Kamamoto looked at Kusanagi. Kusanagi nodded and said ‘probably’ while lighting his cigarette.
Last night, after Anna had vanished, there was an incident where several people at a nearby crossroad collapsed due to suffocation. After they had been carried to the hospital, they all said that they had been ‘suddenly trapped inside water’, apparently. Which meant that they had all seen the same illusion and passed out at the same time.
On top of that, in a place a few dozen meters away from that crossroad where there wasn’t any fire, there was an incident where several people suffered heavy burns. They suddenly felt pain in their skin, and directly afterwards, their skin burned red as though from the inside, apparently. The victims of both incidents had been carried to the Nanakamado hospital and were being treated.
“This mornin’, a report came from Scepter 4’s deputy commander.” Said Kusanagi with a heavy sigh. He remembered and repeated the words Shiotsu had gone out of his way to report over the phone.
“In accordance with the laws of administrating unnatural phenomenon, we have taken the Strain who caused danger to civilians, Kushina Anna, into our custody. Until it can be deemed that the risks have completely passed, we will hold her.”
Kusanagi looked up at the thin cigarette smoke that was rising towards the ceiling.
“This is apparently the duty of Scepter 4, which manages Strains… waitin’ for the other guys to make a mistake ended up causin’ us not be able to justify ourselves instead.”
It was two hours after Anna vanished that Honami was contacted by the center. Anna had been carried by an ambulance. She needed to be hospitalized immediately, and they couldn’t let Honami see her. Hearing that, Honami had tried to rush to the center, but Kusanagi and the others stopped her. It was hard to think that the guys from the center would cause Honami any harm right now, but thinking of Anna’s parents, they didn’t know what could happen. They couldn’t put her in danger.
“…I guess, surprisingly, that kid being a “highly dangerous Strain” might not have just been an excuse to lock her up, huh.” Fushimi said that quietly, as he was sitting and looking at his toes. The way he twisted his face in an unsatisfied way and how he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes made him seem sulky, but it seemed like he might have been surprisingly putting up a front, going by how one could occasionally tell that his eyes would waver in uneasy restlessness.
“But… I can’t believe that Anna-chan would do something like that.” Kamamoto said with a frown. He had gone out to look for Anna, so he had also seen people collapsed in the road being carried off in ambulances. It had been an unnatural scene, seeing people being carried off for burns in a place with no fire. He just couldn’t imagine that quiet, little girl who seemed to just play with marbles doing it.
Totsuka brought his hand up in front of Kamamoto. On his fingers, a burn scar was still faintly remaining.
“This is a burn I got when I touched Anna-chan after she woke up from a bad dream. It’s the result of her being unable to control her powers due to agitation from her nightmare… an overflow of her powers.”
Totsuka lowered his hand and brought together the fingers that were still burnt.
“At that moment, I thought it was strange. Anna-chan’s powers are clairvoyance. If that’s the case, then why would I have been burned from an overflow of it, I wondered.” He slowly moved his eyes as though remembering that time.
“But that was really clairvoyant powers getting out of control.”
“…what do you mean?” Kamamoto tilted his head. Totsuka looked him in the eye.
“She sees all in the world, and feels it. She brings the outside world into her body. That’s that kid’s clairvoyant powers. But, in contrast, letting loose what’s inside her… that’s also, certainly, that kid’s ability.”
“So basically.” Said Kusanagi, taking Totsuka’s words.
“Memories of being burned, memories of drownin’. You mean they’re inside that kid, and when she’s disturbed mentally, they spill out through her clairvoyant powers.”
Kamamoto folded his thick arms and growled.
“Anna-chan, she’s had such a bad burn, or been choked before…” Those were words that came from him simply feeling sorry for her. But, Totsuka and Kusanagi, who had felt that the truth was in a more tragic place, for just a moment exchanged looks as though they were trying to shove the role of saying something unpleasant back and forth before Kusanagi heavily opened his mouth.
“Probably, she didn’t just get burned or almost drown because of an accident… it’s just a theory, but I think she had it happen to her at the center.”
Kamamoto was at a loss for words.
A silence like mud fell.
Yata, who seemed like he’d be the one to stand right up first, was for some reason quiet today. Even as he leaned on the counter and had only his eyes gleaming, he didn’t raise his voice in anger and stayed quiet.
“…If Mizuchi seriously wanted to make Anna-chan make contact with the ‘Slate’, then that isn’t ordinary. He wouldn’t have been picky about the methods to draw out her power… if that kid’s powers would be strongly drawn out by pain and sufferin’, then-“
Without listening to the end, Suou moved. He moved his back from the wall he had been leaning on and took one step forward.
“I’ll crush it.”
Those roughly thrown out words had no eagerness, or visible anger. But at the king’s single sentence, everyone’s faces twisted tightly.
“Alright.” Kusanagi replied lightly.
Within the members who were giving off murderous spirit, Fushimi still had an unchangingly sulky face. Like that, he tried to casually leave the bar. Right then, Yata, who had been still and quiet until then, went about two steps after Fushimi and called out, “Saruhiko!”
Fushimi stopped at the bar’s door and turned only half his face around towards Yata.
“It’s not your fault.”
Yata looked right at Fushimi. Fushimi fidgeted slightly as though surprised. Just for a moment, his eyes trembled, but he didn’t give a single word in reply and left the bar leaving behind only a click of his tongue.
The words that Anna had probably eavesdropped on- the words that had shaken Anna’s heart, and became the trigger for her powers running wild, were probably the ones that Fushimi had spat out.
“Totsuka.” Kusanagi quietly called Totsuka as usual for times like these, but Totsuka shook his head.
“Saru-kun probably wouldn’t like my followup.”
Totsuka looked between the door that Fushimi had gone out of and the side of Yata’s face, as Yata glared in the door’s direction while drawing himself up to his full height.
“Saru-kun is okay… for now, at least.” Totsuka said quietly, with a complicated expression.
Kusanagi and Totsuka faced each other over a map of the Center in the seats furthest back in the bar. Beside that, Suou was sitting on a sofa, and leaning back. The other members were noisily going in and out of the bar while getting ready for the attack by contacting each other, preparing things that could be used as weapons, and that sort of thing.
“We’ll also need to guard Honami-sensei. So we’d better leave a few guys here.” Said Kusanagi. Totsuka lightly folded his arms while looking over the map.
“Going by how things went when we infiltrated the Center, I think Anna-chan probably isn’t in one of the above ground floors. The place we got into was surprisingly open, so I’d think that the important Strains would all be put into the underground parts.”
“Can’t tell how to get into the basement from just this map. I guess we’ll just have to directly /have someone tell us/, huh.” Kusanagi looked up from the map, and looked out of the corner of his narrowed eyes at the king who didn’t even try to participate in the planning session.
“Mikoto. This time, don’t you be doin’ anythin’ too crazy.” Without moving his body at all, Suou just used his eyes to glance at Kusanagi.
“This is a pretty dangerous bridge, after all. We’re pickin’ a fight with the golden king of all people, and there’ll be a hospital full of civilians right by us. We can’t afford to mess up.”
“Yeah.” Suou replied vaguely, in a way that made it hard to tell whether he was listening or not. Kusanagi sighed, took a box of cigarettes from his pocket, and put one in his mouth.
“For starters, we’ll open the way. So don’t use your power until it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Yeah.” Suou was lying back on the sofa and, as usual, only replied carelessly. Kusanagi looked at Totsuka.
“Totsuka.” Suou called over to him while sloppily sinking into the sofa.
“Yeah?”
“Come with me.” Totsuka’s eyes widened a little.
“My, my. I thought I’d be stuck in the stay home group. If King says so, of course I’ll go, but won’t I totally be in the way?”
“You being in the way won’t even count as a handicap for me.”
“Well, that’s true, but.” Why? When Totsuka looked at Suou questioningly, he went ‘hmph’.
“That brat might run away if she sees my face. She’s gotten somewhat attached to you, right.” Looking at Suou who said that irritably, Totsuka smiled wryly.
“I don’t think that will be the case.”
“Anyway, I hate brats. You look after her.” Suou spat that out, then got up in the space of a breath and headed towards the door. He went out, saying only ‘let me know when the preparations are done’.
“…I guess he’s actually really holdin’ back.” Totsuka widened his eyes when Kusanagi said that with a wry smile.
“We pretty much had to do somethin’ like half threaten Honami-sensei to hold her back, right? …That guy’s actually pretty bad at stuff like that.”
“Yeah…” Totsuka also smiled wryly, and looked towards the bar’s door Suou had gone out of.
“Well, even if that guy hadn’t said it, I was plannin’ on makin’ you go with him anyway.” Totsuka tilted his head at Kusanagi’s words.
“You’re the stopper.” Kusanagi said this while spitting out some cigarette smoke and suddenly remembered what Totsuka had said before, while acting unusually down.
“…A while ago, you said you didn’t have any power, right.”
“Ah, yeah.”
“At that time, I said you weren’t suited for us, but. It’s actually a bit different. We need a ‘powerless one’, probably.” Totsuka blinked confusedly.
“We’re a breed of team where power is like our meanin’ for existence. And on top of that, we’ve got a bunch of guys together who let the blood rush to their heads. Someone who, within that, won’t let them drown in their power… who’ll keep everyone together using a method that isn’t forceful, is needed.” Kusanagi pulled the ashtray over and dropped the cigarette’s ash into it.
“The one who needs a stopper most is the king.” Saying that with a bitter smile, Kusanagi remembered the time he went to Scepter 4 and spoke with Shiotsu.
(When your king crumbles, do you think there’s anything you can do?)
The words that hit a sore spot returned to the front of his mind, and Kusanagi frowned shallowly.
There’s nothing he could do. At the very most, they could tie him down so that wouldn’t happen, that was their… especially this guy’s role.
Kusanagi remembered the past. This guy, from before, had been good at deflecting Suou’s annoyances. He’d take the spite out with a smile and make one feel like an idiot for being irritated. Come to think of it, the first time they’d met had been in a hospital. Totsuka, a middleschooler, had been hanging around Suou, and been carried to the hospital after being tortured by some people with grudges against Suou. Kusanagi, who had a lot of connections, was informed of this from a witness and went to the hospital with Suou.
Totsuka, despite being black and blue all over, smiled like he didn’t care. Even when asked who had done it, he just laughed and dodged the subject, and before they realized it he had made up with the attackers. He definitely hadn’t allowed Suou to get angry for his sake.
And even after Suou became king, Totsuka continued to smile the same way. With a smile, he had distracted Suou who was almost taken in by the seduction of power… of destruction.
“Ever since before, you’ve really acted so free it’s annoyin’… if you’re not like that at least, that role would be tough.”
There’s no way that even this guy wouldn’t have any objections towards this. Even then, on top of swallowing all of his negative feelings, he could smile and say ‘it’ll all work out’… and he would end up making those who heard him think that it might really all work out… if not for that mysterious formidability, he wouldn’t be able to stand in that place. “Kusanagi-san?” Totsuka tilted his head as he looked at Kusanagi.
“Sometimes, I’m jealous of that mentality of yours that makes me wonder if you’re missin’ some screws.”
“What’s with that, you’re not praising me, are you?”
“I’m not praisin’ you or anythin’. Anyway, you’re responsible for Mikoto.” Kusanagi passed this over as though lightly tossing something heavy, and looked back down at the map.
Outside the bar, his comrades were armed and waiting.
“Don’t be causin’ trouble for the neighbors.” Kusanagi called out to them in a relaxed way. Passerbys saw the foul-tempered looking boys armed with baseball bats, steel pipes, and that sort of thing and dodged them with a startled look. There were even some people who changed which path they went down. Kusanagi went hmm and looked around, arms folded.
“I sure hope we don’t get reported to the police.” He looked at his comrades’ faces. The members who would be barging in were mostly gathered. But there was a face amongst them missing, and Kusanagi spoke to Totsuka who was talking to the others.
“Totsuka, hasn’t Fushimi come back yet?” Totsuka looked up, waved lightly to the guys he was talking to and walked over to Kusanagi.
“Yata went to check on Saru-kun. I think they’ll be here soon.”
“That so.” Kusanagi said while thinking of that twisted boy. Totsuka, whose job was to always help when something happened to their comrades, had said about Fushimi that ‘he’d hate my followup’ and not tried anything.
“I… wonder what’s up with him.”
“Fushimi… you’re always gettin’ along with new blood right away, but this time you’re havin’ a lot of trouble, aren’t you.”
“Saru-kun might be no good!” When Totsuka said that, Kusanagi looked incredibly exasperated.
“You… that was a really extreme way of rejection all of a sudden! Don’t surprise me like that!”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. It’s not like I meant that Saru-kun himself is hopeless or anything… it’s just, I think he’ll have trouble fitting in, is all.”
“Fitting in?”
“That kid’s interest… or maybe I should say his focus, he’s just clinging way too hard to one single thing.”
Kusanagi thought for a couple of seconds, then had a vague, troubled look on his face.
“…for you, that’s a pretty roundabout way of sayin’ it.”
Totsuka smiled wryly, and narrowed his eyes as though looking far away.
“It’s not like I’m being roundabout, but… I feel like if he has something he can cling to that much, he’s fine just like that.”
“Hmm?” Kusanagi tilted his head, and Totsuka just changed his wry smile into his usual carefree smile while looking at Kusanagi.
“Well, putting that aside, Saru-kun is an interesting guy, so I want to be friendly with him to the extent that he won’t be annoyed!”
Kusanagi said ‘what a troublesome guy’ along with a sigh. Right then, speak of the devil, Yata came up the road with Fushimi. Totsuka welcomed with with a wave.
“Sorry for being late! Are we leaving already?” Yata asked breathlessly as he ran up. Kusanagi nodded.
“Yeah, now all we need is our boss-“
“Everyone’s here, huh.”
A deep voice resounded from behind them.
They turned around.
Suou was standing in a place slightly separated from the Homura group. Like a slender lion, despite being lightweight he was a man who gave off a heavy pressure. Red light overflowed from his body, like power bubbling over from inside.
Suou stepped forward and came closer. When his feet connected with the ground, sparks flew with a small crackle. “Someone’s fired up.” Kusanagi said that teasingly, making Suou go ‘hmph’.
All the members of Homura shut their mouths, and waited for Suou’s next move. The eyes watching him were glittering expectation, heat, pride towards Homura, and anger towards their enemy.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
k side:red translation monochrome reality
(part 1)
(part 2)
“We’ll also need to guard Honami-sensei. So we’d better leave a few guys here.” Said Kusanagi. Totsuka lightly folded his arms while looking over the map.
“Going by how things went when we infiltrated the Center, I think Anna-chan probably isn’t in one of the above ground floors. The place we got into was surprisingly open, so I’d think that the important Strains would all be put into the underground parts.”
“Can’t tell how to get into the basement from just this map. I guess we’ll just have to directly /have someone tell us/, huh.” Kusanagi looked up from the map, and looked out of the corner of his narrowed eyes at the king who didn’t even try to participate in the planning session.
“Mikoto. This time, don’t you be doin’ anythin’ too crazy.” Without moving his body at all, Suou just used his eyes to glance at Kusanagi.
“This is a pretty dangerous bridge, after all. We’re pickin’ a fight with the golden king of all people, and there’ll be a hospital full of civilians right by us. We can’t afford to mess up.”
“Yeah.” Suou replied vaguely, in a way that made it hard to tell whether he was listening or not. Kusanagi sighed, took a box of cigarettes from his pocket, and put one in his mouth.
“For starters, we’ll open the way. So don’t use your power until it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Yeah.” Suou was lying back on the sofa and, as usual, only replied carelessly. Kusanagi looked at Totsuka.
“Totsuka.” Suou called over to him while sloppily sinking into the sofa.
“Yeah?”
“Come with me.” Totsuka’s eyes widened a little.
“My, my. I thought I’d be stuck in the stay home group. If King says so, of course I’ll go, but won’t I totally be in the way?”
“You being in the way won’t even count as a handicap for me.”
“Well, that’s true, but.” Why? When Totsuka looked at Suou questioningly, he went ‘hmph’.
“That brat might run away if she sees my face. She’s gotten somewhat attached to you, right.” Looking at Suou who said that irritably, Totsuka smiled wryly.
“I don’t think that will be the case.”
“Anyway, I hate brats. You look after her.” Suou spat that out, then got up in the space of a breath and headed towards the door. He went out, saying only ‘let me know when the preparations are done’.
“…I guess he’s actually really holdin’ back.” Totsuka widened his eyes when Kusanagi said that with a wry smile.
“We pretty much had to do somethin’ like half threaten Honami-sensei to hold her back, right? …That guy’s actually pretty bad at stuff like that.”
“Yeah…” Totsuka also smiled wryly, and looked towards the bar’s door Suou had gone out of.
“Well, even if that guy hadn’t said it, I was plannin’ on makin’ you go with him anyway.” Totsuka tilted his head at Kusanagi’s words.
“You’re the stopper.” Kusanagi said this while spitting out some cigarette smoke and suddenly remembered what Totsuka had said before, while acting unusually down.
“…A while ago, you said you didn’t have any power, right.”
“Ah, yeah.”
“At that time, I said you weren’t suited for us, but. It’s actually a bit different. We need a ‘powerless one’, probably.” Totsuka blinked confusedly.
“We’re a breed of team where power is like our meanin’ for existence. And on top of that, we’ve got a bunch of guys together who let the blood rush to their heads. Someone who, within that, won’t let them drown in their power… who’ll keep everyone together using a method that isn’t forceful, is needed.” Kusanagi pulled the ashtray over and dropped the cigarette’s ash into it.
“The one who needs a stopper most is the king.” Saying that with a bitter smile, Kusanagi remembered the time he went to Scepter 4 and spoke with Shiotsu.
(When your king crumbles, do you think there’s anything you can do?)
The words that hit a sore spot returned to the front of his mind, and Kusanagi frowned shallowly.
There’s nothing he could do. At the very most, they could tie him down so that wouldn’t happen, that was their… especially this guy’s role.
Kusanagi remembered the past. This guy, from before, had been good at deflecting Suou’s annoyances. He’d take the spite out with a smile and make one feel like an idiot for being irritated. Come to think of it, the first time they’d met had been in a hospital. Totsuka, a middleschooler, had been hanging around Suou, and been carried to the hospital after being tortured by some people with grudges against Suou. Kusanagi, who had a lot of connections, was informed of this from a witness and went to the hospital with Suou.
Totsuka, despite being black and blue all over, smiled like he didn’t care. Even when asked who had done it, he just laughed and dodged the subject, and before they realized it he had made up with the attackers. He definitely hadn’t allowed Suou to get angry for his sake.
And even after Suou became king, Totsuka continued to smile the same way. With a smile, he had distracted Suou who was almost taken in by the seduction of power… of destruction.
“Ever since before, you’ve really acted so free it’s annoyin’… if you’re not like that at least, that role would be tough.”
There’s no way that even this guy wouldn’t have any objections towards this. Even then, on top of swallowing all of his negative feelings, he could smile and say ‘it’ll all work out’… and he would end up making those who heard him think that it might really all work out… if not for that mysterious formidability, he wouldn’t be able to stand in that place.
“Kusanagi-san?” Totsuka tilted his head as he looked at Kusanagi.
“Sometimes, I’m jealous of that mentality of yours that makes me wonder if you’re missin’ some screws.”
“What’s with that, you’re not praising me, are you?”
“I’m not praisin’ you or anythin’. Anyway, you’re responsible for Mikoto.” Kusanagi passed this over as though lightly tossing something heavy, and looked back down at the map.
no subject
“Don’t be causin’ trouble for the neighbors.” Kusanagi called out to them in a relaxed way. Passerbys saw the foul-tempered looking boys armed with baseball bats, steel pipes, and that sort of thing and dodged them with a startled look. There were even some people who changed which path they went down. Kusanagi went hmm and looked around, arms folded.
“I sure hope we don’t get reported to the police.” He looked at his comrades’ faces. The members who would be barging in were mostly gathered. But there was a face amongst them missing, and Kusanagi spoke to Totsuka who was talking to the others.
“Totsuka, hasn’t Fushimi come back yet?” Totsuka looked up, waved lightly to the guys he was talking to and walked over to Kusanagi.
“Yata went to check on Saru-kun. I think they’ll be here soon.”
“That so.” Kusanagi said while thinking of that twisted boy. Totsuka, whose job was to always help when something happened to their comrades, had said about Fushimi that ‘he’d hate my followup’ and not tried anything.
“I… wonder what’s up with him.”
“Fushimi… you’re always gettin’ along with new blood right away, but this time you’re havin’ a lot of trouble, aren’t you.”
“Saru-kun might be no good!” When Totsuka said that, Kusanagi looked incredibly exasperated.
“You… that was a really extreme way of rejection all of a sudden! Don’t surprise me like that!”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. It’s not like I meant that Saru-kun himself is hopeless or anything… it’s just, I think he’ll have trouble fitting in, is all.”
“Fitting in?”
“That kid’s interest… or maybe I should say his focus, he’s just clinging way too hard to one single thing.”
Kusanagi thought for a couple of seconds, then had a vague, troubled look on his face.
“…for you, that’s a pretty roundabout way of sayin’ it.”
Totsuka smiled wryly, and narrowed his eyes as though looking far away.
“It’s not like I’m being roundabout, but… I feel like if he has something he can cling to that much, he’s fine just like that.”
“Hmm?” Kusanagi tilted his head, and Totsuka just changed his wry smile into his usual carefree smile while looking at Kusanagi.
“Well, putting that aside, Saru-kun is an interesting guy, so I want to be friendly with him to the extent that he won’t be annoyed!”
Kusanagi said ‘what a troublesome guy’ along with a sigh. Right then, speak of the devil, Yata came up the road with Fushimi. Totsuka welcomed with with a wave.
“Sorry for being late! Are we leaving already?” Yata asked breathlessly as he ran up. Kusanagi nodded.
“Yeah, now all we need is our boss-“
“Everyone’s here, huh.”
A deep voice resounded from behind them.
They turned around.
Suou was standing in a place slightly separated from the Homura group. Like a slender lion, despite being lightweight he was a man who gave off a heavy pressure. Red light overflowed from his body, like power bubbling over from inside.
Suou stepped forward and came closer. When his feet connected with the ground, sparks flew with a small crackle.
“Someone’s fired up.” Kusanagi said that teasingly, making Suou go ‘hmph’.
All the members of Homura shut their mouths, and waited for Suou’s next move. The eyes watching him were glittering expectation, heat, pride towards Homura, and anger towards their enemy.
“Let’s go.”
Suou made a low announcement.
Homura replied with a shout.