono: actually, he's just-

Bryn: *roars, rushes at Hiro*

Hiro: O____O; *drops the groceries, runs*

mono: .... -_-

Emine: "At least she's doing something. What can you do, Dokeshi Hunt reject?"

mono: i-i have a knife!

Emine: "..." *holds up a multiple-bladed hand by forming blood around it*

chie: please....now isnt the time... to fight amongst ourselves.....

Emine: "..." *lowers his blade* "You better be useful. We are getting Shotaro back, or God help this world..."

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: "AH-CHOO!" ^^; "Thanks for pulling us out of the water..." *wrapped in a blanket, sipping tea*

captain: <of course. it seems you two have been through quite a lot.>

mana: <no kidding...>

Shotaro: <Yeah! On top of the legless robot man, the giant space station, and our friend stuck up in space, we need to call home!>

captain: <we'll get you back to the island, and you can use a phone there.>

Shotaro: <Yay!> *nudges Mana* <And we can pick up real food, too!>

mana: r-right.

Shotaro: "..." .\\\. <So, um, Mr. Captain? If you hear anyone asking about us and they say they're from Fear Factory, c-can you lie to them?>

-elsewhere-

Chuuya: *gets off the plane at Salt Lake Airport, walking to a limo* "You Abernathy's people?"

grunt: yeah.

Chuuya: *tosses a bag to him* "Get me to the armory."

grunt: r-right.

grunt 2: is that the port mafia's underboss?

grunt 3: he's even dreamier up close~ >w<

Grunt 4: "So he's really buddies with the boss?"

grunt 5: he's a lot younger than i was expecting.

Chuuya: *trying to ignore the gossip, hardening his expression as he gets into the limo...*

Abernathy: *leaning back in the car, smiling* "Welcome back."

grunt: where to, sir?

Abernathy: "Let's swing by--"

Chuuya: "The armory."

grunt: r-right away.

Abernathy: "Um...Buddy, I'm the one to--"

Chuuya: *points at a grunt* "How many mech suit prototypes you got?"

-elsewhere-

Kouyou: "So you'll be staying with me tonight."

miyuri: yaaay sleepover!

sonia: *holding mito*

Kouyou: *nods* "Anything you would like for dinner?"

-elsewhere-

GNN Reporter: *on TV* "We have reports of multiple attacks on Paris, London, and Beijing by a group claiming to be Fear Factory..."

lord death: this is troubling...

Yumi: "We've increased security around potential terrorist sites at DWMA facilities, but that is spreading ourselves thin."

lord death: any updates from the other death scythes?

Yumi: "Spirit is in the middle of something, Justin is checking Amaterasu, Tezca said...something incoherent. And Jinn and Zubaidah are at one of the Sage shrines."

lord death: as for marie and soul?

Yumi: "I asked them to come here for back up for students."

lord death: *nods* and the safe houses?

Yumi: "In optimal condition and ready to receive anyone."

lord death: excellent...i feel this is going to be a long night...

Yumi: *nods* "You also have calls coming in from world leaders. The Governor of Japonshima as well."

lord death: put them on the call then.

Yumi: *presses a button, pulling up a mirror*

Governor: <--ello? Hello, is anyone there?!>

lord death: <yes, this is lord death speaking. i see you're in good health, governer towa.>

Governor Towa: <Appearances can be deceiving--as seen by this horrible news. I was not expecting another Dokeshi uprising...>

lord death: <nor have we. is there anything we can do at present?>

Governor Towa: <Your Death Scythe for our area is not presently here, so we feel we're at a bit of a disadvantage. Are there any members overseas in Japan that could come here to assist with some muscle?>

lord death: <we're currently working on that as we speak.> yumi, who do we have for our japan team?

Yumi: *nods* "They are on their way."

lord death: <they are en route.>

Towa: <Keep us posted, please. It is bad enough we were trying to improve relations with Dokeshi--now we have this PR nightmare.>

-elsewhere-

aimi: daddy, what's going on?

Tetsuda: "...I'm afraid some bad people are out there right now, hurting others."

aimi: im scared, daddy.

Tetsuda: "It's going to be okay...Come on--let's get into the safe room."

-elsewhere-

mana: *making a call*

Tool: *picks up* "Hello?"

mana: tuhl, are you there?

Tool: "Mana?! Is that you?!"

mana: yeah! showtaro is here too, we're in japonshima!

Shotaro: *looking at shirts at a booth* "You got this in a small?"

Tool: "Japonshima...Mana, have you seen the news? How did you even get there? Where's Yohei?"

-she explains what happened-

Tool: "...Okay. We're working to get you both back here, but getting Yohei down from outer space is more challenging. Has Fear Factory followed you?"

mana: i dont think so, but we're laying low for now-

Shotaro: *looks--spots someone* "!!! We got to move!"

mana: ?!

*Fear Factory drones are marching through the street*

mana: !!! hide!

Shotaro: *pushes Mana into the shop's dressing room*

Tool: *on the phone* "Mana? Mana! What's going on?!"

chie: what happened?

Tool: "It was Mana--she's with Shotaro in Japonshima, like Setsuna said. But then the call went out!"

chie: !!!

nea: well, we best get a move on! no time to waste!

Tool: "It's not going to be easy to get all the way to Japonshima on such short notice--"

Kepuri: *chuckling* "Oh, there are ways..."

-elsewhere-

Queenie: *rubbing her cheek* "Those stupid brats...How the hell did those 2 and that kappa help you destroy my Fear Factory..."

Yohei: *bleeding, slumped against a wall* "..."

marie anette: awww, arent you gonna answer?

Yohei: "...Because my friends, as dumb and stubborn as they are, are freaking geniuses compared to you knuckle-dragging dumbasses."

Queenie: "!!!"

naoka: *WHACK*

Yohei: *knocked down* "..." *spits blood*

naoka: so disrespectful....

Queenie: -^- "Thank you, Naoka." *holds up chains* "Bring him to the command center...He's going to want to see what happens next."

-elsewhere-

Luke: *reassembled, looking at an army of drones* "Get ready for them to mobilize...Where did that escape pod go?"

drone: we've tracked it to the bottom of the pacific ocean, sir.

Luke: "Life signs?"

drone: nothing, sir.

Luke: "...Hmm..."

{???: "My...robot...Where's my robot? Tournament..."}

{*wheels are heard rolling, bringing in a bandaged person*}

{Queenie: "...What's his condition?"}

{medic: alive, but critical condition.}

{Queenie: "...Have you reviewed Agei's notes? Can it be done?" *staring at the Fear Robot chip* "Could you implant it into this human?"}

{medic: i think we can, note i havent tried it before-}

{Queenie: "Then consider this near-corpse your new guinea pig. Get to work."}

Luke: "...What was that?"

drone: sir?

Luke: "...I'm going to run self-diagnostics. Have the ship ready to leave for Japonshima--we're heading out in 20 minutes."

-elsewhere-

*from Chai's farm, a fire can be seen in the village*

kisuke: !!!!

*something is hopping up the trail, panting*

Oolong: *panting...legs of someone are sticking out of its mouth*

kisuke: <oolong! what happened?!>

Oolong: *drops a half-conscious Fear Factory mook out of its mouth*

Fear Mook: @~@ <It was so gooey inside...>

kisuke: ?!?!?

Fear Mook: *looks up* "?!!!" <Filthy ogre!> *heats up their fist, aiming at Kisuke's head*

kisuke: !! *dodge*

Fear Mook: <Beast! I'll bend you to the will of Fear Factory for our glorious leader!> *firing blasts around Kisuke*

Oolong: *upset growl*

kisuke: *jumps onto oolong's back with a shovel* <CHARGE!>

Oolong: *hunkers down and--LEAPS*

Fear Mook: <HA! Got you right where I want-->

-PWOOM-

Fear Mook: X_______X

Oolong: ^_^

kisuke: <come on! to the village!>

Oolong: *hops towards the village with Kisuke*

-elsewhere-

Mei: *sword fighting an insectoid Dokeshi* "Have at thee, vile knave!"

momo: *shooting at fear factory mooks with a net gun*

Mook: *caught, slammed down into the deck*

ochako: way to go, yaomomo!

Hercules Beetle Dokeshi: *roars at Izuku, punching holes into the walls*

Izuku: "AH!" *dodges, trying to find a weak spot* ("Maybe the back--") "CLEVELAND KICK!" *direct hit--knocking the Hercules down*

eijiro: *slicing*

Todoroki: *getting splashed with water by a Water Beetle Dokeshi, putting out his flames before he can get a hit*

Stone Beetle Dokeshi: *blocking Eijiro's slices, but getting pushed back to the plank...*

eijiro: NOW, BAKUGOU!

Bakugo: "I KNOW!" *fires a blast, knocking the Stone Beetle off the ship's edge* "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

eijiro: nice one! ^^

*a loud buzzing is heard...like a swarm...*

Mineta: Q___Q "Guys..."

ochako: ?? aw heck

*it's an entire armada of Insectoid Fighters*

Insectoid Leader: "Yar! Surrender your vessel, you Quirk-ridden abominations!"

jirou: any plans?

Bakugo: "I SAY BLOW THEM OUT OF THE SKY!"

Mei: "YEAH!"

*The insectoid beasts they ride fire at the ship, blowing a hole in its bottom*

mina: *SCREAM*

Mei: D8> "MY GRUNKLE'S AERONAUTICAL BABY!!!"

Todoroki: "!!! Yaoyorozu! We're going down to the breech to seal it!"

momo: RIGHT!

*the swarm persists, rushing onto the deck and flying around the ship, blasting at it*

Mei: *growls, muttering quickly* "IWILLMAKEEVERYLASTONEOFYOUSUFFERFORTHISINDIGNITYTOTHEMAJESTYOFAWESOMESAUCETECHYOUMISERABLESACKSOF--"

kouda: >~<

Izuku: *thinking* "...!!! Kouda! Can you talk to them?"

-a low droning noise is heard-

mina: uhhh guys?

*something dark is underneath the clouds...and then a water spout erupts upward, knocking through the swarm*

jirou: holy shit.

*The sky whales fly up, blasting water from their blowholes at the Insectoids--and inhaling others*

Insectoid Leader: "?!!! Retreat!"

mina: WOO HOO!

Hagakure: "Yay, Kouda! You did it!"

kouda: ^^

Mei: Q___Q "Man, I'm never going to be allowed on this ship again..."

Insectoid Beast: .___.; *scitters along the deck*

-tongue attack-

tsuyu: <where do you think _you're_ going?>

Insectoid Beast: "DON'T EAT ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS!"

jirou: then start talking.

-elsewhere-

Justin: "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Sisters."

Petra: -_-# "Why is this non-Sol Church priest here?"

nayumi: i guess they're short staffed given the incident?

Justin: ^^; "We're just trying to have as many people familiar with Amaterasu nearby--given heightened security--" *looks around and spots--* "...Is that a battle nun?"

tamaki: hello. *waves*

nayumi:....war cleric sounds cooler.

Karim: "??? New threads, Tamaki?"

tamaki: it's a work in progress.

dia: *glares*

tamaki: *HISS*

Foien: "Ah, like cats and dogs--good times..."

*looks like tourists passing by with cameras, snapping pictures of Amaterasu*

Justin: "..."

Petra: -_-# "How awful--reducing this holy building to a tourism site. HEY! THIS IS NOT JUST SOMETHING YOU PHOTOGRAPH, YOU PHILISTINES--"

Tourist 1: *snaps photos of Petra--blinding her with the flash*

Petra: "?!!! AH! I can't see!"

Justin: "!!! Them!" *transforms his arm*

Tourist 2: *unzips a fanny pack--as multiple limbs explode out of it*

Foien: "...Oh, that's just wrong."

pearl: !!! *summons flame wall*

Tourist 3: *pierces the flame wall with a selfie stick, stretching a hole through the flames...*

pearl: !!!

tamaki: OH COME ON!

*the Tourisst flood in, one of them swinging a suitcase at Justin*

Justin: *slices through the suitcase--which explodes out clothes, falling onto him and Petra and...changing their attire into flashy Hawaiian shirts and bermuda shorts*

Justin: ._.

Petra: "...Great. First I'm blinded, now I'm fashion blind..."

Tourist 4: *snapping photos of Tamaki, Pearl, and Dia* "OMG, you're so cute! Can I take your photo? I promise not to post them online!"

dia: *PUNCHES THEM SMACK IN THE FACE*

Tourist 4: "OH YEAAAAAAH--" *flies into the flame wall, screaming as he's burned alive*

Tourist 5: "Cutting in line, cutting in line..." *rushing into Amaterasu...*

ruby: *TACKLES* OH NO YA DONT!

Tourist 5: "OMPH! Darn you, security guards!"

Tourist 6: "Hey, is this the line to get for Shatner's autograph? And do you take credit?"

amy thyst: oh dear, this is....troubling.

Karim: "Then let's wrap this up already...by holding them in place." *channels the fire wall into his instrument and--* "FREEZE!"

-elsewhere-

Max: "?!!!" <Sir, we have a situation outside the Haijima chem lab...>

mr helvitz: <what is it?>

???: "GIVE ME AN F!"

Crowd: "F!"

???: "GIVE ME AN E!"

Crowd: "E!"

???: "GIVE ME AN A!"

Crowd: "A!"

Max: -_-# <They've been spelling words in English for 20 minutes.>

fawkes: <oh?>

???: <WHAT'S THAT SPELL?!>

*A hole smashes in Helvitz's office, as a gigantic American football player crashes through*

helvitz: ?!?!?!?

Max: *pulls out the Sol Temple sword, aiming it at the footballer*

*Suddenly, a cheerleader squad rushes through the hole, doing flips and cartwheels before forming a pyramid*

fawkes: <what is this, high school rebellion? has the education system gone that sour?>

fear-leader captain: <ATTENTION HAIJIMA! WE'VE, LIKE, TOTES DECLARED THIS FACILITY AS OURS!>

Max: <Get back!>

Haijima Security: *aims taser at the Captain--*

fear-leader captain: *throws a baton-boomerang at them*

Haijima Security: "OMPH!" *struck--sent flying through another wall*

Max: "?!!!"

captain: <so, are you gonna, like, surrender now? or are we gonna have to force you?>

Fear-Leader 1: *shakes pom-poms--that send vibrations through the room*

helvitz: !!!

Max: *struggling to stay upright* <St-Stay behind me, Sir...> *runs at the Captain with the sword--*

captain: *takes megaphone and SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH*

Max: *gasps, dropping to his knees, clutching his head*

helvitz: !!!!!

Footballer: *smashes into Helvitz's safe, pulling something out...*

fawkes: ...

helvitz: !!!!!!

Fear-Leader 2: *doing poses while reporting* <WE! GOT! THE! LOOT! FOR! THE! BOSS! BOSS! BOSS! BOOOOOSS!>

-elsewhere-

GNN Pundit: *on TV* "This is outrageous! Dokeshi are always saying they deserve the same respect as other empowered beings--and they are no better than villains!"

GNN Pundit 2: "That's not fair--these are people who did not ask for these abilities--"

hachi: *looking at a TV in a store window* ....

"Zach": "What a bunch of assholes, yelling at each other. People get paid for this on TV?"

hachi: i actually get paid to watch this.

"Zach": "For real?! How did you con your way into that job?"

hachi: -,- wow, you're gullible.

"Zach": -_- "Not my fault you keep lying."

-elsewhere-

Colleen: "Hey, Andrea!"

andrea: !!! oh, hey colleen.

Colleen: ^w^ "Ready for the exam?" *she's holding a note for her and Andrea from Professor Hani*

andrea: *looks*

Colleen: "Oh! This is from Hani--she said to meet at the Executive Offices first. Think she's going to give us some last-minute tutoring--because I could really use it..." ^^;

andrea: ah.

Colleen: *walks with Andrea to the tower...a metallic glint in her eyes*

-elsewhere-

Fear Factory Mook: *projects images off their wrist, showing Mana punching a tournament opponent into the ceiling, and another showing Shotaro with pencils up his nose* <Have you seen these fugitives?>

man: <er-...no.>

Fear Factory Mook: <Damn...> *looks across the street* <Move along--we have more people to interrogate.> *walks across...*

man:....*looks back toward the dressing room*

Shotaro: *pops out his head--he has on a wig with the hair looped on the sides* <They gone?>

man: *whispers* <yeah>

Shotaro: <Great!> *steps out in a white cloak* <Come on out, Mana!>

mana: *in a white shirt, brown vest, jeans, boots, and a black wig*

Shotaro: "Neato, right?! But not as fun as the cloak..." *sways in place* "It's so fluttery!" *his bone-covered boxers are exposed*

mana: -___-;; *facepalm*

Shotaro: "Hee hee!" *turns, watching where the Fear Mooks are going* "Looks like they're heading to city hall...They're probably bringing more soldiers there to take control of the government and hold hostages."

mana: alright, so what's the plan?

Shotaro: "As awesome as these disguises are so that they won't recognize us, I think we should find a secret entrance..."

*there's a sewer grate near Mana's feet*

mana: through here?

Shotaro: "Oh, sure!" *pulls out a box* "And the butcher shop was kind enough to give me all these leftover bones: cow bones, pig bones, chicken bones, cat bones-- ...Wow, that raises uncomfortable questions."

mana: let's just go. -_-;

Shotaro: "Right!" *Bone of Cow* "Moo..." *lifts up the sewer grate* "After you!"

mana: *drops down*

Shotaro: *follows, using Bone of the Cat's claws to break his fall* "Watch the water--looks dirty."

mana: eugh...

???: <oh, what's this?>

Shotaro: "???" *blinks, using Cat Eyes to see* <Oh, hey!>

-two female kappa stand near the end of the tunnel-

kappa 1: <say, you're setsuna's boy, arent you?>

Shotaro: <Heck yeah I am! ...Wait, how do you know my mom?>

kappa 1: <well, i helped her find you, actually.> *extends hand* <call me minato. i think you're friends with my son, tuhl.>

Shotaro: <?!!! Wow! Hi, Tool's mom! I'm Shotaro! And this is Mana!>

minato: <nice to meet you. and this lass here is kaoli.>

kaoli: <nice to meet you. im tuhl's neighbor. i was visiting this village to visit my family by the seaside when all this happened. luckily, minato was here too, so we decided to take cover.>

minato: -,- <if it were just me, i'd have taken those grunts head on, but kaoli's not much of a fighter, and i didnt want her getting hurt.>

Shotaro: <Hee hee--I'd love to see that! We're fighters! Mana and I were going to break into the City Hall and free any hostages in there!>

minato: <is that right?>

kaoli:

Shotaro: <We just sank to the bottom of the ocean, got caught in a net, and Mana saw me change, and now we're in a stinky sewer--How much worse could it get?>

minato:...<what>

-elsewhere-

Kepuri: "Tah-dah! Our new mode of transportation!"

*It's shaped like a rocket looking like GET and WASHU*

mono:....um-

Kepuri: *twirls keys on her finger* "GET, WASHU--load them in so we can take off! I'M DRIVING!"

nea: NOOOO! D8>

Kepuri: "Come on--I promise I'll brake for red lights this time--"

*a loud trucker horn is heard from the street*

Assi: "Hey, guys! There's a big rig outside!"

mono: ??

mimeca: *waves*

*a noise is heard from the front of the vehicle*

???: "What's up, bitches?!"

chie: !!!!

mono: SON OF A BITCH!

*tied to the front of the big rig is a foul-mouthed toothy plush teddy bear--*

PlushFix: "Now...I suppose you're wondering where to find Yohei..."

-PIERCE-

chie: *has stabbed him with a shadow spike* what....are you doing here? *her expression is one of rage, hatred and disgust*

PlushFix: GAK! You know--heh--usually, this'd feel good, but the surprise kind of ruined the pleasure." *looks at Chie* "Jeez, someone's PMS'ing royally. Look, Mrs. Yohei-hottie, I got a sixth sense for all things related to your hubby--and since I don't remember any of you knowing much about Fear Factory's inner-workings--"

Kepuri: "I worked for them and know they have Yohei on a space station they developed years ago."

Assi: "Yeah, quite a few of us worked with them."

Zuno: "D'aw, a little plushie!"

PlushFix: "SINCE I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS THE EXACT COORDINATES OF THAT SPACE STATION--I've decided to help y'all~"

mono: ....i say we burn him.

Tool: "I'll start the barbecue."

PlushFix: D8

mimeca: D8> *shakes head no*

nea: wait now. are you certain about the coordinates? you arent just bullshitting around?

PlushFix: "Cross my heart! ...Stuffing. Plastic eyeballs--WHATEVER I'M NOW MADE OUT OF! Why would I lie about this?! I could've stayed in hiding and just showed up to, what, troll your asses?"

mono: i wouldnt put it past you.

saki: it'd be classic you, certainly.

akaderu: you arent exactly what we'd call 'popular' here, my dude.

Kepuri: "Hang on, babe--I hate to admit it...but Fear Factory did keep the coordinates secret. And even I can't back-track from Shotaro and Mana's escape pod crash the exact location. Fear Factory could be a galaxy away for all we know."

PlushFix: *smirks* "Sixth. Sense."

nea:.....*sigh* very WELL i guess, but we're keeping an eye on you, fuzzball.

PlushFix: "Keep wherever you want on top of me, my delicious bowl of soft serve~"

nea: *STOMP*

chie:........*looks at mimeca* why do you even follow him?

mimeca: *points to herself, then makes a heart shape with her hands* ^////^ ~<3

nea:......honey, your taste in men is awful.

mimeca: >3<#

Shinoda: "In any case, if we now have Yohei's location, we don't need everyone going on one mission to get Mana and Shotaro. I propose we break up into teams."

mono: i am NOT going with this family killing dokeshi-bear!

Emine: "Then you're coming with me to Japonshima."

mono: *grumble* FINE!

Kepuri: "Hey, if it's between boring old Japonshima and space, I'm picking space every time, creepy death bear doll or not!"

Bryn: "...I'm going to rescue Mana. That thing? That thing needs to be exorcised."

akaderu: i'll probably stay home.

Tool: "We tried. I'll tell you about it on the way to Japonshima."

Bryn: "...Jesus, you people live weird lives."

setsuna: as will i. as much as i want to see my son again, im afraid i wont be much help.

Assi: "I like not dying, and I can't really fight...Mono...This could be the last time we see each other..."

mono: d-DONT ACT LIKE IM GONNA DIE, DUMMY!!

Assi: O\\\\o "B-But we don't know what could happen! Emine could stab you in the back!"

Emine: "This is true."

mono: *glare*

lin: ^^;

Bryn: *pats Mono's shoulder* "Calm down, Blades--I won't let M&M hurt you."

Emine: "..." -___-

-elsewhere-

Queenie: *opens 2 boxes, removing a repaired Quirk Detection Machine...and a repaired version of David Shield's Quirk augmentation headband*

Yohei: *chained to the wall, upside down* "...Neat. You subscribe to Loot Crate, too?"

naoka: do you ever shut up?

Yohei: "You want me quiet? Then knock me out again."

naoka: tempting.

Queenie: "Not yet, Naoka. Nanami has to witness this..." *taps a globe, causing the images behind her to shift until they show that point on the globe: Japonshima*

Yohei: "Hmm...I see some device for diagnosing genetic structures...I see some body enhancement device. What, you're going to empower yourself?"

Queenie: *smiles to Naoka* "He isn't too stupid, now is he?"

marie anette: coulda fooled me~

Queenie: "And what do you think I'll do when I enhance my mental powers of mind control? Maybe I'll use it to order every human being on earth to kill themselves..."

Yohei: "..." *shakes his head* "No. You prefer drawing out the pain."

Queenie: *smiles* "Correct."

-elsewhere-

Mayor: *hands behind their head, on their knees* <Please, let the hostages go--you can keep me, but let them-->

-WHACK-

Mayor: <OW!> *collapses*

City Manager: *standing against the wall, smirking* <Jeez, you humans are so fragile...> *juggling items on the Mayor's desk* <And naive. So easy to infiltrate your sanctuaries for the powerful and the elite...>

guard: ...

kaoli: *listening*

minato: *whispers* <alright, do you know the plan?>

Shotaro:

mana: -_-;

Shotaro: ^^; <Still kinda fuzzy on things since the ocean crash. But I know how to punch those people really hard.>

minato: <good enough>

Shotaro: ^w^ <Great! Let's start the good deed!> *bites down on a bone*

City Manager: *whistles to one Mook* <Get me another bottle out of the Mayor's private stock.>

grunt: <yessir>

Shotaro: <!!! Hey, that one mook is coming here!>

minato: <you know what to do.>

Shotaro: *nods* *gets down on all fours, wagging his behind like a cat, ready to pounce...*

grunt: *turns*

Shotaro: "MEOWR!" *pounce-tackle*

grunt: GRK-

Shotaro: *drags the Mook behind the corner*

City Manager: *not noticing, still juggling*

mana: *RUNS IN AND-*

Mook 2: <Halt!> *aims a rifle at her--*

minato: *WHACK*

Mook 2: X-X *falls down*

Shotaro: *picks up the rifle* <Okay! Let the Mayor go!>

City Manager: *still juggling* <Ho-hum...I suppose it couldn't just be easy.> *looks at Mana, Shotaro, and Minato*

mana: *GLARE* <LET THE MAYOR AND HOSTAGES GO!>

City Manager: <Tell me, something. 'Dokeshi'...Why do we let them call us that?> *juggles...with one hand, as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hankie...that's tied to another one...and another one...in a multi-color string...*

mana: ....

City Manager: *wipes his face...revealing clown makeup underneath as he smiles at them*

minato: ...

City Manager: *chuckles* <Perhaps we all just need to embrace our inner 'clown'--> *pulls out knives from his pocket, starts juggling them* *fixates his stare on Mana*

mana: !!!

City Manager: *tosses the knife--which just passes Mana's head--just slicing a bit of her hair before it imbeds in the wall*

minato: *takes out sword*

City Manager: <Ah, I see you are someone with a cutting wit as well.> *pauses* "..." *double over, cackling*

Shotaro: "...HA!"

City Manager: <Then my Daily Condition is fulfilled--one corny joke, one laugh-->

minato: <why dont you cut it out then.> *lunges*

City Manager: *dodges* <Ah...> 蛙が帰る。（かえるがかえる。! [In Japanese: "The frog is coming back"--where "frog" and "coming back" use the same character...]

minato: -_-# *SLICE SLICE*

Shotaro: <Ha! It's funny because she's not a frog...Wait, that kind of a ruins the joke-->

City Manager: *tenses* TwT <Being witty on demand weighs heavily on me.>

mana: showtaro, focus!

Shotaro: *claps his hands on his face* <Right!> *bites into--* <Bone of the Boar!> *charges at the City Manager*

City Manager: <And now, to go international:> "Oh, I'm sorry--was I boring you?"

Shotaro: *pig snort, as he rushes--*

City Manager: *le leap* *flips over Shotaro, tosses a blade--that embeds in Shotaro's back*

Shotaro: *pig squeal--as he hits the wall*

mana: SHOWTARO!

City Manager: *grabs Mana's hand, twirls her--then dips her like a dance* "Bavonjavour! Pouvons-nous danser La Javnaise?" ("Hello! May we dance the Java?") *He's making a pun on "Java" and the French slang "Javanais."

mana: *POW*

City Manager: *falls back onto his head...then falls back and upright again* "Golly! I said I wanted a drink, but no punch!" *smiles, revealing a black eye from her punch* "Sorry, am I 'wine-ing'?"

Shotaro: *picking the blade out of his back with Bone of the Octopus* "Okay, I'm kind of over this guy...Mana, can you hit him again? I need to find something..." *searches through his box* "Thanks for the extra bones, Kaoli!" *searching*

mana: who even is this guy? -_-;

City Manager: "Er, man--forgive my manners! I am the supreme jokester of all Dokeshi, P. Erot!"

mana: cool story bro. *POW*

P Erot: "OW-P!" *tumbles back*

Shotaro: "Got it!" *pulls out 2 dog bones* "Bone of Kerobos!" *bites down, looking canine*

P Erot: *lying on his back, looking up* "Hey...In what unit do dogs measure their temperature?"

Shotaro: "..."

Erot: "Belgrad." *smiles goofily*

Shotaro: "..." *bites down on P Erot's head*

P Erot: "...It's funnier in German."

Shotaro: *muffled* "I think we've freed the hostages!"

kaoli: that's good.

Mayor: Q___Q <What the hell is even going on?!>

mana: *releasing the mayor* <we'll explain.>

-elsewhere-

Justin: *pants* "There...That takes care of that."

Karim: "Good." *in swim trunks* "If I had one more wardrobe change by those maniacs, I'd lose my mind."

Petra: *in a ballerina outfit* -_-# "I'm going to kill them..."

pearl: goodness.

tamaki: -_____-###

Foien: ^^; "Nice outfit, Dia--"

dia: *in a doggy mascot suit* -_-#

Justin: "Let's look on the bright side--we repelled their attack, Amaterasu is safe--and that was an impressive fire wall, Sister."

pearl: t-thank you mr law.

Karim: "..." *looks away* "I just hope none of them got inside...The Church has been really paranoid about anyone going inside the Amaterasu facility."

-elsewhere-

Kepuri: *rubs Akaderu's cheek* "I'll be back soon--faster than you know it, given how fast I made that ship."

akaderu: *holds her hand* be safe, ok?

Kepuri: *nods* "Hey, this is me--I'm coming back in one piece."

Emine: "...Mom...I..."

setsuna: *hugs him* please, be safe.

{emine's mother: *throwing a beer bottle at him* <useless piece of shit kid...>}

Emine: "...Hmm."

-elsewhere-

Colleen: "??? I don't see her anywhere...Hey, what time is it?"

andrea: *checks watch*

*an alarm goes off on Andrea's watch...Colleen's eyes turn white*

andrea:.....

Colleen: "..." *approaches a security panel, punches in a code, opening the doors to the security office*

Security Guard: "?? Hey, you can't be here--"

andrea: *turns*

Colleen: *a taser pops out of the palm of her hand, as she shocks Security Guards*

andrea: *jacking into the security system*

Security Guard: *struggles, reaches a button--*

Colleen: *stabs the Guard's hand with a pen*

andrea: *turns off communication*

-elsewhere-

Chuuya: *points at one mook* "Why do you guys have these mechs? You can't be getting this much crime here."

grunt: arent you a bit short to be a mafia exec-

*KA-POW*

grunt: x~x

Abernathy: "Hey, hey--buddy! Don't go punching all of my people. We're going to need them if we're going to take out those awful, dirty Dokeshi--"

Chuuya: *hard glare*

grunt: OxO;

Abernathy: "What? I'm just saying--"

Chuuya: *looks at the mooks* "Get the bots lined along the armory. Keep an eye for airborne attacks--I'll take them, you take the ground."

Abernathy: "Hey, who is running this show here?!"

Mitch: "Here's your drink, Mr. Nakahara."

Abernathy: "GODDAMN IT, MITCH!"

grunt: um sir, we actually got some info on mr nakahara, and well... *whispers*

Abernathy: "... ... ..." Q_____Q "Ooooooooooooh, I'm going to die today."

-elsewhere-

Kouyou: "Girls, I think we'll be staying in...How about I make us some tea?"

miyuri: ok!

sonia: *petting mito* .....

Kouyou: "Very good..." *taps a button on a tablet, triggering security on her estate*

sonia: ....will papa be alright?

Kouyou: *smiles* "I've never known him to be otherwise."

-elsewhere-

Kenji: -n- "There are no rodeos here. I can't believe this city would lie to me."

naomi: *pap pap* cheer up kenji, there's plenty of other things to do.

Kenji: *sniffle* "Yeah..."

Tanizaki: "There's the Griffith Observatory for looking at stars--although that's more of a nighttime thing. Or the Pier has the Ferris Wheel."

atsushi: ?? you guys hear something?

Kenji: *stomach growls* "Sorry about that."

atsushi: no, it sounds like-

*a giant wave of water appears above the buildings...coming down towards Atsushi and the others*

atsushi: !!!!

Tanizaki: "!!! Run--"

*SPLASH*

naho: !!!

Kenji: *floating upside-down under the water* .-.

*SNAP SNAP* *a lobster claw passes the side of Naomi's head*

naomi: WOAH!

*tentacles wrap around Atsushi, pulling him up*

atsushi: O_o

Lobster Man: *toying with Naomi* "Jeez, Takoya! Stop fixating on that scrawny kid and wrap up the others."

Takoya, the Lady Octopus: "Yeah, yeah..." *ropes up Tanizaki, missing Kenji*

naho: looks like we got a whole sea kingdom here!

maki: well fire's gonna be useless here...

jellyfish kid: kukuku. *sends an electric shock*

Kenji: "EEP!" *hit, falling back into the water, screaming*

Tanizaki: X\\\\\X *choking* "Can't...breathe..."

naomi: HEY! TENTA-BITCH!

Takoya: *not even looking, just shoots a tentacle towards her--*

naomi: *rolls out of the way* LET GO OF MY BROTHER, OR WE'RE GONNA HAVE KALAMARI ON THE MENU!

Takoya: "Like I haven't heard that one before...Hang on, I'm going to need another hand..." *tosses Atsushi and Tanizaki into the same tentacle, squeezes* "What can you do? We're freaking Dokeshi--the C Team of Fear Factory."

atsushi: *tiger jaws and bites the tentacle*

Takoya: Q______Q "OOOOOOOOW!" *lets go*

Tanizaki: *falls, pants...uses his ability to hide*

-elsewhere-

izumi: dad? mom?

Spirit: "Hmm?"

izumi: what's going on outside?

sachiko:...why dont you kids go to the basement for a bit?

izumi: !! o-ok.

Spirit: *looks at Sachiko* "Stay here..."

sachiko: *nods*

Spirit: *opens the door, closes it behind him, stands on the front step* "...I'm Spirit Albarn, Death Scythe. State your business."

-elsewhere-

PlushFix: *in a tiny spacesuit in the shuttle* "Hurry up and get on this rocket!"

Kepuri: "You sure you can drive the new car?"

chie: ...

Bryn: "Yeah, I used to make deliveries--how hard can this be?"

Shinoda: "You're likely a better driver than Kepur--"

Kepuri: *tugs on his ear* "Quiet, Johnny Appleseed."

Tool: "We'll be back with those idiots before you know it."

mimeca: ^o^

mono: well let's get a move on already!

Emine: "Indeed--cease this prattling."

Kepuri: "Okay--everyone on Space Team got your suit on?"

chie: *nods*

PlushFix: "You know it, brainy bug eyes!"

mimeca: *thumbs up*

nea: indeed~

Kepuri: "Great! PlushFix, put in the coordinates!"

PlushFix: OwO "...Huh? I don't got those."

chie: WHAT?!

Kepuri: "YOU SAID YOU KNEW WHERE TO FIND HIM!"

mono: I KNEW WE COULDNT TRUST HIM!

PlushFix: "I do know, honeybee! But you can't quantify the sixth sense. It's an innate feeling, as my Power of Spin taps into the multiverse of harmonic energies." *leans back in his tiny chair* "So just blast off, float around in space for a while, and I'll let you know when my Soul Resonance or whatever taps into Yohei's~"

chie: i have half the mind to rip you to shreds. and the other half is inclined to agree.

nea: or we can just look for a big station with the fear factory logo on it.

Kepuri: -_-; "Nea, space is pretty big. Factoring in the speed at which the star cruiser was going, the radius by which to locate them is--"

mimeca: *takes out a phone*

*there's a photo from the Griffith Observatory of a giant space station with the Fear Factory logo on it*

Kepuri: "... ... ...Everyone just shut up!"

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: *looking at a map in City Hall* *making marks on it* <So, they still have the police station and the electric power plant and the mall...I think we should go to the mall first.>

mana: sounds good.

Shotaro: <Great! We can also stock up on weapons and food!> *looks out the window...* "Um...But that's a lot of Fear Factory people..."

mana: crap.

Shotaro: "We need to distract them..."

mana: and how do we do that?

Fear Factory Mook: "Hey, up in the window! It's that Dokeshi and that ogre girl!"

mana: *THROWS HER SHOE AT HIM*

Mook: *KO'ED!*

Mook 2: "HE'S BEEN HIT!"

Shotaro: "Dang, Mana--you didn't even hesitate. You shot first!"

mana: -_- let's just beat them up.

Shotaro: *bites on Bone of the Bird* "Works for me!" *picks up Mana and leaps out the window--as his cloak flies up into his face*

-elsewhere-

Chai: <What are you going to do with all this fertilizer? You boys don't exactly look like farmers...>

Fear Factory Mook: <Explosives.>

Chai: ?!!!

kisuke: <MR CHAAAAI!>

Chai: <Kisuke! Watch out!>

Mook 1: "?!!" *aims a gun at Kisuke and Oolong*

kisuke: <OOLONG! GET HIM!>

Oolong: *wraps his tongue around the gun, pulls it--then whips it down on the Mook's head, knocking him out*

Mook 1: X_X

Chai: <Good boy...> *pets Oolong* <We got to get out of here!>

kisuke: <right!>

*CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK*

*Mooks surround the three of them*

Mook 2: <AIM!>

Chai: <?!!> *gets in front of Kisuke--*

*SLASH SLASH BONK*

Mook 2: "..."

kisuke: ??

Mooks: "..."

*All Mooks spray out with blood in the shape of sharp angles before collapsing*

kisuke: !!!!

Chai: <...Are these those new-fangled exploding mooks I heard they have in the big city?>

*from the shadows, a pair of serpentine eyes watch...*

kisuke: !!

???: <You're welcome.>

kisuke: <who...are you?>

???: <The direct hero, Vector Jibako.>

kisuke: <i...see.>

Chai:

Vector: <It maintains my sense of mystery. Also, I hate the smell of fertilizer, which is now everywhere.>

-elsewhere-

*in the Pacific is a small boat*

Fisher: "..."

-seems quiet...?-

*suddenly, a fast-moving vaguely car-shaped vehicle sails by towards Japonshima...knocking the boat around a bit and kicking up a ton of fish onto the small boat*

Fisher: ._.

mono: *SCREAMING*

Bryn: "...Huh. This thing handles really well."

Tool: *covering his mouth, about to vomit*

Emine: "...So, this is how I die."

lin: >~< *holding onto her hair buns*

GPS: *in Kepuri's voice* "You are approaching your destination in 8 SECONDS. Preparing emergency airbags..."

mono: THIS SU-

-meanwhile-

Fear Factory Mook: <So I said, 'She's sweet as honey!' ...She filed a sexual harassment allegation against me.>

-NYOOOOOOM- -CRASH-

mono: *face in an airbag* is this....heaven?

lin: smells like...wisconson.

Emine: "This isn't what i imagined Heaven would be like--too many annoying people--"

GPS: "You have arrived at your destination. Vomit bags are in the door pockets--"

lin: oh look, we're here.

Shinoda and Tool: *fighting for the bags*

*muffled screams underneath*

???: take THIS!!

Bryn: "???" *rolls down the window* *looks out the window* "...Hey, we had a soft landing, too." *opens the door, steps on a Mook* "Alright, kiddos, depart! We got a busy day ahead of us!" *turns on the vehicle's car alarm*

Emine: "???" *looks to the distance at ???*

-seems two figures are taking on a group of mooks, along with two kappas-

???: "Bone of Kangaroo!"

*a mook goes flying, crashing into the top of the vehicle, setting off the car alarm*

mono:...found 'em.

Bryn: "!!! Mana!" *waves* "How you doing?!"

Tool: *holding his stomach, dragging himself over*

minato: <tuhl!>

Tool: <?! Mom?!>

Emine: "...Ha."

minato: <we-he-hell! look at you, all grown up!>

Tool: -\\\\\- <Mooooom, stop, you're embarrassing me...>

kaoli: ^^;

Shotaro: *lands on the ground in front of Mono--his cloak lifting up to expose his boxers*

mono: D8

Emine: "Shotaro..."

Shotaro: "!!! Emine!" *hug--then pulls back, holding up--* "I stole the President's tooth!"

Emine: "...Shotaro, you're infringing in my territory."

Shotaro: ^^; "Heh, yeah..."

Mook: *approaching Mono from behind...*

mono: *ELBOW ATTACK*

Mook: "UMPH!"

Bryn: "Nice one, Mono! Mana, heads up--" *tosses a Mook towards her*

Mook 2: *HIGH-PITCH SCREAMING as he flies towards Mana...*

mana: *KICKS THE MOOK*

Shinoda: *collapsed on the ground, looking pale* "Apples...Someone, help me..."

lin: *takes an apple from a stand and gives it to him*

Shinoda: =w= *nom nom nom--powers up, Olympian pose* "I am ready!" *speeds across the field, swings his arms--and knocks back 20 Mooks in one blow*

Emine: "..." *removes a bandage...a small drop of blood forms, which circles around his arm, generating electricity* "Let's begin..."

grunts: HYAAAAAH!!!

Tool: *swings the pickaxe* <Mom, how did you even get roped into this?>

minato: <long story, kiddo. just in the right place at the right time, i guess.>

Tool: <Typical---Mana and Shotaro got all the dumb luck...>

*meanwhile, atop a building is an archer...*

???: *aims at Shotaro...fires*

Shotaro: *giving a noogie to a mook* "Say uncle! Say uncle!"

lin: *throws a fork at the arrow*

*the fork catches the arrow, knocking it away*

Shotaro: "??? Did anyone feel a breeze?"

???: wow, nice aim, sagi.

Sagitarrius: -_-# "It's not my fault--I wasn't expecting eating utensils."

???: come on canni, save your agitation for later, we got to report to the squad boss.

Sagitarrius: "Let's go..." *horse gallop...*

-elsewhere-

Kepuri: *piloting...looks out the window* "Enjoy the view, people--you're not getting a view like this from earth..."

nea: woah...

PlushFix: "Makes you feel kinda small, doesn't it? ...Granted, I'm already tinee tiny now."

mimeca: *face against the window*

Kepuri: "Now approaching the Station. Turning on cloaking tech..." *presses a button*

*their spaceship seems to disappear...*

chie:....

Kepuri: "Okay, GET, put in the security code to get in through the doors..."

nea: ..um guys, i think we're about to crash onto the moon.

Kepuri: "Wait, what--"

chie: that's no moon....

PlushFix: "That's yo' mama."

chie: *GLARE*

PlushFix: ^^; "I didn't mean you! Jeez, just trying to calm everyone down..."

Kepuri: "That is a big facility...How are we going to find him in that?"

*CRASH in the back*

nea:....

Zuno: *pops up in the back, gasping* "I CAN'T BREATHE!"

nea: .... -_-;;

PlushFix: "!!! A Klingon! Kill it! Kill it!"

mimeca: ._.

Kepuri: "How the hell did you get in here?!"

{Zuno: "Oh, a door!" *opens it, walks in--and falls into the storage closet on the spaceship*}

PlushFix: "THAT WAS MORE POINTLESS THAN USUAL!"

chie: we're here...

*the doors slide open into the Fear Station...*

Kepuri: *deep inhale* "Stay calm..."

PlushFix: "Someone, please hold me..."

mimeca: *does so*

PlushFix: =w=

chie:... *grimace*

*the ship docks*

Kepuri: *sighs* "Okay...We're still cloaked, so we need to get off carefully, quietly, find some disguises, and locate Yohei."

PlushFix: "Leave me to sniff out Yohei!"

Zuno: "???" *picks something off the floor* "Wow, astronaut's ice cream!"

nea: hands off, buddy.

Zuno: OxO *backs up--and falls out the spaceship with a loud crash into some boxes*

Kepuri: D8<

PlushFix: "YOU STUPID STOOGE!"

-elsewhere-

#death city days

0 notes