Chapter 14: Sinner
The best plans were always the ones that adapted to the flow of what was occurring, some of the most important decisions in human history were made on the fly, and Subaru liked to pride himself on his ability to be pragmatic. Yuusui passing the initial test, alongside Joseph, was one of those moments. Especially given that the latter was recovering from a hellacious beating at the hands of Mei.
"They're good. Better than the last bunch." Said a voice from across his desk, the form of Oscar sat there with his arms crossed and a composed look on his face, although to say he looked happy to be with Subaru would be pushing things a little too far.
"Hmmm, you could say that. I won't, but you could." Subaru replied, tenting his fingers underneath his chin as he leaned across the desk, his black lips curled down into a frown that looked so foreign on his usually overly expressive face. "Just because one or two might slay the dragon, it doesn't mean that we discount the fact the rest didn't even make the keep before wimping out."
Whilst the success of Joseph and Yuusui had shocked and impressed him, it had only succeeded in realigning Subaru's thought process now. In all honesty, the clown had expected none of them to get close enough to even sniff the cut-off switch, let alone press it at nearly the same time. His pre-thought-out speech about 'determination' and 'character' had to be thrown out once the lights suddenly shuttered back on, not that he was in the business of complaining, he always hated having to repeat that claptrap.
It forced him now to consider the ability of the others first and foremost, which is why his desk was currently littered with the remaining files, stretching the whole length of the metal top. Principal among them was the performance of Mei, whom he had personally expected to be the one most likely to succeed.
Her file was the one he currently had open, complied with all the information that Kyte had been able to glean from her following her acceptance into this year's programme. Everything from birthday, minuscule changes of appearance, and importantly how she got here in the first place, was logged for Subaru's crimson gaze to see.
"I wouldn't blame them, you're the one who stuck them in a dark room and sent scythes swinging at them, then dumped the world's supply of barbed wire on one girl." Oscar rolled his eyes, tired of Subaru's continuous bullshit. How anyone was able to stand this man as a co-worker was a miracle, the brunette playing with one of the rings around his fingers to stem his growing frustration.
Subaru shot back quickly, head and gaze jumping up from the file to lock on Oscar with an intense look. "Character building, Oscar! It's called character building!" The pink-haired adult explained, shouting it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. The disgusting gurn he pulled out further drove that point home.
What right did this nobody have to question his methods?! In case Oscar wasn't aware, this test had been done more times than Subaru had had hot dinners, and not once had it gone wrong or caused more damage than it was worth. Frankly, it offended the clown that someone who owned him so much would be willing to act like he knew any better.
"I'd hate to see what you'd consider dangerous, Subaru." Of course, Oscar would've had to have been a monumental moron to ignore the pissed off vibes radiating off Subaru like the sun. Not that he cared all that much at the end of the day, he just wanted to get back to class. He didn't even know how he got there in the first place.
"I know what you consider dangerous, so if I were you, I'd shut your mouth, Morales." The lingering threat over those words was only made clearer as Subaru stood up, scooping up most of the files on his desk and shoving them back into the cabinet behind him with a thud. "Unless you can organise it yourself and get the green light from Niijima-sama to do it your way, you're going to be following me around till the end about this. You understand that?"
The dangerous glint in Subaru's eyes didn't faze Oscar, who merely nodded his head and played it off like nothing was out of the ordinary. "Very well." Came his curt reply, hopefully enough to make sure that this particular mood swing wasn't going to end in a similar fashion to the last one. He made a mental note to also tell Shion about this, she'd love any information she could get her hands on.
"Good. Very good." Subaru sat back down, running his hands through his hair, and breathing out a long, drawn-out sigh. He might have dropped off the wrong tree, to say the least, but stress affected him like everyone else, the little silver hairs coming out stuck to his glove causing his eyes to narrow. "One of these days… One of these fucking days… How could a circus be less stressful?" He complained out loud, his attention definitely no longer on Oscar.
Once more, another mental note was jotted down in Oscar's head. Another vicious change in mood for Subaru meant another thing that had to be reported to the resident therapist because there was no chance in hell Subaru was ever going to step foot near that place in a million years. Unless he was dragging some poor soul there to be tortured.
Oscar cringed internally when he heard about what had happened to Kagekatsu when he had been shoved to visit Shion by Subaru, not a single thing in this place could happen without some insane shit ruining it. Hell, eating breakfast with the other staff could be a minefield half the time.
"What about the ones that didn't take part? You ever find out what happened to them?" Said one of the only sane people in this place, moving the topic along to hopefully snap Subaru out of his trance and onto something he would be more willing to not slit Oscar's throat over.
The crimson eyed man blinked owlishly, looking around as if he was supposed to be looking for something until it actually did clock in his head. "Oh! Iki-chan still won't come out of his room, I tried it again earlier and he ain't budging an inch. Won't move off his ass even if I got a forklift out and dug the wall from the foun… Actually, hold on." Subaru stopped himself mid-sentence and produced a pen and paper out of his desk, the manic smile he normally wore returned to its rightful place.
Oscar couldn't hold back the groan as he dipped his head into his hands, why… Why was it always him that had to deal with this insanity? Why couldn't it be someone else, for the love of all that was good and nice in the world?! "Subaru… I didn't think I needed to say this, but that might be a bad idea."
Unfortunately, Oscar's concern was waved off with a lackadaisical hand and a lazy, terrifying smirk. "You need to think outside of the box sometimes, Oscar! Don't limit yourself by just thinking about traditional means!" Subaru jovially replied, smirk turning into a face-splitting grin, which spelt out nothing but trouble. "It's either that or I respect his privacy but assert my authority as the coordinator here by busting the door down anyway. Although Lord knows what that dump probably smells like."
This man was going to be the death of him… Oscar had long been resigned to that reality, but he never knew it was going to be this bad. Every single time he talked with Subaru felt like another tiny piece of his soul shrivelled up and died, the next time he could take a vacation out of this hellhole he was going to need a longggggggg break to recover. "…Other than him, I think that Hinata child was also absent, as expected."
That comment earned Oscar one of Subaru's trademark chuckles, "Yes, yes, that's true. Niijima-sama informed me the night before that that would be the case, no need to worry about him for quite a while on our end. Nishishishishi, I wonder how Sati's taking to him?" Nothing felt better to Subaru than gloating over Sateriasis' misfortunes, the mirth in his voice almost dipping into sadistic amusement.
"We will have to include him at some point, though. We promised him just as we promised the others." Oscar wasn't in the same business as some of the others might have been here, his job was as a teacher and a teacher's job was to teach all the students what they needed to get their lives back on track. That job would go unfilled and unfinished if even one of them was missing, and the introductory class was already enough of a shambles according to his notes.
"A place for him will be found, you can be sure of that," Subaru replied quickly, rattling it off like he was an automated answering machine. Not a hint of emotion was present in either his face or his voice, more akin to a corpse that had sputtered into life. "His time will come, but for now, Niijima-sama is wanting to make sure he doesn't squeal too loud."
Oscar narrowed his eyes at that statement, putting a hand to his chin and furrowing his brows. The silent glare coming over the desk from Subaru heaping pressure on him to answer this correctly. "I see… Then I believe there is no more reason for us to speak about it if Niijima-sama has it sorted." A non-answer was better than giving an actual one at this point, hopefully, it was enough to placate the man across from him.
It seemed to do the job; the silent pressure piled on him lifting as Subaru leaned back with a nod. "Good boy~!" He cooed out, mocking lilt to his voice not going unnoticed. It was the same kind of tone he often used if he wanted to get Yua off his back. "Wellllllll, if there isn't anything more to add on this front, then I would like to thank you for your time, Oscar. I'll make sure that the next time they come to you, you won't be left with stragglers."
"Very well, I thank you for your time too, Subaru." The brunette bowed as he stood up, arms locked behind his back but fighting down a scowl threatening to cross his face. The sooner he got out of here the better, at this rate being with Sateriasis and his goons was a more preferable situation.
Without so much as another word passed between them, Subaru was left by himself in the office, just how he liked it to be. Talking with others, except Kyte-sama, about Foundation work was always so dreadfully tedious and dull. None of them had the same level of vision that he possessed, having to guide them painfully step by step was like pulling teeth at this point.
At least now he was truly left to his own devices and machinations, there were no more meetings scheduled for the rest of the day until the nightly meeting he had with Kyte-sama, but those were more routine check-ups than anything serious.
Maybe now would be a good time to touch up on his makeup? With Yua back to her usual bursts of energy, he had a lot less time to devote to himself. During those down days since the induction, he had really forgotten how rambunctious she could get, and now his ears were begging to have to not deal with that high pitch squeal of hers.
The only other alternative was actually taking care of her, which… Just seemed like a whole lot of work, especially when he was still dealing with the preparation for Yuusui's test in the background. That was something he actually had some degree of investment in, for one. Plus, she should have been more than capable of taking care of herself at this, and if she got into trouble, he could just pin the blame on Sateriasis like always.
Luckily for Subaru and much for his joy, the dilemma of what to do was resolved by the sound of three sharp bangs on the door. "Come in~!" He chimed, just happy that now he didn't have to make any kind of serious decision for the moment.
An eerie, stretched smile reminiscent of Akashi's was plastered across his face as the door swung open to reveal Kagekatsu and Yuusui in the doorway, having finally found their way to the Clown's office after nearly a full hour of walking.
Instantly, though, Subaru's eyes darted to the taller of the pair. Even as Kagekatsu opened his mouth, the whole thing might have well been white noise to the pink-haired adult. "Oi! You going to explain why you decided that locking us in a box was a good idea? Did you steal that from the circus too!?" The foxboy rattled off as he stepped through the door, not even taking a breath between many of his words.
A quirk that Subaru was more than happy to play with as he cupped his ear. "Huh? You're going to need to speak up, Kage-chan! I'm getting a little too old for you youngsters nowadays, mumbling's a terrible habit!"
Of course, the desired result was achieved with little effort. Beyond Subaru being exceptionally good at winding people up, Kagekatsu would always be one of the easier marks in this intake for a few fun reactions. "You didn't seem to have much issue listening to me when you were sitting pretty while we were busting our asses! Or when you dropped me to that therapist bitch when I just wanted to eat!"
Subaru shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. "Ah, there it is! Such wonderful dulcet tones you always possess, Kage-chan. You got to eat later that day regardless, so I like to think I was just forwarding your progression at an express pace!" More fuel to the fire, as was expected. That mocking tone from his conversation with Oscar seeped back into his voice.
Kagekatsu, meanwhile, wanted to chuck the whole damn canister onto that budding fire. However, he was stopped before the words could slip out by Yuusui placing a hand on his shoulder and stepping forward. "Fujinaga-san, we were just wanting to ask a few questions about the work we did the other day. Would you mind listening to us?" He had always been taught basic decorum could defuse any situation, and experience had told him manners could get you a long way with your superiors.
On surface level, that idea seemed to be paying dividends. "Oh, is that all you want, Migoro-kun? Well, why didn't you say so from the start!" Although, how much of it was a genuine reaction and how much of it was just another gear to the winding up of the teen beside him, Yuusui wasn't going to comment.
"Mhm, we were both just wondering what the whole point of the exercise was, Sir…. If that's not too much of an issue!" Yuusui tacked the last part on the end quickly, stopping himself from sounding the least bit pushy. So much for taking some of Kagekatsu's assertiveness… A sheepish hand went up to scratch the back of his neck as a result.
Subaru waved the concern away, same lazy smirk from his earlier conversation with Oscar coming back. "Migoro-kun, Migoro-kun, you need not be so concerned with approaching me!" He tutted, placing his hands over his heart like he'd been shot there. "I am more than happy to explain to you the inner machinations of what was going on!"
"…You've not answered the actual question," Kagekatsu mumbled under his breath, more than aware he'd already been frozen out of the conversation. The only avenue he had now, standing in light clothing in such a cold place, was to rub his shoulders to generate warmth. How could the others stand in this room that felt as cold as a morgue? The foxboy was frankly a little stunned at that fact.
Yuusui threaded his fingers together, twiddling his thumbs as he tried to think of the right way to word his reply. His brows knitted together in concern. If he said too much and he might have come across as being overly suspicious. If he said too little then Subaru could easily ignore the question, then dismiss it with a laugh and Yuusui would be no closer to the answer he craved.
But how was he supposed to vocalise "I think you rigged the test in my favour," without coming across as the slightest bit ungrateful? Ack, why did he always have to worry about these things?! Why couldn't he be like Kagekatsu, or even Joseph in this case, where he could be to the point without carrying about the reaction?
…However, the truth was much more important here as he cracked his knuckles. There was no use trying to pussyfoot around the issue for too long, not when he could feel two separate stares on him. One, wondering what the fuck was going on. The other, holding him in examination like he was a fish in an aquarium tank.
"I was…." He cleared his throat before continuing, feeling a sudden lump in it. "We were just wondering that, at least on my end, the test seemed to be more geared towards someone of my standing? And you've heard what the other complaint was…" In all honesty, Yuusui wanted the ground to swallow him up whole. However, he remained cool and even in his tone as he spoke, straightening back up to his full height.
He just couldn't help it sometimes, being around Subaru made every hair on the back of his neck stand up. Something primal within him was blasting the alarm that the man he had his safety entrusted to be a predator of the highest order, ready to take one bite and end his life at any given moment.
Said predator titled his head, light reflecting off the sheen of his piercing laden face. "Is that all you wanted to ask? Nishishishi, with the way you were acting, I'd have thought you were asking me to officiate your wedding!" Subaru replied jovially, laughing away to himself like one of those laughing skulls people bought on Halloween.
"But… If I got any extra advantage handed to me, and get in so much easier than the others, then I don't deserve to be here!" Yuusui replied, putting his foot down verbally without a single change in his physical, body language. In fact, the tenacity with which he said it caused Subaru's eyes to widen ever so slightly, whilst Kagekatsu's stare from the other end of the room got that little bit more intense.
The air shifted even more once Subaru stood up, dead behind the eyes once more as he slithered around the room until stopping right before the pair that had invaded his office. Those dead eyes locked with Yuusui's glassy ones, almost threatening to crack them. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that. You'll earn your place, whether you do it covered in blood or not will be up to you."
As his shoulder was patted down, Yuusui froze in place. His skin wanted to slither back, to scrub clean the touch of the predatory clown that dared to sully it with his filthy hands. The lingering heat, probably all that was left in Subaru's body, stuck to the teen like a heavy glue.
"Nishishishi! Just kidding!" Subaru burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer as he gracefully swivelled back on his heel. "You have nothing to worry about! Everyone earns their place here eventually, whether they like it or not! And just like everyone else, I'm all about peace, love, equity, and resilience!"
Kagekatsu hadn't heard or seen a bigger load of bullshit since that one time his dad took him to a farm as a kid, he could tell the same was true for Yuusui too with the incredulous looks tossed Subaru's way. "Right… And I'm secretly an Emperor of Japan." The foxboy quipped sarcastically under his breath, still not wanting to stoke the ire of Subaru. The man was crazy enough to threaten to gut Arius in front of everyone.
"Alright then, I understand, Fujinaga-san." Yuusui at least tried to take what he was told at the surface level. Of course, he knew there was something festering underneath those insincere gestures. It was just a case of closing his eyes and imagining a more serene place to calm him down, humming into himself.
"Great! I'm glad we were able to come to a reasonable point in our discussion!" Subaru was sure glad no one was walking around tabulating how many mood swings he had had today already, at this point he would've been closed to breaking the record all before lunch! As the pink-haired man plopped himself back down in his chair, he spun around on it and looked up to the ceiling. "And Kage-chan? Please don't question why I had to separate you like that, I'm a magician by trade, and I rather don't like to reveal all my secrets. Lest I get thrown out of the Magic Circle!"
"Because that's a totally reasonable point…" Kagekatsu's face was locked into a deadpan stare, ears sagging but still maintaining shape as he realised how much of a fruitless endeavour getting anything out of Subaru would be. He didn't have the same level of decorum and patience Yuusui did, and even then, it was like pulling teeth from a whiny toddler. The foxboy didn't stand a fucking chance. "I'd appreciate it if you split it next time, I don't want to breathe in everyone else's sweat." He grumble-added.
Subaru nodded, eyes recovering their manic sheen. "Sure, sure! I was just hard-pressed at the time to separate you all! I'll make sure to programme some kind of divider next time that I'm sure you're just going to love."
And just like that, Kagekatsu shivered, feeling like he had just opened the door to the Devil. Him and his motormouth had likely landed him with more suffering than it was worth… At least his body didn't feel like it was facing the wrath of 1000 suns every time he walked, that was at least one positive physical thing about his Quirk.
With the silence still deafening, Subaru continued, seeing no reason to stop talking. "Welp, if there's nothing else you want to talk to me about, I have an awful lot of work I'm very busy with! So, I'd much appreciate it if you let me get to work on it, Darling young ones!" He finished with a clap, no doubt a signal to utterly drop any pretences of adding any more to the conversation.
By the time they found themselves dumped on the other side of the door, complete with a click of the lock to really drive the point home, only one of the pair was anywhere close to happy. Kagekatsu, cold and annoyed at how he'd basically been stiffed the whole conversation, was silently muttering all sorts of curses, lingual and literal, under his breath. Swearing up and down himself that he was going to be better next time around as he slouched against the opposite wall.
On the other end, Yuusui remained stoic and proper in his posture, muttering to himself in much the same fashion as his partner. His brain fired on all synapses as he thought back to the question of his test, the words "covered in blood or not," did no wonders in making him feel comfortable about it.
"What was your test like?" In fact, it was that apprehension that prompted him to ask Kagekatsu a question. The angry glares he had received as he walked into the classroom on his first day, without having suffered through a test, were still fresh in his mind.
Kagekatsu perked up, instantly gurning at the thought of having to relive that torture for even a second. "Well, I got cut open like a tomato, sprayed blood out of every hole in my body, and then had someone break my nose about three hours after it happened. So, it was the most fun in the world."
Wow, no wonder everyone looked so angry at Yuusui when they first saw him. If they had all gone through this, then there was no way the tall teen could blame them. "Was that the same for the others as well? I mean, I saw one of them… Mei-san, I think her name was, had scars across her mouth?"
"I don't fucking know." Kagekatsu responded, frustration meshing with an honest reply. He had been one of the first to be dragged off to meet Sateriasis and get butchered at the Infirmary, he hadn't seen shit from all the others. "But it wouldn't surprise me, they had us go at it like dogs. "Come out with your shield or on it," was the way that shitty vampire termed it."
The answer did no good in abating Yuusui's apprehension, his knuckles turning white as he held down the hem of his white shirt, not playing comfortably with the image of his usually pristine clothes were going to be caked in blood. The last time that happened, the old man had made him scrub the whole area clean with just a rag, punishment for being so slack on finishing the job.
"I see, so my test is probably going to be as bad as that. If not worse, if what Fujinaga-san said holds true." Yuusui said, sighing at the end and running one hand through his hair. Looks like he wasn't going to be able to stop thinking about it until it happened, which was the worst part as Subaru gave no indication of when it was going to happen. Other than the vague "soon," the amount he had to go on was less than a serial killer's cold case.
Kagekatsu sighed too, dropping his arms down to his side after they had spent much of the time trying to generate warmth. "Just don't overthink this shit, alright? And if you're going to worry about anything, worry about whether or not you're going to need to get half your limbs sawed off."
"Yeah…" Yuusui muttered, looking down to the floor. As of now, given the horrors he could only assume happened, all he could wish for would be his body coming out in one piece.
When Yuusui looked up from staring at the floor, ready to thank Kagekatsu for at least listening to him complain about it, he found that the foxboy had long disappeared. The slight shadow cast across one of the corners tipping him off as to how he left so silently… It was a really cool Quirk, all things considered.
As Yuusui began to turn away himself, he failed to notice the mania laden red eye that was peeking through the keyhole behind him. His ear pressed to the door as well, Subaru wasn't so content as to leave them to their own devices so soon. Everyone had some scrap of information that was worth noting down for the future, not the least because the pink-haired man enjoyed messing about with budding relationships.
With the departure of everyone from his current schedule, Subaru finally felt at ease enough. A long sigh joined him as he slumped down in the chair, pierced bottom lip catching on his collar as he began to rummage throughout his drawer. "Living forever must get so boring sometimes, eh, Kyte-sama?" After a few seconds, his hand landed on what it wanted and he held it up to the light, squinting as light reflected off the golden object.
The ring in his hand… Such a precious little thing it was, with its emerald encrusted engraving to mark its ownership. That parasite had made sure to spare no expense on this trinket, hadn't he? Instead of putting money into this place that would be helpful, even if it went under the control of Kyte-sama, Subaru found himself grumbling at the fact it went into this tacky piece of crap.
Ah, well. Not much could be done about it now. No use crying over spilt milk, especially when it was long spoiled and beginning to stink up the place like a bogland.
"Nishishishishi, you should be more mindful where you leave your shit, Morales. You're going to be giving Migoro-kun the ride of his life."
Subaru had a pretty killer idea of what to do for Yuusui's test, that was for sure.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the Foundation, there was another test already underway. Although, given the loud groans that were emerging from one side of it, it proved to be more of a test of patience than it was a test of mettle and power.
"Come on, I'm not here to waittttttttttt around all dayyyyyyyyy." Sateriasis pinched the bridge of his nose as he scoffed under his breath towards the end. Presently, he had wedged himself in the doorway of his infirmary, with his arms previously crossed against his chest and posture as ramrod straight as Kyte's usually was. A far cry from the man who had been the first one they saw entering the Foundation.
At the minute, though, he was wanting to go back to that veneer of insanity because Arius' intransigence was pushing him in that direction anyway! They had both been standing here for what seemed like forever, even if it was really for about fifteen minutes at maximum. But no matter how many seconds ticked by, Arius refused to budge from his position directly opposite the infirmary.
The spiky-haired teen's mouth ran dry every time his eyes moved from the ground up to the doorway, his golden-brown gaze just high enough to spy over the top of the nurse's head and take note of what lay waiting for him. The messy hodgepodge of equipment laid strew across the gurneys, the hygiene of which was questionable at best.
"Why'd you even do this?" Arius found himself asking about Sateriasis, at this point it was almost like he was looking for ways to make sure he could calm his nerves. Biting on his nails would be a little too obvious in fairness, and that habit had been beaten out of him anyway during his Old Man's training.
Sateriasis' kaleidoscope-like eyes didn't falter from their locked position on Arius, the nurse slinking backwards and deeper into the room, yet still maintaining the aura that he would have the teen's guts for garters if he dared to run away at this moment. "You could ask the same question to Hiroto and Hideyoshi, they'd probably give you a better answer than me too." He replied to the question, sounding like he was watching paint dry for the seventh time that day.
Arius grumbled, his brow creasing downwards as his shoulders closed in closer to one another. The lack of a concrete answer would have been frustrating in normal circumstances, the fact it was a staff member being cryptic over something the teen was clearly uncomfortable about made the matter ten times worse for him. His calloused hands swept through his hair as he spoke once more. "Then taking me here is just a gigantic waste of time! I could be with the others doing something actually useful!"
"Do you think I wanted to take you?" There was no use pussy footing around the issue when it was just the two of them, the white-haired male speaking through gritted teeth. "Learn this one thing well, Boy. We're under no requirement to teach the people that don't want to be here or the people that don't want to learn. If Subaru and Niijima-sama have decided that you're with me, then you're with me. Do I make myself clear?"
Still refusing to take a step forward, Arius glared down at the slightly shorter male. "I don't even need to be here; my Quirk keeps me fine! I should be with the others in case something happens with them!" To him, it made the most sense in the world. It was what he had been trained to do for God's sake! In the military, you never left a man behind if you could help it, so being pulled away from the rest of the intake was an anathema to Arius.
Sateriasis leaned down the gurney next to him, rubbing at his temples. No doubt Subaru had given him one of the more cantankerous members on purpose because if there was one thing that clown could do as easy as breathing, it was piss people off ten shades of Saturday. "There's no training scheduled for today, so unless you like watching grass grow, I would suggest shutting up and being grateful you're getting anything done." To punctuate his point, the nurse picked up one of the many scapples that were in a small red box next to him and pointed it toward Arius.
"Fine! What do you even want me to do? I ain't going to be some kind of guinea pig!" Eventually, though, Arius had to put down his barriers. There was little chance he was going to be able to worm his way out of this, and the grimace on his face as he dragged his feet across the ground into the infirmary spoke more than his words ever could.
As a small grin broke out on his face, Saterisis placed the scalpel down and motioned off to the side. Then, without warning, he ducked under the gurney next to him and pulled out a rusty sawblade. One that looked like it had existed since the Crusades, and it made Arius' eyes shoot up to his eyebrows faster than the start-up of a race car. "Well, that's a shame… I've been wanting to test the limits of your Quirk." Without warning once again, the nurse chucked the blade over his shoulder with reckless abandon. "Guess that's no longer on the table…"
"Woah… Aren't you supposed to be a doctor? How'd they let you get away with this? Looks like it was dragged out of the dirt." Arius now understood why all the others had come out of here looking like soldiers of war. As he looked over the infirmary, his eyes began to wander until he came across the same messy area where it looked like there were several discarded organ carrying boxes, and his breath immediately hitched.
It was something that Sateriasis took notice of immediately, a sly smirk creeping onto his face as he stared back at Arius. "Niijima-sama provides most of the equipment himself, some of it is probably family heirlooms now that I think about it, he hates spending money as much as he hates going outside in the sun. Explains why that hunk of junk has been around since the Crusades." However, instead of pressing the issue directly, the white-haired male took care to tiptoe around the issue. Years of experience had taught him the pleasure of milking a mark for all that it was worth.
When the other wasn't looking, Arius sought to steal a quick breath to bring him back under control. A hand grabbed at his jeans, and a metal slap was delivered to get him back into working order, just as he spied a certain something he could use to direct the conversation. "Wait a minute, is that licence painted on the wall?" He said, pointing over to what was supposedly Sateriasis' proclaimed medical licence.
However, if anyone passed a cursory glance in its general direction, and wasn't distracted from the mess, they'd have been able to easily see just what a farce it really was. Lucky for Sateriasis then, that his saviour in explanations had, at last, answered his call from earlier. "Boss likes to spruce the place up a bit, especially when his actual licence is properly secured so that no one can steal it from him. No harm, no foul, Arius." Hiroto, the ever-loyal and eerie parasite said. His voice as smooth and clear as a running stream.
"Rightttttt…." Although, to say that Arius bought it would be a massive lie. Seeing the state the room was in, and the state the equipment was in, chances were good the mythical licence was about as real as his desire to stay in this hideous place. "Still waiting here, by the way. Waiting…"
His complaint was met with the incredulous gaze of both Sateriasis and Hiroto, with the latter replying to him with something of a sneer on his face. "I've either died and gone to hell, or I'm talking to the biggest jackass since Subaru." That smooth tone from before had given way to one that was trying its damndest to choke back a scoff. As if the idea of being impolite was a sin, but the perceived insult was too great.
"I offered him it, but he doesn't want to have me test the limit of his Quirk, Hiroto." Sateriasis began, eyes wandering over to where the mess of his unfinished work that he had started when Kagekatsu came back for the second time lay. "I also don't feel like he's exactly, what's the word, comfortable? With the equipment that Niijima-sama so gracefully handed down to us. Whatever shall we do?" Sarcasm was never a good look on anyone, and Arius' frown spoke loud silence for his reaction.
"Once again, if you just let me go to the others, I'd be more useful! Not only would I be outta ya hair, but I'd also get to do things that would make me a better fighter too! No one wants to be stuck in some shitty, stuffy den of death! Is that alright, Fuck Face and Fish Face?!" Arius burst out, his temper not exactly flaring, but with the whites of his knuckles starting to get more pronounced as they moved on to grab his jacket, it was clear that the breaking point wasn't too far away.
"Well, that's a new one." Hiroto stated, calmly as he walked to the side of his boss. He'd have to write that one down to share with Hideyoshi later, the list of things he was called was usually parasite based, so it was nice to hear something different every once in a while.
"See what I mean? Some of these new ones can be so ungrateful, kids these days." Sateriasis teased, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he collected two files and handed them over to Hiroto, who responded with a silent smirk. "You have any idea how to skin the cat, Hiroto? He seems to not like my methods all that much."
Clutching the files close to his chest, Hiroto swivelled around on his heel and took in all of Arius. It had been one of his first times seeing the teen, after all, a quick sneak peek when they were lined up in the Meeting Room was the only other time the two of them had been in the same area. "Hmm…" The Parasite of the Foundation hummed, studying Arius with his mismatched eyes.
The way he was being studied, as well as where he was, just made Arius' skin crawl. Like something foreign had invaded underneath his skin and was rooting about to make him feel as unpleasant as possible. "Do you mind?" He spoke, incredulous in his tone, covering his body with his arms reflexively.
"You remind me a lot of Hideyoshi." Instead of acknowledging his invasion of Arius' personal space, Hiroto continued to study the other like he was a freshly delivered cadaver to a morgue. Mention of his brother was also likely to stoke flames, but years around Sateriasis made the teal haired male more than anywhere of his boundaries. "Lots of talk, good body, minimal intelligence that could just about reach Winnie the Pooh on their day."
As Arius glared at Hiroto, Sateriasis bit down on his hand to stop himself from laughing. "Hey, now. Play nice you two, I don't have the patience to do an actual surgery today, so if you break each other's faces then you're on your own." He added, his usual tone replaced by continued efforts to bite back his tongue from making unwarranted noises.
"And you remind me a lot of the jackasses that would talk hot shit about themselves when they saw me training, but when they got offered the chance, they floundered like a fish. That sound about right to you, Fish Face?" The spiky-haired teen shot back, ignoring the nurse, and holding his ground as he practically dug his heels into the turf. Personal insults like that were never going to be something he dealt well with, not as much as he liked pushing people's buttons with his own.
Hiroto's gloved hand went up to play with his sturgeon-scaled earring, a smirk crossing his lips that Arius knew meant bad news was coming his way. "Oh, I know exactly the type you're talking about, shame I'm really nothing like them then, eh Arius?" He then placed a finger to his temple, tapping it twice before a full-blown grin erupted out of his smirk. "But you want to talk about the Boss' medical record, I hear? Well, maybe he won't experiment on you, but I think that maybe you could give us a donation if you seek to show just how strong your Quirk is…"
To make matters worse, as Arius' breath hitched once more, which no doubt both Hiroto and Sateriasis caught onto, the former of the two had pulled out a syringe in both of his hands. One that looked sharp enough to pierce his flesh and melt right through the bone, sucking up all the blood that would've come its way. "U-Uh…" Arius' mouth went dry and his breathing quickened, a few quick steps backwards were taken before anyone noticed.
"You have a problem with that as well?" Hiroto raised a brow, his intrigue growing as a free hand went under his chin in thought. It had been a while since he had written out those files, and even longer since they had been pawned off to Subaru. Could he be forgetting something that was making Arius act this way?
The same could be said for Sateriasis, who watched it with just as much intrigue as his assistant. Pulling Kagekatsu's file from Subaru was tricky enough, lord only knew why the clown was so set on keeping all the files under his thrall at every twist and turn, so getting his hands on Arius' would always be a losing battle. However, now, seeing this happen for the second time and combined with his initial reaction upon being split up… The nurse had half a mind to track down Subaru and dangle him upside down until he got the answer ripped from his thoughts.
Another shuffle of the feet backwards followed on Arius' end, before, out of nowhere, a soft thud reached the collective eardrums of the room. Eyes trailed down to see how the spiky-haired teen, having lost sight of the larger room around him, had managed to trip over one of the many strewn boxes and crack his head off the floor in the process.
"Oh dear, he appears to have collapsed, Boss." Normally, one would have expected staff, medically trained staff no less, to race to tend to any wounds. One would also do well to remember that no one in the Foundation, least of all the staff, was going to be crying over split milk, or spilt streaks of blood in this case. The unconscious form of Arius laying right in front of a set of blasé mismatched eyes.
"God…" Sateriasis dragged his hand down his face. This was just peachy. The second word got out; Subaru would be chomping at the bit to savour every last drop of sadistic enjoyment he could squeeze out of badmouthing him to Kyte. On top of that, there was no doubt there was also going to be the required receipt as per usual, and the dread that seeped into his thoughts was far too much for one day. "Just get up him on the gurney and we'll try again tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll have knocked himself out long enough that he's not our problem anymore."
Hiroto nodded as he picked up Arius from the ground with minimal effort, for as unassuming body wise as he was the teal haired male was more than capable of matching his much more developed brother pound for pound. "Sure thing, Boss." He huffed out, plopping the spiky-haired teen down on the gurney with care.
Sateriasis approached the side, his eyes trained downwards like Hiroto's were as a hand went to place itself on the other man's shoulder. "Next time Subaru tells you to do something, would you kindly tell him to go fuck himself, alright?" He said, his voice taking on an unusual soothing tint to it.
"Sure…" Hiroto nearly slurred his words as he spoke, eyes going somewhat out of focus and a hand reaching up to cup his forehead. The murkiness in his mind cleared up as he shook his thoughts back into clarity, and as Sateriasis' hand dipped off his shoulder. Without another spoken word, he left his boss to his own devices, blinking a few times to clear his re-focusing eyes.
Now by himself, Sateriasis was at total peace to make his decision on what to do with Arius. Whenever the teen awoke, which was no doubt going to be soon enough due to the nature of his Quirk and the injury itself, hell was going to break loose all over again. It didn't take an idiot to pinpoint what the root cause of this was, after all. Hell, even Yua could probably figure it out at this stage, and her main source of education was a clown that never even went to school!
The chances he was going to have to get Shion on his case were high, but she would have him figured out in one session with how transparent he was, and frankly, Sateriasis only liked to bother her to do a specific case when the stakes were actually interesting. Dealing with some bratty military kid, matching an archetype the nurse had met too often in his life, was bound to be low on her list as it was on his.
As the silence ruled with an iron fist, he looked down to where Hiroto had placed one of the syringes earlier and then back to the still breathing, unconscious form of Arius. Without a second thought, he took the syringe into his hand and took one deep breath before jamming it into Arius' arm, earning a cringing, reflexive yelp from said teen's defences. "Oh please, scared of needles too? Fucking hell, you kidssssssss these dayyyyyyyyyssssss… Bunch of wimps…" He muttered, still not wanting to add even more chance to wake his patient up.
However, as he pulled back on the syringe, a small gasp of his own ended up adding to that beyond his control. "Oh, Oh… I see why Niijima-sama was so high on seeing you now, Kid…" Lifting it up to the light, making sure he had gotten the right first impression, Sateriasis' smirk turned into a full-blown, toothy grin. One that would have had Arius shivering in his boots had he been awake.
Sure, the file might have said it… But seeing it up close… Now that was something that was nothing short of a medical miracle. Silver blood wasn't something one saw every day, who knew that grass really could be green on the other side?
Maybe trusting Subaru, every once in a while, wouldn't do him harm.
If there was one thing Monsoon could commend the Japanese on, it was that they were certainly good at covering up how much of a glitzy shithole they were. Had you never stepped outside of the signposted areas, you might have even thought it was one of the better countries in the world, minus the bevvy of possibly world-ending supervillains kicking about.
Their architecture was almost passable, the people didn't spit on you for shooting them a funny look, and the occasional bar was a nice place to settle down for a relaxing drink every once in a while. A marked difference from the last country he had gallivanted around in, goddamn Russians wouldn't crack a smile if their jaw was broken in two.
"Table for two, please." His voice was gravelly and dull towards the nice-looking woman who had the unfortunate task of having to play reception. Such a pretty little thing she was, rosy cheeks, dark hair, and perfect doe-like eyes that shone with such confusion as she looked for another person. "Don't worry, he's coming soon." He supplied, knowing full well his… Friend was going to be a bit tardy as per usual. Supplementing his words with an eerie chuckle didn't seem to help her apprehension either.
However, it seemed to work like a charm, the woman's head bobbing up and down as she guided him deeper into the restaurant. It was a quaint little place, definitely what one might have termed a throwback to a different era. There were such rich mahogany booths, intricately carved with images of dragons shooting breaths of triumphant fire and serpents slithering about with nothing short of a devious look in their eyes. A distinct lack of smoke was also doing the world of good for his lungs and ability to smell, he had spent the previous day wondering if he was ever going to have that sense returned to him.
The soft, velvet seating he found himself shepherded into was like the icing on the cake. For once, he couldn't fault the Japanese, they seemed like they had hit their stride in at least one thing in their sorry lives. The light menu passed over to him by those delicate hands only containing drinks, all alcoholic in nature, a slight departure from the otherwise refined aesthetic.
"Give me a few moments, I'll order when my friend gets here." A hand of cracked skin waved the girl off, his mind now only wondering how long it would take for his glorious friend to arrive. He did have a habit of turning up late more than one would like to admit, but it wasn't as if time was of the essence.
Then again, Monsoon always knew that time was a flat circle. Not in the literal sense, but things did have a habit of always repeating themselves when one didn't expect them. That was just the fact of the eternal present that the world found itself stuck in, unable to move on without constantly bringing the crushing past back.
The Wind of Destruction was arguably just as guilty of that as he placed the menu down and reclined back in the booth. Here he was, chasing a figure of his past and meeting with someone he hadn't seen face to face in close to twenty years.
Twenty years… A lot had changed since then… A lot had stayed the same. It made him think of that old saying his parents used to fling about, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." How some people could look so different, but still act like they were in the very same past they had moved on from. Usually in the futile belief that there was something that could be changed.
People came, and people went. That was just the story of life itself, like all those childhood sweethearts that inevitably found themselves growing apart into strangers before they even knew it. Close friends could easily swap from that into being enemies, all it took in that case was just one little push.
The fragile nature of connections was a plague that racked mankind to its very core. One moment was all that was needed for everything to change, for a sledgehammer to be driven through the sugar glass that was this concept of "connections." For nearly everyone ever in human existence, this was the ironclad deal they had signed from birth.
However, that wasn't the case with Monsoon. From on top of his mountain of omnipotence, they followed him until the end. He had built his own kingdom that only he was fit to rule over, one where all would bow to him.
Yawning, Monsoon checked his watch. The gilded hands ticking by every second he waited, the dead of the night seemed to be the only acceptable time to meet up. Although, he'd have much-preferred something that didn't induce his jet lag again.
Then again, dealing with a creature of the night necessitated this kind of atmosphere. The bar was as close as you could get to barren, an out of place shadow here and there being the only sign there were still people kicking about. The slight breeze coming in from the ajar window made Monsoon shiver as he sat, rubbing his hands to get some degree of warmth into him.
Luckily, though, the Wind of Destruction didn't have to wait much longer. The object of his desires was stood right behind him, as tall and as proud as the all-conquering master he liked to present himself as. The kind of presence that Monsoon could envy, the kind that would change the air in the room in an instant.
"Any contract with me is for life, Kyte." But Monsoon would always have the advantage, reminding Kyte of the control he still held over the Vampire Lord. His own red eyes locked onto their mirror image across the table, the cracked skin at his lips flaking away as he smirked.
"Twenty years… You still haven't changed at all, Monsoon." Ah, the voice was just like how he remembered it. None of the shitty, over the phone connection issues, were going to get in the way now, no more garbled messes of words he could barely hear.
"Hahahaha, well, I cut my hair for one." Monsoon chuckled, the breeze from earlier bothered him no longer. His attention was now fully locked on the man sat across from him, and the smirk that crossed the Wind of Destruction's face was one all too familiar to his friend. "You should really be looking to yourself for that one."
"I'm not here for pointless dick tugging, Monsoon." Ooh, that was an authoritative little stamp on the issue. Kyte couldn't even let Monsoon relish their reunion after all these years? Well, something had clearly pissed him off, but Monsoon wasn't going to be in the business of figuring that one out. "Let's cut the bullshit out right here and now, I called you back here for a reason."
"That's good because you better have a good reason for dragging me back to Japan. In the middle of the fucking Winter, no less." Monsoon grumbled, stare turning into a slight glare as he played about with the corner of the menu to entertain himself. He had spent the last year of his life gallivanting around Siberia, yet Japan in Winter was still threatening to freeze his balls off at any given moment. "I didn't come here to get lost in the shuffle."
Kyte sighed, the kind of resignation that often ushered in the admission of total defeat. Something utterly unusual and out of character for him. "The situation on the ground has… Has changed, to say the least. Their movements are getting more and more extreme, I need an extra set of eyes on them. There's no time for me to waste searching them down myself anymore. That's where you come in."
More skin flakes began to crack off as Monsoon's smile grew wider, the result of ignoring hydrating himself for nigh on weeks. His Quirk, as a result, was on its last legs at the current moment. Having to rely on sucking dry the last drops of water in his body, releasing it as condensed vapour each time he spoke. "Is that so? Wanting to protect your poor little lambs, eh? Admirable… Very admirable. Does this mean what I think it means?"
The wait for those next set of words to spill from those lips… Monsoon wanted to hear the total vindication more than he had ever wanted anything in the world.
One doesn't wait twenty years to not hear them.
"…Yes. Yes, it does." A gloved hand extended out, crimson red eyes narrowing in utter disgust but shining nothing but an indignant resignation to reality. "But you're not to lay a hand on any of them, no matter who they may be. They're under my protection, and if you so much as touch a single hair on their heads, I will rip yours off without a second thought."
Monsoon almost cackled, he was having way too much fun with such a brief conversation. Perfect payback for what had happened over the phone two days ago. "Alright then, alright then. You have my word on that end, although what your lambs do to me is a different story." A dangerous glint shone through Monsoon's own dull red eyes, the colour in them lighting up with unreadable darkness simmering underneath.
"I mean it, Monsoon. If I can what I do to them, what can I do to you?" An unabashed threat, one that was always going to be coming. High strung would've been an understatement as the still extended hand rested as a pariah between the two of them, lurking like its touch was the most potent poison in the world.
Another few seconds passed before Monsoon answered. Letting that thick, miasmic cloud that poisoned the discussion settle even further. He should have brought it home by now, leaving himself a healthy night of hedonism to enjoy, but could one blame him for being nostalgic? It wasn't every day that you met back up with a fellow platoon mate, let alone one as integral to its ultimate success.
Twenty years of historical loose ends were never tied up in one night. So, why couldn't Monsoon enjoy himself trying to create more threads on the spider's web? More to entangle Kyte in their irrepressible hold.
"Oh, for sure. You made sure my wrists are still giving me hell." Before Kyte could reply to what he had said, Monsoon reached into his jacket and procured a dreadfully familiar set of weapons. "I haven't even been able to use these in ages, good thing I passed on my skills when I did."
"…So, he's really yours then." Came the other man's response, his eyes trailing the weaponry that set about a sinking feeling in his stomach. His face might have remained as stoic and blank as ever, but that cold, dead heart of his sputtered into the tiniest bit of life.
His life's work, ever since that fateful day, had been dedicated to bringing every piece of hurt to its end. Extinguishing the darkness within the many hearts he had discovered, come hell or high water. Success couldn't be measured via traditional means, no matter how much he pushed them towards Heroism, but taking them away from their tormentors was the start of that new path he promised to bring.
Yet, as he stared at the Sai that Monsoon placed on the table, he knew that every piece of the tangled web he had weaved was starting to ensnare him. The mocking leer he saw on the other adult's face, those yellow teeth clashing horribly with the pallid and plainly unhealthy skin tone, spoke more than the ramblings of an insane mercenary could ever.
Almost smirking, Monsoon brought his hand up in an oddly specific gesture, his thumb, ring and middle finger all connected whilst his pinkie and index remained risen. The symbol of the bonds he had constructed with such careful elegance. "You didn't sign some two-bit contract with a sappy schmuck, you signed a deal with the Devil, and all the Devil's deals are ironclad."
Under the table, Kyte's fist clenched on his things, sharp nails starting to break through his silk gloves as he refused to meet that hideous gesture. There were many things in his life he sought to rectify, which had led to attempts to wipe the slate clean numerous amounts of time. In fact, the sheer number of them now eluded Kyte, the scale far beyond his understanding anymore.
"You are not to enter the Foundation unless I explicitly allow you, understand?" If he could hang his hat on one thing, it was that this contract... The very same contract that Monsoon lauded over him, worked both ways. No matter what the Wind of Destruction would say, he was just as heavily beholden to it as Kyte was. The Foundation's founder intended to use that fact to its fullest potential.
True to form and letting an internal sigh of relief flow through him, Kyte got the reassurance he wanted. "You have my word." Monsoon stated, dully as he placed a hand on the side of his cheek and checked over his shoulder, wondering when the drinks were finally going to be able to be ordered. "But let me ask you a question first, if you would allow me?"
Kyte raised his eyebrows, caught off guard by the initial question. Still startled, he nodded his head and waited for what Monsoon wanted to say. His jaw clenched and ready to loose a tirade of rejection the second he heard something he didn't like, his legs already squatted down to give him a head start to storm off.
"Why would it be so bad for me to touch your lambs? Tell me this, Kyte, if we were judged by our very sins alone, then why would the world have wound up as it is?" Monsoon carried an eerie calm about him as he spoke, there were no unnecessary movements, and his eyes were locked totally on Kyte throughout. Any other emotion had been eliminated, leaving behind the blank void that Kyte had grown familiar with over twenty long years.
Kyte had started with every intention to let Monsoon know exactly who he was talking to, half expecting another jab at his life's work. Instead, he found himself frowning and his mouth running dry. In the background, his brain was firing on all cylinders to come up with an answer, yet there was hesitation before he spoke. "I cannot say I know that for sure, and I refuse to give you the answer from me that I know you want. However, I can give you this reply. If you're smart enough to know what you're doing is wrong, then you're asking to have your time at the summit cut short."
"How can I do wrong, if I don't know what it is?" It was spoken like a child asking a question of their parents, innocent and sweet at a young age when the world was still achromatic. An innocent that didn't belong to this monster of a man sat in front of Kyte, the stench of wretchedness overwhelming his sense of smell. "I mean, it's not that I don't care. It's that it's meaningless, like I would be chasing my tail around in circles. I'm not a man that likes to do pointless things. You know, like what you said you were here to avoid." The flash of anger that laced those last words didn't go unnoticed.
Kyte turned his head up, his top lip threatening to expose his set of razor-sharp fangs. People watching be damned, even if it was just one, a single step south and he'd have Monsoon counting the fishes as he drowned with him. "That makes it all okay, does it? To ruin lives only because you got a good paycheck out of it. Sometimes, it's easy to forget how childish you can get."
"Kids are cruel, I just happen to be in touch with my inner child." Monson shot back, not missing a beat as he drummed his fingers against the table. His shoulders rolled back, but his eyes remained locked on the Sai still present on the table. A few flashes of pain forced him to hold back a grimace the second he thought about recovering them. "And expose that child to anger long enough, they'll learn to hate. You and I know the fruits of that better than anyone else in this world, all it takes is one moment."
One moment, a single second in time was often all it took to change the course of someone's life irrecoverably. One second was the difference between pulling a plane out of a spiral dive or letting it crash to the crowd and be obliterated into a million, tiny pieces that would never be reconstructed.
Usually, one only had to deal with such a situation once in their life, and then that would be that. They would be free like birds to soar high in the sky, without another worry in their wonderful, sorrowless life.
For Kyte, it seemed like his world was always full of those moments. Moments that all stemmed from five seconds that had changed his life nearly twenty-one years ago. "One moment is all I need to show you what I really mean if you break your word, I don't need you messing things up for me when I am this close to finally getting my hands on him." That was the law of the land he had laid down, and it was never going to be broken if Monsoon knew what was good for him.
Monsoon shrugged in reply, giving up on his internal hope that they were going to be served anytime soon. "Y'know, the more you talk, the more you prove me right. It's an awful lot of sound and fury, but it signifies nothing at the end of the day. If you felt comfortable to off me, or him, you'd have done it long ago, my friend." There was a kind of bitter cynicism to those words as dead eyes continued to stare with no emotion.
Kyte scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You're so egocentric, my life doesn't have to be organised around killing people I don't like, not like you. Though, you're right, at least with yourself. I doubt many would care if you vanished off the face of the earth, a bloodless husk of a body." An extra layer of venom was poured on Kyte's biting words, his fangs now starting to become even more visible.
"Wellllllll, considering the Director was chomping at the bit to get me back working for him, I would hazard a guess that at least one person would care if I suddenly vanished again. Not so much about the henchman who's at the bottom of the ocean, but you can't have it both ways all the time." Monsoon replied glibly, loosely dropping hints about the unwanted intrusion upon his arrival.
"The Director?" Kyte parroted, his eyes changing from narrow to ever so slightly wide as he gripped the edge of the table when leaning forward. "…Trust him to not know when to give up, he's worse than you."
"Thanks for the compliment!" Monsoon, clearly having far too much fun for what it is worth, replied. The previous blank void was being replaced by the all too common, disgusting sneer that crossed his face more times. "But I would say you watch your lambs closely, he's been looking for two that left him, and I think he's finally tracking down where they went. Even went to get help from outside sources, if me being approached means anything."
For once, Kyte couldn't be mad at Monsoon. Hearing that was vital information he could use for the future, especially with the implication of getting help from inside sources. Which gave him no doubt that HE was going to be getting involved soon. "Oh, I will. I also think you've found yourself your first duty with me, Monsoon. Making sure his helpers don't figure things out until I want them to."
The Vampire Lord could already hazard a guess about who had been sent out to carry out the task, and with the slight downturn in Monsoon's lips, Kyte knew full well that his opposite number had much the same thought.
Good. If there was one thing, he could pride himself on after all these years with people like Subaru under his employ, Kyte knew full well how fellow psychopaths viewed each other with nothing but animosity. Not to mention the other man's lingering bitterness of his so-called 'Protégé'. The increasing heat he felt coming from the usually frigid Monsoon served to confirm his suspicions.
However, Monsoon had one last trick up his sleeve as the cold and cruel Wind of Destruction resurfaced for one final riposte. "Alright, I understand what you want from me now. But I want one thing in return from you then if I'm going to go back into that Lion's Den." The silence that followed from Kyte gave him the indication to continue.
"When this is over, I want you to bring me to Kagekatsu Nakamura!"
A/N: Another chapter done, once again in a proper schedule as well. Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll see you again in the next one.