Disclaimer: I do not own Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective School Q), anime, manga, or drama adaptation, nor am I profiting from it any way. This fiction was written solely for my own pleasure.
Characters: Dan Morihiko, Amakusa Ryuu,
Fandom: Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective School Q). Dramaverse. Canon.
Summary: "What lies behind the slumbering dragon's eyes?" Ten reflections, from friends and foes, on Amakusa Ryuu.
Chapter Note: Set during episode 7/8
Dragon's Mirror
Shard 6: Inheritance
The boy carries a tremendous weight on his shoulders. Just as Hoshihiko once did.
He looks nothing like his grandfather though. In this small way, even his body seems to be fighting against his fate. I expect he takes after his mother more.
Nonetheless, the resemblance between the two is uncanny.
Hoshihiko was once noble. When we were children, he was a quiet one, but he always played fairly. He had a good sense of justice and in particular, despised bullies.
But people change. All it took was one accusation. One skeleton unearthed in a closet. In a blink of an eye, Hoshihiko, my dearest childhood companion, had become someone unrecognizable. He had cast off the burden from his shoulders to take accept the chains of a fate he had once spurned.
I was sure that Hoshihiko—no, King Hades, wanted his grandson to do the same.
Amakusa Ryuu was young and yet the burden of his secret had already weighed so heavily on him. In some ways, he was already more steeped in the darkness of the criminal world thanks to his early orphaning, I shuddered to think what sort of lessons the boy might have been taught in the earlier years of his childhood, before he came to the Detective Academy.
Amakusa-kun never talked about it. During his private interview, as part of the screening process for Q class enrollment, I remember being struck by his response when asked his motivations for pursuing investigative work.
"I want the power to prevent crimes from destroying the lives of innocents, and to repent for not doing anything when I could have."
The boy had a haunted look in his eyes, a light that did not belong to a child's. Death left its mark on him, a shadow that hung like a draping mantle over his small shoulders.
"Evil blood is flowing through my veins…Pluto's leader…King Hades' blood."
Amakusa-kun had already seemed to resign to his fate. I could not even begin to describe the horror that froze the blood in my veins when he confirmed what I had suspected all along. The frost in his eyes…for a moment, I almost mistook him for the Hoshihiko from my childhood days.
I could not let him go down that road. Not again.
I refused to accept his withdrawal request from Q Class.
It was a symbolic gesture at most. Despite what I said, I no longer had control over the boy. Perhaps I never did. He was flighty like Hoshihiko, afraid to let anyone get close. I suspected, like Hoshihiko, he would have much preferred to stay with his classmates, in a quasi friendship, cooperative but never intimate.
A fragile bond of friendship kept from the sharpened edge of Amakusa's family secret.
Would Amakusa follow in his grandfather's footsteps? Cast off the burden of guilt, abandon his humanity, as society would expect him to? To inherit King Hades' throne?
I was afraid.
"He looked peaceful when he was sleeping."
I nodded. He certainly did. Only in the depths of unconsciousness did Amakusa feel that he could let down his guard. But I smiled. Amakusa had let his guard down today, before my very eyes.
When we had entered the hospital room, Amakusa was already stirring from his medicated sleep, eyes disoriented but watchful. He ignored Nanami-kun's greeting, his eyes trained on mine.
As long as you have a heart of justice, it doesn't matter what your lineage is. No one here, including yourself, wanted you to drop out, right?
Amakusa-kun's guards flew off and his eyes widened, mouth pouting almost childishly. It had never occurred to him that he had never really wanted to leave his friends. He cherished his friends and unlike so many things he had been forced to give up in life, he was unwilling to let Q Class go.
He's accepted the burden on his shoulders, because he's realized that he doesn't have to bear it alone.
He can still fight against his destiny.
As long as Kyuu and Q Class stay by his side.
Next Time- Shard 7: My Prince