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The moment that Masato realized he wasn't going to best this monster with his new found strength, he felt the flame in his chest flicker. A flash of doubt in the most frustrating way; he could [i]almost[/i] do it, close but not close enough. When the fact set in it was too late to bail and try another strategy. He was lifted up, his stomach flipped, and then he was smashed into the ground once more. 

He let out a strangled shout as he felt his breath leaving his lungs. The lacerations on his back had already healed, a small blessing that he didn't feel any more pain besides the weight of the beast pressing down on him, but what did it matter if he was going to die anyway? He might have preferred that it hurt more as proof of his struggling - it was about all he could do at the moment after all. Both of his hands were still wrapped around the hulking creature's paw though he couldn't dislodge it. He strained against its press, trying to get his legs underneath him again. He was pretty effectively pinned, and hadn't regained breath enough to call out for help.

Looking up at his captor, Masato could swear that the beast was grinning back down at him. A chill spread through his body along with an inkling that these things were not just alien animals, not really. Even with the ability to shoot magic lasers, he'd expected that they'd be dangerous but simple, predictable... but the fact that they'd split up, that there was a trio firing on them to support their larger pack mates, that there was a creature waiting in the wings, that this one hadn't yet killed Masato despite rendering him almost completely vulnerable... it all suggested a capacity for thought. For violence beyond just survival.

It flexed its shoulder and pushed down harder, the look in its eye bringing him to another time his back had been pressed into the dirt, an overwhelming presence above him keeping him there. 

[i]"You've been acting really entitled lately,"[/i] that presence growled. [i]"Now you won't even greet your family properly?"[/i]

Right, that was how it started this time. It was already well into the evening by the time Masato had gotten home from cram school, he'd had a headache and brushed by Akito and his parents on the way to the small kitchen. A snide comment followed him there, though he couldn't recall what it was. He could tell his brother was in a bad mood, but still ignored whatever it was Akito was saying while he pulled leftovers from the fridge. The flick of a lighter reached his ears and annoyed him. The smell of smoke that followed incensed him. He remembered rounding on Akito when he heard their mother coughing from the other room. Remembered telling Akito to put the cigarette out and the bark of laughter he'd gotten in response, and how he'd snatched the thing and snapped that he didn't feel like dealing with Akito's shit that night. He definitely remembered thinking that was the wrong thing to say, but not how they'd ended up outside afterward. 

He hadn't realized he was still holding the cigarette until Akito ripped it from his hand while pressing a knee into his chest. When his brother spoke again it was after a long drag and smoke billowed from his mouth around the words. 

[i]"Why don't you give oniisan an apology, then we'll be done with this."[/i] [i]For today[/i] went unsaid.

[i]"Akito—"[/i]

[i]"O-nii-san."[/i]

[i]"—get off me!"[/i] Masato snarled. He grabbed a fistful of his brother's shirt and dragged him in closer. The angle was bad for a punch but he went for it anyway, barely cuffing Akito's chin before the older of the two retaliated. He took hold of Masato's collar and raised the boy up to slam him back into the ground. 

[i]"So fucking annoying, always thinking you're better than me,"[/i] Akito hissed, his patience run out already. [i]"Spoiler alert Masato, you're just the same!"[/i]

It hadn't been much of a tussle that time. Some days Masato liked to think he could give as good as he got, but it wasn't one of those days. It ended with a small, circular burn on his skin. He felt those ashes, that heat now under the monster's foot. The memory helped burn away some of the chill of dread he'd been feeling - right now he was still alive and he needed to do whatever he could to stay that way. He had to make it back home and tell off his asshole brother one more time, see the look on his face when he got on that plane.

He gathered air into his lungs again, but didn't cry out for anyone to come to his rescue. He'd gotten himself into this predicament by overestimating his strength, and he'd get himself out somehow. Masato curled, wrapping his legs around the monster's limb to use as leverage. His plan was much the same as it had been before: snap this thing's bones. He shifted his grip so that he could twist, hoping to force its foot to twist with him in an unnatural, painful way. Even if he couldn't break its digits, if he could get it to let go in order to escape its pin that would be good enough. He could figure something out from there.