AN: Heyo! I'd like to start this by thanking ForgotPassword (or whomever the repeated reviewer is) for their constant positivity. It really brightens up my day to see that someone likes my work, so thank you so much!
The axe came down with incredible speed and cleaved the skull of the man unfortunate enough to be underneath it's arc. The gurgled cries of his dying aggressor were akin to that of a squealing pig and it disgusted him. He wrenched the weapon from it's position in the corpse and flicked the blood and brain matter from the red steel at its end. He emerged from the alley and flinched as a flaming car zoomed past him. He rolled his eyes as the vehicle collided with another petrol car and exploded upon impact. The entire street was practically set alight and he was forced to retreat onto the rooves of the apartments above via the piping on their walls, purely to avoid burning Despairs who targeted him regardless of the fact that they were ablaze.
He looked over the scene below and considered his approach. The two he was looking for couldn't have gone far in the last handful of hours but they needed to be found and returned. If necessary, they would need to be contained for their own safety. ''How far do you believe them to have travelled?'' A voice from behind him reached his ears and he craned his head to meet her. The silence of her footsteps and her quiet nature seemed almost an attempt to catch him off guard. If it was such an attempt, it was practically pointless. He had both incredible hearing and awareness. ''Even if they were to use their talents and physiques to their maximum potential, they would be roughly… 20 minutes away.'' She gave him a swift nod and threw him a walkie-talkie before descending into the alley. He hung the small device from the loop of his belt and followed her path down.
She was already long gone by the time he hit the ground, as expected. He poked his head out of the alley as he had done moments before. The last of the Despairs had been decapitated and their still smoking bodies lay motionless in the partially melted asphalt. This gave him the perfect chance to look for clues about the whereabouts of those who had abandoned his group. He scoured the length of the pavement, avoiding making enough noise to attract the Despairs and protestors he could hear in the next street over. The glint of metal met his astute eyes and he moved for it instinctively. Just as he had thought. A broken metal chain. An interesting accessory for one of the missing and one that confirmed that he was close. Another explosion rang out in the adjacent building and debris flew past him as he crouched to inspect the chain.
An animalistic scream echoed down the road and he flicked his eyes to reach its source. It was evidently a scream of pain. A protestor, who appeared to be unaffected by the Despair video, was crawling up the street away from the burning wreck of the building, which he assumed to have been a diner. She was looking at him as she struggled to move forwards. Looking at him with an expression that asked for help. Izuru stood from his squat and began a slow walk towards the wounded woman. The girl recognised that he was on his way and allowed herself to slow down to save her strength. She would soon wish she hadn't, if she had time to think. A loud stream of shouting and angry yelling whizzed round the corner. Another group of Despair-influenced rioters were on their way. The floored protestor's eyes widened and she attempted to push herself up onto her elbows to kickstart her snail-pace escape. He knew that noise. It guaranteed the lady's death. A horde of furious, brainwashed murderers turned the corner and sprinted towards him. The injured woman gave him one final look. It was strange to him. She seemed more disappointed that he hadn't reached her than she was sad or disheartened about her imminent demise. Not that she had time to change her expression as the army reached her. There was a sickening crunch as boot met skull and skull met concrete. The army trampled over her as they sped towards him. 'Army' was a generous term but to any straggler left alone it was exactly what it seemed. There were roughly 30 of them approaching him, spouting nonsense about the end of the world and the glory of despair. Izuru sighed as his other self finally retreated into his subconscious. ''Boring.''
It took some time to finish the first of his attackers. Despite their lack of coherence and blinding want for violence, they were somewhat tactical with their advancements. The ones that wielded blades followed up the wild swings of those who used blunt weaponry. Of course, 'some time' was a handful of seconds for Izuru but it was still longer than his usual time spent in skirmishes. When it came to fighting those who had been brainwashed, he always preferred to kill than to leave them unconscious. Rendering them unconscious meant that they could wake up and inflict more damage. That didn't apply to everyone, however. The video that Enoshima had broadcast to the country was different than the one she had broadcast to the representatives at the UN. The first prototype had affected all of the politicians present whilst the more recent video only affected one in three people. This was most likely intentional on Enoshima's front to ensure that she could witness as many variations of despair as possible. The fear of those who were unaffected as their loved ones turned on them and became violent. Those who would plead to the police and the military for help, lacking the knowledge that there would be those amongst their ranks that were plotting to create chaos. It must've been quite satisfying for her to watch from her perch inside Hope's Peak Academy, especially since there were only a handful of people across the world who knew that she was the source of the Tragedy. Not that she'd have the opportunity to enjoy it for long. If his predictions of the nuclear holocaust were accurate then she'd only have a week to revel in her victory before the prestigious school became one of the few places containing healthy humans. Thinking about this was the only thing on his mind. When he finished his train of thought he realised that he had already killed the first wave of Despairs. A piece of rebar came flying towards him and, for the first time today, he was caught slightly off guard.
Hajime and his emotions were definitely slowing his reaction time. Luckily the aim of the pitcher was not too brilliant and only his shoulder fell victim to damage. The last 12 attackers saw an opportunity in the fact that he was forced to stagger by the rebar. They all charged in unison, hoping that their sheer volume in numbers would overwhelm the single Ultimate. It didn't. He swung first, catching all of them off-guard. His clenched fist shattered the jaw of the closest man, the hand following its course and connected sharply with his neck, an audible crack sounding out. He fell swiftly to the ground, taking the woman behind him with him. Izuru swung his right leg and connected cleanly with the grounded woman's head, taking it clean of her shoulders and sending it soaring into the alley he had emerged from moments earlier.
''Kokoro!'' A voice at the back of the pack could be heard. His wife? Daughter perhaps? He couldn't care less as he dodged a bat before grabbing it's tip and pulling it from an old man's hands. The elderly man gasped and attempted to back up, only to be prevented by the 9 crazies still progressing. Izuru swung directly down onto the roof of his head and split it like a watermelon. He was forced to swing a split second afterward to prevent a knife-wielding lady from finishing her prodding motion. The bat was swung at a lower angle than before, placing the blow on the underside of her ribs. The strangely grimy woman doubled over in an attempt to lessen the pain but that only made it significantly easier for the Ultimate Ultimate to twist her head and snap her neck. The bat had cracked along its length due to the power of the last swing and would break with it's next use, so Izuru improvised. He put all of his strength into his next hit, killing the fifth man and breaking the bat into several shards of sharp wood. He took a makeshift blade in each hand and thrust up through the chin of the next guy along. He didn't bother attempting to retrieve it again, allowing the ex-attacker to fall to the asphalt with the wood stuck in his brain. The rest of the group seemed hesitant now. He had halved their number in a matter of seconds and he still had a weapon, albeit short and fragile. They wouldn't have time or the ability to retreat. Izuru sliced across the next girl with precision and speed, blood spraying from her throat. He was slightly put off by her short stature and prepubescent appearance. Had Hajime been in control, hesitation would've been a natural response. He also noticed the Hope's Peak reserve course uniform. It was strange for one of the Despairs from the Academy to be so far from the gates; from what he had observed many had attacked the fences and gate relentlessly before the Steering Committee's henchmen had mowed them down with gunfire. One of the quartet had began his escape and Izuru reacted in kind by launching the piece of wood through the crowd of three and into the back of his neck. He hit the ground quickly and began writhing on the floor. His 'friends' made the mistake of looking back and faced the consequence as two of them were thrown down the street and into the car-centric inferno a few feet down the road. One man was left, though he had fallen to his knees before him.
''You-You killed my wife!'' He shouted up at him. Izuru realised that there were no swirls in his eyes. He was not a Despair. Had he joined them as he wanted to be violent? Or had he- ''I just wanted to make sure she didn't do anything stupid! That video made her so fucking angry and I had to play along!'' Video? So the cause was purely in this form? The tears were streaming down his face now. Izuru squatted down to meet his eye level. ''Please believe me when I say: there was no saving her. The effects of the video are irreversible. Her death is a mercy killing, if anything.'' ''You m-mean that she'd n-never be the same?'' He clenched his fist, gripping his jeans and causing them to ruffle. Izuru stood bolt upright and kept his gaze fixated on the man as he adjusted his tie. ''Would you like me to kill you?'' He asked, the lack of emotion in his voice and phrasing creating a feeling that this too, would be a mercy. ''Say your goodbyes to her if you feel like you must.'' The man nodded before attempting to clamber to his feet, though he stumbled back down to his knees. Izuru watched in fascination. The raw emotion and feeling. Could despair really cause such contrasting actions and words? The man looked no more than 30 but this experience seemed to have aged him; his hair was unruly and he was deathly pale. He collapsed next to his wife's body. He seemed slightly fazed by the corpse being without it's head but laid down next to her regardless. His breaths were shaky and he tried to rest his hands atop his stomach. Izuru looked at him with visible confusion. The way that the man was acting made it seem as if he wasn't ready to die. On second thought, the phrasing of his question had made it seem as if he didn't have a choice in the matter. He walked back over to where he had dropped his axe in the alley and strode back over to his new acquaintance, though that was a generous term. He hovered the axe over the man's head and steadied his hand. ''Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?'' He allowed some leniency and hesitation to come through in his voice. Hopefully, if the gentleman before him didn't truly want this, that would make him reconsider and let Izuru go on his merry way. ''It's okay, please, just fucking do it.'' He didn't need to be told twice.
It didn't take too long to reach his targets. They had been exactly where he'd believed they'd be and where Peko had tracked them to. The Owari household. Where Akane lived with her mother and seven siblings. The one in three ratio was not in favour of such a large family. Their house was rather large considering that the family had lived in poverty for such a long time. Although just looking around at the neighbouring areas, it was no wonder. This street and all of the others around it were rundown and had clearly lacked attention from local government in the last few years. He leapt down from his perch and pushed himself into a light jog to reconvene with Peko, who sat with her legs crossed in the middle of the street. Her blade was on top of it's sheath and resting on her legs. She was cleaning the length of the katana with a small cloth.
''Have they gone inside yet?'' He asked. Hajime was back in the driving seat and she could tell, even without looking at his eyes. ''No.'' ''So they're around here somewhere?'' ''No.'' Hajime's eyebrow raised in concern. ''So when you said that they were here, you were lying?'' The silver-haired girl thrust the sword into the ground and jumped up to her feet. Her sneakers made a scraping noise on the asphalt. ''I cleared the road up to the house.'' Hajime had noticed the bodies strain about the street but hadn't considered that they were all made by Peko. ''It was my theory that if the road was clear of obstacles, they would be more inclined to take a simple path rather than try to reach their destination via the roof or backstreets. I called you so we could wait for them and convince them to come back.'' Hajime chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before shrugging and placing a hand on her shoulder. The other hand gave her a solid thumbs-up. ''Good work. I just wish you would've told me.'' ''If I did that, Izuru probably wouldn't have even bothered coming. It didn't match his original plan.'' He had to accept that. He genuinely wasn't sure if Izuru trusted the rest of the friends whose company he had come to treasure in the last few weeks. He could hear footsteps down the street. Familiar footsteps he had taken the time to get used to hearing over the time they spent in the shelter. He turned to face the two. Nekomaru Nidai and Akane Owari were gradually progressing up the cracked pavement. ''We should duck into this alleyway here.'' Peko suggested. Hajime waved her off. ''They've already seen us. We may as well confront them now.''
The two minutes it took the escapees to reach them felt like an eternity. When they finally did, both pairs were standoffish. ''You better let her see her family, pal.'' Nekomaru spoke smoothly and politely. He clearly didn't want this to escalate to a brawl. Not when a fight could attract attention from any Despairs hanging around. ''We have no intention of stopping you, Akane.'' Peko spoke up. ''Good, cuz I wouldn't let ya anyway.'' She smirked at Peko, who returned a worried smile. ''I just want to say: what you see in there may not be what you want to see.'' Hajime tried to be as vague as possible. Saying outright that some of her siblings may have killed each other or have been killed by their mother was bound to send the Gymnast into a ridiculous panic. ''Ha! Yeah right! My li'l ones are super strong, so they'll be fine.'' She was incredibly overconfident, considering the things that she had seen people do since the Tragedy had begun. Even Nekomaru failed to keep a hopeful expression. ''If you insist on seeing them, then I can't stop you. I ask, however, that I be allowed that I should join you.'' Akane looked almost offended. ''Why?'' Hajime chose to raise a single brow. Nekomaru leant forward and pivoted to meet his companion's eyes. She sighed and sped forward, pulling on Hajime's arm with a growl. The two reached the doors of the dilapidated home and slipped inside.
Peko attempted to make small talk with the Ultimate Team Manager, who responded with friendly, yet curt, statements that revealed little about their whereabouts for the last few hours. The two could hear screaming and arguing from inside and Hajime exited with a disgruntled expression. ''What happened?'' Nekomaru inquired. ''We didn't even get past the living room. There was no one there and she got panicked. She told me to leave so I did to avoid upsetting her.'' ''Did you hear anyone in the building? With your abilities?'' Peko seemed quite assured of the answer already. ''Yes, but they were in the upstairs bedrooms. I'm sure Akane saw that as a bad sign.'' More muffled shouting could be heard from the upstairs and the three in the street gave each other narrowed glances before starting for the door. An enormous explosion lit the broken home up and destroyed the roof. The remaining frame was set ablaze and the wooden supports began to collapse inwards into the building. The force of the eruption had clearly been due to a chain reaction, as all the other houses up the street had also burst into flames and been absolutely decimated. There couldn't possibly have been survivors in a normal case, but these were Ultimates.
Hajime woke in a heap under a portion of the smouldering roof. He wasn't as woozy or as fatigued as he should've been and that was definitely thanks to his abilities. He threw the debris off him and began his search for Peko. It wasn't a long search. She was lain across the floor to his left with a huge pile of debris on top of her. Hajime didn't hesitate to wrench the rubble off her and check her pulse.
She was alive, thankfully. He wasn't sure of the damage to her ribs and her internal organs but he could clearly see that she had no broken bones in her limbs and her neck had sustained no damage. He picked her up in a bridal fashion and carried her into the alley they had emerged from and placed her a few metres up the metal stairway. Luckily her katana had still been in it's sheath on her back to provide her with a method of self defence should she wake in time to prevent a physical assault. At least that would work in theory. Upon laying her down, he noticed that she was without her glasses. He left a mental note to look for them while he searched for the other two. He jumped back into the fray and looked towards the series of burning homes to his right. It was late evening now and the setting sun made the sky merge into the orange flames of the family abodes. This meant that the street was illuminated by a dull, almost crimson glow, which certainly complemented the eeriness created by the quiet, distanced moaning and shouting of the approaching Despairs. The explosion had no doubt grabbed their attention and they would be upon him in moments. That assured that his work would have to be quick. He could hear pained, crying and he was certain it was Akane. How she'd survived the explosion, especially when she was most likely at it's epicentre, he had no idea. A huge segment of the building stood upright a small distance from the house's steps and there didn't seem to be anywhere else that she could be stuck or hiding behind. He sped to her, avoiding the pieces of wood and brick that caked the asphalt and trying to look for the familiar glint of spectacles. He poked his head round the side of the wreckage of concrete and plasterboard, only to be forced to catch the fist of Nekomaru. ''Shit! Sorry!'' His armed dropped to his side and he spun around, practically ignoring him now that he realised he wasn't a threat. He soon realised why.
Akane was on her knees in front of her home. She cradled the body of a small girl in her arms and had a bright red face, though this seemed more from anger than from sadness. She screamed as she had before, though this seemed more animalistic and rageful. The girl in her arms seemed no older than four, meaning that she would be the youngest of Owari siblings. The tears that ran down her face seemed to evaporate due to the heat coming off of her face. Nekomaru stood in a saddened stupor next to her, making advances to place his hand on her shoulder but flinching and retreating whenever she emoted too loud or too violently. There was nothing to be done now. If the youngest was dead, then that meant that the mother had likely shown no mercy to any of the children. Of course there was a chance that one or two may have survived but Hajime still believed that to be outside the realms of possibility. Akane was still bawling and seething from her position on the floor, leaving Nekomaru and Hajime to approach the house upon the Prodigy's request.
''Please be careful when attempting to lift anything, it may cause a chain reaction.'' The Team Manager nodded slowly with his mouth agape. He clearly hadn't witnessed anything like this before. It was a strange thought to Hajime that there were still some people who hadn't seen atrocities like this. The muscle man wrenched a wooden beam from in front of the door and allowed the slimmer man to speed inside. The interior was a warped fantasy version of the home it had been a few minutes before. The furniture in some of the downstairs' rooms was intact and despite the loud crackling of the flames, a faint heartbeat was still within the building. His ears perked up instantaneously and he looked towards the broken staircase. He leapt up it with ease and looked up. The outside appearance certainly matched it's interior: about two thirds of the roof had either collapsed inwards or had been blown out into the street. Luckily the heartbeat seemed to be… next to his feet. He spun and threw up a bloody blanket to reveal another Owari daughter.
She was breathing arrhythmically and her eyes were glazed over. A huge gash was across her abdomen but it didn't seem to be deep enough to kill. If anything, her current position was due to shock and smoke inhalation. He crouched next to her and lifted one of her arms. It dropped to her side and he knew he had to get her out as soon as possible. And what better way to exit than jumping out of the hole in the roof. He called for Nekomaru. ''Get ready to catch me!'' He took a short run up and jumped out of the building.
The hulking teen stood with open arms at the foot of the house and caught the shorter boy. For a few moments there was a carry pyramid; The girl was in Hajime's arm and Hajime was in Nekomaru's. ''Holy shit! Where'd you find her?'' The larger boy's eyes were as wide as they could possibly be. ''Under a blanket in the middle of the upstairs bedroom. I need to tend to her injuries and, if I see it necessary, operate on her.'' He approached Akane with the girl in his arms and her head perked up. Her eyes threatened to pop out her skull as her mouth fell open. ''Mikasa?!'' She carefully laid the corpse in her arms on the ground and slowly walked towards her sister. ''Is she gonna be okay?'' Her voice was weak and barely reached him but he responded as confidently as he could muster. ''Her injuries aren't life threatening but she may need surgery. I can do that if we get her back to the shelter.'' Akane seemed to chew the inside of her cheek, deep in thought. Her eyes quickly darted over to the group of Despairs that were only a few tens of feet away. They weren't walking at an incredible pace but they were certainly reaching them quickly. She thrust her arm forward and placed it on the girl. She ran the back of a hand along her cheek and looked up at Hajime. ''Can I hold her?'' There was a hideous look on her face. A complete feeling of deranged lunacy was emanating from her. ''It may hurt her if I move her from this position.'' He lied. ''Just let me hold her for a bit, it's no biggie.'' ''I don't think that's a good idea at the moment.'' ''You think I'm not strong enough?'' The tanned girl's voice was cold and lacked any kind of reasonable emotion behind it. ''You think this is my fault?'' Hajime squinted. This was about to take a turn. The crowd was closing in. Nekomaru was indecisive. Akane was about to snap. Mikasa was stirring. And then she lunged.
Hajime was expecting the lunge but he wasn't expecting it to be quite so fast. She managed to take a firm grasp of her sister's neck, either completely unaware of the dangers of this or choosing to ignore it in favour of gaining her sibling. Her other hand wrapped around the small girl's left leg. Whilst he still had a solid hold of the girl's chest and abdomen, keeping that hold wasn't sensible. If the Ultimate Gymnast were to tug too hard, the girl's injuries would be aggravated or her neck would be snapped. He let go and allowed Akane to take the girl into her arms. Akane's face contorted into a maniacal grin and she began mumbling under her breath. She spun on her heels and ran down the street. She came to a stop and turned to stare at Nekomaru. Her mouth was a straight line and even from this distance, her pupils were visibly small. Nekomaru looked towards the ground, lacking the courage to reject her or to leave Hajime behind to join her. He was soon forced to move regardless as the Despairs reached him. Both he and Hajime clambered on top of a pile of car wreckage.
''You can't trust her anymore.'' The Ultimate Team Manager met his eye level but failed to respond. ''This event has deeply affected her, as to be expected. She is unhinged now. She will easily give in to Despair if she hasn't already.'' He crouched and swung his leg over the edge of the wreckage, sending a young Despair cascading down and taking several more down with him. ''If I don't go with her, she'll do something stupid or dangerous or both. I can make sure she doesn't go overboard or hurt the girl or some shit.'' ''COACH! C'MON!'' His head turned slightly and his face fell again at the reminder of Akane's instability. He placed a foot behind him as if to try to leave but was interrupted by the smaller boy in front of him. ''There will be a nuclear war soon. Very soon. I don't know exactly where the bombs will be dropped but it'll decimate the population. If you don't have a plan, please reconsider.'' Nekomaru looked at him in horror. ''We… had a plan to take a boat out and wait for this whole thing to blow over. Will that… still work for bombs?''
Hajime raised an eyebrow. Not a particularly original plan but it was one few would think of in a panic state. But that didn't mean that he'd admit the plan was sound by answering his question. ''Do you have a boat? Do you have the resources and supplies to survive for a long period of time at sea?'' ''If what my students have told me is true, then yeah.'' ''Students?'' Hajime inquired. Nekomaru smirked slightly. ''I coached a sailing team earlier in the year. I kept in touch and they offered to take me on board to see this crisis out. Never though it'd get so fucking bad. Guess this kinda shit doesn't match my credentials, huh?'' Hajime was struggling to find an excuse for taking them back to the shelter that didn't involve the protection and healing of Mikasa Owari.
''I don't want to let her take her sister, Nidai.'' He furrowed his brow to show his intentions to his opposite number. ''We don't have time to fight. She'll grow impatient and the Despairs will capitalise so please, just get her over here and we'll go home.'' Nekomaru gave him and eager grin before outstretching his arm to offer a handshake. ''Sure thing, pal.'' Hajime took his hand and felt something slip into his palm. It was metallic but had the distinct feel of glass at some intervals. He opened his hand to see Peko's glasses. ''Found 'em outside the house.'' ''Thank you.'' Nekomaru placed a hand on his shoulder. ''No, thank you for everything. For saving our friends and for allowing us into the shelter. But this is goodbye.'' The arm placed on him applied pressure and pushed forwards; Nekomaru had thrown him off the height on which they stood and he had landed in the horde of Despairs below.
Those closest began to leap onto him and claw at him and he found it difficult to gain both his bearings and a stance to defend himself. It took a few seconds and a few punches, kicks and even the occasional bite but eventually he stood and began fighting back. The motions came naturally to him and he was able to concentrate on locating Nekomaru through the crowd. He had already reached Akane and judging by the unconscious men and women in the street he had taken down a lot of Despairs in the process. It was time for him to do the same. He decided that wide, wild attacks that covered a lot of the space around him were better as he could hit as many targets at once as possible. The eerie silence of his attackers always disturbed him. The only sound coming from them was grunts, heavy breaths and cries of pain upon receiving a hit. Despite his strength and proficiency, he was constantly getting hit in the ribs and back. If he was to get out of this, he'd still be worse for wear. He could hear rapidly approaching footsteps, followed by a katana swing that sliced through the front lines. The next sword swings mowed down the rest and the Ultimate Swordswoman finally reached him and slashed the man on top of Hajime but caught him in the process. He cried out in pain and Peko became flustered. She was squinting hard but had obviously recognised Hajime from the voice.
''I am very sorry, Hajime. My vision is somewhat blurry as of right now.'' There was a large gash along his left hand side and blood was quite seeping from it. He reached into his pocket and produced the girl's glasses. She actually missed his hand the first time she attempted to grab them, demonstrating her poor eyesight. She found them the second time of asking and put them on. She blinked a handful of times to adjust herself before placing her katana back in it's sheath. She held out her hand and lifted the wounded man to his feet. ''Where are the others?'' Her voice seemed so innocent, so unaware. Hajime gave her the look. That look alone told her what she needed to know. ''Let's go home, Peko. I'll tell you on the way.'' He hobbled forwards, waving her away when she attempted to place her arm under him for support. ''I'll start by saying that they should both be fine. However….''
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The hatch was wrenched open and the two began their descent into the shelter. Chiaki jogged over to the bottom of the ladder, a glass of orange juice in her hand. Hajime went slightly limp about three quarters of the way down and fell. Banging and whacking against the ladder, he hit the ground with a thud. A terrified Chiaki sat on her knees next to him and inspected his body. She almost screamed when she saw the blood on his shirt. Lifting the material allowed her and the others, who had come over after witnessing his collapse, to see the stab wound that stretched from hip to belly button. She placed her head in her hands and rested her forehead on Hajime's shoulder. He could hear her softly sobbing and wished that he could stretch an arm to rub her back.
''Wh-What happened to you?'' She said through her sniffles. Peko opened her mouth to speak but Hajime spoke quickest. ''Me and Peko got separated and I got surrounded. One of them stabbed me but…'' He flicked his eyes to the Swordswoman who gave him a small, appreciative smile. ''Peko saved me. So, thank you Peko.'' He managed to lift his hand and shape it into a thumbs up. Despite the gravity of their situation, Chiaki managed to shape her face into a gorgeous smile. Even if she wasn't running her hands through his hair, that smile alone would be enough to comfort him.
''Can someone please help me lift him, for god sakes?'' Mahiru had been gripping Hajime's legs for a little while now and no one had taken the hint that she was attempting to lift him. Fuyuhiko sighed and walked around the crowd and crouched down. He wrapped his arms under Hajime's armpits and gave the Ultimate Photographer a nod to lift him. The pair pulled him up; Hajime grunted and hissed in pain but decreased his volume when Chiaki squeezed his hand. ''If you set me down in my room, I can-'' Hajime interrupted himself with a a cry of pain. ''I… I can operate on myself with assistance.'' ''Are you fuckin' crazy?'' Fuyuhiko was loud and had clearly forgotten he was practically next to Hajime's ears. ''How the hell are you gonna do that?'' Hajime was swinging in their arms slightly as they trudged towards his room. ''I told you the first day we met that I am the Ultimate Ultimate. I have a talent for surgery.'' Mahiru made a strange noise at his claim. ''But you're operating on yourself, dummy.'' ''Well if it would make you feel better, you can help me.'' He spoke condescendingly at first but warped his tone to make the sentence become more of an invitation. The redhead raised her brows but quickly let her expression soften into an accepting, subtle smile. Fuyuhiko bumped his back into the door and awkwardly waddled backwards until they could lay the brown haired boy on the bed. Chiaki wandered into the room and sat on the bed next to his legs.
''Yeah, fucking whatever, just come right on in. I'm gonna go and get all the medical stuff I can find.'' He scratched the back of his head as he exited. Having managed to slide his jacket off, Hajime was struggling to remove his shirt. Chiaki leant over him and helped him tug off the article of clothing. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the sight of his chest. She turned to look at Mahiru behind her; she was clearly equally impressed with his toned physique. Judging by Mahiru's reddened cheeks and the heat she felt on her own face, they were both blushing very heavily. Luckily, Hajime had his eyes shut and was facing the ceiling regardless. The click of the door's mechanism caused the two entranced ladies to shake away their perverted thoughts. The Yakuza stood in the door and tossed a bag to Mahiru. ''You better not mess up, yeah?'' As he did a 180, Ibuki zoomed into the room and bumped him. ''Chiaki! Help me set up the Dreamcast!'' The entire room slowly pivoted their heads towards her. ''Are you fuckin' serious?'' Fuyuhiko was rubbing the shoulder that had been forced into the door when the Musician barged into him. ''Have you completely forgotten what just happened?'' Mahiru crossed her arms in frustration. Chiaki stood with a small sigh. ''It's okay everyone, I'll help her. Come on.'' She signalled for Ibuki to go to the TV and Fuyuhiko took the opportunity to slink away with her. Chiaki came to a halt at the door and gave Mahiru a stern look. Ibuki didn't do this out of ignorance. She wanted Chiaki away from it all to allow them to operate with full concentration. Without fear of Chiaki intervening or attempting something drastic, they were in the clear. The Photographer knew what the look meant and pulled the handles of the bag apart.
...
''So… you haven't exactly been a conversationalist since you found us. Do you have any hobbies? Or, well, I suppose it would be if you did have any hobbies now, wouldn't it?'' She was threading the stitches through the needle so her eyes were downcast. ''Izuru had many hobbies. Most of them involved observation and planning for the coming days.'' Mahiru tilted her head as a gesture to continue. ''He, or should I say 'I', had a particular interest in watching you.'' Mahiru gasped slightly and her cheeks tinged pink. ''W-Why?'' ''It may have been because he became aware of the murder of Natsumi Kuzuryuu and your potential involvement.'' Mahiru's blush quickly faded and her face fell into a frown. ''It would seem that murder has been quite common in my life.'' Both of them fell silent for a brief moment. ''I'm sorry. If I had managed to get to your class sooner, then there may have been fewer casualties, potentially none at all.''
''Why are you saying this to me?'' The needle was fully threaded and she let her hand fall palm up into her lap. ''Because you miss someone so special to you that everyone else's lost relationships look almost meaningless.'' Mahiru scrunched up her face and lifted her hand before thrusting it slowly towards Hajime's wound. He stopped her trembling limb just short of his abdomen, the needle a few millimetres away. ''If you need to stop for a moment, please do.'' He slowly pushed her hand down onto the surface of the bed and placed his hand atop hers. It took 2 minutes of slow, deep breathing and Hajime rubbing circles onto the back of her hand to calm her. Once she was ready, she held the needle head just in front of the end of his gash. ''Make the incision on the underside of it.'' He advised. The girl complied and pierced his skin with the needle. He grunted but the pain he had felt from the disinfectant he applied earlier was far greater. '' Now from here-'' ''I know how to sew.'' Her voice wasn't condescending. If anything there was a slight twinge of pride to her tone. The next few minutes were spent in quiet, the laboured breaths of the boy drowning out the soft ones of his counterpart of the fairer sex.
...
Her hands came to a stop just after the pointy end of the laceration. Whilst the cut was deep, he was sure he had some kind of regenerative abilities. He had to, right? ''We're all done, I'll just throw some gauze on it and call it a day on this.'' He snickered slightly at her beaming expression; she was clearly very proud of her work. She removed the plastic gloves she was wearing and used a small towel on the bed to pat her clammy hands dry. ''Can you try to get some gloves that don't make your hands sticky? That felt so gross.'' He laughed again at her expression. She was extremely emotive both vocally and facially. She grabbed a large piece of gauze and placed it onto the newly sewn wound. Unfortunately, she forgot to make him aware she was planning on doing this and Hajime jolted, grabbing and squeezing her free hand to distract him from the pain. He gradually relaxed again, waving away her rapid, distraught apologies. They stayed in the same position, however. Her left hand was still resting on his torso and her right hand still gripped his left tightly, their fingers even somewhat intertwined. They stared deeply at each other for a brief time, the blush on Mahiru's cheeks slowly making itself apparent. Neither made a move to close the gap between them. The gap would soon be greatly stretched as a knock on the door caught them both off guard. ''Can I come in?''
It was Chiaki. Mahiru was already standing and dusting off her skirt. ''Yeah!'' She shouted shakily. ''I… I'll see you 'round, Hajime.'' She hurried out of the room as the Gamer pushed the door open. She sounded extremely upset, if he was to pick a possible emotion, he'd say regret. And he didn't even get the oppurtunity to thank her properly. Chiaki appeared confused but shook it off as she took a seat next to Hajime's legs as she had done prior. She had no hesitation in wrapping her fingers around his hand and lightly pressing it. She looked downcast and Hajime shifted upwards in his bed. ''Please don't ever do something that dangerous again.'' He was taken aback. ''It's kind of necessary if we want to be comfortable and safe.'' ''I won't feel safe knowing that you might not be somewhere. I couldn't bare to think that I might lose you again.''
That last part stung. He knew exactly what she was referring to and it hit him light a ton of bricks. He had left her for two years purely because he sought to be someone she could be proud of. Little did he know; she was always proud to be associated with him. ''I won't, I promise you.'' She finally turned to face him. There were fresh tears cascading down her face and his heart sank. He'd made her cry. Again. He pushed himself into a sitting position and pulled her into a hug with his free arm. It burned his side but he was willing to tolerate his pain if it alleviated Chiaki of hers. She kept a vice grip of his hand and rested her head against his chest. He stroked her hair as she had done for him and whispered reassurances. ''I'm okay, I'm okay. So are you. So is everyone else here.'' She snorted loudly before lifting her head so they were face to face. ''So you'll stop going out and getting hurt?'' It was a little annoying to hear that, considering it was the first time he'd actually been hurt on roughly 30 trips outside. But she was worried and mentioning that wouldn't help at all.
''I won't be going out for a while, trust me. And that's not just because of this cut.'' He was deliberately vague. Imagined images of nuclear wastelands sprung to mind. That would certainly stop him leaving for at least 12 weeks. His phrasing made it seem as if he was promising never to go looking for conflict again. Chiaki recognised this and began crying a new set of tears, these ones out of relief. She nuzzled into his neck and Hajime again ran his fingers through her ashy-pink locks. ''You promise to never leave me?'' Her voice was less desperate than it was at the beginning of her eulogy. ''Of course.'' She raised her head again. ''Good. I don't think I could live without the boy I love.''
She pressed her lips against his so quickly he couldn't even prepare. He kissed back and the two sat for about 10 seconds, revelling in the sensation. ''I really, really love you, Hajime. I've liked you for so, so long.'' She said softly as she pulled away. This was it. The moment he'd dreamt of when he was still seeing her during their first year. He wanted to confess his crush on that bench in front of the fountain so may times but never managed to pluck up the courage. After all this time, he could make his dream reality, even if the circumstances were grim. ''I-'' He stopped and produced the biggest smile he'd ever shown anyone. ''I love you, Chiaki.'' He fell back onto his pillow. He closed his eyes and pried them open a moment later. He could've believed this was a dream. The lingering heat on his lips and the warmth of her hand laced in his told him otherwise. He sat up again and watched her wipe at her eyes with her hoodie sleeves. There was a euphoric smile etched on her face which perfectly complemented the rosy hue of her cheeks. Hopefully he actually had that regenerative power. He had five days. Five days to head outside and find this girl, his girl, the best bouquet the apocalypse had to offer.
Holy shit! This is definitely the longest thing I've ever written. I hope you enjoyed. I'd like to ask a question for the readers while I have the opportunity. Do you guys want more scenes with the whole group dynamic or some scenes where there's only a handful of characters interacting? It'd be nice to know if you'd like some fleshing out before we get onto the next major story arcs. I haven't started writing the next chapter yet so I can certainly write what you guys would like. If there are any characters or things about this world you'd like explained, please leave a review asking for it. As always, thank you for reading!
P.S Thanks to SourCandylol, it's always nice to receive a positive messsge!
