Getting Fired Up <Private>

Well. That was a personal bombshell that Ozaki wished to death he had time to analyze and try and comfort Ryse over. But this really wasn’t the best time for that. He glanced at his phone again. Four minutes. When Yuuto woke he’d have a limited time before he actually was able to use his talent functionally again. About a thirty second window for last words. Last words for him anyways… He knew what Yuuto would say.

“Look… I’m sorry for all that happened to you. I honestly don’t know the answer to that… But if I don’t kill him, he’ll live to kill another day. I’m killing him for myself… Yes that’s true. But… But he can’t… If he… If he remains alive when I could have done something, those he kills are on my hands too.”

He had only recently managed to liberate himself from the idea he was wholly responsible for Yuuto’s path in life… Ozaki knew that he could have killed Yuuto years ago. He had wanted to. But had held himself because because he thought he had not had the right to be angry at him. That it was all his fault. Now Ozaki knew it wasn’t his fault… He did not have that holding him back. But if he had the ability to kill Yuuto, it was his responsibility. He had had that ability for years and had refused to act on it. He had to now. He had to. 

Their situations were similar. But if the torment never stretched beyond himself… Honestly he probably wouldn’t be acting even in this scenario. But there were other lives at stake. And the longer Yuuto roamed free the more people he could hurt.

Ozaki tilted his head at Ryse. Such an innocent trusting girl. He hated to burst her bubble. And he also hated to start making preparations for Yuuto’s execution in front of her… But if she stayed that’s what he would have to do before long. “Sorry to burst your bubble Ryse… But people like this… The Church of Purity, the organization he comes from, has money, power, and political influence enough to fake any evidence they need, craft any falsehood they’d wish, and paint themselves as the hero the whole time they’re at it. The police wouldn’t be stopping anyone like him. They bend the law to whatever shape suits them. He will never so much as see the inside of a court room for his crimes, no one in that blasted human supremacist cult ever will.” He spat out the last part in sheer scorn for their very existence.

Normally he wasn’t nearly as chatty about his past but hey… The only way to convince her in this case was to tell her the ugly truth of the world.

“No, in fact if the organization asked the police would help them.” Ozaki growled, then deflating a little bit as he spoke again. “Sometimes the only way to make things right is to… Is to take matters into your own hands.”

With that he picked up Yuuto and started dragging him across the bridge to its center. Things had to be ready by the time he woke up.

This was a pain. Ozaki looked at his phone. Three minutes. You know… As much as he might want his father to hang. It would be much simpler to cut off his head. Then, even if he did have one of his ritualistic tattoo to remotely trigger phoenix downs from a distance… Well there wasn’t any of those on his face, were there? Disconnect him from his precious tattoos and there would be nothing.

He wanted his father to die in agony multiple times for what he had done. But… Ryse’s words were making his very heart ache. He knew this wasn’t in any way good. “How… Ryse. Do you propose I kill him then? In head to head combat, in a fair fight… Or even in one which I pulled every trick in the book. He has technique beyond my years, and a talent that is all but created to destroy vampires like myself. He is trained to kill creatures like me. And he’s lethally effective if you actually get into a fight with him. In a regular fight I could not win. You might disagree with this method, but it works. And it has to be done.”

It has to. It has to. And it has to be him. Because he can, he must. Ozaki tried to draw his fingers through his hair in a fretting motion, but found the ski mask was there. Right. He was glad it was there. This wasn’t easy for him. It really wasn’t. Even after this there was still a part of him that wished things could be different. But they were never different. Yuuto had always been this kind of man. And he would never change. He had to die.

He could tell she didn’t have the guts to do it. There was nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with not having the guts to commit cold blooded murder. She was trying to get him not to do it. Ozaki was a Master Huntsman. Many people saw the label of huntsman and assumed that it meant he would be fighting in close combat… But no. Ozaki’s preferred way of fighting was from a distance. He had his darts, his sniper rifle. He had taken down all manner of beast with a lethal dose of sedative that sent them off peacefully into the afterlife.

When there was a bounty he took them alive if he could using a less lethal manner and brought them into the proper authorities. Point was, he kept hands clean of blood if he could. Considering that was definitely one of his triggers for an intense hemophobic episode.

This method would have no physical blood. But the blood would definitely be on his hands, no matter how he did this. He placed the chains on the ground. Yuuto undoubtedly had multiple lives… He could not decide which would be worse for Ryse to see. Him use a dagger and sheer strength to tear off Yuuto’s head… Or watching him hang and die repeatedly over and over.

The first time would be painless but…The next ones Yuuto would die much slower. Painful deaths he fully deserved. But… Ryse was here. And she wasn’t going to go away. “I… I know its wrong.” He couldn’t even look her in the eye right now. “But… There isn’t… There isn’t a right way for any of this. You should just… You should just go Ryse. This has nothing to do with you.”

He had to internally correct something in his head from earlier. Decapitation would not work. Phoenix downs could revive from nothing but ash, they revived from the soul. Not the physical body. Simply cutting off Yuuto’s head would not work. He would have to go with the hanging. But Ryse needed to get out of here.

The Mythril-Gold in the chains would suffice to keep him from turning completely to ash, but not stop the revival entirely. Any how…

He would like to think that Ryse and him were friends. But there were bigger stakes on the line here than morality. “We are but… But sometimes you have t-“ He was cut off as Ryse surged forward to try and take the chains from him.

They were indeed very heavy. Were it not for Ozaki’s vampiric strength he would not even be able to carry them at all. And were it not for his vampiric speed she may have succeeded in fully getting them away from him. Ozaki dropped the umbrella entirely. Every skin of his skin was covered at this point with the addition of the ski mask and sun glasses. They were only getting in his way now.

He grabbed the side of the chains opposing her. “No we can’t! He’ll never change! Ryse. Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to do the right thing. The longer he lives the m-“

The phone alarm went off, causing Ozaki to momentarily freeze while still holding the chains.

Yuuto Asahi was starting to rouse, slowly blinking emerald green eyes so similar to his own it made him sick. He hated that he shared even an inch of similarity with this man. He wanted him dead. He wanted him dead now. “Wh… Where…” He was confused what was going on for a moment until his eyes set upon Ozaki. He might not be able to see the vampire’s face right now, but he knew that build and that trench coat anywhere. Even groggy as he was his gaze hardened to a hateful steel as he struggled to move past the drug that clung in dregs to his system by this point. “Of courssssse. I’d exsssspect a cowardly corpse puppet like yoooou to use such mmmmethods. You wouldn’t dare face me in actual combat like a real man.” His words were slow and slurred, and he was already trying to activate his talent through the fog.

But he couldn’t focus quite enough. Not yet…

He had limited time. Twenty five seconds before Yuuto would be cognizant enough to use his talent and scorch Ozaki off the face of the earth. The moment Ryse let go he knew he could not let anything hold him back. He had to use all his speed in this very moment. Because even if she might have started to realize Yuuto’s darkness, she would likely still try to stop him because of the idea that murder was inherently wrong no matter what.

No matter how many people Yuuto had killed, no matter how many people it would save. This was self defense, even if Yuuto was unable to defend himself now. The idea that if he died in combat it would be any different was a foolish notion that if you fought honorably, the outcome would be any different. That the person would not end up any less dead.

Ozaki uncoiled the chain, revealing on one of its ends that there were about ten ties tied along the length of one of its ends. It was odd… Seeing the multi-colored parade of ties interwoven with the golden-green hued chain. It was… Kind of an inside joke for Ozaki… He’d thought it’d be funny. But to anyone else it probably made him look seriously twisted. Like he was making some sort of sick joke out of this whole thing.

He tied the chain around Yuuto’s neck rapidly. Since chain wasn’t nearly as flexible as rope he had had to go with a different type of knot entirely than the traditional hang man’s noose. But this one would work. It was functional. It would stay. He had practiced the knot many times, had tested its strength and if it would stay… Not with his own neck or anyone else’s of course… Eggggch.

“Figured I’d at least return your ties before you died.” He hissed venomously into Yuuto’s ear. Precious seconds wasted. Ryse would try and stop him. But he knew nothing he would say would get to Yuuto. He at least wanted one last word in.

“Y-“ Yuuki Ozaki then moved to shove Yuuto off the bridge, holding the chain at six feet down its long length for the initial drop.