#and anyway Fushimi needs a boss who will let him be terrible and still indulge him

[ridiasfangirlings]

Hi there! Does GORA ever discuss what happens to Scepter 4 post-ROK? I know it's discussed a little that since there are still strains, they have a job to do. However, after all the strains seemingly go away, would they still have a job? Just wondering if anything canon has been stated. I would hate for Scepter 4 to be broken apart and go their separate aways (especially after that sweet finale where they all declare themselves to Munakata) :( I imagine though they would still be an organization but maybe something that deals with more organized/complex crimes?

I don’t believe Gora’s ever said anything specifically about what S4 would do once there aren’t any more Strains. One thing I think is important to note is they’ve also been pretty vague on the whole ‘existence of Strains post-Slate’ thing as it is. We know that some of the people who were affected when Hisui released the Slate kept their powers and became Strains, so there are actually more now than there were pre-ROK. At the same time though there’s no discussion that I can recall about if those Strains will eventually lose their powers or if it’s just that there will be Strains until all the current existing ones die. If the latter is the case then I think there’s room to consider that S4 may always be needed in some capacity — if there are more Strains who are kids, or babies, then even if S4 is helping with them now there’s always a possibility that they might grow up and use those powers for bad things and need someone to keep them in line. Similarly there would probably be the need for at least some kind of ongoing monitoring for all existing Strains, just to be sure no one decides one day to remove whatever power-dampening device they might have and go rob a bank or whatever. In that case I could see S4 remaining pretty much perpetually, albeit presumably with a smaller budget and smaller force depending on how much activity there ends up being.

If all Strains eventually disappear then I assume that S4 as-is, at least, would be dissolved. I don’t think that necessarily means they all have to go their separate ways (I know Gora kinda hinted at Homra doing something of the sort, with everyone having their own stuff going on, but I don’t think even that necessarily means that they’ve all broken apart entirely and in general I will just go on record with my bias as saying that I really hate found family stories where the endgame is ‘and then the found family splits apart and maybe send each other Christmas cards once a year,’ fuck that noise). I feel like even without Strains and Kings and all that though Munakata remains an ambitious person and I don’t at all see him just deciding it’s time to retire and going off to do puzzles at home for the rest of his life. I could see S4 morphing into its own sort of special force eventually, either in a very specific security niche run by Munakata or even as like political bodyguards (you know, for when Munakata decides to run for Prime Minister, smirking at his opponent the whole time). Considering Munakata specifically chose all of S4 because he thought they were useful I don’t see him letting everyone go so easily, and on top of that everyone joined because they believed in Munakata’s vision — so if that vision takes them to somewhere they didn’t expect so be it, they’ll still follow their King.