Oh man, this weekly thing is killing me.

I don't have much to say except I love Shigehiro. Like, the anime didn't tell us much about him and he didn't get much panel time in the manga either, but I imagine that he's the one responsible for Tetsu's attitude. Like, the two of them had basketball adventures back when they were kids or something.

Well, whatever, enjoy~!

Chapter 12: A Realistic Ideological Furihata

Shigehiro's smile widened and he threw Furihata over his head haphazardly, handling him with all the finesse of a man carrying potato bags, "Still using honorifics with me, Tetsu? Really?"

Satsuki grabbed his hand, already leading him through the maze of game shelves and talking about what they had been up to while Tetsuya and the others had been asleep, "You're still calling me Tetsu. Things don't change, Shigehiro-kun."

"Tetsu-kun! Pay attention! Reo-chan and Ko-kun got married and Tatsu-kun and Atsushi live in Italy now, though I heard they were gonna come visit soon…"

It was dark out when Kouki woke up.

His dark brown eyes fluttered open and his blurry vision slowly cleared enough for him to recognize the starry sky that peeked in from the bay windows to his right. His body felt warm and rested, like he had been sleeping in his mother's room again and her warmth had seeped through the sheets to wrap around him and there was a damp, cold square of cloth on his forehead.

He wasn't aware that he had gotten sick, but whatever bug he'd contracted was certainly gone now. He hadn't felt so at peace since before Kuroko…had kidnapped him.

Suddenly, the peace he had felt down to the marrow of his bones dissipated, tension slowly building in its place. He trailed his eyes around the room to memorize his surroundings and had to stop and gawk. The walls were a clean golden colour, tall bookshelves filled with medical tomes and children's storybooks sat beside the windows. There was a painting of an ethereal forest at sunset hung above a manual fireplace which held the barely burning embers of the night's blaze. Upon its mantle sat three photos. The first one was of Kuroko in a very human looking body, blue eyes crinkled in open laughter and delicately pale features illuminated by the light that was pouring in from the right, as he was held gently by an unfamiliar man with shoulder length red hair that had been held up with ribbon. The man's hair looked as though it was burning, embers fluttering around him and Kuroko as his own deathly crimson eyes leered mischievously at Kuroko. The next picture was of two unfamiliar faces, a man with straight, dark blue hair that brushed the small of his muscled back and dark, brown skin who was sitting by a kotatsu, relaxed and laughing as he cleaned a set of short swords. Sitting to his right, at the head of the kotatsu was another redheaded man. His hair was short and double-toned and his own fierce crimson eyes glittered with mirth as reclined into a pile of pillows behind him. The final picture was of a small child, maybe three or four years old with short silvery hair and wide, dark eyes. He was sitting seiza at a small wooden table, face impassive and relaxed. Kouki thought that he looked an awful lot like Tetsuya and noted that the picture was probably taken without him knowing about it, since he looked engrossed in the small picture book that was in his hands.

Had Kuroko brought him to his home?

Upon continuing his sweep of the room, he found his bedside table which had a lamp and yet another picture. He took it and sat up in his bed, adjusting the pillows to suit and realized in dim awe that all the pictures were hand painted. This particular picture was of two men, a bright blond whose hair was braided and held in an up-do with an ornate looking glass hairpin and a man with short, jet black hair and bangs long enough to obscure his left eye. They were dressed in complicated clothing, a mix of many different countries' styles and cloths, but Kouki could see the amount of happiness that was on their faces as they smiled at each other and held up cards both saying 'He Won' on them.

Kouki put the picture back on the stand and sighed, what was he supposed to do now?

"Oh, you woke up," a sleep heavy voice murmured from his left.

Kouki startled, he hadn't noticed anyone else in the room, but sure enough, sitting on a wooden chair and wiping his eyes with the backs of his palms, was a man with two-toned brown hair. He looked relaxed, back slouched comfortably and feet stretched onto the circular blue and white rug that covered the floor. Kouki noticed that he wore ridiculous Mario stenciled socks and that he was in a pair of Pokemon pyjamas and couldn't hold back his snort of amusement.

The man looked up at him and blinked, brown eyes clearing and focusing on Kouki as a strange smile crossed his face and he got up, "How are you feeling?"

Kouki shrugged, too busy trying to figure out who the stranger was to answer. There definitely weren't any pictures with him hung up. The man clicked his tongue and poured a glass of water from the pitcher that sat on the desk next to him, "I'm going to need you to answer me verbally, you might've had a concussion."

"I feel fine. Well-rested."

The man handed him the glass and smiled at him, pressing his large hand to his forehead and sighing, "Well, you still feel a bit warm," he said, clinically removing the damp cloth that had fallen between Kouki's legs, "Maybe I should give you another dosage of the anti-venom, just to be sure."

Kouki blinked, "Wait, anti-venom?! I wasn't poisoned!"

The brunet stooped down to get something from the lowest drawer of the bedside cabinet after taking Kouki's half empty cup from him, "Yeah, you were. Tetsu accidentally poisoned you."

He placed a needle and syringe on the tabletop and grabbed a small jar of clear liquid from the middle drawer, hands steady as he sterilized the needle, "I'm Ogiwara, by the way. Nice to finally meet you."

"Furihata, what do you mean 'accidentally poisoned' me?"

Ogiwara carefully stuck the needle into the top of the jar, pulling back the syringe and allowing it to full halfway, "I mean, it's a side effect of being possessed by him, stretch out your hand please, the poison wasn't super potent though, so you're fine."

Kouki flinched as the needle went into his veins, "A side effect? What do you mean 'side effect'?"

Ogiwara shrugged and his dark eyes met Kouki's, "It doesn't really matter, you're in the clear as far as side effects go."

Kouki's eyebrows furrowed as he frowned, was this something else he wasn't allowed to know? More secrets that he couldn't understand? "What side effects?"

Ogiwara rolled his eyes, "You'll just psych yourself out,"

"What. Side. Effects."

"Nausea, headaches, body spasms, shortness of breath, fatigue, the possibility of becoming an eldritch monster, blood poisoning and, of course, death, but it depends on whether Tetsu-kun likes you or not," a new, feminine voice cut in from the doorway.

She was stunning, pink hair held up in a ponytail and falling delicately over her shoulder. Her rose coloured eyes were shining as she looked at Ogiwara and her full lips were pulled into a small, cute smile. She was wearing a simple white dress and red flats and Kouki couldn't help but stare at the tattoo of a crescent moon that sat innocuously on the junction between her neck and left shoulder.

She walked up to Ogiwara and sharply smacked him in the back of his head, "What did I tell you about stressing out my patients, Shige?"

Ogiwara put his hands in front of him, a wry smile on his lips and dark eyes glittering, "In my defense, I thought he didn't need that kind of information. 's not like Tetsu'll be in his body again anytime soon, right?"

She rolled her eyes and faced Kouki, small hands ruffling his hair, "I'm sorry, Furihata-san. Shigehiro here doesn't understand the term 'bedside manners',"

"Hey!"

"I'm Momoi Satsuki, it's very nice to finally meet the first Ambassador of the People."

"Wait. Wait, I'm not an ambassador, I'm a psychiatrist and I'm pretty sure this was some misunderstanding so—"

Momoi looked like he puppy had been shot, "Tetsu-kun didn't tell you anything, did he?"

Kouki stopped, "Tell me about what?"

The pink haired girl sighed and turned to Ogiwara, "Shige, go put on some actual clothes and bring him some breakfast."

Ogiwara blinked, "Breakfast? Satsuki, it's three in the morning."

"That's not the sound of breakfast, Shigehiro~"

"Fine."

Ogiwara left the door open as he left and Kouki swore he saw a large black…something move to follow him.

Momoi pulled a chair up to his bedside and a soft peach coloured glow began emanating from her fingertips, "How much do you know, about Jirae and Gaia and the Samsara?"

Kouki was entranced by her hands as she created a model of the planet in thin air, "Not much, I guess. Just that Kuroko created Jirae and that there's a pantheon of gods that govern Gaia."

She hummed, "Well, let me explain. Earth, as you know it, is the central part of this solar system. A hub planet if you will, filled with precious resources and materials that other planets on this plane of universe require."

The lights in the room went out and Kouki stared in awe as a small universe spun slowly in the room. Millions of small, twinkling stars blinked across the ceiling. Planets spun slowly, asteroids lazily moved through planetary orbits and there he sat in the middle of all of this.

"When the Earthen Mother created this system, she assigned a resource to each of these planets, Mars has many minerals critical for farming and sustaining plant life, for example. Your Solar System is an auxiliary system to a bigger universe and Earth is a very important part of this auxiliary system."

"All of the planets, with the exception of Pluto, support many ecosystems of life. Earth, supports the most while possessing many resources that also help sustain the lives of other planetary populations, coal that's formed in your crust are the food of one particularly adorable species on Uranus, for example."

"This is all very interesting, but what does any of this have to do with me?"

Suddenly, the lights were back on and the miniature universe disappeared leaving a shocked Satsuki staring at him. She frowned before sitting back down on her chair (Kouki hadn't even noticed she had gotten up) and crossing her arms underneath her bust, "Well, if you weren't so impatient I'd get to that part."

Kouki winced, "I'm sorry, but I still don't understand."

Her features softened and she stretched a hand out, pink glow pouring from his fingers once more, "Earth's been supporting life for millions of years and each time there's always been an alpha race. A race that commandeers the planet's resources for themselves and build civilizations on the soil. Most of the races that commandeered these soils understood that Earth's resources weren't their own but the Earth can only support that much before she begins to tire and so each race has a lifespan. An era to live, so to speak. At the end of that era, Earth is given time to replenish and rejuvenate itself. That's the Samsara, the Rebirthing Cycle."

Kouki raised his hand to stop her, "Wait, what happens to the people that are still alive when that era ends?"

Momoi bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes, a bitter smile on her lips "I suppose that would be what you humans call 'Armageddon.'"

His eyes widened in horror, "You kill them."

Momoi's shoulders squared as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "It's what has to be done. Anyway, back to you and why you're here. I'll be frank, humans are problematic. Never before have we seen a race deplete the resources of the Earth in less than two thousand years but you've done it. I have no idea how you managed to even use up the air but you've done that too. You've enslaved yourselves, murdered yourselves, murdered the other races you were supposed to protect, destroyed years of historical landmarks left behind by the races that preceded you, dug up the tombs of your predecessors and hung them in vast halls as though they were trophies, continue to dig your hands into things that don't concern you and your list of sins go on and on. The Emperor is at a loss and he usually responds to things he can't understand by burning them with the fury of a thousand dying suns."

Kouki stilled, "He wants to end our era."

Momoi's eyes hardened as she picked at some dirt lodged beneath her perfect nails, "I'd be lying if I said he was the only one."

The brunet sighed heavily and leaned back into his pillows, fists clenched underneath the sheets, "What does any of this have to do with me? Why am I here?"

The pink haired woman smiled slyly, eyes sparkling as a small giggle floated from her lips, "Well, that's the funny part about all this."

Kouki glared at her, unimpressed and slightly annoyed, "I fail to see how any of this is funny."

"Yeah, well, when you live forever, you develop a weird sense of humour," she chided, "You're here for two reasons, well three if you want to get technical. The first is because the Earthen Mother is fair. When the Emperor requested to start Samsara early she told him to give you humans a fighting chance. We had a debate about what that meant and in the end, came up with a human representative, someone who could prove to us that humanity wasn't all bad. Tetsu-kun seems to think that you're that representative for whatever reason, so now you're no longer a quack. Now you're the Ambassador of all Humanity, so, no pressure or anything but don't screw that up."

"Secondly, as the human rep, you're first order of business is to convince the Pantheon not to destroy humanity as soon as they're back on their feet."

Immediately Kouki sat up in his bed, eyes wide, "What?! How am I supposed to convince a bunch of jaded immortals not to kill us all?!"

Momoi shrugged, "That's your problem, sweetie."

Kouki stared at her, "Aren't supposed to help me? Isn't this how these things usually go?!"

Momoi frowned, "You have to convince me and Shigehiro-kun too you know. We've been awake for these past couple of years, so we know all about you guys first hand."

"If you've been up for so long then you know that we aren't all bad!"

The pink haired woman glared at Kouki, eyes hard and seeming to ignite with a dark magenta spark, "I never said that humans we all bad, nor did I say that we don't acknowledge their good deeds but the fact of the matter is, your people are doing too much damage to this planet. Saving a cat from a tree is worth a lot less brownie points when someone else spills gallons of oil into the ocean at the same time."

Kouki sighed heavily and lay back down into his pillows. What was the hell was he supposed to do? He closed his eyes and groaned, "I don't suppose there's a way to get out of this?"

Momoi patted his forehead, relaxing his body despite how quickly his mind was racing and Kouki thought that it must be whatever power she possessed responsible for such a soothing feeling, "You've been chosen. It's as simple and complex as that."

Kouki opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling, eyes listlessly following the lethargically twirling blades of the ceiling fan, "Yeah. Thought so."

Momoi removed her hand from his head and Kouki heard the drag of the chair against the floors as she got up, "Get some rest," she called at him from the door, "You can think this over in the morning when Tetsu-kun comes back."

Kouki heard the door close and exhaled deeply. What was he supposed to do now?

He closed his eyes again, he guessed that there really was no use overthinking it now, the most he could do was rest and deal with it in the morning.

He shifted his body to face the windows and smiled softly at the brilliantly shining skies, a strange sense of peace overcoming him.

He didn't even hear the door creak open as Shigehiro peeked through, hair free from its elastic and bangs plastered to his forehead, "I guess that's a no on the breakfast then."

There you guys go~ Obligatory exposition chapter completed~!

It's kinda sad that I had to write thirteen chapter before you guys got an explanation for what's going on, but at least Kouki's in the know. Now, he has to save the world, well just humanity.

Yeah, good luck there buddy.

Next chapter: Sleepless in Kaijo (featuring Kise~!)

Don't forget to comment, my lovelies, it fuels me. Drives me! Makes sure school doesn't unalive me.