sweetdevil | 53rd ♫ | accessing hard drive, surrounded in a whirring sound

Amano-Iwato?

[ Akane blinks at her. Mythology's never really been her thing, unless it came up in a show she liked and she wanted to nose a little deeper, but it only takes a second for her to place where she's heard it. ]

Oh, that's Amaterasu's cave. But everybody knows that story already, right?

[ Which is to say, why the heck should she bother reading it? ]

That's right.

Reading it again can offer a fresh perspective, don't you think? For example... While it's a story about gods and the sun, it's also the story about a girl, hiding from the world that loves her out of fear. There's lessons to be taken away from it, if you know where to look.

[Kotoha can't possibly know about Akane and doing this on purpose... right?]

[ Akane feels a chill skitter its way down her spine, like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. It's– stupid. It's beyond stupid. She knows for a fact that this has nothing to do with her and this woman, whoever she is, doesn't know anything about Akane but–

But she can't keep the brief flicker of discomfort off her face, even as she struggles to put her affable little smile back where it should be. ]

Th–that's a little dramatic! [ She forces a laugh that sounds phoney even to her own ears. ] I don't know if I could relate to something like that.

Is something wrong, miss?

[She looks at Akane, concern written all over her face.]

Why would anything be wrong? [ She answers quick enough that she speaks across Kotoha, cutting her off. ] It's just an old story.

[ And yet, for some reason, Akane feels distinctly... rattled. ]

... Old stories are still told for a reason.

[Kotoha is trying to be kind, but she's sharp, too. It's pretty obvious- Especially since her bookstore gave her that book.]

You're safe in my store, though. You don't need to hide from anything.

[ Akane wants to bark out what would I even be hiding from? She wants to snap shut up. You don't know anything. She wants to snatch that stupid book out of the woman's hands and pitch it right back into her face.

But she doesn't do any of that. She feels... seen through. Observed, somehow. Like she'd looked into a mirror and seen her reflection give her a knowing smile. ]

I–

[ She wants–

She wants to get out of here. ]

... I just remembered. I've got an errand to run.

[ She flashes the woman a smile, more bared teeth than anything else. And before she can say anything else, Akane turns on her heel and tries very hard not to look as though she's fleeing. ]

[... Hm. That wasn't how she wanted this to go. But, well... Kotoha won't chase her. That would only make things worse.

But her store isn't going anywhere. What could possibly happen to her store, after all!]

[ Akane storms the rest of the way home, barely even seeing where she's going and certainly not paying attention to Anti who's still skulking around in front of the house. She kicks the gate open, storms up to her room and by the time she's kicked off her shoes and settled in front of the computer she feels... not calmer, but like her irritation has some direction and somewhere to go.

Tough day at school, Akane? Alexis muses from his monitor and Akane manages a smile in return. ]

Something like that. [ She thumbs the side of her boxcutter and extends the blade. ] But I can handle it.

[ It's gearing up to be searingly hot summer's day the next morning – as it almost always is in Tsutsujudai. Everything seems perfectly normal, no different than usual.

Just down the street from Kakimoto Children's Books, though, something is beginning to rumble. ]

[Kotoha, just like the day before, stands out in front of her store, broom in hand. Honestly, the storefront doesn't even need it, she just finds the sweeping relaxing.

But the rumbling gets her attention. And then, seemingly from nowhere, she's holding... a strange book. Old, leather, embossed in gold.]

... So it was this kind of a story after all. I'm disappointed.

[She closes the book, and turns away. It seems almost as though she is... giving up? Turning her back to the rumbling? Clearly, this is the perfect chance.]

[ And of course, that gets a delighted peal of laughter from Akane, bouncing around in her computer chair and safe behind the computer screen. ]

Story?! Jeez, this lady's definitely spending waaaayyy too much time with her weird fairy tales!

[ She's still laughing to herself when the kaiju finally chews its way up and out of the ground. It's a gigantic mechanical crocodile with enormous jaws and awful fangs. Its legs are stubby but it's moving fast, chomping its massive jaws as it comes chewing down the street, aiming itself more or less directly for the bookstore. ]

[The kaiju tears down the street, devouring everything in its path. Kotoha cannot possibly get away in time. She seems to be almost certainly doomed.

Except...

As the jaws seem to be about to close on Kotoha, another figure appears. Larger than life, larger than anything else, a human figure big enough to match a kaiju...

But it's not Gridman.

In fact, it's not any of the normal heroes that Akane is used to. Instead, it seems to just be... a giant. Who reaches down, gripping the crocodile's jaws, and starts forcing them wider and wider apart.

And then, it bellows. The giant's footfalls were enough to cause earthquakes, and now its voice is great and terrible enough to shake the earth again. It shouts...

"FEE FIE FO FUM,
I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ALIEN!"]

[ Akane stares at the screen for ten full seconds, so still and silent that Alexis eventually prompts her with a lightly concerned 'Akane?' to jolt her back into action. Even then, it takes her another few seconds to more or less reboot. She can buy Gridman and his nonsense, it's just part of parcel of the genre, right?

But this...

This is just ridiculous. ]

What– what are you waiting for? [ She hisses it out at first, but then she slaps the tablet with both hands and roars it. ] JUST BITE THAT THING IN HALF AND KILL HER!

[ The kaiju, to its credit, does its very best to do just that. Its feet kick and squirm and with a great deal of strain, it begins to gradually force its jaws closed around the giant's hands – not enough to bite down, but enough to regain a little bit of lost ground. ]

[Ten seconds.

Ten full seconds, Akane stares at the giant. Five more seconds to bring herself back to reality. A couple more to respond to Alexis. Ten more to give her orders.

Thirty full seconds, Akane wasn't looking at Kotoha. That was her mistake.

In those thirty seconds, Kotoha seems to have vanished. No matter where Akane looks, Kotoha won't show up anywhere on the screen. It's almost impossible- She can't possibly have gotten completely out of range of where Akane can see in thirty seconds, right?

And in thirty seconds, she certainly couldn't get all the way to Akane's room.

There's a polite knock on Akane's door, while the kaiju and the giant wrestle.]

[ Akane freezes.

She'd been zipping all around the street as fast as she could, trying to find some trace of that glasses woman – she couldn't just be gone, not so fast. Maybe she'd been crushed by the giant or disappeared into the store, but even as those possibilities came to mind, Akane dismissed them. Too good to be true.

But when she hears that knock on her door and realizes, against any and all odds who must me out there – she freezes in place so completely that she forgets to even breathe. Doesn't even dare, just in case she's overheard.

What the hell is going on?! ]

[There's a pause, and then, a soft:]

Would you please open the door? This isn't your Amano-Iwato.

[However, that's all there is. She's not opening the door. If Akane peeks outside somehow, Kotoha is just... standing there, politely, like this is just a normal, cordial visit.]

And it would make for a poor story if we couldn't talk face-to-face.

[ No, no, no, no, no.

She can't be right outside the door. Because if she was right outside the door then that means she's made her way into Akane's house and no one can come into Akane's house. It's not a matter of permission or lack thereof, it's a rule of the world coded in as firmly as she could make it that no one enters this space without her permission.

And yet, here she is. This strange woman who sells books to children and conjures giants out of thin air and she's just outside of Akane's door.

The silence from inside the room is deafening.

But just when it seems like it's about to stretch out indefinitely, Akane's voice, carefully cold and dead, speaks up from inside. ]

What... are you?

[ Not who. What. ]

[... Kotoha laughs. It's... not a laugh of mirth. It's sheepish, embarrassed... Regretful.

She deserves it, doesn't she? After all... She is no longer a person.]

Ah... You're very sharp, aren't you? No wonder you hide away. The world is never kind to a girl who knows too much.

I am your ally. I know it may not seem that way, but... Please believe it.

[ She scoffs quietly to herself, softly enough that it doesn't carry beyond the door, especially not under the chaos still playing out across Akane's computer screen.

An ally. Sure. Right. You'll forgive her if she doesn't believe that for a second. ]

Some ally. Breaking in when you're not invited. [ And not wanted, she thinks, but doesn't need to say. ] You don't even belong in this world, do you?

Sometimes, to best help someone, you cannot simply give them what they want.

[Does she belong in this world? Well. That's a very complicated answer. So instead...]

I could say the same to you, couldn't I?

Like you'd know anything about that.

[ There's nothing but a door between her and this strange woman but to Akane, right now, it's like a fortress wall. Nothing can get through it, over it, or under it. So maybe it's fine to let her tongue a little more loose than usual. ]

If this is my world, don't I have every right to be here?

To be here? Certainly. But that's not what you do here, is it?

[The giant and the kaiju struggle, but they're locked in place. Somehow, the two of them seem evenly matched in their wrestling contest... So evenly matched that neither of them can move.

Without moving, nothing is being destroyed.]

You do not have the right to use those monsters... To take this world away from those who belong here.

I belong here!

[ The door between them rattles almost off its hinges – jittering with the force of Akane's feelings more than the force of her raised voice. ]

What makes you think you can just walk in here and start talking like you understand anything?!

Do you?

[She doesn't seem to react to the door rattling. It's just another child, upset at the world. It's something Kotoha knows well.]

... If I don't understand, then why don't you talk to me? I'm sure we'll be able to understand each other that way.

[ Akane lets out a hard breath. She's... losing control of her temper, she can feel it happening but she can't do anything about it. Is she doing it on purpose, this woman? Is she feeling Akane out, working out which buttons to press to make her weak and easier to unravel?

Her hands are balled into fists so tight her nails dig into her palms. ]

I don't want to understand you.

And I don't want you to understand me.

What I want is for you to get out. Right now.

[This... isn't going well. Well, it never goes well, but this is going poorly, even for her standards.

Unfortunately, she has no choice. She couldn't leave, even if she wanted to. And, well...]

I'm afraid while you use monsters like this, I cannot. If I left now, everyone you kill from now on would be my fault as well.

[ Akane scoffs. ]

So you're going to butt in like this every single time?

[ There's a pause, with an abruptness that implies she's fallen silent with a realization and when she speaks up again, her voice is edge with a special tinge of disgust. ]

Don't tell me... you're working with Gridman, right?

Mm...

["What's a Gridman", is what she really wants to say. But, unfortunately, that's not how this works, is it?]

That may be what I have been brought here to do, yes. I haven't met any 'Gridman' yet, though.

[ What a weedy denial. Akane scoffs – she's not convinced.

(Of course, she'd be unconvinced by literally any answer Kotoha have her. Akane's already made up her mind about this woman and that's all she needs to know.) ]

Sure. Right. You just happened to turn up here out of nowhere too, but you've got nooooooothing to do with Gridman.

[ Her voice turns sickly sweet and a little singsong, mocking. ]

Does that mean you're all by yourself, then? Nobody to miss you if you just disappear one day?

Wouldn't you think it more likely that it has to do with you, than Gridman? If your actions have already caused one other person to interfere...

[THE COMMON FACTOR HERE IS YOU, AKANE]

... All by myself, hm? No, not exactly. Though Wolf isn't here right now, my loved one will show up sooner or later.

Sooner or later? Is that so?

[ There's a moment of quiet and then all of a sudden

Akane's voice is coming from much closer behind the door. ]

If they love you so much, then why aren't they already here with you? You haven't been left behind, have you? How sad...

[Poor Akane. Of all the tracks you could try...]

That's not how it works, sadly. If we could stay together, we would, but it's my abilities that drag me around, leaving her to catch up.

Wow, so high maintenance! I know some people love it when girls play hard to get, but that's a little much.

[ Not that Akane has literally any place whatsoever to talk. ]

Why don't you do us all a favour and drag yourself someplace else, then?

Have you ever heard of a story where this mysterious newcomer just left?

[She folds her arms.]

Now, please open the door.

[ Akane folds hers in turn, with some pretty good dramatic timing. ]

Give me one good reason why I should.

Because it's rude to talk to someone through a door like this.

And aren't you the one who started hanging around outside my door when you weren't invited? I'd say that's even ruder.

Very well. ... I'm sorry it had to come to this.

Open Sesame.

[With a 'click', the lock unlocks, and the door begins to push itself open with a slow, but inexorable force.]

[ A white hot jolt of panic and shock fires up Akane's spine and for a moment, she's glued to the spot. Her whole body tingles with alarm and she doesn't know what to do. She's blocked in, nowhere to go but–

...

She doesn't even bother trying to pull the door shut. Instead, Akane charges forward and slams into the door with her full weight, shoving it out into Kotoha's face and then immediately charging down the hallway to put as much distance between them as she can. ]

53rd ♫ | accessing hard drive, surrounded in a whirring sound

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hannah i screamed irl

rip in fuck

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