Gambit - Night Stalker Chapter 16
Apr. 17th, 2025 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivalriesSeason: Winter
---
Location: Gambit Stage
Ritsu: That's right. At first, it was just a little gesture of goodwill from Tsukipi~.
Well, it was more like an act of atonement born from guilt.
But then a few rogues showed up looking to use those weapons for evil.
Tsukasa: You mean the Kuroki brothers.
Ritsu: Yeah. I left a summary in "The Black Fragments", so I think even an idiot could get it by now.
The younger of the Kuroki brothers, AKA The Slumbering Black Prince with the Derisive Smirk, Jr.—
Arashi: Don't shove your dark history onto people like that, come on.
Ritsu: —Ohji Kuroki couldn't forget how Knights had ruined his brother.
But Ohji wasn't the only one who despised Knights.
It's the truth that we Knights were the ones who destroyed the once-majestic Chess beyond all hope of rebuilding.
Izumi: "We Knights"... You don't have to blame yourselves for that so much, Kuma-kun, Naru-kun.
We just dragged you in and forced you to play along against your wills.
Ritsu: If I really hated it so much, I would've ducked out at a much earlier stage.
We stuck around because it was a comfy place to be.
Isn't that right, Nacchan? Cats always know the comfiest places to sleep.
Arashi: That's right. Most of the time it's all Izumi-chan's fault, but for this, at least, he can share the blame.
All of us knew what we were getting into. We knew we were bloodying our hands in a meaningless war, a pointless conflict.
The only exception is a certain plucky little boy who came along after it was all over.
Tsukasa: I sound just like some naughty little rascal! I object to this description.
Ritsu: Yeah, but unfortunately, you can't claim noninvolvement this time, Su~chan.
That's why you keep getting poked and prodded and tormented. Poor thing.
Tsukasa: I've no need for your sympathy. Indeed, I am perfectly aware of my position.
We, for our own selfish reasons, cut off an entire new generation's hopes for the future.
We essentially told them they were unneeded.
It is only natural they should feel resentment toward us.
Ritsu: Exactly. Some of the newbies we cut off from Knights also drifted abroad... and got absorbed into King Slayer.
We got their hopes up only to betray them, so of course some of them now resent the group that had discarded them.
I mean... nobody wants to be treated like they don't matter.
In the shadows of our glory—the glory of the greatest, most perfect, five-member Knights—hide those who weep, never to join our ranks.
And so they gathered together to scream out the cursed song that is King Slayer.
Remnants of Chess, the Kuroki brothers, the newbies cut away from Knights...
The poor wretches who hold hatred for Knights have now formed King Slayer as an instrument for revenge.
And still, there were people who loved King Slayer.
Those adoring fans got wrapped up in this whole mess, and things developed until everyone wanted to "make those haughty Knights pay".
And now here we are, standing face-to-face with a guillotine.
Arashi: Right... Even though those people in Chess didn't care that much, they were still idols. Our newbies were all very green, but they really gave it their all.
I'm certain they all had fans who loved and supported them.
And it's because of this love that hatred took root. All those conspiracy theories, all that slander... They were born from twisted love.
I mean, look... if they were just amusing themselves with being cruel, they wouldn't have kept attacking us for so long and so persistently.
Their own ideas of love and justice were what fueled their relentless assault.
Leo: Love blinds you to faults, they say. Their love made all the little flaws invisible to them. The truth stopped being the truth.
Even the fact that Knights is the original and King Slayer is just a cheap copy just stopped being a fact for them.
People often hold love in high esteem, but it's actually a pretty scary and dangerous emotion.
Arashi: Really sounds convincing coming from you, Leo-kun.
Ritsu: Yup, yup. You're completely accepting of this ball of faults here, after all.
Izumi: He's talking shit about you, Kasa-kun.
Tsukasa: Ah, I see. So because Sena-senpai loves himself, he is blind to his own faults. I understand.
In any case, I now understand the basic outline of the situation. Of course, I had my own suspicions, but this has done well to reinforce them.
For the sake of our own aims, we Knights elected to invite hatred toward us.
The Kuroki brothers, who hated us the most, used this as a deadly weapon with which to maim us.
That leads us to our current situation.
Arashi: But still... Ohji-chan aside, I didn't sense any of those awful emotions from Ryuji-san.
Was I also just blind to them? Am I looking at Ryuji-san with too much good faith just because I sympathize with him?
By validating someone in a similar position, you can indirectly validate yourself... Was this all just some shameless self-consolation on my part?
Leo: ...It's about a mouse.
Arashi: A-A what? Mouse? What're you talking about?
Leo: He had a mouse... as a friend.
I had a proper talk with everybody in King Slayer, so I'd say I have a good understanding of the Kuroki brothers by now.
I asked Mama to look into them, too, and he passed some info to me about their upbringing.
Apparently the elder of the Kuroki brothers—that Ryuji guy or something—used to be pretty similar to me.
Ritsu: Yup. That's why I thought Tsukipi~ wrote the diary-like pages that make up "The Black Fragments" at first.
Leo: We don't look anything alike on the outside, though. I'm seriously jealous of how tall he is.
But he was just like me on the inside, apparently—God gifted him great genius, a burden bigger than a normal boy can carry.
Because of that burden, he didn't mesh well with people, and was always alone.
The only one who was able to fill the hole in his heart was a mouse he'd come across at school.
He wasn't able to get along with others at school and in Chess, so he always sat there, alone. Talking to the mouse.
He would sing and dance with that tiny mouse as his audience, quietly doing his idol training.
Ritsu: Right... He mentioned he made a friend in the diary, too. There were parts missing here and there, but still... That friend wasn't even human, huh?
Leo: Yup. Even so, that friend was really important to him. It was his only friend in the entire world.
But one day, that little mouse was devoured by a cat.
---
< Night Stalker Chapter 15 || Masterlist || Night Stalker Chapter 17 >
---
Location: Gambit Stage
Ritsu: That's right. At first, it was just a little gesture of goodwill from Tsukipi~.
Well, it was more like an act of atonement born from guilt.
But then a few rogues showed up looking to use those weapons for evil.
Tsukasa: You mean the Kuroki brothers.
Ritsu: Yeah. I left a summary in "The Black Fragments", so I think even an idiot could get it by now.
The younger of the Kuroki brothers, AKA The Slumbering Black Prince with the Derisive Smirk, Jr.—
Arashi: Don't shove your dark history onto people like that, come on.
Ritsu: —Ohji Kuroki couldn't forget how Knights had ruined his brother.
But Ohji wasn't the only one who despised Knights.
It's the truth that we Knights were the ones who destroyed the once-majestic Chess beyond all hope of rebuilding.
Izumi: "We Knights"... You don't have to blame yourselves for that so much, Kuma-kun, Naru-kun.
We just dragged you in and forced you to play along against your wills.
Ritsu: If I really hated it so much, I would've ducked out at a much earlier stage.
We stuck around because it was a comfy place to be.
Isn't that right, Nacchan? Cats always know the comfiest places to sleep.
Arashi: That's right. Most of the time it's all Izumi-chan's fault, but for this, at least, he can share the blame.
All of us knew what we were getting into. We knew we were bloodying our hands in a meaningless war, a pointless conflict.
The only exception is a certain plucky little boy who came along after it was all over.
Tsukasa: I sound just like some naughty little rascal! I object to this description.
Ritsu: Yeah, but unfortunately, you can't claim noninvolvement this time, Su~chan.
That's why you keep getting poked and prodded and tormented. Poor thing.
Tsukasa: I've no need for your sympathy. Indeed, I am perfectly aware of my position.
We, for our own selfish reasons, cut off an entire new generation's hopes for the future.
We essentially told them they were unneeded.
It is only natural they should feel resentment toward us.
Ritsu: Exactly. Some of the newbies we cut off from Knights also drifted abroad... and got absorbed into King Slayer.
We got their hopes up only to betray them, so of course some of them now resent the group that had discarded them.
I mean... nobody wants to be treated like they don't matter.
In the shadows of our glory—the glory of the greatest, most perfect, five-member Knights—hide those who weep, never to join our ranks.
And so they gathered together to scream out the cursed song that is King Slayer.
Remnants of Chess, the Kuroki brothers, the newbies cut away from Knights...
The poor wretches who hold hatred for Knights have now formed King Slayer as an instrument for revenge.
And still, there were people who loved King Slayer.
Those adoring fans got wrapped up in this whole mess, and things developed until everyone wanted to "make those haughty Knights pay".
And now here we are, standing face-to-face with a guillotine.
Arashi: Right... Even though those people in Chess didn't care that much, they were still idols. Our newbies were all very green, but they really gave it their all.
I'm certain they all had fans who loved and supported them.
And it's because of this love that hatred took root. All those conspiracy theories, all that slander... They were born from twisted love.
I mean, look... if they were just amusing themselves with being cruel, they wouldn't have kept attacking us for so long and so persistently.
Their own ideas of love and justice were what fueled their relentless assault.
Leo: Love blinds you to faults, they say. Their love made all the little flaws invisible to them. The truth stopped being the truth.
Even the fact that Knights is the original and King Slayer is just a cheap copy just stopped being a fact for them.
People often hold love in high esteem, but it's actually a pretty scary and dangerous emotion.
Arashi: Really sounds convincing coming from you, Leo-kun.
Ritsu: Yup, yup. You're completely accepting of this ball of faults here, after all.
Izumi: He's talking shit about you, Kasa-kun.
Tsukasa: Ah, I see. So because Sena-senpai loves himself, he is blind to his own faults. I understand.
In any case, I now understand the basic outline of the situation. Of course, I had my own suspicions, but this has done well to reinforce them.
For the sake of our own aims, we Knights elected to invite hatred toward us.
The Kuroki brothers, who hated us the most, used this as a deadly weapon with which to maim us.
That leads us to our current situation.
Arashi: But still... Ohji-chan aside, I didn't sense any of those awful emotions from Ryuji-san.
Was I also just blind to them? Am I looking at Ryuji-san with too much good faith just because I sympathize with him?
By validating someone in a similar position, you can indirectly validate yourself... Was this all just some shameless self-consolation on my part?
Leo: ...It's about a mouse.
Arashi: A-A what? Mouse? What're you talking about?
Leo: He had a mouse... as a friend.
I had a proper talk with everybody in King Slayer, so I'd say I have a good understanding of the Kuroki brothers by now.
I asked Mama to look into them, too, and he passed some info to me about their upbringing.
Apparently the elder of the Kuroki brothers—that Ryuji guy or something—used to be pretty similar to me.
Ritsu: Yup. That's why I thought Tsukipi~ wrote the diary-like pages that make up "The Black Fragments" at first.
Leo: We don't look anything alike on the outside, though. I'm seriously jealous of how tall he is.
But he was just like me on the inside, apparently—God gifted him great genius, a burden bigger than a normal boy can carry.
Because of that burden, he didn't mesh well with people, and was always alone.
The only one who was able to fill the hole in his heart was a mouse he'd come across at school.
He wasn't able to get along with others at school and in Chess, so he always sat there, alone. Talking to the mouse.
He would sing and dance with that tiny mouse as his audience, quietly doing his idol training.
Ritsu: Right... He mentioned he made a friend in the diary, too. There were parts missing here and there, but still... That friend wasn't even human, huh?
Leo: Yup. Even so, that friend was really important to him. It was his only friend in the entire world.
But one day, that little mouse was devoured by a cat.
---
< Night Stalker Chapter 15 || Masterlist || Night Stalker Chapter 17 >
