8th Concert - [ audio/action ] my bloody valentine

[violined]

[ There was nothing more suited to be the last straw than this. Kohaku was always walking a thin line between sanity and the deep abyss of his mind and past. Even his annoyed and violent normal self was not all of the cruelty he was capable of. When there was real hatred involved, Kohaku finally became a kind of monster himself. 

Tolerating the NPCs had always been hard, but he managed, limiting himself to occasional kicks and pushes and punches. That was until they started approaching him this day. Even mere approaching might have been something Kohaku could handle, but out of all things they told him they loved him... they wanted him.. dead, possibly. None of these things were things Kohaku dealt very well with. Crazy possessive lovers are unpleasant, but not as awful of the entire idea of these... these... horrible artificial dolls trying to lure him in.  

As the first one pulls a knife, he's only too happy to respond in fashion. That he turns on his phone's recording function as he reaches in his pocket goes unnoticed. ]

Love? Don't fucking make me laugh! [ Noises of movement and a scream, doubtlessly not from Kohaku. ] Gahahaha! That's what you deserve, artificial piece of shit! Feelings? You? You're all as fake as it can get, dolls, empty shells, pretty playthings for a sick puppeteer. 

[ Yuri may have told him to not injure or let alone kill the NPCs, but right now Kohaku lost any ability to control himself. For anybody walking by it's a gruesome scene. The NPCs may be armed themselves, but Kohaku is skilled at throwing knives and he shows no mercy this time. Just injuries aren't enough anymore. He needs to see them bleed, bleed, bleed out, their blood tinting every card and every package of chocolate they may have brought. ]

What are you screaming for? It's not like you were ever alive to begin with! Gahahahahahahaha, just die, filthy imitations! Oh wait, you can't!

[ Maybe he's enjoying this a little too much. There is just so much pent up frustration from all the last months inside of him and now finally, finally he lets loose completely, acting on all his hatred and sheer paranoia. He is scared of them, terrified to the bones. There is nothing more horrifying than dolls pretending to be alive and as such there is also nothing more despicable. It's as if by erasing them, he could also erase his own inner hell. 

He can't though. There is no cure for these feelings and even if there was, it would not relate to causing a blood bath. Still, the hall in front of the music room is a mess now. Blood splattered everywhere and corpses... Some of them with their throats slid expertly, others otherwise injured or also murdered. And then there's Kohaku, grinning insanely in a tense way that makes him look about to cry just alike, chucking every other second, kicking the bodies violently. ]
 

Comments

[onewayroad]

[It's almost impossible to tear his eyes away, his focus practically chained to Kohaku's dark and trouble (but handsome!) bishounen appearance. Some small part inside of him wants to throw up at this. His brain isn't wired to let him think about people this way, and he's conditioned himself not to let his mind drift toward such thought patterns; the way this happened so naturally only disorients him for several seconds even after Kohaku's spoken. He now sports an expression of mild horror.]

"Weird" is an understatement. What the hell's going on here, dipshit?

[No amount of soulmate vision can prevent him from being his usual insulting self here, nope.]

[violined]

[ It's not that Kohaku isn't use to seeing people who just seem to sparkle naturally, but this guy is just clearly not one of them. There is absolutely no reason for Accelerator to look like this in his mind and he's almost thankful when the topic goes back to his massacre, solely because it means he can stop questioning what is happening with them. ]

Isn't that kind of obvious?

[ His foot moves to add some more pressure to the poor NPC body, as if to underline his point. ]

I'm getting rid of some gross scum.

[onewayroad]

[He was asking about both the massacre and the weird shoujo sparkles, but he doesn't comment on Kohaku's focus on only the former in his reply. That can be handled later. The massacre is a focal point. He scowls as he lets his gaze drift over the pile of motionless, torn-up bodies before flicking it tentatively back to him, hoping against hope that revolting weird shit won't happen again.

His words are oddly calm, just like Kohaku's earlier.]

Scum, huh?

[As much as he hates the NPCs, as much as he notices the weapons some of them had been carrying, he can't help letting the embers of that slow-burning fury regain some of their heat.]

Talk about overkill. This is on the level of soaking an anthill with liquid explosives and blowing the entire thing to China just because they bit your fucking ankles too many times.

[he'd stopped just past the corner of the hallway upon spotting the scene before him, but now he walks forward slowly, each step resounding with every move. his gaze is narrowed. oh no, Kohaku, someone doesn't approve of your little hissy fit.]

[violined]

[ Kohaku's certainly not in the mood to take back any of his actions, words or even thoughts. In his mind everything he's done today is completely justified and he really doesn't want to rethink that perspective.
With a scornful click of his tongue he shakes his head. ]

Bullshit. Ants are at least living creatures and even if they don't live all that differently from these puppets, they deserve more respect.

[ Accelerator isn't who he wants to fight, let alone kill, right now, but as it appears that confrontation is inevitable it really is all the same to him. The only thing he regrets is the limited number of knives on his body, seeing some are still stuck in the bodies at this moment.
It occurs to him that he doesn't really know much about how Accelerator fights, so he just prepares himself for the first move to come. Which might be a mistake, but his mind's not clear enough to consider that yet. ]

[onewayroad]

[Accelerator keeps the same slow pace only for as long as it takes to close the distance between them to a single meter. the odd part is that he doesn't look remotely on guard for any sort of attack coming from any direction, something a fighter like Kohaku may pick up on to some degree. It's nothing but boredom, annoyance, and a confidence that reeks of having no need to consider the possibility of retaliation.]

Those fake people are just being controlled into acting as fucked up as they are. It's temporary. They'll go back to normal eventually. And for all you know, slaughtering them like that's going to make whatever shows up later snowball into something worse.

[That's the primary reason he only bothered to suppress the ones that came after him, rather than going willy nilly with the violence.

Now that they're about a meter apart he presses down with the toe of one shoe and shoots forward, closing the distance almost instantly. He appears in front of Kohaku and grabs for his shoulder, clamping down on his shirt, and proceeds to try and fling him off to the side, an action that, using the centrifugal force and momentum, would send him straight into the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. To Accelerator it'd seem like an effortless move, as if he were tossing aside a damp towel.]

[violined]

As if they were any better nor--

[ He doesn't get to say the world 'normally' in full anymore. The way Accelerator moved either displayed carelessness or extreme confidence, Kohaku knew, but he had still completely underestimated him.
His expression turns to pure shock as he feels himself be sent flying. Nobody had been able to do something like this to him so effortlessly except for maybe one person in his homeworld. He wasn't prepared.

The sharp pain that shoots through his entire body as he collides with the wall inevitably pulls a pained groan out of it. For a second the world around Kohaku just appears to go black and when his world clears up again he thinks he can taste some blood.

Kohaku glares up at Accelerator, as he immediately, but slowly, gets back on his feet. ]

Wh...what're you defending them for, fuckhead? Not like my trouble had anything to do with you.. It's disgusting to take their side!!

[ Despite the fact that judging by this one move alone, he does not stand a chance against this opponent, Kohaku isn't about to let this assault stand for itself. However, he does not take out any of his other knives. The attack he starts is purely physical, an attempt to land a kick to Accelerator's stomach with his heavy boots after he charges at him. ]

[onewayroad]

[Accelerator watches carefully as Kohaku takes his sweet, painful time getting back to his feet. When it becomes apparent the guy's only going to fight back (something he can't be too surprised about), he gives a snort and holds up his hands to catch that leg mid-kick. His hands clamp down onto Kohaku's calf/shin, locking the older boy's leg in place before the kick can connect. The momentum and force aren't enough to make the vice-like grip of those hands budge a centimeter. For now, Kohaku's stuck in that leg-up position with however little of his balance remains.]

You're right, it's got nothing to do with me. And I get that they're going too far. I've already had a bunch go killer insane on me. But I already fucking told you, this is overkill! Knock 'em out of commission and be done with it!

[With that, in one casual-seeming movement he forcibly flings him aside by the leg and sends him flying down the hall. As tempting as it is to go all out, he carefully calculates the precise vector values involved so that the action will overwhelm the older boy without turning him into a bag of broken parts. There's a certain set of standards that Accelerator holds himself to these days, when it comes to fighting or inflicting injuries on others. This is a part of that.]

[violined]

[ If there was any point to clarify he didn't stand a chance against this guy, it was certainly now. Kohaku hated that realization more than the pain shooting through him upon his new impact on the floor. His physical force is something he prides himself on and it's certainly been almost as useful as his music on his journey in life. To be crushed this easily damaged his pride something awful.
But Kohaku isn't one of these people to always come back and try again when he can see there is no point to it. At this rate, with the injuries he has now, there is no point in attacking Accelerator again. He'd only get hurt over and over and make a fool of himself.

Sitting up this time is harder than last time, but Kohaku wipes some blood from the corner of his mouth, grits his teeth and does it. He doesn't move to actually stand yet though. ]

At least when they're trying to kill us they show their real repulsive puppet selves... I don't really feel like giving them any sort of consideration I'd give a real human. I just want them gone, gone, gone.

[ For a second he looks almost panicked here, but then he catches himself. The fact that they scare him as much as he hates them isn't something he'd like to show everyone. ]

But fine, fine, I'll stop, you made your point really fucking clear here.

[ And it hurts, goddamn. ]

[onewayroad]

[Accelerator is no stranger to being the target of attacks, often simply because of his status as a Level Five. Too many have made the mistake of continuing to try and fight him, so he feels a small amount of relief that Kohaku shows no clear sign of trying to make a bigger fool of himself. He slowly approaches the fallen boy who has yet to put in the effort to do more than sit back up, stopping about a meter away from him, hands shoved in his pockets.]

The humans who'd do that are far more repulsive, but whatever.

[Hearing a noise, he pauses to listen, flicking his gaze away from Kohaku's face and down toward the hallway intersection behind him. Ah, false alarm. For a moment there he thought it might have been footsteps.]

If you stay here too long, more might show up. On top of that, fuck if I know how long the NPCs stay like that— [one hand slips out of his pocket and he hooks a thumb over his shoulder at the massacre behind them] —before they go back to normal. What do you plan to do?

[violined]

[ Kohaku disagrees but he keeps quiet about it for now. Repulsive humans are at least human. He hates a lot of them. There were some who he wanted to see cry or even see die. The world was full of horrible people and despite the fact that Kohaku knows he could be considered one of them, he despises it. Dolls, fakes or those who had abandoned their humanity however... They were different. Kohaku is an impulsive person and he meets his opposite in those who have abandoned feelings or are not capable of feeling them in the first place. He'd take a madman whose motivations he can vaguely understand over something weirdly rational and artificial anytime. ]

I can continue to fight them off for a good while. Even without killing.

[ Eyeroll. ]

Luckily injuries in this place don't last. [ Which is also an unsettling feature to him, but at least it's practical. If they were of consequence, Accelerators intervention would have left him as prey, basically. ]

Though if this keeps going, there needs to be a better combat plan. Mowing down enemies who keep getting up gets old real fucking fast.

[onewayroad]

[A lot of different horrible experiences have crafted Accelerator's views into what they are now. A long time ago he lost faith in humanity, and even now has low expectations for most others. He might have been closer to how Kohaku felt if not for the results of a certain science experiment that required him to murder human clones with suppressed emotions and very little concept of free will. He'd forced himself to believe they were nothing more than living dolls who'd carry out the experiment's requirements no matter what; he'd forced himself to believe that in order to feel okay with what he was doing, testing them over and over again, more than ten thousand times. And yet he had been proven wrong. They proved they had free will and were real people whose lives held value; it just took someone standing up against Accelerator in their defense for them to learn those concepts. That was the day he learned how truly despicable and stained he had become.

Because of that, even though he knows the NPCs are fakes and at times they pose dangers to the real people, the similarities are a little too much for his comfort. The NPCs are just being controlled, much like the Misaka clones had been. He couldn't possibly handle the mental anguish of ever harming another Misaka again. This isn't to say he can't harm the NPCs. No, he's willing to cut down the NPCs when needed, he did so back when the Programmer turned them into shadows and sicced them on everyone... but using more force on them than need be would cross the line for him. He reserves his ultraviolence for those who prove themselves to be utterly despicable and unredeemable.

Accelerator listens for a bit before glancing back over at the 'dead' NPCs behind him at the mention of 'enemies who keep getting up.' Kohaku must have some sort of blades, either still among them or on his person. Accelerator purses his lips.]

I've been tying them up myself, though that's only good until new ones come along.

Tch.

[he grimaces, scowling, and looks back to Kohaku]

The better idea would be to go someplace they can't reach or break into.

incredibly late reply, sorry about that

[violined]

Hmh. As far as the school grounds go, it's their area. I hate to admit it, but they're not half bad with their weapons, wherever they get them.

Wood doors don't stand shit against them, I had to notice.

[ He shrugs and the thoughtless movement makes him wince slightly. Thankfully the pain slowly begins fading by now. Being already dead had avantaes. Now reminded of his physical condition like this, Kohaku decides he's spent enough time being in a literally lower position than Accelerator and begins to stand up while he continues to speak. ]

The roof would be comparatively easy to defend... Not like it has many entrances.

[ If only he knew about the ongoing joke of it being a main character place... It might have made this idea more amusing. ]

And like any such place, if they break through, we'd be the trapped ones. I doubt they could though.

[onewayroad]

[After a thoughtful pause, Accelerator mutters out a response.]

The perfect roof, in that case, would be the roof of a building no access to the roof from inside the building.

[That, or an opening that was easily blockaded. The NPCs may have weapons, but getting through steel or anything else heavy-duty would not be easy for them. And when all else fails, Accelerator could always toss them off the roof. That he wouldn't care about.

He looks Kohaku over before flitting his gaze down the way he'd come, and then he turns and heads off to find the closest exit outdoors.]

The sooner we leave, the sooner we avoid running into more of those annoyances.

[There's an implicit "follow me" in there.]

[violined]

[ It appears that all Kohaku ever does is getting dragged around by people he does not necessarily like but who have vaguely common interests. At this point, he doesn't even think about it anymore and just starts walking alongside Accelerator immediately. The less stupid NPC faces he'd have to see, the less risk he had to go berserk again and consequently get himself beat up. ]

If we make it out of the classroom buildings and to one of the smaller roofs, like at the club rooms, that isn't meant to be used... that might work. You can climb up places, right?

[ At this point he'd be pretty surprised if Accelerator had any trouble getting to locations he shouldn't be add. ]

[onewayroad]

[As they walk along mostly quietly, Accelerator keeps his eyes trained forward and focused on areas where hidden NPCs could appear from.]

Not a building short enough they can use ladders, though. They did that one of the other times they went insane.

And why bother climbing when you can jump the entire distance?

[It's a ridiculous claim, and yet he says this with a straight face and no hint of humor in his tone.]

[violined]

[ And he wouldn't even put it past him at this point. Ridiculously overpowered people. Kohaku scowls. ]

Show-off.

So, do you have the ladder length at this school memorized, too, or do we go by common sense here?

[onewayroad]

Common sense. We're looking for any building at least three stories high.

[The taller ladders might be able to take on a two-story building. Three would be pushing it.

Once they're through the doors and outside he immediately begins looking around.]

[violined]

Gym or labs maybe? The dorms may be really fucking high but they're far and they have windows right under the roof again, which defeats the entire purpose.

[ When they leave the building, Kohaku immediately tenses up again, looking around less for buildings and more for further NPCs. As long as they were in plain sight, there was no time for relaxing. ]

[onewayroad]

[While Accelerator is also on the lookout for more NPCs, he's nowhere near as tense as Kohaku about it. Approaching NPCs are something he can take care of at a distance. One quick movement and he can flatten them with powerful gusts of wind on par with those frequently found in hurricanes. He steps swiftly and carefully when not busy scrutinizing their surroundings.

When Kohaku mentions the tallest buildings in the area, he focuses his gaze squarely on the gym.]

Gym. It's taller and it'll be easy to kick off anyone who manages to get that high.

[violined]

Then let's not waste any time.

[ It wasn't so much a matter of whether or not he'd be able to beat NPCs for Kohaku. There wasn't really a problem with that. But not knowing when and from where they'd approach was a problem. NPCs in his mind were nearly the same things as the zombies back home. He could sense the zombies. He knew where they were and how many there were, except for some special cases. Here, this sense was completely missing. At only added to his irrational paranoia. ]

[onewayroad]

Then get in front of me already.

[He glances over to flash an annoyed look at Kohaku and points at the spot right in front of his feet.]

[violined]

.... you're not seriously planning to do what I think, right?

[ For a moment he looks at Accelerator full of doubt and mistrust - only to then do exactly as he is told, even if kind of hesitantly. This is an emergency situation after all and power situation has been pretty clearly established between them. He could hardly start a large fight here without it being completely idiotic. ]

[onewayroad]

[Accelerator shoots him a look full of condescension and annoyance, then steps forward to wrap an arm around Kohaku's waist.]

The better question is, how else could you possibly get up there? We're taking off in three seconds.

[with a firm grip around the older boy, he silently counts to to three before kicking off against the ground with his feet. A few cracks spread out from the point of impact, but Accelerator and Kohaku only rocket upward at a forward diagonal, as if the very ground had repelled them. Their ascent is smooth. He intends to make it from the ground to the roof several stories high in a single jump. The wind whips their hair around.]

[violined]

[ Kohaku would say 'I can fucking climb, just because I am no superpowered idiot, that doesn't mean I'm useless, I could get there, alright?!'... but there isn't really the time for that.

This is possibly the most embarrassing thing ever. ]

I hate you.

[ He hisses under his breath, not exactly intended to be heard but not minding it being hurt either. Halfway he wishes this goes badly just to have something to laugh at Accelerator for. ]

[onewayroad]

[Accelerator does hear it, and mutters right back at him:]

Join the fucking club.

[They soar past the edge of the roof, and drop down about halfway to the center. The landing is a little rough, but not enough to mark up or damage the roof, and he doesn't lose his footing and stumble either. He releases his grip on Kohaku after a couple seconds.]