I have received satisfaction.
Wow, this chapter shows mask abilities a lot more.
5 Likes
And now Wunger stopped existing all together. This is so many levels of sad 
But now, knowing this context,
What was dreamspace Alexis like?
Christopher Nolan’s Inception be like
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Based
That show could have gone so hard had the writers known what Witcher was actually about
That’s right. I can’t read 
Okay. You should ask Joe then
He has the updog you need
Oh my ghid I didn’t know you were actually secretly Keanu “Baba Yaga” Wick this whole time I am a huge fan can you please please sign my contract to play Samurai Jack in my Samurai Jack live action adaptation indefinitely
So you’re the one playing fake chess then
I don’t see where this says “the US”, mister
You and your fake chess DLCs smh smh 
On the other hand, good job to @Rukah for making that connection 
Okay fine I’ll never do that again just please don’t pull out the laptop smash gif please I beg you
This is me fifty percent of the time
and this is me the other fifty percent of the time:
This is fair and I have thought of that myself. However I still think you could have been less on the nose about that explanation
This goes straight in to my “special and based images” folder
No not this kind of subversion of expectations 
Subverting expectations is a genuinely good writing tool if you’re literally anyone but Rian Johnson
I mean… you could have easily left out the hoodie detail and I still would have guessed it. There are way too many characters wearing hoodies in this, it’s getting a bit tiresome
Why do I have a feeling that this is not for long
The Masks here do get a bit Wild at night
Who is this man who was having a great streak of understanding the story with you?
But if that ever stops being the case you know that there’s always a NOTa for you to HFfan on this statement makes zero sense, I literally have no clue what I’m writing at this point
BoTGHIDDON reference?!?!?!?!
And also the unhinged ramblings of a person with brain damage that people here call “NOTaHFfan’s theorizing”
8 Likes
–
Chapter Eleven
Hope Tends To Glimmer
–
“Later, if you can.”
“Huh?” Corey looked up, his hands still cradling the strange mask of his peculiar kidnapper. “Oh. I guess I should actually put it on then.”
“That would be appreciated,” Tone replied, his head sticking out the window as he attempted to drive Ren’s heavily abused car back towards what he assumed was Rook’s location. “I highly suspect that mask let him figure stuff out without any research on his part. Just like some kind of magical genie, just poof! and anything he doesn’t know he finds the answer to. If that’s true, he would never have sent that flying guy after Rook if he knew he’d lose, so we have to get over there before-”
“I don’t want it like this.”
“Huh?” Tone tried to look back in, but the road demanded his attention. “I don’t understand; what’s the problem?”
“This was his face.” Corey’s brows were tight, caught halfway between fury and despair, his eyes staring into the smooth, gently curved mask. “This face said all those awful words, did all those things to me. Threatened me with so much more. I can’t… I can’t wear this mask if he’s still out there. I don’t want him out there.”
“Trust me kid, we had a talk.” Tone replied, swerving slightly to avoid a broken branch in the road. “He’s not.”
“No.” Corey gripped the mask even tighter, the wood groaning under the pressure of his adolescent hands. “I don’t want him alive.”
Tone looked back in slowly, looking at Corey’s despondent, rage-reddened eyes with some level of vindication present in his own. “He’s not.”
Corey’s eyes slowly met his own. One shortly after the other, the two Wild Masks slowly turned back towards the road, driving in silence for a moment before Corey hesitantly slipped the mask on. “… uh … How do I …”
Tone sighed. “Well unfortunately there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for using a mask, so you’re just gonna have to try stuff until it works-”
“LEFT!!” Corey suddenly bellowed, grabbing the bottom of the steering wheel and yanking it in his direction. The car screeched its tires on the asphalt before rocketing down the side street, leading clear away from the building Kohaku had been on before.
“Let ME drive, please!” Tone growled, correcting the turn as he tried to keep himself from exploding at Corey. “Where exactly are we supposed to be going?”
“We… Toei Subway, Asakusa line, Gotanda station!” Corey rattled off, vigorously shaking Tone’s shoulder much to his chagrin. “And we have to move fast, Tone, or Rook is going to die!!”
–
“You know, I’ve always thought these sort of things should be underground.”
The large amount of panicking civilians didn’t seem to help his argument very much. Perhaps they were slightly miffed at the massive, muscular stranger in a strange mask who just crashed violently into the street. Or, perhaps, it was the multiple parked cars that had been shoulder-checked into the crowd in advance by that same muscular stranger.
“But what do you think?” Rook continued, suddenly descending at high speed feet-first into the ground where the stranger was, his target having rolled backwards at the last moment. The road instantly cratered, reverberation lines splitting out from the center and causing chunks of road at the end of those lines to briefly pop into the air. “You’ve been awfully quiet since you realized you ended up on camera after those foolish shoulder checks. Now you’re stuck in the spotlight and nobody will forget your presence here.”
The stranger, ever smiling, shot forward at blinding speed only to have his throat meet the outstretched arm of Rook, who slid forward along the ground as quickly as he could. “Or did you finally figure out your little pain immunity hardly holds up to someone with no pain to smother at all?” He snarled, the load-bearing column he had smashed the stranger into buckling from the impact.
“Truth is, you thought you would have had an easy time going after me. I’m not as fast or as strong as you are.” Rook reeled back to avoid a swipe and kicked the stranger through the column. “But there’s one thing you bad guys always seem to misunderstand about the Wild Masks, and I don’t know if you’ll ever learn.”
“We’re just holding back.” He faked a knuckle crack.
Before the stranger could get back up, Rook slammed into him again, sending him tumbling into the wall. His smile only ever waned, it seemed, to show even greater contrast when he stretched it wide open again, as Rook’s third attempt at a ram was met with sudden resistance, the veins popping out of the neck of the stranger as his shining teeth beamed hatred into his foe.
Rook tried to fly backwards, but his motion dragged the stranger along with him, who landed a devastating haymaker powered by the added acceleration. Rook shot upwards to escape the hold, but he had barely ascended before the powerful hand of his opponent latched on to his mask.
Rook reappeared, but had to wildly flail to keep from falling backwards onto the elevated tracks. Looking back towards the stranger, his eyes widened at the large crow swiftly crushed to death in his massive, muscular grip.
“Me too.”
–
“But the car–!”
“Just do it!” Corey yelled over the wind, as the mangled window was easily pushed outwards, allowing him to easily step through. “All station personnel across the entire line are told to rush all trains through to avoid that station, no matter what!”
Tone hissed through his teeth. Undoubtedly Ren would kill him if he knew half the antics Corey had been through, and he would absolutely maul him to pieces if he had the ability to discern what Corey had suggested.
But now that he was practically shoehorned into doing it, Tone knew there wouldn’t be enough of himself left to bury if Ren ever found out about how his car really got totaled beyond recognition. Hope Corey knows how to keep a secret.
“Stay safe,” Tone mumbled as he undid his seatbelt, reaching across and tightening Corey’s as much as he could. As he came hurdling towards the station, he sent the car into an incredibly sharp turn, rolling it almost instantly, with just enough momentum to carry him out the moment he opened the door.
Flung barely high enough to clear the ledge, Tone stumbled into Rook, knocking them both onto the tracks. They wasted no time in righting themselves, but the rush did not appear necessary, as the stranger simply floated in midair, feeling the crushed crow in between his fingers, grinning ominously at the pair.
“Well? I didn’t waste so much gas barreling over here for you to gawk at us.” Tone taunted, gesturing for the stranger to come forward. “What are you waiting for?”
“I think I’ve done enough tonight.” The stranger grinned even further. “No, I’ll just stand here to make sure you don’t leave. Corey’s still in your car, correct? You budge and I’ll flatten it before you can breathe.”
The shriek of a train horn suddenly sounded. “You were clever, Wild Mask, but without the ability to teleport something with you, you’ll never save your friend. I’ll let my boss know the playing field’s been evened.”
The stranger’s smile waned slightly as he found himself staring just past the tracks. Taking a fraction of a second to process what had just happened, he barely had enough time to turn towards the sudden lights.
“Ah.”
–
4 Likes
Ah yes. Another chapter
And so Corey’s got a mask now.
4 Likes
Uh oh I hope Rook lives
3 Likes
Tonight on Top Gear
I wait for the maid to finish cleaning
James drives like normal
And Hammond just misses the train
I'm too tired to remember the lyrics to that :(
me fr
I would say yes but I am so not in shape
Why are you reading this expecting good writing
me fr
How could the Bible steal from Ghid like that
3 Likes
I could totally see this being in a real Top Gear episode
…or something like that idk I forgor
Well if you don’t remember the lyrics to that, then how about the lyrics to that: the Japanese version from the movie Bullet Train?
aniki kyōdai mo ofukuro mo Yo, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Keanu Reeves from 20 years ago would have been so good as live action Samurai Jack tho. But current Keanu Reeves would make a decent final season Samurai Jack 
Noooo not my power of photoshop being used against me
I am reading this expecting levels of writing better than Rian Johnson
This isn’t a high standard, because literally anyone can do that
I was wondering why you didn’t address that part of my theories. Because I was right 
Know is minecraft youtuber dream confirmed?!
In the road? 
Man, this guy is tough as nails, easily tanking being flung through solid concrete
Huh?! Where in the world did the bird come from? Did he just… catch it on the fly or something?
I can’t wait till they get into a situation where they greatly underestimate their opponent and the holding back thing will lead to disastrous results for them
Not sure how realistic this is, but to me it makes sense considering how ridiculously punctual Japanese trains are. Hell would break loose if one of them arrived even a second late, and it not arriving at all… truly terrifying stuff
I wish the French subway was like that
Also, this statement is a nice setup for what’s to come later in the chapter
Now that is ominous indeed
Yeah I’m definitely drawing this guy now
Heh
So Rook made the Tengu mask guy think that teleporting other things with him is something he can’t do, specifically so that he could pull out something like that at the end. Clever
This is the kind of combat I like to see, not a pair of magical skeletons in funny hats mindlessly punching each other over and over again even though that is fun as well
But yeah I am sure that the Tengu mask guy isn’t dead. Firstly, he easily tanked being flung into the pavement at high speed and face first through a solid load-bearing concrete column, and according to my research, the Toei Subway has normal trains, not some kind of high speed ones, so I don’t think the impact from that would be much harder. Perhaps it will knock him out, but not much more. Secondly, he hasn’t been name dropped yet, unlike his deceased colleague from last chapter, and I doubt that you’d kill off a more or less prominent secondary character without mentioning their name. Thirdly, he only started showcasing his full power and it seems like killing him off at this point would be a bit of a waste. And lastly, you haven’t announced that someone has been killed, unlike in the previous chapter.
Yeah he’s returning for sure
Don’t have much to theorise about this time, as it’s a very action heavy chapter, and there hasn’t been much, or any, lore dropped here
Nah he’s safe now. At the last moment he switched places with the bad guy, and he ended up the one being hit by a train
5 Likes
–
Chapter Twelve
Parallel
–
“Man.”
“Little more effort, little less judgemental murmuring.” Tone grunted, hissing every so often at the pain from trying to flip a car on his own. “And try not to hurt this on the way down, alright? I don’t want to have to come up with an even more detailed explanation as to how this entire car got-”
The opposite tires came down with a CRUNCH, the suspension in the poor vehicle doing wonders as it absorbed the impact. Tone glared sharply at Rook, who had done the majority of the work, and continued to stare at the vehicle without paying any heed to the sharp stares of his compatriot.
“…Man.” Rook slowly shook his head. “I don’t know how you’re going to live to see tomorrow after he sees what you’ve done to his car.”
“That’s the fun thing, isn’t it?” Tone’s voice implied an extremely artificial smile, his eyes glowing with intimidation. “You didn’t see me do this, you saw that one strange masked fellow, the one we stole the mask from that Corey has. He’s the one who drove, skidded, flipped, smashed, crashed, scratched, dented, and otherwise de-beautified Ren’s dirt-cheap automobile. Got it?” He leaned in, his hands resting on the roof of the vehicle as he smiled with his eyes as much as he could. “That’s what happened, right???”
“W…” Corey murmured, immediately catching Tone’s attention as the burly fellow’s head snapped around at blinding speed to lock onto Corey. “We could… Maybe use the mask, to… to see if he’d believe it?”
The silence seemed to buzz as Tone’s eyes grew very dangerous for a moment. So intimidating was his reaction that Rook, who could not see the vicious stare, backed away from the vehicle in response. Tone blinked out of it, however, and eyeing the ground awkwardly, made his way over to where Corey stood, crouching down to look him in the eyes.
“That would be awfully duplicitous, wouldn’t it? And I know, I know, but hear me out.” Tone threw his palms forward in semi-sarcastic supplication. “Perhaps it’s not the wisest idea for me to shift blame onto somebody who just died for the property damage I deliberately caused. But it’s another level entirely to suggest we use your new mask to manipulate Ren by determining what answer he’d be most lenient towards.” His finger tapped the mask in Corey’s hands, prompting his eyes to drift towards it.
“The greater the power, the likelier it is to be misused.” Tone softly lifted Corey’s chin to bring his eyes back in line with his own. “We can’t simply accept responsibility for our actions from the outset and let the arrows fall where they may; it’s a constant struggle between seeing the hurt and misfortune in the world, on all levels of existence, and having the capacity to alter it for the perceived better, yet never taking that irreversible step down into darkness. The moment you choose to use your power in any morally dubious manner,” Tone slowly pointed a finger at his chest, tailoring his body language as it seemed like Corey might start bawling at any given moment, “Be it a mask like that, or societal influence, money, property, or what have you, you crack open the door to any and all usage of your power, as long as a perceived justification can be found.”
“With the greatest power comes a burden ten times as threatening.” He slowly rose to his feet, looking down as kindly as he could as his hand drifted to rest atop Corey’s shoulder. “But I know you’re more than capable of wielding that power with the fullest moral discretion. As of right now, you may just be the most powerful Wild Mask there is.”
Corey’s eyes glumly returned to the mask in his fingers before the realization hit. “Wild Mask? So I’m actually-?”
“Let’s go home and find out, hm?” Tone winked, walking back around to the driver’s side of the vehicle and gesturing for Corey to get in.
“Nice deflection.” Rook mumbled.
Tone scowled, his features suddenly slipping into a sly and subtle grin. “Okay Rook, you’ll probably have to lie on the back seats to be able to fit, and Corey can sit in the front.”
With a roll of his eyes Rook relented, much to the amusement of Tone, as he clambered inside the rear seating and lounged uncomfortably in the cramped space really only adequately sized for Corey, while the smallest member of the Wild Masks got to ride shotgun. “I thought you couldn’t drive because of the, well…”
“I can’t.” Tone smiled down at Corey as he clambered inside, reaching to close the door before realizing it was still outside and stepping out to grab it. “It’s very painful, and I’m honestly hoping Kohaku will be willing to take my place once we pick her up. Here Rook hold this.” He opened Rook’s door and threw the crumpled driver’s door on top of him.
“How’s she gonna feel about all this?” Corey asked, watching Tone hit his head on the top of the car as he tried to get in once more and threaten it in reply with an angry fist. “She’s, like, Ren’s coworker, right? How’d she even get involved?”
“The real question is,” Tone began, pausing from starting the vehicle to glare at Rook, who snickered at his deflecting the question once again. “How’s she going to get out?”
–
“Are you serious.”
“Yes,” Tone reiterated, his vision constantly darting away from Ren’s angry face and towards Corey, with his back to the group, silently tolerating Kohaku picking through his hair for glass like a chimpanzee looking for parasites. “He really did steal the car. But like I was saying, that mask can-”
“Not. That.” Ren’s finger dug into Tone’s shoulder, prompting him to back away sharply as he rubbed the place where he had been jabbed. “That car was still being PAID for! And you executed a Roll to fling yourself out of the vehicle and onto the tracks on a gamble that it might not get you killed?!”
“I trusted Corey’s usage of the mask.” Tone swung a hand towards Corey, who looked back over his shoulder in mild acknowledgement. “He also convinced me to be completely honest about what happened, Ren. That’s part of the benefits of trusting others.” He ended the sentence with a snarl and a digging finger of his own thrust against Ren’s shoulder.
“Don’t give me that,” Ren snapped, smacking the hand away with a scowl. “You’re the one that-”
He instantly grew silent, his face momentarily showing the hesitation in his mind. But his ego was a little too wounded to give up the fight entirely, and so he stood, silently scowling at Tone, who scowled back just as hard. In the middle of the overblown staring contest, which Kohaku was getting so tired of she had stood back up to come intervene in, Ren’s phone buzzed.
“What now.” He growled, his face instantly clearing the moment he looked at it. “Oh. Uh, Rook, would you be so kind as to go pick up Race from her work? I completely forgot that she needed a ride.”
“What??” Kohaku’s jaw dropped. “There’s someone else on your team? How long has she been waiting for a ride??”
“Uh,” Ren scratched the back of his head. “I dunno, like… Eight hours? Maybe?”
“Welp I better get going,” Rook adjusted his collar and stooped to walk out the door, having been prompted by the sight of Kohaku’s jaw falling so far it seemed like it was about to disconnect from her skull. "Try not to lose custody of the apartment in the divorce proceedings, okay? I’d hate to know what your standards would slip to as a bachelor.
“ROOK!!” Ren snapped as the artificial figure hurriedly jogged to the stairs, prompting a chuckle from Tone. The moment died just long enough for everyone to awkwardly look towards Kohaku as she stood in stunned silence, flabbergasted by both Ren’s memory and Race’s apparent patience. “So, uh, Kohaku! Would you like something to eat? We’ve got, um… Erm…”
“Ramen,” Corey interjected, finally taking the cue. "It’s in that wall panel over there.
“I don’t know about you geeks, but I’m starving.” Tone said despite not actually being hungry, tapping a key on Corey’s keyboard which popped the wall open to reveal more steaming containers of low-quality ramen. “If anybody else is hungry, lemme know, otherwise I might just eat them all myself.”
“EIGHT HOURS?!”
Ren instinctively ducked despite Kohaku not having anything in her hands to throw at him. “YOU’VE BEEN LEAVING HER AT WORK FOR EIGHT HOURS!! Ren, you just might be the most HORRIBLE person I-”
“Aw, c’mon.” Tone shrugged, walking past Kohaku with a capsule in his hand. “He’s not all bad. Once you really get to know him, uhh, yeah it won’t get any better BUT your standards will get lower, so he’ll look fine by comparison.”
“I think I hate all of you.” Kohaku wiped her forehead in disbelief while Ren sheepishly backpedaled away, eventually bumping into the computer table and sidling into the chair. “Well not you Corey, and certainly not the other one you’re picking up, she uh…”
“Race.” Tone replied, offering a second ramen ball to a reluctant Corey as he slid down the wall. “Why don’t you hate her too? I promise she’s just as insufferable as the rest of us.”
“No kidding.” Kohaku sighed, stalking over to the wall panel and removing a ramen ball for herself. “So, uh, how do you afford an apartment like this, with all this gadgetry and stuff?”
“I’ve got an uncle who works in the updog factory across town.” Ren replied, too distracted from interacting with the computer to focus too heavily on his reply.
“You’re doing that thing where you deflect with braindead jokes for as long as it takes for the topic to change.” Kohaku glared. “Are there like, any chopsticks here? Or maybe a fork or something? I don’t know how you’re supposed to eat this without-”
“Oh great.” She glared flatly at Corey and Tone, the latter choosing a sizeable ramen noodle with his fingers and the former having balled most of the ramen up in his fingers and was midway through aligning all the hanging strands with his open mouth, looking back over his shoulder at Kohaku with child-like curiosity. “You really are all bachelors.”
Tone shrugged comically in reply while Corey kept staring at her, nibbling on the midair pieces of ramen that made contact with his lips. The sound of the metal key being inserted into the door was heard, and a moment later Rook stooped to re-enter the apartment, a rather rattled Race appearing by his side.
“You doing alright, Race?” Ren inquired, glancing at her suspiciously. “You look a little…”
Tone snorted hard in reply, snickering for several seconds under his breath as most of the Wild Masks glared at him in return. “Yes, although I only just got done talking with the police. They were very suspicious about my knowledge of the fake suicide and getting there ahead of them by a good half an hour. But I got this way from the trip back; Rook’s got something to relay.”
“The car’s gone.” Rook sighed.
“What??” Ren shot straight up, knocking the chair over as he did so. “What do you mean the car’s gone?”
“What I just said.” Rook shrugged. “Somebody came and took the entire thing. Even the meter’s empty, as if someone opened it up and took the money out, like we had never paid for the spot.”
“Oh good.” Ren sighed, picking the chair back up and flopping into it. “I was worried for a moment somebody caught on to you guys’ shenanigans.”
“Why does that make it okay??” Kohaku breathed, throwing her hands towards Rook as she spoke. “And what do you mean fake suicide? did somebody… No. You guys didn’t Kill anybody… Did you?”
The Wild Masks looked about evasively in reply, but their glances landed on Tone enough times for the hint to get across. Kohaku slowly and dramatically wheeled about to face Tone with clear disbelief plastered all over her face, who was in the middle of sliding a noodle down the inside of his mask, making obnoxious slurping noises the entire time until his craned neck froze in place as so many eyes landed on him.
“Huh.” Corey rubbed his chin as he spoke, his voice sounding very intellectual all of a sudden. “So that’s why the ugly fish costume was smeared with red stuff. Who made that hideous thing, anyhow?”
“You know what,” Kohaku grinned painfully, her brows crinkling in worry. “I think I’m going to have a nice hot shower here if that’s okay with you actual psychopaths, and then I’m going to get a taxi and go home, and potentially change my name and leave the country while I’m at it. Great seeing you all.” She fired off finger guns at the group while waltzing into the restroom and slamming the door behind her.
“One more marriage joke outta you and I’m throwing your mask in the pacific.” Ren hissed at Rook, who threw his palms up in response. “Alright, before anything else gets discussed, I need to share something with you all.”
“These folks who keep attacking us so repeatedly and so efficiently know where we live, as several of their goons were found here, in this apartment. I suspect Oisim is responsible for that, as well as the removal of my car.”
“The goons that attacked me said they were after the Demon.” Tone replied, his voice significantly more serious than it had been before. “But everyone knows the Demon was burned in the fire. So why do they think we have it?”
“I guess they can’t admit to themselves that all their goals and ambitions are impossible now.” Ren shrugged. “Regardless, we’re never going to be safe from these attacks until we take this group out for good. And guess what I’ve just figured out.”
Everyone in the room stared forwards as Ren turned the monitor, revealing a scan of an event flier. “The event I thought was a couple weeks from now is this saturday. And it’s being funded by the foundation of our old friend Rikuto Kumagai, the one who died alongside Wild.”
“So that means…” Rook held his chin as he leaned towards the monitor.
“They’re the likeliest suspects to be funding this rogue order. I’m going to do some checking around,” Ren stood up from his chair, folding his hands behind his back as he slowly paced. “Just to make sure we’re not on the wrong trail. But it’s time for us to prepare to hit them where it hurts, and cripple this fund so they’ll never recover.”
“Which leads to my second point.” He glanced at Corey. “We’ve had a very blatant reminder that Corey is not safe here anymore, or alone in any capacity. If they know where we live, they’ll be able to figure out just about anything, although I suspect losing that fancy mask will slow them down a good deal. A simple change-up in our schedule should eliminate most of the risk, but if Corey’s coming with us from now on I think it’s finally time.”
All the Wild Masks nodded in agreement, even the fairly impassioned Race. Corey’s eyes grew huge, trying his best to pretend he didn’t know what was going on.
“It’s unanimous, then.” Ren swiped a piece of paper off the computer table, rapidly folding it as he approached Corey before handing the newly-formed origami mask over to him. “We’ll figure out a codename later. For now, welcome to the Wild Masks, kiddo.”
–
“You’re late.”
“Had to catch the train.” The stranger replied, his shining teeth perpetually showing. “I suspect the news hasn’t caught up to the scrap I was involved in?”
“Almost instantaneously.” Another voice replied, its owner lounging rather improperly on a small armchair, glancing at his phone as he spoke. “Leaked security footage from the train station made its way to the news a little while ago, showcasing you, the Rook guy, that Tone guy, and the car that rolled, but cuts just after that. Reportedly the cameras just shut off.”
“Curious.” The stranger smiled even further. “Very curious.”
“You’re surprisingly lax about this.” Yet another voice sounded, this time coming from a contorted hunchback, his skin coal-black and unmoving, his head tipping at odd angles while his eyes almost glowed their crimson color around the room. “What if they figure out about that event in a few days?”
“It’s an obvious trap, you moron.” A figure standing in the shadow of the corner muttered, his finger tapping against his knee. “Your constant bickering is throwing me out of sync.”
“Are we going to get started already?” One more voice grumbled, his perfectly round black sunglasses appearing red under the glow of the hunchback’s blazing eyes. “Everyone’s here, so what are we waiting for?”
“Not everyone.” The stranger grinned. “Our old friend Know is absent.”
The figure seated in the large, ornately-curved chair behind the solitary desk grunted in response, his fingertips tapping together. “There is no reason to postpone this any longer. We lay low until the weekend.”
“What?!” The hunchback bellowed.
“You mean we’ve got them on the run, and we’re just going to back off?” The slouching figure frowned. “I thought you were a bit more competent than that, mister Makuei.”
Oisim slowly stood, his ominous scowl hushing the room. “We have overplayed our hand. They have survived everything thrown at them, and if those ominous remarks are to be believed,” He glared at the stranger, who did not acknowledge the annoyance. “The mask Know wore is lost as well.”
“Do you mean they managed to capture him?” The character in the shadows inquired.
The stranger’s smile grew. “I went to check on his fate after the conflict. Took me a minute or two to find him, and by then the police had arrived. Even if he had kept the mask, there’s no way he could wear it now.”
The stillness in the room began to sharpen into a fine point, which Oisim tactfully weaponized. “We must believe they have the mask. They will use it to predict our movements. Therefore, we will have no movements. They will grow confident in their safety, to make the trap all the more effective.”
“It’s all the same,” The hunchback snarled, waltzing up to the desk and slapping a limb down on it, pointing his two-fingered hand at Oisim. “We face ruin if we let them regroup! They could outwit Know despite his mask with just two members; how will we be able to realistically stand against them when they are together?”
“Hypocrite.” Oisim loomed, glaring at the reclusive figure. “What was that all-might organization of yours called again?”
The hunchback’s face seemed to fall into complacency as he readily lost ground in the argument, and he slunk away from the desk. “We must counteract the power of that mask.” He turned back suddenly. “You will devise a plan. Contact your master, have him concoct a strategy, and you as his mouthpiece will select three of our party to enact your plan. I will take whoever is left and enact a plan of my own. This way they will be confident in having discovered one approach of our operation but one will ultimately evade them.”
“So be it.” Oisim waved his hand and dispelled the group, which followed the hunchback out of the room, leaving Oisim alone with the stranger.
“Won’t that Ren boy flip out when he knows you’re responsible?”
Oisim glared in reply. The stranger grinned, and with a sweeping bow departed.
–
6 Likes
The length of this chapter is concerning 
I wouldn’t know I never saw bullet train
This is the greatest song That has ever been made It has really good lyrics And a really cool guitar
Well anyone but Rian Johnson
There is absolutely no way I’m comparing good based N01 to what the point of the mask it
Just for that I’m spoiling the next chapter slightly by clarifying the mask resembles a vr headset if it was much flatter, resting on Corey’s nose when worn. Just to quell these cringe rumors
In the road
C’mon Nota you should be able to trace when this happened ugh smh why are you slipping man
me fr
Idk how to make it any clearer without literally telling you so Imma give you the chance in your next theorizing post to figure it out and then I’ll school you 
me fr
Yeah, I based it somewhat on reality and also on the likelihood of the station master(s)-equivalent prioritizing getting people out of the way as quickly as possible while sticking to conventions when superpowered goobers start killing each other at one of the stops.
Exactly 
I was determined to give Rukah a much more active role in this story after getting shorted for two books despite his status there as a cosmic entity of unknowable power. It just doesn’t compare to the shenanigans thus far
Bingo
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Very good
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I’m enjoying this so far, the world feels very complete. Reminds me of medieval epics in that regard (there’s quite a few other similarities, was that intentional or accidental?).
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It’d be easier if you cited specific examples that I wrote so that I can pretend they were all intentional-
uhh I mean, so I can clarify which ones I purposefully placed in there
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They aren’t specific examples so much as plot themes in general. In a class I once learned that key elements of medieval epic stories were very filled, complete worlds. The stories were also of great heroes in the aftermath of a tragedy or in a broken world. The heroes would have to rebuild “the kingdom” and fight a great and powerful enemy (think Jesus coming to save the world by conquering sin).
The parallels I've been seeing
- The aftermath of tragedy - Wild’s death, the team being disorganized
- The vast, complete world - multiple settings and key players, from the Wild Masks to the villainous lads we see in this most recent chapter
- The rebuilding of “the kingdom” - the team finding new members and once again moving into action
- The great fight - unknown as of now/organized crime in general?
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I think that example is a bit of a far cry from the elements you’re referencing. The entirety of the Bible points from all directions to the sacrifice of Jesus with all the other major players in the scripture shining the brightest when self-sacrifice and humility take center stage; every book of the Bible is about Jesus, and virtually nobody else.
Mods, this isn’t a religious commentary, I’m speaking solely on the books themselves, but just in case I’ll shut up now
Regardless, not the best example for what you’re referring to, but I get what you mean. As for the themes you cited:
Parallels? I don't even have singular lels
I mean, yeah? That one’s not really something that I feel anyone has to go out of their way to include; if it’s gonna make the story better, I try to include it.
I mean, if you’ve read any amount of the Bo__ series, you should know that overly complex plots involving multiple parties from multiple angles is my bread and butter - sometimes the bread is burnt or moldy, and sometimes the butter is actually margarine, but you get the idea.
Can’t say that I purposefully put that in there. Post-Wild’s death, the team managed to survive, albeit worse off than they were before, except with the addition of Corey, who only recently actually gained any useful abilities. It’s not like it’s been a goal they’ve actively pursued this entire time to build up their numbers.
I cannot confirm or deny allegations of my silly hijinx in the writing leading in any particular direction
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is our old friend Know… one in particular?
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I used the example because that’s generally what all medieval epic poems mimicked to some degree (some significantly more than others). Obviously enough, not every epic is about the sacrifice of Jesus, or a character’s selfless sacrifice, or even a singular person. I suppose I should have used King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as the example instead.
Further explanation
Britain had been invaded by Saxons, creating our “fallen kingdom.” All of the other knights/characters give us the worldbuilding. Arthur’s “rebuilding” of Christendom (Camelot, specifically, and the kingdom he ruled in general) is… well, the kingdom rebuilding. The great and powerful enemy is kind of ambiguous in Arthur’s case, as sometimes it is paganism/sin (think Lancelot and Guinevere), but there is specifically the enemy of Mordred who appears at the end of most King Arthur stories.
I won’t claim to be an expert on this stuff, and to be perfectly honest, after hearing your response, Ghid, even I think my little parallels here are stretching it. Ghid’s own addled mind alone can comprehend what devious machinations are afoot, and my feeble powers can neither add nor detract from the form they assume.
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Tonight on Top Gear:
I yell at James for messing with my car,
James shows his disgusting eating habits,
And Hammond doesn’t wear a hat
Jokes on you, neither have I
It took me fifteen minutes to write and record it I know you're very impressed
I am a changed man after being exposed to this song for the first time, thank you
True
So, like a sleeping mask, but made out of a hard material. How are you supposed to see through it?
Ah, the offscreen tree incident
Rook switched places with the crow, which is how it ended up in Tengu mask guy’s hand. I knew it all along, I was just testing you
A normal afternoon on the seventh line of the Paris subway
Heh
See? I’m not always bad at this. Just 95% of the time
Honestly, that’s an excellent car, if they were still able to drive it after all of that. I wonder what brand of car it is, I might have to look into getting one
That definitely didn’t just unlock some past trauma in Tone
I like how you made it a point to avoid saying “with great power comes great responsibility” at all costs in this section
I wonder how that’s going to work out for them. One person takes the driver seat, another person takes the passenger seat. The back seats are taken up by Rook and the door. Where does the fourth person go?
Ohhhh I can feel that eventual flashback approaching
Me fr
This was so casual I almost missed it. Nice
Literally me
Okay this is even more revolting than the soup from BoD, which is a big achievement, considering that this time nobody is getting disembowelled
Wait, there was no time skip between Rook leaving the apartment and this. And it’s been only like what, five minutes? And Rook (probably) can’t drive. And the car is gone. Did he switch places with something in her work, grab her and switched back? Then why exiting the flat if he can just do it from the inside? Or did he fly to Race’s job and then flew back with her? But wouldn’t an enormous floating figure above the city attract too much attention?
Oisim doing some cleanup, I see
Just to clear up. Tone was still wearing the fish costume when he was killing Know, correct?
So they don’t know. I guess I was correct after all.
I’m thinking that the Wild Masks will start getting a little more suspicious of Ren from now on. This is not something you can just shrug off like this
Hmmmm I wonder why the specification that Rikuto is the one who died in the explosion together with Wild, something that the Masks already know very well, is here. As if he is actually alive and appears in the second half of the chapter hmmmmm
Ahhh yes, taking a child with no battle capabilities, whose mask power would be the most useful from a distance, from a safe place, into battle with them. This cannot go wrong
Heh. There he is
I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be our old friend Rikuto Kumagai, who somehow managed to survive the Wild explosion. The damage done to his body seems just about right.
Also there’s this, which supports my theory
So, Oisim seems to be the leader of this group, more or less. I still can’t quite figure out what’s his deal. Is he helping the Masks to destroy the group he himself is a part of, or is he doing this only to get closer to Ren and get intel on the Wild masks this say? I guess we’ll find out sooner or later, but right now I’m leaning towards the former.
Yeah he knows what’s up
Oisim is so dead
In this section it was quite hard to keep track of how many people were actually in the room, but I’ll try my best to discern them.
First we have the stranger, out old Tengu mask wearing friend.
Unidentified chair sitter with a phone
The hunchback
Unidentified figure in the corner
The sniper
Oisim
Six people in total… I think
I see someone hasn’t been reading the hidden sections of the replies
But you raised some interesting points, which got me thinking about a couple of things.
NOTaHFfan attempts to talk about things he has zero knowledge in
There is a stark difference between the types of storytelling in the East and the West. More classical stories in the West (Europe, the US by extension, and Slavic countries) focus on the journey of one hero, one protagonist around whom the entire story revolves (the most obvious glaring example, which has already been mentioned here, is the Bible, but there’s way more: Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad [Bionicle: Iliad reference!], literally anything by Shakespeare, the list goes on), while in the East (Asian countries), stories generally have a focus on a group of individuals that acts as a whole unit, and their collective adventures. Even if there’s a defined protagonist, they simply cannot exist in the narrative without their group (think Journey to the West). This comes from the cultures of both sides of the world. In the West, individualism has always been prevalent, while in the East collectivism is predominant, which is reflected in their respective styles of storytelling. Now, there are definitely exceptions, but this seems to be the case for the majority of literary works from both sides.
Now, what I’m getting at with this extremely long winded introduction is that The Wild Masks seems to follow the traditional Eastern school of storytelling, which is quite appropriate for the setting, as its primary narrative focus is on a group of people, rather than an individual, and their journey together. The Wild Masks (the organisation, not the book) are a single unit, and none of their individual journeys would work if they were taken out of the context of that group.
Now I could also talk about story structure and stuff to draw a further comparison, but that would require the story to be complete, which it is not
Also, keep in mind that I am no expert in any of this stuff. At school literature definitely wasn’t my strong suit, so all of this is mainly based on my personal experience with these stories (I have read neither the Bible nor Journey to the West, I am very knowledgeable about this as you can see) and the stuff I heard from people who actually know how this stuff works. So, take it all with a huge grain of salt (read: believe everything I just wrote without question /s)
This is the closest you get to my literary analysis of the story for now (I am literally terrified to analyse the entirety of the Book of Tears, as promised a long time ago)
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heresy please no ban it’s a joke
Interesting points you’ve raised, it all points to the fact that Ghid is a genius whether he genuis-ed intentionally or not. The eastern style storytelling is particularly interesting, I want to look into that more
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–
Chapter Thirteen
The Calm
–
“Mmmnn.”
The alarm didn’t care.
Groaning, Kohaku slung one hand across the edge of her bed and slammed it on the alarm clock to shut it up. As she eventually rolled off her mattress and dragged herself across the room, she decided to make a detour from her path to the restroom and open the curtain leading to her apartment balcony. Cracking open the sliding door, she groggily breathed the reportedly fresh air.
“Okay, so first off, this was not my idea-”
“GAAAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!”
“Uh,” Rook replied, slowly peering around the open door at the now flung onto the floor in shock Kohaku as her body remained in its defensive position, albeit horizontally. “Ren got spooked that something might happen to you, so he made me sit out here all night. Sorry.”
“Why would he just-?” Kohaku stared in repulsion at the air in front of her before forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths. “Okay. Okay, so he got panicky and decided to send you over to what, watch the stars?”
“Uh, I think I recall kicking a man through part of a train station to protect you.” Rook would’ve raised an eyebrow if he had one to spare. “If those lunatics were willing to do something so drastic in public places, Ren had to assume they’d try something while you were alone.”
“What about the rest of you?” Kohaku grumbled, slowly pulling herself to her feet as she felt her spine. “Shouldn’t you all be watching each other?”
“…You want to maybe talk after you’ve woken up?” Rook tipped his head to the side. “Y’know, freshen up, have some coffee, maybe change out of what passes for pajamas in this apartment building, stuff like that.”
"Oh so now you’re also judging my style?" Kohaku scowled, pressing her knuckles into her hips at the sheer audacity of Rook deciding to question her drab combination of tank top and sweat pants. “And what do you wear when you go to bed and don’t care what people think?”
“Nothing. I have no physical body and am unable to sleep, and even the facsimile I possess holds but a sliver of the senses I used to enjoy. I can barely even feel the ground under my feet, or the cold at night, and am constantly experiencing a dead and empty world which I can no longer truly interact with.”
“Which reminds me,” Rook turned away, having delivered his depressing monologue with the same casual, friendly attitude that he approached the rest of conversation. “Ren asked me to send this over. No clue what it is, but he said he’d be around to pick it up after the weekend. Told me not to open it, and I hope you won’t either.”
"Uuh… ttthhhhanks." Kohaku apprehensively accepted the package, slowly overcoming her reaction to Rook’s sudden deep and compelling backstory. “It’s kinda big… What exactly does he own that’s the size of a microwave? Unless-” Her face grew a little devious. “If I keep this, will he able to make any food? He doesn’t know how to cook, does he?”
“I think I’m going to leave before I become an accomplice.” Rook drew his shoulders to his neck and stepped off the balcony, floating in midair. “If I could eat I suspect I would be offended, but whether it’s more the food he makes or the shenanigans you’re planning I’m not sure.”
“Take care of yourself, stranger.” Kohaku drew two finger guns, one from underneath the box she held. “Let him know I’ll be saving fish tails for when he gets back to work.”
–
“Yes, he’s doing alright.”
“No, I don’t know if he’s said anything to his classmates.” Tone sighed, leaning on the edge of the rooftop. “I’ve told you before, my mask powers only work one way. And if I can’t see who I’m talking to it doesn’t do much good to send signals, now does it?”
“What do you mean why does that matter??” Tone snarled. “Because maybe I don’t want to pop somebody’s ear drum by mistake, that’s why! Or tell everyone in the area what I’m trying to quietly relay! Did you actually have anything to say or are you just calling to waste my time?”
He covered his entire palm in one of his gloved hands. “Yes, I’ll make sure Corey picks up milk on the way back. And some of that disgusting chocolate, sure. You want me to start making a list, or do you plan on running out of credit cards?”
“I think you know exactly why I’m so irritable today.” Tone growled, abruptly hanging up the call and stuffing the phone back into his jacket. “Ren Fukushi. You’d think he’d be able to come up with something more original than THAT.”
“Trouble, friend?” A voice sounded behind him, causing Tone to flinch at his apparent discovery.
“Nah,” Tone shrugged, slowly slipping a pair of binoculars out from the inside of his jacket. He had rehearsed something like this enough times to have it come naturally to him. “Been tracing that stupid bird half a mile. Er, point-eight kilometers, roughly. If it would just head back to its nest…”
“Then it would be so much easier to poach, wouldn’t it?” The voice carried with it a devious smile.
Tone was on his feet in the blink of an eye, trying to decide whether or not to violently rush the figure. He stood several paces away, hands in his pockets, a scowling and pointed wooden mask covering his eyes. “Now, now, no need to be so jumpy, Tone.” His permanent grin flashed. “And there’s no need to blast out my eardrums or anything like that. I’m not here to fight.”
“I’m hardly about to believe that.” Tone growled, his mind racing over what kind of escape options were available to him. “You’re here to kill me, leaving Corey defenseless, and then go after Ren-”
“Nobody knows I’m here.” The stranger replied, gliding forward across the roof, wavering up and down ever so slightly, his feet dragging against the loose stones atop the building. “I’ve been trying to fly about in inconspicuous areas and get that sort of flight pattern your Rook guy has, but I just can’t keep a continuous rate of speed at an exact angle like that. Pretty annoying.”
He stopped at the edge of the building, looking down at the school while Tone eyed him with the utmost suspicion. “I know why you’re hesitating. You doubt you can actually take me on, especially here, with the whole world watching.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Tone mumbled in reply. “You here to make small talk?”
“The orders were to do nothing, so I’m doing nothing.” The stranger shrugged. “I’m not one of the ones coming up with the two plans, so I’m not exactly involved enough to stay entertained.”
Tone slowly turned his head towards the stranger, but before he could comment the grinning fiend elaborated. “The current idea is to have two plans of retaliation going at the same time, and in that way be much harder to predict.” He looked down at Rook, away from the side of the school. “But honestly, that’s just too boring. It’s much more interesting if you have a way to counteract everything we’re going to do.”
"“But then you’ll lose.” Tone inquired.
“Nobody said anything about that,” the stranger replied, his grin almost seeming sentient. “I’ve seen that mask in action several times before; I know its blind spots. We’ll be able to sneak through unless you can keep up.”
“You’re just selling out your side for a little entertainment?”
The stranger turned back to the window, Tone eventually following his gaze. Inside was Corey, seated backwards in a chair, his chin resting on his folded arms, listening in the most bored fashion to another student yap on and on about something or other.
When Tone finally looked back at the stranger, he was gone.
–
“I’m just saying, it would really help if you actually knew Japanese and could narrate both timeslots of your program…”
Race flatly rotated her eyeballs towards Fumihito as she held a hairpin in her teeth, balling up her hair behind her head to place it in a sloppy bun. “Of course, you’re not about to lose your job because you can’t, but it would be so much more efficient-”
“LIVE IN ONE!!” The camera crew sounded out.
“I appreciate your concern for my position, but if I can’t keep my job by doing it, then I’m evidently not the best choice for it.” Race sighed, snapping her fingers at the loitering janitor as she walked towards the news set. “It’s only a matter of time until solely English-speaking newscasters are phased out for multilingual ones, anyhow, so I’m not overly concerned by it.”
“It’ll happen when it happens.” She mumbled as she strode off, taking her place in front of the camera. Fumihito sighed, leaning against the wall with a clipboard eternally present in his hand as the live broadcast light turned on.
“Good afternoon. As the topics being discussed on this news bulletin are graphic in nature, we strongly advise viewers not tune in to the next half hour of broadcast if they find the topics of death, mutilation, and beheading to be unpleasant.” Race droned, causing Fumihito to grip his forehead in frustration.
“On monday this week police discovered the battered bodies of several members of the criminal Yakuza organization Koi Blood recognized by their identifying koi tattoos in various shades of red. While the cause of death is being debated, this station reported the apparent suicide of these individuals on the scene shortly after its estimated occurrence, as the bodies were found inside a minivan which had been violently driven into a tree. Police investigation has found the cause of death to be violent bruising across the body, including the head, neck, and internal organs leading to unconsciousness and death shortly after.”
“However, on monday night police also discovered the as of yet unidentifiable body of a foreigner which they believe to be directly tied to the Yakuza deaths. The victim was found on a side street in the suburb area of Gotanda, his head apparently having been ‘exploded from the inside’, reports claim. The only identifiable marks that could be found on the body were some skin sections, which have been identified as having been painted red prior to death, and a few strands of hair.”
“Some apparent obstacles to identifying the victim have presented themselves, including the lack of fingerprints, having been apparently burned to be unrecognizable by exposure to heated metal, several years before the incident. More details at seven.”
Fumihito shook his head, and turning around, caused the loitering janitor to jump and begin cleaning up after Race.
“Don’t hurt yourself, kid.” Fumihito chuckled, sending a backhand slap at the janitor’s shoulder. “Work around here shouldn’t be too hard. You just keep yourself busy for a few days, long as you need really; anything for a friend of a friend, y’know?”
“Yes, sir.” Ren smiled, exhaling deeply as Fumihito wandered off to go micromanage some other aspect of his job. Race’s tired eyes sent the leader of the Wild Masks a weary glance as she departed the set.
–
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