Sorry again for the day-late update! I am truly trying to keep up with the weekly schedule! In any case, I hope you enjoy~

Roppi stood firmly before the building that Seidou was perched on, looking up at him and into the rain. I've always loved the rain… Hands in his pockets, he gave the Harrowing Blade a squeeze, maybe just to reassure himself that it was still there. Then he spread his arms wide, hands free. "Are you coming down here, or what?" he asked the wind. He didn't know whether his voice could reach Seidou's ears, but it was worth a try. It must have done something, because here was Seidou, jumping from his perch and landing with knees bent. His hood was up, white strands falling and framing the lower half of his face. His eyes were overcast; Roppi couldn't see what expression he was making. All he had to go on was the perpetual frown of his black-dyed mouth. "I swear to god, Seidou…," he began drily, his mouth twisting in that sarcastic smirk. He eyed the ahoge that stuck up despite the hood he wore. "That freaking piece of hair on your head – I can't take you seriously."

Seidou raised his head just enough for Roppi to make out an expression of skepticism. "Don't mock me," the half-ghoul said lowly.

Roppi swallowed. He noted the shifting of Seidou's position, barefooted on the ground. Preparing to charge? Probably. Maybe that wasn't the best way to start this off. "Look, I'm not planning on fighting you… See, I don't have my machine gun, either." He held out the palms of his hands to present this fact.

Seidou's countenance didn't change. "Then what do you want." He spoke through bared teeth.

A breathy laugh answered him. "Well…," Roppi began. He drew his lips into a thin line. "I think it's about time this stupid-ass sardonicism of yours came to an end. I'm a fan of Poe, not Shakespeare… and god damn it, let me tell you—I'm fucking sick of tragedy." He felt his words come more easily, his purpose surer. "So let's get rid of the parts we play for second, okay, Seidou? Let's play improv."

"What are you talking about?" he growled, cautious.

"I know you don't want to be where you are, and I don't want you to be where you are, either…" Slowly, Roppi began shifting backwards. "None of us do."

"What are you doing."

Roppi stopped, planting his feet on the ground. "Saving your doomed ass." He spread his arms. "Seidou Takizawa was miffed with Kaneki just for existing nearby! How would he feel if he became a ghoul like you did?"

Seidou's eyes narrowed.

"But right, isn't it that you said that you weren't Seidou Takizawa?"

"I'm not—your Seidou Takizawa," he reiterated, a halting confirmation.

"Well I'm not going to buy for a moment that you were ever okay with everything that you're doing now. Right?"

"If you become—"

"Yeah, yeah," Roppi waved him off. "You gave me your whole spiel."

"Don't cut me off," he hissed.

Roppi raised his hands up, a smile smeared over his face. "Sorry. Well, not really. I'm going to be brutally honest here. Forgive me." He reached his hands into his pockets, a casual gesture. His fingers wrapped around the Harrowing Blade concealed there. It was cold to the touch. The rain was thick. It felt good; it helped cool his mind. He felt clean; it was a good hour, a good scene. He closed his eyes, a preparatory impulse. "Look. You've literally told me how much you love this situation… and how much you despise it, in the same conversation."

"I don't need you to tell me about me. You're wasting your breath. I know you're just stalling."

Roppi smiled a lopsided smile. "Maybe I am," he admitted, and took a wary step back as Seidou took a step forward. His posture was firmly confident in the face of the dangers Seidou's presence posed. "But Seidou could not get over the idea of ghouls as a human. And what did he do to Akira?"

The half-ghoul drew back, as though suddenly unsure of his bitter fury.

"He couldn't look at her, could he? What did he do, other than lose his teammates one by one? One had—died…" His red-eyed gaze drifted away only to return to his former team leader. "Another was a fucking asshole and ran off, right, Seidou? And then the third was just a dumbass trying to save the former. I bet Seidou was pretty pissed. Was he?"

"He was," Seidou bit out.

"And he was also worried, wasn't he?"

Seidou didn't answer.

"Because, after all, he wanted to look at Akira, too, didn't he?"

His pallid eyes narrowed further, his posture stiff.

"Just like how underneath that confident act, Seidou really had an inferiority complex that—"

"I don't want you speaking about me," he spat, and Roppi frowned. "You don't know a THING about—"

"Because I'm the strong one, right?!" Roppi raised his voice above Seidou's distorted tones, above the wind, above the rain. Above his doubt, above all the guards he'd built around himself. "I never cry; I never needed anyone because I couldn't give a single shit about anyone else—because everyone is nothing but filthy scum, and so am I! I didn't care what happened to Seidou or Shintaro; I just wanted other people to die! Why?"

Seidou didn't seem to know where he was going with this.

"Because really, I'm the weakest of them all, right?" he smiled faintly, and Seidou began to deflate. "Because I'm the one who cries himself to sleep at night. Because I'm the one who needs someone – anyone – more than anyone else because I'm too fucking pitiful to take care of myself. Because it wasn't that I wanted everyone else to die, it was because I wanted to die. Because I didn't want to lose anyone else. Because losing someone to death again was so terrifying that I'd rather be the one taking lives."

The half-ghoul finally decided upon a response: a sneering smile spread over his darkened lips, eyes disdainful. "Oh, bully for you, Ro~ppi. How cute. And what does that mean now?"

"It means that both you and I have been acting the opposite of how we feel this whole damn time." The look in those eyes was one of earnest fire. Seidou just stared at him, his skepticism plain in his shadowed face. "You've gone through a lot of shit, Seidou, but you're not a ghoul. No matter what you go through, you're still Seidou Takizawa. Whatever Seidou Takizawa may be – I don't care what you've done or what you've been through, who you've eaten or who you hate… You're still the one that led us through this god-forsaken game, and you're still the one that tried his best despite everything. Open your goddamn eyes, Seidou!" Roppi spread his arms again. "I give a shit! And that's saying something, isn't it? All of us, we really… We fucking care about you, so stop being such an asshole and actually listen!"

Seidou scoffed, unconvinced. "Then what, exactly, were you doing with the rest of your group, huh? What's the real plot here? What part are you really playing? I'm very good at playing 'ghoul,' just you watch." He lowered his center of gravity, his mouth twisted into a smile-grimace. "Because I'm NOT the same, I HAVE changed, and do you know how? You know HOW, Roppi? Huh?! Because like THIS, when I'm LIKE THIS, I'm not a FAILURE, right?!"

"I beg to differ," Roppi answered drily, backing up a few paces. He turned slightly, slipping his hand back into his pocket. Hidden from Seidou's view, he clutched again at the Harrowing Blade.

"Of course you do!" he exclaimed. "What are they waiting for, over there?! What's this about, actually? Why aren't you saying? Huh? Huh? You're not here to chat—you're here to KILL ME, aren't you?"

"On the contrary," Roppi smiled, "we're trying to save you." In his pocket, he flicked out the blade. Here it was; the moment was coming… Roppi felt his mouth go dry again. He thought distantly of all the street fights he used to get into, but now all of those foolish antics seemed so arbitrary. He wished that he could apologize to Tsuki for doing such stupid things all the time. He wished he could apologize to him for harming himself, for hating himself. For hating Tsuki, sometimes, too, but not actually hating him. He wanted to apologize for being as cruel as he was – to Tsuki, to Shintaro, to Kaneki, to Psyche… to Seidou. He wondered if maybe saving somebody could make up for that, too. He wondered if anything could make up for that. He conjectured that maybe sins can't be atoned for; you just bear them on your back and keep on keeping on, hoping that somehow you can become a better person through it all. He hoped he was getting there.

"Save me?" Seidou repeated to him, and erupted in harsh cackling. He opened his arms to Roppi in turn, his eyes wide and somehow despairing. "How?"

"We'll just have to find out," Roppi told him with sincerely apologetic tones, and he jumped on the chance, lashing out at Seidou with the Harrowing Blade and succeeding in clipping on the cheek, his pale skin contrasting with the gradual drip of crimson.

"Do you really think—that a little knife… could…?" Seidou paused, a tremor running through his body and releasing in a hunched-over posture. He brought his thin fingers to his cheek, hands trembling just slightly in something that could easily have been disbelief. "What the hell…"

Roppi began to backtrack towards where the others were waiting. "Seidou, we've gotta do this for a second… I just… want you back, at least…"

"Did you really think that cutting my fucking face was gonna help?!" Seidou snapped, his eyes wild. "You've always been nothing but a piece of SHIT; why should I believe YOU, of ALL PEOPLE, when you're the one who never paid a lick of attention to ME?!" Seidou took a step forward. Roppi backed up a little bit faster. "TELL ME, Roppi, when YOU'RE the one who ran away from us! WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE ANY OF YOU?! I'd rather kill every last one of you—!"

"Every one of us?" Roppi cut in. "Me? Kaneki? Shintaro—?"

Seidou brought his hands over his eyes. "I've ALWAYS hated Shintaro! That spineless prick was nothing but one of those straight-A motherfuckers who never gives a SHIT. He DROPPED OUT when he was the best of the best! You can't get more careless than that!" Suddenly his tone dropped. It seemed that the temperature did, too. "You don't know… he doesn't know… the difference between a 99… and a 100. It is not a—one point gap… It's the difference between a success… and a failure." And just as quick, he snapped back: "I WAS A FAILURE, ROPPI. And I'm fucking SICK of it! I'm sick of it! Sick! Sick! Sick!" He dragged his hands down his face. "Sick… I hope he wants to die. I hope you want to die. I hope you both fall into the deepest pits of self-loathing, and then I hope you live long enough to SUFFER that… I hope that even then, neither of you have the GUTS to actually DIE—yeah, yeah, you're right, you were right, Roppi, that's right, because I know and you know that a lot a lot a lot of SHIT HAPPENED but HEY, WHO GIVES A SHIT ANYWAY?! Why do you care?! YOU DON'T. You – and everyone else – just wants to get rid of another fucking INCONVENIENCE that is ME; it's ME; it's ME and I'm PROUD OF IT, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! At least that means I did SOMETHING right, even if it's being wrong! Right? RIGHT?!"

"Seidou, that's not true—!"

"SHUT UP!" Seidou screamed, his clenched fists held at his sides. Roppi was struck with the image of a child throwing a tantrum, and almost laughed before he was grabbed by the shoulders and flung into the nearest building. He thought he heard a door opening somewhere and wondered if maybe that was Akira following her cue.

Somehow he still found himself laughing. This, he thought mildly, is where shit gets real, huh?

Among the trees, Konoha and Shintaro were huddled amongst the underbrush. Kaneki had already headed to the midpoint between the safe group and the action group, and Shirou was already stationed in the building. It was him who was to give Akira the signal – right now the officer was waiting in the building with him, just on a lower floor. They were in one of those tall rooms with a spiral staircase going up and up – they could communicate with one another alright despite the fact they were on different floors.

Shintaro watched the scene unfold with bated breath. Back when Roppi and Seidou were just talking, he kept mumbling to himself, hoping all was well. It was strange to see him – Seidou, that is… like a wraith in the rain. Strangely, he recalled a legend told by his late father, in which one may hear a ghost train's whistle blowing only in the midst of a heavy storm. The rain was coming down in sheets, now, and staring intently at Roppi and Seidou, he idly thought about where the train may lead. He wondered whether Seidou had been there. Maybe Kaneki had, too. Maybe it was beyond him. Of course it was.

"You talk to yourself a lot," Konoha murmured to him, and Shintaro stiffened, face flushing in embarrassment.

"I'm worried," he admitted, just as quiet.

"I am also scared," Konoha had agreed.

But as the scene continued and they huddled there pressed to the trunk of a tree and peering around it in an almost comical fashion, Shintaro began to feel his android friend trembling at his side. "Mm?" He turned to Konoha, concerned. The albino's eyes were wide and troubled. "Wh… what is it?"

"Two people are gone," Konoha said faintly.

"Gone? Like… what do you…?"

The look on his friend's face told him that they were dead. "Someone's coming closer… Th…that person is… coming closer…"

"Closer? How much closer?" Shintaro pressed. "We've gotta let everyone know…"

"Yes, that… is a good idea," Konoha confirmed nervously. "It's good. That's good."

"How close?" Shintaro repeated.

"He…" Konoha's eyes hazed over for a moment, and then Shintaro found himself with his back slammed to the wet ground, Konoha overtop him.

"Ow…" He grimaced, his back already feeling the bruise that would inevitably form. "What…" He looked to where Konoha was looking only to find that creepy kid who'd played hide-and-seek with them, crouching there without a cape now, just red eyes and a terrible smile. A-ya was his name, yeah… and he was possessed by…

"Ah, Recorder," the boy grinned in hissing tones. "Seems that the vessel protected you this time. How nice." As A-ya straightened, so too did Konoha stand.

Shintaro struggled to sit up, horrified. No way, we can't afford anything like this…!

A-ya shrugged. "I almost kicked you right in the head," he said in two voices. What a creepy little trick. "You should be grateful. You'd be dead so easy if it weren't for him. Not that I want to kill you so quick this time. Not that I want to kill you at all, really. But that's a matter of preference," they said, and laughed.

"You can't hurt Shintaro," Konoha said firmly, taking a protective step in front of the red-jerseyed one.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because I won't let you," he said, and the other one laughed.

This guy, Shintaro thought, amazedly staring at his albino friend. Everyone else was so damned impressive! Why was he so lame? "Kh…Konoha," he spoke up, and realized how weak he sounded. He tried again. "Konoha, if you fight this guy—you might…"

"…become somebody else again?" Konoha finished solemnly. "I don't want that," he admitted. "But I want to protect you, now. Because I can protect you… Do you understand this?"

"I… yeah…"

A-ya sighed heavily, looking to the rain-drenched canopy above. "What is it… to 'protect' someone? Mm… I guess it doesn't matter…"

Shintaro thought about how cool it was to see scarlet and watermelon orbs both hovering in the dark as the dark-clad one attacked. Then he mentally scolded himself for being an idiot and scrambled to find the walkie-talkie in the dark – he'd dropped it when Konoha had pushed him to the ground. Upon finding it, he activated it without hesitation, opened his mouth, closed it, and turned it off. What do I say? He tried again. "We have—um, interference over here. It's—the snake demon. Konoha's fighting him right now."

He released the button, hoping and praying that it would work like it was supposed to.

"Do we halt the plan?" Shirou's voice.

"Is he away from Roppi and Seidou?" Kaneki, serious and firm.

His steady voice brought Shintaro some relief. "He's not involved right now—Konoha's got him distracted for now. Right now he wants my head, but at this point I think he'd be happy with killing anyone…"

"Do you need help down there?" Shirou.

"Should we intervene?" Shinichi.

"Nobody leave their stations," Kaneki ordered.

"Roger," said Shirou.

"…Roger," said Shinichi.

"Shintaro," said Kaneki, "I'm on my way to you right now. I'll help Konoha. Is the plan already under way?"

Shintaro peered through the haze of rain and the cover of darkness. "I think Seidou's just been harrowed—I don't…"

"Then we'll keep going. Keep A-ya away from them as best you can. I will be there as soon as possible."

"O-okay," said the NEET, and he listened to the line go silent. With a gulp, he braced himself for a lot more of stress on top of stress as he shakily grabbed Roppi's machine gun, eyeing Konoha and A-ya staring each other down while keeping an ear out for Seidou's screams.

Roppi, on the other hand, could only hear ringing now, using the wall as support, getting to his feet and watching as Seidou appeared in front of him. The annoying ringing in his ears thankfully dimmed. "Really, though," the bitter one chuckled weakly, "even though you were slightly dickish, you weren't that bad of a guy. You were no failure – you were just being human. Humans make mistakes, right? Like you're making now?"

"You have no—fucking—clue," Seidou growled, acid on his tongue. "I wasn't so great. I wasn't a good guy. You know it. YOU KNOW IT."

"You don't understand…" Roppi smiled a weary smile. "I want… to thank you, Seidou."

"Why thank me?" he asked, derisive. "Why thank me? Why? Because I make you look good? DON'T MOCK ME, DAMN IT." With Seidou grasping at his neck, Roppi found that he'd lost his grip on the Harrowing Blade. He'd begin to lose grip on consciousness, too, if Seidou kept this up.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked, and watched through bleary, rain-soaked eyes. "Is that what you're going to do? Go ahead and do it, Seidou. Go ahead and do it. I've stared death in the face all these years; why should I shy away from it now? Even though…" Roppi didn't think that rain often was so warm, nor did he recall it tasting of salt. "…Isn't it strange? Maybe… I don't want to die after all."

Seidou's icy grip tightened around Roppi's neck, but his eyes widened, certainty flickering there. "…I…"

A strong, cool voice pierced the half-ghoul straight through his rib cage: "Takizawa, put him down!"

The half-ghoul turned to her – Akira stood with her pale hair plastered to either side of her face. Her quinque was grasped firmly at her side, and Seidou's gaze skipped over her face and to her weapon, his eyes filling with further outrage. Roppi was dropped carelessly to the ground, where he held his throat tenderly and watched as Seidou began approaching Akira. Would this work? He really, really hoped so. He envisioned him leaping to her and decapitating her; he envisioned her putting him out of his misery once and for all. Keeping his red eyes set on the two facing each other, he berated his train of thought and wished he'd stop thinking about the more negative of outcomes.

"You ARE planning to kill me," he growled. "What the fuck? What did I do? Huh? HUH?"

"I'm using this," Akira answered calmly, "as a mechanism of defense… not offense."

"I don't believe you," Seidou said flatly, taking a step back. "Why should I? Huh, Mado? You weapon-obsessed, asexual bitch…!"

She seemed unfazed by the insult. "Don't you understand? Takizawa…"

"Don't talk to me like that," he bit out. "I'm not an idiot. What is there to understand?"

Her brow was creased. He noticed that much. "That it wasn't that I wanted you to die. That's the last thing I wanted… I…" She hesitated, searching for words. He narrowed his eyes, never looking at her directly. He allowed the darkness and the rain to shroud his vision. "It was never that I didn't like you, Takizawa. From the beginning… there was something about you that I envied."

Another step back. Incredulousness. "What could you possibly have to envy about me?!" he snapped.

He couldn't help but spot the smile that crossed her mouth, and, unwillingly, his eyes met hers in the dark. Lightning illuminated their features just long enough for her face to be burnt into his empty eyes. "Takizawa," she said, and to his surprise, she began approaching him, gently setting her quinque on the rain-soaked ground. "Day by day, throughout the academy, I blew through all of our classes. You know this… But I never really saw it as anything like an accomplishment. Why should I, if I didn't need to put effort into it? That isn't what's worth it. It never has been. It's hard work that deserves respect, and really…" She paused, gathering her thoughts. Compartmentalize. Compartmentalize. How could she compartmentalize this anymore? "Never once have I known what to do with any one of my beliefs. And so… always… I've admired your passion."

There was a momentary pause. His lids widened. "…My…?"

What was that? Previous frustrations of underserving heroes simmered somewhere within the ice of his insides. She continued approaching. He took another step back. She stopped. So did he. "Knowing that you would spend hours in the library, studying so earnestly… Knowing how much you cared for the cause you fought for—yes, the fact that you were fighting so hard at all… It all struck me as honorable. Everything you did, you did it because you thought it was right." She paused again, and the lightest laugh escaped her, nostalgic and leaden with something he couldn't identify. He didn't think he'd ever heard such a thing escape her – no… There was once, when she had said the words, 'you don't know how happy I am to see you.' Was that really what she said, there, in the hospital?

"Well, when you were bickering with me, I wouldn't call that motivation 'justice.' That was something altogether different… wasn't it?" He hated the gentle face she was making. "I was almost frightened that you really did hate me, Takizawa… But before this happened to you… here, in this game, that is… Though years apart, I like to think that we communicated just a little bit better. Because… you told me you were happy to work with me, didn't you? You told me that the game of one-up you try so hard at… You said it was fun. And for you to say you were thankful for my position as your obstacle to overcome… I can't help but say I'm thankful for you, too. The truth is that… after you went missing, you don't know how much I missed you – you and Amon both. If I could just—get through to you somehow… I'd… I'd want you back."

"You're lying," he said through withered lips. She must have been unable to hear him, because she did not respond. Maybe she did hear him, but didn't know how to prove her own words, because how could anyone prove something so purely rooted in emotion, something so deeply abstract? And of course, it was Akira Mado, and Akira Mado didn't know how to do emotion. No, this couldn't have been, could it? Because Akira Mado was everything he wasn't, and for him to have been so jealous of her successes, there was no way that she… could experience envy towards him, who was never… not ever, enough.

"Please," she said. But he couldn't hear her anymore, either.

In the underbrush of the forest, Shintaro watched Konoha drop a tree over the dark-clad demon just in time. The android, knowing full well that it would only slow down the enemy, dropped to one knee, clutching at his abdomen and breathing hard. Shintaro could imagine blood blossoming on his lower torso, but could only make out something like a black splotch there in the dark. Swallowing, Shintaro pointed the machine gun at the branches of the fallen tree, witnessing the emergence of the possessed kid. It reminded him of a demon crawling out of hell, or some boss respawning after the first stage of the final battle. The shut-in felt a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, as heavy as the machine gun in his lap.

This was so not a video game.

He closed his eyes. "Think of it like a first-person shooter," he told himself under his breath, the gun trembling with his clammy hands. Or maybe it was the rain. He liked to think it was the rain. "Pretend it is just a video game…" My friend is risking his life for me… I have to help him out… The shut-in felt that it surely had been far too long since he had made contact with Kaneki, but cognitively he knew that somehow, it had only been thirty seconds or so.

Konoha's watermelon orbs were tired and worn as they looked up at the already-recovered serpentine enemy. The dark-clad demon seemed to smile down at him, but that could have been Shintaro's imagination. "Don't hurt him, either…," he breathed, and screwed his eyes shut against the saturated air. He inhaled deeply. "Don't hurt Konoha, either!" he shouted, and he saw both pairs of luminescent orbs look to him. "D-don't test me!" Speaking so boldly, he felt just bold enough to cock the gun, and did so. "I—just because I'm a shut-in doesn't mean I can't take you down!"

That low chuckle sent shivers down his spine. "What was that?" asked the serpent, and Shintaro felt sure that this was what it would feel like for one's blood vessels to freeze over.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled pitifully, and laughter erupted in both voices.

"So you've learned to talk for yourself, but you still can't do a thing!" And he cackled. "This game will begin again; maybe you'll do better next time." He shrugged with an air of offhanded apology. "But in order for the game to reset; in order for the game to move, people need to die. But you understand that by now, don't you?"

Anger struck him. He couldn't speak. He could not put this rage into words. How could he?

Konoha was at his feet, a look of diligence shining there in his pink eyes. Lightning illuminated the scene and burned the image into Shintaro's photographic memory. It was like a flash from a picture frame—and he hated it; he hated it because he knew that it ruined what little night vision he had acquired, and he hated it because the lightning had a kind of reddish quality to it and that meant this kid might be contributing to it, and he hated it because that meant it was a blaspheme of the color of heroes, and god damn it, he was sick of all this overthinking…!

But he didn't think at all when Konoha widened his stance to brace himself and the dark-clad demon began to crouch, ready to pounce and maybe fry Konoha's android self with the lightning… No, he didn't think at all when he pulled the trigger and felt the surprising kick of the firearm, the spurts of light from the gunpowder blinding him further. He quickly stopped, appalled with the sheer loudness, and the way it hurt, kicking back into the crook of his elbow – he could barely hold the thing in the first place. But most of all he was appalled that he had pulled the trigger himself, that he had actually done it.

And amazingly, it had stopped A-ya… the demon… whoever, in their tracks. Hissing in distaste, he fell into a protective crouch. As the lightning lit the sky again, he saw he was clutching at his arm where the bullets had found their mark. Shintaro also saw Konoha's look of flummoxed shock. He blinked with eyes that were likely as lost as Shintaro looked. Not that he could tell.

"You little BRAT, I didn't think you could pull it off, really—pull the trigger, that is—maybe you're interesting yet, Recorder—I bet you weren't even completely conscious of the action!" He laughed evermore. "Cute! How cute!"

Konoha, who had lifted a heavy branch in the meantime, came down on the dark-clad one with brute strength, swinging it down with all his force. A-ya dodged, but the trunk he'd stood on split under the force.

Shintaro didn't want to shoot anymore. Not like this. Not in the dark. Not with Konoha so close. He thought he saw the dark-clad demon pause, cocking his head. "The King is here," he remarked, and bounded backwards as who could only be Kaneki descended from the canopy above, his six scaled appendages pointing towards the possessed one. The half-ghoul crashed down beside Konoha, and A-ya began to speak again. "After all, the evil hero—it was me…" They tittered. "I won't be the underdog anymore, right? That's—my underdog supremacy doctrine… Hah?" He dodged another quick attack from Kaneki and Konoha and, as A-ya crouched sideways against the tree he'd leapt to, everyone looked on in horror as he rebounded from his place and kicked off of the body of the tree, shooting right through all of them and into the fray of the confrontation of Seidou Takizawa.