#chioko

https://x.com/Cielokura

GB has nodded along to Kaneko, despite the sorrow that clung to his fur after hearing Kenta try so hard to be a good boy. That boy truly was a puppy. These morals, they truly were children, weren’t they? Adults by their standards, but so young. Little pups. It wasn’t wrong to cry out for what you wanted, for what you believed in. However…

“You forget what you are, mortal. You spoke your opinion, let others have theirs.”

A whine and a bark, something that did not seem natural from the mouth of a dog. Was that…. Laughter? Was he laughing at her? There was arrogance, but also rage. Sorrow and pity. Humans had to deal with too many emotions. After this, he was going on a vacation where he just did dog things for a while.

“You’re going to try to stop us? You would have to be at least a tsukumogami. No, at least a yasha to get in my way. Let nobody speak ill of her! Let nobody deny her her choice!”

He growled, and the world growled back. The room shook, rumbles sending anyone with poor balance to the ground. A threat he obviously would not go through with. Softy… He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He didn’t fight here for reasons. For one, gentleness had never been a part of him, titles aside. He had no doubt his skills would have been less effective against the Onryo as well. They were the same, both evil spirits, without that touch of divinity Kaz had. Without the neutral might of Rei. Too similar to do any real damage, but strong enough to be a bother.

He hopped down from Shigure’s arms, settling the ground around her, and only her. He would not let anyone stop her, but he would also support Shigure. GB presses his flank against her ankle, a soft whine escaping him.

“I won’t let you face this alone. I’ll stand by your side, alright? Death is something humans fear. It’s natural. It’s terrifying, but you know it’s not the end. It’s painful and awful, but I won’t let it be the end. I’ll take your soul somewhere safe, where you can recover in peace. The offer is the same to you as it was to the dead before-” Even though he really only offered it to one person. “I will do whatever I can to find you happiness in the afterlife.”

“Shigure…”

From her seat, Chioko moved over to Shigure, a trail of tears running down her cheeks. Her body opened up to hug her friend who had chosen to sacrifice herself. It was against what Chioko wanted but that would not stop Shigure. She had accepted that. All she could do was wrap her in a sorrowful hug. Arms gently held around her, shifting and coming behind Shigure to tightly grip her. The next moment Chioko had Shigure lifted up into a bear hug from behind, trying to stop her from going anywhere.

“I said I would not let you sacrifice yourself and I was not bluffing.” If they were going to take Shigure they would need to remove Chioko from her. 

“No you don’t.”

It was always awkward to watch smoke pool around GB and give his form more mass, making him as big as a horse. He padded around behind Chioko and picked her up by the back of the shirt, giving a little shake to make sure she dropped Shigure.

“I won’t let anyone take her choice from her. If you care for her, you’ll let her take control of her own life. Her choices were stolen from her long enough.”

Squirming a bit, Chioko put up a marginal fight for a bit. Eventually she stopped, letting herself accept that there was nothing she could do. Though frustration radiated off of her for anyone who could perceive such a thing. 

“Fine… If there is nothing I can do, at least don’t let her death go unpunished. I can not accept a man attacking an innocent girl like Shigure and going on with the rest of his life satisfied that he succeeded. He must pay in death to show him the error of his evil. Do that and I will stop fighting.” 

“Of course I’m going to punish him. I’m going to kill that human.” The sound out of GB’s muzzle was darker than his normal words. “Ever since I left my forest, it became my profane right to murder any human that trips. He can run to the ends of the earth, and I will find him. But I am not so kind as to give someone so foul a quick death.” He loved Shigure too, after all.

She had said her peace to Shigure. Said her peace and held the stare upon her with determination. Shigure was the obviously torn up by this and the kindest thing she felt she could do was in no uncertain terms honestly stats that she did not agree with sacrificing shigure to unwind time. Especially not when Kaz had come to the same conclusion before with the rite in his own past. She had determined to not speak since that declaration.

Now she had to undo this. Not because of Shigure. Shigure was acting reasonably. It was the words of others, screaming and staying the most selfish horrible things. Things that hurt her I'm concept. She could not stay quiet with them.

Chioko sat there, listening quietly to everyone talk. The Onryo being here for the final moment was to be expected. As was its cruelty in words. SO many people showed it kindness and understanding. It was frustrating really. Chioko clicked her tongue in annoyance at the display before her. All the platitudes and soft comments. The requests for reasonable thoughts and gentle assertions. Most idiotic of all, the desire to show respect to all things before them. It made sense for spirits.

“Stupid.”

Anger and dismissal in one from her voice. There was no solemn gentleness. Why would she show that? It would just be a lie. Shigure deserved more than that.

“The spirits make a good point about respect and the pain of the Onryo and all that. It makes sense for spirits to be that way. But I am a flesh and blood girl. Bound by the limits of a short life and hormones in my brain. So I hear the request for respect and understanding and, fuck that. No. Shigure you aren’t a god. You aren’t a spirit. You are a girl. A sad, depressed, traumatized girl. Who has been given the power of a god to change fate if you want to sacrifice yourself. Which is fucking stupid.

Kaz-sama couldn’t do it, and he is far older, wiser, and more holy than you. Because we shouldn’t have the power of gods. Asking a single sad girl to choose between rewriting time with her own blood or continuing to live while others have died is absurd. It’s not a trolley problem. She isn’t choosing whether to switch the course of future events. She is choosing whether to rewrite what has already happened by blowing herself up or not. It’s not a trolley problem. It is driving a car through Tokyo station and then picking up the girl covered in the blood of the people next to her off the asphalt and asking her if she is willing to die to stop what happened because the driver hated her personally. It’s just adding more cruelty onto cruelty. If anyone thinks otherwise they can fight me. If you try to enact the right I will personally attempt to stop it and you’ll have to disable me to do so.”

She spoke up. With the things said, and with Yumeko trying to take the dagger for her, Shigure spoke up. It was better sooner than later. Even if the result was painful. In the end, finding who the easy part of what they had to do was find the Onryo's source. The hard part was what came after. How would people decide on their fate? It was a choice with no good answer. At least not overall. Just good for different people.

"Thank you for coming forward Shigure. Even if it was to protect Yumeko-san. I know how hard it is to put yourself in danger. To want to claw and run in order to survive. I am sure you are terrified. I would be. Regardless of what Riley or the others say I would be frozen with fear. I would be considering lashing out to escape. And if you do then I won't feel good about stopping you from running."

It was a situation nobody wanted to be in. To have your life debated. They would be doing so eventually. That was what would come. Chioko was already preparing for that over the debate on who the Onryo is. She had to prepare herself ahead of time. She did not have the charisma of others.

Eyes shift to Riley. Concerned and knowing, they expressed a connection with the racer. TO be honest Chioko was about to bring forth the ideas of Shigure herself. of course Riley beat her to it. Riley probably said it when she did so that nobody else would have to. Because they is what she does. Because maybe she felt she could use her brand of people skills to soften the finger pointed at Shigure. Shigure who would without a doubt view any finger as a gun. As a knife.

"I originally thought it was Sibyl. The eyes. The self loathing. I assumed that she had killed her negative emotions for her own survival after one of the instances of her mother's abuse resulted in her getting seriously hurt. Both near death and a death of the person. The hateful feelings that became the Onryo when it reached this place of spiritual energy. But, I dropped that theory recently. It turns out things are as I said. Many of us actually have very similar issues. None of us have that more than Shigure and Sibyl. I don't really have any extra special evidence to add on. It is just, a feeling. And all I can ever go off of is intuition with the evidence we have."

Somber, and pained. Chioko knew how this would be seen. How it would be responded to. Yumeko and Shigure were acting exactly how you'd expect them to here. Yumeko making up arguments to incriminate themself and Shigure trying to avoid what she assumes is imminent death. Chioko could not blame them. Right now the only one she felt was wrong was the one taking their anger out on the first target they got.

A lot of nothing and a lot of nowhere. A lot of stress and a lot of fear. It was all to be expected. She was not surprised, Of course people were afraid. Even if they all wanted to work together, it still left the source with a fear of dying. Which it seemed like might happen unless they find another way to handle things. If there even was one.

“I know nothing of relevance to February. The problem with myself is that I have had so many traumatic instances happen within a span of a year that it essentially means I could have had any time period be relevant. As for rain, it rains in Tokyo enough at certain times of the year. I can’t exactly pinpoint anything. Actually considering knives I did have two different attempts to stab me occur. One in a crowded station and one near an alleyway. So, while we have determined the Onryo is not my father, that doesn’t actually even me out because it is one of us ourselves. If it helps I don’t have much of a connection to eyes.”

She was pretty sure nobody considered it was her but that had little bearing on the matter. She wanted to figure out who it was. Even if it was herself. This all needed to end. The source might end up dying in the end. Everyone knew that, but that didn’t mean this could keep going on. Shigure wasn’t wrong with her assessment.

“Unfortunately Shigure is also right. Even if somebody might have info that suggests it is them, they may not say anything out of fear of death. A reasonable response. Even if we all want to work together, we still are all aware of the things Kaz-sama has suggested on how this will possibly go.”

She frowns at Shigure. So much pain in her life. Constantly dealing with suffering and mistreatment. The same with Yumeko. Actually Yumeko was looking really cute with their new style. This was not the time to consider this.

Taking her seat with Riley and Sibyl nearby, Chioko released a quiet breath of tension. The desire to work together did not reduce the amount of stress related here. This was because even after they figured out who the source was, came the harder part. Figuring out how to save them and keep the Onryo from becoming a problem. She did not know how they would handle this but she at least could for now focus on figuring out the who in the equation.

"I was going to speak of the eyes but that is such a clear point that it was stated first. Another point I would add was that the Onryo, with specific hatred of certain people, seemed to hate their other half with a fantastic severity. This could have been due to their twisted nature but, in all honesty, it would not be untrue to say that a lot of us here when we arrived in this building, harbored deep feelings of self loathing that we either knew about or were hiding from ourselves. Not everyone, but certainly not a small minority either. So that could potentially be a point of consideration."

A point of trouble. She groans and punches the bridge of her nose. This was their trouble. The things they had all spoken of at one point or another. The hitch in finding the source.