Amagase Kyrie barely recognized his name when she met him for the first time. He was just a slacker as far as she had known, and now here he was, standing before her, raring to go. It was a ranking match back when the embers of her passion were fading, and he simply wanted to climb up, for a girl. Admiring the determined glint in his eyes, she did the only rational choice of action.
She surrendered before the match had even started. On the record, she gave out some meaningless statement about being outclassed, but nobody bought that, including him. Instead, she gave him a thumbs up and asked why he didn’t have better taste in women.
The next time she saw him was at the world tournament where he was the “biggest embarrassment Japan ever had,” to quote the newspapers. A bit rumor digging revealed that his heart was broken beyond repair, and she saw student and teacher alike throw him to the wayside, as if he was a failed experiment. That tugged at her heart, and so she gave him a spot in the Student Council, wondering how she could fix those broken eyes.
He worked hard. Superficially, everything was fine. She thought she did the right thing for once. But when Nao left and caused everything to be such a mess, he quit as well alongside the others. Was it her fault, just like how she had screwed everything up with Nao? The thought nagged at her, ate away at her, but she had no evidence and she retreated back into work.
But when she woke up in the morning and saw the same broken look in her eyes, Amagase Kyrie realized that she finally understood Nakiri Jun’s plight… and that this epiphany had happened far, far too late to have mattered.
Maria Ikazuchi-Reylander detested him with a passion like no other. He was some upstart treading upon her title as the strongest electricity user in Japan. In a sense, there was nothing really wrong about him as a person to her, it was simply that luck had given him his current ESP and the endless ambition that mirrored her own. Two traits that sealed the deal for her unyielding ire.
That challenge was etched into her mind. He was #14 at the time. She was #8, but #2 was in her grasp at any moment. The regrettable title of “second strongest” was hers, even if it was not on paper. People told her to be gentle and have mercy, but there would be none of that. She’d always fought to her fullest, and she’d prove to this moron that the gap between them was insurmountable. It was all for the sake of her own pride as an electricity user that drove her to this frenzied state.
Blue clashed against gold. And like a god, she smote him down from the heavens, knocking him back to earth where he belonged. It was just as simple as that. So, why was her heart racing at the end of it? Nervousness? The idea that she could possibly be upset overwhelming any ounce of reason? Or maybe…
Maybe she found it entertaining. Just a bit.
The next time she saw him, he was enjoying himself in one of the many gangs of the Alliance, his rank low (relatively speaking, of course) and his ambition good as dead. He was so full of spark before, and watching waste his time like this just…
It made her a tad depressed, to know that she broke Matsuoka Mark’s spirit.
Tadakoro Chihaya never liked dealing with loud things. So why in the world did they put someone like that right there in the desk next to her? It was a cruel twist of fate, like when the female lead went to confess her feelings, only to be drowned out the fireworks. Complete and total bullshit, that’s what it was. She’d somehow, undeservingly, she might add, earned the universe’s ire.
The person who occupied the seat next to her was just loud enough get past the noise filter she used for peace and quiet. An irregularity in her calm and composed world, where she could get some much needed focus by ignoring the drivel from everyone else and focus inward. There was just no way she could just tell her to shut up, though, that was rude, and completely at odds with her ditzy, cute girl image. The easiest thing, Chihaya reasoned, was to develop the willpower to ignore the other girl and let things be. Maybe request a seat change if it was possible.
Sadly, the other girl could not be ignored, and that’s how Chihaya found out she worked for the Public Morals Committee and was president of the weirdest fanclub she had ever heard of. But she wasn’t to judge, she wasn’t to judge, she reminded herself. The Student Council loved everyone, even if the protests from Critias next to her apartment said otherwise. Even so, she just kept getting caught up in so many hairbrained schemes to help this girl earn the love of the man she admired. Saying no to someone so remarkably earnest felt impossible, even if she complained every step on the way and had to watch more bad harem anime for “ideas.”
It was annoying, it was exhausting, but at the end of the day, Tadokoro Chihaya didn’t mind being friends with the energetic Larissa Alessandra, who sat in the seat right next to the window on the second row.
Amami Nao loved dogs. They were so cuddly and eager to please. It reminded her of her ex, actually, but she liked her ex, too—that split up was for the better until she worked it all out. So when he showed up on her doorstep, an attack dog chafing under the strict regime of his owners, she just knew she had to take care of him. Take him in for his own good.
Much to her chagrin, the dog took a liking to Kaguya, not her, even when the great Yakuza princess kept her distance, hiding away in her room of smog and incense. Kaguya wasn’t the kind to appreciate her pets, viewing it as merely responsibility to care and provide. Minase had mistaken charity for genuine love, not realizing who was truly giving him all these boons. The Wilting Tyrant had love in her heart for only one traitor, and that traitor in turn spread the love to her own kind.
With a weary sigh, she watched the dog, aimless and without purpose, scratch at the closed doors of the head of the Dragon’s Alliance, lady of the Fangs of Wadatsumi. The acceptance he yearned for would not come to him like that. All he had to do was simply acknowledge the right master, and then happiness would be quite simple. Lady Kaguya didn’t love the ambitionless, or her feud with the Student Council would be for naught. To strive for her love while being empty at the same time…
That, Nao mused, was the definition of folly.
In the end, the dog struggled to find acceptance and drive, being distantly told what to do yet questioning the orders that gave his life meaning. A troublesome hound that wanted more than what could be offered. Being given purpose, yet rejecting it. No wonder the Morals Committee discarded someone with such weak conviction and handed him over with ease. Honestly, if this dog wanted to be a lone wolf so much, couldn’t he just do it already?
Then again, she supposed, Minase Mizuru wouldn’t be a dog if he could be his own master.
Ryuusei Kaguya respected him, even if she personally hated everything he stood for. He was a revolutionary, aiming to destroy it all for the sake of his vision. She was the opposite—she loved the old ways too much, a Japan that stood with pride and under one man whose will was the world. Even if they treated the people similarly, with praise and an appeal against authority, that they deserved better, she wasn’t sure if she was willing to make the last, dangerous step he did.
The words he wished to say would be her death sentence if she ever said them at home. If he was someone who clawed his way to power and wished to save the less fortunate, she was the one raised to be the one in charge, giving mercy to those she thought needed it. And in the current situation, the masses needed ambition, whereas the Saints were sadly lacking. She was not charitable by nature, but it was merely her way of drumming up support, bread and circuses as her obligation to those that looked up to her.
Nevertheless, he was a part of the Alliance now. It was her duty to protect those that were her allies, even if only in name. She’d tear him down when the opportunity arose, and no more. If there was a viper in her palace then she would skin him for all to see, regardless of how brilliant he was. And until he made his move against her, she would begrudgingly support him.
There was safety in numbers, and no matter how much she hated his ideals, Misuzawa Malik was still one of the shining lights of this school, sparkling with brilliance, strong and ambitious. A shield against the tyranny of Akashi and those who stood for it.
...They could clash later.
Mishiro Takeru thought she was cute. That was the first, vapid impression he had of her when Kyrie had slipped the profile in front of him. Kyrie still adhered to the tradition of picking Saints for advisory members, and considering how many people had left or simply graduated, they were scraping the first-year barrel for any candidates. Kusuda was snatched up in an instant and Excellion followed suit. Now they were on this girl, and Kyrie was adamant about getting someone with a “more balanced” personality.
That was the problem, really. Kyrie had never bothered to ask for someone with a “balanced mindset” before, and he couldn’t fathom how she ever had the experience to figure out what something like that was. Their first year as part of the Student Council was just as messy and full of erratic personalities as their second, after all. Even so, it was up to him, the flawed Student Council Treasurer, to do some information gathering on their newest prospect.
With enough snooping around (cautious abuse of teleportation, begging Akari for a rough schedule of the woman he was evaluating, and liberal exploitation of the male population), he got his answer. She was the model of the perfect student as far as anyone knew, and thus passed a preliminary test. Next was the interview, and that’s when he knew he had to do it, because he had seen the same doe-eyed, bashful look in many other girls’ eyes when they were around Kyrie. Couldn’t the perfect Student Council President spare a woman for her childhood friend?
In the end, he talked to a girl shackled by the trappings of family. He knew it well, being a member of the Sixteen Jewels himself.
“You can be yourself, here, you know.”
He said that as a throwaway, but the Student Council never judged. Kamui and Excellion were proof as that, and honestly, Konoe Hana was prettier in person. Definitely a keeper.
Mitarai Natsume enjoyed watching things happen. The world was like beautiful machinery, falling into place and running with so many inputs and outputs it was just astounding. But in the case of the new girl on the force, she simply refused to be anywhere near her. Mindreading was a fickle topic for most Gemstones, and like most of them, Natsume did not enjoy having her mind be pried. The last time someone had done that, she had subjected them to the Battle of Stalingrad, leaving him a gibbering mess.
So when that colorless girl did business, she left the room. Kuroiwa said nothing. Masahide declined to say whether it was rude or not. Mishiro gave her a sad, worried smile. But she wanted absolutely nothing to do with that girl, for both of their sakes. Who knows what would happen if her mind was read while they were on official business. A scarred girl? Her needing to cleaning up the aftermath yet again?
Those were unpleasant memories, and Natsume was not willing to repeat the same mistakes again. It was for the best if she limited her time around Kogami Ruri.
At least, the comfort of knowing someone wasn’t in range to read her mind made it easier to focus on paperwork.
Shirogane Kamui watched a new student trample the 35th ranked Saint in the middle of the entrance ceremony. He saw Takeru rib Kyrie when it looked like she was about to break facade and laugh. Kamui watched her eyes light up in concern when one of the curtains caught fire and the sprinkler systems in the auditorium activated.
They all still gave their speeches in the drizzle, if only because Kyrie was such a stickler to the rules that none of them were going to leave that podium until they were finished. It was a real mess, he realized, as his phone flickered to the Brilliance Ranking and saw that just like that, the 35th Saint was replaced. Struggling to hide his grin, he waited for the whole ceremony to be over. It took balls to get your rank that way, even if it was by accident.
In the end, with permission from everyone else, he invited Excellion Entramallis, the idiot who cheesed his way into 35th, to the Student Council. After all, if there was anything he learned from his first year, the Student Council was damn good at repurposing fuck-ups like the both of them.
That, and it was easier to get into a fight with the guy when they shared a meeting every week.
Kuroiwa Souichirou was popular with women. This was not a fact he was cognizant of, and considering his second in command was equally as oblivious, he never even considered that sort of reasoning, regardless of situation. None of the people he talked to were willing to lead him down that train of thought.
Which was why he struggled to deal with the newest recruit in the Public Morals Committee. Every time she approached her, her face was a bit flushed, she seemed rather hesitant, and often seemed to be… overwhelmed by his presence. Was he that intimidating? He had tried his best to seem stern, but approachable, like any self-respecting boss would. When he talked to her, it was like the confidence he had seen in her just vanished, scattered to the four winds.
He went to go ask Mitarai, who sighed and told him it wasn’t something he needed to be worried about. He went to go ask Mishiro, who slammed her head so hard into the wall of her cubicle she left a hole in it. He went to go ask Masahide, who advised him to act more gentlemanly and polite. The latter advice just made things worse, when the new girl had to excuse herself from the room when he did so.
If the rest of the Public Morals Committee didn’t know better, they would think Souichirou was toying with the maidenly heart of Hanaoka Hana.
August 3rd. The day I met her.
Normal people didn’t go digging around where they didn’t belong, but I was going to be in Akashi’s Engineering Club next year. I had to stick out if I was going to make it, so here I was, wondering the outskirts of Akashi in the dark, digging around for scrap. Even the school’s worst trash was way more usable than what you could buy on the market.
Most don’t go past the areas they tell you not to go through. Past the electric barbed wire, past the motion sensors, past all of that big mess. Most don’t end up stumbling upon a giant black coffin, lying in the ruins of a dismantled research lab.
I propped it open. Curiosity got the best of me, and it was held together by a measly lock and chain. Simple enough to crack open.
That’s how I found her. Emaciated, but alive. Barely clinging on to life. The Deathless Saint. Someone who had been trapped in that thing for a very, very long time.
Or, as I would come to name her, Katsuji Hisa, my best friend.
Soon on Crystallum!
“Hasn’t your sister recently gotten out of the hospital?”
“We’re going to be busy discussing the security details for the placement tournament, but I have a case for you all.”
“Spare a Dog for me, Jun?”
“She hasn’t been seen since about a week ago.”
-Arc 1: The Brilliance before Judgment-
Originally Posted by Kotonoha
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