I do not own Destiny or Rising Of The Shield Hero.

Criticism is welcome.


We got back to the party and found it in full swing once again.

Kitamura had even more plates somehow, though it seems that his gluttony is beginning to catch up with him.

"Ugh, hey Tohr-" The spear hero dropped the honorifics as he fought to swallow his portions. "Was wondering where you went."

"Yeah there was someone holding up the stall." I told the same lie I told Iwatani.

"Ah, well—" He lurched, "Give me a moment."

He ran for the bathroom as I took a seat and glanced around the table.

Kawasumi sat calmly next to me. He seemed to be enjoying his pork chops as he talked with Iwatani.

Iwatani himself was enjoying his steak far better than I was, and an empty plate next to him told me he had more than a few portions.

A butler placed a plate of shrimp on the table with a clang. I guess I'll help myself to that.

I took an empty plate and grabbed my portions. Taking a bite, I find that they're not that bad.

"Can you pass the shrimp?"

I turned to see Amaki with a massive plate of salmon before him, of which he was cutting through without mercy.

"Trade for that salmon?"

He nodded and we passed the two plates of seafood across the table.

I don't really need to eat, y'know with the immortality and light itself surging through my veins and all. But it helps, mentally speaking.

We sat there eating and talking for a while. The four of us (because Kitamura is MIA at the moment) enjoyed each other's company, sharing the occasional story to get to know each other. Eventually the spear hero came back looking a bit better than before, likely due to the fact that the red-haired girl with the eyes of a liar was hanging off his arm.

"-And I watched the guy stumble to the front of the lecture hall, drenched suit, and notecard in hand, and present his speech like nothing happened!" Iwatani laughed along with his story.

Kawasumi followed suit, as did Amaki, though the sword hero did so with an amused smirk rather than laughter. Kitamura and the girl laughed, though the latter did so forcefully.

With all of their stories, the inconsistencies pile up to a single conclusion: They're not from my time.

I cut in. "That reminds me of the time-" I paused for a moment to find my words.

"Well?" Kitamura prodded me.

The others were silent, but it's clear that they were waiting for me to speak.

"Reminds me of the time that Summer, a colleague of mine, was showing one of our newbies the ropes and slipped on the obstacle course while explaining a trick. She got up a moment later and continued on as if she didn't completely disregard the trick she was explaining." I omitted the fact that instead of slipping up on an obstacle course, she instead walked straight into a tripmine while telling Isaac to stay vigilant.

I smiled a bit at the memory and the other heroes were amused as well.

"Hey Tohr, we've all told stories of our own, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Iwatani asked. "And no that one doesn't count, you gotta tell one on your own!"

Up to this point, I had only been commenting on the other's many stories without actually giving any of my own… besides that heavily edited one of Summer.

"C'mon man, we're all friends here right?" Kitamura said with a smile.

Kawasumi nodded along with him. "From your background, I'm sure you've got many stories to tell."

"I'll admit, I'm a bit curious." Even Amaki joined the offensive.

The problem isn't that I don't want to talk to them, it's finding what story to tell that won't freak them out…

"Hey." Flash jumped in. "You can talk about that ghost brawl at the ramen stand."

Yes, that'll work. Though obviously I'll have to change some things around a bit.

"Fine, fine." I said sternly to silence the prodding. "Now where do I begin?"

The other heroes sat intrigued as I began.

"So my fireteam had a bit of downtime, and we decided to check out a spicy ramen place that our commanding officer recommended.

Now, our military is divided into standard squads of six operatives; with an additional handler for each of them. So there were a total of twelve of us at the stand.

We got in line and waited for a while, and eventually got to the front.

I got a standard bowl, Summer got a beef bowl and Mia followed suit. Jackie got an extra spicy bowl and Isaac did so too because he wanted to be like his brother. Michael was extra indecisive and our handlers were egging him on to choose something.

Summer's handler; Pause, was ironically impatient and kept recommending things to him but Michael didn't pay attention to a word of it. Jackie's handler; Angelo, was trying to work out what Michael wanted with a questionnaire. Michael's handler; Quarry, was trying her hardest to defend his slow ass against the combined onslaught of Angelo and Pause. All while both my handler; Flash, and Mia's handler; Viridian, were just watching the altercation unfold.

Isaac's handler; Split, who was off to the side, got fed up with this and pushed his way to the front of the line to try and order for him. But on the way, he bumped into a few other handlers who were there.

Now, instead of apologizing for running into them and moving on like normal, Split instead kindly told them to screw off and continued forward, bumping into more handlers as he moved along."

I paused for a bit at the memory.

"Split's not exactly known for being an amiable individual most of the time, so this came at no surprise. The other handlers however, were taking none of that and moved to intercept him.

Some words were tossed, an insult or two as well, and one thing led to another before all the handlers in the square were throwing hands.

I'd never seen a handler fight before so I was surprised at Split's adeptness to battle, especially considering his small form. It was even more surprising how many people that the spitfire was holding off before he called for backup in the form of his allied handlers.

Angelo joined in first, he sighed before nodding at Jackie and jumping into the fray; immediately bashing into Didi.

Next was Quarry, who was trying to slip away with Michael. A split decision later; she said fuck it and jumped in as well. That in turn caused Viridian to join the fight to protect her fellow handler.

Pause was yelling out fruitlessly to try and calm the others down while Summer stood there awkwardly as a couple other operatives stared at her lack of control over the situation."

"What was Flash doing?" Kawasumi asked.

"Well I turned around and saw Flash taking bets with a few other operatives. Mia put some money in the pool and I may have also set aside some money to bet on Split's victory."

That got a few chuckles out of the table.

"Isaac would've bet some too, but he was dead broke at the time and instead cheered on his handler with reverence. His brother Jackie was shaking his head disappointedly at the whole situation.

The battle reached his apex and we had finished our food by then. And before you ask, Michael had decided on the shrimp bowl after literally ten minutes of indecision.

Soon enough, Split walked out victorious though limping and I was ready to receive my earnings… that is until Markus yelled scram.

The hunters; scout class operatives, trusted his seniority and jumped ship immediately while dragging their handlers along. So Isaac and Split were gone before I even turned around. Summer would've joined them but she's a little show on the uptake and Pause is too much of a boyscout to let her."

Isaac's great escape got a laugh out of the nearby soldiers and looks of amusement from the other heroes.

"As the vice-commander of my fireteam, I couldn't leave them in jeopardy, so I stayed to face the music. The music in this case was Commander Zavala, who is the head of the military."

"Wouldn't that be a general?" Amaki raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah the name is misleading but anyways," I rolled my eyes and continued. "The commander was not amused in the slightest and asked but a single question to our party;

'Who's going to be relegated to patrol duty for a month?'

My fireteam looked at each other wordlessly before Pause stepped forward to explain…"

My extra long pause confused the group. A prompt from Iwatani pushed me forward.

"Let's just say that Pause was not the best negotiator and we all got saddled with patrol duty for a while…"

Various forms of amusement erupted around the table, with my fellow heroes minus Amaki having a good laugh while the exception was fighting off a grin, though he looked to be losing. The guards who were listening in and a few nobles were laughing too.

Meanwhile, I was sitting there confused; a strange, familiar feeling who's name danced on the tip of my tongue enveloped me. Not even thoughts of the prophesied dark future was able to hold it back.

What is this feeling?

A flock of butlers and maids came out of the kitchen and to our table, alcohol and glasses in hand. They placed a cup next to each of us, and the pouring of alcohol forced my sense of leadership to the forefront.

"Hey, keep it light! We have a job to do, and spending all of tomorrow hung over ain't gonna help." My hand darted to the side, almost accusatory at the youngest member of our party. "And YOU are still a kid, you ain't gonna be having a sip on my watch!"

Kawasumi drew his hand back guiltily, his expression of jealousy quite obvious. The maid next to him spoke some words of comfort while swapping his glass out for another drink; probably grape juice from its color. His expression lifted not soon after.

The others looked at their filled glasses with longing; though Amaki and Iwatani were leaning towards the more neutral side while Kitamura's savage grin told me all I needed to know.

I glanced between my glass and my lively surroundings; that strange feeling lingering at the back of my mind. It wasn't exactly joy, or happiness. As much as a weapon I am, I understood those things…

What is this feeling?

"I propose a toast!" Kitamura raised his glass. "To our unity!"

A guard, who's armor made him stand out from the others, raised his glass in tandem. A captain perhaps?

"To Melromarc!"

A butler looked as if he wished to join in too; his reservations were dashed when a maid patted him on the back and poured glasses of wine for all the staff.

"To the people!"

The feeling wasn't one of love, I hardly know these people. But the only other time I can remember this feeling is when I think of my fireteam, and 'love' is one of many things I think when I see them.

What is this feeling?

"To our victory!" The girl with the eyes of a liar raised her glass with vigor.

At a table filled with raised glasses, the loner shaking his cup stands out. Soon enough, all eyes were on me.

"C'mon man!" Kitamura said with a grin. "You gotta live a little!"

Amaki nodded his head in approval.

"We're friends right? Tohr-senpai?" Kawasumi said encouragingly.

"Yeah Tohr-san!" Iwatani nudged my shoulder. "We're in this together! Make a toast."

My lack of words prompted Iwatani to make a toast of his own.

"To the future!"

The future huh?

This feeling comes with memories of my team. These memories were not of love, happiness, or joy, though they were definitely there. No, those memories were of unity. Of those closest to me standing hand in hand; with our feet on the ground, and our eyes towards the light. Memories of us facing the fear of uncertainty with smiles on our faces. For we believed that no matter what the future held in store for us; we would make our own fate and build a future of our own.

What… What is this feeling?

Though thoughts of the dark future lingered, they paled in comparison to the weight of this moment; strange as it is.

"My name is Raiju."

The four heroes took a second to absorb my words, their glasses slightly lowering at the same time. The natives of this world had looks of confusion before the spear hero bore the dumbest smile on his face.

"Then call me Motoyasu!"

"Call me Ren."

"You can call me Itsuki!"

"I'd love for ya to call me Naofumi."

Their declarations were followed by raised glasses, and the natives washed over their confusion and joined them in celebration.

I couldn't stop myself from joining them, and with a small, reluctant grin; I raised my glass and proposed a toast.

"To the light!"

The sound of our glasses clinking against each other filled the room as we drank.

The burning taste ran down my throat, that strange feeling piercing me as I looked through the glass at our congregation of strangers.

What is this feeling?


A/N

Singular Ash: Yeah I thought about compiling short sections together, but one of the things that I hated about my old writing style and writing in general is that chapters dragged on for way too long for my liking. I much prefer shorter sections akin to scenes of a play, where the chapter cuts when the location majorly changes or to differentiate important sections.

That's all from me, I'm taking all your feedback into consideration so feel free to say literally anything. Rewind over and out.