( the voice of thy blood crieth unto me )

[fullmight]

[ "Two wrongs don't make a right," as the saying goes. Naoya has never really believed in that, though. Those who throw the first stone should not be surprised when the person the stone hits decides to throw one back. Perhaps there are people who are good enough to turn the other cheek, but Naoya? He's not one of them, no, he'll struggle against those who've wronged him, and he'll do anything it takes to get even —

But it's not just for him, of course, but for the one he killed as well. It's something he can never wash from his hands completely, he knows, but his revenge is not entirely selfish. They were made into this, and so how can any God be displeased when his creations lash back?

That's why his cousin has to play into his role as Naoya has decided. She has to become the King of Bel and rebel against God. It's the only way that he can finally exact his revenge — and there is nobody more worthy of being the king of demons than his cousin, whose only fault was ever being forced into playing the victim. The power of Bel will be a small consolation for that, but it'll be a start, Naoya figures.

And that's why he'll do anything it takes. Anything, and he'll pretend like personal sentiment doesn't play into it at all. It's why he shows up (out of the blue, as he usually does) in the middle of the night, to talk to his cousin one-on-one. ]

Have you decided yet what you're going to do?

[ A loaded question that pretends to be concern, he knows. ]

( the symposium )

[outplays]

Ever since the Generation of Miracles entered their third year, the scouters have been coming almost nonstop. It's to be expected, of course, considering who they are — how much they could bring to any high school. As a rule, Akashi only meets with the schools he considers to also meet his stringent academic standards — and there are only a handful of schools in Japan which have both the strong athletic and academic performances that he'd be interested in them, and that's not even considering the fact that their team has some sort of unspoken agreement that none of them are interested in playing on the same team with each other during their high school years.

It's during one of the few meetings he actually agrees to take up that the unexpected happens.

Akashi knows rationally, of course, that everybody — except in very rare cases, of course — is born with a soulmate somewhere out there in the world. He has never actively thought about it, too consumed with everything else that he's embroiled in to even begin thinking about his other half. It's why he doesn't anticipate it at all when he meets with the coach and a few players from Rakuzan's team only to find a stereotypical scene play in front of him: there's a faint, warm glow that emanates between them, and the unambiguous thought that forms in his head that this is his soulmate.

The coach looks ecstatic, like he's just gotten a guarantee of getting a Miracle for his team. Akashi, though, stares dispassionately between the group from Rakuzan, eyes barely settling on Reo for a moment before he moves onto the next student in the group. "Excuse me," he says, tone perfectly polite. "I don't think it's appropriate to have this discussion complicated by what could be perceived as unrelated ties. If we're going to discuss the terms under which Rakuzan is willing to accept me as a student, I would prefer to talk to the coach alone."

( half life, cursed life )

[outplays]

[ There were, to be fair, a wide variety of reasons why the famous Teikou demon-hunting group fell out with each other. One of the breaking points, though, was an incident in which their group's leader, Akashi, had found himself far over his head in dealing with a demon outbreak — and instead of calling for help, he had decided to deal with it on his own, and ended up half-cursed, the left side of his body turned into something not entirely human. It'd granted him some demonic powers, of course, but at the price of also accruing demonic weaknesses: an inability to step foot on holy ground or touch blessed water, among others. But more than that, something in his fundamental being changed from it, as if some human part of him died or was sealed away.

Akashi had never explained why he didn't call for help, or if he intended on trying to break his curse. With everything else that had happened, it had just been one more reason that Teikou fell apart as badly as it did, each of them scattering to mark their own demon-hunting territory across Japan.

Every once in a while, though, there'll be a big one. A demon so powerful that it's impossible for a single hunter to tackle it on their own. At times like that, there is really no choice but to team up.

This time, it's a spectre that comes to plague Kyoto, the city that Akashi's claimed as his protectorate. Though he's gathered up his own demon-hunting crew, he knows rationally that they won't be enough — that they need the best of the best. And so, out of all the people he could call up, he decides to ask Midorima to come help him, although he phrases it somewhat more vaguely than that when he e-mails Midorima out of the blue along with a reservation for a one-way train ticket to Kyoto, as if it is a given that Midorima is going to say yes.

It might be presumptuous, but he turns up at the train station to pick Midorima up at the arrival time and doesn't expect that he will be let down. As always, he seems to naturally create a bubble around him; children in particular are often uneasy around him. And the way that the sun reflects upon his left eye is downright unnatural, the most immediately obvious side-effect of his half-cursed body.

When he catches sight of Midorima, he doesn't wave, just approaches him with a smile. It's a strange farce of greeting an old friend. ]

Shintarou. It looks like your travels went smoothly. Should we stop somewhere on the way for lunch, or should we get straight to the reason you're here?

( high school: the best of times, the worst of times )

[outplays]

[ At the private high school they attend, Seijuurou Akashi has something of a reputation. Most of his reputation is entirely centered around the fact that he is, in fact, a total young master. Old wealth family with an intensely classical upbringing and manners good enough to have tea with royalty? Yep, he's got it all.

It is a reputation that Akashi has no idea what to make of, especially because he has no idea how that information even got out, considering he's notoriously secretive about it. By default, he blames his middle school friends for leaking rumors. He usually blames them for most things.

As is usually the case when your reputation precedes yourself, Akashi's always a little anticipatory when it comes to group projects with people that he doesn't already know. This particular project is for a science class and is almost infuriatingly vague in that their teacher may as well have just thrown his hands up and said, "Do whatever, kids."

But he has to have some faith that both of them want to pass the class, so he's sure things will somehow work out. First things first, of course — their teacher's given them the class period to get started on their projects, so Akashi figures they may as well start with introductions. ]

Anise, right...? It's nice to meet you, I look forward to working with you. [ There's a sort of awkward pause for a moment before he also adds: ] Ah, should I also introduce myself?

[ He feels. So smooth. ]