"I refuse to believe that treating each other as enemies and killing them is the only way this ends! Because that kind of mindset is how people with the best of intentions eventually end up like HIM!"
Tsukune looks up at you with hopeful eyes, praying his senpai will back him up...
...while Kuyo remains limp in his crater, utterly defeated and unable to fight back even if he's still conscious.
[x]You're not happy with letting Kuyo walk away from this. In fact, you despise the very idea. But with a cooler head, you have to admit that Tsukune has a point in that just putting him down like the mad dog he is in front of everyone like this will only reinforce the culture of fear he created. Is that really what's best for the students?
Fists clenched in annoyance, you turn to the assembled student body and put your metaphorical foot down. "Nobody's dying today. If you can't figure out what to do with yourselves, then go find a teacher or something."
"Better yet," Moka commands as she steps up alongside you to address the crowd, "check on the conditions of ten people physically near you right now, and help anyone wounded in getting to the nurse's office. Ask one of your classmates for help if you should need it."
You should've been able to think of that... perhaps it just goes to show how much of a mental toll the fight took on you even without using your Stand; and how much even
Inner Moka cares about Tsukune, that with his well-being assured her bloodthirst and tunnel vision have seemingly immediately cleared up.
Over the next several minutes, the student population steadily begins to disband in obedience of your and Moka's directives, even after she's gone and reclaimed her rosary from... from
Kurumu? When did that become a thing?
Whatever. For the moment, you're just satisfied to see that apparently nobody died or was seriously injured -- at least, not since you started trading blows anyway.
"What the hell are you still doing here? You're not exempt from those directions."
A soft, freezing touch caresses your cheek from behind. "Showing you I'm still alive."
You appreciate the sentiment, but it's a poor excuse--
"...and I wanted you to carry me," Mizore whispers.
Hmph! You'd call her spoiled... but after the hell everyone including the both of you just went through, maybe doting on your girlfriend a little isn't the
worst thing you could be doing.
Just something you need to deal with first...
"Hey," you grunt to get Tsukune's attention. "I get where you were coming from."
When he turns to look at you from his position surrounded between a trio of fussing girls, you transition into your point. "But if not for the peanut gallery--"
Tsukune's answering
snarl shoots an instinctive tremor of dread down your spine, his eyes momentarily glowing crimson again. "If we didn't have the whole school watching us, I would've punched his head off
myself."
If that's true, then his discipline and situational awareness have truly become something to marvel at. A far cry from the boy who almost got run over by a girl on her bicycle all those months ago...
Now it's just a question of what to do with
him.
_____________________
A few days later...
When Kuyo awoke, it was to a ceiling he had only passing familiarity with; an isolated high-security intensive care section of the nurse's office, where on sociable days he'd tossed the rebellious refuse that dared to defy his justice.
"...but it never was," he tiredly groans, brain starting to process an omnipresent ache across his entire body that suggests he's been pumped full of anesthetics that aren't quite of superior enough grade to withstand a yoko's much higher internal body temperature.
"Kuyo, you're finally awake!"
The forlorn formerly fire-flinging fox glances over, to see a visibly concerned but excited Keito sitting in a chair next to his bed.
Just the day before, such a showing of unsought support from a subordinate would have brought him validation. He'd have taken it as reinforcing the righteousness of his cause.
Today, Kuyo sent the starry-eyed sycophant a sneer. "So you thought you'd like to come to the show...?"
Keito's answering look of confusion was, perhaps, inevitable; he'd never behaved in a manner outside of his role as the Student Protection Committee Chairman, and his petulant dismissal must have seemed remarkably out of character. "...show? Sir, what are you talking about?"
"I saw humans -- even monsters, to be honest -- as pathetic, cowardly creatures that bury their hearts behind walls and gaze out with hateful paranoia at anything and everything on the outside... and I realize now that such a description likely fits
me better than most."
"You're not pathetic or a coward," the spider-woman protested. "You're our terrifyingly powerful leader--!"
"So powerful that I sit here in a hospital bed, utterly defeated and then shown mercy by the same human I tried to make an example of... get out and find something more useful to do with your time."
"But sir, without your leadership...!"
For a long moment, Kuyo considered reaching out in anger and trapping Keito [In the Flesh]... but no, even if it meant shutting her up, it wasn't worth the momentary peek into her mind.
"If you
must find an idol to worship," he sighed, "then go look for someone whose mistakes aren't so..."
Bullishly forcing past his full-body ache, Kuyo raised his bruised and bandaged arms to look at them -- but rather than pristine bandages, for a brief instant he saw only the incalculable blood he'd shed.
"...heavy
."
Keito didn't say anything after that, other than to run out of the nurse's office in tears.
KUYO, STUDENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
SPECIES: YOKO
STAND: [IN THE FLESH]
STATUS: RETIRED!!
______________________
After everything settled down, you and your friends were eventually gathered together by the Headmaster in his office, a room dark and sinister in its decor.
"It's unfortunate that things have been so hectic of late," the man at the desk admits. "All the same, the lot of you acquitted yourselves quite well -- not only in terms of battle prowess, but as pillars of moral character that your peers can look up to... I expect that the ramblings of a lackadaisical old man who's never around are of precious little concern, but permit me to say it all the same..."
Muscles ripple beneath his heavy robes, a set of horns holding up a cloaked hood as he makes eye contact first with you, and then the friends who've been at your side for months -- months that, sometimes, have seemed to stretch on like years.
"I'm proud of you, all of you."
"That's swell," Kurumu says with a smile... before the facade breaks and she snaps at the headmaster in annoyance. "But where
have you been while your students were trying to kill each other?! It was bad enough before summer break, but this was just ridiculous! My friends almost died because of your negligence!"
"My dealings beyond the school are not your concern," he replies with the type of calm that lets you know he's allowing an outburst out of sympathy but has only a finite amount of patience for it.
"What about Kuyo?" Yukari asks. "I think we're entitled to know in detail that he's not a threat anymore."
"He isn't," the Headmaster agrees, nodding. "However, as students, it isn't necessary to trouble yourselves with disciplinary matters... since I can see from the looks on your faces that you aren't interested in taking
his old job."
So he's only going to share information if it's convenient for
him... good grief.
Is it worth trying to pry anything out of him, or should you just go check on Mizore in the infirmary?
[]Ask him about something school-related.
-[](write-in)
[]To hell with it, you've got better things to do with your time.
-[]Go check on Mizore, she was still pretty messed up after that fight.
-[]Mizore could probably use some more rest; for today, you'll just catch up with Tsukune and the girls.
