[Ardweden] So, we left off on the evening of March 9, with Reiji Ozora being pretty seriously unhinged. He sticks close to Izumi and Fuyuko after that. Izumi clearly notices but doesn't remark on it; she just gives him a mildly worried look. Fuyuko becomes increasingly distant, and her mysterious, if minor, injuries increasingly frequent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Reiji doesn't show up back in school. Rumors do start to circulate after about a week, however, that Reiji's sister, Kyoko, has been found - in Ayako Kunoichi's basement, chained up and drugged. Ayako was a Seiryuu Girls' School student, and extremely wealthy. There's plenty of talk about in Shunyo Academy's halls about how Seiryuu's just as bad as Sakuragaoka as a result. Kyoko, also, doesn't return to school. Tuesday, March 26: Izumi stops hanging out with Fuyuko. She seems angry. Angrier than Wataru's ever seen her. Izumi usually manages a bordering on playful sort of anger, or a righteous anger, but this is neither. She just seems pissed at Fuyuko, the girl she's tried so hard to befriend. Fuyuko, for her part, almost doesn't seem to care. She continues to shrink in on herself, in her own space and her own world, and stays alone. If and when Wataru tries to talk to her, she responds as little as humanly possible - Wataru discovers that that is, in fact, *very* little. Fuyuko's older brother Yushiro, in the meantime, hangs out at the edges of the grounds at the ends of the day. When Izumi spots him, she mutters all of the evil curses she can think of, but she doesn't actually do or say anything to him. Tuesday, April 2 (one week later): Izumi's not at school. Neither is Fuyuko. Nobody knows what's going on... until Izumi calls Wataru's cell phone in the middle of homeroom. She's in tears and says something, half- coherent, about how Yushiro's dead - gutted on the street outside of the Kageri household - and how Fuyuko's been beaten senseless, with burns, inside their house, and it's all somehow her fault. If she just didn't get angry, if she just did something, she could have been there for Fuyuko. [Jihatsu] Wataru's first thought - horrible, crippling, panicking thought - is that this is somehow his fault, that he did this. All those impotent feelings of rage and loathing that had been building up about Fuyuko's brother... Fuyuko's injuries, Yushiro's lurking, Izumi's anger... He'd been spending a lot of time hating Yushiro for it, for messing with these girls who already had been through so much.... And now, the thing he's been fighting against for so many long months, the darkness in him, the hate, has found another victim. And this time, he doesn't even remember doing it... Wataru misses school for a few days, telling his aunt he's sick, and it's not hard to believe. He's white as a sheet, can't sleep, and throws up everything he eats. No one can ever know. No one can ever know he did this. No one can ever know, and he can't ever trust himself again. His powers must have been getting worse, without him noticing. He goes over the last few days, obsessively, trying to understand when it could have happened. Looking for any gaps, between school and cram school, early mornings, lunchtime. Wondering if he sleepwalks. Wondering if he killed him in his sleep, even, if somehow he can do that now, adding more blood to the dreams of blood... If he can't even trust his sleeping self.... Well, he could always just never sleep... [Ardweden] Wataru stays home. His aunt worries about and tries to offer some home remedies - for all that she's modern and doesn't buy into hocus pocus or the like, she still falls back to folklore sometimes. She even takes half a day off for him, though when he's not running a fever and doesn't seem to be getting worse, she asks him if everything's okay at school. He admits that he's sort of traumatized by the deaths and injuries of his schoolmates but refuses to say more than that. Aunt Midori seems to understand, or at least sympathize, and - though she's not generally all that physically demonstrative - gives him a big, comforting hug and tells him that sometimes terrible things happen, but there's nothing you can do. Wataru would probably feel better about this if he weren't convinced it was all his fault. She gently suggests he go back to therapy, saying she looked into some doctors who would be good, and leaves Wataru to think about it. Once alone again in his room, Wataru spends hours and hours retreading the last few days, weeks... and finds nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was in full control of himself, as far as he can tell. Nothing weird even happened after seeing Reiji that night - not really. He can't eat, and he tries not to sleep, but he can only take so much and eventually passes out from sheer exhaustion. And he dreams. In his dream, he's a she. She's in a city - the city? It's not Tokyo - and there's war. She's helping the wounded. The Americans aren't letting up. Every day, more civilians are injured, and she wonders how many sleepless nights she needs to pull before it ends. It's exhausting. She's doing her best - she's practically given up on the idea of ever having a family - but she almost wishes the Americans would just end it. One morning, she wakes to sirens. There's a bombing, and she's in the middle of it. She rushes outside, feeling the ground shake under her feet, hearing the screams from people dying around her, and she can't do anything about it. There's a building ahead, on fire, and she runs forward to try to at least help those inside (somehow? her powers aren't good against fire, but SOMEHOW) only to be stopped by an old woman with long and brittle, snow-white hair. She's leaning heavily on a cane (or, Wataru realizes, a wand). The woman smiles at Wataru knowingly, but there is no amusement in her eyes. "Hasebe Ayano. This is not your fire, nor is it your fight. Your abilities are more useful elsewhere." Wataru shakes her head. "How do you know-?" "That you're something special, with unusual abilities? Magic?" Wataru stares at her, and the woman laughs, though it comes out more as a cackle. "The Council has its ways." She slams her staff - her wand - into the ground, and the fire in the building... freezes. Not like ice, not goes out, but stops its flickering entirely. "Others are more suited to perform certain tasks, and there are those with power beyond your understanding." Her eyes flash. "Now go. Find shelter." And Wataru takes a breath, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. For the first time in days, he feels... calm, and the old woman's words echo in his mind. There are those with power beyond your understanding. [Jihatsu] This is not your fire, nor is it your fight. Wataru takes a slow breath, caught in a tangle of damp sheets. Something about that dream... it was true, it was... It was just like the others, the dreams of fire and of blood, but in this one, for one blessed minute, there were answers instead of questions. Somehow, his heart beats more quietly, and for the first time he lets himself address the doubts that his panicking mind had pushed away. He couldn't have killed Yushiro and hurt Fuyuko like that. There's no blackouts, no pieces missing. Unless he literally did it in his sleep, and really, how likely is that? No, there are others out there who can do things like he can do things. He's sure of that now. There are others, and one of the others did this. It's extremely sobering. It's extremely terrifying. [Ardweden] Wataru returns to school the next day, and the second Izumi sees him, she gives him a tremendous hug. He hugs her back. After this point, Izumi is understandably a *lot* less exuberant. The trio (as much as Fuyuko tried to avoid being part of it) has been whittled down to two. The police have no idea what happened at the Kageri household; too many things don't add up. The mix of injuries is strange, and the rest of the house didn't seem touched, outside of some water damage to the floor. Fuyuko's burns are exceptionally bizarre. Izumi can't handle seeing Fuyuko in the hospital, who comes to the day after Wataru returns, immediately tries to hang herself, and is removed for psychiatric care. Saturday, April 17, around 11:00 pm: Wataru is at home doing what a Wataru do when everything goes dark. I mean EVERYTHING. All of Tokyo. Dark. Lights out. If he calls for Aunt Midori, she doesn't respond. If he goes to see her (as best as he's able, because fucking dark, stumbling in the dark), she's frozen in place, in the middle of doing some late work. No amount of pushing, shoving, pinching, or yelling gets her to move. If he cares to go outside and look, he'll see that there is in fact, well... First of all, the stars are gorgeous. For whatever that's worth. And there's, like, MILLIONS of them once his eyes adjust. He'd never seen anything like it. Second of all, Tokyo Tower's lit up, but not with electric lights. With something else. Like a dome of glowing white light. Third of all, any pedestrians or people he sees at this time of night? Frozen in place, doing whatever they're doing, just like Aunt Midori. [Jihatsu] Under a dome of stars so beautiful it takes his breath away, Wataru wanders the frozen city, alone and unusually calm. He remembers the woman with white hair, from his dream, the one who stopped the flames.... The whole city is like that, and he alone wanders through it like through a dream. But... He can't be alone. Someone did this, someone much more powerful than him. One of the others. He knows he should be scared, that he might end up like Yushiro, but it's just all too beautiful... In his old hoodie, Vancouver Canucks pajama bottoms, and lime-green crocs, Wataru gazes up at Tokyo tower.... [Ardweden] Tokyo Tower is also beautiful, glowing in a soft white light that doesn't hurt his eyes. Time passes... Wataru's not sure how long, as his phone isn't working... but as he's gazing at the tower it flares suddenly - brighter, then with a bluish tinge. He hears screams - three distinct voices - filled with pain and rage and loss. They echo through the streets. And then the lights blink on. All of them. Around him, people start moving as though nothing had happened. And to them, perhaps, nothing did. When Wataru next looks up at Tokyo Tower, it's lit up with electric lights. Just like normal. [Jihatsu] And he suddenly realizes he is in the middle of downtown Tokyo in his PJs, and Aunt Midori is going to have kittens if she realizes he's gone. Okay. Time to book it. Back home, if he manages to sneak back in, he's going to dust off his Tarot deck for the first time since Yushiro died... [Ardweden] Wataru sneaks back in without incident; Midori's still in the office, absorbed in work. Once in his room, he does a reading. First card (Question): The Tower. That makes sense. It's quite literally what he's asking about. Good. Second card (Cause): The Magician. That one's been turning up a lot. Potential, power, and the ability to use it. Wataru flips the next card. Third card (Method): The Moon. Oh man. He remembers this. The Moon with the Magician. That's when he ran into Reiji and that guy at the construction yard. And after. Wataru feels compelled to flip another card. The Lovers, Reversed. He places it next to The Moon. Huh. Fourth card (Intended Result): The Devil. Destructive, hurtful, and dangerous aspects of someone's personality coming to the fore. Fifth card (Final Result): The Ten of Swords. A man face down in a field, the sky black except for the sun peeking out, and ten swords stabbed brutally in his back. Violence beyond the need for violence. Looking his entire reading over again, Wataru sees destruction made real through manipulation, trickery, and power. Through taking advantage of someone's inner nature, as much as they'd try to suppress it. And there's no regard for control, afterwards - just violence. He finds himself drawn to the Magician again. That card, it's been showing up over and over. Often with the Moon, but the Moon is always the method. It's almost like the Magician means more than a point in time, or a choice, or an aspect of someone's personality. Almost like it's someone like him. Or, maybe, someone like Reiji. Almost like it's a person. [Jihatsu] Funny, how such beauty and magic, in a night like this, could have hidden so much horror. He remembers the three screams - and another three screams, on another day, on another continent. He knows how it feels, having no regard for control. He knows what it's like to just want to destroy. To revel in it, to love every moment, every crunch of bone and speck of blood. Until you don't. Until what happened - what you've done - is suddenly clear and present before you, and you know nothing's ever going to go back to how it was before. Wataru looks down at the card of the Magician in his hand. It's been here all along, this card. It's been following him, or maybe he's been following it.... Whatever he would wish for, this power in him isn't just going to go away. This weirdness, that he always thought he was alone in, is everywhere, and it'll always be there. There are others out there, Reiji, the old woman from the war, maybe even Tenjirou... And, he realizes with sudden certainty, that construction site asshole with the silver hair. He looks down at the card. Wataru bites his lip, and, for the first time since the incident a year ago that led to him moving to Japan, he slowly reaches out inside himself towards the secret power he knows is there, the one he's been pushing away, the one that breaks things. Very gently, the card lifts out of his hand, and begins a slow, weightless spin in the air in front of his eyes. _There is stuff going on, and if I don't let myself face it, it's going to consume me._ _If I can learn to know who I am, what I can do, and what the hell is going on around me with the others, then maybe I won't have to run away forever._ _Maybe I can even help keep other people safe._ [Ardweden] Saturday, April 23: It's snowing, and in the morning, the news is on, talking about black figures with blank white masks standing in intersections, all facing towards Tokyo Tower. Nobody's sure what to make of this, but nobody can *move* them. Jihatsu: Whoa Wataru avoids the shit out of those figures Jihatsu: He feels more normal, and maybe more at peace with his own power than he ever has, because he has a bit of context now and he's pretty sure he never hurt Yushiro or Fuyuku, which means he hasn't hurt anyone since that one time, which is reassuring BUT he's also freaking exhausted. physically, emotionally, psychically. he's made this plan to slowly come to terms with his TK abilities and he's also decided to go back into therapy (and skirt around the truth, Arcana wise at least) Jihatsu: but he's not going to plunge into any masked-figure shenanigans at this juncture, that's for sure. Ardweden: Okay so... he stays the hell away from the figures. He talks to his aunt about going back to therapy. She's genuinely happy to hear that. It continues to snow. The next day - a Sunday, still cold and the snow has covered Tokyo in a white blanket - while Wataru's basically not doing anything at all, Izumi calls him up and asks him if he wants to watch some movies she rented with her. She could go over there. She'll bring snacks. Jihatsu: Sounds awesome, he is definitely down for this. Ardweden: So Izumi shows up with a backpack full of movies and a large bag of snacks, they flop on the couch - she's emotionally exhausted, too - and binge watch bad comedy-action shows. Aunt Midori comes home after half a day at work, complaining about the weather; she seems very happy to see Wataru's friend and invites Izumi to stay for dinner. Jihatsu: This all sounds wonderful Wataru really feels like Izumi is probably the best friend he's had since he was a little kid, and he likes to see how Aunt Midori approves of him being kinda normal and having a social life. Ardweden: (This is how Wataru's spending the potential end of the world. XD) Ardweden: Izumi stays, then, and there's more movies, and Aunt Midori goes to bed early because she claims the cold is making her tired. Izumi doesn't want to leave, though. She'll even cuddle with Wataru (aaa, physical contact!) though not in a romantic way - in a "you're warm and I'm tired and things have been awful" way. But she won't just randomly offer anything about how she's feeling. Eyes on screen, comments about what they're watching. Jihatsu: Wataru is made extremely, EXTREMELY uncomfortable by the physical contact. He tenses, and stills, but won't pull away. He likes it, a little - but it's a world of implications he doesn't even want to start to think about. Ardweden: Izumi kind of senses this? She'll mutter some apologies and fall the other direction, curling up with a couch cushion instead while she watches the television. Jihatsu: Wataru feels bad - he tries to apologize too, insisting that it's fine, that he's just bad at like, the whole physical contact thing, that he likes hanging out with her, a lot, and he doesn't want it to be weird. that not touching is fine too in fact, any of it is fine movies snacks yes Ardweden: Yeah. Literally, Izumi's reaction to Wataru's bumbling apology is reaching down, picking up a bag of salty, greasy snacks, and holding it over to Wataru with "Eat this." Ardweden: So, eventually, Izumi drifts off to sleep. Wataru finds he drifted off to sleep, too... and then wakes up to a bright flash of light - lightning? - and the crash of thunder. Jihatsu: Wataru jolts awake and jumps off the couch, hands spread, as if he's expecting to be under attack. Ardweden: An attack doesn't come. Though there's more lightning. It seems something's going on outside. Jihatsu: Wataru glances to see if Izumi's ok/awake? Ardweden: She's sleeping soundly, and she seems okay. At Wataru's jumping up, she just shifted a little, hugging her couch cushion more and kicking a nearly empty bag of snacks to the floor. Jihatsu: In that case, he rushes to the window to see what's going on. Ardweden: He rushes to the window and sees what may actually be the end of the fucking world. The sky is black with a red where the moon would be, there's a freak snowstorm - not the gentle snow that happened yesterday, but full blown and high wind snowfall - and there's lightning. So much lightning. Jihatsu: Holy Fucking Shit Jihatsu: Wataru puts on his hoodie and a pair of sneakers and runs outside. There's no way the end of the world is catching him with his pants down. He's gonna face it head on. Ardweden: It's cold, and the wind is very strong. But Wataru feels rejuvenated like he never has before. After a few minutes outside, he can tell that the lightning is striking certain areas in Tokyo - Tokyo Tower being the most notable, but one is actually shockingly close to his home. Or... really, his school. Jihatsu: Nervous, but sizzling with energy, Wataru heads towards the school. Ardweden: As Wataru gets closer, he becomes increasingly certain: it's the construction site. THAT construction site. On the roof there's a tear - almost like one in reality, between this world and another - crackling with some sort of dark energy, and people and a hulking creature that looks like what must have been a person once fighting there. They're throwing magic around the like he knows he can't mange: fire, water, lightning. One figure teleports behind and around and underneath the monster in a confusing but effective dance. Another one approaches it head on, with surprising strength. Jihatsu: Wataru stares, and wonders how he can help. Wonders if he can help. Ardweden: "Quite the show, isn't it?" asks an older, male voice with a distinctly British accent from next to Wataru. Should he look, he sees that the gentleman is very old, and very not Japanese; instead, he's English, with white hair and a mustache and beard, a bowler hat, and a buttoned up, brown trenchcoat. He's leaning on a cane as he watches. Jihatsu: Wataru's mom grew up in England! His grandparents still live there! This is sort of familiar and weird to him! He blinks. "What's going on?" Jihatsu: (in perfect, if American, English) Ardweden: The old man smiles. "The end of the world," he replies in English, then adds, "Perhaps the end of us all. The Magician thinks so. But I disagree. Rather, I don't think it will take the form he believes." Above, the monster shrieks and begins rise - no, not the whole thing; there's another figure, which is falling out from it. It's caught before it hits the ground, and there's a shout. Before Wataru can blink, the teleporter has grabbed the one figure holding completely back, taking them both into the air so he or she can stab some sort of sword into the creature's heart. Jihatsu: Whoa. "Is there anything I can do?" Wataru says, almost in spite of himself. [Ardweden] "Now? No. But soon, yes." On the roof, the creature howls, and a gale somehow springs into existence inside of it, bursting outwards and blowing those who were fighting down to the ground. As they begin to stand, shakily, Wataru hears laughter. "Ah," the old man says. "The Magician shows himself." And as Wataru, horrifyingly, finds he can't move, yet another figure appears: this one well above everyone else, standing or maybe flying in the air, with his arms outstretched and his long coat flapping in the wind. Wataru isn't sure who or what the others were, and he couldn't see them clearly, he can see this one. It's the silver-haired, green-eyed, smug asshole from what feels like a lifetime ago. "I could have saved us! I could have saved US ALL! I was the only one who could, and you ruined all of my work like the petulant children you are!" He snarls, and he pulls his hand back. "At least I'll have the pleasure of seeing you die first." Wataru can't quite see what he has in his hand, but his skin pricks up and he knows that something huge and terrible is building there, something that could destroy the building and those on the roof and everyone around it, including himself, something that might even reach his aunt and best friend all the way back home, and there's nothing he can do but... Watch as yet someone else, a young man with a long ponytail, appear above him and fall downward, a staff in hand. The Magician doesn't see him, and it slams into the back of his head, followed by the man's feet on his shoulders. "N- NO!" There's an explosion in the air - a kind of fiery dust, spreading outward in liquid swirls - and they fall downward, pulled towards the tear in reality. Wataru takes his first breath in what feels like forever. "Now!" he hears the old man bark, gesturing towards the falling pair. "Save my grandson!" And Wataru knows that that feeling... the one of energy and of purpose, his renewed resolve, fortune and fate and the wheel... that has all narrowed to this very point. [Jihatsu] _This is not your fire, nor is it your fight._ Well fuck that. This time, it is. Wataru holds with all his strength at the young man with the ponytail, not having for one heartbeat any doubt who the old man means. The silver madman, the magician with oblivion in the palm of his hand, he has to go down. Wataru's not one to play the hero. But he feels he could be okay with being the guy off-stage who helps the hero from falling to his doom... But hero guy is slippery, strange, falling through his power like through water, and Wataru panics until he thinks of trying something else - his clothes, his staff, anything attached to him that might help him hold on. He feels more power than he's ever been able to control before course through him, both struggling against and buffeted by the maelstrom of magic in this place tonight, and he braces himself, standing rooted to the ground, reaching his arms forward and directing all his force at whatever it is he can hold onto. [Ardweden] Wataru finds good purchase in the staff, and he manages to steady it just long enough for the young man to pull up and away from the silver-haired guy, springing off of him to land on the roof amidst the others, who have just managed to get to their feet. The Magician, in the meantime, falls. He's sucked into the tear, which is struck by lightning and seals itself as though it had never been there. There's silence for a moment, then an uproarious cheer among those on the roof as they converge on the ponytailed man. All around, Wataru can see the world lightening: the wind dying down, the sky no longer as dark as it was just a moment ago. And next to him, the old man is clapping his hands. He turns to Wataru and smiles. "Thank you, young man. I would have lost Jin if not for you." [Jihatsu] A slow smile spreads on Wataru's features as he watches the moment of triumph, the reunion, the salvation. He watches the group of heroes cheer and celebrate, and feels weirdly great about having been able to be a part of it - and, especially, about the fact that they have no idea. All the joy of saving the world, none of the attention. It's electric... He takes a step back, turning his eyes from the rooftop, and looks down at the old man. He can't stop smiling. "I'm so grateful for whatever pulled me here," he blurts. "I'm glad I could have helped. Everything feels different, I...." He glances up at the heroes again, then back down, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "I've never been able to help anybody before." [Ardweden] The old man laughs. "I doubt that's actually true. Still... it does feel good, fulfilling one's purpose." He holds out his hand for a proper, non- Japanese, non-bowing handshake. "Winston Connery. The Hermit." [Jihatsu] "Daniel Wataru Yamada," he finds himself saying, easily, as he shakes the man's hand. Then, somewhat more tentatively, he adds, "...The Hanged Man." He's never said it before. But he knows it's true as the words cross his lips... [Ardweden] The smile on Winston's face deepens at Wataru's introduction, crinkling the corners of his eyes with warmth. After they finish shaking hands, he tips his hat to him, slightly. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Daniel Wataru Yamada. I am heartened that this time, we were on the same side in a war." He glances away, towards his grandson. "But I really must go. I am quite certain we'll see each other again." [Jihatsu] Wataru does bow a bit, now - intrigued, however, at the mention of 'this time'. There was another time? "Thank you, Mr. Connery. It was a pleasure to meet you as well." [Ardweden] The old man gives a short wave before he starts making his way laboriously towards the building. And Wataru is left on the street, in the snow, wearing nothing but a hoodie for extra warmth. [Jihatsu] And with an Izumi probably about to wake up, yeah. As much as he's tempted to linger, he chooses instead to hurry home, and see if there's anything he can do to convince his best friend he didn't run out in the middle of a snowstorm like a crazy person. [Ardweden] Wataru gets back and barely manages to change into not-so-wet clothes before Izumi wakes up, couch lines on one cheek. She does notice his hair's wet, but he smooths it over with some easy lying about taking a shower. The next day, the news reports that the mysterious figures - promotional images or stunts or pranks or whatever they were - had vanished overnight. The weather warms up, and the snow covering Tokyo is melted within a day. A few days after that, reports start circulating about more missing people. They're nobody Wataru's close to but they are, somewhat predictably, all junior high, high school, and college-aged. Some are even names he recognizes from school. Wataru enrolls in Waseda University, and he continues to talk to Izumi. In October of his first year, she gives him the uncomfortable news that Fuyuko Kageri committed suicide. And that's game.