#Hiro makes a very big appearance in chapter 9

[teabiscs]

This whole Rei and Max scene never ends omg.

Almost at 6k words 🙃

This chapter includes:

▫️Not one, but two incredibly soft KaiRei scenes.

▪️Everyone’s favorite: Rei/Denial

▫️Max. Okay. A LOT of max.

▪️Cockblock Max with incredible timing.

▫️Teenagers in love, being codependent

▪️A very brief TyHil mention (whenever I write max’s pov it will be more prominent.)

▫️Everyone’s other favorite: Rei/Anxiety

▪️very little Hiro….

[arctimon]

*insert witty title involving Momakase here*

(Warning: This post is long.)

So I never actually shared this theory outside of DeviantArt, and it was also part of a greater post of predictions for the show. But now that I've essentially had a year to sit on it, and can now better illustrate my points, hopefully I can make it clearer. Today, on the "Big Hero 6 Conspiracy Theories" Podcast with Arctimon, we're going to be talking about...Momakase.

“But Jason, you’ve already talked about Momakase and her comparisons with Lady Deathstrike!” You are correct, imaginary person I made up for the purposes of this conversation.  But we’re going to go a little deeper this time.

However, before we get into Momakase, let’s talk about someone else for a hot second.  And that person’s name is Ana Cortés. Now, if you’ve read my stories, that name may seem familiar to you: it’s the alias that Momakase uses when seducing the rich guy at the end of "The Usual Suspects” (Chapter 9 of Continuity II).  But what if I told you that the name isn’t just an alias to her?  What if it’s her real life? But let’s chat about the Prime Marvel Universe Ana Cortés.

The character was only around for four issues back in the 2013 run of X-Men, when the all-female team was being led by Storm.  She made her first appearance in Issue #7, being introduced as the daughter of a recently-deceased Colombian businessman.

Being the head of a billion-dollar company wasn’t enough for young Ana, so she recruited a Yakuza member named Reiko to bring her the consciousness of Lady Deathstrike, who had recently been killed.  That, along with the nanites that she would later be given, gave Deathstrike a new young body, capital to boot, and a quest to make a new Sisterhood to topple the X-Men.

Which ultimately lead to Ana/Yuriko’s new look...

Through the next four issues, Ana would recruit others into her new Sisterhood, such as Amora the Enchantress, Typhoid Mary, Selene, and Madelyne Pryor, with them ultimately achieving their goal: to bring back to life a sentient bacterium named Arkea and declare war on mutants and humans.

As the plan progressed, Ana started getting cold feet, fearing what Arkea wanted to do and hating what she had become.  So, in Issue #11, after pleading with Typhoid Mary to finish her life...

She decides to take her own.

And thus the life of Ana Cortés came to an end.

So what does this have to do with Momakase? Well...everything. Momakase’s history is a mystery (unintentional rhyming).  The only clear thing that we know about her past is her family in an indirect way, courtesy of “Hiro the Villain” and her recruiting him to get her family swords back from Yama:

The katana and the wakizashi seem very important to her, so much so that she would risk breaking into Yama’s penthouse to get it and getting Hiro to come along with ehr.  Unfortunately, this is never expanded upon because this is the last speaking part of Momakase in the show before the series finale in “The Mascot Upshot”.

We know that her father gave them up because they were being threatened by gangsters.  We don’t know how long ago that was, but since Momakase mentions that the swords are “the last connection to her family”, we can deduce that they’re probably not in the picture any more.

(By the way, if anyone can decipher what that emblem is suppose to be, knock yourself out.)

But as we all know, apples don’t fall very far from trees.  And this is where we’re dealing with pure conjecture and guessing on my part.

I’ve written in my stuff about how Momakase started out in villainy at a young age.  Her first attempt at crime ended up with her being caught by Boss Awesome.  And she must have left an impression on him, because remember...he had a file on her in “Food Fight”.  So she must have been active at least a couple of decades ago, because Fred’s dad retired before Fred was born.

But what really led her to go down that path?  Perhaps the mash-up nature of this world could give us some insight. So imagine that your father is a Colombian handyman who had to work extra hard to support your immense family of brothers and sisters after his parents died.  Now imagine that your mother is a Japanese socialite and never had to lift a finger in her entire life.

Now imagine their fates intertwining.

The mother is immediately infatuated.  The father tries to rescue her from her life of artificial captivity.  They run off, elope, and in less than a year, they give birth to a wonderful daughter.

That daughter being you. Your elders, seemingly seen the error of their ways, gift the couple a pair of ceremonial daisho swords that have been in the family forever.  Life goes on. You witness the bullies of the world threaten your family.  You see their most cherished possession being taken away, and then you swear to yourself you won’t end up like that.  So, you get yourself involved in villianry.

And then years later, when it doesn’t seem like you can do anything right...you meet someone.

He’s a police officer, also in the infancy of his occupation.  He visits you in jail, talking on and on about how justice was served...but something else is there in his eyes.  Pity?  Interest?  Sadness?  All of that and more?

Once you get out, you visit him between heists.  He doesn’t know, of course.  You tell him you’ve gone straight.

But the more you stay with him, the more you feel yourself getting closer.

“But it wouldn’t work”, you say.  He’s a man of the law.  You’re a woman of lawlessness.  Both you and he come to the consensus that while things are good between you, it’s best to quit while the both of you are ahead.

Fate, of course, had other plans.

Life rears its beautiful and ugly head.  Your enemies come calling for you.  They want your debt paid.  And they’ll do anything to get it, including taking down your beloved...

And your newborn baby girl.

Of course, we all know who this certain “man of the law” is.

The person who suddenly had to leave San Fransokyo with no reason to the befuddlement of the people closest to him, including Aunt Cass. I mentioned before that it didn’t make sense that his father dying would be the reason why he had to leave San Fransokyo.  It would have to be something that needed to be kept away from public consumption.

Alternatively, what do you think would happen to the most hardnosed, relentless officer in the San Fransokyo force if word got out that he fathered a child with a criminal?

And what do you think would happen to her?

Megan is looking into it with the help of Kate (as of Loose Ends).  We’ve seen Diego and Momakase have this conversation in “Assembly Required”.  Heck, even Hiro seems to think something’s up when he talks to her in “Anti-Hiro”.

She doesn’t have any of her attributes.  She doesn’t have any tremendous thieving skills.  She has never interacted with the Cruzes in the show at all.  It’s the theory that, no matter how you look at it, doesn’t make a lick of sense at all.

And somehow it makes perfect sense to me.

Momakase, the woman whose real name is Anastasia “Ana” Momo Cortés...is Megan’s mom.

And that is a plot thread that I plan on tugging on even into The Future.

What was that about apples and trees?  They never seem to stray too far from each other...

[capnmarvell]

I’m bored so I decided to put together my theory on what the first cour of season 2 is gonna look like. This is pretty standard, but I wanted to put this out there so I can see how off I was when the season starts.

Spoilers under the cut!

Episode 1: Chapter 43 & Ending of Chapter 45

I think it makes a lot of sense that the first episode of the season be this, because it reintroduces a lot of the main characters we deal with (Tohru/Kyo/Yuki/Uo/Hana/Momiji/Haru) while also introducing, officially, Rin and establishing her relationship with Haru and their break up. Also reminds the audience of the gang’s teacher, Mayu, as she will come up a lot more later.

Episode 2: Chapter 36 & 42

Starting the episode off with Yuki and Tohru visiting Ayame’s shop, especially after my guess of the first episode is a good because in Chapter 43 Yuki notices Kyo protecting Tohru, and then here he “flirts” with Tohru because that’s what he thinks he’s suppose to do. Plus, we already got a sneak peak of Mine in the season 1 second cour opening, so it makes sense to me that they’d introduce her early in season 2. And based on my own shot my shot of the season 2 trailer, it can be assumed we are getting another Prince Yuki Fan Club episode, so makes sense to make this whole episode Yuki-centric by making the second half of the episode about the club trying to find out if a girl Machi is going to be on the student council.

Episode 3: Chapter 46 & 47

Already established in season 1 ep 25 that summer is coming soon, so this last school related episode needed to be within the first 5 episodes, I think. We get Uo bringing up meeting Kureno, and the Career Goals & Parent/Teacher conferences set up for after summer break, Kyoru!, and Shigure’s laundry metaphor. And with the first half having a lot of Kyo, it balances out with ending the episode with Yuki’s quality time moment with Ayame.

Episode 4: Chapter 48 & 49

Okay, don’t hate me, but....I feel like they won’t include the Haunted House portion of Chapter 48. I get that it’s very funny and a fan favorite, but the big moments in that chapter were the announcement of summer vacation, and Rin’s introduction. The Haunted House was filler. Since we already got Rin’s introduction, I think the episode will have some additional stuff with Kakeru and Machi, as they are important but we don’t see them for 14ish chapters after this so they’ll want to have a bit stronger introductions so new fans remember them. 

Episode 5: Chapter 50

I was debating what they would combine Kureno and Uo’s chapter with, but then I kept thinking ‘there really isn’t any other chapter that would make sense.’ So I would guess they might give these two their own episode. They might throw in more filler between Uo, Tohru, Hana, and Megumi at the end, or with Kureno to establish him more, but otherwise this episode will solely be about them I think.

Episode 6: Chapter 52 & 53

A much anticipated Kyoru episode for my anyway, with Kyo and Tohru visiting Kazuma at his home. We get introduced to a favorite small character of mine, Kunimitsu, but we also get introduced to Kyo’s birth father. Combining this chapter with chapter 53 also helps segue us into the Summer House arc, gives us another touch of Rin, and more details on the Hat.

Episode 7: Chapter 54 & 55

The Beach House arc is very expansive, but with the Hatori chapters it’s a nice break up of them. 54 and 55 have nice fun bits, lulling the fans into a false sense of security of what these next few episodes will entail. The last 15 - 10 minutes will have that bit with Tohru reacting to what Hiro said about her parents, and Kyo being the only one to notice that something is off with her.

Episode 8: Chapter 56 & 57

Like I said, a nice break before we get to the dark stuff. And even then this episode would get pretty sad since we’re learning about Mayu, and her own past with Hatori, Kana, and Shigure. But it gets lighter towards the end with Mayu and Hatori reuniting and hinting at the two of them finding happiness with each other. We also don’t see much of the two together again until the end of the series, so I’m hoping for a bit more hints of the two seeing each other later on in the anime - since we got more scenes with Ritsu and Mitchan I want more Mayu and Hatori!

Episode 9: Chapter 58 & 59

And here we go into some “fun” times. Smashing watermelons and Kyo and Tohru talking about their parents, Akito arrives at the Summer house, forcing the zodiac away from Tohru and Kyo jokes on you Akito, Tohru is happy being alone with Kyo, Akito and Yuki have their private confrontation, we find out Yuki was the one who saved Tohru when she was lost, and we also get Yuki’s internal “confession” of ‘I love you’ regarding Tohru.

Episode 10: Chapter 60 & 61

Definitely gonna be building up some tension here, Akito there lurking over them all, pulling the zodiac away from Tohru, as well as Tohru finally meeting Rin. Great cliffhanger for the episode too, with Akito dramatically demanding they bring Kyo the next day.

Episode 11: Chapter 62 & 63

WOW. This is a very big episode for Kyoru fans. We get Kyo and Akito’s confrontation, as well as learning about their bet, and Kyo’s realization that he is in love with Tohru, and the flashbacks showing Kyoko and revealing that Kyo appeared to have known Kyoko as a child. It’s a very big episode, but also leads into an even BIGGER episode. I can only imagine the stress we’ll all be feeling.

Episode 12: Chapter 64 & 65

Oh, the biggie. I, personally, am not ready to see my boy Momiji getting hurt, but we’ll have to. We have Tohru and Akito’s confrontation and Akito telling her of the zodiac’s destiny, including Kyo’s, and Akito’s role in the zodiac as well. We also have Tohru’s introduction to Kureno, and Tohru’s decision to break the curse.

Episode 13: Chapter 66 & 67

Now, I would think the first cour would end with the Beach House arc, but the first cour of season 1 ended with episode 13, so I think this will also be ending with episode 13 too. Plus, with the second teaser trailer, we hear Tohru say “I want to try to break the curse.” And she thinks that to herself at the end of Chapter 65, but she also says that to Kazuma in chapter 67, so it’s not too out there to think that’s where the clip is from. And, we are introduced to the remaining members of the Student Council working with Yuki, which makes sense to me to introduce the last of the members before the end of the first cour. So I think ending the first cour with them returning to school and Tohru reaching out to Kazuma for knowledge on how to break the curse is a good ending point, and sort of wraps the whole first cour up nicely.

[mazojo]

Favorite Sohma’s

Hi yes, uh, I needed a space to rant about fruits basket because I am still very broken so yea

Disclaimer that this is just my opinion and I still love them all very much, just needed to get this out of my system ayee. Also I will include a song that reminds me of them because I am that invested in this so yeaaaa

14- Kagura Sohma

Boy by Little Mix - “I know what you’re worth girl, you know what you got”

I rank Kagura as my least favorite just for the fact that I cant really relate to her I guess? I mean, she is okay, I think she is cute and all but I don't think violence is the way to go about her struggles and she is so much more worth than she gives herself credits for. In the end, I dont think I full understood her big struggle as much as the other characters and thats why she is at number 14, although I want her to be happy and full of love and support like the others ;w;

13- Akito Sohma

My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day - “But it’s plain to see, Evil inside of me is on the rise”

Akito is a complicated one for me man. Of course, in the beginning and throughout the manga you learn to really dislike her because she did some terrible things, specially to my baby boi Yuki and eye-.... But then when we learn more about her and everything she has gone through we start sympathizing with her but i..... cant just forget everything she did. I get she was traumatized since she was little, she became dependent on the zodiacs because of her father’s words and mother’s behaviour thus becoming a broken person with this big responsibility she didn't ask for. It really ticks me however, how much pain the others underwent through her, and even though its a healing process, the traumas and everything they suffered is still there which is why I cant place her higher. I do not hate her by any means, but she isnt my favorite person on this list either. I do ship her with Shigure and I think they help each other out, and they grow from the other.

12- Shigure Sohma

Used to the Darkness by Des Rocs - “Now would you pray before you twist the knife? Yeah, would you take my hand and take a life?”

*big sigh* Shigure is also a complicated one for me. It may be my big dumb energies showing but I didnt fully get a grasp on his character? I know he was doing everything for Akito’s sake to liberate from the curse and be with her so she is finally a “woman” but he always acted a bit shady xD?? I would have love to know more about his backstory, we dont get much from his motivations and character other than the perverted aspect and that he loves Akito lmaoo. I do think he is hilarious and I love the dynamic he has with Hatori and Ayame lol

11- Ayame Sohma

Starships by Nicky Minaj - “Starships were menat to fly, Hands up and touch the sky “

To be honest I am pretty neutral about Ayame’s character. He is hilarious and I love how Yuki insults him every tike he gets the chance lolll. I like how throughout the story he tries to change to become a better brother to Yuki and person even though he is pretty extra most of the time about it. He has a good heart and even though he made some mistakes he owns up to them which in my opinion, makes him a good character <33 I love his friendship with Hatori lmaooo they balance each other out sooo well

10- Kureno Sohma

Taking Chances by Celine Dion - “Never knowing if there's solid ground below, Or a hand to hold, or hell to pay”

I really like Kureno! He has gone through quite a bit and he needs a hug. I am sad thinking how most of his life he lead it pretty similarly to Yuki’s, apart from everyone and super enclosed to his relationship with Akito due to him breaking the curse and feeling bad about it. I do wish we would have gotten to know more about his personality and story, if we did I would have definitely ranked him higher! He really reminds me of Tohru’s father and I think Uotani is perfect for him <33 would have love to see more about the two of them and hopefully they expand upon it in the anime

9- Ritsu Sohma

Waving Through a Window by Ben Platt - “On the outside, always looking in, Will I ever be more than I've always been?”

Okay okay so I have a lot of thoughts on Ritsu. Manga Ritsu is okay, I really dont have much of an opinion on him due to him appearing only in a few chapters, I feel like from the Sohma’s, he is the one we get the least information about. But then the anime episode came out where they presented Ritsu and I thought they gave him so much more life and rounded personality where, I get to relate a lot to him? I am someone who is constantly apologizing for absolutely no reason and seeing him be all anxious and stressed about others interactions is big relate to me and I stan. I also think the whole dressing as a woman plot line is better dealt with in the anime and I hope we get to see more about his insecurities and troubles in the future because he is truly a very interesting character! I stan my one (1) anxious monkey.

8- Kisa Sohma

Mean by Taylor Swift - “But you can take me down with just one single blow, But you don't know what you don't know”

Cinnammon rooooooolll. Kisa is such a cutie. I dont have much to say other than my mood every time I think about Kisa is hugging her like Tohru does because she is babyyyy. Also her bullying story is one I think many viewers and readers can relate a lot to and such an important topic I think they covered pretty well and I loveee. Also her and Hiro are one of my favorite ships because they work so well and asdfgh in this household Kisa is a queennn.

7- Isuzu Sohma

Take me Home by Jess Glynne - “Came to you with a broken faith, Gave me more than a hand to hold”

I really like Isuzu!! I am pretty bummed we wont get to meet her in season 1 of the Anime reboot but hopefully in the nest season! She is quite a complex character that I didnt really understand at the beginning but once we see how much she loves Haru and all that she does in order to protect and keep him save she really went up my list. She has gone through so much, from her shattered reality from her parents, Akito threatening Haru, her being locked up withour given any food.... Isuzu is so strong and one of the best build characters in the series and I am super excited to see her in the anime!

6- Hiro Sohma

Time to be a Man by The Airborne Toxic Event - “And it’s time to be a man, Tell me how does that go?”

My bastard childdd <33 He is such an asshole and such a sweetie at the same time. His whole inner struggle of not feeling like a good enough man for Kisa is so heartwhelming and I think it really makes sense to the type of person he is. The flashbacks of him telling Akito how he loves Kisa and the feeling of uncertainty and impotency when seeing the girl he loves being hurt by his actions and wanting to be good enough for her even though he is more than enough sdfghjasd. I am also a softie for older brothers who love their families *cough cough* spoiler alert: Momiji *cough cough* that I love me one angry boi

5- Hatsuharu Sohma

4 Seasons by Rex Orange County - “I saw myself as less and you so high above me”

Cow boil! apart from the fact that I love love loveeee Haru’s design, I think he is also such a well build character! He is not only supportive of everyone (aka the loves of his life, Rin and Yuki xDD) but he is so interesting! His split personalities give him a cool trait (even though dark Haru doesnt appear much in the end of the manga) and I love how he helps everyone and makes sure those he loves are protected at all cost and happy. He is Rin and Yuki’s fan club stan leader and I am co-leader so we been stanning aye

4- Hatori Sohma

Fireflies by Owl City - “I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes, I got misty eyes as they said farewell”

Boooooy the next four to come are my absolute favorties and I would die for their happiness and love so *takes big breathe* I LoVE hAtORi sOhMAAa. To be honest when we first meet him I didnt like him much. I thought he was your usual dark deep character who doesnt talk much because he is too cool for everyone (which, he is) and that was that. But boi was I in for a riDE. His story about having to erase the memories from the woman he loves is one of the ones I cried through the most. I put myself in his shoes and wonder if I had to erase the memory of the person I loved the most, make them forget they ever met me, all our happy times, sad times, angry times.... No matter what its one of the most saddening moments and the whole scene is heartbreaking, which makes me love Hatori even more for the fact of how strong he is and selfless. He puts himself before others and he need to know he also deserves happiness and I am glad in the end he got it because homeboy needed a break ;w;. I also adore Ayame’s relationship with him xDD, he is like his idol and big same.

3- Kyo Sohma 

This song saved my Life by Simple Plan - “Sometimes it feels like nobody gets me, Trapped in a world where everyone hates me”

Top three babyyyy. We have now my angry cat boi™. I mentioned it before but going into the reboot firsthand without reading the manga nor watching the first anime, I thought Kyo was going to be my absolute favorite character. I knew he would be the angry boi who was soft inside and probably had a tragic backstory™ that made him act the way he did and I am a sucker for those types of characters. And I love Kyo, I really do, specially when we find out more about his struggles and past. The exclusion he felt throughout his life for being the cat, the abandonment, feeling like he had no one and was ready to die because he didn't have any source of genuine happiness (well, apart from Kazuma ya know but stillll). Then he finds Tohru, the girl he promised to protect, the one that reminded him of the woman that helped him out all those years ago and I just.... poetic cinema at its finest. Kyo and Tohru make one of my favorite couples and I love how flustered and In absolute l o v e he is with her and Kyo is great man....

2- Yuki Sohma

Nandemonaiya by RADWIMPS - “Crying even when you're happy, Smiling even when you're feeling lonely”

THIS WAS ONE OF THE HARDEST DECISIONS OF MA ENTIRE WEEB CAREER SO EXCUSE WHILE I SCREAM. Yuki Sohma won my heart and entire soul throughout the series. I liked him from the start but he wasn't my favorite favorite at the beginning you know? I thought he was isolated and thats why he didn't have much friends and he was perfect and what not but boi was I wrong and happy about it. I think one of the reasons Yuki is one of my favorite characters in fruits basket is how much I can see myself in him. Having the constant need of perfection while also wanting to connect with others but finding it hard is something I personally struggle with and every time we learned a little bit about his backstory my heart broke. Everything Yuki had to go through, the rejection, the isolation, understanding that you are loved and not a burden, falling in love with someone, finding that figure of a mother/friend he always yearned for.... The complexity of Yuki’s character is astounding and I love my rat boi so so much.... When he joins the student council, finding his little group of friends and opening up to a more carefree and true Yuki, forgiving those around him and going and eye- YuKI IS MY BABY RAT BOI AND STAN HIM OR PERISH FROM HERE ;w;

1- Momiji Sohma 

Eine Kleine by Rachie - “If I were to go through life living just to take somebody else's place, Then I would rather have been born as a pebble, living out my peaceful days “

*Clears throat* *trumpets sounds intensify* *stands on podium* I LOVE MOMIJI SOHMA WITH ALL MY HEART AND HE MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. Thats it. Thats what I want you to get out of this post. I don't know if this is maybe an unpopular opinion-ish but Momiji’s backstory of his mother rejecting him, saying awful things, him having to accept being forgotten by his mother and sister whom he loved, not even being able to live with his family, is one of the most heartbreaking ones of fruits basket. Maybe its like what I said with Hiro and I am a sucker for big brothers that love their families, the sad smile of Momiji, my baby, angel, perfection when he sees his family and not being able to be with them, him loving Tohru but letting her go and be with Kyo because its her happiness that matters to him and I am-..... The selflessness of Momiji and how much of a sweetheart he is, his heart of gold and always being there for those around him, that moment where Akito was looking for Tohru and he got hurt trying to defend her.... Momiji is one of my all time favorite characters. He is a precious bean and I will never not shut up about my love for ma boi <333

Anyways that was long and ramble but I just needed to shout this somewhere because I've been missing they //rip

[murasaki-murasame]

With the recent info about how the Fruits Basket reboot is apparently going to be exactly 63 episodes long in total, and the recent leak of what seems to be the outline for most of season 1′s story, I think now’s a good time for me to finally get around to laying out my detailed thoughts on what I’m expecting from the long-term pacing and plot structure of the reboot.

I’ll put it under a cut since this is gonna get long and very spoiler-y.

I initially didn’t know if I should put much stock into what I was hearing about the reboot being 63 episodes long, but it seems to come straight from one of the main voice actors for the dub, and he sounded pretty specific and certain about it. Usually dub VAs and whatnot are very out of the loop on stuff like this, but Funimation seems very connected to the production of the reboot, so they might know info like this.

I was hoping that the reboot would be 75 episodes across three sets of 25-ish episode seasons, but it sounds like it’ll probably be two 25-episode seasons, and then a final 13-episode season. Which could be fine. They’d have to speed things up a bit near the end, but it could work. At the very least, the way the scriptwriter for the anime has talked about it makes me think that they worked out a concrete outline for the entire series very early on, so I trust that they have a specific plan in mind for this. I’m still a bit worried that the slow and leisurely pace we’re getting thus far might lead to them having to rush it later on, but I think they’ve planned it out enough to avoid that.

Recently we got an unintentional leak of sorts, with how apparently in the video Funi posted about the reasoning for Momiji’s accent in the reboot, you can see some sticky notes on Caitlin Glass’ computer [the dub voice director] that seem to be notes on the episode by episode plot outline for most of season 1, up to around episode 21 or 22.

Combining the vague glimpses of that we saw with what’s already happened in the anime thus far, and a bit of my own speculation for how they’ll handle the last few episodes of season 1, I think it’ll end up like this:

Ep1: Chapter 1

Ep2: Chapters 2-3

Ep3: Chapters 4/8

Ep4: Chapter 5

Ep5: Chapter 6

Ep6: Chapters 7/9

Ep7: Chapters 10/12

Ep8: Chapter 11

Ep9: Chapters 13-14 [Haru’s intro]

Ep10: Chapters 15-16 [Valentine’s Day]

Ep11: Chapters 17-18 [Hot springs trip]

Ep12: Chapters 19-20 [New school term]

Ep13: Chapters 21-22 [Ayame’s intro]

Ep14: Chapters 23-24 [Grave visit and Momiji’s backstory]

Ep15: Chapters 25-26 [Lake house trip]

Ep16: Chapters 39~41 [Uo’s backstory Part 1]

Ep17: Chapters 39~41 [Uo’s backstory Part 2]

Ep18: Chapters 27-28 [Kisa’s intro]

Ep19: Chapters 44-45 [Ritsu’s intro]

Ep20: Chapters 37-38 [Hiro’s intro]

Ep21: Chapter 29 [Yuki fan club visiting Hana’s house]

Ep22: Chapter 51 [Hana’s backstory]

Ep23: Chapters 30-31 [Tohru getting sick and setting up the Kyo arc]

Ep24: Chapters 32 and part of 33 [Kyo arc Part 1]

Ep25: Rest of Chapter 33 and Chapter 34 [Kyo arc Part 2]

Everything up to Hana’s backstory was laid out in the notes we saw, so everything after that’s just my personal guess. It seems pretty likely that since they don’t seem to be planning on doing the Kyo arc earlier in the season, they’re probably planning to end season 1 with it. There’s a few different ways it could go, but I think that combining chapters 30 and 31 together would work really well, and it’d let them spend two whole episodes on the actual meat of the Kyo arc, which would let them pace it out nicely and have it feel less abrupt.

I’m not sure if the two Hana chapters are going to be adapted into two back to back episodes, or combined into one, though. I’m also not sure if season 1 will be 25 episodes long or 26, but I’m leaning toward 25. Either way, it’s possible that they might fit in chapters 42 and 43 before the Kyo arc starts, but they might push that to near the start of season 2.

And on that note, I don’t really have a specific outline in mind for all of season 2, but if it’s going to be another 25 episode season that leads into a final 13-episode season, I think it has to at least cover up to chapter 99, which is the whole climax of us finding out the truth about Akito once and for all. They’d have to at least get that far in order for season 3 to be able to adapt the rest of the manga in just 13 or so episodes. And I think it could work.

To start with, if season 1 goes the way I think it will, season 2 will probably immediately start out with chapter 35, since that’s the immediate aftermath of the Kyo arc, and how Yuki feels in response to it. They might fit chapter 36 in there too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they incorporate the trip to Ayame’s boutique into his intro episode in season 1. After that, I think they’ll move into adapting the second half of volume 8, plus maybe chapters 42 and 43 if those aren’t in season 1. I think it might actually work pretty nicely to move those chapters into season 2 so that there’s not as huge of a gap between when Kakeru and Machi get teased at, and when they actually show up for the first time. [Fake edit: I’m also curious to see if they might bring up Rin during Haru’s intro episode, which might let them get away with skimming over or cutting out elements of chapter 43 later on, since that’s where we first properly hear about her in the manga]

And on the note of Kakeru and Machi, one structural change I want season 2 to make is that I want them to have those two only show up for the first time at the start of the new school year after the vacation arc, along with the other student council members. I’ve always thought it was a bit awkward how in the manga they just kinda vanish for like three volumes after the chapter they first properly appear in. So even if it means waiting longer to see them, I’d like them to show up a bit later so the pacing feels more natural.

Similarly, I think it’d work nicely if they move that one chapter near the end of volume 9 with Tohru and Kyo visiting Kazuma to later on so that it happens at the same time as the chapter where Tohru talks to Kazuma about the curse after the vacation.

I also want them to move the other chapter from volume 9 where we see Uo and Kureno first meeting into season 1, probably in the second episode focused on her, just so that we properly get to see him before season 2.

So basically I want the reboot to shift things about so that we go straight from the end of volume 8 into the summer vacation arc, which I think would work out for the best.

If season 2 is gonna get up to at least chapter 99, I think they’ll have to start speeding things up a bit, so in particular I think they might trim down the summer vacation arc to just 4~5 episodes rather than 6, and they might go through stuff like Kyoko’s backstory faster than the manga did. That whole part’s like four chapters long, but I think it could be trimmed down a fair bit, and the way it’s bookended with the present day scenes with Kyo would make it work nicely as a single episode. I think they could also go through some of the stuff in volume 15 with Yuki’s big talk with Kakeru and the culture festival fairly fast as well.

Season 3 would be a bit tricky if it’s 13 episodes long, since even if season 2 gets to chapter 99, that still leaves nearly 40 chapters for s3 to adapt. But I think there’s a lot of parts in the final volumes the anime could go through surprisingly fast, since there’s a lot of moments that are really heavy on the lengthy internal monologues and stuff. I could also see them trimming down the final volume to two episodes. And there’s always the possibility that they might have a double-length finale, which would give them a bit more room to fit stuff in.

Even though there’s a fair bit of stuff I want them to shuffle about in season 2, I can’t really think of anything I want them to change in season 3, based on the material it covers. It might be good for them to move the Machi-focused chapter from volume 16 so that it happens in the same episode as the other Machi-focused chapter a bit later in the manga. But other than that I dunno.

All in all I think that the reboot will probably be able to faithfully adapt the entire manga in 63 episodes. It’d just require them to focus more on trimming it down rather than fleshing it out later on. I think the pacing of the first eight episodes isn’t going to be very indicative of the rest of the reboot’s pacing, and it’ll probably get faster from here on out.

As the reboot gets further along I’ll probably post more detailed speculation about seasons 2 and 3, but they’re just too far away at the moment for me to want to think too hard about it.

Before I forget, though, I’m also still wondering if they might be planning to do a short 12-ish episode adaptation of Fruits Basket Another once the reboot’s done. It’s something I could give or take, but even though it’s a short series, I think they could probably work with Takaya to flesh it out into a full anime. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard that it’s split into 12 chapters across three volumes, so it might fit pretty neatly into a 12-episode anime.

[thefinalcinderella]

DIVE!! Book 4 Chapter 9-RETURN GAME

Me at the start of this chapter: Lol this is the chapter where Keisuke discovers his son has no life

Me after this chapter: 

Even though this wasn’t the longest chapter, it feels like I put the most work in it, and I’m not gonna lie, I teared up a little in the end. It would be cheesy in any other story, but here it feels like something we’ve been waiting for for a long time.

We’re nearing the end of the competition soon!

Full list of translations here

Previous | Next

It’s from the final stage of a competition that the diver standing on the stage makes their essence shine in the empty space.

In the early stages of a competition, the divers, who dance one after another and then sink down, do not always expose their true faces. Putting on armor over and over again, and conscious of the eyes of the judges, spectators, and rivals, they played the part of the “self that I want to show”. From the middle stages of a competition, they melt their armor with the water they slip into once or twice, and their true faces peek through. Exhausted, their bodies were no longer hearing what was said, and their heads only thinking of results. Faced with the final rankings that were vaguely floating before them, the divers could be so cleanly separated into two types in the final stages that it was comical.

The types who go into defense and do half-hearted, passive performances, and the types who go on the attack and are assertive until the very end.

Keisuke felt greatly proud in his heart that all of his students belong to the latter.

Seeing too much assertiveness made one felt anxious, until there was no time to even take a breath.

The competition approached the final stages in the eighth round. Youichi, whose gait was unsure as he ascended the steps, defied expectations that he had already reached his limit by clearing the difficult inward dive with 3½ forward somersaults in tuck position with no mistakes. He wondered why his body that had been staggering on land suddenly stilled into top form in midair, and as he puzzled over that, he marked him with a high score of 83.52 points.

After him, Shibuki also showed off a performance with a sense of scale by doing an inverse dive with 2½ forward somersaults in pike position, and demonstrated it in the way of a bigshot who was strong at the last moment. He got added 73.08 points and came back to the top again.

Tomoki, who was last, also did a dive in the fourth group with an inward forward 2½ somersaults in tuck position. Tomoki first attracted the spectators with the height of his takeoff, made them ooh-and-ah with the speed of rotations, and precisely determined the angle of his entry. However, the lowness of the dive’s degree of difficulty had an effect and he didn’t catch up to the two before him, ending with 63.75 added points.

For now, the three succeeded without problems, maintaining the dream to “win with more than 600 points”.

But, as soon as he felt relieved, the top batter Reiji had already appeared on platform for the ninth round.

Reiji had just barely passed the preliminaries in the morning, and as expected, because of the differences in skills he was gradually falling back, the dream to the championship already disappearing. However, when compared to how he was usually, today he showed an astonishingly willful attitude with his breathtaking performances. Reiji, who until now stared at his feet and made himself compact when he was just climbing the steps, was looking straight up. Even just with that, Keisuke’s chest was filled with warmth.

Would I win or not? What place would I end up in? These were important questions for the divers themselves, but Keisuke thought that those who were coaches shouldn’t be moved by comparative evaluations like rankings, but aim to evaluate on an absolute scale on an individual-by-individual basis.

Do not overlook individual efforts that are not recorded in numbers.

If it is four people there then it’s four people, and if it is ten people there then it’s ten people; make evaluations according to each of their “nows”.

That is, fairly.

With that firm belief, Keisuke watched Reiji’s performance, ascertaining it with his own eyes until the moment his toes completely disappeared beneath the water, before finally letting his shoulders relax with a sigh of relief.

At the same time, Ooshima called to him from the seat next to Kayoko, who was sandwiched between the two of them.

“Coach Fujitani, Coach Fujitani.”

It took a while for his voice to reach Keisuke’s ears, as the stands in the main pool approached the climax of their competition, getting even noisier. The cheers of the cheering parties. The fervent applause. The mic echoes of the athlete introductions to their entrance music. To the divers who were in the difficult situation of standing on the platform, those flashy entrances could only be described as bad luck.

“Coach Fujitani!”

He finally noticed it by the third time.

When he turned, Ooshima dramatically leaned over and stage-whispered to Keisuke, “Over there, in the middle of the first row, you can see the backs of an old woman and a girl, right? Just now those two were hugging when they saw Shibuki at the top…”

“Ah.”

“I think that’s Shibuki’s you-know-who.”

With Ooshima’s raised little finger before his eyes, only the wrinkles between Keisuke’s brows deepened as he kept expressionless.

Ooshima was his underclassman from the Nippon Sport Science University, and he was a good, sincere man, but he was somewhat impatient. As the competition reached its climax, it seemed that he couldn’t endure the intensifying serious mood, and sometimes he tended towards meaningless, thoughtless words and deeds.

“That Okitsu-kun, who stays in the same room as you,” Keisuke said with some admonition in his voice, “seemed to have met with that young lady outside last night.”

Ooshima got a conspicuous “oh no” face.

“No, if it’s just for a short time then there’s no problem…um, I need to give him a lot of caution for physical relations as well. But, why did he do that?”

“It may be because you made a slip of the tongue.”

“Ah.”

“If the pheasant doesn’t sing, it won’t get shot at.”

Ooshima turned red, making his large body smaller.

Now that it came to this, Keisuke felt a little sorry, and spoke of his own accord, a rare thing for him to do in the middle of a competition.

“By the way, Hiro-kun and the young lady that he is in a relationship with have come to support Tomo.”

“Oh, that’s Tomo’s ex-girlfriend.”

“No, she’s Hiro-kun’s girlfriend.”

“But, she’s Tomo’s ex.”

“No, no, she’s Hiro-kun’s…”

“She used to be Sakai-kun’s girlfriend,” Kayoko cut in. “And now she’s his younger brother’s girlfriend.”

Keisuke was confused.

“So, they are the same person?”

“Yes. To make a long story short, it was an illicit love.”

“Hah. But, even that Tomo had a sweetheart…”

“A lot of middle schoolers nowadays do.”

“No, but, even so…”

Faltering, the wrinkles between Keisuke’s brows deepened even more.

“Even so, I don’t believe Reiji has one.”

“Huh?”

“What I meant was a sweetheart.”

“No, I don’t think Maruyama-kun has one.”

Kayoko quizzically responded, and Keisuke relaxed the stress between his eyebrows.

Ooshima drove home the final blow immediately after.

“But, there’s the fact that Reiji received a love letter.”

“What?”

“I think it was during his first year of middle school. He had no experience with it, so he didn’t write a reply, but even now he carries that letter around preciously… Youth really is beautiful.”

Keisuke no longer opened his mouth, and tried to calm his mind while he rubbed his brow with two fingers.

This isn’t a big deal. What do I need to feel disturbed for?

Even if Shibuki had a girlfriend who came all the way to Osaka to cheer him on, even if Tomoki had colorful, lively memories, even if Reiji carried around a love letter, that was that. Even if only Youichi spent his youth unbeautifully without having anything to do with those sorts of love affairs, as the head coach of the MDC, that was no reason to give special support to only his son.

Keisuke fired his spinal column up and turned to face the diving platform with his head held high.

Fairness to the last. I will maintain this belief until the very end—.

It was Tomoki who Keisuke about Shibuki’s girlfriend in the first place.

It could also be said that it was a product of an invited conversation brought about by time and coincidence.

Breakfast would also serve as a meeting at seven o’clock. All members were to gather at the restaurant on the first floor. Despite emphasizing that, when Keisuke went towards the restaurant on time in the morning, only Tomoki and Ooshima were sitting at the table.

“Youichi-kun and Sacchin overslept, Okitsu-kun’s taking a shower to get himself awake, and Reiji and Coach Asaki are still getting ready.”

Tomoki didn’t have to explain it; he had gotten a feeling that it would be like that.

Though it was rare for Youichi to oversleep, Shibuki and Sachiya were always bad at waking up. It took time for Reiji to get ready, and it took time for Kayoko to put on makeup. Since still no one showed up after they waited five minutes, Ooshima got up to go and call everyone.

Only Keisuke, Tomoki, and the buffet plates they’d brought were left at the table. Tomoki was already greedily stuffing his cheeks with omelettes and sausages. Some people didn’t eat much before a competition, but he felt pleased when he saw Tomoki’s way of eating.

“Did you sleep well last night?” Keisuke asked while wrapping his white rice in toasted seaweed.

“Yeah,” Tomoki smiled as he gulfed down his French toast. “I fell asleep before I knew it. I think maybe Youichi-kun put a blanket on me.”

“I see. If you’ve slept plenty, you’ll be in perfect condition.”

“Well, yesterday I got relaxed in Kobe and for some reason I seem to be doing great.”

“Was Kobe good?”

“Yeah. The water gyoza was delicious, and we saw the night view. Kobe was great. Really, everything was great until Kobe. But after that, Reiji told us about Coach Asaki’s…ah.”

Tomoki clamped his mouth shut.

“What is it?”

“Umm, nothing.”

“What about Coach Asaki?”

“Nothing.”

Tomoki pushed a banana into his mouth, as though using it as a plug to stay silent.

Had he become fourteen years old?

Keisuke felt that at that moment.

Keisuke’s students usually joined the MDC when they were in the lower grades of elementary school. At the beginning everyone was carefree, and although they constantly chattered about anything and everything, from fourth grade on they distinguished between things they do and do not talk about. When they become middle schoolers, they almost never talked about things outside of diving. They might confide in a young coach, but it seemed hard for them to talk to a much older head coach.

“Tomo,”

Second-grade Tomoki. When he remembered his flabbergasted appearance from when he just joined the MDC, his mouth unconsciously began to move.

“I believe I did something bad to you.”

“Eh, what is it?”

“I didn’t perceive your talent.”

“Huh?”

“No, I did perceive it, but I never helped you develop it. Your kinetic vision and flexibility…even though I’ve seen them for five years, I wasn’t able to make them bloom in the end. I’ve always thought that I did something inexcusable as I watched you grow so fast under Coach Asaki.”

Tomoki was speechless for a short while, and then he dropped his fork. “What do you mean?” he pouted.

“If you say that, then it sounds like the five years where I was taught by you and Coach Nakanishi are useless, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say they were useless.”

“Of course not. The current me is…I don’t know how to say this well, but the current me is made up of everything until now.”

“Everything?”

“Yep. I don’t have parents who were former Olympic athletes, or a grandpa who was said to be a genius phantom diver. But, I’ve always had a normal family. My dad, my mom, and Hiro were there. When I go to the MDC, Youichi-kun, Reiji, Sacchin, Ryou, and Okitsu-kun were there. And of course Coach Fujitani, Coach Ooshima, and Coach Nakanishi were there. Since Coach Nakanishi was gone, Coach Asaki was there. Everyone was there like that, just like how the sky and mountains and rivers are always there, and everything from those fourteen years combined perfectly together, making the me who is here now. I thought of it like that a lot recently.”

“…”

“My friends at school say stuff like how old people are smelly and clumsy, but I really think that. If even one person wasn’t there, it wouldn’t combine perfectly.”

“…”

“I really do think that!”

“I understand.”

Even while nodding humbly, Keisuke was getting the chills. Ah, this child will continue to grow without stopping in the future.

Tomoki was a fresh, brand-new child. In a way, he could be called empty. But, that was why he could have room to accumulate things within himself. He could absorb everything surrounding him—friends, family, coaches, the sky and the mountains and the rivers—and transform them into power to open up his future. Beyond this point, Tomoki could change all the things he encountered, the things he saw, and the things he touched into energy, and spread his wings to anywhere on earth.

In contrast, Shibuki was already clogged with too many things inside of him, without an inch of space left. His ancestral blood. The dream his grandfather wasn’t able to fulfill. His grandfather’s and father’s deaths. His mother and two younger sisters who were left behind. The community of his Tsugaru village when he eventually returned home. Normally, those things would become heavy pressure, but Shibuki used them as a driving force, launching out explosive power. As long as he saddled himself with something, he would continue to be more and more astonishing in the future.

And then, there was Youichi—.

“Um, Coach Fujitani,” While Keisuke got lost in his thoughts, Tomoki timidly spoke up. “This might be none of my business, but I want to say it because I’m kind of worried about it, so…”

“What is it?”

“Coach Fujitani, I think you should only cheer for Youichi today.”

“What?”

“Coach Ooshima told me this earlier, but Okitsu-kun’s girlfriend came here to cheer him on for today’s competition. I think they’ve met up yesterday. I’ve also met her in Tsugaru, and she’s really pretty. And, Hiro’s coming to cheer me on. Along with his really cute girlfriend. But Youichi-kun only has you for a relative.”

“…”

“It’s an important match where the Olympics hang in the balance, and Youichi-kun’s been working really hard, so can’t you only cheer for him just for today, Coach Fujitani?”

“…”

“So, it really is none of my business?”

No… Keisuke shook his head, keeping silent as he didn’t know what to say next.

Coaches cannot watch over one student specially. In order to repay the parents who trust me and entrust their precious children to me, I have a responsibility to watch over all of you equally. Many reasons came to mind. But, those were probably not the reasons that Tomoki was asking for.

“If I…” Keisuke finally murmured in a hoarse voice, “cheer on Youichi, it won’t be helpful to him.”

“Why?”

“There are athletes born under such a causal star.”

Tomoki blinked, then tilted his head in puzzlement. No matter how much he ran out of words trying to explain it, Tomoki would probably still not understand. That there were athletes who couldn’t make everything external into energy like Tomoki, or make everything internal into energy like Shibuki.

Always trying to surpass yourself, standing on the edge of the depths of solitude, and only after that could you demonstrate your strength.

Perhaps the ones who could understand the athletes born under such a star were the same kind of people.

This child is similar to me in some way.

The reason why Keisuke purposely didn’t teach Youichi diving in his childhood boiled down to that one sentence.

Inflexible stubbornness. High pride. Burdening himself with a load even when he didn’t have to, and a capriciousness to walk a thorny path on purpose.

Nowadays, although he had matured through his years of being a coach, Keisuke had exactly been that kind of athlete when he was young. He stopped in his tracks to think about everything he was doing, and he didn’t move a step forward if he didn’t agree with even one thing. When he didn’t agree with it, he turned on his coach without hesitation. He drove himself on by bragging to his rivals, then pouring his heart’s blood into practice in order to make those boasts truth.

Just like the current Youichi.

Although back then he got aggressive at anything he didn’t like, as time passed, as a coach who put a distance of one or two steps between everything, now it was painfully reflected in his eyes the fact that those kinds of athletes had a damaging disposition. He didn’t know how good it would to be like Tomoki—loved and pampered everyone, turning that into energy and growing.

He wanted to let Youichi walk that way as well if he could. He tried to nurture his sociability by giving him the position of the MDC’s leader. Even at the time when Youichi went to directly appeal to Chairman Maebara, though on the inside he was thinking that it was something that was waiting to happen, he drummed into him fussily that he was insolent to go against the organization.

However, somewhere in his mind Keisuke was resigned to the fact that Youichi was his son after all. Because I was born under that causal star, as long as I am active I have no choice but to continue to be burdened with my karma.

If there was just one saving grace, it was that Youichi had much more outstanding talent than him. Fujitani Keisuke participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics and was easily eliminated from the preliminaries. Youichi was different from him, who was winning with his reputation as a coach nowadays, as he had the qualities and talents to do well in the world.

During the time when he was an instructor at Sakuragi High School, he took the seven-year-old Youichi to the diving pool of the diving club for the first time. It was unavoidable that he would come with him as his wife was absent, but he was also a bit interested as to what kind of response Youichi would show. If he showed interest, perhaps he could try diving from the one-meter. But that was not necessary. When Keisuke took his eyes off him, Youichi ran up the five-meter.

When he became aware of that, he was already dancing beneath the blue sky of August.

It was a magnificent dive.

In that moment, Keisuke might have already been resigned to the fact that that child’s talents could not be sealed. But openly he didn’t approve or disapprove of it, continuing to taking the position of leaving diving to Youichi’s autonomy and independence.

Such an ambiguous attitude was not permitted when Keisuke was enticed from Sakuragi High School to the MDC.

“Could you please come and take the position of head coach at Mizuki’s newly established diving club?”

From the start, he had not hesitant when he received the late chairman of Mizuki’s personal invitation. Keisuke had been coaching diving for ten years since he retired from his athlete career, and although he felt that this job was fulfilling and worth doing, he had always had a fundamental problem with it. It was too late to seriously train divers from high school who would be able to carry the Japanese diving world on their shoulders. Training for months and years from childhood was an indispensable condition. And so for Keisuke, who was concerned about the poorness of the institutions for that purpose, the establishment of the MDC was exactly a dream came true.

What he was hesitant about was what to do with Youichi.

At the time, Youichi was still ten-years-old. Even though he was obsessed with diving, there were also other possibilities left. Now he could still return from the thorny path. He hesitated about bringing Youichi to the MDC at this stage, which might decisively orient his life.

And then, putting his own disposition aside, if Youichi joins the MDC, it was apparent that from then on that between them the relationship of a coach and athlete would be prioritized over a father and son relationship. He cannot concentrate his biased affection to only his son. Such self-control could also widen the distance between him and Youichi more than necessary.

It was on a certain Saturday night that Keisuke finally reached the point of giving up after hesitating and hesitating. After coming home from volunteering at a diving experience class for half a day, he was having a drink in the living room after taking a bath, and could hear his wife and son talking in the kitchen through the thin curtain that separated the rooms.

“What did you do at school today?”

“The teacher read us Run, Melos!” (1)

“Ah, how nostalgic. How was it?”

“Well, it’s Melos’ victory strategy, right?”

“Eh…how?”

“Because even if Melos left early and ran normally, he wouldn’t have the time to easily help his friend. But, because he was having fun at his little sister’s wedding party, sleeping soundly, and humming songs as he walked, he became panicked in the end. I think that was definitely his strategy.”

“Strategy?”

“Yep. I’m sure that he won’t have enough time. It has to be more last minute, more of a close call, more of a really desperate situation with no escape, or Melos won’t be able to get fired up.”

A few minutes later, Keisuke weakly broke the news to Youichi, who was sitting at the living room’s dining table, about the MDC.

There was no need to confirm his willingness to join, as Youichi’s eyes were shining.

After that it developed just as he had expected it would, as Keisuke became Youichi’s coach before his father, and his relationship with Youichi, who was entrusted to his mother from the beginning, became more and more formal. Although in the beginning he was bothered by what to do about that, nowadays they had gotten used to their mutual coach and athlete relationship, settling into a strange state of affairs.

In his seven years as head coach of the MDC, there were only two occasions where Keisuke exposed his face as a father.

The first time was during the spring of Youichi’s fifth grade, when he failed at his forward reverse somersault and gotten a head injury.

The second time, when he learned that Youichi was going to do the new dive with those unlucky forward reverse somersaults for the last round at these qualifying trials.

As the first time occurred when it was still just under half a year since the MDC opened, because he was wholeheartedly set on not instilling terror in the hearts of the children who were just beginning to dive, he strenuously restrained himself from becoming distraught.

However, for the second time, he was a little unable to keep his self-control, and regardless of leaving the dive events entirely to Kayoko, when he became aware of it he shouted wildly to Youichi that his new dive was impossible and reckless. The next day he was ashamed that he did something immature, reflecting and regretting that perhaps it was himself who was dragging out the trauma of that incident more than anyone else.

However, in any case this was his last look at a lifespan-shortening competition. If he thought about it like that, it became some consolation.

With the results of this competition, whether the MDC continued on or was driven to shut down, Keisuke had decided to resign from being the head coach.

The MDC was a club that was planned, heavily engaged in, and ended up realized by Mizuki Shinnosuke. He had no hesitation about handing over the essential role of head coach to Shinnosuke’s granddaughter, Kayoko. Kayoko was a coach with a rarely seen genius, and though young she had an unwavering conviction. In addition, that confidence. Even though he still hadn’t talked to the person herself yet, Keisuke would be relieved if it was to Kayoko he entrusted his students to when the time came.

And as for Keisuke himself, he was thinking of transferring to a newly established adult course in the MDC after retiring.

Even if it avoided closing, MDC would continue to be in the red. As a part of his breakthrough solution, he had an idea of maybe trying to teach diving to a wider range of age group as a hobby. Although it was still in the planning stages, in the event that it was realized, Keisuke planned on volunteering to become the full-time coach for that adult course.

At Sakuragi High School he taught diving to high schoolers in their growth period. At the MDC he taught diving to children who would be growing up from then on. It was a good time to associate with diving from another angle, and leave the center stage of winning and losing soon. This was also a way of expanding the spread of diving, and honestly, he didn’t want to see his precious and innocent students suffer in the world of competitions anymore.

Of course, if the results of the qualifying trials were unsatisfactory, there was the possibility of the MDC itself disappearing, to say nothing of an adult course. In that case, he had already said it. Keisuke would take responsibility and leave the diving world, and made up his mind to take up the teaching job at the Otaru university. What would be left for Fujitani Keisuke if diving was taken away from him? It was obvious that everyone was saying that, but Keisuke also wanted to find that out for himself. What would be left for me if you take away diving? What would I lose, what would I drag along with me, what would I aim for next?

Either way, these Olympic representative qualifying trials would be the last competition with his students that Keisuke would be directly involved in.

“Later, when you have time, come to my room.”

Last night, he spontaneously told Youichi that when he returned from Kobe, because his mind was unconsciously worked up before the last day, probably. He shouldn’t say much until the end of the competition, and keep everything to himself, but even he didn’t know why he blurted that out.

Although he tried telling him to come, he didn’t know what he should say. In a restless mood, he was trying to write a manuscript titled “Spiritual Training—To Dance with One’s Heart”, until around nine there was a knock on his door. Keisuke set down his pen and showed Youichi into his room.

“As we welcome tomorrow’s battle, I just want to say one final thing. No matter who wins, who goes to Sydney tomorrow, that is merely a prologue. Fujitani Youichi. Okitsu Shibuki. Sakai Tomoki. You three are divers who possess the qualities to become exceptional. However, you are still young. Your battles continue even after Sydney. Even if you win this time, that is only the first step. Even if you lose this time, there is still ample room for recovery after that. Please capture the future with wide eyes, and from now on I want you three to devote yourselves to head for the top of the world, while mutually encouraging each other to improve. And if possible, outside the water I want you to be good friends who support each other.”

Keisuke thought that after saying that, he might want to do something like taking out three arrows from travelling bag, and say, “Snap them. You can’t, can you? One arrow by itself is weak, but three together is strong.”

But, of course, he did not stock three arrows in his bag, and his fingers, driven by haste as to what to say, grabbed the camera and film.

“I was asked by the JASF’s public relations department to take pictures at the Namihaya Dome. I am not really skilled with machines.”

His return game as a father had only just begun.

Loud music resounded from the main pool again, as a group of swimmers entered the venue with their hands thrust into the air. It was the men’s four x hundred-meter medley relay. As the final event, the cheering squads were leaning forward at this critical moment, making their energetic cries resound.

Matsuno, who went up on the platform during that time, hastily dived from being overwhelmed by that atmosphere, and was resigned to low scores from doing a small performance due to the fear of making a mistake.

After him, Asama broke both his feet doing a twist in his performance, yet another one in bad condition.

As an unpleasant mood hung over everyone, Youichi finally appeared on the platform again.

Slender and long limbs and a symmetrical physical beauty. His appearance that could capture the spectators at a glance was the same as usual, but at a closer glance his complexion was not good, and only his eyes were glittering strangely.

Keisuke noticed Youichi was destroying his physical condition without having to be informed by Kayoko. He knew it the moment he first saw Youichi arriving late at the restaurant. Oh, have you backed yourself into a corner again? You look like you’ve looked down into the dark bottom of a valley from the edge.

Could he dive until the end in that state?

Or would he fall along the way?

Either way, as a coach, there was nothing to do but to watch with his own eyes until the end. Calmly, fairly, watch one of his students betting on their last chance to go to the Olympics.

His ninth-round entry was a backward 3½ somersaults in tuck position and handstand.

As everyone in the MDC was staring at him, the whistle for the beginning of the performance sounded.

Youichi took a deep breath, then tilted his gaze down. After that, he slowly hung his head down from his forehead, bending his waist while maintaining the stability of the lower half of his body. A graceful movement that abounded in flexibility. In that position, he bent his upper body, at the same time extending his hands to the tip of the platform.

“Hosei University has set a new record in Japan!”

The spectacular fanfare resounded from the main pool just before Youichi’s fingers tried to touch the platform.

“Congratulations, this is the best record for men’s four x hundred-meter medley relay!”

The venue was instantaneously engulfed in thunderous applause, the spectators doing a standing ovation in the main pool’s stands. Towards the four people hugging on the poolside, the cheer squads lost control and screamed. It was as though they had gotten an Olympic gold medal.

The dome was instantly swallowed up by a huge swell.

Contrasting that uproarious main pool, the diving pool had fallen silent without even one sound.

Everyone, from Keisuke, Kayoko, Ooshima, Sachiya, the divers who were waiting for their turn, the judges, to Youichi on the platform, stared dumbfounded at the festival on the opposite shore.

If the whistle hadn’t sounded at that time, everyone might have been frozen to that spot forever.

“Oi, this is awful.”

Ooshima was the first to returned to himself.

It was the second whistle from the head of the referees. That was meant as a warning to the divers who were hesitating on the platform. The diver would have a score of 0 if they did not begin their performance within one minute of the warning.

Keisuke’s, Kayoko’s, and Ooshima’s faces were streaked with tension.

But, Youichi in that situation was standing still on the head of the dragon like a puppet with its strings cut. The eyes that had been glittering just a while ago were blankly roaming around in the air, and his feet were wobbling. There was no time for him to waver. There was no room for hesitation. If he didn’t start doing his handstand right now he would fall to last place. Nevertheless, Youichi didn’t try to move his body without so much as a twitch.

Ten seconds passed.

Youichi didn’t move.

Sweat floated on Kayoko’s forehead.

Twenty seconds passed.

Youichi didn’t move.

Tears appeared in the eyes of Sachiya who was holding his flag.

Thirty seconds passed.

Youichi didn’t move.

Hosei University’s cheer squad was beginning to sing their school anthem.

Forty seconds were about to pass.

That was when Keisuke moved.

“Stop that, this is not the time for singing, my son is about to dive!”

Suddenly, the cheering squad’s chorus came to a stop from the bellow of Keisuke, who was standing upright like a guardian Deva king. Within the venue that was covered in a silence like a desert at night, gazes like sandstorms pierced into Keisuke from all directions.

Kayoko’s crimson mouth was left hanging open, having forgotten to close it. Beside her, Ooshima had forgotten to breathe. Sachiya, who had forgotten to cheer, let his flag slip from his fingers, hitting his hair whorl with a clunk. However, Keisuke did not see any of that.

Keisuke’s eyes were only intently following Youichi on the distant platform, lifting his body and his feet that were firmly stepping on thorns, with his two arms.

At a height of ten-meters, he drew a perfect ninety degrees, an immovable handstand.

An indomitable will and strength.

“Ah,”

When the spectators finally returned their gazes to the platform, Youichi had already left the ground, making a brilliant arc glitter on the water.

Only when his body was sucked into the water soundlessly, did Keisuke collapse into his chair for the first time.

Rankings as of the Ninth Round (Cumulative)

①     Okitsu Shibuki (552.09 points)

②     Yamada Atsuhiko (519.24 points)

③     Fujitani Youichi (514.83 points)

④     Sakai Tomoki (510.45 points)

⑤     Asama Takashi (493.71 points)

⑥     Ogawa Shinobu (473.58 points)

⑦     Matsuno Kiyotaka (451.74 points)

⑧     Tsuji Toshihiko (447.03 points)

⑨     Nakayama Masahiko (425.91 points)

⑩     Moriya Kazuteru (408.27 points)

⑪     Maruyama Reiji (405.48 points)

⑫     Kaburagi Shinji (359.31 points)

Translation Notes

1. Run, Melos! (Melos Hashire) is a novel by Osamu Dazai. You can read a better summary on Wikipedia, but it’s basically about this guy Melos who got his friend to replace him for his execution, and had to run back to him in three days or else he dies. 

[swooncraft]

Write Weds - Cordate Pt 3

Chapter four here, is where everything started falling into place. I had found a clear understanding of our protagonist, Cordate, and found the rapid fire voice and style that was needed for this novel of action.

Tongue and cheek~

But hey, I had a blast writing this.

[Ch. 04]

As I raced over the blocks to circle around I updated Tourn through texts. We were use to having the disadvantage and working around using the team channel in case our opponents could listen in.

The buzz of the wine was wearing off. A headache seeped back into my head. I waited at the edge of the alley that lead back to our objective.

I stopped a woman strolling on her merry way, “'Scuse me, coul' I buy your hat? Sunligh's given me a migraine.”

The lady stopped and gawked at my bandages. “W-well.. I supp-” Before her words finished I shoved a bank note in her hands and took the sun hat from her head. She fumbled for words as I walked down the ally towards the lion's den.

“'Ere we go,” I said to the team channel while tossing my file into a dumpster. As I unbuttoned the top two buttons of my dress shirt someone stepped into the end of the alley. It wasn't a member of 9's team, 13 Hiro. “We s'uck in crossfire?”

Regency responded, “Yah. Our mission is smack in the center of the Hiro's and Lambda's game of capture the flag.”

“Opportunity shines, Quarda!”

I smiled gripping my crowbar, “Someone's en my way. Any 'ssist'nce?”

“We're pinned down pretty tight, Cord.” Right as Regency bluffed, Tourn shot me a text confirming he'd be there in a few moments.

“Shit,” I scowled as I pulled my ear bud out. The act was very necessary. “You're from Lambda, right?”

His grin was almost audible, “Tag's Lucite.” I liked the radiant way his blond hair nearly glowed in the sunlight, and his vivid green eyes. Lucite was tall and well dressed. “Heard you keep taking hits. You can walk away.”

Sometimes, being an adult can be worse than being a high schooler. Gossip is an incurable plague, but something you can fight. So I began pacing forward.

He responded by pulling out a quarterstaff. “I really don't wanna hurt a cripple. Go on home. Your team will understand.”

Like the meme goes, 'obvious troll is obvious.' Fuck him and his third rate compassion. At least it fueled me to strike with more force when I was in range. Lucite parried with his quarter staff. I cursed and attacked again. All of my rage and frustration wouldn't put Darth Maul in his place though. I changed tactics to put a little distance between us and nearly took one to the chin as I tried shifting gears.

“It's not gonna work,” Lucite huffed through grit teeth as he advanced his attack. The assholes in Sand who knew their way with a weapon were all arrogant. “We know you can't win with force, but whatever you're trying to come up wUGH-” A blur of black and leather dropped him to the ground.

I began to snort, thinking Tourn had arrived. But Tourniquet doesn't wear tight leather or weigh roughly a hundred pounds.

9 sat on her haunches over my opponent. “Don't espect uh thax,” crooked crowbar at the ready, I braced myself for her action.

For a long moment she only sat there staring at our common enemy. Then I saw it. Something clicked in her that turned her into a monster before she even moved.

9 leaned down and bit the bastard's ear off. I gawked as she spit it out and put it in a pouch on her belt. Very slowly and deliberately she turned her head up towards me. “That's the consequence. Right?” she wiped her mouth keeping her nearly black eyes on my sunshine irises.

I had seen a lot of things since joining Sand, but that was the single scariest thing. 9 was a psychopath. The question was obviously in her if she should or should not take that man's ear. There was a reason she was after me, but I didn't know why. All I could rationalize in those brief moments was that she was still upset about loosing her teammate, 7, when Vizy and Ani retaliated.

I steeled my resolve as best as I could. My fingers regripped the crowbar. I think the cold sweat gave me away because 9 smiled, “You should go home and rest, Doki.”

Who the fuck she thought she was, I had no clue. But her taunt caused a chemical reaction in my brain that made my blood pump. As I moved to act on my impulses two bursts smacked against the leather of her outfit. A disgruntled noise escaped her lips as I barely caught a glimpse of the two rubber bullets that ricocheted off of her shoulder and back. The next instant 9 rolled to her feet and withdrew. No matter how crazy she may have been, she knew her chances when she saw Tourn. Her exit was topped with a bow before she left our sight.

“Uhhgg, God, what happened?” Tourn stared at the victim.

“Crazy bi'ch,” I breathed, wiping my brow. The sunlight was burning a larger migraine straight into the center of my head. I didn't even notice my hat had fallen off. “Sta's?”

“We've gotta get the team out. Even with our noob, that's only enough leverage to get out safe.”

“Nah. No, no. We're gonna take e'rything.”

“Cord,” Tourn was a little more worried than frustrated, “We only need to-”

“Viz 'ould take it all! We're doing 'is.”

“You can't even talk straight, Cord!” Frustration won over the worry. Or so I thought, “Fuck's sake. How is your head doing?”

I grabbed my hat off the ground and shoved it on my head. Right in Tourn's face I stared hard. I wanted him to know this was happening. We hadn't had an upper hand in a long time. I wasn't giving it up, and the team shouldn't either. No matter how small the advantage, in my aching mind it just meant we had a level playing field.

Tourn threw his hands up. “Fine. Fine!”

Good. I stomped off in the direction of our teammates.

Neverland, California is filled with blocks, and entire neighborhoods in a couple places, of empty buildings. It segregates us from the citizens most of the time. Though, when we do cross the boundaries, like I mentioned before, they pretend not to notice. It's a perfect sandbox for our big game of cops and robbers.

Upon arriving to the store room of an abandoned market, Regency and Elbo told us they had taken out a stray Lambda trying to pass through. That was convenient. It made our odds even better. But something about a decent team like Lambda being spread out and unorganized bothered me.

Regency also added that he was sure both of our opponents were using Perks. “It was easy to tell Lambda used one. They ran smack into us expecting someone else, bugged out and retreated. Our objective's right next to the base they're defending. Can't say what the Hiro's got, but it's making Lambda crazy.”

His statement made me glad I wasn't the only one to notice the oddity.

My skull felt like it was splitting in half, but I bobbed a nod. They were in a bind. Given the same stacked odds, I'd be freaking out as well.

“You know,” Tourn broke the pause, “There's probly vigilantes on the way. Fucking Lambda's aren't great at playing quiet. When we f-” his words cut off when we heard someone moving up to the door.

“Could be the noob,” Regency hissed as Elbo got in position.

As soon as the footsteps neared the door sounds of a fight broke out. Elbo exploded through the door. Three men were in a tousle. Fear sparked in their eyes as Elbo charged them.

Mars made the best move, by shoving one to Elbo, followed by smacking the other with what looked like a tricycle tire. The absurdity reached all of us in Royal We. Regency barked a laugh and jumped out to make the fight end sooner.

“Must have been desperate to come for you guys,” Mars mused as he twirled the tire on a finger. “With the one I took down on my way here, that makes three?”

“You took one out by yourself?” Blame Regency's Britishness for not believing him.

Mars arched an eyebrow, “Yeah.”

“Four,” Tourn nodded adding Lucite to the count. Shaking Mars's hand he asked, “You're the noob?”

“Yeah, it's ah-” he glanced to me, “Mars. And I think I've proven myself to not be called a noob.”

Regency shook his head, “Beginner's luck. Wait 'til shit really starts happening.”

Mars rolled his eyes as Tourn addressed Regency's and my concern, “Desperate. Seems that way. We haven't seen them lately. Could be poor tactical adjustment when we appeared.”

I thought it'd been less than a month since we were up against Lambda, but regardless, Tourn's thought was realistic.

“Quarda, I like your hat!” I smiled and tipped the brim to Elbo. “Looks bad on you, but still nice hat.” He gave me a thumbs up as I sighed.

Back to business, “Ther's leas' three lef'. Elbo, Regens' an' me take th' base. Chourn, Mars, do our mission.”

The others looked to each other. Regency started to say something but Tourn cut him off, “I think we can do this.”

“Fast to get out before Vigilantes come,” Elbo nodded.

Regency added something with his British accent and Mars picked a few items from the downed opponents.

My head was going to explode if we didn't finish soon. Walking took most of my focus. The guys agreed that I would stay back and keep communication open in the chance our team channel was actually tapped.

If you asked me a year ago if I'd be able to run around town three days after a concussion I'd have laughed at you and told you how I'd do everything possible to stay off my feet, and help myself recover faster. There I was though, Doing everything possible to stay on my feet. To contribute.

Before parting, Tourn gave me a pill. He's good at reading people even if he's terrible at talking to them. We both knew that by the time it would kick in the dust would probably be settling, but it was still worth it either way.

With there being little I could do, I did what I knew. I found a security camera, pulled my hat off and bowed gracefully to the Voyeurs. None of us knew how many eyes were around the city until we raided the Scorekeepers. That's what those first dozen rooms were, just walls of monitors and recording equipment. They didn't miss a street, and it proved to be beneficial. The Voyeurs love it or else Sand wouldn't gain two new teams each year.

Placing the hat back on my head I realized how right Elbo may have been. People would love an underdog, and Royal We could be a hell of a team to root for. The viewers just needed to see we still had the spirit of the champions we once were.

The guys were already inside the warehouse. When I got through the door there were only two Lambdas, both had their hands up and were arguing to each other. Regency shut them up with a chunk of rubber to each man's thigh, “Christ, shut up. Where's your last mate?” I expected more elegance from the Brit, but I do suppose we were very likely strapped for time.

“Our.. Our last 'mate'?” Leader of Lambda shook his head, “You-They took us all out!” Leader was a well built man. His height was deliciously accented by athletic muscles, pretty brown eyes and a type of bedhead I had grown to like.

“So it's only the two of you?”

“You really don't understand the situation!” Leader was nearly panicked beyond reason.

I stepped forward, “We do. You los' uh roun'.”

“No. Look!” he reached for his pocket and nearly lost his arm as Elbo restrained him. A Navipalm fell from his hand.

I picked it up. Before needing to ask he told me the code to unlock it. The map was already opened on it. What was being displayed took me a moment to comprehend.

“See?! See!? They're everywhere! Then we charged into you guys! GG well played!”

The map showed a few dozen copies of the six 13 Hiros all around the area. The majority scattered around the warehouse, a dozen played strategically through the alleys, and a good number around their own base.

Regency looked over my shoulder and whistled.

As surprising as it was, it didn't seem like that big of a deal compared to being down three players for the past few months. It did get me to thinking about how many different types of Perks there were that I didn't know of.

Elbo took a little longer than he should have to take the queue to let the guy go, but he did at last.

My eyes flicked to Regency. He was an accountant in his old life. He fell just a little short in situations like this. What it was he fell short in was assertiveness-no. Confidence? No, no.. Strategy? As he inhaled to say something it hit me. His approach to people was terrible.

To quell a ramble of accented syllables from wasting our time I slunk past Elbo. Concentrating on each step, and the decisiveness of each sway of my hip. I poked at Leader's phone. Looked up, tipping the hat to reveal a sultry smile. Hiding the face splitting pain behind my eyes. Speak smooth, I screamed in my mind. “So raise your white flag,” I purred holding his phone up with the surrender page open. He swallowed and shifted on his feet as I moved closer. From my peripheral vision I saw his his teammate calm down as their nervousness evolved in unison.

Large yellow eyes looked up to his as I pressed our bodies together. “Go gather your team and take a week off,” the cell passed between our hands. I breathed him in, reaching up to whisper into his ear, “It's obvious you need the R 'n R.”

Don't mistake the act, the situation simply called for quick convincing. And I couldn't think of anything else that would get through to scared men as quick. It helped that he was handsome, but anything more than acting wouldn't have gone so smooth.

We are all lonely creatures in Sand. Relationships are hard to handle. I've heard stories of civilians dating burglars and the suspicion of what we do for a living being too much for the relationship. Some of the guys get hookers, I've heard that some of the female players don't mind being casual with their teammates. There's a couple teams that have working relationships between two teammates, but that can be a tricky.

Vizy and I had had a solid relationship. He was my first and only.

The seasons that passed since the last time I was with Vizy was too vast. So, maybe I played it too well with a hot breath in Leader's ear. And a gentle grip on his shirt. And with the flush that was spreading through my cheeks. Because he went rigid in more than one way. Just possibly I played it too well because Tourn cleared his throat as I slid down from my tip-toes.

I pulled the brim of my hat down, daring a glance at Tourn. We had a thing between us, but I couldn't follow through to be more than friends because I was still hurting over loosing Vizy. At least, that was the excuse each time we had moments that could have crossed the line. But there, in that moment, I crossed a different line, and it was obvious that Tourn wasn't happy with my act.

Everyone was frozen in the room except for Mars who had missed the event by a second. He caught on to the atmosphere in a moment, but must have not cared, “So, what's the deal?”

The Lambdas moved, “We're going...”

Regency stepped in their path, “Hold on, where's your flag?”

Leader pointed to what looked like a management office at the end of a simple set of stairs overlooking the floor of the warehouse. Tourn didn't let his eyes off of Leader as he left. The other Lambda mumbled a good luck as he opened his phone, likely to find his downed teammates.

After the door closed Tourniquet looked to me, “What the fuck was that?”

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow, “Was called for.”

“Right, Cord. That's exactly what we needed.”

“No'h now, Chourn!” I expected the pulsing in my head to grow, but the Oxy seemed to be kicking in.

“Will you two just have angry sex and shut the fuck up,” Regency exclaimed as he made his way to the stairs. “This whole team does nothing but argue and it's all cause of little miss bandages. Half of the time one of us wants to take her side, then the other doesn't, and vice versa. It's a fat lot of-” the door to the office slammed behind him, but we could still hear his muffled ranting.

“Okay, I don't get it,” Mars held up his hands holding in chuckles, “but that was damned funny.”

Elbo stomped over to our newbie, “It was! Lots of stupid like this all the time. I am Elbo. Is good to have you!”

Tourn and I exchanged a look as Mars found one of Elbo's massive hands to shake, “Pleasure's mine, Heavy!” After realizing his mistake of shaking hands with Elbo, Mars shook out his nearly broken hand, “So, Tourn and I got that bag from the other warehouse.” We all glanced to the duffel bag Tourn was carrying, “What's in it?”

“A lot of bullshit. Some codes that can get us different goodies. And cash,” Tourn replied.

“Then it's like Christmas. Instead of socks we get... Codes?”

“These codes are way better to get than socks,” Tourn smiled, “You ever buy a digital copy of a game, or expansion?”

Mars nodded with a shrug.

“It's no different. The codes are single use and will get us stuff like Perks, and weapons.”

I had taken a seat on some boxes while Tourn explained what capturing objectives can do for a team. Elbo felt the need to start doing pull ups on an exposed pipe.

Regency emerged from the office with a coal gray folder in hand and a shit eating grin, “What's that saying? 'If I were a betting man'?”

Mars nodded, a smile growing on his face, “What would you bet?”

The Brit waved the folder, “I'd bet this is as far as we get without any trouble.”

He was right. There was no doubt the Hiro's were still ready to put up a fight. And they were a high caliber team because they knew how to fight and work together. Don't get me wrong, Royal We can throw down, especially Elbo, but we were not only out skilled, we were out numbered. Five to six.

We didn't even get the chance to head to an exit. An Asian accent spoke through the door after a light rapping. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Elbo pulled a plank off of a pallet and moved towards the door. Regency finished stuffing the folder in our new duffel bag and zipped it up. Tourn grimaced an held his hand over his pistol's holster like a cowboy at high noon. Mars grinned, ready for more action.

We all waited.

The pounding on the door made my subsiding headache flare. I was done. Come hell or high water, shit was going to happen since they came to us. And after, either way the spat could go, I'd get some peace and quiet.

Tourn and Mars moved to stop me until we heard the muffled accent from behind the steel door, “I only want to talk. I am alone and unarmed.”

We all paused. It could have been a bait, trickery to get us into a trap. But the consequences were a drop in the bucket to the tsunami that my new headache was raging.

Tourn read me and simply said, “Don't.”

Mars looked between us.

Regency cursed under his breath.

Elbo was ready to bash skulls.

Not only did I open the door, but I flailed my crowbar at the fucking Hiro. It did nothing, I missed the first hit, and he caught it on my second swing. Rather then disarming me he just held it as I struggled to take it back. That was 13, strong in all senses; physically, in resolve, spirit, and mind. The fine lines of his angular Asian face placed him around his late 40s. 13's deep brown eyes carried a wisdom within them that was rare to a game filled mostly with 20somethings. The only hair on his head was his eyebrows and a short goatee.

13 stared each one of us down, “Let me speak.” He was as unarmed as we could see. The nun-chucks he keept at the hip of his martial arts garb were missing, but the naked eye is easily deceived. Same went for his solo status. The fishy part, the truth in his words, was the coal gray folder in his other hand.

Elbo was the first to say anything as everyone stood tense, “Allow China man to speak.”

The Hiro's eyes narrowed, “Not that it matters to you, but again, I am Japanese. I thank you, though.” His gaze turned to me, “Can I let your weapon go and simply talk?”

I said nothing. Visibly relaxing were words enough.

13 nodded his head and released his grip on my crowbar. He shoved the folder at my breast. I gripped it haphazardly as I walked backwards, not letting a single breath of his go unnoticed.

“I give this to you. As... Insurance.” I disliked how 'insurance' sounded in his accent. “Let us begin anew. We hope this marks your comeback, and will be ready for your rise.” His words were directed at me, but I didn't know what he meant.

Tourn stepped  between me and 13, “I don't trust this. It's been a long time now, she-”

The Nippon raised a hand, “You don't have to. You already won,” 13 motioned a hand to the folder I was given. Then his expression grew thoughtful, “I do have words of caution, Royals. Some of the burglars will not play like we will.”

Without another word he turned and walked off. 9 stepped out of the alley he paced down and watched us carefully. One by one the four other Hiros emerged from the landscape and followed their leader.

Our victory was bittersweet.