2022-06-06: Engagement
- Log: Engagement
- Cast: Yuta Hibiki, Anti
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: 2022-06-06
- Summary: Anti comes to kill Yuta. Yuta has something to say about it.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta shifts uncomfortably on the balls of his feet, a bi-way bridge stretching over his head - he wasn't quite under it, and if he wanted to, he could probably crane his neck to people gaze. .. well .. I am just stalling ..
Talking to Nidaime had been very enlightening. It was much easier to say what he wanted to do than to actually do it, though. Akane's house felt like it was encased in an impenetrable, though in no way literal, smog. Fortifying his mind and heart to confront her was tough.
... and our lunches at school have gotten pretty stiff, too. That's on me. ... - no matter what, I can't just twiddle my thumbs any longer. Whether or not I feel like I'm ready, I have to do it.
On some level, thinking about it, he already understood his own trepidition. For better or for worse, the moment he forced the issue with Akane, it was going to change. The idyllic summer days that seemed like they could stretch on forever would end definitively, as all things were meant to.
Time stopped for no one, Yuta understood, and the time he had left was running dry. That's a morbid way to think of it.
He'd already told Max, Borr, Calibur and Vitt what he intended to do, after relaying what Nidaime had conveyed to him. He'd thought there'd be more pushback for it, but, in the end -
"Well, that's about what we'd expect from you. Yep." "I think you should just knock some sense into her. But even I know that's probably not really your style." " .. y-yes .. its alright. although its best to be p-prepared for the worst .. we should always put our best foot forwards."
They've been very supportive, even if overprotective .. I'm pretty sure most of them have been shadowing me in the crowd. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid? Either way .. all of us tiptoed around the argument that's been brewing. I'd rather focus on figuring things out with Akane for now, but after that, I'll also need to put my foot down about all the secrets they've been keeping.
"Oh, I actually did space out," Yuta murmurs, blinking away the sunlight shining in his eyes that brought him out of his deep thinking in the middle of the underpass.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Shadows in the crowd.
That's one word for it. When the sun is this low in the sky, shadows are cast up above, after all.
The overpass cuts another path, over idyllic traffic. (No traffic jams, today.) The boy who hangs his head over it, fingers grasping the railing, has a vengeful look to his eyes and his teeth.
"Found you, Yuta Hibiki!"
Those fingers tighten. His hands press down, arms straightening, weight leveraging the way the balls of his feet spring from the bridge. Up and aloft the rest of him springs, until his feet rest against the railing, beside his hands -- and froglike, he rests there for an eyeblink, before he springs UP.
He doesn't jump like a boy should jump. He doesn't jump like an Olympian should jump.
"No... GRIDMAAAAAAAN!"
Down to Earth, he hurtles, a rocket, foot-first -- and when he impacts the street before Yuta, there is an explosive cloud of concrete, wood, and dust. It's a crater which creates a veil of obsfucation all around.
That level of force --
A landing like that should have killed anyone, but --
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Found you, Yuta Hibiki!
"Wh..?" Yuta's blue eyes wobble in confusion, zeroing in on the blurred figure that hauls itself up and over the railing, with the kind of springy legwork that propels him with the force and dramatic flair that exceeds that of a trained athlete. It was impressive in its own way, just from that.
No... GRIDMAAAAAAAN!
Kicked up dust clouds Yuta's vision, "W h a t?!"
Yuta's first instinct is to reach out towards the one who'd just jumped from such a ridiciulous height, saying something he had no right saying - it was the kind of fall that people couldn't usually get away with, after all. But before he could let out more than an 'eep' while stumbling forwards, strong and nimble fingers bunch themselves around his collar and yank him back several paces.
Samuai Calibur puts himself between Yuta and Anti, his swords clacking at his waist. "t-..this is Yuta..a human."
"..Calibur?"
I've never seen his back this straight before, I don't think.
"Is that person going to be okay?" - clearly, if Calibur was doing this, he thought so. Even if it went against Yuta's common sense for that to be the case.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
THIS -- is Yuta Hibiki.
THIS -- is Gridman.
There is no room for doubt or for regret. Trapped in the ballerina's music box, they are opened, they dance; yes, Anti knows it is not entirely Akane's will, which drives him to this place. Yes, Anti knows that the story is more complex still than Vessels of Light and their ruptures.
He knows. He knows! But he is Anti; named Anti, from the moment he was born. And 'Anti' stands against, a prefix of opposition. 'Anti' is defined by --
Gridman.
As a kaiju, he can more properly considered to be an 'Anti-Gridman' specialist.
"DIE!" Anti howls, lashing out with a fist -- only to catch empty air. It is the only thing that he could say, to Gridman.
But there's someone, between them.
And here's another fact about Anti, all written in the pause as his lunge hits empty air, the way he sags like a puppet with cut strings, fist uncurling. He straightens, slowly. Slowly, his fingers twitch.
From nowhere -- from his sleeve -- from himself, he draws a circular saw, the kind used to shape wood into shapes, to carve, to create, to perfect.
With impeccable violence he HURLS himself forward, and if he happens to hit Calibur instead of Gridman, the dismay of that is scarcely carried in the wild rage of his eyes. That sunset gaze is pinprick-small, focused to a razor point. "Move!" He demands, he commands, grinding forward, carving forward. He glares at Calibur, through Calibur, and he is all anger, all retribution. "I'm not here to kill YOU! I'm here to kill Gridman!"
The voice which comes from him is the same voice from that rival lizard -- angry, heated, screaming. It's smaller, pinned down, but the violence pouring from this boy...
No, he's undoubtably a kaiju.
"That's Gridman! He's Gridman!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta is frozen stiff behind Calibur as Anti shoots forward, ready to rip and shred as much as he had to in order to get to him. " - that voice.." Yuta murmurs.
In the meantime, the edge of one of Calibur's tachi is bitten into by Anti's own weapon of choice, sending up sparks as they push against eachother. His stormy blue eyes narrow, quietly meeting the frantic amber of his opposition in full force.
Borr drives a surprisingly sturdy elbow into Anti's side with the intent of sending him skidding back across the sidewalk. "Magnum Elbow!"
Vitt bites down a cheshire remark along the lines of, 'Did you have to name it?' for the sake of brevity, sticking to his spot on the bench with an observer's clinical gaze.
"That voice ..." Yuta repeats.
I couldn't forget that howl if I tried. That's the same voice that's been coming from that kaiju..that boy is - !
"Are you stupid? Can't you understand that this is a human?" Borr asks, straightening himself up with a flick of his twintails.
Calibur adjusts his grip on his sword, holding it perpendicular to the ground. "r-right .. no matter how much you want that distinction to exist, it won't change the truth. will you kill a human..?"
Yuta feels his autonomy draining from his body, as if he were just part of the set dressing, a bystander with no say in anything. Of course, that wasn't true, but his body wasn't listening to him. It feels like I'm stuck inside my own head, living out a second for an eternity. But, things are still happening in front of my eyes. This is - too much. I don't get it ... that boy, he's a kaiju with a human form .. like Nidaime.
Yuta clenches his fists, an uncertain look on his face.
His footsteps carry him forwards. "Huh? Hey, dumb idiot, get back!" Borr's hackles raise as he makes to stop Yuta from gettin within Anti's immediate striking range. "It's alright." Yuta assures. "I'm..Yuta Hibiki. A human, from earth..it's..nice to meet you."
His heart hammers in his chest. "I'm not sure why you're trying to kill me, but."
He opens a hand and holds it out.
"Can we talk it over? Maybe we could be friends? I don't want to fight you. .. No, more than that, I refuse."
"I won't fight you at all. It'd be too sad, wouldn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti, singularly focused on putting his buzzsaw between Yuta's eyes, doesn't see MAGNUM ELBOW coming. (Despite the fact that it was clearly spoken.) He flies back, and lands -- impossibly horizontal, feet and one hand grasping -- halfway up a light pole, teeth grit in a rictus of rage.
"You're wrong!" He screams, to Borr and to Calibur. "He's Gridman. He's Gridman! I'll kill him, RIGHT NOW!"
A human... maybe he looks that way, but just like Riku, he can't be. Anti isn't human, either.
He bristles, as Yuta holds out that hand. His teeth curl, contemptuous, over his lips; there is no part of his body not cut in tension, all springs loaded to strike. "Sad?" He lances the word through, spits it out, fire or acid or bile.
"... DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP, GRIDMAN!"
Anti meets Yuta's outstretched hand of friendship by launching himself off the light-pole -- directly towards him -- sawblade first. He answers his open offer of friendship with horrific, horrifically DIRECT violence.
And the pain cuts through his anger, just the same.
"If you won't fight me -- if you won't fight me, I may as well NOT EXIST! You bastard! I'll kill you before that happens!!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"I friggin' told him -!" Borr seethes, ready to jump into the fray before Calibur stops him, "The hell?!"
"..."
Although nothing is said, there seems to be an invisible conversation taking place. In the meantime, Yuta uses faster thinking than a highschooler his age ought to have. It's not all that unusual considering his circumstances, though, for him, becoming Gridman is like moving his own body .. and so the reflexes and fighting skills he deveoped as Gridman are retained even as he returns to being a normal highschooler. Well, his body being able to keep up with that was another matter, he was no lightning superman.
It did mean that he avoids a deathblow by inches, moving his head to the side and pushing himself into Anti's grill, gritting his teeth in the severe pain of having his right shoulder ripped into by the teeth of a sawblade that had almost cleaved him from the crown of his head straight down his middle.
As it was, he braced his right and left arms against Anti's and using the leverage of his body, he was able to momentarily keep the other boy in place, leaving them forehead to forehead.
It wasn't going to make up for the lack of super strength in his body, though. Yuta Hibiki is a human, after all.
"Of course you exist..! You're not just a tool that exists to be used and discarded, you're .. even though you're a kaiju, you're a human too..you have a human heart! I know you do!"
Yuta's forehead aches, bruising as he mashes it in painful frustration against Anti's. "I don't get you at all! You do all of this terrible stuff..and say these horrible, depressing things .. and every time you do, I can tell that it's hurting you! Even now, you look like you're ready to cry! So I'm not gonna' fight you no matter what!"
"And you're not gonna' kill me, no matter what! I don't want to die!"That was big talk from someone whose arms were shaking as much as Yuta's were.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti is not a human; he is a kaiju. He has the strength to tear a man in half, even compressed down within inches of himself.
Perhaps that makes this a comment -- the way Yuta trie what he does, and doesn't immediately die. Those sunset eyes glare into the deep blue sky, wide in hatred, focused with intent.
(It may become clear, this close up, that Anti is wearing pale gloves over his hands.)
But the answer Yuta gets --
Is a headbutt. Really, it's the obvious risk, forehead to forehead.
Anti brings his head back, and SLAMS it into Yuta's -- and brings his buzzsaw up, fully intending to slice into the boy. His violence continues; it cannot be assuaged by kind words, even if Anti stopped long enough to listen. He lashes out at Yuta, and springs backwards, flipping backwards before he comes to rest with one hand grasping the ground.
"GO TO HELL!" Anti screams, anger peaking all the levels in his volume. "I just want you to die, Gridman! That's everything to me! Because I'm a kaiju! I'm a kaiju, goddamnit! I'll crush you, right here, right now!" What he's supposed to do, what he's meant to do --
He charges forward, again, straightforward as ever. "WHO CARES WHAT YOU WANT!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta folds like a paper bag onto the ground, red stains oozing out of his wounded shoulder and an ugly, blackening yellow welt forming a painful lump on his forehead. "Nn.."
Yuta, having the strength of your average highschool stick-in-the-mud, never really stood a chance in a contest of strength with a kaiju. That's what Calibur thinks to himself.
That Yuta is still alive instead of having been hacked into bits said more to him than anything out of Anti's mouth could. Even Borr, as headstrong as he was, had to see that now.
His sword, the blunt back end of it at any rate, intercedes between Anti and Yuta to ward him off with a deft and agile batting strike. "...you're saying that, but..."
Calibur glances down to Yuta, who nods back up at him, putting pressure on his shoulder with his left hand. "Is this what you want?"
It's a direct and pointed question.
Borr squares up next to Samurai Calibur, and Max makes his entrance standing next to Borr. Yuta is at the center of the formation, now back on his feet, if wobbling.
"What you're saying and what you're doing is - " " - obviously, you're sending totally mixed signals."
Yuta switches tracks, shuddering. This kind of pain .. it's not an injury worse than what I've felt as Gridman, but, my real body feels it much more.
"You want to protect Tsutsujidai, right? I love this city, too."
Calibur interrupts, " - who is being protected by you right now? ..or do you think the people on this street are grateful for what you're doing?" he says somberly.
Max, rumbling gently, " .. or the people who disappear from the face of this world during kaiju attacks .. "
"Is this the kind of ending that's going to satisfy you..?"
Yuta's head notches to the side in his hanging question. I can't tell how he'll respond to that. But .. it's something I feel like I need to know. I wonder if that's a question he can even answer right now?
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti crashes forward, clashes against the back of Calibur's sword, and goes wheeling back. All the momentum he threw into the motion has to go somewhere. He glares hateful daggers, at Gridman, and his defenders.
That Gridman... he's all yellow and red. It doesn't match Anti's experience of Ultra violence in the slightest. Is this what he wants -- is a particular question, framed against the difference in the qualities of violence, at a smaller scale.
Anti wonders, for the first time, if this is what it looks like when he steps on people. (Humans. People like Rikka Takarada.)
... even so, he can't worry about something like that.
Anti's eyes track, rapidly -- Borr to Calibur to Max to Borr to Calibur to --
"Wh...who cares!" Anti yells, but there's a hitch to the declaration which adds so much more texture, to the way his fingers tighten against his saw. "That doesn't concern me! I was made to crush you, Gridman!! That's my 'purpose'! That's what..."
she wanted,
"Rrrgh! Forget it! Right now, I'm still worth something! I'm still worth something, so I'll KILL YOU, Gridman..!"
But in this moment, he's hesitating on the trigger, isn't he?
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Inside Yuta's heads, little bits of information start to come together - like little sparks from a weak fuse sputteing to make sense of something.
Anti - the kaiju that appeared to kill Gridman .. this world, which was created by Akane .. and Anti's role as its 'protector'.
That's my 'purpose'! That's what...
"I'm not Gridman." Yuta says, his voice quiet but resolute as he narrows his eyes. Something squirms at the back of his mind. "I'm Yuta Hibiki. I attend highschool with my friends and classmates. And when people are in trouble, we all work together to help them, because we treasure this city and the people who live here..."
"So if you really want to kill me, then call me by my name! I'm Yuta Hibiki! Also, tell me your name too!"
Borr pauses, "Uh. ... shouldn't you have asked that before?"
"Tell me...what you want! That's what I want to know right now!"
"That's what I w..wan.." Yuta stumbles, woozy. I'm not very good at holding this. The wound's not too deep, but it tore up a lot of skin, so I've been bleeding a bit. I don't think my life's in danger, not right now, but I feel so tired...is my adrenaline bottoming out?
Calibur's expression tightens, a flash of understanding passing between the three Neon Genesis Junior Highschoolers that they probably didn't have all evening to argue Anti down while playing defense. Max takes the issue to task, " - if you really want to fight Gridman, then you should fight Gridman. Moreover, if that really is what you feel is your purpose in life, can you really say you won when you didn't even fight fair and square?"
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
When people are in trouble... moving towards pain...
(Moving towards him --)
Gridman -- Yuta -- demands Anti's name, and Anti takes a step back, his expression tightening, teeth a steel trap all snapped shut. His breath washes through them, too fast, too shallow; his response is to a threat.
His lips part, without sound; he watches, as Yuta stumbles. He doesn't know how human injuries work, not really, though he can tell they're red on the inside. Has he already killed him? Is it a matter of waiting until the wound catches up?
He should feel more excited about that possibility, but really, he's just anxious -- a thread of something troubled, through his hateful gaze. If Gridman dies like this... if he dies like this, then...
Samurai Calibur spells it out. "You -- what are you playing at! I won't have won?!" He demands, glaring daggers at that sleepy man. Anti, raised in the family he has, doesn't have much concept of 'fairness'. He was raised to take every advantage, no matter how impolite.
But...
He can't just discount the concept like that, when he feels strange about seeing Gridman -- Yuta -- Gridman, Yuta, that boy wilting the way he is. He's an auto-intelligence kaiju; he doesn't discount new information.
"I..." Anti starts, tensing up. He has to kill Gridman. He has to kill Gridman, but this is all wrong. Even though Gridman was right there... even though Anti had Yuta in his grasp...
(Is he a human?)
(I don't want to kill humans.)
(i don't want to
kill
)
"I'll... let you off this time!" Anti snaps, and HE is defensive, on the defence, scrambling upright and running down the street and away. Away from them.
Away from him.
What he wants... how can Anti answer a question like that?!
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta stares after Anti as he retreats, wanting to call out after him, but not having the strength to. Instead he sags, his butt thumping against the ground as he curls up a little. I still don't know his name..
"Ah, shoot, Yuta - don't take your hand off of your shoulder." Borr says, immediately kneeling down to try and help him attend to his shoulder. " .. it hurts .. " Yuta murmurs, with a tinge of a whine in his voice.
"Duh. You let your dumb ass get sawed with a whirligig."
Calibur murmurs something unintelligible under his breath before sheathing his sword. Yuta..I wonder, if it's his heart that isn't hurting more right now.
"We're drawing a crowd .. we should head back to Aya quickly. There should be everything there to treat the wound." Max suggests.
"r-right...that's a good idea," Calibur nods in agreement, sliding off his jacket so he could move Yuta's hand, bundling the cloth and pressing it down onto his shoulder to be a much more effective method of staunching his bloodflow. "Man. The positioning of the cut really blows .. we can't even torniquet it well," Borr grouses, as the three get on their way hoofing it towards Aya. Max was chosen to carry Yuta, as he was the one easiest able to both hold Calibur's jacket to his injury, while also being minimally affected by having to lug around a highschooler in one arm. "About that boy..."
"...yeah...i don't think there's a good outcome to any of this coming to a head, but.." Calibur murmurs. " - i-i believe...in yuta, that is..."
"Borr, his body hunkered down and both arms spread to the side to increase his aerodynamic qualities, "Not in Gridman?"
The exact nuance of that question was something only they could really grasp. "i think - gridman would prefer to believe in yuta too.."
" - Yes. I'd like to believe too .. belief is the power of human hearts, after all." Max says.
The sun dips, and leaving the sky a gentle, dark blue.