[BITPR²] Kyuukyoku Gaiden: The Beachdown Apocalypse

[Kuroimaken]

Koutarou checks the manhole covers for wriggling tentacles.

[Frozen_Feet]

It's not exactly easy to find those covers from under the snow in the dark. He spots a few rainwater drains due to the holes in the covers revealing where they are. No tentacles, however.

[Kuroimaken]

"Well let's see. No tentacles in the sewers. No one in the streets. No one at home, apparently.

Clearly they must have all been raptured. Enigma solved."

[Frozen_Feet]

Once more Koutarou's voice is the lone thing piercing the silence. It echoes from the corners of the buildings, as if clinging to them, reluctant to let itself fade. But ultimately, like all things, it does.

If there's a man on the Moon, Koutarou better hope he's not looking, for he would likely find his antics quite ridiculous.

[Kuroimaken]

All told, said man on the Moon may have found the notion of a beachside town getting snowed in on summer and suddenly losing every inhabitant it has that much more ludicrous first.

[Frozen_Feet]

All of a sudden, the silence is broken by a different sound: the distant rumble of an approaching car. Koutarou can't see its headlights, so it must be driving on a different street than he's standing. Maybe he could intercept it.

[Kuroimaken]

Shouldn't be hard, no. And in any case, he doesn't have anything better to do.

He takes to the rooftops, like a betrunked Batman, and tries to find the car.

[Frozen_Feet]

Getting up is harder and slower than he remembers it being. The body he's in may not be as well-suited for antics like this as he'd like.

Climbing on the roof of a three story apartment flat, Koutarou can see the headlights of the car reflect from a wall few blocks away as the car slows down and turns a corner. He probably could've gotten before it just by running along the street, following the sound. Now, he more or less has to jump back down, if he doesn't want to play catch-up.

[Kuroimaken]

Dude, he can just get a better air-view and get back down to rooftop level.

Like, seriously. It's not like he's overly concerned about being in a flesh-and-blood body. As a regular Soul Society plus, he doesn't have a Soul Chain to worry about.

[Frozen_Feet]

That decision gets him no closer to car, though. It looks like its only passing through the city to move from one big road to another. In a minute, it will be out of the town centre and speeding to who-knows-where, leaving Koutarou alone again if he does not follow it.

[Kuroimaken]

Seriously? He's got Shunpou. He could be following the damn thing on foot in the open road if he cared to.

He's only slightly more curious about where the car is headed, so he keeps following at a distance. It stands to reason that, if he's in a flesh-and-blood body, he's not invisible to regular people.

[Frozen_Feet]

The car drives through an intersection and on the highway, its headlights cutting coneshaped holes in the darkness. As they get ever more distant from the town, other vehicles going to the opposite direction zoom past, mostly trucks. They must be moving east, because the horizon ahead is getting lighter. However, the snowfall is also getting thicker, the blackness of night slowly being replaced by near opaque whiteness. Koutarou has to get closer and closer to the road if he wants to keep the car, or anything else for that matter, in clear sight.

[Kuroimaken]

He may as well. If all else fails, he can always disperse the clouds with a big burst of Reiatsu and find somewhere else to go.

[Frozen_Feet]

The visibility is getting really poor. Whoever's driving the car must only be able to see a dozen or so meters ahead, if even that. That's not a good thing at highway speeds, especially since the road is slippery from the piling snow.

The car slows down to shift to another lane, going through another intersection to move on a busier road. Immediately, it is almost blindsided by a white van coming from behind, with only good reactions on the part of the driver preventing disaster.

The journey continues. Koutarou, lacking benefit of a windshield or helmet, is now getting face full of snow at every step. From the air, he can see a string of red lights ahead - braking lights of other cars. They're all slowing for some reason? The car Koutarou's been following begins to brake too.

Except, the other cars aren't slowing, they are at dead stop. The driver in the car pushes the brakes to the floor, but even at reduced speed it's not going to stop them from hitting the car before them. Fortunately, it looks like there's empty room on the adjacent lane...

[Kuroimaken]

In a spurt of goodwill and reckless abandon, Koutarou dashes up to the side of the car and slams as hard as he can on the side, hoping that'll make it swerve towards the empty lane instead.

Finally! An opportunity to act that makes sense!

[Frozen_Feet]

Laws of physics are unforgiving for material beings. In his hurry to help, Koutarou forgot that him slamming to the side of the car with enough force to change its course isn't much preferable to another car hitting it. He causes the front right door to cave in and sets the car swerving to the side.

Luckily, the driver's seat was on the left, and the driver manages to straighten the path of the car on the adjacent lane before hitting anything else. So it could be said Koutarou was successfull after all.

That's when he gets reminded, by the blaring of horns of cars fast approaching, that there is more traffic behind them. A passenger car is threatening to run over Koutarou, while a truck is rolling forward on the adjacent lane, threatening to crash into the vehicle Koutarou just moved there.

Both vehicles are already braking as hard as they can, have been for a while. It's just that with the road covered in loose, fresh snow and sleet, and the vehicles having summer tires, they have next to no traction. A pile-up seems inevitable...

[Kuroimaken]

Inevitability is something Koutarou has been trained to deal with.

The biggest issue is the truck. A car running him over is easily avoidable by his not being there. Though if it doesn't stop, it will eventually slam into the next one.

Thankfully, Koutarou has always been ludicrously efficient - if wasteful - with very basic spells.

"Hadou #1: Shou!"

He's already dashing, cracking the ice beneath his feet when he fires the spell almost without aiming at the car coming at him. His goal is to push back and therefore diminish the speed of the oncoming car. Under normal conditions, this would be tantamount to throwing the force of a speeding truck back at the car, with an area to match.

He's already in the air by the time he fires a second spell, this time at the truck.

"Bakudou #1: Sai!"

Again, the point is to slow it down. He can't use the same spell he used on the car, because the truck isn't coming at him head on.

"Bakudou #4: Hainawa!"

Koutarou tries to lasso around the middle of the truck's carriage, then dashes down towards the ground.

"Bakudou #30: ****otsu Sansen!"

And finally he tries to anchor it down to the nearby asphalt.

[Frozen_Feet]

Koutarou's first spell stops the passenger car as if it'd hit a wall. Its front crumples under the pressure, the airbags inside inflating to protect the passengers. Whether that's enough remains to do so remains to be seen.

Still, the effect is less than what Koutarou's powers should do "under normal conditions". Which may be good, since throwing the force of a speeding truck against the car would've completely obliterated it. This might not be immediately obvious to Koutarou, as he's preoccupied with the truck.

Speaking of which. It has way too much momentum to be stopped by Koutarou's first Bakudo. He can feel the metaphysical shackles breaking under the force even as he casts the second binding. The lasso of energy tears off protrusions such as the truck's side mirrors as it searches for a stable anchor point, then is pulled tight around the middle section as Koutarou attaches it to the asphalt.

His spell is strong enough. The asphalt isn't. Pieces of it fly everywhere as the anchor points are torn off by the truck's movement. But, the vehicle spends enough energy doing so that its tires sink into the snow and gain contact with the road proper. Its hydraulic brakes stop it a mere inch from the back bumper of he car before.

The cacophony caused by all this rings in Koutarou's ears for a few really long seconds. So it might prevent him from immediately noticing that the traffic has stopped for good. No new cars are threatening to crash into the line.

[Kuroimaken]

Well, he'd done all he could given the circumstances. But he can't help but feel like he'd spend less energy (and got less of a result out of it) than he normally would. The realization he must have a limiter on quickly dawns on the Shinigami.

He takes a moment to realize there are no new threats, then rushes back to the car he'd first stopped.

[Frozen_Feet]

((Background music: Haloo Helsinki! - Sinisissä valoissa))

It turns out the car was packed full. In addition to the driver, there's one person on the front seat and four at the back. It doesn't look good what Koutarou did to the car. The front was so badly crushed that despite wearing a seat belt, the driver still hit his head against the windshield. More, both his legs and those of the girl sitting next to him are being crushed by the crumpled hull. Rescue personnel would need to saw through parts of the car to get them out.

Of the four in the back, three are mostly intact, but still dazed by the shock of the crash. The fourth... well, a car of this type only has seatbelts for three in the back. When the car came to a stop, the fourth person, a teenage girl who was sitting on someone's lap, was violently thrown against the front seats, then bounced back, causing her neck to snap. Just to name the worst of it.

"Oh gee, look at the mess you made", a voice comes from behind Koutarou. If he turns to look, he'll see a young woman in traditional black clothes of a Reaper, with magenta hair and mismatched eyes, sitting on the roof of the truck he stopped. No snow is piling on her, unlike everything else here, nor is the snowfall obscuring her in any way to Koutarou's sight. It's like she's a picture superimposed on the background. There's something familiar about her face.

"Here I was, expecting to reap just one soul today, but it seems like I'll have to settle with two. Well done."

Spoiler: Translated song lyrics

Show

You came fast
and fetched me from Hämeentie
you kept the front seat open
You made commuters eat dust
as you pressed pedal to the metal
And on the back seat we crammed four people
Must've been in a terrible hurry to get to Kontula

Then in the blue lights I looked at you
You were so beautiful
And in those blue lights you did not see me
You were already gone

We drove on the ring way and clapped our hands
as you sped past few SUVs
It was raining in Vantaa
and I was getting tired
In my eyes the markets flashed past

And from somewhere we came
to the railings of that bridge
And from somewhere we heard
how everything shattered into pieces

Then in the blue lights I looked at you
You were so beautiful
And in those blue lights you did not see me
You were already gone

Sirens singing "sleep my darling"
in those white sheets
Sirens singing "sleep my darling"
Long and in peace

Let's go into this film in slow motion

Then in the blue lights I looked at you
You were so beautiful
And in those blue lights you did not see me
You were already gone

Sirens singing "sleep my darling"
in those white sheets
Sirens singing "sleep my darling"
Long and in peace

In those white sheets
Long and in peace...

[Kuroimaken]

"They do say the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Koutarou replies. "So there is a Hollow nearby? That would explain the fact that absolutely nothing in this afternoon has made sense."

He doesn't seem too shocked that his attempt to save them has killed someone.

[Frozen_Feet]

The girl shakes her head. It's not clear if that is an answer to Koutarou's question or just a sign of general disapproval towards his actions.

From behind him, the sound of a car door opening and closing echoes. The driver of the car he was following steps out and stands up. The driver's a moderately tall, pale man wearing a black biker jacket. He looks over his car and his greenish-blue eyes fix on Koutarou.

"Who are you talking to?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Myself mostly."

Well, he can't exactly blame the guy he'd been tailing for not noticing when some dude in trunks starts flying all over the place and stopping cars with invisible things. Still, why make it easier on him?

"I'm Koutarou. What's your name?"

[Frozen_Feet]

The driver furrows his brow. "No, I mean, who is that? You know. The pink-haired girl." He points squarely at her.

The girl lets out a weary sigh and shakes her head again. "Tut-tut-tut. This is why we don't go play Superman near the normies, Mr. Swimming Trunks. She waggles her finger at Koutarou. Has a bad tendency to cause spontaneous spiritual awakenings. Now I have to wipe this poor guy's memory, and who know who elses'." She looks past Koutarou and looks at the driver. "Oh, and my hair's magenta.Not Pink."

Not that the driver's really paying attention to him.

"Wait. I didn't crash into corner of that car. You crashed into mine!" He points at a car next on the adjacent lane, then back at Koutarou. "What... how the Hell, man?!?"

[Kuroimaken]

"We have protocols for that reason. And I can't discount the possibility we have supernatural interference at hand here. Until then,
we deal with the bridges we cross." Koutarou replies to the magenta-haired girl.

"...wait. Aren't you one of the recruits? Natsumi, I think?"

Oh, right. The mundy.

"You were going to crash into the other car if I didn't."

[Frozen_Feet]

The girl rolls her eyes. "Well duh we have protocol. *I* was just reminding *you* of it", the girl snarks. "You referring to me as a 'new recruit' shows how hilariously out of it you are. Oh, by the way..." She leans to her right so she can have eye contact with the "normie". "He is technically right. You would've hit the corner of that other car and bounced to the next lane. Just, that wouldn't have killed you. The truck would've."

Not that the normie is paying much attention to either the girl or Koutarou. He's spotted that there are still people in the car Koutarou wrecked, slides over the hood of his own car and runs to it.

"Hey. HEY! You guys! Are you awake?"

Through the white haze, Koutarou can see distant flashes of blue lights. The sounds of the ambulance and police sirens grow ever louder.

[Kuroimaken]

"Are you daft? I just told you this could be the result of supernatural interference. If it is, we have to find the source. We can deal with whatever else happens when we cross that bridge." Koutarou notes annoyedly. "I distinctly remember you being still enrolled in the Shinoreijutsuin. How long have you been a Shinigami?"

[Frozen_Feet]

The girl turns her attention back at Koutarou. "See, that's just another demonstration of how clueless you are. Didn't you hear me say: 'I was expecting to reap just one soul today'? Didn't you hear what I just said to the guy over there?"

She points at the "normie" who, by now, has hurried to the right side of the wrecked car, torn the door open and is checking her vitals.

"This was all predetermined. I knew how it would go in absence of supernatural interference. You know. Standard operational procedure. The one thing that's interfering here, is you."

[Kuroimaken]

"Shinigami do not predict the future." Koutarou states plainly. "And even if they did, predetermined futures would account for my interference. You would know I would be here today and what would happen then." He points up at the sky. "In any case, it is uncommon enough for beachside locations to get snow, much less in the middle of summer." If she says something else about how clueless he is Koutarou is going to slap some sense into her face.

[Frozen_Feet]

The girl's face looks like its struggling to decide whether to take Koutarou seriously. "Summer? Hey, genius, did it ever occur to you, while you've been here, to ask, like, anyone, what day is it? Or, like, where you are?"

On the background, the man in the biker jacket is still busy helping those in the wrecked car. "... please, stay calm. Keep her like that, do not move her head. Help will be here soon."

He looks up and in the direction of the flashing blue lights, as if to reassure himself that what he's saying is not mere wishfull thinking.

The girl on the truck shakes her head. "Oh, well. Have fun explaining it all to normie authorities." She points her thumb over her shoulder, back to where the cars came from. Undamaged cars in the line are making way for the rescue vehicles. An ambulance is just hundred meters away, followed by the police.

"I'm sure they will have a lot of questions to ask you."