Shibuya Snapshots

Backstage

Ahh Susukichi. He was both hard and fun to write.

While Susukichi loves to take center stage, he knows that sometimes, you need to work from the grey of the backstage.

-xXx-

He isn't one for making loud moves. He likes to take center stage. It's suited for him. Just like how folks like Ayano, Hishima, or Kaie are more centered for backstage work. He keeps his available moves as open as possible. But not so open that he'll be easily predicted. Thinking a few steps ahead is how you get ahead. It's that simple.

Loud moves mean staying on the offensive, something he knows how to do well. Staying on the defensive was quieter, but in a loud sort of way. You can have offense without defense. And you can't have volume without silence. It's like yin and yang. Black and white. Good and evil. They balance each other out.

So when people start being sneaky, trying to lure him into a not-so-obvious trap? Leads him right into the grey? He gets angry.

The grey zone was complex and he couldn't easily sort through it all, so he prefers black and white. The simpler everything is the better. And you can flip between the two. So if he catches any planning, any really quiet moves, then he breaks the board into two and tears the plan apart. Maybe even an arm or leg, too.

The Shinjuku Reapers are all real decent. Some nice and shiny discs. He's good at figuring out who's who. And he knows a poison one when he sees it.

So he recognizes Kubo for what he is at a glance. A real, honest to god frontier poison ivy, getting his victims entangled into his plans.

Fortunately, only two get stuck and dragged into the grey. Unfortunately, that also means the possibility of them flipping back is low. And he can't bring himself to break that board.

Shiba got all caught up in it, and now he's poison too. Intent on taking down the city with him. Tsugumi's a different matter. It's like she was being flipped, but then she broke before she could fully flip to black. She's stuck in the grey and Susukichi knows that her mind desperately wants to flip back to white.

But the ivy's got her, so there's nothing he can do other than cut the ivy. Except Shiba's acting as the master even while pinned to the grey. So far gone that he thinks he's all of it, not even paying attention to how he got there in the first place.

Susukichi tries to talk some sense into him, but he can easily see that their conversation goes nowhere. And talking to Tsugumi anymore is pointless since she hardly says a word.

Thankfully, Shoka decided to flip to white permanently and escaped the ivy's ever-present grasp, but that causes Ayano to try and talk her into flipping back. Then Shiba gets Ayano dragged into the vines, too. Literally, if Ayano's Noise form says anything about it. But as strong as Ayano is, she's been weathered down far too much.

Sudden Death has gone on for long enough.

And Susukichi understands that sometimes, some pieces are meant to be broken. And he's the only one strong enough to do it. So he pretends to be working with the right side and follows Shiba's orders.

But really, he's rapidly flipping between black and white, just quiet enough that no one notices. Besides maybe Kaie and Hishima, but they won't say a word. They've grown tired of it too and are ready to flip to white.

The Shibuya discs don't deserve this either. What right does Shiba have, deciding to make calls like that? Deciding that this nice city with nice Reapers who let them stay had to go. And how Shiba asserted dominance over the rest... those are times filtered in grey.

Neku's actually returned this time, so he's relying on his strength in case the board breaks. And Susukichi can see the cracks already.

So he challenges them to the game, his disc appearing black to their white when really, they're all on the same side. He thinks that Shoka is catching on, but can't bring himself to put them in danger with his plan.

He's going to break the board that Kubo set and swap in his own.

So he takes the selfie inside the river, then makes a break for it. He needs them in there alone. The river is stable. An unbreakable board. If it remained after a connected board broke, it will stay even after Shibuya's board breaks.

So he watches as they proceed through the river and go just far enough that he can put the wall back up without them realizing. He leaves them there. He has a poison disc to flip.

While Susukichi loves to take center stage, he knows that sometimes, you need to work from the grey of the backstage.

-xXx-

I find Susukichi really interesting since he's personality type would typically give him the dumb comic relief trope, but he's not and I'm really happy about that. I hope I did him justice.