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duhragonball · 11 days

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End of Evangelion: 25'

Yeah... that's...

"You don't understand!" is pretty much Neon Genesis Evangelion in a nutshell.

Or "You do (not) understand! (true²) Director's Cut" is how the franchise would put it.

Let's just get on with this.

I watched End of Evangelion last night. Well, early A.M. I took a nap and woke up at midnight and it seemed like the right time to watch a thing like this.

I did not enjoy the movie. I'll explain this, of course, but I wanted to get that out of the way up front. There are positives, sure, but I went into this thing hoping for a more satisfying conclusion than what was presented in the TV show, and I didn't get it. Both endings suck. There you go.

Let me back up a bit. So the TV series ran from 1995 to 1996. The final episodes, 25 and 26, were controversial because they were expected to wrap up the whole story, but instead they went in a bizarrely abstract direction. Both of those episodes apparently take place inside Shinji Ikari's mind as he struggles to accept being part of a collective gestalt of every human mind on Earth. This is the result of the "Human Instrumentality Project" a concept mentioned in Episodes 1 -24, but never adequately explained. The final episodes just skip past the part where Human Instrumentality was achieved and shows the result, without bothering to discuss the background or the cause, or the long-term ramifications.

From what I gather, the main reason Episodes 25 and 26 were Like That was because the studio was short on time and money, so a more satisfying conclusion was not practical. But since the series turned out to be so successful, they were able to take another crack at it with End of Evangelion. The film is very clear about its purpose as an "alternative" to Episodes 25 and 26. It's divided into two sections, numbered 25' and 26'.

I'm not sure the viewer is expected to pick one over the other. The original 25&26 take place in Shinji's mind when Human Instrumentality happens. 25' and 26' take place in the outside world, showing the events leading to Human Instrumentality and the aftermath. There may be some continuity issues to iron out, but a fan could easily accept both endings as canon.

That's not my problem here. The problem is not that there are multiple endings, or that the endings are too "abstract", or that the endings aren't "happy". Fundamentally, my gripe is that the endings are confusing. Perhaps it might be said that the endings are pathologically confusing.

I think this is one of those Big, Emotionally Raw Works, where you can't really discuss it without revealing something about yourself in the process. So let's do that. End of Evangelion makes me feel stupid. There's parts of the movie where I'm just completely confused and I have no idea what is happening or why. It feels less like entertainment and more like I'm about to take a test I didn't study for.

Except I did study, because I've literally been taking notes on this thing for the past three weeks. I was looking forward to this, and last night I'm near the end of the movie wondering what the hell I'm going to write here, because I don't understand what the hell happened in the movie.

So I poked around a fan wiki for a bit, trying to get a handle on some of the major concepts, and as I read the articles, I realized that a lot of this information just stone cold never made it into the TV show or the movie. There was one thing I looked up that had to reference a Playstation 2 game that released six years after the movie premiered.

It's not that I'm too stupid to understand Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's that the franchise appears deliberately designed to hide information from the viewer. You're just supposed to roll with it, I guess. Or spend days researching all this side material. Read the manga, read the wiki, read fan commentaries. I hate this. I hate this so much.

So maybe I'm not stupid. Maybe the anime was just badly designed. That would be comforting, except I still feel stupid for investing so much time into trying to understand this thing that seems purposely rigged to defy understanding. It's not just the ending. That's what everyone talks about, but the ending is just a symptom of a bigger problem. The beginning is really slow. Then the middle starts to get weird, and there's a lot of mysteries and subplots and lore that gets set up with the implied promise that "we'll explain later". And the ending(s) drop that ball. The surgery was a success, but the patient died.

I feel stupid because I got a reply to one of my liveblog posts, I think Episode 12, in response to some comment I made about all the characters having the same backstory. Ritsuko has a complicated relationship with her workaholic scientist mother. Misato has a complicated relationship with her workaholic scientist father. Shinji has a complicated relationship with his workaholic scientist father. Is that a theme or did they only have one idea? My point is that eventually it stops being clever and starts being redundant. Later, we learn that Asuka has... a complicated relationship with her workaholic scientist mother.

"What, are you stupid?" asked the reply guy to my wry observation. They deleted it a few minutes after I saw it, so maybe they felt some remorse over the comment. Normally, I let these things slide. I might respond if I get legitimately hot about it. But this one got to me. "Am I stupid?" I asked myself last week. I seem to be complaining a lot about this show, but it's supposed to be a classic. Am I not giving it a chance? Am I missing something here? Am I just not smart enough to appreciate this thing? Am I just not trying hard enough?

If you're reading this, Reply Guy, please know that I didn't take it personally. I'm not upset with you at all, but I am trying to be honest with myself about this. This Neon Genesis Evangelion business has been frustrating me all month long. Now I'm at the end and it all feels very hollow, like I wasted my time.

I think that's my philosophy on life. I try to seek out new things to explore, usually stories, and sometimes they don't work out the way I wanted them to, and that's okay, because it's the journey that counts. Shinji Ikari keeps shutting down throughout his story, asking why he should bother doing anything, because he's too terrified of the possible outcomes of his actions. My thing is that bad stuff happens all the time no matter what, and you just sort of have to recover and move forward, because that's the only way to see what happens next. So I'm not sure if I can relate to Shinji or not.

Anyway, let's talk about Shinji masturbating in a hospital room over Asuka's comatose body.

I had heard about this scene, but I didn't realize how long and pathetic it is. Asuka had a nervous breakdown in Episode 23. This movie has to follow up on that, becuase Episodes 24, 25, and 26 each refused to pick up on her character arc.

Meanwhile, Shinji is wracked with guilt and dread over his battle with the 17th Angel in Episode 24. He had to kill Kaworu, but in spite of Kaworu's betrayal, he was still a friend to Shinji when he needed it the most, and he was such a good sport about getting killed, you know?

So this movie has to get us back to that moment, when Shinji and Asuka are at their lowest ebb, and I guess they decided that Shinji should go see her in the hospital because he's desperate to talk to someone about what's he's been going through. But Asuka's unresponsive, so he starts shaking her like he's trying to wake her up. Instead she just rolls over, which somehow exposes her half-naked body, and Shinji is so overcome with lust that he rubs one out right there and then. Doesn't even get a Kleenex, doesn't find a place to sit, he just whips it out and goes to town right in front of her.

I guess this is supposed to be a joke, but it doesn't land. It's not even a matter of the joke not aging well. Yeah, this is a 27 year old movie, but Shinji admits this is terrible behavior almost immediately. The "joke" didn't age at all. It was stillborn. This is like when you go to a graveyard and you see one of the tiny graves and the dates are from the same year. That's how funny this is.

The most charitable reading I can give this scene is that it represents the hypocrisy of Shinji's whole deal. He constantly insists that he can only do as he's told, because he's afraid of people not liking him if he makes a mistake or thinks for himself. But here he's doing some pretty disgraceful shit, and I sure as fuck didn't tell him to do this. did you? Did anyone? Of course not. He goes limp for most of the rest of the movie, but not here. Nossir. Seems pretty sure of himself in the minute or so it took him to finish his business.

The other aspect of Shinji on display here is that his ideal social interactions are one-sided. He's most comfortable with people when they can't see what he's doing, when they can't touch him back. That's why he wished for isolation in Episode 25. Here, with Asuka unresponsive, he's basically got the same thing.

I suppose the flip side of this is when Asuka kissed Shinji in the TV series. Her hangups are kind of the opposite of his, where she wants to be in charge of everything and everyone constantly showers her with praise for her achievements. She wants to kiss Shinji but she can't be vulnerable enough to admit that, so she orders him to just stand there and be kissed because she wants to "pass the time". And she makes him hold his nose shut because she doesn't want to be breathed on while she does it. I mean, they both have intimacy issues, but at least Shinji had a chance to consent to her weirdness.

In the NERV base, the crew wonder why they're still on alert status, since the last Angel was defeated. There should be no more threats, and it kind of makes sense for NERV to be disbanded. The only business left is the Human Instrumentality Project, and none of these ham-and-eggers know what that is.

But Misato has some information about it, which she mulls over while she's in her car. I guess? Let me explain this in more detail, because the movie never totally gets into the "why" of it all.

Okay, so the SEELE group has access to something called the "Dead Sea Scrolls". According to the NGE wiki, SEELE got it from the two angels that came to Earth, Adam and Lilith, in the distant past. SEELE has used the information contained in the scrolls to establish themselves as the secret rulers of the whole world. And they founded NERV, and its predecessor organizations, to study the Angels and figure out how to preserve the human race.

They talk a lot about Second Impact on this show, but they never explain exactly what caused it. Second Impact was not a meteorite strike or a rampaging angel who self-destructed, or even a lab accident. It was caused deliberately by SEELE, as part of an effort to contain Adam, who lay dormant in Antarctica.

If I understand correctly, this was necessary because at some point, Second Impact would occur anyway, and then Adam's children, the fifteen Angels we saw in the TV series, would come looking for Adam's body and unite with it, triggering a Third Impact that would definitely wipe out humanity. This is all supposedly explained in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So SEELE's play was to trigger Second Impact deliberately, so that they could confront the Angels on their own terms. This gave NERV time to develop the Evas to fight the Angels, and to shrink Adam down to a more manageable size so he'd be harder to find.

Once the Angels were all defeated, SEELE could then trigger Third Impact. See, the TV series made it seem like the objective was to prevent Third Impact, but that was never possible. Third Impact is inevitable, I guess, so the only way to ensure humanity's survival is to evolve humans into something that can withstand the disaster. Thus, the Human Instrumentality Project, which will combine all human minds into some sort of disembodied superorganism at the moment of Third Impact.

However, throughout the TV series, SEELE has butted heads with the NERV Director, Gendo Ikari, about how this plan is to be implemented. Gendo wants to transform humanity into something new. But SEELE seems to want to retain their human nature and just use the plan as a lifeboat until the disaster has passed. At least, I think that's the disagreement here. Like I said, I had to learn about SEELE's agenda from the description of the PS2 game. It's not exactly a shock that the cabal of worldly oligarchs should want to save themselves and hold onto their wealth and power at the same time.

Gendo, on the other hand, seems mostly fixated on reuniting with his wife, Yui Ikari, who apparently died in 2004 during an experiment with Eva Unit 01. In the TV series, it was heavily implied that Yui lives on inside of Unit 01. Since Gendo's version of Human Instrumentality involves drawing up human minds into a noncorporeal union, I guess he figures that this will include Yui's mind, even if she has no body. It's unclear in this movie if Gendo actually intends to include anyone but himself and Yui in this merger, but in Episodes 25 and 26 of the TV show, Human Instrumentality is presented like it's all humans, even dead ones, and Gendo Ikari talked about it like that's what his version of Third Impact was supposed to be.

I suppose the only thing keeping Gendo and SEELE from turning on each other was the Angel threat, but now that this is over, SEELE attacks. First they try to hack NERV's supercomputers, but this is foiled when they recruit the aid of...

...Ritsuko Akagai, who betrayed NERV in Episode 23 when she destroyed all the Rei clones they had in storage. But she's the only one smart enough with computers to block the hack, so she crawls back inside one of them and uses her dead mother's notes to build a more robust firewall or something. I think she j-pegged a RAM or something, I don't know.

Ritsuko wonders why she's even bothering, since she already turned on Gendo. They had been banging on the down-low, but she got fed up with him when she realized he loved his dead wife more than Ritsuko or her mother, who also used to bang Gendo on the down-low.

With that cyberattack fended off, NERV now has to brace for an actual attack. Admiral Clownshoes notes the irony of NERV defeating all those Angels, only for their final opponent to be the humans they were trying to save.

Tactically, the entire battle is a formality. SEELE runs the whole world, and they can send wave after wave of soldiers into the NERV facility, which is already badly weakened after months of Angel attacks and budget cuts. NERV's defenses were designed for dealing with Angels, and their greatest weapons were the Evas, except Unit-00 was destroyed in Episode 22, and Unit-02's pilot has lost the ability to sync. Nonetheless, Misato wants the pilot kids secured, since she knows SEELE's goons will try to take them out first. She orders Shinji to deploy in Unit-01, and even though Asuka's in no condition to fight, she has her put in Unit-02 and then sent to the bottom of the lake. It's not much of a hiding place, but at least she'll be safer there than inside the base.

Where's Rei? Well, no one can find her, but she's gone down to the room where they keep Lilith and she's soaking in that orange goop they have down there.

Perhaps anticipating this, Gendo excuses himself and orders Clownshoes to take over the defense of the base. Clownshoes seems to know what he's up to, and sends his regards to Gendo's dead wife.

At this point, it's basically a race to see who can trigger their version of Third Impact first. SEELE wanted to use the Lance of Longinus and Lilith somehow, but since the Lance is in space now, they now plan to use Unit-01, the only Eva created from Lilith. That's what makes it special, apparently. Units 00 and 02 were made from Adam, I guess?

Anyway, Gendo plans to do it by combining Adam and Lillith together. He's got Adam's body within his own, and he wants to join with Rei, who contains some essence of Lillith. This was Rei's main purpose all along, I think.

Meanwhile, Misato leaves her post to find Shinji, who was sulking in some corner instead of reporting to his Eva like she ordered. She saves him from some goons, but they're cut off from Unit-01, so she has to find a way to get him where he needs to go. She also has to convince him to cooperate, since Shinji's completely gone to mush in the midst of this new crisis.

As she drives him to where they need to go, she explains (most of) the necessary backstory to him. Second Impact was triggered deliberately to buy time for Human Instrumentality, and humans are descended from Lilith, just as the Angels came from Adam. So in that sence, the human species is collectively the 18th Angel, just another candidate to inherit the future of Earth. Humans, like any of the fifteen Angels spawned from Adam, have the opportunity to trigger Third Impact and secure their place as the dominant life form of Earth, but we had to beat all the Angels first to do it, and then find a way to survive Third Impact when it finally happened.

And while Gendo plans to do with with Adam and Lilith, SEELE wants to use the Eva series, somehow, so it's vital that Shinji use Unit-01 to destroy all the other Evas.

Speaking of destroying Evas, Asuka finally wakes up in Unit-02, which is currently getting battered with depth charges. She still can't control the Eva, and she just keeps whimpering that she doesn't want to die. Eventually, she hears her dead mother promising to protect Asuka, and she realizes the truth: that Asuka's mother, Kyoko Zeppelin, was absorbed into Unit-02, much the same way Shinji's mom was absorbed into Unit-01.

Now, at long last, Asuka can operate her Eva again, and she goes apeshit on the SEELE troops. They sever her power cable, but she doesn't care, boasting that five minutes is plenty of time to take out these creeps. This is honestly the best part of the movie, because they had reduced Asuka to a pitiful shell for so long, and now she's finally taking charge and whoopin' ass.

It won't last.

With the conventional forces beaten, SEELE sends in nine Eva Units of their own. These are units 05 through 13, but they all look the same, and I'm not even sure they have pilots. It's a pretty cool design for a "bad guy" Eva, but they don't figure into the plot very much. They're here to destroy Asuka and Unit-02, and Asuka has to destroy them to stop SEELE.

Meanwhile, Misato has almost gotten Shinji to the Unit-01 launch bay, but she got shot, so she tells Shinji he's on his own from here. Shinji continues to resist taking any responsibility here. He says he's not worthy to pilot the Eva because he hurts people. He killed Kaworu, and he "did something terrible to Asuka". So at least the movie recognizes that. I guess it was included just to show the audience that Shinji isn't exaggerating when he doubts himself like this.

Misato refuses to indulge his self-pity, and she doesn't care how much he cries or tries to use his past actions to disqualify himself. She tells him she's made plenty of her own mistakes, but she still learned something about herself anyway. Hey, I guess Misato kind of gets what I was saying earlier. I guess this makes her my favorite character?

Well, yeah, but I don't like how she gives him a long kiss goodbye, then promises they'll "do the rest" when he gets back. I mean, she dies immediately after he leaves, so I think she was just feeding him empty gestures to motivate him while she still could, but... that's kind of fucked up.

Meanwhile, Gendo and Rei reach the room where Lillith is to begin their attempt at Third Impact, but they find Ritsuko waiting for them. She pulls a gun on Gendo and tells him that she sabotaged the supercomputer while she was reprogramming it to stop SEELE's hackers. Except... when she tries to execute her plan, the computer doesn't do it. This is because it's been imprinted with the mind of its original creator, Ritsuko's mother, and apparently mom still carries a torch for Gendo, even after Gendo screwed both Akagis over. Gendo then pulls a gun on Ritsuko, and says "I truly..." but the sound cuts out as he says the rest of it, so we don't know what he wanted to tell her.

In any case, she calls him a liar after she hears it, so either he told her he loved her and she didn't buy it, or he said something really cruel and she knew he didn't mean it. Either way, Gendo shoots, her which normally would suggest his true feelings, except I think this Human Instrumentality business works on dead people too, so life and death kind of becomes meaningless in this movie. We see a ghostly apparition of Rei as Ritsuko falls into the LCL fluid. We also saw ghost Rei when Misato died, so this seems to be a thing now.

Meanwhile, Shinji makes it to Unit 01, but it's immersed in Bakelite, which Misato had ordered dispersed through the base to impede the invading goons. I'm not sure how it got here, though, unless the bad guys used Misato's own trick to secure Unit-01. So it looks like Shinji can't get in the robot, even though it's not a robot, and he doesn't even have to be inside the stupid thing to control it. He literally proved that on his first day on the job. Yo, Shinji, get in the robot, your mom loves you.

Meanwhile, Asuka seems to be doing just fine killing the bad guy Evas without Shinji, but just as she finishes the last of them off, the Lance of Longinus suddenly flies back to Earth and improbably stabs Unit 02 through the face. Uh... how? Why? What the fuck?

Also, all the Evas Asuka defeated suddenly reactivate. With her battery drained, Asuka is helpless to stop them as they crack open Unit-02 and eat it. I'm pretty sure Asuka herself is killed during this, but we don't see a body.

I guess this was the catalyst to get Unit 01 off its duff, as it finally breaks out of the Bakelite and grabs Shinji like it's gonna put him in. Unit 01 busts out to join the battle, and it's thig big impressive spectacle. It even has angel wings now.

But it doesn't actually do anything. Shinji just gets a look at what's left of Unit-02's mangled corpse and screams.

And that's the cliffhanger for 25'. There's a credits sequence, then a dedication note from the director, and then the second half starts as Episode 26'. So this is a good place to take a break.

If you're curious, the part where Eva 05-13 show up to confront Asuka is about where things ended in "Evangelion: Rebirth". But 25' is about twenty minutes longer than that, so I'm not sure what the significance of that cutoff point was supposed to be. I guess it works as a cliffhanger, but it's kind of dumb to have Asuka finally wake up and kick ass, only to get utterly destroyed a few minutes later. Then Shinji shows up to set up the real cliffhanger.

To be fair, this half of the movie is better than the second half. Mostly, it benefits from the parts where they actually show the characters recovering from Episode 24 and beginning to move to the next phase of the story. This was what the TV show failed to do with its Episode 25. Now, we get to see the SEELE vs. NERV battle that was only implied before, and we get to see how Human Instrumentality is arranged.

We also see why it needs to be done. In the original ending, it seemed completely arbitrary, like Gendo Ikari just decided this was a cool thing to try and he just did it to the whole world without asking anyone's permission. Here, it becomes clear that if Gendo doesn't pull the trigger, SEELE will, and it's just a race to see who can get their vision accomplished first.

And we actually get to see the other characters in this version. Asuka wakes up and gets her groove back, Rei's part in the drama is revealed, and Ritsuko and Misato get shot. Seeing this stuff makes me even more irritated that the TV series just jumped right past it all.

Still, this half of the movie has problems. For one thing, a lot of runtime is spent just showing troops slaughtering NERV personnel, and showing Misato leading Shinji to his Eva. Also, there's a healthy dose of Gendo and Rei just staring pensively at Lilith without actually doing anything. A lot of the footage doesn't actually progress the plot, and only Misato and Shinji's scenes are useful for providing exposition. Gendo and SEELE's words are too cryptic to be of much use.

The main point of this installment was to reinforce things we already knew: Rei's important to all of this somehow, Shinji is a sad sack, and Asuka is helpless. And maybe it needed to be reinforced in July 1997, more than a year after the TV show ended, but I don't think it needed to be hammered home this much.

And like I said from the start, this whole thing relies on a lot of ridiculous stuff that I feel like I should have been told about in the TV series. How did the Lance of Longinus come back? SEELE couldn't have arranged this, since they were the ones who were so upset about losing it in the first place. Why are there two methods to trigger Third Impact? How did Asuka's mother get sucked into the Eva and yet she remained in human form long enough to go insane and hang herself? Why did the bad guy Evas suddenly recover from their injuries when it was convenient for the plot?

Perhaps most critically: Why are they just treating Third Impact and Human Instrumentality like the same thing? Like if you do one, then the other one just automatically happens? Is that how it works? Then why were they so worried about the progress on that project? It could be done at will, right?

Oh, and how did SEELE figure out how to do all this stuff? They have their own fleet of Evas, which seem to work better than NERV's. They made their own Angel in the form of Kaworu. They seem to know how to make Third Impact happen, without Gendo's help. And however they got this far, they seemed to pull it off without anyone from NERV knowing about it. So why did SEELE even need NERV in the first place? As it currently stands, the only reason Gendo's ahead of them is because he's physically closer to what he needs to work with. SEELE could have nuked the base from orbit and hauled Eva Unit 01 from the wreckage.

Again, the whole movie just makes me feel like I missed an episode, except I didn't. I watched the whole thing, which leads me to assume that the next chapter will clarify everything, except it doesn't, as we'll see next time. See you there.

#neon genesis evangelion #2024ngeliveblog #end of evangelion #shinji ikari #asuka langley soryu #rei ayanami #misato katsuragi #ritsuko akagi #clownshoes

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rays-of-fire-and-ice · 9 months

Note

So I was reading petrichor and this line really got me: "It occurs to her that if she didn’t know him, she’d likely be slightly terrified of him after seeing that." I was wondering if you're doing requests, could I please request a fic where Hinamori is a little afraid of Hitsugaya's powers or him? I guess I just love angst, but feel free to make it fluffy too. Thank you and happy blog anniversary!

In the Shadow of the Ice

Rating: K+ / General with mentions of violence and a bit of course language.

Setting: During the battle of Gerard vs Byakuya and Hitsugaya

Synopsis: After witnessing Toshiro’s new powers, Momo experiences an emotion she never expected to feel towards her childhood friend.

AN: this was such an interesting concept to write about. Admittedly, I put them in a stressful situation, so maybe some of the fear came from that, but still!

The barrier Momo casts is this unnamed kido, I thought it looked neat and decided to include it here.

Hope you enjoy it, anon!

____________________________

Momo’s heart pounds in her ears. Gerard has gotten too close. Thankfully, his focus is on Senbonzakura’s petals that lash out various attacks upon him, but this is also causing him to move in their direction. he crushes buildings and debris in his wake.

Willing herself to look away from the looming threat, Momo focuses on her captain and pulls him up by the arm. “Captain, wake up!” she yells. “We have to move!”

Shinji mumbles, only half conscious. His eyes barely open to look at her and winces. Her kido hasn’t enough to have healed his head injury. She quickly loops one of his arms over her shoulders, almost losing her footing from how quickly she stands up..

“We’re getting away from here,” she says. “We need to get away before whatever that is gets here.”

Shinji lists his head in the direction of the giant Quincy, she too looks over as she begins to lead them away.

Senbonzakura continues to attack the Quincy as a figure sores into the air high above them. Momo swallows thickly at seeing Toshiro. His reiatsu engulfs most of the area, cold and piercing, unlike anything she has ever sensed before. He unleashes a wave of ice, but it misses the giant’s arm and gets plastered across a growing pile of debris. He arcs high and lands on a building with his back to her.

He’d been too far for her to see before now, but being a closer confirms he looks different. The wings and appearance of Hyourinmaru’s bankai had been an obvious change, but she can’t understand how he’s taller. She forces down the emotions that come and doesn’t put labels to them. She can ask him questions later, when all of this fighting of over and they’e rescued those trapped under the debris. Because they will all make it, she doesn’t dare think of the alternative.

She still can’t make out her friend’s face, but she wonders if he has sensed her and Shinji nearby.

In front of Toshiro, Gerard shuffles away from a sudden strike by Senbonzakura and closer to them, one of his feet completely flattening a building and crushing another in half. The resulting debris goes flying everywhere, with large chunks breaking through surrounding structures.

Momo lets out a staggered breath at the destruction. She clutches her captain’s arm tighter and tries to move faster. In less dire circumstances, she could flash-step while carrying him, but her own injuries impeded her and muscle fatigue is starting to set in. She can’t keep the rising worry out of her voice as she says, “Come on, Captain. We’ll end up getting caught in this.”

He tries to put a foot forward, but he slips, sending them both to the ground. He mumbles out a curse and an apology, but Momo doesn’t hear it over the destruction. She tries to focus on helping her captain up and not on the shadow that’s fallen over them and surrounding area. They’re within range of an attack. They can’t escape him now.

New plan, Momo decides. She settles her captain down against a piece of debris, trying to be gentle but ending up hurried. She ignores his string of curses and his attempt to clutch his head, instead straightening up and throwing her hands up in front of her. Most of her view of the sky is obstructed by Gerard. She can’t ignore her racing heart or the cold panic that runs up her spine. Hastily, she chants out the highest barrier kido she can cast. After the last phrase of the incantation, an iridescent dome forms over her and Shinji. It’s the strongest barrier she can conjure up, and suitable for the worst case scenario where they’re buried under debris; if nothing else, they’d have to wait until someone found them.

She attempts to control her breathing, but when the giant twists in her direction, she can only gasp. Without thinking, she looks to Toshiro. He’s looking at her. She can’t make out his features, but his posture is tense.

Behind him, a hand is sweeping towards him.

“Look out!” she screams.

Toshiro barely turns in time to see what is coming for him. He flings himself away and slashes Hyourinmaru in the air, sending a cascade of ice that encases most of Gerard’s arm and freezing it to the building he’d just been standing on. The giant lets out a roar as he tries to free his limb, and it shakes the area all around them, making smaller bits of debris vibrate and tumble down accumulating piles. Some of it hits up against the barrier, sending ripples through the surface, but it remains stable. Senbonzakura cuts the Quincy off, slashing and digging into the side of his head. Gerard bats the petals away with his free hand, scattering them in all directions.

So caught up in watching the fight, Momo yelps when Toshiro lands on the other side of the barrier in front of her and Shinji.

“You need to move!”

She doesn’t have time to be shocked by the change in his voice – however slight it is – or the fact he’s suddenly a grown adult. Being in his presence freezes her, causes her fingertips to go cold and her whole body to shiver.

“W-We can’t,” she stutters out. “C-Captain Hirako i-is…” Knowing she can’t get the words out quick enough, she gestures to Shinji.

Toshiro’s gaze flashes to his fellow captain, and he cringes. “Damn it.”

There’s another thunderous roar, causing Momo and Toshiro to look back to the battle. All the air leaves Momo as the Gerard’s hand sweeps down to the buildings in front of them. They’re destroyed one by one in seconds. Her whole vision is filled with a cascade of falling debris, coming towards her and casting darker shadows over everything. Her hearing is deafened up the sounds of small pieces bouncing off the barrier and the crushing of the debris about to fall on her.

Yet somehow, despite how fast it’s all happening, she thinks of Toshiro, in harm’s way.

Without a second thought she lungs to him, intending to pull him into the barrier. The moment her hands come out of the barrier and are centimetres from grabbing the back of his uniform, they burn. She barely registers the ice forming and crawling up her fingertips as she loses her footing. She screams, but she’s not sure if it’s from the burning cold or that Toshiro is about to be crushed.

“SHIRO!”

And then it all stops.

As Momo topples, her widened eyes take in everything. One second, the debris is falling, and the next, it’s all stopped midair.

Her arms land outside of the barrier but the rest of her remaining within. Her palms smack hard against the now frozen ground. She gasps at the cold. “H-How…?”

She whips her head back up, and time stills. No, she hadn’t been seeing things. All of the debris is frozen in ice. In her peripheral, every piece and chunk has been entrapped by the ice, and formed what looked like a massive wave frozen in time. Most of the ground remains untouched, expect for a jagged circle of it around Toshiro. Thankfully it hadn’t gotten inside of or on the barrier; she doesn’t think to question why that is, too shocked by what just happened.

A crunching footstep makes her shift her gaze back to Toshiro. He’d had his hand raised, but he now brings it back to his side. Hyourinmaru thrums with power, and if she weren’t already on her knees, she’s certain the way his reiatsu flares would make her double over under its pressure. She’s on verge of breaking out in a sweat, trying to keep herself raised.

“Hinamori!” Toshiro crouches and starts to reach for her, but stops himself. He winces, regret briefly flashing through his eyes before concern returns. “Are you all right?”

She manages a stiff nod, because as the shock starts to wear off, it finally hits her. He had done this. He’d frozen falling debris into a towering wall of jagged ice with a wave of his hand. He’d been standing there as the wreckage and destruction fell towards them, knowing he could stop it all.

Her awe is outdone by something she never expected to feel towards him. It grips her in a tight hold, causing her heart race again and tremors to break out across her limbs. She keeps her still widened eyes on him and tries to speak, but only stammers come out.

His wings arc around and over the barrier, protective. “What’s going on?”

Something about the action briefly reminds her of the Toshiro it knows. “Y-Your reia-atsu!”

His expression twists for a second, then he looks to the ground. “I’m not flaring it.”

This is his normal reiatsu now? When had it changed this much? No, it must the creeping exhaustion, it’s wearing her down to the point his reiatsu is affecting her. But what if that isn’t it? How can he be this powerful? What is this power? When had he acquired it? Why is he an adult?

“Hinamori, snap out of it!”

The order makes her flinch. She’s struggling to regain her breath and she can only stare at him. What she feels towards him in this moment has taken over her, and it horrifies her.

“What’re you…?” He glances down at her hands and does a double take. “When did you touch me?”

She’d completely forgotten about the ice encasing her fingers. Now the cold returns, dangerously close to piercing her to the bone. “I-I didn’t.”

His leans forward. “Let me see --”

On a reflex, draws her hands back into the barrier and she pushes herself away, clutching her them to her chest. Clutching them, some of the ice breaks off and falls away. She didn’t realise she’d half turned from him until his frown vanishes, but doesn’t move to change her posture. She wants to say this is all because of the intense cold emanating off of him, but it’s not.

“I was reaching for you,” she says, her voice almost sounding meek. “You were focused on the debris, you didn’t see.” Behind him, the wave looms over them. He’d created it with a wave of his hand. She shakes her head. “How is any of this possible?”

Something breaks in him, causing his eyes to widen and a strangled sound to escape him. His lips are parted, but nothing else comes out. He’s completely still, even the rise and fall of shoulders and chest ceases. Momo can’t register what he’s feeling, too caught up in trying to understand her own.

It’s as he’s frozen along with the wave. His gaze eventually falls to Hyourinmaru, hiding his eyes under his fringe. Something about the movement is vulnerable, and she wants to say something, but nothing comes to mind. “Hitsugaya-kun…”

His grip on his zanpakuto suddenly tightens, and he sweeps his head back up. Gone is the vivid emotions from before, and in it’s place he puts on the air he uses for training new recruits. “I’ll explain later. Protect Hirako, and when he’s ready, you need to get as far away from here as you can.”

Without another word, Toshiro stands. Some of the ice on the ground cracks when he kicks off with a powerful flap of his wings. Something about that tugs on Momo’s mind, but she ignores is as watches Toshiro soar through the sky and back into the fight, effortlessly dodging the Quincy’s attacks and conjuring ice in a blink of an eye. This attack is more vicious than any of the others, the ice coming out as more of a stab than a wave. It pierces Gerard and forces him away from the area. His shadow disappears over her and Shinji.

The ground shakes around her, helping her come out of her shock. Toshiro and Byakuya are forcing the enemy away, she can resume healing her captain and then getting him to safety.

She brushes and shakes the ice off her finger tips. The fragments fall into her lap and melt into her uniform. She curls her fingers several times, trying to rid the stiffness and chill from them.

Keeping the barrier up, she casts a healing kido over the last of Shinji’s injuries. He’s awake still, and more conscious than before.

“Who the fuck was that?” he mumbles.

Her voice is caught in her throat, but she forces out, “T-That was Captain Hitsugaya, sir.”

Shinji’s frown deepens. “Shit…when did his reiatsu get that big?”

If he had been more aware and awake at the time, she wonders how he’d have reacted to seeing Toshiro in this adult form and with these powers. Would he have been as shocked as her? Would he have been fearful too?

That fear lingers as she glances over her shoulder at the frozen wall of debris. Even when she was still recovering in Twelfth Division after he had been tricked into stabbing her, she was never been anywhere near this fearful of him.

She continues to stew on it as she heals her captain, then as she brings the barrier down, and as they stand to move off and find somewhere safe.

With Shinji more conscious, she gets her answer to at least one of the questions she had from before.

“How the hell did he do that?!” Shinji half yells, widened eyes taking in the frozen towering wall of debris. His gaze sweeps down the wave, then lands on the battle happening the far-off distance when multiple sheets of ice conjure up in thin air and strike Gerard. “What kind of power is that?” He looks to her. “Did you know about this?”

She shakes her head.

That makes Shinji raise a brow. “Thought he’d tell you of all people."

Maybe that’s what scares her more than the powers themselves. She knew he was training in caves somewhere in the Soul Society, but she never really asked about his progress. If this was the result of his training, how had he kept something so powerful under wraps?

“Hitsu – Captain Hitsugaya rarely speaks to anyone about his training,” she explains. “I imagine Rangiku-san knew about this though.”

“Yeah, she’d have to.”

Shinji steps over a particularly large piece of debris. Momo tries to do the same, but ends up losing her footing. Shinji is quick to grab her by the arms, steadying her. He grimaces as he helps her right herself up.

“I-I’m sorry, Captain,” she says.

He releases her and grips his right side. It’s an internal injury, one that Momo can’t fully heal.

“Just stay focused,” he advises. “It’s a lot, I know, but we can’t get hung up on the small things…Well in this case, it’s not a small thing, but you get the idea.” He jerks his chin in the direction of where there’s still whole buildings and structures. “You can ask him about it later. Pretty sure we’d all be curious about how he came to be like this. Now come on.”

She nods and takes the lead. “Yes, of course, sir.”

They walk on in silence, but Momo wishes they were still talking. She tries to put it all aside, to focus on finding somewhere safe for her and Shinji, but it continuous to circle around and around in her mind.

The fact he could simply freeze anything he wanted to with a wave of his hand is frightening even of itself, but it’s not the only thing that makes her fearful. Combining them with a situation as dire as falling debris that seemingly couldn’t be stopped, in a form she has never seen him in and the fact she never knew he was capable of wielding such powers, it put a leaden weight in the pit of her stomach.

Was this how the children in the Rukongai felt towards him? Had he seen that same fear in her just now?

She thinks back on his reaction, on the emotions flashing across his eyes. It was a vulnerable look, one that was equal parts shock and confusion, and something else. Something that makes her bite the inside of her cheek, hard.

Her reflection is interrupted by a confused grunt from her captain.

“Captain what’s…?” She returns her focus to the battle, a long, safe distance away now. Even so, she can see why her captain is bewildered. The giant’s flesh seemingly falls apart as he tips inexplicably forward. More buildings are destroyed under the weight of his bones.

“What the --?” Shinji begins, but then Gerard’s flesh, now brighter beams, flies towards the top of the Palace.

“Must be Yhwach’s doing,” he mutters with a grimace. “Does this mean he’s winning?”

“It can’t be…” The possibility has always been real, but despite the odds stacked against then, Momo believed to her core that they would secure a victory over the Quincy.

“I can’t sense Ichigo,” Shinji says through clenched teeth. “What the fuck’s going on up there?”

“We should go and help them, sir,” she suggests.

He shakes his head. “We’d be useless the way we are now.” He takes in a deep breath, the continues. “That kid isn’t weak. He always gets back up, no matter gets thrown at him. If he’s got Lieutenants Kuchiki and Abarai going to help, he’ll be fine.”

It sounds as if he’s trying to convince himself, but Momo nods. “They’re both strong.” She looks back to where the battle had been. She reaches out her senses, extending them beyond her usual limit. She clenches her fist as it begins to become too much. Just that little bit further…

She let’s out a relieved breath. “I can still sense them there. They don’t seem gravely injured.”

“At least that’s something.” He gestures to the piles of debris all around them. “In the meantime, I reckon we can start to look for Hiyori and the others. Their still alive, but they’ll need healing. Reckon you’re up for it.”

“Yes, Captain.”

They walk quickly over and between the ruins, following the faint traces of Hiyori, Love, Hachi, and Lisa’s reiatsu. Momo eyes Shinji’s injuries with concern after ten minutes of searching; aside from slow him down, they could reopen.

“Sir, maybe you should --”

Fast footsteps echo around them, bouncing off the piles of debris and still standing walls. If it weren’t for the reiatsu accompanying them, Momo would’ve had her hand on Tobiume in an instant.

Shinji grins. “Sure took their sweet time getting to us, huh?”

“With all of this wreckage in the way, it’s amazing they found us at all,” Momo says.

Byakuya appears from around a hill of debris, and stops when he spots them. It’s the most tattered looking Momo has ever seen him; even his tekko are coming apart at the seams and smeared with dirt and blood.

A movement from behind the captain distracts her, and her heart shudders when she sees Toshiro. He’s slouched over, the buttons of his coat done up in the wrong order and a sweat gleams on his brow. He’s exhausted, perhaps on the verge of fainting. But more than that, he’s himself again.

“We sensed you nearby,” Byakuya says, but she doesn’t turn her attention to him.

“Nice to see you too,” Shinji snarks. “You aren’t looking too good. You need my lieutenant to heal you? She ain’t Fourth Division, but she’s still good.”

Byakuya raises a hand as he comes over to his fellow captain. “There’s no need.”

Shinji jerks his chin in the direction of where their fight against Gerard had taken place. “What happened over there? Doesn’t look like you two took him out.”

Toshiro raises his head and begins to follow Byakuya, but freezes and straightens when his gaze meets Momo’s. His lips part, but nothing comes out of them. Momo swallows, also wanting to say something but nothing comes to mind. Her fear has tampered down. Perhaps it’s because he’s back to looking like how she knows him. It didn’t mean he was the same not after what she saw. Her heart tightens again, and she’s not sure what her expression is.

His lips close into a taut line, his frown deepens, and his eyes flicker away, returning seconds later only to look away again. His grip on Hyourinmaru tightens, and he pulls the zanpakuto behind himself, mostly out of view. His coat flaps as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, then half turns away from her.

This all went unnoticed by Shinji and Byakuya, who continue to discuss the battle and their next moves, but for Momo it’s all she can see.

The way his gaze wavers, the stiffness in his posture, the way Hyourinmaru trembles from the pressure of his grip. He’s suddenly so uncertain, so unsure what to do. She unknowningly stakes a few staggering steps towards him. As she does, from beneath his fringe his gaze briefly flickers to her, and he flinches. Her heart fractures, and for a beat she loathes herself.

He was hurt. She had hurt him.

How could she be fearful of him?

When he starts to turn from her, she scrambles up to a run. Her guilt is immense, enough to bring tears to her eyes. She thinks to apologise as she makes her way to him, but she’s conscious of the captains’ stares.

It’s not the only reason she runs to him, she realises. It’s that he made it. He’s alive, and he’s not physically hurt as far as she can tell.

He hadn’t even noticed her coming, head hanging low and hunched body half turned from her. She slows her steps as she nears him. “Hitsugaya-kun,” she says softly.

He whips his head to her, and she closes the gap between them. Without hesitation, she brings arms around him. He goes more rigid and a choked sound comes from his lips. He hug isn’t tight, easily breakable if he wants to step away from her.

She trembles. He’s freezing, but it doesn’t burn her.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she rambles. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Please don’t go.”

Eventually, his rigidity softens. “You were afraid,” he whispers hoarsely.

She pulls back. “I didn’t mean to react the way I did. I was confused, I didn’t know how you became like that, that’s all.” She can’t repress a sob. “I thought you were about to get crushed, but then you just…froze everything. It’s an incredible power, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

His eyes are wide, hopeful and desperately wanting to believe what she’s saying. He almost looks like the child she’d befriended decades ago. She raises her hands to his shoulders and squeezes them.

“But this isn’t about me,” she continues. “I hurt you, and I’m so sorry. Y-You don’t have to tell me about that power, I’ll understand if you choose not to. I’m just glad you’re okay.” A tear falls from the corner of her eye. The war might still be going on, but behind the guilt, she relieved they’d made it through that battle.

“I should’ve told you what I was going to do back there.”

“Huh?”

“When the debris was falling, I should’ve told you what I was going to do. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

She could almost laugh; it’s somehow absurd to her that he’d say something like that. “You know as well as I do in the heat of battle there are moments where we can’t go over strategy.” She gives him a soft smile. “Besides, even if you had told me, I still think I would’ve worried.”

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he whispers, “I’d never…” He quickly shuts his mouth, considering his next words. There was a slight desperation to his tone. It’s like someone desperately pleading with another to not think differently of them, and it’s so strange to see and hear this coming form him.

However, when he speaks again, it’s more neutral. “What you saw before was Hyourinmaru’s Completed Form. I can’t tell you about it now, but believe me, I will once this is over.”

How she desperately wants to know, but she nods. “I understand.” She lowers her hands back to her sides and gestures to a piece of debris next to them. “You should rest for now. You’re not injured, are you?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing serious.”

“But still –”

“You’ll have to heal those still underneath the wreckage, right?” He gingerly lowers himself to sit on the debris, using Hyourinmaru to keep his balance. “And if not them, then you’ll need all you can get to fight any enemies left. Save your strength.”

She wants to argue, but he’s right. She sighs. “All right.” Then, she bows. "I should've said this earlier, but thank you for saving Captain Hirako and I earlier. If not for you, we would've also been under the debris." She rises. "I'll check with my Captain and Captain Kuchiki on what our next move is."

She is about to go, but Toshiro’s voice, louder, than before, stops her.

“Hinamori...I didn’t tell you before because…” Toshiro shuts his eyes and his frown returns. He breathes in deeply, then silently out. "I didn't deliberately mean to hide something like this from you, or anyone, but it's...Those powers aren't mean to harm you, or anyone else other than enemies of the Soul Society. I'm still learning to control them, thought I had, but clearly I still need to..."

He's struggling, whether it's to find the right words or from fighting off exhaustion Momo can't tell.

She raises her hands. “It’s okay, we can discuss this later, like you said. The truth is, you didn't have to tell anyone if you didn't want to. I'm sorry if I came across as demanding to know why and how you got your new powers.” She kneels down to his level. "I also know you wouldn't hurt me, or any of us, if you can help it. If anyone can get a full grasp on their zanpakuto abilities, it's you, Hitsugaya-kun."

He let's out a shuddered breath, then bows his head. "It's 'Captain Hitsugaya', and you don't have to keep apologising. I just wanted you to know that anyway."

She can sense he wants to say more, so she waits.

“I don’t like that form, but I use it when I have to.” He raises his eyes to hers again. “If I were to use it again, how would you feel?”

The question makes her heart stammer. “W-Wha….What does it matter how I feel about it? You’re the one who uses it, and if you’ll need to use it, then –”

“It does.”

His conviction, in his voice and in his eyes, bewilders her. Why did he feel strongly about this? Is he worried he will frighten her again? Hadn’t she made it clear before this wouldn’t be the case?

She blinks as she gives her answer. “It would still be you, Hitsugaya-kun. I may have been afraid before, but I won’t be again.” She shrugs. “As is, there were various things that contributed to my feelings at the time, not just your powers or that form.”

Toshiro’s eyes shine with something she can’t quite place. It returns him to how she knows him, and the last of vulnerability vanishes from him. It might be that power he'd demonstrated, swirling beneath the surface of his eyes, but there's a warmth to it.

She had reaffirmed something, she suspects, but what it is she can’t be sure.

#hitsuhina #toshiro hitsugaya #matured form #momo hinamori #bleach #fanfiction #blog anniversary requests #1 down 4 to go!#I'll come back and edit this later #I wasn't 100% happy with the ending #at the time I thought 'this'll be a good *wink wink* to those who know what exactly been reaffirmed #but it didn't turn out that way for me #if I change it I'll self reblog with a note

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jellyheadwriting · 1 year

Note

Hello there I saw a tag saying you love shinji so as a fellow shinji simp I must ask

Would it be ok to request a shinji x reader?(Gender neutral so everyone can enjoy)

Where the reader is an acquaintance of sorts of shinji who isn’t aware of the dark hour but has medical knowledge and stumbles upon them the moment the hour ends and is able to help until the more professional help arrives

(To be more clear about the medical knowledge she can be the resident nurse that hangs around the outskirts)

Sorry if this too long of a request :(

I understand if you reject it

, thats all

Please have a good rest of your day!

Hello there! （っ・∀・)っOf course that's okay!!! Thank you for your request! I am a bit worried about how this turned out, but I enjoyed writing it.

hello nurse (shinjiro x gn nurse student reader)

Port-Island Station, 1:00 AM.

The Dark Hour had just finished up- Of course you weren’t aware of that fact, as you were just an average person…

To your knowledge, you had spent the last hour, give or take a few minutes, working on your cigarette after a long day of studying for your exams. Quite an ironic habit for someone training to be a nurse… But you needed something to take the edge off, and you’d fallen in with a bit of a bad crowd recently. The outskirts of Port-Island station had become a regular hang out spot for you, not that you were proud of it or anything…

Suddenly you were pulled out of your thoughts by the sound of several panicked footsteps, quickly shuffling past where you leaned up against the wall of a building. Several voices could be heard, it was clear they were trying to be quiet but their voices laced with anxiety couldn’t be kept down… You heard mutters of “Hang in there,” and “You’re gonna be alright, Shinjiro.”

Shinjiro…? As in THAT Shinjiro…?

Your eyebrows furrowed with worry, and you tapped your cigarette between your fingers, flicking off the ashes before dropping it onto the concrete, stomping it out completely… You felt bad for littering as you usually disposed of your butts properly, but this seemed like a proper time to rush yourself. You jogged out from around the corner, catching sight of the group responsible for the noise… It was a chaotic scene. Several of the people in the group looked injured, and the ones who weren’t hurt were helping the others to keep walking. Your hand flew to your mouth as you spotted Shinjiro, he looked the worst out of them all. Without thinking about what you would say, your feet ran forward on their own. The group looked behind them, bewildered as a set quick footsteps approached their backs. They turned to face you as best as they could. Shinjiro looked especially shocked to see you, a look of recognition on his dazed face.

“You…” He grunted, just barely.

“What happened to you kids…!?” You asked, trying to catch your breath. You sounded like an authoritative figure, but in truth you had just a couple years on their oldest team member, Shinjiro.

They looked awkward at your question, visibly at a loss for how to explain themselves. You shook your head at this, your face sick with unease as you looked upon them.

“Nevermind that, it’s not important now! Please help the injured to the ground, I will treat their wounds however I can while someone unharmed calls an ambulance…!”

The group looked anxious, but they still followed your directions. Shinjiro was helped down first to his dismay, next came a girl with a pink sweater, and finally a boy with a baseball cap. The apathetic looking boy with blue hair whipped out his cellphone, shakily dialing in the emergency hotline number. You immediately kneeled before the ones on the ground, and the other two aside from Shinji urged you to handle him first. He clicked his tongue at them, sighing and holding himself, looking agitated while squirming in pain.

“Hold still,” you said sternly, and your hands moved to undo the buttons of his jacket, trying to get a better look at what kind of injuries he had. “Show me where you’re hurt.”

He hesitantly shows you his thigh, which had a sizable gash in it, the blood still gushing out. You gulped, looking at it in dismay. You considered your options, and then began to tear at the fabric of your shirt, ripping off the bottom section of it to create a make-shift bandage. Shinjiro chokes on his spit at this display, despite the emergency situation such an act still seemed to fluster him a little. You sighed in incredulity, and quickly moved to wrap up his injury, tying the cloth around his leg tightly. He sat himself in a position which elevated his leg, his eyes shifting around the area, avoiding looking at your figure.

“You need to relax, Aragaki-Kun… No need to get shy under these circumstances.”

“Keh… Who’s shy?” He manages to grunt out, breathing labored. The additional two injured people look at you in dismay, along with the other members who were kneeled down nearby, observing the situation while being unsure of what to do. They looked between you and Shinji, sparing a moment trying to figure you two out. You noticed their attention, and tore your eyes away from him while clearing your throat.

You then checked on the conditions of Junpei and Yukari… They were better off than Shinjiro, but still pretty badly beaten up. You left the clique for a short while to buy a couple of cold drinks from a vending machine, bringing them over and directing the teens to hold the chilled cans to their harsh bruises. This was all you could do for them right now without any first-aid kit available to you. You sank down to their levels again on your knees, a quiet whine rumbling in your throat as you impatiently waited with them for more help to arrive.

Everyone still gathered around Shinjiro, who was still struggling with the pain, but the bleeding was subsiding. He did his best to keep his cool so that the time would pass quickly. He was also ashamed to be the most injured despite being the oldest… You could sense that from him clearly.

“Uh..Thanks for the help, are you some kinda doctor or somethin’?” The boy in the cap spoke up after a while, as the situation began to relax a little.

“Something like that. I’m studying to be a nurse.”

“Ahh…” A short silence, the gears in his head visibly turning. A wide and crooked smirk breaks out on his face. “Well, hellooooooo nurse…!” He says, clearly waiting for a reaction.

Nobody is laughing, and you feel guilty so you give him an awkward giggle. Unexpectedly, Shinjiro glares at him, and Junpei audibly gulps.

“Ugh… Now's not the time for your dumb jokes, Stupei…My head is freaking killing me,” the pink-clad girl grumbles, also glaring daggers at the poor guy. “Sorry about him… He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

The group begins to softly and familiarly laugh a little at Junpei’s expense, and he gives them all that “kicked puppy” look… Their dynamic reads like clockwork to you, and you feel a little out of place as they all slowly take turns introducing themselves to you, aside from Shinjiro. Such an odd gathering of people… You didn’t notice until after they introduced them, but there’s an elementary school child and a dog amongst them too… You never imagined Aragaki to have such a colorful group of friends.

When the spotlight falls on you, you give your name and a few of them lean in with intrigue. Akihiko is the first one to ask, eager to learn more about Shinji’s life in its current state.

“So, you seem to know Shinj. What’s your relationship to him?”

The girl with blue hair, Fuuka, nods, looking the second most intrigued out of everyone. “To be honest, I was wondering the same thing,” she says with a hint of girlish curiosity.

Shinjiro looks at them sharply underneath his messy hair, trying to hide his embarrassment at their prodding. “Cut it out,” he spat.

Everyone except Akihiko and Mitsuru reeled back at his response, all questions from them ceasing. Akihiko was about to goad him even further, but the sound of the emergency responders arriving interrupted him just in time. They started to load up into the vehicle, you and Akihiko helping Shinjiro back onto his feet.

There wasn’t enough space in the vehicle for you as well, so you waved goodbye to everyone, before addressing Shinjiro directly.

“Can I visit you at the hospital, Aragaki-Kun?” Junpei oohed at that comment, giving him a knowing look.

Shinjiro groaned, face red as the emergency vehicle doors shut closed. You smiled, making your way to your car to follow after them.

You learned a lot about your little friend tonight.

#shinjiro aragaki x reader #gn reader #cw cigarettes #erm i hope its ok that i made the reader character in this a smoker #i just couldn't get that opening scene out of my head i wanted to write it ( ˙▿˙ )#please if you're uncomfortable with it send me a message anon and i will re-write it!

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sapphire-weapon · 1 month

Note

Gen Z-er here and OH MY GOD YES IT'S ALL FNAF's fault (and game theory but it isn't his fault intentionally LMFAO) That's why so many new horror games (outside of action-based ones like Resident Evil etc) try going the "secret deep lore" route. So SO many horror/gaming gen-z's got into it through FNAF, and to understand ANYTHING about FNAF you had to know the lore, and to know the lore you had to dig and look at stupid random things. That's why IMO when it comes to games that are straight-forward (like Resident Evil) younger fans still go down the route of pointless lore-digging, because for us we got used to having to figure shit out from pointless easter eggs & shit. Gen Z fans can have a character explicitly get married wedding and all in a game but still need to dig through minuscule lore to make sure it ACTUALLY is canon before saying jack shit.

that's CRAZY, man.

and like

i get it because i love that kind of puzzle-like storytelling, too. that's why i got so invested in the evil within the way that i did. that game's story was a puzzle, and i was determined to put it together.

but i can't IMAGINE going anywhere outside of the game materials to do it, other than like... a final fantasy ultimania, which is understood to be a canonical encyclopedia of every FF world.

like, i asked john johanas for help here and there as i was going through TEW, but that's only because he was accessible and gracious and i could. but if i hadn't been able to do that, i wouldn't have bothered looking at anything any of the devs said.

but like

i was talking to a few people about this. @godtier and @friedesgreatscythe and a few others, but like. i feel like this is also a result of people who don't play video games getting into video game fandoms. and i don't mean to say none of you have ever played the game or anything -- just that vidya probably isn't your go-to medium of choice for fandom. which is fine. there's nothing wrong with that.

but when you don't understand how games are made, and you don't understand the industry, it leads to a lot of misconceptions about the end product. like, for example, all of those people who were like "oh man lily gao really listened to the criticism about her performance and did so much better in SW!" while everyone who knows how games are made sat to the side like "... it was all recorded at the same time... they developed SW concurrently with the base game..."

so when your basis is something like FNAF, which is developed by one guy -- it's just scott cawthon -- you don't know that that's outrageously atypical for game production. games like RE are developed by teams in the hundreds and change creative hands almost every single title. it's insanity to try to take all of those devs' words as canon, because the vision is constantly changing and no one's really been steering the ship since shinji mikami left capcom.

you don't know that concept artists aren't told details about the plot or really the characters that they're helping to design, so you have no reason to find it absurd to take the RE1.5's concept artist's word as canon.

you don't know that most devs have no real creative input on the game they're helping to develop. you don't know that the producer has more creative input than the director in JP game production, and you don't know that it's the other way around in western game production.

you don't know that there is no central lorekeeper in game series like this. there's not an encyclopedia of RE canon that each team references every new title. there's not an expert that pores over the details and helps advise the story. the only reference that any of the devs have are the games themselves.

and because there's no central lorekeeper, it's absolutely meaningless to say "capcom signed off on this information, therefore it's canon" because it's like... who? literally who at capcom signed off on this? random level designer #562? "the writing team"? who is that, exactly? do we have names? we don't, actually. because there's no such thing. because it changes all the time.

most RE supplemental material was either devised by capcom's marketing division or was contracted out to independent authors, comic artists, and mangaka. capcom licenses the title to those people in order for them to make their own personal project with it, so that capcom can then turn around and sell it and give the original artist a cut of the profits. that's what happens.

no one is checking their work. there's not an RE story guru meticulously taking notes of everything that's written. it's a business contract between artists and a corporation. that's all it is.

and that's why i wish you guys would like. ask me about the game industry and game development and storytelling more often. because i feel like that more than anything will help your understanding of not just this series, but any video game series you ever get into again in the future.

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unlucky-tears · 9 months

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┊┊❁ཻུ۪۪♡ ͎. ｡˚ Jamie’s introduction!🍂

🌻┊͙ ˘͈ᵕ˘͈| Welcome to my blog !

◞ ★ ︉﹒name︔ The names Jamie! But Eve or Liz is good too

ᨳ **pronouns** ﹕All pronouns! But preferably They/He

◞ ★﹒gender︔ ︉ Pangender

ᨳ **sexuality** ﹕Unlabelled, literally I do NOT know

◞ ★ ︉﹒ ︉likes︔Chocolate, seeing other people’s ocs. Wholesome AU’s, my partner

ᨳ **dislikes** ﹕Mentions of s£lf harm or Su!c!d£. K__S jokes.

◞ ★ ︉﹒ ︉fandoms︔DDLC, Danganronpa, SDRA2, DRA, Danganronpa: Rebirth. Neon Genesis, project Sekai, D4DJ, Bandori and so much more to discover!

ᨳ favourite chara’s ﹕Yuri Kagarin from SDRA2, Satsuki Iranami from DRA, Monika from DDLC, Rei from NGE, Ena Shinonome from PJsekai, Tsukushi from Bandori, Hiiro from D4DJ, Kego Sakuma from Danganronpa: rebirth.

◞ ★ ︉﹒ ︉account theme︔ Monika from DDLC

╭──╯ . . . . .OFFICIAL INTRODUCTION . . . . . ╰──╮

Heya! Welcome to the blog, I’m Jamie and I’m going to explain what this is all about 🤎

I am in many MANY fandoms and I do requests for cute headcanon scenerios…you get those. Like Monika x Shy reader? Yeah! Must have seen those. I might do a lot of those if they get good replies :) But the main reason I am here is to show the the full and I mean FULL backstory of one of my fangan characters. I’m working on a fangan I see and I have literally made lore for their family, especially for her aunt and father. So look forward to some of that! It will also be written on A03 and perhaps Wattpad someday.

┊͙ ˘͈ᵕ˘͈|WRITING RELATED!!

◞ ★ ︉﹒characters I will NOT write about ︔ Mitch Higa from DRA, now this one is pretty obvious. Shinji Ikari from NGE, I’m SO sorry to the Shinji stans but my brains will literally explode if I try to write anything about him. Any vocaloid, they don’t have canon personalities and I don’t wanna make up one for them…any UNICHØRD and ABYSSMRE(I spelt that wrong in so sorry) member. I’m not personally a big fan of them so im not comfortable writing about them. Haiji Towa from UDG, obivous. Junko Enoshima from DR, I just don’t like writing her I don’t know why :( Izuru Kamakura, not much I can write about him. UDG kids, just in case…

◞ ★ ︉﹒characters with limitations ︔ Mikado Sannoji, I get he is the mastermind and a very complex character but for me to actually write anything heartwarming about him actually makes me giggle I’m sorry. I will take any enemy scenarios or platonic relationships. Byakuya Togami, same as Mikado.

◞ ★ ︉﹒characters to please request ︔ Yuri Kagarin from SDRA2, I love him sm you don’t understand Yuri Kagarin stans stand. Anyway he’s a pretty fun character to write about too! Despite him being so flawed. Although one thing I will NOT do any Yuri x Male scenarios. They make me really uncomfortable, any DDLC character, yes omg kiss me/j no but fr! I love writing about one of my favourite games. Marin Mizuta from Danganronpa rebirth, VERY fun to write about. She’s so silly and eepy (•‿•)

Just one more tiny thing! I will only write about Rei and Asuka from NGE. Cause they’re the ones I care about the most

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kimikiui · 1 year

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Why You Should Vote for Hakupo

Hello. Good evening, morning, afternoon, brunch, sleepytime whatever time it is for you right now. I am here to sell my little autism creature to you. This is going to be a fairly long post so, just sit tight.

The second round of polls will not be out for a couple of hours. I wanted to reblog the post with this, BUT- I have class at 3 when the polls are released. Plus, gotta get those non Hakupo believers before they vote for anyone else, amirite?

Also the stickers used between catagories are the official line stickers by Pikomaru ➜ https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/3951590/en

Reminder; It's only Shinji sweep until its Hakupo sweep.

No, I'm not putting a section breaker because even if you don't read it, I want you to see the sheer size of this... It's an essay at this point. Let's get started shall we?

What is a Hakupo?

Hakupo Tsukishiro is a energetic and powerful masculine voicebank for Utau (and amadeusy but we dont talk abt brunnnoooo). He was released all the way back in 2010 and has had many important milestones in his 13 years of distribution. Four compilation albums, 7 voicebanks, 2,500+ fanarts (that i all have), and uses by really awesome people *points to the crowd*. That's all of you guys out there. <3

Hakupo as a character is inspired by moe, thanks Clarice. Like most moe characters, he's a bit air headed and happy go lucky person. His positive attitude is sometimes brought into original songs he's featured in, which just makes me smile- girlbosses love a good pick me up song.

Also he has a stupid little coat and pants. This is all you need to know to vote for Hakupo, but I will continue forward incase you are still on the fence.

Cool Hakupo Facts

He almost has the same exact suggested range as Miku (C3 to E5)... His is actually larger... he goes higher (C3 to G5).

The "Do Re Mi FâåÁaæ↓" incident of Christmas 2020, contact me I will elaborate further.

There is a little bit of an evil twin thing going on. Yeah. This is a win.

His genderbend design Kohaku is revealed when you turn down the brightness of his official reference sheet (he pulled a scott cawthon guys).

He hates to be called cute and have his head patted... which is cute.

Despite looks- His description says he has curly hair come on guys- LITTLE FLUFF.

By looking at his official Twitter bot, there's a few extra things we can learn about him. He is very stupid, very impatient, has a horrible sleep schedule, bad at multitasking, and can't stand still (I can elaborate more on these if asked).

I wrote a 43 page Utau cartoon pilot script with Hakupo as the main character. Shameless plug.

I also wrote my college admissions essay about Hakupo. Thanks for getting me into college Bobo!

Sick Bobo Uses

Get boboed.

What does Bobo mean to me?

I found Hakupo 7 years ago now, sitting in the middle of an Utau melody. I told myself I would just turn off my tablet and listen to the music. Yeah that worked- guess who was next after the screen turned off. BOBO! I needed to see the little creature creating this melody. I turned on the screen, and was not disappointed. Fancy twink in a oversized tailcoat with weird pants. I remember rambling to my mom later about how cool he was, why he was so unique, and why this one specifically caught my attention.

He's been my special interest since then, everyone around me knows Hakupo wheather they like it or not. He's about 80% of everything I draw, 50% of what I talk about, and 100% of my little creature I snuggle up with every night.

Literally.

I have a Hakupo bodypillow. Can't sleep without him.

Anyways, he's helped me find a lot of my best friends *coughcoughmeatcoughrevcough*, never fails to make me happy, and helped everyone around me realize I'm extremely autistic. The least I can do is write an ungodly long propaganda post while drinking my coffee at 9 am.

Stan Bobo Oobieero.

Hakupo Memes for Propaganda

GO VOTE FOR HAKUPO ON @utaupoll AT 3 PM EST

Thanks, have a nice day.

#kiui speaks #i am so pissed that im gonna b in math #why is 30% of my grade attendance #utau poll #utau #hakupo tsukishiro #propaganda #hakupo sweep #i spent 3 hours writing this

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andreawritesit · 1 month

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About me and my blog!

Hey everyone! After many years of contemplation, I finally joined tumblr! It feels good to be a part of something and to have a place where you can share your thoughts freely. I'm looking forward to making many friends!

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ABOUT ME

My name is Andrea. I'm 22 years old. Right now, I'm in college, pursuing a degree in English Literature. I love writing and drawing. I'll share some of my art here somewhere along the line.

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CONTENT I ENJOY AND WRITE ABOUT

I mainly created this blog to share my One Piece obsession. But I have watched other anime like Naruto, Bleach, DBZ, Attack on Titan, and Jujutsu Kaisen. However, I'm mainly a Bleach and One Piece fan. I also love other shows like Stranger Things, TVD, The Originals, Sherlock Holmes, House of the Dragon, GoT, etc

I think I'll mainly stick to writing about these characters:

One Piece: Shanks, Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Mihawk, Katakuri, Doflamingo, Crocodile, Buggy, Law, Sabo, Ace, and Smoker.

Bleach: Ichigo, Uryu, Kisuke, Renji, Byakuya, Toshiro, Ukitake, Aizen, Ichimaru, Kensei, Shunsui, Starrk, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Shinji.

Naruto: Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Rock Lee, Kiba, Shino, Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, Gaara, Asuma, Kankuro, Itachi, Minato, Pain/Yahiko/Nagato, Obito, Madara, Hashirama, Tobirama, Suigetsu, and Sasori.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Yuji, Megumi, Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Yuta, Todo, Choso, Mechamaru, Toji, Inumaki, Noritoshi, and Ino.

Attack on Titan: Eren, Armin, Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt, Levi, Erwin, Porco, Zeke, and Colt.

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You can drop your request in the asks and I shall deliver!

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Apart from these characters, I can also write about ships from these shows. Although I have my own ships, I won't be opposed to writing for other ships.

My ships are: Zoro X Tashigi, Robin x Law, Sabo x Koala, and Sanji x Nami from One Piece;

Sasuke x Sakura, Neji x Tenten, Itachi x Izumi, and Kiba x Shino from Naruto;

Gojo x Utahime, Muta x Miwa, and Yuta x Maki from JJK;

Eren x Mikasa, Sasha x Nicolo, and Bert x Annie from AoT;

Ichigo x Orihime, Renji x Rukia, Kenpachi x Unohana, Yoruichi x Kisuke, and Gin x Rangiku from Bleach.

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I'm always here if you want to talk about literally anything! Just keep the conversations positive and free of any form of negativity.

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HERE'S EVERYTHING I'VE WRITTEN SO FAR:

One Piece

Shanks x Reader: The Red Storm - Part I - Part II - Part III

Doflamingo/Corazon x Reader - Where Do Broken Hearts Go

Corazon x Reader - Spaces Between Us

Naruto

Jujutsu Kaisen

Bleach

Aizen x Wife reader: Shattered Vows - Prologue

Attack on Titan

#andreawritesit #my blog

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houndfaker · 3 months

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currently stopped at 12/2. there’s a lot i wanna talk about. this game makes me feel so incredibly strange. ill leave a very messy ramble under the cut

being past a majority of the significant moments i feel like i can give a pretty lengthy discussion of my feelings

the game does what it says on the tin it’s an hd remake. storyline (at least as of the date i cited) is by and large approximately the same.

the game itself is gorgeous it looks amazing. there is so much clear effort put into every little aspect, of which everyone is already greatly aware

i have highly mixed feelings

things i am enjoying

a nice handful of the link episodes and optional content are feel good and sweet moments that give a better impression of the cast’s relationship, which is always welcome. particular examples im personally really about include shinji’s link episodes and the group study sessions

theurgy moves and how they reflect each characters growth in their second move that unlocks with their ult persona. trismegistus’s theurgy killed me dead.

lots of very welcome qol changes that streamline numerous parts of the original game in a way that feels pretty good. i particularly enjoy the text message function and how it reminds you who’s available which days while also letting you fast travel directly to the link in question, and the net functionality thing that lets me see what others decided to do each day. a ton of helpful stuff for someone really forgetful basically

ive been playing on peaceful because im not good at rpgs (yes i spent $70 on a game from a genre i am notoriously bad at!!!!) so i can’t speak much to a lot of gameplay stuff but im glad tartarus has more to it and has also received qol changes that make it less of a slog to grind (at least in my experience). in general tartarus’s overhaul rules; visually the alternate environments with different corresponding floor layouts are awesome

they let ryoji be bisexual outwardly! kinda pretty much? much like aigis’s “I know you should be with a man” in portable it’s hard not to take “I want to be more than a friend to you” as anything other than explicitly gay. i still have a few more scenes with the guy so it might take a minute before i can be fully confident in this point.

things im not enjoying

the quality of the character writing in a lot of places is either off, irritating, or it flat out feels incorrect in some instances. whether it’s aki dropping the p word as liberally as he does or mitsuru being constantly put forward as intimidating and that’s the whole joke, or the weird new speech quirks aigis has, there are moments you can very much tell the writers are going “how many times can we fit this same unfunny joke or bit across the game”. it feels like a greater chunk of the time that they don’t Know what to do with the characters so they fall back on pushing whichever flagship trait that character is known for and it really hurts the overall enjoyment of the additional content when it feels so…shallow? as a result. not ALL of it is this way but there is a significant enough pattern that it’s genuinely a bother

how little they use the potential of this remake to demonstrate individual character dynamics that aren’t otherwise frequently touched on (i.e say yukari and shinji or aki or like aigis and shinji or fuuka and aki; there’s like a ton of character duos within sees that we just don’t really have a grasp on how they feel about each other). i was especially disappointed at the lack of shinji with other people than the rest of senpai squad or the protag, which is what i was most looking forward to having more of going in. maybe some of what i was hoping for is in tartarus dialogue i didn’t wind up triggering (which there is an insane amount of that id love to pick through once im done) but just based on the episodes i played and the hangouts i did it’s still like man. i wanted to see him being friends with other members yk? they barely took any cues from the portable slink.

BECAUSE the story is written so closely to the original any weird inconsistencies remain the same, although there are a handful of moments where they clarify certain important things that i don’t believe were in the originals. on a similar note whereas they smartened up and made stuff like romance optional and removed that notorious transphobic scene, they’re still not immune to being really fucking weird about age gaps and grooming !!! and of course the sexualization of highschoolers remains ‘Detrimental’ to the storyline 😐

ok i writing this as i am so sleep I am falling asleep with my phone. my primary thoughts for now make of that what you will. god i hate video games

#quinn moment #3DReload

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aseuki · 3 months

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Data Sheet

Tagged by: @humming-fly hii bestie :p

Last Song: well I've been listening to a Playlist while I've been Working on this so I'll hand you Two: started writing to Sleep Walking Orchestra (Bump of Chicken) and ended on Nonsense Bungaku (Eve)! Both are solid imho hahaha. The first is the opening to the Dungeon Meshi anime (very solid and fun show. Oooo you want to watch it so bad) and the 2nd is the Result of me going on an Eve deep dive a couple months back lol

Favorite Color: I'm fond of actually. A Lot of shades of blue tbh! Aquamarine, Peacock Green/Teal, and Indigo are some particular shades that come to mind. I also love Raspberry/Wine red!

Last Book: hmmm let's see the last time I read A Book was Little Thieves by Margaret Owen! It's a retelling of the fairy tale The Goose Girl from the perspective of the maid who stole the princess's identity and its hella good if you like that good good folk fantasy magic!

Last Movie: uhhhHHHHH I Think??? It was Your Name? No wait it was Astro Boy (2009) with a friend of mine because we were reminiscing about nostalgia and realised we both remembered watching and enjoying it but not remembering Anything about the plot lmao. The pacing was like 500 mph but the animation aged pretty darn well! Storywise Defo had potential and I'm always a sucker for taking the sand a story was made of and seeing what kinds of castles could have been built

Last TV Show: Pluto on Netflix. Oh my god. Just watched Ep 6 last night and I'm ready to Not Be Normal (have not been normal since ep 1 but that's besides the point). Defo the kind of show that is to be Savored I Don't recommend binge watching it space out those 8 1 hr long eps so you can properly appreciate and process it. It's good I highly recommend it if you're into a good sci fi fantasy! How many sad dads can a singular mini series have. The answer is Yes

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I tend to prefer Sweet>Savory>Spicy! I Do have A Spice Tolerance to some extent, but if given the choice I tend to prefer it light! (My Sweet tolerance is actually pretty pitiful but that doesn't stop me from eyeing all the pretty cakes and candies LMAO)

Relationship Status: I have Two Hands and I'm using them both for tax fraud >:'D

Last Thing I Googled: 'Shinji in Chair Meme' (searching for a reaction pic to send to a friend wrt ^Pluto)

Current Obsession: in case you haven't guessed already. Not being Normal about Pluto ncsvdjf. I'm also super into Kirby and the My OCs fandom (always rotating my and my buddies' OCs in the cranium condominium all the time all the time)

Looking Forward to: finally digging into and clearing out the sheer Mountain of WIPs I have accumulated :') holiday stressors are now over which means I can get working! (I am sincerely excited bc I've been looking forward to seeing some of them completed for a long long time hahaha) also got some future cosplans in the works! We'll see what comes out of it! 👀

Tagging: well Fly already tagged like 99% of my Tumblr Directory AFSNFDF so if you see this and want to feel included/give it a shot, then go for it and give me an @! I'd love seeing where this goes!

#haven't done these in a while hoooo hello!!#ask meme #aseukitalks

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crowniko · 11 months

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Will of the Heart/writing update below the cut!

I've been writing for a bit now and I've finished chapter 2, almost done with chapter 3. Chapter 2 is a bit shorter, but these chapters will be pretty long. like chapter 3 is already at around 20 pages and I'm not done yet.

it's been really fun! there's a lot of angst in the beginning (I'm sorry I can't help myself 😭) but it'll get fluffy real soon.

Once I finish writing chapter 5 I plan on setting up a release schedule and start posting the first chapters here and on ao3.

also, remember that this is a slow burn! it's based on the current timeline and memories so it'll be a mix of past and current tension into one ball of *screams*

I can't really put it better than that.

if I continue to write at this pace, and with my weekend starting tomorrow after work, I should be able to post the first chapter soon! I'm hoping for next week at the earliest time 🙏

I was also thinking of uploading the chapters weekly after that, but we'll see. sometimes I might want to post two if I feel like one is a bit short, and other times stuff might come up and I'll be a ball of sadness if I have to delay, but life happens.

thank you all for your support! I haven't done something like this in years! it feels nice and it's giving me something to look forward to. not just the writing, but interacting with people on here!

anyways, thank you all!

here's another shinji gif for good luck and may you all find a song that takes you away to your happy place :)

#bleach #shinji hirako #shinji hirako x reader #bleach x reader #fanfiction #im feeling grateful 🥺#and im happy to be writing again #<33333 #will of the heart

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paraemu · 2 years

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which of the main riders should NOT be a parent

godai: canonically kids love him and we know he's good at household chores and he's just a great guy all around so he'd make a wonderful father. however its unlikely that he would have kids cause he's always traveling around, but if he ever settles down i can see foster kids coming in and out of his and ichijou's house all the time

shouichi: i havent seen agito but all i know about him is that he's basically a housewife so i assume he could take care of a kid. he seems to have some baggage that would stop him from becoming a parent tho

shinji: i dont think the thought of having kids has even crossed shinji's mind. can't really imagine him as a parent

takumi: he'd probably have to think long and hard about it first but i can see him warming up to the idea of having kids in the future (i will NEVER forgive inoue for robbing him and kiba of a future together i hope he goes to hell)

kenzaki: for obvious reasons kenzaki can't have children and actually its making me sad just typing this im skipping this one

hibiki: him being a dad is like the whole premise of the show

tendou: tendou is the perfect mary sue which means he's immortal and will never die and as such reproduction is meaningless to him

ryoutaro: he canonically has a grandson so congratulations on reproducing. i hope it was with yuuto. the idea of all the imagin pitching in and helping ryoutaro raise his child along with his sister is rly cute i love den-o

wataru: ok listen i KNOW inoue just threw in wataru's child from the future as a joke but i think wataru having a child 2-3 years after the show completely unprepared to be a parent and having a rly hard time with parenting all around is unfortunately very in-character for him. i believe in him tho i know with some therapy and a couple of parenting classes he can power thru

tsukasa: tsukasa would be a shit ass fucking dad and i dont think we should allow him near children. however it would be insanely funny if he and daiki were sougo's awful deadbeat parents who left him in a wet cardboard box all alone as a baby so now i am married to this au

philip and shoutaro: can't imagine either of them having kids

eiji: after the ooo summer movie i am convinced that eiji REALLY wants to have kids but his trauma prevented him from ever giving any serious thought to it. and then the whole ankh situation happened, so it'll probably remain an unfulfilled desire. he'd make a great dad if he ever had the chance tho (the ooo vcin doesnt exist to me)

gentarou: he has the vibes of someone who will have 5 kids by the time he's 30. in his case they're all most likely adopted but still. also probably houses and rehabilitates troubled teens

haruto: he wouldn't be half bad at parenting but i don't think it's something he wants. even after he's let go of most of his emotional baggage he's just the sort who likes to keep to himself and live independently

kouta: if he wasn't a god he would probably marry mai and have 2.5 kids with her

shinnosuke: HE DOESNT DESERVE KIRIKO SHE SHOULD BE MARRIED TO ME AND HAVE MY CHILD NOT HIS

takeru: i heard he has a child in the novel? ok i read the novel summary and nvm thats not canon to me. he should marry akari instead. the 3/3 on normie het marriages is concerning gaim-drive-ghost truly was the dark ages

emu: fast forward 4 years from the end of ex-aid and you'll find emu entering his milf era. he's going to have 3 kids separated by 2 years each. he's had like MAD baby fever since college so he's got it all planned out already

sento: realistically? banjou and sento are definitely not having children. s/o to ppl who write kid fic of them where their baby is also a science genius tho i think thats cute

sougo: no. just no.

aruto: i.... honestly dont know. hes too busy looking after the company and fighting for humagears and stuff i guess

touma: i havent finished saber yet but i think kento and touma should have two kids one boy and one girl I DONT CARE WHAT TRIO OF DEEP SIN SAYS

ikki: probably also getting normie het married and having 2.5 kids idk hes not important

ace: complete wild card we're still on episode 3. will update this when geats is over

#kamen rider

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ninjagirlstar5 · 9 months

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Protag Teruya AU - Prologue Part 2 - Post-Fake Trial

TWs: Mild Gore (including Monocrow's speech), Violence, Guns, Injuries, Blood, Death, and Corpses

Body Discovery & Investigation | The Fake Trial

Prologue Part 1 Beginning

Disclaimer: While Sannotori is problematic, it’s a thing in this AU/fic and the dynamic is not the same as it is in canon.

The Protag Teruya AU was inspired by @/anotherprofessional’s post! Beware of Void spoilers though!

“A pleasure to meet you, my comrades. I’m the teacher in charge of the Hope’s Peak Field Trip. Call me Monocrow.” The bird, Monocrow, steps forward with his little feet. “I hope we get along.”

Everyone stood there, stunned into silence. He couldn’t blame them because frankly, this is the most surreal turn this situation could’ve taken ever. But just by staring at the bird, this so-called teacher, he could tell that it was dangerous. More dangerous than anything he could’ve ever imagined.

He wasn’t sure why he was so certain of this.

But the instinct in his body was practically screaming in his head, tearing him apart from different impulses.

Run.

Hide.

Fight.

Stop him, stop him, stop him!

“A-Ah…” A voice speaks up beside him. He barely glanced over to see it was Yoruko, staring at Monocrow with wide eyes. And then, she finally screamed, throwing her hand up as she stepped back. “Aaaaah?! A talking stuffed animal?!”

“What is this thing?!” Yuki yelled, almost hiding behind Shinji.

“Is it a m-monster?! A monster!!” Iroha clings to her sketchbook, grabbing onto his arm like he was going to protect her. He wasn’t really thinking, but by instinct, he was quick to usher her behind him.

“Oh, good grief.” Monocrow speaks, reminding him that yes, this is very, very real right now. He lifts his wing up to his beak, almost as if he was hiding his mouth as he looks down at them all. “It’s rude to call your teacher a monster or a stuffed animal.”

“...Did Hope’s Peak really employ a sparrow as a teacher?” Out of everyone in the group, Nikei seemed to have lost his fiery temper from earlier and didn’t seem all that scared. If anything, he was staring at Monocrow flatly, slightly baffled but otherwise more interested in this turn of events. He even pulls up his notepad to write on it. “Well, this is definitely an interesting scoop once I get off of this damn island.”

“I’m no sparrow! Merely a confident raven.” Monocrow yelled out indignantly, flapping his wings wide open like he was threatening them. The sight did nothing to appease his anxiety.

“You look just like a sparrow though. Or at least a magpie.” Yuri said, taking this in stride a lot more compared to everyone else if his smile was any indication.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Hope’s Peak is behind this? And that’s the teacher?” Setsuka laughs a little, although her expression has an awkward smile as she starts to sweat. “That doesn’t make any sense…but then again, this school sure has a sick sense of humor.”

“I doubt this trial was anything close to a joke.” Mikado snidely remarks. His mask, however, was clearly surprised with its wide eyes and gaping mouth.

“C-Calm down! We don’t really know if the school really is behind this. And if they are, then this has to be a puppet!” Shinji said, clearly trying to take charge. “The real teacher’s got to be around here somewhere.”

“Stop treating me like a puppet!” Monocrow huffs, turning his head away. His wing brushes against his beak once more. “I am Monocrow, a precious existence.”

“...He’s kinda cute.” Kanade admits with a giggle.

…No matter how he looks at this thing, it is not cute.

“Which part of it is cute?! It’s horrible! I hate birds!” Hibiki said, gaping at her sister like she was crazy. He wouldn’t go as far as to lump all the birds with Monocrow, but he can’t help but agree with Hibiki wholeheartedly.

“Congratulations, Ms. Hibiki. I despise you now.” Mikado deadpanned, his mask shifting into his usual flat expression.

“…I’m more curious on how it moves.” Kokoro said, calm and collected, perhaps even more so than Yuri. He turns to gap at her as she levels her stare at Monocrow.

This was absurd.

Everything about this was absurd.

The apparent kidnapping, his lack of memories, the fake corpse, the class trial, this…thing…

It was all horribly crazy. Even the classmates that had been trying to keep a steady head once everything had turned sideways since the body announcement had become anxious at the appearance of their so-called “teacher.”

And he was certain it was only going to get worse from here.

“Tick tock, Prof. Sparrow. I hope you’ve got a good reason for wasting our time.” Syobai speaks up, looking like he is ready to walk out if something doesn’t grab his attention soon. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that this isn’t because you’re officially welcoming us to Hope’s Peak, right? You wouldn’t have gone out of your way to create that fake case if there wasn’t a catch in all this.”

“Huh?! Are you serious?!” Shinji exclaims, turning his attention to Syobai. The amnesiac grabbed his chest, feeling something heavy weighing down his heart as he tried to breathe. But when he feels a hand press against his back, he turns to see it was Kokoro. She didn’t say a word. She just held him tightly like an anchor.

“Ah, I must say. I’m impressed.” Was it just him, or was Monocrow smiling behind his wing? “A student who actually pays attention.” The bird then waves his wing to the side. “But you see, Mr. Hashimoto, this isn’t just a welcoming ceremony to Hope’s Peak Academy.” The fact that Monocrow called this a welcoming ceremony sent shivers down his spine. “This is less of a school and more of a…facility. You see, you’re all going to be on a very special ‘field trip,’ starting now!” Monocrow spreads his wings out, almost as if he was excited for this announcement.

“...Field trip?” The eyes of Mikado’s mask narrow, a palpable tension rising from his shoulders.

“Wow, a field trip after solving a murder case…” Emma said, her laugh nothing more than pure disbelief.

“So the old fart’s name is Hashimoto! Well, he’s a dude, so who cares.” Yuri said, still smiling as he wags his finger in the air. Syobai huffs but doesn't bother engaging with him. And the amnesiac already knew that, if only because he had mistaken Syobai’s podium for his own.

“So have you all calmed down now? I can’t explain our field trip if you’re done fussing over me.” Monocrow settles his wings and starts to rub his beak.

“Do we seem calm to you?!” Yoruko, having recovered from her shock, yells as she leans forward with clenched fists. “Not only did we wake up on this weird island in the middle of nowhere, but you also put us through a traumatic experience!”

“Maybe if you shut your mouth for two seconds, you might get some answers. He’s trying to give an explanation.” Syobai said, clearly telling the hostess to back off. Yoruko…took more offense to it than expected.

“Excuse me?!” Yoruko crosses her arms, almost marching up to Syobai if it weren’t for Yuki stopping her.

“I understand how you feel, Yoruko…But he’s right! We don’t know the purpose of this field trip, especially after that class trial.” Yuki puts his hands up but is careful not to touch her. Yoruko grits her teeth but backs down just as quickly as she had gotten mad. Once everyone had gotten quiet, anxious with anticipation, Monocrow finally continued.

“Now that you all have settled down, I shall begin.” Monocrow turns his head as he gestures with his wing. “As I’ve said before, I’m the teacher in charge of your Hope’s Peak Academy Field Trip, and also…the one who controls Utsuroshima.” He spreads his wings out as his tone turns into a more sing-songy voice. “The crowiest crow who ever crowed a crow, I am known as Monocrow. Nice to meet ya.”

“...What.” The stupid line made his feeling of absurdity temper down with a rise of anger. He was still scared. So very scared. But it took all of his effort not to antagonize the bird in front of him.

He had to know.

He had to know what he had planned for them all.

“Just to clarify, you are in this year’s freshmen class of Hope’s Peak Academy.” Monocrow lowers his wings. “You were all instructed to wear a uniform related to your talents and go somewhere specific, correct?”

“Yeah, but we don’t remember anything after that.” Yuki was the one that answered, looking a little more calmer now that Yoruko didn’t look like she was going to rip Syobai’s head off. He tugs on his tie nervously. “We woke up here on this island…”

“Oh, my apologies for being so cruel!” He didn’t sound very genuine, almost covering his beak again like he was suppressing a laugh. “I promise, you’re all going to have nothing but fun on this island from here on out.”

“Bullshit.”

The word leaves his mouth before he even realizes what he just said.

Everyone turns their attention to him, ranging from surprise to annoyance.

Monocrow goes quiet, staring down at him from the tower.

He swallows, feeling another pit of anxiety in his stomach.

But another, stronger feeling pushes it aside.

Determination…and thinly veiled fury.

“This. Is bullshit.” His words were firm, barely tranquil as he was on the verge of yelling. But he managed to keep it steady as he spoke. “A Hope’s Peak Field Trip? A crow for a teacher? I don’t fucking believe it. Not after that fucked up trial you forced us through.” He tightens his fist over his chest. “There’s no way this is some normal event. You have something planned against us. What is it?!”

Monocrow tilts his head at him.

“...Well, you’d be right in that this isn’t normal.” Monocrow, to his frustration, took his outburst in stride. “For starters, this field trip doesn’t have an end date.”

“What? What did you just say?” Hajime, who had been mostly silent up to this point, gaps at the bird. The amnesiac felt his heart plummet.

“There is no end date. This trip could go on for all eternity!” Monocrow flaps his wings before brushing one of them against his beak. Mikado steps back, hovering nearby like he was coming to a horrible realization. And he wasn’t the only one. Everyone looked like they had been told the most insane news yet.

All except Syobai, who actually started to chuckle.

“Ohoho, so you’re trapping us here then?” Syobai said with a smirk and his hands in his pockets.

“W-What?!” It was Nikei. The implications seemed to have finally sunk into the group.

“That’s a problem! We…We…” Iroha clutches her sketchbook close to her chest. “We have to go home! This is insane!”

“Yeah, who gave you the right to do this?! To put us through that messed up trial?!” Yuki clenched his fist, almost determined to fight back. But Monocrow waves his wing like the question didn’t interest him at all.

“No reason to get so worked up. There is a way to end the field trip, if you so choose.” Monocrow said, rubbing his beak.

“And what’s that?” Shinji asked, his forehead sweating as he waited for an answer. He suddenly felt his own body go out in a cold sweat.

This instinct in his body…

It felt horrible.

It felt twisted.

It felt like…a strange sense of deja vu.

And he knew-

“You gotta kill someone.”

-it was only going to get worse.

Silence filled the group.

No one could react.

Not with the dreadful news that has all been dropped in their lap.

His body has gone numb.

Everyone looked like a chill had gone through them. The terror, the anxiety, the suspicion…

It all felt like so much.

It all felt so overwhelming.

And then, finally, someone breaks the silence.

“What…What did you just say?” Yoruko’s voice felt small, almost feeble. Her face had gone pale and was holding her hand against her chest as she shakes.

“I said you gotta kill someone.” Monocrow said, direct and straight to the point. There was no way to mistake his words for anything else.

“Kill…? You mean, like…in some kind of video game, right?” Hibiki still seemed to be in denial but he didn’t blame her. She was just as scared as everyone else.

“Good grief…No, I mean actual murder.” Monocrow spreads his wings out, his red eye almost glowing in anger and yet, excitement. “You could stab them and tear out their intestines or separate the flesh from their bones. You could rip their body apart and hang it up somewhere…Shoot ‘em, burn ‘em, drown ‘em, slash their throats, fry them with electricity, or just hit them really hard. Anything your little heart’s desire. Whatever method you choose, if you manage to kill someone…Then you can end the field trip and leave the island.”

He couldn’t move.

No one could move.

No one could think of any kind of response.

His body had completely frozen up at the pure malice radiating off of Monocrow.

And all he could think of was, ‘Not again.’

‘Please, not again.’

‘He can’t do this again.’

He can’t let this happen again.’

It didn’t make any sense.

None of this makes any sense.

Not even his own thoughts made sense.

And then he felt it.

The hand against his back pressed more firmly against him.

The sudden anchor of a physical presence pulls him from his thoughts. Just enough to look down to see it was Kokoro still holding onto him tight.

“So you mean…” Her eyes narrow. “The purpose of this field trip is to have us kill each other…correct?”

“Yes. A ‘Field Trip of Mutual Killing,’ if you will. What better way to start a new semester of school?” Monocrow said, rubbing his wing against his beak.

“This…This is a bit too crazy, even for a scoop.” He hears Nikei mutter, stepping further and further away from where the fountain used to be. Yuki was gritting his teeth with a groan before finally snapping.

“Stop screwing with us! Why do we have to kill someone?!” He yells out with a clenched fist.

“Well said!” Yoruko seemed to have recovered from her shock, crossing an arm under her chest. She narrows her eyebrows at Monocrow as she sweats. “Do you really think we’re gonna follow through with that?!”

“We could swim out of here if we really want to.” Yuri immediately offers the suggestion with a smile. Somehow, he really doubts any of them could get out that way. Not without knowing where the nearest land is…or if they’re close enough to swim to it at all.

“Y-Yeah! We’d never do something like that! Don’t you dare ruin a happy field trip!” Iroha yells out indignantly, putting her hand up against her chest.

“Alright, that’s it! Anyone here who’s got some meat on their bones, come with me. We’re gonna beat this puppet down!” Shinji’s face had turned red in righteous anger, crossing his arms as he steps up to face Monocrow. He even nods his way, as if expecting him to join him.

He was almost tempted to, if he wasn’t certain that this would backfire on him. On all of them.

“This whole thing is pissing me off. Mind if I join you?” Hajime asked, walking up to take a spot next to Shinji.

Not him too…! Can’t they see that they’re only going to piss Monocrow off?

“Hey! Hey!” Speaking of whom, Monocrow flaps his wings in a wide arc as he starts to scold them. “No violence against a teacher!”

“Go for it! Beat him up!” Hibiki screams out, clenching her fists as she leans forward. Before anyone could do anything though-

“Don’t get any closer to Monocrow!”

Mikado’s yell stops everyone in their tracks. He had even flown in front of Shinji and Hajime, putting his arms out in front of them like a shield. The amnesiac barely felt him leave his side in those few seconds.

“Huh…?” Yuki muttered, staring at Mikado dumbfounded. When the wizard was certain that Shinji and Hajime weren’t going to force their way through, he raised one of his hands.

“...That thing is dangerous.” Mikado warns, tense like a coil that had been restrained by something heavy. A coil that was ready to spring into action at any given moment. “My senses are telling me that he will punish us if we disobey.”

“Disobey?” Shinji, as quick as he was with his temper, was also quick to simmer down once stopped. He raises his hand to touch Mikado but he leans away from him. “What are you talking about? Do you know what’s going on–”

“No, I don’t. But that…thing…” Mikado stares down Monocrow and he can almost sense the hatred radiating off of his body. “It’s familiar. Different, but familiar. And if we’re not careful, it’ll hurt us in retaliation.” He then pauses before aiming his raised hand towards the bird. “Well, the real question is if it can stand my magic…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you just stopped us from fighting that thing and now you’re gonna do it yourself?!” Hajime yells as he points at him, flabbergasted. “What the hell, man?!

“Eh?!?!? Don’t fight him, Mikado! You’ll get hurt!” Iroha holds her sketchbook close to her chest. “Even with magic, he’ll attack back, right? Right?!”

“Oh, what’s going on here?” Monocrow said, raising his wings as his red eye glows in irritation. “Do you really think your magic can kill me, Mr. Sannoji?”

“...Yes.” It was the way Mikado said it so calmly that sent chills down his spine. He steps forward, a magic circle with runes forming before his hand. “Everyone, get behind me! This will get messy.”

“Eh…I’d much rather get behind one of these lovely ladies instead…” Yuri muttered with a cross of his arms. He still falls in line behind Mikado, though, as if he knew that it would be better to listen despite his complaints.

“What the heck is going on?!” Hibiki cries out as she is one of the first few people to obey Mikado’s orders. Emma joins her side, holding her arms close to her chest.

“With Mikado’s display of magic, this situation will certainly wrap up in no time…” Emma muttered, contemplative as she watched the magic manifests in Mikado’s hand.

Monocrow, however, simply cocked his head to the side.

“What could you possibly do here? Utsuroshima is my domain!” Monocrow’s voice was low, as if promising a horrendous retribution. “Your magic…is nothing compared to me, Mr. Sannoji. Nothing.”

“Bold words for something so small.” Mikado hissed out, raising a finger up to his mask. The magic runes glow brightly, as if the charge up had just been completed. It looked as though Mikado was going to wipe Monocrow off of the tower with a beam of fire. Honestly, it was terrifying to see him use his own talent to try and kill someone.

Everything about their situation was terrifying.

Even with their supposed protector standing right before them, he still felt terrified.

There was a heavy weight on his chest. Like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Like he couldn’t believe it would be that easy.

That there was no way Mikado Sannoji, the Ultimate Wizard, could defeat Monocrow. No matter how powerful he is.

No way…that they could escape…

He feels a small hand grip his, tight and soft.

He looked down to see it was Kokoro staring up at him. Her expression was flat, like always, but there was a determined glint to her eyes. Like she was completely unmoved by Monocrow’s plans that were full of despair.

“Don’t worry.” She spoke, her soft voice reaching his ears almost soothingly. “Everything will turn out okay. Let us watch.”

“Kokoro…” His voice was low, almost cracking with the fear that held him in a chokehold. And yet, her hand was what he needed. An anchor to reality that would help him face whatever comes his way.

Yes…

Everything will turn out okay.

They have Mikado, a literal wizard. With actual magic that screamed power right before their eyes.

And Kokoro was here, supporting him, along with everyone else.

Everything will be okay!

Everything–

“Don’t you dare trick him, you bitch.”

Kokoro turns.

And then–

BANG!

Kokoro flies back, blood spurting out from her head.

She falls to the ground, motionless.

Lifeless.

A single hole with blood flowing from her forehead and down her nose.

A bullet shot from a gun.

Right before his eyes.

And her hand had left his own, empty and cold.

He stares down at her.

Everyone was staring down at her.

The shock was palpable in the group, freezing everyone in their tracks. Even Mikado’s magic has dissipated as he stared down at Kokoro. The mask’s eyes were wide before going completely blank once more.

He opens his mouth. Closes it.

And then, finally, he finds his voice.

“Ko…Koko…ro…?”

His voice was tiny and quiet to his own ears. But no matter how much he stared, reality did not change before his eyes.

Kokoro Mitsume, the Ultimate Psychologist…

Was dead before his feet.

A sigh echoed across the park and they all turned towards the sound. It all felt too slow to him with his stiff limbs. But he sees them.

The culprits behind her death.

A person, who seems to be a woman if her body shape is to go by, has her identity completely hidden under her gray coat with its hood hiding most of her face. But he can see the white hair peeking out from under the hood, the dark blue skirt of what he assumed was a dress, white stockings, and tanned Mary janes with dark blue bows.

And the woman with curly red orange hair that reached her shoulders, wearing a gray pinstripe suit with a pencil skirt, white blouse, black tie, sheer dark brown stockings and black heels, was glaring down at Kokoro with her pistol still smoking in her hand. The coat…the coat? He recognized that coat, that glare and that symbol on her ID…

It made his heart flutter in joy.

Joy that was immediately crushed with horror at himself…and at the people that killed his friend.

“...Thank goodness.” The hooded woman said, gripping her wrist. He could barely see the smile on her face. “It seems we made it in time.”

“Of course we did.” The redhead woman scoffed, leering at her companion. The smile falls off of her face but she says nothing else.

“Eeeeeueh?!” The shock from Monocrow would’ve been pleasing to his ears if Kokoro wasn’t lying dead by his feet. He even somehow broke into a sweat too, covering his beak with his wings.

“Waaaaaaahh?! Kokoro?!” Iroha screams, holding her sketchbook up to her chest. Sweat drips down from her skin, her face becoming much paler than before.

“You…You just shot her.” Shinji said, dumbfounded with his mouth hanging open. He then whirls around, his face turning red once more. “You shot her!”

“What…What is the meaning of this?” Yuri spoke up, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at the women.

“I-Is she okay? I-Is it possible to give her first aid…?!” Kanade clenched her hands and she looked like she was on the verge of crying. Shinji snaps his gaze back to Kokoro upon being reminded of first aid, and turns to approach her.

“Step away from her! Now!” The hooded woman yells, stepping forward with a clack of her Mary janes. “She may be dead but we don’t know what else she might have up her sleeve! Someone as smart as her would definitely leave another nasty trick behind.”

“What…?” Yoruko goes pale at those words. “Kokoro…tricked us?” He felt his throat clog up, his chest tight as a mess of confused feelings swim in his head. What do they mean by that? Why did they shoot her? Why was she…killed…?

“I-I don’t know what’s going on anymore…” Hibiki sniffles, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I…I wanna go home…”

“I-It’s okay, Sis! Everything will be fine. It’ll be okay…” Kanade wipes her own tears away, looking more determined now that her sister is starting to break down.

“What’s going on?! Who are you?!” Yuki backs away from the two women, terrified of what they’ve done. Terrified of the gun in her hand.

And yet, his voice pulls both of their attention to him.

“...Maeda-sama…” The hooded woman whispers, lifting her hands up and clenching them together. The amnesiac winces and rubs his forehead.

“Yuki Maeda…So we finally meet.” The redhead puts her gun away, her glare lightening if only slightly. Her gaze then drifts away, almost landing…on himself? “...And look at what you’ve gotten yourself into. Both of you.”

He flinches at those words. At that stare.

A stare that seemed soft towards him. Too soft.

Like she knew Yuki.

Like she knew…him.

Does…Does she know him?

Would these two women, who killed his friend, really know him?

“...What?” Yuki said, gripping his tie. He feels himself unconsciously take a step back, his brain hurting as his confusion only grows. The lucky student notices the redhead staring at him and turns to look. “Do you…know these people?”

“I…” He gulps. His chest hurts. Like he couldn’t understand what he should be feeling right now. Shock. Happy. Horror. Confusion. Anger. “I don’t…know.”

“Mekaru-sama…” The hooded woman turns to look at her companion, Mekaru. A name that made his brain sting and he grabs his head again to try and relieve the pain. “This situation…?”

“Shut up.” Mekaru snaps at her. Her eyes have narrowed again. “All of this…It was all last minute. So I couldn’t gather enough information before coming here.” She takes a deep breath while the woman, who remains unnamed, lowers her head slightly. “Regardless, we have things that need to be dealt with now.” She closes her eyes. “Everyone, listen up. I know you’re confused, but you have to listen to me.”

“Why?”

The word slips from his mouth without him realizing it. Everyone was staring at him now, including the two women that had appeared out of nowhere. Mekaru herself seemed surprised, and it was a feeling that he felt at himself as well.

But it was a feeling that was overshadowed with confused fury.

“Why should we trust you?” His voice rose, nearly cracking as his emotions spilled forth. His head hurt, his heart hurt, everything hurt. But no matter how much it hurt, he just had to yell. “Why should we trust you when we know nothing about you? When you…When you just shot someone! Before our own eyes! Someone we knew as a friend…!” He feels tears well up in his eyes as clenches his fist. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

The women stood there by the entrance of the park. Their eyes were wide, as if this outburst was unexpected to the both of them.

And then, the hooded woman spoke a name.

“...O-Otori-sama…?” She said, her voice shaky and bewildered. “Are you…okay?”

Otori.

Otori…?

Who is…Otori?

“...Teruya.” Another name, this time spoken from Mekaru’s low voice. Her hands slip out of her coat limply. “Do you…not remember me?”

Teruya.

Teruya…Otori.

Teruya Otori.

Teruya Otori?

He stands there.

He stares.

He feels a rush.

A connection to a name that fits.

Like a puzzle piece finding its place.

A place among a board that held missing pieces. Too many missing pieces.

For he remembered nothing.

Teruya Otori…remembered nothing at all.

Mekaru stares at him.

And then stares at the ground, gritting her teeth.

“...Nevermind. That’s not the point.” Mekaru said, her voice low as she pressed her hand against her chest. Her expression cools and she takes a deep breath. “I understand what you are saying. But that only makes what I have to say next even more important. The one who brought you all here to make you kill one another…” She drops her hand, her eyes regaining it’s harsh glare once more. “The mastermind behind all of this…is Kokoro Mitsume.”

“Wh-What?!” Hajime said, holding up a fist as he pointed at her. “Wh-What are you saying?!”

“I…I know it’s hard to believe.” The hooded woman said after taking a deep breath. She was moving on from that strange pause and following Mekaru’s lead. “But that’s a fact. There have been a string of missing people for months now…including Maeda-sama and Otori-sama. But now, after tracking down the culprit, Kokoro Mitsume, we’ve finally put a stop to her.”

“H-Hold on…!” Yuki speaks up, clenching his fist. “He has a point. You’re just…strangers that walked in out of nowhere and shot someone in the head! And how do you know me? How do you know him?!”

“...To think that you would oppose us like this…” Mekaru murmured, and yet he can still hear her from here. They all did. Which only left more questions for them. For him. For…Teruya…? She takes in another deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut. “I can explain everything once we get all of you out of here. Just believe me when I say that Kokoro Mitsume has been committing crimes behind everyone’s backs this whole time. And I can’t say for sure what her goal is, but forcing you to kill each other seems to be part of some larger plan. It’s a good thing we have foiled her attempt at this twisted game before it could even get started.”

“Wh-Who do you even think you are, saying all of this stuff?” It looked like there was some color coming back to Iroha’s face. But she was still sweating as she stared at the women before her.

“Because we’re…or rather, Mekaru-sama, is from the Kisaragi Foundation.” The woman spoke up, holding her wrist. “They hunt down and capture those known as ‘Remnants of Despair’ and rescue their surviving victims. I…knew how these Despairs worked, so I offered to help on this mission. Mekaru-sama here is in charge of gathering information and spearheads the investigations.”

“Kisaragi Foundation…? Remnants of Despair…?” Hibiki raises her hands, her confusion written all over her face. He – Teruya? – feels his brain pound against his skull and winces. He holds his head.

Why…?

Why is all of this sounding so familiar?

Why does he seem to have a connection to these people?

These people that…killed Kokoro…

“I don’t have a clue what these guys are talking about.” Shinji admits, holding his hand up.

“...This must’ve been like the previous killing game. Right, Mekaru-sama…?” The woman leans over towards Mekaru. She glares at her but slowly nods her head.

“Yes but…for Teruya…” Her eyes land on him again, going soft once more. He tenses and takes another step back.

“...What do we do?” Setsuka rubs the back of her head. Out of everyone, she seems to be the calmest of the group. “Even your Big Sis can’t keep up with what’s going on.”

“So…what? Kokoro is the mastermind?” Yoruko seems to have calmed down at this point. But she clearly didn’t trust the two women before her with the way she holds herself tightly. “But…what’s with that puppet thing?!”

“...Like I said, we’ll explain once we get you all out of here.” Mekaru said, walking up to Kokoro’s body. “For now, let’s confirm Kokoro Mitsume’s status and wrap up this case.”

“Right…” The hooded woman nodded and followed Mekaru.

Monocrow didn’t stop them. He was just standing on that clock tower, watching them in silence.

No one said anything.

Not Yuki, not Shinji, not even himself.

How could they when no one but the women knew what was apparently happening?

None of them could stop them when they knew nothing.

Even when his hands shook in his tight fists, he could do nothing.

“To think all of this had happened…But I really shouldn’t be surprised. Even the most respected people can turn to Despair.” Mekaru muttered, kneeling down to examine the psychologist’s body. Her fingers trace her head to her neck. “Not that it matters now. It seems like she’s dead–”

“Wait.” The hooded woman pauses suddenly. Now that she was standing right beside him, he could see the tension in her shoulders and the way her face scrunched up in confusion. Her brown eyes narrow as they dart back and forth in searching the area. The sudden change in demeanor made his own anxiety spike. “Do you hear that?”

“What?” Mekaru’s head snaps up in her direction. Her eyes were narrowed but her tone was genuinely surprised. “What is–”

Clatter, clatter.

He barely has enough time to turn around to look and see metallic balls bouncing on the ground.

Metal balls that had flickering red lights.

Beep. Beep. Beep–!

He moves.

He doesn’t know why, but instinct alone made him jump towards the nearest person, which just so happened to be Yoruko and–

BOOM!

Everyone screamed.

Everyone went flying, scattering across the park in the air.

He held Yoruko as best as he could, taking the brunt of the explosion to the best as he possibly can.

But his brain barely had enough time to realize that there had been multiple bombs scattered around them and they had all gone off nearly the same time.

And then they hit the ground and his vision goes dark.

But only briefly.

His vision swam, blurring together as black spots appeared sporadically. His ears rang loudly, and he was coherent enough to worry if one of them had ruptured. He can even feel the pain of scrapes and bruises on his body from the rough landing. But, miraculously, nothing was broken. And slowly, the pain subsided along with the ringing and after some rapid blinking, so did the dark spots in his vision.

He winces as he slowly lets go of Yoruko, who groans but doesn’t get up right away. A quick scan of her body revealed that there were some rough scrapes on her arms and legs, her fishnet stockings having gotten ripped from the landing. However, she seemed to be okay thanks to him covering her.

But the others…

He tries to turn around, but cringes in pain as he has moved too fast. Yoruko was finally getting her bearings and slowly started propping herself up with her arms with a wince. Paying more attention to his body, he turns more slowly so he can check on everyone else.

There was so much smoke that it obscured his vision. But it was already dissipating by the time he started making a headcount. Everyone had been scattered about from the explosions, but no one had any obvious injuries. He held his breath as he didn’t want to count themselves lucky just yet. His eyes scan everyone as carefully as possible, even though he wasn’t close enough to check them personally and the remains of the smoke made it hard to tell if they were okay or not. Emma was the furthest away of the group but she was the first to get to her feet due to landing in a bush, albeit shakily. Kanade and Hibiki had been split apart, with the former having the unfortunate luck of landing on a bench and the latter still laying on the cold concrete pavement. God, he hoped she hadn’t been knocked out or worse. Nikei was the only one who was on his knees, but he was right in front of a statue and was clutching his head like he was in pain. He must’ve hit the statue, perhaps even got a concussion. They would need to get him medical help soon. Yuri had apparently gotten stuck in one of the trees, but he was swinging his legs back and forth so it’s probably safe to assume that he’s fine. Probably trying to balance himself while figuring out how to get down. Shinji was the only one that seemed to have bounced back at all, getting up to run to Yuri to try and help him get down. Syobai was the third person to get to his feet, using a bench to help balance himself as he glares at no one in particular. Yuki barely looked coherent at all as he laid on the ground, with Setsuka crawling over to check on him. Hajime was already getting onto his feet to help Iroha, who was struggling to even stand on her own two feet. Mikado was on the ground, hunched over and looking like he was gripping his face. He couldn’t tell what else might be happening, as from this angle, the wizard’s cape completely covered his body and head.

And then there was the woman, who was already on her feet but remained crouching low to the ground, covering her face with her arms as if to protect herself. Mekaru, however, was much closer to him and was panting heavily, propping herself up with her hands.

“Augh…What…?” Mekaru coughs, leaning heavily on her side as she tries to wave the smoke away. “How…”

“Mekaru-sama…” The woman’s voice was low, almost dangerous in tone. He realizes that she was staring at something and starts to follow her gaze.

Just in time to see Kokoro Mitsume rise from the dead.

The smoke finally fades out, and Kokoro’s eyes dart from one side of the park to the next. But unlike before, when there had been a flat but gentle gaze, there was nothing but coldness that could cut like a blade. Her eyes land on the two women and then himself before she slowly gets to her feet.

“…This…will cause some issues.” Kokoro, with blood still dripping from her forehead, leans down to pick up her tablet and pat down her legs. “You just had to walk in and complicate everything, did you?”

��Ko…Kokoro…?” He slowly starts to sit up, propping his hands on the ground between his legs. He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What he was hearing. He genuinely thought that this would be the last time he ever got to hear her voice again. It didn’t matter that he barely knew her for a day, he still considered her to be a friend. Or at least, one in the making.

And yet, when she stares at him, it is with piercing, frigid red eyes.

“It doesn’t matter. I had hoped for a bit more time, but the issues kept cropping up one after another.” Kokoro sighs, blinking her eyes and they instantly go back to normal. She lifts up her tablet. “But at least I was able to put in a few…failsafes before you arrived. For now, I’ll have to adjust the plan.”

“Kokoro, you’re…you’re not serious are you?” It was Emma who spoke up, and he felt his heart break for her. Kokoro’s words, despite sending his confused self into a spiraling mess of thoughts and feelings, all but confirmed her role in…everything. “Is…Is what these women say true? That you’re…”

“You’re…the mastermind.” Yuki finished for her, slowly getting to his feet with Setsuka’s help.

“Wait, wait…back up…” Nikei buds in, barely able to stand on his own two feet. But he managed to walk forward as he tightly held his hat in his hand. “If you’re…If you’re the mastermind, how the hell are you still breathing? And where did these bombs come from?!”

“…That’s what I like to know too, actually.” The woman scowled at Kokoro. She was clenching her fists very tightly. “Mekaru-sama shot you. In the head. Even if you survived for a few minutes, you shouldn’t be able to function right now!”

“Oh…” Kokoro starts to wipe the blood off of her forehead with her finger, like the hole was nothing more than a strangely shaped cut. And then, she leans down and picks up a small object, lifting it up for all to see: a used, crushed bullet. He feels his jaw drop, even as she starts to explain. “It was a close call. But I was able to activate my forcefield before contact. It didn’t stop me from bleeding…but my skull is intact, and that’s all that matters. Especially with how chaotic everything has turned out now.” She then drops the bullet, the sounds of it clattering along the pavement echoing in everyone’s shocked minds. With her arm now outstretched, Monocrow suddenly makes his appearance known again by flying over and landing on her arm.

“This truly is a shame to our original plan, Ms. Mitsume. Are you okay with this?” Monocrow leaned in close to Kokoro, even though everyone can still hear his voice from here.

“...I can make this work.” Kokoro said with a frown. “I’m simply…hmm, yes. I’m annoyed that this has happened, and so soon.” She narrowed her eyes at the strangers. The strangers that had come all this way to rescue them. Strangers that clearly knew him.

He suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut.

“Are you…Are you really Kokoro?” Setsuka’s voice is low, almost holding Yuki close to her. It seemed like he was still trying to process what was happening before him.

“I…I don’t know. But she’s speaking with Monocrow as if they’re equals.” Yoruko finally found her voice, although it was shaky.

“Really? I don’t believe this!” It was Yuri, firm and perhaps even in a bit of denial. He had finally, albeit reluctantly, accepted Shinji’s help in getting him down from the tree.

“Mekaru-sama, are you alright?” The woman glances at her companion. Mekaru’s back was facing him but he could imagine the frown on her face as she nodded.

“I’m fine.” She slowly starts to sit up, glancing at the hooded woman. “...I just didn’t expect her to have made these last minute preparations. We came here as quickly as we could, too.” She then pulls her gaze back to Kokoro. “Do you really think you can escape this situation? If so, we will not stand by idly.” Mekaru puts her foot down on the ground and reaches for her gun. “Do you really think we came here without any research or precautions?”

“All the more reason to take action before you do.” Was Kokoro’s simple response.

“...What–?” Mekaru starts, only for the ground to start shaking again. Yoruko yelps and covers her head with her hands while he is quick to pull her close. He was ready to run in case the floor starts to give way underneath themselves.

But it wasn’t the floor this time.

No, it was the clock tower, as it starts to disassemble and reassemble itself. Stones and wood panels were quickly revealed to be fake as metal shone in the moonlight. It quickly forms arms and then legs and it was then that his mind supplied the word ‘mech’ that he felt horror lodge itself into his throat. And with every step the mech took, the ground shakes underneath them all. He felt his eyes go wide before he grabs Yoruko and helps her to her feet, running to the side to put distance between themselves and the mech. Everyone else was either helping each other stand or were running away as well.

He didn’t know what that mech had on itself, but he didn’t want to wait to find out.

“No…” He turns his head to see the hooded woman standing up straight. “No, no, no…! Never again…Never again!” Before he knew it, she was running towards the mech, and he could’ve sworn he saw something glint in her hand. “I’ll kill you…Kokoro Mitsume!!”

Mekaru stands, reaching out for the woman.

“TAIRA, NO–!”

His heart pounds.

He felt chills go up his spine.

And before he knew it, everything went to hell.

Bullets, multiple ones, were shot and he can only see their impact from the ground. Like they were raining from the sky itself. He freezes up, pulling Yoruko even closer to try and protect her from any stray bullets with his body. The hooded woman, despite not seeing where the bullets were coming from, started weaving back and forth across the park. Like she was trying to dodge the attacks that were coming from out of nowhere. Mekaru tries to keep up, holding her gun up as she tries to take aim. But she was clearly struggling as she kept stopping and turning to keep herself from getting shot.

And right when the woman looked like she was starting to close the gap between herself and Kokoro, the mech’s arm opened up and revealed multiple rockets in its sockets.

He opened his mouth to scream, to warn them, but it was already too late.

The rockets were launched, flying towards the woman and Mekaru.

The woman jumped back but couldn’t get out of range in time.

The rocket closest to her explodes upon hitting the ground, the force of the impact managing to send her flying through the air until she was nothing but a speck of light in the sky. And then, just like that, she was gone.

Mekaru dives to the ground as the rockets explode around her, smoke and fire and debris blocking his vision of what was happening. Screams surrounded his ears, ringing louder and louder in his head. Yoruko tugged on him, but his body had completely frozen up.

The mech takes another step.

And then another.

The smoke starts to dissolve, revealing Mekaru lying on the ground.

Dirty.

Cut.

Bleeding, with her leg twisted in a way that it shouldn’t.

Mekaru was heavily panting, her hand in her pocket and leaning heavily on the other.

She looks up and makes eye contact with him.

Eyes that were scared and vulnerable.

He reaches out for her.

The mech lifts up its other arm, a minigun jutting out.

And in an instant, it lights up.

Loud, sharp, crackling and popping of bullets faster than he can process hit their target. A messy and chaotic spill of blood and flesh fly in the air, with strands of red hair falling from her head. Bullets littered her body with holes, leaving gaping mounds of space and air. Her glasses fall and break upon hitting the ground. Her ID, which was attached to her coat, gets hit by a bullet, unlatching itself due to the impact before another bullet hits it in midair and then clatters onto the ground. It slides away only slightly, smearing blood before it stops.

Mekaru falls to the ground, silenced.

He stares at her. The guns have gone quiet, but to him, the world itself was silenced.

Even when someone tugs on his arm, he feels himself pull away, taking a step forward.

And another.

His arm, which was still reaching out for her, slowly fell to his side. He finally feels his legs give out only a few inches away from her. His head felt heavy. So heavy, to the point that his eyes finally break away to stare at the ground, with only the ID in his sight.

‘Rei M—ru, Former Ul–mate Professo-’

The rest of the ID was either covered in blood or holes, destroying what remained of her identity. Even the picture of herself was ruined beyond comprehension.

Not that it mattered right now.

His vision was so blurry that he could barely read a thing now.

Drops of water fall and he reaches for his eyes to touch them.

To touch the tears that felt nothing like his own.

And yet, the deep, crushing sense of anguish felt so ingrained into him that shedding tears felt strangely natural.

“...Goodbye, Mekaru.” He can hear Kokoro’s voice and breathes in harshly. He slowly reaches for the ID, as it was the only thing he’ll have of her now.

“Teruya…Teruya.” He feels a hand on his shoulder and he slowly looks up. It was Yoruko, but her back was turned on him. She was staring at something with wide eyes and he followed her gaze numbly.

And sees a drone aiming its gun right at them.

His eyes go wide as another drone appears out of thin air, also sporting its own gun. The drones, who have apparently been invisible up to this point, slowly appear one by one. He feels another layer of dread fall on his shoulders as he slowly starts to focus on his surroundings again. He pockets the ID and slowly gets to his feet, looking around. There were so many more than he realized, and with every advance the drones make, everyone would start stepping closer and closer to one another. Before he knew it, the entire group was surrounded by a circle of drones, silently threatened by the guns the machines held.

“Ah…” He turns his head to the side, seeing the shock frozen on Hibiki’s face. It looked like she had woken up in the middle of the chaos at some point and was leaning heavily against her sister. Yuki was shaking beside her and his face had gone pale. He looked like he was on the verge of screaming.

“Oh God…She’s…Sh-She’s dead.” He hears Iroha mutter to herself and turns to look at her. She was hiding behind Hajime with her sketchbook held against her chest. “She’s…She’s really dead.”

“N-Not just her…That other woman went flying through the sky.” Shinji speaks up. He has his arms out in front of the group, like he’s ready to fight the drones. Despite his large and tall body, he couldn’t cover the entire group. He was only one person. At least Hajime seemed to be taking a similar role as him. “Once she starts falling, that’s it. She might as well be…”

“Dead. Probably.” Kokoro’s voice finishes for him. They all turn towards the psychologist, the mastermind herself. Monocrow was no longer on her arm, instead flying passively beside her.

“A body filled with bullets…She might as well be swiss cheese.” Monocrow chuckles to himself. It only made him sick to his stomach.

“Enough jokes, Monocrow.” Kokoro admonishes the bird, her eyes barely glancing at him. Monocrow huffs but goes quiet. She then brings her attention back to the group, putting her tablet underneath her arm and taking her glasses off to clean them with a rag. “Now that that’s over with…I would hope this taught you all a lesson. None of you can fight against me. Not with the machines I wield before you now. It would be pointless.”

Silence.

They were all silent.

None of them could think of a word to say.

Except for one.

“Go to hell.”

Kokoro blinks and starts to put her glasses back on her face.

But the air around Kokoro goes bright red–

–and then exploded into a burst of flames.

They all cover their faces from the sudden bright light, some of them screaming at the sudden explosion. He barely notices even more flames bursting out and hitting a few drones with fire balls. They fall to the ground, burnt and shattering upon impact.

“Can things stop happening for five minutes?!” Yuki yells out, both terrified and exasperated at the escalating situation. The amnesiac grit his teeth, trying to see through the bright light of the towering wall of fire. Through his fingers, he manages to see a familiar wizard stumble into view and still holding his mask.

“...Tsk. It seems…you have a better response time than expected.” Mikado speaks, his voice dangerously low as he slowly lets go of his mask. The fire starts to die down, but he can still see the cracks forming on that mask and he winces. The explosions must have done more damage than expected. “No matter. I’ll just have to make sure you can’t dodge the next one.” The wizard looks up and he feels compelled to follow his gaze.

There, in the sky, was Kokoro being held by Monocrow. He was holding her from the back of her sweater and she seemed genuinely shocked by Mikado’s attack with her wide eyes and shrunken pupils. But the expression quickly disappears and she stares down at him flatly.

“Ms. Mitsume, are you okay?” Monocrow asked, somehow managing to carry Kokoro despite being a bird. He may be a very large bird in comparison to certain species, but he was still a bird.

“I’m fine.” She narrows her eyes at Mikado. “But what are you doing? You know that I am the mastermind, and that fighting against me is useless. Why don’t you just accept your role as a participant in the Field Trip of Mutual Killing? I am no different than you.”

“No different…?” Mikado spat the words out like he’d been offended. He grips his hand into tight fists. “You intended to hide your role as the mastermind and manipulate us from behind the scenes. You put everyone in danger for a killing game. For that…” The mask visibly darkens into a sick, dreadful black with murderous red eyes. “That deserves death.”

Without another word, Mikado summons a cane to his hand and hits the ground with it. Almost instantly, a glowing magic circle appears with runes forming inside of it. Fire erupts from the runes, aiming straight for Kokoro. The psychologist was quick to start tapping away on her tablet, and Monocrow pulled her out of the way. The drones turn their attention to Mikado and immediately start to fire in retaliation. However, Mikado noticed and flew out of the way, summoning more runes to fire back at the drones. Some got hit by the fireballs, others managed to dodge in the air. With the drones no longer surrounding them, some of his fellow students were already making a break for the entrance of the park.

However, Monocrow had just set Kokoro down on top of the mech, which held a platform for her to stand on and a rail to keep her from falling off. He sees her tap something on her tablet and the mech raises its minigun towards Mikado, following him as he flies through the air. He felt glued to the floor as his heart hammered against his chest, unable to move despite Yoruko tugging on his arm. The minigun goes off, bullets flying out and tearing through anything that was in its way. Trees, pavement, anything. Mikado tries to dodge the bullets, but when the rain of bullets hit the statue as he flies by, its marble stone breaks apart instantly and rubble starts to fall onto him. The wizard had no choice but to put up a shield made out of red magic to protect himself. The rubble bounces off of the shield but so do the bullets.

And the ones that don’t hit the shield start to stray too close to everyone else.

“GET DOWN!” The yell comes out of his mouth purely by instinct. Yoruko yelps as he pulls her close so he can cover her with his body again. He sees the rest of the group do what they’re told without a second thought. He can even hear Yuki and Hibiki scream as they hit the ground and he feels something sharp whiz past his cheek.

And then, things go quiet.

No, not necessarily quiet.

It sounded like everything had become muffled around them, with the occasional pangs of something hitting light but solid.

He blinked as his focus was completely on the ground. He was still tense from the thought of being this close to a chaotic fight like this. But with the sounds having become so muted, he can’t help but raise his head.

And sees the large bright red, transparent shield surrounding the whole group.

Mikado was still flying around, but he kept his cane aimed at the group with a circle of magical runes surrounding the handle. He was still sending fireballs towards Kokoro’s mech and drones as he flew, but this time it was with his hand, not his cane.

“Dammit, what is this?!” He turns his gaze towards Nikei, who starts banging against the shield. It doesn’t budge, of course. “We’re stuck in here!”

“A-And this shield is keeping us from getting shot!”Kanade shoots back, lifting her hands up with a huff. Hibiki nearly falls from her sister’s shoulder and she shoots her a glare but goes completely ignored. Nikei winces and rubs his head. The amnesiac feels his heart pound at the sight of blood dripping from it.

“Uh…You’re right. Sorry.” Nikei muttered, rubbing his head. “Fuck, my head hurts…” Shinji gets up from the ground and walks up to examine him. The journalist squirms but quickly relents.

“...It looks like you hit your head pretty hard.” Shinji said, who was quickly growing concerned. “Your skull doesn’t seem broken or anything but you might have a concussion. If only we had a first aid station or at least a doctor around…”

“Nothing we can do about that…” Nikei grunts before shoving his hands away from him.

“This…This is Mikado’s doing, right?” Yuki speaks up, gesturing to the shield around them. They all turn towards the fight scene outside of the shield. Mikado was still zipping around, teleporting in bursts of fire and dodging attacks left and right. There just doesn’t seem to be an end to the drones attacking him with bullets, no matter how many he destroys. And Kokoro was still watching him, able to keep up despite his chaotic tactics with her mech and the minigun it has. But whenever stray bullets come their way, they can only hit the shield with a pang, almost disintegrating on the spot. “We’re being protected by the shield he put up.”

“As much as I hate to admit it…yes, we are.” Yuri said with a pout, crossing his arms. “Well, it’s the bare minimum he should do to protect the lovely ladies here after starting up another fight.”

“But…w-we don’t have to worry anymore, right?” Emma’s voice was shaky. She was holding herself tight, staring at the ground tensely. “With Mikado’s magic…It should be a piece of cake, right? As the Ultimate Wizard…and with all that fire he’s been spouting out of thin air…”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

They all turn to the one guy that had kept his distance from the start.

Syobai Hashimoto.

“With that trigger-happy lady dead on the spot and her little subordinate taking a trip up to the afterlife, Ms. Four-Eyes pretty much confirmed that this killing game is real through demonstration.” Syobai chuckles, even though this was far from a laughing matter. “Which means everything that bird has said up till now still applies.”

“N-No way!” Hibiki straightens and finally lets go of her sister. She seems to have gotten her strength back, but now she looked like she was on the verge of tears as she waved her hands around. “This…This can’t be real…! Do we really have to kill someone to get off this island?”

“Wh-Who the hell is gonna murder anyone here?!” Shinji snaps at Syobai, crossing his arms as he stares him down. Syobai just raised an eyebrow back. “None of us would stoop that low!”

“And, like Riri said, we could try swimming away from here or send out an SOS.” Setsuka speaks up, much calmer than the rest of them. “Not only that, if Mikado can take down Kokoro with his magic alone, we won’t have to deal with this anymore and focus on escaping.”

“Are you sure about that?” Syobai scoffs. He feels heat rise in his cheeks.

“Don’t put him down. He’s trying his best to protect us!” He pushes back, gesturing towards the shield.

“Exactly.” Syobai said, blunt like a rock. He freezes, but the guy continues before he could process what he meant by that. “Do you really think he can fight and protect this little group at the same time?”

The words silenced the group completely, as if no one had the confidence to think of an answer.

And if anyone was going to give him one, they were immediately interrupted when a loud thunk was heard from above.

They all look up to see Mikado, who had apparently hit the shield on his back. The shield flickers only a moment before he slams his hand on it, magic flowing back into it and strengthening it. It was then that he flew upwards, barely dodging a drone that decided to try and ram into him, instead hitting the shield and exploding upon impact. They watch him send another fireball but a drone suddenly hits him from behind, making him spin forward in the air. Mikado quickly orients himself and flies away.

He felt his heart stutter.

Mikado is trying to fight Kokoro.

But he’s also trying to protect them.

Because if he didn’t, someone could get hurt from a stray bullet. Or worse.

And he couldn’t do both at the same time.

“Mikado!!” He lets go of Yoruko and runs over to the shield. He slams his hand against it, pounding on it to try and get his attention. “Mikado, put down the shield!!”

“Put down the shield?!” He hears Hajime yell out to him and cringes. “Are you crazy!?? That shield is protecting us!”

“But…But…!” He gulps as he turns to the group. They were all staring at him like he was crazy and he felt his heart pound rapidly against his chest. His brain was going a mile a minute and he tried his best to explain his thoughts. “We’re close to the exit! A-As long as we leave, we won’t get hurt!” Hajime was raising an eyebrow at him, but before anyone else could give him any more incredulous looks, Yuki lifted his fist up to his chin.

“A-Actually…Teruya might have a point.” Yuki spoke up, using the name Mekaru had used for him. He can't help but be taken aback. The name…it was familiar. It felt as though it had fit. And both Yoruko and Yuki were using it like it was his name. But…if he takes that name as his own, then that would be confirming the connection he had with Rei Mekaru and that woman. As if that connection between them were…real. And if it was real, then the two people that knew him were…No, he shouldn’t think about this right now. He should pay attention to what Yuki was saying. “If we leave the park, then Mikado wouldn’t have to split his focus on protecting us and fighting Kokoro. Once we’re gone, he can go full out!”

“Yes! Yes, exactly!” He – Teruya – runs up to Yuki, grabbing his shoulder and starts shaking him. He lets out a garble of noises as he does. “If we leave, he won’t have to worry about us getting hurt from a stray bullet. And if we go to the other side of the shield before he lets it down, we can get to the gate almost instantly!”

“Hey…you’re right!” Yoruko, who had been mostly quiet up to this point, starts to light up at the suggestion. “We just need to let Mikado do his thing once we’re out of the picture. Better yet, if he could distract Kokoro and have her aim the bullets away from us…”

“Then…Then we wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit as we run!” He finishes. He grips the scarf around his neck. “We just need to get Mikado’s attention–”

BANG!

They all jolt at the sudden sound and turn their attention back to the fight.

The arm of the mech holding the minigun had fallen to the ground, a joint having been destroyed thanks to Mikado’s fire magic, almost looking like it had melted through it. The mech tilts but doesn’t fall to the ground, Kokoro holding tightly onto the railings to keep her balance. Mikado didn’t stop to cheer over what he had just accomplished. Another drone had tried to fire at him again and he had to fly out of the way. Even from here, he can see Kokoro tapping away on her tablet, staring down Mikado with red eyes. A few drones chase him down, forcing him to dodge back and forth with their firing guns. Another drone manages to sneak up and bump into him from behind, making him tilt backwards. He rights himself with a flip and destroys the drone in an instant.

Just in time for Kokoro’s mech to lift up its rocket launcher and fire.

The rockets fly towards Mikado and he barely seems to notice them in time. Instead of teleporting away, though, he frantically puts up his hand. A shield forms before him.

But upon making contact with the shield, the rockets explode and an awful shattering sound reaches their ears. The shield splinters into pieces and the force of the impact flings Mikado from the sky. Before he could even recover–

Crash!

–he hits the ground, smoke and rubble flying everywhere with a sickening crack. They all stare in shock at the sudden end of the fight.

And as if to confirm what they were seeing, the shield surrounding them flickers and then breaks apart. It fades into sparks until it all disappears.

He stares at the crater that had formed from the impact as the smoke slowly fades away. Mikado lays there, his back turned to him, and not moving.

He’s…not moving…

He’s not moving.

“M…Mikado!!!” He was the first to move, running across the battlefield of the park. He nearly trips from the cracked pavement of the crater but he manages to keep his balance as he makes it to Mikado’s side. He kneels down, hesitating to touch him in case he makes any of his injuries worse. But he had to examine him if he wanted to make sure if he was okay. So he carefully pats down his friend's body, checking to see if there were any broken bones. Nothing feels or looks broken, let alone twisted, so he took a risk to turn Mikado on his back.

Despite taking an explosion that took him out of the sky almost point blank, he seemed relatively okay. His mask, though, seemed to have taken the brunt of the attack as the cracks that had formed before had completely broken in half. One half was still intact but the other had been shattered into tiny pieces that he’s pretty sure there was nothing left to salvage. But without that mask, Teruya finally got to see Mikado’s face, albeit only half of it. He was surprised to see that he was a bit older than he expected, with a slightly wider facial structure and thin lips. He couldn’t tell what kind of eye shape Mikado had due to his human eye being completely closed, let alone his eye color.

But…he seems to be okay. Just…unconscious, if his slow breathing was any sign of his well being.

“How is he?” He looks up to see Shinji kneeling down on the other side. He – Teruya, Teruya – gently puts one hand underneath Mikado’s head and the other on his chest.

“He’s alive. Doesn’t seem to be injured, surprisingly.” He slowly lifts Mikado’s body up. His face, his real face, cringes in his comatose state. He winces and mutters an apology before looking back to Shinji. “But…I think he needs a place to lay down. He probably has a bunch of bruises from the impact.”

“No kidding…Here, let me carry him.” Shinji reaches for Mikado and the amnesiac nods his head. He carefully transfers the wizard into Shinji’s arms, quietly reassuring him even as he whimpers in pain. Once the firefighter has a good grip on Mikado, they step out of the crater just as Kokoro comes down from the mech.

“Now, does anyone else have any other objections?” Kokoro asked, narrowing her eyes at the group. Nobody speaks up. He didn’t blame them. They were all too terrified to rebel against her when their strongest classmate failed to bring her down. “Good. Now, neither of us are going to force you to murder. We’ll just live out the rest of our lives here on this island if we have to.”

“But! But!” Iroha, for all her skittish nature, was the first to speak up. She lowers her sketchbook and plays with her hair to try and calm herself. “That’s crazy! We can’t live here for the rest of our lives…!”

“The decision is yours to make. We’re just giving you the option.” Monocrow said, waving his wing at them.

“Hmph, so nothing’s changed then.” They all turned to the other voice, which was Syobai. For some reason, he was smirking and that put a rock in his stomach. Why would he be smiling at a time like this? “Can’t say I’ve dealt with shit this crazy in a while…color me interested.” Syobai then points his finger against his head, his smile falling off of his face. “I’ll forgive you for kidnapping me…for now. I just need to off somebody, right?”

“...Wait, what?” Hajime turned but Syobai was already taking a few steps forward.

Teruya feels his heart pound.

He felt as though time had slowed.

Yuki turns around with wide eyes.

In just an instant, as if time hadn’t been stopped at all, Syobai lunges towards Yuki with a switchblade.

Yuki, his friend, was about to be stabbed–!

“NO!”

He shoots past a wide eyed Shinji, the frozen and panicked classmates, and jumps in front of Yuki–

(Protect him. You know what to do. So protect him…and yourself…!)

Teruya follows his instincts, letting his body do the fighting for him.

He barely dodges the knife that could’ve pierced his stomach in place of Yuki, but grabbed a hold of Syobai’s arm in the process. His eyes go wide as he yanks his arm, and uses the momentum to throw him to the ground, keeping the knife pointed away from the both of them. Syobai manages to brace himself before he hits the ground but Teruya was already jumping onto him, using his weight to restrain him and forcing his head against the pavement. He grunts in pain and even hisses when his elbow slams into the arm where he is holding the knife. The moment that his grip loosens, Teruya pries the knife from his hand and puts Syobai into a headlock with his arm.

“Shit! Out of everything that’s happened–!” Syobai struggles, but quickly stops when the amnesiac points the knife at him. Not close enough to cut, but the silent threat was obvious.

“Give me your word.” He hissed, his voice laced with an authority he didn’t expect from himself but welcomed all the same. Syobai glares at him with a dark look, but he only tightens the hold around his neck. “Give me your word that you will back off. If you do, I won’t tie you up in a corner so you can’t pull another murder attempt again. Do we have a deal?”

Syobai stares at him, gripping his arm to the point that he can feel his nails digging into skin.

And then…

“Tsk. Fine.”

He lets go, letting his head fall against the pavement.

He stares at him before slowly lifting himself off of Syobai. He still had his legs braced in case he tried any last minute maneuvers. But he didn’t move until the amnesiac put distance between them and started to stand. Once he did, he kept the knife pointed at Syobai. But he lifts his hands up in a sort of mock surrender, even shrugging his shoulders before walking away. Everyone kept a wide berth of Syobai as he walked out of the park and Kokoro had long since disappeared. She most likely took the opportunity of the brief incident Syobai had caused to leave while she still can.

Once Syobai was gone, they all slowly turned towards him.

Everyone was scared.

Everyone was nervous.

Everyone was tired, sore, and injured.

And everyone was staring at him.

Him, a person that barely even knew anything about himself.

A person that barely understood what was going on.

A person that knew next to nothing about Hope’s Peak Academy, the horrible killing game that felt so twistedly familiar, and the Kisaragi Foundation that he apparently had a connection to.

But as he kept the switchblade close to his chest and slowly closed it, he knew there was one thing he understood.

He had a name.

A name that he felt a connection to.

A name that fit him and him alone.

And that only fueled the determination that burned in his heart, overshadowing the fear and pain as he spoke.

“My name is Teruya Otori…” He announces, a sense of responsibility growing stronger with his words. “...and I promise, I will protect all of you!”

A promise to protect.

A promise to help.

A promise to guide them all.

It was a foolish promise.

But it was a promise he was determined to keep.

Even when he didn’t realize, from the moment he woke up on Utsuroshima…

His life as Teruya Otori…will never be the same again.

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