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[ TOKYO MEGALOPOLIS, 2052 A.D. ]
The enemy isn't paying any attention. Good.
Under the veil of darkness, Masakiyo Ogiwara can prepare his weapon. A machine gun - a Shrike, if he recalls - lent to him by the injured party laying loosely against the wall beside him. She was resting, at least until she could recover the energy to heal herself — such magic was beyond him, but it came to Aya Kikuchi so easily. Even if left on her own for the time being, she could take care of herself until he finished off these round of enemies and returned for her.
Although her head lolls against the shoulder closest to him, her eyes watch him like a hawk as he begins to load the gun. Expert hands slip the magazine into the weapon with ease.
"You're used to firing guns, aren't you?"
Just as his fingers grace the handrail, he stops in place.
"Not this particular model," he admits, "but I have been fighting for quite some time. It would not do for me to be so amateurish at this hour."
But why had she asked him? Ogiwara shoots her a quick glance over his own shoulder, wondering what could be going through her head. Despite her needling comments and harsh accusations to the rest of their comrades, she was always quick on her feet, and unbelievably witty to boot. Maybe she could sense he felt that way, as once they locked gazes, Aya persisted:
"Well, no, but— you don't even hesitate when you shoot at the demons, even the human-looking ones. Did you ever use it on something other than demons...?"
He blinks. She doesn't. What a pointed question, and at a time like this... Of course, Ogiwara considers brushing it off. They didn't have time to chat. Even so, he couldn't ignore what she spoke of - and she is right, after all. How long had he been fighting, that he could no longer flinch at the sound of his own pistol firing? They'd either call such people fighters, or murderers. And there had once been a time, but...
Gruffly, he pushes himself back up to his feet. His yellow trenchcoat clings to his white suit from where it pooled on the ground, which he brushes out of the way like a cape with a simple sweep of his arm. "I've done many things I'm not proud of, Aya. You heard Takeuchi... you should know what lengths I was willing to go in order to achieve my goals."
And yet, it does not satisfy her. Aya calls out again— "But, did you? We're already in Corepolis, and it won't be too long before we storm the CAD." Her voice, otherwise so full of vigor, softens. "We've only been fighting demons up to this point, and that's easy, but what're we going to do if another human points a gun at us?"
This time, the answer is prompt. "We shoot him down, of course."
"And if you shoot first? Are you really okay with that?"
"..."
Ogiwara raises his own weapon and pokes the muzzle around the corner. "Yes. This isn't just a matter of life and death - our entire world is at stake. If I couldn't shoot down my fellow man for what's right, then I'm better off dead."
Yakshini, two of them. He can shoot one down, and face off against the other... Naoki Takeuchi and Kaoru Tachibana should be arriving soon to provide backup, before regrouping with Tomoharu Kikuchi. But if he nails this shot, he may not even need their help.
And Aya's voice sounds so far away when she finally answers him.
"You're something else, Ogiwara..."
[ SHAMAIM - AMNESIA ]
"Why?! Why did it have to turn out this way?!"
Gabriel's corpse, among the other broken and feathered bodies, hardly had the time to melt away into nothing but shimmering magnetite when Aya shrieks, clutching at her face and facing away from the carnage she herself wrought. Everyone turns to look at her as she gasps and crouches down to her knees. "This can't be our fault! It can't! It's insane! "
Beside her, their leader Naoki breathes out, "Aya..." and her brother Tomoharu gazes long at his sister's wilting form. Kaoru, former leader of the Partisans, approaches with some comforting words, but they do little to cease the sudden sobs she chokes out. And, standing the furthest away is the catalyst of their present situation, Ogiwara himself. The culmination of a hundred thousand hours poured into his battle to seek the true foe behind the military coup d'etat and the demons rampaging throughout Megalopolis and all of space and time, all only to end in frivolous violence that breaks the glue that holds their team together...
For the first time in a long time, a doubt seeds itself in his mind.
Is what we're trying to do here really the right thing?
.........
Time passes. Naoki had called a timeout to give Aya some time to calm down, and so the group briefly split up. He, Aya and Tomoharu sat along the border of the world, while Kaoru stood off to the side beside a massive spherical structure opposite them. Ogiwara finds himself alongside the Partisans leader, hands shoved into his suit pockets as he mulls over the situation at hand.
The angels invited them here through Camael, who once disguised himself as human Bates to get closer to the group. And they desired to test everyone's strength, to continuously funnel them forward toward their precious Tetrarchy. But he cannot guess as to why each and every angel who makes up Amnesia would so eagerly douse their own lives for a chance to see a wayward gaggle of humans shoot them down and slay them. It was beyond them when they first arrived, and now it's taking a toll on their members.
Put in that light, he could almost agree that this land was constructed for them to demolish it with their own hands... but, surely, an entire people cannot be created simply to be destroyed, can they?
...
Evidently, Kaoru takes notice of the furrow in Ogiwara's brow, because he calls out to the man with his arms crossed. "Something on your mind?"
He sighs. "What isn't? This last battle has left the others shaken, and though I'm grateful you stepped in, I cannot help but wonder..."
"If this is all worth it?" Kaoru helpfully adds, although it isn't quite where he was going.
Ogiwara shakes his head. "What's wrong with me, rather, but that is a part of it."
That answer must have been unexpected, because the other man raises a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Just as I have said. I've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this fight, first against the political powers that be in Megalopolis and its government offices - and now, against the supernatural itself." He waves a hand to the geometric, foreign, alien surroundings that now fully encompass their surroundings. "It almost doesn't feel real, does it? But seeing such a human reaction to the slaughter... well, it invites introspection."
Kaoru listens, but his expression remains impartially blank. "It does, doesn't it? ... to be honest, it's been on my mind too of late. Even as a fellow leader willing to do anything for my people, I couldn't believe the kind of shit you were pulling back in 1996... and '95 too, actually." He breaks his neutral expression with a grimace, then bows his head, letting the messy-cut fringes of his black hair hang over his eyes. "Putting so many peoples' lives at risk just because you thought it might save Tokyo..."
It all comes back to that moment, doesn't it? The reason that any of them are standing here in the first place. A siege laid upon Tokyo's government, all to comb through the city, all to find a duo of scientists who created the very program that ruined his and the lives of millions. The very event that created the distance between him and others - that numbness that he feels when he takes another life.
Ogiwara had never considered such horrors before, at least not with demons, but to be faced with a world made nothing of them, all clamoring for a just death in the face of their "saviors"...
Amnesia is not his world. But for God's sake, that doesn't mean he needs to destroy it!
His voice takes on a new, lower tone when he next speaks. "I have always lived my life doing what I felt was right. What few options were presented to me, I took without question or complaint. When I was presented the opportunity to go back and solve everything in one fell swoop, how could I not choose to?
"... And yet, all I was doing was taking shots in the dark." He can't focus on Kaoru anymore. There is shame enough in him to train his eyes on the sphere just past the both of them. "As I have said before, I cannot justify the rule I have enacted over Tokyo. And even beyond this incident, all I had ever done was shoot my shot. If I just focused on my objective, I wouldn't need to look back, nor at the carnage occurring beside me. Because if I ever allowed myself a single glance, I would have..."
With a breath, Ogiwara strains his brows together again. "Thinking on it now, I would have noticed how much of it was my own doing."
His fingers scrunch up into light fits within his pockets, but they are struck with such an inexplicable weakness that they can't even bear to tighten up all the way. How sad, that even a man so resolute in his ideals can lose heart when forced to reevaluate for once in his life. Finding it difficult to look at Kaoru, he instead casts his gaze back toward Aya. She's still sitting on the ground, wiping her face, but there is a trained calm to her movements that he's never seen before. Naoki, beside her, is wearing a forced smile, and he can only see Tomoharu's back, but the man is much more animated than before. Their break may soon be over, and so too will their heart-to-heart. For what little it amounts to, at any rate.
At that moment, Kaoru steps forward, then past Ogiwara. "Whatever hell plagues your heart, I hope you can make peace with it. Because you're gonna have to live with those sins forever, Ogiwara."
He gapes after the other man, then slowly shuts his mouth. At a loss for words, he merely nods. He already knew that, after all. Whatever lies at the end of this blood-worn war... Ogiwara especially, of any of them, won't be making it out unscathed.
Perhaps that is for the better...?