Hiya! Sorry if you come here expecting a chapter for Learning to Human, but this is a plot bunny I've had for a long time now, and it was hard to write the other story with this in mind. So I finally just started to write it. Expect a new chapter next week. As for this story, please give me your feedback if you're interested; it's really hard to write these characters (though really fun), and your feedback powers that plot Energizer bunny!
And as always, thanks to masterofbones and Ordon to reading through and giving their comments. Go check out Ordon's stuff!
He wasn't sure where he had stepped into. The last thing he remembered was leaving the concert hall after Saki's encore. It was truly a motivational song, with a wonderful message, inspiring enough to even be a national anthem. A song that would persuade anyone, even him, to keep trying despite the circumstances. Which only made it that much more disheartening. To him, it felt like a curse. Her message resonated with him ad infinitum. There's only victory because there's failure. For him, a Minus, who has acquired nothing but failures, whom the world has arbitrarily decided he can only ever fail, that message was a burden that physical weighed him down, making it difficult to step forward, surpassing the weight of all his accumulated failures.
I want to win. But I can't win.
I want to win. But I can't win.
I want to win. But I can't win.
I want to win. But I can't win.
And to make him continue fighting despite that. He wanted to-
[...]
Which is why he decided. He decided to take on a challenge that he knew there would be no victory in. To stop leaving any and all records, to remove all traces of himself within the world. To hope that this final, futile challenge to himself will be able to remove his desire for victory, something that not even his Minus, All Fiction, could do.
Of course, before he had a chance to truly enact on that, he was thrown into an unfamiliar place, where the missing moon was replaced with a shattered moon. As if the world laughed at his attempt. To make him fail in even his attempt at removing his own yearning for victory. With the unchanging enduring frivolous smile on his face, he silent muttered to himself, [Once again, I couldn't win.]
His signature phrase disturbed the silence of the night, drawing the attention of a creature of with glowing red eyes as it emerged from the trees. Its body jet-black, its form resembled that of a wolf. Standing up on two legs, it was about as tall as an adult male, with bone-like spikes protruding from every limb. One look and he could tell it was unnatural, the disgusting snarl reinforcing its image of a twisted existence. The macabre creature lumbered towards him. As it drew closer, it raised an arm, the grotesquely long claws gleaming in the pale moonlight. With a howl, it bought the razor-sharp claws down to impale him.
He had no reason to stop it. He needed to test if All Fiction still worked. If it did, there was only one person he knew who could be the culprit for his current situation. He had to die to meet her; no matter how many times he died, it was too scary, difficult, and painful to kill himself. And with much PAIN, he allowed the creature's claws to pierce him right through his heart. He slouched down and slumped to the ground as blood floods out of the hole in his body… all while holding his unchanging smile.
The pain dissipated. Opening his eyes, he confirmed he was, once again, sitting at his desk of the old familiar classroom, the limbo he returned to whenever he died. He was wearing the same Suisou uniform. The desks that were arranged perfectly symmetrically. The untouched blackboard. And…
He had not returned to this classroom after her death. Maybe because he didn't want to acknowledge it. Maybe it was because he began to fear his own death. Or maybe he just didn't want to have her see him. He could think of countless other reasons why he never came back. In a way, they were all reasons and not reasons at all.
All he knew was that, when he looked up to see the unoccupied podium, without the presence of the one he hated, the one he loved, the one that admonished, mocked, provoked, bullied, encouraged, and ridiculed him, he could only describe his feeling as sorrow.
Not wanting to disturb the clean serenity of the classroom, he got up from the desk without saying a word. Only to have his face smashed through the wooden table.
"Are you going to leave without even saying hello? I'm hurt, you know."
Removing his face splattered with splinters from the desk, he turned to face her… or rather, her shoe. Only to get another kick, this time planting his face onto the floor, creating a decent sized crater. [Ajimu…]
"It's rude to look up a girl's skirt, you know. Even if it's you. And since we're acquainted, call me Anshin'in."
Standing back up, he used the cuff of his uniform to wipe the blood off his face and eyes, to finally be able to see the one he was looking for. She was sitting on top of the cabinets. With brown eyes with her long, dark brown hair tied together with two yellow ribbons. Wearing her sailor uniform with a dark red skirt. With a smile that would have made her more popular than the heroines of To Love-Ru. [I really had thought you died, you know. When Medaka returned and you didn't, I thought you had left us forever.] Tears started streaming out from the corners of his eyes. [Why did you have to play with my heart so?]
He started running towards her, intending to tackle her and give her a hug. Of course, to be expected, he immediately received another swift kick to the face; this time, he recovered much faster. "Stop it with your fake tears. I just wanted to mess with you."
Pushing himself up off the ever growing crater on the floor, he wiped away his crocodile tears. [Why did you send me here, Anshin'in?]
"Getting straight to the point, aren't you?" The corners of her lips curl up as her smile grows. "I'm sure the readers would appreciate that, but don't you want to enjoy our reunion a bit more? Come here, I'll even let you hug me for 0.0001 second." She reached out her hands for an embrace.
[...] Even knowing it was an obvious bait, he still took it. After all, he was a proper boy in that regard. Dashing forward, he jumped into her outreached hands, only to land onto the… comfortable warmth of her body.
"How is it?"
[It's soft.]
"With that little service-" As she lets him go, he is reminded of the reason why he fell in love with her in the first place. "To answer your question, I need you to answer me truthfully: why have you given up on winning?"
[...] Dropping his textbook practiced smile, his shoulders slumped down dejectedly; he ceased his usual speech pattern, the desire to hide his true feelings gone. "It's too painful, Anshin'in. Even in my only victory, it was Medaka that made it happen. I couldn't call it my own. To make me keep wanting to win, even if I could never make it happen, isn't that too cruel?"
Holding up her arm by the elbow, she points up in a hand gesture as if she were lecturing him. "Of course. But that has never bothered you before. You've always known you could never win. So why was this the breaking point?" She drops her smile, and asks her question with her usual callous and cold kindness. "Stop hiding yourself, coward. This is your heart inside a dream, where no one else can know your true intentions. Tell me why you really gave up."
"..." He placed his hand near his bicep, where a certain armband would be. Closing his eyes, he bathed in the countless memories of his most enjoyable losses. "There was always someone I wanted to beat. First, it was you, then the elites, and then Medaka. I always had a goal, to prove myself against someone else. Even if I didn't win... I was satisfied to still have had someone to properly lose to. But now that I've graduated, leaving that battleground, I don't even have that. There's no one I want to win against. Even if I were to win, there isn't any meaning in it."
She gave him a look of exasperation. "Are you stupid? If there isn't someone you want to win against, you find one. Medaka isn't the only one, you know… well, I suppose you did say you want to win against a main character, and you don't just find those lying around." Her smile returned with a more vicious twist, without any attempt in hiding her absolute confidence. "Well, lucky for you. This world I threw you in… I can say the main character is an overwhelming Plus, one that would even neutralize your Minus."
"..."
"Well, at first, I didn't have much of a reason to throw you into this world, outside of just wanting to mess with you. To see if you would destroy it on a whim. Or maybe even join the villains. It would be just like you." The thought broadened her smile. "I should have known you would even lose in the tutorial level." With a spring in her step, she hopped off the cabinet and pointed straight at him. "But you were never one to move predictably. You have changed. You won't just carelessly and shamelessly destroy anymore."
"I see. Even now, I am still subjected to your whims." With a wave over his face, his smile returned like magic. [The world has decided that a Plus is always greater than a Minus. A Plus will always be more wanted, more diligent, more talented, more beautiful, more just, and more powerful than a Minus. However, that same world has no control, no understanding, and no say in our struggle.
Even if the world decided that we are unwanted, we will seek love with zeal.
Even if the world decided that we are lazy, we will toil away for empty achievements.
Even if the world decided that we are untalented, we will hold our inferiority with pride.
Even if the world decided we are repulsive, we will find an attraction towards each other.
Even if the world decided we are unjust, we will show there is no evil in following our ideology.
Even if the world decided we are weak, we will struggle against the strong.
Even if the world decided that we have lost, we will seek out victory.]
With a restored fatalistic confidence, he turned his back to her and started walking out towards the classroom. Pushing open the sliding door, he tilted his head back and over his shoulder to give one last declaration.
[If you say there is a Plus that can neutralize my Minus, then I will show you how impossible that is. One's life cannot possibly be Plus-Minus-Zero.] He boldly strolls out.
"In your attempt to act cool, you lost some logic in your message." Walking towards the podium, she continued talking to no one in particular. "I suppose that is why I began having some expectations of you in the first place."
Pulling out a leather chair, she sat down cross legged, holding up her head while leaning onto the support; her smile transformed into a sneer. "Well, to a Not Equal like me, wins or losses, main characters or antagonists, weakness or strength, they are all equally meaningless." She faced towards the window as if she was speaking to a third party. "Then again, I suppose there is some meaning for trying to give some happiness to my cute little brother."
…
...
"Ehh, you're still here?" Anshin'in tilted her head inquisitively. "I don't have much more for you, you know. Though, I can probably guess what you're wondering… 'What fun is there to watch someone who only loses?' But that has already been proven to be interesting, you know. What was it… Ah, it's like the opposite of One Punch Man."
"And besides… it was in his own world that he had no choice but to lose. Who knows what might happen here? Thankfully (and interestingly) enough, he hasn't realized it yet. Well, I guess you can say… he's a loveable natural born loser like that, right?
Sticking out her tongue in a silly smile and holding a peace sign sideways, she winks while holding a nauseatingly sweet and disconcerting smile. "So keep reading. Maybe you'll find something interesting or entertaining in his perpetual losses. Or, how would that cursed woman say it… 'So, take heed: there will be no victory in strength.'"
The Beowolf began sniffing the body. Instinctively, it found it strange that there was no resistance. And so, it bit into the corpse's arm, to ensure it had truly died. With no reaction, it began to walk away, just as its brethren started arriving, attracted by the scent of negativity.
A strange sound behind it. It had no time to react before something metallic pierced through its face. [Ta-da! It's All-Fiction! My destruction is now nothing!]
As the creature's body slumped to the ground and began disintegrating, he poked at it with a finger like a child playing with bugs for the first time. When the rest of the pack started to surround him, he stood back up to and wiped the dust off his pants. [I see that you are all just somebody's puppets. With just one quick look, and I can see all your weak points; there's so many, I can't help but feel if somebody deliberately made you like that. Perhaps if you had some form of consciousness, I wouldn't have to do this.] Two gigantic screws the size of his arms materialize in his hands. [After all, I'm on the side of the weak.]
The creatures could not understand what he was saying. However, they all recognized him as dangerous. He had just slain one of their kin and killing intent exuded from him. They all rushed him-
To no avail. To any observer, the battle had ended before it begun. As soon as the Beowolves took a step towards him, oversized screws of all types pierced through them, without resistance. They all died before even knowing what had killed them.
[Hey, you were the ones that ruined my shirt.] He looked at his blood caked, no longer white shirt. [And you forced me to meet someone I hated more than anyone else. Your deaths… I'm not sorry, because it's not my fault.]
As expected, there was no reply from the creatures. The impaled screws made sure of that. With his Minus, the blood disappeared from his shirt, as if it was never there at all. Rubbing his chin contemplatively, he considers his next course of action, before letting out a sigh. [For a Minus, this is too much to ask for. For Kumagawa Misogi, this is impossible… It's time to try and get a job.]
And that's a wrap! Tell me what you guys think! And yes, in accordance to the RWBY universe, there will be a ship (currently deciding between two).