Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ON EARTH, ALL SAPIENT LIFEFORMS ARE EQUAL.
BUT SOME SAPIENT LIFEFORMS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

Everyone in the Tokyo Residential Complex, especially in the Little Homeworld District, knows this, including Takumi.

Gems and humans have always had a tumultuous relationship. The Diamond Authority, the society of gems, was once a galaxy-spanning empire; about 7,050 years ago, the Authority attempted to colonize Earth. A small insurrection group within the Authority formed, rebelling against the Diamonds, protecting the Earth. 

Takumi doesn’t understand much, but he has learned a little bit from his ‘mother’-- another gem watching over him, not really his mom, Crazy Lace Agate. Crazy Lace didn’t really fight in the war. What he does know is that gem empire was planning on sucking the earth dry of it’s life and adding it’s hollowed out remains to the Diamond Authority’s galaxy spanning empire.

This is why humans hate gems. 

This has been something present in the TRC as long as Takumi has been around. Takumi remembers clearly the words he remembered seeing in a psa: We shouldn’t allow these life-sucking parasites to live alongside us. He remembered Crazy Lace shaking her head and turning the TV off when they both heard that. They’ve never really talked about it since, either. Crazy Lace has never actually talked to him about anti-gem bigotry, because in a way, it’s just what normal is here.

That’s what his ‘normal’ is: even in the small paradise that the TRC is, gems are not welcome. They are all lifeforms with sapience, legally equal under the jurisdiction of the TRC, but some lifeforms are more equal than others. That’s just how life is. Takumi begrudgingly accepts that it’s ‘normal’ that all humans hate gems. It’s fine, really, because for the most part, Takumi hates humans, too.

…But it’s not all humans are bad, even if most are. Karua isn’t bad; she’s a human, and she was raised alongside him. Era-3 is different for gems, Takumi included. Most gems emerge fully grown, but to make them more in line with how humans grow, gems like Takumi emerged as an infant and grew like a human, albeit shorter. Of course, this resulted in him being undercooked and nowhere near as powerful as Tiger’s Eye gems from Era-1 or even Era-2.

His mot-- dammit, Crazy Lace, took him in on a whim. She had come from guarding a moon base to raising him in the TRC. And later, when Karua’s father died, Crazy Lace took her in as well. And, after a while, they became a small familial unit. They have been together, under one roof, since. 

Crazy Lace was a gem from Era-1, so she always talks about how good the Authority used to be, or how glorious Homeworld once was. As you could imagine, she tended to be more traditional than he was (this is why she took a nurturing position in their relationship; “An agate terrifies but they’re also teachers”. Takumi never really understood her). She had stayed on Earth because that was her Diamond’s colony, furthermore, this is why Crazy Lace had taken Karua in. Because Crazy Lace’s Diamond, Pink Diamond, had loved two things in this universe: the Planet Earth and Humans. Takumi, who had been created well after the caste system and Diamond Courts, didn’t care for either.

Takumi sighed as he watched Karua stab at what he presumed to be an egg. Gems don’t really need to eat, so Crazy Lace isn’t really a good cook. Neither is he. Among the three, Karua is the only one who tries. It’s just how things are around here. “Jeez…” He mumbles. “Are you sure it’s even edible? Maybe we should start getting pre-made foods for you.” The albumen was brown-black, while the yolk had turned a sickly green color. How was that even possible, anyway?

The human looked at him incredulously, and somehow, not phased by the objectively foul-looking egg. “Tigger!” Karua says, sounding more insulted than mom-- dammit, Crazy Lace, he means. Karua has always called him Tigger, ever since they met. With the black markings on his face and arms, a young Karua had mistaken Takumi for being half tiger and half human. Crazy Lace only chuckled in response as she cleaned up something just out of sight. “Don’t be mean!”

Despite all the troubles being a gem brings, and how humans make it worse, his life is normal. It never really changes; every day is the same in and out. Takumi doesn’t have a problem with it, being a quartz means that he likes things to be comprehensible and easy. 

If he can face it head-on, then that’s just fine with him. Complexities tend to give him a headache.

Crazy Lace finishes whatever she was doing in the kitchen and pops her head out from the door. Her face would pass for a human if her gem weren’t placed where her left eye would be. Dark red ribbons adorn her face, similar to the black stripes on Takumi’s body, standing in contrast with her pale white skin. Her smooth, faceted gem gleamed in the simple lighting of the room. “Oh, don’t worry about it too much, Karua. This old gem is tough enough to take it!” She pauses and gives the two a serious look. “Oh, but you and Tiger’s Eye should head off to school now.”

Takumi grumbles. He prefers to call himself ‘Takumi’ rather than just going by Tiger’s Eye. Granted, his calling himself ‘Takumi’ was the result of humans making mildly insensitive jokes/comments. He had grown tired of explaining to bigoted elementary students why he was called ‘Tiger’s Eye’ if his gem was on his left pectoral.

Karua calling him ‘Tigger’ is different, however. There are millions of Tiger’s Eye gems, all a multitude of colors and sizes, but there’s only one Takumi. More importantly: there’s only one Tigger. He’s the only one. 

(Well, technically, there are two Tiggers in the world, but that’s semantics.)

He crosses his arms, making sure to avoid brushing against his gem, and corrects Crazy Lace. “It’s Takumi, Crazy Lace.” Humorously, after he started calling himself ‘Takumi’ in elementary school, Crazy Lace began to call herself ‘Junko’ to match. Soon after, to make things more ‘normal’, they mutually took the surname ‘Sumino’. And while the two have always been together since Takumi emerged, when they began to use ‘Sumino’, they became a bonded pair. 

And, in a way, a family.

Crazy Lace smiles. “...Of course, dear,” older era-1 gems like her were always a little condescending, it comes with the eons of age. “oh, but Takumi, remember, you have to protect your girlfriend, Karua!”

“C- Crazy Lace!” He says a bit indignantly. Gems don’t really have the same concept of siblings as humans do, but even he feels a bit uncomfortable being called Karua’s boyfriend. As long as he has known Karua, they’ve been a ‘family’, and that means a lot to him.

Karua chuckles, taking it as a joke more than anything. She’s always been better at things like that, anyway. “Yeah, you better listen to her, Tigger!” She says, joking along with Crazy Lace.

Takumi grumbles out a sentence that even he can’t decipher clearly. But this is pretty much normal for the three; Crazy Lace is always egging on Takumi, and Karua encourages it. But deep down, Takumi does have a desire to keep both of them safe.

He has to--

--Takumi’s eyes flutter open, and he cannot, for the life of him, understand what the hell is going on. He knows there’s been a jump in time, because after Karua’s breakfast, he walked her to school and--

Right. Right, everything was normal until the security alarm rang. As long as Takumi has known her, Karua has had a lifelong fear of alarms, so she ran off, probably having a panic attack (or something). He followed her because he’s always been able to find her; she had wandered into an abandoned school, and--

Right, right. He had met that… creature-robot-goblin-monster- thing in the school Karua wandered off to. It kept rambling about something or another about knives and daggers and fighting the invaders , but Takumi was more focused on Karua’s safety. Crazy Lace ordered him, after all, to protect Karua. 

And--

--He fought monsters. 

Corrupted gems. 

Demons. 

Ghouls. 

Whatever, it didn’t matter what they were, but that creature had given him a knife and stabbing that knife into his gem let him get gem abilities that lay dormant inside him. Newer gems, especially era-3, are naturally more dovish than older gems. In layman's terms: Takumi couldn’t summon his gem weapon, but that knife unlocked his hemo-whatever and let him summon it. He had remembered his gem weapon, clear in his haze of thoughts:

A clear, light-red katana. The blade was opaque and sharp, the handle was gold with a snake molded into the guard. He had felt so cool holding it, finally feeling like all the war heroes from the stories that Crazy Lace had told him about the Great Gem War. More importantly, he felt strong. Strong enough to protect Karua from anything. The monsters, whatever they were, couldn’t stand up against him. 

He felt like the Renegade Pearl that Crazy Lace always raved about . Takumi felt like he was on cloud nine. He could’ve gotten shattered then and there, and he’d be fine. He protected Karua and looked, more importantly, cool doing it.

And then he blacked out. 

He might’ve poofed, he might’ve just fallen unconscious, but more important than all of that, he was able to protect Karua from whatever those monsters were.

Faintly, he felt an ebbing pain in his chest. It might’ve been from stabbing a knife into it, or maybe he really did poof and had to reform. But if he reformed, why was he still wearing his hoodie and school jacket? Those aren’t projected onto his body, unless that little… creature retrieved it along with his gem. He can almost believe that.

His eyes dart around, and he’s in… a classroom? But the first thing he notices is that Karua is nowhere to be seen. So he immediately realizes that he’s not at his school. He’s surrounded by humans, and he cannot recognize a single one. He’s not at home.

There’s a simple message on the board:

ATTENTION TROOPS!
HUMANS AND GEMS: IT’S TIME TO GET TO KNOW YOUR NEW TEAM--
LET’S ALL INTRODUCE OURSELVES!
HERE, ALL SAPIENT LIFE THAT CALLS EARTH ‘HOME’ IS EQUAL.

It made his skin crawl, but all Takumi could do was crease his lips into a line and suppress a groan. Sure, the board might say ‘Humans and gems,’ but it should really say ‘Humans and a gem.’ All the people surrounding him are humans. He’s the only gem here. Among a sea of cream skin, Takumi stood out with pale red skin and black striping. It didn’t help that his eyes, readily visible, had the telltale signs of a gem: he didn’t have any pupils or ears.

Great.

His eyes darted around, trying to see if his eyes were deceiving him. But, no, everyone else was a human. He was the lone gem.

Much to his chagrin, it seems like everyone else (all the humans, he mentally corrected) was beginning to wake from their sleep, too. It’s just his rotten luck. All Takumi wanted was a normal life, so what the hell was he getting caught up in it?

He sank into his jacket. Humans are famously volatile; sure, Karua is accepting, but how could he tell how these random humans would react to being near a gem? It’s a rarity in the TRC, but some humans’ve never even met a gem before. This is mostly common in the richer parts of the colony: gems are usually poor, and they tend to live in the poorer parts of the TRC. And Takumi has yet to have heard of a rich person even daring to mingle with poverty.

One of the humans, a tall and slender girl, stood with gravitas. Black hair cascaded off her back. Everything about her screamed apex predator. Her red eyes scanned the room. “You’re all awake.”

A human boy, a little shorter than Takumi and wearing raggedy clothes, grumbled. “...I wish I weren’t.”

The bespectacled girl glanced at the screen and then at the group. She crossed her arms and sighed. “Shizuhara Hiroko.” She, Shizuhara, announced with very little fanfare.

A girl with white hair, and one of the few people in the classroom to have darker skin, blinked. She seemed more confused than anything. “I-- I’m sorry, what?” 

By now, everyone in the classroom had risen from their seats and stood aimlessly in the room. Takumi tried his best to slink into a corner, making himself as unassuming as he possibly could. The less pain he can encounter, the better.

Shizuhara sighed, looking at the board. “It says we have to introduce ourselves.” She explained. “I imagine if we do, something will happen.”

The boy in raggedy-clothed boy groaned. “Oh, great, something will happen.”

Her brow furrowed, and she began to glare at the boy. Well, Takumi now knew that he shouldn’t piss off Shizuhara. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Kawana Tsubasa,” Spoke the white-haired girl, simply introducing herself with a pleasant smile. She wore a white mechanic's jumpsuit and a black-and-white tank top. She seemed friendly enough, but from Takumi’s experience, even the nicest human could be nasty as anything.

“‘Effing whatever,” Another human started, who towered over everyone in the class. His hair was stark white and, like Kawana, he had darker skin. He wore a gold gaudy jacket and, jarringly, bright purple shades. “Names’ Yakushiji Takemaru. Don’t piss me off.”

In contrast, a much shorter and slender human boy spoke, his face framed by dark purple hair. Standing next to him was a similarly built girl with pink hair tied into girlish pigtails. They both wore the same dark red school uniform. “Oh, if I absolutely have to… I am Tsukumo Ima. And this is my darling, beautiful, adorable Sister Dearest, Kako.”

“...Thank you, Brother Dearest...” The other Tsukumo twin’s face blushed slightly as she waved nervously. “Oh, and hello, everyone.”

“Annnddd I’mmmm Amemiya Darumi!!” A girl with a frankly garish outfit announced, excitement clear in her voice, blue-gradiated hair tied into tight pigtails. Her face was caked with white foundation and black makeup. “When are we getting to the killing? This is totally the start to a killing game, right!? Right!? I call being the first blackened!!” What the hell was she going on about? Sounded like some weird videogame. What was she going to suggest next, it would that their headmaster should be a small robot bear? If he didn’t feel like he was going to poof from dread, Takumi would be laughing at the idea.

Shizuhara pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Please quiet yourself.” It seemed like she was taking over as group leader. Seemed fitting, as it looked like she was the only one in their group who had her head on straight.

“Okie-dokey!” Amemiya agreed with a salute. “I still call being the first killer…”

Is every human here psychotic?

The human boy in raggedy clothes groaned. “Maruko Gaku. Whatever.”

“N- not that anyone is going to care for a water flea like me, but…” A small boy, smaller than basically everyone in the room, spoke with a quiet voice. His green frog cap hid most of his hair, and he wore a dark green backpack that was about the same size as him. “I’m… Ginzaki Shouma.” 

That left one human to introduce themselves: a tall boy with choppily cut gray hair, exclusively wearing white, with thin-rimmed glasses adorning his face. He looked sickly, almost on the verge of outright disgust, being in a room with so many people. When he spoke, his face changed to look much more pleasant and sociable. Takumi wondered if this was just social anxiety. “It’s so nice to meet you all! My name is Aotsuki Eito.” Aotsuki spoke with an infectious enthusiasm. “Let’s hope we aren’t in something super dangerous!”

When it came to him, the last person to introduce themself, he stiffened up and swallowed awkwardly. “My name is Sumino Takumi,” he greeted everyone with obvious nervousness. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t want to say anything else. A part of him hoped everyone would just assume he was human, despite having pretty obvious black-striping on his face and pale-red skin.

“Sumino Takumi, it says,” The Tsukumo twin with purple hair spoke with an obvious disdain, and worst of all, he was giving him a knowing smirk. “And what are you really?” Everyone, aside from the Tsukumo twin with pink hair, gave each other uncomfortable glances. Aotsuki was the odd man out as he awkwardly tilted his head and stared at Takumi. 

All he could do was suppress a groan. Just his luck that he has to deal with this immediately.

Takumi knows that this is not a fight that he has any chance of winning. He is surrounded on all fronts by a bunch of humans, with himself being the lone gem. He rolled his eyes and spoke with a dejected sigh: “...Red Tiger’s Eye. Facet-A16, Cabochon-24.” It was rare he ever said his full gem name; it felt almost weirdly alien being spoken out of his mouth. He had only even known of it because Crazy Lace had told him it. Best for identification, after all. It’s not like he was legally named Takumi Sumino, anyway.

The pink-haired Tsukumo twin reacted instantly by pinching her nose shut and hiding close to her brother. She, then, whined. “Ewwwww…” 

Because of their biology (or rather, lack of one), gems don’t, or rather can’t, excrete smell of any kind since gems don’t have sweat glands on their body. She was doing that intentionally to make him uncomfortable. Great, most of the organics here might just be the one thing he hated the most: racist assholes.

Oh, this isn’t just bad; Takumi is in hell. Maybe he got shattered during that encounter with those monsters, and this is a punishment his shards were making for failing to protect Karua.

Shizuhara shook her head. “That isn’t necessary.” She then glanced at the tech board. “We’re being ordered to act as equals.” Her arms crossed, it seems she was taking position as group leader. “Grow up.”

The purple-haired Tsukumo laughed. “I’ve done a lot of things-- but I’d die rather than act as if that parasite is any equal to me.” He then paused. “And worse, it’s some sort of hologram projection. Does it think that it’s that it’s as radiant and illustrious as my radiant, illustrious Sister Dearest?”

Takumi glared at the male Tsukumo twin. He wasn’t sure what he should be more insulted by: the bordering-on-romantic adoration of his sister, or the fact that Takumi was being compared to said sister. “Seriously, what the hell is your problem?” It’s not like he was going to try and debate him, considering how much good that does.

“My problem is inorganics like you who try and act like us humans.” Tsukumo-- Ima spat. “Wonder why you were brought here, anyway. Maybe to be a servant for my darling, beautiful, gorgeous Sister Dearest, I wonder?” Servant? That brought to mind the horror stories of era-1 and era-2 pearls. Standing around, looking pretty. Being someone’s shiny toy. It, frankly, made him sick. Humans are awful, but the previous chaste system under the Diamonds was worse. Thinking about it just made him feel awful.

Kawana's fists clenched, and her voice came out, outraged. “That’s an awful thing to say!” She sounded upset, which confused him. Why would a human care? Why would a human care at all about anything bad happening to a gem?

He then reminded himself: Karua cared, and she’s human. And now Takumi feels bad.

Aotsuki formed a time-out symbol with his hands, trying to calm down the now four-person argument. “We shouldn’t be fighting like this! Aren’t we supposed to be friends here?” He paused, swallowing. “What even is a gem, anyways? Why should it matter, anyway?”

“Gems are lowlife inorganic parasitic organisms who tried to kill our planet 7,570 years ago,” Ima explained. “If this world were any at all civilized, gross insects like that thing shouldn’t even be on this planet. They should’ve been kicked off when we had a chance, and now…” Ima’s eyes rolled to Takumi. “Now we have an infestation of them.”

Takumi, in turn, explained from his perspective. He ignored being called an infestation. “Gems… like myself, are polymorphic space rocks.” He paused. “Like Ima said about 7,570 years ago, gems came to this planet to… colonize it. But other gems, like the legendary Rose Quartz, fought against this and won the war for this planet.” He was tempted to call Earth a dumb planet, but he wasn’t ready to test his luck. “So much for being parasites if the Diamonds couldn’t even properly infest this planet.”

“So you’re an alien?” Aotsuki asks, innocently insensitive, although it doesn’t bother Takumi much. Aside from the fact that he was born on Earth.

Maruko rolls his eyes. “...We’re living under a rock before you found yourself here?” 

Aotsuki presses his lens up and looks uncomfortable. “Before this, I was in the hospital--” the boy pauses and verbally backspaces, “--a human hospital all my life,” he corrects, “so I never… I never knew that it was such a big deal.” 

“Because it’s not!” Announced a familiar voice that Takumi had loathed: it belonged to that… goblin… corrupted gem… thing. “At the Last Defense Academy, lifeforms that consider Earth home are considered equal!” 

Well, something happened.

The classroom was blanketed in silence. Takumi was just glad the conversation wasn’t about him anymore. Entering the room was a small, semi-transparent white robot. It wore a black fedora. It’d be cute if it didn’t bring back unpleasant memories.

“Weeeelcome to Last Defense Academy, troops!” The small creature announced, and Takumi was now realizing it was likely just a robot. It hopped onto the classroom podium, pointing at the students. “I am Sirei, but you don’t have to call me ‘Sir’! I am your unit leader! And I suppose I have to drill into you all that bigotry, especially towards foreigners, is strictly prohibited!”

Takumi rolled his eyes. Foreigners? He was created on Earth! He grew up on Earth! Why the hell was he considered a ‘foreigner’?

But--

“...Unit leader?” Shizuhara repeated, eyeing Sirei suspiciously. She sounded more quizical than confused, and with how her red eyes were trained on him, it was as if she were trying to figure him out.

“Of course,” Sirei answered. “What do you think that last battle was? It was your recruitment test! You all, quite valiantly I might add, fought the invaders!”

Takumi hadn’t thought of what happened since he woke up. He didn’t doubt that it was real; it felt too exhilarating not to be, but-- it was all a recruitment test? Karua was in danger; she was presumably still in danger, and it was all for a test? What the hell? Sure, summoning his gem weapon felt amazing, and the thrill of hemoanima was something else, but Takumi would rather be a powerless era-3 gem for the rest of his life than let Karua be in danger.

“S- so…” Maruko stammered. “That wasn’t some elaborate hallucination…? All of that was really real?”

“Of course it wasn’t!” Sirei replied. “Anyways, you all are here to defend this school for a hundred days, and--”

Kawana held her hands to her mouth, looking like she was about to keel over and vomit. Her voice came out strained and nervous. “Urk-- a h-hundred days!?” 

“Yes! You all must protect this mighty school from the vile and barbaric enemy!” Sirei reiterated.

“For a hundred days?” Aotsuki asked.

Sirei went silent for a moment, looking stunned. He spoke, disappointment clear on his mostly featureless face. “You all aren’t too bright, huh…” The small automaton cleared his throat -- does he even have a throat?-- and spoke. “You all are here as representatives of this Planet . You have to protect it and this school! You kill the bad guys, that’s you all protecting the Tokyo Residential Complex!” Sirei sighs, making an aside: “Man, management is going to hate me for being so casual with my platoon…”

Representatives of this Planet? That must be a polite way of including him; Takumi is sure that if he weren’t here, he’d be calling the group the representatives of humankind. He almost felt annoyed by it.

“Protect it…” Aotsuki repeated. “...From the ‘enemy’?”

Takumi didn’t want to be included in this. Fight for Earth? Fight for the TRC? As if. What did the world ever do for him that meant he had to protect it? He wasn’t some hero or some revolutionary like Rose Quartz during the Rebellion. He was a teenager who barely paid attention in his classes. But… he did have people waiting for him at home. He had Crazy Lace, the small community of gems who lived in the TRC, and most importantly, Karua. But did that mean he should risk his life?

He raised his tentatively. “...Can we go back to the TRC? Now?” Takumi asked sheepishly. He shouldn’t be here. He should be back in the TRC, helping Karua and protecting Little Homeworld. Who knows what happened while he was gone?

Ima chuckled. “Oh my, it seems like the parasite doesn’t want to be one of ’representatives of this planet’.” Parasite. Takumi was tempted to argue back, to yell, to stand up, but a part of him realized this would make things worse. If anything, it’s not like anyone here is going to defend him. What use is there in standing up for himself if it’s just going to be like the TRC?

This is just going to be the TRC without Karua. A depressed part of him surmises.

“H- hey, he’s right!” Maruko announces, looking at Ima. For a moment, Takumi feels like his whole world is crashing down. “Why should I go and fight those monsters? Sumino has the right idea here!”

He-- what?

Takumi is not unfamiliar with humans who aren’t awful, because there’s Karua. But he wasn’t familiar with being named properly. Most humans call him very dehumanizing things; it, parasite, demon, the like. Some just forgo calling him Sumino or Takumi and call him Tiger’s Eye, much to his annoyance. Karua was the only real exception in this. He hated to admit to this, but when they were growing up, it had been Karua who had defended him from bullies. He’d felt bad, always, that he was never able to repay her for this. 

Sure, the caste system was long disbanded by the time either of them had been born, but how could a mighty quartz soldier allow a civilian to save him from danger? Even if he was never ‘made’ to have a purpose like older gems, Crazy Lace had explained it aptly to him once, when he was much younger and much more reckless: he was a warrior at heart. “Tiger’s Eye, that’s just how we quartz gems are.” She had once said to him, always motherly, “We fight for anything like everything is on the line.” He never understood what she meant by that until now.

Probably because of his DNA, Takumi was a warrior at heart. 

He was also a person who had never been able to properly thank Karua.

Karua…

As the group began to bicker with Sirei, all about hemoanima and fighting monsters (he didn’t care much about the discussion), Takumi found himself lost within his thoughts. Those thoughts, predictably, were about Karua, as they always were. They were family, after all, although he never had frequent thoughts about Crazy Lace the same way he did about Karua.

He didn’t want to say it all clicked with him, but for a moment, that if he was going to be made to fight, he realized he didn’t have to fight for the TRC. He could just fight for Karua and Crazy Lace. He could fight for all the gems unfairly maligned by the humans who hated them. It was true that Takumi couldn't care less about a world that hated his existence, but he wasn’t going to throw away the people in that world who did.

The reality of the situation further dawned on him: 

Takumi just had to fight for himself.

Chapter Text

To put it simply: it’s been a rough week at the Last Defense Academy. 

Firstly, Takumi, along with Amemiya, Aotsuki, Yakushiji, and Shizuhara, are the only members of the Special Defense Unit (SDU from here forth). Everyone else is on the sidelines. This is mostly fine. Takumi has to use armor because his connection to hemoanima is incredibly weak compared to humans, so he has to rely on his base strengths as a quartz gem. This is mostly fine; he already has abilities that come with hemoanima (it gives humans functional immortality, gems already have this). Plus, he can always just wear lightweight armor. In a way that doesn’t sound sullen or melodramatic: that’s fine. Really, it is. Since he’s a quartz, Takumi was sort of created by the Diamonds to be a soldier anyway.

Funnily, before joining the SDU, Aotsuki was the main person initially sowing dissent against Sirei (which is fine, Sirei was sort of racist). Because he didn’t want to fight, he had decided to venture outside the school. This, also, was mostly fine until… 

The second big thing that happened a week in, Sirei was killed. Ripped apart, shattered, wiped out with zero chance of revival. Left in a trash can outside the school. That was bad. How was the SDU supposed to fight without Sirei? 

Well, aside from him being dead (this was somewhat sad to Takumi), meaning no more precise explanations on hemoanime, it was surprisingly mostly fine. Turns out Shizuhara was a functionally better leader than him. Takumi preferred following orders, which was fine. He was never really cut out to be a leader anyway. Takumi begrudgingly admits this likely stems from his quartz programming.

This led to the third bad thing: Shizuhara has given an eight-day grace period for the non-combatants to join the combatants’ side, or they’ll be kicked out of the school and forced to live in a wasteland outside the school. This will likely lead to immediate death or a slow, awful death, both of which are bad. So that leaves Kawana, the Tsukumo twins (blegh), Ginzaki, and Maruko.

And that leaves to now. It helps that the invaders haven’t really attacked the school recently, so most of the SDU can take their time and plan during the eight-day grace period.

“I’m sure I can handle talking to Ginzaki-san,” Aotsuki declared, in the meeting for Operation: Let’s Save Everyone (as so dubbed by Aotsuki) . Present was Aotsuki, Amemiya, Yakushiji, and Takumi. Thankfully, despite being in the cafeteria surrounded by humans, most of them weren’t too… difficult to deal with. It helped that, aside from Aotsuki’s occasional blissful ignorance, everyone present treated him like a person. “As for the Tsukumo twins…”

Amemiya, lazily, leaned backwards and stretched her arms. “We definitely shouldn’t deploy our beloved Tiger Boy,” Takumi rolled his eyes at being referred to as that. Thankfully, everyone, aside from Amemiya, would call him just ‘Sumino’ (although the twins called him ‘Mister Tiger’s Eye’ to purposefully annoy him). “I may be a total slut for blood, but that would end in a bloodbath! A bloodbath orgy! He’d claw their eyes out! Kyahaha!!!” So, does she actually have a problem with that or not?

“It wouldn’t be that bad…” Although Takumi knows full well that it would. Ima’s almost consistent harassment and insults were getting on his nerves. It did not help that Kako had now started to ignore his existence, pretending like he wasn’t even there at all. Those two did annoy the hell out of him.

Yakushiji shakes his head. “Nope. Outta the question. So Imma handle the twins. Those two might only listen to another human.” He says this casually, but a part of Takumi finds himself grateful to Yakushiji. 

“Seconded,” Aotsuki states, although since Amemiya was the first to say it, he probably should’ve said thirded. 

Takumi sighs. It’s not like he wanted to recruit the twins, but it felt kind of awful knowing that there was a genuine possibility that those two could never change their minds about gems. But… at this point, Takumi doesn’t care all that much. “Right…” he pauses and crosses his arms, before speaking, “then, Yakushiji has the twins, and Aotsuki has Ginzaki. What about Kawana and Maruko?”

“Maruko’s a pervert like me, so he’d wanna talk to the only girl in our operation,” Amemiya says matter-of-factly. Takumi is tempted to correct her: technically, I’m not a guy, gems don’t really have human sexes, and most gems present femininely by default, so technically I could also be a girl. But in all honesty, Takumi isn’t interested in pretending to be a girl. He likes being a guy far too much. “Kehehe! I can’t wait to totally perv out!!” That… he doesn’t comment on. Gems are grown in the ground or made in labs. They are a species that doesn’t (usually, typically, normally) partake in sex.

Aotsuki nods. “Then that leaves recruiting Kawana to Sumino. I think she’s amicable enough with other species,” he makes a verbal backspace, “other people , so it’ll be fine.” He says, with very little input from Takumi. “I think that works for everyone here.”

“Eyup,”

“Totally!”

So I don't even get to choose…?  Well… whatever, it doesn’t matter too much.

Takumi sighs and resigns himself to his duties. He’s never actually talked to Kawana one-on-one, but shamefully, he’s been avoiding the humans whenever he can. Sure, most of them might say they like gems, but how is he supposed to know how they actually feel? For all Takumi knows, everyone here sees him as nothing more than a lowlife, dirty parasite whose species nearly destroyed their planet. How could he tell that when they look at him, they don’t see him as Takumi but as just a Tiger’s Eye? As just another quartz?

Sure, he fights for Karua, but that’s because Karua fought for him in the first place. Most humans never stood up for him. What has humanity done for him, anyway? If anything, he might be fighting for one human girl, but he’s fighting for the hundreds of gems who live in the TRC. He bets everyone is mainly for the humans in their, because after all, to most humans, the earth is for (human) earthlings.

And since he doesn’t want to bother with these feelings, he doesn’t bother at all with them. 

Takumi sighs and shakes his head. He stands and excuses himself from the Operation: Let’s Save Everyone meeting because, after all, he has to save a human life as if that has any bearing on his shards.

Before too long, he finds himself at the doorstep of Kawana’s room with a plate of food. Diamonds, he feels like some kind of a pearl butler doing this. Human or not, it doesn’t help that he’s doing this for a girl he barely knows. In the deepest recesses of his gemstone, it almost feels like a betrayal of Karua. 

He knocks, soft enough not to startle but hard enough to be heard, and stands tentatively at her step.

Kawana cracks open the door. “...Sumino?” Her eyes are naturally concerned, but Takumi can’t tell if it’s because he’s a gem or because anyone is visiting her.

He holds the plate awkwardly and smiles at her. “Sandwiches?” He responds in turn with a question. The two exchange pleasantries as he enters her room. 

As Kawana sits on the edge of her bed with the plate on her lap, Takumi sits at her vanity. He avoids looking at the mirror so he doesn’t have to look at himself; as much as he likes being a gem, he’s never liked having red skin or black stripes. “I hope the sandwiches I got were fine.” He vaguely remembers grabbing one that had cucumbers and the other had tomatoes.

“You didn’t get any?” Kawana asks casually, and for a moment, he wonders if she sees him as a person or just a gem. 

Takumi shrugs. “Don’t need to eat.”

“But you can, I’m sure you can just make a digestive track,” She again asks, biting into the sandwich that Takumi is sure is cucumber. Takumi has never been able to shapeshift like his moth-- dammit, like Crazy Lace. But now, after hemoanima… he’s not sure. But after swallowing, Kawana smiles warmly. Even a gem who doesn’t need to eat can tell she likes it. She leaves a simple review of the first bite: “Sure beats stale bread.” 

Takumi is sure he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. He wonders faintly if gems (especially ones like him) even have taste buds? “I’m glad.”

Silence falls between the two. Takumi watches Kawana nervously eat her food and he starts feeling uncomfortable. Kawana does not look like Karua, and she doesn’t really act like her either, but he and Karua would do this. There’s a part of him that feels guilty for some indescribable reason. He doesn’t know why.

“You’re… here to convince me to fight, huh?” Kawana finally speaks, breaking the silence.

Takumi looks away. “...Yeah.” He admits. He’s starting to feel like a cat that got spritzed in the face with water.

Kawana’s hands grip her sandwich and it looks like it's going to explode. “I can’t fight. It’d… be gross if I did.” She looks away bashfully and blushes. “It’d be embarrassing…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Takumi says while knowing full well that with people like Ima, it probably won’t be fine. 

Kawana bites her lip. “No, it won’t.”

“I’m sure no one will judge you for whatever is holding you back.” He says, and for a moment, Takumi forgets he’s a gem talking to a human.

A minute, then two, then three pass before Kawana speaks again. All the while, Takumi looks at her. “I… I vomit when I’m nervous.” She admits. Takumi’s frame of reference for vomiting is when Karua would get stomach bugs (from mo-- fuck, Crazy Lace’s cooking). “I’ve had a sensitive gag reflex since I was a kid. I know when I fight those… things, I won’t be able to stop… you know…”

Takumi shrugs, almost shocked at the simplicity of her reasoning. “I’m sure no one cares if you throw up while fighting.” He says firmly, directing his gaze at her. “You’ll be fine, I swear.”

Kawana stares back at him, for having such soft, gentle eyes, her eyes pierce into him. “But I’m also not gonna fight in some war, either.” She pauses, biting her lip. “And… honestly, you shouldn’t either.”

“I’m sorry?” Takumi says, insulted. If anyone should be fighting, it should be him. The strain of quartz he’s grown from was meticulously designed to be soldiers. His cut, at its Mohs, are warriors.

“You’re a gem.” She says flatly, and Takumi worries for a moment about what she’s about to say. “I… I grew up in my grandpa’s workshop. He taught from a young age to respect gems. And there were always gems coming in and out of it; so I know first-hand how gems are treated in the TRC.” For a moment, with how blunt her words were, Takumi was initially convinced she was about to go on some racist tirade. He was wrong. “You shouldn’t have to fight for a place that hates you, Sumino. You of all people reserve the right… more than us, to not fight.”

“I’m not, really. I’m not fighting for the TRC.” Takumi answers before lowering his head. “I’ll be honest: I hate most humans.”

She blinks. “Then I don’t get it.” Kawana looks at him with genuine confusion. “It’s not like you’ll be thanked by humans.” A pause, she glances at her sandwich. “We humans are very selfish, after all.” For once, Takumi is shocked because he’s only ever heard this kind of talk from Karua. Most humans, innocently or not, couldn't care less for gems. But here, a human sounds more hateful of humans than he does. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

For a moment, Takumi sits in stunned silence. He finally speaks: “I don’t fight for the world that hates me. I fight for the people I care about.”

They entered another moment of silence after that. Minutes later, Takumi decided to leave Kawana to her sandwiches; he had bothered her enough. He was stunned by her bluntness. Her almost blunt disdain of humans.

We humans are very selfish. This was unfortunately true; Takumi had known it firsthand for kids who would harass him back at the TRC.

Hey, conchoidal, carry my stuff. 

Druse, do my homework. I’m bored.

Why are you bothering me? (Bothering usually meant that he was standing near someone at the shoe lockers) Doesn’t a gross pebble like yourself have a planet to destroy?

To be fair, Karua was selfish too, just in her own way. But at the same time, she had never treated him like that. Never called him a parasite, a pebble, or any other misused geology term that was being retrofitted into a slur. Karua was always the exception, partially because she was raised by gems. She was kind to gems because she was taught to be kind to gems. Most humans aren’t. This is something gems know.

But maybe… perhaps, Kawana was different, too. If she had been telling the truth, then she had known gems throughout her childhood. Her grandfather had taught her to treat gems with respect. It sounded illogical that this would happen to Takumi.

Days later, Kawana formally joined the SDU. She had told Takumi, specifically, that joined because she had to fight for people she cared about.

Chapter Text

Tsubasa's fingers drummed the wheel of her class weapon. It was a small comfort that, for the most part, she basically had a small sanctuary all to herself, even if the steering wheel was spiked, pricking into her gloved hands. Granted, it smelled like vomit most of the time. Granted, she was fighting in a war. But it was the little things that made things more bearable. She also didn’t have to look at the invaders when they died. 

As her grandfather had told her, it’s the little things that really count in life.

“How are things out there?” Kako’s voice rang over the comm line; unlike her brother, Kako had taken to being the combat group’s navigator. She still had no real interest in fighting, however. Tsubasa held her foot on the brake, keeping her jeep idle.

Tsubasa sighed. They were doing a routine scavenger hunt; something about Sumino wanting more materials for the Gift-O-Matic. Today, it was just Maruko, Sumino, and herself. Maruko and Sumino were sticking together. She was driving alone. It’s business as usual. “It’s fine,” She mumbled glumly. She had found some blankets and canned food. 

“Bad!” Maruko yelled, responding to Kako, his voice loud and clear over the comm line. He sounded out of breath. “Really bad! Ugh, dammit, dammit, dammit — Kawana, where the hell are you?”

Kako chirped over the line: “Huh? Are you ok?” She paused. “Um… is it with you?” By the way she was speaking , there’s only one person she could be talking about by saying it: she was talking about Sumino.

Tsubasa felt second-hand embarrassment at Kako’s words; Sumino, unlike anyone else, wasn’t human. He was a gem. She had almost wished there was another gem at the LDA just so he wouldn’t be the odd man out. Everyone, well, mainly this was the Tsukomo twins, had a major chip on their shoulder about this. Tsubasa wasn’t really bothered by this; her grandpa always taught her to accept everyone and anyone. Not that it swayed her opinion on gems, but gem technology was also cool as hell.

“Why the hell would I be ok if I said it’s really bad!?” Maruko barked over the comm. “We got jumped by some invaders! I’m ok, but Sumino is…”

Maruko didn’t finish, his voice trailing off to an agitated squawk, but Tsubasa understood that this meant one thing: Sumino had retreated into his gemstone. She’d never seen it happen in person, but she’d heard about it firsthand from Amemiya and Yakushiji. Tsubasa was also aware that he reformed pretty immediately after getting downed; she couldn’t imagine how exhausting that was. Factor in the fact that Sumino doesn’t need to eat or sleep like the rest of them, and Tsubasa was shocked Sumino hadn’t collapsed by this point.

He basically stops being a person, Aotsuki had told her once, with a grim tinge to his voice. It’s like he wasn’t even there. The whole idea to her was frankly unsettling.

“Oh…” Kako says disinterested. “That’s… too bad.” Despite her words, she didn’t seem to really care. A part of Tsubasa wonders if Kako’s opinion on gems is actually her own, or something Ima has told her to feel.

Maruko grumbled something Tsubasa couldn’t parse; similarly to her, Maruko was pretty accepting of gems, which was shocking for someone who basically hates everyone. “Oh, there you are, Kawana!” 

Before Tsubasa could respond, she heard rapping on her door. She rolled her window down to see Maruko, holding a small bundle of clothing. From there, she cracked open the door so she could converse easily with the boy. She presumed Sumino’s gem was in that bundle. 

She glanced at Maruko. “Are you OK?” She asked. “You know, I can drive you both back, and—”

“My stomach isn’t strong enough for that smell,” Maruko says snidely to her before shoving the bundle of clothes into her lap. Barely poking out was Takumi’s gem: a spherical, red gem, smooth with black striping. What struck Tsubasa as something fascinating was that it had a black ring, encompassing the middle of the gem. “Just take him, dude. I’ll just meet you back at school.” 

“Don’t call me ‘dude’,” Tsubasa stated bluntly, even though she frequently found herself calling everyone else ‘dude’. “And it doesn’t smell bad right now! I’ve been—”

Maruko had run off before she could finish. Tsubasa had been repeatedly insulted before being saddled with babysitting Sumino’s gem. Guys are truly the worst. Well, guys like Maruko, at least, because Sumino has never been that rude to her.

She looked down at the gem. Tsubasa had wondered if he was even conscious right now, or if he was just merely dreaming. She pushed these thoughts away and removed the bundle from her lap to the seat next to her. Tsubasa had almost considered putting Takumi in the glovebox, but she then had the panicked string of thoughts of ‘What if Takumi reforms while in the glovebox? ’ She’d probably anxiety-vomit from that.

“I’m really sorry you’re stuck with… that thing.” Kako’s voice rang in her car. 

“That thing is Sumino,” she responded, her voice firm. Tsubasa truly could not understand how anyone could hate gems just for the crime of existing. They were all in this together after all. If anything, humans and gems were more alike than ever. All the gems she had met in the TRC were kind to her, even when humans had been cruel to them.

Kako coughs over the line, clearly noticing the tension in Tsubasa’s voice. “I’m sorry but… You know what I mean.”

“I don’t.” For a moment, Tsubasa remembers what Sumino told her back at LDA. What he said to motivate her; what he said had made her want to fight.

Then I don’t get it. It’s not like you’ll be thanked by humans. Tsubasa had asked, almost begging, to understand why. She didn’t fight for the TRC because it never cared about her or her grandpa. Gems had cared more for them when humans never did. We humans are very selfish, after all. This was true: part of the reason Kawana didn’t fight was because of her own ego. It was just the truth.

I don’t fight for the world that hates me. I fight for the people I care about. He had told her with a stern resolve. 

If she and Sumino are supposedly so different, then why are their values the same?

“It’s just… so gross, you know? Being a… You know…” The other girl mumbled, avoiding the word gem like it was taboo. Tsubasa could name a thousand things grosser than someone being a gem; if anything, gems were probably the perfect ideal. While she hasn’t seen it personally, she knows that Sumino (for lack of a better word) ‘poofing’ is much more preferable than how humans in the LDA bow out. Instead of an explosion of blood and viscera, Sumino explodes into a cloud of shimmering dust, and his gem clatters helplessly to the ground. Aotsuki described it as beautiful despite how gruesome it was.

It was almost like a magic trick, he had said to her.

“I’m not discussing this with you.” Tsubasa can usually be pretty relaxed with other people, but Kako is annoying her.

Kako stammers over the line. “Wait, Kawana, I—!” Tsubasa doesn’t hear the rest once she flips her communicator off. Sure, loads of people were racist about gems, loads of people Tsubasa knew were racist, but she wasn’t going to entertain it any longer. And, if Sumino was hearing this, he wouldn’t have to any longer. Hopefully, whatever was going on in that gem of his was a pleasant dream.

With Sumino’s gem resting peacefully in the passenger's seat, Tsubasa drove back to LDA in silence.