//Night 1 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside @AThousandCurses@baraquiel@Nakushita@Yankee@Vertigo Tensions rose undoubtedly as Ayana responded. Akito’s smirk was implacable in the face of her words though, the brown-haired delinquent clearly unphased by her ramblings. Perhaps it would have been different if the two of them were alone, but in a group like this? No fucking shot.
“Right, right,” he drawled, “So what you’re saying is that you wanna be the leader here, yeah? Replace ol’ Masato over there? Cause I’m not hearing anything that proves the whole ass truth thing you’re talking ‘bout here, ya fucking weirdo.”
“Shut up, traitor.” Kogen snarled, from his position in the outskirts of the group huddle. “You know nothing of the power we bear.”
That just drove a laugh out from Akito. “Oh shit, the crazies are banding together! Feels good to have your del-”
Whatever he planned on saying next was cut short. For all the small successes that Kogen had gained, he still remembered the humiliation as well, the betrayals both long past and very recent. It was all the excuse that he needed to rush Akito, demonic armor surging out from within his core as he grabbed the youth by throat and slammed him into the ground.
Akito gurgled, hands clawing ineffectually against the superhuman grip that kept him pinned. The demonic visage before him, before all of them, showed no signs of stopping though. It was something that had been a long time coming.
“H-hey!” Tsubaki tried to intercede anyways, standing up in a hurry. “Kogen, calm down! Those are just words!”
"Kogen!" Daisuke strode up as well, though he kept his distance. "Akito was out of line, but this is too much. We can't have fights like this happen!" Especially not when this was a crystallization of the 'tyranny' that was possible between those who were straight up superhuman and those who weren't.
A couple of the others tried to reason as well, but at the same time, Asahi’s own tempers flared, pink threads weaving out from his fingertips. Despite his bravery, his confidence, he knew too that his own reserves hadn’t filled up. Ayana was, after all, perhaps the one Awakened other than Masato who was the ‘healthiest’ of them all. She had only been smothered by one of the hulk-phants, and had only been knocked out by Shun. She had expended the least energy out of them all, and thus had the most to give. Could he handle her?
Whatever the situation was, Rin decided that she didn’t care for any of it. As far as she was concerned, the meeting was over and they were all just messing around now. Without another glance, she turned, returning to the small lumberyard and workshop, only sparing a quick comment towards Kumi, as if recognizing that a fellow ‘artisan’ ought to also avoid getting caught up in this.
Of course, Asahi’s own threats wouldn’t just be left unanswered, as Ayana’s sister-in-law sprang up between the two of them. As far as rumors and hearsay had proliferated, the students had only understood Asahi’s powers as some sort of healing magic, but what was this? “Hold up, what do you even mean by that? Asahi, what the hell do those things even do?” Tensions rose further, the fashionista’s eyes set into a distrustful glare. “What are you trying to do here?”
Sasuke stepped up with a calming gesture, hands raised placatingly. “Calm down. Asahi’s jus-”
“She’s not talking to you, Sasuke.” Ayano bounced up now, Fujita a reluctant ally to his girlfriend’s eagerness to square up alongside her friends. “Dunno what that guy’s up about, but Ayana was helping m…y boyfriend build the shelter with a buncha the other girls. Until, you know, Shun over there knocked her out for no reason? Sheesh, wonder why Asahi doesn’t think she was contributing!”
“Doesn’t excuse the fact that she’s actin’ crazy,” Mayumi responded, a sardonic half-smile on her face. “You really gonna think she’s alright after hearing that?”
And as everything looked like it would bubble over, two separate conflicts flaring up, the Awakened and the unawakened both butting heads over something that had nothing to do at all about their future plans, Hana stepped behind Masato.
Her words, as neutral as ever, nevertheless held a peculiar edge.
Ayana tilted her head in the direction of Asashi, her eyes trailing up and down his form as his threats drew no obvious reaction. The smile remained in place on her face as she held up a finger, wagging it back and forth. As her gaze moved between Akito and Asashi “That is what you are deeply mistaken about, you don't need the power to heal the injured, or even the power to fight back against monsters in order to still be of importance my sweet little Asa-shi…..nothing everything is about brute force, or being some kind of magical healer, oh no no, this isn’t any one of those silly RPG’s….there is so much more to it then all of that, so much more that you remain blind too….” her finger slowly ceasing its wag as she finished admonishing him. "You live in such a black and white world, when there is far more color to it...."
“As for replacing Ma-Sa-To…….I have no interest in trivial titles like class president, or leader, my aspirations are sooooooo much higher and much more bold than anything silly like that my little goose…..” giving a shrug of her shoulders when Kogen took matters into his own hands. Seeing things starting to spiral out of control Ayana let out a sigh, remaining silent as hostile words and actions flew between various classmates.
“If anyone is dividing the group, it is you A-Sa-Shiiiiii, I’m Ayana, I’m Oros, we are one in the same, that is what you don’t seem to understand, buttttt my Endless Eclipse can show us the way, the light at the end of the tunnel….so don’t be such a silly little billy…. You may try to make me leave, but in the end you will find that sort of approach is most futile….” Shifting her body aside as she slowly rose up her left arm, her index finger extended towards Asashi. Her right eye shut as she aimed down the tip of her finger as if it was a pistol.
Aiming it directly at where Asashi’s heart would be. “Maybe you just need a little jolt to that little cold heart of yours, but perhaps I can help you with that, today can be the day that your heart grows three sizes….and that you come to understand the true meaning of the truth…here let me send a little of my love and a little of my joy into that stubborn little heart of yours my dear A-Sa-Shi….” Laughing as she honed in on her target mockingly.
“Bang……” Her hand and finger recoiling up as if she had just shot off a round as she brought her finger to her lips to blow air across the tip of it to clear the imaginary smoke. “So how do you want to go about this….Pack-A-Punch Shun over there preferred a simple children's game, but you seem much more interested in a round of good ole fist de cuffs, a little rumble in the jungle….a thrilla in vanilla……if you are so serious, then show me, make me leave…..A-Sa-Shi……” Her tone of voice having a hint of joy in it. Not taking any of it too seriously. She saw it as nothing more than a little game, she felt no fear, no intimidation. It was up to Asashi and the others to decide whether things got worse.
“Though, I will warn you….I have mastered every form of martial art….with a black belt in one hundred and twenty-seven different disciplines…I know at least nine thousand and one ways to kill another human with my BEAR hands…..” bringing up both of her hands in a claw like posture as she started laughing again. “So careful now, you might get hurt…..” planting her right foot into the ground before lifting her left leg up and bringing both arms up to either side of the air above her. Going into a crane kick posture, as it was clear that she had not taken any of it seriously. Even after Shun had pummeled her earlier, Ayana didn’t care what happened to her physically. The only thing that mattered to her was that she got everyone to open their eyes, to see and embrace the truth and to accept it into their hearts and their minds. If it meant getting her ass kicked over and over again then so be it.
Things were getting bad. Things were getting really bad. Shun felt as if a chunk of sand was fitted into her mouth. She could not speak as the discussion was about to turn into a bloodbath. It was suffocating and Shun was trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. She at least needed to mediate before things got worse, but every time she opened her mouth the metaphorical sand filled her mouth.
Asahi was wiring out his facsimile. Ayana, or Oros, seemed to take his threat as a challenge. Akito was getting strangled by a newly facsimile armored Kogen. As much as Shun felt upset over Akito's comment, Kogen going out of the line. This needed to be stop before it got ugly. Though just like her mouth, Shun's body stiffened. The recent memory of crushing Ayana's bones were relatively fresh on her mind. The mental breakdown she had in the forest only steeled that fear.
If she were to interfere now, she would make things worse. Just like with Ayana, just like with Masato, just like with Yuudai.
As the chaos ensued, Shun slipped away from the group and made her way back into the forest. She clutched her arms together as she darted into the woods. Everything would be alright, they could solve it by themselves. There wasn't a need to be there. Yes, they could do it by themselves. They were classmates for almost a year, surely they could solve it by themselves.
Shun rationalized to herself. She didn't realize how far she went, but as long as it was far away from the camp it would be okay. She could already come back when she needed too.
Asahi leered at Ayana, Oros, whoever the heck the person he's talking supposed to be, as well as the small little group that formed around them. This was not what the pink-haired lad had in mind but in retrospect, he wouldn't be surprised they reacted this way when they saw his threads. Well, this would probably be the first time everyone saw his powers in their actual form.
He used the side of his hand to cover his mouth when he yawned, getting himself tired already from hearing all their yapping. When they're done. he first turned to Hana. "Gurl, not every issue can be resolved with fighting. We're all tired from the day and we will never know if a monster's going to attack us. We should preserve our strength as much as we can, yeah?"
"As for you lot." He turned his attention to the rest. "My powers are simply not just healing. I just want to take a look at this cult leader wannabe's depraved little mind and help Ayana take her body back. It won't be a painful procedure but that depends on Oros' willingness to cooperate. However, after hearing everything they're saying, I don't think I don't want to be anywhere near their brain anymore. I don't want to get tainted by whatever this person has." He said.
"And you." Asahi looked straight at Oros and scuffed at their ridiculous taunting. "Your rear must be jealous from all the crap spewing out of your mouth. As ditzy as she was, she is our classmate and we don't leave one of us behind. If it's a mere fight you're looking for, go look for someone else. I will not waste my precious energy with you when I can use it to heal my classmates."
The pink threads retracted back to his fingertips and he massaged them in his palms. "Besides, I don't need my powers to wipe the floor with you. You're piloting a body that easily falls down on its face whenever it steps over the tiniest pebble. If you're all queasy about me using my powers and saving our classmate, then I hope you're happy sharing camp with this lunatic."
Asahi looked up to the night sky. "It's getting late. Tell the peeps who want to be in the first night duty to get ready. I think I also saw someone ran off? I'm not really sure but let's all do a headcount before we turn it in. Oh, and Kogen?" Asahi called out to Kogen as he pointed a finger and out came a pink thread that extended until it stopped just a few inches away from Kogen's head. "Please stop strangling our classmate or I will mess up your brain until it becomes mashed potato."
Tired didn't even begin to describe how Duncan felt, leaning against one of the newly constructed walls of the shelter. Most of the exhaustion was mental, courtesy of all the conflicting emotions he'd had to process earlier in the day - in the span of what, minutes? From the terror of witnessing Sasuke's blood-overdose to the relief of it not being fatal, from the hope he'd felt for Yuki's recovery to the disappointment and anger of it it still not happening, to the confusion of... whatever-the-ever-loving-fuck was going on with Ayana. Oh, and he'd yet to resolve the whole thing with Shun.
Still, it wasn't like his body had come out of the ordeal unscathed. This time, the tearing of his stomach had left behind a scar; a long, golden slit that still didn't hurt as much as it logically should have. He felt woozy, out of energy, like he needed a nap and three dinners with dessert - but not like a guy who'd bled all over the place for a solid ten minutes.
Ever since the failed attempt to heal him, Duncan hadn't left Yuki's side. He knew he couldn't really do anything more for the guy, definitely not without Asahi's help, but he didn't want to just abandon him either. He felt like if he walked away now, it'd be like admitting his friend was gone. Besides, if Yuki stirred, he wanted to be the first one to punch the shit out of him.
Despite his best efforts to keep vigil however, Duncan kept dozing off - only to stir a moment later when a nightmare crept into his vision, when he thought he heard Yuki move, or--
"Hey!"
When Maki fucking kicked him.
Still, at her words, he blinked his vision clear and glanced over at Asahi.
"Morn'," he offered with a lazy wave of his hand, only to be drowned out by the pinkhead's fussing. He groaned, but knew the guy was right. There was still a lot to be done. They needed food, Maki's arm was broken and needed fixing, and they had to take another look at Yuki.
They did, and the results didn't change. Slowly, the last bits of rekindled hope Duncan had managed to hold on to were beginning to burn out. Even Asahi couldn't connect with Yuki - possibly because there was nothing to connect with. Nothing but a husk. There never would be.
The others gathered for a group meeting, but with a tremble in his voice, Duncan insisted on staying behind. To rest, he'd said and gestured at his recently closed stomach, but he was really bad at lying, and those who knew him were pretty good at reading him.
Just this once, though, they didn't call him out on it.
And so, while the rest of the students conducted a meeting on their future outside, Duncan sat besides his friend and prepared to leave him in the past.
Masato had really, really wanted to ignore the whole "Ayana problem" and hope that it fixed itself, which is why he hadn't addressed it. It was only natural that Akito, the trouble maker, the accomplice, the past Masato wanted to leave behind, would bring it up. Masato pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows knitted together as Todokawa... Oros, whatever, began yet another confusing rant.
It took over the entire conversation. Ideas about hunting, finding civilizations, and anything else fell by the way side. The student council president kept quiet through most of it, just waiting for it to end. During her speech she made some dark claims about Akito's future. Masato didn't know if she was trying to be intimidating or edgy, but he didn't appreciate it at all. The whole class was in a deadly situation that he wanted all of them, even Akito, to survive.
"Todokawa, that's enough," he said, but tensions were high and all at once people started talking and moving. The other Todokawa jumped in to defend her sister against Asahi, Inaba and Kanamori left the confrontation all together, and the most pressing issue - Kogen had snapped.
It had been a long time coming, but did it have to happen right now?
And in the middle of everything, Todokawa was still going!
"Can everyone cut it the fuck out?!"
No one cut it the fuck out. He was vaguely aware that his fellow councilman Asahi was trying to calm things down in his own way. As much as Akito, Todokawa, and everyone else assumed that Masato was their leader, he was hardly ever in control of this class. Not back at the school and especially not now. Behind him, he heard Ryuugasaki's voice. He whirled around to glare at her.
She met his gaze evenly; she knew that she was right.
Fuck. He knew she was right too.
Masato brushed past Nakagawa and Okumura. He was sure that siding with Akito, even if it was to save the boy's life, would register to Kogen as yet another betrayal on Masato's part. Their friendship was already hanging by a thread, if it still survived at all. But he couldn't just let Kogen kill his fellow student - and with his strength it was all too possible to do so even accidentally.
"Ko-kun, stop!" he said, wrapping a hand around Kogen's wrist. It was the first time he was seeing Kogen's armor, so he was unsure if the other boy was stronger than him with it on. It probably didn't matter if he was. "He's not worth it!"
Masato realized the irony of the statement. Multiple ironies. Whatever, it'd been said. And if Kogen didn't come to his sense and let go, Masato would wrench the boy's arms off of Akito. Only once this situation was resolved would he deal with Oros. "Ko-kun!"
//Night 1 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside @Vertigo It wasn't as if the walls were that thick. They had done what they could, substituting plaster with mud, but that didn't do much to block out the noise. And anyways, Duncan's senses were sharpened to a point beyond even his best basketball games. He could hear them all outside still.
He could hear the faint beat of Yuki's own heart still, the shallow breathing. When they had healed him, Yuki's complexion had gotten better, but that had been all. Something was lost. Perhaps Asahi simply couldn't fix certain wounds. Perhaps if he tried, it wouldn't be Yuki anymore.
Duncan sat there. He could hear the fighting now, the threats. Asahi's declarations, the psychic threads that he commanded. Masato, shouting, a desperation that only increased. Ayana, having lost all sense of self to whatever possessed her. And the other, normal students, struck by a dawning realization that the power that had saved them on that first day would be a catalyst that ripped them apart as well.
Footsteps at the entrance.
Yukiko.
Gray eyes blinked, adjusting to the darkness. A petite form, backlit by firelight. She looked weary, more shrunken than she usually did, as she sat down beside the unresponsive youth, hugging her knees to her chest. She had been the one who had thought to pull Yuki to the others during the nighttime ambush. If she hadn't, perhaps he'd have turned out the same as Yuudai. Had exhausted herself, carrying him along when the group all decided to run away, leaving their Awakened friends to handle those hulking monstrosities.
And now, perhaps all that effort was worthless too.
Strange, that an oppressive silence could settle, even when it was so loud outside.
It was the thing that Yuki was always good at breaking. @AThousandCurses She ran.
Of course she ran.
Her whole power set, the extra ability that she had unlocked, only had to do with running faster. So fast that her scooter was pointless. So fast that she left the others behind within a minute. It had taken so little time to reach the opposite end of the lake. It would take even less time to get back, if she really needed to.
But would she? Why should she?
Yuudai was dead. Yuki was near-death. Ayana was off her rocker, and could've died. It would be better to run, to keep running, to leave it all behind. That's what freedom was. That's what she always desired, wasn't it? People didn't interest her. She could talk with them, could laugh with them, but conversations died around her, and she would turn back to her own interest once more. That had suited her fine for all her life. Why would it change? Moonlight reflected off the lake, human drama doing little to diminish natural splendor. No one came after her. No one was fast enough to follow her. Back on Earth, there were hardly any who could keep up with her boundless energy. Here on the Otherside, there were even less, yet she found herself chained to them.
Did she have to be?
What, really, made her stay with her classmates, when she could take care of herself so much better alone? @Yankee@Cu Chulainn[@baraquiel@Nakushita Asahi tried to play it cool, but it was hard for anyone who remained to really settle down. His claims were wild, their implications leaning more towards villainy than anything else. Ayane turned, peering into her step-sister's eyes. She didn't want to trust Asahi, not when the pink-haired youth had displayed such disinterest in taking anyone seriously while he spewed out some deeply unserious stuff too, but the question had to be posed still. "Ayana, are you still in there?"
Did the answer truly matter? It wouldn't solve the divide anyways. Sasuke's gaze settled upon Asahi. They had known each other since they were children, and even though his expression didn't change, Asahi could understand that look regardless. Softness must subdue hardness. Tranquility must overcome ferocity. Otherwise, one risked losing all control. Where, in all this, had they lost that control?
Masato's hand wrapped around Kogen's wrist, and yet that glowing armor was cold to the touch and it did not give. The student council president knew though. Knew that any of them, any of the Awakened, possessed strength enough that if they put their mind to it, it wouldn't be strangulation. It would be a decapitation with the blunt force generated by one's grip strength.
Kogen had not lost control. He was perfectly rational, holding back still the superhuman power that he had. Holding it back because he didn't intend on killing someone though? Or holding back because he wanted to prolong it. To drag it out. To watch Akito's struggling weaken over successive seconds, watch his face turn red, then purple, sweat and tears and snot expelled from the vice-like grip that held and held and held.
Hiroshi remained an observer, that amoral curiosity driving him to watch all this with wide eyes and the shadow of a smile.
And Juro found Hana, the two of them sharing quiet words.
"...Maybe it would be better if I was gone." For both them and her. Whatever good will she had with the students had disappeared when she struck Ayana. Would the situation back at the meeting worsen if she hadn't hit used her fascimile against Ayana? Thinking made her stressed her out and getting stressed out meant that she wasn't happy. If she wasn't happy then that meant she was living the carefree life that she had desired.
Slowly confidence grew inside her. "Yes, yes, I have to do this." Strength gathered inside her as Shun stood right back up. With a swipe of her sleeve the moisture was swept away. "Maybe I can find a way out. I'm fast, I bet I can discover more of this strange world if I look around." The fuel in her exhaust was still full, though there was a question to be made. Where would she rest? The night had dawned in and the relatively safe place was the lake. Though that mainly was because the group was there.
This would most likely be her only opportunity to leave the group. After that she'd would need to discover food, water, and shelter all by herself. She had a full bottle of water, and she'd recently eaten. That was about it. Refinding food and shelter would prove to be an ardous task for the middle school student, if she wanted to survive in these lands. However, a sudden thought crept into her head.
"Do I really need to do all that?"
In this hopeless, foreign world, Shun had an epiphany. Did she really need to survive to be happy? There was no escape in this land, her classmates were bound to kill each other eventually, and the flag of death loomed over her head. Wouldn't it be better to be herself till the very end? To feel the wind brush against her hair. A cry of joy and a sense of euphoria. A sudden calmness washed over Shun.
Seemingly a trance, Shun departed into the forest. Any thoughts of long-term survival had vanished as she disappeared into the woods. What did the world have to offer for her compromised life? It was a question Shun would have to find for herself.
Goddamn it was noisy. Was it really too much to ask to be able to say goodbye to a comatose friend in peace!? Man...
Duncan shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore the arguing going on outside. Whatever problems they had, he didn't care. He had to do this, had to say his goodbyes before he managed to trick himself into believing Yuki had hope again. But if he could hear everything outside, from the loudest yell to the faintest mumble, he had no doubt the other Awakened could also hear him, and that thought alone made him acutely aware of his heartbeat. He didn't want to say something overly mushy and hear about it later. Like, what if someone heard and told Hiroshi?! No thanks.
Besides, it wasn't like Yuki could hear him. He could tell, even with no expertise on the topic. Nothing seemed to affect Yuki's steady, shallow breaths. He wasn't... wasn't there to be moved by whatever anyone had to say, so any words he needed to get out would only be there to comfort Duncan himself. And if they were just for him anyway, he might as well just think them.
So, he tried. He tried to come up with a whole speech in the confines of his mind, free of embarrassment, but his thoughts didn't cooperate. They kept wandering to memories, to what ifs, to apologies, to realizing how fucking awful Yuki would have found all this. Eventually, Duncan gave up. Even if he did figure out how to do this, then what? Yuki would still be here, lying on the floor, unable to wake up. Words-- words wouldn't be enough. He had to let Yuki go, and not just figuratively in his head. He had to let Yuki rest, for real. He had to do something about those shallow breaths.
... But what?
They did it with a pillow in the movies. There wasn't a proper one around here though, none of those fluffy white ones. And it wasn't like he could just use his hands - that'd feel like murder.
Wouldn't it still be murder, no matter what?
Shit, shit, the movies never conveyed how fucking hard it was to even think about just... offing someone. With his strength he could probably just smack Yuki hard enough and it'd do the trick, but he wasn't about to beat his friend bloody. ... Blood. There was his blood. It'd almost killed Sasuke. Not in a pleasant-looking way, but could Yuki feel anything anyway? He could say it was a delayed reaction to the blood he ingested earlier if anyone asked. And maybe-- just maybe if he tried with his blood one more time, it would actually work and he wouldn't need to think about any of this.
One last shot. Then, one way or another, Yuki would be free.
Duncan inhaled slowly as he raised his shirt. There weren't any objects sharp enough to make proper cuts around, but how difficult would it be to tear open a scar? ... Well, probably very, but he was ready.
Except, before he could start, he heard footsteps. Immediately, Duncan yanked down his shirt and whirled around in his cross legged pose, coming face to face with Yukiko. Damn. He must've looked like a deer caught in headlights, but even if Yukiko noticed, she said nothing. Just walked up wordlessly and plopped down on the other side of Yuki, hugging her knees.
... Oh.
Silence settled over them, or over Yukiko, at least. It was never silent for Duncan and his newly found, superhuman senses. But it sure as hell was still awkward. He felt like he should've cheered her up, said something encouraging and hopeful, but really, that would've just delayed the inevitable. So what he said instead, was: "He won't come back, you know."
He let the words settle before continuing, not daring to turn to face her. He kept staring down at Yuki's sleeping face instead. "There's nothing more we can do for him, even with all the magic bullshit we got. You--- you did good, though, alright? So don't go blaming yourself."
Before Duncan could stop himself, he was speaking again, blurting out his thoughts the way he'd been unable to before. "He wouldn't want us to see him like this. If he knew you were coming in, he would've insisted on staring at the mirror for half an hour and groomed himself first. Like this dude brushed his eyebrows! Who the fuck brushes their eyebrows?! I asked him that once, and you know what this asshole said?"
He let out a wry, pained laugh. "'Stars like me.' Like he was... like he was mad popular, a celebrity in the making, with girls lined up at his door for every hour of the day. All cause of what, his Youtube channel? Daisuke and I were half his viewers. We watched every video. Multiple times. The numbers made Yuki so goddamn happy. He was sure they were all different chicks, all swooning, but really, it was two dudes and sometimes Maki, laughing at his antics with beers in hand. Oh, and kids, probably. Heard his vids were really popular with them. Somewhere out there's like an army of wannabe Yukis driving their bikes into lakes. They're gonna be devastated when--"
Duncan couldn't finish that thought, and he had to swallow a good handful of times before he was sure he could continue with a steady enough voice. "... We can't leave him like this." Duncan raised his gaze to Yukiko at last, brows furrowed. Not from anger, but from determination he hoped was infectious enough not to have her immediately freak out on him. "We... need to let him go, Yukiko."
Usually Duncan used first names without thinking, never quite having gotten used to the Japanese system of politeness and honorifics. This time though, he did it very purposefully — because even though they were practical strangers to each other, they were in this particular flavour of hell together.
Ayana paused briefly, her bright blue eyes lighting up as she listened with great interest to what Asahi had to say. Though it didn’t all make sense to her after hearing and seeing what he had done moments before. “Oh? I thought you were the one that wished to fight, was that not what all the posturing and chest puffing was about puuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrhappps? Or was I mistaken in believing this and mistook your words and actions to mean something else A-Sa-Hiiiiiiii, besides it doesn’t matter who would win in a physical fight, you can beat me into the dirt, pound my face in, break every bone in my body……it doesn’t change the truth…..” Her right hand coming up to her chin rubbing it in brief thought.
"Though....if you only opened your eyes A-Sa-Hi....we could help everyone together.....does no one wish to be joyful?, wise? or shrewd? or does everyone wish to be mad? to act savage and deny the truth, or do you wish to conqueror your fears? If you are swift enough....there is still time.... "
A slight distract causing gaze and attention to shift. Her eyes focusing on the features of her step sister’s face as she peered into her eyes, returning the favor as she gave her a frown “Still in where? I don’t understand what any of you are talking about half of the time, I’ve not gone anywhere…has no one been listening? I’m Oros The Clumsy, but I’m also Ayana…..I’ve not gone into anywhere, or any thing, no one has taken my body…..” Trying to correct both Asahi and her step-sister and anyone else that had the belief that she had been possessed or her body had been taken over by another entity.
Shrugging her shoulders as she reached a hand up to give a flick of her messy hair “All that has happened, is quite simple, I just remembered who I truly am…the part of myself that I hid away, and forgot….my eyes were opened once again to the truth, to reality…..now if only the rest of you would come to accept and embrace this truth, to open your hearts……” Leaning back as she stared straight up into the sky, placing her hands on her hips as she began to impatiently tap her foot.
“However, it seems that everyone has become quite hostile towards me, yet I have not even threatened anyone or harmed anyone? Does the truth really scare you all that much that you try to deny it without ever really being able to truly see the light? I only wish to help everyone, have I not made that clear? now….I will ask again, who wants to live? Who wants to embrace the truth, to open your hearts, your souls, your minds….orrrrrr you can just all beat my ass, but that is only going to make you feel better for a little bit….before your denial of the truth costs you all dearly….” Reaching over as she pulled her step-sister towards her placing a hand on either of her shoulders. Her blue eyes filled with a fiery intensity as she had the biggest smile yet across her smug mug.
“Since we are blood, how about you accept it first? Puuuuurrrrrrhappppps…..you have some of the same unique powers that I possess….after all it wouldn’t be out of the question that you are of blessed blood like myself….A-Ya-Ne……so what will it be….? purrrrhappps….Ma-Sa-To will want to accept it as well, of course as the class president….it would help lead others to accepting it as well? The possibilities are endless…..but only if you believe me…..” Ayana’s gaze turned towards her other classmates now as she spread her arms out wide to either side of her basking in her own moment.
“Those that wish it, I will accept your embrace and I will give you my own…….if it makes you feel any better, I'll even cook you all a nice meal in celebration.....” Closing her eyes as she remained where she was at, arms spread wide open. Leaving herself completely open and defenseless if anyone sought to bring her further harm, but also open to any who chose to believe her and accept the truth.
It had not escaped her notice that Shun had departed, but Ayana had to handle things here first before she figured out if she would need to pursue Shun once again. It wasn’t the first time that Shun had left and slinked off somewhere to be alone. Not only was Shun a important friend too Ayana that she wished to have joined her side, Shun likely had what Ayana desired, after all it was likely that she had been the one to take Endless Eclipse for herself. What Shun did with it was another matter entirely, or if it granted her the same kind of visions as it had Ayana, this wasn’t something that Oros was sure of.
Asahi's words were ignored, downplayed even. No one took him seriously unlike before. Instead of listening to him, they all just shouted at one another treating him like he's not there. The only people who seemed to even care about what he said was Oros and Sasuke. Oros, who continued to talk to him with a relaxed smile on his face. Sasuke, who gave him a look that only the pink-haired boy understood. Some of his classmates with them also gave him a look, a look that made it seem like he was the bad guy.
Like he was the villain.
He willed his string to come back to him, his knuckles white as his fists tightened. He looked angrily at Sasuke, Oros, Ayana, and the others. "You're all a bunch of ingrates. When I try to save you fools, I feel every broken bone as if it were mine. I feel all the sadness, the depression, the rage, the confusion, the anxiety, and the fear that you've ever felt in your entire lives. I feel every fibre of muscle torn, every pinky toe bumped against the corners of tables, every heartbreak, every cramp, every sore. I feel. ALL. YOUR. PAIN." He said with a cold, rageful tone.
"I have your memories inside me. Your birthdays, your first periods, your first bicycle rides, your first crush. Faces of people in your lives that I don't even recognize. So don't you dare look at me like that, treat me like I'm the villain when I put so much of me just to save your ungrateful asses. Remember that the next time you have broken elbows and knees, shattered bones, burns, cuts, food poisoning. Remember who's the one who will feel all those things with you to make your miserable lives better." He further said with so much venom and malice in his voice before turning her back to them. He refused to show them any more weakness especially with his eyes getting shinier as his tears threatened to flow. He did look a little too long at Sasuke before leaving, so he might have noticed it too.
He started to walk back to where Yuki was, not caring about being in the first night's watch anymore. In a fit of rage, he waved his hand quickly at random and his strings materialized out of his fingers. He jumped in surprise when he heard a loud sound, and realized he just slashed at a tree trunk. The mark he left on it made it look like a beast did it and it reminded him of another side of his powers.
Asahi looked at his strings, or should he call them wires now? He didn't care anymore, willing the wires to return to his system before continuing his walk towards Yuki.
He heard it before he saw it, Duncan convincing Yukiko to 'let go' of their comatose classmate. He made his steps a bit louder to announce his presence and not surprise them before looking at Yukiko. "Give me until tomorrow to try and save him when I get a little more rest. When I still fail, you can do whatever you want with him. I don't want to give you any false hope but you know me, I don't stop until the bitter end. Still, the choice is yours Yukiko."
Asahi sat down with the two of them and looked solemnly at Yuki. "Know that whatever you decide, it will bring him peace."
Kogen didn't let go. Very quickly Masato realized that he couldn't physically make him either. Kogen's Facsimile was strong, it made him immovable. As was becoming scarily normal, Masato didn't know what to do. His eyes flickered down to Akito's straining face, then back up to the metallic mask. The other students couldn't help either, the ones that hadn't left yet standing by to watch and worry.
While his brain took in the information of what else was going on around him and filed it for later - Oros' continued insane ramblings, Asahi's anger and startling reveal - his attention was still on his childhood friend. He couldn't see Kogen's face beneath the armored helmet, and he hadn't the first clue what kind of expression the other boy was making under there. It had been too long since he and Kogen had actually spoken for Masato to even hazard a guess. So instead Masato counted on the fact that Akito was still alive at all that Kogen might still back off.
"Ko-kun, just listen to me," he hissed. "Do you actually want to kill a person? If you don't let go of him he's gonna die!"
Even with his hand still wrapping around Kogen's wrist, he couldn't feel anything under the armor. He couldn't feel if Kogen was hesitating or loosening his grip, only that he hadn't yet let go and Akito was still choking.
"He can't even fight back, he doesn't stand a chance as you are now," Masato said, attempting to appeal to the sense of honor he knew Kogen had.
Still Kogen didn't let up. What was it going to take to resolve this? Masato narrowed his eyes and couldn't help the small, bitter grin that started to show on his face.
"Let him go and you can hit me all you want. You've probably wanted to do that for a couple years now, huh?" The two of them hadn't even fought it out back then, as friends, or as men, just avoided each other. It was clear though that Kogen had a lot of pent up rage.
But it still didn't really seem like anything Masato was saying was getting through. Tired, confused, and utterly frustrated, Masato just let his stupid instincts take over.
"God fucking damn it Ko-kun! Come out of that thing and listen!" As he said it, Masato slammed his head against Kogen's, willing the magic armor away. He felt his skull bounce off of it, and god damn that was gonna hurt for a while if not leave him concussed out right, but he was out of ideas.
It was Maki who blurted that out, her face flushed red with either embarrassment or fury as Asahi revealed just how deep everything went with his power, the price that was paid for a supernatural recovery. It was all sorts of fucked up in that moment, to find out after the fact that her most intimate secrets were plucked out of her head just like that.
But she didn’t chase after him either, not when Daisuke looked like he really needed some form of support himself. The Awakened students were splintering, that much was true. Rin was never going to involve herself with these sorts of group dynamics problems, while Shun had disappeared off into the woods. Asahi revealed himself to be some sort of mental voyeur at the last moment, while Ayana was completely batshit. Even her step-sister, who had been willing to go out swinging for the blue-haired girl, looked more and more apprehensive now, and as a result, so did the others who had gone up in Ayana’s defense.
“It’s…just a lot to process.” Not to mention they weren’t exactly of the same blood either. The fashionista clenched her fists. Did she have it in her to believe such words? Did she trust this ‘Oros’, who claimed to be an Ayana she had never met before? The words caught in her throat and she choked them down, taking a step back. Then another.
It was too sudden a transformation. It looked as if there was nothing that she recognized, as if she were looking at a parody, a caricature.
“I don’t know.”
Ayane looked down at the ground, ashamed. And, in the void that her presence, her tacit rejection left, another stepped in to fill it. Perhaps in the class, only he would take her invitation. Only he would care little for who someone was, who someone is. Only he had that pure drive to know.
Shark-teeth flashing in the moonlight, wide pupils glinting in the firelight, Hiroshi stretched out his arms and took Ayana’s hands in his own. They were cold to the touch, callused on the tips. “I accept. Now, do me the favour, Oros. Tell me what you believe the Truth to be, and we can spend the first watch that way.”
…
Words.
That was all it was.
Just a handful of words.
Kogen could endure. He could endure everything. He could endure pain and humiliation, knowing that so long as he lived, he could avenge himself. He could nurse his grudges in quiet, could hold his hatred deep. It was like sealing a demon. It hurt, but it was good. Because a wise hawk hid its talons until the time was right. Because no one took notice of a fool until it was too late. Because he was divine, bearing judgement but beyond emotion.
So what was he doing now, so publicly?
He was enacting his r-
"God fucking damn it Ko-kun! Come out of that thing and listen!"
Masato’s head bled, the flesh sliced open by the edges of the demonic helmet. Kogen felt nothing, not even the pulsation of the built-up blood, the tremoring and spasming of a body, the others now, trying their best to pull him off. Daisuke. Fujita. Maki. Sasuke. Tsubaki. What the fuck was this? Why did they care so much? It was Akito! They all had the right to hate Akito! That fucking sniveling gopher for those upperclassmen. That fucking fraud, holding himself as a top dog when he didn’t even rank in the top 10. That traitor, that rat!
Ah.
That was it.
Rats with rats. Traitors with traitors.
“You.” His voice sounded too weak. He grit his teeth. Tried again. There it was. A steely tone, possessed with a wholly neutral flatness. “Masato. Who matters more? Me or him?”
“You.” was the response he got in return.
Stillness.
Words. Just words. Yet he couldn’t unhear them. He couldn’t be deaf to them. He couldn’t ignore them. He couldn’t forget them. He couldn’t. His body could heal, but his mind remembers. Remembered betrayal, that black stake driven into his guts. Remembered isolation, the gouging of his organs out his back like meaty wings. And the fury, that latent inferno, seized him then!
“If you cared, then why did you leave…”
A normal student, no matter how much they trained, could not hope to compete with a demon. He hurled them aside with impunity, then slammed Akito down into the ground. Half-conscious, the delinquent boy coughed, heaving for air even as he found himself unable to breathe for an entirely different reason. He raised his bleary eyes up and saw…
“…WITH HIM?!”
…Kogen’s boot, stomping down.
A crater in the earth.
But no splatter of bone and blood.
The demon looked up, a glowing light peeking out from its visor. It seared into Masato’s vision, the malformed rage of the boy whom he had wronged, twisted into a shell that could never be removed.
“What good are your words, if you never follow through?”
And with that, Kogen left, disappearing into the woods.
@Vertigo@baraquiel Gray eyes, ringed with exhaustion, stared back at him. Their corners were red, rubbed raw, but by now, she had ran out of tears. Duncan wasn’t particularly sensitive, but he could feel that emptiness be directed towards him, even as he avoided her gaze.
And when he looked up once more, when he found what he truly wanted to say, he saw Yukiko there still, placing a small hand on Yuki’s forehead. Smoothing out his hair just a bit. Feeling the cool flesh. Running a finger along the yellow hairband he wore. There was a tenderness, a sorrow, a reverence.
Her lips parted, words bubbling up. Soft-spoken as ever. Perhaps the first time, even that Duncan had spoken with her.
“I watched every video too.”
In that small town out in the middle of nowhere. A girl smothered by another’s fame. A boy struggling against obscurity and mundanity.
Asahi entered. Yukiko retreated, settling back. Three was a crowd. It was no longer a space for sharing such emotions. Only an understanding of what must be done. What she must do.
She spoke to Asahi, but her gaze was set on Duncan. Exhausted. Hollow. But not dead.
“Hiroshi told me he wouldn’t last more than a day.” Because even if they could heal his flesh, they could not make him eat or drink, could not understand what’s wrong with his brain. “But…at the very least, I don’t think he’d want that burden on us.”
Diving deep into the quagmire, that trench so deep even shadows did not reach.
It had been a wire at first, but he had plunged deeper still, shaving it away to pierce further and further, beneath those blanketing layers. Wire. Thread. Spider silk. Reaching for a sign of life, for a sign of mind. The pressure crushed his mind, drowning out thoughts, suffocating him in response. But there was no light at the end, nothing to fuel the hope that he was getting anywhere.
He could give up. He was spending too much. Dimly, he could feel his true body still, burning away the scant fuel in the forge as he reached further and further down.
But he did not give up. Distantly, he could feel the others with him. They could pull him up, if he could no longer surface. They did not look at him as a monster, even though they did not know the full truth either. It was fine. He delved deeper.
Deeper.
Deeper.
Until he reached a…
Disorientation. Pain. Your voice, yowling in agony half real and half just for the reaction. A tall youth, his hair showing the dark roots of a poor dye job, winced as he approached. Offered a hand to pull you up. Winter in Kuroshio, white all around, as if someone had sliced the landscape away until all that remained was the snowfield. Your breath went up in puffs as you shouted at the other one further off, one hand holding up a phone, the other hand a cigarette. Freakishly tall as well. A real pair of basketball legends, with the whole night-and-day contrast going on. You’re stuck in-between, just an average person now, but you’re happy despite it. They’re out here with you, after all. You’ve always wanted to have a team working on your videos, even if they were just feeling generous with Christmas spirit, with the uncommon weather.
You reach out to touch the falling flakes, wondering if it would last.
But it would not. It was an inch thick and your footsteps alone revealed the black dirt beneath. It stopped you for a moment, seized you by the throat. The crushing crystallization of the thought that this present wouldn’t last, that it would slip by no matter how much you hold onto it.
So what?
You turn towards the skies, hold out your hands, and say to your friends, “Hey, after we graduate, lets go to Hokkaido! See some real snow, know what I mean?”
…the core. A bubble of a memory, the last vestiges.
Melting away like that rare snow day, two years ago.
Morning broke upon the Lakeside, the fog evaporating in the sunlight.
Yuki had passed away.
@AThousandCurses The chirping of distant birds roused Shun from her fitful rest. She rolled her shoulders, felt the aching of an unorthodox sleeping posture. It had been a result of the shelter she had found the night before, a tree hollow that hid her well enough away from the outside world. Perhaps it would serve as a permanent shelter, if only there were so many grubby insects and worms inside it as well. They lacked the strength to pierce her flesh, but it had taken some time before she could ignore them and drift off into a fitful rest.
She was hungry and thirsty too. Her head was light, a bit too light, and her core, she sensed, was running close to empty. She could eat a horse whole at this point. Live, if she had to.
Her bearings were lost. There was no going back to the lake. The foliage, the unrecognizable vegetation, surrounded her in all directions. The mountain, ever-skypiercing, was the only landmark that she could use to navigate.
But she was free.
She was responsible only for herself.
No Oros, no Kogen, no Asahi, no Masato, no Duncan, no Rin, no expectations, no demands, no others to watch out for or worry about. She could just be herself, could make every decision for just herself!
"At the very least, I don’t think he’d want that burden on us."
Duncan practically stabbed his hand back down, scooping up another handful of soil and tossing it unceremoniously over one shoulder. He'd been at this, digging like a man possessed since before sunrise — since realizing he couldn't hear Yuki's shallow breaths anymore. He wanted to be the one to do this, before anyone else could butt in or offer their help. Digging a fucking hole was the only thing he could do for his friend now, so he intended to dig the best goddamn hole this side of... wherever the hell they were. It was pathetic, he knew. He couldn't save Yuki, and yet Yuki had, as his final act in this world, saved him.
Saved him from the burden of murder.
If he hadn't talked about it with Yukiko first, if Hiroshi hadn't been able to predict Yuki's time of death, if Duncan had thought to let Yuki go sooner, would he have-- could he actually have...
It sounded so absurd now, like a scene from a shitty flick. He'd been so determined in his desperation last night, but now he couldn't believe the thought had even crossed his mind. It scared him a little, made him wonder what he was truly capable of. Was he just one weird-ass experience away from snapping like Ayana and Kogen had? God, he hoped not. They had enough loonies to last them a while.
Duncan stood up on the bottom of the newly dug grave-to-be only once he realized he was parched. He'd yet to break a sweat thanks to his new powers, and hadn't paid any attention to the passage of time — or the depth of the hole he'd dug, for that matter. So when he looked up and realized how distant the sky was, he figured he should probably stop before he dug all the way to China. Or, uh, whatever was on the opposite side of Japan. Canada? God, he wished he could dig to Canada.
His choices now were to climb up and find water, or to keep digging a while longer, until his brain stopped replaying memories of Yuki, interloped with the image of his lifeless body on endless repeat.
"Urk," Awakening to insects trying to burrow inside her skin was gross. Hopping out of her temporary shelter, Shun made a huge effort to ensure none of the insects were on her body, or worse inside her cavities. Once she groomed herself from any pests, Shun took in a deep breath.
The only thing she heard though was the growl of her stomach.
"I should find something to eat," Shun mumbled to herself. Taking a swig of water from her bottle, she took in the air once more. For once, she felt refreshed. All the troubles had cleared itself from the moment her eyes opened and now she was free to do whatever she wanted. For now, she needed to take care of her needs.
If she conserved her water bottle correctly, she'd be able to last through the day before finding another place to refill it. For now hunting was Shun's concern. Now that she was all by herself, the middle school girl would need to each individual task by herself. From cooking, to cleaning time to time, to refilling her bottle, she was now entirely responsible for herself.
With that said, Shun went out to hunt or forage. She'd at least recognize some of the native berries since she consume some before. Though nothing can be safer than a good cooked chunk of meat. Afterwards, she'd plan to explore the world. If she found a place where the earth stood above the trees, that'd be good.
The sun was just about to rise over the horizon while Asahi looked down at Yuki. He could hear his heart beating a lot slower, his breathing getting shallower. Asahi slept little last night which made him rethink if he should continue this, but as what he said to Yukiko last night, he's not a quitter.
"If you can sense me get lost, got in too deep, just yank me back to sever the connection." Asahi said to perhaps Yukiko, Sasuke, Duncan, or whoever else was with him, as he gingerly placed Yuki's head on his knees. He flexed his fingers and placed them at the sides of his comatosed classmate's temples, inhaled and exhaled deeply with eyes closed. Duncan could probably hear his heart beating wildly from anxiety, but it's too late to back down now.
"Here goes..." Pink threads attached to Yuki's head and the two were connected now.
This time, Asahi felt like he was in outer space. He could see nothing but darkness wherever he looked. He floated aimlessly into the void, almost feeling himself getting suffocated by all the emptiness. He was starting to feel irritated and hopeless. Asahi will not go back empty-handed. Just like what he did with Sasuke, he will break through his limits and achieve his goals no matter the cost. Besides, he was an Awakened. He could survive (mostly) anything now.
He focused all his energy, all the heat and power coming from his forge. He will use it all to win. He spread his arms and legs widely and freely, shouting into the void as tons upon tons of pink threads shot everywhere. They pierced through the darkness and he felt each individual threads kept on going and going through the void. They interlocked together, almost forming a massive pink spiderweb with Asahi in the middle.
He felt himself getting undone, something in Asahi's head felt wrong. Already he could feel immense hunger and exhaustion creeping in as he forced his forge to blaze on like last time. He kept willing his threads to shoot all over, unspooling himself just to get something, anything at all that could help him save Yuki. As he kept going however, his pink webs began unravelling on their own without an anchor, a solid piece of a conscious mind to hold on to. His grip on Yuki was starting to weaken just as his classmate was getting closer to death.
Asahi then felt it. A vibration. One of his threads hit something, like a prey that found itself on a spider's web. He followed that thread and trudged on, going in deeper and deeper than he ever could into someone's mind. The deeper he went, the more this painful pressure was squeezing onto his entire body, mostly his head. It felt like he was going to the bottom of the ocean and the pink line he's holding unto was his literal lifeline, the only saving grace that could pull him out of the depths. His screams of agony were unheard by anyone but he still kept going, not even knowing what he was getting himself into. His self identity was unwinding. He closed his eyes and kept going through the pain. Deeper, deeper...
Asahi then found himself in a core, a mere piece of the collective puzzle of a person that was near and dear to their heart. He was confused at first then he realized he was Yuki, or was he Asahi? Were they both, or were they always been one? Even Asahi was starting to think it was his memory too but it couldn't have been. He saw two immensely tall teenage boys, Yuki's basketball mates. Asahi didn't play the sport but perhaps he did at one point. Did he even help in the Christmas video? Did he also play with Duncan and Daisuke?
Asahi/Yuki knew he was living in borrowed time. He/They felt a level of despair and anxiousness, knowing this moment wouldn't last and everything will be gone in a snap. The sorrowful cold and the inescapable void of the black soil underneath the emptiness of the white snow. Even then, Yuki/Asahi was still unshaken and it made Asahi/Yuki realize how, in their years of being classmates, could he have missed or ignored how handsome he became?
As the last of the core melted away like snow, Yuki was flashing his charming smile as Asahi cried, finally letting go.
When he came back into the real world, the sun was starting to show most of itself in the sky and Duncan was probably already done digging the grave. He must've heard Yuki's heart stop while Asahi was trying to save him. Asahi felt tears streaming down his cheeks as his head ached, yet he gave Yukiko a small melancholic smile. One showing how very sorry he was that they lost another classmate and that he had failed miserably.
"S-Snow..." Asahi's voice faltered while speaking weakly. "Yuki wanted to go to Hokkaido, and see real snow."
At dawn Masato stirred from sleep. It was the second day. His body felt stiff and his stomach felt empty. He had slept sitting up, legs and knees drawn to his chest with his arms folded on top and head pillowed in them. Like the two nights before he hadn't expected to fall asleep, too used to his insomnia keeping him up. His new power was draining something from him and forcing his body to rest if it couldn't eat. Last night he had actually wanted to sleep, at least.
After things had calmed down last night he'd taken stock of the camp. Maeda had carted Todokawa away at some point, but they were both still around. Two had left and hadn't come back yet. It was likely that they'd lose one more, permanently.
Kogen's parting words had haunted him in sleep. He'd gone to bed feeling helpless, angry, and miserable while replaying the events over in his head. Reading the book over and over again. He couldn't stop those types of thoughts this time, was too tired to push them out of his head. Upon waking the intense feelings of the night before had dulled, but they were still present. And there was a new feeling too, like he'd woken up before something had happened. An apprehensive feeling. Without fully unfolding himself Masato rubbed his eyes on his forearms to clear some of the drowsiness away. He let out a heavy sigh. His head hurt.
It didn't take him very long to get up and start the day. A mental checklist began to form. One, check with the night watch. Since they hadn't been violently woken up in the middle of the night he assumed there wasn't an attack, but he wanted to make sure they hadn't seen anything - like a stalking monster scoping them out from the forest or something.
Two, get breakfast started. Or make sure someone was getting it started, or else risk botching it. Three, check on Endo.
He knew what he would find before he made it to the hut the other boy had been housed in. There was a heavy atmosphere around the area. His ears picked up the sound of digging, the nostalgic kind like children looking for worms. It could only have been for a grave. Masato slowly processed the information. A burial, not cremation? No, no, it made sense... if they cremated Endo, what would they even keep his ashes in? A bento? Or else dump the ashes into a hole just like that?
Masato took a detour, finding Stewart a little ways from camp. Without a shovel or spade he was forced to use his hands. He was silent as he worked. Masato thought about helping him, but he didn't. He didn't know Endo well, and he suspected that Stewart didn't want company, especially from anyone besides a close friend. He could offer his condolences though.
But he didn't.
He left the boy to finish digging. Burying a body... it seemed like the right thing to do, but it could be dangerous. An animal could smell the corpse and dig it up if the grave was too shallow. A monster could. But it seemed like Stewart had gone pretty deep already, since the hole was already deeper than the basketball player was tall.
Masato had to get his shit together, step up and make sure things got done right, which meant being the asshole again - but for now Stewart was spared from any rude reminders. If he treated this... predicament like it was school, like he really was still their student council president, then it might be easier to compartmentalize.
Considering Endo just a corpse or body was easier until Masato saw him. Endo had been in some kind of coma before, but they could tell that he was alive. Now, though he looked just the same as last night, there was something vital missing from him. Masato had left Stewart to finish digging and poked his head into the shelter. He stared at the boy's face and was quiet for a few moments out of respect, and because he was trying to pull his thoughts into place.
"If we're not interrupted, we'll have a service," he said. Interrupted by weather, by monsters, by infighting... he didn't know what might happen, but hopefully nothing did. He gave Hoshino and Ohta a sympathetic look. Tried to, at least. He wasn't sure if he succeeded. Then he gave them some space.
Three-B, see if Takehara will help with that. His next stop was to find the girl and rouse her. As he moved, he filled out more of his mental checklist.
Four, hunting. He had been against it. But losing Kanamori... losing Kogen... the class now found itself lacking in both defensive and offensive power. Killing or driving out everything around his area sounded like a good idea now, to make it as safe as possible. Masato would be out hunting today no matter what. He wanted to be useful in a more concrete way, but even if he'd wanted to stay at camp that wasn't really an option. Their awakened numbers had dwindled, Stewart and Hoshino were drained from working all night, Todokawa was... like that. So it was left to either Inaba or himself, or both of them.
Inaba's facsimile would come in handy for it. It seemed to be useful for a lot of things. Masato lifted his hand, looked at his palm. Yesterday he hadn't been able to manifest Hoshino's threads. He doubted he'd be able to magically slice through things like Inaba either. He could still use his bare hands though. Channel some destructive force through them and whatever he managed to find in the woods.
The last items on his agenda were could wait for a while.
Five, find out what Hoshino knows. Last night the pink haired boy had made a surprising statement - and he had connected with Masato. In exchange for the information Hoshino had shared with him, what of Masato's had been shared with Hoshino? And when had he begun to call Hoshino by his first name? Masato didn't want to be suspicious of his fellow student councilman, but after seeing a fraction of Hoshino's past, it was possible that the threads had made Masato think better of his classmate, or consider him closer, whether intentionally or not.
Six, deal with Oros. Masato would have to connect with Maeda and find out what he'd learned. Because right now, Masato had no idea what to do about Todokawa. Based on what the blonde said, he'd make his decision.
For now though, he was still on item three. Takehara, then service, then hunting.
She had thought that she had resolved herself, had accepted it. She thought that she had felt all there was to feel, and now the numbness would settle in so that she wouldn't be a snot-faced mess. But it wasn't that easy, was it? Yukiko had felt his pulse fade at last, had heard his last breath rasp out between slightly-parted lips, had saw that near-indistinct change in complexion once the blood no longer flowed. Had saw the expression on Asahi's face. Her nose tickled. Her jaw tightened. Her fists clenched over her pleated skirt. Her breath came sharply, erratically. Her eyes reddened once more, cheeks flushed with a shame that all she could accomplish was watch and cry.
Duncan had left. He had long known the result, and so did she. But Yukiko couldn't leave. She remained there, rooted, biting back the tears, incapable of even telling Asahi that it wasn't even his fault, that he didn't everything that he could, that she was thankful he cared enough to do all this.
An impact sounded by the doorway, a fist striking wood. The shelter was fragile; it shook from the blow as Daisuke bit back his own desire to scream. His face contorted, shadows cast over it by the morning light behind. Blood trickled down from his knuckles but he held back his own desire to strike again. His was a crushing self-loathing, one that had built up throughout the entirety of two nights and two days beneath the surface, one that burst out now that there was no way of redoing it, of making up for his mistake. Who had been the one to lead them all and rush that one monster? He had been. And this was the result. If they had waited just a bit longer, if they had chosen to run instead, wouldn't Duncan and Asahi have Awakened anyways? He held it back, that desire to rage, but he didn't have the right either, to intrude upon this place.
One step. Another step. And Daisuke left, seeking something to do, something to keep his mind off it all.
...
Masami had woken up early to wash herself in the lake.
To purify herself, perhaps.
Despite the cold, she scrubbed herself clean of the soot from the flames. She ran her fingers through her damp hair, trying to straighten out any clumps. She rinsed her mouth and spat it out into the dirt. She washed her face with a damp handkerchief, dully understanding that it had been two nights since she had used a proper cleanser. She had stayed ankle-deep in the shallows, clearing her mind with the chill of the gentle waves.
And as the mist evaporated, as the day warmed up, she turned. There Masato was.
One thing no one taught you was that asking a peer to perform funeral rites for a mutual classmate was incredibly awkward. It sucked, suffice to say. Masato knew a little about Takehara's background, and though he didn't know if she still kept up with her shrine duties or if she even knew how to do what he was asking. They didn't have much they could use for offerings either, and purification was... probably impossible. But anything was better than nothing. So he explained that Endo had passed, and swallowed the awkwardness to flat out ask her to assist.
"Anything you can do. Even just some prayers would be good, I think," he went on, his voice neutral.
A sigh. She wasn't that close to Yuki. Honestly, she never liked him to begin with. Shallow twerp, that guy was, always chasing after the few girls that didn't learn to ignore his flirtations the first time around. She remembered back when he was still a chubby kid with a bowl cut, running around with a stick to poke dead cicadas or cow poop with. She remembered too many memories that were more embarrassing than fond. That was the thing about Kuroshio. Small town like this, even when you didn't like someone, you'd still have plenty of memories about them.
"Of course." That was what she had been doing all morning, preparing for this. That was what she had failed to do for Yuudai, in the rush to escape, the rush to move on, the rush to ignore that small grave where only gorey pulp was buried. She'll do it right this time, and hope that Yuudai forgive her for failing him. "Leave it to me, prez."
...
They didn't have time, not really. Breakfast was practically just leftover soup, diluted to nothing in order to fill the stomachs with something. There was plenty to be done. Most set off, as a result. Most of them hadn't come to terms yet, with the fact that Yuki was dead. There had been nothing recognizable left when it came to Yuudai, but here? It looked as if he was asleep. Yet it looked as if something had changed, in its entirety.
It was a simple affair.
Daisuke, under Masami's instructions, had cleaned Yuki's body best he could, spooning water from the lake so that they didn't end up tainting their only source of fresh water.
Ayano, of all people, had used what remained of her makeup kit to give Yuki the semblance of life, if nothing else. Clearing out blemishes, smoothing out the complexion, adding a bit of blush.
Yukiko had set off to the perimeter of the camp, plucking what wildflowers she could find. It was only enough for a handful of scattered blooms, but their brilliance was a vivid thing nonetheless, and she placed them in Yuki's folded arms.
Though they didn't have incense, Hana had found some damp moss, enough so that it could be set to smoulder and smoke. She didn't linger to see the ceremony however, and strode off alongside Rin.
Under normal circumstances, there would have been a wake before the burial. But here, it was done simultaneously. Masami chanted her sutras, a daughter of a priest in full. Words were whispered to the deaf dead. They lowered Yuki's body eight feet into the earth, before scrambling out. Strange, how distant eight feet was.
Strange, knowing that there would be nothing of Yuki's to return to his family, if they ever escaped the Otherside.
A handful of dirt was held in Duncan's hand. He had dug out the grave himself. It was only right then, that he ought to be the one who began the process of filling it back up.
...
Hiroshi learned of the future, and tragically, it appeared that the future was strangely predictable. He could've guessed such fates, after all, with just a bit of imagination. And such fates could be avoided too, with just a bit of good advice, given and taken.
But still, it was interesting enough, seeing how far delusion mixed with faith. The religious still considered themselves capable of determining what was fantasy and what was reality, despite their beliefs in the supernatural. Could this 'Oros' not be the same thing? Outside of the whole possibility of dissociative disorder manifesting from stress.
"Well," he said, gazing at the small lean-to shelter that Oros had made, "Planning on joining them? That funeral's probably for Yuki."
With food her first priority, Shun stepped out into the forest once more, eyes alert for any sign of something edible. All she knew was the direction away from the lake, and she went that direction without much deliberation. It would be bad, in some ways, if her fellow Awakened students came across her, tried to convince her to stay with them. It would be worse if she encountered Ayana-Oros again.
But she did not.
She encountered a patch of mushrooms, ones with sepia caps and purple spots instead, clustered inside a pile of decaying leaves. There were hard berries clinging to another bush further off, dense enough that it looked unlikely to be very juicy at all. A few plants reminded her of the dandelions back home, the ones that you could make tea or a vegetable dish out of. The insects that she had brushed off herself, of course, could be eaten too if she was feeling adventurous. But it was only going to take the edge off her hunger. She needed meat. Thick, sizzling steaks of meat! Everything on the forest floor, compared to meat, was just a garnish.
And then, Shun's foot sank down three inches.
There it was, a footprint four times her own, pressed into the soft soil. A giant-sized predator. Potential prey for her, if she could down it. Certainly massive enough that tracking it wouldn't be difficult even for a street-punk like herself. But she was alone too. Could she risk it, fighting a creature that could very well squash her flat? She remembered them, those hulk-phants. The massive creatures who crashed through the bus as if it were nothing more than a cardboard box.
This was exactly what Duncan had wanted to avoid. The reason he'd left well before anyone else awoke, why he'd dedicated himself to digging deeper and deeper with no regard for depth reached or time spent. Why, when he'd heard someone's footsteps come close enough to his grave-digging site to hear him were he to speak, he'd kept going and pretended he wasn't aware of their presence instead.
He'd wanted to avoid feeling... this.
Duncan's fist was clenched so tightly the dirt within threatened to turn to dust. He was shaking, tall form resembling a tree being whipped about by a storm. Ironic, because there really was a storm, only it raged inside him. Anger, sadness, fear, memories of Yuki, of his mother, of life and death and how there really was such a fucking thin line separating the two. He wanted to punch something - someone, his father, a monster, a wall, himself, Yuki for fucking dying on him, but he knew he could do none of that. Knew that even punching a wall meant shattering the shelter the others had painstakingly scraped together. He was envious of Daisuke for that; for getting to punch something and being able to feel himself bleed.
Daisuke was here now, and Duncan couldn't bear to look at him, much less at Maki or god forbid, Haruko — if she realized he was about to cry, it'd destroy her. She was too kind for her own good like that.
It was okay, though, because he wouldn't cry. He wasn't a goddamn kid.
Throughout the ceremony Duncan hadn't really known what to do, where to look, what to say, where to keep his hands. It wasn't the kind of funeral he was used to, and not just because they were - or, well, had been - in Japan. He doubted funerals were quite like this there, either. But by the end, once the chanting had ended and the last fingers of smoke started to fade, he finally knew what he was supposed to be doing. It was up to him to seal the ceremony off. To seal Yuki underground, forever.
All he had to do was shovel dirt and not cry. That was it. How simple was that?
Duncan took a step closer, feeling rows upon rows of eyes on his back. He might've imagined them; he doubted anyone was paying attention to him when their dead classmate was right there. Maybe Hiroshi would, it felt like he was always watching, but that fucking creep wasn't here. Man... why couldn't it be him in the hole?
If they didn't get back home, wouldn't they all eventually end up—
Duncan threw the fistful of dirt onto Yuki as gracefully as he could muster, which wasn't very. Then, before he could think too much, he dug his hands into the pile of dirt next to the grave and threw in two fistfuls more. Then another two, and another. The others would join him soon, probably, but if they didn't, that was fine too. He'd fill the grave with the same vigor he'd dug it, and leave no room for any other thought.
Not all of the students attended Endo's funeral. That was fine; Masato felt no need to force them. The service was for those that needed it. To grieve, to bring some semblance of normalcy back to their lives with a familiar ritual, to accept their friend was dead. In a weird way, Masato needed it too. He hadn't seen Higasa die nor had he seen the boy's body, or what had been left of it, and Okumura had ultimately survived. Watching Endo's corpse be lowered into the earth made everything a lot more real.
Throughout most of the service, Masato was silent and still. He watched with a stoic expression, just tracking everything with his eyes. Masato was far from coming to terms with everything, but with everything that had happened he was trying to at least stay grounded. He was still upset about the last night, but was doing a remarkable job of not showing it. And in regards to the scene in front of him, the only thing that he could really feel was... disappointment.
When it was over, he helped to fill the grave in. He hadn't had any words for Endo, and it felt weird to be burying his body, but the sooner it was done the sooner...
His brain rattled to a stop even as his body kept moving, pushing dirt into the hole. The sooner they could what? Get on with their lives? What a callous thought. But it was exactly where his thought process had been going. It was necessary.
After the hole was filled, Masato gave Endo's friends a wide berth. He went a little ways along the lake's edge to clean the dirt off of his hands and wash his face. And to think.
When his stomach pulled tightly he returned to the campsite. It was time to get started on item number four.
"I need at least one volunteer," he announced, his voice still reigned in and neutral. "We're going to find and bring back as much food as possible. And kill anything we see, if we can."
The volunteer was mostly so that if something happened to him, they could go back and inform everyone what had happened. Fighting, searching, and hauling he could handle all himself - but it would be nice to have an extra pair of hands for the last part at least.
