Oh yeah this is a thing. Also, thank you to the guest who said I uploaded the wrong chapter.
"So what's your gift?" Rika asked, startling Keiko from where she was walking with the others, on a tour of the safehouse.
"Oh, uh, I can talk to animals," she responded.
"That's neat!" Asuna added. "Can you hear their thoughts or just translate their audible sounds?"
"Only the audible sounds," Keiko sighed. "What about you? What are your gifts?"
"I work well with machines," Rika answered. "It's not genius level or anything, but I can understand what I see and figure out how it works. So, I'm this place's resident mechanic."
"I'm unable to sleep," Aiko muttered, but Yuuki hit her on the head. "Hey!"
"You and I both know it's a choice you make not to sleep," the younger twin grumbled. "Anyway, I get to see exactly where to hit someone in order to make it hurt the most!"
"And I got stuck with simply enhanced reflexes," Aiko muttered, dejected. "I mean I'm still the better fighter, but come on!"
"Oh, reflexes like Kazuto has?" Keiko asked. "I've never heard of people having the same gift before. Maybe it's just because I haven't seen many people, but I didn't think it was possible."
"Kazuto seriously told you that was his gift?" Asuna asked. Keiko nodded, making the elder sigh. "No, it isn't his gift, I don't know why he tells people that."
"Then what is it?" Keiko asked.
"Well, Onii-chan is a bit of a special case," Suguha supplied, from where she was leaning against the wall. "He doesn't have any one gift, rather he has multiple."
"Multiple?" Keiko questioned. "How is that possible?"
"He can copy the gifts of other people if he sees them in action," Suguha furthered. "It's how he gets so good at fighting, he uses Asuna's speed, Aiko's reflexes, my skill, Ryotaro's strength, and Yuuki's vision in order to elevate himself in the field. Only problem is that the more gifts he uses at a time, the harder it becomes to concentrate and stay alert."
"That seems absurdly strong," Keiko noted.
"That's an understatement," Rika snorted. "It's like he alone could do what all of us couldn't, even though we share the same powers."
"To be fair, has he ever used technopathy?" Asuna countered, and Rika shook her head no. "See? Your special gift remains used only by you."
"It's strange that he doesn't use Eugeo's gift if he only uses combat related ones," Suguha noted. "Wouldn't it be beneficial to use it?"
"He does," Asuna replied. "Only thing is that you don't see much of a difference because of how he ends up applying it."
"What is Eugeo's gift?" Keiko interjected. "Is it a passive one?" Passive gifts were gifts that simply changed a small trait, and often didn't have any effect on the user's life. They couldn't be controlled, unlike active gifts, which users could train and develop.
"Not passive, but it is kind of a blend of that and active," Aiko explained. "It allows him to copy any movements he has seen, something that falls apart once you get inhumane things like Aiko's reaction time and Asuna's speed and try to replicate them. He can't do that, only replicate movements, so he does it slower than they do, but it's still amazing considering he's been training and watching Kazuto fight for a while now."
"Yeah!" Asuna agreed. "It's much harder to win against him now! Only Kazuto, Aiko, and Yuuki consistently beat him, while I sometimes lose."
"That's cause you're really predictable," Yuuki added, making Asuna slump forward, depressed. "You keep doing the same kind of attack. Although it's very well executed, if you know how to counter it, you can easily beat it."
"Hasn't Kazuto been explaining this to you for months now?" Suguha asked, making Asuna blush more in embarrassment. "How do you still not understand variety and unpredictability in fighting?"
"Maybe I would if he had time to teach me!" Asuna exclaimed. "He's always going off somewhere, maybe he should help us from time to time."
"Oh?" Rika observed. "So what you're saying is you want quality time with Sir Big Black-"
"Rika!" Asuna shrieked, her face cherry red. "You can't say things like that?"
"Why? I was gonna say big black sword," Rika teased. "Unless? You were thinking something else?"
"While I'm always down to tease Asuna," Aiko added, ignoring the indignant 'hey!' from the victim of the bullying. "Can we just take a second and talk about why his damn sword is so heavy?"
"Yeah!" Yuuki protested. "I tried to steal it a couple days ago for a prank, but then when-" she paused, seeing everyone stare at her, or rather behind her. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"You tried to do what?" Kazuto growled, setting a hand on Yuuki's shoulder, somehow making her jump higher than Keiko's head reached.
"Kazuto!" Yuuki exclaimed, turning to face him and then backing away. "I- uh, it was going to be funny?"
Not saying anything, Kazuto grabbed her arm and disappeared into the shadows, ignoring the stuttered apologies and unsuccessful reassurances. The rest of the girls looked awkwardly in that direction before Aiko shrugged and started walking away. Seeing her dismissal, a lot of the girls started walking away, leaving only Keiko staring at where Yuuki had disappeared to.
There wasn't even a hole in the wall there! she realized too late.
"Honest question, how do you keep finding underage girls in the middle of an alien takeover?" Alice wondered, sparring with Kazuto in the common area. "It's like you have an ability to just locate them and them only."
"Plot convenience," Kazuto muttered, knocking away a thrust and lunging forward with a feint of his own, going for an upwards slant. The wooden sword just had to make contact with the body of the opponent in order to win the match.
"What?" Alice wondered, positioning her sword to easily deflect the upwards slash.
"What?" Kazuto responded, switching the upwards momentum to sideways, a slice going perfectly horizontal aimed at Alice's waist. Her sword still deflected the blow, but it wasn't a very good deflection considering how she stumbled back from the force of the blow. Seeing this, Kazuto took advantage of his position, lunging forward and pressing his beneficial situation.
"It's almost as if," he grunted, thrusting twice at Alice, the girl deflecting both with some ease as she was forced backward. "Females, especially young," he continued, locking swords with Alice, and pushing her backwards. "Are prioritized in group survival situations."
Jumping back, Kazuto moved off the mat, putting the sword back in the section for wood versions. It wasn't truly organized, but it certainly wasn't messy, meaning he could find things with relative ease.
"Hey! Why'd you step out?" Alice called after him, still in the same place as she was when Kazuto pushed her backwards.
"Look down," he commented as he walked away, not giving her a second glance. Alice did as he bid, checking the position of her feet only to notice that both were part way out of the arena, a valid victory by all means. "Learn spatial awareness."
"You-" Alice started, before sighing in defeat. Moving to place her sword in the rack, she sighed, before turning to the other person in the room. "You okay?"
"No," Yuuki answered, still shaking and curled up into a ball in the corner of the room.
"What did he even do?" Alice probed. Kazuto could be terrifying, but surely not to this extent.
"He-" Yuuki started, but was cut off by the door opening, Kazuto walking back in as he held his real sword in his hand.
"Yuuki, Alice, we got a mission," he called to them. "Eugeo and Aiko are waiting for us."
"What for?" Alice asked, snapping to attention much like a soldier would. Grabbing hers and Yuuki's swords, she tossed the smaller one to the other girl, both of them walking towards Kazuto.
"Sinon reported larger mobilizations in the southwest district," he answered. "Wants us to check it out and make sure an army isn't marching towards us."
"Sinon did?" Yuuki incredulously asked. "Sinon, the sniper who talks with nobody and works with even less?"
"She owed me a few favors," Kazuto explained as they walked. "I told her to contact me if she ever found a force she couldn't beat. So far, this is the only occurrence, which means it's probably a large force."
"Now I see why you needed us," Alice added. "If Sinon decided she couldn't handle it, chances are it's an army. Did you get any additional info?"
"Strangely enough, no," Kazuto admitted. "I probably should've asked for something, but that would take a lot of time that we don't have. Anyway, let's go, we've spent enough time here already."
"Hey Kazuto," Eugeo called out from the exit. "We ready to go?"
"Should be," Kazuto replied, pulling on his fingerless gloves. "Asuna knows we're going, right?"
"Asuna wonders why you have to leave so soon after being gone so long," the subject of conversation broke in, standing to the side with her hands on her hips.
"Sinon called," Kazuto responded, making Asuna frown slightly more. "You should know how rare it is that she does call, meaning that there is a big problem nearby."
"Fine, I'll keep everyone safe until you all get back," Asuna acquiesced, shaking her head.
"Make sure they do," Kazuto agreed, clapping her on the shoulder before moving to leave.
"See you!" Eugeo cheerfully called backwards, waving at the two people in the common area. "We'll be back soon."
"Sinon was right," Alice muttered, looking at the mass gathering of beasts. "This is probably enough to take a city."
The group was crouched on a building's roof, observing the gray crowd below, paws clawing and voices growling as they prepared for something. The mob seemed to be congregating around a single glass building, the insides shown to the outside world courtesy of the walls made seemingly entirely out of windows. The beasts seemed to have traversed up to the seventh floor but no higher, stopped by something on their quest to the top.
"But why are they gathering here?" Eugeo inquired. "This isn't like any behavior we've seen in the past."
"That's exactly why we need to figure out the cause," Aiko spoke up. "If they're changing behavior patterns, it doesn't bode well for survivability."
"Or we could just leave Tokyo," Alice pointed out. "Chances are low that large concentrations exist in other cities. So, we could find somewhere else and stay there for a while."
"No, we've spent so long here already," Yuuki protested. "Kazuto said he's close to getting us out of here. We just have to trust him and let him work on the plane!"
"I'd appreciate you noting I'm still here," Kazuto spoke up, making Yuuki freeze and stutter over her words in an apology. "Relax," he cut her off. "In due time, we'll be ready to go. For now, we just have to make sure we stay safe."
"How safe can one be in an environment like this?" Alice idly wondered.
"Not at all," Eugeo added.
"Why do you think I chose you four?" Kazuto posed. "The five of us are the best at combat, as of right now. Asuna may be catching up, but she still can't consistently win against any of us."
"None of us can consistently win against you either," Aiko grumbled, making Yuuki giggle. "Stop teasing us like that."
"Not the point," Kazuto cut in. "As of right now, we need to secure three locations: our base, the airport, and everything in between. This army poses the largest threat to that goal since this whole shitshow began 9 months ago. Our current priority is to identify the source of the gathering and determine whether it's a threat. Sinon, do you have any information on this topic so far?"
"None yet," a black haired girl answered, jumping down from her perch slightly above the rest. The four with Kazuto drew weapons, three swords and dual pistols at the ready in order to take on the new threat, only to stop when Kazuto laughed at the sudden entrance.
"Always a flair for the dramatic, eh Sinon?" he asked, and the girl smirked.
"You know me, I guess," she shrugged, glasses jostling slightly with the movement.
"No I don't actually," Kazuto noted, prompting everyone to ease at the lighthearted banter. Now that they were decidedly less tense, he decided to make introductions. "Well, everyone, this is Sinon, the best shot you're gonna see for a while. Sinon, these are Yuuki, Aiko, Alice, and Eugeo," he explained, pointing to each person in turn.
"Anyway, I've been here for the past two days and can't find anything strange regarding this group, aside from their gathering," Sinon spoke up. "Everything looks normal, from their daily habits to their body structure and even their circadian rhythms."
"Have you seen any of them leaving this area?" Alice questioned. "Leaving, or arriving. Both lead to worrisome situations, one more so than the other."
"Not to my noticing, no," Sinon replied. "It also doesn't look like their numbers have changed either. Chances are, something in that building's drawing them here."
"Did you investigate?" Eugeo wondered.
"Are you crazy? Of course not!" the sniper exclaimed. "There are hundreds of those monsters here, what the hell do you think I value myself at?"
"Right, sorry," he apologized, looking away. "Anyway, let's move around and get a different angle on the situation. How do we get onto the glass building without being seen?"
"There's a jump we can make from the building behind it to the top floor, and from there we can get onto the roof," Kazuto mentioned, jumping back to join the conversation.
"Whe- did you just run around in order to find a way into the building?" Yuuki asked, and Kazuto nodded. "What kind of a ninja are you?"
"The functional one, also keep your voice down," he instructed, nervously looking down at the horde. "Anyway, if we move that way, we should be able to burst through the window and get inside without the mob noticing. If we do that, we can pinpoint what's causing this behavior. That should be our current priority."
"Alright," Alice agreed. "So? What's the plan? We just gonna waltz around and then jump in?"
"That's what I was planning, yes," Kazuto agreed, not a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "Occam's razor dictates that the simplest solution is often the correct, or best one. I don't see any glaring problems appearing here. Do you?"
"No," she admitted, scowling. "But this seems way too easy."
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth," Aiko advised.
"But then again, that gift horse led to the downfall of the Trojans," Sinon added. "I understand the saying, but there's more to it if you dig deep enough."
"Wasn't the main point of the Trojan war just a fight for a woman, though?" Yuuki questioned.
"Yeah, because Paris chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful or something," Eugeo affirmed. "She, Hera, and Athena had a whole fight as a result of an apple thrown at a wedding, and they asked Paris to judge who the most beautiful was. He couldn't decide, so they all bribed him with something. I think Hera offered him Asia, and I forget what Athena offered him but it likely had something to do with war, while Aphrodite offered him Helen, the most beautiful mortal girl at the time and wife of Menelaus. When she was stolen, he launched the fleets of Athens in order to take Troy-"
"Alright, thank you for the history lesson," Kazuto cut in. "But do you mind moving? We should start if we want to get back by dark."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Sinon agreed. "Well? Show us the way, ninja boy."
"Fine," Kazuto grumbled, before they all started moving.
The trip took only about 20 minutes, freerunning being something all of them were decently good at after a few weeks of practice. Perhaps the one detriment was that none of them knew the surroundings very well, but it was still relatively simple and easy to navigate.
"So, are we just gonna break the glass?" Alice asked. In response, Kazuto picked up a brick and threw it, the object crashing against the glass but not fully breaking it as the brick fell downwards. The teens watched with bated breath as it fell onto one of the creatures, shooting straight through the back as it broke into pieces upon contact with the floor. Almost immediately, a wild howl erupted from nearby, but the beasts in the area didn't do much after that, just running around as if to find where the threat came from. A few looked up, but they didn't notice much when they did.
"Looks like we only need one or two more," Eugeo commented, looking around. "Should we just cut chunks out of the building?"
"Liz wouldn't like it if we blunted her swords," Aiko stated. "So, absolutely, go ahead."
"Please don't," Kazuto asked, before spinning one of his swords in his hand and throwing it forward. The blade lodged itself into the building, stuck into the concrete that lined the glass. Using it as a ledge, Kazuto jumped forward and grabbed it with one hand, unsheathing the second sword with the other. Two swings were all it took to break the glass after it was shattered, allowing Kazuto to pull himself in as he detached the sword from the wall.
"And you can do this how?" Sinon asked as she made the leap, landing safely on the other side of the gap with ease.
"Practice," he answered, helping Eugeo steady himself as the man jumped in, slipping on some of the glass. Alice and Aiko followed without any trouble, though Yuuki had the same problem as Eugeo.
"Half of us go up, the other half go down," Alice proposed, referring to the search that they were going to do of the building.
"Sounds fair," Eugeo agreed. "Alice, Aiko, you want to come up with me?"
"Absolutely," the blond agreed, Aiko nodding as well.
"Remember to use the signals if you need help," Kazuto reminded the two groups at the stairwell.
"One button press and you'll come running, I know," Aiko sighed. "Honestly, we can take care of ourselves."
"Can't stop me from worrying," he grinned, ruffling her hair as she weakly batted his hand away. "Anyway, rendezvous here in an hour. I want to set off before night falls."
"Got it, bossman!" Aiko saluted. With that, the two groups set off in opposite directions.
"You seem close," Sinon started, seemingly nervous.
"Wow, look at you, starting conversation unprompted," Kazuto teased, but a light smack on his shoulder set him straight with a chuckle. "Yeah, we are. Half a year of living together will do that for you."
"What about you?" Yuuki asked. "Are you close to anyone?"
"Not anymore," Sinon replied, face considerably darker as she seemed to shrink in the hoodie she was wearing.
"Oh," Yuuki breathed, slightly sad at having made the mood take a much darker turn.
"Well, there's always a spot with us if you don't mind the others," Kazuto proposed.
"I'll think about it," Sinon agreed as they reached the next floor, tedious work ahead for a while.
It had been around forty minutes and thirteen floors of searching when the first signs of other people appeared. As soon as the voices were noticeable, Kazuto held up a hand and the other two froze in place, allowing them to hear the conversation.
"-we can't keep going, there's no more food here and the outside is guarded by every damn monster in Tokyo," one voice, likely male, stated. It was very high pitched though, so it was hard to discern.
"Even so, these things keep finding us no matter where we go," a woman stated. "It's probably due to your gift, at that."
"Gift or not, we ain't leaving him," another man piped up. "He's coming with us."
"Damn it Bercouli, let him take one for the team," a second woman added. Her voice was slightly deeper than the first, but the difference was marginal. "It's not like he does anything otherwise."
"Renly is staying with us and that's final," the man, presumably Bercouli, stated.
"We should go," Kazuto whispered to the two girls, and Sinon nodded while Yuuki looked conflicted. Even so, she started backing up, careful to watch where they were going in order to avoid making noise. It wasn't until they were in the stairwell with the door closed that they were able to breathe a sigh of relief, whispering turning into regular speech.
"Let's go meet with the others," Kazuto proposed, moving up the stairwell. Sinon readily followed him, but Yuuki didn't, staying at the foot of the passage and looking back at the door.
"Shouldn't we help them?" she asked, brows furrowed. "You're always saving people. Why can't you do it now?"
"Sorry, Yuu, but no," he stated, using the affectionate nickname he had for her(courtesy of Asuna). "If we do that, we draw the attention of everyone around this building to us. I have no clue how they lived this long, but they're smart. They'll live."
"It doesn't matter!" she protested, voice increasing in volume. "We should help them!"
"We can't, Yuuki," he stressed, grabbing her hand and pulling. "Let's go. We have to meet with the others."
"Fine," she relented, though she continued to look back every so often with sadness and what seemed to be longing on her face. Kazuto didn't pay it any mind, continuing to follow Sinon up the stairs to the 43rd floor.
"Took you long enough," Eugeo commented once they appeared, standing at the stairwell. Alice and Aiko were idly chatting by the broken window, having taken Kazuto's lessons on staying near exits to heart.
"Got caught up with stuff," Kazuto explained, following Sinon and dragging Yuuki into the room. "Anyway, we found the reason for the crowd."
"What is it?" Eugeo asked. "Gotta be someone else, right?"
"Exactly," Kazuto affirmed as the final two walked over. "Some kid's gift. Sounds like they're in danger, but he's got a group and they should live."
"Then we leave?" Aiko questioned, and Kazuto nodded. "Good. This place gives me the creeps."
"Well, not much we can do here," Alice shrugged. "Leaving might be for the best."
"Alright, then," Kazuto affirmed. "Eugeo, let Asuna know we're coming back. She should-"
A loud bang followed by a muffled scream interrupted his speech, startling all of them as the boys, Aiko, and Alice all immediately drew weapons.
"Everyone out!" Kazuto ordered, and nobody contested the words as they all moved to the window, Aiko the first one out. Eugeo was in the middle of jumping after Alice when Kazuto finally noticed the one girl who hadn't moved. "Yuuki, what are you doing?"
"We should help them," she diminutively responded, still standing in the middle of the room. "They could be in danger. We have to go-"
The doors burst open as a kid ran screaming into the room, tattered green clothes coming apart as claws snatched at his back. A large number of beasts scattered into the room as Kazuto managed to drag Yuuki back, Sinon taking shots with a shotgun she got from who knows where.
"Help me!" the boy begged as he reached forward before he was pushed to the ground, skidding forward away from an Alpha alien. The terrified boy grabbed onto Sinon, who was frozen with shock as the beasts stalked closer.
"Let go, dammit!" she yelled, trying to kick the boy off, though his grip was deceptively strong as he was dragged back, blubbering apologies and pleading for safety. "Let me go!"
"Sinon!" Kazuto shouted as he noticed the girl get knocked down, having just finished helping Yuuki make the jump. The boy had finally let go as Sinon tried to scramble back away from the mass of hunters and their dead prey.
A growling Beta leaped over the pack and landed on Sinon, knocking the gun out of her hands as the air was forced from her lungs. It got off and grabbed her leg, growling as it tried to tear it off. Slowly, other monsters started to approach, stalking forward as Kazuto raced to her side.
(Author's note: under no circumstances are you to use anything I write as actual medical advice. I did the minimal research possible to understand procedures, and both dramatized and mitigated a bunch of the things needed in this situation. This is a work of fiction, not a medical journal.)
An unholy scream of pain was heard as flesh tore, the animal pulling out a large chunk of Sinon's leg as others approached. It gulped the flesh down before tearing in again, Kazuto finally reaching the scene as he decapitated it with one smooth blow from both swords. Wasting no time, he put them back in the scabbards as he picked up the girl's limp form and ran out, the beasts giving chase as he leapt out of the window.
"Alice, hold her steady," Kazuto ordered as he unsteadily landed on the other roof, Eugeo and Aiko covering their escape by batting away any of the monsters that dared to follow. The blond obeyed, hands pressed to Sinon's midsection as Kazuto took out a blade again.
Bone was exposed among the mass of red, crimson stained white boldly exposed as both skin and muscle were gone. The screams of pain would not stop as Kazuto raised a blade, recognizing that the leg was beyond saving without world class surgical equipment or skilled medical services. What they could save, however, was a missing limb.
Noting his options, he pushed the blade to where it was resting just above the knee, ready to swipe down. Hesitating momentarily, Kazuto lifted it up and swung down, Sinon's screams climaxing as the bottom part of the limb was cut off.
"Bandage it," he ordered as he elevated and applied pressure around the stump, trying to stifle the bleeding. Alice tore off a large chunk of the compression bandage roll she kept on her person during all trips, similar to the one Kazuto used when he went out. Wrapping it around the leg a couple times before applying it directly above the wound, the medics continued to work without noticing the silent screams as Sinon had finally passed out from the pain.
Before long, the bandage was secured and blood no longer seeped through, allowing Alice to relax and Kazuto to breathe a sigh of relief. Leaving Alice to sit with Sinon, Kazuto grabbed one of his swords, the one without human blood staining the blade, and moved to join Eugeo and Aiko in batting away the jumping aliens.
His efforts weren't needed, as none came forward to try to approach, seemingly having learned their lesson and figured out that jumping would lead to death. The Alpha at the front growled, Kazuto staring at it for a moment before it walked backwards, the rest of the pack following it as the defenders relaxed.
"Let's go," Kazuto breathed, moving to pick up Sinon's unconscious body as he held her bridal style before moving forward, freerunning at a much slower pace than before as they moved to go back home.
"Kazuto?" Asuna gasped as they came into sight, opening the vault door to their safehouse. The girl was standing with a stretcher, Eiji, and Yuuna, each of them requested by Kazuto to be there. Upon seeing the girl in his arms, the couple immediately stepped into action, Yuuna singing a song to calm everyone down and Eiji operating the stretcher as Kazuto set her down. Sinon was quickly wheeled to the medical bay as the rest of the people standing there moved to sit down, tossing an assortment of weapons on the table and collapsing on the nearby couches.
"Umm… Kazuto?" Yuuki shyly began, shifting her position to get closer to where he was. Her hands were shifting as she got ready to apologize for her actions earlier. It wouldn't be enough, no apology could ever make up for the loss of someone's limbs, but she just wanted to get it out.
"Not now, Yuuki," he firmly stated, hands reaching up to rub his face. "I'm just- hah, I'm not in the mood." With his piece said, Kazuto stood up and walked off, grabbing the assortment of swords laid out on the table in order to bring them to Rika.
Yuuki heard a small sniffle pierce through the silence of the room, before she felt a reassuring hand on her back and turned to look at the source. It was only when she noticed that her twin looked blurry as she stroked her spine that Yuuki realized it came from her, and at that point nobody could stop the tears that flowed.
What nobody noticed was bloodied fists bashing against a wall as Kazuto hurt himself in uncharacteristic rage, a silent scream forever stuck in his throat as no sounds escaped his lips. He had failed to keep everyone safe, the one thing that he had to do in order to live here. He had failed at the one thing he did. With this in mind, he sighed.
"Nobody but me is going outside ever again," he told the empty room, the only one to hear it being the girl sadly watching on the security cameras.
Yeah the girl on cams is Asuna and BlAcK iS lOoKiNg PrEtTy SuS. Wahoo, and please review.
