Reversal

SUMMARY: Yukiteru is Yukiyori, and Yuno is Yuto. Snippets of each episode to show how much a gender switch really does make a difference.

Chapter 5: Episode 5

A body was shot through the paneled doors, creating an aperture. Yuto ran up to Yuki with a hurried "Let's go, Yuki!" Once he grabbed her wrist, tugging her into the direction of outside, Yuki turned around and held her hand out to Tsubaki, seizing the chance to assist the sixth diary owner from escaping this hellhole.

"Tsubaki-san!"

Tsubaki's face melted into relief and gratitude. "Thank you, Yukiyori-san," she said as they took off.

The three sprinted down the open-air corridor with Yuto leading the girls. In the best of times, Yuki's phone rang. Using her free hand, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open to hold it against her ear.

"Sorry, it took me forever to fix the sprinklers," a deep voice crackled in the speaker.

"Kurusu-san!" Yuki cried.

The man must have heard the urgency in her voice because he pressed on seriously. "What happened?"

"The followers became hypnotized!"

"Hypnotized?"

Immediately, she launched into a brief explanation on what happened. When she finished, Kurusu calmly replied, "Okay, I see what's going on. I'll call for backup at the station. Keep heading for the front gate and have my men protect you kids."

Her brows knitted together. "What about you?"

"I'll find Ninth."

"I…" The cult members have been turned into murdering zombies and the man still wanted to pursue after Minene Uryuu? Well, the woman was their objective, but wasn't it just suicide to venture any further in the building when things were starting to become more than chaotic? Seeing Yuto unhesitatingly slash down men and women with an axe when they were going to attack them had wholly convinced Yuki of that, after all.

"Yukiyori?"

"I got it," Yuki said. Even if what Kurusu was planning on doing was crazy, he was the chief inspector of the police station and a diary owner. She would have to trust that he would be able to make it out alive. "I'll see you soon." With that said, she snapped her phone shut.

For a while, the three had been running and running. They didn't come across any followers yet, which Yuki silently counted themselves as lucky. Perhaps they would come out unharmed, along with Tsubaki who was tagged with a Dead End.

Eventually, they slipped inside the inner hallways. Yuki could feel exhaustion burning in her chest and legs—she was tiring out, and Tsubaki wasn't doing any better, given that she probably had never exerted herself inside her wooden cage. When nearing a corner, Yuto stepped around it and suddenly jerked Yuki forward, resulting with Tsubaki's forehead smacking against the wall as she was forced into the momentum.

"You did that on purpose!" Tsubaki huffed out angrily.

Yuto ignored her and said, "We're almost at the front gate, Yuki."

Yuki noticed that, from what her peripheral vision could offer, the coloring of the boy's ear and cheek indicated that he was taking a bigger toll than what she or Tsubaki were. He didn't look so well. It was from defending her from the hypnotized followers, Yuki realized with widened eyes. And, now, he was pushing himself even further by making sure that they would reach the gates.

"Ah, Y-Yuto—" she began, but was cut off when they encountered more cult members.

Standing by the walls, the people stared at Tsubaki in wonderment, making hushed exclamations of "It's the Sacred Eye!" as they rushed past them.

They weren't…attacking them? They weren't hypnotized?

"What is going on?" she thought aloud.

"The hypnosis is broken," Tsubaki speculated in between pants.

They entered another open-air corridor. There, Yuto pointed out to the front gates that stood before them. It seemed so far and yet so close! "We'll be safe once we reach it," he said.

Yuki felt her lips stretch into a smile in relief. "Right!"

And then she was pulled back.

Tsubaki stopped running. She used her other hand to clasp onto their held hands, and locked eyes with her with resoluteness. "Yukiyori-san," she said, "let's face the enemy here."

She blinked. "What?"

"Now that my followers have recovered, it's our chance to defeat the enemy!"

For once, Yuki was glad of her cowardice because it gave her common sense. And what common sense would there be in facing the enemy when they had nothing to defend themselves by? Was Tsubaki implying that they use her followers? As if they would willingly sacrifice their lives to so as such. Furthermore, Yuto was nearly dead on his feet, a fragile oracle knew nothing about combat, and Yuki frequented in the state of sobbing and wishing that she was at home whenever in the face of danger. And she wanted to go home right now.

Before Yuki could tell her that the best option would be reaching the gates, Yuto sluggishly ambled his way towards Tsubaki, a drunken smile plastered on his flushed face. It didn't look right when he was still wielding that axe and there was a strange glint in his eyes.

Sensing trouble, Yuki grabbed his arm and held him back. "Wait, Yuto! What is it?"

"It's alright, Yuki. It won't take long."

It didn't take long for the anxiety to set in. "N-no, Yuto—"

Yuto's eyes pierced into Tsubaki's own. "You're trying to deceive Yuki again."

"Don't be ridiculous, simpleton," scoffed Tsubaki as she returned the look with a glower.

The atmosphere turned tense, and Yuki felt as though she was suffocating in it. She dearly hoped that Yuto wasn't planning on doing anything rash when she noticed, from the corner of her eye, that he was tightening his grip on the handle of the axe. She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not when the phone decided to ring, breaking the silence.

"H-hai?" she answered tentatively.

"Yukiyori, Twelfth is heading towards your way."

"T-Twelfth?"

"He's a blind man, but his hearing is incredibly sensitive," Kurusu informed succinctly. "Furthermore, he took Ninth's mini-bomb."

"Bomb!" she gasped.

"I'm betting that he'll make use of it."

As Yuki was registering the information—Twelfth was after them, Twelfth took Ninth's bomb, Twelfth then subdued Ninth (?), Twelfth had something to do with the cult because Ninth is in the dungeon (?)—Yuto interrupted her thoughts when he pointed up while shouting, "Yuki! On the roof!"

Uh oh.

After the bomb sounded, Yuto collapsed onto his knees and teetered forward. His name burst out from Yuki's lips as she hurried to his side, placing a supporting hand on his shoulder. She grimaced at the worn down look on his face and the way he drew in ragged breaths. He was definitely at his limit, especially after taking down Twelfth.

"I'm impressed, Second," Tsubaki said as she approached the two. "Well done."

Yuki looked up at her, wondering at the canny lilt in her tone, and then noticed that, in the distance, the gates were closing.

"The gate is…" Her forehead creased. What was happening now?

Before she knew it, Yuki was being separated from Yuto by men—to be specific, Tsubaki's followers.

"Yuto!" she cried. A pair had Yuki under their arrest, immobilizing her by her arms, and another pair did the same to Yuto, who was limp in their hold. Yuki snapped her gaze at Tsubaki, and then demanded hysterically, "What are you doing, Tsubaki-san?"

A man standing by her side respectfully handed her a pipe. "Oh, you don't know?" she drawled. She placed the mouthpiece to her lips for a second, and retracted to answer, "You two are going to die tonight."

Yuki paled.

"My plan was to use Ninth as bait to finish off First, Second, and Fourth." Tsubaki scowled. "But then this bastard ruined it!" she snarled, throwing Twelfth's diary to the floor and slamming a foot on it.

"But, Tsubaki-san," Yuki stammered, shaken with fear (of dying? of having been betrayed?), "aren't you an oracle who serves Kami?"

Tsubaki looked away. "I'm no oracle," she said derisively. "There is no such thing as an oracle who has been defiled and ridiculed multiple times, after all." Tsubaki glanced back at Yuki and smirked, nearing her with soft steps. "But you, on the other hand… You, who are so innocent, so childish… You would make a good replacement, I would think." Tsubaki her cheek and stared in cruel amusement at the wet and wide eyes that Yuki was most likely wearing now.

And then she continued, "My followers, rape her like how you had done to me."

Cold wind blew against her neck as the world was turned upside down, and that was when Yuki found herself thrown on her back. Her wrists were pinned above her head, and her thighs were parted by someone's knees, his heavy weight digging into her flesh painfully. Her vision was filled with faces with empty eyes. A hot hand slid its way under her shirt.

She gasped in horror.

"No, no, no," she whispered. "No, no, no!" she screamed.

With all her might, she tried to writhe out of their restraints, but she, a mere fourteen-year-old girl, was powerless under the strength of a dozen men. However, panic had her in its control; she persisted on lashing out, screaming to the point where her throat would become sore.

"Yuki!" she heard Yuto's voice yell, slicing through all the noise and making the world a quiet place. Just like back then in the elevator.

It was raining blood, subsequently.

There was a cry. Whose cry? It sounded like Tsubaki's.

Yuki caught her breath and laid there for a moment, her mind spinning and racing—just like her heartbeats. Minutes passed. Maybe hours? She didn't know. The warm liquid that splattered on her body and face cooled down a while ago, turning dry and sticky, and she forced herself to sit up. Around her were corpses—Yuki averted her gaze, only to have her eyes set on another. Too much death, too much blood, too much terror. Just…too much. How was she keeping up with all this?

She shook her head. "No, don't lose yourself," she said, her hoarse whimper evident. Yuki hugged herself. Her clothes were in tatters.

There was a splash, a tear. She couldn't really discern the noise; it was something that she hadn't heard before and yet something that she definitely had—back in the burnt building. Yuki turned her head to the source of the sound. Yuto was standing before a body garbed in red that was lighter than the color of blood, and he was swinging down the axe into the meat and bones languidly. He was cutting up the already-dead Tsubaki, just like how he had with the hypnotized followers.

Yuki retched out whatever was in her stomach.

Her hands kept her propped up, which was hard since the floor was slick with blood. She closed her eyes, yet all she could see was red. The floor was in red, she was in red, Yuto was in red… Tsubaki was in red, redder than her pretty kimono and ribbon.

Yuki heaved. Her mouth tasted sour.

"Yu-ki." Yuto shuffled towards her. His eyes were dilated, and his face was even more flushed. "I wasn't... I wasn't going to let those men get you, not when I intended on keeping you myself." He smiled. "I killed the bitch, Yuki. I killed the one who led you on."

"Yuto," Yuki whispered.

"Don't worry, I'll…" Yuto wobbled and fell on his knees before her, but managed to grasp her by the neck. His thumb was pressed firmly against her jugular. It felt like a loving caress and a possessive, perhaps murderous, one as well. She was instantly afraid. "I'll protect you, Yuki. I promised you that, you know?"

He gazed at her with such blinded adoration, and it felt as though it was weighing her down. Then, his eyes rolled back and he dropped onto the floor.

NOTES: Yuto has more endurance than Yuto; plus, his ire (coming from watching Yukiyori almost being raped) fueled him. Not only did he take it out on the followers, but Tsubaki too. I think that, as a boy, this would be a portrayal of Yuto's one-tracked focus—his focus being Yukiyori. My guy friends told me that they could blank out and could only think one thing at a time. For me and other girls, our minds are always working and have two or more things going on at the same time. It's why I decided to make Yukiyori pensive. Also, because of Yuto's masculine aspects, you know—testosterone and whatnot all being compiled into an axe-crazy killer, he's a mix of a suave host and an aggressive caveman. Meaning: there are times where he wants to cherish Yukiyori like the princess she is (in his delusional mind) and there are times where he wants to grab her by the hair and drag her into his cave. Now, onto Tsubaki. When Tsubaki met Yukiyori, she was envious of Yukiyori's innocence, something that Tsubaki had lost long ago. So, she wanted to destroy that innocence by having her followers rape poor Yukiyori. Now, not only is Yukiyori still innocent (maybe), but also traumatized. Why? Because she saw Yuto slitting throats and gutting people without remorse, and that he dazedly turned Tsubaki into minced meat. How Yukiteru was able to respond to Yuno's actions as "Oh, she's killing for my sake. She seriously loves me!", I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah—fiction and Yukiteru lacks common friggin sense, but still…