Am I Evil? Yes, I am
Another day, another overwhelming feeling of the sheer scale of the operation she was now a part of. Isshiki Rei hadn't exactly had the greatest… Accessibility… Over the recent years of her life, so going from something that she had been forced to conform to, to then going to something as massive and seemingly open as the Broken Heart Foundation it was very difficult for her to adjust.
As she stumbled through the corridors, because you simply couldn't navigate this place with any form of confidence unless you were practically bred in here and having just come from having breakfast for the day with only one or two of the others with her at the time, she felt her head tilt up to the high reaching celling.
The white colouring just made it seem like it was going on for miles longer than it did, it felt like she had to crane her head all the way back to even have a chance of finding the centre. She was thankful for the few specks of black every now and again, otherwise it would just be that disorienting void that their welcome room had been.
She didn't even know why it started fascinating her, it wasn't like it was anything new to adapt to as if it was the first time she had ever seen something like this. Might have still just been the drastic change and the fact she was by herself all alone that was making her mind do desperate things to try and keep her attention away from the fact.
What was there even to do here? It just seemed so hands off, more so than she had been expecting when first travelling down that lift and meeting her new "classmates," and the "class" they had just seemed like something that was more done to keep up pretences as opposed to something done out of a genuine desire to teach.
The teacher, Morales-sensei if she was hopefully recollecting correctly, seemed really dead and out of it as well. It was almost as if he was being held at gunpoint by Hiroto-san or something, otherwise it felt like he could just up and leave any moment's notice without giving them any kind of induction.
It was all a little disheartening to be frank, as he smoothed through her hair and began humming a little tune in order to keep herself preoccupied, that something that could claim to hold so much promise for the individual betterment of people could be this seemingly disjointed. However, to think that there were others like her that had come before and had assumedly gone on with their lives perfectly fine afterwards, made her at least a bit calmer about the prospect of the Foundation working out.
From the depths of her heart, she wanted all of this to really be worth it, her feet shuffling across the ground until she came across a slight dip in the wall's structure she could rest in. Of course, that wasn't a revolutionary statement, but it wasn't meant to be. Not everything had to be some grand sweeping desire to change everything instantly.
However, hope was a finite resource, and you could only get so far on those pesky little things called dreams that she once had a long time ago. Before she was robbed of the life she was supposed to have by forces she couldn't control, before she was placed into a situation by forces she couldn't get away from, and before she was placed in her with forces that acted above her with power she knew nothing about.
Before she knew it as well, the sound of little splashes of water dripping down onto the floor was permeating through her ears. It was sudden, and it happened without her even noticing it at first, but the slow slew of salty tears down the little scales that dotted her face were just another fact of life now.
Maybe it already was the dread setting in? Was it the despair she had felt over the years coming back in the brief moment of crisis? Or maybe it was because she was all alone in an unfamiliar place, and she didn't even have the shred of hope that there could be somewhere else after this? Sometimes, hope was always the biggest killer for these kinds of things…
Rubbing at her eyes, she tried her best to keep them shut as if that was ever going to do something to stop the tears. She had to get some degree of control of the situation, even if it was turning out to be a bit of a losing battle, because there was no way in hell she was going to let it all slip this quickly.
The draconic girl could feel her bones shifting, and not in the controlled, almost cathartic way they could do, it was an ugly, painful, mauling of her structure. Her nails, clean and cut to utter perfection at the behest of her "Parents", felt as if they were now petroding out like the nails of an old hag or a disgusting witch. Her scales, already cold beyond reasonable measure to the point where even she would rather not touch them from time to time, now felt as warm as Death Valley. The awful mixing of the warmth and the cold her body normally produced doing no wonders for her, but at least that was something she could put down to the genetics of her family just being a big screwy mixing pot at the minute.
The horns on her head as well, whilst not growing or shifting like her bones were, turned tender and painful to the touch. The little nubs that often poked through, seldom being more than a thought in the back of her mind, merged into the only thing she could think about.
"Oh dear, what do we have here~?" At least, it was the only thing she could think about before that voice spoke out to her. Within an instant she had recognised it, placing it as belonging to Hiroto-san of all people, but she made no move to answer his call. In fact, she was much more invested in getting out of her as quickly as possible. There was no way she was going to let someone see her in this moment of weakness!
…Others didn't like when she was weak, and it was her weakness that had caused the downward spiral to this very moment. It might have been excused, though, if she wasn't a freak whose only real duty was to serve her betters in life, nothing more and nothing less than deserved for a snivelling little waste of oxygen masquerading as a little girl that couldn't tell her left from her rights, and her As from her Zs.
If only… If only she had been STRONGER! And why did it have to be them instead of her?! Why was she the one still living this charade, and not someone who deserved so much better!?
Why did she get to pretend to have a happy life and the others didn't? Why did it have to be her freaky self?!
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Get a hold of yourself, Kid!" Without warning, her situational awareness having plummeted to a level far below zero to the point it was probably down at the centre of the earth by now, she was grabbed a hold of by the firm grip of Hiroto right in front of her. Cracking one of her eyes open, she could see the slightly smaller twin locking hands on her shoulders. His mismatched eyes regarding her with something straddling the border between contempt and slight concern.
Shutting her eyes back again, not wanting Hiroto to see how bloodshot and puffy they had become, she made a futile effort to try and overpower the stronger, more athletically developed adult. Maybe if she had fully shifted into her dragon form, she might have had a fleeting chance then, but she was just some pathetic little girl at the moment, so it was a busted flush from the moment she stirred it up.
Her arms soon slumped to her side, just another proof of how weak she was in the face of people that could actually have the strength to control her. However, she kept up some kind of wilful resistance from facing Hiroto directly, shifting her head away from the other in an attempt to hide the extent of her stormy feelings.
"You know, I do the same thing with my brother from time to time. Don't think that ignoring me is going to do anything but make you realise that I can ignore you much longer than you can me. You wouldn't want that now, would you?" Hiroto's voice held a certain air about it, an authority that made Shiki not want to question him at all. Not like it was in her best interest to question him to start off with, but no one else but Kyte had given off the same vibe to her.
Bringing her head back around to him and feeling compelled to open her eyes without so much as a word spoke, she spoke. "…N-No…." Frankly, though, her voice was so quiet and weak in that moment, you could have easily gotten a more fruitful comment from a mouse, or a single speck of plankton picked out of the sea before being swallowed whole.
Still, it was enough for Hiroto to take the advantage in the situation and bring it back down to level ground. "Yes, that's right, that's a good girl right there. No need to cause unnecessary division, is there?" His voice dropped down a bit from the stern authoritarian to a much more noticeable, and recognisable, tone similar to his brother's. One that Shiki was more easily able to place in her mind as being safe.
And safety, in this instant, was certainly paramount above everything else.
Seeing no movement on Shiki's end to contribute to any kind of conversation, not like he was expecting her to in the first place ever since he received his briefing about her from Subaru, Hiroto continued and this time shepherd Shiki forward with him. "My brother works security for this place, you see. We have a little network we like to share from time to time, sometimes we notify each other of funny things we see people doing over our phones. Just so happens that with Niijima-sama asleep, I'm free of a few of my obligations for the time being and decided to check in with him. I would like to take credit away from Hideyoshi, but I have to give it to him this time, he pointed you out all by himself."
…They were… Watching her? Like… She assumed that there was always going to be some kind of security system, she wasn't so stupid and feckless as to totally ignore the obvious cameras dotted around the place. No, it was more the fact that the way Hiroto had explained it to her, it was like the pair of them watched over the whole place like they were watching fish swimming in the ocean. That just seemed like such a cold and impersonable way to run it.
…And what she had heard whenever she had been in her room the other day was something she would much rather forget… Seems like a certain sibling had forgotten to select a single camera microphone…
"Either way, when I looked at what he was showing me, I remembered something I read about you on the file we compiled. I think I know somewhere where we can go…" Hiroto trailed off towards the end, but there was a very clear indication of where he was intending to drag the one-sided conversation next. With a wave of his hand to the Ice Dragonborn girl behind him, an almost comical size difference even placed next to the fact that Fukuro was probably taller than two of Shiki combined, Hiroto began to weave his deft path through the Foundation's many hidden doorways.
In a way, it was impressive how obtuse and difficult it was. And with how they seemed to be quite on the ball with security, even if it was done through the coldest and scummiest lens imaginable, it was at least comforting to know that they wouldn't easily be invaded by some random lunatic hell bent on vengeance. And not without getting everyone to a safe place as well.
Plus, rubbing her eyes again for good as she traversed the winding path with Hiroto in front of her, maybe with someone else here it wouldn't be so bad, would it? Not least that it might distract her thoughts.
And frankly? That was all she wanted…
A new day brought more possible avenues for pain to befall the unlucky fox boy named Kagekatsu Nakamura. It did appear that his body was at least part of the way on the road to recovery, he wasn't having a much trouble with his nose or with his leg for that matter, and he wasn't having to practically tear the stiches in his chest out in order to wake up in the first place.
However, he knew better than to think that that would be things would be getting better for him. Too often in the past had he believed that he was seen the rising of the sun on the horizon, only to later find out that it was just another false dawn to place down on his life's laundry list.
According to the schedule, if he was recalling it correctly, today was one of the main days where nothing was going on to be specific. At least, it meant that he wouldn't have to physically interact with the gaggle of psychos and dickheads, or you know, give them the chance to pass on any disgusting disease they might have been carrying before coming here. You could never be too careful with some people. Call him a paranoid fuckwit, but whenever his body was as fragile as it was, Kagekatsu wasn't in the business of getting sick.
Sliding out of bed and getting himself dressed, the feeling of actual clothes that he felt comfortable in being a still welcoming experience even if it wasn't the first time in forever like it was yesterday, he began to carefully pull his hair back for the day. Usually, it was the most excruciating part of his morning routine, trying to make sure there were no knots and nothing that would otherwise cause long term damage to it. He didn't go too complex today, just shifting it back into a nice ponytail, which would hold fine if he didn't find himself getting pummelled into the earth for the third time this week. Next to go back in were his earrings, which frankly he shouldn't have been wearing in the first place considering the placement of his ears, but if his dad could do it then Kagekatsu sure as shit could do it as well! Especially when they were such beautiful red diamonds, one of the few that he was happy to cling onto for grim death despite them remaining as remnants of the past that he had supposedly run away from.
As he rubbed at his face, blinking his eyes every now and again to get them reacclimatized to the light, he gave himself a once over before stepping out into the halls of the Foundation. Oddly enough, as each stepped clicked across the ground, with him still having to wear those shitty ass prison boots he had been forced into, there was not a single other sound present.
So far, his experience of the Foundation had been a decidedly chaotic one. There was always someone yelling or someone crying, even yesterday he had to cover his ears with his pillow in an attempt to drown out the noise coming from Arius' dorm. He assumed some announcements had been made as well, if the mechanical whirring was anything to write home about, but he had made damn sure that not even his enhanced hearing would pick up on that crap.
Still, with the absolute sound of silence for once in his goddamn life, he was happy to bask in the moment. It had been absolutely ages since he'd been left alone and had the relative freedom to do whatever the hell he wanted, though, last time hadn't worked out so well… He was still very much sour over where that had landed him, and who he had to stop tending to whenever he had to go on the run.
Skulking down the halls, trying his best to commit the variety of hidden doors to memory so he wouldn't have to deal with disorientating himself every time he blinked, Kagekatsu flung the memories coming to the surface out of his head. The past was the past, and that was something he was very much trying to get over. Like hell was he ever going to find himself in a situation like that again.
It was his fault in the first place regardless. Him, and that stupid, stupid assumption of his that had brought him into so much trouble with his previous associations towards the end of his tenure there. Truly, it was what one might have called an illness of the mind, something that he was clinging to for the sake of clinging to it, for the hope of at least having some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.
Things would be infinitely better for him if he just cast off those errant thoughts that ran contrary to who he was. It would be so much easier if he just never even considered them in the first place. There really was no point on dwelling on them, was there? Not when he had been convinced to come to this place to forget about it all.
And yet, he couldn't fight his way out of the tangled web he had weaved for himself. It was so fucking frustrating, it almost made him want to slam his fist against the side of the wall, like someone after they had just failed a vital test for their job by one mark.
Gah! Why the hell was he doing this to himself? Every single fucking time he did this, it was the same old shit! Nothing ever changed! It was a fucking disgrace! He just wanted it ALL TO END!
"Please, don't bleed on the floor, Nakamura. I have to clean that up later." Snapping him to attention and actually bringing him back to grounded reality was the appearance of a one Subaru Fujinaga, ironically enough. The maniac clown, as usual, had appeared whenever the situation was completely disadvantageous, and was looking down upon Kagekatsu with an almost regal air to his crimson gaze.
Squinting his eyes at the question, and mouthing something off to himself, Kagekatsu wondered what the pink haired adult was even on about. That was until his hearing decided it now wanted to return full volume and gift him with the sound of blood dripping onto the floor from the new cut on his head that he had just tore open, and not for the first time in the Foundation as well. "...Oh, for fuck's sake!" He exclaimed, forgetting Subaru was there, but likely not caring either which way.
Regarding the situation before him, hand place on his hip and head titled to the side, Subaru spoke calmly and made no move to sound any way overjoyed by the crimson red he was seeing. "You do that often? I recall Sati did mention that someone was bleeding before they even got down to see me."
His lips almost curling back into a snarl as he placed a hand on the afflicted side to stem the bleeding, Kagekatsu looked eyes with Subaru and shot back at him. "Don't you have a little shit to deal with? You know that little girl that I heard was turned into shaslik by fucking horror film villain number seven?" What? He forgot what the name of that guy was, even if he had even heard it in the first place. Wasn't like he was supposed to remember these people in the first place, if he committed every person he had ever met to memory then he would never get any of the thinking he wanted done.
Although, one thing that he didn't expect to happen with regards to his snappy comeback was the effect it had on Subaru. That was to say, it had no effect whatsoever. As the seconds ticked by, as small droplets of blood continued to rain down like gentle raindrops, there was no uptick in any facial shift for the clown co-ordinator. "She's been tended to still by Hideyoshi, but she's not the one currently cutting themselves open and adding extra work for me to do." It was a very matter of fact reply, cut and very clinically dry.
Squinting again, not in anger but more in a state of disbelief, Kagekatsu eventually replied by shrugging his shoulders and wiping off any stray specks that may have begun to converge into a stain. "What are you even doing talking to me then? Were you stalking me or something?" His hand was still firmly pressed to the side of his scarred head, enough pressure and he would probably be able to stop the bleeding for the time being. He had plenty of experience doing that, unfortunately.
"Nishishishi, do you really think I have better things to do?" Subaru replied, twirling that errant strand of hair again, a habit that no doubt every one of the new arrivals had picked up on by now. His eerie and annoying laugh coming back at the start, the embers of mirth in his eyes starting to flicker back into full flames again. "I was actually on my way to go talk to Niijima-sama before he goes to sleep for the day, but then again, if he's asleep and I knock on his door then my ass is pretty much going to be served for lunch."
Okayyyyyyyyyy, that was an image that Kagekatsu wasn't going to be able to beat out of his head any time soon. Much less so when it came to bleaching his eyes clean of the visualisation as well, not even mentioning that he hadn't touched breakfast yet!
However, he couldn't so much as get a word in edgeways before Subaru continued on like he wasn't even there in the first place. "Sooooo, I basically decided that someone else can have the honour of having to talk to him right before he falls asleep. Oh, and just in case you needed to ask at any point, I doubt Sati is going to be available for much longer~!" Oh, that little sadistic smirk that Subaru was given sent Kagekatsu's tail straight between his legs. No one might have liked Sateriasis, but if the Vampire Lord though the brutality of the students was nothing to bat an eyelid over, then the fox boy didn't want to imagine what it was like for staff-on-staff violence.
"You know, that still doesn't explain why you stopped me specifically." Kagekatsu was keen to move on from Subaru's little sadistic mini monologue, he didn't need a reminder that the staff were about as mentally repugnant as some of the students when it came to their worrying lack of empathy. Hell, even the prison guards had some degree of empathy! At least they stopped beat you when your skin was black and blue! If that was the Foundation, you'd probably have to shatter all of your limbs before they gave you even a cursory glance, in Kagekatsu's opinion, for whatever the hell that was worth.
"Oh, that? Well, it was by chance really! I was just passing by when I saw you trapped in your own little world, and then I saw the blood, and then I thought about all the work that would take to clean up, so I decided to step in before you got any more of it on the floor and on those lovely clothes that I went to the trouble of purchasing from my own pocket!" In contrast to earlier on, the usual Subaru had swung back into full effect with no sign that he had been acting ay different. Frankly, it was a little scary just how seamless the transition between the two faces were. It made the fox boy wonder if there were many more faces that he needed to watch out for…
"You bought this?" Kagekatsu eventually etched out, raising an eyebrow and picking at the fabric before whistling. "Have to say, you at least have some good taste then. Such a shame you're wasting it by wearing this tacky mess." Hey, while he was in the lion's den, he was going to poke them as much as humanly possible before he got his ass beat for it. Plus… it felt like there was something else at play here.
Subaru shrugged, shaking his head and tutting at the same time "It's not my fault my eye for fashion is so good, it would be unfair if I wore anything other than this you see. Plus, I would probably have to remove these things right here, and that would be too much effort~!" Watching Subaru picking at one of the many piercings in his face that broke up the otherwise flawless skin, Kagekatsu didn't know you could vomit food even when you hadn't eaten in a long while, but there was a first time for everything at the end of the day.
However, bringing this up to Subaru, and letting the clown know that this was some kind of trigger, would likely just lead to more pain in the future. So, as much as the pain and disgust probed his body, Kagekatsu bit back his usually acidic tongue from yelling bloody murder. "…F-Fine! J-Just leave me alone then!" He was able to say eventually, his eyes dashing down to the floor and avoiding any capture of Subaru's being.
"Oh? But that would be so heartless of me whilst you're still bleeding!" True to Subaru's words, as Kagekatsu placed his hand against the scarred side of his head, they were met with the lukewarm blood still dripping down. It may have been minor, but there was little chance, going by the look in Subaru's eyes, that the fox boy was going to be able to get out of this one so easily "Plus, you still need to clean that up like I asked you to! Sooooooooooooo, you're going to be following me to where we keep the equipment for this stuff!"
Before Kagekatsu could even think to shoot some sarcastic comment, one he was sure would definitely release him from this awful situation and absolutely not make it worse tenfold, he was grabbed by Subaru. The next second, once again before he could full register what was happening, he found himself being dragged through the Foundation by the sadistic clown co-ordinator. "Oi! Oi! Oi! The fuck do you think you're doing, Asshole?!" Finding his voice, Kagekatsu let most of his vitriol rip. Having his freedom removed from him like this was inhumane at best, but with the grumble of his stomach in the background, it was just a borderline crime against humanity at this point.
"Don't worry about it, little Kage-chan, you'll be able to have food whenever we're done with your J~O~B~!" Subaru teased, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the shorter male with a real smug eating grin plastered all over his glossy, black lips. The flashy emphasis on the last word no doubt existing for no other reason than to be an ear parasite, pushing Kagekatsu further down the river to his inevitable pissed off explosion. "I'm going to enjoy not having to be the one to clean up after your spats anymore. You really don't want to know how long it took me to clean up the incident in the cafeteria."
Ah yes, because getting fucking obliterated by Joseph was exactly what Kagekatsu wanted to be reminded of when he was in a terrible mood. Wow, Subaru wasn't a nice and caring person for doing that…! In case it wasn't obvious, and if one ignored the blatant baring of sharp canines, the clown was push buttons all over the fox boy without a care in the world.
Subaru was strong… That had been something that made Kagekatsu raise an eyebrow from the second he was grabbed to the second he decided to resign himself to his fate once they passed deeper through the labyrinth. The strength, on face value, was not something one could see coming from such a lithe bodied man, much less one who had allegedly worked in a circus as a clown for a good part of his life. Yet, as his clothing was crumpled under the grasp, the hand clung to him like super-glue, and it felt as if he could be hoisted about ten feet into the air at a moment's notice.
Really, he should have learned by now that muscle wasn't always something only belonging to big, building men. That had bitten him in the ass multiple times… And here it was turning up again to fuck him over at the worst moment.
"And!" Subaru exclaimed, kicking Kagekatsu back into gear. "You'll be able to tell everyone just where to go from now on in order to clean up their messes! Trust me, once you've seen what some of the other kids here do, Ari-chan's little plaything for one, you won't want to touch it again." The disgust in Subaru's voice when he brought up, who Kagekatsu could only assume was Ani, was palpable. Regardless of the fact that the piercings seemed to make the pink haired adult's subtle facial movements imperceptible, like his face was a wall of iron whenever it wanted to be.
Although, right now it just seemed like Subaru was filling time to their destination by waxing poetic about his problems as a teacher. Which, honestly, Kagekatsu was not wanting to hear in the slightest. He couldn't exactly stuff his hands over his ears, even as said ears were trying to press themselves against his head in a futile attempt to mimic that, and something in his gut, when it wasn't cry out for food, was telling him that Subaru would pick up on it in a moment's notice.
Finally, though, after what felt like the passage of time finishing and then looping back on himself, Kagekatsu found himself grinding to a halt by Subaru's side as they stood in front of a sleek, silver door that was unlike the others he had seen so far. Hell, it looked more expensive than anything that was put up in his dorm room. "This is for the cleaning equipment?" Kagekatsu said, fighting his eyes from rolling over as the scepticism was laden so thickly in his voice that he may as well have been the definition of the word.
Subaru shrugged, rapping his knuckles across the door three times in quick succession. "You lot ain't the first ones here, we've had a few incidents in the past that put it into our heads that we needed to 'protect' our 'investments' as Niijima-sama put it."
Kagekatsu blinked, his golden eyes narrowing the more he thought about what he was told. That certainly didn't sound like cleaning equipment alright, and his suspicious were well founded as he heard the sound of feet shuffling just behind the door as his tail stuck up ramrod straight behind him. "Don't bullshit me!" He whisper-shouted, the tension born from pretty well-founded territory when one considered how shitty and violent literally everything else had been to him.
"Ack, don't worry about it~! She's past the really tetchy time of the day, a certain liquid can do wonders in some regards I hear." Subaru sang, now leaning on the wall nearby with an even more shit eating smirk than he wore earlier. He seemed to be really enjoying himself, fiddling with a deck of cards that had worked their way into his hands. "She'll help you clean up real nice…" The ominous lilt to his voice not going unmissed to Kagekatsu's trained ears.
Before Kagekatsu could reply, however, he found himself being prevented from doing so by the arrival of someone he hadn't seen once so far. The second the newly arriving woman's eyes were laid upon the young teen; she couldn't help but roll her eyes and shake her head. "Jesus, Subaru… You're just dropping them on me now, are you?" Came the voice of Shion Amamiya, now dressed up in a far more professional and immaculate looking black business suit complete with a black turtleneck underneath.
"Sati told me you were looking forward to getting your fingers on the new kid. Now, I can't give you him just yet, but I can give you Nakamura-kun here as a trade-off." Playful voice and cold eyes, his hands equally as cold and detached as Subaru pushed Kagekatsu further towards the door. The strong rip from earlier returning, the foxboy's body tensing as he felt as if he was being pushed through the Earth itself in order to remain in place. Subaru wasn't about to let the other run off, chasing down kids wasn't exactly his strong suit and wasn't something he was a particular fan of doing.
"Don't you have to go see the boss anyway?" Shion said eventually, taking her eyes off the scene unfolding before her and then turning away, a mental note made to keep her mouth shut around Fauser in future. Not like she assumed he was the one that spilled it directly to Subaru, but it did have a very distinctly fishy taste to the whole thing. Enough for her to scribble down a surprise visit for some time in the near future.
"Hmm? Oh, yes, I did! But I ran into Nakamura-kun on my way here, and since I'm such a lovely man I thought you could help him out with a little issue he seems to have~" Subaru pawed at his own head, moving back his own fringe and striking at a non-pierced patch of skin to make his point clearer. A real self-satisfied air emanated from him as he pushed Kagekatsu further into the room, making sure to stay in the doorway to block off any possible attempts to run away.
Shion shook her head as she went back to her desk, a quaint little one that looked cosy almost. It wasn't exactly pure; it still retained a kind of sterile nature to it, with it looking like it was religiously sheened and as if it was ripped straight out of a local precinct. Rummaging through the drawers on said desk, she tinkered with the oily little, golden knobs that were threatening to slick loose. "Boss isn't going to be happy; you know. Fauser certainly won't cover your ass, and I'm all tied up with this one if your plan goes through." She bemoaned, her voice walking the narrow chasm between the thin veneer of professionalism and utter, experienced exasperation. Holding her head, she groaned as she pulled a single file, it was far too early in the morning to be dealing with these shenanigans. Particularly with how much she had drunk the prior night…
"Shit happens, Shi-chan." Came the very blunt reply from the clown, Kagekatsu very much feeling like he was being stuck between a rock and a hard place. His mind awhirl with the Foundation politics that was clearly flying over his head at heights not even space craft would be able to achieve. "And you know something? You keeping me here longer is just making that worse~!"
'Oh, you slimy bastard' was the collective thought emanating from both Kagekatsu and Shion as they glared up at Subaru, who was fiddling about with one particular card that was now lodged between his teeth with no signs of him letting it go.
Running a hand down her face, she was already regretting taking her "break" early today and being a fully functional human in the veritable clown show, Shion wasn't about to deal with anymore bullshit as she skulked up to the clown engaging himself in the most unwanted hostage situation ever. "Leave then. I'll take the goddamn kid off your hands if that's what you want!"
A slimy smile sucked up Subaru's face, the fleeting dance of mirth in his eyes turning into a fireworks show in that instant. "Sure! Sure! Sure! No problem! That wasn't that hard now, was it? Shi-chan~! I'll see you around later~!" Whatever had been locking him in place was suddenly flung open, and with card still in mouth, the pink haired man finally moved out of the doorway. However, there was no time for Kagekatsu to even make some kind of desperate escape from this.
Well… He could've used his Quirk and tried to slip out that way, now that he thought about it… Then again, he didn't much fancy being hunted down like cattle by a clearly pissed off woman he didn't know and by a sadistic clown that he knew all too well by this point. Turns out "Better the Devil you know" was a bit of a useless saying in this situation.
"God… Always so difficult…" Shion tutted, shaking her head again now that Subaru was well out of sight. Tired eyes then scanned Kagekatsu, analysing every inch of the foxboy as he stood there fully rock solid with no attempt at movement even being thought about. "Well… I'm not getting any younger, Kid, let's get started, shall we?" She said, motioning to the "couch" that was set in the middle of the room, just beside her desk.
Approaching it, taking small steps across the unfamiliar train, at least thankful that said terrain was clean, Kagekatsu plopped himself down on the couch. Careful to make sure he also didn't crush his tail in the process, the furry appendage hovering over the edge and swishing lightly above the floor, he reclined against the soft, red velvety nature of the couch. At least someone had taste in this atrocious place, if he ignored the fact that this meant the Foundation did have money for nice things and just decided to not use it for some sick joke. "…Let's get this over with then." He moaned, almost wanting to close his eyes to catch up on sleep he didn't really need.
"Very well." Shion's voice slipped back into professional, opposed from the frustration of the earlier conversation with Subaru. "Just a reminder, since this is your first session with me, we're not going to be doing anything too taxing on you. Especially when you got dragged here by Boss' lapdog against your will. However, I would recommend you at least try to work with me on this. Sooner we get this done, sooner we can do what we want."
Kagekatsu wanted to complain, something bubbling in his mind to say that if she really wanted to get this over with then she could just tell him to leave. However, at the sound of his grumbling stomach, he cringed and remembered where he was exactly. There was little chance he was going to get any rub of the green here, and it's not like luck was something ever on his side. "Fine." Was all that came out of his cantankerous mouth as he readjusted himself on the couch, head now dipping down to where his knees were.
Keeping her eyes on the foxboy for a second, Shion then started scribbling down a few notes on the file she had brought out. With the speed she was writing with, and Kagekatsu's ears could very much tell the speed, it was almost like she was chasing after some invisible answer that the other couldn't see. "So, Nakamura-kun, tell me a little about yourself, would you not?" Her voice rebounded out of professionalism, but not to the same frustration from earlier. Instead, it sounded like the same kind of playfulness that you would hear from someone trying to roleplay during a good cop/bad cop situation.
Frankly, to Kagekatsu's twitching ears, it was a little condescending. "What? Do you want my fucking life story already? A bit soon for that don't you think!?" Okay, he may have snapped a little too hard. However, who could blame him? Anyone who was in his situation, unless they had the patience of a saint, would have probably hit his cantankerous stride around the same time.
Shion sighed, jotting down another note before speaking again. "Like it or not, Kid, I'm one of the Foundation's therapists. And dealing with people like you is always a good challenge." She finished, a bit of a smirk working its way into her tone as she narrowed her eyes at the other. "I'm free for most of the day, y'know, I can keep you here as long as I want, so how long you spend here is really up to you."
Ack, damn bitch! Who did she think she was now? A schoolteacher? God, that sounded like something you would tell a four-year-old after he thought he was hot shit and decided to cut class one day! "I can play hardball too, you know." Why was he pretending like this was some great stand your ground moment? Kagekatsu didn't quite know, but when your mouth moved at ninety miles a minute it got hard to control whatever was flung out of it.
"Oh? Is that right? My, you're feisty today, aren't you?" Shion almost half chuckled, already it was becoming clear just who this kid was at the surface level. However, if she wanted proper answers, it looked like she was going to have to dig a little deeper and press a few buttons in order to get the machine working. Leaning down, she attracted the watchful gaze of the other, but made sure to properly conceal it before the foxboy could fully catch what it was. "But, of course, I always have my ways to fully extract information, and keeping limits on such a thing is so silly…"
Bringing the offending object to the top of the desk, Kagekatsu's eyes widened and about every hair on his body and tail bristled at the sight. Reflecting underneath the intense light, and with a sheen that suggested a kind of intense polishing had been untaken, was sat a pair of Sai. The sharpest pair that he had ever seen in his life. "…Wh… What? You're… You're not goi-" He found himself stumbling his words out, not quite sure how to respond to the sight of the weapons this supposed "therapist" had just brought out. He should've known better than to assume there wouldn't be bullshit like this happening!
Shion merely waved off his concerns with a blasé flick of her wrist, a soft chuckle emanating from her. "Kuhuhuhuh, please, Nakamura-kun, get those thoughts out of your head. I would never do what you're thinking… It's just that I find that if you inject a little bit of an external force into the situation, you tend to get the ball rolling a bit more." Setting them side by side, she edged them closer to the end of the desk facing Kagekatsu, not batting an eyelid at the repeated clenching of the other's hands. "Your reaction, though, it tells me that you're at least familiar with this particular tool?"
Kagekatsu blinked, as if he were awakening from some kind of trance that had been placed upon him. "You could say that…" He murmured, edging closer on the couch and hands ghosting closer to the Sai. "I once knew some lunatic from out of the country that used them. Don't ask me to remember much more than that, I've tried to supress the memory of that guy as much as I can." He finished, rubbing at his temples, taking precautions to not reopen the wound on the side of his head.
"Hmm, that's very interesting, Nakamura-kun. I guess he must've been quite the piece of work." Shion wasn't a slouch, even if the bleeding had mostly dried up by the time he had sat down, it didn't take a genius to see the scarring that was prominent around the foxboy's head. No doubt, the claws he had were responsible for that.
Now… If only she could find the trigger…
Kagekatsu scoffed, hands now smoothing back strands of hair that had come loose. "You're telling me, I'm convinced the guy's got more than a few screws loose." Without asking permission, although feeling he would likely get it if he asked, the hands that had been hesitant moments prior then grabbed a hold of the two weapons. Eyes narrowed and brows furrowed as he assimilated the feeling of his hands gliding over the grip for the first time in two years. Concentration building by the second with each time he tried to slip into the process handling techniques. Despite all those years away from it, it didn't seem like he had lost his step… "He used to do push ups with these things all the time, I would see him do it on the edge of roofs as well. If that doesn't tell you shit you must be dense as fuck."
Yeah… That was a scene would very much rather store away into a lock box in the back of his mind where he would suppress it till the day he died. Guess that wasn't going to be the case now that it had be unwillingly dredged up just by the sight of the Sai alone.
Pointing at the Sai, making no comment about how they had been stolen from her so swiftly, Shion jumped in again. "I've been around the block, Kid. Trust me, I wouldn't be in this role if I didn't attempt to understand people like that." She answered, leaning her arms on the table and propping up her head with her hands. "Judging from your handling though, it seems like he did more than use them himself. You at least look like you have a vague idea of what to do."
"You think that makes you smart or something for pointing that out? Yeah, I do. Guy wouldn't leave me alone until he taught me at least the basics." The hum of approval from Shion made Kagekatsu release a breath he didn't he realise he had been holding in, it sounded like he had at least satisfied her curiosity for the time being.
Thank Christ for that now that he thought about it for more than a hot second! There was little desire within him to tell her more than that tiny bit of information, and even less for the desire to go through that awful training regime again. Hell, if he suffered an inferno then at his peak, he was going to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at his current pathetic state.
"…All very interesting, Nakamura-kun…" Shion replied after a few seconds, noting down the new findings before underlining something very particular that seemed to have caught her attention. What was it? Well, Kagekatsu had no real chance of knowing, but by the way his tail had increased in its swishing speed, chances were that it wasn't going to be anything good. "There's just one more thing I'd like to talk about today, and then you can be off on your merry way. You want to tell me what the word Monsoon means to you?"
The Sai, which had been locked in place before hand, clattered to the ground with a terrible thud with the sharp prongs missing the desk and Kagekatsu's legs by the smallest possible margin.
Laboured breathing then broke out, haggard and intermittent at best, like someone had forgotten how to use their lungs properly and was somehow managing to drown on land.
Hands tensed further, claws and nails that would have otherwise been dulled by the lack action sharpening into a point finer than the weapons now laying on the ground. Their trajectory going nowhere but the one target area that had been already looked like a cheese grater had been taken to it multiple times.
Monsoon.
Monsoon.
MONSOON!
A word cursed beyond reasonable measure, an irrational reaction that Kagekatsu simply couldn't control as his pupils diluted to tiny specks in the overwhelming sea of gold and white.
More often than not, whenever someone had some other intense emotion drilling within their psyche and making it its kingdom there was a lack of situational awareness on the victim's part. A kind of fatal obsession if one would like to see it that way, if your world was spinning around you the only thing one could do was find somewhere to plant their feet. The only issue being that sometimes the ground turned into your enemy and wanted to swallow you whole.
Despair was one such powerful emotion, the call of the endless void that threatened to consume anyone who stared into it too long. It acted as some eldritch entity, like an alien assimilating host after host yet leaving them superficially the same on the surface before the horrible truth would be revealed.
"Death to the living… The flame has no living heart… The order of life… The rules of nature must be followed…"
Blood starting dripping, then trickling, staining clothes a deep shade of red as pungent bile started to seep through infected scars and up a stinging throat. Everything had this disgusting warmth to it, and the foxboy couldn't only help but want to melt into the cool shadows cast everywhere in his room. If his mind would even let him consider the thought on anything but a primal level… What wishful thinking that was.
Shion simply watched the scene unfolding in front of her, no sounds coming out of her and no wasted movement. In fact, there wasn't any movement except for the odd scribbling of her pen, taking your eyes off the slow motion car crash in front of you was often impossible, much more so whenever it was your fundamental job to figure out why it was such a disaster in the first place.
Her Quirk, theoretically speaking, was one that should've allowed her to have a much more pertinent view of the causes than most people. Breaking Speech is what she had named it from a young age, and it had come in handy on more than few occasions. Sure, there had been some… Incidents… But you never made an omelette without breaking a few eggs, all it did was make her more aware for the future.
And the future was now with the foxboy in front of her, a teen that was now wearing almost a crimson mask from how the blood was now collecting around his face. At least she wouldn't be the one cleaning up the spillage on the floor, no doubt the whole reason why the other was here in the first place would be saddled with that role for his tardiness.
Plus, it was only just a matter of time before her Quirk wore off and he was left back to his regular devices. Although, judging from his prior temperament there were going to have to be certain precautions in place… Which was why her hand was gently travelling down to a nearby pouch… You could never be too careful.
Shion Amamiya
Quirk: Breaking Speech
Shion's Quirk upon activation allows her to know 10 particular words or phrases that can emotionally affect a chosen target, putting them in a state of despair for 5 minutes when she uses at least one of said words or phrases in a sentence directed towards the target. After activation, the chosen target becomes immune to her Quirk's effects for 45 minutes. While Shion can affect more than one target, the immunity period doubles for every additional person up till 24 hours.
Of course, though, Kagekatsu was utterly unaware of the actions of the world swirling around him. He was still trapped under that spell of despair that had been cast upon him, he didn't even look like he was even really there anymore. The blood still flowed, but his body was stiller than a statue. His hands had retreated back to his side, and his tail seemed like it was still moving at least, but that could be seen as the only real positives.
"People like you are born every day, people like you die every day. Why do you suddenly believe that you're going to be any different?"
It was a sick reality to be a part of, Kagekatsu's head now dropping into his bloodied hands without any weight to hold it back, knowing that there was nothing one could do to stop the inevitable call of the void.
Until…
For some reason…
It lifted?
All of a sudden, like it had been running on an invisible timer, the cloud that left him encumbered and bloodied was dissipated. Weight was returned to his body like a flood of pain crashing down on him. Suddenly, he could feel the pain of the scars he had inflicted upon himself, having to fight himself from howling out like an animal at the destroyed flesh.
He could see his nails had turned a pitch black, not like the normal kind of nail polish he would sometimes where when younger, but pure, unmitigated darkness with crusted blood slithering around the edges.
But all he could see now was red as he ran his hands fully down his face, he had become accustomed to the sight in general, he had even been used a blood bank the other day by Hisumi, but something was setting him off about this one in particular.
Was it the person across from him? Was it the fact that it wouldn't have happened if Subaru didn't stick his nose in places where it didn't belong? Or was it the fact that he had already done this once today, going through the same motions of self-harm that had been haunting him for close to two years at this point?
Whatever it was, tangible or not, he was done with this whole fucking charade. Staring at the women across from him, picking up the Sai without processing the intent of his actions, he let loose. "THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?! That shit ain't normal, whatever the fuck you were doing! Get your slimy fucking mitts out of my head, Freak!" Kagekatsu was never the most eloquently spoken teen in the world, and when delirium was a possible factor then your whole diction did go to shit. However, the anger was one thing that would never be altered no matter the situation, his face was getting redder the liquid drying on it.
"I just did my job, Nakamura-kun." Shion shot back, glancing down at the Sai before looking back up at the long-haired teen that had just jumped to his feet. "Like I said, I'm a therapist here and I like a good challenge, so forgive me for having to use some methods beyond what is permissible. In the end, though, there's always more than one way to skin a cat…"
The unease air settled in after what Kagekatsu could only assume was a latent threat, and judging from the glare he was receiving, there was many more tricks that could've been pulled out of the bag. His mind went back to the fact that she even had Sai in her office in the first place, and from there it was off to the races about all sorts of weapons that could've been lurking around the place. A cold shivering going down his back and fluffing up his tail as gruesome thoughts began to percolate into his mind.
Before he could speak again, Shion was up to her own feet. She was only about three inches shorter than him, but her presence in the instance was unmistakeable to the point he felt so much shoulder as his shoulders hunched in. "Take this." Looking down, she was offering some kind of rudimentary relief in the form of a handkerchief. "At least clean yourself up when you leave, Fauser won't like it if you end up causing him more work." Wanting to roll his eyes but knowing better than to provoke more of an outrage, he did as was asked.
It didn't help an awful lot, not when most of it was either on his clothes by now or dried around his scalp, but it still ended up absolutely caked in it without much effort required. That fact was just… Depressing, there was no other way for Kagekatsu to look at it. While the white-hot anger was still burning, part of it had subsided into this malaise he couldn't put his finger on.
"You can take those as well if you want, might serve you well from getting your head knocked in again." Shion then said, startling the foxboy into nearly dropping the Sai her attention was focused on.
"Seriously?" Kagekatsu raised an eyebrow. He had just been ripping his head apart the previous few minutes and she now thought it was a good idea to give him weapons that reminded him of a nihilistic sociopath? Wait… Why was he even questioning that? Of course, she thought it was a good idea, everyone had screws loose here. If anything, the shock would be if she wanted them back.
Flicking them back into the right position in his hands, because he had seen enough losers in life thinking that you needed to hold them like they were some kind of knife, he nodded to himself. At least, he hoped, if he was able to keep them on his person then it would stop what Shion had put more eloquently than he could ever hope.
"Good." Shion stated, sauntering back to her desk to finish up on her notes for the session. "I'll call you back whenever it's needed, we've only just begun to scratch the surface, Nakamura-kun, and don't think you'll be able to get off that easily~." The playfulness was back to her voice, and the shiver that went down Kagekatsu was back to giving him goosebumps as well. "Swing by Fauser before you go to the cafeteria, I don't want to be the person blamed whenever Boss loses his shit at the sight blood."
Right… The guy who ran this shitshow was a vampire after all… Jesus, Kagekatsu realised now that he was more than likely making himself a walking buffet with all the blood that had been pouring from him like a water fountain over the past week. Going to the doctor, even if it was Sateriasis, was a good idea…
Then again, the presence of his stomach rumbling reminded himself of another dilemma… Ah, Jesus Christ, he was such a fucking mess already today…
"Sure." Was all he said to Shion, ambling his way back out of the room and trying not to wince too hard when a new flash of pain rummaged around his head. Finding the infirmary would be tricky, but at least it would be a good experience… Right?
With Kagekatsu now departed, Sai in hand, Shion leant back in her chair and sighed. This was only the first session with the first kid? It looked like she was in for the long haul with this bunch. But nothing ventured nothing gained, and she now at least had some information she could prod Kagekatsu with further.
Staring up at the wall, she looked at the clock that read "9:30" and grumbled. Looks like she would have to be wating for a little bit more before she could sip from that precious elixir and let her hair down to fully relax.
Welp, it was back to work then. At least with the next session, it would be one she would bring upon herself.
That new kid… That was really her goal…
The cafeteria was about as full as it was ever going to be, without the presence of any of the staff this time around and the absence of Kagekatsu, Haru, Shiki and Yua subtracting from the tally. Still, it left them in a tense but expected silence. The seats were about as separate as they were during the first fateful day but did appear like there were some small bubbles of interaction forming.
Well, that and there were certainly people that were trying to avoid each other as much as humanly possible. No one, and that would be in bold, double underlined if written on paper, wanted to sit anywhere close to Ani. To the room at large, she might as well have not existed. It didn't appear like she minded the fact so long as she got fed, but fate must've been playing some sort of cruel joke whenever Akashi was designated as the person to pass her the meal that had been decided upon for the day.
"Umm… Can we draw again?" He had tried to meekly change the result of the draft, but the looks he received from literally everyone else had killed his dreams dead before they could even really become dreams.
It became almost like a scene of a young kid approaching a ravenous monster in a Horror film, if phones were allowed then cameras would be record in trying to capture a moment that would certainly turn into a viral video.
In what was perhaps the first, and only, break for Akashi there were no issues with handing the meal to Ani. More so because he dashed as soon as he had plopped it down on her table, running back to his own and thanking his lucky stars he hadn't been turned into a cat-pelt rug or a paperweight just yet.
However, that had been the only real event so far. Compared to last time, with the presence of Subaru and then Kagekatsu getting his nose knocked silly by Joseph, there was a relative peace. Every seemed to be happily enjoying the food that had been cooked for them by both Akashi and Joseph, the latter very much taking the duty seriously.
Another stroke of luck this time around was that the door that had previously been locked was now free to open, revealing the actual equipment that could be used to make something that wasn't just different forms of microwaved crap or cabbage soup.
Though, it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops at that fact, which was quickly discovered whenever Joseph had flung open the fridge. "…No meat again?!" His monotone made it hard to pinpoint exactly, stoic face not helping, but he was definitely fifty different shades of pissed off. How was he supposed to prepare something with any decent nutrition of all he had to work with was a vegan's wet dream? Who the hell bought the food in the first place? That manual from before had mentioned a "Leech" character, which he could assume to be Hideyoshi, but that man didn't look like he wouldn't end up buying the whole store if given money.
But either way, he had to flex his talents still. The ingredients might have been bought by a fucking donkey, but he would be remised if he was unable to fully utilise them to their full potential. Perfectly cultivating the flavours into something that everyone would enjoy.
In the end, with Akashi by his side, he was able to whip up something that was at least noticeable as food. A simple omelette with a couple of tomatoes, onion, and some cheese that he had found. The cheese and the eggs both looking like they were hidden away in Fort Knox, their containers even camouflaged into the background to make it harder to distinguish them.
Still, as he served them out, making a note to have everyone's dietary needs committed to memory at one point, they all seemed to at least be a bit happy. Hisumi, for example, was on a bit more dower side. Apparently, the lack of overt meat to sink her teeth into was getting to her, the way she poked at the omelette being the major indication.
Satisfied that his work was done, Joseph, taking his own parts, sat down by himself. Spying out of the corner of his eyes the groups that were forming. Fukuro, Hisumi, and Mei seemed to be hanging around each other, the class time they had ha together likely being the functional basis there. Although, they were still very much at arm's length. His eyes, though, lingered on Mei a bit longer than others. His mind still registering the fact that the scars around her mouth were his fault, and they were something that was going to take a long time to heal.
Mahoro seemed to be hovering around where the trio was, simply listening in and interjecting every now and again whenever she deemed it necessary. She looked the most self-assure of anyone here. Her posture was perfect, her movements were practiced, and unlike some people she actually had table manners. Joseph was going to ignore the last part as he tore his meal apart viciously.
Ikariko, just like Ani, seemed to be a state of isolation. He had said nothing whenever he was passed his food and it didn't look like he had even touched it at this point. But then again, why would Joseph bother to care about him? Not like he had had any long form interaction with the other, so concerns were meaningless.
Yuusui was here too, perhaps the most detached out of everyone, but that appeared to be more out of hesitance than anything else. Joseph was not exactly the person most in tune with his emotions, but with the way Yuusui swirled his head back from time to time, and the tapping of his feet, something was going on there. He seemed to be taking a more detached observational role in the midst of looking like he was genuinely enjoying the food.
Using his tongue to pick up the last part of the meal, his mind went to one of the last people he hadn't gotten to yet.
Arius.
…Arius seemed to be floating about like a bad smell. He had finished long before everyone else, even the rabid eaters of Joseph and Ani, and Joseph half expected him to have some kind of weirdass excuse about his Quirk because that sounded exactly like something the sentient bag of meat would say.
However, it seemed as if he was looking over towards Joseph specifically and the energy demon recoiled.
Did that idiot seriously think that what had happened between them was something that needed to be followed up on? Or was Arius' mind just something that work on levels that Joseph just couldn't understand?
Hell, the situation wouldn't have happened in the first place if Arius had just given him the helmet in the first place. It wasn't a hard thing to do! And he didn't have to trash the damn thing right to its owner's place!
He would have his payback for that whole thing… Oh, he would enjoy it as well, wiping the floor with the meatsack would be the greatest pleasure he had had in forever…
"You enjoy it then? You know if there were lionesses nearby then you would've pulled for sure!" Wonderful. Just wonderful. Apparently, while Joseph had been busy going on his internal rant, he had missed the fact that Arius had matriculated behind him and was now teasing him with that slimy voice of his. He didn't need to turn around to know that dumbass smirk was going to be plastered all over the other's features.
"Go away." Came his icy response, playing stupid games with Arius would no doubt give him stupid prizes in kind. There was no part of Joseph that wanted anything to do with Arius, but there was no part of him that believed that Arius would take the goddamn hint.
"Come on, Sparky, don't take it so personally!" Arius responded, seating himself on the opposite end to Joseph. He coolly decided to ignore the death glare he was receiving, when you were a functional immortal those kinds of things tended to lose their edge.
Joseph grunted, head turning away from the spiky haired male. "Leave." He wasn't going to sugar-coat his words or play about with Arius one bit. If push came to shove, he was going to leave with his tail held high and ignorant of whatever shit the other was going to spew.
Arius could only be described now as deliberately ignoring the hint, leaning in closer as he checked around at the current scene, feeling a pair of particularly glassy eyes on his back for some reason, before speaking. "It's just a bit of fun! You looked like you really went to town by the way, pretty hardcore I do have to say. But I just wanted to say ab-"
Nope, Joseph wasn't going to let this go any further. There was not a single iota of his existence that wanted anything to do with Arius. His plan was now in action, leaving the table without so much as another look at anyone else still in the room. His tail nearly slashing into the ground with each step, the slight sparkling of electricity pumping out with every step he took.
The second the door opened he was out of it. He didn't even wait for it fully open all the way, that desperate to leave this clown show behind and do something much more productive with his time. He was here to mend his broken heart, wasn't he? There had to be some kind of training room somewhere…
What he had let in his wake, not that he would've cared if he knew, was an Arius with an unreadable expression. For the first time in a more public setting, Arius wasn't wearing any kind of sardonic smile, wasn't cracking some awful joke, or trying to wind someone else up. He certainly wasn't silent, as Yuusui observed from the far corner, his mouth was still mumbling something under his breath. However, it looked as if he was genuinely stumped for the first time in his life.
Arius just stared at the door, wondering where the other was off to now… And why…?
Whatever, he eventually decided as he turned his attention away from the other's departure. If Joseph wanted to be an asshole about the whole situation, then that was his problem. Arius was going to be continuing to live his life, and he was going to live his own life. That was all there was to it.
Still, it made him wonder about two things in particular.
First, who placed Joseph's helmet in his room in the first place? And second, why was Joseph reacting the way he was whenever Arius had it and Hideyoshi's voice came on the speaker?
"Know this, with my Prince by my side, if you remain silent over my head, I will snap necks under my feet."
The roar of the crowd was something that some people live for, they would drench themselves in the adulation and then sell their soul to increase it to an artificial level. It was that way with Heroes, Flashfire would often muse. They were taken in by their earthly, sinful, hedonistic desires. All they were really concerned about, at the end of the day, was fulling those desires and pleasures. Even something as seemingly selfless as wanting to save people was in fact selfish, thinking you now had the power to dictate who lived and who died.
However, that was to say nothing of the people that infected this locale. They were all gutter trash, every single one of them. There was nothing here but hedonism, debauchery, and other degenerate poisons that turned their lives into walking examples of Father's teachings. They would watch the senseless slaughter of the person sitting next to them, and the whole arena would cheer louder and louder even if they were going to be next.
What peons.
"This man stepping to me with his body of granite, but his neck of sand stood no chance. You can lie to yourself, act like you're not afraid of me, but the bravest thing any of you can do is thinking you can attack me, the most foolish thing is actually doing it."
And yet they still cheered, they begged for more. Like good little seals hitting their flippers against each other, like parrots all responding with the same answer.
"RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR!"
It was as if Flashfire lived in a parallel universe, and it made him sick to his stomach. Not only was the smell rancid, but the people were just as vile. He had lost his shirt at some point during the most recent fight as well, making him even more exposed to these horrid microbes and awful miasma sticking to his body.
Not wanting to recognise the state of play any further, he turned his gaze up and behind him. Higher than the rest of the seats in this arena there was a box, padded and protected from the scum of the earth that surrounded it.
In there…
In there was his salvation from the situation…
"…The result always remains the same, no matter whom you put in front of my Flame. There is no chance he will ever bend to the will of someone lesser than him in every single way." Said Akira Hiiragi, the villain known to the world as Painmaker, as he closed his eyes and leant back slightly in the chair that had been provided to him in order to watch the "festivities" unfold. Seeing his partner, the man he formed the fearsome duo known as the Authors of Pain with, incinerate all in his path was equal parts mixed with exquisite beauty and barbaric sadism. But he would be lying if it didn't excite him in more ways than one, especially when his partner stared directly into the booth itself.
"Oh, is that so? Awfully confident there, aren't you, my friend?" Came the voice of the man sat beside him, striking a real sickening cord between cool, calm medical professionalism and utter sleazy, whiny scumbag that just assaulted Painmaker's ears from all angles. Honesty, beyond the fact that everyone here likely hadn't bathed in months, and they all looked like they had slept with their sisters at least once in their lives, this voice was somehow on the top three list of his most hated things. "You know, if you so wished it that is, he could test his metal against a few of my top brass?"
Painmaker's head titled slightly, his eyes not opening an inch as he at least made the conscious effort to not automatically turn the other's words into white noise in his mind. "You'll have to take it up with him. Also, I assume these ones you're sending wouldn't be running away from you this time? Or did you invest in better security for once?" He bit back, summarizing in seconds that there was little chance he was going to allow Flashfire to be used like a plaything by scumbags. There was going to be little chance that the Exalted One would enjoy it as well, being reckless was so much different compared to being brave.
"Going for the throat, are we?" Came the snarky reply, half stuck between a snort and a genuine laugh of disbelief. Horrid, infected looking red eyes took a brief glance at the target of their ire, before sweeping back down to the clean-up job that was taking place on the desolated "battlefield." "You know… The more I think about what I just said, the more obvious it becomes, please excuse me for that errant comment, my Friend. Your partner here, though, has shown me more than enough. Quite the impressive fighter, his Quirk is certainly something that I w-…"
There was no chance for him to finish speaking as cold, sapphire eyes were now trained firmly on his own. Whilst Painmaker did have to suffer the anguish of making direct eye contact with the other, there were no doubts in his mind that little sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. "Continue with that line of questioning and you'll end up like everyone else that tried to step to him like that." Perhaps he put it much more in the style of his partner than his own, but there was no use trying to be eloquent when talking to the gutter trash of society.
The threat, though, didn't seem like it phased the other. At least, not in any visible way that Painmaker could discern from the naked eye. The blue haired man sat at this other side had no change in his eyes, nor were there any uncomfortable twitches in body language. A frustrating lack of information about the rest of the face, courtesy of it being covered up by that piss poor plague doctor mask, was also doing the peeved Painmaker absolutely no favours. "Very well. Sorry if I offended you, wouldn't want a silly comment to cause this entire business arrangement to all apart, would we?"
Slimy bastard… Painmaker's hands grabbed a hold of the opposite arms, beginning to move slowly down the leather in soft, gentle patterns. "I do suppose you're correct there for once, a broken clock can be right two times a day, though." There wasn't going to be any world where he legitimately praised this creep, just saying that he agreed was making him feel like he wanted to blow chunks all over the filthy floor.
"Phrase it however you want, my Friend, if it helps you sleep on the fact of the matter better. But don't pretend like I haven't helped fill your pleasures in more ways than one." There was that slimy voice again, like he had a slug for a tongue that was slicking seamlessly all over Painmaker's body, trying to bind itself to his flesh. The longer haired male of the pair couldn't know for sure, but there was little doubt that the other wasn't smirking in some capacity, and the soft rattling of the chains in the background wasn't going to leave any emotions to chance.
Painmaker paused before speaking again, the sound of the chains getting quieter and quieter the long he remained silent. The other spied the movement of his hand across the robe, digging into pockets as his eyes remained closed. "Mhm, I shall not deny that fact. The peons you've fed have been satiating to the both of us, but there is a big difference between pleasure and desire when push comes to shove. Fulfilling their pleasures is but one end of the bargain…" Finally, his hand landed on what he wanted, yanking out a bloodied, half-rusted fishhook "Their flesh is killing their spirit still… It's unsatisfactory at best."
"That so?" The other man drawled, slippery syllables falling out of his mouth again like the virus they were. His eyes surveyed the scene again, the clean-up was done, and Flashfire remained in exactly the same position he was when he first started. It looked as if someone had commissioned a statue, the crowd frankly a little concerned by the lack of motion. "Perhaps you'd want to switch out with your partner then? Test those implements of hell you're so proud of? I got a girl all ready and waiting to go, be a shame not to use her. She seems so enthusiastic…"
Painmaker stood up immediately and turned on his heel, not even giving the other the pleasure of his reply, idiots like him didn't need to know his thought process anyway. As he walked down the path and out of the booth, his eyes trained themselves directly ahead. There was no room for him moving them off the given path, there was little he desired from any deviation.
The whole place stunk to high heaven, and for someone that spent most of his time around carrion, to have Painmaker repulsed at the stench was something special. Said stench getting even stronger as he made his way closer to his beloved partner, the smell of burnt flesh and ash mixing in with the rotten carcasses and sweat that pervaded it so normally.
Outstretching one of his arms, the rusty fishhook began to dig into the decaying walls, the squeal of metal on brick combined with the crunching as the hook tore through them all was music to his ears. When he had had to listen to the creep that owned this place just moments before hand, any old limbo could look and sound like Paradiso if given enough time.
However, as he continued on his march down into the depths proper, the ever-growing numbers of doors became impossible to avoid. They were lined up like a prison cell, one after another with barely enough space between them like they were built to make the most efficient use of the space possible. Rust that rivalled that present on his hook also stood loud and proud, decaying the structural integrity beyond liveable means.
What perplexed him the most, however, as he approached the next turn, was the sheer amount of sickly, green-black moss that was present around a particular pair of the cells that looked like they had certainly been through a few wars in their lifetime. Even if he hadn't noticed it at first, the growth became unavoidable the second his hook tore into it and was met with the first bit of resistance in a long time…
Frankly, as he narrowed his eyes at the offending growth, it was annoying that it was this of all things that was proving to be a hurdle. With a powerful twist of his wrist, though, it would fall like all else before him, sliced into pieces with no resistance to its ultimate fate. Still… He found his other hand going to another part of the mass… The hook holding hand dropping to his side.
The moss felt… Well, Painmaker didn't exactly know how to phrase it exactly. Gardening and plants weren't exactly his strong suit, not in the actual method of cultivation anyway, but he knew that there was something off about the patch of fibre now filling under his usually pristine fingernails and well-maintained hands.
Without a doubt if someone came across him in the hallway, however unlikely that was, they'd be very confused about what was going on. About why he was suddenly having some kind of deep philosophical contemplation about it, and why there was this sudden desire now coursing through him to discover its origin.
But he shook those thoughts from his head, pulling his hand back and wiping away any of the dirt that might have collected on his hand onto his outfit. Out of the corner of his eye, once he was done with the prior action, he spied what looked be something like a millipede or centipede, he wasn't quite sure which one was which, crawling across the patch he had just torn asunder.
His nose crinkling at the sight, sour taste in his mouth developing, he snatched his gaze away from that awful scene and continued onwards. The less he had to look at that bug-enveloped mess, the better. He was already subjected to many other unpleasant things; he didn't want to bother with causing himself more discomfort.
Luckily, the discomfort was coming to an end as he made his way to the end of the tunnel where his partner, now having moved from his previous position, was waiting for him, and propping himself up by the wall. The slightest hint of a smile appeared on Painmaker's otherwise morse and stoic face as he approached, allowing his tensed shoulders to relax.
It didn't take Flashfire long to notice the arrival as well, his own attention shifting to his partner's arrival from previously having been staring at his hands to check for any stray clumps of ash that clung on for dear, departed life. "…My Prince…" He said, voice having a practiced kind of devotion to it, not unlike an oath of loyalty you'd hear coming from a knight to his liege.
"My Flame…" Painmaker whispered, etching in closer by the taller redhead's side. The height and build difference between them were noticeable without a doubt, the lithe and average sized Painmaker looked like a lackey compared to the tall, impressively built Flashfire. However, just like so many times before them with people across history, you always won the most crushing victories whenever your enemy overestimated the supposed "weak link" of the paring.
"People here are worthless… Not worthy of fulfilling the rest of the requirements."Came Flashfire's unprompted comments, no wasted words spoken. A lot of people could wax poetic about the nature of worth and humanity in that moment, especially if they had had a stick up their ass from birth, but that was all an awful lot of claptrap. Flashfire didn't like talk; he never did that. He only ever spoke.
Registering the comments, Painmaker smirked as the hook made a reappearance. "Oh, in the grand scheme of things, yes. But I have such sights I want to show them…" He turned his gaze up to his partner, looking easily behind those sunglasses he was adamant in always wearing no matter the situation. A hand pressed against the other's chest in a tender way as he continued "You should head back, Yoshi. "Prince Switch" needs some attention."
That earned him a half glare from his partner, a larger hand covering his own but only with four fingers pressed against the cold skin. "Brat can't do anything himself, can he?" Flashfire growled out, although he was careful not to act out on his anger any further. Not when his Prince was pressed this close to him.
"That's just how it is, Yoshi. The Exalted One would prefer to keep him happy as well…" Painmaker recounted, eyes narrowed and almost clicking his tongue towards the end. His hand tensing as he grabbed a hold of the calloused flesh belonging to his Flame. "We're done here, no need to overstay our welcome when there is still much to do…"
A grunt came from Flashfire, hands retreating up to the collar of his jacket that had been flattened over the course of his battles to pop it back up. Shaking his hair loose from the places it found itself knotted as well. God… Fighting for any prolonged period was such a pain. Especially when his opponent thought they could even lay their sinful hands on him without getting burned. "Fine. Do what you need. I'll see you soon, my Prince." He finished, slowly placing a kiss upon the other's forehead before vanishing down the corridor.
Painmaker tracked Flashfire's departure every step of the way, taking note of each individual, purposeful step, and the way his leather jacket would sometimes be buffeted by the meek draft entering the place thanks in part due to the shitty foundation and plastering. Good lord, how sappy was he being? He felt like he was a wife watching her husband going off to war.
Although, the sappy peace was soon interrupted by the roar of the crowd as his feminine opponent made her lavish entrance. It made him have to fight back a snarl from appearing on his face as his hand tensed around the hook, and he made a conscious effort to prevent the chains on his back from errantly shooting out when he didn't want them to. There was no time to waste now as he stepped into the coliseum proper, he would be remised if he didn't maximise the suffering of the person who tore him from his Flashfire induced daydream so quickly.
He often got asked, too often for his liking, about why he caused so much bloodshed. Why he was so obsessed with causing the rivers to run red and the spilling of blood to oil the wheels of history like none before him.
There was a very simple answer for that.
What was blood for if not for sheading?
"Women should always die gracefully."
Hook in hand and Quirk at the ready just in case he would need it, this fight would be ever so sweet once everything this woman was, was dyed the most beautiful shade of crimson red.
A/N: Ayyy, look at me! I actually got a chapter done on time for once! Don't expect it to happen in the future, but this one is in the books now and I am at least satisfied with parts of it. Anyway, I have got literally nothing else to say about this chapter other than that I got it out on time, and that we are now finally heading into the start of the first major arc only ten chapters in! At this rate, we'll be done by 2030! Woo!
Anyway, one final thing. I keep forgetting to mention this because I'm an idiot, but Yuusui was sent into me by Sheepthrills and now I get to clean my palette from the bad taste I had every time I forgot to mention that.
Okay, see ya for real this time!