Intro Song: https://youtu.be/XmulpCAiw4s / Blvd. Nights by Team Sleep
"Just kill me already..." Suzushii blurted out, kneeling before her...
In closing his eyes...
He accepts his fate...
I don't even have the aura to fight her...
She's... too much...
With my state...
Shion just sighs and bends forward grasping his cheeks... her warmth surprising him...
How is he not dead yet?
"W-what- what are you doing?" Suzushii asks with a confused tone...
"Showing you... I mean no harm..." she said softly, his mind spins even more...
What?
"I- I've decided... to join you..." she reveals... but her voice still tries to hide it
"I've realized... I never really believed in it... in them..."
"In the great empire and all that..." Suzushii opens his eyes, facing her, she looks at him straight
"I only really cared... for you all... my... friends..."
"But look where time has gotten us... against each other... this war..."
"Has ruined us..."
For the first time, he saw her true self
She... had real emotion on her face...
It looked like...
Anguish...
"I... I couldn't save him... by the time I was... going to pick him up after... killing Yukki..." Suzushii looks shocked at this...
She killed... Yukki?
"We were fighting Yukki... your two agents... they couldn't make it..." Suzushii shakes his head, remembering them both... especially the young Keiko... the young and scared Keiko... he bites his lip...
He clenches his bent fist... Cursing...
"Shit!"
"He was already long gone... by then..." she muttered... her voice flowing and spreading all over them
"Mikoto... he did this..."
"That sly bastard!" Suzushii exclaimed, pummeling the ground beneath him once again, with his bent knuckles, but...
Shion grabs it, slowly shaking her head
"Don't do it Suzushii... you've... had enough..."
"You've faced... enough..." she said calmly... Suzushii looks at her, still not used to this side of her... for all the years they worked as leaders for the great empire...
This side of her...
Was never let out...
"It's all my fault... I... instructed him... to kill Akari... to kill the baby..." he confessed, grabbing the temples of his head, rubbing them
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
His headache rings...
"I should've done that... but I guess he would've blamed me instead... for her death..."
"He really loved her... a bit too much..." she added, he picks up Suzushii back on his feet
"Don't blame yourself... I know I'm not one to tell you this... but..." she paused
"You've sacrificed so much... to fight the great empire... I've seen your efforts..."
"I admire it... you care about them all... those you care about now and those you didn't know back then... when you were with us..."
"Despite everything... you're still willing to sacrifice more... and more..."
"You saw a crucial moment to prevent... WW3..."
"I'm glad you did... with our... unfortunate circumstances..." Suzushii listens intently
"You're a good man... Suzushii..." she embraces him, and his tears start rolling...
And yet... he weeps silently...
"I'm not a good man... I try to be..."
"But I don't care about all that..."
"We have to stop them..."
"Or all of this... would've been for nothing..." the rain keeps pelting them hard... it gathers round their feet, on the crater they're on...
"I know..."
"I know..." she whispered...
Suzushii looks at her... smiling softly...
Knowing at least... one of them... was on our side... he thought
"With the knowledge that Mikoto has... The omega grades will surely be in danger... and most importantly..." Suzushii states, wrapping bandages around his bent knuckles...
"They'll now know about our secret hideouts... our security measures... our... defensive precautions..."
"It's only a matter of time... before..."
"Tokyo becomes a battlefield..." Suzushii's voice strains in saying this...
They both get up... ready for the journey ahead of them...
A race against time... to stop them...
To stop the great empire from truly wiping out the capital... the base of operations for all Ishiins...
Their last hope...
And now...
The Final War...
Truly commences...
.
.
.
The silence fills the house...
With empty rooms and unoccupied seats...
Such a sight is common...
A woman does the housework all around...
Her heart longing...
For his return...
Each and every day...
"Atsu-kun... my dear..." she whispered, parching her lips...
Her body is cold...
Lacking his warmth...
"Please come home... soon..." she holds her chest, spreading her hand around it...
She embraces herself...
Holding both her shoulders..
She weeps...
Shaking...
Breaking...
This is common for her too...
And with Jisei training... to be just like his father...
And Natsuno still in school...
She spends her days alone at home...
Longing...
That maybe...
Just maybe...
He'll come home...
To where he truly belongs...
She reckons...
She...
Reckoned...
.
.
.
-A Few Years Ago-
"My dear!!!!" Inari called out, holding a packed lunch bento box...
"Don't forget your lunch!"
Her voice is loud as it echoes through their comfy little humble home...
Atsushi turns his head, smiling softly, cigarette in hand...
"Hey!!!!! You promised me that you wouldn't smoke anymore!" she pestered him, slightly hitting his arm
"Oh jeez! yeah yeah yeah! I'm sorry ok!" he chuckled, she pouts, turning her head away from him, in disappointment...
He just shakes his head, and takes his packed lunch...
She catches a glimpse, as she assaults his back, hugging him
"Don't be long ok? Atsu-kun..." she spreads her warmth to him, he reaches to grab her hands, those wrapping his waist
"I won't be~ It's just paperworkkkk, alright?" he says lazily, she just giggles
"Yeah alright Mr. Suzuto~ Come home soon~ In time for our special time~ Alright?" she winked at him, he just shakes his head once again, sighing
"You really are needy, aren't you?" he then lets go of her hands, and proceeds to open the front door
"I'm off honey! See you soon!" he kisses her goodbye, she returns it, blushing...
She watches him leave...
Her eyes mixed with bittersweet pangs...
She looks down...
He dropped his cigarette...
She picks it up and stares at it...
Clicking her tongue...
"He just never learns... does he?" she shakes her head and crumples the cigarette, throwing it away
.
.
.
-Present Day-
Goodbye old friend...
I'm sorry... I didn't know how you felt...
I didn't know you carried your guilt that far...
That you longed for her...
Still...
I...
I love you... my brother...
And with this...
I'll always protect both Jisei and Natsuno...
Especially Inari...
For you...
For you...
Atsu...
The only one who really got me...
Cheers...
We never really had a last drink...
Did we...?
This is for you...
Take this drink...
From the other side...
Goodbye...
Old friend...
I hope you're with her...
With your love...
The one I made you snuff out...
Akari...
Suzushii raises his flask into the grey twilight sky, he drinks it all the way...
His tears running up his cheek...
His memory...
Never leaving him...
His presence... always with him...
Haunting him...
Reminding him...
Of just what kind of man he is...
And always was...
.
.
.
-End of Atsushi Retrieval Arc-
- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - --
-To Be Continued-
...
Ending Song: https://youtu.be/X8ztd3UJpRA / Ever (Foreign Flag) by Team Sleep