Mokujima Chris
SDCD Dorms - Chris' Room
11/16/2026
Monday - Late Morning
Chris looks down, puzzled.
Something shifts in her expression. It goes from determined to crestfallen.
Not only were her cards worse; she was outplayed as well.
She has realized what will come next, and has accepted that nothing she can do now will change it. Not with a pair of legs that have just been pushed past their limits. Not when her opponent is utterly unharmed by her all-out attack.
Chris looks up and meets her own eyes.
"You-."
Originally Posted by
Chris(?)
"Reiki Fission."
The explosion roars through the room.
Screens crack from the force. Shrapnel spreads in every direction. Posters shake and tear. The glass on the wall cabinet shatters. A limited edition Raz Stone figurine goes flying.
Dust rises towards the ceiling.
This place, that had once been home, a place of comfort and safety from life's troubles, is now well and truly uninhabitable.
Its inhabitant, then, surely lies among the wreckage.
Only-.
It should've been over by now-!
The explosion roars once more, louder than before.
The smoke and dust swirl. Gather. Spiral upwards like a tornado towards their target.
The ozone smell intensifies.
Something sputters and groans and cracks and-!
"You-!"
A bloody hand pierces the veil.
It's not the roar of the explosion, of Reiki Fission being suppressed by the world.
It is not the armagus, pushed right to its breaking point as it is ravaged by the initial detonation.
It is just a single voice, singing along to the song pounding in her ears and her heart.
A voice that will not be silenced here, not now, not by herself of all people.
She has always known that she is missing something. That there is a great door in front of her, which separates those who can from those who cannot. Everyone around her has always been able to open that door with their own power. She has to get it open another way. Her own mediocrity is no longer acceptable. There is no can and cannot; there is only will and will not.
She will grease the hinges with as much of her own blood as it takes.
She will push as hard as she needs to.
That door will open...
And something will
Awaken.
The hand seizes her double by the shoulder and pulls them face to face once more.
"..."
"You. Why do you fight?"
Her entire body is wracked with pain. Especially the right side. You can't dodge an explosion, after all. Blood has run into one eye - or perhaps it was pierced by shrapnel.
"Do you... have something to die for?"
Chris can't feel her legs. They got the worst of it, and she doesn't want to look down to confirm whether they are intact or just gone. In any case, trying to force another charge out of the fragile jet boots would be a gamble with poor odds at best. So she can't fall now; she won't be able to stand up again if she does. She will have to hold on with her broken, bleeding fingers until it is done.
"Or is it something else?"
The other Chris feels something sharp jab against her stomach. It must be the bolt her double had been holding onto. From the glance earlier, it's too bulky to be another Agi bolt. An explosive of some sort, perhaps? If it detonates here, point blank, with her Data Jacket broken and the other's body ravaged... the result would be ugly. And too close to call.
"I... have someone to live for."
The burning eye staring at her is certainly insane enough to try something like that. Even with her spirit blazing to support her broken limbs. Even though she is here and now proclaiming that she won't die, not even to defeat an enemy. It is clear as day: this is who the Chris before her is. She is the sort of person who doesn't give up on those that the world would give up on. Even if they behave like absolute jerks.
"So tell me!"
Glowing reiki goes wild through her body, diving into everything. Fingers, eyes, wounds, the detestable tattoo on her hand, even the other Chris, all are bathed in spiritual energy carrying her will, her spirit. But the explosive does not detonate. It remains balanced on a knife's edge that has become a scale to weigh one's soul. A chance to finally talk for real. To judge each other. For without judgment there can be no verdict.
"When you walked... out that door... what kind of person... did you decide to be?"
Wake up, already!