[BitPR²] Mortal World IV

[Dorizzit]

[Park]

Naito, who had been lying rather indifferently on the ground, leaps up at Tamaki's pronouncement. The troubled Quincy has an almost desperate look in their eye.

"Do it. Please."

[Frozen_Feet]

Tamaki sighs in relief. "Okay. It's going to take rest of the day, because we need to get to Mt. Fuji." It's not the only active volcano in Japan, but certainly the first one to always come to mind!

Tamaki shows the black orb to Naito. "This is my sole means of contacting Mikael-san. He warned it might take a great deal more energy than I personally have. Hence, a volcano. So, do you want to tell Chuck before we leave?"

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

While the light does give Katsuo some pause, he doesn't take more than a few moments to get back to carrying people through and into the quarantine zone, providing what help he can. When his assistance runs dry, leaving the infected Kuzunoha to be treated, he steps out to the edge of the camp, sitting on the ground and staring at nothing in particular.

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari]

A familiar presence can be felt coming up to him.

It's Shinji. His clothes from the waist up are in tatters. He also has a bit of blood spattered here and there, some of it coming out of his mouth.

He doesn't look physically hurt. But it's clear something hangs heavy on his mind.

"...hey."

[Dorizzit]

[Park]

"Doesn't matter. He can call if he needs us."

Naito seems more animated than Tamaki has seen in a while. Even during outbursts of rage or sadness, there has been an under-riding sense of resignation in everything Naito has done. Now, for the first time since the investigation of the lair of the Meek, there's a sense of hope in Naito's expression. Naito paces back and forth for a few moments before locking into a direction, staring out into the distance. Towards Mt. Fuji, as it happens.

"How fast can you fly?"

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo looks over, blushes a little, and looks slightly away. But... he's not really bothered. "...is everything all right? ...well... it's not, of course. But I guess it's better to ask if they're going to be okay."

He lets out a sigh. "How could a person do all of this..."

[Frozen_Feet]

[Ikari; park]

Tamaki follows Naito while calling up a map of Japan on his HUD. "I don't think this is a good time to break records. My body is still physical, so I might show up on a radar." Getting mistaken for a missile would be quite embarrassing. He does some math in his head. "That said, a safe speed puts me at... exactly one hour of travel. That fast enough?"

[Dorizzit]

[Park]

Naito's mouth presses into a firm line for a moment. Eventually, Naito just nods curtly at Tamaki.

"Whatever. Meet you there."

Naito takes a few steps back.

"Annihilate. Candanga Negra."

Upon finishing the transformation, Naito flies off towards Mt. Fuji, almost seeming to disappear.

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo looks over, blushes a little, and looks slightly away. But... he's not really bothered. "...is everything all right? ...well... it's not, of course. But I guess it's better to ask if they're going to be okay."

He lets out a sigh. "How could a person do all of this..."

"...yeah. They're going to be okay. All of them, in the end."

Shinji practically... collapses besides his friend as he sits down. He looks tired.

"To quote Jet Black, there is nothing as simple and cruel as a child. This is basically a kid playing with a form of life no one with a lick of common sense would ever dare mess with."

Shinji's still looking like he has something on his chest. But... he doesn't seem like he knows how to talk about it.

[KnightDisciple]

[Ikari, Japan]
[Airborne, then Kuzonoha Sanctuary]

Chuck gave a non-committal grunt as Tamaki and Naito split off, though a slight frown marred his face at the odd behavior.

Still, Chuck trusted Naito to know when to get out of trouble if necessary. His friend wasn't a schmuck.

The Australian himself made good time toward the Sanctuary, intending to bathe thoroughly and then sleep for many hours.

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo is quiet for a moment at that, but... realizes after a moment or two that something's still hanging in the air.

"...what's wrong?" There's a pause. "...aside from what happened here."

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari]

Oh boy. Here it comes.

"I owe you guys... everyone, in fact, a huge apology."

Shinji takes a deep breath before explaining.

"You see... when Alpha-1 first took over Naito, I was desperate to look for ways to help him. Even if I didn't know him too well, he was still a friend. So... I turned to the Kuzunoha forbidden scrolls for resources. They detailed techniques sealed by the first leader of the clan, Abe-no-Seimei... Or, in so many words, my dad."

He gives Katsuo a second to process that. If he's at all familiar with Japanese history, he's aware that the man in question lived nearly a thousand years ago. Shinji had mentioned it as a rumor before, but for some reason he admits it openly now.

Then again, it might not come off as surprising as when he first revealed who the Kuzunoha actually were.

"The forbidden techniques aren't directly harmful to the user or those around him. Though they are very complex spells, they're forbidden because they are powers that no single human entity should be allowed to have.

Things like the ability to bring the dead back to life... or..."

He hesitates before he delivers the next bit.

"...to see the future."

Shinji sulks at this point. The implications of his statement are rather heavy.

"The future... is a tangle of possibilities. Every person's choices make up a single thread in the fabric of reality. Through my father's spells, I was able to follow every thread... every possibility.

So, I came up with the best possible plan for everyone to survive. Everything up to this point... to some degree or another, has been orchestrated by me. Every fight. Every reaction. I even made it a point to get Yoshiro and Misaki together because if either died, or they ended up apart in any way... a lot of people would die. Not just my friends and family, but a lot of people connected to the Quincy and the Motos.

That still means I decided in advance in which fashion any of us should suffer, and how much. I...

...I knew you, especially, would take a major hit from handling the Sesshouseki. Even greater than Naito's."

[Frozen_Feet]

[On the way to Mt. Fuji]

The look on Naito's face and his sudden transformation into a Hollow catches Tamaki off-guard for a moment. Silently wondering what he's gotten himself into again, he speeds up. He doesn't want to keep Naito waiting.

---

[Later at Mt. Fuji]

Tamaki almost loses his sense of urgency as he closes with Mt. Fuji. He's not had a reason to fly this high before and the scenery is quite nice. He recalls how he declined Mikael's offer to come here earlier. Almost makes him regret.

However, as he sets foot on the edge of the crater between Fujisan's highest peaks, a different feeling takes over. Tamaki's skills as a Fullbringer have improved dramatically during his time in Hueco Mundo. He's come a long way from when he was just learning how to "speak" with non-living things.

And now, he can hear the mountain. It is awake, and it is angry.

Eidetic memory isn't always a good thing. As Tamaki listens to the mountain roar beneath his feet, all sorts of trivia, from old school assignments to Wikipedia pages flood his mind.

Last time Fuji erupted in the Hoei period in 1707. It created a new side peak known as Mt. Hoei today and spewed out huge amount of volcanic ash which was blown as far as Edo. Towns were covered in ash and rivers flooded as they were dammed by the debris.

In modern day, chance of Fuji erupting was estimated to be small. Key word: was. After the earthquake and tsunami some years ago, scientists estimated the pressure in the magma chambers beneath to be almost sixteen times higher than the normal treshold for eruption. Eruption was said to be "imminent".

Since then, the increased spiritual activity has also disturbed the mountain. A new magma chamber was created in the aftermath of Kuzunoha acting to help the Shinigami.

Tamaki sweats under his armor, and not because of the weather. His grip on the black orb tightens. Part of him wants to throw up.

He vividly recalls all the towns he blithely flew over a dozen minutes ago. Hundreds of thousands of people live on and around the volcano, and hundreds of tourists and hikers are visiting even today. More, the great metropolitan area of Tokya is just 100 kilometers away. Estimated price of damages to the city in case of eruption sits around 2.5 trillion Yen.

Then it hits Tamaki: Mikael was here. Mikael, who's power as a Fullbringer exceeds his.

He knew.

Tamaki lifts the orb before his face and looks into it. It is transparent now. He can see something inside it, as if suspended in clear liquid: a piece of red string. He recognizes it immediately. He remember how Mikael tore off a part of his scarf and how pissed off he was at that. So, he kept a piece just for a day like this? Mother****er!

Tamaki takes a deep breath and thinks of Naito. He's somewhere around, isn't he? Tamaki looks around to find him. It's a good thing Tamaki's wearing his helmet, so Naito can't see how pale his face has gotten.

Will this be worth it? Giving one person his life back, at the cost of endangering countless of others? Tamaki doesn't even know Naito all that well! But he also remembers Naito's face, not just earlier today but in the meeting, when he got to an argument with Misaki. He remembers how rattled Chuck was afterwards.

Naito's not exactly the safest, stablest people to be around. There might be another way to help him, but Tamaki dreads to think how he might react if he chickens out now.

"I really, really hope you knew what you were doing when you came up with this plan", Tamaki mutters, as if Mikael was right there. He calls up his Assault Shroud, preparing to shield at least himself and Naito if something goes wrong. "Because if something blows up, I will personally come to haunt you."

He pulls his arm back and then throws the black orb into the crater of Mt. Fuji. The Ouroboros emblem on his Shroud comes to life and lets go of its tail.

And then the ground starts shaking.

---

[Elsewhere]

Floating. Floating in the eternal dark, rocked by currents of energy born from nothing and ending in nothing.

He does not know how long he has been here, and doesn't particurly give a damn. It's quite comfy here, in the nothingness.

But then, a new current emerges and clashes with the previous one, shaking him from his stupor. Annoyed, he looks for the source, finding a crack through which light shines. He peers through, seeing a world bathed in light of sun and stars beyond.

He looks around the world from his vantage point, mildly amused by small lives of its inhabitants. But after a while, his gaze is pulled towards one invidual. He's a fairly ordinary kid, born to an ordinary couple in a backwater town in some small backwater country. He watches the kid grow up, learning things, building things, making friends, losing friends...

"What boring **** is this?

Oh right. It's a life. His life, when he was still alive. When he was still a human named Mikael.

"Let me go back to sleep."

He tries to turn away, but something tugs at his chest. He looks down and sees a red string tied to it.

"What is this?"

Pulling at it with both hands, he follows it to its source. The worlds spins and turns under him as he does, untill he finds himself watching the life of a different young man. He hears the family feuds, he sees his parents divorce, he sees him moving to his uncle's house and receiving a red scarf...

"Tamaki."

That's right. He did say he owed him a favor, didn't he?

This is when Mikael realizes he has a form again. Okay, maybe he should've noticed it earlier, kinda hard to pull at strings or feel a thing on your chest without a body. At first, it is transparent, merely a transparent outline of a human, but as he becomes aware of the fact, it changes. Bones grow back, then organs, then muscles, skin, clothes. He looks at his hands, his feet, his jacket. All the way they were before, in distant past.

Mikael realizes he's also not alone. Tamaki is there besides him, looking at the world below. So is another man, a regal man dressed in black.

Mikael tries to remember who this guy is. Below him, the world spins backwards, much faster than it did before. Mikael sees a great predator sowing chaos and fear. He sees it flee into the depths of the sea, coiling around itself while gnawing its own flesh. He sees it transform and re-emerge with renewed vigor and curiosity towards the world...

"Okay, I think that is enough."

... he sees an armada of ships sinking below him. He feels the joy of eating the souls of the departed, taking their memories. He remembers looking at a ragtag bunch of human mediums, amused by them thinking they could take him down. He remembers surprise, a spiritual venom eating at his limbs. He remembers desperation and clawing his mask off...

"Enough, I say!"

... eyes of the old man. The words, "I have seen enough". Boredom. Years sitting in a cave. Dainichi. Las Noches. Joy and disappointment...

"Damn it, I already know it's Jehoel! Would you stop?"

The world stops turning. The memories fade from Mikael's mind.

"Wait... who am I talking to?"

Tamaki has already left. Walked into a bright white light coming from behind them. Jehoel is unmoving, eyes fixed on the world below. Mikael might as well be alone.

What was he doing again? Oh right, a favor. For Tamaki.

Mikael glances at the light. Somehow, he knows that's where he came from. But that's not where he's going, no.

He's going back to Earth. Unfinished business. Might as well get over with it. He steps through the crack in space, back into sunlight.

[Dorizzit]

[Mt. Fuji]

The journey that takes Katsuo almost an hour is mere minutes for Tetsuhiko Naito going at full speed. The Candanga Negra transformation gives Naito access to immense speed, and in another time, the trip would have been exhilarating. Now, it's simply routine, or at least not worthy of notice. Slamming into the ground of Mt. Fuji without slowing down, Naito allows the shadowy skin of his Resurrección to slough off, leaving the Quincy kneeling at the bottom of a small crater. Now stuck in one place for the next hour, Naito attempts to wait patiently for Tamaki's arrival.

This lasts for less than a minute before Naito gets restless and takes off, wandering aimlessly around the mountain. The heat means very little to Naito at this point, and the mountain is an environment unlike any other that Naito has interacted with. The satisfaction of curiosity is enough to keep Naito entertained until Tamaki's later arrival. As Naito explores, they remain blissfully unaware of the seething anger present in the volcano below and the risk that Tamaki is taking in the process of attempting to get Mikael to create a new body.

It would disturb Naito greatly to know that, even if the risks were understood, they wouldn't care.

When Tamaki does finally arrive, Naito appears nearby in a blur of Sonído, coming to stand next to the Fullbringer. Naito seems agitated and moody, but maybe a little less so than normal, at this point. It's honestly really difficult to tell what "normal" is supposed to be for the troubled youth.

"Let me know if you need anything from me."

[Frozen_Feet]

[Top of Mt. Fuji]

"Just... just stay close to me", Tamaki replies. Save for the nervous pause, he sounds like normal. Cool. Composed.

Inside his armor, he is dripping cold sweat as the tremors grow stronger. Birthing pains. That's what they are. The volcano is going to give birth.

Come on Mikael, where are you? Tamaki grits his teeth to avoid vocalizing the thought. But even thinking it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

He remembers when Mikael expressed distaste due to Chuck mocking him for his name. He remembers Mikael explaining what his name meant.

"Who is like God?" Well who, indeed? 'Cause it'd take one to stop an erupting volcano!

Haul your ass here already!

The quaking stops for a moment. Then it resumes, twice as strong.

"That's it. I'm activating my shroud's fortress mode", Tamaki says with a resigned voice. In actuality, he is late - Naito can see the shroud's already surrounding them, acting on its own as if it was a living creature. The nanomachines create a sanctuary around them, a paradoxical perfect sphere made of hexagons.

Tamaki can imagine earthquake alarms going off in towns far below and people looking for shelter. "This place is gonna blow. In case we both burn in a pyroclastic cloud, it was nice knowing you, and sorry for bringing you here."

And then the ground before them explodes.

---

[In the Void]

In the space between a worlds, a certain phenomenom repeats itself. An expanding bubble of emptiness is created as all loose Reishi in a vast volume is suddenly drawn towards a single point. As the dust and lingering fragments of Soul Society press together, they heat up, to the point they begin glowing with green light. Then, space at the center warps, and a portal to Earth is created, no larger than a pin-prick. The superheated spiritual matter is funneled through, to Earth.

---

[Back on Mt. Fuji]

A shockwave cracks the walls of the volcanic crater as a pillar of black smoke, or to be exact, of volcanic ash shoots up in the sky. Hikers and tourists fall flat across the mountainside. Small avalanches rumble down the slopes. Dozens of miles away, terrified people turn to look at Fujiyama and the huge black cloud forming above it.

Then the nonsense begins.

Tamaki and Naito are in the best place to see it. The ash cloud forms a perfect sphere. The mountain calms down and resumes spewing out just a faint trail of white steam.

There's a transparent shimmer surrounding the looming black sphere, as if the whole thing is mildly detached from reality. That's probably a good thing, because from the look of it, the ash is starting to move quite fast inside it. Occasional strikes of lightning can be seen within, caused by build up of static electricity.

It occurs to Tamaki it is like the orb he had, just... millions of times larger. He tries to adjust his visor to see if there's something in the middle. At first, no luck. There's too much interference. Then, the ash begins to thin. Tamaki's sensors pick up a source of extreme heat at the center. After adjusting his display several times, he finally sees its form.

"Do you see that?", he asks of Naito.

In the middle, molten metal is being welded into the shape of a skeleton. The ash is being funneled into it, burning or melting on contact. The cloud grows smaller, untill the skeleton is in plain view. Then, what remains of the volcanic debris forms into organs, then tendons, then muscle, then skin, and lastly, clothing. Above it, a transparent shape of a man looms, like a blueprint of the construction, connected to the forming body with a red line.

Finally, the blueprint and the construct are unified into a single being. The transparent bubble around it vanishes. Still glowing orange with blackbody radiation, Mikael Esaja Rautiainen descends inside the crater. Air ripples around him due to the heat and the ground burns. Tamaki's Assault shroud dismantles itself and slithers across the ground like a snake, climbing on Mikael's shoulders and turning into a black biker jacket.

"Yo. You needed me for something?"

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo looks at Shinji quietly as he explains himself, his expression barely changing on the surface, but there's a storm of confusion, doubt, and fatigue underneath the mask. As he finishes, there's really nothing he can say immediately, even if he looks like he wants to. He flounders for words for a while, feeling... sad? Hurt? Who could really react to this reasonably?

He picks himself up suddenly and paces, just... trying to parse this all. Occasionally looking back as if to say something, only to go back to it. Finally, he puts his face in a hand, and just melts with a single ragged, heavy sigh. "Why..."

"...why are you telling me this?"

[Dorizzit]

[Mt. Fuji]
Peak

Naito is completely silent during the entire process of the eruption and subsequent summoning of Mikael. Whether through confidence or arrogance, Naito has no fear of the eruption; even if Tamaki hadn't been shielding them, Naito simply doesn't believe that the volcano can be a threat. Naito just waits patiently next to Tamaki, not even flinching at the explosion of lava and ash and the tremors accompanying it.

Naito is significantly more disturbed by the formation of the sphere; this provokes a tilt of the head, and a slight recoil in confusion and surprise. That's really quite something, and it's not a phenomenon that Naito has any way of explaining properly. The currents of Reishi and spiritual energy are easy enough to follow, but Mikael has evolved into an entity that Naito has no way of processing. Something far beyond a normal human. For Naito, who possesses implanted knowledge of almost every aspect of the spiritual world, the mystery is discomforting.

As Tamaki's shield fades, Naito takes a step to the side so that they aren't sharing their space any more. Folding their arms over their chest, Naito looks over at Tamaki.

"Well?"

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo looks at Shinji quietly as he explains himself, his expression barely changing on the surface, but there's a storm of confusion, doubt, and fatigue underneath the mask. As he finishes, there's really nothing he can say immediately, even if he looks like he wants to. He flounders for words for a while, feeling... sad? Hurt? Who could really react to this reasonably?

He picks himself up suddenly and paces, just... trying to parse this all. Occasionally looking back as if to say something, only to go back to it. Finally, he puts his face in a hand, and just melts with a single ragged, heavy sigh. "Why..."

"...why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know. At the least of the least, you have the right to know that the way things have happened is my fault.

I made you suffer, even though you tried your hardest to make sure I would be well again. You fought for me and the people I care about.

I dare not ask you to forgive me - it's not my right. But... at the very least, I thought you should be aware of the truth."

Shinji reaches for his friend's shoulder, trying to look him in the eye...

[Frozen_Feet]

[Top of Mt. Fuji]

Naito finds Tamaki looking at them. Apparently, he was expecting Naito to reply to Mikael.

Coughing, Tamaki turns to Mikael, brushing his visor with his hand. He didn't really mean to, it's a near-instinctive motion from having worn eyeglasses for long enough.

"Nice to see you're... fine", Tamaki begins halfheartedly. He beckons towards Naito. "My friend here has a problem. Due to an unfortunate chain of events, about nine-tenths of Naito-san's body was destroyed and replaced by Reishi. Can you... can you rebuild their body?" The question feels hollow in his mouth after what he just saw.

Mikael looks at Tamaki, then fetches a pair of sunglasses from the chest pocket of his new jacket. Tamaki could swear those were not there before - indeed, Mikael made the nanomachines of the shroud create them just now.

"Oh? I thought he was a ghost", Mikael says, putting on the glasses. He glances at Naito. "Or she. Or it. Not really sure here. But yes, I suppose I can do that." He takes a step closer to Naito. "Not sure why you didn't just steal one of those artificial bodies from a Shinigami, but I suppose it's not my business. So, how you'd like me to do it?"

Tamaki, not being sure who is being talked to, replies: "I thought... you could do the same thing you did to me. Or yourself just now."

"Oh, what did I do?"

Tamaki shuffles his feet. He isn't sure what to say to that.

Mikael doesn't wait for him, for good or bad. "I suppose it could work. But do you now what it entails?" He's looking into Naito's eyes now. Naito can see Mikael's eyes through them, like two green sparks - he's still glowing with heat. Naito can feel heat on their skin, as if standing next to red hot chunk of metal. Which isn't that far from the truth.

Tamaki looks at Naito. No, Naito doesn't. And now, it hits him how and why that might be significant. He holds his breath as he waits for Naito's reaction.

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo sighs, letting his hands down. "...Shinji, I just... what you're doing..." Then he suddenly freezes as a Shinji touches his shoulder.

Spoiler: .....?

Show

Katsuo... Hikari? Pulls at Kagetora from under the weight of the burning pillar that crushed him. But... it's simply no use. Even as she coughs desperately at the smoke, and heat, her lungs burning with every exhalation-

Out of pure, wide-eyed instinct, Katsuo snaps. The turn to Shinji is sudden. Then... a shove towards his upper torso. It's not his full strength, no. But Shinji might muse... just how strong is Katsuo? Where does his full strength end? There are many things he might muse if he doesn't find a way to immediately brace himself as he's sent flying with the force of... well, is there really an accurate comparison here?

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari, Japan]

Shinji feels himself flung at cruise missile speeds backwards, and it takes him a few moments to regain his senses before he has a mind to halt himself with a barrier. He coughs as he realizes his lungs had been emptied.

"...I guess that's the least I deserve...

...huh?"

He's unlikely to be the only one surprised. Katsuo's push merely causes Shinji's body to slump forward and against him, as though all strength in his body had suddenly drained.

Shinji can see the chain linking his chest to his body. He is in soul form right now, separated from his physical being.

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(City Outskirts)

Katsuo takes a moment, breathing heavily with his eyes closed, before they open again. He takes a single look at the situation as Shinji's body falls over in front of him. And then... pales. He can't bring himself to say anything.

...Then there's an explosion as he suddenly rockets into the sky and disappears behind a mask of trees and buildings. It might strike Shinji that perhaps, while he might not have found the need for a tracking spell before, Katsuo's minuscule spiritual presence just... vanishes, easily overshadowed by ambient spiritual energies as well as other spiritual peoples in the area.

[Kuroimaken]

[Mortal World]

Shinji is a bit too dumbfounded by suddenly finding himself in purely spiritual form to address Katsuo's concerns immediately. By the time he tries to raise his voice, the boy is already gone, dashing at impossible speeds.

First things first. Luckily, Shinji is no stranger to such moments of being evicted from his own body - it happened a few times when he was trying to master the ability to incorporate summons.

He did have the ability of farsight, but he couldn't use it on Katsuo, not at the speeds he was going - and certainly not on the spot. No, tracking him would require a more adept set of eyes... Which is why the head of the Kuzunoha calls for Karasu-tengu as soon as he's back into his own body.

That gives poor, panic-stricken Katsuo quite the lead.

[Dorizzit]

[Mt. Fuji]
Summit

Naito takes a step forward, ignoring the sensation of burning that accompanies the motion. Mikael, looking into Naito's eyes, can see the same desperation that Tamaki did, only amplified. Now, with the real possibility of acquiring a human body right in front of their eyes, Naito can barely hold back. Slowly, blood begins to drip from one clenched fist at Naito's side. The Quincy swallows, then shakes their head.

"I don't. And it doesn't matter. If it has any chance of giving me back a real body...do it. Please. It can't be worse than what I've already been through."

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(Searching for Friends)

As it turns out, Katsuo can jump -really- high. So much so that he shoved clouds out of the way with his path. Still... it'd be rough trying to find him just based on that. His impact is traced, and a small crater is found in the woods and fields outlying Ikari, but he's nowhere to be found.

Nonetheless... there are traces. It's winding, and a bit of a hike, but...

Eventually, the path leads to the quarry. One and the same with the one Alpha-One was fought in.

Trembling in the midst of battlescars and rubble, Katsuo hides his head in his knees, his clothes a mess and his newly-braided hair in tangles.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Mt. Fuji]

Mikael looks into Naito's anguished eyes. Then he shrugs. "Meh. I suppose you're right." He places a molten hot palm on Naito's forehead. It's a good thing Tamaki's wearing his visor, that way he won't smell the burning flesh. Reduce.

Mikael lets go of Naito. For a moment, Tamaki can see a third degree burn where he touched, but then it fades. Naito's body is shrinking, going back in time, shedding the "fake" body made of Reishi as if it's dead skin. When Naito has reached a state of apparent 10-year-old, a lot of his body just vanishes, like spirits tend to after a while from dying. What's left is a black, heart-like organ lying in a pool of synthetic-looking blue liquid.

Mikael frowns in disgust. Not because of what he sees, but because of what he smells. When he reduced Tamaki to an embryo, all the materials and scents present were those of an organic body. Here, he's sensing a bitter stench, somewhat akin to toxic paint or burning rubber, things he associated with dangerous artificial chemicals in his past life.

"Tamaki? Can you make a glass container and fill it with isotonic fluid?"

Tamaki is caught a bit off-guard by the request. He was too focused on what was happening to Naito. This is the first time he's seen the process from the outside. If Tamaki hadn't come out just fine from it himself, he would likely freak out at Mikael now.

"I... think so, yes. I need to delete some less vital things from my memory first, though." Tamaki calls up some symbols on his visor display and gets to work.

"Good. Get it here so we can put your friend in there", Mikael explains.

Tamaki pauses. "Wait. Does it need to be large enough for a human?"

Mikael shakes his head. "Nah. Size of a bucket will do. There's not much left of them."

Barely visible in the sunlight, elements of Naito's soul float around Mikael like holograms in a sci-fi movie. There's two tigers chasing each other, representation of Naito's Quincy powers. There's a dark phantasm shifting between humanoid and serpentine, representing Naito's Hollow powers. There are what look like blue computer screens with white text scrolling on them, the knowledge templates containing programmed information. And then there's what looks a bit like Naito like he was seconds ago, but distorted and fragmented, as if the picture was built from shards of stained glass. Some pieces are out of place or missing, and orbiting the image there's a vast cloud of loose shards - much more than would be needed to put the image back together.

Tamaki walks next to Mikael with a small glass tank filled with clear liquid. Mikael speaks to the liquid, causing it flow to the ground and scoop up the heart-like organ and a small, pale embryo-like body floating in the blue liquid. Soon, they both float inside the tank. Tamaki can't help but feel a tinge of scientific curiosity, and he's not sure if it's despite the horror or because of it.

Mikael, meanwhile, looks around and furrows his brow. "This is odd."

Tamaki glances at him. There's nothing about this that isn't, but he feels Mikael is referring to something specific. "What is odd?"

Mikael, walking in a circle around Tamaki and examining each component of Naito's soul, explains: "When I did this to you, your soul bled out all of your Reiryoku. It created quite a spectacle." Mikael crouches near the glass tank, examining the heart-like organ. He's careful not to touch the glass, it might break or the liquid might boil from the heat. "But now there's nothing. I can feel half of it is still there, but only the Hollow half. There was something else, but now it's missing."

Tamaki thinks. "Naito-san was a Quincy. If I understood the explanation correctly, Quincies don't rely on Reiryoku. Instead, they turn Reishi outside their bodies into Reiatsu. Maybe the other half was simply dispersed along with Naito-san's body of Reishi?"

Mikael resumes walking in a circle. Tamaki figures he needs to cool down before advancing to the next step. As Mikael does, he looks into the knowledge templates, listens to what they have to say. There's a lot of interesting information there, some supplementing what he already knew, some completely new. He can't absorb it all in one go, but he does his best to figure what is happening.

The problem is, the data seems to be in disarray, with many parts linked to shattered parts of Naito's soul. It's like the structure meant to govern all this data was somehow damaged. That's not good. If the soul, the blueprint for the body is broken, Mikael can't fix the body back to how it was either.

Scratching his head, Mikael turns to the shards of glass. If those are pieces for a soul, then there's too much material for one person. Many souls existing inside a single body is not a foreign concept to Mikael, not after he peered into minds of Jehoel and Sin Rostro.

But this looks off. Inside a Menos, usually one soul dominates or none do. But the excess souls aren't broken. They're just silenced, rendered unconscious as if in a deep slumber, waiting for a day when a Shinigami frees them.

Here, it looks like two or more souls have been actively hostile towards each other, mutilating each other in attempt to gain dominance.

Mikael resumes browsing the knowledge templates. He hopes there's an answer there. He asks questions from the templates, tries to bring order to the chaos. After a while, he can speak with them and reorder them like icons on a computer desktop. The shards start rearranging and falling into place.

In the process, Mikael learns a lot about Quincies, their war with Hollows and Shinigami, the Meek and their attempts to create Alpha-1. And even after Hollows and Hueco Mundo, those last parts are some troubling ****.

"... hey Tamaki. Wanna tell me why you want me to fix a supersoldier made by zealots?"

Tamaki's brow furrows behind his visor. "No, Alpha-1 was the supersoldier. I want you to fix Naito, not her."

Mikael crouches next to the glass tank, giving Tamaki a long look. "Uh huh. You sure they're not the same person?"

Tamaki crosses his arm. "Yes. Charles-san, Katsuo-san, Shinji-san all risked their lives to save Naito from her clutches. They're not the same."

Mikael keeps looking at Tamaki. Tamaki can't help feeling disturbed by it. Not because he's being stared at, but because Mikael doesn't look convinced.

"Tamaki. Do you have any idea how unnatural your friend is?", Mikael asks solemnly.

Tamaki has a pretty good idea, all things considered. But once again he feels Mikael is after something specific, and he can't guess what. Tamaki clenches his hands into fists. "Do tell."

Mikael beckons at the knowledge templates and the stained glass image. The latter is starting to look more like Alpha-1 than Naito.

"A normal person's soul can turn into a Hollow and back to Plus, going from positive to negative and negative to positive countless of times, as long as there is a Shinigami to act as a medium. Not so with Quincies. A Quincy cannot resist Hollowfication like that. Their soul dissolves like metal soaked in acid. If they ever lose heart after death or are eaten by a Hollow, that's it. As such, giving Hollow powers to a Quincy should be a death sentence unlike any other."

Mikael points at the black heart-like organ which he now knows is hiding the Devourer Engine. "To put it another way, that thing? That's made of a Hollow, yet it's the only thing your friend has passing for a heart. The ones who made her, crafted a heart out of a heartless creature! That's a spit on the face of common sense if I've ever seen one. It's a miracle if she didn't turn into a homicidal sociopath."

Tamaki is silent. Mikael is partly right, in an eerie way. That is what Alpha-1 turned out to be, pretty much. And after what Naito claimed of themself... Tamaki can't help but wonder if it applies to Naito too.

Mikael is finally starting to cool down and return to normal colors. "If Naito was Quincy, she shouldn't exist. If she's something else, she also shouldn't exist, because that body was purpose-built to only grow one, specific soul. To grow this Alpha-1. If I fix the body, that's who it will become."

Tamaki feels sick. Faces of Cuck, Katsuo, Shinji and Naito flash in his mind. Disappointed faces. "Alpha-1 was an omnicidal lunatic. I... I... I can't let her come back to existence."

Mikael looks at his fellow Fullbringer sadly. "Tamaki, Tamaki, Tamaki... Before asking me to fix your friend, you really should've warned me you liked the broken version better."

Mikael sinks his hands into the tank, steam rising from it as the liquid cools them down. He encloses remains of Alpha-1 in his palm.

Tamaki activates his weaponry.

Improve!
"Nova Cannon!"

---

[Elsewhere]

Naito is floating in the emptiness. It's surprisingly pleasant. All the pain and bad memories are muted here. There's just a current of energy lulling them to sleep...

... that is, untill a wave forms and washes Naito to different shores. Like Tamaki before them, Naito gets to see Earth from the outside in all its beauty. Yet, after a while, their attention is pulled to a specific place and chain of events. Things start coming back. Naito sees their childhood. All the happy times with their adopted family and in school. Getting to know Hakuto Kenzan, Miya, the Akiyama sisters, Chuck, Katsuo, Shinji, Hasunaga, Tamaki...

... but at the same time, it all paves way for the horrors to come. The hideout of the Meek. Alpha-1 taking over. Joining ZHE. Alpha-1 torturing them. Living without a physical body. Slaughtering ZHE Soldaten. Those too, Naito gets to see. Again.

And then Naito is above Mt. Fuji. They can see Mikael and Tamaki talk, even if they can't hear the words. This it it. This is the moment Naito will get their body back!

And then a voice echoes from the darkness:

Error. Nascent soul formation detected.
Error. System-wide breakdown imminent.
Attempting native soul suppression.

Naito can feel themself slipping away. They are fading. At the same time, they can see Alpha-1 forming in their place. The same power which is rebuilding their body is threatening to erase Naito from existence.

Native soul suppression 10% complete... 20% complete...

[Kuroimaken]

[Ikari]

Crap. There it comes again... a bad feeling unlike any other.

Normally, the clairvoyance that Shinji pried from the Senji Hyakketsu depends on a number of extremely complex rituals. But in order for them to be effective, for them to work in any way, shape or form, his mind must be opened in a way that doesn't close back.

Shinji spent a lot of time divining Naito's future as Alpha-1. Their fight with him. As such, it is no surprise he is connected to Naito's fate... and when his body is broken down to its constituent forms, it wrenches at their connection in a way very few things can.

Having just been shoved off his material body himself, Shinji is in no condition to teleport to their location. Luckily, he doesn't have to.

After all, they're at the mouth of one of the single largest Dragon's Eyes in all of Japan.

____________________

[Mt. Fuji]

<<STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AT ONCE!!>>

The voice rings inside Mikhail's head. Something reminiscent of a ghost - or at least it looks like one - is the source of said voice.

Shinji's form stands above them, much larger than either Naito or Tamaki remember him. No wonder; this isn't Shinji, but rather a very powerful projection. It's reminiscent of his Shikigami, in a way.

<<Ressurrection is not a task left to amateurs. You will reconstruct Naito's body and soul as it was before you got started. That is not a problem you can resolve - not with your level of knowledge.>>

[Kuroimaken]

[In pursuit of Katsuo]

Katsuo may leave few traces of his direction, but those few traces are more than enough for the Tengu. They can fly rather fast... and they're expert trackers. In the Ayakashi world, they're commonly known as very effective spies.

It's not just one of them either, but a small flock. They initially debate landing in a circle... but their leader decides against it, and moves on ahead.

It's curious that the boy would have fled this way, the leader ponders. He doesn't know the full extent of the importance of this place to him. But at the moment, it doesn't matter. His mission is to assuage his fears, after all.

"Yamada-kun?" The tone is gentle. Feminine. It might be a bit reminiscent of a certain member of the Kuzunoha clan, but surely that's coincidence.

[strawberryman]

[Ikari, Japan]
(Quarry)

Katsuo's head presses more firmly into his knees. "Please, just..." It almost sounds like he wants to tell them to go away, but he can't even go through with that.

"I d-don't know what's happening to me. I feel... lost. L-like I'm unraveling."

"...we never actually saved Naito. She ruined his life before we could. And now... terrible things are happening... And..." He bites his lip. "...I d-don't know what to do."

[Kuroimaken]

[Battlescars]

"That's not true." The tengu replies as she kneels besides Katsuo. "She was keeping him alive for the sole purporse of torturing his soul. Had you not intervened, he would have suffered so much longer. So much more. It's true Naito has a long way to recovery, but... That still beats the situation he was in before.

Yamada... if you close yourself off, you'll suffer even more, like Naito is suffering right now. You both need to heal your hearts.

Open yourself up. Tell me what's going through your mind. I'm here to help."