Stand Tall, My Friend

Young Teito: Wait, Father! Where are we going?

Kreuz: We will be meeting up with someone very important today.

Young Teito: Someone important?

Teito: (For some reason, I was a child of the church in my dream. Weird. I was somewhere I’ve never been with someone I’ve never seen, yet it all felt sort of nostalgic…)

[Jingles]

---

Student: Yo, Shuri! I heard the most elite groups of the military will come to our graduation exam tomorrow!

Shuri: Really?

Student: Aren’t they just coming to scout you, Shuri?

Shuri: [Giggles] Aww, stop it.

[Footsteps]

Shuri: Hey, look. It’s chairman Miroku’s favorite. Good morning, young master Teito Klein! Hah, there he is wearing that sour look as always. He never even greets us!

Student: How can a tiny little shrimp like him keep up with our training anyway?!

Shuri: Hey now, don’t piss him off! He’ll get the chairman to expel you!

Student: Did you guys know he used to be a slave?

Shuri: Woah, really?! 

Student: Ssh, he’ll hear us!

[All laugh]

Teito: (You assholes… I can hear every single thing you’re saying.)

Mikage: [Runs up to Teito] Morning, famous young master!

Teito: Shut your trap, Mikage!

Mikage: Woah! Dang, you could tell it was me?

Teito: Duh, we’ve been friends for a year.

Mikage: Yo, let’s eat lunch together! 

Teito: Find someone else. They’ll make fun of you too if you’re with me.

Mikage: I’m so sick of hearing you say that.

[Something flies by]

Mikage: Oh! [Runs to the window] Woah, it’s so cool!

Teito: Hoburg fortress?

Mikage: We’ll get to join ‘em over there if we pass tomorrow’s exam! As students of the 315th class of the Barsburg Empire’s imperial military academy, we’ve gotta make sure we pass! I’m gonna fight for the empire and protect my family.

Teito: 07-Ghost Drama CD: “The Seventh District”

---

[People talking]

Mikage: Which team are you in, Teito?

Teito: A.

Mikage: Same here! (Whispering) I heard Shuri’s in Team A too.

Teito: Hmm.

Instructor: Attention. Of the 100 students here, only 20 will get to become Begleiters. Are you all prepared?

Students: Yes.

Instructor: Then let us start. Team A, come over here.

[Siren goes off]

Announcer: Team A, enter the arena!

[Doors open]

Mikage: What do you think they’re gonna make us do in groups of ten?

Teito: Dunno.

[Doors close]

[Prisoner walks up to the students]

Instructor: Your graduation exam is to kill this prisoner. You will fail if you are unable to defeat him or if you abandon your comrades. 

Student: H-hey, what the hell? He’s like a monster! 

Student: Calm down, dude. It’s one of those hologram things we’ve used for training. Watch! [throws rubber band at the prisoner]

Prisoner: Ooh! We’ve got ourselves some lively brats this year! What fun I’ll have!

Student: He’s real!

Announcer: Let the exam begin!

Student: W-what do we do, Shuri?

Shuri: We’ve just gotta do what we always do! I won’t lose to Teito Klei--

[A student is hit by the prisoner]

Shuri: Huh?

Prisoner: Don’t you dare look away!

[Students scream]

Teito: This guy’s-... [Attacks the prisoner with his Zaiphon]

Prisoner: Zaiphon, huh?

Teito: (Zaiphon is the power we elite students use to fight. We Zaiphon users transform the life energy that God gifted us into different forms, mainly using our hands. These abilities vary from person to person, but they’re usually innate.)

Prisoner: Interesting! Well, whenever I defeat one of you brats, my sentence gets shorter! Yeahhh!

---

Soldier: Attention!

Soldier: Welcome, chief Ayanami.

Ayanami: How are the cadets this year? Do any of them look even a little promising?

Prisoner: (Muffled) Gahh!

Hyuuga: Dang! Looks difficult! Oh, look, Konatsu! That prisoner looks super ferocious! Hahaha!

Konatsu: Major, even though most students drop out at this point, they’re all taking it seriously. Don’t laugh at them.

Soldier: They’re quite high-level this year. I hope seeing them has raised your expectations. I’m sure you’ll find someone of use right away.

Kuroyuri: No matter how great their training is, only a few of them can actually use these skills in battle.

Katsuragi: It’s exactly as the Lieutenant Colonel says. We need someone battle-ready.

Soldier: I-if you say so, Colonel Katsuragi…

Hyuuga: I wonder how many of those we’ve got in this bunch.

---

Shuri: [Running] He’s gonna kill me!

Prisoner: [Growls]

Shuri: Eek!

Teito: Look out! [Pushes Shuri] [Gets grabbed]

Prisoner: Got you!

Mikage: Teito!

Teito: …Ugh, you-!

[Teito surrounds the prisoner’s neck with Zaiphon]

Teito: Surrender.

Instructor: The exam is still not over. I’m quite certain I told you to kill him.

Teito: He’s not my enemy. I don’t need to-

[The prisoner gets killed]

Ayanami: You’re too soft.

Announcer: T-the exam is over!

Teito: Who the hell is that?

---

Teito: I heard 19 people passed today, us included.

Mikage: I’m still shaking. I never could’ve guessed you’d save Shuri.

Teito: I-I didn’t mean to! I just sort of… did it without thinking.

Mikage: Come on, bestie. I’m saying I’m proud of you.

Teito: …Mikage, you know I used to be a slave, right? A combat slave at that. I’ve been the military’s property ever since I can remember. So I’ve no clue what it’s like to have a loving family. But maybe getting to call you my best friend is, I don’t know, similar to- Huh?

Mikage: You dummy. Who told you you could make me cry?!

Teito: W-why are you crying?

Mikage: You just said something so huge, how the hell else am I supposed to react? But that’s the first time you’ve told me something like that, so I’m super happy. Okay! Let’s make a best-friend promise! If you ever get in trouble on the battlefield, I won’t even think of leaving you behind. I swear on God’s name that we’ll die together!

Teito: …Yeah! 

---

[Jingles]

Krom: Forgive me, Teito. I wish I could stay by your side.

Teito: (It’s that dream again.)

[Jingles]

Krom: One day, you’ll finally learn what your true mission is.

Teito: (Why’re you telling me all that? Who even are you?)

Krom: And when you do, you will-

Young Teito: Wait! [Falls]

Teito: (What is this? It’s red… it’s red…)

---

[Bell rings]

Teito: [Running] Crap! Forgot to turn my report in!

Officer: Teito Klein is immensely powerful, to nobody’s surprise.

Teito: (Who’s talking about me?)

Officer: He’s on route to becoming a fine candidate for the Eye of Michael.

Officer: I thought that thing disappeared during the Raggs War.

Teito: (What are they talking about?)

Ayanami: Raphael is reacting. The Eye is definitely out there. But we couldn’t find it anywhere, not even after searching the bodies of every member of the Raggs family. We may have glanced over some of their relatives. The king used to wear the Eye on this necklace, so by all means…

[Jingles]

Teito: (My head! What is-)

Krom: (I promise we’ll meet again.)

Soldier: (We’ve captured the king of Raggs!)

Teito: (That’s-)

[Krom gets stabbed]

Teito: (That’s my dad. And the person standing by my dad was…)

Officer: Is something wrong, Chief Ayanami?

Teito: Agh… Ah… [Charges Zaiphon]

Ayanami: Looks like a rat has snuck in.

Teito: Aghhh! [Gets tackled by Hyuuga] Ugh!

Hyuuga: Nuh-uh-uh! Lay a finger on Aya and you’ll die.

Teito: Agh! Agh!

Ayanami: Why did you try to attack me?

Teito: Agh!

Ayanami: This kid is the slave from Raggs, isn’t he? Lock him up until I return. Make him spit out everything he knows.

Teito: Urgh!

---

Mikage: [Running] What the hell does Teito think he’s doing, turning on Ayanami of all people? Oh, oops…

Guard: I guess that’s all. Time to patrol the other side.

Mikage: Phew. Okay. [Opens door] I think he’s still detained here. What was that? [Starts running] Teito! What are-

Teito: Mikage?

Mikage: Did you defeat that guard?

Teito: Sorry. I… can’t stay here anymore. Thank you for every-

[Mikage grabs Teito’s hand]

Teito: Mikage?!

Mikage: We’ve gotta run!

Teito: Let me go! I don’t want to drag you into this!

Mikage: Do you want to die, you idiot? Turning on Ayanami is a death sentence! You’ve got to run away to stay alive! Don’t think about anything else!

Teito: [Sobs] Mikage… 

Guard: The candidate has escaped!

Mikage: I've snatched a hawkzile, it's right ahead. Hurry up!

Soldier: You two! Halt!

Teito: Don’t move! If you move, I’ll kill this hostage!

Mikage: Teito…

Soldier: Shit.

Teito: Stand back! (Whispering) I can’t let you become a criminal too. I have to leave on my own. Mikage, we’ll always be… the bestest of friends, right?

Mikage: Of course. Go, Teito.

[Teito beats the soldiers and flies off on the Hawkzile]

Ayanami: What is all that commotion?

[Teito flies by]

Ayanami: Teito Klein. [Attacks Teito with Zaiphon]

Teito: Agh!

Allow me to set the stage:

You are Fea Kreuz. You are the current vessel of the Ghost Vertrag. Your brother is the reigning monarch of the Raggs Kingdom. You have an adorable nephew, Tiashe, whom you love quite a lot.

Your lovely nephew has, in just the last week, been kidnapped, branded, and had Pandora's Box, the physical remains of a wholly malevolent god of death, implanted into his body by the Queen and the Pope. The Kingdom's southern neighbor, the Barsburg Empire, has been manipulated into believing that Raggs has stolen said cursed artifact bearing said death god's physical remains, and is using that as an excuse to wage a sudden, intense war against your home using a supernatural weapon of mass destruction.

As a last-ditch effort to save your nephew's soul and stop the conflict before the kingdom is obliterated, you plan to take Tiashe on the pilgrimage to Seele, using the opportunity to reveal the truth about Pandora's Box to each of the Houses of God along the way. You leave as soon as you can, no more than two days after the start of the conflict, heading toward the landmass' western port with the goal of making it into the Barsburg Empire's 3rd District.

What is your plan? Do you head into allied territory, the soon-to-be 4th District? Or do you leave the kingdom entirely for an allegedly neutral third party, the Principality of Raldo?

All we know is that Fea Kreuz planned to do the latter.

(Please forgive any differences in translation, the images are cropped from some ancient fan translations, while most of my references are from the official English publications.)

It's probably fair to say that there's far more we don't know about the wider world of 07-Ghost than we do, but that's part of what makes it fun to speculate about. Case and point, why on earth would Fea Kreuz have decided to abandon friendly ground during an active conflict? Sure, the answer could be that he decided the 4th's ports might be under siege by the time they needed to travel, or that at least he couldn't find passage into hostile territory. I probably would have assumed that, if it hadn't been for something that had been mentioned 20 chapters earlier, something that sparked a lot more theorizing about the 4th and why Fea Kreuz wanted to avoid it than is probably healthy. Bear with me!

Allow me to present Kapitel 31 (courtesy inmeliora).

In order to save themselves from extinction, the God Houses that fought with Raggs would present the Barsburg Empire the heads of the current master of the family.

Cool. So what does this have to do with the 4th District?

When Teito and Ouka begin uncovering the secrets of the 4th District's God House, we learn a lot of Labrador-née-Ilyusha Krat's backstory. For example, we learn that the Krat House is currently under the leadership of Ilyusha's paternal uncle, following the death of Ilyusha's father. We learn a great deal about the character of Ilyusha's uncle, too - namely, his willingness to manipulate and sacrifice others, including his own nephew, for personal and political gain. (Keep that one in mind, if you would!) (Also can I just say I really feel like the whole 'mansplain, manipulate, manwhore' adage fits Ilyusha's uncle. I shan't elaborate c:)

We also learn something crucial to my crackpot little theory: that Ilyusha passed in a way that was similar to his father. For argument's sake, I will mention that this may be a translation oddity, as I've seen this particular detail written two ways: "Poor young master. He died so soon after, as if following his father," or "Ilyusha-sama also followed the same fate as his father..." from Kapitel 54, Joker. If Ilyusha died soon after his father, then it's possible his father was decapitated like Xinglu Hausen, and this theory is bust (boo!). However, if Ilyusha died like his father, then what does that imply? Ilyusha was not decapitated; he sacrificed himself. If you'll allow me my indulgences, the majority of the translations I've read follow the interpretation of Ilyusha dying in a similar manner to his father, and the implications of that make it the more compelling read in my eyes, because...

If the 4th District was part of Raggs, and if the Krat House supported the Kingdom in the war, and the God Houses that participated opted to decapitate the heads of their houses to appease the Empire, then who of the Krat family was decapitated?

...was a member of the Krat family decapitated?

Did the 4th District support Raggs once war erupted?

Eh? Ehh???

Here we go: when tensions spiked between Raggs and Barsburg over Fea Kreuz allegedly stealing Pandora's Box, each House of God was faced with a decision - support their nation, take a neutral stance, or switch sides. We know that the Hausen family upheld their alliance with Raggs, but we hear no such confirmation regarding the Krats.

My theory is as such - Ilyusha's uncle was the acting head of the Krat House when the war broke out, and he faced with the decision of whether or not to support the Raggs Kingdom. Now, his position as the head of the house may or may not be the most stable at this time - his brother, the previous head, was widely adored, and his nephew presented a major obstacle to cementing himself as the legitimate master of the Krat House, whether Ilyusha realized it or not. Per Kapitel 54, Ilyusha even seemed to have the favor of at least the household staff, based on their comments about the two of them as the greenhouse burns. So, Ilyusha's uncle is looking for a way to legitimize his claim on his position, and along comes a little war to rock the world.

Well, one great way to give yourself legitimacy is always to ingratiate yourself to the leadership.

I imagine that, within a day or so of the war starting, Ilyusha's uncle curried favor with the Empire by flipping sides. When Fea Kreuz and Tiashe were beginning to seek passage south, they didn't face the prospect of crossing the 4th as friendly territory, but as part of an enemy nation explicitly hunting for them. They had to divert to Raldo, as the 4th was an actively hostile war zone.

There is one more bit of 'proof' I'm going to share, but it happens to rely on a timeline that's only loosely given. It could prop up my crackpot little theory, or it could just be a sign that Ilyusha getting way too down-to-earth happened a good stretch after the Raggs War had actually concluded. Who's to say? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Yeah, I've got another theory/analysis about the timeline of the Raggs War, based on what information we've got - I can talk about that another time if anyone really cares c:)

Perhaps one of the first things that tipped me over to this whole theory is what we see in the immediate aftermath of Ilyusha allowing the Flower of Eden to bloom.

Imagine it: there I was, late 2009, waiting eagerly for the next fan translation for my favorite manga to drop, for an arc about my favorite character, and I get a heartbreak bomb dropped right on my head, because boom, Labrador turned himself into a damn plant to try to save his sister. Bless my little 15 year old heart. So many tears. Baby sanjikuu was a mess, I tell you. I finished reading the chapter and started it again, and again, and again. And on one of those many rereads, I noticed something a bit odd.

The military force that responds to the threat of what is essentially an uncontained bio-weapon smack-dab in the middle of the 4th is the Barsburg Empire's Imperial Guard. Not an internal group, not anyone from the defunct Raggs, but some of the Barsburg Empire's best. No one in the crowd even seems that surprised that the Imperial Guards are the ones who responded to the whole carnivorous plant-child thing going on back there.

Depending on when exactly Ilyusha decides to take his love of plants to the next level, it seems likely the Krat family had already been pledged to the Barsburg Empire, not Raggs, and I can't imagine people being okay with that overnight.

And that's it, really.

Based on the context clues left for us in the manga, there's a chance that something really, really wonky happening in the 4th as the Raggs War is kicking off. Of course, it's always possible that all these points are coincidental and meaningless in this context, or that the timeline floating around in my noggin doesn't align well with the series, but isn't it fun to imagine some grand coup happening in the shadows while the plot is happening?

That's always been a large part of why I enjoy 07-Ghost so much: there's a level of detail to the worldbuilding that allows for both satisfying background and imaginative speculation.

Anyway, thanks for reading? This was, like, entirely for my entertainment, and for all three of you who maybe check up on the 07-Ghost tag once a year. Feel free to tear this whole thing down in a scathing rebuttal, or just start throwing your own tinfoil hat 07-Ghost ideas at me, I don't know, go wild! I'm just nostalgic for one of the defining works of my youth, and I want to see more of it out there. I've got some fanfiction brewing, but that's always an ordeal for me, and sometime just talking stuff out on tumblr is more accessible. I have a few other weird theories floating around upstairs, like I said, so if anyone's interested, just give a shout, I don't have anything else going on right now!

Cheers!