Intermission
Katsuro and Makoto
"The Promise"
The body is already shorting out.
The damage of a fight against "God," is not something so easily wiped away with willpower, and yet the boy that rises, that rushes, to reach the figure of his fading teacher is one that forces itself to move anyway. Vision blurs, the shape of a disappearing man is hard to make out beyond crimson hazes and metallic shadows, and yet something is certainly standing there on the edge of the horizon, surrounded by destruction on his final battlefield.
The sun is setting.
As if the world has timed the fall into shadows with the life that ebbs out from what is already a corpse, Nakahara Katsuro exists in a world of static and long forgotten memories; it was not a terrible farewell, the pain had faded out the instant his body had recognized it's absolute defeat at the other end of that strike, and thus, it would have been easy to just silently fall into the Sea and rest; there is nothing anyone can do, and so much of his soul is already gone that only fragments could possibly but stolen away but...
---Those sorts of cries are troubling, in a way that gives even a fading body pause.
His existence has been long, and what many could even call troublesome; to the youth it is but the span of their lives that has led them up to this moment, to the teacher, this is the end of a road that he has been on for thousands of years.
An endless circle.
Searching for a "happy ending" that this world will not allow to exist, but-
"I am many things Mr. Fujioka, but a liar is not one of them."
-Somehow, the man that exists as little more than his torso, grinded away by the wind, manages to speak with the same voice as always; he is not scared or depressed, or if he is he is not showing it in his final moments, indeed...
That voice is as warm as always...
"It will be Christmas Break soon, and I do not do things for free."
...And it even speaks of inconsequential things, as if this was no different than any other day at school; his voice is distant and hard to read, but all the same, even though your own emotions are draining whatever's left of your stamina for this desperate bid that can only end in despair, you cling to him all the same, trying to hold onto what's there, and indeed, for a moment...
It seems to stop disappearing.
"I will give you a bonus assignment. I want a report on what you do over the holidays. I will not accept rampages or mood swings, and I want it to be in English, if you do that for me..."
A pause...
"...I will be sure to be there to grade it. Be good, or I will know. The happy ending won't come if you don't believe."
...It's a promise he can't keep.
"However, I have been fighting for a long time, so for now... I want to take a nap."
There's absolutely no way he can keep it, just looking at him is enough for that to be clear to everyone there, but looking at the him that has stopped his own disintegration purely through an absurd willpower even if only for a few moments, that man keeps talking...
Until Fujioka Makoto's body gives way to exhaustion once more, it is inevitable, after exposing himself to so many different foreign powers, pushing his own ESP to it's limit, and taking as much as a beating from that God and the mud as he had, it was a miracle that he had even managed to reach his teacher at all, but, letting the unconscious form down as best as he can with what remains of his own self, willpower doing what the lack of limbs could not...
"No one is allowed to teach my class except for me, and it is not like me to lose to anyone... Therefore... This is not a... Goodbye..."
Reassuring not just the young man, but all the rest of his students as well, the teacher that had fought for their happiness right up until the end, continues to smile, denying that this is the end of his road-
"I will... See you all... After break... So no slacking..."
-Right up until the time the sun sets...
And his body vanishes completely.
(BGM off)
A promise that can't be kept from a man who denied being a liar.
A hope that can only exist if people believe in it.
...Much like the future.
---
One hour later.
...There was a meeting ground of sorts in the center of town, and the students had wound up taking the wounded there of their own accord; for the students of Aoyama Gakuen the trip back had been quiet but full of something that closely resembled some mix of indignation, rage, and sadness at the loss of a teacher that should have been invincible.
Aion had revealed herself to be Yoko-sensei shortly after awakening, and when faced with the reality of her Summoner's defeat, had gone silent in a way that didn't help the overwhelming atmosphere of despair. Even so, she rose with her usual strength in spite of her silence, carrying Makoto on her back, and leading the others back through a city that was no longer under assault by darkness, that was swarming with humans, with ambulances and police cars, before eventually arriving at the heart of the ward...
There was an airship flying just above the remains of what had once been the memorial park.
People, ESPers, exorcists and normal humans alike, both familiar and unfamiliar, are wandering around with an unfocused air; speaking with any of them simply results in knowledge that you already know...
That the Devourer had survived it's final battle with your teacher, and had set a challenge, itself against the world, that would take place come sunrise...
...So the nightmare wasn't over.
It was continuing on... And somehow...
It just felt unfair.
Like that God had spit on that man's efforts.
The airship seemed to have been full of soldiers who are now patrolling the area and helping with rescue efforts; wearing something akin to riot gear, with strange devices strapped to their arms, there's a definite military presence here -German judging by how they spoke to each other- that had taken up residence in the city for the purposes of getting it back under control, and...
Here now... Where many of your fellows have gathered...
The end of the world draws ever near...
...Merely fuel for the fire that was the sense of gloom; your bodies had been practically torn to shreds, even when those who had been beaten to the point of unconsciousness had awakened, their reserves had been at zero and their bodies had been little better than that of normal humans as a result, a sign of extreme stress and...
Well...
There was time to think at least.
Originally Posted by
The Final Rest
Claire:! Makoto
Yoko/Aion:! Makoto, Saki
Yamuna:! Makoto, Saki
Kyoko:! Makoto
Kayo:! Saki
Belial:! Saki
Kimiko:! Saki, Makoto
Phenex & Kazuno:! Saki
Sho and Rabbit-Chan:! Saki
Redgrave:! Saki
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