Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-05-19 05:55 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-05-19 05:55 pm
Entry tags:
Fanfiction: All That's Left (The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Everyone/Everyone)
Look, we all knew I was going to write this fic. Of course I was going to write this fic. Here is the inevitable fic.
Because Takemaru is a stickler for the rules, there's some discussion of the age of consent in this fic. I have no idea what the age of consent in the Tokyo Residential Complex would be, but I've set it at sixteen based on the current age of consent in Japan. I don't think these characters have canonical ages, but, if I'm mistaken and anyone in the 'over sixteen' group is canonically under sixteen, please assume they've been aged up; Takemaru's going to be so upset otherwise.
Title: All That's Left
Fandom: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
Rating: 15
Pairing: everyone/everyone (present at this point in the timeline), more or less, with particular emphasis on Takumi/everyone.
Wordcount: 3,700
Summary: Darumi rolls onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “I guess we could all fuck instead.”
Notes: Set after day 95.
No power, no wall of fire, no escape. Nothing to do but wait to die.
Maybe they’ll be killed on the final day. Maybe they won’t, after Eito sabotaged the plan to wipe everything out. Even if they survive the hundred days, there’s nowhere to go; it won’t be long before they’re taken out by invaders or starvation, and the Revive-O-Matic is as dead as everything else.
What do they do? What’s the point of doing anything?
“We could kill each other,” Darumi suggests, lying face-down on the floor of the cafeteria. It doesn’t look comfortable.
“We’re not going to kill each other,” Takumi says, almost automatically.
“Perhaps Darumi has the right idea,” Yugamu says. “Wouldn’t it mean more, being killed by people who love us? We’re going to die anyway, after all.”
Gaku folds his arms. “Hey, I have a great suggestion for how to spend our final days: not listening to these creepazoids.”
“Don’t worry.” Yugamu’s eye trails over Gaku, in the slow, unsettling way they’re all becoming too used to. “I’d make it slow. I promise you that.”
“That’s... that’s worse,” Gaku says. “You get that that’s worse, right?”
Darumi rolls onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “I guess we could all fuck instead.”
The suggestion jolts Takumi. He’s used to hearing Darumi ramble about murder; this is new. “What?”
“That’s an ugly way to phrase it,” Yugamu says. “It’s better to make love, wouldn’t you say?”
Darumi makes a face. “Ugh.”
“In any case,” Yugamu says, “murder and lovemaking are the perfect accompaniments. There’s no need to do one instead of the other.”
“Ooh.” Darumi sits up. “Okay, that I can get behind.”
“Uh,” Gaku says, “if anyone else gets a say in this, I vote for the sex without the killing.”
“Hey, are we all old enough to be thinkin’ about this kind of thing?” Takemaru asks. He jerks a thumb at Shouma. “This kid looks about twelve.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t worry about me,” Shouma says. “I’m sure none of you could stand to touch me anyway. I’d just bring the whole orgy down. You should all have a good time without me.”
“Shouma,” Takumi says, “we’re not going to—”
But Shouma’s already left the room. Which is weird; it suddenly makes this feel a lot more like it might actually happen.
“Anyone else not into it?” Takemaru asks. “What about you, Tomato Girl? You’re pretty young under that mask, right?”
Kurara draws herself up to her full height. “Get this through your thick skulls: I’m not a kid, and I’m not leaving because I don’t – don’t feel ready for this kind of thing.” She wheels and stalks towards the door. “I’m leaving because none of you filthy peasants deserve to touch my perfect Oosuzuki body.”
“Uh,” Takumi says, as the door closes behind her, “what’s... what’s happening?
“Okay,” Takemaru says, “who’s left? You’re all over sixteen, right?”
“Why are you so obsessed with the age of consent?” Gaku asks. “You’re in a gang, right? And we’re all pretty much the same age anyway. It’s not like it makes that much of a difference.”
“Hey.” Takemaru folds his arms. “You know what the age of consent means? You can’t consent if you’re below it. I’m not doing shit with anyone who can’t say yes to it.”
“Uh,” Tsubasa says, “if – if this is happening – I mean, I don’t know if it’s happening, but... isn’t Kako in middle school?”
Kako plants her hands on her hips. “You didn’t have to say it.”
Takemaru jerks his head at the door. “Get out of here, kid.”
“That’s not fair,” Kako protests. “I’m part of the team. I want to be involved.”
“Wait,” Takumi says. “This is insane. We’re not – there’s no way we’re actually going to do this. We’re not seriously considering this, right?”
Kyoshika clears her throat: an awkward sound that feels kind of at odds with her weird samurai persona. “I am prepared to join all of you in this venture. The Holy Jumonji Sword has informed me that it is willing to take... additional partners.”
“You’re not gonna fuck me with your sword, dude,” Gaku says.
Yugamu tilts his head. “I’d be interested in involving the sword.”
“If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing,” Takemaru says, catching Takumi’s eye. Direct eye contact feels very uncomfortable right now. “There’s no shame in leavin’.”
This is crazy. Obviously this isn’t actually going to happen.
But.
It might happen. Right? However insane this idea might be, it seems like people are actually interested.
Takumi tries to swallow down what suddenly feels like an unreasonable quantity of saliva.
People are interested. Which means it’s not up to Takumi whether this happens; the only question is whether he’s going to be involved. Is he going to be a part of this, or is he just going to go back to his room, lie on his bed, try not to think about what’s happening elsewhere in the academy?
Darumi cackles. “Doesn’t look like he’s leaving.”
Takumi feels himself flush. “I’m just... I’m just trying to figure out what’s happening.”
“The twin’s still here, too,” Takemaru says, with a sternness that makes him seem a lot more like a teacher in his seventies than a teenage gang member.
“I don’t want to be left out,” Kako says. “If I can fight in a war, I can make my own decisions, right?”
Takemaru shrugs. “You’re just not old enough. Sorry, kid. I ain’t compromising on this one.”
Kako shakes her head. “We’re going to die. I’ll never be old enough. You’re seriously going to kick me out?”
“Sucks to be you,” Takemaru says. “But you gotta set boundaries. No middle schoolers, and no fucking torture shit.”
Darumi boos loudly.
“None at all?” Yugamu asks. “I find that a lot of people who think they won’t enjoy torture just haven’t experienced an expert’s techniques.”
Kako’s eyes flick nervously to Yugamu.
“Actually,” she mumbles, “I guess it wouldn’t feel right without my brother.”
“You’re saying it’d feel less weird with your brother?” Gaku calls incredulously after her, as she leaves.
“Okay!” Takemaru surveys the room. “I want to hear all of you say you want this.”
“Okay,” Darumi says, climbing to her feet, “I get that consent is all, like, important or whatever, but it’s also boring as shit that we’re still talking about it, so I’m just gonna make out with people until this guy is done.”
Takemaru bristles. “We can’t just skip—”
But Darumi’s already thrown herself into Yugamu’s arms and her tongue, by the look of things, halfway down his throat. Takumi involuntarily makes a noise he didn’t really know he was capable of, somewhere halfway between a gulp and a yelp.
Without breaking the kiss, Yugamu unclips the safety pin from Darumi’s choker and uses it to drag a long line of blood across her thigh. The sight makes something clench uncomfortably somewhere in Takumi’s abdomen.
“Okay,” Takemaru bellows, “this is exactly the kind of shit we need to discuss beforehand!”
A normal person would turn around to respond to that. Darumi flips herself almost upside-down in Yugamu’s arms to look back at Takemaru. “It’s fiiiiine. Seriously, are all bikers as boring as—”
Yugamu’s lost his grip on her; she yelps and crashes onto the cafeteria floor. Takumi hurries over to check on her.
She... seems okay? She seems okay. She’s laughing hysterically, but that’s pretty standard for Darumi.
Takumi’s trying not to look at the blood on her leg.
“You okay?” Tsubasa asks, with a sympathetic wince. “That looked like a pretty hard landing.”
“I’m fine! I’m fine.” Darumi springs to her feet and bounces across the room to drape herself over Kyoshika.
“I feel like the cafeteria probably isn’t, uh, the most comfortable place,” Takumi says. “If we’re really thinking about... you know. Right?”
“Yeah, but what else is there?” Takemaru asks. “Pretty sure nobody has a bed big enough for seven people.”
There’s a brief silence, disturbed only by Darumi licking a long, noisy stripe up the side of Kyoshika’s neck.
“I mean,” Tsubasa says, “there are crash mats in the gym.”
Takemaru nods. “All right, sounds good. And we’ll need condoms and lube and shit. Anyone seen any in the Gift-O-Matic?”
“We can’t use the Gift-O-Matic,” Takumi reminds him. Is this what’s finally going to put a stop to this insane idea? It’s a relief, in a way, but the loss of anticipation feels like it leaves a strange kind of void inside him. “No power.”
“We’re all just waiting to die, anyway,” Darumi says, breaking away from Kyoshika. “Who cares about condoms?”
“Uh.” Gaku raises a hand. “I might’ve... made some stuff. Back when the Gift-O-Matic was working. Just in case, y’know.”
“I have an enormous quantity of lubricant in my room,” Kyoshika says, her voice not quite steady in a way that is making Takumi feel extremely weird.
-
Takumi heads up to the roof with Kyoshika to help collect the supplies from her room. It feels like a weird thing to be doing. But being around the group right now is weirder.
He needs some time away from them; he needs a chance to clear his head. This is an opportunity to think clearly. There’s still time to back out. If he comes to his senses, he can just drop the lube off at the gym and run up to his room and try to forget about the whole thing.
If he’s still feeling this way when he comes back downstairs, though, this blend of anticipation and arousal and terror...
Well. He’ll deal with that when he has to, he guesses.
“Aren’t you nervous?” he asks Kyoshika, as they climb the stairs. “This is kind of, uh. Strange.”
“Is it so strange?” Kyoshika asks. “I would have thought it common for love to bloom on the battlefield.”
Common in manga, maybe. “This isn’t really love, though, is it? It’s... I don’t know what it is.” He’d better learn to say it, really, if he might be about to have it. “Sex, I guess.”
Kyoshika falls silent for a few steps. “Warriors may... crave intimacy, also. It depends on the genre, I suppose.”
Intimacy. That feels like it might be a better way of thinking about it.
Maybe they’re not all people he’d normally think about having sex with. But they’re facing down their own deaths, and his allies have become important to him, after all this time fighting side-by-side. It might be good just to spend the last remaining scraps of his life close to them, in whatever way he can.
He’ll probably regret it. But how long do they have left for regret?
-
The floor of the gym is carpeted in crash mats. This is really going to happen, isn’t it?
Darumi is cheerfully kissing Takemaru against one of the walls, both of her hands in his pockets. It doesn’t look like things have got further than that. But it still feels like it takes a substantial effort to step over the threshold.
Takumi sets down the bewilderingly large barrel of lube he’s been carrying, trying not to think too hard about what it’s actually going to be used for.
“You came back?” Tsubasa asks, sidling up to him. “I kind of thought you were just going to run away.”
Takumi scratches the back of his neck. “I can’t say I didn’t consider it.” Actually, now that she mentions it... “How about you? You haven’t been as, uh, openly interested as some of the others.”
“It’s not what I was expecting,” Tsubasa admits. “But... I’m interested, I think. It’s just... a lot.”
Takumi laughs at that. “You’re telling me.”
They’re both quiet for a moment, watching Darumi dart over to Gaku, kiss him on the cheek and steal a fistful of condoms out of his pocket. She tosses a couple of them Takumi’s way. He catches them, without thinking, and then drops into an embarrassed coughing fit.
“Are you okay?” Tsubasa asks, alarmed.
“I’m fine!” Takumi shoves the packets into the pocket of his hoodie. “Sorry. I’m fine.”
“Soooooo.” Tsubasa seems to hesitate. “I think I might kind of need to ease into, um, everyone, so... maybe it could just be you and me to start with?”
Takumi suddenly feels barely connected to his own body. It’s like the first time he experienced rain: water pouring onto him from the sky, something so surreal it felt like it couldn’t possibly be happening.
“You want to start with me?” he hears himself ask.
She gives him a quick, awkward smile. “A lot of people here are kind of intense. You’re more... grounded, y’know? I thought maybe you would be less intimidating.”
“I mean.” Takumi swallows. “A-are you intimidated? Are you nervous?”
Tsubasa laughs, a little selfconsciously. “Oh, uh, I’m not gonna throw up. I think I’ve spent enough time on the battlefield for my nervousness threshold to, uh, shift a little.”
“Then, uh.” He has to start somewhere, he guesses, if he’s doing this. It definitely seems less intimidating to start with just one person. Tsubasa’s probably the most normal person here, and she’s a girl; that feels safer. “Y-yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Uh, thanks.”
Tsubasa nods. “I... I don’t know a lot about this kind of thing. Don’t laugh at me, okay?”
“It’s fine,” Takumi says. “I’m... not exactly experienced, either.”
“Right.” Tsubasa comes a little closer, and Takumi has to fight against his instinct to freeze up. “Okay, good. Then...”
She kisses him. And that – it’s awkward, he’s not sure where he’s supposed to put his hands, but—
It’s okay. He’s kissing someone, and the world—
The world hasn’t ended. He almost laughs at the thought.
Okay. The world’s kind of ended. So he shouldn’t think of this as a big deal, right?
He puts his hands on Tsubasa’s hips and pulls her in closer.
Darumi whoops and applauds. Takumi closes his eyes, blushing, and tries very hard to ignore it.
-
It’s easier once things are actually underway, rather than just lurking as an indistinct, ominous shadow in Takumi’s immediate future. He tries to stick to the outskirts, though, tries to keep to one person at a time; it just seems less intimidating. Tsubasa, and then Kyoshika (with a nervous request for her not to get the sword involved), and then...
Everyone else is a guy, or terrifying, or both. Maybe he’ll just make his way back to Tsubasa, if she’s still alive once Yugamu’s finished with her.
Someone sweeps Takumi’s feet out from under him.
He blinks up at the ceiling, dazed. It takes him a moment to register that Darumi is sitting on his chest.
“How do you feel about pegging?” she asks straight into his face, unnecessarily close.
“Uh,” Takumi says, “w-what’s pegging?”
“Hmm.” Darumi sits back, folding her arms. “I guess you’re more vanilla.”
“I’m having an orgy,” Takumi protests. “I don’t think you can call me vanilla.”
“Yeah, but you’re bad at it.” Darumi tilts her head exaggeratedly to one side. “But, hey, maybe you just need to learn to enjoy yourself. How about I blow your mind?”
Takumi’s pretty sure he can see blood on her teeth. What the hell has she been doing? “Is it going to hurt?”
“Not if you don’t want it to,” Darumi says. “Probably.”
There’s something twisting in the pit of Takumi’s stomach, hot and terrified, excited and sick.
Fuck it. They’re all going to die. He’s spent the last three months stabbing himself in the chest on a regular basis.
“Blow my mind, I guess,” he says.
-
Darumi is... not a bad experience, definitely not, but an intense one. This whole thing is pretty intense, to be honest.
Takumi gets kind of overwhelmed, has to take a break. He retreats to the cafeteria and pours himself a glass of water. It’s a challenge not to spill it; his hands are shaking.
He perches on one of the stools by the useless Ration-O-Matic. Tries to breathe deeply and slowly.
It’s hard to gauge how much time has passed by the time Gaku comes in. Twelve minutes, fifteen? It feels simultaneously like no time at all and like a thousand years have gone by; he’s kind of got a lot to process.
“Is it over?” Takumi asks.
A part of him is disappointed by the thought he might have missed the rest of it. It’s a strange realisation.
“Nah, still going.” Gaku grabs some water as well. “I just needed a break from Takemaru.”
Takumi takes a moment to fight off an interesting array of mental images. “Yeah?”
Gaku pulls himself up onto the stool next to him. “Never thought I’d be into guys, but... I’m willing to give it a go, y’know? But I don’t think he was a great first choice.”
There’s a bead of sweat making its way down the side of Gaku’s neck. Takumi follows it with his eyes, oddly fascinated.
Takumi’s never thought of himself as into guys, either. But he guesses it’s a question he never really had to ask himself. He didn’t have any close male friends back in the complex; it was always just him and Karua.
He tries to clear his head, remember what they’re talking about. Right. Takemaru. “He seems like he’d be pretty intimidating.”
“It’s not like he’s bad,” Gaku says. “But he keeps, like, asking if I’m still into it, and he yells ‘eat this’ a lot, and... I dunno, it’s kind of distracting.” A pause. “Do you maybe wanna just screw me right now and not ask questions about it?”
Takumi stares at him for a moment. Swallows. “Yeah, okay.”
At this point—
He still doesn’t know if he’s into guys. But it’s not like Darumi’s really his type, either.
At this point, now that he’s slept with three of his teammates, it almost feels like it’d be weirder to stop. He’s as close with Gaku or Takemaru as he is with any of the others; why not?
-
He heads back to the gym and asks Takemaru to fuck him.
It’s the most embarrassing request he’s ever made. He wishes he didn’t have to say it aloud. But Takemaru’s made it pretty clear that he won’t settle for anything short of explicit verbal permission.
Takemaru does, it turns out, yell ‘eat this’ a lot. Takumi buries his face in the crash mat, blushing up to his ears.
Someone presses a quick kiss into his hair, and he raises his head, startled; who was that? It can’t have been Takemaru, not from that angle.
No way to tell, not without asking. It’s one of his friends, whoever it is. Maybe that’s all he needs to know.
-
Takumi crawls to the side of the gym once Takemaru’s finished with him, rests against the wall. He kind of needs a moment to recover.
It seems like everyone’s having a good time. He guesses he is too, even if it’s a little overwhelming. There’s no way to forget the fact that there’s a countdown on their lives, but...
Well, their lives aren’t over yet, at least. If they can still have some good experiences, maybe it means something that they’re still alive right now.
If Nozomi were still alive—
He can’t think about this. It feels... disrespectful, somehow. And it hurts.
But he’s thinking about it anyway; he can’t help it. If Nozomi were still alive, would she be a part of this? Would Takumi take that opportunity? Getting to touch her at last, in a way he can’t really pretend has never crossed his mind?
Maybe seeing the others touch her, too. It’s hard to pin down how he feels about that.
It doesn’t matter. She’s not here.
It takes him a moment to register that Yugamu’s sitting next to him, and he jolts so sharply he nearly bangs his head against the wall.
Yugamu laughs. “It’s cute that you’re so jumpy.”
There’s a reason Yugamu is the only one Takumi hasn’t approached yet. “You know you’re kind of terrifying, right?”
“Should I take it you’re not interested in making love?” Yugamu asks.
Everyone else seems to have survived the orgy so far, so sex with Yugamu probably isn’t guaranteed to be fatal. But...
“I’m sorry,” Takumi says. “It’s not that I don’t care about you. But that’s, uh... I think that’s a little too scary for me.”
“It’s not a problem,” Yugamu says. “If I didn’t intend to respect your wishes, I wouldn’t have bothered to ask.”
Feels like an unnecessarily sinister way to phrase that, but Takumi’s glad to hear it, at least. “Okay. Thanks.”
“How would you feel about a kiss?” Yugamu asks.
Takumi gives him a suspicious look.
Yugamu laughs again. “I’m not going to kill you. It’s just a kiss.”
“No torture,” Takumi says. “No... biting through my tongue or anything.”
“I promise the kiss will not physically harm you in any way,” Yugamu assures him.
Takumi looks at him for a moment longer, and then leans in to kiss him.
He’s not sure what to expect from Yugamu. But it’s... gentle, it’s tender. One of Yugamu’s hands on Takumi’s back, one in his hair. It’s actually kind of a nice way to calm down, after the intensity of... everything.
“Of course,” Yugamu says, breaking away, “if you’d like me to harm you—”
Takumi holds his palms up, warding him off. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
-
They sleep on the mats together. Wake up another night closer to the inevitable end of their short lives.
But they’re here, they’re together. That’s something, maybe.
It looks like Kako’s crept in here at some point. She’s sleeping tucked under Takemaru’s arm, loosely holding Tsubasa’s hand. Maybe they can invite Shouma and Kurara to join in with this much, at least, if they’re going to spend their remaining nights like this.
Takumi kind of hopes they will.
It feels good to be able to hope for something, at least.
Because Takemaru is a stickler for the rules, there's some discussion of the age of consent in this fic. I have no idea what the age of consent in the Tokyo Residential Complex would be, but I've set it at sixteen based on the current age of consent in Japan. I don't think these characters have canonical ages, but, if I'm mistaken and anyone in the 'over sixteen' group is canonically under sixteen, please assume they've been aged up; Takemaru's going to be so upset otherwise.
Title: All That's Left
Fandom: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
Rating: 15
Pairing: everyone/everyone (present at this point in the timeline), more or less, with particular emphasis on Takumi/everyone.
Wordcount: 3,700
Summary: Darumi rolls onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “I guess we could all fuck instead.”
Notes: Set after day 95.
No power, no wall of fire, no escape. Nothing to do but wait to die.
Maybe they’ll be killed on the final day. Maybe they won’t, after Eito sabotaged the plan to wipe everything out. Even if they survive the hundred days, there’s nowhere to go; it won’t be long before they’re taken out by invaders or starvation, and the Revive-O-Matic is as dead as everything else.
What do they do? What’s the point of doing anything?
“We could kill each other,” Darumi suggests, lying face-down on the floor of the cafeteria. It doesn’t look comfortable.
“We’re not going to kill each other,” Takumi says, almost automatically.
“Perhaps Darumi has the right idea,” Yugamu says. “Wouldn’t it mean more, being killed by people who love us? We’re going to die anyway, after all.”
Gaku folds his arms. “Hey, I have a great suggestion for how to spend our final days: not listening to these creepazoids.”
“Don’t worry.” Yugamu’s eye trails over Gaku, in the slow, unsettling way they’re all becoming too used to. “I’d make it slow. I promise you that.”
“That’s... that’s worse,” Gaku says. “You get that that’s worse, right?”
Darumi rolls onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “I guess we could all fuck instead.”
The suggestion jolts Takumi. He’s used to hearing Darumi ramble about murder; this is new. “What?”
“That’s an ugly way to phrase it,” Yugamu says. “It’s better to make love, wouldn’t you say?”
Darumi makes a face. “Ugh.”
“In any case,” Yugamu says, “murder and lovemaking are the perfect accompaniments. There’s no need to do one instead of the other.”
“Ooh.” Darumi sits up. “Okay, that I can get behind.”
“Uh,” Gaku says, “if anyone else gets a say in this, I vote for the sex without the killing.”
“Hey, are we all old enough to be thinkin’ about this kind of thing?” Takemaru asks. He jerks a thumb at Shouma. “This kid looks about twelve.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t worry about me,” Shouma says. “I’m sure none of you could stand to touch me anyway. I’d just bring the whole orgy down. You should all have a good time without me.”
“Shouma,” Takumi says, “we’re not going to—”
But Shouma’s already left the room. Which is weird; it suddenly makes this feel a lot more like it might actually happen.
“Anyone else not into it?” Takemaru asks. “What about you, Tomato Girl? You’re pretty young under that mask, right?”
Kurara draws herself up to her full height. “Get this through your thick skulls: I’m not a kid, and I’m not leaving because I don’t – don’t feel ready for this kind of thing.” She wheels and stalks towards the door. “I’m leaving because none of you filthy peasants deserve to touch my perfect Oosuzuki body.”
“Uh,” Takumi says, as the door closes behind her, “what’s... what’s happening?
“Okay,” Takemaru says, “who’s left? You’re all over sixteen, right?”
“Why are you so obsessed with the age of consent?” Gaku asks. “You’re in a gang, right? And we’re all pretty much the same age anyway. It’s not like it makes that much of a difference.”
“Hey.” Takemaru folds his arms. “You know what the age of consent means? You can’t consent if you’re below it. I’m not doing shit with anyone who can’t say yes to it.”
“Uh,” Tsubasa says, “if – if this is happening – I mean, I don’t know if it’s happening, but... isn’t Kako in middle school?”
Kako plants her hands on her hips. “You didn’t have to say it.”
Takemaru jerks his head at the door. “Get out of here, kid.”
“That’s not fair,” Kako protests. “I’m part of the team. I want to be involved.”
“Wait,” Takumi says. “This is insane. We’re not – there’s no way we’re actually going to do this. We’re not seriously considering this, right?”
Kyoshika clears her throat: an awkward sound that feels kind of at odds with her weird samurai persona. “I am prepared to join all of you in this venture. The Holy Jumonji Sword has informed me that it is willing to take... additional partners.”
“You’re not gonna fuck me with your sword, dude,” Gaku says.
Yugamu tilts his head. “I’d be interested in involving the sword.”
“If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing,” Takemaru says, catching Takumi’s eye. Direct eye contact feels very uncomfortable right now. “There’s no shame in leavin’.”
This is crazy. Obviously this isn’t actually going to happen.
But.
It might happen. Right? However insane this idea might be, it seems like people are actually interested.
Takumi tries to swallow down what suddenly feels like an unreasonable quantity of saliva.
People are interested. Which means it’s not up to Takumi whether this happens; the only question is whether he’s going to be involved. Is he going to be a part of this, or is he just going to go back to his room, lie on his bed, try not to think about what’s happening elsewhere in the academy?
Darumi cackles. “Doesn’t look like he’s leaving.”
Takumi feels himself flush. “I’m just... I’m just trying to figure out what’s happening.”
“The twin’s still here, too,” Takemaru says, with a sternness that makes him seem a lot more like a teacher in his seventies than a teenage gang member.
“I don’t want to be left out,” Kako says. “If I can fight in a war, I can make my own decisions, right?”
Takemaru shrugs. “You’re just not old enough. Sorry, kid. I ain’t compromising on this one.”
Kako shakes her head. “We’re going to die. I’ll never be old enough. You’re seriously going to kick me out?”
“Sucks to be you,” Takemaru says. “But you gotta set boundaries. No middle schoolers, and no fucking torture shit.”
Darumi boos loudly.
“None at all?” Yugamu asks. “I find that a lot of people who think they won’t enjoy torture just haven’t experienced an expert’s techniques.”
Kako’s eyes flick nervously to Yugamu.
“Actually,” she mumbles, “I guess it wouldn’t feel right without my brother.”
“You’re saying it’d feel less weird with your brother?” Gaku calls incredulously after her, as she leaves.
“Okay!” Takemaru surveys the room. “I want to hear all of you say you want this.”
“Okay,” Darumi says, climbing to her feet, “I get that consent is all, like, important or whatever, but it’s also boring as shit that we’re still talking about it, so I’m just gonna make out with people until this guy is done.”
Takemaru bristles. “We can’t just skip—”
But Darumi’s already thrown herself into Yugamu’s arms and her tongue, by the look of things, halfway down his throat. Takumi involuntarily makes a noise he didn’t really know he was capable of, somewhere halfway between a gulp and a yelp.
Without breaking the kiss, Yugamu unclips the safety pin from Darumi’s choker and uses it to drag a long line of blood across her thigh. The sight makes something clench uncomfortably somewhere in Takumi’s abdomen.
“Okay,” Takemaru bellows, “this is exactly the kind of shit we need to discuss beforehand!”
A normal person would turn around to respond to that. Darumi flips herself almost upside-down in Yugamu’s arms to look back at Takemaru. “It’s fiiiiine. Seriously, are all bikers as boring as—”
Yugamu’s lost his grip on her; she yelps and crashes onto the cafeteria floor. Takumi hurries over to check on her.
She... seems okay? She seems okay. She’s laughing hysterically, but that’s pretty standard for Darumi.
Takumi’s trying not to look at the blood on her leg.
“You okay?” Tsubasa asks, with a sympathetic wince. “That looked like a pretty hard landing.”
“I’m fine! I’m fine.” Darumi springs to her feet and bounces across the room to drape herself over Kyoshika.
“I feel like the cafeteria probably isn’t, uh, the most comfortable place,” Takumi says. “If we’re really thinking about... you know. Right?”
“Yeah, but what else is there?” Takemaru asks. “Pretty sure nobody has a bed big enough for seven people.”
There’s a brief silence, disturbed only by Darumi licking a long, noisy stripe up the side of Kyoshika’s neck.
“I mean,” Tsubasa says, “there are crash mats in the gym.”
Takemaru nods. “All right, sounds good. And we’ll need condoms and lube and shit. Anyone seen any in the Gift-O-Matic?”
“We can’t use the Gift-O-Matic,” Takumi reminds him. Is this what’s finally going to put a stop to this insane idea? It’s a relief, in a way, but the loss of anticipation feels like it leaves a strange kind of void inside him. “No power.”
“We’re all just waiting to die, anyway,” Darumi says, breaking away from Kyoshika. “Who cares about condoms?”
“Uh.” Gaku raises a hand. “I might’ve... made some stuff. Back when the Gift-O-Matic was working. Just in case, y’know.”
“I have an enormous quantity of lubricant in my room,” Kyoshika says, her voice not quite steady in a way that is making Takumi feel extremely weird.
Takumi heads up to the roof with Kyoshika to help collect the supplies from her room. It feels like a weird thing to be doing. But being around the group right now is weirder.
He needs some time away from them; he needs a chance to clear his head. This is an opportunity to think clearly. There’s still time to back out. If he comes to his senses, he can just drop the lube off at the gym and run up to his room and try to forget about the whole thing.
If he’s still feeling this way when he comes back downstairs, though, this blend of anticipation and arousal and terror...
Well. He’ll deal with that when he has to, he guesses.
“Aren’t you nervous?” he asks Kyoshika, as they climb the stairs. “This is kind of, uh. Strange.”
“Is it so strange?” Kyoshika asks. “I would have thought it common for love to bloom on the battlefield.”
Common in manga, maybe. “This isn’t really love, though, is it? It’s... I don’t know what it is.” He’d better learn to say it, really, if he might be about to have it. “Sex, I guess.”
Kyoshika falls silent for a few steps. “Warriors may... crave intimacy, also. It depends on the genre, I suppose.”
Intimacy. That feels like it might be a better way of thinking about it.
Maybe they’re not all people he’d normally think about having sex with. But they’re facing down their own deaths, and his allies have become important to him, after all this time fighting side-by-side. It might be good just to spend the last remaining scraps of his life close to them, in whatever way he can.
He’ll probably regret it. But how long do they have left for regret?
The floor of the gym is carpeted in crash mats. This is really going to happen, isn’t it?
Darumi is cheerfully kissing Takemaru against one of the walls, both of her hands in his pockets. It doesn’t look like things have got further than that. But it still feels like it takes a substantial effort to step over the threshold.
Takumi sets down the bewilderingly large barrel of lube he’s been carrying, trying not to think too hard about what it’s actually going to be used for.
“You came back?” Tsubasa asks, sidling up to him. “I kind of thought you were just going to run away.”
Takumi scratches the back of his neck. “I can’t say I didn’t consider it.” Actually, now that she mentions it... “How about you? You haven’t been as, uh, openly interested as some of the others.”
“It’s not what I was expecting,” Tsubasa admits. “But... I’m interested, I think. It’s just... a lot.”
Takumi laughs at that. “You’re telling me.”
They’re both quiet for a moment, watching Darumi dart over to Gaku, kiss him on the cheek and steal a fistful of condoms out of his pocket. She tosses a couple of them Takumi’s way. He catches them, without thinking, and then drops into an embarrassed coughing fit.
“Are you okay?” Tsubasa asks, alarmed.
“I’m fine!” Takumi shoves the packets into the pocket of his hoodie. “Sorry. I’m fine.”
“Soooooo.” Tsubasa seems to hesitate. “I think I might kind of need to ease into, um, everyone, so... maybe it could just be you and me to start with?”
Takumi suddenly feels barely connected to his own body. It’s like the first time he experienced rain: water pouring onto him from the sky, something so surreal it felt like it couldn’t possibly be happening.
“You want to start with me?” he hears himself ask.
She gives him a quick, awkward smile. “A lot of people here are kind of intense. You’re more... grounded, y’know? I thought maybe you would be less intimidating.”
“I mean.” Takumi swallows. “A-are you intimidated? Are you nervous?”
Tsubasa laughs, a little selfconsciously. “Oh, uh, I’m not gonna throw up. I think I’ve spent enough time on the battlefield for my nervousness threshold to, uh, shift a little.”
“Then, uh.” He has to start somewhere, he guesses, if he’s doing this. It definitely seems less intimidating to start with just one person. Tsubasa’s probably the most normal person here, and she’s a girl; that feels safer. “Y-yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Uh, thanks.”
Tsubasa nods. “I... I don’t know a lot about this kind of thing. Don’t laugh at me, okay?”
“It’s fine,” Takumi says. “I’m... not exactly experienced, either.”
“Right.” Tsubasa comes a little closer, and Takumi has to fight against his instinct to freeze up. “Okay, good. Then...”
She kisses him. And that – it’s awkward, he’s not sure where he’s supposed to put his hands, but—
It’s okay. He’s kissing someone, and the world—
The world hasn’t ended. He almost laughs at the thought.
Okay. The world’s kind of ended. So he shouldn’t think of this as a big deal, right?
He puts his hands on Tsubasa’s hips and pulls her in closer.
Darumi whoops and applauds. Takumi closes his eyes, blushing, and tries very hard to ignore it.
It’s easier once things are actually underway, rather than just lurking as an indistinct, ominous shadow in Takumi’s immediate future. He tries to stick to the outskirts, though, tries to keep to one person at a time; it just seems less intimidating. Tsubasa, and then Kyoshika (with a nervous request for her not to get the sword involved), and then...
Everyone else is a guy, or terrifying, or both. Maybe he’ll just make his way back to Tsubasa, if she’s still alive once Yugamu’s finished with her.
Someone sweeps Takumi’s feet out from under him.
He blinks up at the ceiling, dazed. It takes him a moment to register that Darumi is sitting on his chest.
“How do you feel about pegging?” she asks straight into his face, unnecessarily close.
“Uh,” Takumi says, “w-what’s pegging?”
“Hmm.” Darumi sits back, folding her arms. “I guess you’re more vanilla.”
“I’m having an orgy,” Takumi protests. “I don’t think you can call me vanilla.”
“Yeah, but you’re bad at it.” Darumi tilts her head exaggeratedly to one side. “But, hey, maybe you just need to learn to enjoy yourself. How about I blow your mind?”
Takumi’s pretty sure he can see blood on her teeth. What the hell has she been doing? “Is it going to hurt?”
“Not if you don’t want it to,” Darumi says. “Probably.”
There’s something twisting in the pit of Takumi’s stomach, hot and terrified, excited and sick.
Fuck it. They’re all going to die. He’s spent the last three months stabbing himself in the chest on a regular basis.
“Blow my mind, I guess,” he says.
Darumi is... not a bad experience, definitely not, but an intense one. This whole thing is pretty intense, to be honest.
Takumi gets kind of overwhelmed, has to take a break. He retreats to the cafeteria and pours himself a glass of water. It’s a challenge not to spill it; his hands are shaking.
He perches on one of the stools by the useless Ration-O-Matic. Tries to breathe deeply and slowly.
It’s hard to gauge how much time has passed by the time Gaku comes in. Twelve minutes, fifteen? It feels simultaneously like no time at all and like a thousand years have gone by; he’s kind of got a lot to process.
“Is it over?” Takumi asks.
A part of him is disappointed by the thought he might have missed the rest of it. It’s a strange realisation.
“Nah, still going.” Gaku grabs some water as well. “I just needed a break from Takemaru.”
Takumi takes a moment to fight off an interesting array of mental images. “Yeah?”
Gaku pulls himself up onto the stool next to him. “Never thought I’d be into guys, but... I’m willing to give it a go, y’know? But I don’t think he was a great first choice.”
There’s a bead of sweat making its way down the side of Gaku’s neck. Takumi follows it with his eyes, oddly fascinated.
Takumi’s never thought of himself as into guys, either. But he guesses it’s a question he never really had to ask himself. He didn’t have any close male friends back in the complex; it was always just him and Karua.
He tries to clear his head, remember what they’re talking about. Right. Takemaru. “He seems like he’d be pretty intimidating.”
“It’s not like he’s bad,” Gaku says. “But he keeps, like, asking if I’m still into it, and he yells ‘eat this’ a lot, and... I dunno, it’s kind of distracting.” A pause. “Do you maybe wanna just screw me right now and not ask questions about it?”
Takumi stares at him for a moment. Swallows. “Yeah, okay.”
At this point—
He still doesn’t know if he’s into guys. But it’s not like Darumi’s really his type, either.
At this point, now that he’s slept with three of his teammates, it almost feels like it’d be weirder to stop. He’s as close with Gaku or Takemaru as he is with any of the others; why not?
He heads back to the gym and asks Takemaru to fuck him.
It’s the most embarrassing request he’s ever made. He wishes he didn’t have to say it aloud. But Takemaru’s made it pretty clear that he won’t settle for anything short of explicit verbal permission.
Takemaru does, it turns out, yell ‘eat this’ a lot. Takumi buries his face in the crash mat, blushing up to his ears.
Someone presses a quick kiss into his hair, and he raises his head, startled; who was that? It can’t have been Takemaru, not from that angle.
No way to tell, not without asking. It’s one of his friends, whoever it is. Maybe that’s all he needs to know.
Takumi crawls to the side of the gym once Takemaru’s finished with him, rests against the wall. He kind of needs a moment to recover.
It seems like everyone’s having a good time. He guesses he is too, even if it’s a little overwhelming. There’s no way to forget the fact that there’s a countdown on their lives, but...
Well, their lives aren’t over yet, at least. If they can still have some good experiences, maybe it means something that they’re still alive right now.
If Nozomi were still alive—
He can’t think about this. It feels... disrespectful, somehow. And it hurts.
But he’s thinking about it anyway; he can’t help it. If Nozomi were still alive, would she be a part of this? Would Takumi take that opportunity? Getting to touch her at last, in a way he can’t really pretend has never crossed his mind?
Maybe seeing the others touch her, too. It’s hard to pin down how he feels about that.
It doesn’t matter. She’s not here.
It takes him a moment to register that Yugamu’s sitting next to him, and he jolts so sharply he nearly bangs his head against the wall.
Yugamu laughs. “It’s cute that you’re so jumpy.”
There’s a reason Yugamu is the only one Takumi hasn’t approached yet. “You know you’re kind of terrifying, right?”
“Should I take it you’re not interested in making love?” Yugamu asks.
Everyone else seems to have survived the orgy so far, so sex with Yugamu probably isn’t guaranteed to be fatal. But...
“I’m sorry,” Takumi says. “It’s not that I don’t care about you. But that’s, uh... I think that’s a little too scary for me.”
“It’s not a problem,” Yugamu says. “If I didn’t intend to respect your wishes, I wouldn’t have bothered to ask.”
Feels like an unnecessarily sinister way to phrase that, but Takumi’s glad to hear it, at least. “Okay. Thanks.”
“How would you feel about a kiss?” Yugamu asks.
Takumi gives him a suspicious look.
Yugamu laughs again. “I’m not going to kill you. It’s just a kiss.”
“No torture,” Takumi says. “No... biting through my tongue or anything.”
“I promise the kiss will not physically harm you in any way,” Yugamu assures him.
Takumi looks at him for a moment longer, and then leans in to kiss him.
He’s not sure what to expect from Yugamu. But it’s... gentle, it’s tender. One of Yugamu’s hands on Takumi’s back, one in his hair. It’s actually kind of a nice way to calm down, after the intensity of... everything.
“Of course,” Yugamu says, breaking away, “if you’d like me to harm you—”
Takumi holds his palms up, warding him off. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
They sleep on the mats together. Wake up another night closer to the inevitable end of their short lives.
But they’re here, they’re together. That’s something, maybe.
It looks like Kako’s crept in here at some point. She’s sleeping tucked under Takemaru’s arm, loosely holding Tsubasa’s hand. Maybe they can invite Shouma and Kurara to join in with this much, at least, if they’re going to spend their remaining nights like this.
Takumi kind of hopes they will.
It feels good to be able to hope for something, at least.
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