Archive of Our Own ^beta

prologue.

“Do not search for pain,” the shadow dressed in the Clinic’s lab coat warns. “Only tragedy awaits you beyond here.”

Akira shifts weight on his right, back leg, spins the dagger in his fingers.

“Hmph, a newcomer,” Akechi comments.

Kasumi takes a step forward. “All these warnings of pain and tragedy! Who is your Ruler? Why do you all think you know so much about me?” She unsheathes her rapier. “If you won’t give me an answer, then I’ll just force my way through.”

The slender figure coated in white transforms into a red-skinned dragon with severe human features on his face. The creature flaps his purple wings and points a silver trident against them with a deep roar.

Kasumi charges and engages it in battle.

“Damn girl,” Akechi hisses and runs in her direction. Akira sprints by his side. Kasumi keeps the enemy focused on her with a reckless rush of attacks. She summons Cendrillon, the Kougaon spell hits the wall behind it. A Vorpal Blade, blocked by the dragon with a hoarse laugh.

Akira squints. “It can null both physical and curse, and he’s resistant to ice.”

Akechi aims his gun against the shadow. “Seems I taught you well.” He fires and draws attention towards them. He shoots a glare at Kasumi, panting beside him. “Stop rushing into things, just calm down!”

“Oh…” she squeezes her right side with her left hand. “I’m sorry—”

“Crow,” Akira twists his head. “If it can null curse spells, he might as well use them itself. Kasumi won’t take it.”

“Can you cover that?”

Akira bites his lip. “Not with Yoshitsune.”

“Use something else then but be quick!”

The shadow summons a second dragon, a perfect replica of itself. Akira’s hand runs to his mask.

“Scathach!”

He casts a Makarakarn on Kasumi. Crow surges forward and summons Loki.

“I’ll debilitate them – Yoshizawa, time your attack with mine.”

“R-right,” she calls for Cendrillon and lands a Makougaon. A shrill cry rises from the shadows and they stumble further back in the hallway. The first one growls and dashes against Kasumi, who dodges the assault and rolls over behind it. She is surrounded.

 Shit.

Akira touches his mask and bites back a Mabufudyne. That won’t do, he needs to at least switch back to Yoshitsune—

The second monster swings its trident and hits all of them. Akechi and Kasumi take the blow and steady their bodies for the counteroffensive. Akira falls on his knees.

Damn it.

His breathings can’t keep up with the pain in his side. Black seeps through the corridor before him, eyelids too heavy to stay open. Someone screams his name, too far away to grasp.

i.

Kasumi kicks open the door of the nearest Safe Room, a changing room with white lockers covering the walls, medical white coats hanging from some black, iron stands and a large table in the middle. Blood pulses in her temples and slows down her thoughts, makes her head spin. She swallows.

“It’s not much, but I hope the table will do.”

Akechi walks past her with Senpai’s body on his back. He lays him down on the smooth surface and push the pointed black mask up on his head.

“I have no idea what’s the state of his healing items stockpile. Mine will have to suffice.” Strands of chestnut brown hair spring free from the helmet and fall on his eyes. His head jolts up and eyes sharpen. “You do know at least one healing spell, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Her knees dig into the soft fabric of the squared, stuffed stool and she leans forward on the table. Her mask vanishes in a flicker of blue flames.

“Diarahan,” she whispers. Dazzling rays of magic wrap around Senpai’s limbs, they close the cuts, absorb the blood, erase the marks. Kasumi removes his white mask and places it aside; she brushes away part of his unruly fringe from his forehead.

“Yoshizawa.”

Akechi’s brows are knotted tight, his arms crossed on his chest.

She stands on her feet. “Yes, I know,” she bows, fists clenched. “Sorry for putting you all in danger. It won’t happen again. I don’t want to slow you down – I’ll do my best to keep up with you and do my part.”

“We’re already lacking manpower. Do not put us in dangerous situations, and do not put yourself in a condition where you need to be rescued.” He tilts his chin towards Senpai Kurusu. “I have no qualms in abandoning dead weight if need be, but the same cannot be said for him. Am I clear?”

“Crystalline,” she nods. “I’m also deeply sorry for calling you ‘ruthless’, before. It wasn’t very polite of me.”

Akechi smirks. “I suppose it wasn’t uncalled for.” His eyes travel up and down her body, they lose the sharp cut and fix on hers. “How are you feeling now?”

“I—” she takes a sharp breath. Pain stings in the back of her head. “I’m fine, mostly. I can keep going.”

“Remember,” he spells, “that the more we progress in this Palace, the more things could get unpleasant. Especially for you.”

She steps forward, shoulders tense and chin held up. “But I need to understand what’s wrong with this place. Why do they know those things about me?” She clenches and unclenches her hands. “I feel like I’m close to remembering something important – I can’t back off now.”

“Very well then,” Akechi nods and turns to the door. A pause. “I’ll leave it to you to wake up the sleeping beauty,” he mocks. “Make sure to apologize, and you two better not make me wait.”

Her stomach twists and her cheeks burn, the retort gets stuck in her throat. The door closes behind him with a light squeak. This Akechi is quite difficult to deal with.

She kneels on the stool near the table and scratches Senpai Kurusu’s mop of dark hair, gets a light frown and a grimace of his mouth in response. She shakes her head and giggles, leans her head down on his face.

“Senpai Kurusu,” she hums against his lips. “We’re safe and we need to proceed forward. Please wake up.”

Stormy grey eyes crack open, they blink and focus and soften in seeing her.

“Kasumi, you’re safe.”

“I’m really, really sorry for worrying you, Senpai. And Akechi, too. I’m fine now.”

His eyes widen, his mouth opens. He jolts back up and sits on the table.

“Where is he?”

“Outside of the Safe Room,” Kasumi tilts her head. “He’s waiting for us.”

His body relaxes. He shakes his head and snorts. “I can already hear the complaints about ‘how recklessly I switch masks in battle.’ Has he been injured?”

“No,” she replies, her ponytail follows the light movement of her head and bounces and brushes against her shoulder blades. “We withstood the attack and then Akechi countered with a Megidolaon spell. We took only minor damages.”

“Good.”

Kasumi bites her lower lip. His gaze gleams and follows the slight movement of her teeth.

“About that, Senpai. I’m sorry,” she bows, strands of her fringe fall in her eyes and the black, smooth strips of the ribbon securing her hair up tickle against her cheek.

“No need to. It’s what teammates are for.” He retrieves his mask and places it back on his nose. “But, be less reckless from now on, okay?”

“I’ve learned my lesson,” with a cough, she forces her voice steady. “I’ll show you what Kasumi Yoshizawa is really made of.” She folds her left arm back against her lower back, fist closed and shoulders straight. She bows a little and offers him her right hand, gloved in bright red leather. “Should we get going?”

He grins and accepts the offer, hops down the table and drags her closer. His lips close on hers and press with gentle force and an unrestrained smile. Kasumi gasps and mutters; she nips at his bottom lip and pulls back.

Senpai Kurusu whines. “I was just thanking you for the healing.”

“I’m telling Akechi,” she pouts.

He blinks. A smirk unfolds on his lips. “Oh, he’d get so annoyed.”

Kasumi exhales and opens the door. With his back leaned against the opposite wall of the hallway and his arms crossed against his chest, Akechi waits for them. He rolls eyes and grunts.

ii.

“We need to save Sumire,” Kurusu says, head twisted to face Maruki’s Palace. Figures. Goro’s grip tightens around his chin, and soft leather creaks.

“Don’t you think it’d basically be suicide to try and save her in our current state?”

Kurusu’s expression hardens, his mouth pressed tight, gaze lost in the distance. His hands, as usual, hidden in the pocket of his coat. Goro takes a step forward, his arm falls by his side.

“We need intel first. If we’re going to stand up to him, we have to know more than nothing.” Fists clench. “I’ll do some investigation on my own. I hate it, but for now, we have to do what he says.”

Speak. Say something.

Silence.

“Kurusu.”

Kurusu deigns him of his attention. Goro inhales – enough fight for the day. “Snap out of it. Do us a favor and don’t go play the hero on your own. The situation doesn’t allow us to act without a plan.”

A nod. Goro grits his teeth.

“Actually, do something useful and try to infuse some sense in your friends. Even if just one of them wakes up from this disgusting daydream, it will be another weapon to our arsenal.”

Kurusu’s shoulders give away a start, as if he’s the one who landed back in reality. Hands slip out of the pockets, and his back straightens a little. He frowns.

“I’ll talk to them before the 9^th. I’m sure they’ll come to their senses.” He averts his gaze. “But… I need some time before returning to Leblanc.” Plain grey irises shoot back up. “If you don’t mind.”

Oh, so that’s how it is.

Goro’s blood burns. Loki screams in the back of his mind – and the flame only consumes him more. How pathetic.

“Looking for the consolation, huh?” he spits.

Kurusu’s face cracks, eyes open wider and lips slightly parted that twist in a thin grimace. “It’s not like that, and you know it. And – stop pretending you don’t care about Sumire. She’s more than just a member of the team.”

“Right now, she’s being a nuisance.”

Grey ignites around dark pupils that pierce through layers of clothing and get straight under his skin – that look that follows a target while lurking in shadows, waiting for the perfect time to ambush. A single-minded focus that is the silent lightning before the ear-tearing thunder.

Goro shivers. This is sick.

“Fine.” A bitter smile. “You can come with me. But remember our deal: you have to do your part.”

How further down can he fall?

Kurusu smirks and walks by his side; their shoulders bump together in treading towards the subway.

Goro unlocks the door of his apartment, the half-darkness of the doorway corridor welcomes him home. He steps out of his shoes and hangs the woolen, orange coat against the wall. Behind him, Kurusu stands on the threshold, gaze lost.

His eyebrow shoots up and Kurusu blinks back in the living world.

“Excuse me,” he whispers and removes his boots as well. His phone buzzes in quick rings, and he fumbles in his pocket to pick it. The screen light illuminates his face and reflects on his glasses, hiding his eyes. His mouth twists in the slightest.

“Kurusu.”

His head tilts back up, face shadowed by messy hair and eyes trapped inside thick frames. Tch. Goro switches on the light and stops before him. His hands, still gloved in dark brown leather, run to the sticks of his glasses and slip them off.

Look at me.

“Stay focused,” he breathes.

“Okay.”

Kurusu retrieves the glasses from his hands, folds them and slips them into the pocket of his coat. An insufferable, knowing smile unfolds on his lips, and they part to speak. Goro closes them shut with his own, the same quick and deliberate way he exploits an enemy’s weakness. Kurusu presses forward, his body against him and his tongue against his. Goro’s back thuds against the wall, and a pair of hands squeezes his waist, always so eager.

He breaks from the kiss and grabs Kurusu by the collar of his coat, fits their bodies tight together. Wild eyes gaze at him at the sound of subtle pants, they speak of a hunger unmet even by Kurusu’s proverbial thrill for danger and gambling.

Goro smirks.

I am the only one you’ll look at for now.

iii.

The contact ‘Sumire Yoshizawa’ stares back at him from the phone screen. With trembling thumb, Akira makes the call. He breathes in.

“Sumire?”

“Senpai Kurusu, good evening—"

“Maruki talked to me.”

“Did he? What has he told you? And – why are you calling me instead of informing everyone?”

Breath in. And out.

“He… let’s say, there’s a reason why Goro is here with us.”

“I’m not sure I follow… a reason?”

“Do you remember what happened with Haru’s dad back in October?”

“Yes, he – oh my god. Do you mean this is why Akechi isn’t…?”

“Yes.”

“I’m coming.”

Akira blinks.

“What?”

“I’m coming. He’s not there with you anymore, isn’t he?”

“No, he left not so long ago.”

“Then I’m going to call him. And after that I’m heading to Leblanc.”

Akira frowns.

“And with your parents?”

“I’ll tell them I need to study with a friend to make up for the time I spent at the ‘training camp’. Please, Senpai, this is more important.”

“I don’t think he will ever change his mind, Sumire.”

A pause.

“… I don’t plan on trying to convince him.”

“Then what—”

“Senpai. That was your wish, wasn’t it?”

Akira takes a deep breath. His throat aches.

“Apparently.”

“Then let’s push through this night. Together.”

He smiles.

“Thank you. I’ll be waiting for you both.”