"You know the risk... but if those really are the shoes you've chosen,
Then dance to the end."
///
4/9/2016
Train's slow and rumbling and making its noises as I feel cramped, even though I was lucky enough to've found a seat right smack-dab in the middle of the car, on the right wall. The morning sun glares at me from the windows and the radio goes on about things like crimes and statistics, and the buildings of the city just slide by right outside the windows of the train.
When I get off the train and head into Shibuya station, the amount of people covering the streets almost overwhelms me right then and there, but I swallow the fear down and make myself move. The clattering of footsteps and the clamoring of the crowd sinks into my ears. In the streets I just see everything pass me by, and everybody's bodies fade into shapes and blurs. They're all shambling past me, circling around me, swarming and merging into each other. I've been too cooped up for too long.
I see a man holding up a cardboard sign with my name on it. The man is tall and lanky and wears a brown suit. Hair messy, glasses thick. His eyes are the earnest kind, belonging to the sort of people who're too nice for their own good.
He sees me as I approach him and asks, "You're...Hikawa-kun, correct?" I nod. "I'm Takuto Maruki. You'll be in my care."
The two of us head out into the crowds.
Takes about ten minutes to get to his place from Shibuya crossing; guy lives right on the edge of the Higashi district.
Apartment's small and cozy. A few picture frames here and there. A TV in the living room, one small table for meals. Kitchen's got the barest necessities. Old green curtains, paint on the walls showing patches of discoloration. Couch coming apart in a few seams. All in all, good enough.
"Your room's the second door to the right," he says, pointing to a hallway. "You must be tired."
I just take off my shoes and make my way there.
"Hikawa-kun, wait." I turn to face him. "Just wanna let you know, tomorrow we'll be heading to Shujin. I have to introduce you to the staff there."
"Time?"
"One PM."
I nod. He lets a little smile out and nods back.
Like the rest of the place, my room's not got much in the way of decoration. Large bed, white sheets. Clean and crisp. Table next to the bed, bookcase next to the table. Large windows above aforementioned table. Closet built into a wall, with slide-open doors. I leave my luggage next to the bookcase, change my clothes, and fall into bed hoping that I don't wake up.
.
.
.
4 / 10 / 2016
We get to the school at 1PM, after lunch. Maruki and I take the train.
A big bold golden-plated SHUJIN ACADEMY hangs on one of the outer walls, next to the gate. School itself's no larger than my previous school, but it looks a helluva lot more boring. Pale white walls and dusty windows that aren't even all that big.
Maruki and I head inside without a word, and within moments I find myself face-to-face with some bloat in a brown suit.
"Just to reiterate. If you cause any trouble in any way, shape, or form, there'll be nowhere left for you to go."
"I understand," I tell him.
Nameplate on his desk says the guy scowling at me's Principal Kobayakawa. More than a little overweight, enough such that the chair he's in creaks with even the slightest movements, and that his skin 'round his neck bubbles up over his collar.
"In my opinion," he huffs, expelling more than half the air in his lungs, "you're nothing more than a liability. But we had our own circumstances to consider..."
Naturally. Dad had already made the arrangements many, many months ago. Dunno how much money Dad paid the Blob to allow me in his halls, but hey. Whatever works.
There's a woman at his side who's a lot more easy on the eyes. Big n' Chunky gestures to her, "This is the teacher in charge of your class."
Unkempt hair, long-sleeved yellow shirt with orange stripes, blue skirt. Looks like she drinks more coffee than water. "I'm Sadayo Kawakami. Here's your student ID."
Kawakami passes me a small card kept in a leather pocket; my face, my name, my age, with SHUJIN ACADEMY STUDENT ID printed on the top.
"Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations'll get you sent to the guidance office. I won't be able to protect you if you get caught up in something. From here on out, your actions are your responsibility."
I just nod.
Porker turns to my probationary officer, "Maruki-san, please keep a close eye on him."
Maruki actually looks a little annoyed at that, "I will. I intend to have a serious discussion with him when we get home."
"Come to the faculty office once you arrive to school tomorrow," says Kawakami. "I'll show you to your classroom."
Again, I just nod.
.
.
.
Traffic's a bitch.
We don't exchange a single word on the way back. Once we do get back to his apartment, though, it's a different story.
"How was it?" Maruki asks suddenly. "The school, I mean."
I shrug, "Didn't expect much else."
He grunts, "I feel like they were too confrontational."
"Expect them to be otherwise?"
He smiles a little sadly, "Not exactly. But it couldn't have hurt for them to address you without castigating you. They can't expect you to integrate yourself well into the student body while acting all hostile."
I deserve worse. "It's alright. I get it."
He looks a little surprised. "It's impressive how you're managing to take it all in stride."
I take off my shoes, "Do what I must."
"I see. What do you want for dinner? I'm cooking."
Great. Dunno a thing about food. "I'm up for anything."
"Are you sure? Got a lot in stock. It'd be a shame if I had the ingredients for something you liked, and you didn't get it."
"Odds are you don't."
"Try me."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Miso soup."
He smiles, "In one. Bought a few packs a week ago."
I shake my head a little. "Alright, then.
.
.
.
Guy looks and acts the type who'd help an old lady across the street and then get hit by a car.
But I gotta admit, his basic-ass miso soup's better than a four-star meal. Also made beef ramen on the side in case the soup didn't fill me up.
"What do you think?" he asks, slurping down on some noodles.
"Really good."
"Glad to hear it."
I raise my brow at him, "You're not what I expected."
"What did you expect?"
"Someone who didn't have the time or the energy or the concern to cook delicious miso soup for a convict."
"I have a personal policy of treating everyone under my care as I'd like to be treated."
I scoff at him, "Someday that'll get you killed."
"Hopefully it won't be anytime soon. If it's of any comfort, you're not what I expected either, Hikawa-san."
"You barely even know me."
"I don't. I'll admit that. But I've dealt with a good amount of kids with similar backgrounds to yours. Considering your how you've carried yourself thus far, I'd say you'd fare better than most other kids in your situation would, and have."
"How much do you know about me? Other than what's in the record."
"I know about what happened to your girlfriend and her family. Your father called me up once it happened."
Lucky me. "How do you know my Dad?"
"Believe it or not, we were acquaintances in college. I was never really a close friend of his, so I was surprised when he called me up and asked me to be your probationary officer."
I exhale, "Why'd you even take me in? The principal and my homeroom teacher looked at me like they were afraid I'd use a pipe to bash their windows in. Considering what I'm goin' through, I can't imagine what kinda reputation you'd get for housing me."
"Well, I believe that Japan treats people with criminal records all too harshly. Old or young. The Japanese mental health system isn't exactly something that people in an honor culture would be keen to give a chance. The country's got a 99% conviction rate. Prisons are filled with people who acted out of desperation, or are in dire financial straits, or suffer from deep mental issues that need to be resolved, and the country just casts them aside because of their record."
"Perhaps deservedly. I mean, I'd know. Can't do the time, don't do the crime."
"I won't deny that there are people who absolutely deserve to be stuck behind a cell for the rest of their lives. But would you say the same of someone afflicted with, for example, schizophrenia? Or dissociative identity disorder? Or any general mental disorder which inhibits them from conducting themselves properly in society? I think they need rehabilitation more than incarceration."
I raise my brow at him, "Won't really argue against that point."
"Many people are more than willing to cast aside mentally ill family members just for the sake of protecting themselves from shame," he shakes his head. "This country gets more hopped up when something or someone looks bad than whether or not they actually are."
"And what do you think?" I ask him. "What do you think I am? After everything I did?"
"I think...that you've been through a lot. And that if anything's going to help you re-acclimate to society, people constantly being wary of you isn't one of them."
"Would be stupid of them to give me the benefit of the doubt."
"I think they should foster an environment where you're incentivized to act civilly."
"Be good or go to jail sounds like a pretty good incentive to me."
"That's a threat, not an incentive. An incentive is, If you don't cause any trouble, maintain good grades, and foster good relationships with your peers, you'll be able to shake off the bad reputation your record gives you."
"I'd rather they not lie to me," I get up from the table, carrying my empty bowl to the sink. "Thanks for the food."
"I'll take care of the dishes."
"I might as well wash what I used."
He places a hand on my shoulder. "You should get some rest. You'll be heading out to school tomorrow. Big day."
I exhale. "Fine."
.
.
.
4 / 11 / 2016
The next day I take the train to school by myself. As usual, train's packed and there's little, if any, way to navigate through the crowd. I'm practically up against the doors when I see a bob of red pop up out the corner of my eye.
"Please, take my seat. My station's coming up."
She's a girl, younger than I. Long scarlet hair, bundled up in a ponytail. Black blazer with a Shujin logo, black skirt with red plaid lines. So she's likely my underclassman. She's speaking to an elderly lady.
"Are you sure?" Lady asks, smiling a little, "Then..."
Then some douchebag in a suit barges in and steals the seat.
"U-uh...! Sir, I, um--" Redhead stammers, "I mean, that seat was for this lady..."
Guy looks at her, but only for a second, then lulls his head and starts snoring.
"I'm, er...," she turns to the old lady. "Oh, I'm so sorry..."
Don't get involved, dumbass. "Oi. Old man."
What the hell are you doing.
"No, no! It's alright," she smiles, raising her hands up. "I understand his position as well. Though," she turns to the old lady, "I'm sorry I couldn't be much help..."
Old lady just smiles at her, "It's alright, dearie. Don't worry about it."
"Please allow me to carry your luggage, at least."
"Oh, ain't it heavy, though?"
A cheerful smile, "Not at all! I train plenty."
And that's where my interest in her ends. Or that's at least where it would have, otherwise. Instead, Redhead ends up following me once we both got off the train, meeting up with me partway through the station.
"P-pardon me!" By the time I hear her voice and turn, she's already run up right behind me. "My name is Kasumi Yoshizawa. I just wanted to say: thank you so much for earlier."
"For what?"
"For speaking up when I offered my seat on the train."
I shake my head, turning my back to her. "Didn't really do much."
Some reason she keeps following me as I walk forward. "You're a second-year at Shujin Academy, right? I'm a first year there myself. I didn't want to be rude to my senpai."
Wouldn't have really mattered if you were. "Don't wanna be late."
"Sure! Let's go together."
"No. Go ahead."
"Why? We can talk on the way there. I'd like to get to--"
"No, you wouldn't like to get to anything involved with me."
My voice is harsh, my eyes are worse. She gets the message.
"Very well. Thanks again for earlier," she bows. "If you'll excuse me."
.
.
.
If literally anybody catches her with me, likely she'll be the butt of all sortsa rumors that she shouldn't really have to deal with.
The rain starts pouring, far harsher than it has any right to be. I've forgotten my umbrella. The only shelter's the canopy of a nearby clothes shop.
Guess who's under.
"Senpai?"
I walk up next to her. "Forgot my umbrella."
She just smiles a little, "So did I."
She doesn't say a word to me, doesn't even look at me. The both of us just stand there and say nothing, as the rain continues to pour down.
But before the silence can get too awkward, there's a third person who comes under the canopy. Judging by her figure, she's a woman. And when she pulls her hood down she reveals a head of platinum-blonde hair, bundled up into two massive pigtails. Her eyes are a brilliant ocean blue, which complements the blonde.
Pretty is the word that comes to mind. But I say nothing and neither does the redhead. Though she seems to want to; she's a little shy about it, though.
Cars and people pass them by along the road, and one of those cars catches our attention. The car's moving at just the right pace, and when it stops it stops right in front of them all. Rolling down the window of the passenger's seat is an older man with long black hair, and a grin. He leans forward, asking Blue Eyes of all people, "Hey, you need a lift?"
Blue Eyes is wary of him. I can see it in her eyes, but nevertheless the girl remarks, "Sure. Thank you very much."
The man is smiling, though I don't sense anything other than a pervading wariness myself.
Guy then asks me and the redhead to my left, "You both need a lift?"
Yoshizawa half-smiles and shakes her hand, "I'll be alright."
I just shake my head in the negative.
He shrugs, "Alright, suit yourselves."
When the blonde girl gets in the car, I see a frustrated glint in her blue eyes, one that gets obscured by the window rolling back up.
And then the car drives away.
Don't like it. Don't like it at all.
Doesn't matter what I feel, though.
Then I hear footsteps coming from my right; someone's running, but he's not running very quickly. By the time he gets to us, he's staring at the tail end of the car that's just passed by, and he's grunting out "Dammit! Screw that pervy teacher!"
"Pervy teacher...?" I repeat.
The running boy has yellow hair and brown eyes, his eyebrows short and sharp and black. He's wearing a yellow shirt with a printed star design underneath his open Shujin blazer, and he has suspenders hanging from his hips. He shuffles himself over to me, hands in pockets and a scowl in his face.
Yoshizawa's nervous at this thuggish boy coming up close to us, so she shuffles behind me. "Uh-um--!"
Guy just grunts out, "What, you plannin' on rattin' me out to Kamoshida?"
"Who?"
The vulgar boy looks at me, half-wary, as he says, "Guy driving that car, that was Kamoshida." He then smirks bitterly, rambling in something of a low voice, "You musta seen that smug look on his face..."
"I don't really have an opinion."
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" he asks. "You're saying you don't know Kamoshida? You for real? You're from Shujin, right?"
"Transfer student."
Blinks. "Oh. Makes sense, then...you a second year?" I nod. "We're in the same grade."
"And that guy was...?"
Blonde guy huffs, "Err...full name's Suguru Kamoshida. He's...Shujin's PE teacher, coach of the volleyball team. He does whatever he wants...," he then folds his arms, staring ahead at the rest of the road. "You'd better be careful. Guy thinks of himself as the king of a castle, really...that sounds like an exaggeration, but you get on his bad side, you'll see it in full." He then sees Yoshizawa, clutching her bag close to her. "Oh. You a new student, too?"
She stammers out, "Y-yes. A first year."
Blondie looks concerned, "Huh. Well, I, er...," clears his throat. "Guy who just passed you both by is bad news. You'd best watch yourselves 'round him."
Though Yoshizawa's able to sidle out from behind me, she still looks at him warily.
Because of course she would; for as much as Blondie talks about how this Kamoshida is someone to be wary over, he's not exactly doing much favors himself. Guy's got a rough accent, blonde hair, bad posture, a raging look in his eye. First impressions are delinquent, gangster, ne'er do well, so it's probable this guy screwed himself over when dealing with this Kamoshida.
"A-anyway...," before stretching out his hand to the sky, "rain ain't too bad now. We'd better hurry up, or we'll be late."
I turn to Yoshizawa, "Stay far back behind me. Okay?"
She narrows her eyes and purses her lips, before nodding.
Blondie walks forward with the me and her in tow.
I don't hear the next few sounds blare out in my phone.
Palace Location and Distortion Confirmed
Then we three keel over a little in our steps, the world trembling in our brains.
The blonde man grunts as he clutches at his head, "Oh, man..."
I ask, "You okay?"
"It's nothin'," he says. "Just feeling a little light-headed, is all...," he then mutters out a curse as he whines, "I wanna go home already..."
Three of us stay silent as Blondie walks us through a dank and damp alleyway. Apparently it's a shortcut, but if it isn't we're screwed.
There is a castle in front of the three of us now. A gaudy, extremely large castle that glows and glitters like gold, looking like something that's come straight from some stupid storybook. It is tall enough to host three entire schools, and looking at it straight down the middle makes it completely fill up my point of view.
This is all wrong.
"We didn't...," Blondie begins, looking behind him as he continues, "come the wrong way, though. The sign was for the school...wasn't it?"
"Yes...it was...," Yoshizawa says. Taken aback by the sight of this castle as well. "This should be right..."
There's something hitting me, throbbing at my chest, stabbing my brains. Soon enough I'm struggling to breathe, like I can't move, like I'm a prisoner in my own body, and then I suddenly blurt out in a whisper, "We need to get out of here and never come back."
But before I know it the blonde-haired man is walking into the castle grounds himself, past both me and the girl and he doesn't even know what the hell he's doing--
But once he enters red and black circles bloom outward, right in front of us, signifying his transition into a whole 'nother world.
"No! Come back, wait!"
And I don't hear Yoshizawa calling out to the both of us, I don't hear her saying, "H-hold on!" as she follows us right into the castle's halls.
.
.
.
I hear faint words from somewhere, someone calling me. When I muster the strength to open my eyes, I find Blondie hovering over me, asking me, "Glasses, you okay...?"
I nod a little, my head blistering with pain. I try to recount what's happened to me, and though my skull throbs she can see images fading in and out. I'm grabbing his arm. Something lumbering, large, silver; it clinks and clanks and when it reaches the me and him things turn dark again.
Instead of being out of the castle, we're now inside a dingy cell. My hand's touching something wet and I doesn't really want to know what it is; though I'm sure I'll get an infection. Room is dark and damp and musty, but she sees bars leading to the outside. I sit myself up and mutter, "We've gotta get outta here..."
"Been searching this place for the last few minutes," says Blondie. "Can't find anything that I think'd help us escape..."
"Where's...the...," I grunt, "the other one, the person who was with...us..."
"I-I'm here!" Yoshizawa calls out, walking over to me. "Thank goodness you're okay."
"Dammit, where are we...!?" Blondie cries out, before running to the bars and shouting more. "Hey! Let us outta here! I know there's someone out there!"
It is damp. And it is dark. And it is like a nightmare.
I've been laid out on gravel, and I'm staring at the ceiling. Water is dripping from the cracks and the grooves of the brick, dripping onto my face and I'm here to suffer, aren't I. I'm here to keep on suffering because I deserve it for what I did to Kana. I deserve to burn in Hell for all of eternity, but I'm not in Hell, I'm in a Palace, which is pretty much kind of the same thing.
I know I'm in a Palace because even though it looks different it has that same feeling, it gnaws at the back of my head all the same. My heart pounds and my eyes burn and something's aching and clawing at my spine from the inside out; I have to get out of here. Get out of here and beg my father to send me to another school because Shujin's got someone screwed up enough to have a Palace—
All the while, he's banging on the steel and I'm agitated because I've got a massive headache she knows won't leave any time soon.
But then he stops. Then I tear my head up. Yoshizawa runs to him, she clutches the bars along with him as his jaw begins to quiver. We all hear them, hear the screams that'll never end, screams that sound so young and alive. They are screams of children; perhaps their age, perhaps younger. They sound like hot oil's being cast all over their bodies, like their backs are getting flayed and their legs are getting crushed by morning stars.
I tap away at my phone immediately upon hearing those screams.
But instead all I get is an Access Denied. Access Denied, Access Denied, Access Denied!?
"You've got to be kidding me."
"What are you going to do now?"
And I recognize that voice. And I grit my teeth and I scowl.
Get away from me.
"You know there's only one thing you can do."
Shut up.
I march over to Blondie and Yoshizawa, grabbing at the lock in front of the cell. Rusty and mottled, but I can still—
"You can get out of here, right now, if you'd like. I don't want to see you trapped like this."
"I said, be quiet." I'm trying to be calm I'm trying to be sane I'm trying to not listen to the monsters inside my brain but it's not working and I wanna kill everything now just to make the voices go away and be stuck back again in the calm of somewhere else—
"I won't hate you if you use—"
"I said shut up—"
When I turn I see her.
She has her green eyes again. She is wearing a red scarf around her neck. She is wearing a Kishibaru uniform and she is standing there, calmly facing me with her hands at her sides and her shoulders deflated. She is the most beautiful girl in all the world and she's here with me, again. Except it's not her, it can't be her, because I saw her writhe, I've seen her lay lifelessly in a hospital bed from a madness I bestowed upon her—
Stop looking like her.
It doesn't say anything back. So I turn back to the bars and I try fiddling with the lock. The other two sound worried, concerned, they're trying to get me to calm down but how the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't have anything small on me, so I can't really unlock it. Is there anything else I can do, to get out of here? I turn to the hinges of my cell door, see that they're not rusty but I decide it's worth it to at least try and kick 'em till they break—
Then it speaks again, "Kazuya, I never hated you."
My cellmates are crying out at me now, "Glasses, wait—!" and "Senpai, you need to slow down—!"
"Shut up," I tell both them and the voice in my head, raising up my leg and letting my foot kick the hinge and it hurts and it hurts so much but I have to do it again do anything to get me out of this cell—
Blondie cries out, "God, wait just stop for a sec, would ya—!?"
"You can do it, I won't hold it against you."
I said shut up, will you listen to me for once— I grip the bars and I'm breathing heavily now.
"I never held it against you at all. You were only trying to help me. I meant what I said, that last night we were together. I mean it still."
I hear my cellmates crying out for me, Blondie's now holding me up by the arms and I'm seething, shuddering, sweating like a pig and wanting to die and burn in Hell forever and how could you not hate me? I killed Masako, I killed your mom, I killed you and you can't just—
"Its me, Kazuya. Please look at me, I don't want to see you like this!"
"Stop talking stop talking stop talking—!" then I slump to the floor, still clutching the bars. I'm shuddering with every breath as I'm trying to compose myself, trying to keep myself calm. Trying to just regain my senses. "Just...please stop talking..."
And she stops talking. She's behind us. I can feel her. It's real. I don't know how it's real but it's real. That sensation I get in my chest when she's there, that aura she'd give, that feeling she gave me, the feeling of wanting to do good and be good and not be what I used to be, not be some selfish rich kid who only cared about breathing and not living.
I could have run, that day.
Could have run, taken you by the arm and left Shido there. He was drunk, so he'd have probably forgotten our faces by morning. But I didn't. I nearly killed him. I wanted to, I think. I wanted to because I hated him for what he was trying to do to you. But what am I thinking...?
You probably would've gone mad all the same.
Blondie lets me go, muttering something under his breath about how this can't be happening, his hands are shaking at the bars and Yoshizawa's breathing faster, heavier.
Then we hear lumbering steel again. She sees large masses marching towards her, their bodies making their metallic noises as their armor sets clatter against themselves. When they come across the cell door, we see clearly that they are knights. But we've never seen knights twice our size, I don't recall ever seeing blades as sharp as the ones they have so close, I don't know how they can breathe through their face masks.
Shadows. Or Manikins.
"No one's allowed to do as they please, not in my castle..."
We see someone walking in from behind all the knights, and the moment this person comes in the knights make way for him. He is wearing a red king's cape with cartoonish pink hearts sewn all over it, and he has virtually nothing underneath, the only thing covering his nether regions is his bush. He's barefoot and he's got a simple golden crown perched atop his head.
He is a tall man, he is a familiar man, he is the man who had picked up the blue-eyed girl earlier in his car. The only difference I can spot in terms of facial features is the fact that his normally-black eyes have now turned a fiery topaz.
"Kamoshida...?" Blondie mutters, unable to believe the sight himself.
And Kamoshida keeps talking, "I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto...are you trying to disobey me again? Looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all."
Guy named Sakamoto's hands tighten 'round the bars as his teeth clench—
"And you brought friends, this time. Still can't do anything for yourself, huh?" he chuckles, before turning to us. I know the look he has in his eyes when his pupils meet the Redhead's and I know from the look in hers she's revolted, but she courageously glares him down all the same.
She grits her teeth and she knows there's nothing she can say, lest he have the both of them beheaded on the spot. But Sakamoto doesn't seem to care much, considering that he then yells, "This ain't funny, you sick bastard!"
"Is that how you speak to a king!?" Kamoshida roars, not even giving Sakamoto a chance to talk, "You don't understand the position you're in at all...not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me—the king!" And then he smiles, he smiles a wide smile that's too wide for a human's face to make, "The punishment for that...is death." Then he addresses the guards and tells them, "Have him executed at once!"
And once the knights encroach upon the cage, Sakamoto shirks back and can only plead, "S-stop it...!"
Before we know it, the knights are in the cage with me and Yoshizawa and Sakamoto but they're all facing the latter. Their blades have been brandished and they're looming over him and they're gonna do all sorts of things to him with the swords they've got in their football-sized hands.
Sakamoto's up against the wall now and Yoshizawa cries out, "Stop it!"
But she can't do such a thing, because before she attempts to make her dash, Sakamoto's already rammed himself into one of the guards. Sending a knight fully-clad in steel armor to the ground. "I ain't down for this!" he exclaims, rubbing at his now-aching shoulder and head as he tells her, "Come on! We're bustin outta—!"
But then there's another two guards.
One of the knights has hit Sakamoto's guts with the hilt of its blade, causing him to immediately keel over in his pain. Sakamoto tries to stand then, but all he can do is puke out some spit while he clutches his stomach and kneels. It's at this point Yoshizawa tries to run to him and get him out of dodge before they stab him or perforate him or quarter him or do whatever they're gonna do with their swords, but the knights' large bodies block her path and she can't just push them aside—
"Just run!" Sakamoto cries out in desperation. "Get outta here...! These guys're serious!"
It's at this point Kamoshida looks at us and he laughs, "This'll be rich. What heartless friends you are..."
"Th-they ain't friends...!" cries out Sakamoto. But then he says immediately after, "Come on! Hurry up and go...!"
But I can't move and she can't move, she's trying to move but she can't because he'll die the moment she leaves this cage, we'll have his blood on her hands, and how can we let the guy who tried to save us get mutilated? But of course Kamoshida has to keep talking.
"What? Too scared to run away?" He leers at us, leers at me, almost looking a tad disappointed. "You're not even worth killing, not really."
But then the knights grab Sakamoto by both of his arms and hoist him up and all we can do is watch all we can do is watch—Kamoshida smacks him once across the face, twice now across the face, a third time. Punches him so hard one of his eyes turns black, knees his gut and I can swear she sees a little red fly out Sakamoto's mouth. A sword is held up to our necks, we can't move, we can't fight, we can't even turn away.
But I can.
I can summon a six-winged admiral dressed in black, and I can blow up this whole goddamn place until it's nothing left but smithereens.
But I haven't summoned him in three months.
I can't feel him in my head anymore.
Sakamoto's a mess on the floor by the end of the beatdown and Kamoshida spits on him, right in his face. "Where'd your energy from earlier go?" Sakamoto's then picked up from off the ground and tossed over to the cell wall. When he falls back to the ground, he doesn't even move. I don't even see him breathe. "I've wasted enough time beating you down. I'll have you killed...right now."
"Wh-what —!?"
Guards grab us by the arms and push us into the wall the moment Yoshizawa rushes forward. "S-Sakamoto! Let us go!" The man turns to her and he grins as she cries out, "Have you lost your mind!?"
Then his grin turns into a scowl as he draws closer, closer, too close, "What's with that look in your eyes...?" he chuckles before scowling again. "Anyone ever tell you—" then he kicks her in her stomach, guards grabbing her arms then to keep her from moving as she coughs and growls and snarls in pain and anger and hate hate hate "—it ain't very womanly to glare?"
Yoshizawa tries pushing herself free of the knights' grip on her shoulders as she bares her teeth and flares her nostrils and growls and stamps and screams like an animal, "Kamoshida!"
"Hold her there...," he grins, turning back to Sakamoto. "I'll have some fun with her, after we take care of Sakamoto."
Knight's blade draws closer to the scruff of our necks and it'll rip through us if we're not careful. Sakamoto's looking up at the third knight in the room, and all he can do is plead, "No, no no no I don't wanna die, no no no no please—" as Kamoshida laughs and laughs and laughs and won't ever stop laughing.
And I think, I seethe, I rage and I shout, I remember everything that had happened in that nuclear wasteland—
I remember returning to the real world after destroying her Shadow. I remember returning to my room. With her, in my bed. I remember wearing my regular clothes, all the wounds I had endured back when facing her Palace gone. And I was scared to wake her. I remembered being so frightened, remembered being scared that if I were to break her out of her sleep now I'd end up doing something wrong, end up breaking her like I ended up doing anyway in the end.
I remember seeing her eventually waking up and turning to me oh-so slowly. In the dead of night she turned to me and my eyes had already adjusted and I saw her and she was beautiful. So beautiful. She was staring at me, while I was right next to her. Wondering what she was thinking. She smiled at me and spoke to me and she was happy she seemed so happy, happier than she'd ever been and—
I was holding her I was holding her I didn't want this to happen I called out her name and I begged her begged her Kana, Kana please "Kana please stop Kana! Kana—Kana, I—KANA—!" all I did was just call out her name and hold her I didn't know what was happening I didn't know what I did wrong I didn't know I wanted to know I wanted to know what I did wrong God what did I do!?
And I growl again, I hate again, I feel the worst I've ever felt and I wanna to break the whole planet in two because it's just full of people like Kamoshida, people who're willing to hurt and kill and torture others for their own pleasure all because they're the king of some castle nobody even knows about.
Sakamoto's held up against the wall the sword's being raised he'll bleed and die and be cut up into a million pieces if I keep on doing nothing—what can I do? What the hell can I do now!?
I can feel him, at the edges of my mind, crawling in my brain, but he's not coming, he's not barreling through and WHY THE HELL NOT!? WHY DON'T YOU RIP AND RAPE AND PILLAGE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE WORLD LIKE YOU DID LAST TIME YOU USELESS—
"Stop it."
And we all of us turn.
We turn to a redheaded girl, glaring in ways I could never imagine she would.
Yoshizawa feels something blast in her lungs, travelling up to her brain and then transitioning to her eyesockets and it burns it burns it burns she wants it to stop—
"So adamant."
And through the pain and the agony and though her eyes are burning like they've been set aflame, Yoshizawa finds herself wanting more and more and more of it—!
"Rather than accept a life in cinders,
You'd strive toward splendor."
And Yoshizawa screams a terrible scream, one that can be heard all throughout the castle. Kamoshida and the guards turn to her and see her screaming and writhing in her bindings, Kamoshida then orders the knights holding her to the wall, "Execute her! but Yoshizawa doesn't listen because her brain's splitting in two—
One of the guards bashes his shield into her face and Yoshizawa's sent tumbling to the ground, but all she can hear is a beautiful voice, a lovely voice, one of authority and power; one that sounds utterly divine.
"You know the risk... but if those really are the shoes you've chosen,
Then dance to the end."
And she faces Kamoshida. She feels something cold along the upper part of her face. Something heavy, rough, made of iron. She should be concussed. The hit from the shield should have knocked her out. But she's more alive than ever before.
When she tears off the mask she cries out a scream that ought to be heard on the other side of the planet, and the fire wraps around her and she's engulfed in a bright blue that she'll never ever get tired of seeing. She wants it bathing her, every single inch of her, and she never wants it to stop. The fire changes everything she has and everything she is and it does this simply by unleashing that which she kept inside for so very long.
And as Kamoshida shirks back in fear and terror and horror and as the guards just helplessly watch as Yoshizawa obtains a power that can't ever be surpassed by anything they've got in store, she glares at Kamoshida and she smiles. Her clothes have transformed as well, giving her a black bolero jacket with white, ruffled sleeves and three floor-length coattails. A thigh-length hose and stiletto-heels, with golden gloves.
"Thou art I, and I am thou.
From the sea of thy soul, I cometh."
She moves her wrist once and her Persona twirls up in the air. Dressed in a dancer's singlet made of blue diamonds, she bears golden hair and a blue ribbon. Her skin is black as soot, blue flames scattered about her arms. A white capelet flourishes from her back as her blue eyes flare, and she too lets out a smile.
"I am Cendrillon, the Ash Maiden."
Sakamoto's slack-jawed, staring at a beast dressed in a girl's skin.
And I've assured myself a place in Hell.
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NoRoleModelz Chapter Notes: HERE'S WHERE EVERYTHING BEGINS BOIIIIIISS
Super happy if you stuck 'round for the first 11 chapters, because from here on out I'mma adapt the hell out of Royal.
Also no i didn't take the description of Kasumi's clothes straight from the wiki because I'm bad at fashion why do you ask