#its such a mixed thing because even though he knew saki's kindness to him was probably faked yosuke's loyalty to her was already set

[daily-hanamura]

#persona 4 #p4 #persona 4 golden #p4g #hanamura yosuke #yosuke hanamura #this scene gets to me because it reveals how a lot of yosuke's talk about getting a gf or meeting a girl and all of that is just... talk #on the one hand it's atlus needing the best friend character to fill that role of “lets check out girls!” #on the other hand it also reads to me as another facade of yosuke's struggle to meet his idealised conception of an average teenage boy #see it's funny because even in the first instance the role is always a bit deeper than it is #slight spoilers for p3 and p5!!! #but in junpei's case regardless of his flirtations he doesnt actually reciprocate or is even a potential LI for femmc #in ryuji's case when ann turns on the charm and offers to go on a date with him he tells her off and says that she should be like herself #i think that theres always a surprising level of nuance to be found with that skirt-chasing stereotype atlus likes to give us #i think yosuke's narrative here quite closely parallels junpei's in that theyre actually super devoted people #and yosuke has found an attachment to saki in the way junpei had with chidori so of course hes not willing to compromise on it #its such a mixed thing because even though he knew saki's kindness to him was probably faked yosuke's loyalty to her was already set #yosuke strikes me as the type of person that if youre nice to him once he'll follow you for life #i love that nanako was the one that responded to yosuke with like “oh like homework?” and yosuke gently plays along #its evocative of his tendency to shoot his mouth off only to quickly cover it up with a joke #but yu is there in the room as well listening and empathising and i think it was a moment that really #revealed to us (and yu) yosuke's underlying motivations and beliefs #even if it was sandwiched between the moment of yosuke trying to look at yu's prn #or perhaps especially because it was sandwiched between that moment the juxtaposition becomes more salient #that such talk from yosuke functions as a distraction from the anguish and ennui he feels about losing saki #he's good with his queue

[writingpaperghost]

I Would Offer it Happy With a Smile On My Face (Chapter 12)

Chapter 12: The World is Waiting For You, The Warrior of Light Who Will Light Up the Dark Night!

Juggler and Asahi have some talks and guess who shows up. Meanwhile, the Minatos and Zero at least get confirmation that Asahi’s alright.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860734/chapters/62488918

Asahi followed Mr. Juggler as he briskly walked out of the warehouse. He seemed to be ignoring her, a fact that irritated her greatly. “Hey!” She was jogging to catch up, “What’s this all about?”

He didn’t stop, but he did peek over his shoulder at her, “What are you taking about?”

“I mean - where are you going?” She asked, but then added, unable to stop herself, “Are you moping because you lost to that Nova?”

Mr. Juggler stopped, then spun around, bending slightly to face her, surprisingly close, “I am not moping.” He said, “I do not mope.”

Asahi gives him a smile, “It’s okay if you’re a bit down or worried, if Nova shows up again, I can help!”

The scowl on Mr. Juggler’s face only deepened, “No.”

“No what?”

He turned around, straightening, and began walking away again, “I don’t need your help.”

She didn’t really get it. So he had some trouble - okay maybe a lot of trouble - with Nova. She’s had plenty of trouble with fighting some Kaiju’s before, it’s nothing really to be embarrassed about. So why did it seem like Mr. Juggler was so upset about it?

“Alright,” She said, “But if Nova shows up, are you going to insist on fighting it alone, or will you just let me?”

He seemed to get a bit annoyed at her continuing to bug him. Or at least, that’s probably how he saw it. But as Asahi saw it, she was just being concerned for this man. Especially given she was pretty sure he might try to fight Nova if it showed up again. And he’d probably get his butt kicked, again.

She also noticed that he pointedly did not answer her question. Now, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why he didn’t. It probably meant that he was, as she was expecting him to, planning to fight Nova again. Assuming Nova showed up while he was around, though something told her he’d stick around, if only because he couldn’t stand having lost like that.  But, then again, she could be wrong. Maybe if Nova showed up again he’d leave it to her, since he’d made it pretty clear that he didn’t want her help.

And he still kept walking. Honestly, at this point he was just ignoring her, like he made that pretty clear given he just kept walking and wasn’t even trying to respond to her question. How rude. Well, Asahi would just have to tell him how rude he was being. She jogs to catch up with him, because he seemed to be walking rather fast and took longer steps than she did.

“Really,” She called out, “What’s wrong? You’re being awfully rude.”

Mr. Juggler stop or so much as make a movement to acknowledge her, despite the fact that she had jogged up beside him. He just kept facing ahead, maybe even trying to move faster. “There is nothing wrong. And I don’t care about being rude.” He said, “If you care so much about people, go find someone who might appreciate your concern.”

She huffed, “Has anyone ever told you about how you’re so… not happy?”

“It’s safe to say you’re the first.” Mr. Juggler spared her a slight glance, “Though that might just be because few else are foolish enough to try.”

It took her a moment to realize what he’d said, “Hey!” She let out an indignant cry, “Someone as rude as you must not have any friends.”

“I don’t,” He said, though he didn’t seem at all fazed by the fact, “And I do not want any.”

“Why not?” Mr. Juggler had finally stopped walking, instead choosing to lean against a fence. He faced her now, looking more irritated than anything. Still, Asahi pushed on, “Friends are nice.”

“They’re not, really,” He looked off towards a different direction, clearly not all that interested in the conversation. “All they bring is more problems. But you do seem like the type to think otherwise.”

He looked at her, a smug look working its way onto his face, “You’re an Ultra after all, and you Ultras do so love those friends of yours.” He shrugged, “Seems like you’re just giving yourself another weakness. But I’ve long since decided Ultras never really make sense.”

“’Never really make sense’…?” Asahi echoed, “I don’t follow?”

She looks at him for a moment before shrugging, “I would think people like you, who are always so unhappy and alone would make less sense.” She watched him before continuing, “I mean, I was friends with someone who was… Kinda like you. Not really all that happy. She didn’t have friends when I met her, she’d had some before, but not then. At the time, she was focused on this big dangerous thing that was heading towards Earth. But she still seemed to like having a friend.”

And she finds her hand slipping into her pocket, pressing Regina’s Crystal into her palm. “So I can’t imagine that you really enjoy being alone.” She continued, “But then again, I guess I can’t really say for sure.”

Mr. Juggler was silent for a few seconds after she finished speaking, he seemed to be regarding her. Then, with no warning, he began to laugh. “Oh, you Ultras really are all the same. How long did it take for you to think up that one?” He didn’t really stop laughing, just pausing to talk. “I will admit, I haven’t heard that one before, but really. You’ve heard one heroic spiel, you’ve heard them all.” And the laughing continued.

Asahi drops her smile, an annoyed frown making its way onto her face. “Oh sure,” She grumbled, “Now don’t go busting a spleen in amusement.”

That did get his laughing to start to die down, though it still took a bit. The smug look ono his face was still there, too, which kind of annoyed her. “Ah, there it is.”

“There what is?”

He pushed himself off the fence, leaning down to meet her eyes, “The bitterness.” He responded, “I was starting to think you were all sunshine and rainbows.”

It took a lot of will for Asahi not to take a step back. Mr. Juggler was weird, yes, but there was something else about him, something that rubbed her the wrong way. But it was also in a way… not exactly familiar but also is, in a distant and vague way. She pushed a smile onto her face and asked, “What do you even mean?”

And he did move back a bit, if only to spin around so that his back was now facing her. But unlike earlier when he turned away from her, he didn’t seem to be trying to end the conversation. No, he’d seemed to have stopped trying to do that a while ago. Now, he was just being… dramatic. “That smile you try so hard to keep up… Just how much of it is an act?” He paused, like he wanted her to respond. When she began to do so, he simply continued, cutting her off. “Or... What about your power as an Ultra? That wasn’t always the power of an Ultra, was it?”

While there was a lot to unpack there, the main thing that started to making Asahi freak was he knew there wasn’t always an Ultrawoman Grigio. Which was an odd thing for him to know. And she didn’t really know how he knew that. Nor did she know why he brought it up. But no matter how much she wanted to question him, or to even say something at all, the words weren’t coming. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

“You and I are a lot more similar than you think,” He continued, turning back to face her. The smug smile was still on his face. “We both were passed up to be an Ultra, only to get a second rate, monstrous power. The only difference is you eventually became an Ultra.”

What was he talking about…? A lot of what he was saying there didn’t make all that much sense. Unless he thought she, was Saki? Or rather, thought she was the first person to hold this power? That was possible. Maybe. There were other things that didn’t really make sense, but maybe that was because she didn’t really know how Saki got ahold of this power in the first place.

“I think…” She managed, forcing her smile, “I think you’re a bit mixed up.” It came out quieter than she would have liked.

“Oh, am I?” Thankfully, Mr. Juggler backed up, at least a bit. He stilled looked smug. It made her wonder if he had two emotions. Grouchy and smug. “Please, do enlighten me.”

“Well, Saki was Grigio before me, she was the one with ability to become monsters.” Asahi explained, taking a deep breath “When she, when she died, she gave me her Gyro and Crystals. When I tried to help my brothers and Ri-Geed, I was able to become Grigio.”

While Mr. Juggler took in what she said, he had a strange look on his face. What Asahi was thinking was a cross between thoughtful and bored, but she wasn’t really sure. It was sometimes hard to figure out what emotion he was showing, as she was finding.

“One way or another,” He finally spoke, “You aren’t a lot like your brothers. Ultrawoman or not, there’s something about you that makes you different.”

Asahi liked to think that she was pretty good at dealing with all the things that might come when a day was becoming less and less happy. Grouchy people, saying whatever it might be grouchy people might say, especially in the effort to get under her skin. But somehow, Mr. Juggler was doing particularly well at saying things that got to her, and she wasn’t really sure she was going to be able to continue taking it.

“What does it matter?” She barely restrains from snapping at him. She couldn’t let him see that he was bugging her. That would pretty much be letting him win. “Different or not, I can still help people.”

He laughed, “Oh, you certainly can,” He turned his back to her, heading to leave, “But I assure you, I need no such help. Leave Nova to me. You can go fret about those little friends you care so much about.”

“You literally got beat up by Nova like, half an hour ago!”

“Details!” He was actually a bit away now. As it turned out, he could walk pretty fast when he wanted to. Asahi didn’t feel like chasing him down at the moment. “I won’t lose again!”

Somehow, Asahi doubted that. And she’d only met Mr. Juggler maybe half an hour ago.

---

“And honestly, the nerve of that guy! He was so rude and acted like he knew everything!” Asahi was back at Tomomi’s apartment. He’d returned about half an hour before and had spent the entire time quietly listening to her rant. He didn’t seem to mind, instead offering a her a wry smile as he watched her sit on the couch, sock clad feet tucked under her, as she tightly hugged Regina. “Not to mention I have no clue how he even knew I was Grigio in the first place!”

Tomomi tilted his head, “Did you ask?”

“I don’t think it would have mattered. I’m not sure he actually answered any of my questions.” She groaned, “He’s so weird. And he’s probably gonna try to fight Nova again, so I don’t even know what I’m going to do there.”

“You’ll probably have to fight Nova either way, so you can at least do that.” Tomomi tried to make her feel better, but he seemed to be able to tell it wouldn’t necessarily be all that helpful. “Unlike him though, you can go into that fight at least somewhat prepared.”

She tilts her head in thought, “Yeah I guess you’re right.” She shifts her position, not even batting an eye when a small version of Bemstar appeared and worms his way between her arms, next to Regina. “So, what do we know about Nova?”

He gives her a smile before pulling out a notepad, “Nova’s most obvious threats are it’s whip arm and it’s blade arm, but beyond that it also has the ability to fire those exploding balls.” He frowns at his notes, “We’re not exactly sure what else it can do, we know it’s called the Saucer Alien, but that’s most likely because when it flies it appears to have a disk like shape.”

Asahi hums, “Honestly, it looks more like one of those bedsheet ghosts, but red and with a balloon on its head or something.”

Tomomi nods in agreement, “It does, but a Nova was found to responsible for more than one UFO sighting, so that’s what they chose to call it.” He sighed, “Really, we only have one recorded Nova, so we don’t know much about it.”

She shrugs, “That’s fine,” She said, giving Bemstar some pets on the head, “I’ve worked with not knowing anything about the monster. At least knowing something about Nova will be able to help me deal with it.” Regina growled, butting into Bemstar. It seemed she wanted head pets too. Soon, Asahi had to remove her arms from around them as they broke out into a fight. Of course, one good hit on them from the other caused them to disappear, their Crystals landing gently on the couch. Really, she would have given both of them pets if they gave her the chance.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Tomomi smiles at her. With something of a found sigh, Asahi picks up Regina and Bemstar’s Crystals, returning them to her pocket.

She brings a smile onto her face, “We’ll stop that Nova if it shows up again.” She said it with such certainty, it was easy to pretend she was as confident as she sounded. But really, what did she have to worry about? Sure, Mr. Juggler couldn’t beat Nova, but he was also fighting alone. With or without his help, she still had Regina and Bemstar, that was far better than what he was trying.

Yeah, it would be fine. She would make sure of it. Her, Regina, and Bemstar. She didn’t have to fight alone, anymore. Even without her brothers.

Across from her Tomomi laughed. It wasn’t like Mr. Juggler’s, it wasn’t mocking or condescending or anything like that. He wasn’t making fun of her. Tomomi’s laugh was much more true, it was happy, joyful, but even the reason he was laughing was better. He was happy that she was so determined that she’d decided they’d be able to win. And that in turn, it made her happy. Truly happy. Because he believed in her.

Not in Grigio, but in Asahi.

Because here, it felt like everyone only believed in Grigio. Asahi was no one to them, at best a name they’d heard. But Grigio? At this point, she’d be surprised if there was anyone in this city who hadn’t heard of her.

So people believed in Grigio. But Tomomi was the only one who believed in Asahi. For some reason, that very small detail made all the difference.

---

Nova didn’t appear until the next day. Or rather, Mr. Juggler appeared again the next day. He was in the form he was in when he tried to fight Nova before. At first, Asahi was confused why he showed up. Until he went and began to tell Nova to show itself.

Either he was really just going to bait Nova out there, or Nova was hiding. And really, she was betting on the former. Mr. Juggler seemed like the type of person, based on the conversations she had with him yesterday, whose pride would not let them leave that loss as just a loss. But really, did he have to just stand in the middle of the city trying to get it to show up? Especially since it was one of Kenshin’s monster, or at least it was being controlled by him.

Asahi shook her head, sighing before transforming into Grigio. “What are you doing?” She asked, hands on her hips.

Mr. Juggler turned to face her before responding in a mock pleasant tone, “I’m trying to make candy canes –“ Then in a much more annoyed voice, “- What does it look like I’m doing?”

Grigio sighed, “It looks like you’re trying to get Nova to show up again. Which, given how your fight with it yesterday went, doesn’t seem like the most… happy idea.”

He turned away from her, “There you go again with all that ‘happy’ stuff.” He nearly groaned, “Anyway, I’ll do as I please. I don’t see why you care.”

“Because if Nova shows up and you can’t beat it, there’s just a Kaiju in the city and guess who’ll have to deal with it!” Then she points at herself, “Me!”

“Well, it won’t be a problem,” Mr. Juggler stated, “Because I won’t lose.”

She takes a deep breath before crossing her arms, “We’ll see.” They didn’t really have to wait very long, as a few moments later, Nova appeared in a cloud of dark feathers and smoke. Right on cue, it seemed.

Mr. Juggler adjusts his hold on his sword, slipping into a fighting stance. “About time,” He said before lunging at Nova.

To his credit, he managed to slash at Nova before it launched it’s exploding ball missiles at him. After that attack though, Mr. Juggler got shrunk down to human size, tossed to the ground. Grigio just sighed, because honestly, she could have predicted that would happen. And now, here she was, having to deal with Nova.

Great.

As soon as Mr. Juggler was dealt with, Nova turned it’s attention to her, so now was the time to fight, it seemed. First, Grigio figured she’d see how she could do against Nova, then she’d get Regina and Bemstar out to help if needed. Which it was probably needed, but she wanted to see for sure. Something in her just really did, even if it didn’t really make sense.

She summoned her bow, ready to launch an arrow, when she heard someone land next to her. It couldn’t have been Mr. Juggler; especially given how he really didn’t want her help and had just gotten his butt kicked not a minute before. She glances over, then has to stop and turn.

“Did I miss too much?” She recognized that voice! She recognized that Ultra! He had more black than a lot of Ultras, which helped her recognize him quickly, but most distinctly, he had a round color timer that made a ring. It was Orb. She’d met him a couple times before.

But what was he doing here?

Nova made sound that brought Grigio’s attention back to it. It swung it’s whip like arm at them, causing them to dodge out of the way. She called out to Orb in response, “Not really! Just some grouchy sword guy getting beat for a second time by Nova here.”

“Grouchy sword guy?”

She fired a barrage of arrows at Nova, making it stagger back. “Yeah, really rude too.” It fired it’s exploding ball missiles at her, which she blocked with a shield. “Purposely got Nova to show up, I think his pride got hurt yesterday when he lost to it.”

“Really rude too…” He moved towards Nova and threw a few punches at it.

“Oh yeah. He so got really upset when he was called not very evil and heroic.” She added, kicking Nova away when it got too close for her liking. “It was what made him end up fighting Nova in the first place.”

Orb hummed he swung his sword at Nova, landing a few hits on it. In turn, Nova swung it’s scythe arm at him, though he stopped it using his sword. Then Nova swung it’s other arm at him, managing to hit him with his whip. Grigio fired a few arrows at Nova, which allowed Orb to get away from it.

“Right, Grigio, I think we should be able to finish it now,” Orb said, “We just need one last good attack.”

“Got it!” She cheered, “Grigio Shot!”

“Origium Ray!”

Nova was knocked back, then exploded, a dark cloud flowing out of it and disappearing. From it, a Crystal came flying, which Grigio caught easily. She looked at it, it had Nova on it. So it was pretty easy to tell what it was. It seemed she had another Kaiju Crystal to work with. Grigio and Orb met back up as humans, because Asahi had a couple questions for him.

“Mr. Gai,” She began, “Not that I’m not happy you showed up, but what exactly are you doing here?”

Mr. Gai looked at her for a moment, before responding, almost absent mindedly, “Oh, I’m supposed to grab someone and bring him back to my Earth.” Then his brow furrows and he asks, “What are you doing here? This isn’t your and your brother’s Earth.”

Asahi rubbed the back of her head, a sheepish smile on her face, “I kinda tripped here, because of Kenshin. Now I can’t go home even if I wanted to.”

It looked like Mr. Gai was going to respond, but then, Mr. Juggler appeared behind him, holding his sword to Mr. Gai’s neck. Asahi wasn’t sure what to do, but soon became confused when Mr. Gai calmly moved the sword down from his neck.

“Is that anyway to greet someone, Juggler?”

Did… Did Mr. Gai and Mr. Juggler know each other? Now that she thought about it, Mr. Juggler sure did know a lot about Ultras, so it would make sense that he knew one. And Mr. Gai did just say that he was here to find someone. They weren’t much alike, and given what Mr. Juggler just did, she wouldn’t think they got along very well.

“Uh,” She began, though she didn’t really finish. She didn’t know what to say.

“Now, what’s this about losing to Nova twice?” Mr. Gai’s tone was teasing, and he had a cheeky smile on his face when he posed the question to Mr. Juggler.

Mr. Juggler scowled, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gai.”

“But Asahi told me so,” Mr. Gai chirped, “And why would she lie?”

“You’d believe what that brat says?” Mr. Juggler’s scowl deepened as he huffed, “She’s seemed to have gotten herself into a whole big mess. Way to big for her to handle, clearly.”

“Didn’t you lose to Nova twice in two days?” Asahi asked dryly, feeling a lot of her joy drain. Something about just being around Mr. Juggler was very… tiring was probably the best way to describe it.

Mr. Juggler continued to scowl and shot her a glare but otherwise didn’t say anything. Mr. Gai laughed, placing his hand on Mr. Juggler’s shoulder. “We should probably get going.”

“Oh!” Asahi thought of something, “Hey, could you tell my brothers I’m okay? They’re probably worried.”

Mr. Gai gave her a small smile, “Yeah, sure,” In the short amount of time they were talking, Mr. Juggler had tried to sneak away. Mr. Gai turned to him and called, “Hey Juggler! Come on, we need to go tell Asahi’s brothers she’s okay.”

Mr. Juggler scowled once more, an expression that Asahi was getting very used to seeing on him. “I’m not going with you.”

“Sure you’re not,” Mr. Gai grabs his arm and began to drag him off. “Let’s go.” Juggler frowned. Even though Asahi was pretty sure it was more of a pout than a frown. She held back a laugh.

She hears something fall to the ground and roll, coming from the direction the two had left in. That was strange, had one of them dropped something? She walks over, finding what had fallen and made that sound. A Crystal, but that wasn’t what surprised her. On the Crystal was a picture of Mr. Juggler in his monster like form. Given she wasn’t really sure what this Crystal would do, as well as the fact that it had “evil” written on it, which was funny given she didn’t really think Mr. Juggler was all that evil, Asahi wasn’t in any hurry to figure out what it did. Instead, she slipped it into her pocket, deciding she’d deal with it… later.

---

“Okay, what the hell was all of that!?” Jun growled, using both arms to gesture to the screen, which was replaying the fight with Nova earlier, “That monster guy again, and then what? Another Ultra? Again?”

Matsuoka hummed, “It seemed so, at the very least, this other Ultra seems to be on Grigio’s side.”

Rin crossed their arms, “Well, either way, I think we can all agree that these past couple days have been…” They trail off, trying to think of a good way to finish.

“Interesting?” Fuyuko offered, “I’ll say. I wonder what’s up with that, though?”

Jun groaned, “Just don’t go theorizing about it. We don’t need another conspiracy board popping up thanks to you.”

“What are you talking about?” Fuyuko asked in mock innocence, “I had nothing to do with that last one. Why would I waste my time theorizing about the existence of a time traveling alien who is the good half of another time traveling alien who was evil. And then the evil time traveling alien turned a bunch of aliens and kaijus into dolls. That’s the most ridiculous theory I’ve ever heard of.”

“Sure it is,” Jun rolled her eyes, “Sure it is.”

---

Zero was, by all means, minding his own business. He was sitting in the back of the Minatos’ shop, flipping through the pages of some book they had lying around. He was pretty sure that their dad had commented about it being Asahi’s. Which, given it was about Magical Girls, probably made sense.

So when someone entered the shop, he didn’t pay too much mind. Katsumi was just at the counter, so he’d be there to help them or whatever if needed. No, he only looked up when he heard Katsumi call for his brother. Because why would he do that?

Looking up, he saw why. There was Orb-Gai and Juggler, the latter of which was frowning, as he seemed to do quite a bit, looking rather disinterested. Isami finally came in, also noticing the two.

“Orb – Gai, what are you two doing here?” Zero asked, closing the book he was reading and tucking away where there was no way either Or-Gai or Juggler could see it. He didn’t need them to know he was ever reading that.

“Oh, Mr. Zero!” It seemed Or-Gai hadn’t noticed him. “What are you doing here?”

“He’s helping us look for Asahi,” Isami answered, crossing his arms. “She kinda just… disappeared a month or so ago.”

“Oh, yeah!” Or-Gai perked up, “That’s why we’re here, actually.”

Katsumi tilted his head in confusion, “It is?”

“Yeah, Asahi told us to tell you that’s she’s okay.”

“You saw her?” Isami asked, eyeing the two, “How’d you manage that?”

“I was looking for Juggler,” Or-Gai responded, pointing his thumb at the grouchy Juggler who was now poking around the shop. “Apparently he lost to a Nova twice in two days.”

Juggler swirled around, “I did not!”

“Anyway,” Or-Gai began, grabbing Juggler and making his way towards the door, “Now that we’re done here, Naomi told us to be back by tomorrow and to pick up groceries on our way back.”

“I’m not going grocery shopping for her,” Juggler growled, trying to tug himself way from Or-Gai, “And certainly not with you.”

Zero is pretty sure Or-Gai is rolling his eyes when he responds with, “Let’s go,”. Zero is positive that Juggler was pouting as he was being dragged out.

Once the two were gone, Katsumi snapped out of the stupor he’d fallen into. “Wait, we should have asked them where Asahi was.”

Isami looked at him and sighed, “Yeah, we should have…”

Zero decided he should probably try to like, cheer them up or something. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. At least you know she’s okay.”

“That really doesn’t make us feel all that much better,” Katsumi responded dryly.

“We still don’t know where she is or if she’ll stay that way.” Isami added.

Zero sighed, “Grigio can take care of herself.”

“To an extent,” Katsumi said.

And he did have a point, as far as Zero knew. Grigio, Asahi, wasn’t much of a fighter, even when she was trying to be.

#ultraman rb #i would offer it happy with a smile on my face #ultrawoman grigio #Asahi Minato #Jugglus Juggler #my writing #ultraman orb #waiting at the end of the road is happiness

[darkisucksanditwrites]

I got you.

For Aomine’s birthday. Not very happy so I’m not wishing him Happy Birthday 😁

It was way past eleven when Momoi arrived at the bar.

It was a good thing she was just in the neighborhood with a few college friends when she got Aomine’s distress call.

Well, distress was a bit of exaggeration.

She couldn’t understand what he was saying at first, he was slurring so badly and she immediately recognized it as him being intoxicated.

He rambled about something or other and for a moment she thought he called the wrong person but then he sobbed.

“She dumped me.” He hiccupped. “Satsu. Right before my birthday.”

And then he disconnected.

Satsuki excused herself, saying she had a thing to take care of and said goodbye to her friends. She managed to call him again and demand to tell her where he was. Thankfully, it wasn’t far and she found the place without a problem.

“Dai-chan.” She gently shook his arm when she found him at the counter. She thought he was crying, but it turned out he was actually sleeping.

“Ha?” He grumbled when he saw her. “Whatre you doin’ here?” He slurred.

Satsuki sighed.

“Because I can’t leave you alone.” She wrinkled her nose. “How much did you have?”

“Not much.” The bartender appeared suddenly. “Just a couple of shots and a beer. He got smashed right away. I was honestly surprised since he’s such a big guy.”

“Well, he has a very low tolerance.” He patted Aomine on the head. “Do I need to pay anything?”

The bartender shrugged. “It’s all been covered by that other girl.”

“Right.” Satsuki nodded. The other girl was probably Aki or Saki or whatever her name was. Satsuki tried not to pay that much attention to whom Aomine was dating, since they got pretty uncomfortable with the fact that he had a very close female friend. So she made sure not to get in their way.

It was hurtful a bit, since they were inseparable almost since birth, and as much as he infuriated her he was her best friend and she wanted him to be happy.

Satsuki fished her mobile and called a taxi.

Aomine frowned, but thankfully didn’t fell asleep again. He was glaring at the counter, oddly quiet.

“What happened?” She asked gently and patted him on the back.

He shrugged.

“She said she knew I wasn’t that into her and it wasn’t working.”

“Well, weren’t you?”

Aomine looked at her and blinked.

“Of course, I was. Why would I date a girl I wasn’t into?”

Satsuki shrugged.

“So maybe she wasn’t into you that much.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged and frowned. His eyes were red rimmed, but she doubted he actually cried. Aomine was a crybaby when they were kids, but with time he learned to hide his tears and turned to anger when was sad or upset.

Satsuki didn’t know what to say much. Aomine didn’t date that many girls, but all of those relationships ended almost always the same way.

They all claimed he wasn’t into them. And true, at first Aomine was mostly into the physical aspects of dating, but he took a few lessons (some of the from Satsuki herself) and learned a thing or two.

She talked to a few of his girlfriends (at least at the beginning when they were still okay with Aomine having a female friend around him) and they were all happy with how he was treating them.

So it was a bit puzzling why they were all dumping him. He wasn’t a bad guy by any chance. He was maybe a bit sloppy and not the brightest and a bit one track minded (basketball, burgers and breasts? Not the most refined taste) and the girl had to take the lead in most things (and the girls he dated were okay with it), but it wasn’t like he was un-datable?

And did that one just had to choose the day before Aomine’s birthday to break up with him?

Satsuki startled when her phone rang.

“Come on. Taxi is here.”

Aomine grunted and let Satsuki lead him outside. He wasn’t that drunk, but he was definitely tipsy and upset.

They got into the back seat and Momoi gave the driver Aomine’s address.

The streets were full of cars because this was Tokyo and Tokyo never sleeps. Besides it still wasn’t that late for the city.

Satsuki looked outside, her thoughts revolving around the Aki-Saki and she wondered if she should contact her. Probably not. It wasn’t her business after all. And Aomine was a big boy.

But still it was Aomine.  

She felt something lightly touch her hand suddenly and she looked away from the window.

Aomine was looking at her, his eyes still a bit unfocused and his cheeks pink from the alcohol and embarrassment.

Satsuki smiled because she knew what he was asking. It was the same when they were kids and Aomine was scared of something.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

“We’ll be home soon.”

Satsuki opened the door to Aomine’s apartment with her own key. She briefly thought that things like these were why his relationships always ended the way they did, but it was hard to change old habits.

“Go on.” She pushed him gently inside and closed the door.

His small studio apartment was surprisingly neat and cleaned out. It smelled of detergent and soap meaning Aomine planned on bringing a girl here tonight.

And in a way he did, just not the one he planned.

She watched him when he swayed and took of his shoes and jacket.

“Ya want a drink?” He slurred while he stumbled into the kitchen.

“No Dai-chan. And you should go to sleep.” She grabbed his arm and led him into his tiny bedroom.

Aomine grunted when she pushed him on the bed and he sat down.

“I’m not sleepy.”

“I know.” Satsuki said gently and sat beside him. “But it would be better. Everything will work out. Promise.”

Aomine snorted.

“Yeah, right.”

“There, there.” She patted his knee. Aomine didn’t get the bait and was still deep into his sour sulking.

Momoi thought of what to say in moments like these. She didn’t want to trash the girl; not sure she had it in her and Aomine would probably not want it anyway. It would just make him defend her and he’d feel worse.

Him opening up to her and talking about his feelings was also out of the question.

But also talking about unrelated things felt kind of out of place.

Her gaze fell onto the bedside table clock.

“Oh!” She said suddenly and Daiki blinked sleepily at her.

“What?”

“It’s already past midnight.”

“So?”

Satsuki bit her lip. Should she?

She opened her bag and rummaged though it for a moment, before she took out a small box.

Aomine blinked not understanding.

“I wanted to give you this tomo- I mean later today, but maybe now it’s better.” She pushed the box into his hands.

“Happy Birthday.”

Aomine frowned and she was afraid those wrinkles would be permanent this time.

“I know it’s bad timing with everything going on, but…I thought it could cheer you up.”

Aomine looked at her for a moment before he sighed and unwrapped the box from its colorful paper.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw it was velvet, like the ones you put jewelry in.

“Open it.” She encouraged him and he did.

“What’s that?” He asked blinking.

Satsuki gently took the necklace out of the box.

“Maybe it’s a little silly but.” She paused and broke the silver circle in half and gave one to Aomine.

Daiki looked at the half she put into his hand and then at her when she finished putting the one on her own neck.

“I got you.” She said with a small grin and showed him the engraving of his name in kanji.

Aomine just stared at her, blinking slowly.

And it was honestly freaking her out. She expected him to get embarrassed and say she was sappy and say that friendship necklaces were lame and for kids (and he’d still wear it anyway).

Instead he sighed.

“Shit like this is why you’re boyfriend is always avoiding you.”

Satsuki pouted.

“He is not my boyfriend.”

“Yet.” Aomine said and Satsuki felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. He was referring to an older student which she went to a study group with and who was definitely interested in Satsuki. And honestly he was her type: calm, polite, intellectual.

But somehow he just wasn’t that interested in him aside from that study group.

Even if he was really, really good-looking.

Aomine sighed and put his half on. He rubbed the kanji of her name briefly and she suddenly felt embarrassed herself. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all. Basketball shoes would be a safer option.  

“I picked them up today.” She said and hid her half under her blouse.

“Thanks Satsu.”

She nodded.

“I have something for you too.” He said with an audible slur. For a moment she forgot he was actually drunk.

“Hm? Can this wait?”

“No.” Aomine said and leaned forward until their foreheads bumped.

And before she could react he kissed her.

It was so strange. She could feel the alcohol in his breath but not as strongly as on his clothes, which led her to think most of it ended up there and not inside him.

But then again that would mean Aomine was mostly sober.

Or maybe he was lamenting Aki or Maki or whatever her name was so much he needed to find comfort somewhere else.

Or maybe it was a mix of all three, but she didn’t have time to react to that awkward, sloppy kiss because it was over suddenly and Aomine yawned and flopped down onto his bed.

And he was out cold.

Satsuki sat there for a moment, analyzing what just happened.

But no matter how many scenarios she went through and how many variables she considered she just couldn’t come to any explanation.

Any explanation which would be plausible at least.

She looked at the necklace tucked against Aomine’s cheek which would no doubt produce an imprint of her name on his cheek in the morning.

She touched the chain of her own half and sighed.

Well, this has gotten considerably more complicated now.

#kurobasu #aomomo #f: knb #p: aomomo #ficlet #1k+ #angst

[airmidtheawakened]

Sharp, Pointy Things, Part 4

Saki: Hello. It’s Saki again. Airmid’s a little indisposed at the moment (I told her Midori and amaretto don’t mix, but does anybody listen to the bartender? No, they don’t.) so I thought I’d pick back up. You probably want to know where I was while all of this was going on. For the most part, the answer is “unconscious.” I don’t remember anything that happened after I went down the stairs at the sports bar. I had one of my tarot cards out just in case, but then everything went dark. I must have gotten hit from behind.

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was pain. My body was sore all over, like I’d been beaten, but my head felt like it was splitting in two. It took me a minute to even get up and when I did, I realized I was in a literal dungeon. Dark stone walls, no obvious exit. There was a toilet, a sink that was barely dripping out a disgusting sludgy water, a dirty mirror, and nothing else. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered what the source of my headache was: something had been carved into my forehead and then scratched over with a thin blade, something like a scalpel. I couldn’t read it. I didn’t really want to.

The next thing I heard was a slapping sound, like somebody hitting their palm against the floor over and over again. I managed to figure out it was coming from a small mousehole in my room. Looking through it, I was able to see into another cell, where a man was doing just that: slapping the floor. I called out to him and he moved over to talk to me. His face was filthy and his eyes unfocused. He didn’t even remember how long he’d been down here, just that he’d been grabbed and woke up here. We told each other our names. I’ll call him Mick – if he got out, I’m sure he doesn’t want the world to know he was there, and if he didn’t… well, it wouldn’t bring his family any comfort to know what happened to him and how he died.

Mick told me he was from Houston. He didn’t know how he got there, but he said something had also been carved into his forehead and was still there. He tried to reassure me, he told me it was nice that somebody was there to talk to. As we talked, however, there suddenly came the sound of footsteps from somewhere. Mick quickly hushed me and told me to stay silent, that I couldn’t make any noise at all. “Don’t let her hear you. Don’t stand out at all,” he said.

I quickly realized what he was talking about. The footsteps stopped a little ways away from me and I heard the sound of a cell opening. And then… Sorry. This is hard to write. I heard the sound of a beating. But not to torture, not to injure. I heard bones breaking, muffled screams. And then a sickening, wet snap. And that’s when I knew. The people who took me, who took Mick, who took whoever knew however many others of us were there, they wanted us dead. And they wanted the rest of us to know that they held our lives in their hands and could end them at any minute.

I don’t know how I held it together. I tried to stay silent, but I couldn’t help making quiet noises of fear. It was everything I’d ever feared. I don’t want to tell you exactly where I come from, but suffice it to say being gay is illegal and punishable by death. I came to the U.S. to try and escape that. But it turns out there are people who will hate you for being you no matter where you go in the world.

Mick managed to get me to calm down and told me that it was a regular thing: they’d pick someone to kill about every day or so. He’d been there long enough to know that the best thing to do was to just lie low and hope they picked someone else. He suggested that we pass the time playing tic-tac-toe. I agreed. If for no other reason than it would give me something else to do.

Oh, hang on. I just heard Airmid stop retching. I’ll be back later.

Airmid: I was not “retching.” Saki’s being overdramatic. And for the record, I’m fine. Perks of the life arcana: being able to purge any and all drugs from the body at will. So take that, drink. You will not best Airmid today!

So back to the Esoteric. We all gathered up in En’s meditation room and started trying to relax. Lipsy read, Marie did some breathing exercises, and I popped in some headphones and started listening to my wind-down playlist. It was… interesting getting to the Astral Plane. First we had to go through our own mindscapes. Mine was weird. As. Fuck. I don’t know if the others had the same experience with theirs, but I was not comfortable at all. I suppose everyone gets like that when facing their honest, deepest inner workings.

No, I’m not telling you what was there. You all can just sit and stew on it.

Eventually we all meditated hard enough to get to Astral Plane we needed to. It looked kind of like a desert, but it didn’t feel hot at all. The Esoteric was waiting there. It looked just like Sam. Being that it was a part of him, it made sense, but it was still creepy. As if the Esoteric could get any creepier.

It said we could kill it if we wanted. All its memories would go back to Sam. Which I mean, whatever. The kid’s already a sociopath so I really didn’t give two shits about what he may or may not remember. There was no fixing him at that point. The Esoteric then showed us what happened to Saki, though, which is a point in its favor. If a minor one. Something - or someone - magicked Saki into thin air just before the Esoteric attacked.

The Esoteric said we’d never find where Saki was without it. I told it it was an idiot and punched its face in.

Yes, it looked like a middle schooler. A middle schooler who tried to kill one of us. And the Esoteric wasn’t human. It was made from a human consciousness, yeah, but it wasn’t flesh and blood.

I’d never punch a real kid. I’m not that mean.

So after a couple blows to its stupid skull the Esoteric finally bit it. Lipsy, SiSi and I managed to come out of our trance not long after. I told the others to give me a moment with Sam after we came to. I was *not* letting that kid go without giving him a piece of my mind. It took a while. I hadn’t considered that he’d have memories of the Esoteric dying, but he must have because he was abso-freaking-lutely terrified of me. He cried for like… ten minutes. Once it was out of his system I told him what an idiot he was for not trusting us, how jumping to conclusions was dangerous, and tried to steer him on a path of not murdering folks who he didn’t like. Especially when said folks are tied to vampires who want very much to stay hidden.

He didn’t listen. I asked him if he wanted to be like the monsters he hated so much. “Sometimes you have to be evil to fight evil” he said.

It gives me chills thinking about him saying that, even now.

At any rate, I promised we’d keep him safe from the vampires if he stayed put in the house until someone from the Consilium came to pick him up. He agreed. And then he told me the address where Saki was. It didn’t make up for him trying to kill Saki, but I’m not going to complain about the info either. Apparently the Esoteric tracked him down, but decided it was better off leaving Saki to his apparent fate.

I’ll turn the story back over to our favorite fate mage now, since he’s got more on his end that needs to get said.

Saki: Do you know what playing seventeen games of tic-tac-toe in a row does to the brain? It’s not good. It did keep my mind off the situation at hand, but I’m pretty sure at least a good tenth of my brain cells died off out of sheer boredom. Unfortunately, that was the least of my problems before too long. The door opened again and both Mick and I heard the sound of footsteps. This time, however, they were getting closer and closer to where I was. I realized if they weren’t coming for me, they were coming for someone very close to where I was. And so I did something I hadn’t done in eight years: I prayed.

I don’t know who I was praying to – Allah, the universe, some other god, anybody who would listen. But I prayed. I confessed my sins, the things I’d done, everything I’d failed at. I cursed whatever I was praying to for making me the way it did and putting me where it did. I told it that I’d tried so hard to be good for so long and that one day I just… couldn’t anymore. That I had to get away, had to flee. And I begged. I begged for whoever was listening to let me live. I said that it was the only thing I’d ever asked for, aside from not making me gay, and that this was the first time I had a real home with people who knew about me and didn’t hate me for it. I begged. Over and over again, I begged to live.

And then I heard the footsteps stop outside of my door and my door start to open. I knelt there, hands clasped together and pressed against my mouth, eyes full of tears, and I knew I was about to die. The soldier who came in, thankfully, had a particularly cruel streak. You might wonder why I say that, but it turns out he was interested in me suffering before they even laid a hand on me. He told me their group was interested in seeking out us – gay people – and “culling” us. They were some pseudo-militaristic group dressed in camo who felt it was their duty to get rid of as many gay people as they could. He clubbed me in the head with the base of the blade he was carrying and I collapsed. I was already feeling like I was going to pass out and he grabbed me under the arms and dragged me out of the cell and toward a set of stairs.

At this point, I realized my only chance, the only chance I could get, would be to surprise him and overpower him. I pretended to be knocked out as he dragged me up the stairs and through a room where men and women, dressed like him, were playing cards and joking. “One more for the culling!” he told them. They cheered and a couple of them spat at me. It took everything I had to not react.

Then I had my chance. He brought me into a private room and dropped me in a chair. He put the blade next to me and fastened one of my hands into a restraint. Then he got up and started looking for something – what, I don’t know, but I grabbed the blade, stood up and, when he turned around, I struck. All the rage, the fear, the pain, it all came out at once and I buried the blade as hard as I could between his eyes. It was the first time I’d killed anyone. The look on his face was equal parts shock and fear. He died easier than he deserved. I quickly got myself unfastened and started to make my way up the stairs leading out of the room. I cast a barricade of Fate magic around myself before I did: I knew I was going to need every bit of help I could get to get out of there alive.

(Note from Naji’s player: Naji is lying about the course of events here. He did not escape on his own. During his awakening, he was held captive by a fae with dark, reflective skin and a giant mouth. The fae is the one who spirited him away from the Esoteric and brought him to the dungeon. The fae inhabited the body of one of the soldiers and grabbed Naji out of the dungeon to tell him that he belonged to the fae and would be performing work on behalf of the fae, or else his magic would be taken away. Naji tried to bargain for the release of the other men and women in the dungeon, which the fae promised to do in exchange for Naji dropping one bead from a bracelet inside the Consilium. After this, the fae killed the soldier whose body he was inhabiting by impaling the soldier’s head on the blade Naji held.)

Airmid: While all this was going on, SiSi was driving like a madwoman to get us to the neighborhood where Saki was. It wasn’t a great area - the type of place you don’t want to get stuck after dark - and we got the distinct impression everyone out on the streets was suspicious of us. Which was fair. We didn’t exactly blend in. But we were on a mission and weren’t going to let anyone stop that. SiSi parked the car about a block away and we walked to the address Sam gave us. It was an unassuming brownstone just like all the others on the block. But when we went around back we saw a chain link fence with two beefy, camo-clad guards keeping watch. SiSi and Lipsy stayed put while I tried to make a distracting. I wandered into their line of sight and said I’d lost my phone or some bullshit like that while walking home the night prior, and was wondering if they’d seen it lying around. I didn’t care to be particularly truthful. I just needed their attention on me while Lipsy and SiSi snuck around them to get in.

It didn’t exactly work they way I wanted it to, but it still worked. The guards came up to me all intimidating-like and said I’d have to “come inside and look at the lost and found.” Which should have been scary, but they both led me to the brownstone and left the chain fence wide open for SiSi and Lipsy to follow. So the guards open the back door to push me inside–

Saki: –and that’s when Airmid and I came face-to-face. I don’t know which of us was more surprised to see the other, but the guy behind her was the most surprised of us all. At that point, I was still riding on adrenaline and I hit him with the blade. He cursed and Airmid struck out at him, knocking him out of the way. Behind him, his partner raised a gun right at me. The only thing I had to protect myself with was the blade, so I held it out. And it turns out, having a barricade of Fate magic to protect yourself with is pretty badass. He fired and the bullet hit the blade, splitting in two. One half went harmlessly into the wall. The other half, not so harmlessly into his partner’s head, who dropped dead immediately.

Airmid and I went toe-to-toe with the second guy, who was surprisingly resilient. As we battled, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy who’d taken the bullet start to stand up and look at us with a glazed-over expression. (Goddammit, Ellipsis.) Before anything major could happen, Sinopa was right behind the soldier Airmid and I were grappling with and she quickly dispatched him with a bullet to the head. I heard her yell, “This is for Saki,” as she did. Then we saw each other and I saw the relief on her face, which made me realize they were as scared about me as I’d been. There was no time for reunions, however. The sound of our fighting had alerted the others in the brownstone and we had to make a quick run to the van.

Once we got inside, the emotional toll of what I’d been through finally caught up with me and I dropped the blade, put my head in my hands and just started shaking. I couldn’t stop. I was so overwhelmed with fear, so afraid of what might have happened. Airmid tried to inspect me and heal my injuries. In the process, she saw what was carved on my forehead. She didn’t say anything, but she looked more pissed than I’d ever seen her in my life.

(Note from Naji’s player: The word “HOMO” was carved into Naji’s forehead by the group)

At this point, Airmid told me that if I ever went anywhere by myself and got captured again, she’d make sure I had twice as many bruises as I ended up with when I got back. I knew they were angry at me. Probably as angry as I was with myself. The truth of it was, why I wandered off and why I went to explore was because I’ve always been the weakest one of my cabal. From the first time Fisher told me I wasn’t going to be good for anything other than letting others come to my rescue, I’ve wanted to show that I could do something, that I could be the hero sometimes, that I could be useful for something. And I’d failed at that. Not only had I failed, but by forcing them to come rescue me, I’d put all of them in danger as well. We may have incredible powers, but we’re still human and a well-aimed bullet will kill one of us as easily as it will any Sleeper.

So I told them. I told them about what happened to me, about what was going to happen. About hearing one of my fellow prisoners get beaten to death, about barely managing to escape, about how I was hated just as bad here as I was at home. I was already crying when I started and sobbing by the end. Sinopa was driving (she always drives) and pulled over to the side of the road. She turned over the driver’s seat and looked at me.

“Listen to me,” she said, reaching out her hand. “I love you. You are the big brother I’ve always wanted. And I promise, I will never, never let anything like that happen to you again.” Airmid put her arms around me, squeezing me hard. Ellipsis had been very quiet throughout, but he said, “When you were gone – I couldn’t function. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t think about going forward without you. And I can’t think about what might have happened if we were too late or if you hadn’t gotten out of there.” He hugged me from the other side. I took Sinopa’s hand and put my arm around Ellipsis and Airmid as best I could and just let the tears come. It was the first time since I was very, very small that I actually felt surrounded by love, that I felt as though people wanted to protect me and keep me safe. After everything I’d been through, I couldn’t keep the emotion contained.

When you’ve spent most of your life hiding a part of yourself from the world, keeping it down in the dark where nobody can see, never trusting fully that anyone you meet will accept the whole you, it’s very hard to open up and let others see you. It took a few weeks for me to even tell my cabal that I was gay and in the country illegally. And even after I did, I tried to keep the real depths of my pain from them because I felt like it would burden them. It wasn’t until that moment in the car when I understood how much they actually cared about me and how they were the first people who really understood me and accepted me for who I was. I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t ever want to stop feeling that outpouring of love from them.

Airmid: It was a… much needed moment, I think. Even if the time leading up to it had been terrible. Sometimes you just gotta hug it out, you know? Saki had been sorely lacking in hugs. Sorely lacking indeed. I’m so, so glad he ended up with Lipsy, SiSi, and me. So we can give him all the security and support he ever needs.

Which is why it gives me great shame to tell you that the moment didn’t last. Wanna know why?

FUCKING FISHER. Ugh. I really can’t stand him.

Saki: Airmid, you really shouldn’t blame him for-

Airmid: I’ll blame him all I want! He shows up out of NOWHERE, sticks his nose into OUR private moment. and tells us we’ve got like, an hour until En’s trial. We hadn’t had Saki back for more than twenty minutes and we have to pull it together to go meet the Boston Consilium’s hierarch AND watch En get sentenced for making the Esoteric. Seriously how rude is that?

Saki: It was really out of his control, you know.

Airmid: Doesn’t mean he had a free pass to be an ass.

Saki: My apologies, friends. There’s really no helping her when she gets like this. Perhaps we shall take a break before telling you about the trial. I’m sure the story will go better if our hostess has a clear head.

Until then, friends, be safe and be well.

#IC #Session recap #Mage the Awakening #Mage: the Awakening #Onyx Path #NWoD #World of Darkness

[writingpaperghost]

I Would Offer It Happy With a Smile on My Face (Chapter 27)

Chapter 27: All My Broken Down Ideals, I Know One Day They Will Heal

Lots of monsters, how tiring.

I have finished writing this! I also split the finale into two chapters, so this is now 30 chapters.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860734/chapters/64807675

Asahi was tired. So was the rest of KPaRS, in varying degrees, but Asahi was particularly tired. Because she kept having to transform into Grigio to deal with all the monsters that kept showing up. They were all Kenshin’s, they could tell that. But knowing where they came from wasn’t all that helpful. Because they couldn’t make him stop, certainly not when he hadn’t shown himself.

So Asahi was tired, there was always at least one Kaiju a day, sometimes more, and it had been like that for several weeks now. Even cuddling with Regina – or any of her Kaijus – did little to make her less tired. Right now, she was sitting on Tomomi’s couch, rolling a sucker around her mouth, deciding that it at least gave her something low effort to do.

Tomomi looked over at her, “I hope your not getting too wore down from all these monster attacks,” He frowned, “It wouldn’t be good if something happened and you were too tired to properly help with it.”

“I know,” Asahi sighed, “But what can we do about it? With all these monster attacks, I have to help.”

Tomomi sat down beside her, a cup of half coffee, half creamer, in hand. He looked over at her, noting the way her shoulders were sagging and she leaned against the back of the couch. She wasn’t sad, she was just tired. And he’d never seen her so tired, usually, regardless of what had been happening, she was her cheerful and energetic self. But it seemed like the past few weeks had been tiring her, more than anything else since she came to Kurokita.

“Are you going to be able to keep this up?” He asked, watching as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

“I have to,” She responded, “If something happens…”

“You have to help,” He finished, a small smile on his face. “Just be careful not to push yourself too much.”

She brings her head back up, opening her eyes as she looked over at him, “I’ll try,”

He gives her a pat on the head, “Yeah, you do that.”

Truthfully, Asahi wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up. But she knew that Kenshin had to up to something, so she wasn’t going to give up. The only problem was, it was getting harder and harder to simply pacify the Kaijus. Which meant that sooner or later, they’d have to simply accept destroying some of them. It wasn’t that bad when they were monsters that Kenshin simply seemed to make appear out of thin air, but the ones that he simply controlled… Those were different. Asahi felt horrible about destroying them… But she was beginning to think she wans’t going to have much of a choice, if these attacks kept up.

Ultimately, she decided that she’d have to talk to KPaRS about it. She wanted to hear their opinions, regardless of what would actually end up happening. She wasn’t sure she could avoid destroying some of those monsters, but there was never any way of knowing for sure. Not until the time came.

She’d made her decision, that wasn’t going to change. Whatever KPaRS felt about it, she’d stay firm. She thought they might agree with her, they were surely feeling the strain of all the monster attacks too. And hadn’t Mirai taught them? Sometimes you had to do the hard thing, even if you didn’t want to. Asahi knew she was willing to do the hard thing, to destroy the monsters if she had to.

Which had something to do with how she found herself at KPaRS’ base later that day. Really, she would have came there regardless. Regardless of the amount of monster attacks. Regardless of her decision.

She just… wasn’t sure when a good time to bring it up was. Probably when Jun, Rin, Fuyuko, and Matsuoka were all in the room, she supposed. They were the ones she wanted to hear the opinions of the most. Which meant waiting a bit, since Fuyuko was out.

Well, she could be patient. Besides, she was more than content cuddling with Lim some more, with Nova hanging out on her head, mimicking a hat as he liked to do. Even if the chairs weren’t the most comfortable to sit in and were really hard to find a good cuddling position in. She’d manage.

After however long – Asahi wasn’t sure how long she waited – Fuyuko finally returned. Upon noticing Asahi, Fuyuko looks over to her and calls out, “How are you doing, Asahi?” She makes her way over to her desk, “Not too tired, I hope.”

Looking up, Asahi smiles, “Yeah, I’m good.” She watched, for a moment, as Fuyuko sorted through some papers. “There is… There is something I want to talk about, though.”

Fuyuko looks up at that, “Oh really?” She sets the small stack of papers down, “What is it?”

Once again, Asahi was reminded of how much she didn’t want to have this conversation. But it was also one they really needed to have and there wasn’t really a point in trying to avoid it. She noticed that Nova and Lim had disappeared, she supposed they didn’t want this conversation, either.

“Well,” She began, taking a deep breath, “I’m just not entirely sure that we’re gonna be able to… Be able to calm down all these monsters.”

Jun looks up, tilting her head, “What do you mean?”

“There’s just been so many monsters…” Asahi tugged at the sleeve of her cardigan, but tried her best not to look away from them. “I don’t think it’ll be possible to calm them all down. We’ve managed so far…”

“But there’s no guarantee that our luck will continue,” Matsuoka finished in a solemn tone. Jun and Fuyuko turned their attention to him, while Rin watched the conversation. He continued, “Given the circumstances, I believe you’re right.”

Jun and Fuyuko seemed surprised, though Asahi wasn’t surprised. She recalled when she first met Jun, Jun had expressed quite the desire for the Kaijus that wandered into the city to be dealt with in a peaceful manner. So Jun’s reaction wasn’t surprising. Fuyuko, well, Asahi wasn’t too surprised either, though if anyone, she thought Fuyuko wouldn’t have too many problems.

“Captain?” Jun sounded both surprised and concerned.

Fuyuko shook her head, “I suppose you have a point,”

Jun spins her head around to look at Fuyuko. “Seriously?”

“There’s… There’s a lot of monsters,” Rin spoke up, “Like it or not, not every single one is going to calm down. Especially with the large amount we’ve been getting the past few weeks.” Rin tugged at the end of their scarf as they spoke.

There was silence for a moment, Jun seemed to be a bit conflicted. That was fair, Asahi didn’t like the idea either… But how much choice did they have? If the monster wasn’t going to calm down, they didn’t necessarily have the time to try and make it. Jun closed her eyes, clearly in thoughts.

When she finally opened them, she sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She fiddled with the goggles around her neck, “But I sure don’t like it.”

Matsuoka gave her a small smile, “I’d be worried if you did,”

Jun begrudgingly sat back down at her desk, Rin and Fuyuko following, though with less immense annoyance. That conversation was much less painful than Asahi had been expecting. Though she was thankful, given how awkward that conversation had been. Though Asahi wasn’t really sure what else to do about it.

So she attempted to relax into the chair, waiting. She didn’t think that Kenshin wasn’t going to send a monster today, but she could hope. Regardless, she needed to be ready if – or rather when – a monster attacked. Gomora appeared this time, cuddling into her, before falling asleep. And as far as Asahi was concerned, he had the right idea.

Next thing Asahi knows she’s being woken up by Rin. “Gonna really need your help today,” They said, “We’ve got two monsters.”

She looks over at one of the monitors, seeing the monsters. One was just… Just a dinosaur with a tank instead of legs. The other one greatly resembled a robot. It was tall, black with gold and silver accents. On its chest was some kind of window like object with a strange mix of colors. On its top part it looked a little like it had a face or an electrical plug in. One of its arms was some kind of gun. The strangest part was that Asahi thought she’d seen it before.

“We know what one of the Kaijus are,” Hisoka said, “Dinosaur Tank. We don’t know about the other, more robot like one.”

Actually, Asahi realized where she’d seen the monster before. It was a different color, more of a yellow or gold, but she’d seen it. She’d actually had a pretty bad experience with it. That was the robot that Aizen had, the one that was activated when D.R.L.N. got hacked. It had captured her and nearly killed her, were it not for the joint efforts of her brothers and Saki.

What was it called? King something? King… King Roe? No… King… King… “King Joe.”

Everyone looked at her. Hisoka blinked, “You know that thing?”

Asahi nodded, “In my world, except it wasn’t black…”

“Be careful,” Matsuoka said, “You might be familiar with King Joe, but there’s no guarantee that it works the same as the one you saw. I don’t imagine Dinosaur Tank will be too much trouble. But watch out for King Joe. All of you.”

They all nod, quickly heading to their respective duties. Asahi quickly transforms into Grigio, ready to fight the two monsters. Though Dinosaur Tank continues to stroll around the city, so to speak, King Joe immediately turned its attention to her. There was still some distance between them, though. The colorful window like objects on its chest glowed, sparking with something.

It shot two bolts from there, with said bolts combining into one ray. Asahi tried to dodge out of the way, but she had thought she needed to avoid two attacks, not one. So by the time they combined, she didn’t have a chance to move out of the way. The attack certainly hurt, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to take all that many attacks from the robot.

Asahi ran up to King Joe, attempting to punch it. Only to yank her fist back much quicker, as it was really, really, hard, even for a robot. In response, King Joe swung its own fist, hitting her hard. It knocks her back quite a bit.

So this was definitely hard, but that was fine. She could still do this. She summoned Miclas and Eleking to help her. Asahi brings out her bow, deciding that her best bet for fighting King Joe was going to be her bow. It her physical attacks weren’t that effective, then she’d just have to try something else.

Miclas bounded towards King Joe, grabbing onto the arm of the robot that was a regular arm. Eleking too moved towards King Joe, simply at a slower pace. Miclas seemed to be attempting to throw King Joe, but barely got a chance before King Joe shot at him with its gun hand. It took only one shot from the gun to make Miclas disappear.

Though King Joe tried to shoot at Eleking, Eleking managed to move out of the way, causing the attack to miss. Asahi took that opportunity to shoot a barrage of arrows at King Joe, though she couldn’t really tell how effective they were.

A surprise came quickly, though, as Asahi heard a strange sound. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, though the answer soon presented itself. It was Dinosaur Tank, making its way over. It roared, the sort of roar you’d expect from a dinosaur. The surprising part wasn’t Dinosaur Tank coming over, Asahi had been expecting something like that to happen. No, it was what Dinosaur Tank did that was surprising. Instead of attacking Grigio, like she expected, Dinosaur Tank fired its missiles at King Joe.

Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who wanted the robot gone. Though Dinosaur Tank didn’t get much of a chance to help. The moment it began to fire at King Joe, King Joe turned to face it and immediately shot its gun. In one shot, Dinosaur Tank was gone, blown up into many pieces. Asahi cringed. Clearly, King Joe wasn’t afraid of some destruction. Not that she was horribly surprised.

What could Asahi do to stop this robot, though? Well, it was made of metal so maybe… She looked over to Eleking, “Lim, I’ll distract King Joe,” She created an arrow in her free hand, “You try to electrocute it with everything you have.”

Eleking gave her a nod, moving to make it way towards King Joe, while Asahi shot her arrows. She managed to gain the robot’s attention, though barely. It leveled its gun at her, firing, though this time, she managed to dodge out of the way, barely. She continued to fire her arrows. But Eleking wasn’t nearly close enough to King Joe to shock it. She needed something more…

She lets go of her bow, instead grabbing the Mebius’ Crystal and placing it in her Gyro. She brings her arms together and focuses the energy and the fire. “Grigio Burning Shot!” The attack was a combination of her Grigio Shot and the power of Mebius’ Crystal. It flew towards King Joe, hitting it right in the chest, sending it stumbling backwards.

At this point, Eleking had gotten behind King Joe, so he grabbed the robot and electrocuted it. The amount of electricity in the attack was so much that Eleking disappeared right after, having wore himself out. The shock seemed to be enough to knock King Joe onto the ground, its lights going dim.

Carefully, Asahi took a few steps closer. Was it dead? Had they fried it or something? Truthfully, she didn’t know all that much about electronics, but she was pretty sure she saw some smoke coming out of King Joe. Whether that was as a result of her attack or Elekings – or neither – she didn’t know. But she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be smoking.

Then King Joe’s lights come back and it stands up. It seems to look at her for a moment – or something – then she hears something shifting. It was loud and mechanical, so she assumed it was coming from King Joe. She yelped when King Joe split into four parts, each part flying away.

That was… Odd. But more importantly, she didn’t know if King Joe was going to come back.

---

Elsewhere, a very annoyed Alien Babarue watched the fight, fiddling with a strange device as he ordered King Joe to leave. He frowned, watching as the four parts fled, allowing them to regroup elsewhere, away from the sights of the Ultrawoman or her human friends. He had been told that this job shouldn’t be too hard, especially with the King Joe Black he managed to snag (no, he wasn’t answering how exactly he got the robot). But that was apparently not true.

Or maybe, he just should have been told the Ultrawoman had a Kaiju that could electrocute things on her side. That information would have been helpful. Regardless, he’d have to take this up with his… Employer. Because if he was going to keep going, he better get paid more, this was not what he was told it was going to be!

Speaking of employer, it sounded like him coming now. Alien Babarue’s employer was an eccentric person, Kenshin. Babarue, personally, didn’t care for him, but what did that matter?

“You didn’t say that she had an Eleking,” Babarue frowned, placing a hand on his hip.

Kenshin, the ass, just shrugged, not even sounding apologetic, “Oh, I didn’t? My bad,” If he had lips, he was probably frowning, “Anyway, you didn’t get rid of her.”

Babarue rolled his eyes, “Yeah, that’s going to be harder than you made it out to be,”

“Oh, so you can’t?”

“No, I can,” Babarue scoffed, “But it’s not going to be easy.”

“Who cares if it’ll be easy,” Kenshin turned to leave, “I just want her gone.”

Grigio wasn’t supposed to be causing so much trouble, she was supposed to be the weak one. So she got lucky against King Joe, Kenshin wasn’t just going to accept defeat. He’d worked on this plan a bit too long for that.

Though Grigio’s determine wasn’t planned for, Ultra or not, she was ultimately only human, and those who she worked with were even more so. So perhaps there was something to work with there…

Her ability to find a weakness in King Joe, though…

Kenshing hadn’t expected that.

#ultraman rb #asahi minato #ultrawoman grigio #my writing #i would offer it happy with a smile on my face #waiting at the end of the road is happiness