"A-A-Asuka, h-help me!"From her seat on the swaying tree branch, it seemed like the little girl was flying in the sky. The ground was so far away — farther away than it had ever been. With small arms, thinner than the twigs protruding from the tree itself, she clung desperately to its trunk.
...Thinking back, it was probably only a meter or so, wasn't it?"Airi, why are you in a tree?" The taller girl, wearing a thick jacket, was trying her hardest not to laugh at the sight in front of her. A small, twintailed girl with her legs wrapped around a tree branch that supported her weight, despite its wobbling protests, as she clung to the tree trunk for dear life. Anyone looking at that would have to let out a snicker at least, even if it was the girl's sister.
The smaller girl sniffled, trying to beat back her own tears.
"I was...I was trying to do that cool thing you did...where you ran up that wall..." She explained, her voice choking in panic and guilt.
"I-I thought I could run up the tree like you could and-and then, jump down all cool-like..."The small smile died fast, like a candle submerged in water.
"Airi..."Asuka stood there for a while, as though she were considering something. Reaching some kind of decision, the taller girl zipped up her jacket, before taking a running stance—
—and in a flash, sprinted up the side of the tree trunk, grabbing her younger sister in her arms.
Her eyes were wide as her surroundings became a blur. For the briefest of moments, the green grass was above her, and the blue sky underneath her feet. Moving her legs just a bit, in that short moment, it almost looked like she was walking on a cloud.
It was...the first time I saw the world spin.The girl stumbled slightly as she was set down, still dizzy. But any fear within her had been blown away by the amazing sight.
"W-Wow! Asuka, that was so cool!" Her eyes and mouth wide, she looked up to her sister, grabbing hold of her arms.
"You gotta—"But at that moment, she was shushed, with a single finger over her mouth.
"Airi." Asuka's voice was dead serious. The tone itself was enough to stop her in her tracks.
"I want you to listen to me. Very, very carefully, okay?"The little girl only nodded, her smile turned into a wavering frown.
Asuka looked at her with sympathetic eyes. It was only natural that things would be this way.
"Don't look up to me." Her voice wavered, but then held steady.
"Don't...try to be like me. Please.""B-but—!" The little girl protested,
"You have all that cool stuff! You can move super fast, and do backflips and stuff—""It's not worth it." Asuka's voice was more forceful this time. Her grip on Airi's shoulders tightened.
"It's...not worth it, to be this way. Don't want it. Don't chase it. Don't...think of me as being human." Her hand was almost crushing the tiny girl's shoulder, but even so, the force did not subside.
"...Please."She didn't understand. She didn't understand why her sister was so serious. Why their blood was so accursed. Why their achievements were not to be celebrated. Why mother never talked about her family. Why she could see things that other people could not see, and why she was told to close her eyes.
She would not understand for a long, long time.
RECEIVED: Boss I hate to ask this but I kinda need a hand
SENT: Whats up?
RECEIVED: Texting slow just get over here
"Hana what the fuck."Seriously, what is this shit? I get here thinking someone in my crew is fist-deep in someone's ass (because he's typing with one hand so that's the only obvious explanation), and he's
stuck in a fucking tree.
"Do I even want to know—""THERE WERE CIRCUMSTANCES." So, this pathetic-ass piece of shit has one hand wrapped around the trunk of a tree, with the other one still gripping a phone. I guess he was on his way to his university, since he's wearing that dumbass brown uniform of his — with the tie only barely secured, like usual — and the whole thing is scuffed up to all hell. He has a severe gaze, even in a situation like this. The kind of face that scares away little kids, you know how it is.
Funny how we met, now that I think of it. He used to be a bit of a troublemaker. Knowing what I know now, I don't think he had any real malicious ideas — dude just has a short temper. Got into fights a lot. More than a few people walking around with bloody jaws after running into him. Call it 'bad luck' or whatever.
See, here's my thing — I deal with troublemakers. Police don't do shit around here that actually helps anyone, so I pick up the slack, simple as that.
I learned after our first meeting...I think he was just looking to get his ass kicked. The kind of guy who keeps picking fights with people until he finds someone he can't beat. And then he laughs about it. We went out for ramen while the shiner on his cheek was still beaming from me putting my boot in his face, and before I knew it we were hanging out. And in my line of 'work', a second set of fists isn't bad to have around.
He's calmed down a bit, but as far as the crew goes, he's kind of like an overactive guard dog, so I have to tell him to 'sit' every now and then.
We've gotten each other out of tough spots now and then, but normally it's with the real gangs that prowl around. You know, drug dealers, that sort of thing. They're not afraid to pull out knives if they need to. I guess that makes them different from us.
So, you can imagine my surprise when, instead of anything even remotely like that, he calls me at seven-in-the-god-damn-morning because he's, once again,
stuck in a fucking tree.
"Hana, if this is a joke, it's not funny." I heave through my teeth, returning his scowl.
"...Actually, you know what, I take that back. This is kind of hilarious now that I look at it.""Yeah yeah, I get it, there was—" He bites his tongue, hitting his forehead on the trunk.
"—Nevermind! I just need to get down from here!""There was...?"All I have to do is keep my hands in my pockets and smile. I
have to know the story behind this. I can't hang it over his head otherwise. He stares me down, even knowing that he's in no position to bargain.
"...You little middle-schooler shit...""I don't go to school." I shrug,
"And if I did, I think I'd be second-year high school now, anyway. Not my fault I'm short."He's holding back his words, but he knows I won't help him unless he talks. So we stand there like that for a while — and I won't lie, I enjoyed his discomfort more than a little — before he finally gave me a decent reason for his predicament.
"...There was...a cat.""A cat.""A cat.""...PffftHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!!"Oh my fucking god he actually climbed a tree to help a stranded cat and then couldn't get down. Hananouchi Kajin, of all the fucking people in the fucking world, got stuck in a tree over a
fucking cat.
I laughed so hard my chest hurt. I don't think I'd laughed that hard in a long time.
...Now that I think of it, I don't think I've laughed like that ever since.
"Okay. Okay. I, I got it out of my sys—pffftokaynevermind—no, no, I got it. I got this.""I'm gonna wreck your fucking shins when I'm down there, you midget piece of shit!""Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll get you— I'll get you down."Still breathing out the remaining laughs, I lower myself down into a running stance, zipping up my hoodie. Can't help but smirk a bit. I'm not much of a showoff, but there are things I just love doing.
Seeing the world spin is definitely top of the list.
With as much speed as I could muster, my boot digs into the tree's bark through sheer force of acceleration, and then another. The grass, a green blur. The sky, a blue blur. The park gates, a jade blur. The sign at the entrance, no words, only a swirl of oil mixed with water.
But, my balance wasn't good enough. My foot doesn't hit the mark.
The world spins, but not in the way that I wanted it to.
And, the back of my head hit the grass at a bad angle...
...
Blurry. Someone's yelling.
Is that Asuka?
No...can't be.
Asuka's gone, after all.
Mom, dad, and her. Everyone's gone.
"I guess...I'm not catching up to you anytime soon, huh, sis?"
"Ow...ow, ow, ow...""Hold still please, Airi. You banged your head really bad." So...Hana and I reached a bit of an agreement.
I don't say anything about how he got stuck in a tree, and he doesn't say anything about how I completely failed at, as he put it, 'trying to do my weird-ass ninja shit'.
Instead, we went back to the bar and told Barry and Yuko that him and I got into a fight, and that's the end of that story.
"It looks like the skull isn't cracked, and there's no internal bleeding." The older girl behind he says happily,
"It's not so bad that I think you need to go to a hospital, but I will give you some ibuprofen for the swelling. Take them two at a time, once every six hours, for a day or two...""Can't promise I'll remember that, but...thanks."Sakura Yuko is...someone I met a long time ago. Before I met Hana, even. I don't lose fights often, but...she happened to come across me after I had tried to take on twelve guys by myself like an idiot.
I think the strangest event of my life was being invited over to her house. I had been living on the streets for so long that...just the experience of sitting at a table, having real cooked food again, was surreal to the point of feeling like a dream. She even let me use her shower and washed my clothes.
She lives in some high-rise in Shinjuku, a way better part of Tokyo than where we are. Tall buildings and shit. It's pretty rare that she can actually come out here, since she has night classes out there in addition to going to the same university as Hana. She's studying pretty hard to become a pharmacist so she can take care of her dad, from what I heard.
I saw him when I was over there. Yuko's dad, I mean. Something's...I dunno, it felt wrong to ask. But there wasn't much going on behind the eyes. There's a twinge of guilt every time she makes her way down here on the rail to hang out with us, instead of being his caretaker like he needs. He doesn't even eat unless Yuko's around to feed him.
But we don't talk about that in the back room. The back room of the bar is where we leave all that shit behind, stick together, and make this rats' nest of a town a better place.
Oh yeah, the bar. Speaking of which.
Guy named Barry runs it. Foreigner, can't understand half the shit he says, but he's a cool dude.
He was getting racketeered by some goons, Hana and I did our thing. As thanks, he lets us hang out in the back room of his bar.
And, most importantly, he lets me live here, since otherwise I don't have a place.
"You two...really shouldn't fight each other like that." Yuko said softly, as I pulled away from her care.
"Can't you just...get along?""What, we don't get along?" Hana said, crossing his arms against the wall of the room with a smile.
"You don't get it, Yuko. Sometimes, people get along in different ways. Heck, it's how we met...""I...guess so..." She doesn't seem convinced,
"Still, though, I'm a little curious. How did you land a hit on Airi, Hana?""Uh..."We didn't exactly plan out that story, did we?
"She can move more quickly than either of us can see, and she has those eyes..." That's Yuko's way of prodding. She points things out, but she doesn't explicitly 'attack' — just hopes that people will accede of their own accord.
Hana sticks to the story, eager to save face no doubt.
"Um...lucky hit?"She nods, not wanting to press it any further. Hana and I look at each other. We know we're busted, but still, the alternate truth remains to be found, so we're all good.
"Anyway..."When I say that, they both look up. From the tone of my voice, I guess they picked up that I'm trying to get down to business.
This is the crew. The whole thing. We protect this dump of a city the only way we can. Anyone who threatens it has to get past us. That's my rule.
And my crew is with me every step of the way.
"The disappearances."They both know what I mean. It's all over the news. People are going missing left and right, and the police either can't or won't get a single lead on it.
...It makes me sick. This is the town I swore to protect, and it seems like every time I wake up in the morning, it has less people in it than it did before.
The sun is setting. Yuko skipped her night classes to attend, just because of the magnitude of the situation. They're both back from class, and I spent the day trying to get info, so it's time to get together and wrap our heads around this.
"It started...one week ago, right?" Yuko speaks up,
"There were signs of a struggle at the first victim's location, but no blood, and no body found...""Yeah, the no-blood-no-corpse thing seems to be a constant. I snuck onto the other crime scenes and found that out for myself." I keep my hands in my pockets, leaning back on the rickety chair with an uneven leg.
"Hana, you find out anything over lunch?""Just some pictures and chalk-outline type of shit. Nothing you wouldn't have seen yourself." He fidgets, the outline of a police baton showing through his jacket as he does. It was his father's, back when he was on that joke they call 'the force'. Anyway, Hana knows how to use computers, and it turns out his dad's password or whatever still works even though the guy got kicked out — so every once in a while, he goes into their like mainframe or what-the-fuck computer shit to see what they know about something. But just like I thought, they're dragging their asses like usual.
"And there's another thing. The number of victims each night seems to be increasing exponentially." Yuko brought up, frowning.
"I...um...plotted it out. It's steadily getting worse and worse as time goes on. Maybe the culprit is...I don't know, getting bolder, since no one is stopping them?"Jackass...I'll go exponential on his skull if I see the fucker...""Topic, Hana." Now isn't the time. All of us know that. The sun is getting lower and lower in the sky.
"We know that all of the attacks occur at night, at least. And the victims are always people who were out walking alone." I pointed out,
"Do we have any way of knowing where the culprit could be?""The town ain't THAT big." Hana pointed out,
"You have to take the rail to get to anywhere else in Tokyo, like Yuko does. Unless the fucker is taking a train in and out every night, he should be here somewhere...""It's...possible. I come here to and from Shinjuku almost every day, and I'm able to keep a consistent schedule, despite the travel time." Yuko pointed out,
"So...it's possible that the culprit isn't here during the day. But they would be here at night.""So, our best chance is to catch them in the act?""Seems that way."I seethe through my teeth. Hana's right about the size of the town, but the window of opportunity is so small...
"With all the advisories, there shouldn't be too many people walking out alone at night anymore. Which means anyone who we do find is either the culprit or a potential victim." I start laying it out as best I can, looking at both of them.
"No sleep tonight, boys and girls. Listen up. We. Stick. Together. If one of us breaks off, that person might not be found the next day for all we know." Hana and Yuko nod in understanding.
"We go out, we tail anyone we see. If they get attacked, or if they attack someone else, Hana and I jump in. Yuko, I know you're not the fisticuffs type, but...I'm asking you to come along, too. If we find someone who's injured, you're the only one out of us who could give them first aid. If something happens, and you have to pick one of us, stick to Hana. You two can match speed."Hana looks at me, his fierce gaze hard to read. He never told me, but it's been pretty obvious the past couple of months that he has a thing for Yuko, so I can imagine what he's thinking. But it really is just more practical. I hate to say it, but Yuko would slow me down. Anyone would.
The sky begins to lose its orange tint, shade by shade.
Clock's ticking, hand's spinning, planet's revolving, tick tick tick.
The world isn't going to wait for me. That's a lesson I learned the hard way.
Move quickly. Move quicker than the speed at which the world spins, and you can surpass it.
Like a giant eyeball, the moon stares down at us with its radiant gaze. It looks over this dismal, out-of-the-way spot of Tokyo that only a couple of rail lines even have a stop for. It's rural, but it's cramped, too. One-lane streets, all over the place, residential buildings a couple of stories tall. Every once in a while, we pass by a beat-up car that looks like it hasn't moved from it's spot in years, or an empty lot that, maybe one day, someone had aspired to build something on. There's a KFC around the corner, but I don't think any of us have much of an appetite right now. And besides, that shit's expensive.
Yuko's not used to accompanying us on patrols. Her footsteps are a bit louder than ours, even though she's wearing flats. Hana's got his baton out on his shoulder, and me? Well, I've got my fists and my boots. It's all I've ever needed.
Keeping my hands in the pockets of my hoodie, the rest of the crew follows close behind. Just as I thought, there's no one out. You'd have to be crazy to be walking out alone at night after a serial killer has been terrorizing the place for a week. I'm surprised the local police haven't called anyone in from prefectural yet. Trying to save face, maybe?
Hell if I care what those pigs shit on. This is what happens when they drag their asses. People die. Families get destroyed. Murderers run free. That kind of crap is why I have to do this — why I take up this vigil. Why keeping the streets clean here is up to me.
"There's someone..." Yuko whispers, and Hana and I shoot our necks over to where she points. We only catch a glimpse, but it looked like someone ducking into an alleyway.
"Don't run." I whisper back,
"Keep pace, approach silent. Follow. Let's move."The mouth of the alley couldn't have approached more slowly. It was like the maw of a lumbering beast, heaving its way towards us inch by inch under the moonlight. Thump. Thump. Thump. Its massive footfalls were my heart, beating in my ears. This time, we weren't chasing after some small-time gang full of jocks, or someone with a bit of muscle on him who thinks he can extort a local business because the police won't press him on an arson charge. This is...this is a killer. A murderer.
I pull my hood up over my head, keeping the lead. I can't break. I can't. I can't even crack. I'm supposed to be the leader. If I hesitate for even a moment, my crew, my friends...
Eventually, the maw of the alleyway swallows us all.
Its throat leads straight to hell.
There was the sound of chewing when we were just around the corner.
I wondered why that would be. I wish I hadn't.
Now that I've seen it, I can pretty safely say...
...that I never would have wanted to know.
What it sounds like, when human flesh is being chewed.
A pair of red eyes looks up from the body.
It looks straight at me, and...
and...just for a moment...
...did those red eyes...soften?
Softening at a familiar face.
"████▄▄▄██▄▄████!!""What the fu——!?""Oh my god!!"Voices erupt all at once. Everything seems to move in slow motion. Yuko covering her mouth, Hana's baton leaving his shoulder and moving in front of him. And throughout all of this, like fish swimming in molasses, one thing seems to move at a normal speed. A long-haired, red-eyed...
thing, with rotting flesh.
Hana is running after it. Yuko stops at the body, but one look is enough to know that there's no saving it. The person's throat was torn out. Remembering what I said before, she sticks with Hana, chasing after
that.
But I can't move. As if the moment it looked at me, every muscle in my body just stopped.
My legs fall out from under me. The seat of my jeans scuffs itself on the dirty, alleyway pavement, and the vision of those red eyes, that
face, is frozen in my sight.
"...Asu...ka...?"
My thoughts are scrambled. I remembered other times when my thoughts were scrambled.
Sirens and flashing lights. Asuka sets me down in a dirty alleyway. My pajamas are all scuffed up.
Why are they so loud and scary? What are they doing with mom and dad?"Asuka...what's happening?"She looks back at the apartment. I can't see it from here, but I can tell that big sis doesn't like what she sees.
The look on her face is scary."They're taking our parents away.""Wh...why...!? They didn't do anything bad...!""..."Standing up to her full height, Asuka zips up her jacket. I know what that means.
She keeps it unzipped normally, but she zips it up whenever she's about to use her speed. She moves so fast that it flings around otherwise.
"Stay here, Airi. Hide, and don't make a sound." She wasn't looking at me. She was looking in the direction of the fading sirens, as the police cars drove away.
"I'm gonna get mom and dad back, and bring them here. So just wait for me, okay?" She disappeared.
And I waited for her.
I waited for three days. Hungry, tired, and alone.
Until I finally realized that she wasn't coming back.
That our home wasn't coming back.
That our family wasn't coming back.
I thought...I'd never see her again.
...Chewing.
The sound of chewing. The same sound.
Chewing of human flesh.
I hear it again. It breaks me out of my blissful reverie, my mind's attempt to escape the bloody reality in front of me.
This time, it isn't a body chewing on another.
It's a body chewing on itself.
A body, a body that had been laying on the ground a moment ago, with red eyes and half of a neck, vigorously chewing on its own arm out of some absurd hunger.
"...Wh..."I can't vocalize anything. But that simple sound reminds it of my presence.
The presence of a small girl, sitting on the ground with a wide stare.
Flesh.
———It shouldn't exist, so kill it—
My body is slower than it should be. Like I'm swimming through water, I manage to dive to the side as it manically leaps towards me. Stumbling to my feet, my back hits a wall, right before
it does.
With both of my hands on its shoulders, I desperately try to push it off of me. In a contest of pure strength, I don't have much to offer. But there's something else that takes up all the space in my mind right now.
The color. The
lack of color.
My Eyes don't see anything.
———It shouldn't exist, so kill it—
'Pure Eyes of Intent'. Yuko thought of the name. I don't know where she got it from, but come to think of it, it's weird that she wasn't surprised when I told her about them.
I can...I
should be able to see the 'intent' of things.
For instance, if something has a very pure killing intent, like I can pretty plainly see here, there should be a bright, candy red in my vision.
But, there's nothing.
This thing is a thrall of some kind. It doesn't have any will of its own. It doesn't have 'intent'.
Action without intent. No human would be able to do something like that.
I've only fought humans up until now, so I never realized that such a thing was possible.
But this thing, this falling apart thing, this dead thing, this thing, this thing...
———It shouldn't exist, so kill it—
"F, fuck, OOOFFFF———!!"I manage to throw it off, just barely, regaining my breath. It was going for my throat. Why my throat? How can it have that kind of purpose without a will of its own? What the fuck
is this thing!?
It lunges at me again, but I have my bearings now. The world moves past me. The pavement, a blur, the wall, a blur, the sky, a blur. The moon seems to stretch for just a moment, as if it was pulled between two locations at a time, for just a moment. Digging my heels into the ground, I stop my momentum, my hair settling over my shoulders. The distance between us is ten meters, in the blink of an eye.
It doesn't stop. It won't stop. It can't stop. It isn't that it bears action without intent. It's that, only with intent could it perform
inaction. Humans don't 'intend' to breathe, or remain upright when they walk, and in the same way, this thing doesn't 'intend' to consume and devour. It simply exists as it does, and unlucky humans die as a result.
I don't want to understand this much. I don't want my eyes to tell me this.
I want to...
...run away?
No. That's wrong.
What I want to do is...
———It shouldn't exist, so kill it—
What I want to do is...
...
...Kill it.
Yeah. Kill it. Kill it good.
What I want to do is kill the thing in front of me.
Because it's not human, because it never will be again.
It's derived from us, but it's not us, it's not a part of us.
It's a distortion, so remove it.
Kill, kill, kill.
My breathing is normal. It's coming at me again, but slower this time.
No, it's moving at the same speed. But my mind is working correctly now.
...Is it? Is my mind working correctly?
Is this the way it's supposed to work?
I wonder that, as my fist crushes its shoulder.
I'm not that strong. But if something moves fast enough, even a small object can crush a larger one.
Like a bullet. Yeah, I guess my fists are kind of like bullets, aren't they?
Just like bullets, they put holes in weak things.
Like its shoulder, and its other shoulder. It can't grab onto me anymore, but it leans forward with its teeth, trying to bite at me.
Its teeth are crushed, too. Its bones are weak things. It was falling apart from the very beginning, a really weak thing, a lump of weak parts weakly joined together.
I can't believe I was seriously about to lose to it.
Hah.
Hahahaha.
...When Yuko found me, I had already emptied the contents of my stomach over the pavement.
My memory is a little hazy, but I remember enough. Enough that I want to throw up again and again.
The back room of the bar is silent. The sun is rising through the window.
All three of us are very tired.
"Your...sister?""Yeah. Not the one that came at me, but...the one you chased after." My voice is a croaky rasp. It's sore from the vomiting.
"It was Asuka."Yuko's hand went over her mouth again.
"No way..."None of us really knew what was going on anymore. Dead things were moving. People with red eyes. I don't get it at all. I'm not sure if I want to.
Trash like this, in the town I'm supposed to protect...
"What...is she, now?""What...what am I?" Yuko had to head back to Shinjuku to make sure her dad was okay. He'd been on his own for a while now. Hana suggested that she stay over and get some rest, but she really can't leave him alone for too long.
As for Hana himself, he's skipping school to get some sleep at his own place.
I'm a little envious. It'd be nice if I could sleep right now.
Instead, with the noon sky covered in dark clouds, and rain cascading down around me, I dig through rubble.
Stone and brick, all collapsed.
Where Asuka and I used to live, years and years ago.
Where we used to sit around the dinner table, with mom and dad, happy and smiling...years and years ago.
The building was derelict, but it was all we were able to afford. Not too long after my parents were put in jail, and Asuka went missing after tangling with the police, it was marked for demolition.
I don't know what I want to find. It just seems like there might be something of hers here. Something that might help tie this shit together, because I'm sure as hell missing some pieces of this fucking puzzle.
Under the rubble where the chimney used to be, there's the remnants of a compartment. It's strange. I don't remember the fireplace having something like that. It was an old building, though...
It's a wooden box that looks like it was sealed, once. The lock is still secured tightly, but it doesn't matter much when the corner was chipped off when the structure was taken down.
Brushing the dust and debris off of the top, aided just a bit by the falling rain washing some of it away, there's a deep carving still visible in the lid.
「七夜」
That was all about a week ago.
Stepping off the bus, a bag with some canned food falls over my side as my boots touch the ground again.
Fuyuki is a lot less packed than Tokyo, even the more rural parts of it, like where I'm from. This place is...really open. It's kinda weird. Over near that big-ass bridge, it looks more developed. A bit more like the Shinjuku I remember from visiting Yuko's place every now and then. Kind of a weird setup, but I guess when you've got more space to go around, and less people to fill it with, that's how cities end up.
The symbols on my hand are smudged. They haven't fully formed yet, but the fact that they're there means that the Grail has acknowledged me. It knows I'm planning on going after it, I guess. How a goddamn cup is supposed to know that, I've got no clue, but hey, I don't know how this magic shit works. Hell, I didn't know it was real until Yuko told me.
She and Hana are still in school, so I ended up leaving them behind in Tokyo. From the sounds of it, it's gonna be pretty dangerous here, and the whole thing is a crapshoot to begin with, so I don't mind leaving them behind. Even if something happens to me, they'll keep going.
I got a present from each of them. From Yuko, some girly-as-shit phone strap that I'm kind of embarrassed to wear. Hana, though, man, that guy pulled through. 'All the money I saved up from eating shitty lunches for a year', he said. 50,000 yen, all total. Might not pay for a hotel, but it'll get me food.
They're with me in strange ways. The crew has never split up like this before, and for the first time in a few years, I'm on my own again.
But...that's just the way it has to be for now.
Maybe, one day, all three of us will be laughing around a table again, like we were just last month. Hell, maybe Asuka will be there, too.
Or maybe I'll just end up being a distant memory for both of them.
Either way...when I think back to that night...the moment those red eyes met mine...
There's no hesitation.
"My father received the announcement. He is...was...part of a lineage of mages. But he desired that it end with him. I don't have the knowledge to act as a mage, and to be honest, I don't mind that. I just want to stay in school, and help people out. L-Like I've been doing. But..."
"There's a ritual going on in a town away from here. Because of his bloodline, they let him know, but, well, you know what his situation is. He's in no condition to enter even if he wanted to, and me? Well...I wouldn't last long."
"But you're different, Airi. It's a long shot, and you'll be up against some really powerful people. But if you manage, somehow..."
"The reward...the Grail...I think it can turn your sister back."
Female ——— 16
Origin; Solidarity
Affinity; Fire
Magic Circuits [Quantity]; E
Magic Circuits [Quality]; E
Od Capacity; E
Airi has no magecraft, though she does have a small amount of unrefined magical potential from her father's side of the family, not that either of them would know. She's barely able to act as a Master because of that, despite not being a magus.
The abilities that she
is able to use come from her mother's side of the family. Her maiden name, before marrying, was 'Nanaya'. A heretic among the clan, for committing the crime of marrying outside of the family and diluting their blood, all for the sake of a wretched thing called love. She was given no training, and exiled — and thanks to that hidden 'fortune', was spared the slaughter that would have otherwise claimed all but one.
【意志の淨眼】 — Pure Eyes of IntentA psychic ability which both Airi and her sister manifested. She never found out what 'channel' her sister had opened, but she found out about her own in due time.
Simply put, it's the ability to see what cannot be seen. While this has more general uses in some cases, Airi's specific ability is to see the 'intent' of others, or more accurately, the extrapolation of their intent.
Where the gunman aims. Where the boxer will throw his punch. What spin the pitcher will put on the ball. All of these are things that are considered, decided upon, and carried out. At the moment of 'decided upon', the action yet to be performed moves from a 'desire' to an 'intent', and that is when it becomes visible to her.
This is not the same as seeing the future — her eyes do not glimpse forward in time, and are unrelated to clairvoyance. Where the gunman aims, but not necessarily where the bullet will fly. Once it leaves the barrel, wind, gravity, and the curvature of the earth all take their toll on fate.
The ability isn't limited to battle. Though the bright red 'killing intent' could be called the most valuable thing to see, a cool blue 'kindhearted intent', or a freakish pink 'mischievous intent' might make itself known to her on occasion. Only immediate actions can be made known, however. To say that, 'this person intends to become a firefighter' isn't truly referring to an intention at all, but rather an aspiration.
This ability doesn't apply to constructs, thralls, soulless, and others who have had their will robbed from them, or had none to begin with. Abilities such as Presence Concealment are also at odds with such things, and in the first place, no amount of special sight would close the gap between a human and a Servant.
Demon HunterDue to the circumstances of her family inheritance, Airi did not receive the assassination training or skills one normally associated with the Nanaya clan, at the time when they existed proper. She has, however, inherited their physical ability to an extent, and combines it with her own, less lethal skills.
Physically, her speed is superhuman on its face. In short bursts, she can create or close a distance of ten meters in the time span of a single action spell. She can't do so repeatedly, or for any extended period of time. The 'cooldown' could be called the time it takes her to catch her breath after an extreme physical action.
On a more consistent note, her physical blows are enough that, even at a little over five feet, she can compensate for her small mass through sheer speed. Her force output is on par with that of a magus with a Reinforced body, though that would also be her upper limit.
At the same time, as with everything else, she inherited the Nanaya clan's unique 'killer impulse'. When faced with certain aberrations, such as the undead, she finds it hard to control herself, to the point of endangering her life. However, it doesn't quite reach the point of a split personality or alternate persona. As someone who abhors murder when her mind is sound, it's an aspect of her birthright which deeply frightens her.
Equipment- Old flip-phone with a cracked screen. Has a pink strap with some kind of cat on it. Hates the thing, but wears it because Yuko gave it to her. Stubbornly refuses to delete Asuka's number.
- 48,000円 or so. Spent some on the bus ticket and nonperishables. Thanks, dude.
- Favorite hoodie. The drawstrings are frayed from continued use, since she only had one outfit for a while.
- Bag containing spare clothes and various toiletries, because 'a grail war is no excuse to not brush your teeth'. Goddammit Yuko.
Skils- Taekwondo — Both Airi and her sister learned it from their father, as a way to pass the time when he was between jobs (which, his own heritage being what it is, was a bit too often for comfort). Its philosophy of speed-over-power dovetails nicely with Airi's innate abilities, and it is her favored method of combat.
- Languages — Japanese, Korean.
- Parkour — Has been in her fair share of chase scenes, though thanks to her speed, they tended to be a little unfair. Capable of some vertical movement and obstacle avoidance; can scale a two-story building without using her hands.
- Streetwise — Wasn't really a gang leader, but ran a small vigilante crew in a more rural area of Tokyo where law enforcement was especially lax. Knows how to find out where drugs are moving, who's 'running the show', etc. In her home area, her reputation would get in the way, but in Fuyuki, she's completely unknown.
- Urban Survival — Lived homeless for two years, and in the backroom of a bar for a third and change. Knows how to get around without a bed, with a specialty in somewhat rural areas. Some areas of Japan have a strange mix of rural and urban, where an out-of-the-way place can still be especially cramped; it's something of a unique environment.
"Nothing personal, but it's your wish against mine."
Member
LokiLeo789
