reblogging that height meme made me think of this but tiny headcanon:
people whoâve corresponded with âkiyoharuâ before meeting in person always think shioriâs going to be taller than she is and sheâs so tired of the shocked-trail-of-the-eyes-downward and âyouâre not what i expectedâ or outright âi thought youâd be taller.â she knows. sheâs been getting it since she was 16 and it started to be conspicuously late for her to not have a growth spurt to match her 5â˛11âł father. she knows.
i think it is good to warn people in advance about the circumstances that will cause you to bite them and i think that having given that warning it is good to follow through when the time comes
One time at dance some rando grabbed me by the waist and told me to dance with him and I told him âif you donât let go Iâm going to bite youâ and he didnât let go so I bit him and that really should be the end of the story but he thought that was funny so I turned around and gave him a donkey kick to the shins and took about a 4 inch strip of skin with me so what I learned that day is when one is without debilitating venom, one must be as a horse do
that canon drabble meme, you all know the one. | ACCEPTING
Her insides are on fire.
Every breath feels like sandpaper being dragged against her lungs and throat. Every blink just brings more pain. Shiori had held her breath as best she could when sheâd crushed the Necrosis capsulesâthat sheâd only inhaled the lingering fumes is the only stroke of mercy by which sheâs even lived this long, she knows that.
She stopped believing in God a long time ago, but itâs something like a blessing that sheâs at least been given enough time to do the last thing she needs to do. No oneâs going to help her this time. Sebastianâs not going to swoop in and save the day. And, wellâmaybe thatâs just fine.
The cold metal case feels like it weighs a hundred pounds in her arms, but she keeps her grip on it as she steps out into the cool morning sunlight bathing the roof; her eyes burn and her vision blurs, trying to adjust from the dim light of the warehouse and the stairwell, trying to soothe the pain with tears that her tear ducts canât manage to produce. Her eyes arenât bleeding yet, at least. She still has a few minutes. A few minutes are all she needs.
Her knees give out the moment sheâs on solid concrete, but she hardly registers that pain compared to the rest. No injury is going to matter in a few minutes, when the toxin she knows to be ravaging her internal organs at this very moment finally begins to shut down her brain. All she has left is single-minded purpose: get into the case and disarm the bomb, or hundreds of innocent people, civilians, children, are going to die the horrible death that awaits her.
And four digits are all that stand in her way.
If Aunt Hanae picked a random number, Iâm going to die for nothing.
Thereâs no time to brute force it. Thereâs only seconds left on the timer.
After all these years, she still wore the locket. She never forgot. Even after Father cast her aside, even after she sold him out, she mourned his death.
That was the day everything started.
Shiori grits her teeth and punches in 1-0-1-7.
LoadingâŚ
Open.
The lock releases, and she lets out a sigh of relief that feels like needles pressing into her lungs as she fumbles to open the case. The timer ticks down ten seconds, and hundreds of Necrosis capsules glimmer up at her like tiny, golden eyes.
The bomb itself isnât connected to anything, no wires to cut, no more locks to break, and she could just cry when it pops out of its casing easily in her handsâfinally, in this final moment, itâs easyâand she forces herself to her feet. It takes every ounce of strength she hasâand a bit moreâto even make it to the railing, but she hurls the bomb over the edge right as the timer ticks out its last few seconds and throws herself to the concrete, shielding the canister of Necrosis from the shockwave with her body until it passes.
Thereâs no telltale sickly sweet smell in the air. The glass doesnât so much as crack.
And with heaving breaths, any one of which could be her last, Shiori rolls onto her back and laughs.
âItâs game over,â she says, even knowing no oneâs listening. Maybe someone saw the explosion. Maybe thereâll be some conspiracy theories about it for people who live to see tomorrow will wonder about. But no oneâs going to know the truth. The game is over, and no one even knows they were playing.
But she won. She saved everyone. For once in her life, she was the good guy like she always wanted to be when she was a little girl. All those hundreds of people down below will go on and live and laugh and love and because of her, no oneâs life is going to be taken today but hers.
Wellâthereâs a familiar looking black blur in the middle of her field of vision, so maybe someone was listening after all.
âFor you to choose death for the sake of strangersâŚâ Sebastianâs never been easy to read, but heâs more inscrutable than ever. Shiori canât tell if heâs disappointed or amused. âThat said, you have saved me some hassle. Now I can take your soul.â
That just makes her laugh again, a pitiful wheeze of a sound that makes her whole chest ache.
âOh well,â she says. Somehow, she thought when the end came, sheâd be more frightened. She thought sheâd have more regrets. Butâitâs her cursed life against so many others. No more selfish pride. No more debt to Sebastian. Itâs fine. Itâs all fine. âThis is the path I chose.â
She chose not to run and leave others to die so she could take the easy way out. She chose to do the right thing. She doesnât regret it, she thinks. Sheâll be alright.
âLying to yourself and acting tough now?â Sebastian scoffs. âDying without fulfilling your goal⌠what a pathetic master youâve turned out to be.â
His face finally comes into proper focus, twisted into a smile so forced that Shiori canât stop herself before sheâs laughing again. Thatâs not the face of a demon savoring the last pitiful agony of his prey, disappointed at an early end. Itâs a terribly human face. A man trying to laugh in the face of something that causes him pain.
He feels bad for me. Now, when itâs all over. He knew he couldnât stop me, and heâ
âYouâre lying to yourself too, arenât you?â
She squints her eyes to try and keep his face in focusâand sees the way his smile vanishes, the twitch in his cheek as he tilts his head down toward her.
âYou wanted to see for yourselfââ It hurts to talk. It hurts to keep her eyes open. But heâs looking at her, really looking at her now, like in the last moments of her life sheâs being allowed to catch a glimpse of who he really is. Or maybe sheâs just delirious. ââwhat sort of person would throw away their life to save everyone else.â
She can see Sebastian swallow, his brow furrowed. Itâs been ten years, and sheâs never seen him look⌠perturbed like this.
âSomehow⌠you still have hope in the good of mankind,â she says. You were testing me, werenât you? You could have forced me to leave the bomb and taken me to safety. But you just had to know what I would do, if you gave me the chance. âThatâs the real reason youâve stayed in this world all this time, isnât it?â
âNo.â All that put-on scorn is gone from Sebastianâs voice, leaving justâthis. Hollow. Resigned. Sheâs never heard him like this. âDriven by oneâs own greedâfor money, for powerânot even murder is too horrible a crime. That is the âmankindâ I know.â
And you were just waiting for someone to prove you wrong, Shiori thinks, smiling wider than she has in a decade. Sorry I couldnât have been a better person. Sorry I couldnât do that for you sooner. Iâm just as bad as the rest of them, greedy and vengeful and dishonest, so donât look at me like that. You donât have to feel sorry for me.
But you donât want it to end like this, do you?
Her visionâs starting to go gray around the edges, but she keeps her eyes on him.
What are you going to do, Sebastian?
âYou knowâI heard a story, once, that demons used to be angels.â Supposedly when youâre about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Maybe thatâs why sheâs thinking of it now. Father telling her bedtime stories, about their family, about their âcurseâ, the guardian angel that calls himself a demon. Mother, Father⌠I wonât see you in Hell, you know. Iâm sorry I let you down. Sebastian blinks, looks like he wants to say somethingâbut he doesnât. He just clenches his jaw and looks so human, and she wants to joke about his stupid face having to be the last thing she ever sees, but if itâs like this maybe that isnât that bad. âTheir expectations of humanity were just too high, and they were cast out of Heaven into Hell, to become demons.â
Sebastian doesnât say anything. She can barely see anything anymore, and sheâd just wasted her energy prattling on about a fairy tale.
âWellââ She laughs again, shaking her head even as that makes her vision swim and her head throb. ââitâs just a story, anyway.â
The pain starts to fade as everything goes black. With a smile on her face, she closes her eyes.
...And opens them to Sebastianâs knee pressing against her back and his hand tight on her wounded shoulder and a self-satisfied smile on his face.
Her lips are tingling, and she can taste something bitter and she knows what it is before she even wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and sees redâbut she still pulls herself out of his arms and asks âwhat did you do?â like thereâs any mystery to it.
âI gave you the antidote.â And Sebastianâs back to his usual self, smug and haughtily amused, like this was all a game, a bad dream.
âWhy?â She has to askâshe has to hear what he says, she canât leave herself to guess. âYou dindât have to save me.â
âWhere would the fun have been in taking your soul now?â He smirks, raises his eyebrowsâanimated and above it all again. âIf I let your soul steep in darkness a bit longer, Iâll be able to savor a taste darker and richer than any other.â
Itâs a typical answer. She almost believes it.
Until his smirk turns into an almost wistful smile, and he looks away, like he canât meet her eyes any longer. And, in baffled silence, she thinks to herselfâthatâs the first time youâve ever lied to my face, isnât it?
Blinking, Shiori reaches out and touches Sebastianâs arm with the tips of her fingersâa small, hesitant gesture that she knows is unlike her even as she does it.
âSebastian.â
âWhat is it, young master?â When he turns back to look at her, he looks just the same as normal. Just a game. Just a dream. Nothingâs changed.
Except everything has, hasnât it?
Shiori takes a breath, and swallows a dozen questions sheâs not sure sheâll ever be ready for the answers to. Suddenly, she feels very, very tired.
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