No Name But Yours
Ryuuga's soulmate was a rabbit. His soul mark had traced itself into his skin in front of a crowd and everyone had seen it. That was why he'd decided to choose to be happy with someone who cared about him. He didn't need a romantic soulmate. He just needed someone to believe in, who believed in him too.
Kasumi had done that. She'd believed in him until the moment she died. Sento had done that, too. Ever since the moment they met. Kasumi's soulmate had been her sister, but who was Sento's? Ryuuga had loved Kasumi and she had loved him. Ryuuga was willing to love again. But regardless of soul marks, and Smashes, and war, and power hungry aliens…would Sento ever love him back?
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Chapter One
Episodes 1-16
Ryuuga was ten when his parents died and the shock made him forget about it. That didn't worry him much. He'd rather not remember something scary like that anyway. Sometimes he did wish he had good memories of his parents, though, but his relatives were nice enough. They looked at him oddly from time to time, and they scolded him for fighting almost every other day, but they gave him good food and helped him with schoolwork—which he almost never understood—and got him into a boxing gym to work out his anger issues.
He was eleven when his soul mark appeared. It traced its way onto his body in black, silver, and gold in the middle of training. All the kids in the gym saw it happen.
Usagi
That was it. Rabbit. No last name.
"That's it?" one kid asked after everyone had stared at Ryuuga's chest for a solid ten seconds and no more characters appeared.
"Is your soulmate a rabbit?" another asked.
Ryuuga's heart clenched at the teasing tone.
"A wild one or a pet?" a third kid asked meanly.
"Your soulmate is an animal," the first kid sneered. "Just like you."
Ryuuga's family was called and he was given a harsh lecture and a grounding for knocking the kid's tooth out and breaking his arm. The gym also wouldn't let him come back, so they had to find a new place for Ryuuga to train. But no one was mean about it. Insulting someone's soul mark was a huge affront, and no one blamed him for his reaction—except the kid's parents.
From then on, he kept a tank top on at all times.
If he also spent a lot of time in pet shops looking at rabbits, petting them, and wondering why none of them sparked anything in him…well, no one needed to know.
If he sometimes cried at night, alone in his room, because no human would ever truly care for him…well, no one needed to know that either.
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Of course, some kids at school caught the rumor of Ryuuga soul mark, and he got into plenty of fights over it. He spent a lot of time in the teacher's room, in detention, doing extra work on campus, and wrote a dozen apology notes he didn't mean, while the kids who teased him only had to write the damn apology notes. Ryuuga might have thrown a few more punches just because of the injustice, but the memory of his family's disappointed faces every time they got called in held him back.
Though the truth of his soul mark died away, Ryuuga still got a reputation at school for being a hot head. Even after years, kids still claimed his hair was dyed. They said his braids were the symbol of the street gang Ryuuga ran with. Kids fake whispered about his boxing training being so he could take out the current gang leader, or so he could pick on other students easier. And they teased him every time he got an answer wrong in class, or didn't understand a reading, or asked a question. For people so afraid of his imaginary gang, they didn't hold back on the bullying.
Before long, Ryuuga found he had no real friends. Even the kids who got in trouble a lot and actually were in gangs didn't hang out with him, because he had no interest in breaking rules or the law on purpose, or in hurting other people for fun.
In his second year of high school, Ogura Kasumi found him in a pet store, staring into the rabbit pen with a look so intense it scared the rabbits to the other side of the enclosure.
"Banjou-kun?" she called.
"Hah?" He turned his intense gaze on her, then blinked until his brain could reset and he could look at her normally. "What?"
She smiled at him. No one at school had ever smiled at him like that. "Everyone at school says you're a thug, but you're actually really sweet, aren't you?"
"I've said it before—this is my natural hair color!" Ryuuga protested.
Kasumi shook her head and waved her arms around, her eyes wide and expression bewildered. "No no. I believe you." She smiled again, a smile that disarmed him. "Do you like rabbits, Banjou-kun?"
Did he like rabbits? Ryuuga fisted his shirt and looked at the rabbit enclosure again. With his attention removed, the rabbits were tentatively hopping around again, going for the water or food bowls or a toy. They were cute enough, he supposed, and soft to the touch. He didn't hate rabbits, but…
"Yeah," he told her. "Yeah. I like rabbits."
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Ogura Kasumi had always been 'the sick girl' in school. She had a note that exempted her from P.E. activities. She didn't participate in any sports during school festival days. She missed school from time to time because she was in the hospital or with some doctor or something. Ryuuga hadn't ever paid much attention, so he wasn't sure.
He knew she was smart—not top of the class, but top ten at least. She never let being out of school or being sick keep her from studying and getting good grades. Ryuuga could never. Not that he got sick, like, ever, but the idea of puking and doing math? It made him shudder.
She had a few friends who checked in with her any time she came back to school, who ate lunch with her, but she avoided all the popular kid stuff. Thinking back, Ryuuga didn't think Kasumi had ever bullied him or teased him or anything mean at all, actually. He mostly remembered her as the girl who missed class sometimes and got mentioned for good test scores.
Then, a few days after the pet store meeting, Kasumi found him at school and invited him out.
"Ehh?" Ryuuga let out, loudly. No one had ever asked him out before!
A few seconds after his outburst, Kasumi's face flooded with red and she waved her hands about. "N-not like that. I just—I'm going somewhere after school and I think you'd like it and—I—I wanted to—to share it with you." Her voice trailed off at the end, her eyes dropping to the floor and her hands clenched tightly together.
"Oh." Ryuuga let out a relieved breath. "Well then, sure. Why not?"
For weeks after, Kasumi invited him out every few days—always to visit places with rabbits. Without the small pet store enclosures, Ryuuga learned a lot about rabbits.
They were very fast when they wanted to be. Hard to catch. They were very territorial and grunted in warning when angry, and would bite if the warning wasn't heeded. Several rabbits had bitten Ryuuga. Only Kasumi's arm on his shoulder kept him from trying to go after the offending rabbit to bite it back.
Rabbits thumped their foot to get attention or warn of danger, using the noise to alert other rabbits in the area. They rubbed their chin on things to mark their territory, like a dog peeing. Though he hoped for it, no rabbit ever chinned Ryuuga. No rabbit ever claimed him.
Rabbits nudge, pushed, and tossed things to play. And boy did they love to play. Something that did not mean play was tail wagging. Tail wagging meant the rabbit was telling him off.
"Sassy punk," Ryuuga grumbled after a carer told him that, giving the tail wagging bunny his best 'fight me' face. He wasn't going to fight a rabbit. That would be dumb. But if it tried something, oh, he might.
If a rabbit laid flat on the ground like a pancake, it meant the rabbit wanted to be pet or groomed. At first, no rabbit was that comfortable around Ryuuga, but eventually, once he knew more about rabbits, he got to experience the submissive, pet-me behavior more than once. It always made him smile, which Kasumi said was his best look.
Rabbits purred. "It's not purring, actually. It's them grinding their teeth softly," someone told him, but Ryuuga didn't listen. It was a purr, and a purr was a purr. Like a freaking cat! Rabbits purred when they were pleased!
When they got excited or really happy, they did something called…binkies? They ran and jumped and kicked and twisted in the air. The first time Ryuuga saw a rabbit binky, he'd laughed aloud and hit Kasumi's arm so many times she joked he'd leave a bruise, which led to him apologizing profusely until Kasumi assured him she'd been joking. He was pretty sure he did leave a bruise, but she never admitted to it if he did.
"Listen, Kasumi," Ryuuga said after weeks of Kasumi taking him to various places where he could interact with rabbits. She tilted her head curiously at him. "Thanks. For…for the rabbit stuff. But," he flushed and glanced away, scratching his neck. "But we can—What do you want to do? Huh?"
Her smile was so gentle and happy it could light a room or grow flowers. And Banjou thought, huh, maybe. Maybe this could be his person. Maybe screw 'Usagi' and the whole soulmate thing. Maybe he could be happy anyway.
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Kasumi never treated Ryuuga like he was dangerous. She was never scared of him. It didn't take long before Ryuuga fell in love with her – her smile, her kindness, her willingness to help others, her selflessness. She made him feel normal. It was thanks to her tutoring that he even passed high school.
They started dating after he blurted, "Will you be my girlfriend?" in the middle of one of their tutoring sessions. Kasumi turned a lovely shade of pink, her eyes wide and mouth open in shock. But then she smiled and nodded. "Yes!"
The librarian kicked them out that day, but Ryuuga didn't care. Kasumi said yes!
In a fit of courage, Ryuuga showed Kasumi his soul mark the same day. "So you don't have to worry I'll leave you," he told her seriously. "Cause it's not a person."
Kasumi hesitantly reached out, but didn't touch the mark, for which Ryuuga was glad. Anytime someone had done that, it had felt awful. He got nauseated and had to lie down. Come to think of it, was that normal?
A smile spread across Kasumi's face. "Rabbits." She giggled and turned her smile to Ryuuga's face. "Banjou is so cute."
She showed him her mark too. It was across her right arm, just above the inside of her elbow. Her younger sister. They both had platonic soulmates. Banjou couldn't stop smiling.
"Screw all the soulmate stuff anyway," he said. "I'm happiest with you, so for all I care, you're my soulmate, Kasumi."
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Ryuuga became a professional boxer before he'd even graduated high school. Sure, it meant he missed class from time to time because of events or training with his coach, but he didn't need to know that stuff when he was in the ring, and Kasumi would tutor him later on anything he missed.
"You can tell you've been doing this since you were ten," his coach said with a grin one day. "You've got the skill. And that raw power." He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it."
Neither had a lot of other people. Ryuuga won match after match and garnered himself a nice little fan club. The first time he saw banners in the audience with his name on them? Well, he got decked in the face. But he still won the match, and that's what mattered.
Kasumi loved his fan club too—right up until Watanabe Usagi appeared. Usagi came to multiple matches, and always wanted to shake his hand afterward, when he was at his sweatiest. Ryuuga didn't understand why. Wasn't that gross…or something?
"She likes you," Kasumi told him, uncharacteristically serious.
"And?" Ryuuga asked, confused. "What does that matter? I have a whole fan club. She's not special."
Kasumi frowned. "Maybe she's—"
She hesitated. Kasumi never hesitated around Ryuuga. He didn't like this.
"Maybe Usagi-chan is…your soulmate," Kasumi said at length.
Ryuuga jolted back like he'd tasted something revolting. "Augh. No." He punched his own chest over his heart. "You've seen this, Kasumi. You know she's not. Since when has a mark ever been missing a last name, eh?" He tried to smile and made his tone as joking as possible, to relieve Kasumi's worry.
Still, she frowned and shook her head. "I don't know. There could be a lot of reasons," Kasumi said.
Now Ryuuga frowned, placing his hands flat on the café table between them. "Why do you want her to be my soulmate so bad, anyway?"
Kasumi gave him a sad smile. "It's not that I do, it's just—I want you to be happy," she said. Ryuuga opened his mouth to tell her he was happy, but she continued, "after I'm gone."
Ryuuga's mouth snapped shut. Kasumi rarely talked about her illness. It involved a lot of big, medical words Ryuuga didn't understand, and she knew it confused him. He took her to the doctor sometimes when her own family couldn't, but that mostly involved him sitting in waiting rooms staring at poorly subtitled tv and people watching.
What he understood was that her disease was terminal. It might take a year or ten years, but eventually, it would kill her. But she'd always been so happy, had seemed so unconcerned by it, that he'd figured they had decades to spend together.
"She's not," Ryuuga said, as serious as he'd ever said anything. "My soulmate's a damn rabbit, and those only live for, what, eight years? Or whatever." He shook his head and took Kasumi's hands in his, making her meet his eyes. "I'm not leaving you."
They left the café and went straight to a tattoo parlor. Kasumi kept insisting he didn't need to do it, and Ryuuga kept insisting he wanted it. The tattoo process took what felt like forever, but by the time they left, "Ogura Kasumi" was written in bold letters across his shoulder blade.
"There. Now everyone'll know I'm yours when I fight," Ryuuga declared proudly.
It wasn't a soul mark, but it was just as good, as far as Ryuuga was concerned.
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…
Just as Ryuuga's star in the boxing world was at its brightest, Kasumi's health declined. None of the usual medications or procedures were working. Her doctors said there was an experimental treatment that might help, but it wasn't covered and Kasumi's family couldn't afford it.
When she felt at her lowest, he proposed to her. It bolstered her spirit and she promised to keep fighting, so that's what Ryuuga did too. And then someone offered him money to throw a fight—more than enough to pay for Kasumi's treatment. He accepted. He lost. He got the money.
And he lost his boxing license.
Kasumi found him a job working with a scientist, so he wouldn't be unemployed or sitting around wallowing about his loss—but it ended with him finding a dead body and arrested for murder, which one year later led to him drugged and waking up in a green tank surrounded by people in gas masks as they did something to his body.
Which led to him escaping, being pursued as an escaped convict, and running into Kiryuu Sento: Kamen Rider Build.
"Why did you help me?" Ryuuga asked as they zoomed away on Kiryuu's motorcycle.
Kiryuu didn't hesitate. "Because I believed you."
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Shortly after coming to Nascita, Kasumi got taken by the same people who took Ryuuga. And there was nothing—absolutely nothing—Ryuuga could do to save her. He had to stand by and watch her hurt herself to protect him, to watch her die. To lose the only person who had ever seen anything good in him.
He returned to Nascita with Kiryuu not out of loyalty or friendship, but because he was hurting and angry and wanted revenge, and Kiryuu was trying to clear his name and help defeat the same shithead scientists that Ryuuga wanted to pay. Kasumi may not have been his soulmate, but she was his fiancé, and he had loved her. He would continue to love her forever.
Screw 'Usagi.' Screw soulmates. Ryuuga wanted revenge, and then he didn't care what happened to him.
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"If I'm able to use my power to help someone, it makes me happy from the bottom of my heart."
Could Ryuuga say he was happy at any point since his arrest? Could he claim to have helped even one person? No. And did it matter? He had lost everything that ever meant anything to him because of Faust. Anything Ryuuga did in return would be justice.
"It's not called justice if you're seeking any rewards," Kiryuu told him.
The thought stuck with Ryuuga all the way to Seito. The way Kiryuu had smiled, the way he believed in helping others so selflessly—despite having lost everything just like Ryuuga. More, actually, since Kiryuu couldn't even remember his own name from before Faust screwed him over.
Ryuuga could fight for the rest of his life, beat up a dozen criminal organizations, and never match Kiryuu. Kiryuu's heart was stronger and better than most peoples'. Especially Ryuuga's.
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When they found Nabeshima—the man responsible for drugging Ryuuga and delivering him to Faust in the first place—Ryuuga and Sawa went to Seito to save his family. The deal was that if they could get his family to safety, Nabeshima would clear Ryuuga's name and Ryuuga could get his normal life back.
But by the time they returned from Seito…
Nabeshima's memories had been erased. He couldn't remember his family. He couldn't remember his wife, or his daughter, who had meant so much to him.
In that moment, Ryuuga didn't care if Nabeshima could clear his name. He didn't care what Nabeshima had done to him. That little girl, Haruka, had lost her father in all the ways that mattered. And there was nothing Ryuuga could do to help her!
Kiryuu took some pieces of mechanical things from his workstation and knelt down next to Nabeshima's daughter. When he spoke, his voice was gentle and kind.
"Haruka-chan. Your daddy's fun memories with you…they were taken. Like this," and he pulled the battery out of a light.
As they all watched, Kiryuu began to build something with the other items he'd brought over.
"That's why you and your mommy need to make new ones. If you do…" He put the items in his hand together, making a line of power, and the light came on even without a battery. "I'm sure his memories will come back."
Just like the lightbulb, Haruka's face lit up. Hope. Kiryuu had given her hope where she'd had none. Happiness where she'd been sad.
Kiryuu Sento was a good man. And watching as his face broke into a smile, happy from the bottom of his heart as Nabeshima's family came together again, Ryuuga's own heart felt…lighter. Like chains had been wrapped around him, ever tightening, and Sento had just given him the key and unlocked them.
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Seeing Sento lose it was terrifying.
The Faust base was collapsing around them. Prisoners needed saving. But Sento couldn't see them, couldn't hear their screams. All he knew was Stalk and his lost memories and his own pain. And Ryuuga couldn't stand it!
"Snap out of it!"
Ryuuga shoved Sento up against the stairs, hard, forcing him to look only at Ryuuga. He reminded Sento of his own words about being Build. And Sento responded by remembering himself, by standing up to protect others, by putting their wellbeing above his own. And all the fear Ryuuga had felt down in that lab evaporated like morning mist, replaced by trust and confidence in Sento.
Sento stayed behind while Ryuuga got the prisoners out, and then the base exploded. For a heart stopping moment, Ryuuga thought Sento hadn't made it, that his stupid idea to find the Faust base had gotten Sento killed. But then there he was, alive and well and smiling at Ryuuga like it was natural. Of course, he teased Ryuuga for using his first name, but it was nice. They were both alive.
And then he, and Sento, and the dragon Sento had made especially for him all got to go home to Nascita together.
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Living at Nascita meant terrible coffee, and sharing a bed with Sento because there simply weren't enough rooms for all of them, and Sento typing away on a computer or soldering something at his workstation at all hours of the day. It meant the little dragon Sento had built following Ryuuga around, tugging at his hair, calling him out when he trained too long, and alerting Sento that he'd woken up. It meant looking for that dumb dragon every time he entered a room, and wondering where it was when he didn't immediately spot it.
It meant Sento's hair popping up and him bouncing around the basement in excitement, giggling and spinning, and reminding Ryuuga of the binkies he'd seen from excited rabbits years ago.
Something else that reminded Ryuuga of the rabbits was Sento's possessiveness. He wasn't possessive of a place or a toy, but of people. Once Sento decided someone was worth protecting, he wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt them. Like the rabbits that grunted in warning when angry, and would bite if the warning wasn't heeded, Sento made his position clear to the enemy and then used Build to bite back.
Which was great except when Sento decided Katsuragi Takumi, the Devil's Scientist and founder of Faust was worth protecting. As much as Ryuuga looked up to Sento, cared about him, the man could be really frigging infuriating!
Except Misora said he was protecting the idea of science as a tool to help people, and that sounded like the Sento that Ryuuga had come to trust and care for. And Misora said Sento was fighting not only to prove science was good, but to atone for failing to save Kasumi. Ryuuga's heart did funny things when he thought about that too hard, and his chest ached.
So it was easy to say, "I don't know about this 'power of science' stuff you believe in, but I think…that I can believe in you."
And he couldn't stop the way he smiled when Sento replied, "I was thinking the same thing about you."
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The hardest part about believing in Sento, in caring about Sento, in hating to see Sento in pain, was remembering Kasumi. Ryuuga would change his clothes and catch sight of his tattoo in the mirror and his heart would clench. Because for a few moments, maybe even a whole day, he hadn't thought of her. He'd been thinking about Sento instead. And how could he do that when he'd promised to love her forever? When he'd said 'screw soulmates. I choose you.'?
Finding the letter on Kasumi's grave changed everything.
"I wish that you would forget about me and move on," she'd written.
Ryuuga's soulmate was a rabbit. That was a matter of fact, not up for discussion. That was why he'd decided to choose to be happy with someone who cared about him. He didn't need a romantic soulmate. He just needed someone to believe in, who believed in him too.
Kasumi had done that. She'd believed in him until the moment she died.
Sento had done that, too. Ever since the moment they met.
Was it okay for him to care about Sento the same way he'd cared about Kasumi? Could he, one day, love Sento as much as he'd loved her? And, more importantly, could Sento love him in return?
He'd never heard Sento talk about soulmates. No one in Nascita did, actually. Ryuuga had caught glimpses of Misora's soul mark under her bracelet from time to time, but the one time he'd started to ask about it, her eyes had gone haunted and he'd backed off.
Who was Sento's soulmate? Was it platonic, like Kasumi's had been? He was so protective of Misora—maybe it was her?
In the end, it didn't matter. Kasumi had not been Ryuuga romantic soulmate and they hadn't cared. And maybe nothing would come of his care for Sento. Maybe he was reading into it too much. He was an idiot, after all.
What mattered was that Kasumi had given him permission to find love after she was gone. What mattered was that Kasumi wanted him to focus his energy on the future, not his grief and anger. What mattered was what he did from now on: helping people. Protecting people.
So Ryuuga used Kasumi's bottle and the dragon Sento made for him and used their combined power to transform into Kamen Rider Cross-Z. And then he kicked some ass.
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Learning that Owner was Stalk, the one who orchestrated all their struggles, was like a punch to the gut. Owner had cracked jokes and kept their moods light even in dark times. He'd even given Ryuuga all of the clothes he wore on a daily basis!
But more than that: he was Misora's father, and might as well have been Sento's too! The fact that he would betray them burned in Ryuuga's veins as surely as his blood. But that anger didn't help him defeat Stalk. Ryuuga was basically useless against him, leaving both himself and Sento at Stalk's mercy.
And then Sento did what Sento did best: he got back up again.
"The things we believed in were not an illusion," Sento said, narrowing his eyes at Blood Stalk. "Me and him," he nodded toward Ryuuga, and Ryuuga's heart gave a jolt at being included in Sento's world, "We've been fighting to help people. To protect others, we've stood our ground again and again. Even without you, there are things I have to protect. And for the justice I believe in, I'm going to defeat you!"
Maybe Ryuuga hadn't been able to fight Stalk in Sento's place, but he had, in some way, helped Sento fight back. And Ryuuga didn't know what he'd said or done to do that, but he was glad to help.
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Outing Himuro Gentoku as Night Rogue and the actual leader of Faust wasn't easy, but they accomplished that just like they did anything else. And for a moment, Ryuuga basked in the gratitude of the Prime Minister and the feeling he got every time he fought side-by-side with Sento. But then:
"You're the Devil's Scientist, Katsuragi Takumi."
Sento was Katsuragi Takumi. Sento had created Faust. Sento had experimented on humans with the nebula gas, created the Smashes, and been directly responsible for not only Ryuuga's imprisonment but Kasumi's death!
"You've laughed at the concept of justice, and never hesitated to sacrifice lives for your agenda."
Except…Except!
"If I'm able to use my power to help someone, it makes me happy from the bottom of my heart."
"Which is more important, then? The Build that saves people or your own past?!" "That's obvious. Build, of course."
"Obtaining power means dealing with the responsibility that it brings."
The Kiryuu Sento that Ryuuga knew, the one he cared about…He wouldn't do what Katsuragi Takumi had done. He wasn't that guy. He was egotistical, sure, but he was also kind.
"If he sees anyone in trouble, he'll reach out to them. He's trying to act like the kind of person he'd want to be."
That was who Kiryuu Sento was. That was who Ryuuga—That was who Ryuuga would lay down his life for. That was who Ryuuga wanted to keep by his side!
Kiryuu Sento was not Katsuragi Takumi. Even if they shared the same body, the same brain. They weren't the same person! Ryuuga wanted to punch Katsuragi in the throat, multiple times, and have him pay for all the harm he'd caused people. But Sento…The very idea of hurting Sento, of Sento behind bars, of Sento alone, was painful. Sento was not Katsuragi.
But before Ryuuga could say any of that to Sento, Misora sat up and asked if all of what Himuro had said was true, and he didn't get the chance.
For a full day, Sento sat at his workstation, developing some new tool for one of the Build transformations. He didn't communicate unless absolutely necessary. He didn't eat unless Misora forced him by threat of violence. He sat and he worked and Ryuuga watched his shoulders get tenser and tenser, his body curl in on itself more and more.
Guilt. Sento felt guilty. And that was so stupid that Ryuuga's own muscle grew tight and he wanted to punch something.
Maybe if they really had been soulmates, Ryuuga would have known what to say or do to get Sento out of his funk. Hell, maybe if Ryuuga were smart enough he could've done it. As it was, he egged Sento on, tried to piss him off, just to get a reaction. He tried to make Sento fight back, to deny being Katsuragi, to go off about love and peace and the goodness of science. But all that did was make Sento admit to all of Katsuragi's crimes, sounding more defeated than ever.
Dammit!
"I'm pissed because he's so pissed at himself," he tried to explain to Misora.
Once he was done outlining his thinking on the whole situation with Katsuragi, she laughed and called him stupid.
"Shut up!" he yelled. He gripped his shirt over his heart and growled, then slapped the floor and turned to face Misora again. "Who is Sento's soulmate?" he demanded.
If it was Misora, then how was she so calm?! How could she let him suffer like this? Why wasn't she trying to make him feel better?!
Misora started in surprise, and her grip on her tea tightened. "What?" When Ryuuga just glared at her, Misora let out a breath and stared at her drink. "You'll have to ask Sento about that."
She sounded so sad that Ryuuga couldn't really be mad at her for not answering him. Maybe she didn't know, anyway. Maybe Sento hadn't told her. But dammit, if anyone could knock Sento out of his stupid funk, it would be his soulmate, right? So if they could find his soulmate—
Ryuuga gripped his shirt again, his stomach and chest clenching unpleasantly.
"Banjou," Misora began, her voice tender and understanding—understanding what? Ryuuga didn't understand anything!
But then the alarm went off, signaling the appearance of a Smash, and Ryuuga had to run out to fight. Finding Sento on the ground, his transformation broken, unable to fight due to his guilt—Everything in Ryuuga revolted.
"You didn't just create the Smash!" he shouted in response to Sento's claims of guilt. "You slapped that belt on and protected people's tomorrows, futures, and their hopes! You fought because you wanted to help people! You rose up to protect people! Katsuragi Takumi and Satou Tarou wouldn't have done that! Only Kiryuu Sento did!"
With his declaration, Ryuuga's soul mark pulsed and changed, new characters delicately painting themselves over his skin. As he continued to fight, he felt the shift. The character indicating 'Usagi' spread outward, three new ones taking up space beside it. Without losing his transformation or ever seeing the words, Banjou knew what they said.
Kiryuu Sento
Banjou didn't know how it was possible. He didn't know why he'd only worn the word 'rabbit' for most of his life. He was too stupid to understand those things. What he did know was that he and Sento were a best match if ever there was one. And he was going to demand to see Sento's soul mark as soon as this battle was over. Because if Sento had been wearing his mark this whole time and hadn't told him? What the hell, man?
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War put off a lot of things.
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tbc