Shattering Humanity-Chapter 153: "MY Captain!"

From the Sanpaku cafeteria, Takamagahara is split into two groups but not by divisions.

Katsu, Saku, Shelly, Friend, Itsuka, Jormungand, and Drakaina are separate from the rest of the group.

Princess Kawaii runs up to Saku and holds onto him.

Princess Kawaii: "I wanna go too!"

Saku ruffles the top of her head and Itsuka squats down to the princess’s level.

Itsuka: "Next time you can, Honeybun. We don’t know if where we are going is dangerous or not. We don’t want you to get hurt."

Princess Kawaii: "But I won’t!"

She looks up at Saku and the Izanami Division Leader smiles down at the little girl.

Saku: "Sure, why not?"

Shelly and Itsuka: "Saku!"

Princess Kawaii: "Yaaaayy!"

Katsu’s eyes narrow looking at Saku and his surprising decision to let the vulnerable girl go with them.

Shelly looks at Daisuki for help to veto the decision.

Shelly: "Sensei, please add some logic to the decision. She’ll be in danger!"

Daisuki thinks about it but then shrugs it off.

Daisuki: "What Saku said earlier made me think, I won’t always be around to make decisions for you three. I think this is the perfect chance for you guys to practice on compromising with one another. You guys have already met this Laban gal, so you know the extent of her power better than I do."

Dom steps up and everyone looks at the Gunner.

Dom: "I’ll go with you guys. Today, I am not just the Gunner of Izanami Division, but the Princess’s bodyguard."

Princess Kawaii is half hiding behind Saku and gives Dom the stink eye.

Princess Kawaii: "I don’t want to be next to ’Fat Eyebrows’. I want Big Brudder Saku."

Saku looks at his Gunner and the two EyeEngage.

Saku: "You can tag along with us, but you aren’t bringing a rifle. We won’t need one."

Shelly: "Saku!?! Since when did you get put in charge of the party group and our necessities for defense?"

Saku turns around to face a large white wall and still answers her.

Saku: "Because Katsu will be able to knock her out, or any other eye users if they’re feeling froggy."

Shelly: "Unless she pops off her SeiõrShield and takes Katsu’s ability out of the equation!"

Saku: "And that’s where you come in as the Ace of Takamagahara. If anything chaotic happens, while you are doing your Valkyrie shit, I’ll use the Cut&Paste ability on the princess. She’ll be untouchable and I’ll find an open wall to create a portal back here."

Sol raises her eyebrow, impressed.

Sol: "Wow! You thought of that off the top of your head?"

Saku pops off his Anjell Eye and a Yin aura is produced. He focuses on the empty wall.

Saku: "No. I was planning on bringing her a month ago. I just didn’t tell any of you out loud, because I still had some doubts on whether or not Laban would use that information against us if she was plotting."

Shelly looks at Itsuka, who is staying quiet.

Shelly: "Please don’t tell me you’re backing him up, Big Sis..."

Itsuka looks at the ground and grabs her large right bicep in a timid response.

Itsuka: "I know why he’s making the decision, I just don’t want to ruin the surprise."

Shelly gives a confused look at her peer and finally turns towards her love, Katsu.

Katsu takes a deep breath and then raises his head with a smile.

Katsu: "I can’t tell a cute adorable angel ’no’, can you?"

Shelly looks at the Princess, still behind her Big Brudder Saku. The little girl looks back and gives a sad expression.

Princess Kawaii: "D-Do you not like me, Big Sidder Shelly?"

Shelly also takes a deep breath and closes her eyes to decompress. She lets out a comedically long exhale then gives her final vote while looking at Saku with his back still turned and the portal beginning to open. The highway where Itsuka and Laban fought can be seen from the opening.

Shelly: "Fine, but if anything happens to her, it’s all on your head."

Saku: "Tskk. Obviously."

Katsu stares at his rival captain with the Absorption Anjell Eye of Wisdom, and then at Jormungand’s right IceEye standing next to him. The Izanagi Captain smirks then looks back at Saku.

Katsu: "How about a bet then?"

Everyone in the cafeteria, except Saku, looks at Katsu in confusion.

Saku, with a smile unseen by the people behind him answers.

Saku: "Well I’m not betting on the Princess’s life. Her life has become invaluable to us all and that integrity would be compromised if we used her life for a game."

Daisuki has a big smile and thinks back to his first man to man talk they had while catching up to Katsu and Shelly.

[FLASHBACK]

Saku: "I just want to be truly free with him one last time before he’s gone. And when he is, will I just be waiting to die for the rest of my life, alone, with no purpose?"

Daisuki: "You learn...

You learn and you work. Acquiring and sharing knowledge, being aware of patterns and alarming others of those patterns, as well as retaining information, are just some of the many extraordinary things that humans can do to separate ourselves from other life. The world around you has infinite information to learn and someone always needs help from others."

[END FLASHBACK]

The Squad 40 Mentor looks at his ’Yin Disciple’, talking under his breath.

Daisuki(quietly): "You’re learning and that’s naturally leading you towards helping others."

Back at the bet proposal, the portal stops growing and Saku stops focusing on it. He turns to face Katsu and they’re both smiling.

Saku: "If you wanna bet, then you can all bet me, that Laban HAS changed for the better, and Roronora City will become a huge ally to Sanpaku. If I win, we switch Anjell Eyes and gift them to each other before we die."

Katsu smirks.

Shelly: "No! I’m done with your reckless play calling! I actually had a little respect for your refusal to not bet on the Princess’s life but once again, you say something that makes that respect vanish!"

Katsu and Saku chuckle at each other while getting closer, ignoring Shelly’s interjection.S

Saku: "You have the ability to make people with IceEyes get along and possibly control them if they act out of line. While I keep getting powers that remind you of your nerd shows. We were both given the wrong Anjell Eye of Wisdom by that Elder Iceman, so we might as well trade, no?"

Katsu: "You’re surprising everyone with your suggestions today, huh Saku?"

Daisuki’s frown is seen and he begins walking towards the two rivaling boys who are now a foot away from each other.

Scylia reaches out for her fiance but quickly recoils back, staying out of it.

While Katsu and Saku are staring each other down, the rest of Takamagahara watches as Daisuki walks over to them and gives them both a hard knock on the top of their heads and it makes them both slam to the ground from the force.

Daisuki: "Did you two just lose your common sense within 10 seconds?! That’s was the whole point of the Elder Iceman giving you two your individual Eyes of Wisdom. He told us, Katsu, ...’the very fact you both acknowledge your differences, is what ends up drawing you two closer to each other’."

The two young men side eye each other, acknowledging the logic behind their mentor’s words and the action to knock some sense into them.

Daisuki: "Metaphorically, everyone wants to choose the eyes they see life through, even before this apocalypse. But jealousy of wanting what others have, and wanting the natural ’God given ability’ to do somethings others can do, is disgraceful. It’s disgraceful to those two living beings, who may not have made us in their personal image, but still entrusted you two specifically with those respective abilities. To protect the species they both put their love into making."

Saku: "Okay! Okay! We won’t do that bet then, jeez."

Daisuki takes a deep breath and the vibe of the room changes once they smile returns to the face of Sanpaku’s ’Head Honcho’.

Daisuki: "Well, how about the loser of the ’Is Laban Reformed’ bet, washes my clothes for a month and has to help set up for the wedding?"

{1 Mile From Roronora City’s Entrance}

The group of Katsu, Saku, Shelly, Itsuka, Jormungand, Drakaina, Friend, Princess Kawaii, and Dom are walking along the freeway under the afternoon October sun.

Every ’soldier’, except for Shelly, has a single SunSword strapped to their hips.

Shelly has her full set up of one SunSword on her left hip, Madame Fryer sticking to her right hip, and her personal #1 HFF combat katana strapped to her back. She has the thinnest layer of her golden pink SeiõrShield, barely noticeable.

Princess Kawaii is sitting on Itsuka’s shoulders with a large sunhat. Itsuka has her crystal purple SeiõrShield popped off and the mystical Norse energy protects the little girl as well.

Itsuka: "Make sure you stay with me and Big Brother Saku, okay Princess?"

The Princess looks at her arm and hand, now visibly covered in the powerful energy.

Princess Kawaii: "This pretty light... I feel different, Big Sidder Its- Big Sidder Itsuka."

Shelly smiles up at the little rider.

Shelly: "Zoram Sensei told us ’if two people are touching, a SeiõrShield will protect both of them, so long as one of the two has already been accepted’."

The intellectually sound 6 year old examines the beautiful colored energy making her feel ’stronger and happier’ then she’s ever felt in her life.

Princess Kawaii: "I wonder if Daddy felt like this, would he feel better too?!"

Katsu, Shelly, and Drakaina look at each other as if knowing something upsetting.

Jormungand lightly nudges his sister with his elbow as if to try and find out what they know, but Drakaina shakes her head, holding a finger to her lips.

Katsu pops off his Communication Eye of Wisdom and the four other eye users can hear the Izanagi Captain voice.

Katsu’s Voice: *I don’t know if Izanami was told yet, but the Princess’s father hasn’t properly responded to any of Aiden or Drakaina’s attempts at waking him up. He’s still breathing but his heart beat has been faint for the past week and he hasn’t eaten. Aiden believes it’s something to do with his heart, which Mizzes Zoram told us ’is the only part of the human body, that Seiõr can’t effect’.*

Everyone with an IceEye looks at Katsu, surprised. But Katsu keeps his head forward while his eye stays popped off at 2nd Stage with a shining white Yang aura and a black streak up the middle.

Saku’s Voice: *Wait, I thought these Eyes of Wisdom couldn’t interfere with each other?*

Katsu’s Voice: *Am I interfering with you, Saku? That rule obviously only applies towards your eye copying the abilities of my eye, like how the pulses that knock out other eye users without SeiõrShields, don’t work on you even if you don’t have your shield active. This is a way for us to strategize without the DæMons hearing us while using their Nye-Omnipotence.*

Jormungand looks at his sister again, but doesn’t disclose what he is hearing.

Drakaina: "What’s wrong Jormy?"

Jormungand: "N-Nothing, Sis."

He walks silently, listening to the more seasoned eye users communicate with Katsu’s ability.

Saku’s Voice: *Hell of a time to let us know this!*

Katsu’s Voice: *I used it the morning after we got these Anjell Eyes!*

Itsuka’s Voice: *Can Shelly and Drakaina hear us too? Obviously not, right?*

Shelly’s Voice: *No, I actually can! Because of how well my personal Seiõr control training with Zoram Sensei has been going, as long as I have the smallest layer of my own SeiõrShield coating me, I can pick up the mental waves Katsu is sending to you eye users. Since his eye uses Seiõr to carry his mental thoughts like radio waves. Since the Princess is covered in Itsuka’s personal SeiõrShield, she can’t hear us talking about her PaPa either.*

Just as she claims, they all notice Shelly is glowing more vibrant with her pink/gold SeiõrShield. Almost identical paper thin layer as when she fought Laban.

Dom’s Voice: *Hi guys! This shit is so cool Katsu! Echooo!*

Everybody’s face turns sour from the high volume of Dom’s inner voice.

As the group gets close enough to the outskirts of Roronora City, the sounds of music, laughing, and vendors trying to reel in customers can be heard.

Katsu relaxes his Anjell Eye back to the base-kit.

When the visiting group is about 100 yards away from the gated border of the bustling city, fireworks shoot into the daylight sky and are still visible when they explode into their bloom.

Princess Kawaii: "Woahhh, what was that!?"

Itsuka: "Oh yea, you must’ve never experienced fireworks because of the ’end of the world’."

Princess Kawaii: "Fire...Works?"

Katsu does a playful 180° spin and walks backwards while talking to the pink eyed princess.

Katsu: "Yea! The name of our hometown translates to ’Firework City’. We would have a fireworks show every month, even in the winter. It was awesome!"

The reflection of a firework exploding into golden rain can be seen in the pink eyes of the princess.

Princess Kawaii: "They’re so loud, but so beautiful."

Distant Voice: "....-AAKIIII!"

Everyone’s attention turns towards a figure, sprinting towards them.

Shelly grabs the handle of her katana strapped to her back but Saku walks towards the approaching person without any worry, while talking to the ’Ace of Takamagahara’.

Saku: "Don’t do anything that ruins this chance at peace."

Shelly lets go of the sheathed katana’s handle and looks over at Itsuka.

Shelly: "I honestly do not know what you see in him, Sis."

Itsuka doesn’t move her head and watches as Laban, in all black attire, runs towards Saku with open arms.

Itsuka: "Well...you might soon have another person who’s heart confuzzles you."

They watch as Saku is imminently going to be embraced by a ’different’ looking, smiling, bright Don Laban DaeMon.

Her rainbow patterned teardrop tattoos on her face, have been changed to rainbow patterned hearts with a black jagged line down the middle of each heart, imitating the broken heart tattoos of Takamagahara.

Shelly: "Does she really think changing her tattoos to match ours makes her part of Takamagahara?

...Itsuka?"

To Shelly’s surprise, she looks over to see Princess Kawaii standing by herself, just as confused from not being on Itsuka’s shoulders anymore.

The sound of wind and a visible crystal purple Seiõr trail is left behind.

From behind her, barely keeping up is Laban’s daughter and the Princess of Roronora, Rebekah DaeMon.

Don Laban DaeMon: "SAKIIII!!!!!!"

The little high pitched voice of her daughter doesn’t carry far enough for her mother to hear.

Princess Rebekah: "Mama! Don’t get too close! Wait!"

Saku rolls his eyes at the approaching sign of affection and he braces himself for the unwanted encroachment into his personal space.

However, once the Don of Roronora is about 5 feet from her beloved Yin, Itsuka appears between them. Her crystal purple SeiõrShield is flaming around her tone, fit body. Her 7th and 8th abs barely showing over her waist line, out of rage, and her hair is back to the double curls when she first joined the group.

Her IceEye popped off in 2nd Stage, with a grey aura and an aggressive expression, gripping her sole SunSword.

Itsuka: "No! I won’t let it happen! I thought I was okay with this, but you’re not going to touch MY Captain."