#Kenji took me the longest to think about by far | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

auroreswritings · 5 years

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Here comes my longest submission so far, with a little over 4,100 words, I am shook! I wasn’t inspired AT ALL at first, couldn’t seem to come up with ideas I liked enough to motivate me. I don’t really like doing things like zombie AUs and stuff like that, and the other word prompts were a little similar to things I’ve read or watched recently and I didn’t want to write something with the same plotlines by accident. I actually got the idea loooong after reading the quote and thinking about it while at work, I came up with the title first and couldn’t take it out of my head, and then this happened haha

So yeah, this is inspired by the quote : "You can smell it, too. Death. Dying. Decay. The sky is falling, the sky is dying, the sky is dead." —Bird Box, by Josh Malerman

I’ve never watched the movie, so I have no real idea what it’s about.

I would love to expand on the events of this one-shot, I’m thinking of writing a full chaptered story based on it, with more details, more characters, more revelations, more fluff and more despair, that’d be pretty cool I think.

I’ve had Adele’s song stuck in my head for days because of this, it’s killing me!

It’s also on AO3!

The Day We Saw the Sky Fall

It all happened suddenly. It was unprecedented, unexpected, unavoidable. The scope of it was remarkable. What was passed up as a minor incident became the end of most of humanity. These are the events preceding the sky fall.

Atsushi was sitting at his desk, filling in some urgent paperwork. He had to finish this today; he would be going for a short trip to Osaka the next day: they were holidays of sorts. It all started when Kunikida had complained about Dazai’s lack of interest in handing out his case reports. The suicidal maniac was lying on the couch, as usual, singing a made up song about lover’s suicide, as usual, and ignoring the pile of files on his desk, as usual. Kunikida, stressed out by a particularly hectic week at the agency, was lashing out on the unbothered man, screaming his head off for the entire building to hear. Everybody was on edge, and the animated exchange only served as a trigger for the massive bomb of pent up stress that had built up in the agency. In the blink of an eye, almost everybody was yelling, cursing at each other while the younger members of the agency were trying to hide in the corners of the room, away from the adults’ wrath. It was at this particular moment that Fukuzawa had come back from an errand, and upon finding the mass destruction going on in the office, he had decided to assign everybody on cases that would involve a bit a travelling around, mostly so it could keep all the detectives away from each other for some time. Hence why Atsushi was now rushing to finish all the reports he had to hand in before leaving, getting everything ready for his four-day trip to the nation’s kitchen with his mentor Dazai. Kunikida, Yosano and Kyouka were going to Fukuoka in a couple days, Kenji was to go back and spend some time with his family in Ihatov, and Junichirou and Ranpo had left for Sapporo to day before. Fukuzawa had told them he would handle new cases until their return, only expecting them to give their late files back before leaving. The office wasn’t much quieter than usual, Junichirou and Ranpo not being the noisiest detectives around, but still tension was a little less present in the atmosphere. The prospect of leaving Yokohama for a while had calmed everybody’s nerves down and they all looked forward to their getaways, even though they were still work-related.

To everyone’s surprise, Dazai had finished all his paperwork somehow and was lying on the couch again, his desk free of any casefile. He had managed it in a record time and Atsushi couldn’t help being a little jealous: he had less papers on his desk when they both started and yet, he still had about two hours’ worth of work ahead of him while his mentor was comfortably lazing on the sofa. Deciding feeling envious would only be a waste of time, Atsushi buried himself back in his work, blocking out anything else until everything was completely finished. When he finally looked up again, night had fallen and the office was empty. The young man tidied up his desk quickly, folding the last papers in their respective files before taking them to Fukazawa’s desk. He let out a sigh of relief as he crossed the corridor back from the president’s office. He was done, now he could go back to the dormitory and relax until next morning. His belongings gathered, he was about to head out and close the agency for good when he heard a shuffling from the reception area. Head picking from behind the glass screen, he was met with a heartwarming sight. Dazai was on the sofa, legs dangling off one side, left hand on his stomach, right arm folded over his eyes to block out the light. His chest was rising slowly; he was sleeping deeply. Atsushi observed the man for some time. It was rare to see Dazai in a weak position: most of the time he would just pretend to be asleep, always having an eye out for every little thing happening in the office. The weretiger smiled to himself before approaching the couch and gently shaking his mentor up.

“-Dazai, wake up.” His voice was a mere whisper. “I’m closing the office, it’s time to go.”

The older man stirred a bit, his arm leaving his face. His eyes fluttered open, a frown crossing his eyebrows as light hit his sleepy pupils. Realizing Atsushi was leaning over him, a hand on his shoulder, he straightened a bit, yawning and stretching his arms as he sat up.

“-Atsushi, are you done with your papers? What time is it?

-I finished a few minutes ago”, he answered with a tired sigh. Giving a quick glance at the clock on the wall, he continued with a soft tone, “It’s almost half past eight. We should get going.”

Dazai nodded and stood up, patted Atsushi’s head and went to grab his coat at his desk. The two of them left the building and walked together for a while, light chitchat rising in the fresh night air. The eventually parted ways, bidding the other goodnight and promising to meet at the train station the next day.

Morning had come fast, and the two men were now sitting in the bullet train. It would be a fast ride: it only took a couple hours to reach Osaka. Their wagon was quiet and spacious, their seats comfortable. They remained silent for a while, gazing at the landscape passing by the windows. Atsushi had a hard time hiding his excitement: the prospect of exploring the big city and discovering all its secrets was making his heart beat faster.

“-Dazai, have you ever been to Osaka?” The man looked thoughtful for a moment, pondering over the answers he could give.

“-I have, a couple times. Never really had the time to go sightseeing, though. How about you?

-It’ll be my first time. Actually, it’s also my first time taking the bullet train.” A sheepish smile appeared on Atsushi’s lips, his fingers nervously intertwining on his lap. His agitation made Dazai smile.

“-Well, how do you like it so far?

-It’s nice. I didn’t know a train could actually go so fast.” His tone was full of wonder. The young man still had so much to discover from this world; Dazai was sometimes forgetting he had escaped his orphanage just some time ago and had never had the chance to travel around or experience a normal life. His eyes soften as he looked at his junior.

“-There’s still a lot for you to see, I’ll take you to the few good places I know when we get there.” Atsushi’s gaze sparkled at the promise, happiness filling his entire being. He looked out the window again, taking in the green and blue hues mixing in the morning sun.

“-Where are we supposed to go?” Atsushi was jogging behind Dazai, trying to keep up with the taller man’s long legs. The Shin-Osaka station was packed and the tiger was thankful for his friend’s height; he was unlosable in the middle of all the busy salary men and giggling high schoolers.

“-We’re going to the Minoo Falls, some small incidents have been occurring and the monkeys there are acting strangely. The local authorities suspect an ability user to be behind it all.

-Monkeys? Are we going to a forest?

-Yes, the waterfall is in the middle of the forest, in between mountains.” Atsushi let out an amazed gasp. He had been to small forests around Yokohama before, but this sounded like a real adventure fit for their short trip.

The ride to Minoo was fast, only interrupted by a connection at the Umeda train station. As they rode their third train of the day, Atsushi could clearly see the change in scenery: skyscrapers were slowly giving way to lower buildings and houses as nature was becoming more prominent. It was almost noon when they finally set foot on land. They decided to grab a bite at a nearby restaurant: the way to the waterfall was a little long and sinuous, climbing up the hills. Enjoying a bowl of udon at a small restaurant in one of the streets behind the station really made this all feel like a holiday, and Atsushi was glad they had travelled all the way here. Dazai felt content too, the good food and peace of the small rural town was putting him at ease.

They eventually left for the Minoo Falls, trekking slowly through the forest. The trees along the path were huge, casting their emerald shadows on the smaller plants and occasional hikers. They walked past a couple restaurants and a temple on the way, following the river quickly running down the mountain. Nothing felt off at first sight.

As the roar of the waterfall was nearing, a man, seemingly in his fifties, approached them. He was wearing a uniform; he was a forest ranger.

“-Are ya those special detectives? ’have been waitin’ for ya!” Despite the serious look on his face, he seemed like a joyous man. Dazai greeted him with a nod.

“-Can you tell us what the problem is?

-Sure can, young man!” He tapped Dazai on the shoulder and led the two younger men to a lookout facing the waterfall. “It started three weeks ago. I was out on me usual patrol, checkin’ the trees, lookin’ out for the monkeys. Everything was okay, but I was feelin’ somethin’ strange when walkin’ to the fall. Ya know, when ya feel like a wild cat is ’bout to attack ya? Well, that kinda feelin’. I was still walkin’, and I noticed more and more dead trees on the ground. One or two trees in normal, but here ’am talking about thirty or more! I told meself it was strange, ya know, but I kept goin’. At some point I realized there were no more fish in the water. When I finally got to fall, I was face to face with a monkey. He was in a rage this one, had never seen that! It was runnin’ after me but I managed to hide in one of our lookouts. I stayed there until I thought it was safe, and I started makin’ my way back home when I found a group of ’em monkeys fightin’ each other to death. Had never seen anythin’ like it, ’am tellin’ ya!”

The man had grown more agitated as he spoke, muscles on his face twitching from time to time as he told his story.

“-Are there other strange things happening around here, mister?” Atsushi was puzzled. This sounded like a weird story indeed, but he wasn’t sure it was a case that required the intervention of the Armed Detective Agency. The ranger’s voice shook him out of his thoughts.

“-We’ve had people fallin’ sick, kiddo. They were just fine in the mornin’, and by noon they had to lie down and couldn’t leave their bed. Some of ’em went to the hospital but they said there was nothin’ wrong with ’em, just tired. Some clever woman told us she informed the government. Told us it was nothin’ big, just somethin’ in the water that was makin’ people sick, nothin’ dangerous. I don’t believe it, if ya ask me. There’s somethin’ strange goin’ on here.”

The two detective glanced at each other, not sure what to think. Them being called here meant that the police hadn’t been able to find anything substantial, leaving the hypothesis that these peculiar happenings were due to an ability user’s activity the last one left to explore. They thanked the man and began nosing around, trying to find anything that could help them understand. Just as the man had described, they found dead trees all around, and even spotted a few dead monkeys, some perfectly intact, others with huge scars covering their bodies. Atsushi was approaching the top of the waterfall when a sudden splash of water caught his attention. Thirty meters below, Dazai had dived in the water, fully clothed and without a single warning. Atsushi could feel the panic rising inside of him, images of the day he met his mentor flashing before his eyes.

“-Dazaaaai! What are you doing?” The young man tried to get as close to the edge of the cliff as he could without falling, eyes searching for the suicidal maniac.

“-Don’t worry, Atsushi, I’m just looking for clues!” The man’s answer echoed against the cliff’s rocky walls. It took him a few seconds but the weretiger finally spotted the drenched man: he was standing right next to the fall, apparently looking for a way to go behind it. Atsushi sighed heavily and traced his steps back, carefully walking down the cliff to find his mentor. As he arrived at the pool at the feet of the fall, Dazai was coming back from behind the spilling water.

“-I found something, you should come and check it out!

-Is there any way to get to it without going in the water?

-Oh, come on, Atsushi, we’re on an adventure! Get in the water already; it’s not even THAT cold.” The weretiger felt his cheeks heat up at the man’s mocking. He quickly took his shoes off and jumped in, clumsily approaching Dazai. The water was freezing.

They both walked as best they could to the back of the waterfall, water slowing them down considerably. A few rocky steps could be seen behind the water, and as they climbed them, a small cave opened in front of their eyes.

“-Is that all?” Atsushi asked, his lips turning a little blue.

“-Just wait and see.” Dazai winked at him and leaned against a wobbly rock, smirk flashing on his face. The rock moved a bit to the side and a low rumble followed. The ground started shaking and as Atsushi was trying to remain stable on his feet, the back of the cave opened, revealing a corridor with concrete walls.

-“Ta-dah! A secret hideout! Let’s go and explore it!” Dazai led the way, apparently unbothered by his cold and wet clothes. Atsushi was following, rubbing his arms to try and warm his shivering body up.

The hideout ended up being a secret government facility. The detectives had only been walking around for five minutes when two heavily armed agents stopped them. Luckily, Dazai had managed to deceive them into thinking the two of them had all the authorizations to be here, and they had been led to one of the higher ups unarmed. The woman had welcomed them warmly, apologizing for the rather forceful welcome. She knew they were looking for an explanation regarding the strange events in the area, and reassured them that the government had been informed. A small incident had happened, one of the tanks in the facility had spilled and a small amount of its content had ended up in the water. It was nothing to worry about, as the authorities had been warned and the people affected by the spilling were being treated. After this, Dazai and Atsushi had been led out of the secret property, not without a warm handshake from the woman and a plea that sounded a lot more like an order not to disclose what they had leaned today. By the time they were out, the sky had taken orange and pink hues, the sun falling behind the horizon for the night.

They walked out of the forest and found a hotel to spend the night at. Of course, none of them were satisfied with what they had been told: the woman’s account was far from convincing and some of things she had said were contradicting what the ranger had witnessed.

“-Dazai, should we keep investigating this place? I know it’s owned by the government and it’s supposed to remain secret, but I have a bad feeling about all this…” his voice died down, distress peeking in the last few words he had uttered. Dazai remained silent for a while, gaze turned to the night sky outside the window.

“-I don’t like this either. Let’s pay them another visit. After all, we have to get your shoes back.” He winked at Atsushi and got up, putting his coat on.

“-Wait, you want to go there now?

-It’ll be easier to sneak around in the dark. Besides, they won’t expect us to be back so soon.”

Sneaking in was easier indeed. Now that they knew how to get in and had seen a bit of the facility, they managed to get around without meeting a single guard. They somehow ended up in a laboratory office with desks crumbling under piles of research papers and cabinets and fridges full of weird looking substances. Atsushi was posted at the door, on the lookout, while Dazai was skimming through the papers scattered on the desks, trying to understand what was going on here. Apparently, this place was a secret research facility on ability users. This seemed all too familiar to him. Some of these papers were mentioning test subjects, all children, taken here to perform countless experiments on them. One of them caught Dazai’s attention. There was a picture of the child; they were no more than eight or nine. From what the research paper said, they had successfully been implanted with a man-made ability. The results had been promising until the child mysteriously lashed out at the scientists taking care of them, killing a couple of them and injuring five more in less than two minutes. The date on the file confirmed this had happened about three weeks prior.

“-Dazai, someone’s coming.” Atsushi had let the tiger out, taking advantage of its heightened senses to keep watch more effectively. Spotting a vent in the ceiling, Dazai gestured at Atsushi to help him reach the grid. Standing on the younger man’s shoulders, he tried to keep his balance as he pushed on the metal plate. As hard as he tried, it wasn’t moving in the slightest. He climbed down Atsushi and looked around, but before he could find another exit the door opened with a loud bang. Several armed guards were posted there, guns pointed at the two intruders. The woman they had met that afternoon was standing behind them, the furious expression in her eyes contrasting with the cold smirk distorting her mouth.

“-Who do we have here? The two little rats from earlier are back. I thought I had made myself clear when I said this place was a governmental facility and it had to remain secret. Guess I’m going to have to take care of you two now.” Atsushi swallowed nervously; the cold tone in her voice clearly told him she wouldn’t be taking care of them in a nice way. She slowly approached and caressed Dazai’s cheek as she continued:

“-What a shame, such a fine looking man.” She grabbed him by the jaw, planting her fingers in his cheeks, “I bet you would have looked good on my silk sheets.”

Before Dazai could make a clever come back, the floor started shaking, making the woman let go of his face. He took this opportunity to send her to the floor, knocking her out when her head hit the corner of a desk. Atsushi, also taking advantage of the quaking, attacked the armed men, destroying their guns with his gigantic claws. He managed to take down most of the men, the last two running out of the room to escape the tiger’s wrath. As the two detectives walked out after them, a loud alarm started blaring through the underground facility. Panic was catching through the building, shouts and heavy steps echoing in the corridors. Atsushi and Dazai were running now, trying to find a way out. The floor was still shaking, some walls were starting to crumble, big cracks appearing in the hard cement.

It was chaos. Men and women in lab coats were running in all directions, complete terror twisting their traits. Some guards were trying to guide them out while others had abandoned their duty and were running away as well, confused and scared looks on their face. Most of them seemed clueless as to what had happened but were still trying to get away from the center of the research lab as fast as possible, mimicking the scientists’ horrified behavior. The two detectives eventually reached an exit, leaving the same way they had entered, through the waterfall. Once outside, they ran towards the city, not yet grasping what was going on yet. Loud crashing noises could be heard, none of them daring to look back. They only looked around when they escaped the forest. The sight in front of them was bone chilling. It seemed as though the mountain had collapsed on itself. The government facility had been crushed by the shattered earth, leaving a hole in the landscape. Smoke was rising, clouding the sky, blocking the moon rays.

Atsushi was gaping at the sight, heavy breath barely feeding him in oxygen. Dazai was leaning against him, unable to process what had happened. As they both tried to come back to their senses, the smoke evading the fallen hill grew thicker, forming menacing clouds above head. In the midst of the threatening fog, a small form was rising, clearly detaching itself against the dark night sky. It took them a moment, but the detectives realized it looked strangely like a child. It finally came to a stop midair, and as it opened its arms wide, a piercing shriek erupted from it. Dazai covered his ears, he felt as if his ear-drums were about to implode. Atsushi had collapsed to the floor, arms around his head, a painful yelp escaping his lips. He crouched into a ball, attempting to block out the intense noise. Dazai covered the poor tiger’s body with his, hoping this would cushion the sound a little.

The sound stopped abruptly, leaving the two men panting. Atsushi’s strength had left him, the previous pain draining the energy out of him. All he could do now was lay there, his limbs as limp as a puppet’s. Dazai was still shielding him with his body, eyes focused on the child hanging in the sky. Were they the one infected with the manufactured ability? As Dazai tried to understand, a rumble roared through the sky as if the heavens had been teared apart. Rain started falling, heavy drops crashing with force. The child’s form could be seen falling to the floor, lifeless. The raindrops were hot against Dazai’s skin, mist rising as they touched the floor. A distressed whimper caught his attention. Atsushi was letting out small cries of agony; the water was fuming against his skin, burning its way through his skin. Dazai stood up quickly, dragging the tiger to a nearby building. They stayed there for the night, Atsushi’s ability slowly healing him, Dazai apprehensively waiting for the rain to stop.

After the collapse of the mountain, Atsushi and Dazai had managed to make their way back to Yokohama. Dazai, because of his ability, was completely unaffected by the downpour. Atsushi could withstand the rain for a few hours, thanks to the tiger’s healing abilities, but nothing could be done for the pain the raindrops were causing. Back at the agency, they discovered that all the detectives had made it back alive, but not without a few injuries. At that point, the rain had already engulfed all of Japan. They tried to fight against it, to no avail. As all their attempts to stop the rain were failing one after the other, the deadly clouds were spreading over the globe, leaving almost no chance for people to survive. The unforgiving drops were burning holes through cloth, melting the skin, destroying the flesh. Just as clouds enveloped the Earth, death was enveloping it too, letting but a few live, mostly ability users, who were better armed to survive the heavenly tears.

This day is now commonly known among survivors as the sky fall. No real answers had been found to explain what had happened. Some said it was God plaguing humans for their sins; others believed the government had been working on a chemical weapon that went out of control. Another theory travelling among survivors was telling of the explosion of a factory that eventually created the deadly rain. A few blamed ability users, but could never prove their involvement in these events. Those who knew better could only tell you that humanity’s thirst for power had been its downfall. Dazai agreed.

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kazhewbrekker · 5 years

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vilify me - chapter 4

this is the longest chapter to date! and probably the last one for a little while as im settling into college and dont have as much time. fear not though! chapter 5 is in the works and im committed to finishing this monster of a multific. without further ado!

(AO3 Link) (Chapter 1) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

Kenji seemed unimpressed as he walked into the hanger. I wasn’t expecting a huge reaction, but I thought he’d be at least a little bit excited over the prospect I was offering. I gave him a wink as he walked closer and patted the seat on the motorcycle I was leaned against, lovingly. It was a good thing I hadn’t run my plan past Warner, he would’ve been jealous.

“Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?” I asked innocently.

Definitely not impressed. “Never seemed like a necessary skill set.”

I shrugged. “Feel like learning?”

Kenji crossed his arms over his chest as I passed a helmet to him. He didn’t take it from me, which was to be expected. There was no chance he was going to go easy on me. I mean this was literally me trying to appeal to him enough to get him to trust me. Or maybe, just maybe, it was me trying to find something to relieve myself of the utter boredom that had befallen me since I came to Sector 45. Which, I had to remind myself, wasn’t Warner’s fault.

He was busy. I was also usually busy, that’s just how things were with us. And now, with this mission he’d put me on, I would find a new way to be busy.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Kenji took the helmet begrudgingly, “Where are we going?”

“Does it matter? Let me answer that, no.”

I climbed onto the seat, settling my feet in their place on either side of the bike. Kenji hesitated again, the black helmet now smugly fastened around his head, trying to figure out where he was supposed to sit on the motorcycle with me. I grabbed his wrist, between us was the layer of his military coat and the riding gloves I had fashioned myself with, as I pulled him on behind me.

“I’m not going to kill you.”

“I didn’t say you would, Princess.” Kenji shifted uncomfortably and created a space between the two of us. I had the urge to roll my eyes. Like that would stop me. If I wanted him dead he would be by now. “How come you don’t wear a helmet?” Kenji asked.

I revved the bike. “Let’s hope you don’t find out.”

“Put your foot on the break,” Warner instructed. “No, hold it down.”

“Sorry,” I shot him a glare and pressed down all my weight on the car’s brake. The glare broke apart in an instance. I was too excited to be mad.

Finally, after being told over and over that he would teach me, Warner was going to show me how to drive. I’d wanted to for years, ever since he had when he was eight. Mum and Dad would never let me behind the wheel of a car, at least not until I was older no doubt, they didn’t even trust Emmaline in one yet. But I would learn how to drive first, because Anderson had left home earlier that morning and Leila wouldn’t mind if we borrowed the car. Or totalled it.

“Okay,” I said, “okay, what do I do next?”

“Shift into drive.”

I blinked down at the controls. “What am I on right now?”

“Reverse.”

I managed to shift the car into drive recalling what I’d seen in films, “You don’t have to look so nervous, we’re indestructible, remember?”

Warner sighed exasperatedly, hands tightening on the seatbelt. “Keep your eyes on the road.” I grinned and checked my mirrors, slowly pulling my foot off the brake and towards the gas. “And I wish you’d stop saying that.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because my biggest fear is that one day it’ll stop being true.”

I frowned. I took it slow, but driving on a street that no one was ever going to come down again gave me the whole road to practice. I jumped between brake and gas over and over, inching forward and trying to get the hang of it. Every once and awhile, Warner pointed something out to me, but he was as patient as he was with teaching me anything. It was easy, easier than I thought it would have been.

“I’m not going to lose my powers, Aaron.”

“No,” he agreed, “but have you considered your parents’ new project.”

I sucked in a breath and the car huffed in response. Warner didn’t looked shocked as I hit the brakes to look over at him. He looked worried. “Project Canary. Emma’s losing her mind over it.” I said.

“I know, I heard.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Don’t tell me she’s bothering you about it too.”

“When she can’t call you she calls me, I’ve told you this before.” He tucked his chin and looked down at the watch affixed to his wrist. “Emmaline is just worried about you, love.”

“Of course she is, because if they can get through me it means she’s next. I don’t blame her.”

“Ella.”

“It’s true!” I shrugged, “You know it, I know it. I reckon if Canary succeeds, then I’ll be the only one affected. Well, and you, probably.”

“Probably? You can’t be serious.”

I sighed dramatically, shifting gears and turning us around back towards the house. I knew he was staring at me, I could feel it burning under my skin. If he was offended by the truth that was his problem. Not mine.

“If something happened to you,” I wasn’t watching his face, but I heard the way his breath caught in his throat. A chill settled around me as I waited for him to continue. “I would be devastated. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, sure, of course.” I snipped back.

“Ella, I’m serious.”

Too much, too heavy. I nodded in an attempt to get him to drop it. Warner was my best friend, but God if he didn’t make everything out to be life-and-death. Though, technically, this situation could very well end in my untimely death. It didn’t matter. He was serious all right, far too serious. And I didn’t want to think about the immediate future, not like he did.

I loved motorcycles. More than cars, planes, especially boats. Nothing else could get me in contact with the same level of speed as the motorcycle could. I wondered a lot if it was anything similar to drugs, Mum and Dad would have me caged again if I experimented with anything that could mess with my brain or my body. So, death defying activities was all I had.

But I had to drive carefully, Kenji’s arms wrapped around me so tightly I had to focus on the wind whipping my hair to not break down at the feeling of being barred.

I hadn’t been lying about the helmet comment, as far as Kenji knew I was talented in hand-to-hand combat and could most likely kill someone if they just so happened to brush my skin. He had no way of knowing that a motorcycle crash was much more likely to hurt whatever I crashed into then myself. When I’d first embraced my daredevil tendencies, Warner had insisted that I wore protective garments, riding jackets and enforced padding. We hadn’t known the full extent of how much damage I could sustain. We found out though, eventually.

I came to a stop in a place where the road evened out and the buildings had grown scarce. It was strange, Southern California had always been overflowing with populace and new houses that the large expanse of nothingness was almost unnerving. I pushed those thoughts from my head and removed Kenji’s hands from my waist.

He attempted to climb down with me, but I steadied him on the bike with a smile and said, “I’m teaching you how to ride remember?”

“I never said I wanted to learn how.”

“Yes, but you also never said you didn’t.” I placed my hand on the handlebar, about to launch into a speel about what each part on the bike did, until I noticed he was staring at me strangely. “What?”

“I’m curious. What brought this on?”

“Me teaching you how to ride a motorcycle? I was bored, wanted to ride my bike, and you’re supposed to follow me everywhere I go.” I paused, sardonic in nature. “Thus, here we are.”

Kenji looked back at me as if he didn’t believe me, and I had to give him credit, he was a lot more intuitive than he had appeared at first glance. It wasn’t as if I was lying. I was currently trying to use enough of the truth that he’d have eventually just have to believe that my intentions were pure. It’s not as if I had given him any reason to believe otherwise. Beside the fact that I work for a fear mongering government that treats its citizens even worse than the ground they walk on.

I might have to rethink my plan of action.

“Okay,” I huffed. “Clutch is here, gear shift is down here, throttle, and break. You’re ready to go.”

“Wait, hold on a second, that’s the big lesson? You point at all the controls, pat me on the back and say ‘Good luck.’ You’re the worst teacher in the history of ever.”

“Jesus, that’s a little harsh.”

“Never have kids.” He said with a straight face, “You’d try to teach them how to ride a bike and then just throw them straight into oncoming traffic.”

I groaned, “Newsflash you egg, traffic isn’t as issue anymore. The 405 is dead and I’d be a great mum.”

Kenji didn’t move as he held his humorless expression. As the silence dragged and we continued to just stare at one another, something cracked. I wasn’t sure if I was the first to snort, but giggles erupted from my lips until I was crumpled on the ground holding my stomach from laughter. Kenji wasn’t much better, he had to use to the motorcycle to hold himself upright as he practically hacked up a lung.

I was wiping tears out of the corners of my eyes when Kenji finally said, “All right, that was hilarious. But I’m still not riding this death trap with a ten second long instructional period.”

“Just,” my voice was still strangled with restrained giggles, “trust me here.”

“You don’t make that easy.”

But he listened and settled on the bike like before, keeping one boot on the ground to stabilize himself. I corrected his form and I watched as his eyes darted nervously around the open field. I couldn’t say I completely understood his nerves, I’d never had to really worry about bodily harm before. With that, I had the sudden realization that this was a terrible plan, and if it failed it would really suck to have to drive home with a dead body. Or, even worse, have to walk.

“Ready?” I asked honestly.

He didn’t in the least bit look ready. At least he knew how to brake.

Kenji gave a curt nod and I stepped away from the bike, giving him room to start the engine again and prepare for take off. The motorcycle gave a growl that I felt in my chest, that made the hair on my arms stand up, and as Kenji gave me one more glance before staring at the opened, empty road before him. I gave a silent prayer to a God I don’t believe in.

The motorcycle lurched forward, shakily and slow it made its way down the street. A couple of times I worried if it was going so slow that the machine might tip over, but at every chance Kenji shifted his weight to keep it steady. It wasn’t until he turned around and came back towards me that I saw he had a genuine smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes, he was going barely more than 20 miles per hour.

“All right. It’s not a vespa.”

He hit the brakes as he neared me and the sudden stop made him ram his stomach into the center console. Kenji took a shaky breath but his voice was only a little winded, “What’s a vespa?”

“Oh my God.”

Our bedroom was cold. It was the middle of July and from the window I could see the moon against the cloudless sky. It was the only thing lighting the room. For once I was happy that snow hadn’t come so early this year, because if it had then I wouldn’t be able to see the moon at all. I clung tightly to my blanket knowing that it was my only protector, that would stop the dark corners of the room from getting any closer to the foot of my bed.

I had been working very hard to not let it bother me, to sleep through the night without interruptions or nightmares. If Emmaline could do it then so could I. But it seemed like the harder I pushed away the negative thoughts, the stronger they came back with a vengeance. And the more they stole my breath straight from my lungs. I knew what panic was now though, I’d felt it before. It kept rising and rising like the temperature on a thermometer. Until my head started to feel dizzy and my chest began caving in.

What was it that Warner always said? Try to breathe.

Easier said than done.

At this point I should’ve been used to any form of sensory deprivation. Nothing to see, or hear, only the cold walls of the room that remind you that you’re not dead. Or asleep. Or somewhere in the middle. Mr. Anderson would turn down the oxygen in the room if I tried to fall asleep. It would go on for hours. But it always ended, sometimes I was worried it wouldn’t.

Little bird, little bird in a gilded cage. With spikes on the bars. Little bird with no escape.

“Ella,” my sister’s voice whispered across the bedroom. “Ella, go to sleep.”

I froze. My rampant neverending thoughts must have woken her up, or at the very least kept her from falling asleep. I wasn’t quite sure what Emmaline could hear and what she couldn’t. But if I hated being in my own head, then surely my sister would despise it just as much. “Sorry, Emma.”

She sighed, rolled over. I felt my face burn with shame. “No worries, just…“ Her soft words disappeared into the cloud of dark that blanketed over her half of our bedroom. We’d been sharing a room since I was born. At least that’s what I had been told. But now the sea of carpet between the two of our beds felt wider and all the more terrifying under the gaze of the moon. I had to steel myself. I couldn’t be weak, I couldn’t whimper at the idea of closing my eyes, what would Mum say?

“Ella. Come here.”

I looked over to Emmaline’s moving sheets. I could barely make out her motions across the room. But I didn’t give it a second thought. I bundled the blankets around my body, grateful for the socks that covered my feet, and I tiptoed over the lie to Emmaline’s side of the room. Where pink met purple.

Emmaline was waiting patiently with arms outstretched. She pulled me and my blankets up onto the sheets with her, and that’s when I noticed the long sleeves pajamas and the gloves. How had she been wearing gloves to bed? Emmaline pulled my head to her shoulder and hugged me tightly. I wished I could see her expression. I wished I could read her thoughts for a change. My panic spiked once more.

“Calm down,” Emmaline yawned. “Give it a rest.”

“S-Sorry.”

It was dangerous to be this close to my sister. It was dangerous to be around anyone, ever. This was my curse. My burden. Mum called it a gift, she said it made me special. But I had to work harder, so I could be just like my sister. Mum would kill me if anything happened to Emmaline. She’d actually kill me.

“Shhh, go to sleep.”

“I-I…”

My sister’s finger combed through my hair. I closed my eyes against her pillow.

“Sleep, Ella. You can worry about things in the morning.”

She was right. I knew somewhere deep down that she was, but a part of me refused to accept it. It seemed like no matter what I did, my worries would follow me into my dreams too. I focused on Emmaline’s breath, her heartbeat, the slight brush of my hair from my forehead. It made me crave the blurry memories of climbing into bed with Mum and Dad, falling asleep in the safety they provided. Now it didn’t feel safe to be near their wing of the house, or even near them.

“I don’t want nightmares.” I whispered back to her.

Emmaline paused. If I paid close enough attention I could feel the edges of her power just on the cusp of my consciousness. If I dared to push against it all I would feel would be numb. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal.”

I blinked my eyes opened, “A deal?”

“Sure,” she pinched my shoulder. “If you try to sleep, I promise I’ll chase all the bad dreams away.”

It was far too dark in the room for me to see the look on her face. I couldn’t even tell from her tone if she was messing with me. I was a bit too old to believe that anyone could chase away my bad dreams, especially when they had been formed out of reality. But then again, Emmaline had power over the mind. Even now I could feel her rooting herself in my thoughts, sharing them with me, but blocking me from following that path back into her own head. It was a one way trip, or so she said.

If anyone could get rid of the nightmares, actually get rid of them, it would be Emmaline.

“All right.” I said.

She nodded once into the dark, “Close your eyes, then.”

I did as she asked. A moment passed, but in the moment the darkness of my eyelids didn’t feel constraining, like I was being pressed against the walls of a prison. It felt almost calm. Like a purring cat under my bare fingers, enjoying the feeling of my touch. It felt like I was back in North America, tucked into familiar sheets, pressed against the side of someone else. But only for a moment.

And then I opened my eyes and Emmaline was gone.

I sat up, wrapped in pink sheets, and stared across the room to the bed I had fallen asleep in. Purple sheets as pristine as if they had never been slept in at all. I should have figured. That kind of comfort and safety could only last a night.

Kenji wasn’t confident enough to drive us back, and I wasn’t entirely confident he could either. So, I drove the motorcycle to the compound, stopping myself from taking any unnecessary risks, least Kenji never go on another adventure with me again.

As much as I loathed to admit it, my plan was almost certainly backfiring. I was having fun just making friends with someone new. Socializing wasn’t exactly a skill I excelled in and the fact that Kenji almost didn’t seem nervous to get on the back of the bike with me after spending the afternoon in my company made me feel better than I had in awhile. There was a churning afterthought though, that if he wasn’t who he said he was, if Warner was right; then Kenji would die by my hand. There was no way around it.

Or so I told myself as we parked in the hanger.

I shot a scathing look at the soldier who carted off my bike, knowing they would take care of it, but trying to retain the menacing aura I had accumulated before I started letting myself go soft. Maybe Warner was right and I really should go back to training in the mornings.

It was only a second later as I turned to speak to Kenji that I felt a thrum of energy go through my body. The sensation stilled me to my core, even my lungs refused to take in oxygen as my brain scrambled for concrete meaning. I knew this feeling and I knew it well. My body restarted.

“Kishimoto,” my voice was harsh, “you are dismissed.”

“But--”

“Now, soldier.” There was a bite at the end of my words that I hadn’t ever used in conversation with him before. He registered this and, probably with some sense of betrayal, turned on his heel and marched away from the hanger. I hoped he was fast enough.

When my ability had first manifested, there were a lot of things going through my five year old head. And still it wasn’t anywhere near as complicated as Emmaline’s own mind. My sister, being a year older than me, took it upon herself to compare us in everything. Even before our powers. Shockingly, she wasn’t so far off when it came to this over everything else. Our abilities were simultaneously complete opposites and so similar that they could not be recreated in any test subjects. Though it wasn’t from lack of trying.

I could feel the energy of living things. Around me were spools of thread that tied back to every living creature, I could feel their hearts pumping, I could sense the electricity beneath their skin. By extension, Emmaline was connected to life through their minds. She had her own network that she organized and colorcoded, more orderly than my own, efficient. But our largest connector remained each other, and it was at that moment that I felt my sister’s ability wrap itself around me. As if it wanted me to know she was here, listening in to the private confines of my head. So, I did what any little sister would do.

I immediately thought back to the last time Warner’s lips were on mine, the heat of our breath as I undid the buttons of his shirt. I let my eyes close as the memories washed over me, leaving a singing fever in their wake.

Emmaline withdrew faster than a bat out of hell.

“That was rude.”

I heard her before I saw her. My eyes blinked opened tentatively as I watched my sister walked down the stairs into the hanger. Soldiers stopped, if only for a moment, to stare and wonder. Emmaline looked a lot like our mother. Her hair was two shades darker than mine and always laid flat down her back, her face was older, wiser. And she wore that red lipstick that Mum liked.

It was hard not to think of that woman when I looked at her. “What, like looking through someone’s head? Tell me, is that real rude?”

She rolled her eyes, “You’ve made your point.”

“Have I?”

When she stepped down from the last stair a smile appeared on her face, out of nowhere. And then she held her arms open towards me. I noticed the sleeves of her coat, the collar of her shirt that covered her neck, the gloves that seemed to permanently cling to her hands. This wasn’t a last minute decision, my sister had come to Sector 45 with the full intent to see me.

I tried to walk calmly towards her. I’m pretty sure I failed.

Emmaline hugged me. She squeezed my shoulders and rocked us from side to side like a dance. It wasn’t appropriate, to be so excited to see each other, if our mother was there she would have chastised us greatly. But Mummy dearest wasn’t there, and we could do whatever the hell we wanted.

“This is a surprise,” I said as we pulled away.

“I told you I’d be visiting shortly.”

“Actually, you asked if you could visit and I never got back to you.”

Emmaline huffed as if I’d greatly inconvenienced her, “Doesn’t matter. It’s not as if you’re busy, hiding out from our parents and what have you.”

“They know where I am.” My eyes narrowed on her as a mischievous smile inched its way onto her face. “Mum does know where I am, right Emma?”

“Oh, she could guess, but I’m afraid she’s preoccupied right now.”

I held my breath. No wonder I’d been left alone for almost a month. Emmaline was covering for me and with her powers no less. It was starting to get scary how easily she could deceive the people that more or less ran the world.

“And what was your excuse for flying out here?”

Emmaline glanced at me, her lips upturned in a smug expression that made her lipstick seem darker. The color of blood. “I’m allowed holidays just like you.”

There was a palpable moment of tension between us that shattered with a clap of my sister’s hands. She turned on her heel and made her way back towards the stairs. I followed, just as she had expected me to do, and I watched as her hair flew behind her like a black veil. Nothing was different about Emmaline from the last time I had seen her, but I knew my sister better than that. She wasn’t a consistent person in the least.

She had plans. Always.

“Why didn’t you introduce me to your friend?”

I met her eyes as she glanced back at me, “Didn’t think you’d be interested.”

Emmaline hummed to herself for a moment before we entered the main hallway. She let me move to take the lead as I headed for the nearest elevator. It was just around dinner time now, the sun had already begun it’s decline over the ocean. Well, it would’ve anyways, if it wasn’t for the clouds hiding it. And I was starved from messing around in God knows where for hours.

“Y’know, sis,” she spoke finally after the elevator doors closed. “You can’t exactly lie to me.”

I gritted my teeth.

“And I’m not just saying that because I can read your mind. What, can’t trust me now? Especially when you’ve decided on making friends with someone you think is working for the rebellion.”

“Hush up,” I hissed.

The elevator was still steadily moving up towards the higher floors. That left us with little time left to speak with the comfort of not being recorded. Once we were out in the open, anyone could overhear us and report back to Anderson, Kenji would be as good as dead.

“I don’t know for sure.”

Emmaline scoffed.

“I don’t. Doesn’t matter, I just don’t want you rooting around in his head while I’m trying to do my job. Because if he is with the rebels, then maybe he can lead me to that base.”

“The base Anderson’s on your ass about.”

The doors open, “That’s the one.”

We walked in silence towards the dining room. There was something strange and familiar about wandering these halls with my sister beside me. Maybe it reminded me of when we were children, I scrunched my nose. Emmaline and I hadn’t wandered the halls together when we were little. We barely interacted outside of bedtimes and Sunday breakfasts. I watched her out of the corner of my eye and found her looking back at me. Her expression was blank.

Before I even opened the door to the dining room, Emmaline groaned from beside me. I felt a tinge of a smile make its way onto my lips before I waltzed inside, emulating the grace of a person with the ball in their side of the court. If she was going to be confrontational or then I simply wouldn’t let it get to me, Emmaline could whine all we wanted but this was still Warner’s sector.

A telepath and an empath walk into a bar… I’d hate to hear the punchline.

Emmaline hesitated by the door as I swept inside to take my usual seat beside him. He barely spared a glance at my sister, before turning to me, his side of the table devoid of paperwork for the first time in weeks. I narrowed my eyes, had he heard of her arrival before I had? Most likely.

I leaned close enough to press my lips to his cheek as he whispered, “A nice surprise.” I had to stifle the laugh the built up in my throat.

As much as I liked to taunt my sister, I also found myself increasingly more demure in her presenance. My cheeks reddened and I dug my teeth into my bottom lip as I pulled away from Warner and into my own space. I caught Emmaline’s eye as she, now quiet for the first time since I’d seen her, sat down carefully beside us. I braced myself for whatever she was reading, whatever she could feel.

“Don’t stop on my account.”

My nerves blew out of my lungs in an instant. Warner brought a water glass to his mouth rather enthusiastically, he was hiding a grin. I could rest easy knowing that this dinner wasn’t going to be a normal Emma-Aaron staredown, where I was placed in the middle and forced to choose which one I would have to calm down first. Frankly, I found it unfair that they put me in such a position at all.

Emmaline and I had been rivals since the beginning on account of our abilites and the expectations that came with them. It made our relationship difficult to say the least, stressful and even distant. We rekindled what we could salvage the older we got, but it was hard to put the pressures our mother had forced down our throats away. Warner and Emmaline’s rivalry was different. And I couldn’t even be sure when it started. It almost felt like I had woken up one day to the both of them being at each other’s throats with no explanation other than, “Because I hate him, Ella.” on my sister’s lips.

I had my assumptions. But I certainly wasn’t going to tell them that.

“C’mon now,” Emmaline spoke first. “What have you two been up to, spare no details.”

“Is that why you came here? To catch up?” Warner raised an eyebrow and I felt his hand find mine underneath the table.

Emmaline amused herself my looking through the assortment of bottles on the table, in Sector 45 there never seemed to be a shortage of alcohol, before picking one that suited her tastes. “Why else would I be here?” She said as if there was a very obvious, very necessary reason for her to be here. Her eyes met his with something I could only describe as contempt, “To make sure you haven’t defiled my little sister?”

I felt more than saw Warner’s reaction to her words. It was like the walls turned ruby red, the air became almost stifling, but neither of the other occupants seemed to notice. No, Emmaline was reveling in my love’s discomfort. There was a gnawing dread in my stomach that colorfully plated breads weren’t going to fix. I squeezed Warner’s hand.

“Behave,” I said.

Emmaline shrugged, “I haven’t done anything that warrants punishment, Els. Even if punishment is your specialty.”

“For someone so gifted in speech, you’d think you would have learned when to shut up.”

“Bite me.” She laughed and buttered a roll.

The heat had dulled, but only slightly, and a dull blade was worse than a sharp one. I turned to Warner, who was still fixing my sister with a death stare. I raised his hand to my cheek. If I kept his attention on me, then hopefully they wouldn’t do something I would end up regretting.

“I rode my motorcycle today.”

“You did?” Distraction successful, he answered curiously.

“I missed it. We should do it more often, it wasn’t the same without you.” The room smelled like lilac. “It’s getting pretty cold out, as well, so if you want to go riding--”

“A metal deathtrap.”

“--We’ll have to go soon.” I gritted my teeth again and caught Emmaline’s gaze out of the corner of my eye. “You never have anything helpful to add, do you?”

Emmaline was watching our exchange, eyes shimmering with something that I couldn’t place. But Warner could. I could read his movements better than his facial expressions, as he tilted his body in front of me. The lilac that had misted the air had turned frigid, but hadn’t disappeared. Not yet anyways. Emmaline placed her chin on the palm of her hand.

“Still trying to find a way to break your neck?”

How dare she pretend to be innocent. “Why? Decided to give it a go afterall?” I answered.

There was an ebb and flow to the frequencies that surrounded the table. Emmaline, ever the bringer of chaos, was upsetting my natural balance. I knew she would, hypothetically, and I could handle it. Hypothetically. But what I couldn’t handle was my sister trying to infuriate the both of us at the same time. Though that was what she did best wasn’t it?

“Tell us why you’re really here, Emmaline.” Warner’s voice was serious.

I stiffened as my sister’s lazy smile faded. “You already know, don’t you?”

“Tell her, then.”

“Or you will. I’m familiar with the threat, thank you.” She rolled her eyes and the childish glee she’d been playing with from the moment she’d hugged me, disappeared completely. If I could feel emotions like Warner, I’d suspect any cheerfulness in my sister had blown away, almost like it never existed. “Project Canary.”

My blood froze in my veins.

“They’ve completed it?”

Emmaline appraised Warner’s question, “They believe they have.”

“And that’s all that really matters.” His fingers tightened their grip on my hand and I squeezed back with just as much force. I couldn't feel the rest of my body, I was grasping for anything, and had settled on my power. It covered me like a blanket, extended itself to Warner and wrapped him in it as well. It was protecting us, it would protect us. But not from that, not if they had succeeded.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Emmaline chasitied. “As if I would let them create something powerful enough to neutralize Ella. I’m not an idiot.” That was a pointed statement if I ever heard one.

“What were you doing in Asia?” How could Warner be so calm?

“Testing it, obviously.”

He leaned back, “And?”

Emmaline was silent for a long time. Long enough that I began to count. I hated counting, more than anything. As much as I loved mathematics and sciences, the theory of numbers and how they could organize the entire universe, I despised counting with a passion. Because once I started, it was almost impossible to stop. To pull myself out of that scared little corner of my head that I only fell into against my own will.

1, 2, 3, 4…

Warner’s pointer finger tapped on the inside of my wrist.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious.” Emmaline continued, “I could have waited for my sister to come home to see her again, but it couldn’t wait. So, here I am.”

“Here you are.”

It was a message, it was a message and I couldn’t decipher it, but I would keep trying. For him. I focused on the feeling. The soft brushes of the pads of his fingers as they typed out a message to me and only me, heavily coded, even in his mind. Emmaline couldn’t read this, only I could. If I just--

“The Unnaturals they found in the last raid have been wiped out. Overseen by Supreme Commander Ibrahim and Mummy dearest, of course. It wasn’t a diplomatic mission, I lied, Nazeera and I watched the precessions.” Warner could no doubt see what Emmaline was recalling in her mind, “Their frequencies, their signatures, just vanished. Like they were dead.”

“But they weren’t dead, not when they disappeared.”

Emmaline nodded, “It was like a blackhole. I’ve never felt anything so… wrong.”

“I can understand that at least.” Warner went quiet again, and deep inside my mind where reality couldn’t touch me I felt all the more trapped losing that tether. I shut my eyes tightly. Without the sound of their voices, the darkness, the frequencies were consuming the edges of the room, and I could feel them sting across my skin. The hand that Warner held was the only place that cooled, like soaked in water, safe. “Love, you need to come back to us now.”

I was weak. How could I be falling apart so easily? Here the two of them were speaking calmly and I was falling apart at the dinner table. If Anderson saw me, if our mother heard--

27, 28, 29, 30…

“Thinking like that isn’t going to get you anywhere, sis.”

Warner’s free hand came up to tuck my hair behind my ear and slid down to cup the side of my face. It was like balm on a sunburn. If I could just move, then I could disappear into the circle of his arms where I would be safe, and loved, and

“Wake up, sweetheart.”

I gasped and the ticking of a clock. The numbers. The counting stopped.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered to the both of them, my eyes trained on the tablecloth. Embarrassment, shame, weakness burned in my gut.

Warner stroked my temple, his eyes never left my face but Emmaline turned away and I had to restrain my own wince. My mind was not a serene place to be in at this moment, that was for damn sure. Maybe if she learned to stay out of my head then she wouldn’t read things she couldn’t stomach.

“But that wouldn’t be very fun, would it?” She mused.

Warner pursed his lips and answered her, gaze still trained on me. “I think that’s enough for tonight. Actually, I think that’s enough entirely. You passed on your information, Emmaline, go home.”

“Gladly,” she responded, “if my sister comes with me.”

“No,”

The noise was raw and strained, I wasn’t sure where it came from until I saw my sister’s eyes turn to me. There was a mix of pity and desperation in them that made me feel all the more sick to my stomach. Maybe she believed the best way to protect me was by us staying together, but if her information had solidified anything it was that I couldn’t return home. Not anytime soon anyway.

“Emma, I can’t.”

“And why not?” Emmaline stood to her full height. She towered over the table, but I could feel her unease rolling off her frequencies in waves. It had been awhile since I had fallen apart in front of her. Probably almost a decade.

“Mum, she plans to test it on me.” To my surprise, my lips didn’t quiver. “It will work.”

“And I’ll stop her.”

I shook my head. She didn’t understand, she couldn’t understand what losing my powers even for a moment would mean for me. The vulnerability that I hadn’t felt since I was a child. How stripping me of something so intertwined with my entire being would be alike to killing me. The fact that the Reestablishment could very well kill me using such an object.

I watched the warring emotions on my sister’s face as she considered my thoughts. I wished that I could read her own and understand why she would be so insistent that I return home with her. It didn’t work. Emmaline turned away from me, and away from the table, and walked back towards the door. We hadn’t even gotten the chance to eat anything. I hadn’t noticed until now.

“Els,” Emmaline called back to me. “I’ll see you in the morning. For training, yeah?”

She paused. I bit my lip, “Of course.”

And with that she nodded and left. The door slamming behind her with more force than necessary and a weight settling in my gut that I could be sure would disappear overnight. I glanced to Warner, his eyes still heavy on my face, and I found something in them that perfectly reflected how I felt. How this whole situation felt.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into the collar of his jacket. And I cried.

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engekihaikyuu · 6 years

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Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu - Start of the Giant

Final show curtain call!!!

Full description under the Read More~

At this point I think Engeki Haikyuu curtain calls are semi-cursed lolol each one is slightly more of a mess than the last.

Very unexpectedly, I ended up in the 5th row from the stage (center section, left aisle) for the final night’s show, and got a wonderful clear view of everyone’s expressions for the curtain call. I’m just gonna recall everything as best I can and just go in order. So this is going to be loooong.

First up, Mart-san. He had his usual standard curtain call message, no misses, always a strong start to the lineup, and ended with another round of cheering for Karasuno, yelling K-A-R-A-S-U-N-O!!! Then Momo, who got to play not just Saeko-nee but also Hana, the manager for Johzenji. On the far right of the stage, she actually stands between Mart-san and Johzenji, so she’s closest to them and a little more removed from the other Karasuno members. She said it was a great privilege to be able to play both characters, and that one of the great things was that she could cheer wholeheartedly for both Karasuno and for Johzenji. Then moving all the way stage left, we move to Shungo (Akaashi). One of his lines from the NekoFuku match is asking Bokuto, “Was that OK?” (OKですか？） He says this when Bokuto’s making a comeback out of his slump, and he wanted to say it to the audience and have us reply with, “OK!” （OKです！） Takumi (Bokuto) was after that. Takumi was actually quite teary-eyed when they came out for the curtain call bows, but he recovered by the time it was time for his message, so he was ok when talking. He kept it pretty short and simple, but of course, he wanted us to shout, “Hey hey hey!!!” when he gave us the cue: “We really are the best!” Then onto Shouri (Kuroo), who also kept his message relatively short and simple, but said, “I really want to play the battle at the trash heap.” Takato (Kenma) was the one who dragged out their segment by trying to steal Shouri’s captain thunder. Traditionally, each member of each team will give a message and then the team captain closes them out by saying, “Thank you for supporting X school.” Takato tried to say, “Thank you for supporting Nekoma High” but Shouri stopped him like, “Hang on, that’s me! That’s my bit!” Then Takato called him Shiro (with Shouri going, “Wrong color!”), and eventually they settled down into asking if they could do the Nekoma chant with the audience again. So we did, I definitely tried to yell it EXTRA loud, and then Shouri shouted, “Thank you for supporting Nekoma High!” Then we would’ve moved onto Ariken except Kenta stepped forward and reminded Takumi that he forgot to do that for Fukurodani. Takumi was very flustered by it and kind of meekly started saying it, but Kenta was like, no no no. Stand up tall and do it in a big voice! So he stood up a little straighter and yelled, “Thank you for supporting Fukurodani Academy!” and then he and Shungo bowed again.

Then we moved onto Arita Kenji (Ushijima) (stage right next to Momo), who gave a very serious, mostly very formal message at first... and of course mentioned how he’d be returning in the autumn show with the rest of his team, but he slipped and sort of said that they’d start working immediately, and Kenta was like, “That was fast! Geez, don’t we get a break?!” Kage-chan chimed in too about wanting a little break lol. And then Shouri yelled from his side of the stage to remind Ariken to do his captain message. And he seemed a little unsure, since he has literally no one else from his team, but he did it anyway (and finally broke out a smile~) and said, “Thank you for supporting Shiratorizawa!”

Then we move back to stage left to go through Wakunan, and most of them were in tears. I definitely ended up tearing up with them. Yuma (Akiu) was first up, and he was so in tears he had a lot of trouble speaking. We the audience cheered him on, clapping and telling him to do his best, and eventually he got out his thank you. Mossan (Naruko) took over then, and he was all smiles as he gave his message, patting Yuma to try and cheer him up. But then next was Goku (Hanayama) who was also so in tears he was very nearly unintelligible. But even while crying, he snuck in some humor. He said thank you to the wonderful cast, the staff, Ryoutarou-- At which point half the stage fell over laughing and Kenta interrupted like, “Normally you stop after cast and staff! What is this?! Cast and staff and Ryoutarou?!” And Ryoutarou looked very bashful but he was also laughing. Then Masa (Shiroishi), who had been in tears when they were initially lined up for curtain call, but like Takumi he recovered in time when it was his turn to speak, so he rushed through his thank you, spelled out his name energetically in English: K-I-M-U-R-A and passed it on to Nao (Kawatabi). Nao had been pretty sniffly, and was still a little bit during his message, but he got through it ok. And then Rin (Nakashima Takeru). Oh my goodness my heart went out to Rin. Rin had basically started crying towards the end of the Wakunan match, crying at the end of it, crying throughout the scene where he’s sitting outside talking about how the last few moments of that match were in slow motion, but he wanted to keep playing. And I saw him teary-eyed throughout the closing sequence, his bows, and as they lined up. He was just a constant flow of tears. He said how much the show meant to him, how wonderful everyone on Wakunan was, and how wonderful everyone was on the cast and staff. Kenta had to remind him to do his captain message, and he too, was a bit timid about it so Kenta had to urge him to do it properly lol. But by the time he said, “Thank you for supporting Wakutani South High!” the rest of his team was supposed to follow by saying, ‘Thank you very much’ but they didn’t because they were unsure when to start, so everyone erupted in laughter and the team just bowed anyway lololol.

We move to stage right to Johzenji, where literally all of them, from Rin to Aiji to Shihou to Youta to Ayato to Funakki all gave near flawless messages without a single miss. Funakki (Terushima) said, “I hope that Johzenji left an impression and that something of us will carry on into future shows” and in response to that, Kenta made the Johzenji party hands gesture lol. Then Funakki started going, “Thank you for supporting Johzenji High!” and Kenta was just like “How is it that Johzenji is doing everything properly? Aren’t you guys supposed to play around more?”

Ami (Yachi) and Shizune (Kiyoko) kept their messages short and simple and sweet, albeit ADORABLE, and Ami mentioned how happy she was to be able to do the Karasuno cheer with everyone. Shizune got a bit nervous and fumbled over what she wanted to say so she just cut it short, and the two turned and nervously laughed at each other.

Then Shige-san (Takeda-sensei), who got a bit nostalgic, remembering that they’ve been working on this production for 3 years. For him personally as an actor, he said it was the longest he’d ever worked on a single show, but as he struggled to come up with the exact number of shows they’d done, Tsuyoshi-san answered for him, “We’ve done 212 shows! Remember it better!” For Tsuyoshi-san (Ukai both younger and senior lol), he actually told us the trick behind switching between the younger and senior Ukais. He’s actually wearing TWO wigs lol. He wears his blonde, young Ukai wig over his grey, old Ukai wig, and basically swaps between the two by ripping the blond on and off backstage. Takato yelled from the other side of the stage, “Take it off! Show us!” so he did actually lift the blond of his wig to show us the grey underneath!

On to the Karasuno players!!!

Justin started his message on a serious note, thanking cast and staff, commenting on the new third-year unit, and then promising to do his best for their graduation in the fall. Then he turned to Naoki and said it was time to do his usual, and everyone in the audience hooted and cheered. Naoki was like, oh no. What? And Keita laughed and held his shoulder like, ‘It’s your turn now.’ So Justin yelled SUGAAAAAA as he’s always done, and told him he needed to do an Egashira 2:50 impression later (Egashira is a comedian who usually appears shirtless in black leggings). Naoki took after Hiroki very well and screamed, “Nooooooooooooo!!!” and ran to the back of the stage lol. (He did do it though, and I’ll post the video later) Naoki for his message mentioned how nervous he was to take on the part of Sugawara after Hiroki, and he hoped that he did a good job keeping the parts of Hiroki’s Suga that were best while also putting himself into Suga. Where Hiroki used to make the audience shout, “We love you!” (大好き！), Naoki wanted to change it up just a little, and have us shout, “We love you lots!” (いっぱい好き！） Kenta laughed, “It’s only a little different!” Keita of course mentioned the fact that he had been Daichi in the first show, but then left while Akisawa Kentarou played the role for two years before he came back, and that he was very glad to be able to come back to the production. As he said this, Ryoutarou started tearing up and crying on his side of the stage, and Kenta was like, “It’s not even your turn!” He was obviously also very emotional about Keita’s return to the production, and after Keita wrapped up his message, he walked across the stage to give Ryoutarou a hug. Moving stage left, we have Kazuma who said that he wanted to keep things light, especially after the emotional message he gave after the show last night. He gave his thanks and then asked us to clap as always in rhythm for him to do that weird pose he’s always done in curtain calls and then he turned to Fucchi and said, “Give us the Super Deluxe Rolling Thunder!” So Fucchi just ran to the back of the stage and started rolling and tumbling around screaming Super Deluxe Rolling Thunder, but since there was literally nothing for him to receive, he just fell over at the end, and everyone laughed. Then he gave a very fiery, energetic thank you to cast and staff, and said the second-years really are the best, asked Ryuu to agree, then the two of them did the SOI SOI SOI we so love. For Kouhei’s turn, he wanted us to shout “Tanaka-senpai!!!” as always. Who’s the coolest? Tanaka-senpai!! Etc... But then he got very serious after he made us do that a few times and said, “Even though... Tanaka in this show caused injury to Daichi-san... and got depressed and troubled his teammates... and needed saving from Ennoshita...” And then he pretty much dedicated his curtain call message to Ennoshita, and he almost made Kazuma cry. Kazuma had to step back from the line-up, turn his back to the audience to collect himself. Kouhei reiterated how amazing all the second-years are, and then it was on to Kairi. Kairi began by stuttering, “P-p-p-playing Y-Y-amaguchi--” and Ryoutarou turned to scold him in the same way that he does during the show. During the show, when it’s Yamaguchi’s turn to serve and he’s a nervous wreck about it, Tsukki tells him, “It’s not like before. If you happen to score a point, everyone will just think, how lucky, that’s all.” So for the curtain call, he tells Kairi, “It’s not like last time. As long as you say anything, the audience here will think they’re lucky to hear it.” And Kairi replies with, “Thanks, Tsukki!” as he does in the show, and then gives his thank you message. To introduce Ryoutarou, he puts on a nasally voice and goes, “Next, next is... Tsukishima Keiiii...” Then Ryoutarou mimes doors opening, steps forward, and then anti-climatically bows and says, “If you please.” (お願いします。） Which makes a bunch of people laugh and fall over because of how anti-climatic it was lol. Ryoutarou then said that he swore to himself that he wouldn’t cry, but he ended up crying anyway, and reiterated how happy he was to have Keita return to the production. For Kage-chan’s turn he kept it serious and straight-forward, bringing up how hard they’d be working toward their graduation, and how they’d be sure to carry on the spirits of everyone who wouldn’t be joining them for that show. He looks at the Wakunan and Johzenji members as he says this. He recalled how during the Summer of Evolution curtain call he’d felt relieved when it was all over, he’d been so nervous, but now he’s really glad to be here and all he wants is to keep going. Finally Kenta, who started by pointing out just how carefree everyone else had been with their messages even though they didn’t really have the time to do so because of the Live-Viewing audience. He told us that the staff were in his earpiece trying desperately to hurry them along, but that this carefree attitude is one of the wonderful parts of the Haikyuu family. He then said, that although he’d been trying really hard not to think about the fall production and their upcoming graduation, his head was now full of it with this show being done, and he just couldn’t help but feel, “Let’s do it one more time,” quoting Hinata. (もう一回）

They bowed, they left, we all stood to give them a standing ovation to return to, Kenta thanked us for the ovation, the entire cast bowed once again... This time Kazuma lingered a bit in the back of the stage, and gave another bow before he left. Then Kage-chan, then Kenta, then they were gone.

For the final entry, which is always just Kage-chan and Kenta, they came out to us all smiles and off-the-cuff as usual, and making weather references again lololol. Because although Engeki has a history of bad, rainy weather during the last show, we actually had very nice weather today, so Kenta was feeling really good about that. Almost as if some... sun-like figure... had something to do with it... (referencing Hinata of course). Kage-chan halfheartedly scolded him, but also mentioned how nice it was to not have to carry an umbrella lol. They joked it was the perfect weather for flying, and how they wanted all of us in the audience to fly too. “But only until you get to the station. Not inside the station.” They didn’t linger too long this time. I think this third curtain call was shorter than the one they had during Summer of Evolution. But they promised to work hard in the fall show as well, and then it was time for final bows and for the staff to shoo us out of the theater lol.

#start of the giant #review #curtain call #Final Show #haisute #this is the longest curtain call summary I've ever written oh wow #I spent over 2 hours writing this what #oh god I need to go to bed #GOOD NIGHT #I'll answer more questions and try to post after show photos after I get some sleep

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dornishsphinx · 7 years

Text

twenty-two meetings that never happened (2/22)

2. THE MAGICIAN

Yosuke swiped his finger across the screen to bring up the email again, just like he had done at least five times already. Meet your assigned partner at the clock outside the main building at 12pm sharp! Once more, he found himself checking the time. With a little notebook-style flipping animation, it ticked over from 12.29 to 12.30. God damn it.

He shifted from foot to foot; his right, his left, then right again. Had his assigned partner forgotten about the meet-ups? It would be just his luck if he had - though maybe at least it would be a good anecdote for his first call back home.

Home. Huh. Yosuke folded his arms across his chest and leant back against the wall, letting his gaze drift upwards to level with the roofs of tall buildings which loomed over the plaza. So, Inaba was home to him now? Weird. The city had been what his default image of home was for the longest time, even months into the provincial life.

Things here were different to how he remembered them, though. He’d assumed he’d get back into the swing of things soon enough when he first arrived, but now it was undeniable, even for him: the city of his earlier years seemed to have melted away in his absence. Before, he’d had stable roots: parents to go back to at night; old friends he could chill with; the quickest routes through the wide streets firmly memorised.

Now, though? That easy closeness with his friends had been shaken by years’ worth of texts gone unanswered, and he wasn’t quite sure how to fix it, or if he even should. Several of his old haunts had been shut down - while he hated to empathise with the those among the residents of Inaba who’d shunned him and his family, he had to admit to finally gaining a glimmer of understanding the moment he discovered his favourite takoyaki stand had gone under. As for his parents, they were still in Inaba and had no plans on returning, their city house having been sold when they left town. He’d rode past it, once, when going to see one of his oldest friends from the neighbourhood, like muscle memory had forced him to go past his house. A strange kid had been playing outside. He’d avoided going that route since.

“Yo! Sorry I’m late!”

He snapped to. A friendly looking guy was waving over at him. Presumably it was his assigned partner - thank god, he wasn’t going to have to decide whether or not to leave. Yosuke flipped close his phone and plastered on a grin.

“Hey, no worries, I was kinda late too!” he lied.

“Yosuke Hanamura, right? I’m Kenji Tomochika. They sent your name and photo so we could find all you lost newbies.”

“Oh, cool! Good to meet you, senpai!”

God, what the hell was his voice doing? Why was it so high and panicky? Had Tomochika noticed? He hadn’t seemed to, but was he was just being polite?

“So, hey, you wanna come see the canteen first?” he said. “Food’s not great, but it’s hella cheap. I’ll pay. I’m the reason your lunchtime’s been cut in half, after all.”

“Sounds good. Senpai.”

Tomochika grinned. “Awesome, I’m starving! We can do the tour after, ‘kay?”

The canteen was a blocky, grey building, with some weird murals painted across it that only made the rest of it look all the more industrial. Inside, it was swarming with students; all the ambient chatter made the air hum. Yosuke hesitated, but Tomochika pushed on ahead into the queue to the hot food section.

“Hey, you should get the curry rice,” Tomochika shouted, “It’s actually okay. The rest of the stuff here pretty much sucks.”

His voice carried; the server shot dirty looks at him. Yosuke winced and brushed it off with an embarrassed grin - he’d been on the other side of the counter so many times, after all. Still, it wasn’t as though the guy was wrong: casting an eye over the other options, it became super obvious that none of these options were gonna be appetising. At all. Pretty much immediately, he decided to go with the suggestion - though not before his attention was caught by what looked like they were supposed to be steak skewers. Weirdly, he found a small, nostalgic smile had started tugging at the side of his mouth at the sight of them.

Then, his attention got snatched away from them by a polite cough. He snapped his head around to see the girl ahead of him already walking away and the cashier looking at him pointedly. He could take a hint.

Tomochika was after him in line - as he waited for him to pay, Yosuke scanned the room for any potential seats. Yeah, no, this place really was packed - like, the impossible to move, let alone find a seat kind of busy. But then again, Tomochika was swanning off like he knew what he was doing, and Yosuke didn’t have half the experience he did, and so he followed him. Magically, he found two seats. Yosuke leapt for his, just in case someone else spotted it before he managed to park his ass.

His stomach grumbled. Tentatively, he lifted out some of the rice - twisted his wrist around one way, then the other - and took a bite. (You didn’t encounter Yukiko Amagi’s cooking and not check for suspicious patches of colour or lumpy bits that shouldn’t be lumpy in every other meal you ever had.) Flavour - sweet, spicy flavour - burst over his tongue.

“Huh, not bad,” he said in surprise.

“I know, right?” Tomochika exclaimed, brandishing his own chopsticks in a way that would make anyone with the slightest care for dining etiquette wince. “Trust me, if you’re coming here to eat, you wanna stick with that. Someone should profit from all those terrible lunches I went through my first year, when I was testing all the options.”

“Hey, it can’t be as bad as some of the stuff I’ve had back-” He paused. It was one thing to call Inaba home to himself, quietly in his head. Hell, he might tell his friends, if it came up. It was another thing to say it out loud to a stranger he was trying to impress. “-In the town I was living in the past couple years. Seriously, it was like they thought steak croquettes were high cuisine.”

“What town’s that?” Tomochika asked, seeming genuinely interested.

“Uh, Inaba? It’s pretty tiny, it’s kinda near-”

“Whoa, wait, I think I know that place! I mean, unless there’s a whole bunch of little towns with the exact same name. Which could be the case, I guess. Lemme see, uh… is the school called Yasogami?”

Yosuke’s jaw dropped. How? How the ever-loving hell did this guy know Inaba? It was Inaba. Nobody knew Inaba. Mom had pitched a fit when she’d figured out how remote the town the company had been moving Dad to was, and that had only been after a boss-difficulty-level google search to actually find the place.

“Yeah,” he said, dumbfounded. “Uh, wow. How do you know Inaba? It’s like, in the middle of nowhere. It probably doesn’t even show up on maps.”

It was only after he said it that it occurred to him: it wasn’t as though Inaba was as unknown as it had been when he moved there. It couldn’t be. Not after everything that had happened last year.

“Oh, our school did an trip there in second year, to exchange ideas on learning styles, or some bull like that. It sure was, uh. Quaint?”

Oh, so it wasn’t because of the murder spree - well, that was certainly unexpected. Ugh, wait, why was he even thinking about that? It had been more than a year ago; this was a completely different place; and he was over everything that had gone on then. Forcibly shoving the sudden pit in his stomach away, he twisted his face back into the jokey way he’d had it before.

“You’re telling me. I had to move there because of my dad’s job - from this city, actually. Wasn’t exactly an easy adjustment.”

Tomochika winced at that. “I am so sorry.”

The response rubbed Yosuke the wrong way a little. It wasn’t Tomochika’s fault, obviously: he was just going along with the atmosphere of camaraderie to keep things from getting awkward in that oh-yeah-we-are-actually-complete-strangers-aren’t-we sorta way. Still, he’d found himself missing the little place over the weeks he’d been back, quaint and tiny and murder-y as it had been. Even the steak croquettes, at points. (Hey, he’d never said his feelings were rational.)

“Nah, but it wasn’t really so bad. Like, there was a city not too far away - I mean sure, it wasn’t convenient like here or anything, but I wasn’t completely cut off from the world or anything.”

“I mean, I guess that’s not as bad as it could have been, but still. I can’t even think about going back to Tatsumi Port Island now that I’ve lived here and the city there’s actually pretty big. Oh hey, so if you’re from here, maybe you should be the one showing me around-”

Yosuke interrupted him: “Tatsumi Port Island? I’ve been there! Well, I went to the school, at least. Maybe it was the same programme you went on to Inaba?”

“You visited Gekkoukan? Man, that must have been after I left. I wonder if anything’s changed since then.”

Wait. If Tomochika had been at Gekkoukan High a few years before Yosuke went on the exchange there, did that mean he’d gone to school with those Shadow Operative weirdos who’d shown up to take Labrys away? Naoto’s investigations, at least the ones she’d shared with the Investigation Team, had pointed to Gekkoukan as their old base of operations, and it would be around the right time, considering the guy only had a few years on him. Hell, was he one of them? Those guys had been pretty suspicious, after all, so it wouldn’t be completely out of the left field if they sent one of their own to spy on him.

Oblivious to Yosuke’s minor freakout, Tomochika laughed, brushing aside the matter that he’d got tongue-tied over.

“But man, that is so weird, like, we visited each others’ high schools and didn’t even know it. You think maybe the organisers looked into our backgrounds while matching us up, to see if people have anything in common like that?”

“Seems a bit much for them to bother with, doesn’t it?”

He peered at Tomochika, waiting for a reaction, but he just shrugged. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”

Maybe he wasn’t some Shadow Operative secret spy after all. Weirdly, he found himself a little disappointed.

“So,” said Tomochika, dragging out the sound, “Inaba. I heard that’s where that crazy murder case happened last year? You’d have been living there at that point, right?”

Oh. Yeah. Of course he knew. It was stupid to think he hadn’t: it had made national news.

“Yeah. I was.”

“Oh, wow, no way! Musta been pretty scary, huh?”

“Yeah. I mean, I guess.”

Something in Yosuke’s face - or voice, or maybe even just his aura - must have tipped Tomochika off, because he winced and in a hushed voice, he asked: “Ah, you didn’t. Uh. Know anybody who was, y'know…”

“I did, yeah.” Tomochika winced. “Oh. Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” he said, and to his credit, he actually sounded sincere about it. “I mean. I lost a friend in high school so, I know it’s not easy. I mean, he was closer to other people and it’s not like he was murdered but- I’m making this worse aren’t it? Sorry. I’ll shut up now.”

“It’s okay, man,” said Yosuke. “We weren’t really that close.” Well, it was true, even if only on her end.

“Still,” he said, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Honestly, it’s no sweat. You didn’t know.”

Tomochika smiled back, a faint edge of nervousness creeping in at the edges. Oh, just awesome, he’d managed to freak out the guy he was supposed to be impressing. What the hell happened to him always being the most normal guy in the room? Though, looking back, maybe it had always just been in comparison to those goofballs he called friends back in Inaba.

Though. Maybe he could lean into it a little? New place, new people, new him? Oh, what the hell, why not?

“Hey, Tomochika-senpai, did you by any chance tune into the LMB Fest this summer?”

#persona #kenji tomochika #yosuke hanamura #p3 #p4 #22 meetings

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