Summary:
When Eito disappeared behind a burst of Undying Flames, even Sirei seemed uncertain that it managed to finish him off for good.
But the dice rolled a little differently than usual—Eito showed up, burned and battered to the next battle, with a promise to come back as long as the flames stayed weakened. Takumi wants nothing more to kill him and move on, but Kako's determination to discover why commanders have been coming back from the dead may drag Takumi down a new, though no less futile path.
He made his choice already. Takumi only had himself to blame for what came next.
Takumi wanted to scream. Alas, being the leader meant a constant pressure laid on him to finagle some semblance of composure. Not that he followed that rule most of the time, but still…
Ugh.
“…You’re sort of sure?”
“Don’t say it like that!” Sirei winced, holding up one of his hands as if he had fingers. “I’m sixty percent sure. Maybe sixty five.”
“Anything less than one hundred percent is unacceptable,” Hiruko said, glaring. Sirei panicked, scurrying back and forth.
“Hey, I didn’t wanna say this either! I know the kid tried his hardest, but it’s the truth! Maybe the flames killed him, maybe he escaped before they got him, I don’t know! It’s too blurry! Argh, whatever, that’s not the point!”
“Then what is the point?” Takumi said, desperate for this conversation to end. After seeing the explosion of Undying Flames yesterday, everyone assumed Eito Aotsuki had been taken out for good. They’d saw him burn—or thought they did. Those pesky fires never left evidence behind.
Did it even matter that the Undying Flames Boy tried at all? Sirei gripped his head and groaned. “Don’t ask me, I didn’t tell him to do that! But, seriously, we need to talk about our defenses. They’ve taken a real beating from this surprise attack; the boy’s all tired out after saving Sumino. Plus, now the wall’s weakened, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of—”
The screech of sirens brought all to a halt. On cue, a massive wave of invaders rushed the barrier, where a massive hole had been carved out in the blink of an eye. Everyone shared their disgruntled thoughts, of course, saving the worst for when they all landed on the battlefield, Takumi baring his sword to whatever laid ahead.
“Of course we gotta deal with Sumino’s fuck-ups,” Gaku grumbled.
Ima clicked his tongue. “I didn’t know Mr. Sumino was responsible for creating you. Our stupid Team Leader’s capable of making so, so many mistakes.”
“Hey! What’d I do to deserve that!?”
“Um…I wouldn’t want to blame our leader for your existence,” Kako said, though whatever stupid argument they wanted to get into over the communication line blurred in Takumi’s mind at the familiar sight of a curved blade swinging for his head.
Sirei said probably. Sort of. Maybe. And for some stupid reason, Takumi wanted to believe him. He wanted to close his eyes and live in an alternate reality where Eito wasn’t alive, seconds away from murdering him for the second time.
Probably not the last, if Sirei told the truth about the Wall of Undying Flames’s condition.
Takumi brought his blade up, parrying Eito before he got as close as last time. “Didn’t I tell you,” Eito hissed through bared teeth, “that’d I’d come back, over and over and over again, until I finally killed you?”
Of course Takumi remembered. But Eito’s promise came at a price, one shadowed behind his scythe until Eito retreated and landed in full view of everyone. Nozomi gasped, before pointing her gun at Eito’s now disfigured face.
How much did they know about Undying Flames? They only affected organic matter, and they ate away at said matter with brutal efficiency. To survive it meant you were a cut above the rest, and somehow, Eito proved himself. And yet the flames ate at him still.
They’d had their fill and left part of his face burned away, now stitched together with patches of colorful flesh sampled from the creatures the Special Defense Unit murdered and mutilated every defensive battle. An eye, hollowed from its socket, yellow fluff pulled across his cheek, comical stitches, the injured edges dyed with burn scars. The fact he recovered so much in a day seemed to be a miracle—another benefit of hemoanima, Takumi couldn’t help but remark to himself before Eito charged again.
“I refuse to die until you and the rest of your hideous species is wiped from the face of this planet!” Another swing, another parry. Takumi and Eito danced around one another and exchanged blows. Occasionally Nozomi fired off a shot, but the approaching invaders soon stole her attention. She left the two to fight (to the death, perhaps, not that Nozomi would forgive Takumi for it).
Takumi grunted, jumping back and slashing from a distance. Eito dodged, disgruntled as he hurried to close the space between. “You’re still on about that?” Takumi said. “You almost burned to death, and you’re still coming back for more!? Are you insane?”
“What does it matter what I say? You’ll never change how you see me—and you’ll never change what you are, not to my eye that lets me see the truth of this world. Scum willing to burn the world away for your own selfish benefit. An utter waste of sentient life. You exist to wring pain and suffering out of everything you touch.”
Eito shoved Takumi to the ground. Takumi shoved Eito off and rolled away. “You think it’s selfish to, what, make the world a better—” God, what was Takumi saying? “—nevermind. It’s you. You think a person breathing oxygen is selfish. Why am I bothering!?”
A sigh—Eito frowned. “Why, indeed.”
Eito reared his scythe back, high above the world. A bolt of lighting struck Takumi, sending him into a daze he barely pulled himself out of before Eito swung for his neck. The tip of his blade stabbed deep into the arid soil.
To describe their fight as anything less than choreographed seemed to be a disservice to the artistry of their combined movements. Takumi read Eito just as well as Eito read him, wormed into a part of his brain and stitched himself into every nerve, every impulse. A near-death brush, a spin out of the way, a long-distance attack, they both tried to undermine one another, failing to understand how they’ve become a part of each other.
But some knots still had a dangling chance of falling apart, throwing the balance in disarray. A stray shot brushed Eito’s cheek, and he sneered, moving around Takumi and swinging at the culprit—Kako, who gasped, eyes wide, before she fired—shooting Eito in the most tender, recently-healed part of his face.
He screamed, doubling over and clutching at reopened wounds. Takumi tried to take the chance to attack, but Eito swung, smacking Takumi in the ribcage before he ran away.
The pain limited him little. He still had all the chance in the world to flee, and so he did.
V’exhness’s monsters, too, diminished in number. Their battle on the edge of victory, the SDU watched Eito escape, Ima landing at Takumi’s side.
“You know,” he said, “it’s better if we let him go. I wouldn’t want my darling little sister burdened with his blood on her hands. He isn’t worth her.”
Takumi swallowed the lump in his throat, offering a nod and nothing more.
The walls weakened, the invaders began a relentless assault to wear at the minds of the SDU, though Takumi found himself feeling—something—to see Eito hadn’t been at the forefront of next day’s attack.
Another battle, another, another—the adrenaline of the fights ate at Takumi’s mind, the knowledge that Eito plotted against them another factor driving him into agony. After Kako dealt her fatal blow, he hadn’t come back. Takumi wanted to believe he never would.
But he knew how stupid that was. So he didn’t believe it mattered, plain and simple.
He even tried to forget about it, through each fight and every grueling ring of the siren. The way he spun around Eito’s blade, called his every move, felt the fuzz of lighting against his skin, frying his nerves alive in a way nothing else ever quite did.
It worked—until the slam of a bowl and its pungent odor tore him back to reality. Kako met Takumi’s confusion with a tense, serious expression.
“Um…Mr. Sumino,” she said, “May I speak to you?”
Takumi’s mouth fell open. “Uh. Sure. Yeah? Okay.”
…Okay, what was Kako eating this time? Takumi spared it another glance before he had to look away. He spotted the bright red of ketchup, over—ice cream? Maybe it was strawberry jam. But wouldn’t that be too much sugar!?
Kako smiled, folding her hands in her lap. “Really? You’re not too busy thinking about Aotsuki?”
Her words tore a sputter out of Takumi, who shoved some food in his mouth as if that would disprove what she said in…any practical way, really.
“I’m not—”
“You are! I saw it in a vision—that’s why I knew I needed to talk to you. Our destinies are about to cross.”
“Wh…what?”
Takumi tried to unpack that on his own, but the sparkle in Kako’s eyes left him more confused than before. She clenched her hands into fists, enthusiasm no less dampened by Takumi’s befuddlement.
“It started this morning,” Kako said, “after Ima woke me up for breakfast. I said I’d be a little longer, but the moment my hand touched the door, I had a feeling—tomorrow, we’ll fight Aotsuki again. But he’ll be angry that I…”
She stopped, and after an odd note of silence, made the motion of a pistol firing, “—so…he’ll want to kill me. But you’ll be there. And somehow, we survive by talking to him!”
Takumi pushed his breakfast away, appetite plunging into nothingness. “Hey, does Ima know about this?”
“Does he need to?”
He flinched. The hint of betrayal in her voice stopped that thought process before it went farther. “Sorry, I, uh—I mean, if it doesn’t come true, you might—”
“But it will!” Kako leaned in closer. “I know it will! You might think otherwise, but my visions are right most of the time! It’ll all happen like I saw it!”
“If this is destiny, then why bother roping me into it?” Takumi grumbled. Kako pouted, then looked down—while trying to get close to Takumi, she somehow managed to pound a fist into her bowl of mystery concoction. She frowned, wiped her hands off, and went to take a bite.
“It’s still good,” she said.
Takumi understood, specifically around the twins, why Eito wanted to throw up on everything.
The alarm going off did nothing to convince Takumi of Kako’s theory. Nor did the sight of a human figure over the horizon, as soon as he caught onto the distinct helmet shape of a commander over a—a…
“Sheesh, is that Muvuru?” Gaku said.
Hiruko sighed. “Muvrum. We’re not doing that running joke again.”
“Okay, fine, you don’t gotta—wait, what joke?”
“…Forget about it. Why is a dead commander entering our battle?”
Sirei sighed, half-asleep. “It’s a miracle? Or something, or other…”
“Shouldn’t Sirei be getting his sleep in before making us get up early?” Tsubasa said, a repeated thump coming from her car.
“Whatever’s going on, we’ll just have to tear it apart again, won’t we? Kako—” Ima stopped, his next words crackling in Takumi’s ears with the volume to leave his ears ringing, “—wait, where is she!?”
Ah.
Takumi didn’t need to ask. Kako landed beside him, hoisting a gun far too big for her over her shoulders with a smile. “Are you ready to see who’s right?”
“No!” Takumi shouted, throwing up his blade as Muvrum transformed before them. He put his hands up just as before, trembling before he cut his throat and began the battle.
Which…begged a lot of questions, really, that Takumi had no room for in the face of his little ‘bet’ with Kako. He jumped out of the path of Muvrum’s swipe, taking in every detail of his scales as though his monstrous form would dissolve and become an illusion in a blink. There was a commander capable of such, after all—though if it were her, things wouldn’t be like this.
They wouldn’t still be in battle, right?
A split-second of hesitation proved fatal, though, as Muvrum targeted a different team; a tail swing slammed the appendage into Takumi’s poor, vulnerable gut. He stumbled back, clutching the spot, before the dark shape of someone behind him made him freeze.
A blast grazed Takumi’s cheek and chased Eito away. He kept his scythe at his side—presumably for another chance to assassinate Takumi, foiled by the barrel of Kako’s gun. She lowered it, looking Eito in the eye for a couple seconds before she looked down and Takumi put himself between them.
Man, Takumi was lucky Ima was halfway across the field by now—hell hath no fury like an obsessed brother scorned. “You’re back alre—ah—huh!?”
Takumi’s eyes caught up with his brain, and his mouth fell open. Eito smiled however much he still could.
In the last battle, Eito returned with the flesh of the plush-like invaders plastered over his skin, dragged over bone and assembled into something that fit the shape of a human being. Now, though, he put no effort into hiding the horrific wound Kako inflicted on him before, invader flesh torn to show the horrific scarring beneath, the opening to a deeper layer of skin.
“It hasn’t healed yet—but I don’t have time to wait around for another procedure,” Eito proclaimed, raising his scythe. “I need to destroy you all as soon as possible, and I refuse to wait around and lose the best chance I’ve had in ages!”
He laughed, looking to the sky, to the satellite. “V’exhness may be ruthless, but a Supreme Commander unparalleled she is. Figuring out how to use that to bolster our numbers…”
Kako put a hand to her heart. “That?”
Eito grimaced and lunged. Kako stumbled back, Takumi jumping in to meet him blade for blade before he dared harm her. “Do you think I’m giving you free information for fun? No, I’m just indulging in some carrot-and-stick with you monsters before I put you all out of your misery."
“You keep gloating like you’ve got a chance—” Takumi spun, moving stage left, taking his place in front of Eito, always stopping him, always in his way, “—but look at you! You’re destroying yourself!”
But why did Takumi care? Caring meant investment, investment to camaraderie, sympathy—the most dangerous thing in a war.
No, he didn’t care. He was just thinking aloud. In his head, abstract to the battle, as anyone would do.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Eito hissed, words clasped between clenched teeth as he shoved Takumi to the ground. Kako fired off a few warning shots, and he backed off, doing a dramatic spin of his weapon before he lunged—Kako flinched and held her weapon up, but she soon crumpled underneath Eito’s weight.
Takumi threw himself on the other man. Eito yelped, and Takumi spat in his face. “Liar. How’d you bring Muvrum back?”
“I’m surprised you even remember his name,” Eito said, throat scratchy yet brimming with malice. “With all the enemies you tear down, I would’ve thought you’d long forgotten about him.”
“How could you say that?”
Kako knelt by Takumi’s side as he kept Eito pinned in place. Noises of battle raged around them, the screams of beasts and commander, whatever line laid between them. But Takumi couldn’t acknowledge it, he couldn’t lose focus on…
He shook his head. Kako continued, stealing the moment. “It’s…hard to forget your first murder,” she said, fiddling her finger between the trigger and a resting position. “We’re only doing what we have to to survive, but that doesn’t make it easier. Their desperation, their pain—you can see it even with their masks. They don’t want to die either. I wish I understood why…”
Eito opened his mouth, and Takumi slammed a hand over it. He bit his hand and Takumi reeled, giving Eito a chance to kick him off. Kako stumbled back, but with a deft hand Eito snatched her by the collar and lifted her up, weapon taken from her and cast aside.
“You ‘wish’? Is that all you repulsive creatures are good for? Throwing around platitudes while turning a blind eye to the suffering of those around you? If they’re begging for their life, then don’t kill them. If they seem to be afraid, then try to find out why. But here you continue, marching onward in desolation and destruction. I’ve never seen anything so pathetic in my life. You chose this ignorance.
“And you’ll die in it. I’m sure some will wish they understood why a young girl had to die—but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop me.”
The ever-misanthropic Eito Aotsuki accounted for plenty. The heat of battle stealing attention, the power of Muvrum to disrupt the battlefield through his presence, even if his strength failed to match it. But he’d forgotten the most powerful thing of all—
Sibling instinct.
A blood-like hand manifested, and in one swing, knocked Eito in the chest hard enough for cracks to fill the dry, hot air with cacophonous crumbling agony. Once again, Eito Aotsuki screamed, grabbed now by a certain Ima Tsukumo. Kako latched onto Ima, attempted to pry him away, but Ima’s grip stayed firm.
“Wait!” she cried. “He knows something important! Don’t kill him!”
“…Kako,” he said, low, deadly cold, “don’t stop me. You know what we have to do to these kinds of people. They’ll never learn anything else—you have to protect yourself, first.”
Ima joked far too many times for comfort about killing or hurting others for daring to look at his sister the wrong way, but as Ima’s fingers danced close to Eito’s neck, gripped with firm precision at just the right places to cut off oxygen, Takumi realized he knew how to do it. How to make it quick.
Like, say, in a place of darkness, where those with bad intentions lurked to snatch a few homeless children, you’d need a way to fight back without relying on brute strength—aim for the weak point, and let the flaws of the human body do the rest.
Takumi shivered. Kako screamed, punching her brother in the face. “You’re always doing this! I can protect myself too! He knows something really, really important, and Mr. Sumino and I are gonna find out the truth!”
“But he almost killed you!” Takumi shouted, cutting into Ima’s indignant silence.
“I would’ve been fine!” Kako huffed. “Let go of him—or I’ll never stay over ever again!”
Ima gasped, dropping Eito on the spot while he looked at Kako as though she confessed to murdering their parents, their grandparents, hell, even the beloved family pet too. “You wouldn’t!”
“…I’d consider it.”
“No, wait! Please! Anything but that!”
“Well, you did what I said…so I’ll take it back. Um—I’m sorry, Ima.”
“Kako…” Ima sniffled, pulling Kako into a hug she returned. Takumi looked around—somehow, Eito got away again, the formation of the entire SDU taking his place.
Gaku huffed. “The hell were you guys doing!? We took down all the invaders already, no thanks to you two screwing around with Aotsuki instead of helping us!”
Takumi stared at Ima’s bruised cheek, shrugged, and went to slug Gaku in the face for the hell of it.
“I’ll take care of him next time,” Takumi said, voice far less firm than he wanted it to be. "Not like—killing him before we find out what he was blabbing about. But also—he said he would kill me, if I didn’t kill him, you know, so I gotta eventually…but; the way he looked—what’s he doing to himself? I don’t get what’s going through his head sometimes, coming at me as if he isn’t gonna…”
Die.
Rot away, somewhere unknown, or at the end of Takumi’s blade. One of the two, whatever it means, wherever it leads—
“Mr. Sumino, you’re really stupid, you know? A big stupid, indecisive baby.” Kako sighed, digging into her monstrosity of a dish as Gaku barked out a laugh in the distance.
“Where’d that come from!?” Takumi shouted.
She put her chopsticks to the side. “Well…I wasn’t sure if you’d listen unless I was honest.”
“Maybe try being less honest,” Takumi said, pushing his own breakfast away. “I’m just…thinking.”
“About Mr. Aotsuki?”
“Yeah—you’re sure he wasn’t just lying about knowing why Muvrum came back?”
Kako nodded, eyes sparkling. “Absolutely! I can feel it—it’s hanging in our futures. As long as we keep going after Aotsuki, we’ll break this mystery wide open!”
Takumi sighed. “Yeah, yeah. You’re probably right, but…”
“…But?”
And there was a thought.
“Aotsuki’s words—about us not knowing something and not standing down. D’you think he meant it?”
“Huh?”
“That….That stuff he said.”
Takumi kneaded his forehead, leaning forward. He couldn’t get it out of his head; Eito dangling Kako like some toy he wanted to break wide open. His single minded determination not just to confront the SDU, but to tear Takumi to pieces in some glorious battle between the pair.
But maybe there’d been more than that—woven between, in cracks unseen, unheard—sealed under a hue of violet doubt. If something like that could even be found.
Eito spoke of ignorance and justice yet his blind rage stood contrary to all of that. Not to mention shaming them for killing despite being a serial killer himself. If he was so smart, maybe he could’ve thought of a better plan than bum-rushing the SDU constantly, but he seemed to have no interest in it. Even if it tore him apart.
“What…
“Does Aotsuki want out of this?”
Kako frowned. “Does that matter?”
To me, Takumi almost said, almost admitted to himself, then clammed up. No, he didn’t care. He shouldn’t care. But seeing Eito’s injuries, knowing the Undying Flames boy wouldn’t have done that to Eito if Takumi’s life wasn’t on the line…
Takumi had no personal responsibility to bear for the enemy. Hah; the enemy. What a way to refer to Aotsuki. He got himself into this situation by escaping. Sure, he probably would’ve ended up on death row or in jail for life when humanity returned to Earth, but at least he’d be alive.
At least…
There’d be a chance.
He winced again. A chance for what? A different ending? Maybe so—Eito’s injuries had only gotten worse over time. Whatever the Undying Flames did to him seared a toll Takumi couldn’t turn the clock back on. Maybe it was a function of the hungry, unending fire, or maybe it was just another sign Eito didn’t want to survive.
But still.
Did that matter?
Takumi heaved a sigh, raising his blade, staring at the fused form of Szanshin and Valla-Garzo in the distance. They’d targeted the flank of the academy, giving him and Kako a well-deserved break from the raging battle.
Which—they’d had to handle with just the two of them, for the record. And Takumi loved Kako like…a kouhai, or something, but she was a painfully mediocre shot. At least she’d been improving with their nonstop defensive battles, but the constant fighting took its toll in so many other ways he couldn’t say it was worth it.
As punishment for ‘screwing around’ the last battle, Sirei had forced the pair to guard the front of the school for the next few battles. Ima objected in his usual Ima ways, but Sirei held the power in that dynamic there—though Takumi still felt Ima’s eyes trained on his back as the two duked it out. Other commanders appeared, however mysteriously over the next few days, further compounding the pair’s curiosity and desire to see Eito again.
To find the truth—truth, a thin thread liable to snap under scrutiny.
Takumi didn’t want Kako to get hurt chasing her visions. But she insisted on being a part of the interrogation, and so he let her stick around. If it’d been the other way around he’d want to be a part of it, too, so he hung his head and accepted.
…Maybe he should’ve asked if she had another Eito vision before he—
“There he is!” Kako yelled, ducking down and looking out the scope of her rifle. Just as she said, a certain silhouette strutted in the distance, blade swung behind his back as he grinned, dug his heels in the ground, and charged. Swift and elegant and all too easy for Takumi to meet with a tackle. Eito yelped as he became pinned underneath; Takumi smiled.
“What the hell?” he said, laughing despite himself. “Are you gonna tell us what’s going on now?”
Eito coughed, struggled under Takumi’s grip. He ran a hand over Eito’s thinning limbs and found deteriorating muscle, and soon those laughters transformed into a choked sob. Turn misery to joy, but it’ll slip back into place before long; long before you realize what you’ve done.
“Are you trying to appeal to my sympathy?” Eito scoffed, and Takumi punched him. His face caved to Takumi’s fist like a crumpled wrapper, and Takumi lurched back in disgust, allowing Eito to pin Takumi down in turn.
Kako fired—Eito grunted and ducked out of the way in time, Takumi scrambling back to her side. He positioned his blade in front of him, however automatically, only for it to fall.
A potentially deadly mistake, in some circumstances.
But in this case, a strange weightless feeling overcame Takumi. Kako carved this path following her intuition, dragging Takumi along as certain feelings flitted at the corners of his mind.
Now, it came time to test a ‘vision’ of his own. He wanted to make a choice, just to see—a choice he once refused.
“I’m done fighting,” Takumi said. His weapon hit the ground, flopped about like a dead fish before it stilled, stolen blood pooling around it.
Eito stared.
A long silence stretched between the two—yet Takumi’s words prompted little else. Little change. Eito spoke so passionately about their ignorance, about the invader’s humanity, about how if they just used those meager braincells of theirs maybe they’d realize the futility of fighting and give it up.
Takumi waited.
But Eito’s rage never subsided. A scream ripped from his throat and he lunged to pin Takumi beneath him.
“So it doesn’t matter to you!?”
Eito punched Takumi, then grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his face close. He sneered, scars and artificial flesh struggling to contort and hold his hatred.
“You think I’m going to believe a disgusting monster’s words? Everything you have to say, everything you are, every rancid breath you take—none of it is worth anything! It’s obscene, deplorable—you honestly think you deserve to live!”
“It doesn’t matter, it never did. You act like you believe in some greater good, but you just hate us!” Takumi kicked Eito in the ribs and sent him reeling. “Quit dressing up everything you say and be honest!”
Eito gasped, clutching his ribs as he clamored to his feet and withdrew his scythe. “Does it matter?”
“…It matters to me.”
Takumi drew his sword up again. “Mr. Sumino…?” Kako asked, though she’d receive no answer.
As they drew close, kicked and slashed and tore each other apart, Takumi seared every inch of Eito’s wounds into his memory. He spun and grabbed Eito’s arm, pulling it behind his head and noting the way something snapped in his shoulder. When he swept Eito to the floor it took him a second longer to get back up again.
Pink, purple, red—etched down his arms, his legs, eating up his pale, starved flesh and transforming him into something new. Takumi wondered how he could stand it, being morphed into something not much different from the monsters that mindlessly tore through anything living set within their sights.
The invaders. The beasts—attacking for no reason other than to destroy. So Takumi was told; Eito said differently, but…
Eito was hurting.
This fight was nothing like their first scuffle, all that time ago. Eito would’ve punched half of Takumi’s teeth out by now, but as he bled on the ground, wheezing and holding his scythe more like a shield than a weapon, Takumi stood over him.
…There was nothing satisfying about this.
Nothing that mattered about this.
“Aotsuki,” Takumi said, the cries of the invaders mingling with those of his comrades, “can’t you stop?”
Eito scoffed, clutching his shoulder. He made no attempt to escape. Kako leaned over him. “Can you move?” she said, and he spat a wad of blood at her feet.
She puffed her cheeks, though the wrinkle in her brow displayed a crack of something deeper. She looked away. “You…you’re dying, aren’t you, Mr. Aotsuki?”
Eito said nothing. Takumi clenched his teeth and kicked Eito in the side despite Kako’s protests. “Weren’t you gonna hunt me down every day until you finished me for good!? You’ve only tried a couple times; but you’re not even close. Seriously, just come back with us and tell us what’s going on. The cage’s gotta be better than whatever they’re doing to you over there.”
“…Gh—” Eito clamped a hand over his mouth, wincing. Takumi thought it was his usual routine of disgust, moving away prepared for vomit. Eito lurched, and a stream of dark red liquid flowed from his mouth as he gagged, coughed.
A different kind of expulsion. Takumi stared, frozen to the spot.
Someone screamed. “Aotsuki!?”
He turned to Nozomi. When she got there he didn’t know, but she stared as Eito vomited another stream of blood, frozen in horror.
A horror Takumi understood.
He wanted something out of Eito he couldn’t pin down. A proper fight, something as satisfying as the brawl they had the very first day Takumi arrived in this timeline. When Eito grinned with the flames of his new strength simmering in his veins—though they once glimmered under his cape as he flew above his inferiors.
When Eito seemed deeply, truly capable of killing Takumi.
Before…the Undying Flames.
“Nozomi, you gotta heal him,” Takumi said, speaking before thinking. She cried out—said something, argued otherwise, but under Kako’s blurry insistence she relented, hesitation weighing her every movement as she raised the gun and filled Eito with a badly needed shot of energy.
As Eito gasped for breath, Takumi knelt.
He knew then—Eito would never be able to defeat him. He never was capable of it; Eito could pretend for a time, string along a song and dance Takumi fell into, step-by-step as they carved their path forward, but he couldn’t stay in tempo anymore.
How pitiful.
No—how stupid. He lied that day.
Takumi grabbed Eito’s head, fingers curling into his scalp. Of course it mattered. Of course Eito should’ve just stopped. If he knew he didn’t have a chance, he shouldn’t’ve fought at all.
But maybe that mattered to Eito, too. Like Takumi could tell. He wasn’t sure how he got invested in…all this, himself, but he wanted to figure it out.
“You’re coming back with us, Aotsuki,” Takumi said, giving no room for argument.
“And is there a reason you’re so adamant on protecting a traitor?”
“Not—protecting. But, uh…if he’s—since he did all that, we should, ah…give him a proper trial once we go back?”
“Sumino. We don’t have time for this again.”
“Well…”
Takumi pulled at his hair. “Maybe he knows something! About—the invaders. Just gimme a sec to talk to him. If you kill him now…you’ll end up regretting it.”
He bit his tongue.
Of course, he didn’t mean for that to sound like a threat, though the darkened shadow over Sirei said it all. Their commanding officer wielded an aura of danger as his greatest weapon. Even with his cartoonish appearance, Takumi knew damn well what he was capable of.
So he thought.
Sirei sighed, turning away. “Fine. But I’ll be keeping an eye out, in case he makes another escape attempt. Then he’s being blown up on the spot.
With a tut of something maybe holding disappointment, he left, leaving Takumi alone. He sighed, glancing back at the courtyard door, before returning to his pacing. Even if Sirei had a problem with him being there, that wouldn’t stop Takumi from having the talk with Eito he’d been waiting for.
An informational one. Just to figure out the truth behind the commander reappearance. Nothing more—
Yeah, right.
Takumi wouldn’t be hesitating so much if it’d been just that. As much as he hated to admit it, seeing Eito being eaten away by the constant fighting and his injuries from before left Takumi with a hit of uneasiness. Something about it didn’t feel right. His deterioration—surely, as bad as his previous fights went for him, he should’ve had some time to recover between them.
Yet he seemed so close to crumbling.
His stitched together flesh. His burn scars—how did they look again? Originally localized to his face and hands, Takumi swore he saw them digging deeper, higher up the elbows, twisted around his ankles—
“Aotsuki!”
Takumi pushed the door open and stumbled in, stopping in front of Eito’s cage. Splayed across his bed, jacket thrown to the side, he revealed patches of burns littered around his collarbone. Eito jolted from his nap and sneered at Takumi, reaching for his jacket and throwing it around himself like a blanket, fumbling with the sleeves as he winced and fell against the bed.
Takumi put his hands up. “I’m not opening the door. I just wanna ask something.”
“I’m not telling you anything about our plans.”
“’Our’?—No, forget about it.” Takumi squeezed his eyes shut. “…I wanted to know about your burns.”
“Your living weapon inflicted them. You were there for it, but I know you have a tendency to block out everything inconvenient, so I’m not surprised it slipped your mind.”
“Can you stop being a smartass!?”
Takumi sucked in a breath, grabbing and rattling the bars of Eito’s cage. Something flipped, and Takumi saw himself behind the bars for the briefest moment before the world righted itself; “You weren’t that badly burned in our first fight. Unless you’re—throwing yourself through the wall over and over, for some stupid—no, I know you wouldn’t do that. Not with it already weakened and the invaders to tear it down for you.”
Eito stared.
“But—who knows, you’d be crazy enough to charge it…But you’re not that kind of crazy. You’re—you hate humanity. You hate me. You hate me enough to run into a fight you know you can’t win just for the chance of killing me.”
“…”
“But you can’t.”
Takumi let go of the bars. “So what’s going on, Aotsuki?”
…Eito sighed. Grimacing. Looking at the cloth of his bed as though it contained a beautiful tapestry, too gorgeous to look away. “How much do you know about Undying Flames?”
“…Uh—”
“Just the basics, I assume. Well, we’re not much better. I asked sometimes, but it seemed humanity had a better idea of what it was than us ‘invaders’ did. It burns organic matter to a crisp and annihilates lesser beings. V’ehxness survived an encounter with a bomb of Undying Flames, didn’t she?”
“Yh—yeah, she did,” Takumi said, frowning.
Eito brought a hand to his face. “She could, because she’s on a level of her own. Me, however…the flames seem like they’re not done with me. They might not ever be, until they eat me through completely and utterly. As foul and destructive as their source. In humanity’s hands they wield a weapon capable of living on in the flesh of those who can’t fully purge it. Even if you extinguish it—the rot grows deeper.”
“Your weapon infected me, and no matter what I do the Undying Flames will take me. No matter what I do…you’ve won.”
Eito slumped back into bed. “Rejoice far away from me. Any more of your rancid screaming and I might dirty your shoes on purpose.”
…
Takumi stared.
Stared into Eito’s eyes. Beyond the gentle, cool purple a spark of magenta burned. Maybe just in Takumi’s imagination—still, he wanted to rip it out.
He settled for punching the bars instead. Eito ignored him.
“…I didn’t know,” he said. “I swear I didn’t—…fuck.”
Didn’t Eito deserve this? Takumi wanted to say so, he wanted to make things simple, but even the thinnest justifications fell short. The Eito he once knew and cared for lingered, pressed on his consciousness. This Eito hadn’t done much to deserve this. He allied with the invaders—but had he truly earned a slow, miserable death?
“By the way—V’ehxness is in possession of a machine capable of connecting to other timelines. If you’re wondering about your recent invader problem.”
Eito shuffled, turning on his side. “Do with that what you wish. I’m sure Sirei will have me dead by morning, and then you can forget about everything inconvenient all over again.”
Takumi wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch the bars again or Eito’s face; But even as a joke, he hated to think that way, deflating as he sat on the ground. He should’ve left Eito alone. Takumi would only receive Eito’s annoying, childish vitriol by lingering, but…
He couldn’t leave, either. Because that’d be a goodbye. Accepting Eito’s white flag and moving on to focus on what mattered. He’d gotten what he and Kako set out to find, after all. A machine capable of grabbing alternate copies of defeated invaders made sense…well, no, not really, but combined with magic blood powers and murderous plush creatures anything made sense.
But it was another step. Something to work towards. Another target for their leader to destroy, so that they’d earn their happy ending once and for all.
…It really should’ve been that simple.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Takumi said, but Eito said nothing. What could he say? Why did Takumi want Eito to have the answers? Hell, why’d he look to Eito at all to know anything?
…Did it matter?
Takumi stood up and headed out. He vanished from the scene, Eito’s focus turning elsewhere.
Only once Takumi’s footsteps faded did Eito speak again: “I know you’re listening. I don’t know why you’re bothering with sticking your foot in this considering you’ve done nothing but offer less than helpful contributions, but I’m too busy trying to sleep to poke holes in your arguments. So go away and enjoy your stolen efforts.”
Kako jolted out of the shrub she’d been hiding in. “H—how’d you know I was here?”
Eito lifted his head up. “I’m insulted you’d think anything about bright pink twintails in patchy brush screams stealth.”
"Hey!!” She puffed in anger, fists balled close—Eito put a hand up.
“Forget about it. Just leave. I don’t care to repeat myself.”
Kako stepped forward; she stopped a couple feet away, as if afraid to touch the bars lest Aotsuki bite her fingers off. “…Where’s this machine?”
“…”
“Is it—big? What does it look like?”
“…”
“Aotsuki!” Kako pointed at Eito and huffed. “Answer my questions! You’re…um, you’re under interrogation right now, so—”
“So why do you think I have anything to say to you?”
“…Huh?”
Eito, grumbling and reaching to fix his glasses back into place, aimed a deadly glare at Kako. “You’re another selfish weakling hiding behind others to kill to keep you alive. I’ve seen how you fight; you couldn’t convince me you’ve ever offered even an inch of actual contribution to any fight, ever.”
Something lodged in her throat. Doubt—crawling from somewhere deep and dark and making a new home somewhere more noticeable. “That’s not true!”
“Is it? Hasn’t Takumi been the one doing the heavy lifting between you two? What have you contributed to this team effort you seem so insistent on enforcing?”
Kako bit her tongue, sour blood stinging her tastebuds before she dared to let herself answer. A good detective knew how to tear down insults and fallacies with logical arguments. A strong, confident detective would stand proud and tall in the face of villains. Would never let a single word whispered under the lips of evil get through to her.
Though to call Eito something like that…
Maybe that seed of doubt was enough to disqualify her from claiming that title. She looked down, even if she needed to look up, be strong, smart, clever.
If Ima were here, she thought, he would say something. He’d tell Mr. Aotsuki off.
But she wasn’t Ima.
“You don’t have anything to say,” Eito said, a statement of fact followed by him climbing back into bed again. “Then I don’t have anything to say to you. Move along and let the adults talk next time—otherwise you’ll only get in the way.”
A surge of nausea crawled up Kako’s throat.
Right…right. She’d only get in the way, just like last time. Like before, now, and every other moment of her existence, she’d block the path more capable people glided through. Like her brother; he stayed in place while she trembled, while she folded in on herself, an immovable wall of useless aspirations.
…What the hell was she doing?
She wiped away tears she never registered shedding and stormed out. Though she went away, she didn’t return to her room.
Though the night swallowed all—she had somewhere to be. Something to prove.
In the most dangerous way possible, a mission laid before her; a real detective would never turn away from the truth.
Eito awoke to his back hitting hard, dry soil as Takumi glared at him. His insides burned just a bit more than they did before he fell asleep, as it tended to go whenever he closed his eyes these days.
“Where’s Kako?” he demanded, and Eito laughed.
“Where is she? Isn’t she glued to your side to satisfy her need for self-importance?”
Takumi kicked Eito and he wheezed. The noise made Takumi jump, stumbling back.
“Sorry, I—wait, no, why am I apologizing!?”
“And here…here I thought you might’ve become aware of your selfish impulses. I suppose I got my hopes up.”
“Shut it! Where’s Kako!?”
“Do you think I’d know? And even if I did, wouldn’t it still be a better use of your time to go around and look yourself rather than harassing me into helping you? I can wait here all night.”
Takumi froze, first in anger before he eased into neutrality. Eito worried he might’ve actually been thinking, a terrifying act so unbecoming of Takumi. Who knew what horrible ideas he turned over in that empty head of his.
Well—Eito wanted nothing to do with it.
Until something fell into his hands, and Takumi hoisted the other man to his feet with a conflicted look in his eyes. Eito turned the item over, the red sheen of the infuser reflected in Eito’s eyes—a light returned unto the blade and back again, until the weapon became an inseparable part of his being.
“…Why are you giving me this,” Eito said, dry and cracked.
Takumi sighed, retrieving an infuser of his own. Almost as a warning—don’t think you can try anything. “You can still fight, right?”
“If I have to.”
“Then come on. We gotta find Kako.”
“Just the two of us?”
“We’re the only ones who know what she’s looking for. Don’t be a smartass and hurry up.”
Eito nodded. He could argue and belittle all he wanted, but he had a feeling he’d only earn another kick for that. If he was going to fight he’d need to conserve his energy. Satisfied, Takumi grabbed Eito’s arm and dragged the man behind him, out the academy, out the gate, off past the weakened Wall of Undying Flames and into the world beyond. The once vivid purple lights now struggled to breathe, clinging to any sustenance keeping them aflame. Bugs in the air, maybe even some creatures burrowed in the dirt (about the only safe place thees days, underground). Eito thought of the living weapon sealed within the school.
He bit back vomit.
“Where’s the machine?” Takumi said, class armor donned, and Eito sighed and took the lead.
Rocks crunched under their shoes as Eito squinted, taking off his glasses to better cut through the dark. “I don’t know exactly where it is,” he said, “but I’ve been there once. And if I’m remembering correctly, it was in an old white building around similar ones—overgrown with wildlife, the kind humanity’s all but burnt…”
A sharp burning sensation radiated through Eito’s side, and he stumbled, catching himself and ignoring Takumi’s shout.
Nerve pain. It persisted still, gained strength and winded Eito when he least expected it. He’d learned to accept everything, though. No pain extinguished the drive which gave him life—his hatred.
So he told himself.
Takumi put a hand on his shoulder, and Eito pushed him off. They continued in silence until Takumi shoved Eito behind a piece of rubble.
“There?” Takumi said, pointing at a building matching Eito’s description—minus the swarm of invaders frolicking outside of it.
Eito nodded. Takumi sucked in a breath. “Don’t see any sign of Kako…uh, Aotsuki, now what?”
“Our team leader is asking me for advice? Does that mean I’ve officially taken your position?”
“Argh, nevermind! I’ll figure it out myself.” Takumi narrowed his eyes and glanced about—no sign of Kako anywhere. “Shit…maybe we can distract ‘em and sneak in? Aotsuki, you can attack from a distance; use that and we’ll make a run for it.”
Eito sighed, dramatically, hoping that sound would be all he needed to convey how stupid of a plan this was. But when Takumi did nothing, Eito caved, raising his scythe and throwing a bolt of lightning to the left. It shattered a piece of rubble, and the invaders perked up and took off towards the source of the noise. Takumi ran first, grabbing Eito and yanking him along again.
The two slipped inside, taking one turn before pressing themselves against the wall at the sound of footsteps.
“…to break it,” a deeper voice said, followed by boots hitting metal, a great big pang which rattled Takumi as he slowed his breathing. Eito put a hand to his own mouth.
Takumi dared to peak; an unfamiliar, yet oh-so-familiar helmet came into view, dressed upon an imposing figure. A commander spoke with two individuals with soldier uniforms and human faces.
“…V’exhness will not be pleased if something happens to the time machine,” the man said, the two strangers greeting him with salutes before running out the room.
The pair retreated further before the soldiers saw them. Takumi had half a mind to turn around and look elsewhere, put his theory to bed and focus on other options—
Until a bang cut through the uncertainty.
Burned away all which tried to hide. All who wanted to be strong. And for what remained—
Kako stood in the doorway, melded from darkness and into light—sniper rifle in hand she fired point blank at the commander, who tanked the shot head on. A scorch mark lingered on his helmet.
Takumi hoped that might’ve done something, but the commander turned around, hand to his neck. Takumi bolted to Kako’s side and withdrew his sword.
“Mr. Sumino!?” Kako shouted, though nothing stopped him from charging, sword raised. Nothing stopped him—
Eito grabbed Takumi’s collar and yanked him back. Takumi yelped and fell on Eito, the two tumbled in a heap as Kako looked on, as the commander stared them both down, finger hovered around his neck as though he held a gun to their heads.
Kako’s face flushed looking down at them; she looked away, back to the commander. “Aren’t—aren’t you going to…” she said, but he stayed silent.
Takumi huffed and shoved Eito off him, who wheezed and shivered, clutching his stomach for who knew how many reasons. Kako raised her rifle; she dared not fire.
“Don’t waste your time,” the commander said. “You won’t win.”
“I…” Kako began, but he continued, unaffected by her noise, her mere presence.
“You’ve learned about how V’exhness has been summoning the planet’s heroes back from the dead. My orders were to dispose of anyone who found this place.”
A chill shot down Takumi’s spine.
“…But.” The man turned away, towards the machine, before walking towards the door—blocking their exit. “Considering who you are, this won’t do.”
“Who we are?” Takumi echoed.
The commander shook his head. “I’d rather face you all on a proper battlefield. Not in this lab, tampering with things which should’ve never been touched and people who should’ve never returned. If I had a chance to go back and stop this—
“—it doesn’t matter now. You won’t die here. I’ll face you as a proper warrior, not as one of her servants.”
He rubbed the burnt mark on his mask. It smudged away, pristine metal gleaming as if Kako never thought to fire her shot. “In ten days, I will be there. Fight me with all you have.”
Takumi thought he might leave them, but he turned, grabbing Eito and lifting him up to examine him. Eito grimaced, though his tremors revealed his lack of strength. The commander dropped him a moment later.
“…Though it might already be too late for you.”
And with that—
Takumi dragged Kako for all of a few seconds until he saw the look in her eyes and let go. The same gaze she held whenever Ima said something weird, and Takumi sure as hell did not wanna be put in the same box as that guy. No offense.
Still. Could anyone blame him for being stubborn right now?
“Why’d you run off on your own!?” Takumi yelled, Kako’s face bright red as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.
She pulled the hood of her Class Armor over her head. “I had to find the time machine. Because…!”
Because she needed this more than her life.
“It was my mystery to solve! As my assistant, you’d—”
“I never said I’d be your assistant!”
“But I told you about my vision because I thought I could trust you to let me help!”
“Are you really gonna say I’m not trusting you?”
Kako bit her tongue and looked away. She could snap at her brother all she liked, but with Takumi, something felt different—maybe the weight of Takumi’s leader position on his shoulders, or simply his larger stature, but Kako struggled to argue (especially when she knew her arguments to be nonsensical in the first place) and soon opted for nothing at all.
He was right to be angry—Kako ran off on her own, towards a machine everyone knew little about, but.
But.
“…If it’s the future I saw, I want to take responsibility for it.”
Takumi thought to speak, but someone else beat him to that.
“Well—playing at being an adult is far more annoying than doing nothing,” Eito said, leaning against a piece of rubble to keep himself upright. “But the fact you managed to slip inside and land a hit on Dahl’xia…”
“Dahl—what?” Takumi said. Eito yawned.
“Must I waste my precious time explaining?”
“Aotsuki.” Takumi raised a fist, and Eito put a hand up, stifling a cough.
A few ragged breaths, and—“Fine, just stop making that face. It’s hideous, more so than usual.
“Dahl’xia is a commander who spent ages imprisoned after his denouement. The former Supreme Commander, taken down by the current one, V’ehxness. She released him from jail on the condition he guards the device she uses to pull commanders from other timelines. As long as he’s there, you won’t lay a finger on it.”
Eito laughed, dry, tired, burnt from the inside. “He’s near-indestructible. And you have more than enough fights to worry about.”
“…Awh.” Kako pouted. “I thought—maybe, if I tried harder—”
“Don’t bother. You won’t have a chance. But, if you want to prove me wrong with that foolhardy desperation of yours, then go ahead. I won’t weep if you turn up dead.”
Takumi did punch him that time—Eito shot a glare, sitting down to regain his breath. Kako paced back and forth, kneading her hands together with the occasional glance back the way they came.
At least she didn’t try to run. Takumi grabbed her hand, and this time, she didn’t seem to mind as much. “C’mon,” he said. “We have our battles to worry about. I know, you wanna solve this mystery—but it’s gotta wait. And, uh…
“A good detective knows…when to let it go?”
Kako said nothing. She folded in on herself, furled her thoughts close while the silence consumed them all. She looked as though she faced several paths, roads Takumi couldn’t begin to conceptualize. He’d started this on Kako’s whim, but now something else sprouted.
A single thought.
A dangerous, lurking want. “…There’s still a way,” Kako said. Eito looked as if he wanted to tear Kako apart.
“Huh?” Takumi sand, and Kako raised a finger.
“Closer to the end, they might not be able to spare a guard for the lab,” she said, “so if we bide our time, we might be able to sneak in during a defensive battle.
“Ah, and you think Takumi will be your flawless lynch-pin for your half-baked plan?” Eito laughed, nothing but contempt with each word. “The same person who tried to shut you down—who’s to say he’ll even want to bother?”
“Shut up!” Takumi shouted. “I haven’t even said anything!”
“Well, I don’t care either way. Do whatever you want—in fact? Go ahead! Whatever has humanity killed faster. You can go die alongside that accursed device; humanity would be better off never learning it existed.”
“A time travel device would change everything, though,” Kako said, glancing back in the lab’s direction. “Couldn’t it…help us fix everything we did wrong in the past? It could reverse tragedies—let us uncover mysteries—”
“And allow whoever wields it to rewrite history,” Eito finished. “Don’t be stupid; though I might be asking too much from someone so repulsive. There’s never been anything good about changing the past. Because—”
Another pained cough; Eito clutched his chest. “There’s too much to regret. Even if you’re someone incapable of it,” a look to Takumi, “surely, everyone has something they wish they could change. Thoughts and choices turn to actions, to regret—an amalgamation of slithering, choking pains constricting your throat, heart, all to shreds until you become nothing but a shambling corpse wanting to return to what you once had. But it’s already gone, and honestly, no monsters deserve that fate more than you all.
“Are you going to stand here and say you have nothing you’ve ever regretted? That if you had your hands on that machine, you’d only use it for the greater good?
“You’re all so incapable. No reasoning, no reflection—I knew all along why Takumi brought me here tonight. I saw it in your eyes since our first battle, growing and festering and eating away at me like these Undying Flames you let your weapon inflict on me. For your greater good?
“Ah…ahaha, honestly.”
Eito withdrew a trigger. Kako’s eyes shot open, and Eito’s last words—
“You should’ve let me die in the first place.”
Eito covered his face, braced himself as Takumi blew up. He planted the bomb in Takumi’s sock, loud and flashy enough to alert anyone for miles. If he ran, he’d get the corpse back in time for the others to revive Takumi before running off himself.
Though, maybe he could make Kako handle it for him. It was about the only thing she was…
Huh.
The blast must’ve stunned him badly; Kako disappeared, almost into thin air. Eito’s breath hitched.
Takumi opened his eyes in his bed, in his room.
In the academy.
A purple-white blur snapped into focus, and as soon as he sat up, Nozomi leaned over and checked his forehead, breathing a sigh of relief.
“You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness.” She smiled. “Do you know what day it is?”
“Uh—”
Takumi wiped a string of drool from his mouth. He had a feeling that whatever answer he gave, it’d be wrong. “…uugh, how long’ve I been out?”
Nozomi laughed—then her smile dropped. Her deep eye bags and accumulation of bandages said enough. “A while. It’s—day 99, I believe.”
“You don’t know!?”
“We’ve been fighting every day, it all starts to feel the same!” Nozomi raised two fists, eyes narrowed. “Quick! Let’s fight right now as a warm up!”
“Warm up for what!?” Takumi pushed himself out of bed. As if on cue, the sirens went off, and Nozomi went from eagerly aggressive to aggressively eager, grabbing Takumi and dragging him to the War Room before he had a chance to protest. Two things stood out: Ima leaned against the wall in a corner, alone, no Kako in sight.
The other thing: Everyone else looked at Takumi. He had a second to breathe before Takemaru gripped him, followed by a few pats of encouragement, comfort, and even some punches and grumbling.
“Wh—what’s going on…?” Takumi asked, gasping for air.
Takemaru replied first. “What’d’ya mean ‘what’s going on’? That shitstain almost killed you!”
“Huh!?”
“We heard an explosion in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago,” Tsubasa said, cupping her hand under her chin, “and when we got there, we found—urk—half of you. We brought you back, but Kako’s been missing since. Was she with you?”
Takumi’s blood ran cold. “She—she was…shit, you didn’t see her!?”
Click, click. Ima approached, hands tucked behind his back as he regarded Takumi with a gaze colder than Takumi had ever felt before. “If you know anything about Kako’s whereabouts, it’d be smart to share it now. You know, before I get impatient.”
An ache in Takumi’s chest had him stumbling away from everyone else, clutching at his heart. Relief washed away for uneasiness, a sticky sense of dread as he clawed at his memories. Where was Kako? Everything went black when Eito raised the trigger.
He said Takumi should’ve let him die.
But what about Kako Tsukumo? It stood to reason she died for good. He must’ve blown her up too, but then why did everyone find Takumi’s body and not hers?
…Maybe this was just another mistake for Takumi to bear. One against the Undying Flames Boy for trading strength for everyone’s safety—from the beginning, and to the end—and another for letting Kako follow her ambitions, even if the way to self-destruction was clear from the start.
She wanted to be something more than she was.
He should’ve known.
Really, he…
“Hey!”
Sirei shoved Ima away, who held a knife to Takumi’s throat. He flailed as Sirei slid a needle in his neck, injecting a weird yellow liquid that had Ima out like a light. The room flooded with chaos and yelling and other things Takumi didn’t want to hear before the robot gained control of it.
“Really thought the kid could’ve handled one last fight, but what can you do?” Sirei shrugged, wiping his forehead. “Sumino can explain later, but right now, we’ve got enemies coming up, and I expect you all to fight with everything you have!
“This is it—we’ve made it to the home stretch! What we’ve spent all these battles building up to, day by day! Humanity’s last stand for our peaceful future!”
“We were the ones who fought,” Tsubasa griped, “not you.”
Sirei ignored her. With a single gesture, he had everyone lined up and launched towards the battlefield. Takumi hit the ground with a shudder, unsteady, but once he had his sword in hand he felt at home. Two weeks in a coma, but somehow his body shrugged it off.
That worked. Whatever it took—he distracted himself long enough. With Kako’s visions, with Eito’s condition…
Eito…
“Keep your wits about you,” Sirei said. “We don’t know what these invaders have up their sleeves.”
Takumi’s swings came with the durability of a machine, slicing through invaders like shrubs while he waded through a thick, damp, dark forest. Nothing felt like a fight. Just work—work like how Tsubasa barreled over bodies, how Yugamu sliced off the invader’s heads with the efficiency of a chef, Nozomi aiming and healing with methodical precision, calculations running of who was injured, who was about to be, who needed it most.
Ima wouldn’t join them. Neither would Kako—Kako, who’d been at Takumi’s side for quite a few fights.
But it was fine.
He just needed to get rid of them, and they’d be free. There’d be no going back once the time machine was obliterated. No regrets that could be undone.
No deaths—or soon to be deaths, overwritten.
Takumi raised his blade and cut. When the battlefield cleared and revealed V’ehxness, Takumi breathed. When another one of her stepped out, blade revealed, his heart thudded with dull disappointment.
The power of time on her side…and all this Supreme Commander could think to do was summon more bodies to throw into the fire.
Yeah. She’d do that.
A dull world without choices or color, and Takumi became a part of it. He swung his blade—
And met with not V’exhness’s blade, but a long, impractically curled one, reflecting a bright red.
“…Takumi,” Eito breathed, and it wasn’t another battle anymore. A mindless brawl where Takumi turned his brain off and bathed in his regrets. Now Eito was there too, tired, thin, but alive, each breath carrying the weight of all his hatred. “You thought I’d disappear and die somewhere far, far away from you.”
“I thought the same. I knew you wouldn’t die, but—aah, I wondered whether I’d last long enough to be able to do this. I’m grateful.
“Because I finally get to share this with you—all my hatred, all my anger—even if I have no chance of killing you, if I can see you bleeding and broken, it’ll make everything worth it!”
Eito swung and knocked Takumi off balance. The blue of the sky shined in his eyes as Takumi leg swept and brought Eito to the ground. The imposing black shadow of the academy loomed over them as Eito snarled and dove to tackle Takumi.
Nozomi’s white uniform flashed by as she fired a healing shot towards Takumi. He mustered his strength and pushed Eito off, stabbing Eito’s shoulder with his dark blue blade—a world bursting with so much color Takumi wanted to drink it all up. As he ripped the blade out, slowly, he thought to ask about Kako.
But Eito’s eyes reflected a simmering pool of desperation. Takumi pursed his lips shut. Kako—dead, alive, wherever she was, it’d be up to her what happened.
Takumi just needed to make this choice.
He needed to have this moment with just Eito.
“If you can kill me,” Takumi said, breath hot against his tongue, “then do it.”
Eito laughed, and Takumi choked. Eito slipped his scythe close and landed a hit on Takumi’s side, sending him reeling back. Bleeding and brushed, the two clashed, weapon-to-weapon, intertwined in a chaotic storm of which they stood at the center, a simple, calm proclamation of the end—If I am to die, let it be here.
Let this last memory be of you.
“It’s my fault this happened,” Takumi said, swinging for Eito’s throat and missing. “You wouldn’t be dying if I didn’t reject him!”
“Does that matter?” Eito laughed, sending a bolt of electricity which fried Takumi, stuffed him with numbness and sent him to the ground.
Takumi rolled out of the way before Eito took his head off.
“It mattered to me,” Takumi said, throwing his sword away and lunging.
Eito, too, discarded his scythe. A single punch. Kicking, biting, something more resembling a street brawl than a thing of war. Discarding advantages and ‘proper combat’ for something as simple as violence. Stripping down the frivolities, the justifications, come on, where’s your sense of justice, your righteousness, your cause, and journeying to the core of it.
Takumi really hated Eito’s self-importance. And Eito despised the way Takumi tore through time, reality, other people with merciless, monstrous determination.
Yet he couldn’t look away.
Battle after battle—it’d end just like this. This was the choice they made. It mattered, all this time. All across time.
Takumi wrapped his hands around Eito’s throat and squeezed. Tears stained Eito’s cheek.
“I don’t want you to die like this,” Takumi said, as the light faded from Eito’s eyes. “I didn’t want this—I thought I was just…
“…doing the right thing.”
Eito choked; he barked out a half-laugh through strangled gasps. He had no last words. Takumi wouldn’t let him have any, because if Eito said a single thing to sway Takumi’s heart he might’ve faltered in granting Eito’s last wish.
Takumi hoped the wounds Eito inflicted scarred over. Seared his flesh. Marked him, marred him. Just another reminder. The memories tied around Takumi’s throat and choked him out as he knelt over Eito’s motionless corpse—
As V’ehxness held a blade over Takumi’s head.
He hadn’t noticed her approaching. Nothing mattered outside of Eito right now, and even still he couldn’t say he felt anything after Eito’s death. He traveled back to save everyone, to save Nozomi—yet he let the one thing that foiled every living person with a pulse and a connection drag him down.
This festering regret.
Takumi closed his eyes.
The pressure of something tapping his head, like a kiss, appeared and faded, followed by the crunch of metal tearing through flesh. When he dared to open his eyes again, the masked V’ehxness had sliced off the head of the one from this world. It flew into the air with a comedic touch before it slammed against the ground, shattered into a lump of brains and blood.
The other V’ehxness sighed, removing her helmet. Kako Tsukumo looked to Takumi and held a hand out. Her eyes carried a spark of determination.
“Mr. Sumino,” she said, smiling. “I don’t want to live with regrets. I wanted to be strong—like all of you. But…even now, I think I could be stronger. There’s so much I want to know.
“I don’t want things to end here. I’m going back—will you come with me?”
…Going back? Takumi gripped Eito’s throat, as if he could choke life back into him. Surviving the war, that was one thing. But making it to the end with no regrets; something about those lingering wishes made Takumi worry he’d reach the point of no return if he traveled back once more just for Eito.
Just to erase these scars.
Well, he could lose the bruises and the cuts. But Eito Aotsuki—that festering memory, some things never faded.
Takumi laughed. He took Kako’s hand, thin and covered with scabs. His blood stained her palms, and he let this Eito go for the next; for whatever Eito would come next.
He’d chase him down. However phantom-like—however many battles it took.