Chapter Text
Day 12 - Morning - Last Defence Academy
It was the morning after the talk between Hiruko and Takumi had with each other the night before and Hiruko had revealed that they were actually in a time-loop. It caused quite a stir in Takumi causing him to regain some of his memories from previous loops. Hiruko had expected him to react but not to outright faint from the amount of memories he had received. After their conversation the two had gone their separate ways, back to their rooms and now everyone was gathered up in the Cafeteria like usual. The only problem was they were missing someone.
“Where’s Takumi?”
Everyone looked around the room, towards the door but there was still no sign of said redhead. He usually slept in for a bit past the morning announcement but never to this extent. Hiruko looked down at the floor; a look of worried concern crossing her face however she kept her silence.
Had he locked himself in his room after receiving his memories of the previous timelines?
It was the only thing she could think of.
Some of those timelines could potentially scare Takumi especially the branch where he killed Eito.
Maybe he just wanted some space after such a large bomb was practically dropped on him?
“We should look for him!”
Everyone nodded and headed out of the Cafeteria. Hiruko followed behind at a slow walk, heading up the stairs to the Roof until she was standing in front of Takumi’s room. She held up a hand to knock but decided against it, putting a hand on the doorknob and opening it. The room was empty, bed was made but the room itself had been ransacked as if someone in a hurry had grabbed whatever they could and left.
Hiruko approached the bed and sat on it, stroking the sheets and letting a sigh escape her lips. “Why Takumi? Why did you leave us? Why did you leave … me…?”
No one ever found out where Takumi had gone.
Sirei and Nigou had found out due to the commotion and with no sign of their leader a new one had to be appointed. Hiruko being Takumi’s second in command was put in charge. This didn’t sit right with some and thought that she had killed Takumi and gotten rid of him just to get bumped up in her role. However many also thought that Takumi could have left on his own.
It didn’t take long for the news to spread to the Courtyard and for Eito to hear about what happened to Takumi. He found it amusing but also upsetting that the one person he tolerated in the academy was gone.
Where had he gone?
Had Hiruko really killed him like some said or was there something else going on?
However when someone checked the Entrance Hall and found that one fire extinguisher was missing that was when everyone started to realise that Takumi hadn’t gone missing or been killed.
He’d left … willingly.
The only question was … why?
And would he ever come back?
Day 21 - Night - Last Defence Academy
“Good job, Ima and Kako!”
“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without Sirei and Nigou’s intel.”
“Yes, our intel…”
Hiruko let out an irritated sigh before her gaze drifted to the invader in front of them, glaring at her. The woman was crying, tears flowing down her cheeks as she begged for her life to be spared.
“What do you think we should do about her?” Shouma asked, concern in his voice.
If Takumi had been here they would have spared her, but without him there was no point.
She was an enemy.
There was no point in capturing the enemy in this timeline.
They didn’t even know where Takumi had disappeared off to.
It was a terrifying thought that he could’ve been killed by V’ehxness or even just fell victim to the climate outside of the school.
Either way he couldn’t have survived long without help.
“We kill her,” Hiruko ordered, glaring daggers at the Commander.
“No. No, please. Don’t kill me!” She begged, putting her hands together and kneeling before them. As if she was praying to be spared.
“I don’t know. I can’t bring myself to kill someone who is begging for their life…” Tsubasa spoke up, looking away from the woman.
“If we don’t kill her she will just come back with reinforcements. Do you want that to happen?” Hiruko said, glaring at the rest of the team. Everyone shook their heads at her. “Good.” Hiruko took up her axe and approached the Commander, lifting it up to deal the final blow.
But it never hit.
Another invader had jumped in between the Commander and the weapon, blocked said attack while also collecting the woman into his arms and jumping halfway across the Schoolyard. He let her down, looking at her in concern from under his hood.
“Are you alright, Eva?”
She gave him a nod, stood on shaky legs but was grateful to her rescuer. “Yes, thank you.”
The SDU stood, dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of the other invader, staring at the interaction between the two.
“What are all of you waiting for?! An invitation! ATTACK!” Sirei shouted over the comms.
That seemed to snap the teenagers out of their confusion before they ran at the Commander and the strange invader. Eva took a step back not ready for the full-on assault by the teenagers but the stranger was. He stood in place and waited until most of them were within range of him before swiping his sword, creating a shockwave that sent the whole team back. Everyone was on the ground, groaning and trying to get back on their feet to attack again but stopped when the stranger took a step forward.
“Everyone, get up! Hurry!” Sirei cried out over the comms.
It didn’t take long for Hiruko to take in the appearance of their new enemy. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. “That sword … that attack…” Her eyes widened. “…it can’t be…”
The enemy’s sword was a tinge of blue and his attack had been powerful enough to knock them all back but it had never been a killing blow. He had wanted them down on purpose.
“Don’t move…” Everyone froze, turning their gazes to the cloaked figure. He had a hand on his hood, removing said hood to reveal bright red hair and blue eyes. A scowl on his face as he stood at the ready. “…I’m not here to fight. I’m here to reveal the truth.”
…………
………
……
…
……
………
……………
Takumi was alive. He was alive, but he had sided with the invaders. Why? Why had he done such a thing?
“What the fuck, man?!” Takemaru was finally able to get to his feet. “We searched everywhere for you! But you decided to side with the enemy!”
“I didn’t side with anyone…” Takumi said, letting out a sigh of annoyance. “I joined the Futurans because there’s no winning this war.”
“What the hell’s that mean?!” Takemaru exclaimed, teeth grit together in anger.
Takumi’s eyes looked away from everyone he called friends, but he continued to call them that when ran away and joined the invaders. He hadn’t come clean to them about his memories but even then how could they have believed him? Sirei could easily have brainwashed him.
He had to run away.
“Futurans? They have a name?” Kako asked, confused.
”I thought they were just a representation of World Death…” Tsubasa spoke up, wary eyes watching her former comrade and leader.
This was a good time to give them a little taste.
“The reason I left is because we’re not actually on Earth defending it from attacks of World Death,” Takumi tried to explain to his friends. “The truth is that Earth was lost long ago and we were sent to invade a planet similar in atmosphere to Earth called Futurum. This war was never about reclaiming our home but about dominating someone else’s. Isn’t that, right, Sirei?!”
There was silence as everyone looked at each other in horror. The comms were silent until Sirei finally decided to appear in person on the Schoolyard. His arms were folded and he was giving Takumi a disappointed glare.
“Now I don’t know where you got this information from, Sumino, but it’s not true. The enemy is just manipulating you,” Sirei said, shaking his head.
“I knew you would say that…” Takumi growled out, hand on his hip; an expression of annoyance still on his face. He turned his head to face Sirei; blue eyes cold. “But memories don’t lie.”
“What?!”
“You know my secret, Sirei. You also know Hiruko’s. Everything in my memories I heard from you in another timeline. So are you saying you were lying them?” Takumi asked, pushing for answers.
“W…What?” It seemed Sirei certainly wasn’t expecting that of all things to come from Takumi’s mouth.
“Another timeline? What’s he talking about?” The conversation the others had picked up behind Sirei as they tried to piece together what Takumi meant.
Nozomi looked at Takumi with concern in her eyes. “Why are his eyes … so cold?” She wrung her hands together. “What happened to you, Takumi?”
“So how about this? I become your prisoner instead? I’ve allied myself with the Futurans making me your enemy,” Takumi explained as everyone looked to each other in concern. This was a side to the redhead they had never seen before. He was acting so similar to Eito. He just needed to start insulting them and they would be twins. “It’s what you want, isn’t it, Sirei?”
“It’s scary how you can see right through me. Your almost as bad as Aotsuki.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Takumi growled, surprising everyone by his severe reaction. He must’ve taken it as an insult to being compared to Eito. “So do we have a deal?” He recovered quite quickly too.
“Fine.” Sirei’s gaze drifted to Eva. “What about her?”
“She won’t be an issue. She will return to base. That is all.” Takumi turned to face Eva and nodded at her. She gave him a concerned look before running off to the edge of the Schoolyard and disappearing.
Sirei put a hand where his chin would be in thought. “If you have allied with the invaders … why didn’t you kill everyone?”
Takumi stared at Sirei as if he had seriously asked that question. The redhead’s lips thinned before he answered. “No matter what this war has put us through … no one here is at fault.” His eyes however never left Sirei and everyone could tell that he was blaming the AI for this. “I still care about everyone at this academy even if my judgement has changed on the circumstances.”
Sirei hummed, leaning against his cane. “Is that so?” The AI released a sigh before pointing at Takemaru and Hiruko. “Yakushiji and Shizuhara, take Sumino to the Courtyard. Put him in the cage opposite Aotsuki.”
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this…” Takemaru said as he approached Takumi, grabbing his arm to pull him along.
Hiruko was silent as she following behind the two, grabbing the key from Sirei as they passed by. Nozomi watched the three go by and caught a glimpse of Takumi’s eyes. He looked at her and smiled though it was tired and didn’t hold the same determination and cheeriness it used to.
What happened to him?
“Alright everyone! Back to your rooms! It’s still night so you should get some shuteye before morning!” Sirei spoke over the crowd of chatter.
Everyone’s thoughts were a jumbled mess after witnessing what had just transpired.
What had happened to Takumi in the last nine days?
Why had he sided with the invaders?
Had what he said been true?
But most of all … why did he look so apathetic to his capture?
Was this a part of a plan made by the invaders?
The only way to find out was to interrogate him in the morning.
Day 22 - Day - Last Defence Academy
“Now this is certainly a shock.” Eito had woke up on the morning of Day 22 to find that the cage next to him was occupied and not by anyone, but by the former leader of the SDU; Takumi Sumino. “What brings you back here and in such a way?”
Takumi currently sat on his bed, arms folded as he waited for the predictable interrogation that was to come.
“Awe, not talking. Well, you must have done something absolutely horrible to get put in here. Everyone absolutely loves you!” Eito exclaimed with disdain in his voice.
Takumi’s eye twitched in annoyance but he tried not to show it. “You know for someone that hates humans you never seem to stop talking to one.”
Takumi knew that this Eito didn’t know about the truth yet.
So he just thought that they were all humans with just experimented blood.
That was far from the truth…
Eito closed his mouth upon hearing such a thing come from Takumi. He was gobsmacked that the redhead could be rude back to him. He always took Takumi as being too naive for his own good, stupid and too nice. A fool. However the Takumi sitting across from him seemed too different from the one he had once known. He last saw Takumi nine days ago but it almost felt like he had aged far more than he should’ve.
Eito coughed into his hand, glaring at the other. “I’m only trying to create conversation.”
He noticed movement in the other cage and Takumi was over by the bars, staring at him. Eito was taken aback by the look in Takumi’s eyes. They used to be a warm blue almost vibrant even if the red tint in them swirled and made him dizzy. Takumi now stared at him with cold eyes of someone who has seen something they shouldn’t have. It certainly contrasted well with the melting mess of hair and skin he had.
Eito wanted to vomit. His eyes had been the only saving grace about his appearance and now they were ruined. What had Takumi seen to make even someone like him give up?
“Takumi…”
Before Eito could continue someone had entered the Courtyard. The two turned to face who it was and saw that it was the entirety of the SDU. This seemed to surprise Takumi but he shrugged it off.
“I was expecting an interrogation but wasn’t expecting one of this scale.”
“After what you said last night we needed to all be here,” Takemaru said, arms folded across his chest.
Eito blinked, turning his head to glance over at Takumi, wondering just what it was that the redhead had said last night. Takumi opened his mouth but closed it almost immediately once he saw Sirei and Nigou stss ashding at the front. He stared at them and they stared back. Nigou hid behind Sirei and Eito at once noticed the tension between the two. Takumi wasn’t like this with Sirei before.
What had happened?
“Let’s get to the point,” Hiruko spoke up, stepping toward the cage and glaring at Takumi. “Why did you save that Commander?”
“I felt like it.” Takumi shrugged his shoulders.
Hiruko’s eye twitched.
Eito held back a laugh.
“Fine. Be that way. What you told us last night … was it true? Or were you just manipulated by V’ehxness to tell us this?”
Takumi closed his eyes before letting out a breath. “Everything I said last night was 100% the truth.”
“And how do you know this?” Hiruko asked, glaring at him.
“Ask Sirei or destroy him and check his memory banks.” At this the AI froze. “I can give away more information if you like.” He looked at Sirei with something similar to a sinister smile. “Specifically why we were all at Kamukura General Hospital…”
Sirei crossed his arms and shook his head. “Non! I forbid such a thing!”
“If he’s forbidding it that means he really is hiding something…” Yugamu said, thinking out loud.
Takumi looked at Hiruko; eyes filled with sadness yet his face still remained expressionless. “Hiruko, I only know all this because I remembered it all from previous loops.”
“So this information…?”
“It came directly from the source itself.” He nudged in the direction of Sirei with his head.
She bit her bottom lip at hearing this. This made things more difficult. She didn’t remember that loop so if Takumi did then it must’ve affected him more than she realised.
Maybe it was time to let it all out and tell them?
They had been left in the dark for long enough.
“Our memories aren’t real. They’re fake. They were created to make us have a reason to save humanity.” He put a hand to his chest; sadness on his face. “We … are neither human nor futuran. We’re clones … of the baby in the Defence Room. It’s why we can use Cryptoglobin. We’re artificial futurans. We were created for this war and nothing but this war. You don’t have to believe me but this is why I ran away. I can’t fight on a side when I’ve been told nothing but lies from the moment of my conception.”
He lifted his gaze up to look around at all his friends and wasn’t surprised to see the amount of horrified looks on everyone’s faces. Eito even stood in his cage with his mouth open wide with something akin to shock. Sirei and Nigou were shifting around nervously, trying not to panic as Takumi had just given away a large percentage of information that he shouldn’t know about.
“I think … we need a bit of time to process all of this…” Hiruko said, turning away from the cage that held the former leader.
“Take all the time you need,” Takumi said, giving everyone a gentle smile that didn’t fully reach his eyes.
With that everyone left the Courtyard, occasionally looking back at the caged leader. Sirei and Nigou eyed Takumi before taking a leave of their own. Eito couldn’t leave the Courtyard like everyone else so he just lay down on his bed and faced away from Takumi, thinking about what the former leader had said. Takumi stared after everyone before letting a sigh escape his lips, leaning against the bars of his cage and staring up at the ceiling.
If they don’t join up with him … he will have no choice but to go to drastic measures…
Day 26 - Day - Last Defence Academy
It had been several days since Takumi’s capture and he had given away that everyone of the SDU were weapons created for war. It took these several days for the other members to properly mull over their options before they came to a conclusion.
Hiruko was the one to go to the Courtyard alone to tell Takumi of their decision. “Takumi, we’ve decided what to do.”
Takumi looked at her from where he lay on his bed. “And what is it?”
His eyes reflected his emotional state. He was curious yet there was a hunger to know if everyone was on his side. A shiver ran down Hiruko’s spine at the expression he wore. It reminded her so much of the look Eito gave them or even V’ehxness. But Takumi’s was different. His eyes spoke of longing but also held a spark hate deep within them. She knew they were aimed mainly at Sirei and none of them but it didn’t mean it didn’t throw her off.
What happened to make Takumi turn so against humanity?
Surely this truth wasn’t the only reason.
She let out a sigh, folding her arms across her chest. “We have decided to continue fighting for humanity.” His expression didn’t change. “What does that make you?”
Takumi was quiet for a moment before letting out a long sigh. He sat up from his bed and looked at Hiruko directly in the eyes. “I don’t want to fight any of you. I care about all of you too much to, but…” He stood up and approached the cell bars. “…if that is your decision then I guess it makes us enemies.” She swallowed and he looked away, almost seeming sad.
Hiruko turned on her heel and left the Courtyard, leaving Takumi alone with his thoughts. Eito was currently occupied with a book in his own cage, ignoring what was currently transpiring in Takumi’s cage. He was curious how Takumi came to change so much but he also wondered how the redhead would change further with now knowing that his friends didn’t share the same values as him anymore.
How far would he go to get them to see reason?
Or would he just give up?
Eito shook his head with a smirk on his face. There was no way someone as stupid as Takumi would be seen as a legitimate threat. Takumi didn’t have the brain power to think up a highly sophisticated plan. A frown crossed Eito’s face as he glanced over to Takumi’s cage.
But even so … why did Eito get such a bad feeling?
As if it was the wrong choice that everyone abandoned Takumi and it was his breaking point.
A point that Takumi could not return from…
Day 27 - Night - Last Defence Academy
It was just past the nighttime announcement when an alarm blared waking everyone in the academy up. It wasn’t the usual alarm warning them of the Invaders. No, it was an alarm signalling a shutdown of all facilities and communications of the school. Hiruko ran through the school to the Courtyard, kicking the door open only to find a surprised Eito in one cage and an empty one. The other cage which was meant to house Takumi seemed to be missing said redhead. Instead Hiruko found a peculiar shape on the floor under the bed; a secret staircase if you will.
“Dammit!” She hit the cage with her bare hands. “Did you see anything?!” She turned her gaze to the only other person in the room.
Eito blinked and shook his head at her. “Honestly I didn’t think that Takumi had it in him to betray any of you.”
Hiruko scoffed and brushed past the cages and headed for the door. “He doesn’t.” Her face softened. “At least the Takumi I knew anyway. This one … in this loop is different. He’s broken.”
“I don’t think he’s broken more-so he’s just overwhelmed by all the information he’s gained. All that information became too and like a wire…” Eito snapped his fingers. “…he snapped. It was just a matter of time.”
Hiruko’s frown deepened. “He’s got information from loops I don’t remember which is troubling too…”
“You keep mentioning that.” Eito looked thoughtful for a moment before his face brightened. “Are we possibly stuck in a time-loop?”
Hiruko glared at him and he smiled back, knowing that he got it right. She decided against continuing this conversation with Eito and continued her search for the redhead. If he wasn’t in his cage then there’s only a few places he’d be. He wasn’t known to wander and stay in one place for too long. It would either be his room or the Defence Room. Since he would have easier access to talk to Shion in those places.
The Defence Room!
The alarm that sounded!
Hiruko ran up the stairs to the third floor; the others only just coming down the stairs from their rooms to see what was going on. Most of them still in their pyjamas, yawning or rubbing their eyes of sleep.
“Hiruko, what’s going on?” Tsubasa asked while covering her mouth to hide a yawn.
Hiruko didn’t reply just gestured for them to follow as she rounded the corner. Tsubasa blinked, turning to the others behind her before following behind the other young woman. The group ran until they arrived at the Defence Room and saw the large gaping hole in the door.
The Undying Flames had been extinguished prior but why?
Why would Shion do such a thing?
Why would he allow someone in to the Defence Room that could very possibly be a threat?
Hiruko paused outside of the giant door, staring up it. She had a very bad feeling about all of this. She didn’t want to go into the room but she had to. So taking a deep breath she continued on.
The group ran through the giant hole in the door with Hiruko in the lead only to stop upon seeing the sight before them. All the flames that had once been collected up within the missiles were now gone. Empty. Sirei and Nigou stood not too far from them; anger on the former’s face as he glared up at the figure on the podium where the bubble containing the baby was.
Shion’s real body.
A large cut was sliced across the bubble meaning that all his Hemoanima had been drained from him.
It was dark within the room and the backup generators were having a hard time coming online but Hiruko could make out the faint outline of who was standing in front of Shion’s protective casing.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE…?!” Sirei’s voice boomed, rage-filled and eyes swirling with hate. “…SUMINO!”
Hiruko’s gaze lifted to his eyes to find no trace of the boy she had known throughout her previous loops. All that was left was a shell of coldness and hatred.
“What I feel is the right decision.”