"H-huh?" The utter shock I felt when she told me those words, "abandon me". " Hey, what are you talking about, Fu-chan?" "Hey, quit talking to yourself!" Katsu came running at me, his leg trained for my chest but I was too worn to even dodge it. The kick hit me in my chest, knocking most of the air out of my body. "Come on, what's the matter. Get up." Katsu fumbled the words out of his mouth in between breaths. I wanted to get up but my legs and arms were numb. "Persona!" I tried summoning but nothing was happening. "Come on, come out!" "...You're too damaged to summon now, and even if you were you're too weak; it would probably kill you." Shit, I was too exhausted to summon, too tired to even move. The same could be said for Katsu though, he looked pretty banged up too.
"If you're standing Katsu, why don't you summon yours?" He placed his hand on his face to hide the expression on it. "That's the thing, I can't. I don't know why but I can't feel it in me anymore." "What do you mean," I asked edging on to the question. "I mean, I can't feel it anywhere in me. Almost like it's..." "...Gone." We both reached the same conclusion: his Persona was no more, it was gone. "What the hell, why is this happening?" Hell if I know, I'm just as confused as you are. "That means...I lost all my power. All of it, and it's your fault!" Katsu grabbed me by the shirt and began beating me with his fists. "You bastard, all my power, all of it is gone, because of you!" Kept on going, bashing my face with his fists. It too unbearable to endure; the pure rage his fists were enough to put a regular guy down. Since my Persona gives me heightened physical attributes I was able to withstand most of the blow and stay conscious. But depending on how you see this, that could be considered unfortunate. As he went on with his onslaught I tried to must the energy to defend myself.
"Come on Kazuki, what's the matter, gonna just let me beat you to death!?" No, no I wasn't! I moved my leg with everything I had and pushed him off me with the ounce of strength I have left! "Still got some in you, huh?" Some is an overstatement. What was left was nothing more than a smidge bit. Nonetheless, I need to get up or else I'll just die. So, against the wishes of my legs, I got up. Wobbling wouldn't even cover what my legs are doing. "That's right, get up, this wouldn't be half as great if I had beaten you to death while on the floor." He came at me with his fist aimed to my face. I dodged it only for him to hit me in the stomach with his knee. I coughed out saliva. His attack was crushing to my weak body. I pushed him away from me again. I didn't have the strength to fight back.
"Are you tired already, wanna give up!" "No...just needed some space." Healing is what I need. But the badge is destroyed and if Ko comes anywhere near here, he'll...
"Bro!" "What in the hell?" Ko was running over here from behind Katsu. "What did I say before about getting in the way!" Katus steered his left leg towards Ko. It had sent his little body soaring through the air. "You bastard!" With a war cry, I used every ounce of my strength to run to Katus and punch him square in the cheek. My hand was in even more pain than they were before I punched Katsu. But I wasn't going yo let up, now was the time to nail him. I kept hitting him over and over again, even with the pain in my fist, I kept smashing my fist into his face. He countered with a punch of his own. His fist was hitting me in my ribs, guts, and my face. He was placing these punches fairly well enough to make my whole body feel tense.
"This is it for you!" Katus declared as he brought down his fist. This attack was going to be it for me, I don't think my body would be able to take it. The punch came, it grinded against my cheek, the pain was quick but hard. And with that, I was done, I couldn't stay up anymore. I crashed down to the floor... Katsu stood over me, the sun beaming down from behind him. He raised his fist one last time and slammed it down to my face. The punch rocked my head against the ground.
"...Now, it's finished." My face was numb, my mind was getting all meshed up. Things were getting dark, I couldn't keep going anymore... I just...wanted to lie here, forever. I closed my eyes and basked in the blackness.
...
Masaru stood over Kazuki's body, looking down at his unconscious body.
"I finally did it, this little rivalry ended... But, the result now doesn't matter anymore, I don't feel my Persona anymore, my power is gone. This fight didn't matter anymore..." The young man was furious, he wanted to hit Kazuki again, just so he can vent all his anger. But he knew there was no point in that. The power that took him years to achieve, the conduit to achieve his dream was gone, and so was his only reason to live. He looked up to the sky, now losing himself in thought...
...
I opened my eyes. I found myself on my bed, in the dorm. The sun was hitting my face, there was a cool breeze coming from the window. It must've been spring or maybe autumn with this type of wheater. I noticed someone on the other end of the room, at the door was Fuuka. "Morning, Kazuki-kun," she greeted me with a saddened tone. "Hey, morning..." It was silently awkward, she was staring at the floor, and I was looking at her.
"Kazuki-kun, you're badly beaten in the real world and if you were to take any more damage, you'll certainly die." She stated this with no hint of worry. She was calm. "If you stay down Shizuka and others should get be able to get you out of the tower." "What about you, we still need to save you!" She didn't respond right away, she just looked outside of the window. The breeze hitting her hair. "...Kazuki-kun, I don't want you to save me, I wished you didn't come to save me." She came over to me and sat on the bed.
"The day when we fought the 10th and 11th shadow, I found you and Shizuka-chan passed out on the floor, you were both badly injured. When I tried to call the others to where we were, somebody in a black suit along with Minako-chan. The person in the black suit wasn't human, despite his looks." Black suit... I don't know anyone like that. "When I defended you two, he told me he liked my bravery, so he gave me a choice: allow you two to die and let everyone in SEES, to die or use my life to save all of you." "So, you came here of your own decision?" She nodded. The began to blow a bit harder. "You know Kazuki, even before I started to love you, I admired you so much. I always felt this air of confidence around you that it was intoxicating, and I was jealous of you for it. You were able to be outgoing and cheerful and I was so miserable with my life that it hurt to be around you sometimes... But I wanted to be near you. and" "So, is that why you said you loved me?"
She shook her head no. "No, that was one thing, but it wasn't the only reason. I remember when I saw you getting angry for the first time, it was shocking and it was beyond what I thought you were capable of, but that was only the beginning. When I saw you hurt it was the scariest thing I had witnessed happen to you. And when you told me everything about your past. when I saw you crying. But I always sense this spirt around you that would endure whatever is thrown at you. And when taking that into account and all the other things I said, it finally clicks in my head: you were still much better than me. You felt pain like me, you can be sad, but yet, you were still courageous, strong, and truly kind. This was the initial reason why I fell in love with and said it. But as I spent more time with you, living with you, fighting with you, my love grew bigger and the reason for being with you grew even more; it became to save you from all your suffering as you did for me."
She got up and stood back at the door. She gazed out the window.
"You know, I think my favorite season is Spring. The trees being invigorated after a long cold period of winter, flowers going into bloom, It feels so nice when the cool air hits you. It's just a shame that I won't be able to experience it ever again..."
She opens the door behind her. "Where are you going!?" I got out of bed only to collapse on the floor. "This is goodbye. I wish I could see the Spring with you again but that won't be happening this time. Maybe next time, in another life. I hope you can find happiness without me." She opened the door wide open. There was nothing but light on the other side. I was pathetically lying on the floor while she was walking away. No, damn it, I can't let it end like this, not like this, not with her death!
"Don't go..." "Huh?" "I said, don't go!" I got up with all my strength and I grabbed her hand, rejecting her from leaving.
...
My eyes shot open. The sun above was hitting me with everything it had. Katsu was still which meant that not too much time passed. Which meant that she should still be here. I need to get her attention, I need to tell her what I felt, I need to stop her from getting herself killed.
I pumped my chest and let out the greatest roar of my life. "RRAAAAHHHHHHHH!" My body was shaking with from the pressure that my vocal cords were radiating. When I stopped yelling, my throat was killing me, it felt dry. I was gasping for air desperately, but it wasn't going to matter in a couple of seconds. "I'm not done yet, Fuuka," I yelled out. My voice reached to the sky.
"LET YOU DIE SO I CAN LIVE? FIND HAPPINESS AFTER THE FACT? WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT, THE REASON I CAN BE HAPPY IS BECAUSE YOU'RE WITH ME!" I took a second to collect myself. "You said that I was brave for being confident and strong while I was suffering; no, that was all an act, an act to be someone I wasn't! I wanted to be someone that people liked, someone that people wanted to be around. It was because I was so damn lonely and just as miserable watching people talk to each other, laughing with each other, having with each other, and I was jealous! I wanted something like that for a long time; I wanted someone to understand me, I wanted a friend. And I finally did, I found someone else who understood my pain and my isolation: you."
The young lady on the pillar gasped at what he had said. These feelings and revelations from the man she loved were heartbreaking to her.
"When you talked to me, you were shy but sincere. When I did something stupid or outright dangerous, you showed concern over me. When you knew what monstrous acts I was capable of you didn't try to distance yourself away from me, you kept staying by my side. All of these things you did for me, all of them, and many more are the reasons why I can say I'm truly happy without wearing a fake smile or using empty words. And it's not just you. It's everyone in SEES, Naoya, Shizuka, and even Ko. You all bring me true happiness. Which is why I'll keep fighting to the bitter end to save you! So please, if you believe in me, tell me, shout in the air what you really want; tell me if you really want to live or die!"
Kazuki had finished his declaration, anxiety in his heart. It could go either way, Yamagishi could say death. But in Yamagishi's case, she was bawling her eyes out, torn by what he had asked her. She was ready to give her own life to protect everyone else, but now she wasn't sure anymore. Her reason for coming her was now put into question.
"I-I..." Her mind conflicted? she had no idea what she wanted to do... Memories, memories suddenly filled her head, showing all of her time with Kazuki, Shizuka, and everyone else in the dorm. The memories were filled with hard times but in them were pretty good times, many she wanted to keep in heart for the rest of her life. With this, her heart started to ache. It ached harder than it had before and she knew why. The memories in her head were the greatest things in her life, but her last set of memories were going to be dying in some way. Then this train of thought turned into a single prediction: she would hurt Kazuki more than any wound would. She didn't realize this, this one simple outcome because she never really knew what it was like to feel like for others to value her life because she didn't know how to value her own life. So in the end, she never knew that her life much value... She was acting and thinking selfishly with her desire: to be useful by using her life that did not have any value in it at all. But now, she realizes that her life is valued by someone; by the man down there fighting desperately to save her, even from her own self. Now, she had a conclusion to all of this...
"I want to live... *Sniff* I WANT TO LIVE!" Her voice reached from the pillar down to Kazuki, who was smiling beyond belief. "All right, since you wanna live, then I'll save you, and then I'm gonna stop screwing around and be honest about everything with you." Kazuki declared as his voice reached her. Her face still having tears stream down her face, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you."
Kazuki was content with all this, however, that didn't apply to all parties. "Are you done yet?" Katsu Masaru was looking over at Kazuki. The two of them unfinished business. "Katsu, I'm guessing you want to finish this, huh?" "Yeah, something like that.
Katsu began to attack Kazuki without hesitation. "Getting down to the wire, huh." Kazuki was still in bad condition, that hasn't changed. But he wouldn't detur him now, he was going to fight back this time with all his might. He threw a fist at Katsu's face. Katsu gritted his teeth and retaliated with a punch of his own, and then Kazuki returned the favor. Over and over again, the two boys traded blows over and over again, their bodies were at their breaking points but they refused to go down until the other went down. Both of these kids had the determination to see the other on the floor. This seems to have lasted about hours, the sun was setting, but with this place, who knows if its been hours... Now, the two boys stood still for a moment. Their bodies weak and battered from the constant punching. They both had realized they were losing strength from this, and even if they wanted to, they couldn't keep this up forever. So, it came down to one final punch; a punch hard enough to knock the other out. This one moment, a moment that would be nerve-racking to anyone else. But to them, it was a simple but important moment; cause it would decide who's determination, who's goal, and who's existence would be worthy.
"Kazuki..." "Katsu..." Both of them reeled back their fists and put their feet forward. Without a second to waste, both of them launched their final attacks in synch.
"GO DOWN," both of them screamed in their minds. This was it, this was the final for both of them.
*THUMP* Their fist smashed into the other's face. The sound of the impacts was ringing in their ears. Kazuki's fist slid right off of Katsu's face and so did Katsu's. They fell to the ground. They were done, this battle was over. The boys lied on the floor, barely awake.
...
"Damn...I can't feel anything," Katsu cursed. "Yeah, me neither." I tried to lift his sore arms. "OW! That really hurts!" Katsu tried as well but met with little success. "Katsu, how you doing over there?" "Shut up." "Wow, rude. I was just asking how you were doing, shesh," I jokingly told him. "Why the hell do you care how I'm doing?" "I don't know, just a bit curious is all." Katsu turned his head to the sky. "Well, for your information, I'm feeling like crap, my body is sore as hell and I'm sure my jaw is about to fall out of place." "Yeah, same." Kazuki laughed out loud but stop immediately because of the pain.
"Hey," Katsu whispered. "What?" "Did you mean all that stuff; you being lonely and all that?" "Yeah, why?" "Were you really?" I found that strange. Of course, I was lonely. "Yeah...I was lonely. All of my life growing up I was treated like an outsider among people my age or by the adults. I was labeled a monster for no reason at all. But the worse part about all of that: they were right. Without me knowing, I had this monster inside me, secretly scaring everyone off away from me and making me an outcast... I hated it all, all of it."
I felt rage in my gut but I couldn't emote it now.
"So Katsu, what do you think? Did I sound pathetic to you?" "..." Katsu didn't let a word out yet, he just let out small. noises until he let out a sigh.
"When I was born, my dad wasn't there.." "Huh?" "...My mother was all alone when she brought me into this world. She was barely twenty-two when she had me. We lived an apartment building she barely could afford, she even had to give up university just to work more than one job. I thought I was being a burden on her being useless and doing nothing so stole things for us. Only for my mother to scold me about it; she said we aren't thieves and that we need to earn it with our own efforts... She was a strong woman, unflinching to speak from her heart, and just downright tough as hell. But under all that, she was the greatest woman to ever exist...
The moon was hovering over us now, shining down on us.
"One day, when these bigger kids in school were talking crap about me and my mother, I snapped. I think broke their noses or something, but that isn't what sticks out to me. The kid had a burn mark on his face after I was done with him. Of course, there was no way for anyone to tell how I was able to do it since I had nothing on me that could make fire, but..." "It was because of your Persona," I guessed. "Yep, of course at the time I didn't know I had one. After all that, my mother had to pay in repercussions for the injuries; nearly emptied her while damn wallet and whatever she had left. She gad to work twice as hard from then on there, and from there, I hated myself for it, for being a burden to her, for being such a nuisance. If my mother hated me for what happened I wouldn't blame her... I couldn't watch her drag herself throught the dirt just so she can suffer to take of me and herself. So one night, I ran from home. I had nothing on me except for my clothes. It was so damn cold out that day. I had to stop somewhere, I was tired. I slept on a bench near a playground. When I laid on that bench I thought I was going to freeze to death on it but I was too tired to care... When I began to wake up it was hot, hotter than winter would allow. I woke up from that heat. I was on the street, blue flames surrounding me and all over the place. There was black ooze on the floor, melting like ice. At the time, I didn't know it, but it was all taking place in the Dark Hour."
The moon above us was creeping into the shadows as if it was following along with the story.
"I followed down where the flames were until they ended at a point, a point around two people." His clenched fist picked up sand. There was a man, blood-drenched on his hands, and the second... A woman who was dead on the floor... She was..." "No," I interrupted him. "You don't need to tell me, I can guess what happened next." Him trying to say his mother must be painful, it's like looking back at it for the first time and reliving the pain all over again.
"The man who did it disappeared the moment he noticed me but I was able to see what his hair looked like, they were the color of my flames. When I got to my mother she was barely alive. I tried to call an ambulance but since it was the Dark Hour her phone wouldn't work, so I tried to take her to the hospital but my body wasn't strong enough to carry here without dragging her. With what little time she had left, she told me to go to an orphanage, and then she told me to be strong no matter what. She tried to say something else to me but she died before she could utter a word. After that night, she was buried back in Tokyo, that's where she grew up. I was left alone, in an orphanage with nothing but desire; the desire to find and kill the man who murdered my mother... A few months later, I was given this chance when someone came to the orphanage and adopted me and all the other children. A year later, when I was finally taken into this organization, I was finally able to make my desires a reality."
There was a pause after that.
"However, I knew as a kid that if I found this man, he would probably kill me. I was able to gauge by comparing the intensity of our flames. By comparison, mine was weaker. That's when I took on what my mother said to me; I needed more power to be able to destroy that man, and so I can avenge my mother...even if she hated me, I would get revenge for her as a way to pay for all the trouble I caused for. So I fought countless battles, destroying powerful demons in this world. I was becoming more and more stronger as my victories lined up. That was until I met you. When we first fought I could've killed you without any problems, however, that changes when you fought me the second time. You could've killed me at that time. It was frustrating when I knew that. How could someone like you, who had just barely dipped his toes in fighting throw me around like a rag doll... It pissed me off so badly when I had to run away. Then when I studied you for a couple of months, I found my answer." "Shadow-mog." "Yeah. Soon after I got it, I thought I was ready to take you on... I think you can guess the rest."
Living a life of misery then revenge, that's why he was obsessed to beat me, he wanted to prove he was strong enough to face down his mothers killer. His story about all the time and emotion about how he felt for his mother made me jealous.
"I'm jealous of you Katsu." "Why...?" "Because you were able to remember your time with your mother, I can't. I was only three when mine died, so I don't remember anything..." There was a moment of silence between the both of us. The air was blowing quietly around us.
"Kazuki, how do you go on, knowing that something killed the person you loved, how do you go on with that pain...?" A question I never thought of, a question that I never wanted to think about. "I always wondered what happened to my mother, what killed here, how she happened to her. But, there was nothing to lead me to the truth, so I accepted how it was..." "Weren't you lonely, nobody being there for you?" "Well... of course, I was. Whenever I used to play at the park I was jealous when kids used to get picked up by their parents after and during sunset... However, I always had someone else there for me, a great person. It was my cousin, he would always pick me up after sunset, always. He was the only one that was by my side for those harsh ten years..."
Naoya was always there, no matter what. So maybe when I said I was lonely I was exaggerating. When it was only me and him...that loneliness would always wash away. Even when I acted out sometimes, he still loved me...
"Katsu, you might think your mom hated you, but I would bet she still loved you... I mean...why would she-" *Boom* A loud explosion went off above us. That was near Fuuka. "Oh crap, Fuuka!" I wanted to get up but my body couldn't do that right now. "Fuuka!"
...
The hooded man had divided the explosion attack. He barely did it had connected somewhat. "Alright, what the hell is happening? Who's there?" Someone had landed on the pillar from above. They were wearing a dark blue button-down shirt. Its sleeves were rolled up. Jet black jeans too. The most standout detail was them wearing a Kabuki mask.
"Okay, okay, I see your all dressed up for Halloween, but should I be scared!" M threw something at the masked man, but he was able to deflect it. "...Whoa, okay then... Black Viper!" A black orb was thrown at the masked man, but he was able to split it into halves.
"Okay, what the shit? How the hell did you do tha-" M was pushed back off the pillar and through several other ones. During that, an explosion went off as the Masked man snapped his fingers...
"Did I get him." His voice was mature and toneless, but yet, familiar..." "Huh...? Yes, but..." I still sensed that M was still conscious and in fact was about to do a counter-attack. "He's going to attack, you need to counter it!" "All right then, Persona!" He summoned a Persona from himself. It was a person with a face of a shield. "Marduk," the masked man called it. The shield blocked the incoming attack, the black orbs kept bashing against it. "Reflect it." He commanded the Persona to use the shield to bounce one of the orbs back. From my with Lucia, M's was trying to bounce it back but there was a fire behind it. It was to boost the impact. The orb was able to tear through M's defenses and make impact. "Exploded!" Another explosion went off. I heard the masked man breath out. "Oi, we need to go now before he's able to catch up." "Before I catch up? I think you're a bit too late there, pal." The hooded man was floating over to us. "Now, I don't know who you are, and really I don't care. All that matter is what round two brings us. And I can guarantee that it won't be as easy as you want it to be." He was right, he was letting out a more powerful presence. This fight was probably going to be as rough as Kazuki's...