I Want to Tell You About Sato
The following work is heavily based on a dream I had last night, though I did some additional world building for it as I wrote it. In my dream, I’m pretty sure that most of the world building was inspired by the world of My Hero Academia and the aesthetic of Ajin. An odd combo, but things I’ve been into recently. Outside of my dream, I did my best to make this a standalone work, but I think it’s important to know some of the origins before going in.
Also, if you need a visualization, here is an optional quick description of Sato, as there isn’t one in the work: he looks much like Tosaki from Ajin, though wears a labcoat instead of a suit, and has pure white hair that’s fluffier/less well-kept than Tosaki’s.
I want to tell you about Sato.
Let me start from the beginning.
Sato was part of an organization called the International Global Peace Association, or the I.G.P.A. for short. It was sort of like an international military where members from all over the planet worked together to take out major threats around the world and save as many people’s lives as possible. They were sort of like super heroes.
The I.G.P.A. headquarters was located in the middle of the Atlantic, making it its own micro nation of scientists, researchers, strategists, and other personnel. The group’s members were in constant high demand for consultation, which led to members from every division being assigned specifically to travel to where they were needed.
Priority of the I.G.P.A.’s attention was determined by what situation was most desperate and would result in the biggest loss to the human race. Most of this was calculated by how many human lives would be lost. Fortunately, they were big enough that they were able to respond to several large scale situations at once.
Sato was originally a scientist who remained at HQ to study monster specimens brought in by field agents and field researchers. He was later asked to join a recently formed Monster Consultant Groups (MCGs), which handled cases where a country was in need of informational and combat support. Sato was fascinated by the proposal and the potential to work in the field, so he gladly accepted. He was soon disappointed in finding out that he would not be put directly into the field, but would remain at military bases and provide intelligence to those who actually were in the field. He didn’t stay with the group for long.
Returning to HQ, he immediately went about gaining field and combat training. Two years later he was able to become one of I.G.P.A.’s elite active field researchers; these were members of the science and research division who had the certification to go into the field with other field agents to provide support and collect data. Sato soon joined a new MCG.
Before I go further about his life in the I.G.P.A., there are a few things that you need to know about Sato himself.
Sato was a highly intelligent man with a rather calm and collected personality. He wasn’t the most personable of people, and acted rather cold. He viewed most things from an informational and logical standpoint, though greatly valued human life. This surprised many people as they expected him to be more about numbers and what would be deemed “most efficient overall”, and never worry himself about individual lives. 102 lives saved by using a lot of resources was always more valuable to him than only saving 100 with a small amount of resources.
He also had the ability to see into a person’s past if he wanted to when he touched them. While this was useful at times, he didn’t like using it as it would cause him to dissociate for a period of time, the intensity and duration of which would be dependent on how much he decided to look at. He wore gloves constantly to prevent its accidental use.
Now… where was I before? Oh, right, Sato had just joined an MCG again. Let’s fast forward a few years. By this point he and his team were like a second family. Their trust in each other was great, and allowed them to react more quickly and without always having to double check with each other, which was great when they were in dangerous situations.
Then their team had to take on a hell beast. I’m not sure about the details of this monster, aside from the fact that it was huge (probably about 5 stories high?) and was able to swim in lava like a fish. It had taken up residence in some underground ruins that had recently been discovered, and its presence was a threat to the archeologists there and the town down the hill.
Going in, the team knew all of that going in, and knew that it would be incredibly dangerous. They also knew that several people had been captured by this thing, including a young lady who had a rare form of the ability to control water. She had been marked as a priority of the country who asked for their assistance as she was also the Governor’s adopted daughter. If there was any possibility, she HAD to be saved.
What no one expected was for the beast to be intelligent, or to lock the woman away separately. The reason for this was never confirmed, but it’s assumed that it was because of her powerful abilities.
Sato was assigned to helping any surviving prisoners escape along with a couple other members of his squad, but he couldn’t find the girl. Letting his more physically capable teammates continue the search for her, he proceeded to where most of his team was handling the hell beast to provide whatever support he could while keeping his distance. This worked out well until he saw the young woman wandering around on the exact opposite side of the area. Instantly, his mind switched over to strategizing how to safely get the girl out.
The area was the inside of a multi-story structure (most likely a government building) that had been built onto the side of a volcanic mountain face only to be later buried in magma and rock. While inside had been completely persevered, lava had eventually filled the lower floors for the hell beast to live in and left only the top two floors and the dome safe for humans to traverse. There was access from the higher of the two floors to a fairly wide ledge that went around bottom edge of the dome. Despite its crumbling state, Sato was certain it could be run on safely.
Informing his teammates over their intercoms so they knew to distract the beast, he hopped onto the ledge and started running. His team tried to tell him to stop, that she wasn’t worth the risk, but he wouldn’t listen. Even if they couldn’t do anything to help him, he was going to try anyways. It was his job to get everyone to safety. She was his number one priority.
When Sato made it to the other side and met up with the young woman, she told him that there was no way out from that side due to the rubble. This meant making a return trip on the ledge behind the beast. Taking a calming breath, Sato informed his team of their situation and started to make his way back. The beast’s movements had been causing lave to get splashed up, so he didn’t feel safe staying there.
As I said before, the hell beast was intelligent, and it didn’t take long for it to realize the cause for its enemies’ distraction. As it turned around to see Sato and the girl running along the ledge, it brought its giant clawed hand down where it thought it would hit them. It missed, but took out enough of the ledge that it crumbled from beneath the young lady and caused her to fall. Sato immediately whipped around to catch her.
The details from there are fuzzy, as the team had to move quickly to save both their lives. From what I have been able to piece together from the teams accounts, this is what happened in those next few seconds:
Sato screamed and reached for the girl’s hand, dropping down to kneel on the ledge. Sato’s fingers caught hers for a moment before slipping apart. The beast spat something at the two of them, but only hit Sato in the arm he was reaching with. A member of the team grabbed Sato and pulled him away to safety. At the same time, the girl landed on the back of the beast’s hand for a second before another team mate swooped in and grabbed her via grappling hook.
Both Sato and the girl fell unconscious from the shock of the event, and were carried to the medical team by the two teammates who saved them. With all the civilians confirmed safe, the rest of the team headed for the fight in the dome to provide backup.
All members of the combat team returned with minor injuries, and only a few of them had major injuries.
The girl only had a few minor injuries, but fell into a coma that she still has not woken up from. She suffered no brain injuries, so it is assumed that it is from the mental trauma.
Sato was rushed to emergency care for his arm, as the material the beast had spat on it had proven to be poisonous and somewhat radioactive. By the time he made it out of the operating room, his arm had shriveled to half its size and the muscles and nerves had been badly damaged. He would never be able to use his right arm again, and it would be partially numb for the rest of his life.
Sato also suffered major psychological trauma. He now constantly relives that mission and variants of it mixed with his other memories in his mind and has trouble distinguishing it from the reality around him. It was originally believed that he had somehow used his own power to see the past on himself, but testing and brain scans have proven this assumption false.
He has been officially relieved from duty and now lives in a special home owned and funded by the I.G.P.A.
I thought that was rather lonely though, so I go and visit him as much as I can. I also like to take him out every once in a while to see the town. He seems to have been getting better over the years though, and has been registering reality a little bit more every day.
Oh, I’m his daughter, by the way. I’m Korona, or Koko for short. It’s been 7 years since the incident and I’m 19 now, but for some reason he thinks I’m still only 10 years old. That’s okay though. His memory is still a mess, and I don’t want to give him too big of a shock since he can’t process the passage of time, so I’ll pretend for him. It helps that my ability allows me to change what age I appear to be. Honestly though, I kinda like staying in the form of a child. It’s fun to see people react with shock when I’m able to stand up and answer questions well in my college classes.
…I’m getting carried away…
Sigh… I know you’ll be better one day, daddy. Even if it takes 7 more years. I love you.
This link here leads to another post about this story and its universe. It has information I couldn’t fit into the story that I still wanted to write down along with some trivia about the dream and writing process.