Your Name, The End
Ajax felt chills break out over his body; the target was his chin. What would hit him, he wasn’t sure. But he knew something would hit.
‘Guar—!’ Even though he had completed the guard, the oncoming punch broke through.
As his chin shattered, Ajax’s eyes shook. That punch. He remembered it. He had been on the receiving end of it for most of his adolescence, right until that program was cancelled.
‘Winter Soldier… it feels just like his hits.’ As blood and teeth choked his airway, Ajax’s head struck the floor with a heavy thud as he passed out.
Standing over him, John felt like his body was on fire. Sweat poured out of him as his breath hitched, his lungs reeling. His right arm was strained, hurting as his muscle had snapped. Just standing there took everything.
But John wasn’t allowed to fall. He walked out of the passage, standing under the gaze of the terrified civilians. His heart started to beat faster. It wasn’t cause of the relief on their faces, nor was it his own relief at surviving.
The reason for his heart beating so loudly, the reason for this euphoria that washed over him, the reason for this sense of weightlessness was his victory.
He had crushed those that dared to stand proud before him; he had snapped the arrogance their weapons gave them.
John had proven himself to be the stronger creature than them.
At least that’s what his body wanted him to think and revel in.
‘Good thing I clamped my mouth shut; if I had said that shit out loud, I would’ve died from cringe.’ He finally came down from cloud nine.
Owned Skills:
[Hanma Physique (Awakening—7%)]
His was now similar to a creature that thrived on being the strongest in the world. This entire bloodline craved that feeling, and carrying that blood himself, of course, John would feel that urge too.
Just that he had no interest in doing that. He just wanted to go back home and write so he could share all those wonderful stories with the readers in this world.
‘I don’t want to fight again if possible.’ But he had learned that as long as he decided to live in this world, he had to deal with any problems thrown his way.
John looked at the blinking system panel and then at the bank teller from before.
“Is my card ready yet?” He needed that damned card, the cause of all his worries, right this instant.
***
In a quiet neighbourhood of Queens, Spiderwoman stealthily landed on the ledge of the open window in an apartment building, her rented room. Slipping inside in one fluid motion, she took off her mask, running her fingers through the sweaty blonde hair.
“Today was brutal.” Gwen fell face up into the bed; her ribs ached with every breath, and the cuts on her legs and arms stung.
There were a lot of false reports regarding attacks today, but she had found the real one in a hospital in Manhattan. Some terrorists led by Rhino who wanted to blow up the place.
‘He could’ve just given me a call if he wanted my attention; why put others’ lives at risk?’ Gwen groaned on the bed, thinking over the words that guy spoke.
“There’s a bomb in Empire State Bank; both of these bombs will blow up at the same time, so choose. Who will you save?”
Gwen had almost lost control for the first time; she had been doing this Spiderwoman gig for a while now, but today things went overboard. Playing with others’ lives like that was truly despicable.
The silver lining was that she had succeeded in stopping the bomb at the hospital, and the bomb planting at the bank was also stopped thanks to the efforts of a brave citizen. That was the police’s public statement, at least.
When she reached the Empire State Bank, she had noticed John walking with the police, especially with her father. The two went to the police station, and then the car dropped John at his apartment building.
‘I didn’t expect him to live this close.’ Gwen had followed the car, hoping to find out anything, but that hadn’t worked.
She could only make a deduction that John had been involved because of the special treatment. Still, she had her doubts after listening to injury reports on the radio scanner.
Smashed noses, broken teeth, and shattered jaws; apparently one of them had no hope of eating solid food again. Plus, these were active mercenaries that came in guns blazing.
Someone bubbly and funny like John beating them up so badly? No way that would happen.
‘You just called a 6-foot guy bubbly… Great going, Gwen.’ She could feel her face burning; maybe it was the exhaustion muddling her mind.
Still, John definitely had the build. She couldn’t deny that everything about him was attention-grabbing.
The height bump aside, his shoulders were really wide and muscly. He looked like a top-tier athlete who could easily get into the University sports team. And because of the wind pulling his t-shirt back, she had also gotten a glimpse of his abs without meaning to.
“He has crazy definition there. Like… how is it possible?” Gwen could still picture it in her mind, lost in her thought. But then realization dawned on her.
“Imagining the abs of the guy I just followed home while lying in my bed, not my brightest moment.” Gwen wished for a saviour that could whisk her away from this unending sharp self-judgement.
And the saviour arrived, just in an unexpected form.
“A chapter?” Gwen looked at the time; it was a little over midnight. The usual uploads from John Doe had been around 9-10 PM, but not today.
‘The writer must’ve had a tough day too.’ Gwen stretched her arms, trying to shake off the sleepiness.
Now that she had noticed the upload, she had to read it.
The moment Gwen clicked on the chapter link, her enthusiastic expression soured a little.
The chapter started with adult Taki going through life. Thinking that he saw someone he recognized at a train station before turning away. That part made Gwen sigh; this writer really knew how to rub it in.
She continued reading regardless, following Taki’s job interviews and his talk with Okudera. It made Gwen realize that over 5 years had passed.
However, there was a detail that struck her like a hammer out of the blue.
The split comet did destroy Itomori; however, no one died there.
‘So Mitsuha is alive?!’ Gwen leaned in, scrolling anxiously. The revelation was done so casually that she had to read three times just to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.
Taki’s entire POV has been filled with longing so far, longing for someone he doesn’t even know. But now things were confirmed.
Mitsuha was still alive.
Gwen almost celebrated, but held back. She thought of this writer and how they had handled stuff so far.
Her enthusiasm went down a notch, but only for a moment as she held onto the hope in her heart. And the next paragraph started with that ambiguous tone again.
It was like two people speaking over one another. This time, however, there wasn’t any indication. Gwen just felt it, and that feeling proved itself correct.
Taki and Mitsuha were both leaning against the glass doors of the trains on their commute when they found each other, their trains going the opposite direction. It was like the world itself was trying to separate them.
Gwen broke into a smile as she imagined them running around like fools, trying to find each other in the busy city like bumbling idiots.
And they at last did find one another on a flight of stairs.
“Come on, come on…” Gwen’s words were almost a prayer; she wanted to see this well. When they first met, Taki didn’t know Mitsuha, and it ended badly.
But this time, neither of them knew each other. Still, they should trust that feeling that had them running around until just a moment ago.
Her heart almost dropped into her stomach when they walked past each other on the stairs, but her grip on the mouse tightened as they turned around. Both speaking at the count of three.
“What’s…”
“…your name?”
-The End-
Gwen looked at the bold last letters while blinking in genuine goosebumps.
‘Why end there?’ She wanted to roar once again.
“Where is the kiss? The marriage? Mannnnn!” From the sound of it, Gwen was throwing a tantrum, but the wide smile on her lips said otherwise.
In a way, this was the perfect ending for everyone who had followed Taki and Mitsuha’s journey. They had to trust them to live the rest of it happily.
Even if the start was rocky, as long as the ending was a happy one, what right did anyone have to complain?
“I think I’ll sleep in today.” Gwen leaned in the chair after a slow, breathy exhale.
Her sour mood had disappeared, and the wounds didn’t hurt so much anymore. No matter how tough it was, today ended on a happy note.
And for Gwen, that alone was more than enough.
...
Want to support me and read ahead?
Visit p@treon.com/Over_The_Moon69 to read 20 chapters ahead.
Change the @ to 'a' first, though.