Forest of Horrors

Villain I'm Not

Synopsis: A reimagined storyline where Takatora agrees to help Ryouma find the golden fruit. Will his ideals still clash with Ryouma's or will the two cooperate and achieve what he desires?

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Takatora was just fresh out of school when he had been given the task of handling part of Yggdrasil from his father. He learned the horrors of what was slowly happening to their world and realized why he was made to learn a lot of things he found useless before.

However, there was one thing he had never learned. Science had never been one of Takatora's strong suits as hard as he had tried. If he was to take over trying to protect this world from that forest, he needed to find someone who actually could analyze things.

That was when he had stumbled upon Ryouma. The young scientist was quite well-known in the company due to his ingenious ideas and creations. Takatora decided to check him out. If he was as good as the rumors said, this might just be the right person for the job.

Takatora had let himself in to Ryouma's lab—a privilege of being the one in charge. He opted to look over some of the things that Ryouma had been documenting. He certainly kept himself busy with running so many tests and studies. It was amazing.

He had gotten caught, of course. Ryouma seemed quite mad about the intrusion until he learned just who he was talking to. Then his demeanor changed. Takatora thought it similar to interest.

"Your research is amazing." Takatora said, "I was hoping you might want to work with me. We could save humanity with your ideas."

Ryouma had pondered his request for quite some time, before finally agreeing to help him. Takatora smiled and welcomed him. He had someone who was very capable. Maybe saving humanity wasn't as hard to do as he thought?

...

Takatora took special interest in Ryouma from that point onward. He dropped by constantly to check on the scientist and see what he was up to. The driver he was making was intriguing and Takatora was looking forward to seeing it come to life. Ryouma didn't seem to mind his company either.

But beyond that, he definitely started getting a bit too close to Ryouma. Takatora didn't know what it was, but there was something about the man that drew him in. Takatora didn't even realize what was happening until he was in way too deep to get out.

Ryouma was all but too welcoming of the closeness, which didn't help the situation. Takatora found himself getting his buttons pushed constantly by the scientist—and incidentally found himself coming to not even mind the prodding.

Neither ever mentioned their relationship or what to consider it. They just enjoyed the other's company. Away from prying eyes, they didn't care what they did.

It was only after Ryouma had decided one day to pull him into a kiss that Takatora began to realize just what their relationship was becoming. And realized he was completely head-over-heals for a certain scientist. Ryouma had no qualms with their secret relationship, often going and sneaking a kiss or grabbing his hand when no one was looking.

Takatora knew this was bad. He shouldn't be getting into a relationship with a co-worker. Especially the one he was completely dependent on to do what he needed. But, he was unable to find it in him to push Ryouma away. As long as they could keep things professional at work, everything would be alright.

...

One billion... That was all they could save...

When Ryouma had first told him the extent of what he could get mass-produced of the sengoku drivers, Takatora had to take a minute. That wasn't enough. They had to save more.