XLegs

Persona - The True Self

Toma Tanaka - April 26th, Late Afternoon | Amusement Park

The boy gave a small laugh and nod in response to Akane asking if she should've hit them harder. "Mm, next time. They'll have to learn eventually."

He blinked when she mentioned his wrist, briefly looking down at his bandaged up right one, before quickly realizing she was talking about the little slap he had received on his left.

"Oh," he said, smile returning to his face. "Yeah, I'll have to get this checked out. Look, he even scratched me with his fingernail a little. It's a miracle I'm not bleeding out right now."

Toma nodded in affirmation at Akane's next words, giving a quick wave as she set off.

"She's nice," he commented as he looked back towards Kotori. He opened his mouth, deciding to ask if she'd mind if he sat on the bench -- but was cut off by the voice he had tried to forget.

"There you are, Tooooomaaaaa-kuuunn!"

God damn it.

He looked over his shoulder towards the running Arata, with a forced smile plastered on his face. It quickly dropped when the other boy practically jumped him from behind, throwing his arm around Toma's neck, all while laughing away. As the red-haired boy struggled to keep his balanced, he glanced around the park, seeing that many passerby's were staring at the scene that was being made.

"Oh? Hello!" Arata said cheerfully, noticing Kotori. "I'm Kimura Arata from class 3-2, and I'm the captain of the Track Club, which pretty much makes me Toma-kun's boss!" he spouted off, leaning forward excitedly and dragging Toma with him, still holding his neck. The taller boy quickly moved to pull Arata off -- even he found the guy overwhelming, so he couldn't imagine Kotori enjoying his presence all too much. Add onto that the stares they were getting, and all Toma wanted to do was get Arata away.

"No, it doesn't," said a light but exasperated female voice. A moment later, Arata's rambling was cut off by a hand reaching up and pulling hard on the back of his collar. "At all."

"Gah! Tsuru-chan, stoppp!" he protested, though his bright smile was still there.

These people had zero clue how to not draw attention. Toma gave an annoyed sigh to collect himself from the sneak attack. Despite how much more appealing sitting with Kotori sounded than getting dragged around by the track members some more, he no longer had a choice.

"I'll see you around," he said with a tired smile as he glanced at Kotori. He turned back to Arata, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder as he walked, urging him away. "Come on, Kimura-kun, let's get back to the group."

"Ah, okay! Now that you've eaten, wanna go on the roller coaster?" the boy asked excitedly as the two walked away from the bench.

Toma paled a little again. "Uh, no, that's fine. I'm sure you guys don't want to wait in line for it again," he said quickly. "Let's, uh, go to the Haunted House instead -- no one's done that yet today."

Tsuruko stood near Kotori, glancing between the two receding boys and the girl on the bench. "Sorry about blondie. He doesn't know how annoying he is," she said suddenly, wearing a flighty smile. A flash of realization appeared on her face for a moment, before instantly reverting to her simple, unconcerned expression. "Oh, I'm Yamada Tsuruko, Class 1-2." She paused again, deciding she should get back to her group. "Well, goodbye," she said simply, giving a small wave as she turned and walked away calmly.

---

April 27th, Late Morning | Shopping District - Yoshida Book Café

Toma once again found himself in the old man's bookstore, unpacking and shelving books in order. The man had called him early in the morning, saying he had found a bunch more boxes that he had forgotten about, and asking if Toma'd like to help out for pay again. Of course, the boy had accepted and got himself ready for the day, making his way straight over.

He had been surprised to see that the store was already open for business, though no one had come in half-hour Toma had been there.

The boy looked around the quaint shop as he opened the next box. Though he had never been much of a reader, he found the place to be interesting. Every wall was lined with shelves of old-looking books, save for a portion of the back wall, which was where the counter and door to the backrooms were. Littering the floor were various sofas and chairs, and small tables. As the old man had explained, customers could order a drink, pick any book that interested them, and sit down to read it. And if they wanted to buy any of the books, they could.

The ringing of the door, signalling that someone had entered, brought Toma back. He glanced at the customer, an elderly woman, who moved to look at the shelves near the front of the store. After placing the books he was holding down, he moved to the backrooms, which served as both a storage area and the old man's living space.

"Yoshida-san," Toma called out. When that got no response, he poked his head into a room that couldn't be considered anything but a closet, and saw the man sound asleep on the futon he had laid out, out of the covers and fully clothed, like he had just passed out.

Wait. Was he dead? "Yoshida... san?" Toma asked quietly, staring hard at the unmoving body. After a tense moment, the man's chest rose up, and fell again -- a sure sign of breathing.

Toma let out a relieved sigh, and wondered why his mind had immediately feared that the guy had died. He was old, yeah, but still.

He looked out the door into the shop, and saw the customer seemed to have found a book that interested her. Not wanting to disturb Yoshida, he decided to try to hold down the fort until the old man woke up. Toma knew how to make coffee, and he was decent with people, so he figured it wouldn't be too difficult -- especially considering how few customers this place seemed to get. In fact, Yoshida had said that he ran the whole store alone.

Taking one last moment to steel himself, he stepped out behind the counter, wearing a welcoming smile.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

"Bah," Yuuma grunted, waving his hand as though to dispel Kazuo's guilt. "No one thought we'd be attacked like that -- I know you'd have been there had you known."

He turned his focus back to keeping himself upright, eyes absentmindedly looking around the room. Yuuma could barely feel his legs below his knees, and any feedback he did get was only sharp pain. That was the price of overloading a part of himself: Fried nerves, throbbing pain, and all the mana in his body used up.

It had certainly been worth it, though. The doll had gone at the girl who had been fighting alongside him and Yamato. Yuuma had no idea about what she could do -- it's entirely possible she could have gotten away from the doll's blade without his help. But like hell he'd gamble with a person's life like that, simply to avoid a little pain. Though, despite his efforts, both Kelin and the girl had still been injured. Some frustration and guilt swirled around inside him at that fact.

Thankfully, his badly bruised, purple legs were hidden away beneath his robes -- no one had to know. A hero never showed weakness in front of others. He could rest when he was at home later, alone. For now he'd bare with it and stand tall.

Kelin spoke boisterously, still himself despite his wounds, which Yuuma was glad to see. It took Yuuma another moment to actually register what the man had said.

'Priest,' coupled with the fact that Kelin had no visible wounds, but was definitely in pain. Yuuma's eyes snapped open as he stepped towards Kelin. "Who--"

Just as he began to speak, however, the young boy they had saved tumbled to the floor, trying to walk on his injured legs.

"Ah!" Yuuma exclaimed. Quickly stooping down, he picked the child up gingerly, afraid to hurt him further. "Hey kid, don't... don't try to walk." He had been about to tell him not to cry, but stopped himself, realizing that was a stupid thing to say considering what he had been through.

Yuuma glanced around momentarily, worried and lost as to what he should do or say to calm the boy down. As he fought to ignore the pain in his legs and keep a straight face, he heard the kid mumble something about hamsters.

Looking around again, Yuuma spotted Yamato's hamsters on a table, drinking from a plate. "Oh," he said to himself, walking over and setting the boy down carefully into a seat at the table.

Hoping that'd be enough to help ease the boy's pain, he paused to gather himself before turning back to Kelin. "Did the guy mention his name or anything?" Yuuma asked deliberately, his contained anger and apprehension creeping into his voice.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

@KoL
Ahahaha yes! That should be fun.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

@KoL
Roger roger.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

Yuuma looked back as he ran, seeing Kelin and an unfamiliar girl close behind him. As the girl asked him where the kid who needed help was, a white blur passed them -- one of Yamato's hamsters. Good, whoever it was that was in danger, they wouldn't be for much longer.

He took another quick look at the girl, choosing to not speak and simply motioned for her to follow him with a nod of his head.

Soon enough, they were in the Crimson Sky, a young boy getting dragged away by a pack of Youkai. Eyes widening from the shot of anger he felt, he expelled mana and leapt dozens of feet in the air towards his enemy. Wind rushing by his ears, he strengthened his right fist, before bringing it down like a hammer on one of the dogs as he landed, shattering the creature's skull.

Nearly simultaneously, he reached into his cloak, unsheathing and strengthening the knife that waited on his left hip. Still following through with his overhead blow, he drove the point of the blade into another Hell Hound that had the child in it's jaws. Yelping angrily, it let go and twisted its body, snapping its jaws at Yuuma's neck. Reacting quickly, the robed man brought his already strengthened hand up instantly into the hound's mouth, stopping the creature's furious drive for his vitals. It snapped its jaw closed with enough force to draw blood from his hand, despite the fact it was strengthened. Clicking his tongue at the hot pain, Yuuma forced the mana in his hand out, creating a powerful shockwave directly in contact with the Youkai's head, removing it from its body rather messily.

Seeing Kelin kick two other hound's off the boy and moving to protect him, Yuuma grabbed the two beasts by the scruffs of their necks just as they leapt back at their target. As he felt a third Youkai sink its teeth into his calf, he let out a loud, frustrated curse, turning his body to drive the dog he held in his left hand head-first into the wall next to him. Dropping the lifeless body and reaffirming his grip on his knife, he plunged it into the second Youkai's neck, before tossing that one away too. At the same time, he strengthened his leg and immediately expelled mana from it. The blast rocked the creature that had its teeth in him, causing it to let go and stumble away.

He looked at it with contempt, breathing a little heavy, and picked up a small rock near his feet. "Die, mutt," he spit as he imbued the rock with mana. Winding up, he whipped it at the creature's head, willing it to release its energy the moment it made contact. With yet another loud shockwave, the Youkai fell to ground, dead.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

Yuuma gave Shiina a slightly sheepish smile as he accepted the cup of tea from her. It always made him feel a little strange when she referred to him as 'Master,' but he knew it was just a role she was playing. She seemed to enjoy it, so he never complained -- and it's not really like he disliked it. "'Evening, Shiina. And thank you," he replied simply, his voice a touch softer than usual.

Eos came up to him, asking if he needed to be served. He smiled easily and held up his cup. "Thank you, Eos-chan, but I'm taken care of."

He took a sip as he listened to Kazuo, giving him a cheeky grin in response to his words. "Haven't opened a textbook at home in a week." He paused for a moment, deciding to continue before his friend could tell him off. "I'll get to it next chance I have, though. Promise." He glanced over at Shiina, who had just clinked a cup to gather the groups attention. He looked back over at Kazuo out of the corner of his eyes, eyebrows raised and a small smile on his face. "But who knows when that'll be?"

With that, he turned his attention back to Shiina as she began to speak, then to the two strangers -- and finally, to the unfamiliar man who had just walked in, one of Shiina's knives embedded in the door frame next to his head. Yuuma continued sipping his drink, eyeing the newcomer, completely unworried -- anyone who came here meaning harm would face a swift death, so he had no fear.

As he looked on, he noticed that the man's mannerisms were a little strange. Which was normal, Yuuma supposed -- the guy was getting threatened and had just nearly had his forehead impaled.

His insult, delivered in a painfully forced, cheery manner, irked Yuuma. Yamato may have been a little ill-mannered, what with his 'evil overlord' act, but the guy was genuinely a good person. And of course, any insult directed towards Shiina probably pissed Yuuma off more than it did her. And then the guy showed some hostility, finally prompting Yuuma to act.

Downing the remaining half of his tea, he placed the cup down and took a few sure steps forward. "Those two 'terribly mannered' people have good reason for their actions, Ketsui-san," he said steadily, meeting the man's gaze with his easy smile. "So put your, uh... spine away. Like you said yourself, there's no need to fight. And any fight that does break out will end poorly for no one else but you." The robed young man didn't say that as a threat, rather he said it as a fact, in warning.

Just as Yuuma was about to formally introduce himself, he stopped, brow furrowing as he looked past Ketsui, out through the front windows. Something was wrong. He stepped around Ketsui, interest in the spine-wielding man completely gone.

Yuuma could feel it -- Youkai invading the world close by, which likely meant someone was in danger. He used his mana to strengthen his legs and feet in anticipation. His face showing his intense focus, he took a step towards the door and heard the scream. Reacting instantly, he crouched and blasted himself forward, knocking over a chair and table that had been near him. He blew by Kelin and through the cafe's open door, skidding across the pavement on his feet and slowing down as he lost momentum. As he slid, he turned himself towards the sound, once again strengthening his legs and expelling the built up mana violently out of his feet, sending himself flying down the street.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

Wearing the easy-to-move in robes passed down to him from his father, over more casual clothing, Yuuma leapt from building to building, having just begun his rounds for the night. He knew all the spots where this world's connection with the Crimson Sky was at its strongest in this area of the city, and he efficiently navigated the rooftops, hitting them all up in succession. The route had been engrained in him over the years.

9 years and a bit, to be more exact. Almost a decade ago he had learned of the Crimson Sky and had begun eliminating evil Youkai under his father's guidance. Nearly half his life had been devoted to hunting down and erasing evil.

Yuuma was proud of that fact. He was young, not even legally an adult yet, but he already had more combat experience than most would ever have in their lifetimes. He lived to kill evil -- to protect the people of his city. Every night he went out to do so for several hours. He kept himself in the best shape, always striving to improve himself -- he was lean and sturdy, not an ounce of useless muscle or fat on his tall frame. And through all this, he found time to attend college too, to appease his mother. Granted, he barely scraped by, but he didn't mind. The worst thing about attending school was the fact that he had his sleep split in two; he'd sleep four hours in the morning, and four in the evening. The money he earned from Youkai-hunting was enough to get by on, and that's all he could see himself doing for the rest of his life. A career as a hero -- the greatest thing he could imagine.

His dedication to his self-appointed task as the city's guardian would appear insane to most. It absolutely was an obsession -- anything less and he'd never have spent anywhere near as much time honing himself as he had. But he was proud of himself. He knew his place and purpose in the world, and he enjoyed nothing more.

A sound caught Yuuma's ear, and he focused on it, quickly confirming to himself that it was the call for Chasers from Dangeki. His brow furrowed in worry -- he didn't like having to abandon his duties, but that signal meant something serious was about to happen. He used his Mana to strengthen his legs as he changed his course and ran to the edge of the roof, jumping and blasting himself forward off the lip by expelling his Mana. He fell to the ground, robe billowing out around him, and strengthened his legs again as he landed. Without missing a beat, he straightened himself out and walked with purpose, making his way to the cafe.

A while later, the shop's front was in sight. Yuuma smiled to himself, remembering the first time his father had brought him here when he was 10 years old, having just recently acquired his power, and introduced him to the Chasers that were there at the time. The one that had stuck out to him the most had been Shiina. After he had first seen her fight, his child-like curiosity with her had grown into great admiration. Even now, years later, she was the Chaser -- other than his father -- that he respected the most.

He opened the door and entered, carrying himself with self-confidence. A quick look around told him that there were already several of the Chasers gathered, all of whom he recognized at least vaguely. He gave anyone who happened to meet his gaze a polite nod and smile, making his way over to the front counter. He came to a stop next to Kazuo, his back to the counter, standing tall and comfortably, with his arms to his sides.

"Flirting with the maids again, Kazuo?" he asked with an easy smile, by way of greeting. Kazuo was probably the person in the room that Yuuma had the easiest time talking to, so it wasn't a hard decision for him to try to strike up a conversation as they waited for the rest of the Chasers.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

<Snipped quote by XLegs>

Since Shiina came to the human world and met Chikage. So about 1,000 years.

@TheWindel

Awesome, thank you. And I've gotta say, it's a few years older than I was expecting.

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

@TheWindel
Quick question: how long has Dangeki been around and acting as a sort of base for Chasers?

Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky

Yuuma Saito

Appearance

Name: Yuuma Saito
Age: 19
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1 ft | 186 cm
Weight: 172 lbs | 78 kg

Personality:
Yuuma isn't exactly a hard person to read. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and his facial expressions and body language are always very telling. He knows of this and does his best to stifle it, but whenever he's the least bit flustered or excited, he forgets.

He's an honest person who constantly has an easy smile on his face, and is always willing to help anyone who asks -- even those who don't will find him offering his services to them more often than not. He never asks for compensation in return -- the recognition and satisfaction he gets is enough for him.

And that's what he lives for: the satisfaction. He wants to be a hero, one who eliminates all the evil in the world and saves all the good and innocence in it. This is a result of his more selfish wish to be remembered; death doesn't really scare him, but the idea that he'll eventually be forgotten does. At a young age, he figured that the best way to fulfil both these strong desires of his -- to help others and to be remembered -- was to become a superhero, and he has clung to that dream throughout his life. If it were possible, he'd take on everyone's issues and suffering.

Of course, what is 'good' and what is 'evil' is all based on his perspective and morals, meaning it's entirely possible for him to make a 'wrong' decision, which would greatly affect him.

Challenging him on his views is an easy way to upset him and get into his head. He knows that the world is far from perfect, and that making it perfect is just about the most absurd, impossible thing one can set out to do, but he chooses not to acknowledge that. He also tends to view everything in black-and-white, so his decision-making suffers greatly in greyer situations.

Finally, he's not a pushover when it comes to dealing with people. If he thinks he can help someone, he will, even if they protest. If he has a disagreement with someone about how best to approach a situation, he'll go with his own idea. In the end though, Yuuma always means well, no matter how stubborn he's being.

Skills and Powers:

Strengthening Magic:
Yuuma has a great amount of natural talent for strengthening objects with Mana, and has spent his entire life improving this skill. Strengthening an object increases its durability and damage, and with enough Mana pumped into it, can even hit things that otherwise couldn't be physically touched normally.

More importantly than objects, Yuuma discovered he can strengthen a specific area of his body by moving all the Mana inside of him to it. Doing this, he can block blades barehanded, survive crushing blows, deliver his own powerful strikes, run faster, jump higher, etc. It basically works as temporary, quick burst of enhanced strength and durability. All of these actions do expel a portion of his Mana out of his body, so as a fight drags on, he gets weaker -- unless he can regenerate Mana faster than he uses it.

Finally, when focusing his Mana in one part of his body, he can also forcefully expel a larger portion of it than normal, causing a powerful shockwave. The strength of this shock wave dissipates very quickly -- at three feet, all one would feel is a strong push, and at five, a strong gust of air. Yuuma doesn't use this ability often, as it is incredibly wasteful if it isn't delivered at point-blank range, and reduces the effectiveness of his self-strengthening for the rest of the fight.

Mana Generation:
While Yuuma had talent for controlling Mana, he unfortunately generated very little, limiting how much he could fight. Once the strange Youkai fused with him, however, he began to passively generate a good amount. Another effect of the merging is that whenever Yuuma is in a bad situation and on the verge of death, his heart will suddenly start pounding, and his body will generate absurd amounts of Mana -- more than he can even contain in his body.

With nowhere else to go, the excess Mana leaks out of every pore of his body, causing him a considerable amount of pain and making him give off a blue glow, noticeable to the naked eye due to just how much of it there is. In this state, Yuuma's entire body is 'strengthened' to an even greater extent than he would normally be able to accomplish.

Coming so close to death and pushing his body so hard has it's downsides, of course. After exiting this state, Yuuma has always collapsed from exhaustion and taken a couple days to get back on his feet.

Sacrificial Heroic Tendencies:
Yuuma will always help those in need, never thinking or caring about any consequences to himself. When others are in danger, he reacts more quickly, thinks more intelligently, and fights viciously.

As long as he believes whatever he is doing will help and save people, Yuuma will never give up, no matter how exhausted or hurt he is, or how impossible a situation seems. As things get more and more dire, he starts basically losing his mind, becoming incandescent and desperately choosing to do anything he can to fix the problem.

Knife Combat:
Never having had the courage to trust himself with longer blades (for fear of chopping himself in half), Yuuma first used knives and stuck with them. He can wield two at a time effectively, and throw them with good accuracy. He prefers using knives instead of his fists, as they kill faster and retain the Mana he strengthens them with for far longer, resulting in less wasted of it being wasted and increasing his endurance.

Hand-to-Hand Combat:
He has no real 'style,' but years of beating on Youkai has given him plenty of training and experience to utilize his self-strengthening to the fullest extent he can.

Biography:
Yuuma's obession with heroism began with his father. His father was a Chaser, and had been one since his late-teens. He instilled his desire to help others into his son, teaching him to be sympathetic to others, to understand that everyone leads lives full of challenges and obstacles, and that everyone who continues to be a good person despite their hardships deserves to be helped.

His early childhood was normal enough. His mother knew about his father's nightly excursions, and supported him, knowing how much he enjoyed saving people. The only thing notable about the first decade of his life was his love for tokusatsu media, especially Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Even at this age, he connected his father's teachings to superheroes, desiring to be like his fictional idols to help people in the most fantastic way possible: by saving them from evil monsters.

One night, when he was 10 years old, Yuuma was walking home from a friends house. He was more than a little nervous, as he had stayed later than he was allowed to; he feared his parents anger and the dark streets ahead of him. In his worry, he took a wrong turn and found himself in the Crimson Sky. A moment passed, as he stood, shaking in his fear and confusion, before a Youkai came out from the shadows, looking like a demonic dog. The two beings stared at each other for a moment -- one in shocked, disbelieving horror, and one in excitement -- before the Youkai attacked.

Scared out of his mind, Yuuma instinctively used his power for the first time. He scrambled and stumbled back as the demon advanced and jumped on him, throwing out his hands in front of him in protection. A weak blast of mana escaped from him, halting the Youkai's jump and pushing it backrather forcefully, and shaking his body and throwing his already off-balanced self onto his behind.

Confused that a child had put up resistance, the Youkai took several seconds to regain it's wits, reassessing it's prey. Eventually, it darted to Yuuma's side and jumped again. The young boy couldn't do anything even if he knew how -- he had no Mana in him.

A larger, human figure fell from the sky and landed feet-first on the dog mid-jump. Who else was it but Yuuma's own father. Staring in awe, he witnessed his father pick up the enemy and toss it into the air, blasting it away with his own Mana, looking incredibly heroic -- like one of Yuuma's fictional idols.

With the Youkai killed and his son safe, the two went home. From then on, Yuuma's life was anything but normal. His father taught him all about the Crimson Sky, and about what he did at night; how he killed demons like the one Yuuma had seen and saved people's lives. The two quickly found out they had identical abilities, and the older man took his son under his wing. They went out at night occasionally, Yuuma learning how to fight and survive. The boy had excellent control over his ability, but he had a major flaw: his body generated very little Mana, meaning he could only go out about once every week.

This lifestyle went on for about six years, until the night Yuuma's father died. The two were together, and came up against an extremely powerful, enraged Youkai that threatened to go on a rampage in the real world. Yuuma was ordered to get any people who were around away, and he did so reluctantly. When he returned to the scene of the battle, he witnessed his father fighting viciously and desperately against the Youkai. Their clash was so titanic that Yuuma didn't dare approach, for fear of being killed by the shockwaves. He also respected his father's wishes -- Yuuma had never seen him so joyful and alive. This was his defining, heroic moment; he'd stop the Youkai, and save his son and possibly thousands of other innocent people.

And that was what he did. He beat the demon into submission, and despite being injured and exhausted beyond what should've been his limit, he stood tall and proud. With one last farewell to his son, he put Mana into his legs and leapt away, to die out of sight, wanting Yuuma's last memory of him to be a positive one.

Yuuma walked to the fading Youkai in a stupor, a multitude of emotions assailing him. He was so out of it that it took him a moment to realize that the shriveled up Youkai was stirring -- and before he could react, it had leaped onto him, pressing itself into his chest. He felt it invading his body, and tried to pull it off in a panic, but it would have none of it -- the thing wanted to live, it didn't matter to it how it accomplished that.

So it merged with Yuuma, wrapping itself around the boy's heart and becoming his engine. It's weak, feral conciousness also attempted to merge with Yuuma's, but it was quickly and easily rejected.

Despite it's efforts, it still essentially died, leaving it's remaining power to help pump Yuuma's Mana generator, strengthening the boy considerably. It also left him feeling... strange, to say the least. Both physically and mentally. After all, he was now technically part-Youkai, one of the things he had spent much of his life killing.

Deciding to take it for what it was, Yuuma used the extra power to continue in his father's stead. He was now able to go out nightly, and quickly grew from a boy to a man. He became independent, did all he could to support his mother (who was, of course, greatly saddened by her husband's death, even though she had been slightly prepared for it, considering his line of work), and help the general populace by killing Strays.

Equipment:
- Two combat knives
That's pretty much it.

Other:
He likes spicy food almost as much as he likes saving people.