Chapter Text
Ryuji really thought he was going to die yesterday. He’s honestly amazed he isn’t dead. He spent the entire school day yesterday and most of his time at home spacing out, constantly questioning if he made it out of there alive or if this was his mind playing tricks on him as he laid bleeding out on the ground somewhere.
Then he woke up. Tuesday, April 12th. Better get to school now, don’t want to be late and get crapped on by the faculty again. Text mom good morning and good luck at the hospital today, hope you don’t end up there on a stretcher later.
Ryuji dresses himself automatically, pours a bowl of sugary cereal and fill it with milk on routine. Crunches the grains and sweetness between his teeth and hears razor-sharp fangs as long as his arm grinding through a knight’s armorclad arm. Put down the spoon and put his head in his hands and breathe through the panic.
He’s struggling to process it. All of it. The school turning into a castle, Kamoshida deciding to let his freak out and let it all dangle (honestly that might be the most mentally scarring thing Ryuji’s seen, and he’s seen some shit), his classmate (the new transfer student who, apparently, had a criminal record) turning into a giant winged thing (did he get caught turning into that before and get arrested or something???) and deciding to chow down and maim everything around him.
Ryuji’s only alive because of luck. All of the luck he never got in the last year—Kamoshida taking over the track team, breaking his leg, screwing over his life and all of his teammates, the track team disbanding, Ann and Shiho further distancing themselves from him—finally came when Ryuji effing booked it from that cell, found the cat, and hid in its cell while Kurusu rampaged.
He doesn’t know why Kurusu didn’t chase him. A morbidly curious part of him wants to know. The rest of him remembers the screams and sounds echoing down the halls of the jail and never wants to know anything again.
Ryuji knows that Kurusu has to be going through it. How could he not? He saw the guy turn into a giant winged demon thing, then saw the aftermath of his rampage through that twisted castle. He could only guess what the guy was thinking, because Ryuji is still reeling even though he wasn’t even the star of all the effed-up shit that happened yesterday.
But here’s the thing: when they were running for their lives out of that gore-soaked hellhole, Ryuji saw some other people down there. He didn’t get a good look, the cat urging them on and Kurusu almost pushing him away from it all in a panic, but he could swear he saw they were wearing the school’s gym uniform.
Ryuji doesn’t necessarily want to go back to the castle. Yesterday wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows. But if there’s even the slightest chance someone else is trapped there, Ryuji can’t leave them. Even if that weird ‘King’ Kamoshida has already gotten to them, at the very least, Ryuji has to see this through.
Problem is, Ryuji knows he’s not going to make it out alive on his own. His leg hurts more often than it doesn’t, and he can barely dash for longer than thirty seconds—complete bullshit compared to his stamina last fall—so running around a castle with a lot of stairs is out of the question. And even if he could run, if he’s the tiniest bit unlucky and runs into a knight, he’s not winning. He’s not too proud to admit he got his ass kicked yesterday and is still nursing a couple bruises, nor is he unable to admit he needs help. He has no clue where the cat went, and it didn’t really seem that keen to help him out, so that leaves only one option.
When Ryuji dresses in his usual barely acceptable uniform and gets on the subway, bracing for the shitty day ahead, he does so with a few goals in mind: avoid pissing off Kamoshida, find Kurusu, and see if they can get back into the castle.
Standing at the threshold of the school, Ryuji swears he can hear the running water of the moat, feel the crowd disappear and turn to thick, oppressive air, see the school shift into the courtyard leading to the castle. It’s right there, right in front of him, he could touch it—
Then everything turns back to normal. The school is just the same as it’s always been, the crowds return and fill the air with gossip and barbed insults, the hustle and bustle of Tokyo fills the gaps. Ryuji stands in the middle of a stream of students, feeling his heart beating double-time in his chest, even though nothing is happening.
Ryuji’s right thigh twinges and he takes a second to massage it, knowing that trying to climb the stairs when it’s aching is a recipe for disaster. Someone jostles him and nearly knocks him to the ground. He looks up just in time to see Takeishi’s glare before his former friend briskly walks upstairs, leaving Ryuji in the dust.
With a sigh, Ryuji straightens up as much as he can, wincing as he takes the steps one at a time. He wonders how long it’ll be before the pain in his leg finally goes away.
Ryuji’s starting to suspect Kurusu’s avoiding him.
Not that Ryuji can blame him. He’s pretty sure Kawakami warned him to stay away, because of course she would, she’s always been disappointed in him. Besides, after someone sees you go on a murderous rampage and slaughter everything in sight, finding him in an isolated cell covered in blood and gore and in the middle of eating something’s innards, well…
Yeah, Ryuji would avoid people after that too.
But Ryuji needs to talk to him, so, screw whatever Kurusu was doing, they were gonna sit down and chat about all the weird shit that’s been going on.
He waits until lunch—not only because Ryuji can’t find him before class starts, but trying to shove an important conversation before homeroom feels like bad manners. Walking over to 2-D, he spots Takamaki standing by the door, the frumpy pout on her face turning into a full-blown frown when she spots him. “Sakamoto.”
“Takamaki.” Ryuji returns the formality. “Mind movin’ out of the way? I gotta talk to Kurusu about something.”
“You do know there’s another door, right?” Ryuji rolls his eyes. He seriously can’t believe he used to be friends with her and Suzui. As he goes to walk past her, Takamaki calls after him, “He’s not in there! He ran out once the bell rang.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ryuji swears under his breath. Louder he asks Takamaki, “Any clue where he went?”
Takamaki opens her mouth, probably to say no, before she pauses and looks contemplative. “He came in a bit late this morning. He told Kawakami-sensei he wasn’t feeling well. Maybe he went to the bathroom? Or the nurse?”
Ryuji nods his thanks and heads to the bathroom first, simply because it’s closer and his leg is bugging him too much to bother with stairs right now. Luckily, Ryuji strikes gold if the small crowd around the entrance is any indication. He taps the shoulder of one of the students on the fringe, a scrawny guy with short blue hair and a big bruise on his cheek. “Yo, what’s happening?”
“Th-the transfer student’s in there.” The guy shuffles nervously and keeps his head down, like he can’t look Ryuji in the eye. “He… didn’t look that good.”
That doesn’t bode well, though it doesn’t change much. Even if Ryuji wasn’t chasing the guy down, he’d still want to check in on him. He shoves his way past the crowd, enduring the familiar glares and annoyed looks. When he reaches the entrance he turns to the remaining students, “A’ight, clear out, show’s over.”
One of the guys coos, “Gonna make out with the rest of the trash Sakamoto?”
Ryuji glares. Sometimes he really wants to live up to his ‘delinquent’ brand and thrash some of the other students. “I’m taking a piss. Do you seriously want to stand around and listen in on that?”
Enough of the crowd looks disgusted, annoyed, or bored. The clump steadily dissolves until it’s just the wimpy guy and one of the newspaper club girls hanging around. Figuring that any gossip that comes from this will be the bargain bin variety, Ryuji enters and tries to ignore the feeling of dread settling in his gut.
It feels stupid to say the Shujin bathrooms are familiar, but they are. Ryuji’s cut class many a time here, camping in the western style stalls where he can hide his feet on top of the toilet seat whenever someone came looking for him. He’s contributed to the small collection of graffiti on the inside of those stalls when he’s felt particularly creative. He looks at his reflection in the familiar, grimy mirrors over the semi-clean sinks across from the urinals (the best, least mortifying design when it’s crowded and you gotta wizz, obviously) and can see the heavy bags under his eyes, which are only emphasized by the ominous red light coming from under one of the stalls.
Oh, yeah, that’s a thing that’s happening. Along with the heavy, ragged pants and low moans of pain coming from it.
God, Ryuji is in such deep shit.
Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Ryuji walks up to the stall door slowly, feeling like he’s about to knock on the cage of a lion. He’s seen that same red glow before in the impossible castle, seconds before Kurusu… before everything happened. Which probably means something bad is about to go down. Either Ryuji can leave and let this play out, or he can try and stop whatever’s about to happen before it reaches a boiling point.
He’s not a coward. Ryuji lifts his hand and knocks.
The ragged breathing stops, the sudden silence so much worse. When Ryuji speaks up, he can’t hide the faint trembling in his voice. “Hey, Kurusu? You okay in there?”
There’s a long stretch of silence. Then, “I’ve been better.”
Ryuji’s not sure what to think of Kurusu’s voice. He didn’t talk much in the castle, except when he was screaming, so the deep scratchiness isn’t that strange to hear. A part of Ryuji kind of hopes that his voice could get higher, lighter, like he doesn’t have any problems and can just get through the day without a worry. “Do you, uh… d’you need help? A shoulder to lean on, or something?”
“Or something,” Kurusu agrees with a weak chuckle. The maroon glow pulses briefly before dimming, making the stall look less like a gateway to hell and more like someone was just using some mood lighting. “I… don’t think I can get up. I locked the door, so I’m pretty sure I’m stuck here ‘til my legs decide they want to work.”
“All good, bro.” Ryuji kneels on the floor, wincing as his thigh twinges again. Doing this might leave him stuck just like Kurusu, but it’s too late now to back out. He gets onto his back, seeing Kurusu move his legs out of the way as Ryuji grips the bottom of the door and pulls himself under.
Now in the stall, Ryuji finally gets his first good look at Kurusu since yesterday afternoon. The other second year is practically wrapped around the toilet, hugging the seat with his head hovering over the bowl. There’s a thin layer of sweat on his skin, his curly hair plastered to his forehead and nape. His uniform is rumpled, like he’d fallen asleep in it and didn’t have the time to change. Most alarming are the myriad of jagged, dark red lines branching across his body, the source of the glow that’s making the bathroom feel more like a red light district. They’re the most dense around his chest, but there’s a bunch that stretch down over his stomach and shoulders, a few more crawling up his neck.
Ryuji feels bad that the first thing he thinks to do is to pull himself out of the stall, but he fights against the instinctive urge to run. He doesn’t say anything as he pulls himself up so he can sit against the door, leaving barely any room between the two of them as Kurusu gives him a sardonic, exhausted smile. If Kurusu wants to vent, Ryuji’s all ears, especially considering he’s about to ask for a pretty big favor. “Hey, man.”
“Hey,” Kurusu returns before his entire body shudders. The lines glow brighter and he grips the toilet seat so hard Ryuji can see thin cracks in the porcelain. He hangs his head over the bowl, his breathing picking up as he gags. “God this sucks.”
Ryuji’s not sure what to do, now that he’s stuck here. Bringing up Kamoshida or the castle might set Kurusu off, and Ryuji doesn’t know what’ll happen if he brings up the students trapped within considering how the entire school has made Kurusu the star of all their rumors and shittalking. He doesn’t know Kurusu well enough to comfort him, and he’s never been the best at distracting people, so he falls back on what he always did when his mom came home exhausted from her shift: he places his hand on the center of Kurusu’s back to rub little circles into it.
The moment he makes contact, Kurusu jolts like Ryuji’s touch electrocuted him. Then, before Ryuji can do anything, his body sags like a puppet with its strings cut. The lines spread further and glow brighter, curling around Kurusu’s limbs and back, gathering under Ryuji’s hand like it’s a lodestone. Ryuji watches like a slack-jawed idiot as Kurusu straightens up, the movement too smooth, unnatural. The black of his jacket somehow turns darker, deeper, unreal—
“There you are!”
Kurusu snaps around with a snarl, his body entirely black except for the lines and his eyes, both glowing scarlet. Ryuji barely has the time to pull his hand back before Kurusu snaps at it, his teeth shockingly white against the pitch void of his body. Kurusu lunges for his throat next, and Ryuji has a moment to think that maybe he really is as dumb as everyone says because he does nothing but press his back against the locked stall door and hopes that it’ll be quick. He slams his eyes shut, waiting for the pain of Kurusu’s teeth sinking into his flesh and tearing into him, just like he did the knights in the castle.
He waits…
And waits…
…and waits…
Ryuji dares to peek an eye open. His and Kurusu’s faces are less than an inch apart, but instead of the bloodthirsty rage Ryuji expects to see, Kurusu almost looks confused . His lips and eyes twitch spastically as his fingers scrape against the stall walls, like he wants to tear Ryuji to shreds but can’t. He watches as the lines and blackened skin slowly recedes, Kurusu panting like he just ran a marathon as his growling lowers into a barely audible rumble.
Ryuji doesn’t relax until the lines are completely gone, and even then he waits until Kurusu slowly leans back, looking disoriented and almost drugged, eyes half-lidded and pupils blown wide as he lodges his body between the toilet and the stall wall. Ryuji slumps and raises a hand to his chest, his fingers clenching down hard on his shirt to hide how badly his hands are shaking. “Holy shit dude.”
“I’ll say!” Ryuji jumps at the familiar-yet-not voice, looking around the stall as if a third person will magically appear from thin air. Kurusu does the same only to pause and look down at his lap. Ryuji follows his gaze and realizes that, somewhere along the way, a cat had snuck in and plopped itself on Kurusu’s lap. The low ‘growl’ Ryuji’s been hearing is actually the little guy purring his heart out.
The cat turns to look at Ryuji with the tiniest, smuggest expression he’s ever seen on an animal. It opens its mouth and the voice comes out, “You’re either seriously brave or seriously stupid. Do you have any idea how close you came to being Avatar chow?”
Ryuji doesn’t faint, but he does check out for a bit as his brain calms down from the adrenaline rush and the realization that, if the cat hadn’t shown up, Kurusu would’ve killed him just then. He vaguely hears the cat properly introduce itself as Morgana, something about magnetite, and atma, and brands, and hunger, everything going over his head, except for the last one because his stomach rumbles in sympathy. Honestly, Ryuji could go for a bowl of beef ramen right now. If he wasn’t on thin ice after yesterday, he’d risk cutting to go to Ogikubo and get some.
He breaks out of his musings on what kind of ramen he’d want (more accurately: could afford) when Morgana says, “So, you ready to go back?”
Kurusu makes an unsure noise and Ryuji looks back up in time to see him grimace, his legs pulling closer to his chest. If Morgana wasn’t on his lap, Ryuji thinks the second year would’ve been curled into a ball. When he doesn’t say anything and only continues to look more upset, Ryuji chimes in with a helpful, “Go back where? To class?”
Morgana gives him the dirtiest look a cat can muster. “No, you idiot! The castle! It’s the best place to help out frizzy hair, here.”
Whoa, wait a minute, they’re actually talking about going back there? Now? Or at least soon? Maybe he should have been paying better attention, “Forreal?”
“Do we have to?” Kurusu asks, a note of resignation in his voice.
“If you don’t want to start biting people here, then yeah, we do.” Satisfied with its bullet-proof argument, Morgana prances off Kurusu’s lap and sits, prim and proper, on the dirty bathroom floor. “It’s a convenient location, you can handle all the Shadows on the first floor and jail with ease, and the only risk, other than dying, is getting near Kamoshida.”
“‘Other than dying’,” Kurusu repeats, deadpan.
“Well, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s better than the alternative.” Morgana puffs out his chest. “Besides, with me guiding you the whole way, there’s no way this can go wrong!”
“Let me come, too!” Ryuji interjects. Kurusu gives him a surprised look while Morgana’s bravado falters. “I actually came in here to ask if we could try to get to that castle after school, but… if you two are already planning on going, then…”
“No way,” Morgana shoots him down. “Nuh uh, it’s already going to be difficult keeping frizzy hair on track. If we have to defend you from Shadows the entire time, the plan could go wrong at any second!”
“What plan? You two are just going in there to look around, right?” Morgana’s lips stay shut, which is all Ryuji needs for an answer. “Look, I just want to go down to the jails and check something out.”
“It’s still too dangerous,” Morgana meows, “and not just because Kamoshida has it out for you. You’d be a lot safer if you stayed here, in the normal world.”
“Kamoshida’s not just a problem in that castle, cat.” Ryuji slowly stands up, leaning heavily on the stall’s walls for support. His leg is killing him, having stayed on the floor in a curled-up heap for so long, but it’s fine, Ryuji can handle it. “If you’re seriously about to tell me that castle doesn’t have any dirt on that scumbag that we can use here, I’ll kick you.”
“I’m not a cat! Weren’t you listening?” Morgana hisses, his spine arching up in rage as the fur along his back stands up. “If you go walking around that castle with us, Kamoshida isn’t your biggest threat. It’s—”
“I want him to come.” Kurusu pipes up. They both turn to see him still wedged between the toilet and wall, like he’d rather be stuck in the most uncomfortable position possible than something more natural.
“Are you serious? Why?” Morgana taps a paw to Kurusu’s foot. “Ignoring all the ways he could die, what if he gets the virus? Are you both seriously willing to risk that?”
“He’s the only one that cares what happens to me,” Kurusu says, dropping an anvil on Ryuji’s heart. “If something goes wrong… I want at least one person to know what really happened.”
And well shit, if Ryuji wasn’t already intending on coming along no matter what the weirdo cat said, then Kurusu bluntly stating that would’ve dragged him on board. Morgana looks like he’s swallowed something rotten before he sighs, looking askance at Ryuji, “Fine… but if something goes wrong, don’t blame me.”
As if waiting for their conversation to end, the bell rings, signalling the end of lunch. Ryuji groans as his stomach aches with hunger pangs, the quick bowl of cereal from this morning absolutely not holding him over. Maybe he could sneak some of the school’s bread before he and Kurusu do… whatever they need to do to get back to the castle.
Morgana sneaks away, crawling under the stall door and disappearing down the halls. Ryuji offers Kurusu his hand so he can get up off the floor. When Kurusu grabs him, Ryuji swears he can feel claws pricking against his pulse point.
Then Kurusu lets go, they leave the stall, and all is normal, if only until the school day ends.