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And just like that, after Shibusawa was finally laid to rest for what hopefully would be the final time… everything went back to normal in Yokohama.
Not.
Almost immediately after the fog was cleared, the missing non-ability users suddenly reappeared, disoriented and unable to remember what happened to them while they were missing. Even Ranpo, with all his willpower, could only remember bits and pieces of floating in a dark space filled with nothing but other floating people.
(No one, of course, mentioned that Ranpo was somehow dragged alongside people without abilities.)
(No matter what people said about The Agency’s manner, at least they have courtesy when it actually mattered.)
The Special Ability Department was working hand in hand right now with the Ministry of Health’s medical officers to check for any anomalies that might be exhibited after being spirited away. Ranpo’s was done in the privacy of Fukuzawa residence instead of the emergency tents. A privilege that could only be obtained because he was Ranpo-- and of course because the Director’s house remained unscatched throughout the whole ordeal.
Meanwhile, Atsushi was attempting to get some rest. Perhaps the fact that it was still ten in the morning contributed to his lack of sleep, but his anxiety was clearly the main culprit. He wished for the serenity that occurred at the time he made it his mission to kill Shibusawa. Now that he had the time to think about it… that was a bit disturbing.
It wasn’t that he regretted killing the man. No, he was already dead even before that. But it gnawed him when he thought about how an ability could create an undead. And they still hadn’t had the answer to where the people were when the mist covered the town. He couldn’t help but to think they might have gotten more questions if he needled the man a bit, considering his disgusting obsession with Atsushi.
At that point, his mind had corroded much alongside his soul. You would find nothing worthy of note trying to interrogate a revenant, single-minded as they are.
Atsushi paused.
What?
He slammed the sliding door open, peeking out of the closet to find whoever it was talking to him. Nobody. Well, nobody except for Kyouka who immediately woke up from the noise Atsushi made. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you hear something?” Atsushi asked, “Someone?”
“I don’t have tiger ears.” Kyouka reminded him. It was true that even when he wasn’t transformed, Atsushi’s senses were still several times more sensitive than a human’s would be.
(After googling about it, turned out tigers hunted with their ears, not their nose. It also led to an anxious thought about going into heat, finding out what ‘omegaverse’ is, and Dazai happily recommending him several smutty novels.)
(He deleted the e-books immediately. The covers filled him with a sense of guilt.)
“No-- it was… talking to me.” He glanced around nervously, straining his ears just in case.
“You’re probably just imagining it.” But Kyouka’s hand already made its way underneath her pillow, waiting for whatever assailant that broke in to lower their guard.
Atsushi, however, was a terrible actor. “R-right? Maybe I’m just imagining it! There’s no way anyone could have entered our dorm room without us noticing.”
Both of them went quiet. Both of them were waiting for a reaction.
Oh. The voice said. You thought I was an intruder.
“AAAH! THAT! THERE’S THE VOICE!” Atsushi scrambled outside of the closet. Kyouka immediately summoned her Demon Snow and both of them moved to the front to shield Atsushi from whatever it was inside the closet with their swords out.
I am not inside the closet. I’m inside of you. The dull voice rumbled in a familiar way. It’s familiar because I’ve always been with you since you were born.
“Creepy!” Atsushi yelled in panic. “Creepy, creepy, creepy! Where are you?!”
Kyouka looked bewildered. “I don’t hear anything…”
Calm down.
“I’m hearing a voice in my head how can I calm down?!”
Kyouka stood up from her place and reached for her phone. “I’m calling the Director.”
Yukichi was unfortunately unsurprised by the idea of Atsushi’s ability gaining sentience. Similar things have happened before with abilities gaining independence-- and arguably, abilities such as Demon Snow and others of its ilk were already sentient to begin with.
It was however, the first time that he had to personally deal with a newborn personality. “How are you feeling, Atsushi?” not that Yukichi wasn’t aware. All Men Are Equal made sure he was connected empathically to all of his subordinates. Before Kyouka made her call, Yukichi already sent a message to her asking her to check up on her roommate just in case. In the end she didn’t even realize the chat message until after he arrived at the dorm.
“Awful.” He admitted. “He said his name is Byakko.”
Ah. Because it’s a white tiger. Cute.
“May I?” Yukichi waited for Atsushi to give his consent before diving deep inside his mental state.
Yukichi mentally gathers up all his connections except for Atsushi's, like strings in a web, and sets them aside. He doesn't want to be distracted while he examines this. He visualizes traveling the length of string until he reaches Atsushi. He feels him physically first, the anxiety pumping through his heart and the way his muscles tense. A layer deeper is his ability, which no longer has the restricting clamp Yukichi once kept tight around it to prevent Atsushi from transforming at night. It now flows unrestrained underneath his skin, free for Atsushi to access at any time.
Then, his emotions and mental state wash over Yukichi as he carefully wades through the anxiety to make sure it doesn't affect him. He's only looking, not subduing. He feels for anything in Atsushi's mental space that's similar to the spark of his ability, and it's not hard to find. The presence is large, bigger than what he would expect for an ability with newly gained sentience.
Before he knew it, Yukichi's mental prodding was firmly pushed back. It was a familiar feeling, similar to when he picked up a cat to kiss it only to have their cute little toe beans planted on his face, telling him no. Scratch that, it was the same warm and fuzzy feelings, except it was the mental equivalent of a physical rejection.
"Well." Yukichi said, "Something is clearly there." And a cat too. Atsushi let out a whimper of distress.
I’m not a danger. Yukichi heard it purred. Which was… strange. All Men Are Equal wasn’t exactly an ability able to communicate to others-- not without years and years of unrestrained connection. Which was not something he would impose on his subordinates. I am what gave him his blessing.
“Can you hear him, Director?” Atsushi fretted.
Yukichi nodded, “Loud and clear.” At the edge of his vision, Kyouka fidgeted nervously watching this unfold. No doubt that it was distressing for her to only be able to hear one side of the conversation. Yukichi spoke up instead of talking telepathically mostly for her sake. “By you being the one who gave Atsushi his blessing, I assume his ability?”
What else would it be? It was a bland voice, sounding bored with each syllable uttered.
“Can you tell us why you appeared now?”
I have always been with him, but only now he can hear me because my Champion has finally accepted my blessing as a blessing, instead of a curse.
Atsushi mouthed the word ‘champion’ incredulously at Yukichi. Yukichi had to agree… except there was something special about this Byakko that can’t simply be explained as a sentient ability. There was anger too in Atsushi’s face. No doubt it was in the vein of ‘if you had always been with me, where were you when I was abused in the orphanage?’
You rejected me while in the orphanage. Byakko spoke calmly. You didn’t want to know that they have a good reason to lock you up. So you rejected the tiger and me.
“Good reas--” Atsushi sounded strangled.
Yukichi pushed calm into him before he could start yelling. Not that it wasn’t a warranted anger, but this Byakko was inside Atsushi right now, and Yukichi didn’t want to know what could happen if Atsushi started shouting at him. “Aren’t you the tiger?” He steered the conversation away.
I am a tiger, but I am not Atsushi’s tiger. His ability to shapeshift has always been his since I gave it to him. There was only one time I truly ever took over his body.
“When was this?” Atsushi snarled.
You weren’t the one who killed Shibusawa the first time around. It was me. You had no means to do it when your soul was forcefully taken away from your body.
Atsushi… what? The first time around?
Let me introduce myself again. I am Byakko, The White Tiger of the West, King of Beast, He Who Watched Over Balance. You humans sure love your monikers.
Apparently, Atsushi hadn’t been going insane. His ability was, however.
Don’t reject me again, now. It’s a bother not being able to talk to you.
The Director who was sitting in front of him on the floor was looking at him with curiosity before he turned to Kyouka. “Kyouka, I’m sorry, but can you step outside for a moment?” then he quickly added, “Give us some time to talk privately.”
Ah, so he didn’t want Kyouka to listen in. This was going to be a fun conversation.
Kyouka hesitated with a frown but nodded nonetheless. She gave one last glance and an awkward thumb up at Atsushi before exiting the room and closing the door. Atsushi took a staggered breath as his anxiety flared up, only to be gently pushed down by All Men Are Equal. He never truly paid attention before, but the Director did a lot for his panic attacks, didn’t he?
“Atsushi.” He started gently. “Let me preface this by saying that this question is not meant to be an attack on you, nor it is about judging your past. I simply wanted to know what exactly happened between you and Shibusawa before the Dead Apple incident, so I can understand the situation between you and Byakko better.”
Atsushi nodded, and his head stayed down as he relayed the story. “It was something I only remembered recently. I think it was back before I started transforming involuntarily… Shibusawa visited my orphanage as a researcher, and singled me out from the rest because he recognized I have an ability, I guess. He was...” He spat, “Nice to me.”
“And it was nice, for a long time. The orphanage was shit even before the Headmaster knew I have an ability, so I latched onto him and listened to every single bullshit he uttered. Told me I was special and saw nothing wrong when he asked me to sit on what was clearly an electric chair. Fucking idiot.”
The Director reached out and squeezed his hand gently, bringing him back from his spiraling self-loathing. Oh god Atsushi wanted to cry.
“And he-- uh- he started electrocuting me.” But he was trying, trying so hard not to sob, to be coherent. But-- but the Director soothed him, his ability telling Atsushi it was alright to cry-- so he did. “And it was-- apparently it was to mature my ability, because, uh, because people under the threat of death would-- uh-”
“It was painful.”
Atsushi folded into the Director’s embrace, clinging at the man’s kimono desperately as he cried on Fukuzawa’s knees, his wailing was muffled when Fukuzawa leaned closer to hug him tighter. “It was awful , he took my ability and-- and-”
Wait.
Wait, that didn’t make sense.
Atsushi let go of Fukuzawa’s thighs to look up to him. “How did I transform if he took my ability away?”
Because. Byakko spoke once more. It was me.
“No, no, no, that STILL doesn’t make sense. Even if you are a god like you said you are, then what did he take from me?!”
Your soul.
“Bullshit.”
You’ve seen the man revived, yet the concept of soul is still bullshit to you?
“Oh, so you know what’s going on with his ability, is that it?”
Yes. He is, after all, Kohryu’s Champion. That dragon was trying to cover up his bad decision of choosing that man to be given his boon by reviving him over and over again.
“What? That sounds so petty…”
It is. I’m sure right now Suzaku is making fun of him.
“Shibusawa-- he hurt people! Over and over again just to relieve his boredom! What kind of god would let someone like that walk free unrestrained?! Shouldn’t there be karma over this?”
Not for gods, no. That punishment is unfortunately reserved only towards mortals.
“Wha--.”
We, gods, are unfair creatures.
Atsushi was stunned into silence as he once again locked gaze with the Director. Fukuzawa too had a similar expression on his face. “Well… that was… illuminating.”
“Do you think he’s telling the truth? Do you think he really is a god?” Atsushi asked in a hushed whisper.
“...he didn’t seem to be lying, or have any reason to lie.”
And if the Director said so, then it must be true, because his ability helped him see through lies inside people’s hearts…. and right now he’s looking deep inside.
Byakko seemed-- felt satisfied by the acceptance.
“Why me?” He asked the tiger god.
You’re a perfect fit to be my vessel.
“So it’s my body?”
No, not only that. If it was only your body, then I wouldn’t bother sticking around. As I said before, we gods are unfair creatures, because the concept of sin cannot be applied to us. And so, the only way for us to learn what is good or bad for mortals, is to be a mortal. You are my moral compass, Nakajima Atsushi.