Scene #8542: By Way Of The Heel I

Owner	Pose
Zero Kiryu	Cross Academy During twilight hours, several days after the last meeting... Setting up a trap to catch a guy setting up a trap is, predictably, a pain in the ass. One of the things that you're simply not permitted to choose is time. Those of you who can stomach it find yourselves milling around the school for a good day-and-a-half, and the rest have to content themselves with arriving once things have already gone a little sideways. Although there are things to be said of the experience of milling around Cross Academy for this duration -- contact between vampires and humans here is carefully measured, but seems to have been doing the job of establishing bonds between the two species -- it is mostly forced to fade into the background once the problems begin. For the vampires on campus it is 'early morning', for people on regular hours it is towards the end of their day but not quite when all but the very old and young go to sleep. The Day class students have returned to their dormitory, with a steady trickle moving across the Sun bridge. The opposite is ongoing at the Moon dorm and bridge, as the activities of the Night class begins to spool up. Although this is not a strictly advantageous time for an ambush in terms of potential material opposition, it DOES entail the vast majority of potential collateral damage being the kind of person Nokken thinks of as an enemy. Attacking as the power of vampires begins to rise but is not quite at its 'apex' is also a little less predictable than beginning strictly during proper daytime. There was, at the outside edge of things, a small possibility that this battle never started. It wasn't because the 'intent' to start it didn't exist, but because the guy who's got his eyes on you is running out of time. It's nothing to do with forbidden enhancement or gambles taken on the same-- Nokken is old. He was old before all of this started. And he's not like Finn, or Kaien. He could go any day, and it just so happens that that day could've been today, or tomorrow, or yesterday. That's part of why you couldn't deter him, no matter what. Words never had the power to sway him. This is his curtain call, and he's going out how he feels like it, and he's not feeling peaceful-like. That's part of why the trap works at all. Spend a century being patient and you learn that that is your most powerful tool. But patient only counts when there's a tomorrow to be patient for, and for Nokken there isn't. At the intersection of acceptable time-to-completion and feasible moments of opportunity, is now. One piece of information was occluded-- or more accurately, the nature of it is occluded. It doesn't exist in that book nor does it materialize in these senses. A scarecrow-like figure each bearing its own gun occupies a multitude of different sites, and they each have a different sort of ammunition for the occasion. The crack of weapons fire for some of you is accompanied by a rod more like a spear than a bullet that crashes through walls catastrophically. The vampires (and those close-enough, directly or by sharing their power) find themselves under fire by ghost-bullets that slip soundlessly and harmlessly through the walls, a sickly purple thorn pattern spiraling along a flower-like center, unreal to the physical matter of the world but real enough to the bunch of you.
Raziel	Raziel doesn't need to sleep or eat, he doesn't need rest, he can simply be on watch duty... relentlessly. Despite what complaints might be leveled at him, he pushes them off. It is something he is an expert of, something only he can do. The day doesn't bother him, the night isn't a hindrance for him. He patrols the school, staying out of sight during the day as much as he can, the night less so. He checks the locations where shots could come from... but what happens takes him by surprise. Through a wall, he is shot, taken by surprise, and given way too little time to actually respond. He hits the ground, rolling and jumping to his feet hissing a little from the pain. Others call in about being hit or being under attack. Slowly, Raziel draws the Reaver blade, the ghostly light illuminating him as he focuses. He was struck, but he doesn't know where. The cover seems to do him little good so... He leaps up and over the walls and puts himself into the open. He waits for the next shot, aiming to try and locate its trajectory. From there it's a matter of conversion on that location. Raziel, using his knowledge of the geography of the area he's been relentlessly scouring, is trying to find where the sniper is. More to the fact, he's doing so in a way that leaves him in the open and draws fire away from the school until Zero can get into place. Raziel speaks, softly. "If you want an enemy to die on, let it be me. To the death, you and I."
Kukuru	Kukuru is absolutely the kind of person that can stomach milling around for days at a time. Despite her usual demeanor and penchant for napping, she rarely gets an opportunity to do it and call it work, so she's taking full advantage of this time to try napping in different places around the academy! Rooftops, closets, auditoriums, and even the gate aren't safe from her dozing off to find the most comfortable spots to get some rest. Her waking hours, when they're not spent doing actual work and checking on everyone to make sure they've got enough to eat and drink, are spent wandering the campus and peeking in on classes while occasionally heading out to the woods to see if there's anything to find and eat without leaving too much evidence behind. She's hanging out around the Moon dorm when things start happening, just settling back into actually being awake after one of her post-meal naps. She's in the middle of watching the Night classes going about their days with an almost radiant calm to her features when she hears things starting to happen before she can see it starting. Unfortunately, Kukuru's ability to hear things far outstrips her ability to actually react to them in most instances, and this is no different than the usual. She only has enough time to turn around at the sound of something approaching rapidly before said thing covered in those horrible purple thorns comes through the wall and her leg in short order. <Tac-Concord> 4 Kukuru says, while hissing through her teeth "He's here!" Forcing her leg through the rest of that ghost-rebar to get out of her, Kukuru stumbles and catches herself on a wall before waving away some nearby students and pinging their locations for Zero. Rushing over to a window and nearly collapsing against it, Kukuru peeks out from the side to try and get a glimpse of where the shot came from while her healing puts feeling and function back into her leg. It's only then that she realizes that she's looking at a scarecrow, but scarecrow or not, it needs to be neutralized! Once the hole is closed up, she goes for the usual approach: Fall through a portal, reappear above the scarecrow, and get to swinging. Her first swing goes down at center mass, but she's actually using slightly more tactics this time around as she goes for a follow up swing from the side as if expecting the figure to anticipate her moves. And after that second swing... She goes for a third, coming upwards in huge uppercut from below thanks to her claws just being ludicrously bigger than her hands.
Yuuki Kuran	Cross Academy was Yuuki's home ground. Kaien Cross was the man who she would unapologetically call her father, and the land was where she grew up, put on big stompy boots, explored and found and claimed in the way of athletic young girls. Unlike the snowy forests of her memories, it had always felt safe. Now, it was gentle forests of her home that a scarecrow had set up his rancid game. Yuuki was herself in the Headmaster's Residence, having slept in her old bed from nine years ago, and also in hundreds of eyes and scores of moving shapes. Past paranoia-anxiety, the spread of her presence extends like a blanket across the inhabited land. Here, there aren't mysteries to her. But that doesn't mean the roosting black birds and the settled wolf-shapes cannot be snuck past. Presence nullified, prowling up, Nokken takes his deadly aim. It is the gunshots, the crack-whistle of forceful projectiles at the non-vampires that sets off the forest, an air-rising cloud of dark wings and feathery flutters. Kuran Yuuki instantly becomes aware of the scarecrows firing the regular bullets, and two seperate selves move to intercept. One set of ghost bullets zip through the Headmaster's residence, right to where Cross Yuuki would be on her bed, but, she's already gone, an intangible smear of shadows and the sound of butterfly wings. Kuran Yuuki, 'Second Yuuki', long of hair in a long white nightgown, holds Artemis (an organically metallic looking scythe with a batwing head-motif) loose in one hand, stands atop the Moon Dormitory eyes vibrant red and wide. A second later, two silent bullets pierce through her, blowing two clean and bloody holes through her nightgown, and causing her to fall off the high parapet, only to disappear herself into a dissociation of black bat-shapes. Cross Yuuki, first to reappear, does so practically out of Kukuru's shadow. Dressed in her Night Class uniform with stompy brown leather boots on her feet, she jinks around Kukuru's fall and drops to the ground with a crouch and sweeping kick into the scarecrow's rear low arc, crossing up the sniper as Kukuru lays on her blows to the front. When Kukuru snap-uppercuts, Cross Yuuki transitions into a cartwheeling flash-fan-kick to send the scarecrow flying. Her eyes, as with her long-haired double, shine an angry crimson, already well fed up with this nonsense, but-- "Is that even him?!" Yuuki huffs, looking around - knowing the shots came from multiple directions.
Timespace Riders	Sometimes, waiting is agony, even if it's completely necessary. This is not one of those times--even though the Demon King of time expressed deep worry for the safety of the students. It isn't one of those times, even though the conversation he'd had with Kuroto Dan was anything but bright and optimistic. The truth is that Sougo Tokiwa has made up his mind, and that after some words of encouragement from Yuuki, it could even be said that-- "I have a good feeling about this!" If there were such a thing as a will, which could be applied to the fourth dimension, perhaps it could be said that dimension has a sense of humor. It is after Sougo utters his catchphrase, pretending to busy himself with research in the school's library (he is, in fact, reading about a revolt on an island nation, indulging his love of history). The table is shattered to splinters by a high velocity rod, one perfectly timed second after Sougo's utterance. Woz's scarf snatches the Demon King from his seat before the spearlike rod can reach him, but only just--it still strikes, and strains against, the fabric of the strange garment. Thrown to the ground, Sougo's sporting a cut on his cheek from the shrapnel, and an unsightly bruise on his neck from the averted lethal strike. He and Woz waste no time reaching for their transformation belts. "Henshin!" "Henshin." RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDEEER.. (RIDER..!) ZI-O--ZI-O!! II! Dare Ja? Ore Ja! NINJA! Futurering Shinobi! SHINOBI!! The two riders appear outside, in the thick of no doubt panicked students, deposited by Woz's now purple, iridescent scarf. The retainer's armor is a variation of its usual smartwatch motif, its theming skewed in favor of the color purple and ninja imagery--a shuriken on the breastplate, at the tip of the helmet, and on the pauldrons. "Everyone! Get to safety, we'll hold him off," shouts the double-wristwatch-themed Rider. His helmet, sporting two pairs of hour and minute hands as the archetypical Rider 'antennae,' bobs fervently with this request. "Woz, let's get the high ground!" The retainer nods, striking a kuji-kiri with his hands and disappearing into a puff of smoke, appearing much higher into the air in a freefall. It makes him a wide open target, if Nokken thinks to look 'up,' but it also gives a much more comprehensive view of the battlefield, an advantage, at least theoretically, in finding muzzle flashes or the glares of a lens. It's in this way that he spots the scarecrows. A spread of explosive purple shuriken fan rapidly out from above, joined by-- Fire? Flight? Ether! MIA! Zi-O, shifting into a sidegrade form. The Zi-O II armor changes in a flash of light, its knightly silhouette made a little more primal by the inclusion of draconic features like fangs at the mouthguard, roaring dragons's heads at the end of his purple bracers, and most prominently, a pair of metal wings in imitation of a dragon's leathery span. He takes to the sky as well, and bombards the scarecrows with blasts of purple fire launched from his bracers.
Kuroto Dan	There is almost nothing Kuroto Dan won't do to get his revenge on those who have wronged him in some way. He'll die a thousand deaths and dig to the center of the earth with his bare hands if need be. It's all worth it to see that look of despair and frustration that'll spread across their face once he asserts his superiority. Instead he has to lounge through a school, which isn't nearly as bad, but not exactly eventful either. That is until the place is shot up. A 'panicked' Dan immediately flees at the first sign of danger, the rebar just barely grazing his jacket as he escapes with the rest of the students... And now that he's gone, not long after, Genm returns, slowly walking back into the chaos one foot in front of the other as he raises his arms high. Rather than his usual sleek purple and black armor, he's instead sporting plates of white, black and silver. A cracked red visor reveals a single blue optic, which, while it's incapable of moving, feels like as if it's somehow scanning the area. "I will give you three chances to reveal yourself, you miserable wretch! For each time you fail to strike me down, I will drag out your punishment even further! There was a chance that I could have saved your life, but instead the only thing you'll ever know is an eternity of torment!" He could help with the scarecrows, or do anything productive for that manner, but instead he just opts to scream into the air, now holding up three fingers in a mocking manner as he waits for the next inevitable sniping attempt.
Zero Kiryu	Where is the sniper? You don't know. There aren't any invisible towers around, but judging by the shots that fired wholesale through buildings you can't help but come to the conclusion that this guy Nokken, he doesn't need to shoot you the way that it logically appears that he does. He probably doesn't even need a clear line-of-sight by your own standards, which means the forest itself is across-the-board acceptable terrain for him. That changes the calculus of 'where the hell is he' from helpful vantage points to any remotely elevated terrain. And this place isn't developed, so that's most of it. The sensation of being watched lingers. There's a different quality of sensation that comes and goes, though. Something is an indirect actor, and it's most of what is focusing on Raziel at the moment. A deep, scratchy laugh answers Raziel's call. Following the sound is possible, but maybe not the best idea. Then again, what other leads do you have? Across the area, Kukuru zeroes in on her opponent and teleports down on top of him-- the lanky metallic construct has a rifle-arm on its left side, and it's not necessary to actually contemplate the rest of it because this is a trap and she realizes it's a trap as soon as she's descending. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP... The scarecrow explodes, liquid metal shrapnel raining down on the area. Having had the opportunity to hear what happens with Kukuru, even if he doesn't see it, Raziel is in a position to NOT get suicide bombed. He surely has some distance option, right? Simultaneously with needing to make a decision on how to handle the now-obvious trap, he gets shot at from the entire other side of the campus, through several buildings. Despite expectations, the vampire students aren't particularly panicked. The weapons fire isn't aimed at them, and being aware of it as a possibility is giving them the opportunity to erect their own defenses. There is a surge of water from beneath the lake as one of them -- nobody actually knows who just now -- manipulates the water into a bubble that surrounds the retreating Night class students. They're headed back to their dorm, looks like. The scarecrows do not explode from aerial bombardment or blasts of purple fire; subject to stress, they're pretty resilient. The group has seen this before, in a different form-- Hakan's upgraded, winged-and-armored Fang. This one is a step or two more advanced, more closely resembling what Zero's Bloody Rose was before he devoured it. At any rate, they get scorched decently, seem to contemplate the situation, and react. Not one single scarecrow that Sougo or Woz HASN'T seen fires on them, but all of them that are exposed train weapons and return fire in the most simple and direct manner. More telling, though, is that Nokken simply isn't physically present within line-of-sight. MEANWHILE... Kuroto Dan opens his mouth. There is a faint glint on a hillside. An artillery strike explodes on his position.
Raziel	Arrogant enough to laugh at his challenge. Raziel is on guard because he knows it wasn't taken. The explosion causes his eyes to scan that way for a moment. He has a beat on a voice... No that's a trap. A shot comes, and the reaver swings to try and deflect the blow. This time he's far more ready for it. Though the attack was a very accurate one, the blade does its work to both blunt the force of the bullet, but also keep it from hitting anything critical. What it DOES go through is the side of his body, exploding out the back and spilling blue blood across the field. However, the turn he makes turns him just enough to see the glint from the mortar shot. That'd be the more honest point to start looking. The laugh was probably a trap, maybe even lead to lead him away. On the other hand... Well, anything could be a trap out here. With that, Raziel blinks out of existence. He's gone, dematerializing and existing in the realm of ghosts. He has a location to go... but here ghosts will appear to him. For now, his goal is to find the man and start where that glint of light he perceives is the best lead he has.
Timespace Riders	Only the scarecrows that have already been seen fire back--but this is fine. Nokken isn't even visible--but this is also fine. Woz is nothing if not patient, and Sougo has learned a measure of this from his retainer and from his tribulations in the Multiverse. The two are hit dead on at several points, but through pained grunts, course adjustments and a copious amount of sparks flown from their armors, they persist, changing tactics when sheer brute force bombardment doesn't work. "Woz--I'm gonna need your help in a minute, but for right now: try something power-forward and disarm them!" The retainer, in freefall from another high-flying teleport, nods, switching out his Miridewatch for another, as he sails back down to Earth. Dashing! Durable! Deadly! Futurering Zero! ZERO!! Laid overtop Woz's silver and neon-green bodysuit is a cuirass formed of interwoven, thorny vines. The lens of his helmet bears backlit red katakana reading 'ZERO,' while the 'hands' of the smartwatch-motif Rider antennae are the stems of two roses. Square pauldrons bear white rose cameos on a red background. He lands with perfect poise in a clearing, the impact sending up a spray of leaves and loose earth as his form weapon flies into his hands-- WHIPPRESSIVE!! A thorny green whip sprouts from a cluster of roses, set atop a touchscreen. Woz flicks it towards the scarecrow with an audible crack, sending it racing towards the limb which holds its weapon. The whip snares the limb, and in this more durable, power-forward form, Woz's strength puts itself at issue. The thorns dig and cut deeply, to say nothing of the strength Woz employs--it doesn't matter to him if the weapon is stripped, or torn to pieces, if the limb is taken or if the decoy is uprooted entirely from the ground. He simply yanks. Zi-O, meanwhile, is cheating. Or, depending on your perspective, taking out a hefty loan he'll have to repay with a lot of work later. "Not here!" "Not here either!" "Nope!" A tag team of two Zi-Os is doing the agonizingly meticulous work of searching out every suspicious shrub, every fallen tree, every mound of leaves, working in a pincer formation to close off the river as a would-be escape route. It is going to take an unbearable amount of time to go back and do all of that later.
Kukuru	With Cross Yuuki backing her up, Kukuru has little to fear! Her leg still hurts from the hole that got punched through it earlier, but at least she only needs to replace the stockings rather than an entire outfit so far, so her wallet isn't crying nearly as much as it was a couple of days ago. >'Is that even him?!' "I don't think so. That was...!" Why is the scarecrow beeping? Well, no matter. She just needs to take out the arm so nobody else can get shot, and she's got the perfect shot to do just that with all her might coming down at the explosion! Today's quickly becoming a very bad day for Kukuru. The explosion catches her head on, blasting her several yards away and sending her tumbling around in the dirt, and that's before more of that shrapnel hits her from above. Her work clothes look like they're faring better than she is, at least, as it takes her considerably longer to actually get up from this one. Her nanites are really working hard today to make sure she doesn't stay down long, and the first thing she does following that explosion is rush over to Yuuki to check on her. "Yuuki! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" She asks while taking off her glasses, tossing one half of the busted frame away and then the other before taking out a new pair of lens-free frames. "This is what Zero meant about an ambusher, huh...? Nn. Jerk." Hissing briefly, she funnels some of her nanites into the vampire queen to give her a sizable boost as well before looking over at the sounds of yet more weapons fire. Still no clue where Nokken is, but the scarecrows firing on Her companions give enough information with all that noise that she can start trying to track them better. Knowing what Nokken probably knows about her as a teleporter, meanwhile, means that the most obvious target is probably the furthest one away, or the one that's closest to account for Kukuru usually going for the obvious targets. That means... It's time to do something less predictable. She takes a deep breath to steady herself, then claps a hand on Yuuki's back gently while lowering her voice (and going to the radio). "I'm gonna try and see where all of his other things are so we don't get blown up again. Once they're gone, we can really close in on Nokken before he can keep getting away with this." Kukuru declares, then opens up a portal beneath herself that promptly pops her up into the sky. She's already regretting doing this, but it's going to be worth it. Maybe. She starts falling rather quickly, but with both her eyes and her ears(?) working in tandem to try and pinpoint where the scarecrows are firing from. The moment she detects one, she flings a claw in its general direction to try signaling its position to everyone with the resulting crash of metal into whatever's in the way. Who knows? She might even be able to toss the second claw before she has to worry about landing or getting shot again.
Yuuki Kuran	The cloud of Yuuki's familiars spreads and searches, a perception that sweeps across all of the forest surrounding the grounds, but he's not there, so frustratingly, annoyingly off-map--! But the scarecrows aren't. Cross Yuuki, besides Kukuru and aggressing on the same scarecrow, looks up and hears the tell-all beep. Instinctively diving out of the way and racing a saturating cloud of force and liquid metal shrapnel, Cross Yuuki drops out of her whooshingly fast roll with a four point landing, half-kneeling with her fingers spread out across the forest ground. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Cross Yuuki brings one hand off the ground, dipping into her jacket pocket. "I'm fine. This amount of effort isn't anything. But, Kukuru, be careful." The Director advises, voice raised just slightly in the quieting forest as battle continues elsewhere. "If it's a battle of attrition, you're the one he'll target first. You, or..." A girlish smirk curls Yuuki's lip. "... Genm. So be careful yourself." The thick Dual Gashat that Yuuki draws out of her pocket quickly has its face spun, sounding off Queen of Dracula! in plastic toy announcement voice. A crackle runs across her hand, electric, as she brings the device in her right hand high across her chest, at neck level. Sweeping forward, the crackle traces a bright line that snaps into form of an extra-videogamey rendition of Artemis in sellably plastic black, white, and red. This, too, has an announcement: Gashacon Shinigamer! "Kukuru--" Yuuki announces, turning to look after Kukuru had patted her on the back and added 'even more healing' to her already practically instant recovery, but the Kukuru is gone, through another portal. Deadpan, Yuuki's glowing eyes blink slowly. "Oh that is a little annoying, isn't it? Having miracle blood foisted on you and then disappearing?" She asks, like she was encountering the feeling for the first time. She wasn't, but it hadn't occurred to her in this way-- And she wasn't the sort to decline the gift of fresh blood. She couldn't be. So, Cross Yuuki chases Kukuru through her portals with her Gamer Artemis, abusing the videogame scythe's long boomerang throws and obligatory scarlet-and-black energy waves of rippingly Villain Coded kinetic energy to pelt and pulverize scarecrows from mid-range. Wise to the gimmick, she violently uses Genm's gift to have her scythe in two places at once. Meanwhile, Kuran Yuuki watches Genm like a gargoyle, glad to have Raziel being the knight 'on the ground', but still... She had to fight defensively. Here, in her own home, it made her blood heat to a simmering boil.
Kuroto Dan	Oh. That's not a bullet or bar of rebar. There's a perfectly cut scream as the Kamen Rider is shelled, seemingly consumed by the explosion and now gone for good. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, as from within the crater that was made, Kamen Rider Genm rises once again, a purple miasma surrounding his broken body as it magically lifts him off the ground and snaps his body back into place. "Interesting. However!" He points to the cracked health display on his chest, before using the very same hand to raise two fingers into the air. "Fool that you are, thinking you can kill something that has transcended the cycle of life of death! You have now TWO chances. Try your best, because these two are all you're going to get!" As if to further taunt him, black sludge pools around his feet, splitting off from him to create a trio of perfect clones of himself. Or rather, almost perfect. They definitely don't seem as lively, given that they seem to just be shambling around like actual zombies.
Zero Kiryu	Where is the sniper? Still not here. The phantoms that dominate this region also aren't friendly to Raziel at all. Most of them that acknowledge him at all are openly contemptuous of what he is, because even dead they can tell what he's rooted in. There is no help here, though Hakan's brother does seem to be observing from the top of the Academy. He's not really being helpful, though. It's probably somewhat connected to not wanting to help kill one of his mentors, whatever else might come of it. The more hostile phantoms though, they just don't like anything that even vaguely resembles a vampire. That glint on the hillside, it's another scarecrow. Just using a different piece than the one the others are using. A feminine-looking ghost in flowy Japanese period clothes is observing Raziel with some distaste in particular. And... That he is 'vampire enough' appears to be sufficient that he can be fired on even in this context. One of the scarecrows draws a bead (?) on him and fires, that distinctive thorn-wrapped projectile that ignored the walls lances through the spirit world as surely as it does the real one, racing towards the center of Raziel's mass. Sougo is spared from his multiplicity being exploited ruthlessly only by the fact that Nokken has zeroed in on one person in particular. It's not Yuuki, but the person that Yuuki jumps towards joining. He breathes out slowly, composite vision assembled from his Fang's scarecrows flickering this way and that. But he doesn't need to 'see', and his actual body hardly can to begin with. That girl, and the echoes of her knight's power, are sufficient to illuminate the matter for him in a way that casts the surroundings in bright lights. The "ominous feeling" of being observed maximizes on Kukuru's position. He reloads his rifle. No point leaving it all up to the magic when he's got plenty of shells to go into it. But the sound doesn't register to any enhanced senses, because Nokken isn't there. He was never there. He never had to be there. They can't and won't find him because he never bothered to get within spitting distance or even shooting distance. It's just that those ideas don't mean anything to him, and all he's burning is time. From the previously exploded scarecrows roll cores of crystalline objects; some form of internally processed blood. It's "used up", but they're not and never were infinite. If you're running out the clock either way, there's no point not putting minutes in some helpers. That's how Fangs work, in the end, and not just for him. And in that moment as he pulls the trigger, the world is completely silent. There is no sensible trajectory. There is no sensible direction. The shell plunges out of the sky towards Kukuru like it was shot from space. It may as well have been, but it wasn't. Nokken isn't human, no matter what he thinks of himself. Engaging from just off-map on the tune of a mile away was small potatoes for him, a thing he learned as a young man and could do any day of the week. He's a whole zipcode or more over, completely indoors, and fate can't see where he is or where he's going. If it could, he'd never have killed a single vampire of note. Just like him, you're running down the clock.
Zero Kiryu	Meanwhile, the scarecrows. Woz gets to learn a little bit about how they move after he grabs them, which is to say 'nothing at all like a human'. The initial jerk pulls it towards him and causes a creaking of metal, but what he learns is that they're not totally coherent. When subjected to extreme stress they liquefy and flow, and although the gun is not at issue for a moment the scarecrow turns its other hand into a knife and simply pushes in to stab towards Woz's left armpit. Simultaneously, above, a scarecrow leaps up and turns into a gigantic cog that spins aggressively at Yuuki, trying to drive a large amount of physical force into her-- the actual reasoning isn't hard to figure out. It's trying to separate her from Kukuru. //Fool that you are, thinking you can kill something that has transcended the cycle of life of death! You have now TWO chances. Try your best, because these two are all you're going to get!// The sniper and/or artillerist does not fire on Dan because he does not think he has the juice to kill him in that many shots while using a lot of juice to kill somebody else in less shots. Dan is left to suffer the predictable repercussions of fighting an enemy outside of genre by being too direct with him. NEARBY... The students aren't his targets, and Bloody Rose was already well-placed. The vampires on campus have more-or-less been removed, that didn't insist on staying. The one with the water-shield power seems to be sticking around, for better or worse. The vines that were obscured have grown out and come to life.
Raziel	The shot lands, striking Raziel across the shoulder and flattening him onto the ground. He flops like a ragdoll for a moment and hits a tree on the other side. Slowly, this time, he pushes himself to his feet, fairly annoyed at how this is going. He looked at his hands, covered in blue-ectoplasmic blood, before taking a moment to consider the grim faces of the specters around him. This man may see him on the other side, but the man will learn something in return. He does not pop back out. This is his natural state, he /IS/ a ghost, and not a vampire. Even if the others here hate him, they also know there are two things that can destroy them for good on him. They don't want to work with him, that's fine. He didn't want to be alive either. He knew what he was, a sickness. A disease that drained his home of its life. But... he couldn't die, and so until such time that he could, he would try to leave the world a better place than he left. He also notices Sougo, and then another one. 'It was then I realized, I was playing his game... and this was a game he would win at. If I were to hold my weight, and we were to be victorious... I would have to remember that subtly wasn't the only tool I had to use.' He holds the Reaver aloft and steps back through to the other side. It changes colors, more to a sickly green than a pale blue. Raziel was stronger than he let on, the Reaver Blade more powerful than he usually used it. Leaping into the trees, he grabbed hold of a branch, and quickly climbed to the top. Swinging the blade, a blade of wind fired down in the area he was in. Kicking up a whirlwind of energy that aimed to throw anything not nailed down to the ground. If this doesn't get the sniper, he moves and does it again. Either he will have to move, or he'll be tossed. He doesn't care if this area is large... because he starts doing it at farther and farther distances. 'I was already dead, I could do this for days. Weeks even. This old man, however, could not. Either I would find him, he would reveal himself... or..'
Kukuru	'If it's a battle of attrition, you're the one he'll target first. You, or...' Even in the middle of a battle, Kukuru still manages to beam a bright smile at Yuuki for that. She's still on cloud nine even as she descends from the sky with that massive morale boost keeping any fear she might have at splatting on the ground at bay, and she's truly determined to pinpoint that pesky sniper and his ambushing explosives for the rest of her family here! Of course, being so skybound and not on the ground means someone of Nokken's caliber could probably make this shot in his sleep. To make things worse, the sound not coming through means Kukuru doesn't actually know it's even coming. Her eyes are still focused on the rustling further below, the shots from the scarecrows, the shouts of combat and fanciful jingles that she might even have a chance of using someday herself if things line up right. The mere idea that Nokken wouldn't even be on the ground or in the vicnity of the school hasn't even registered yet. At least, not until Kukuru gets shot right in the back, taken unawares by the shell from above. She screams briefly as it rips right on through center mass, silenced only by the same impact accelerating her descent enough that she falls unconscious momentarily from the abrupt change in speed. The landing, weirdly enough, actually jars her right back out of that, and it takes a solid half minute or so before Kukuru can even think about rolling over to not put so much pressure on her face. Everything hurts, and her body needs to mend itself back together first. Regrow, reattach, remember how to move. Gasping painfully as she shoves herself back up, she doesn't even bother pulling on or putting off the frames before looking up at the sky where she had last seen Cross Yuuki. How can Kukuru protect her from a target she can't even find, though? She still remembers that feeling from before. Several feelings, even, of wanting to be useful, wanting to protect her family. More recently, she remembers that more terrible feeling of being observed, as though Nokken wants her separated from everyone else. She focuses on that feeling, not because she knows it'll help her find him, but because it's the best way she can protect everyone else now. The nanites in Kukuru start flowing rapidly, but not exclusively to mend her wounds anymore. Instead, they start changing her, making her larger, not quite as large as the academy in the distance, but certainly a little taller than it. "Is that all? You're good at small targets, but..." She hisses lightly as the nanites making her larger can't quite keep up with healing her wounds at that size, glancing around slowly as if trying to find someone or something. In reality, she's looking for Cross Yuuki again, but her words don't line up with who she's actually looking for. "What about... Someone bigger? When I find you, I'm gonna punish you reeeeal hard!" Kukuru bites down on her lip, and then she forces a wide smile (with some assistance from thinking about what Zero and Yuuki had said to her earlier) as the nanites start visibly coming out of Kukuru, flowing beneath the treeline and towards her companions to give them some extra healing juice in their own efforts. "But if you're good and come out... It'll be easier for you, okaaaay?" Of course, being the size she's forced herself into, it's relatively easier to see where her allies are aiming and where the sounds of battle are coming from. Being able to reach that much further, too, means she can even start running for the nearest one, yet not teleporting because she still wants to draw Nokken's fire. That unlucky scarecrow closest to Kukuru, then, gets to be the test for what happens when she sweeps her hand at it, trying to fling it right into an oncoming attack.
Yuuki Kuran	Venting her frustrations with looping slashes and telekinetic manipulations of her Gamer Scythe on the dwindling scarecrows to keep the exploding bastard Fangs away from Kukuru, Cross Yuuki finds herself instead challenged as a Hunter would challenge a domineering pureblood. For a moment the cogwheel-spinning automata-Fang clashes with Yuuki's bare hands, ripping gear frictive across her palm blocking. At the moment of contact she shoves off, her gamer scythe on orbit back to her hands a moment after in spiralling form. Caught mid-pose while Cross Yuuki lands with her boots firmly planted in the forested earth, the cogwheel grinds and whirrs against the two-arm braced slightly curved black pole, keeping her suppressed for a long moment. The camera cuts away to Kukuru... MEANWHILE Kuran Yuuki, her white nightgown with two holes blown into it but without even the blood left on the outfit despite two perfect holes from terribly hungry bullets, fruitlessly searches the surrounds, spreading her awareness maddeningly farther, her flock of eyes and black bird-shapes searching, her hunting canines moving through the forest as thick as a malicious fog. A plague of frustrated hunger, a particularly growing desire to rip out a throat, and there are only more traps, more scarecrows, more hunter-weapons. Where was the hunter? Here, in her castle, being bombed? Where was the rival!? Her screaming, nearly incoherently offended blood demanded an answer, to collect, a reprising violence. The way to end this behavior was with bloody teeth and an unceremonious discarding of the dead weight, but where was the body??? The fury of the Director was an itch to the spine of all present. She wasn't quietly, restrainedly mad. There was just no outlet for it. No outlet, except... BACK WITH THE WHEEL SKRELLINGTON Cross Yuuki shifts her clashing grip in, and couches her gamer scythe against her bicep, giving another few inches. "Go away." She orders, freed up left hand triple slapping the plastic finisher lever at the head of the batwing. Kimewaza! Her extra toyetic scythe causes a flare of Hit! marks in box-popups and 'bwip bwip!' flares of hit-effect sounds while Yuuki shoves the wheel away again, draws her scythe back and low, and waits for one more onrush. When it comes, she doesn't budge, instead catching the scarecogwheel in the radial of her swept up scythe, flipping the weapon-familiar through the air with a ground-bursting crackle of incinerating fire filled with bat-shape silhouettes and extra Castlevania soundfont SFX. Queen Critical Finish! Buzzes the weapon, as the whole column detonates in a shower of molten ash and pyrotechnical bloom.
Timespace Riders	The worst thing about timeloops is that you have to go back and satisfy them--even if you know going in that it's a foregone conclusion. Future Zi-O can't give it away early, because doing that would break the loop. The Present Zi-O leans against a tree. It's not wise, but--"Woz--never mind helping me look. He isn't here." Woz doesn't immediately answer, because he is stabbed dead-on by the decoy, taken by complete surprise. He counterattacks with a hasty knee to its center of mass, the strike robbed somewhat of force by the staggering impact of the blow he'd taken. "I see," says the retainer, getting distance with an upwards lash of the whip. It snares a tree limb and retracts into the touchscreen console from which the weapon sprouts, carrying him up and away. "He eludes or is shrouded from the pages of the book," says Woz, leaping then from the branch to sail over the decoy's head. "He may attack from any angle." There is a winded quality to his voice, and to Zi-O's--likely exactly what Nokken would hope to hear. The two were fighting under the premise that he had to be nearby, but after all that searching, after as many different methods of searching--"Someone would have found him by now," Woz deduces as he lands. The scarecrow liquefies when under stress--so he resolves, tapping his finger on the whip's touchscreen--to give its fluid form absolutely no 'path of least resistance.' "This was not a surgical strike--" The whip extends impossibly as Woz twirls it overhead, winding wide, concentric loops around the scarecrow. At the last minute, all of the loops tighten around it, forming a densely packed knot meant to completely envelop it and crush it, forcing the liquid form. The retainer's finger swipes rapidly across the touchscreen. BEYOND THE TIME! "It was a last stand. Very well, Nokken--" Roses bloom all over the tightly wound ball. "Have your page in the annals of history, and darken the dawn of peace no more." MANGLING MAGIC! The rosebuds open, and explode, the force of the explosions directed inwards at the scarecrow.
Kuroto Dan	Genm's taunts with a resounding nothing, and he just lowers two fingers down instead of one. It's his game, he makes the rules, and the insult of not even answering him is worth TWO chances, not just one. "To ignore my game is a grievous sin. Fine, then, as promised, your attempts at going out in whatever blaze of glory you had envision will instead be little more than a smoldering spark!" With a mighty leap, the real Genm ascends to where one of the scarecrows is hidden, while his doppelgangers track down another. There's no real fanfare, just a synchronized press of buttons on their Buggle Drivers as the device announces the words: CRITICAL END! Jumping up into the air, the Genms turn themselves into living buzzsaws as they rain down on the scarecrows, creating a massive, eye straining cascade of white and purple pixelated streaks as well as compressed explosion effects as their attacks land.
Zero Kiryu	... But there was nothing to pinpoint. The dhampyr known as Nokken will not appear, and never intended to. He is not a world away, but he is close enough, nestled in one of many bunkers he has occupied over the years of his life, tucked into some caves within a mountain he knew. This region is nothing but mountains, and neither rock or the sky above it can stop his bullets. This wasn't free. It wasn't free to do, really. If it was, he would never lose a fight. Never lose prey. But he has, and he had to have. You don't get this many years without failing along the way. You just don't. Tick tick tick. There is no sniper to find in the trees. There are scarecrows and their symbolic guns and the odd suicide bomber scarecrow, but the man really and truly isn't here. Metal renders itself liquid and sloshes about in the air until the gale stops and the scarecrows have time to reform... No point in not making risky plays if you're already dead. Right? And yet, he didn't. Distant disappointment. More reinforced than she seemed. Not much to do about it, though. There wasn't anybody else more vulnerable to a killing blow just now. The surrounding scarecrows regard Kukuru distantly. Another shot comes, plummeting out of the sky. It's angled at Kukuru's hamstring, which is now a solid story high. The academy is hardly large, but rising above the height of it is enough to give her some anatomical exaggeration she wouldn't otherwise have to deal with. Getting bigger just lets him get lazy. It's not the first time he's seen that trick, though it'll probably be the last. It's easy either way, sorry to say. Not a whole lot of things easier than dying. Cross Yuuki makes a command, and the wheel skeleton hesitates. Well, of course it would; she's a relative, after all. But just like Bloody Rose, there's only so far that can go. In this case, that only-so-far is enough to buy her the time she needs to obliterate the cogwheel skeleton with a CRITICAL FINISH, leaving behind the glowing silhouette of a purple-and-red butterfly that disperses into the air. Woz tries something clever. Turns out that the physical force of being attacked at close range isn't quite the explosive force of bomb-blooms while in an enclosed area. A red gem shatters, and the goopy mess of quasimetallic substance pools on the ground uselessly.
Zero Kiryu	By now, there aren't many scarecrows left. That ominous feeling... settles on everyone. Dan tears all but a handful -- no, not even a handful -- of the remaining scarecrows apart in a colorful, noisy display of punishment game. Ruby-red cores crack on impact, their metallic substance dripping formlessly back into sludge. That's too bad. I'll give it one more go. Are you ready? It doesn't matter if you're ready or not. Miles away, Nokken reloads, aims, and fires. One scarecrow that was still mobile stops, and falls apart. Miles away, Nokken reloads, aims, and fires. A second scarecrow that was still mobile stops, and falls apart. Miles away, Nokken reloads, aims, and fires. A third scarecrow that was still mobile stops, and falls apart. Miles away, Nokken reloads, aims, and fires. The last scarecrow still standing stops, and falls apart. Just enough time for one more thing. Nokken cycles his Fang one last time. He removes the scope, redundant though it is, and sets it in its case. He wipes the gun off -- no time for a proper cleaning -- as best he can, sets the rifle into the recess of its case, and shuts it. The catches click shut. He drags his cleaning kit out from beneath the bunker's table and sets it next to the case. Somebody will get to it, eventually. And, with a certain amount of disappointment, and a certain amount of relief, Nokken sits down in his chair and dies.
Zero Kiryu	Out of the mass of plant matter that has grown across the grounds, Zero Kiryu appears at Kuran Yuuki's flank. He knows that her consciousness is re-focusing to the other 'her', but the externalization of certain impulses to this version of herself is distracting to him, and they share enough of a psychic link that he can observe the division of stress. He'd rather help her out than leave her to scream and rage and maybe do a sick combo over in her other body. Besides, he has a pretty good idea of at least a part of what's bothering her. The holes in her gown are basically the give-away for it. He circles around the front of her, pulling her into a loose embrace. The contact heralds the growth of plant matter that winds its way through the ruined garment, working its way to the breach points. Fibrous matter weaves itself into what at first presents as an ugly patch, and then blooms into a white flower that covers the greenery beneath it entirely. He prefers his own particular purple, but white is easy enough. The hand that had conveyed most of this matter is withdrawn, only to be offered palm-upwards. "It's not the time to go thirsty, Yuuki. And I don't think you want to drink what's coming out of the Fang constructs." He is pretty sure that the publicly socially acceptable way of offering this isn't what she's going to go for if she does. There's way too much rip-and-tear impulse going on, especially with weapons fire still tearing around the campus. It's fine, though. He just had to make the effort, since he's not certain Yuuki is in the headspace to make it herself just now.
Raziel	Raziel tears through many of the scarecrows. They can't be free, he realizes. Searching for him is pointless because with how this is seen he could be even farther away. This would be devastating for a vampire... and even probably deadly for one such as Yuuki or Zero on their own, never mind someone who isn't vulnerable to these arms. They had teamwork, coordination... the will to hold out. When the scarecrows start falling apart, he holds firm. A final shot fires, and he vanishes through into the other side, he swings the reaver at the same time. The two actions are enough to make the unerring attack still hit. The blade catches just enough of it, and his movement through dimensions blunts it enough so that it /only/ tears through his right leg. That it doesn't blow it clean off, and instead grazes his knee. Raziel, forced to his knees groans. Painfully aware of how lucky that was because that shot was aimed at to kill. Perhaps, in the end, he had run out. Perhaps he didn't know how pressed Raziel was. Perhaps... it really didn't matter. He stands to see the hateful ghosts stare at him. "Sorry, but unlike the rest of you, I still wish for the world to be better... and not my hatred to be carried out," he says, bitterly and self-loathingly. Tearing himself back into the physical plane, he was already healing. There was nothing. No shots, no more decoys. Silence. 'Not everyone chooses how to go out... so at least the old man got that. Perhaps it was more than he deserved? Will he be seen on the other side, also casting hateful glances at me? Was this something that allowed his soul to rest..? I could not say. A life lived that long for a single goal of revenge and death...' '...perhaps it is good that people saved me from that after all...'
Kukuru	Still no signs of Nokken, just more scarecrows. Just how many of these things are there to find? It feels as though there's far too many for Kukuru to count, and she hasn't even started counting, but... This is probably fine, too. More scarecrows to find and more shots aimed at her means fewer shots aimed at everyone else, right? Not really, but if nobody dies, then that means everyone can be healed. The pain from getting shot through the thigh for the second time today is a small price to pay for that, even though it gets yet another scream of pain from Kukuru before she starts toppling over. PErhaps realizing the danger in falling on a tree at that size, she instead opts to readjust those nanites to entirely healing purposes, letting her start returning to her normal size before she can create too many problems falling over. Now, though, she really needs to stay down and focus on healing. Going any further could complicate things for the rest of the mission in finding the doctor, and... Well, she just doesn't want to get up right away. There's still the little issue of everyone else possibly being hurt, though, so she covers for that in the best way she knows how" <Tac-Concord> 4 Kukuru says, hissing through pain again "Everyone okay? I can... Get you fixed up if you need me over right away." If nobody says anything, she can stay down here as long as she likes! She'll need it, too, to make sure her leg doesn't stay messed up at this rate.
Timespace Riders	The watch hands on Zi-O's dragon-aspected helmet spin rapidly forward, warning of an imminent attack. He evades it--though his fighting spirit is in tatters, as evidenced by the almost robotic, sluggish way in which he sidesteps. Woz's foresight is much more directed, requires more intent, and can't easily be called upon in a battle. He's struck dead in the chest following his finishing strike, sending a geyser of sparks spraying worryingly from the point of impact for a solid few seconds, as the force of the blow pushes him across the dirt. A last-minute palm strike against the long, spearlike projectile keeps him from being impaled through a tree. It ends up buried in the trunk, having shorn off a portion. In a few years, it will look like the result of some odd industrial accident, perhaps--but now it's death, narrowly avoided. Both Riders remove their Watches. Sougo Tokiwa's brown eyes contemplate a pile of leaves on the ground, his hands awkwardly fidgeting with the hems of his mint-colored button-up. His retainer joins him, ankle boots crunching softly on the forest floor. They are alone in the clearing, Sougo's searching having taken him far off the beaten path. "That was really pretty, what you said," Sougo says softly. "At least... the part about the dawn of peace was." Woz frowns. Not purses his lips--frowns--and takes Sougo's hand gently in his. "You are distressed by Nokken's decision." "Mm." The Demon King nods slightly, and squeezes his retainer's hand. "Kind of. I'm more... sad that he wouldn't have had it any other way. That there could be somebody who was that angry." Woz is quiet, for a moment. "We arrived too late to quench it, without doubt. But... in pursuing the Director's dream, we will break the cycle." "I think so, too. Thanks, Woz. ...let's go back to the library. Or, what's left of it. We can catch up with everyone later, I think." "At once, sire." The retainer's cloak sweeps them both away.
Yuuki Kuran	Kuran Yuuki is looking, hunting, defending her closest blood and dream of the future here on the grounds of Cross Academy. She does so against an enemy that she cannot perceive, cannot unleash on, cannot sense down and sink her teeth and claws into the enemy's flesh and crush it, rip it apart, dissociate it from anything that will ever hurt her or her dreams again. Wild, hard-breathing, violently aware, her fair fingers close overtightly to her readied weapon. Artemis, in turn, seethes itself, smoking-dark and moonlit in silver both, crackling at the ridges and flowing tip. Despite her palm-and-finger vice grip, her 'clenched Fang' does not rattle or waver, but rests ever-sharper, mirroring her displeasure as a still lake under a violently blooming stormcloud. And then someone else is there, and like Artemis, is 'someone Yuuki could never hurt'. Like a ragged sigh that was all mental, a release purely psychic, an easing-off instead of a deafening screaming, Kuran Yuuki backs down off the particular ledge of her boiling-blooded feelings, and instead uses her loose hand to take Zero's. Grip around the back, held from underneath so she could close around palm and thumb and guide, Kuran Yuuki pulls Zero closer still. Offered palm pressed to her face, Yuuki breathes and steps into her partner's chest, red eyes hidden behind the collar of his shirt. Just enough seperation, just enough distance, that he could pull her back, and she would never hurt him for trying. Nine years ago today, and here again, mirrored. "I'm not... thirsty." Kuran Yuuki croaks. "I'm furious. And why shouldn't I be? Even if..." Her voice trails off. Even if you're right. She thinks back at him, and remains, her grip easing off just slightly from her seething scythe. MEANWHILE... Cross Yuuki has chased down one final scarecrow, the last one she can even sense, extending her awareness across miles, a miasma of hunting hunger that leaks like mist and flaps like leathery feathery flitting wings. She hunts, and searches, and there's just this one, before her. She stares it down, gamer scythe readied, cardinal glowing eyes narrowed in focused attention. This one scarecrow, and a silent bullet. Cross Yuuki's head explodes in a shower of gore and bone and meat, and her body drops first to its knees, and then back-sideways to slump on the ground. Seconds pass. The flow of gore reverses, though not cleanly or completely. After a few pained seconds, Yuuki's skull reconstructs itself, the blood she had spilled not even sinking into the earth but returning to her. Rivulets run unstainingly up white cloth, disappearing into her reskinning scalp, and then, as if she had never been shot at all and just taken a sudden nap in a quiet forest, she raises back to her knees, dazed and searching. She looks around. Cross Yuuki is alone, but for a string-cut marionette of a Fang which never made a final move at all. She blinks, and sees no monsters in her forest. Sighing in what relief there can be in such a thing, she closes her eyes and sits back. She can hear Kukuru on the radio. Her friends are safe. Her home was quiet once more. "What a terrible idea... to use Cross Academy as bait." Cross Yuuki mumbles, and remains kneeling-seated for a while longer.
Kuroto Dan	One more attack. One more hit. There's a shower of sparks as Genm's undying form is floored, and the doppelgangers, his zombie gamers dissipating as if in response. They really aren't, though, it was a conscious decision. There's nothing left this man can do, his strongest attacks have done little more than to agitate him. A godly being such as himself no longer has to try. The same dark science that brought him back up before does so again, and Genm lets out a slightly pained groan this time as he rolls his head around and rubs his jaw. "If you think you're off the hook, you've got another thing coming. I will find a way to make you pay, no matter where you are, mark my words." There's nothing left for Genm to do here, it's now time for Kuroto Dan to return to the scene. The Kamen Rider makes his exit by foot this time, jumping down and disappearing into an alleyway as he removes the gashat from his driver, which causes his armor to disperse in a ray of light and reveal the face of a smiling man.
Zero Kiryu	"Just because it doesn't spend here, doesn't mean that you get less angry once you're over here," says Hakan's brother to Raziel, distantly. The others say nothing. Some don't really care about what's going on; others are mistrusting because it's in their nature in general. Most, though, are just strangers. Not much point leaning into what's going on, and interfering in the world of the living isn't their business anymore anyway. How many are there to find? As many as I've got life left to give, kid. Which was more than you'd expect, but still not enough. Kukuru's distress is answered. We don't need to rush that part. You have time to recover. So does everyone else. Stay put and take the time you need. His attention slides towards Sougo and Woz. Some people only know how to do the one thing. You can be responsible for how that turns out, but you can't be responsible for their decisions in and of themselves. There are worse things than death and vengeance out there. Things can change... His thoughts drift towards the Night class. As things calm down, there is visible movement between one dorm and the next, as the students from both sides take stock of the situation and work on sorting through the few injuries there are, and settling the fears of those who had to hear all of that. Plants begin to wind through the grounds, stitching together broken walls. The library is piecing back together by the time Sougo returns there, though it won't look quite the same until an actual contractor looks at it. That same sandy-haired man that appeared in the inn is inspecting the damage and coordinating. There's a sword held in his right hand, but it is bound up in... bandages? They're some kind of sealing tool, because it feels more weighty than a mere covering. If there is a person here that stands in perfect spiritual opposition to Nokken, it's probably this guy with his questionable but highly optimistic vampire school. In contrast with Nokken's infinitely-reaching bullets, this single bound blade is a statement of patient persistence. 'I'll be here.' Out on the grounds, a cold wind meets Kuroto Dan. Perhaps it's a voice, and perhaps it isn't. But no one... really doubts that Kuroto Dan can deliver on his promise.
Zero Kiryu	Plants and fibers twist together to knit the wounds of damaged buildings, just as they had Yuuki's dress. Zero regards Yuuki with the same cool exterior that he always does. There's a lot more going on there than anybody would've guessed, and that Yuuki is always aware of now. You took hits hard enough that you can't be sated. The observation is separate from matters of her anger, and that's as far as he's willing to push. The reality of standing here like this nine years ago... it's not lost on him. But the mood is too melancholy for him to comment on it, even jokingly. Later on, perhaps, he will think to remark that they came together again on that same rooftop. Right now, it's unimportant. A root on the ground adjacent to Cross Yuuki expands upwards, growing into a great flower that sweeps her away, back to the Chairman's house. //What a terrible idea...// she says, and Zero nods to Kuran Yuuki. Then, he answers, it will simply never happen again.