akudamax | WEEK 2

Saturday passes uneventfully save a little rain. It's on Sunday that you get a little notification of probation for new areas: Neo-Nipponbashi and Chuo. It'd be possible to investigate, to check out some anime, or to worship the defunct Shinkansen. But maybe it's hard to get excited about any of that when Friday’s events suggest that you have simply been provided some additional photogenic places to commit murder. Are you going to bother either overseer after their participation in some mockery of justice? Troll the internet? Get a bat out of Hyper Zone and just take out your frustration on everything?

Those of you who entered the pods will experience fewer “painful bursts of color” as your body is unaffected below the knees, though the same amount of “slight teleportation” glitches. Those of you who abstained from the pods will continue to experience all of the above as well as electric shock sensations occasionally when touching metal objects.

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[

Satsuki claps, a polite little pat of her hands in the background as Zenos sends another ball flying. ]

Wow! You're amazing, Galvus-san!

[At the sound of clapping, Zenos pivots with a grace that seems so very unusual for his size, and points his bat directly at her.]

Why thank you, dear Satsuki! One should never allow his arm to become useless, and I have no intention to giving into our captor's pathetic demands.

[The bat spins with an idle flick of his wrist, before offering it towards her.]

Would you like to give it a try for yourself?

Who, me? [ She smiles, her face the simple picture of an innocent girl. ] I guess I could try. Is there some reason you want to see me do it?

[ But, despite her question, she does reach forward to receive the bat. ]

You know, I hadn't thought about it, but it's been a while since I've swung a bat... I don't think I've done this since gym class!

How else would one test the mettle of a Vampire? [Zenos huffs in his amusement, as if the thought behind it were only natural. After all, in Final Fantasy, vampires do not exist!

Once Satsuki takes the bat though, he strides past her to give her the floor, and then his hands come to settle upon his hips idly.]

A... gym class? Is that what they call combat training in your world?

[ ...She tries, but she can't help herself. She giggles. ]

Is that what you think this is for, Galvus-san? Combat training?

[ She holds the bat lightly in her hands, not yet raising it as she steps forward to trade their places. ]

Why would it not be?

[Hitting things at mach-speed?? This is peak violence, Satsuki.]

[ "Why would it not be"... When he puts it like that, it's harder to answer. Maybe, the only thing she can say is— ]

Um... Well, they must have sports where you come from, right? That's all this is. Usually there's more to it than just hitting the ball, but it isn't supposed to be a stand-in for a weapon, or anything like that.

[ Not to say a bat couldn't hurt, but that isn't the point. ]

Swordsmanship, marksmanship...

[Zenos tilts his head, sports wasn't really something he got to do as a child.]

My dear Satsuki, anything can be a weapon — but, do tell me more about the many intricacies of baseball?

[ Well, she did say it isn't supposed to. Who is she to quibble, though? ]

Actually, [ she says, with the air of someone whose correction is half-joking in its needlessness, ] the girls' class played softball instead.

[ But, she turns a bit. Extending the bat out in front of her, she uses it to trace the layout of imaginary bases in some unseen field. ]

You have a pitcher who throws the ball like this machine, and a batter who hits it. When the batter hits the ball, the defenders in the field [ point ] try to catch it, so they can throw it to the ones on the bases. [ point ] The batter is supposed to run to the bases before the person on the base they're trying to reach gets the ball, and when they get all the way back to the place where they started, [ she rests the end of the bat against the ground at her feet ] they get a point! There's all sorts of ways they can get out, too, and... To be honest, that's as much as I really get about it. Gym class was just to help us exercise and stay healthy, so they'd try to make it more fun for us by having us play games like that, that's all.

[Zenos watches with a modicum of interest as Satsuki explains things and, though his ultimate decision is that baseball is leagues below unadulterated violence in terms of fun, he will concede that it is a noble enough pursuit.

But in terms of exercising the youth...]

In times of war, boys and girls were merely trained for combat. Games such as these are shed early on in our youth, when the focus of becoming a soldier replaced them.

[Still, the way Zenos delivers the information is wholly apathetic, as if he hardly cared for his own stolen childhood. He leans a cheek against his gloved knuckles as he watches her.]

Did you play many sports as a child?

[ It doesn't seem strange to her that people who have to fight will learn how to fight, so his answer isn't hard to accept. She hums, twintails swaying as she nods. ]

I see... So that's how it is. The country I come from has been peaceful for a few decades now, though, so no one my age ever had to worry about that.

[ She laughs lightly, then, adjusting her grip on the bat in her hands. ]

Me? [ She shakes her head. ] No — I was never that athletic, so I mostly stuck to one. I was part of the badminton club from junior high until the time I left school, though!

I would not say you are overly peaceful, [Zenos hums,] was your kind not being hunted?

[He supposes then, to chase down prey, vampire(s?) might have a natural affinity for athleticism. It would only make sense, even if the prey itself were nothing so much as the indolent fodder of a country without conflict. He drums his fingers against his revolver-scabbard tunelessly with the thought.]

It is not often I get the chance to talk to someone so young, pray tell me then, what was your school like?

Actually, most people don't even know people like me exist. Vampire hunters are pretty rare... Both of the ones I've met came from overseas on business.

[ At his other question, though, she tilts her head a bit. She hums, thinking. ]

Um... It's a little hard to explain something when you don't have anything to compare it against, isn't it? [ To her, school is just normal. Still, she'll try her best. ] We're divided up into grades by our age, and then into smaller classes to make it easier for the teachers to instruct all of us. Each teacher specializes in a different subject, like math, science, or literature... It's supposed to teach us the basics of a lot of things, so we'll be prepared no matter what we decide to pursue as adults.

I see... I was tutored privately, of course, as the Emperor's son. [So basically, Satsuki is a commoner. Well, he could already tell as much.] I wonder if the school you endured would be similar here, no? Considering this is "Japan". [Air-quotes.]

As for these Vampire hunters... how did you deal with them when they came for you?

[His interest seems to be a bit more perked with the latter than the former topic. School is boring, violence is not!]

Hm... Do you think so? But there's a lot here that seems pretty different. Unless you think it's a "the more things change, the more they stay the same" kind of thing?

[ She tilts her head, and even if he isn't interested, she looks genuinely curious. ]

Oh! I fought them off, of course. [ Obviously. ] Though... To be honest, I think Ries let me pass on purpose, once she understood I was serious. She always tells Sion and I that she has a weakness for tenacious girls.

Isn't that a universal truth of all things? [Zenos' fingers curl with the thought, and then his hand lifts to eye-level as he inspects his nails.] Such monotony is so predictable, so... immensely boring.

[But that last bit certainly catches his attention anew, and he gazes down upon Satsuki with consideration.]

I cannot fault her for such a weakness. 'Tis a weakness she and I share. [He stoops over the girl, smiling.] Tenacity is an admirable trait for anyone to have. I simply cannot help myself from adoring such relentless determination...

It makes their demise so much sweeter then, too.

WEEK 2

Hyper Zone

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