The walk back home was relatively uneventful.
I was bruised and tired, with a particularly violent splotch of purple on my abdomen being my most grievous injury.
I probably bruised a rib or some shit.
Yet, despite all this, I felt happy.
It felt like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders.
Despite not having gotten the answers I needed, I was content. If I was being honest, deep inside, I probably didn't really care about satisfying my curiosity all that much to begin with.
But now, I had something to live for.
The masks people wore were often false, yet they rely on a foundation of truth all the same. And at the core of it all, every single mask I had to wear was born out of genuine love and a desire to protect. And no matter what anyone did, they couldn't take that from me.
I was me. No matter the roles, no matter the circumstance, I was still irrevocably me. And this was my second chance.
So, I had to live in a way I wouldn't regret.
—I turned the key to Azazel's penthouse, swinging the door open to reveal the ostentatious foyer where Mai stood.
"I'm home." I smiled.
"...sure. Welcome back." She stumbled over her words, before returning back to her customary scowl.
"You look like shit." She added, briefly giving me the once-over.
"Welcome home, me. There. Just thought I'd remind you of proper manners." Said I.
She snorted, giving me the finger as she turned back, sauntering back to the living room with an elegant sway to her hips.
How'd that shitty line go? Hate to see her go, love to watch her leave?
For Mai? Nah. I liked seeing her go and I loved watching her leave. Those hips don't lie, but my god did she make me want to smack her from time to time.
To be fair though, that was her being nice. Considering how she was, Mai basically went 'Finn-kun, are you okay?! I'll take good care of you~' on me back there.
I vowed inwardly. I'd make her say that, word for word, note for note, bar for fucking bar, right in my face one of these days.
Before that could happen though, I needed to shower, so I followed her inside.
After several minutes, I was already in my bedroom; having already taken a shower and changed into some sweats.
It was pretty fancy, as were most of the spaces in Azazel's unit.
Tastefully designed in some neo-Japanese aesthetic, it was all swooping lines and wood; with a low-rise queen-sized bed and a tall dresser being the only item in the room that was Western. Large windows showed nighttime Kuoh in its entirety, the sea of multicolored lights from the buildings and the cars below providing me a view not many of the hotels back home could match.
It wasn't a gigantic suite, but it did have enough space for a chabudai, one of the small traditional floor tables you find in some Japanese houses, and a pair of cushions. That was where I sat, inspecting Onikiri after removing it from its scabbard.
It was a beautiful blade. Almost two and a half feet of forged steel, hammered into a gentle curve as it shone silver under the artificial light. Rayskin wrapped in tan, corded fabric surrounded the leather and the spacers that provided the handle its fine grip, the weapon completely untouched by the undead it had slain tonight.
I didn't play Dark Souls 3 all that much considering I also did a lot of martial arts, but this was a weapon I could be proud of. A weapon I'd happily rely on through thick and thin.
Kinda funny whoever was handling this system gave the Gamer bullshit to a fucking casual. If a sweat was in my shoes, they probably would've min-maxed like crazy and killed Shinkawa already.
Maybe it was time I learned how to fight in the two-sword tradition just so I can use Onikiri and Ubadachi just like in the games. As far as rankings went in the style I learned, I was basically in the 3rd Dan, having achieved a considerable amount of mastery in the philosophy and the fundamentals of the style in the four years I've studied it.
I wasn't a real master yet, but I stood at a level where I could comfortably study another style without losing my way.
If I had something like Haki too…
If I was being honest, I probably didn't even need that for now.
When I first got here, I didn't give myself a lot of credit. I didn't have powers, but that didn't mean I was helpless.
I just needed more strength.
If I combined my martial arts with the superhuman capabilities learning Cursed Energy manipulation and reinforcement would give me, I could probably deal with most of DxD's early villains if I had to.
—A knock on my open door shook me out of my thoughts, prompting me to turn towards the source.
"Oh. Mai. What's up?" I said, raising an eyebrow at her appearance.
Dressed in a baggy shirt and an equally baggy pair of sweats, her short hair still slick and wet from the bath, she looked hot.
Goddamn.
Briefly, I looked down. I was wearing the same shit, but I didn't look half as good.
What'd she need though?
She seemed anxious. Looking left and right, being all fidgety, did she have something to say?
"That's a nice sword." She nodded towards Onikiri.
"...thanks." I responded, perplexed.
Huh.
I looked at her for a couple of seconds, but she didn't seem to have anything she wanted to add.
I was even more weirded out. But, well, it wasn't like me to keep this type of stuff going.
"Wanna sit down?" I asked her, gently returning my blade back to its proper receptacle, before willing it back to my inventory.
She looked like she wanted to bolt, but eventually, she nodded, walking to my table.
—She smelled like lavenders and soap.
I offered her a cushion before clasping my hands together and placing them above the table, waiting for her to sit down and talk.
But she still seemed reluctant to talk. She hemmed and hawed, her black eyes darting around before she closed them, staring right into mine.
I sighed.
She seemed awkward.
Time to break the ice, I thought.
"Look, if this is some weird-ass tactic you've read in a magazine, save it. All you gotta do is ask me out to dinner if you wanna start something." I winked.
"No thank you, I'd rather die."
"Damn, that fast?"
I chuckled, leaning back as I did so.
She looked perplexed at first, taken out of the loop by what I said. But it seemed like being taken out of the loop she had going on seemed to do it.
She smiled. Slightly at that, but it was a smile. She really was just awkward if you took out the claws, the fangs, and the forked tongue.
"I'm… sorry." She said, before continuing. "For the way I reacted earlier."
She waited for me to say anything. As if she was daring me to do so, judging from how tense she was.
Well, now that I've chilled out, no judgment here.
"Yeah. I get it. I'd probably have done the same shit anyway, come to think of it." I admitted. "Apology accepted."
She seemed dumbfounded at that. That someone wasn't reacting with vitriol to what she was saying. Almost as if she was more used to that than people actually being nice.
Plenty of implications regarding her past there. I may have not read the manga, but I know what the effects of unhealthy relationships look like.
That aside, I did know why she did that. It just made sense. Waking up in an unfamiliar environment with no explanations whatsoever? Nah, fuck being nice, I'd have done something drastic too.
"I'm sorry too, y'know. For shouting. Didn't need to raise my voice, but I was also a bit frustrated. Being thrown into a completely different world after dying… I wasn't all there, if you get what I mean." I said.
"I understand." She nodded hesitantly, uncrossing her arms and laying them on the table. "I know how that feels very well. The last thing I recall was dying in the basement of the Zenin estate."
I blinked.
What? She died? I knew Gojo died, but I didn't know she died as well.
"How did that happen? You're a Zenin, aren't you? I know they don't like you, but even the elders wouldn't have done that." I asked.
"My own father did it." She gritted her teeth at the memory, before stopping and looking at me inquisitively.
"Your father?" I stopped and tried to recall the spoilers I inadvertently saw online, but all the same, I continued. "That's tough. Why the hell would he do that?"
Mai shrugged helplessly as I knitted my fingers together, allowing myself to pause and think.
Soon enough, it clicked.
"Man, your family sucked." I sighed.
The Zenin Extermination arc. I've never read it, but my buddies said it was one of the best arcs in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Didn't really know much of the storyline in that arc, but Maki apparently reached full Toji status there and killed a lot of people.
All at the expense of Mai, who died there.
—She snorted.
"Oh, they do. Fuck them. Fuck them all." Mai swore, venom imbued in her tone. "I hope Maki killed them. I hope they die brutal deaths. I hope they die slow. I hope she destroys every single bit of that place and burn even the fucking ruins to ash."
As much as she seemed angry about her circumstances, she also seemed conflicted. Her words, while no less biting, were also accompanied by a slight tremble in her voice, an increase in fidgeting; all signs that pointed to my observation.
I bit my lip.
From what I knew, her sister, Maki, did just that. She slaughtered every member of their shitty family and left their brutalized corpses for all of what remained of Jujutsu society to see.
Should I tell her that? I thought about it, but I decided not to. It didn't matter if I revealed she was from some anime or some shit. Shit, I didn't know how the physics for the multiverse or some shit worked, so I didn't even know if I was right.
What I did know was the fact that she was a person. And as a person who was hurt and abused, telling her her sister did what she asked would do jack shit. It wouldn't really give her peace. It would give her some modicum of vindictive pleasure, but in the end, it wouldn't really lead anywhere.
In the end, she still had her crosses to bear, and no one could ask the dead to carry those crosses for her.
"...sorry you had to deal with that. If it helps, at least you're free now." I said.
She leaned back and smiled sardonically; crossing her arms once again. "Am I really, though? I'm here, bound to you by some contract I can't break. Even when I pulled my gun on you, I knew I couldn't pull the trigger despite the shit I've spouted. It didn't feel like a moral hang-up, it felt wrong to even consider the act of harming you. It was almost as if it was antithetical to my whole being."
Mai stared right into my eyes before continuing, "So, tell me, Tsukigawa. Am I really free?"
I stilled, mulling over her words.
She had beautiful eyes. Fox-like in the way they lay on her sharp face, and deep, like the brackish waters of the Atlantic in the hours just before dawn. Enchanting, yet haunted by a past I knew only snippets of. A past that shackled her still, its chain present in the words she left unsaid.
"Y'know," I began, unstitching my hands from each other and laying them flat on the table, "I don't think anyone's free, really. You, me, we all have things that keep us tied to something. If it's not to people, it's to circumstances beyond our control. If it's not that, it's the experiences we've dealt with and the lasting scars they've left."
She raised an eyebrow, no doubt unsure as to where I was going with this, but from my perspective, I haven't said anything wrong.
I was shackled to a life I didn't want to lead. I was shackled to the needs of my people and my family. And in the end, despite having been given a second chance, I was shackled to my own experiences, to my grief and my memories of a world I've already left behind.
I couldn't free her. I couldn't fix her. Only she could do that, and that takes time. I haven't even freed myself completely. Deep inside, I knew full well that while I've gotten some self-realization and direction in life, I still had issues I've yet to deal with.
All I could do now was provide her with the necessary conditions to grow.
"But what we can do is choose whatever chains we want to bind us. I ain't gonna sugarcoat it, I need your help. I need your help in learning how Jujutsu works at the very least, and how I can use Cursed Energy to survive. I don't need you to fight or do anything else. I'd rather fight my own battles. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm not obligating you to do shit. If you want to leave, you can. I'll give you papers and cash and send you on your way. But I… I would really appreciate it if you helped me out." I admitted, looking right into her own eyes as I did so.
I didn't wanna lie to Mai. I didn't wanna try to use the Talk-no-Jutsu on her, she came in here with sincerity, so I wanted to reciprocate. I wanted to lay all my cards on the table just so she'd understand what I'd need and not have to worry about whatever shit I had between the lines.
She remained silent, processing my words, before she eventually sighed.
"...it's not like I have any other option, do I? I've taken a liking to this penthouse. It's adequate enough I suppose." She sniffed, turning her gaze towards the open door to our left and the ludicrous amount of understated luxury in just the living room alone. "I suppose I can spare some time for my lessers in exchange."
"Best quit the ojousama bullshit while you're at it, this ain't my place." I smiled, extending my arm for a handshake which she shook reluctantly.
"Oh, you're a squatter then? It all makes sense now."
Her tone, while cutting, seemed warm. Warmer than it was when we first met at least.
Right then and there, gaining the cooperation of someone who was in the same boat made me far happier than anything I've ever dealt with in the past few weeks.
Not unless you count the treasure box.
"Oh, shit! The treasure box!"
"What treasure box?"
As I scrambled to clear the small table and access the system, a single thought managed to cut through everything I've been feeling:
"—I can't wait to see where this life takes me next."
System Update!
Treasure Box, opened!
Calculating rewards based on performance…
Rewards
•1,000,000
•Potion of Healing
•Skill Book: The Secrets of the Simple Domain — Its Roots and its Connection to the New Shadow Style.
FIN.
0- Summer Days, complete.
Up Next: 1- Diabolus Academia.
Loading system_version 1.0…
Finn Tsukigawa
General Information
Challenge Rating: C-
Race: Human
Titles: N/A
Age: 16
Statistics
Remaining SP: 0
STR: D (1)
AGI: D (0)
CON: C (0)
LUK: D (—)
MANA: E (0)
CE: A (—)
Active Effects
•N/A.
Skills
•Language: Italian A
•Cooking Proficiency C
•Cold Resistance E
•Language: Japanese C
Abilities
Deus Ex Machina (0/5 pulls left)
- The night is dark and full of terrors. And as a user of the system, you know this far better than most. To help you survive, the system has granted you access to Deus Ex Machina, allowing you to obtain one (1) randomized object, ability, skill, or entity that may help you with your current predicament, with the results being affected by your LUK stat. Deus Ex Machina is non-renewable, but more uses can be obtained by doing missions.
Follower Contracts
•Mai Zenin (Bond Level: 1) (new!)
Inventory
Max Weight: 200kg.
•Onikiri (1kg)
•Ubadachi (0.5kg)
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I just thought I had to cap things off a little bit more on the story as a whole.
Full disclosure, honestly? I've taken a massive leap of faith in this project. Never really got into writing for DxD and crossovers of this scale in general since six years ago when I first wrote and posted my first fic on the internet. I've written a lot, but as far as writing goes, something like this? This may as well be my first attempt at actually writing something since the first time I've tried, so I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing an actual section of this story. I've always been plagued by trying to correct the stuff I write to the point I couldn't get shit done, and believe me, as a literature major in English Literature, it took me a while to ignore most of my misgivings for this and just write something I enjoy.
And goddamn were there a lot of them. I've meandered on and on in some parts, got too hasty in the others, wrote too much for certain scenes and too little in the parts where they were needed most. But I enjoyed it. This has always been a story of second chances, and for me, writing this has been mine. Gamer and crossover bullshit aside, I never thought I'd be going on the same arc of self-discovery I had Finn undergo.
So, thank you all for being with me in my baby steps to writing once again. The next arc, Diabolus Academia, won't necessarily follow the same format, but there'll be a lot more familiar faces as we delve into the DxD side of the spectrum a bit more. I've set up several loose ends within Summer Days that I've yet to tie up after all (more like I haven't tied up shit), so expect that arc to be significantly longer than this one.
As for pairings... honestly, this'll probably go full harem. But I'll let the plot develop organically and decide who'd be in there. Y'all can suggest certain characters if you want though, gotta love the funny multiversal gacha. As for other verses, feel free to suggest stuff. Finn will not be staying in DxD exclusively, I got candidates in mind, but I ain't opposed to suggestions. Same goes for abilities and skills, although I'd probably keep Finn's build streamlined and focused onto melee. While I like generalists, having specialists whose gaps can be filled in by other people makes the story and character relationships more fun and meaningful.
Anyway, thanks for your time! If y'all have any other suggestions, feel free to comment or even PM. Might see about making a Discord server for this if we get up to like 80/80 on the likes and follows. See y'all on the next one!