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“Your paperwork appears to be in order,” says the dungeon receptionist- Shinten Outa. He’s a man Yonaga has known in passing for years, and Yonaga supposes that was long enough for some vague camaraderie to build between them- because he eyes Yonaga with a rather concerned look. “Though as always, I must remind you that it’s discouraged to enter dungeons alone. Even when there’s no recorded monster outbreaks.”
“I know,” says Yonaga. If his voice is a little dead, that’s no one’s business but his own.
Shinten lets out a small sigh. “You do have the right to train in a dungeon’s unique environment, and I do understand why you’d like to, but- Yonaga-kun.”
“Yes?”
“I can’t imagine Yuunagi-kun would’ve wanted you to pointlessly risk your life,” Shinten says gently. “Won’t you at least consider taking a navigation robot with you?”
“No,” Yonaga says simply.
It’s not the first time Shinten has made such a suggestion, and it’s far from the first time Yonaga has rejected it. He kinda wishes Shinten would give up already.
(There’s reasons he needs to enter alone. For Yuuma’s sake.)
“I understand,” Shinten says with another sigh. He points at the form. “Stamp here, please. Then you can enter.”
And Yonaga proceeds to do just that.
The Capture Division has no way to automatically detect monster outbreaks. All outbreak points are reported manually, typically by Mining Squad members- who are much more numerous than eliminators.
So even if his app reports no outbreaks, it’s perfectly possible for a monster to pop up. The correct procedure when running into a new monster alone is to retreat, report it to the receptionist, then wait for confirmation that it’s a target for elimination.
Yonaga has not been following procedure these past few months.
And it’s no different today. When a hulking scarecrow turns the corner in front of him, Yonaga draws his sword without hesitation.
The scarecrow is a three star Warabara- despite its seemingly flimsy appearance, it’s highly resistant against most common eliminator weapons. Only a sword can effectively slice through it, and even then, only when slicing through exactly the right spots.
Yonaga knows those spots through hard-fought experience, and he wields a sword. A Warabara is almost the perfect opponent for him.
(But he’s not surprised at all at the convenience.)
With a flash of his sword, he slices the monster into a neat four pieces- it falls to the ground with a thump, straw spilling out on the floor.
He slides his sword back into his sheath, and waits. One second, two- three seconds, four-
A crack opens in the air in front of him.
“Yonaga-san!”
Yuuma bursts out of - literally - thin air, and Yonaga grunts as Yuuma thuds into his chest. Arms squeeze tight around him, and Yonaga can’t help but return the embrace, softly wrapping his arms around Yuuma’s bare back.
“Yonghnya-shan…” continues Yuuma, face pressed into Yonaga’s chest and voice completely muffled.
Yonaga can’t help but snort. “I can’t hear you like that, Yuuma.”
Yuuma leans back a little to gaze up at him with a beaming look. “I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” says Yonaga, smiling just as brightly.
They’re quiet for a bit, just staring at each other. Yonaga would probably stare at Yuuma for days if he were able to. Blond hair loose around his shoulders, eyes a red as beautiful as a sunset-
“But ah…” Yuuma’s gaze is soft and his voice softer. “You always look so cool when you’re fighting monsters, Yonaga-san.”
-and the cold water of reality splashes Yonaga awake.
“Is that why you sent a monster after me again?” Yonaga says flatly.
“I enjoy watching you look cool,” whines Yuuma, pouting a little. “And as I’ve told you before, I wouldn’t have let you be injured.” He snuggles closer into Yonaga, cheek rubbing against Yonaga’s chest. “If it dared touch you, I would’ve killed it right away!”
“Yuuma, you know that isn’t the problem.”
“Hm? Isn’t it?”
“Yuuma,” Yonaga says again, frustrated now. “Just- can’t you-” His arms are wrapped around Yuuma, but still, his hands clench. “-I haven’t told anyone about you, y’know.”
Yuuma’s gaze is painfully gentle. “Yes. I’m aware.”
“So- you can come back,” says Yonaga, half-begging. “We can- get you contacts or something. Sunglasses. You pretty much still look human, it’ll be fine, I promise-”
“-Yonaga-san.” Yuuma reaches up to cup Yonaga’s cheek, and Yonaga’s mouth slams shut. Then Yuuma pauses. “Could you lean down please? I can’t kiss you.”
“You-” sputters Yonaga- but in the end, he closes his eyes and leans down as asked. Soft lips press against his own, and Yonaga wishes they could just stay like this forever.
But he knows that’s an impossible, nonsensical thought, and so he’s not disappointed when Yuuma leans back after not too long.
(He’s still disappointed.)
“I’d like to return as well,” Yuuma says quietly. “But I can’t.”
Anger bursts from Yonaga’s chest. “I don’t understand why! Croquette misses you so much! Weren’t you gonna be their mama?!”
Yuuma flinches, but Yonaga doesn’t feel guilty. He doesn’t. Yuuma deserves every word.
“And what happened to being a hero?” snaps Yonaga, voice cracking.
“I still plan to be a hero,” Yuuma says, and that makes no sense at all.
“You’re gonna be a hero by controlling monsters?” Yonaga says bitterly.
He doesn’t expect a proper response. Yonaga has been meeting up with Yuuma like a fool for the past few months, but Yuuma has never given him any explanation for what he’s doing, for why he won’t return.
But Yuuma surprises him today.
“I know what the monsters- what we want, Yonaga-san.” Yuuma’s gaze is firm. “And I know now- this is the only way forward. So, Yonaga-san, I can’t return. But-” A finger traces over Yonaga’s cheek. “-you could come to me!”
“…What?”
“I miss you so much,” Yuuma says, hand still soft on Yonaga’s cheek. “I miss Croquette so much. So I’ve been working very hard- stabilizing things. Finding a solution. For you, Yonaga-san- it would be fine now. You can come to me.”
“Yuuma,” Yonaga says with a frown. “Explain. What do you mean?”
“The monsters have been planning to invade en masse for centuries now,” Yuuma says simply, and Yonaga’s chest freezes with fear. “It’s taken time for them to learn how to adapt to the human world- but through the halfway environment of dungeons, they’ve mostly managed it. If nothing else changes, the invasion will happen within the next decade.”
Yonaga laughs, slightly shrilly. “That’s not funny.”
“It’s not a joke,” Yuuma says, and Yonaga staggers back, cold sweat running down his spine.
“We need to- if you’re serious, we need to tell someone,” says Yonaga, already half-panicked. “The Chief- the government? Someone-”
“-There’s nothing humanity can do.” Yuuma’s face is uncharacteristically cold, and it throws Yonaga off-kilter.
“What do you mean there’s nothing we can do?” snaps Yonaga, gesturing wildly. “We’ve managed so far, yeah?”
“Only against a handful of unintelligent monsters unadapted to this world,” Yuuma says quietly. “Things have changed so much, even monsters like me can appear now.”
“You’re not a monster,” Yonaga bites out.
“I am,” Yuuma corrects, closing the distance between them. And Yonaga doesn't want to admit it- he's never wanted to admit it. But Yuuma's eyes are so still and sure, Yonaga can't bring himself to argue against him.
Yuuma grabs Yonaga’s hands, and- Yonaga lets him.
With a smile that's bright, too bright, Yuuma asks- “Won’t you become a monster for me?”
“What are you- humans can’t-” But the words choke in Yonaga’s throat, because that isn’t true now, is it? Humans can become monsters. Sumiyoshi modified himself to become something more than human. Croquette is a crossbreed between human and monster.
And Yuuma-
Yuuma stands right in front of him, smile shining, eyes redder than blood.
“Monsters attack humans to create more monsters,” Yuuma explains, “Typically, monsters are disjointed amalgamations of humans, animals, or objects.”
“Right,” mutters Yonaga, running through the monsters he knows in his mind- because it’s safer than thinking about anything else right now.
“Rarely though,” Yuuma continues, “A monster can be born from a single human in their entirety.”
“Like you.”
“Like me.” Yuuma nods. “Yonaga-san. I’d like to turn that rare occurrence into the norm.”
“And that means turning me into a monster?” snaps Yonaga.
“It means turning all of humanity into monsters,” Yuuma corrects, and Yonaga shakes his head in sheer incredulity.
“That’s crazy. Yuuma- you- you have to know that’s crazy. Right?”
Yuuma just silently stares up at him with a blank look, and Yonaga swallows, worry beginning to rise up in his throat. There’s something wrong here, Yuuma- he needs help. He needs to get him help, somehow. Yonaga tries to draw back, but- Yuuma won’t let go of him. His grip is iron tight around Yonaga’s hands.
“You can’t turn everyone into monsters!” Yonaga exclaims, eyes wild. “You-”
“-You said it yourself, Yonaga-san,” Yuuma cuts in. “I basically still look human, don’t I? Would it be so bad if that happened to everyone?”
“And what about the people who don’t transform like you?“
Because Yonaga may be many things - kinda friendless, always tired, and pretty demotivated in general - but he’s certainly not stupid. Yuuma said humans smoothly transitioning into monsters was rare, and the reality was that in the past five decades since dungeons first popped up, Yuuma is the only human-type monster to ever appear.
Life isn’t that easy. There’s no way they can just flick a switch and turn everyone into monsters without changing a thing, and just as he feared-
“…some will lose their rationality during the process,” Yuuma admits. He bites his lip, looking very guilty now.
“How many?” snaps Yonaga.
“If we don’t do this, all of humanity will die,” pleads Yuuma. “I want to save people, Yonaga-san!”
“How many, Yuuma?”
“We’re still improving the process,” Yuuma mumbles, “There’s ways to improve the success rate. People who spend a long time in dungeons- it acclimates them. So you would absolutely be fine, Yonaga-san- you’ve been an eliminator for much longer than me.”
“Yuuma.” Yonaga’s voice is cutting, and Yuuma flinches.
“About one in a thousand,” Yuuma finally admits, and bile rises up in Yonaga’s throat.
“One in a-” Yonaga cuts himself off, disgusted. “Let me go.”
“Yonaga-san-”
“Let me go,” hisses Yonaga, and Yuuma finally lets go of his hands. Yonaga instantly crouches down, hand to his mouth as he gags, queasy.
One in a thousand. With eight billion people on Earth, that would be eight million dead- no, worse than dead. But right now, that’s not what’s making him feel so sick.
“Yuuma,” Yonaga says, voice broken. “How many people have you killed?”
To know the failure rate is one in a thousand- how many people had been transformed already? How many people were turned into ravaging monsters in horrifying experiments?
“I did it for you,” Yuuma says quietly.
And Yonaga does actually throw up this time.
“Yonaga-san!” Yuuma swoops down to comfort him, hand gentle on his shoulder as he wipes at Yonaga’s mouth with a handkerchief.
Yonaga hates himself. He really does. Because-
“Why do I still love you?” Yonaga says in despair.
There’s relief on Yuuma’s face as he hears that. “I love you too, Yonaga-san.”
“Shut up,” Yonaga says, voice hopeless.
He’s in love with a mass murderer. A literal supervillain. It still doesn’t feel quite real, but Yonaga knows that’s no excuse. He knows very well- even once everything sinks in, even if he saw Yuuma kill someone with his own hands-
He would still love Yuuma more than anything in the world.
“I really hate myself,” Yonaga breathes.
“Yonaga-san, don’t say that!” cries Yuuma, dismayed.
Yonaga’s hands clench on the ground- then, slowly, he staggers himself back up, pushing Yuuma away. Yuuma lets him, though the look on his face is unfairly mournful.
“I love you, Yuuma,” says Yonaga, drawing his sword. “But that’s why I need to stop you.”
And Yuuma’s face instantly melts with pleasure. “Ah, Yonaga-san… you really are so cool.”
“That’s not- I’m being serious here!” snaps Yonaga.
“I know,” says Yuuma- and before Yonaga can even react, Yuuma has drawn up to his side. He yelps as he’s yanked down by his tie, soft kiss pecked against his lips.
Yuuma smiles softly. “I’ll let you think over things for a little while, Yonaga-san.”
“I don’t need to-”
But Yuuma has already danced back, smoothly stepping through a crack in the air. In the blink of an eye, Yuuma is gone.
And Yonaga is left standing in the dungeon corridor alone.
(Desperately wanting, and desperately needing.)
Yuuma needs to be stopped before it’s too late. That much is obvious.
A mere D+ rank eliminator probably can’t do much to stop him alone. That much is also obvious- Yuuma has shown off his new skills in front of him before, and they’re horrifyingly effective. Yuuma could probably level all of Suginami in one go if he really wanted to- how can someone like Yonaga stand up against that?
So Yonaga needs to tell someone. The Chief, or Bandou maybe- he’s sure he could get them to believe him, if he brings along a hidden camera the next time he ventures into a dungeon alone.
But making things official also means hammering a nail into Yuuma’s coffin. If dealing with Yuuma’s insane ambitions becomes an official mission-
-then people will know what he’s already done. People who don’t love him like Yonaga does so very much. And the last thing Yonaga wants is to lose Yuuma to jail, or worse, the death penalty.
(Even if Yuuma might deserve to see a court. Even if it’s unfair to Yuuma’s victims, whoever they might be.)
Eventually, Yonaga may need to tell someone. He knows that. But for now, for as long as he can-
He’s going to turn Yuuma away from his path by himself.
(So that one day, they can have their happy days together once more.)