Thursday, June 18, 2009, Dark Hour
Tartarus, Floor 57
Two tall humanoid Shadows, standing two heads above than Shinjiro, stood between them and the stairs. Their muscular bodies were entirely black aside from their blue masks and their gray tights. For a moment, Mitsuru mused that they might be pro wrestlers. The purple lighting of these floors of Tartarus certainly added to their gaudy nature.
Then in the blink of an eye, one lunged at Akihiko and knocked him away with a lariat. The other ran at Iori and preformed a jumping kick, only being repelled by Hermes at the last moment.
Senpai, be careful! They're strong against blunt force attacks. I think Polydeuces' electric spells will work the best.
"Understood Yamagishi." Mitsuru met the Shadow that had attacked Akihiko eye to eye. Or rather, her eyes to the black, empty visages of its mask. The red-haired girl paused for a moment, and then smiled. She held her hands up, feigning innocence and surrender towards it.
The Shadow sneered at her and roared as it charged towards her. It jumped high in air, aiming to slam her with its elbow. But just as it descended upon her, a voice yelled out.
"Castor!" A split-second before it would have landed on Mitsuru, Castor rammed into the Shadow's side with his lance and threw it back, colliding with the other Shadow still sparring with Hermes.
"Sorry for getting lost." Shinjiro said as he sauntered up to her.
"Thank you Shinji." Mitsuru said as she held up her Evoker. "You're my knight in shining armor."
Shinji snorted. "Lets finish these freaks and go home, I'm tired as shit already."
As the two Shadows untangled themselves and stood up, Mitsuru simply stated, with no particular effort in her voice, "Bufula." With a swing of Penthesilea's blade, a refrigerator-sized block of ice, sharped at its end, rammed through the Shadows, large chunks of ice sticking to them and freezing them to the walls.
She walked over to the other two members and asked, "Akihiko, Iori, would you care to do the coup de grâce?"
Both boys grinned with excitement. "I've been waiting for this. Zionga!" "Agilao!
With a mixture of dazzling lightning and beaming fire, they melted the two Shadows down to nothing.
"So how the heck's that supposed to be 'merciful'?" Junpei asked as they walked home. "I mean I can get a coo day graw being graceful, but not really merciful."
"Well, in most cases nowadays, 'coup de grâce' simply refers to a finishing blow against someone or something in any capacity. It's not necessarily literal." She said. "In a literal context, it would be the finishing blow to a wounded person or animal. A strike of mercy towards someone already dying, likely slowly and painfully."
Junpei nodded. "Aaahhhhh. I get it now."
Kirijo smiled. "Language evolves in fascinating ways, for example..."
Makoto yawned and stretched, tuning out this conversation. Instead his mind wandered over to the one he had with Kenji earlier today.
"I'm gonna do it this Friday," he said, face uncharacteristically serious. His eyes burned with a passion and a purpose that preemptively quashed Makoto's attempt to dissuade his friend. "There's a flower shop on the station she always stops by once a week."
Makoto swallowed, his mouth and throat feeling like they were full of sand. "You're going to spring it up on her, right there?"
He nodded. "It's now or never, dude, I can't afford to wait."
"How about you Makoto?" Makoto flinched and looked over at Sanada. "You want some?"
"Huh?"
The silver-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you weren't fighting tonight, don't act so out of it. I'm talking about ramen, I'm making some when we get home."
Shinjiro rolled his eyes. "In moderation, dumbass."
"I am eating in moderation." Sanada grumbled. He turned back to Makoto. "What'dya say?"
"Sure." Makoto said. "I think I could use something to eat."
The walk to and from Tartarus rarely felt like much anymore. When they started going regularly, it was exhausting, especially after a few grueling floors of swinging weapons at its population of hostile Shadows. Nowadays the walks barely felt like anything, even when he was participating in combat.
"Here you go." Sanada handed him a cup. "It's not as good as the stuff at Hagakure, but it'll do as a midnight snack."
Makoto took it from him carefully. "Thanks."
Sanada started slurping his immediately, without waiting for it to cool. "Shinji makes some pretty good bowls too. But he makes me pay for all the ingredients if I want it." He shook his head. "He's one tough customer sometimes."
"Really? Because it sounded to me like you're the one paying, not him." Makoto said cheekily.
Sanada chuckled. "Yeah."
The minutes passed as they quietly ate. The post-Dark Hour drone of the dorm, with its occasional bits of noise from outside or upstairs, was sometimes annoying but also infinitely preferable to the murky darkness and inhuman silence of the Dark Hour itself. But those observations slowly faded as Makoto's thoughts drifted towards something else.
Back then, the way I snapped outta my funk was that Aki barged into my room and socked me in the face.
Makoto hadn't really talked to Sanada as much as the other members of SEES. He knew very little of the senior personally speaking.
I'd been sulking for over a week at that point. Hadn't been going to class. I was even thinking of quitting SEES and just running away. I knew I was being a coward but...
Shinjiro and Kenji were basically nothing alike. But Sanada knew Shinjiro intimately, far more than he knew Kenji.
Eventually, Aki got tired of my shit and knocked me to the ground, told me to man up or get out.
If anyone would know how to talk a friend out of a bad decisions, it might be him.
As Sanada finished his cup of ramen and started to clean up, Makoto decided to bite the bullet and ask. "You've known the other seniors for a while, right?"
Sanada looked over to him, eyes scrunched. "Shinji and Mitsuru? Yeah, we've known each other since middle school. Well-the three of us have known each other since middle school, I should say, I knew Shinji ever since we were kids, long before I got adopted."
"They're both pretty strong-willed people, wouldn't you say?"
He snorted. "Oh yeah, believe me they are. You might think they're pushy, but I know they're pushy."
"I only joined track team because I couldn't really get Kirijo-senpai off my back about it."
He chuckled and sat back down. "Yeah, that sounds right about her. When she decides she wants something done, she won't stop until she gets her way."
"How do you...convince people like that?" Makoto asked. "About things in general."
The silver-hair boy shrugged. "You just do it."
"...that's it?"
"Like with all things in life, you just have to stand your ground against other people. Doesn't matter who it's against or what it's about. If you think something's right, fight for it. If you think something's wrong, fight against it." He paused. "Sorry, got a little serious there."
Makoto scratched his head and looked away. "It's fine."
Sanada yawned. "You just gotta have faith in yourself when you think you're right. Doesn't matter if it's life or death situations, personal opinions about stuff, or trying to convince Mitsuru to get something other than Mont-Blanc aux marrons as dessert for the fourth time in a row...although that last one might just be me."
"It might just be you senpai." Makoto said as he threw away his half-eaten cup of ramen.
Friday, June 19, 2009 5:33PM
Port Island Station
Immediately after school ended, they both departed for Rafflesia. They didn't enter the flower store, instead camping out a distance away on a bench that let them watch it and for Ms. Kanou at the same time. Kenji spent most of the time pacing around in a circle, muttering to himself, while Makoto simply sat and mulled over Sanada's words.
Sanada's a very straightforward guy. He's good at this kind of thing, just directly telling people what he thinks. Every time Makoto looked at Kenji, all he could focus on was the boy's eyes filled with determination.
Kenji might have been a bit crass, inattentive, and prone to making bad decisions...but he was serious about this. When it came to his feelings about Ms. Kanou, it was the most sincere and serious Makoto had ever seen him.
There nothing I could say or do that would convince him to not do this. But at the same time, there was nothing Makoto could say or do to convince himself that this was a good idea. Even if she did return his affections, then what? A serious relationship between a student and a teacher would be illegal, not to mention impractical.
Makoto snorted. Is that all I have? Practicality? He's sitting here talking about love and living life without regrets, and I'm talking about how difficult it would be. It's like we're talking two different languages.
"There she is." Kenji said.
Makoto turned his head and looked for her between the pillars. It was now or never, he could either stand by Kenji despite knowing his decision was absolutely going to backfire on him, or he could try and talk him out of it.
He stood up next to Kenji, he opened his mouth to speak, and no words came out.
"OK, it's time, I can do this, I can-" Kenji narrowed his eyes. "Wait, who's that with her?"
A man in a suit and tie walked side by side with Ms. Kanou, both of them chatting away, interspersed with laughter from one or both parties.
"That's not another teacher, is it?" Makoto asked. He certainly didn't look familiar, then again neither did Kanou, Makoto had never actually seen her before until now.
"N-No." Kenji said quietly.
"I'm certain my mother will be able to come." The man said, far enough away that it was difficult to make out what they were saying, but just close enough that they could just barely pick up on their conversation. "Just a little longer dear, we'll celebrate our wedding soon enough, I promise."
Even from this far away, Makoto could see the twinkle in her eyes, and the how wide her smile was. "I can't wait." She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips. "Come on, let me show you, it's a beautiful store."
When Makoto looked over to Kenji, he could see the fire in his eyes was extinguished. All that was left was ash. "Kenj-" Before he could finish, Kenji ran. "Ah shit."
In the dingy, empty back alleys of the station, Makoto followed the sounds of suppressed sobs until he found his friend, leaning against a wall and quietly wailing. "Why, Emiri, why?"
"Hey." Makoto said softly. "Uh, it'll be OK you know."
"I'm fine, I'm OK." He said unconvincingly, furiously wiping his eyes. "I-I screwed things up. I think I might've misread things with Emiri. I-I really thought she liked me." His voice cracked at those last words. "Man, I look like a pathetic dumbass, don't I?"
Makoto sighed. He felt tired, not just physically but emotionally too. "It happens." He said weakly.
"Yeah, to me." He said as wiped the last tears away. "Thanks Makoto, I-I dunno what I'd do if you weren't here."
"Yeah." He awkwardly patted Kenji on the shoulder. "Of course."
Kenji looked down. "I don't know if I'd have had the guts to propose to her without you by my side...but either way, I'm glad I asked you. I'd probably feel even worse by myself."
Makoto felt his stomach drop. "Y-Yeah. What are friends for. Are you going to be OK?"
"I'm fine, I'm good." Kenji chuckled, his brown eyes unable to hide his true feelings. "Sorry man, I-I think I just need to be alone for a bit."
"Definitely, take your time." Kenji smiled at him. As Kenji turned and left, leaving Makoto alone in the alley, Makoto sighed and placed his head against the wall. "Damn it all."