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2010, Hikari Photo Studio
“Does it scare you?”
“What?” Yuusuke asks. Natsumi looks away.
“Nevermind,” she says. “I just… your brother—”
“Kuuga doesn’t scare me,” Yuusuke says. “Not really. Not… in the way that Godai-San is afraid. I know that Tsukasa can stop me. I’ve seen the very darkest depths of Kuuga, and I still found a way to control it.”
“But that means it does scare you,” Natsumi says. Yuusuke nods.
“Sometimes,” he says. “I just think… I’ve died. More than once. Sure, Kivala and the Worlds have revived me, but I’ve died and come back just because of Kuuga. And my scars fade, and Godai-San doesn’t look over 10 years older than me, and you and Daiki…”
He pauses. Suddenly, it’s hard to admit.
He can feel pain. He can die. But not in ways that matter. Tsukasa understands, he thinks. They’ve both gotten a lot more… reckless, since the Rider War. Maybe it’s guilt, maybe it’s confidence.
Maybe it’s fear.
“We can die,” Natsumi says. Yuusuke nods. He holds her just a little tighter, mindful of his strength.
“Or maybe I outlive you,” he says. “Then what? Do I move on?”
Natsumi hmms.
“I don’t want to think about that,” she says. “We’re not even mid 20s. And you’re talking like…”
“Like someone might die?” Yuusuke asks.
Again? Neither of them say.
“…yeah,” Natsumi says. “It scares me, too. I think it scares all of us. Especially when you’re so reckless.”
“Well, I can afford to be,” Yuusuke says simply. “I can’t die .”
“Well, I watched you die—”
“And I didn’t? ” Yuusuke asks. Natsumi flinches.
“I know,” she says. “But it still hurts you. I don’t want that. I just… I want you to be whole, Yuusuke. I love you.”
Yuusuke smiles, kisses her softly.
“I love you too,” he says. “But it still scares me. I want to live with you.”
Natsumi smiles back, cups his face.
“It’s okay,” she says. “I won’t let you be alone. Okay?”
“Okay,” Yuusuke says.
Fears fade, with the people he loves.
2015, World of Negatives
Natsumi slams Axesuke against a tree. Axesuke grins under his helmet. Oh, this is fun.
“What are you doing here?” She asks. “Yuusuke, there are kids , here. Don’t you care?”
“Not really,” Axesuke says, shoving her off him. “You need to stop. I need you all to give up, and then this World is mine— it can be ours , my Natsumi?”
How she can look sad with a goddamn helmet on is beyond him. He has to break her, wear her down.
“You…”
Axesuke raises his hands, open.
“I’ve been afraid for so long, Natsumi,” he says. “My whole life, tied down. No matter how much we fight, we’re human, we’re damn mortal. We lose. ”
Natsumi lunges, and he doesn’t dodge as she stabs through him, kicks her back. He takes her sword, rips it from his own body.
Pain, he is used to. Pain does not matter to him. In a moment, her sword is his. It fights him, of course. A different kind of demon.
But Kuuga is enough. It will always be enough, pure and powerful like his pitch-black eyes. He cannot be corrupted if he is already twisted. He cannot die if he is powerful enough.
He is not afraid.
Natsumi still stands, of course.
She was his pillar, when he was chained to his fears. Now, he has to make her realize. He can be her pillar, even still.
“Please, Yuusuke,” she says. “If you love me at all, don’t hurt them.”
“If you feel so strongly,” he says. “I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world now, my Natsumi. ”
He throws his sword, and it lands in a tree behind her.
He will live forever. He is free .