Title: The Way
Author: lkwREADer
Fandom: GoGo Sentai Boukenger
Rating: T, for drinking and thoughts of suicide.
Disclaimer: Boukenger does not belong to me. Although, I wish I owned Satoru…
Notes: this is written for the 30soldiers community on LiveJournal. This is theme #1, Red. It's basically Satoru reflecting on himself and his past. Features a very depressed Satoru. Slight spoilers for Task 3. Reviews are love!
Sometimes, he looks at himself, and wonders if this is really how he wanted everything to turn out. Masaki & Kyoko were his best friends, and he could tell them anything. But on that day, he wasn't able to save them. He couldn't live with himself for a few months after the accident. He spiraled downward, making himself drink to ease away the pain. For a few fateful weeks, he was even contemplating suicide. He didn't think he had a purpose in the world anymore, since he blamed himself for his friend's deaths. Then he had a life-changing experience.
He met a man, whom he would later come to know as Makino-sensei. He told him SGS, a treasure-hunting museum, was looking for people to become Boukengers. And that he was one of the candidates being chosen. He thought, 'sure, why not give it a try?' Little did he know this decision would turn his life around. SGS decided that he would be BoukenRed, and for a while, he questioned this decision. Was he fit to be a leader, after his recent breakdown? But it healed him. He stopped drinking, and started living for another kind of thrill. The thrill that he got from a successful adventure. Later, Sakura, Souta, Masumi & Natsuki would help even more to soothe his doubts.
This was why he was so courageous, and appeared not to be afraid of anything. He was 'Chief'. The leader and, essentially, the protector of his new comrades. So when they got trapped in the GoGo Vehicles, he hade to take the GoGo Drill, even though it had hurt him before. He had to rescue them. Not only because he was BoukenRed, but because they were his friends. He knew that if anything happened to any of them, he would never forgive himself, and he would spiral downward, into a pit of depression. And he wouldn't let that happen again. Because they had chosen him to be BoukenRed. And he wanted to live up to their expectations, no matter what happened. He decides, after much thought, that maybe everything didn't turn out the way he hoped, but things are pretty good the way they happened. And he wouldn't change it for the world.