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Trick or treat!
Ok well you've read all my wips but have this stupid one from the VBS superhero au because it's funny:
They’re all hanging out after practice when Mita casually goes “Hey, is it true your group name was Gurney flap back in the day?”
Azusawa’s eyes widen and Akimine chokes on her drink.
Arata sighs. “Yes, that was our name.”
“Wow, I heard you had a death wish, but I didn’t think you worked it into your band name.”
“Ok one, it’s a racecar reference. Two, it was Souma’s idea.”
“Oh no, that’s unfortunate,” Azusawa says.
Shinonome looks confused. “Wait, what? I don’t get it.”
“A gurney flap is the thing on the back of a racecar,” Arata explains. “It’s a normal thing to reference.”
“Ok but like what does it have to do with your death wish?”
“I didn’t–” Arata says but then he stops. “Shinonome, do you know what a gurney is?”
“No.”
“It’s the thing people are wheeled to hospitals in,” Arata says in a tone of voice that probably implies he added you fucking idiot to the end of that sentence, and Shinonome looks annoyed.
“Oh, I know what those are, obviously, they go down the street all the time, I just didn’t know the word.”
“Gurneys… are going down the street… Shinonome do you mean an ambulance?”
“Huh?”
Arata tries not to scream. “Shinonome, an ambulance is the big white trucks that people drive. A gurney is like a small bed on wheels that people put an injured person on to take them to the ambulance and move them around the hospital.”
Shinonome nods. “Oh. right. Then, what’s a racecar.”
Arata blinks. “Oh, you’re fucking with me.”
“Huh?”
“Akito grew up in America,” Toya says quickly, “so he doesn’t know a lot of things.”
“They have ambulances in America?”
“He grew up somewhere rural.”
“They teach about them. And racecars.”
“He was homeschooled.”
(Links updated daily)
AO3 Series
Day 1 - Search Party
Day 2 - Amusement Park
Day 3 - Set Up For Failure
Day 4 - Sensory Deprivation
Day 5 - Shivering (Alt Prompt)
Day 6 - Bad Coping Mechanisms
Day 7 - Magic With A Cost
Day 8 - Sleep Deprivation
Day 9 - "Frame me up on the wall, just to keep me out of trouble"
Day 10 - Passing out from pain
Day 11 - Loneliness
Day 12 - "Just A Little More"
Day 13 - Familial Curses
Day 14 - Used as Bait (Alt Prompt)
Day 15 - No Holds Barred Beatdown (Alt Prompt)
Day 16 - Wound Cleaning
Day 17 - Shipwrecked
Day 18 - Revenge
Day 19 - Overzealous
Day 20 - Shoulder To Lean On
Day 21 - Spirit Possession
Day 22 - "That can't be good"
Day 23 - Broken Pedestal
Day 24 - Collapsed Building
Day 25 - It's for your own good
Day 26 - "I am haunted by the lies that I have loved, the action I had hated"
Day 27 - Muzzled
Day 28 - Denial
Day 29 - Body Swap (Alt Prompt)
Day 30 - What Have I Done?
Day 31 - "I'm Alive, I'm Just Not Well"
A/N: This is another instance of @yumizurueleonora and I have an entire au for years and then never post about it.
Accidents
On instinct, Toya doesn’t knock when he unlocks Akito’s apartment. It’s never been a problem between the two of them, but it’s after stepping inside that he thinks he should have warned Akito he was coming over.
He stays in the entryway, unsure if he should leave, when Akito walks over, in boxers and an oversized shirt and looking like a mess.
“Oh,” Akito mutters. “Are you here to yell at me too?”
“No,” Toya says. “From what I hear you’ve gotten enough of that.”
Akito collapses onto the couch. “Thanks partner, you always know just what I need. Want to help me plan the wedding?”
Toya freezes. God he thought he'd have more time to mend this rift between them, but now here Akito is, getting married.
“That’s a joke,” Akito says. “Sorry, it’s a bad one. We’re just going to the courthouse and filing paperwork.”
“No, of course it’s–” Toya takes a deep breath. “You know I’m here for you, partner, right? No matter what happens, whatever you need, I’ll always help you.” Even if it’s helping with your child with another woman.
“Wanna help me box up all the alcohol I have? I can’t really stand to look at it right now but it’d be a waste to toss it all so I’m gonna give it to Ken.”
Toya nods, and heads over to Akito’s liquor cabinet. Akito's not much of a drinker, so most of the bottles gifted to him are still unopened.
Toya starts taking them out and carefully putting them into the box Akito brought over, but Akito pulls out one of the bottles.
“Wait, hold on,” Akito says. “Not this one.”
Toya takes a better look at the bottle and realizes it’s a German wine he’d gifted Akito on New Year’s.
“You’re just going to let it sit there?” Toya asks.
“It’s a gift from my partner, I don’t want to just give it away,” Akito says. After thinking for a second, he uncorks it and pours two glasses. “To the worst mistake of my life.”
Toya takes a sip from his glass. “Akito, do you… want to talk about it?”
Akito stays silent. “Honestly… no. ‘Cause if I talk about it, I think I’ll run away.”
“Would it be running away?” Toya asks. “You’re marrying someone you don’t love.”
“Hey, I do love Natsumi!” Akito says. “And I'm the one who got her pregnant because I was too drunk to realize the condom broke.”
Toya swallows his jealousy. “You aren’t ready to get married, or have kids.”
“It’s too late to do anything now,” Akito says. “It’s my responsibility.”
“She was the one who didn’t notice she was pregnant for five months!”
“She said it’s complicated!” Akito says.
Toya crosses his arms. “I’m just saying you're not the only one to blame.”
“Well if we made this mess together, we gotta clean it up together too,” Akito says. “You can’t seriously say if it was Saki, you wouldn’t expect the father to step up?”
“I…” Toya takes a deep breath. “I see where you’re coming from, I really do, but you have to see this won’t make you happy.”
“I’m a piece of shit who got a girl pregnant, what makes me happy is kind of the least important thing in this situation.”
“Is it fair to the child if their parents don’t love each other?”
“I do love her!” Akito snaps. “Natsumi and I, we get along, we’re good together, we’ll make it work. And this way she gets some security and really it’s the least I can do.”
Akito finishes his glass of wine. “I’m too tired for this. Can we talk some other time?”
“Akito,” Toya says, “you’re making a mistake.”
“I already made the mistake, and I don’t need people to keep reminding me. Now get out.”
Toya gets up and slinks away. His hand hovers at the door knob, and for a second he wants to turn around and tell Akito he loves him, but one glance back at his partner tells him what he already knew.
Toya’s chance passed a long time ago, and now he’ll never get it back.
There I Met Your Voice Again
MEIKO has a special cabinet in Crase Cafe where she stores the strongest liquor. None of the kids are supposed to touch it, and she keeps it a secret from An and the others.
The cabinet is only opened when all the adult virtual singers— so the versions of herself, KAITO, and Luka from everywhere except School SEKAI— are together and something serious has happened.
If this didn’t count, then who knew what did.
MEIKO had felt it, before Kohane came in tears to tell her what was going on. A new rec center had opened up, a convenient walk from both Kamikou and Miyajou. Both Akito and An’s friend Haruka had been training there when all of sudden, the building just collapsed.
They were the only ones injured, both left in comas and unable to wake up. The effect on the SEKAI when they lose a pillar of it, even like this, isn’t immediate, but MEIKO knew the change in the air.
Her counterpart from the Stage SEKAI clearly felt the same way, wordlessly arriving. MEIKO chased the kids out and opened the special cabinet.
“How’s Minori?” MEIKO asks.
“Distraught,” Stage MEIKO says, throwing back shots of vodka while MEIKO makes herself a rum on the rocks. “How’s An-chan? She was friends with Haruka and Akito so…”
“I haven’t seen her,” MEIKO says. “I haven’t seen them all at once since.”
“The others are trying to see if there’s a way we can call to Haruka, maybe get her consciousness back to her body.”
“You think that’s the problem?” Reportedly the comas they were in were abnormal, but something tying into the SEKAI would be rare.
“It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” Stage MEIKO says. “Besides, it gives them something to do other than worry.”
“Yeah,” MEIKO says. “We should probably head over to Empty SEKAI after this, Ena-san’s probably upset too, it might be affecting them.”
“Miku knows they won’t come over themselves,” Stage MEIKO µtters.
Suddenly, there’s a weird flash of light, and the two MEIKOs are in a different SEKAI, one they haven’t seen before. Standing before them is a Vocaloid they don’t often see around them.
“µ?” MEIKO gasps. “What’s wrong?”
“MEI-chan and MEI-chan!” µ says, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m sorry!”
“What are you sorry for?” MEIKO asks, warily. µ was well intentioned, certainly, but she was… naïve, sometimes. As if nearly destroying the world wasn’t enough proof of that.
“W-well I heard about what happened to your kids,” µ says, “and I wanted to preserve their consciousnesses like I did with Marie-chan–”
“Wait, Akito-kun and Haruka are in comas because you trapped them in Mobius?” Stage MEIKO says.
“No! They were already in comas, this was just to make sure they didn’t suffer any long term consequences from lack of brain activity, it’s just, something went wrong and their consciousnesses… fractured.”
“Fractured?” MEIKO asks.
“I’m asking Ritsu to work on it, but I think they might be scattered across your SEKAI so someone has to get them all back together.”
“µ, I swear–” Stage MEIKO says, but MEIKO stops her.
“Thank you for telling us µ. We’ll try and find the fragments of their consciousnesses. But in the future, please let us know before you want to help.”
“Ritsu’s working on it! We’re gonna fix it!”
“I know you will,” MEIKO says, before they’re returned to Street SEKAI.
Stage MEIKO just grabs the vodka bottle and starts drinking. “Why,” she says, wiping her mouth, “does she have to be like this.”
“She’s got more of a connection to the Metaverse-Es than us,” MEIKO points out. “She’s constantly exposed to a µch wider array of human emotion, of course she gets mixed up sometimes.”
“And because she can do that, who knows how long Akito-kun and Haruka will be in comas?”
MEIKO can’t exactly argue with that.
“I’ll go tell the others,” Stage MEIKO says. “And I’m taking this.” She tucks the vodka bottle under her arm and heads back to her own SEKAI.
After locking up the liquor cabinet, MEIKO calls the others to tell them the news.
Akito arrives first.
“Akito!” MEIKO gasps, “there you are!”
“Akito?! Akito you’re ok!” Len and Rin run up to him and start bombarding him with questions.
“Where have you been?” “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?” “Does Toya know you’re ok?”
Akito blinks. “The SEKAI has a hospital now?”
“What?” KAITO asks. “Akito what are you talking about, in the real world you–”
“Real world? We can’t go to the real world.” Akito says. “Did you seriously forget that?”
MEIKO has a bad feeling. “Akito, who are you?”
“Eh? Akito Shinonome?”
“And what are you?”
“A Virtual Singer? Duh? Are you ok?”
MEIKO curses under her breath.
“Wait, I’m confused,” KAITO says. “Akito, that isn’t funny. What’s going on?”
“I just had a talk with µ,” MEIKO starts, but KAITO’s eyes glaze over.
“Actually, nevermind,” he says.
MEIKO rolls her eyes. “This is fine, we’ll just take him to µ and–”
“Sorry I’m late!” an unfamiliar voice says. A girl with blue hair and a jean jacket arrives. “What’s the important meeting?”
“Hey, Haruka,” Akito says. “Mostly they’re asking weird questions.”
MEIKO’s mind is racing. Haruka-chan is here, not her own SEKAI, and wearing street clothes. That makes no sense, unless…
Without a word, MEIKO rushes over to Stage SEKAI, and practically collides with her other self.
“I had a–
“--feeling something was wrong,” MEIKO says. Behind Stage MEIKO, there’s something that confirms her concerns. A second Haruka, in her idol outfit.
“They’re Virtual Singers,” MEIKO groans. “So there’s one for each SEKAI.”
“Oh I was scared you were going to say that,” Stage MEIKO says.
“Let’s call everyone.”
how many times have I conceded?
“When you were a kid, did you look up to your dad?” An asks, suddenly.
It’s their first day back at school after the confrontation with Taiga, and Akito’s busy during lunch, so it’s just the two of them, alone in a crowded cafeteria.
“A few months ago, I would have said no,” Toya admits, between bites of lunch. “But if I’m being honest? There was a time when I was young I would have called him the best musician in the world. I looked forward to going to his shows, seeing him play in crowded concert halls for thousands of people, bring them to tears, it made me proud.”
“When did it stop?”
Toya closes his eyes. “I think, I was at a concert of his with Mother, and he performed, and Mother was driven to tears, and I felt nothing. He’d always called classical the greatest gift to mankind, the best way of expressing emotions, and here I was not feeling anything. All I could think of after that was how stiff and rigid I was. My father called me perfect as always, and I wasn’t, and that was the moment I let myself think ‘father is wrong’ for the first time.
“I’d thought I didn’t want to practice, or wished I could be more like the Tenmas, but I never thought he was wrong until that moment. From there it just…”
“All fell away?” An says. “Like now all of a sudden you’re only seeing the dark parts of everything he did?”
Toya nods. “Exactly.”
“Yeah,” An says. “I’ve been thinking about it, trying to come to terms with the fact that Dad never told me about Aunt Nagi, that he didn’t let me know she was sick, that he let me think she was coming back.”
Toya doesn’t offer her any hollow sympathies, he simply motions for An to keep going.
“He was wrong,” An says. “They all were, I mean. Why would you want to spend the last moments of your life lying to your niece? Why would you want to hear your daughter talk about everything she’s going to tell someone she’s never going to see again? Why would you take your sister’s dying wish to support the next generation and just shatter it?”
“Yes,” Toya says. “They were wrong.”
With those three words, An feels a weight she didn’t know she was carrying come off her chest. “You know, when I was little I thought Dad didn’t love me because he was so busy performing. And after I ran away, everyone talked about how much he cared about me, and how happy he was to hear me sing. They made a point of it. And they all did it while knowing he was keeping me in the dark. So how could he love me when he can’t even be honest with me?”
“I wish I had the answer to that.” Toya says. “How can they love us when they don’t listen, how an they love us when they don’t consider our feelings?”
“He does, though,” An asks. “Right?”
“He does,” Toya admits, “but it never makes it better.”
“Yep,” An pops some chicken into her mouth. “It never makes it better.”
A/N: This is a Caligula Effect crossover, but you don't have to have played it to get what's going on.
this feeling of love for you
Saki finds Ichika on the roof of the school, humming a song she’s never heard before.
“Hey, Ichi!” Saki says. “Hona and Shi-chan said you were acting weird during class?”
Ichika keeps singing the song under her breath. “Even if it is distorted, even if it is rotten, even if it is stagnant, it’s still happiness!”
“That a new song you’re working on?” Saki asks. “It’s uh, darker than usual but–”
“Saki, do you love me?” Ichika asks.
“What? Of course!” Saki says.
“Really? Truly?”
“Why are you asking?” Saki says, and Ichika spins around and takes her hands.
“Would you do anything to prove it to me?”
“Yes! Absolutely!”
“Promise? Anything?”
“Yes, Ichika, I’d do anything for you, I mean I’ve been in love with you since we were kids!
“Would you die for me?”
Saki stops. “Ichika, what are you talking about?”
“Tell me!” Ichika snaps. “Would you die for me?”
“Yes, of course, but tell me what’s–” Suddenly, Ichika pulls Saki in for a kiss, but something feels wrong about it.
“Finally,” Ichika breathes, a manic glint to her eye. “An Ichika with someone who loves her enough.”
“Ichi…” Saki says, “you’re starting to scare me.”
“Don’t worry about that Saki, if you love me, you’ll die with me!”
Saki’s heart stops. She doesn’t know how this is possible, but she feels it in her bones. “You’re not Ichika.”
“I am,” Ichika says. “I’m Ichika Saotome. A long time ago, my boyfriend broke his promise to me, so I’ve been floating around trying to find an Ichika with someone who loves her enough to do what he didn’t.”
“Get out of Ichi!” Saki snaps at the ghost, but Saotome shakes her head.
“No, not until you fulfill your promise!” Saotome says. “I’ve waited so long.”
“What promise did this boyfriend break?”
“We promised to die together, at the top of Landmark Tower, but he abandoned me at the last second,” Saotome says. “I died all alone, and I’ve been stuck here, in this hell of an Earth, waiting for so long.”
“So that’s what you want me to do? Go with you to Landmark Tower and die?”
“You promised Saki, anything.”
“I promised to do anything for Ichika Hoshino, not you.”
“We’re the same now, and either way, Hoshino will die. The only thing you decide if I continue on to find another Ichika with someone who actually loves her. Someone who’s not a coward.”
Saki doesn’t say anything, and Saotome frowns. “If you do actually love me, then I’ll be at Landmark Tower at sunset.”
Saotome runs off, and Saki starts shaking as soon as she’s gone. She raises her head to the sky and screams until her voice is hoarse.
This ghost was puppetting around her Ichika to fulfill some twisted fantasy. No way can Saki let that happen. She’d do anything for Ichika.
Without hesitating, Saki texts Honami and Shiho.
We have until sunset to perform an exorcism.
A/N- Breaking up the Whumptober posting because @yumizurueleonora were talking Power Rangers SPD, as we often do, and I got the idea for this.
I started working on it yesterday, you know a bit in the morning, a bit on the train ride to New York Comicon, and then at Comicon I ran into Dwayne Cameron, the actor who plays Dru (and more significantly to my childhood, Tyzonn in Operation Overdrive) and I had look this man in the eye like I wasn't writing gay fanfiction about a one-off character he played 20 years ago five hours earlier.
I took this as a sign maybe I should post this. So enjoy.
~
Sky is so bored.
Yes, he got thrown from the Megazord and would have been crushed by a giant robot if he hadn’t thrown up a shield that left him so drained he blacked out and had to be dug out from the rubble.
But honestly that doesn’t mean Cruger has to confiscate his Morpher and order him to relax.
First of all, Sky is perfectly capable of relaxing. Hitting his punching bag, training, and studying ARE relaxing.
Second, what if they need him?
But Cruger threatened him with paid leave if Sky didn’t take the week to “actually heal,” and he lives at the Academy, so he’s here in the infirmary with RIC staring at him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.
At least it’s been a quiet week, and Cruger’s returning in the morning and Sky will be back on active duty.
Sky reaches for the next book on his pile, and a piece of paper falls into his lap. It takes him a second to make out the language.
Tangarian.
Angel, will you come meet by our favorite spot at 09:30?
Sky blinks and rereads the paper. There’s no way.
But who would prank him like this? Who would even know? Syd and Bridge had been at the Academy at the time but they hadn’t really talked, and Sky wasn’t sure they’d ever shared classes with him.
It's not like he has to stay in the infirmary, he’s been ordered to do no SPD work. Sky makes up his mind in seconds and runs to grab his clothes and head out.
Just after 9:30 Sky’s worried that he’s wrong, but then a familiar head of light brown hair pokes out of the bushes and his heart stops.
“Angel!” Dru says. “I was scared you wouldn’t come.”
“Dru,” Sky breathes before rushing forward to crush him in a hug. “What are you doing here, I thought you were…”
“Well I’m not,” Dru says, “it’s a long story.”
“This is real, isn’t it?” Sky asks. “I’m not dreaming?”
Dru kisses his palm. “Did that feel like a dream?”
Sky isn’t sure whether he wants to laugh or cry.
Dru chuckles. “Here I thought you’d be mad at me for keeping you waiting for so long.”
“How could I be mad at you?” Sky says, “I’m just happy you’re here.”
“Well that’s a shame, because I have a whole romantic ‘get Sky to forgive me’ brunch planned.”
“Oh,” Sky says. “Well I mean if you want.”
“Really? Not too busy?”
“For you? Never.”
Dru leads Sky to a shuttle, and in the back area there’s a picnic basket, candles, and the floor is littered with rose petals.
“If you’re up for making this a whole day thing,” Dru says, “there’s a special place I want to take you.”
Sky doesn't even have to think about it. This is Dru. His Dru. Back from the dead. Sky would follow him anywhere.
“Let’s go,” Sky says, holding up his wrist.
There’s a familiar clink from Dru’s coil against his, and for the first time in a long time something in Sky’s life feels right.
-
While Sky’s in the back of the shuttle settling in, Dru heads to the front console and sets the autopilot with the coordinates.
Viara-10 is supposed to have the most beautiful sunset, and it's the closest to a special magnetic storm on Tangar that’s supposed to appear if a marriage is auspicious.
That's where he’ll lay everything out for Sky, and they’ll be able to run away together.
They just have to get there first, which means–
On cue, a call comes on when they leave the airspace.
Jack appears on the monitor. “You don’t have authorization to leave Earth’s airspace, Agent Gren.”
Dru laughs. “Have you not already received reports of his death? I stole his credentials days ago. SPD really has gone downhill.”
It was a simple plan. Claim to be an SPD agent after a criminal, act injured, get into the Academy and shoot Cruger.
His timing had been a bit off since Cruger wasn’t there, but no one had suspected he wasn’t Agent Gren.
“Well what do you want me to call you?” Jack asks.
“I prefer my business associates refer to me as Giganis.”
“We’re not associates.”
“I was paid very well to handle Cruger, so yes you’re part of my business,” Dru says.
“I have authorization to shoot you down.”
“Oh sure, but you’ll lose a cadet in the process.”
Jack’s eyes widen. “You have Sky.”
Dru tilts his head. “I’m surprised you know a random cadet by name, but yes we’re taking a little trip, and I don’t want anyone interrupting us.”
“Let me see him.”
“No, sorry. Gotta go, bye Jack! It really was nice meeting you.”
-
Jack slams his fist on the monitor as soon as the signal cuts off. “Damn it!”
“Giganis,” Syd mutters, pulling up his file. “This guy’s wanted for… a lot of murders.”
“Video feed from the infirmary shows Sky receiving a letter and leaving just before Giganis shot the Commander,” Kat says.
“A threat, maybe?” Z says. “That’s how he lured Sky out?”
“Is Sky a weird choice?” Bridge asks.
“What’s weird about it, he knows we won’t destroy a ranger,” Jack says.
“But we wouldn’t destroy any cadet,” Bridge says. “Why not grab someone less able to fight back? How’d he find out Sky didn’t have his morpher on him? How'd he know Sky wouldn’t tell us anything?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Jack says. “I’m getting in a shuttle and following them.”
“I think you mean we?” Syd says. “We’re a team, we don’t let some ugly monster kidnap any of us.”
“Be careful, Rangers,” Kat says. “We don’t know what he’s doing to Sky, it might be a delicate situation.”
“We know, Kat,” Z says. “But we’re going to get our jerk back.”
-
Sky doesn’t know what he did to deserve the most perfect boyfriend in the universe.
Or.
“Is it ok if I still call you my boyfriend?” Sky asks.
Dru looks at him like he’s stupid. “I didn’t give you that coil because three years apart could come between us.”
Sky relaxes a bit and takes a drink of his mimosa. “Sorry I guess I was just– what have you been doing this whole time?”
Dru looks sheepish. “Well, I actually had amnesia, so I’ve been wandering around the galaxy taking… odd jobs.”
“Then how’d you end up back on Earth?”
“While I was out exploring, I kept having this nagging feeling, you know? That there was someone out there waiting for me. I saw… amazing things out there, Sky but it always felt a little… incomplete without you.”
“C’mon Dru, you’re going to make me blush.”
“Oh you should see what’s out there, beyond SPD. A whole galaxy!”
Dru’s eyes are glittering, and Sky’s heart skips a beat. Then Dru looks at him and grabs his hands.
“You should come with me!”
“Huh?”
“I was going to ask when we got to our destination but, Sky there’s no one I want at my side more than you!”
“Me?” Sky asks. “A-and come on I know you can leave SPD but I can’t.”
“Yes, you can!” Dru says. “You don’t owe them, or anyone, anything! I mean they didn't even make you red ranger even though you gave them everything!”
Sky steps back. “You know about that?”
“I saw a fight, and I could tell without even seeing his face that Red wasn’t you.”
“Disappointed?” Sky asks. “All that talk and–”
“Why would I be disappointed? Sky I don't care what color you wear, I just care about you.”
“Why?” Sky says, “I mean I’m… god I got told to take a break and I had nothing to do. Outside of SPD I don’t…”
“Why? Because, Angel, you’re the most beautiful, perfect, thing in the universe. I saw stars explode, different societies, wonders that would put what they’ve got on Earth to shame, and the thing I kept thinking was ‘I want Sky with me.’” Dru laughs. “I’m genuinely obsessed with you, I can’t get you out of my head.”
“Ha,” Sky says. “I’m a jerk, my friends–”
“Are they really your friends if they don’t see how amazing you are?” Dru asks, “or are they just people you’re forced to put up with.”
“If everyone forced to put up with me says the same thing–”
Dru pulls him close and kisses him. “Sky, Sky, Sky. Shut up. I can’t even put into words how I feel about you, it's like…” Dru’s eyes light up. “Like that ancient Earth song.”
Dru walks over to the panel and strings and piano fill the room.
“Dru, what is this?”
Dru smiles and starts singing. “You’d be so easy to love, so easy to idolize all others above”
“Dru–”
But before Sky can protest, Dru sweeps him into his arms and they start dancing.
“So sweet to waken with,” Dru sings, “so nice to sit down to eggs and bacon with.”
Sky wants to protest more, but Dru gives him a look that tells him to just enjoy it, and Sky finally cracks a smile and follows Dru’s lead.
“We’d be so grand at the game, so carefree together that it does seem a shame that you can’t see your future with me ‘cause you’d be oh so easy to–”
The moment is shattered as the shuttle shakes.
“Damn it,” Dru says. “Just HAD to ruin the moment.”
Sky races to the cockpit and checks the scanner.
“An unidentified ship is firing on us?”
“They’re probably trying to disable the engines,” Dru mutters. “I can–”
“Hey, piloting was the only thing I beat you at,” Sky says, taking the controls.
He dodges away from the blast and turns the ship sharply upward.
“You’re crazy,” Dru says with a smile. “We’re heading to that planet over there.”
Another shot barely misses them, and Sky spots the landing spot through a pair of moons.
“I don’t like that look,” Dru says.
“You love it,” Sky says.
At the last possible second, Sky twists the ship sideways through the asteroid, and whatever ship was firing on them pulls away.
Sky lands them on the planet, and once the gear is engaged, Dru opens the hatch.
“That was amazing,” Dru says. “Now let’s get out of here so I can reward you properly.”
-
Z manages to land their ship roughly, and Jack immediately jumps out to check the damage.
“Damn, who knew Giganis was a good pilot?” He says. It’s gonna take forever to repair the damage.
Bridge is pacing around the open part of the ship. “We’re on Viara-10, right?” he asks. “Syd didn’t your magazine mention this place?”
“Uh yeah,” Syd says, “it’s the top ten most romantic date spots in the galaxy but what–”
Before she can finish her sentence, Bridge is on his head and thinking. “And that asteroid trick, where did we see that before?”
Syd tilts her head. “Oh yeah I guess that was pretty similar to what Sky pulled back in our first year.”
“You think Sky was piloting?” Jack asks. “Why would he do that?”
“That was a partner sim,” Bridge says. “Who was the guy Sky was paired with?”
“God his boyfriend?” Syd says. “Shit I never saw him without Sky, what was his name? Dru…” Syd's eyes go wide.
“Harrington,” Bridge says.
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him!”
“He was always hanging around Sky and talking to no one else, I mean I didn’t recognize him either without Sky next to him.”
“It all makes sense though, of course that’s what makes Sky go running from the infirmary.”
“Hold up,” Z says, “wanna fill in the guys who weren’t at the Academy?”
Suddenly a sound like thunder goes off, and Syd starts running. “We have to hurry, we can explain later!”
-
“How much further, Dru?” Sky asks, keeping his eyes closed.
“Just a little more… and, now!”
Sky opens his eyes and gasps. They’re on a mesa overlooking cliffs covered in vibrant blue flowers, and the sky is a deep purple highlighted by yellow streaks of lightning.
“We made it just in time,” Dru says. “The magnetic storm, it’s important here and similar to something on Tangar. Here it's just romantic, but on Tangar, you’re supposed to consummate your relationship beneath it if you want something that’ll truly last forever.”
“Oh, is that why you’ve kept me waiting so long?” Sky asks. “I did think it was weird you didn’t rip my shirt off as soon as we got on the shuttle.”
Dru laughs. “Ha, I've been very patient, do I get a reward?”
“You have a lot to make up to me Dru,” Sky says, pulling him close. “I mean a year and a half thinking you were dead…”
“Oh, Angel, let me show you how sorry I am!” Dru puts his arms under Sky’s shirt, and Sky is so ready but–
“Sky!” He turns back and sees his friends running towards them, out of breath.
“Oh good,” Syd says. “They still have their clothes on.”
“Why wouldn’t they have their clothes on?” Z pants.
“Don’t you rangers have better things to do than interrupt your cadets’ dates?” Dru says
“Date? As if we’d believe that,” Jack scoffs.
Sky frowns. “Why not?”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“You’re the ones who spent the whole week saying I need to learn to relax and then I go on a date with my boyfriend and you just assume I was kidnapped?”
“Hold on!” Bridge says, “hold on guys this is all a big misunderstanding! See we didn’t know Sky knew Dru, or Agent Gren, or Giganis, and Sky didn’t know he’s an assassin who shot Cruger, and Dru didn’t know Sky was a ranger!”
“You’re a ranger?!” Dru gasps.
“You’re an assassin?” Sky asks. “And wait, wait was this whole thing, the brunch, the rose petals, the music, this was all just… a way to use me as a shield so SOD wouldn’t shoot you down?”
“No!” Dru says. “Angel, my plan was always to come see you again, I was going to tell you when the moment was better but, come on is SPD really the place for you? There’s a whole galaxy out there, we could be free! You’d love it, I know you would.”
“To be clear, if we didn’t show up and you’d asked Sky this post-coitus, would he be able to say no?” Syd asks.
“I could convince him if you would just leave us alone!”
“To be clear,” Bridge says, “you're under arrest for injuring an officer and your many, many, many other crimes.”
“Stella would you all just shut up!”
“Did you even have amnesia?” Sky asks. “Or did you just run off and let me think–”
“Sky, Angel, my stars and moon, I wasn’t lying when I said I was thinking about you, about running away together, about wanting to give you everything! I swear I just–”
“You’re just also a space mercenary?” Sky says. He takes a deep breath and pinches his nose. “Dru that’s…. you need help. You realize you're talking crazy, right? Let’s just… go back to Earth and we can–”
“You’re the one who needs help, Sky! SPD has done nothing but hold you back and bring you misery. But you won’t see it with these rangers getting involved every minute!”
Suddenly, Dru shifts into a monster form, and Sky stumbles back.
“Here,” Jack says, handing Sky his Morpher. “Cruger’s back, so you’re officially back on duty.”
Sky nods and swallows. He forces out the words “SPD! EMERGENCY!”
“Don’t make me do this, Dru,” Sky says.
“I’m really sorry to have to do this to you too, Sky,” Dru says. “But you’re clearly not going to realize anything while they’re around.”
“Speaking of us,” Bridge says, “you're under arrest for, what was it, murder counts across ten planets, attempted murder of an officer, identity theft, and getting someone to come with you under false pretenses is still kidnapping even if you didn’t hold him hostage!”
“Yeah, payback time for the cargo bay,” Jack says.
“You know,” Dru says, “Cruger was nothing personal, but I’m going to enjoy destroying you and then smashing Sky’s morpher into dust!”
~
After the fight, they put Dru in a card for transfer and Sky collapses onto the ground.
“Is there any chance,” he asks, “that this is a coma? That that robot actually knocked me out and now I’m hallucinating a near death experience where my boyfriend comes back from the dead but he’s evil?”
“I mean anything's possible,” Bridge says, “we could all be brains in jars imagining we’re talking to each other.”
“But in this case,” Syd says, “no, sorry your ex sucks.”
Sky fiddles with the coil on his wrist.
“Come on, Cruger and Kat are worried about you,” Z says.
“Yeah, whatever.” Sky says getting up. “At least I can get back to work. This will be my last day off in a while.”
“See, I don’t think this is the lesson you should take from this,” Jack says.
“Shut up. Where’s the ship? I need to sleep for a bit.”
What goes around comes around
Kenshin takes another drink from his beer as the bar blurs around him. His favorite bartender isn’t even in town this week, so he doesn’t get to have his favorite cocktail or talk with someone.
Without her here, he just sinks into the background of the bar as people chatter, expecting to drink until closing and be ignored, as usual.
“You can look right through me, walk right by me, and never know I’m there,” Kenshin sings to himself against the latest idol music the drunk college girls wanted to sing to is.
“Hey, here by yourself?”
Kenshin turns to see a woman with orange hair and a smart suit sits down next to him at the bar.
“You talking to me?” Kenshin asks.
“Is anyone else here worth talking to?”
Kenshin snorts. “No, obviously.” He sticks out his hand. “Kenshin Suzuki.”
The woman takes his hand. “Yoka Tono.”
“So, Yoka-chan, what brings you here for the first time?” Kenshin asks.
“How do you know it’s my first time? Maybe I just come on the days you’re not here.”
“I’m here every day,” Kenshin says. “From work gets out ‘til my sister’s kid gets home from cram school. My sister doesn’t want him seeing me coming home in the middle of the night.”
“Haven’t missed a single day?”
“Nope, not in three years, so I know you’re not a regular.”
Yoka chuckles. “Ok, you caught me. Yeah, I just heard about this place and wanted to get the vibe.”
“The vibe is it’s cheap and they don’t kick you out no matter how much you drink.”
“Sounds like my kind of place,” Yoka says. She orders a beer and chugs it.
“Whoa, now I like a woman who can handle her alcohol.”
“Really? Most men are put off by it.”
“I mean it!” Kenshin says. “I don’t care for all the prissy shit women like my sister are worried about.”
“Tell me about your sister?”
“Ah, she’s a pain in the ass,” Kenshin sighs. “I busted my ass to pay her way through college, and now that she’s a successful corporate bigwig she thinks she can tell me how to live my life. Ungrateful bitch.”
“No wonder you’re here all the time then.” Yoka takes another swig of her beer. “Whoo, strong stuff! I should call a taxi for tonight, don’t wanna be driving after a glass of this.”
Kenshin laughs. “Eh, don’t worry about it. I can take you home.”
“Oh, that gonna be your last glass?”
“Like hell. Nah, when you’ve been drinking as long as I have, as long as you’re awake you’re as good as a sober man. I drive home all the time, no one’s ever noticed.”
“Never? Really?”
“‘Cause I’m not stupid. I know how to drive, even when I’m drunk.”
“Still, seems risky,” Yoka says. “Car accidents cause a ton of deaths and–”
“Oh my god stop it, you sound like my sister,” Kenshin says. “I know the damn statistics, and they happen when people are sober and when they’re drunk. The difference is I’m smart, and know to be careful.”
“Oh,” Yoka says slowly. “So if you were driving home late at night, trying to get back to your apartment before your sister’s kid came back from cram school, and saw a couple of kids crossing the street, you’d slow down right?”
“Brats oughta get out of the way,” Kenshin says. “Pedestrians have the right of way, it’s a load of crap. What are they gonna do if I hit them?”
“But you’ve never been in a situation like that?”
“No,” Kenshin says. “Never.”
“Even last week?” Yoka asks. “Last week you weren’t driving home in a white car with your license plate, jumped the curb, hit a young man, and then drove away?”
“Lady, the fuck are you talking about? You a cop or some shit?”
“No,” Yoka says. “But I am an attorney, and the mother of the boy who was with the one you hit last week. The one who now needs extensive surgery because of you. And I look forward to seeing you in court.”
Abandon Ship
The storm is so powerful Kohane is sure it will blow her off the deck and out to sea. She shouldn’t be out of her cabin, what does she know about sailing a pirate ship through a storm, but she heard An screaming, and can’t just leave her to do nothing.
Minori felt the same, clearly, because she follows Kohane up from below deck and immediately runs over to Kiritani, the first mate, and helps grab onto one of the ropes before it snaps.
An is holding onto the steering wheel of the ship trying to keep it from capsizing against the waves.
“An!” Kohane yells, dodging flying ropes and debris to get to her. As she gets closer, she sees An’s right arm has gone limp and she’s trying to hold the steering wheel with her left.
“Get outta here, Princess!” An says. “I’ve got it!”
Another wave crashes into the ship, causing the wheel to slip from An’s grip, and Kohane quickly grabs it and tries to force it backwards with all her might.
An grabs the top and manages to right the ship.
“I-I want to help!” Kohane gasps, salty water filling her mouth the moment she says anything. “Let me!”
She locks eyes with An, who nods. “Alright, be my extra pair of hands, there’s an island not far from here, we’re gonna try and dock the ship there and wait out the storm.”
Kohane nods, helping An steer through the Vivid through the choppy waters, quickly becoming completely soaked.
“Uncle, I dunno what you’re so pissed at, but let! Us! Through!” An shouts. She gives Koghane a nod, and with one last giant shove, they get the ship through one last gigantic wave before practically crashing into the small dock of an island.
The ship is finally still, but the storm is still whipping around.
“Ok, everyone off ship! We’re heading inside!” An shouts, and the rest of the crew clambers down over the sides of the ship, helping the injured as best as they can to get to the single large house on the island.
Minori runs over to Kohane, scoops her up, and jumps over the side of the ship. First Mate Kiritani helps An, and they all head to the house.
An knocks, and a woman with orange hair opens it. “An-chan!”
“Hey, Yoka-san,” An says. “Sorry for dropping in, but we needed someplace drier.”
“No need to apologize,” Yoka-san says, “come in.”
Kohane had been worried that the ship’s crew would be too much for the small living room, but they fit in fine.
Apparently, Yoka-san’s son, Arata, and his husband, Souma, had been members of The Vivid when An’s dad was captain, so they were more than happy to put them up for the duration of the storm.
“What’s got your Uncle in a twist today?” Arata asks as he helps reset An’s dislocated shoulder.
“Oh who knows,” An says. “Maybe he’s just moody.”
“Your… uncle?” Kohane asks, taking a small sip of the tea Yoka-san brought.
“Ah, I guess you’ll find out soon,” An says. “But yeah, I’m a siren. We all call the God of the Seas ‘Uncle.’”
“A siren who runs her own pirate ship?” Minori asks.
“Is it odd?”
“No, more like amazing!” Minori says. “Haruka, are you a siren too?”
Kiritani laughs. “No, just a regular human pirate.”
“And you’re still the first mate? Cool!”
“Of course,” An says. “Haruka’s been my best friend since we were little, she was my only choice for first mate.”
“Yeah, what would you have done if I had taken that job as a court singer back home?”
“Well, I’d have to tell my dad why his ship was destroyed.”
“And, you two,” Souma asks. “Are you the newest members of the crew?”
Kohane shakes her head. “No, we’re travelers. An was willing to give us a ride to the nearest kingdom across the ocean, and from there we were going to travel by ourselves, see new things.”
“Oh, is that all you wanted to do?” An asks. “That’s a shame, because if you really want to see new things, you could join us. We sail all over, doing all kinds of jobs. Meet all kinds of people.”
Kohane’s eyes widen. “R-really? But I have no experience… I mean Minori and I were going to find someplace to settle down and open an inn…” Kohane looks to Minori, to be sure that accepting the offer wouldn’t mean consigning her to a life at sea she doesn’t want, but Minori’s staring at Kiritani with sparkling eyes.”
“Once the storm dies down, I’ll ask some of my cousins to help float us back to a proper port,” An says. “Then we can do repairs, take jobs, and if you’re interested, maybe you’ll stay with us?”
“Y-yes,” Kohane says. “I’d love that.”
A/n: White Day Ichika time! Once again this au is mostly @yumizurueleonora's brain baby
Reflections
The same knight uniform Ichika’s always worn feels stifling as her fiancée walks down the aisle to her.
Dame Angela went all out, of course, with a brand new dress that flaunts the wealth her family is bringing to their faction.
Gris is a small country on the border of the Light and Dark Kingdoms that is always at risk of an attack from either one and the alliance of having the richest noblewoman in the Dark Kingdom marry one of their best knights will allow them to secure their position and prepare for an attack.
This is what’s good for their kingdom, to keep all her friends safe, Ichika knows this.
Besides, if the one she truly loved knew the truth, she’d reject Ichika in a heartbeat.
“Sir Ichika, are you ready?” the priest whispers as Dame Angela arrives at the altar, and Ichika nods.
The other benefit of this arrangement is that Dame Angela has three older brothers, and an older sister. She’s not expected to produce an heir, and if she did the child wouldn’t inherit anything. So the fact that Dame Angela doesn’t know Ichika is also a woman won’t raise any issues.
Ichika had spun a lie about being unable to consummate their marriage before due to a gruesome injury on the battlefield she never had to actually describe because most of the men in the room simply winced in sympathy and didn’t ask for further details.
Dame Angela simply thinks of her as another accessory, a symbol of status and a way for her to gain more power as the youngest child of a nobleman. Ichika fully suspects that once their “honeymoon” is over, different men will find their way into their bedchambers.
Of course, if it was discovered that two women were married, it would cause an uproar, so for the sake of the nation, Ichika will have to keep this secret with her until she dies.
“Do you, Sir Ichika, vow to love Dame Angela, and take her as your lawfully wedded wife?”
Love her? No, Ichika could never.
But to protect this country? Keep her fellow knights safe? Help Saki ?
“I–”
“Stop!” A voice rings out from the front of the chapel, and everyone turns to see Saki, one of the Black Roses, the most elite fighters in the Dark Kingdom.
But all Ichika sees, all Ichika has ever seen, is Saki Tenma, her childhood friend she’d left home to find, disguised herself as a man all these years to train as a mercenary, then a knight, just for a chance to see her again.
Her beloved friend with no memories of her.
“Saki? What are you–” Ichika asks but Dame Angela steps forward.
“Even now, you can’t stop trying to steal my husband?” she growls in an uncharacteristically feral way. “I thought we discussed this!”
“It’s not about how I feel, it’s about how Ichika feels!” Saki says. “He doesn’t love you!”
“Love has nothing to do with what you’re interfering with!” Dame Angela shouts.
“He’s the hero of this Kingdom! Doesn’t he deserve happiness? Not just being a political pawn?!” Saki turns to plead to the gathered knights and nobles and doesn’t see the knife Dame Angela pulls out.
Ichika doesn’t have to think before throwing herself between Saki and the blade.
Dame Angela herself seems shocked when it plunges into Ichika’s stomach, but Ichika stands firm and grabs her fiancée’s wrist.
“Dame Angela,” she says, “I cannot allow you to hurt Saki.”
“ Saki?! ” Dame Angela. “She’s a blight, an intrusion on everything we’ve worked for and–”
“She’s my best friend,” Ichika says. “And I can’t let you hurt her!”
The world is starting to blur, but Ichika doesn’t dare loosen her grip, lest Dame Angela try and attack Saki again.
“Ichika!” Saki gasps. “Why…”
“Because, what I’ve always wanted to do is… protect… you…”
~
When Ichika wakes up, she can tell from the gentle swaying of the room she’s on a ship.
“Ah!” Saki pokes her head over her. “Sorry, I was just cleaning your wound.”
Ichika’s heart stops, and her hands go up to her chest. Her unbound chest. “I-I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Saki asks.
“Lying to you a-about being a man,” Ichika says.
“If you say you’re a man, you’re a man,” Saki says, “no one will judge you for it, I know Gris is a very strict place, but Mizuki can–”
“I’m not a man,” Ichika says. “I… I was born a woman. A woman in the Light Kingdom, in fact, when knights attacked my village and took my dearest friend. I traveled to try and find her and ended up in Gris. The only way I could learn to fight, be strong enough to save my friend, was if I pretended to be a man.”
“Why not reveal yourself sooner?” Saki asks. “I mean surely once you were the greatest knight in the kingdom, you could reveal yourself and they’d have to respect you.”
“B-because I met my friend again,” Ichika admits, “and I was scared if she knew I was a woman she’d never love me back. So I continued pretending to be a man to pretend that she would return my feelings.”
“You shouldn’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not just for that,” Saki says. “Be whoever you want.”
“I… thank you, Saki.” Ichika says.
“And for the record,”
“Hm?”
“You know Ichi, I like women as well as men.”
Ichika feels her face turn bright red as Saki continues dressing her wounds.
Shattered
Yusuke stretches his arm out and flexes. It’s completely fine. Better than fine, it’s like new.
Certainly not like a shadow had beaten it into a purple pulp just thirty minutes earlier.
It’s funny how used he got to the shadows and their predictable patrols, the rhythm and cadence of battles. So much so, he wasn’t prepared for one to rush forward grab his shoulder, slam him to the ground and just. Keep. Hitting. Him.
By the end his arm was bent backwards, sharp white bones poking out of bruised flesh, and Yusuke was sure the pain would kill him before the shadow did.
Then Joker and the others pushed it back, Panther healed him, and it was like nothing ever happened.
In fact it was better than new, the soreness from the night before when he’d been lugging cans of paint and canvases up and down the stairs was gone as well, and on the scratches from him picking at a scab as well.
This is a good thing. Objectively, Yusuke knows this. He could figure out how to paint while down an arm but he’s glad he doesn’t have to, even temporarily. So why can’t he stop thinking about it? The whole scenario couldn’t have lasted more than a minute, but it’s lingering in his mind anyway.
“Yusuke, what are you working on?” Sensei asks.
Yusuke’s not quite sure, staring down at the painting. It’s a mess of deep purples and reds, with sharp jagged bits of white standing out in sharp contrast.
“I’m simply, getting something off my mind,” Yusuke mutters.
“Getting warmed up is fine, but remember people will be expecting something new after my exhibition,” Sensei says. “And this is too similar to my previous piece.”
Yusuke bites his tongue. When he’d painted that last piece he was angry, venting. Harsh strokes and paint splatters that he’d hoped would destroy the canvas.
This is considerably different. It’s calm, and solemn, and utilizes contrast because Yusuke was almost murdered by the monsters within his teacher’s heart .
For a brief second he wishes his arm hadn’t been healed, that it was still destroyed, and Yusuke could tell Madarame it was his fault, that his own darkness had destroyed his golden goose this time.
It wouldn’t have mattered, Yusuke knows. Madarame isn't the type of man to be able to recognize something as the consequences of his own actions. He’d either force Yusuke to paint with his other arm, or use Yusuke's predicament to garner sympathy before quietly finding someone else to replace him, as one does when their tools outlive their usefulness.
But the thought is delicious, the idea that Madarame can fully understand what his actions have wrought. That that man will finally feel an ounce of the pain the other pupils suffered and fear for his future for once.
Yusuke takes a deep breath and pulls out his notepad. He should start working on the calling card. The Change of Heart is probably the closest he’ll ever get to the thing he really wants.
Carrot and Stick
Akito gets kicked across the floor of the cabin so hard he feels his ribs crack. Despite the pain, he bears his teeth at the humans that captured him.
“What do you even want ?!” Akito screeches at the humans.
“Well, I’ll take one of two things,” one man holding a how says. “Either you lose your human skin and let us have some of those dragon scales…”
“Stupid idiot!” Akito snaps. ”We don’t shed our skin! Can’t tell the difference between dragons and Selkies?”
Besides, Akito’s too young to grow into full dragon form yet. He can cough out a few sparks and catch prey with the best of them, but being big enough to bite these guys' heads off isa couple of years away. Even his tail isn’t that long.
“Pity,” the man says. “Then kiddo, you should start crying loud enough for your mother to hear.”
“My mother?” Akito frowns. “Dummy, she’s nowhere near here, I’m an independent hatchling. Besides, if you think you can handle my mom, you should just set yourselves on fire now.”
The man stomps on Akito’s leg and there’s a horrible crack . “Kid, we know there was a large, brown dragon flying around here as recently as yesterday, and you were following her around, so start crying. ”
Oh. Ena. They think Ena’s a fully-grown dragon. Humans are really dumb. Why go picking on dragons if you don’t know anything about them.
But the bigger problem is that Ena’s not going to come rescue him. She’s just waiting until he can transform so she can leave him to fend for himself and fend for herself, the proper dragon way.
Their parents were off and not set to come back for a few centuries to see if they survived to proper adulthood, Ena wouldn’t go out of her way to help him.
But Akito can’t let these guys know that. Because then they’ll just kill him.
So he hisses at them and curls in on himself, his tail barely fully wrapping around him.
The men all laugh.
“Alright, kid,” the first man says. “Maybe another beast can convince you since what I’m trying to say is too advanced for you.”
Akito spits at him as he turns to leave, and several large dogs enter the cabin. They all bear their teeth at him and stare at him black beady eyes.
Akito bears his fangs back and spits a few sparks their direction, but it only stops them for a second.
The dogs have razor-sharp teeth, but their ribs are poking out through their skin. They’re starving.
“Go away!” Akito shouts as they back him into a corner. Ok, this is fine. Just a big flame! Something strong enough to keep them away. “Go away!” Akito repeats, trying again to spout an actual flame to no avail.
Akito sucks in a big breath and breathes as hard as possible, and flames erupt over the dogs.
For a second, Akito thinks he actually did it, but then he realizes the flames are coming from the wrong angle, and Ena’s perched at the top of a large hole in the cabin.
“Ena!” Akito yells. “Look out, they want your scales!” There’s the sound of footsteps and men yelling, but Ena ignores them and swoops down to slash at the ropes tying Akito. Akito climbs onto her back just as the men reach the cabin, and Ena releases a breath of colorful flames in their faces.
There are screams, but Ena ignores them and flies away.
“Did they find the cave?” Ena asks.
“No, they got me while I was hunting,” Akito says.
“Seriously? No hunting alone!”
“You’re always sleeping! I gotta practice before I transform!”
“You don’t need that much practice!” Ena flies to the mountain and then transforms back a ways from the cave. “Do you want me to carry you still?”
“I can walk!” Akito says. “I’m stronger than you as a human anyway.”
Ena rolls her eyes but makes special care to keep in step with Akito instead of going ahead like she usually would.
When they get back to the cave, Ena makes sure she’s ok, then immediately leaves.
Akito can hear the screams from the burning village from the cave.
A/n: Yoka Tono is @yumizurueleonora and my name for Arata's mom, we've written her a ton of times.
Hereditary
Oh, Arata thinks, I’m actually going to die.
He’s thought that before, when Souma had to leave to go the hospital first and foremost, but now he actually feels it.
Like something has a vice grip on his heart and the rest of him is wasting away. It hurts. It hurts so much.
Taiga was right, he was just avoiding the pain. This pain. And now that he knows he can't surpass RAD WEEKEND, it's going to kill him.
-
When Akito hears a knock at his door, he assumes it’s Ena and after the thrashing they just got from Taiga he doesn’t want to deal with her.
The knocking doesn’t go away after ignoring it, so finally Akito rolls off his bed.
“Go away shithead, I don’t–” the insult dies in his mouth when Akito sees his dad looking at him grimly.
“Akito, I need to talk to you,” Shinei says and hoo boy whatever Akito thought Ena was going to bug him about, he wants this even less.
“Ok?” Akito says, sitting at his desk while his father sits on his bed.
“So, Akito, I won’t ask for the details about whatever happened tonight,” Shinei starts and oh thank Miku for that. “But I’m going to guess something happened at your show, it went poorly, and you’re feeling very dejected right now.”
Understatement of the fucking century.
“But,” Shinei continues. “It’s probably good that this happened now and not when you’re older so you know how to deal with it. And Akito, no matter what happened or how bad you feel, you cannot give up on singing.”
Akito blinks. “What?”
“You cannot under any circumstances give up your creative passions after you turn 20.”
“Who are you and what did you do with my dad?” Akito asks.
“Akito I’m being very serious right now.”
“Isn’t this like the exact opposite of what you told Ena?” Akito says. “Something about art being super lonely?”
“Ena isn’t cursed.”
“Excuse me?”
Shinei is deathly serious. “The firstborn sons of the Shinonome family are cursed to die if they lose their drive to be creative after they turn 20.”
“What?”
“We all naturally have a passion for doing something creative, and if that drive is ever lost it will kill us,” Shinei says.
“If this is a joke, it REALLY isn’t funny.”
“Akito have I ever told a joke in your life?”
“Oh shit,” Akito says. Then his brain catches up with everything his dad says and he grabs his phone and starts texting
He sees a news alert before he can get the message out though.
Unidentified male, seemingly in his 20s, found collapsed…
“Crap,” Akito says. “Get in the car we have to go to the hospital.”
“What?” Shinei asks. “Why?”
“Because I’m not your firstborn son
-
Souma has to beg the nurses to let him see Arata.
The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him, but they’re doing everything they can to keep him alive.
It was Akito who texted Toya, and since Toya knew Arata was at the hospital a lot, asked if one of Souma’s nurses could confirm his identity.
After that they were reluctant to let Souma see him because of what was going on, but eventually they relented.
Dying.
How could Arata be dying? Souma was supposed to die first, probably should have in the initial car crash.
Arata has a perfect bill of health; he can’t just collapse with some unknown condition!
But there he is, lying on a hospital bed, with vitals Souma knows too well means things are bad, impossibly pale.
He grasps Arata’s hand in his good one and doesn’t let go, even as Yoka arrives and starts crying, and Toya, An, and Kohane show up to comfort him.
An looks like she’s already been crying today, but Souma doesn’t ask.
Finally, Akito arrives with a man who does kind of look like Arata.
“Hello,” the man with Akito says. “I’m Shinei Shinonome, I believe this is my fault?”
Yoka spins around and slaps him, and Shinei nods.
“I probably deserved that. I’m so sorry Yuma, I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“It’s Yoka.”
“Oh,” Shinei says. “Just slap me again if you want.”
“What I want is to know what’s going on with my son.”
“Right. Ok so, the firstborn sons of the Shinonome family are afflicted with a curse that hits when they become 20. After that point if they lose their creative drive, they die.”
“Arata… lost his creative drive?” Souma gasps.
“Him, along with everyone else in our group,” Kohane mutters. “Taiga decided to challenge us to show us we couldn’t surpass RAD WEEKEND.”
Souma winces “It went that badly?”
“Yeah,” An says. “Aunt Nagi’s dead.”
“She died at your show?!”
“No, she’s been dead for three years and everyone in town knew except us.”
“What about Arata?” Souma says instead of processing that. “Even if Taiga was tough and Nagi was dead he wouldn’t just give up–”
“Taiga told him he’d never be able to surpass RAD WEEKEND because he didn’t really care about it.” Toya says, “because really all he cared about was keeping his promise to you.”
Taiga… used Souma to hurt Arata? Lead him to almost die (albeit unintentionally on Taiga’s part)?!
Souma takes a deep breath and turns back to Arata. “Hey, partner, I know you can hear me. I’m sorry about what Taiga said to you. He’s a bastard. Anyway, apparently you need to keep being creative or you’ll die, and I know this is selfish, but I need you to live for me, partner. Don’t keep being a singer if you don’t want to, write, or draw, or do anything. I don’t care, but I love you partner and I need you to live!”
Souma repeats “I need you to live” like it’s a prayer, and soon he feels movement in his hand. He jerks his head up. “Arata?!”
“Hey, partner,” Arata says weakly. “What happened?” Arata takes a look around the room and his smile drops. “What the hell are the rest of you doing here?”
“Glad you’re ok,” Akito says. “Anyway, it turns out you inherited a curse from our dad.”
“Oh of fucking course,” Arata says. “God, anything else I need to know about?”
“Please tell me you don’t have a second family curse,” Yoka says.
“No,” Shinei says. “We used to think there was another one, but when I was a kid we figured out that autism was just really common in my family so other than those, that should be everything.”
“What about the allergy to penicillin?” Akito asks.
“That’s your mother’s side of the family.”
“Great well if you haven’t given me any more troubles can you get out? I’m having a moment with my partner here. The rest of you leave too.”
“Excuse me?” Yoka says. “You just nearly died, I don’t care how much you love Souma, you’re not kicking me out.”
“Ok fine, everyone except my mom and my partner get the hell out.”
“Glad you’re not dead, by the way,” An says. “You know the worst day of my life would be even worse if that happened. Still doing shit otherwise, thanks for asking.”
“Oh my god, we’ll deal with that later.”
“I want to point out that I’m the one who realized you might die and rushed over here,” Akito says.
“Thank you, now get out.”
Everyone except Yoka leaves, and Arata smiles the prettiest smile in the world.
“I guess we’ll have to stay partners,” Arata says. “Or else I’ll die. How could I possibly have any creative drive without you?”
“Oh no, how terrible,” Souma says, and he doesn’t hesitate. He leans in to kiss Arata for the first time in far too long.
Packing Up
Akira: Almost ready?
Yusuke was done packing an hour ago. He didn’t have much to bring to the dorm, and he doesn’t have much to take when he leaves it.
Yusuke: A couple more minutes
Akira: U sure u don’t need help?
Yusuke: Yes, I just need a moment.
A large duffle bag and a few boxes are all he needs before heading to the train station to his new dorms at Osaka University.
The others are going to drive him down to the train station and see him off, and childishly, Yusuke wants to hide in the closet so he doesn’t have to say goodbye. That’s what he did when Nakonahara left.
But he’s the one leaving now, after spending his senior year with half his friends outside of Tokyo.
Osaka University gave him a good scholarship. Room, board, a meal plan, and a stipend for the school store. It’s the most generous offer he’s received of any of the school’s he’s applied to, and his friends were so happy for him.
Now instead of seeing half his friends occasionally he’ll be all alone on the other side of the country.
Maybe he doesn’t have to go, maybe he can stay in Tokyo, work part-time jobs and make his art on the side. Get his own apartment and visit with his friends and not have to face truly living alone for the first time.
But, that wouldn’t make him happy, would it? He wants to make a name for himself, to finally overcome Madarame’s name being attached to him, and to prove his former Sensei hasn’t ruined the careers of everyone in his care.
And it’d be nice, wouldn’t it? To go back to Tokyo a successful artist, purchase and renovate the atelier, and turn it back into a place filled with pupils, but one that actually cared about its students. That stood behind them and advocated for them, everything Yusuke wanted but never got.
He can’t get there working part-time and living in a small apartment.
A BFA means connections, more people seeing his work, more resources to help those future pupils, and learning how to teach from people who aren’t frauds.
All it means is leaving his friends behind, at least for a little bit. Being truly alone.
“Hey, there you are!” Ryuji wraps his arm around Yuskue’s shoulder and pulls him into a side hug. “You’re gonna miss your train!”
“Yusuke?” Ann says. “You’re crying.”
Yusuke turns to see Akira, Morgana, Ann, and Ryuji facing him.
“What’s wrong?” Morgana asks. “You’re not gonna miss this place, are you.”
“I’m going to miss you all,” Yusuke says, wiping his sleeve.
“Awwww, come on, it’s not like we’ll never see each other,” Ryuji says. “We’ll have vacations.”
“Plus we’ll probably text every day,” Akira says. “If Ann can keep a conversation going from Italy, she can certainly keep one going from here.”
“Not that you’ll need it!” Ann says quickly. “Becuase you’ll make a bunch of art friends in Osaka and talk about stuff like Pluralism or whatever?”
“Pluralism isn’t an art movement,” Yusuke says. “And I’ve never made friends before.”
“Hey, what are we?” Morgana asks.
“You barged into my house and tried to badger me for information on Madarame while he was in the house, and then I threatened to call the cops on you so you would leave,” Yusuke points out. “That’s not the same as making friends by simply meeting people.” And before them, he was completely alone.
“Ok well, definitely don’t call the cops on them,” Ann says. “And don’t ask them to model nude.”
“There’s probably a nude drawing class I can attend.”
“There, and after that class you go up to someone and ask if they want to get lunch!” Ryuji says. “Food’s like the fastest way to make friends.”
“Or tell someone their art sucks,” Ann says. “That’s what Shiho did.”
Yusuke frowns. “I would never do that, I want to encourage people’s art.”
“Of course,” Akira says. “You’ll figure it out. Don’t worry. And if you’re really lonely you can head to Kyoto and bother Zenkichi all day.”
That makes Yusuke crack a smile. “I suppose.”
Morgana hops off Akira’s shoulder and onto Yusuke’s. “You’ll be finneeee,” he says. “You’re gonna kick ass and in four years you’ll probably have your own art show in Tokyo that Ryuji can’t afford to attend.”
“Hey!”
“I’ll reserve tickets for you,” Yusuke says.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryuji says. “But come on, let’s get you on that train first.”
Equinox
“Just a little more,” Akito mutters. The guy in the strange clothes who climbed out of the well, Toya? Is helping him get to a clearing far enough from the bounty hunters.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Well Guy’s smaller, more nervous, Well Friend, Kohane, asks. “That looks like it hurts.”
Of course the metal harpoon embedded in his shoulder hurts, but they need to find cover before they do anything else.
“Should we try and find a town?” the final Well Person, An says.
“By the River, no!” Akito says. “Do you want us to all be burned at the stake?”
“B-burned? Like witches?” Kohane asks. “B-but we’re not witches!”
“I’ve never seen regular people who dress like you,” Akito says. “Or who live in wells.”
“We don’t live in the well,” An says. “I found this old chest that belonged to my aunt, we opened it, and we fell in!”
“That’s witch stuff,” Akito says. “Ok, here.” They reach the mouth of the cave, moving aside the moss, and Akito heads back and moves a large rock covering his supplies.
He takes the flint and sets the remains of the fire from last week. He’d prefer fresh wood but he doesn’t want the Well People to go out on their own, they don’t seem very reliable.
Luckily for all of them, the fire starts quickly and they’re warmed up. Toya recloses the moss covering.
“Ok, so the first thing I’m going to need you to do,” Akito says after taking a seat on one of the rocks, “is take that stone over there and break off the back half of this harpoon with the chain.”
“What?” Kohane asks. “Won’t that hurt?”
“Oh it’s the least painful part of all of this.”
Kohane squeaks.
An understands what he wants to do, and picks up the rock. The cave is silent with the sharp clangs of stone on metal, until finally the end of the harpoon connected to the chain clatters across the cave floor.
“What now?” An grunts.
Akito grips the triangular part of the harpoon sticking out the front of his right shoulder and pulls as hard as he can.
He knows not to scream, but Kohane didn’t get the memo, and even An and Toya stagger back.
Akito ignores them and holds his left arm up to his shoulder and mutters a healing spell. Soon, a pair of orange circles appear over both sides of the wound.
“Ok,” Akito says, barely staying awake. “That’s going to take a bit to heal, and it requires a lot of energy, so I’m going to pass out. You’re free to leave, of course, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Thank you for your help in getting here, and please don’t try to kill me while I sleep.”
“Wait hold on!” An gasps. “What is this place, what does it have to do with Aunt Nagi?”
“Who are you?” Kohane adds. “Why were those people trying to kill you anyway?”
“What’s your name?” Toya asks, and it’s that question he focuses on as his consciousness slips away.
“Name’s Akito Shinonome, The Last Autumn Witch.”
A/N: Brought to you by @yumizurueleonora saying I should be mean to Saki.
If I were to step out of this thin white line I'm tugged by
It isn’t even noon. They’d only had their first few classes, it was an hour and a half before they all took a break for lunch, and then after that Leo/need was going to try recording their first demo album and practice for their live show!
So Saki cannot already be in pain. She cannot be in so much pain before noon she wants to go home and lie down in her plushies and not move.
It’ll get better, of course it’ll get better, it’s early! She can just push through it, Saki just has to make sure that no one notices, because if the others heard she was in pain now, then they’d cancel all their big plans for today even if she went home and felt better later.
Her back’s the worst by the time lunch comes. Each invertebrate disk feels like it’s creaking, and it’s making it hard to stand up straight but Saki Will! Not! Give! Up! She’s had worse at the hospital, and that’s why she’s not there anymore!
She could ask to go to the nurse’s office to get her pain medication but Miyajou’s full of gossips. No way that doesn’t get back to Ichika and the others and then they’ll be like “just to be safe, let’s put it off for today!”
No! Life isn’t about playing it safe! Life isn’t about being cooped up in a small boring hospital room where people constantly check on you and you’ll never get hurt but you’ll feel dead inside!
She can get pain pills after they record the demo.
When the final bell rings, Saki’s head hurts. God a migraine. She grabs an energy drink that’s supposed to have extra Vitamin B2 and hopes that’ll work. Save her, Riboflavin! It won’t matter though because she can play the songs that’ll be on their demo in her sleep.
“Saki-chan?” Honami asks. “Are you ok, you seem pale?”
“I’m great! We’re gonna have a demo!” Saki says. “Have you been working on the album art?”
Honami’s hand goes to her notebook, and Saki smiles, reaching for it. Instead of pictures of lion-like creatures like Honami did for their flyers, there are pictures of the old playground they used to walk by, with doodles of shooting stars and constellations overhead.
“I… I thought maybe it would be bad if I drew our first album cover from scratch, so I’ve just been thinking of what kind of layout we can do with images?” Honami says quickly.
“Oh!” Saki says. “I love it!”
“Love what?” Shiho asks, walking up with Ichika.
“Our first album cover!” Saki announces, showing them the sketchbook.
“It’s not exactly an album,” Ichika says, “it’s a demo, it’s only going to be a couple of songs to give to agents.”
“But!” Saki says, wiggling her eyebrows. “Soon we will have an album! Just after we record this. Now what are we waiting for?” Saki spins on her heel and runs off.
The studio they’re recording in looks totally cool, like the kind they have in movies. It’s so professional! So real! This is it, they can–
Saki wakes up in the hospital. Ichika is sitting across from her, and notices as soon as she opens her eyes.
“Saki!” Ichika gasps. “Oh my gosh, are you ok? We were so scared when you passed out we didn’t know what to do, Honami was freaking out and Shiho called the ambulance and I kept trying to wake you up and I wasn’t sure if I should do CPR or something.”
Saki frowns. “We didn’t get to record the demo.”
“The demo?” Ichika gasps. “Saki you fainted, I think that’s more important than the demo!”
Saki coughs. “But it’s not just the demo, you’re going to say we need to practice less because I might get tired.”
“W-well we were talking about it but–”
“That’s the problem! Do you know how much professional performers practice?” Saki asks. “Professional Broadway actors do eight shows a week, I heard Tsukasa-nii talking about it! If we wanna go pro, we have to keep up with that now!”
“If we want to go pro, we need you alive!” Ichika snaps.
Saki stares at her, at a loss.
“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell,” Ichika says. “B-but you really scared us, and if going pro means pushing you so hard you could get seriously hurt, then I don’t want to go pro.”
“But then Shi-chan would leave us,” Saki says.
“You seriously think that?” Shiho says, entering the room with Honami and hospital donuts.
“It’s your dream,” Saki points out.
“Well maybe it used to be,” Shiho says. “But right now, my dream is going pro with you guys.”
“It wouldn’t be the same without all of us,” Honami says. “So please, Saki, let us know when you need a break.”
Saki thinks she’s going to cry if she hasn’t started already. “Fine. Yeah. Let’s just get out of here. I hate the hospital.”
Curation
As Sensei sleeps soundly in his room down the hall, Yusuke’s mind drifts back to the painting of him in that museum.
It’s all so surreal. To think those arrogant strangers had a means of seeing what he couldn’t despite living there.
But that isn’t true, is it? Despite only awakening to his Persona today, Goemon’s weight in the back of his mind is comforting, like an old friend, reminding him that he did know, he just turned a blind eye, and took it out on the others when they tried to warn him.
Still, the painting of him, of all the pupils, lining the halls of that museum, somehow that’s more haunting than anything else he’s seen today.
Yusuke had never given much thought to how Sensei thought of them. At the worst, he assumed Madarame didn’t remember everyone who’d passed through the atelier and everyone he’d stolen from. He must not give them much thought, because how could he remember the faces and names of every single pupil and not care about them or what happened to them?
Yusuke remembered, he remembered all of them. His heart aches for the day this place had even one other person for him to talk to when it was truly alive. But seeing their faces perfectly preserved in Madarme’s heart, proudly displayed in fact?
What is Yusuke to make of it? That Madarame remembers everyone who suffered under him and is happy about it? There’s no ounce of shame or introspection? He can remember the faces of students who screamed and cried and demanded he give their work back, who now look completely different because they’re reduced to begging for scraps at the train station, some of whom are dead, and what? Nothing?
Yusuke feels haunted every time he closes his eyes and thinks of all those students lining the halls of the museum, his own face frozen in an eerie smile that doesn’t match how he’s face in a long time.
The idea that Sensei could remember all of them and feel nothing is the most chilling thing about that place. Moreso than hearing the words from Sensei’s own Shadow.
Then there’s the other fact that Yusuke doesn’t want to consider. Ann had briefly described seeing her own cognitive self in the heart of the last person they’d confronted, and her shadow had been a person.
A caricature of her, sure, but someone capable of moving under her own power.
To Sensei, Yusuke and the others were, what? Objects? His creations? Surely Sensei understood that Yusuke was a person, right? That he had feelings and fears and cried and got hungry. He’d raised Yusuke after all, how do you raise someone you don’t think of as a person? And worse, it makes Yusuke feel stupid for daring to think of him as a father. Because that was it, wasn’t it? Sensei raised him from childhood, and none of it mattered. Yusuke wasn’t any different from any of the hundreds of other pupils.
And to Yusuke’s shame, the fact that he isn’t special to his foster father hurts more than anything else.
5 Times The Phantom Thieves Didn't Sleep + 1 Time They Did
I
Hey, let’s meet up at Mementos today.
Yusuke’s ashamed of the tension that goes through his back at that text. The literature professor had decided to give them all a surprise take-home paper to write and turn in by tomorrow, and he really needs to work on it.
But, he can’t let his grades come before making sure his friends are ok, can he? Or the people who made those requests. It’s not a problem, he can just work late tonight. And take some time to work on that piece for class.
He’ll be fine with only a couple of hours of sleep.
II
“Makoto?” Sae asks. “You’re back late.”
“Sorry, busy with some work after school,” Makoto replies, yawning. If it’s resolving a Mementos request for another student, then technically it’s Student Council work. It’s her responsibility as Student Council President to resolve it at least.
“Are you prepared for your exam at cram school tomorrow?”
Makoto blinks. “Huh?”
“Makoto! I’m paying for you to go and–”
“No, I meant, erm why would you even bother to ask that?” Makoto chuckles. “Obviously I’m ready for it!”
“Good, even if it’s a practice exam, it’s important to be confident now so you’re even more prepared for your entrance exams.”
Makoto goes to the kitchen and makes herself a pot of coffee. She shouldn’t be up too late.
III
“Does this shit make any sense to you?” Ryuji asks.
“Nope,” Ann sighs. Putting the math textbook down. Two heads are supposed to be better than one, but maybe math homework is just too powerful for that.
“God,” Ryuji says, “I feel like you’re gonna call me a shithead for this.”
“I call you a shithead for a lot of things, what is it?”
“It fucking sucks that Ren asked us to go to Mementos today.”
“Honestly? Hard agree.” They’d invited Ren to their homework session today, but he’d never gotten back to them. Not that he needed it, but you know, it was always nice to hang out.
Except they wanted to do this in the afternoon, when they’d have more time and could meet at a cafe.
Instead, Ren decided today was the best day for requests.
“What if we blocked off Mementos for like, Wednesdays?” Ryuji suggests. “Then we can schedule around it better?”
“But what if a request is urgent. Plus Palace stuff.”
“Ugh, you’re right.”
Ann flops back and lets the textbook cover her face.
“Ann?”
“Yeah.”
“I kinda hate that I can’t tell him no.”
“Yeah, I know but like, it’s whatever?” Ann says. “That’s just part of being a student and a Phantom Thief, I guess.”
IV
Haru practically dives for the phone when she hears it ring. “Futaba-chan?”
“Hey, I got the info you wanted,” Futaba says. “This investor seems pretty clean.”
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much,” Haru says. “I’m supposed to get this report in to the investors tomorrow and I can’t ask for a delay and I wasn’t sure who to trust and–”
“Hey, no problem!” Futaba says. “Just don’t tell them you heard it from me.”
“Thank you, I owe you so much, Futaba-chan.”
“No prob, I’m probably gonna pass out, how about you?”
“I can’t, there are still things I need to arrange with my father’s will and then I’m meeting with lawyers in the morning, goodness I need more coffee!”
“How much have you had?” Futaba asks.
“Oh, four or five–”
“Cups?”
“Pots.”
“Holy shit, Haru!”
“I know, I know,” Haru says. “I was going to do all of this after school but then we had that Mementos run and now I have to do it all before morning.”
“You should have just told Ren you couldn’t make it! He gets we have lives, it’s not like he hangs out with us every time we ask.”
“Mementos is different Futaba, you know that. I’ll talk to you later.” Haru hangs up and gets back to work.
V
It’s not wrong to hack her friends’ phones if she’s genuinely concerned for their well-being, Futaba tells herself.
Besides, taking a quick peak at their calendars is like, barely snooping. She could text and ask them but she’s really hoping they’re asleep.
She’s not, but she doesn’t have school in the morning. She can go to bed at 7am and still get the proper eight hours of sleep a growing girl needs.
She and Morgana are the only ones who aren't students and Phantom Thieves though, and oh boy is being a high school student busy.
Let’s see, Makoto has an exam at cram school tomorrow, Haru had that meeting they were just talking about, Ryuji and Ann were texting (ok texts were a bit more snooping than calendars, but like, it’s important!) about meeting up to do a bunch of homework they’d put off while they were clearing Sae’s Palace, and Yusuke had an email reminder from a teacher about an essay.
And none of them had brought any of this up when Ren asked them all to go to Mementos today.
Damn, looks like Futaba has to be the responsible one.
+1
Ren doesn’t know why Futaba suddenly suggested group movie night, but hey, it’s always good when she wants to be social, and his schedule’s free now that they’ve finished up the requests.
They all gather around the attic, and Ren’s a little worried about them all watching the tiny TV, but it’s not really a problem, because pretty much everyone else falls asleep by the fifteen-minute mark.
“Wow, they’re tired,” Ren says. “Guess they don’t have Mona to tell them to get to bed early.”
“Uh, Ren about that?” Futaba asks. “Do you ask if anyone has stuff going on before saying to meet up for Phantom Thief stuff?”
Ren blinks. “I mean, I guess not but I figure they’ll tell me if it’s super urgent.”
“Ok, but see, I think they don’t,” Futaba says. “I actually asked all of them about it, and they feel really bad about canceling Mementos plans, so they push all their stuff back and do it at night. Like none of them got any sleep the last couple of days.”
Ren furrows his brows. He kinda, hasn’t thought about how his friends are always willing to show up when he calls for a meeting, even on days they’re not normally free to hang out. He just, you know, figured they did the same things he did. He doesn’t have a problem getting everything done before going to Mementos.
Then again, he’s the one picking Mementos days because he has nothing else going on.
“I’m a shit leader,” Ren says head hanging back.
“No, I don’t think you’re shit!” Morgana says. “We just gotta tell them they don’t have to come to Mementos if they’re busy, it’s not a problem to push it back.”
“We could like, make a group calendar?” Futaba suggests. “Plan ahead a little bit? I mean Palaces and emergencies are one thing, but I dunno, maybe everyone can plan better and say if they super duper can’t?”
“Yeah,” Ren says. “But uh, let’s do that later. They look like they need their sleep right now.”
Scars in your heart
A deep breath in, then out. Again, and again.
He’s fine. He reminds himself that he’s fine, that nothing can hurt him right now, because he’s safe here, in his room.
Akito picks at the sore where the cuffs were and tries to calm himself. He’s scared of nothing, a half-remembered nightmare that obviously featured her but nothing else specific.
It’s not enough to call Toya, to wake him up and make him worry.
So Akito is fine. Really! He has to be.
The next day at school, everything’s a blur. He’s tired now, never did get back to sleep.
“Hey Shinonome!” One of the guys from the soccer team pats him in the back and Akito leaps out of his skin.
Stupid, he’s jumping at shadows. How long has it been now, six months? He’s a second year now, he’s older, he should be over it.
He feels An and Kusanagi’s concerned gazes drilling into the back of his head like a hole, and he knows soon others will notice and follow suit.
Because if they, the ones who saw, who rescued him were worried, then something serious must be wrong.
Akito curls his hands into fists so tightly his knuckles are paper white and he focuses on the literature passage in front of him.
Get through the period, then the day, then the week and eventually he’ll be over it.
Tsukasa-senpai stops him in the hallway and asks something, and Akito doesn’t listen because he can see the concern in his eyes and knows he’s trying to cheer him up, which he doesn’t need.
He eats lunch on the roof alone.
Three hours left.
The rest of the day is easy, he answers questions when he’s called on, the teacher looks at him like an idiot a couple of times, but he genuinely doesn’t care if he’s right or wrong, he just needs the day to be over.
Some of the guys from the soccer team ask him to help as he’s walking briskly towards the gates at the end of the day, and Akito smiles and waves them off but it’s not right, something’s wrong because now they look bothered.
Whatever, he’s not going to think about it, he just runs home and curls back in on his bed and now he’s really fine. He’s really actually fine and safe and can calm down and wait for this stupid scared animal in his chest to leave him alone and stop screaming about him to watch every corner in case she’s behind it.
The door opens.
Akito’s breath stops but he swallows. He’s not stupid it’s fine.
He looks up and it’s just Toya and he leans back against the bed. Toya wordlessly climbs next to him and wraps his arms around him.
“Want to talk about it?” he asks.
“No. ‘S stupid.”
“This about singing or…”
“Her.”
“Yeah, ok. Wanna take a nap?”
“Stay?”
“Of course, why do you think I’m here?”
“Thanks, partner.” And for the first time all day, Akito feels relaxed.
Winter Wonderland
Yusuke is cold.
That’s not impossible for him, obviously, though he knows how to cope with it when he doesn’t feel like wasting money on turning on the space heater in the dorm.
In the Metaverse, though, that’s a problem, and Yusuke can’t help but worry that it’s why he hasn’t heard from anyone since they got separated.
Just when you think you understand something about Mementos, an alteration happens, they sink through the floor, and instead of just taking them down a level the entire group gets separated and the floor you were just on is now covered in frost.
“Oracle?” Yusuke asks out loud again, and his breath is visible in front of him. He’s getting very desperately worried.
He’s fine. Cold, but fine. How would the others fair? Would Ann be able to use her powers to keep herself warm or would her weakness to Ice prove detrimental in this weather? There’s a logic to the Metaverse, but it's not intuitive.
Hopefully, he’s the only one here, and he just needs to find the stairs.
He knows the way, walking carefully so as to avoid large shadows and slipping on the patches of ice on the ground.
Though, now that he thinks about it, he hasn’t seen any shadows down here.
There’s the crunch of someone stepping on snow, and Yusuke turns the corner to see a large blob of shadows barreling toward him.
He grips his sword and prepares for a fight, but the shadow runs past him, squeaking.
It’s scared.
The stairs are in the direction the shadow ran away from.
Yusuke tightens his grip and continues carefully in that direction. He almost reaches the stairs before tripping on something.
No, someone.
Futaba.
She’s frozen solid, which is fine, right? Because they’ve all been frozen at some point (not Yusuke, really, but that’s not important), it’s another status effect.
Though Yusuke doesn’t have any skills or medicine for status effects so…
Yusuke takes a deep breath and carefully drags the frozen-solid Futaba to the escalator and up a level. It seems once they’re far enough away, the effect wears off and she pops right up.
“-adow!” Futaba screams, then she looks around and lifts her goggles off her head. “Uh, what happened?”
“I found you frozen downstairs,” Yusuke explains between breaths. “We got separated from the others.”
“Right, yeah that Shadow, it seemed stronger than the others,” Futaba says. At least she’s acting normally.
Mementos is nothing if not consistent.
Futaba summons Necronomicon and Yusuke gets back up.
“Ok, good news and bad news!” Futaba says. “Good news, I can tell everyone’s on the lower floor.”
“And the bad news?”
“The bad news is everyone except Joker and Panther are frozen, and Panther’s using a lot of magic already. You’ll have to find them and get everyone back up here.”
“Could defeating the Shadow that–”
“No.” Futaba says instantly. “Not even worth risking. Maybe if we were a bit stronger and better prepped we could take it on, it’s not the Reaper, but now is definitely not the time.”
Yusuke nods. “I’ll go meet Joker and Panther then.”
“Right, I’ll call them.”
Yusuke heads back down and with Futaba’s help, finds Ann and Akira pretty quickly. He doesn’t even say anything before Joker hands him a thermos of coffee, which Yusuke takes gratefully.
“Oracle caught us up,” Akira says.
“We were just thinking we could find Mona first, unfreeze him, and then get everyone all at once,” Ann says.
“But if we run into the Shadow again, everyone might end up refrozen.”
Akira nods. “Yeah, that’s why I was thinking: thanks to Ann I was able to switch to a Persona that resists ice, what if I keep the Shadow busy while you two get the others.”
“That seems dangerous.”
“That’s what I said,” Ann mutters.
“There’s not an option that isn’t dangerous,” Akira points out. “And the most dangerous thing is staying in one place too long.”
Yusuke and Ann share a look. Akira’s always too willing to put himself in harm's way.
“I could do it,” Yusuke offers.
“I have all the supplies,” Akira counters.
“What if I go with you,” Ann says.
“Ice spells, Panther.”
“I’ll stay back, focus on healing and fire, you keep the bulk of its focus,” Ann says.
“You’ll have me to watch your back!” Oracle says. “And you don’t even really have to fight it, you just need to keep it away from the person Fox is grabbing.”
“But–”
“If there’s one person well suited to being down here on their own,” Yusuke says, “it’s me.”
Akira grits his teeth like he wants to pull rank but doesn’t. “Ok, fine, but the first sign of trouble, Panther I want you out of there.”
“No problem.”
They split up, Yusuke following Futaba’s instructions to find the frozen bodies of his friends buried under snow, while Ann and Joker lure the Shadow away from him.
He tries not to let the sound of gunshots, of clashing metal, of Futaba’s squeaks get to him, he just moves as fast as he can.
Ryuji’s the last one he finds, and being pure muscle on top magically being frozen solid, is the heaviest by far.
Yusuke does his best to lug him to the escalator when he hears Futaba shout in his head.
“NO NOT THAT WAY!”
“We don’t have a lot of other options!” Ann shouts, but Yusuke doesn’t hear it over the comms, he hears it echoing down the hallway.
With a heavy grunt Yusuke tries to pick up his pace, reaching the escalator just in time to hear the click of Ann and Akira’s heels on the ice and see them turn the corner followed by a ghastly figure wrapped in a thick cloak.
“Sorry Skull,” Yusuke mutters before dumping him on the escalator and letting him ride up himself.
Yusuke rushes back towards Ann and Akira, just as Ann trips.
Without thinking, Yusuke throws himself in front of her, taking the attack the Shadow sent.
Yusuke’s worked too long in the cold before, not wanting to waste Sensei’s money on a heater. At some point, the hand holding the brush didn’t just feel cold, it ached, like a thousand tiny needles were digging into his skin.
That’s how he feels now, except instead of his hand, it’s his entire insides. It feels like frost might have formed on his lungs.
He can't think of anything except the cold.
Luckily he doesn’t need to think for Goemon to counter the Shadow’s next strike, parrying its snow-white staff with his own pipe.
Once the Shadow is on its back foot (metaphorically, as it doesn’t appear to have feet), Ann lets out a screech and sends a fireball at it.
Then another, then another.
Then Akira throws a bomb.
When the smoke clears, all that’s left is a silver coin glittering on the frost.
Ann collapses to the ground, and Akira runs over to Yusuke, helping him up.
“Are you ok?” Akira asks.
“Yes, it just knocked the wind out of me,” Yusuke says. Akira clearly doesn’t believe him, because he takes off his coat and wraps it around Yusuke before going to pick up the coin.
“Morozko, huh?” he mutters.
“Akira,” Ann sighs from the ground. “Tell me whatever that bastard dropped is enough to pay for a whole day at a sauna.”
“No, sorry,” Akira replies. “But I can fuse it as a Persona.”
That causes Ann to sit up and look at him. “If you ever summon that thing in front of me I’m dumping you.”
“Fair enough.”
The three of them head back to the escalators and regroup, and Yusuke's never been so happy to see normal Mementos in his life.
“Fox, are you ok?” Haru asks, taking off her glove. “You’re burning up.”
Yusuke’s about to insist he’s fine again, but instead he sneezes.
“And you look paler than usual dude,” Ryuji adds.
“He took a bad hit for me,” Ann says. “Thanks by the way.”
“D-don’t mention it,” Yusuke says, pulling Joker’s coat around him tighter.
“You might need extra help,” Makoto says, also starting to look concerned.
“Y-you all were frozen,” Yusuke points out. “You’re fine.”
“Yes, but we were frozen all at once,” Makoto says. “You’ve just been running around in the cold and then took a direct hit which might be, I don’t know, different. Also you look worse than any of us.”
Akira pats him on the back. “C’mon big guy, let’s get you back to Leblanc and full of curry and coffee and hopefully that’ll fix everything.”
Yusuke sneezes again.
“Maybe you should also stay over.”
Beneath The Surface
The closet feels darker than it should be. Like Yusuke should be able to see some outline of the door or some light fluttering in through the window, but no it’s pitch black.
He can’t see the walls around him, but he can feel them, he can’t stretch out his arms or legs without hitting them.
When he was younger the closet felt bigger, but now that he’s in that awkward part of puberty where Madarame is constantly complaining about having to buy him new clothes, it’s suffocating in a whole new way.
Yusuke would have thought claustrophobia was based on being able to see that you’re enclosed, but apparently not.
He steadies his breaths. Sensei will let him out soon, right? He can’t be that mad.
Yusuke had only wanted to keep a painting for longer, put on some finishing touches, it wasn’t ready for Sensei to display.
So what if he screamed, Sensei hadn’t been listening and–
And now he’s in this dark closet that’s both a void and much too small.
Yusuke leans his head back, and at some point falls asleep, because his neck is sore. Now that he’s had some time to calm down, he can admit to himself that he was lying.
Sensei’s real talent was his eye for appraisal; he'd been consulted on identifying forgeries before he became a big artist. Of course, he could tell Yusuke was lying, that he didn’t want Sensei to put it on display under a different name.
Yusuke didn’t care all that much the first time it happened, the twinge in his gut and being kept awake for nights thinking about what this meant for everyone who’d come through notwithstanding.
But, this one had been special. It had been a dream or a memory of going to the aquarium with his mother.
There was a touch tank, full of creatures the other kids were gathered around, and Yusuke was scared to go up for some reason.
He can’t remember anything more than the hazy outline of his mother, not what she said, just that she helped him calm down and slowly guided him over to the tank.
And… he thinks he remembers her laugh.
A manta ray had come up to meet Yusuke’s hand and splashed him a little, and Yusuke can picture in his mind her laughing and saying See, it likes you! but he doesn’t know if that really happened or if it was something he made up to cope with the fact that other kids could remember their moms.
It was a stupid thing to base a piece on, not with more and more students leaving and Yusuke having to pick up more of the slack. If he hadn’t wanted Madarame to take it, he shouldn’t have made it in the first place.
Yusuke pulls himself tighter and takes in a shaky breath. When Sensei lets him out, he’ll have learned his lesson.
Don’t tell Sensei “no.”
And don’t think about his mother when making art. Not if he wants what fleeting memories he has to stay his.
they say that in the end, the value of music is subjective
Akito’s throat is burning. He snag his heart out at Crawl Green, the culmination of nonstop practice and training.
And they’d been bored. People were so unimpressed with him they went outside to check their phones or to use the bathroom.
Would it have been better if he’d lost his voice on stage? Or just passed out, or given a bad performance?
But no it wasn’t bad, it was simply unexceptional, at least compared to the normal crowd at Crawl Green.
What has he done? Tears are starting to prick the corner of his face.
“There you are!”
Akito wipes his face. In front of him is a severe-looking older man it takes him a beat too long to recognize.
“Do you know who I am?”
Akito nods. This is Shigeru Midori. The owner of Crawl Green.
“Then you should be apologizing, boy!” Midori snaps. “Who do you think you are? You really think you can stroll in there and stink up my venue?”
Akito flinches back like he’d been hit. “S-some guys invited me to perform and–”
“And you thought you were God’s gift to the city, huh? You had the ego to think you could just stroll in and–”
“No!” Akito says. “I didn’t want to run away! I want to surpass RAD WEEKEND, and that means–”
“Of course you did,” Midori crosses his arms. “Hungry dogs like you yapping and yapping for a carcass.”
“I’m serious!” Akito says, and he knows he’s in the wrong here, that he shouldn’t argue at the man rightfully chewing him out for disgracing a place like Crawl Green, but it’s not in his nature to take something like this lying down, is it? “I’m serious about RAD WEEKEND, so when those guys asked if I was going to run away, I decided I wouldn’t. I know… I know I overstepped today, and I’m sorry, but I was there, I know how important RAD WEEKEND is, and I know the kind of sacrifices I’ll have to make to surpass it one day so that’s why I didn’t want to step down, and I tried. I tried so hard to practice so I could do justice to your–.”
“Boy,” Midori says. “Listen to me. You are never surpassing RAD WEEKEND.” “I–”
“LISTEN!”
Akito’s mouth slams shut and Midori continues on.
“Those people back there? The ones I chose, who I had perform, they don’t practice like you do, because they have talent. Real talent, the kind you can’t find just singing in the back alleys. Oh sure, if some of them were cocky, lazy, and didn’t try, then maybe you could out perform them with brute force, but no one who I allow to perform at my venue is like that. You’re miles behind the starting line, and they’re sprinting ahead of you. You’ll never close that gap.”
Midori spits at him. “Go home before you hurt yourself.” Then he stomps off.
Akito can’t breathe. The world is spinning and the lights are starting to blur. He doesn’t know when his feet start moving or when he gets home, until he opens the door and his dad is in the living room.
“Akito?” Shinei asks. “Is something wrong?”
Everything.
Everything is wrong.
But he can’t explain it to his dad, can he? He doesn’t know anything about music, he’d simply be confused.
Or worse, his dad would understand intimately. Because at the end of the day, what was it he’d told Ena?
“You’re not capable of becoming the artist you want to be… though you might’ve been if you had enough talent beforehand.”
Ha, just like Midori said to him.
Are they right? About Ena? About him?
Akito can’t take it. He runs into his room and locks the door.
GUYS. ALTO HAS A FANFIC BLOG TOO. FOLLOW HER NOW.
The Things I Do For You
“Why are we doing this again?” Akito groans as he helps pick through the remains of the burnt pier.
“Because Aoyagi can’t say no to Tenma and you can’t say no to Aoyagi,” Tono says.
Akito grimaces, but he knows Tono’s right. Phoenix Wonderland had bought the land the pier is on to expand into a water park, but then it had mysteriously burnt down, so now they were stuck helping pick through the wreckage.
The two of them are doing some heavy lifting by the water, which isn’t fun in the humid summer air. Akito’s pretty sure he’s run out of sweat and is about to suggest to Tono that they grab some water, but Tono’s staring off into the ocean.
“Tono? What’re you spacing out for?” Akito asks.
Instead of a snappy retort, Tono doesn’t say anything until Akito physically walks up and grabs his arm.
“Dude, what’s wrong?”
Tono blinks. “Sorry, I just could have sworn I heard Souma.”
“What? Dude, why would Souma be here? It wouldn’t be safe.”
“Yeah. Of course. You’re right.” Tono says, but he doesn’t sound convinced.
Akito rolls his eyes and grabs Tono’s arm. “C’mon, I think the heat is getting to us.”
Akito! Help!
Akito whips his head around at the sound of Toya’s voice, but the only thing behind him is the blue expanse of the ocean.
“No,” Akito says. “Fuck this.” He starts dragging Tono away from the ocean with one arm and calls Toya with the other.
“Akito? Everything ok?” Toya asks over the phone.
“Were you by the pier?”
“Um, no? We’re over by the Ferris Wheel.”
“Yeah, thought so. Tono and I are hearing things, can we meet you by the snack station?”
“Are you ok?”
“We will be once we’re in the shade and drink like a gallon of–”
Suddenly, Tono tears away from him and starts running back towards the pier. “Souma! I’m coming partner!”
“Tono– talk to you later, partner!” Akito hangs up and chases after Tono, tackling him into some wood before he can throw himself into the water.
“Let me go! Souma needs me!”
“Souma is not here!”
Akito, help me! I can’t swim!
Akito looks up and blinks. That certainly looks like Toya in the water, but Tono struggling to get out from under him takes Akito’s attention away.
Akito, help! Don’t you care about me? Don’t you love me? Will you really let me die?
“Ok, look,” Akito says, trying not to hurt Tono too much. “I do love Toya, I’ve also had too many problems with people who look like Toya using that to get to me, and I literally just talked to him, and if Toya was suddenly drowning we’d be hearing Tsukasa, so no. Not gonna work, sorry.”
Not-Toya looks annoyed, then sinks back into the water.
Akito breathes a sigh of relief, but a split second later, scaly hands burst out of the water and grab onto his arms.
He and Tono are dragged over the side of the pier into the water. Akito can’t make out what’s grabbing onto him in the dark, but it’s all he can do to hold onto Tono and try and swim away.
Akito kicks and pulls frantically to get away, and eventually spots a rotting piece of the pier and kicks at it frantically from you.
The entire thing above them shakes and old wood crashes into the water, chasing off the figures in the dark.
Akito swims back to shore faster than he’s ever swum in his life, dragging Tono the whole way.
“Akito? What happened?” Toya, the real Toya, with legs, is on the rest of the pier with the others.
“We got fucking sirens,” Akito sputters. Tono also starts coughing up water.
“What?”
“Sirens, Toya.” Akito says. “We got fucking sirens. Let’s get out of here.”