Arriving On The Scene

by Jen425

Summary:

A woman in pink makes a home in the base like she belongs there.

A friendly agent joins.

As they dance around Chasshiro, around Taiya, around a growing team, Boondorio watches.

(He doesn’t know what is going on, but he’s sure he doesn’t deserve it.)

Notes:

I have been working on this fic for… oh holy shit, since February. I hope you enjoy Boondorio’s confusing time.

As per usual, gore and abuse warnings are primarily for pre-time travel, and for after Spinder shows up near the end.

Mira actually genuinely wasn’t supposed to feature so prominently here, I just have diseases.

Chapter 1: Just Keep Moving On

For Boondorio it started like this:

 

Taiya died and he stays alive long enough to fall apart and never wake up.

 

More pain more pain more pain.

 

It starts with Mira in Spinder’s grip and an ache and—

 

A hand in his.

 

“Shirabe?”

 

“You don’t have to watch, Boon-Sama.” Shirabe says.

 

“No, I do,” Boondorio says. “It’s my fault.”

 

A helpless Mira giggles as she dances with Spinder, and he slips the ring from her finger and they fight instead, but he beats her down down down and they go back to dancing.

 

“This is a dance I never have to end,” Spinder says. “Ah, what a perfect toy you are.”

 

Boondorio has never hated someone like Spinder, and he thought he’d never hate him more than the day he died, running to save Taiya from being a pawn.

 

Mira proved differently.

 

“I should have done this with my dear Boon-Noji, or his new partner, but you’re just as thrilling.”

 

Boondorio clenches his fist so hard he hears metal creeking. Pressure - Shirabe is squeezing back. She’s strong.

 

“Do you know this dance?” Shirabe asks. She looks at him softly like her body isn’t covered in bullet holes that bleed in black and white, and Bundorio doesn’t drops sand as he moves.

 

“I do,” Boondorio says. “He taught it to me. I used to like it.”

 

After the accident, he lost his license, but it also took him a very long time to get his body moving right again. Spinder helped with new supplies, but the dance helped him practice.

 

Spinder wasn’t a good partner, looking back. He was controlling and manipulative. He was cold to the touch and didn’t listen to… traffic signs.

 

But he was hope and freedom to a broken man. That was why Boondorio only turned him in. Sometimes he wishes…

 

“Teach me,” Shirabe says. Boondorio turns to her in shock.

 

“What?”

 

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Shirabe says. “And you can teach me this dance, your way. If you want to.”

 

Boondorio isn’t stupid. He has realized she likes him, by now. He just doesn’t know how to take her hand, so he can’t quite believe it.

 

He left Byoon Diesel without a word.

 

Spinder was…

 

He takes her hand.

They dance dripping sand and black-and-white blood. Byoon Diesel left with a request to trust, so Boondorio dances. Shirabe is strong, switches from lead to follow with an ease that he supposed makes sense on a special agent.

 

“It hurts,” he says. “Watching.”

 

“I know,” Shirabe says. “Trust me, I know. And I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m sorry too,” Boondorio says. “About what happened to your friend.”

 

Shirabe takes a shaking breath.

 

“I stopped believing he had a plan, after you died,” she says. “Much less imagining she was in on it… I was…”

 

“Trusted,” Boondorio offers. Shirabe nods.

 

“Why was I a key for the team to win?”

 

Boondorio laughs.

 

“Shirabe, didn’t you say you were one of us?”

 

“…I guess so.”

Saying goodbye to Byoon Diesel was hard. Watching him spiral was harder.

 

“Sakito’s already gone on?” Byoon Diesel asked “then I’m following him.”

 

“Of course!” Boondorio exclaimed. It’s the same reason he is staying. For Taiya. Some things are more important than what they had, what they almost had again. “…I’ll miss you.”

 

“You’ll join me in the races when you’re ready,” Byoon Diesel said. “I just… I’m sorry. I want you to know you could have leaned on us more. Sooner. Might’ve helped.”

 

“…I know,” Boondorio replied. “I’m sorry.”

When it gets too hard to watch, Boondorio and Shirabe dance. It becomes habit.

 

A break, a breath.

 

“There’s no real way to kiss you,” Shirabe says. “Is there something like that, for you?”

 

“Ah…” Boondorio says. “Not really? Some kinds of maintenance you only do with family or… or partners. I guess that’s the closest?”

 

“And you don’t really need that anymore,” Shirabe says. Because they’re dead. Because it’s over. Because…

“This is why I couldn’t do the race without you,” Taiya says. “Look.”

 

And Boondorio looks.

 

Mira and her empty eyes and Chasshiro and his empty frame and the way they dance - they do not touch.

 

It hurts hurts hurts.

 

But it hurts because they’re going through the motions, playing a fake game, and Spinder is watching and waiting for them to fail.

 

Spinder used to dance with him. It helped him recover from a crashout Spinder caused. An accident that never needed to happen.

 

That’s all Spinder is, a series of accidents that didn’t need to happen. And this is another one.

 

“This isn’t what I wanted,” Boondorio says. “I wanted…”

 

And there! For just a moment, Chasshiro has his hand on the wheel and Mira cheers and he smiles that careful smirk, and— and it falls.

 

The moment he looks in her empty eyes.

 

“If you raced for me, I’d be there in spirit,” he says. “They’re just…”

 

(Chains and blood.)

 

An accident that didn’t need to happen.

Boondorio catches the lights as it forms. Oh oh oh.

 

“Seems Chasshiro still had plans,” Taiya says, and he’s smiling, something soft and real that Boondorio has never seen on a half-burned face. “I guess nothing can stop our collection of drivers.”

 

“Yeah,” Boondorio says. He runs a hand over the glowing orb. “Hey, Taiya. Do you think this means we were meant to be?”

 

“I think it does,” Taiya says. “I think…” He puts his hand on the light, and it glows. Taiya’s burns fade away. His clothes are still lit by embers and they still leak sand, but… “I think some of us still have another lap.”

“I won’t remember this, will I?” Shirabe asks. “The haunting, the talking?”

 

“No,” Taiya says.

 

“But I want you to remember this,” Boondorio says. “I do love you, Shirabe-San.”

 

“And you’re one of us,” Taiya says.

 

And Shirabe nods, falling into the light.

I should have done more, sooner sooner .

 

I love and I believe and I—

 

Do I belong do I belong what is enough?

I’m sorry sorry sorry. I couldn’t fix it.

Chapter 2: Ready To Go

Summary:

For Boondorio it starts like this: their new member somehow follows them home and decides she lives here now, her smile is bright and sharp and she’s in some instant dance with Chasshiro that he doesn’t understand.

Notes:

This one ended up much sweeter and less plotty than the others. Hope no one minds.

For Boondorio it starts like this: their new member somehow follows them home and decides she lives here now, her smile is bright and sharp and she’s in some instant dance with Chasshiro that he doesn’t understand.

 

She seems to understand something about him, something neither of them can ever say.

 

Chasshiro’s changes are more and less obvious - he doesn’t eat unless food is put in front of him, is awake at night over and over.

 

He does a strange dance with Mira where she hates and pities and loves him, and he acts like he deserves it, but they both have a trust trust trust that Boondorio feels outside of.

 

 “It is interesting, isn’t it?” Taiya says. “But I won’t pry.”

 

“Won’t or can’t?” Boondorio asks, because their Info Broker is in on it.

 

“I’m not sure yet,” Taiya replies.

The first time Boondorio sees The Dance, it’s over cameras. Mira and Chasshiro in the back yard, and with mild confusion and more than a little worry, he watches Mira lead Chasshiro in the steps of a very familiar dance, swapping like leading is natural and following is familiar, and then it breaks as Chasshiro shoots at her. He moves to go see what the problem is, but Mira dodges, pulls out her own Handle, and a laugh escapes her. She’s holding it backwards and swinging it like a club. A lazy surety of her own victory at odds with the bounce in her step.

 

“Hey, Boonboom,” Taiya says. “What’re you looking at?”

 

He peaks over just in time for Mira to lunge at Chasshiro. Even this is a dance.

 

“Well, that’s different,” Taiya says.

 

“Yeah,” Boondorio says. “I recognize some of it. It’s a space dance.”

 

“Huh,” Taiya says. “Cool. Is the fighting normal?”

 

“Not that I know of,” Boondorio says. But they look… happy. Oddly. Boondorio remembers dancing with Spinder, feet stumbling, always following. Trying to heal from what Spinder caused him, somehow letting himself stay.

 

“Any idea where they learned it?”

 

“Not at all,” Boondorio says. Mira has Chasshiro pinned, and she kisses him.

 

It goes back to a dance.

 

“Maybe I’ll ask them to teach me,” Taiya says. “Looks cranked up.”

 

“…It’s not for me.”

(Mira collapses against Chasshiro and smiles at him, softly.

 

“You don’t have to do this for me,” she says. “I just…”

 

“You want to make it yours,” Chasshiro replies. “I understand.”

 

“Ours,” Mira says. “I don’t mind being stronger, but I know you won’t hurt me.”

 

Chasshiro tenses.

 

“Never.”

 

Mira hmms.

 

“Plus it helps me get used to fighting with someone,” she says. “I don’t ever want to hurt any of you the way I…”)

“What are they doing?” Shirabe asks, looking across the lawn.

 

“Dancing,” Boondorio offers. “Mira started it.”

 

“I don’t entirely get it,” Jou says from next to him. “But Mira’s teaching me!”

 

They’re both watching in fascination. It’s hard to stop, because Mira is unstoppable and Taiya is having fun and Chasshiro is so very careful and clever, and it almost seems hard to tell when a pair switches from dance to fighting and back, and Taiya has only beaten Mira once in the hour they’ve been watching.

 

It’s fascinating and terrifying , and so very beautiful.

 

“Seems kind of… violent,” Shirabe says. “For dancing.”

 

She doesn’t seem upset, just curious.

 

The three on the grass all pause, as though the moment one of them noticed Shirabe, the others do too.

 

(Taiya can always read Chasshiro’s eyes, and Chasshiro knows he cannot pause for a moment agains Shifuto Mira, former bride of Spinder, trying to let loose.)

 

“It can be,” Mira says, leaning her Handle against her shoulder. “Doesn’t have to be.” She pauses, considering. “Oh, Boon-Chan can teach you!”

 

“…What?” Boondorio asks.

 

“You have been watching,” Chasshiro points out.

 

Shirabe lights up.

 

“Yes!” She says. “Please teach me, Boon-Sama! —even if it’s just the dance part.”

Dancing with Shirabe feels oddly natural. As though they’ve done it before.

 

He doesn’t think about Spinder, a demanding pace. He thinks about Shirabe’s confused squees and awkward coughs when she steps on his feet or is pressed to his chest.

 

He thinks about here and now.

 

Then they fall out of sync and trip, and Boondorio lands on top of her.

 

She flushed. Boondorio hastily gets off of her.

 

“Sorry!” He says.

 

“It’s… it’s just fine,” she says. She coughs. “Just an unavoidable accident. Try again?”

 

She offers a hand up, and Boondorio is starting to wonder about the women Taiya brings home - even if this one did more or less invite herself.

 

Mira and Shirabe must be incredibly strong.

 

Boondorio takes her hand.

 

“Try again.”

Chasshiro is… paranoid, now. More than before… And Boondorio is worried about it, because that’s not how he’s ever seen the info broker before. Careful, yes, but Boondorio can understand careful. Chasshiro came here to steal and left with a job offer and a home, because Taiya had a feeling.

 

But Chasshiro trusts Taiya absolutely, just like Boondorio does.

 

Except… something has changed. In the same moment they got mira, in the same month Shirabe showed up. Like they’re speaking in codes and they know it.

 

Boondorio doesn’t like secrets, he doesn’t like not knowing and not trusting his team, especially when it’s clear they care about him.

 

But, looking at Chasshiro’s careful codes slipped into the cars, Boondorio thinks something has changed.

 

“Just a precaution,” Chasshiro assures him. Boondorio doesn’t believe it.

 

“You’ve been acting extra… careful, lately,” he says. “Something wrong?”

 

Chasshiro tenses.

 

“The fight’s getting serious, is all,” He says. “With the ISA sniffing around, it doesn’t hurt to keep our secrets close.”

 

Boondorio sits nearby, humming. He looks at Chasshiro. A certain paranoia. A certain fear. Guilt?

 

Asking will make a man like Chasshiro hide even more.

 

“I guess you’re right,” he says. “I’ll keep my eye on this, too. We’ll keep our dream safe!”

 

Chasshiro flinches.

 

Boondorio sighs.

 

“Is there something else?” He asks.

 

Chasshiro doesn’t reply immediately. Boondorio hasn’t missed that Chasshiro hasn’t looked at him once.

 

“The thing about dreams is you have to hold yourself to it,” he says. “Don’t leave them to someone else.”

 

It sounds like a plea.

 

“...I can’t go myself, you know.”

 

“I know,” Chasshiro says. “I’m working on that.”

 

“...Wait, really?”

 

“What kind of info broker would I be if I couldn’t get you reinstated?” Chasshiro asks. “Don’t worry, I haven’t looked into any details yet.”

 

He looks at Boondorio, and a hint of that desperation is there in his movements.

 

I know we both have secrets.

 

Please please please trust me trust me trust me.

 

“It’s alright,” Boondorio says. “I trust you.”

 

He’ll have to tell them eventually. At least why he lost his liscence, not…

 

(Accidents that didn’t need to happen. Mistakes he can’t take back.)

Chapter 3: The Guy Who Gets It Done

Summary:

Partners.“Taiya needs more protection than he thinks,” Mira says.

“Hmm?” Boondorio asks. Mira sighs.

“And you need to think about what he’d do,” she says. “Taiya would do anything for you. Anything .”

Notes:

The amount of extra Mira things I’ve added means another run of her POV might legit be the next installment lol.

Spinder was the ultimate series of accidents that didn’t need to happen. 

 

Shirabe is a series of coincidences - and hers is a series that just keep making things better.

 

Boondorio isn’t sure where that comparison came from. A fleeting thought in his head as he talks with her. There is a difference between a dance and fight, and there is a difference between leading and control.

 

“I want to run the ISA one day,” Shirabe says. “That’s my dream - for Earth to have a presence in space… like a light in the dark. Not just a planet invasions keep failing on. And the Boonboomgers will be a great showing.”

 

“We’re a racing team,” Boondorio says. “And a delivery service.”

 

Taiya is perfect, because Taiya has a heart that can encompass the world, but Boondorio loves working with him - another of those differences. Taiya makes him feel alive, like he can feel better.

 

(Spinder made him feel helpless.)

 

(Byoon D made him feel determination, until the losses mounted, and Boondorio had the bright idea to put random parts in his chest without knowing what they were, and then…)

 

Shirabe laughs.

 

“I know,” she says. “But I’ll happily hire you to deliver the world.”

 

Boondorio looks away.

 

“I’m not sure… you’ll want me to represent your planet,” he says. He’s - Spinder’s power was from his creation. He knew the man was bad, even if he didn’t realize.

 

He used illegal mods without knowing because he was too excited about winning to check. He crashed and he burned and he lost his dream.

 

“Don’t say that!” Shirabe says. She runs over and takes his hands. “You’re the one I want most!”

 

She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know his failures.

 

Would she care?

 

“I…”

 

“I trust you, Boon-Sama,” Shirabe says. “You’re wonderful.”

 

“You don’t know me.”

 

“I know the important parts,” Shirabe replies.

“Taiya needs more protection than he thinks,” Mira says.

 

“Hmm?” Boondorio asks. Mira sighs.

 

“And you need to think about what he’d do,” she says. “Taiya would do anything for you. Anything .”

 

Boondorio looks at her.

 

A thought hits him.

 

“Are you a spy?”

 

Mira stares. Then she starts to laugh , a wet sound.

 

“No,” she says. “I’m not a spy. Oh my god, I’m an open book!”

 

“No, you’re not,” Boondorio says. “I just… I don’t understand things. About you.”

 

How do you know the dance Spinder taught me? Why don’t you trust us? Why do you trust us?

 

Why can you turn off and keep moving?

 

“Oh,” Mira says. “Well, what do you want to know?”

 

“Why do you think Taiya would get hurt for me?”

 

“Because he can’t ignore screams,” she says. “Especially ours.”

And so that’s how it comes about that she makes a plan with him. Mira is sturdy. Stupidly so.

 

It’s not some healing factor or lack of pain, it’s just that she doesn’t stop moving. Their Driver, and he hasn’t seen it quite yet, but she’s the fastest on the race track. She doesn’t think, just moves.

 

And her heart…

 

She must be full of as much electricity and pain as Taiya, covered in the same soot and scratches.

 

She looks empty again, even through the helmet, but she helps him carry Taiya.

 

(She kept her suit on through that explosion, and she kept her bitter frustration, too.)

“You took that kinda well, compared to Jou,” Taiya says after they win. Chasshiro had left for some vague work excuse, and everyone else had gone home. Mira looks up, glaring at him and at Boondorio. It’s a vicious thing.

 

“I don’t care about the race,” she says. “Well, I do, I want to do it with you. It sounds fun , you know? And it’s what Boon-Chan wants - signing up for the Boonboomgers means all of it, right? We’re heroes, we’re racers, we’re couriers… it’s all part of it to me.”

 

“Then… then what is it?” Boondorio asks.

 

“Well, that’s the thing,” Mira says. “This team is yours , the two of you. And that means you have a responsibility to think about who gets hurt when you do something reckless. It’s not just you. ”

 

Boondorio hadn’t thought of that.

 

“Imagine being left alone,” Mira says. “Your lives matter too. And— just… don’t do something suicidal. And if we’re there and you promise to trust us, you better— ”

 

She wraps her arms around herself. Without thinking, Boondorio sits next to her, wraps an arm around her. She leans against him, and she’s shaking.

 

“How do you know if the auto eject kicks in fast enough, Taiya?” Mira asks. “I know it’s slower for you, because it was easy for Boon-Chan to do it for me. Jou and Genba and Chasshiro could have died today. And you? You could have died today! And that part probably matters less to you. ”

 

Boondorio looks down. Taiya is so very still.

 

Mira sighs.

 

“And maybe I just don’t want to lose anyone,” she says, “maybe risk is fine, but putting us in danger? Taiya, you bet our lives, and then when you tried that car, you did it again. Not just yours… What I hate is that you’re so sure we’ll all keep fighting that you haven’t considered how it’ll all fall down like a house of cards if we lose someone.”

 

It sounds like an admittance. Of what?

 

“And we can handle it,” Mira finishes, “If you stay, and if you listen.”

 

“…What happened to you, Mira?” Boondorio asks. Mira stares.

 

“Nothing,” she says. “Yet. Which is why I want you to be careful.”

He knows Genba is an alien. Not what kind or from where, and Boondorio isn’t the kind of person to chase the look of humanity.

 

(Spinder was, a little bit. From his carved lips to his thin limbs to the time he asked Boondorio to make him a little something between the legs. And he did it, because he was tired and had never done it before, Byoon D and him always preferred wire play—)

 

He knows Genba is running from something and thinks Belora looks like a model and is a friend. A member of the team.

 

He doesn’t need to know more because whatever his secret is, Boondorio’s is worse.

 

Which is why he doesn’t ask Mira about the space dance, or the fact that the day Taiya and her almost blew up in a half finished car, she said so surely that Spinder wants dolls .

 

It’s actually a few days later, before he talks about it with Taiya. Chasshiro had left before Taiya, and Taiya, who Boondorio knows is looking for the answers to the questions Mira and Chasshiro are trying to ask, is looking over the battle logs.

 

“Spinder,” Taiya says. “Is that the boss’ name?”

 

“You should go to sleep, Taiya,” Boondorio says.

 

“Probably,” Taiya replies. “Hey, Boonboom… I shouldn’t have used that car, should I? Not if it worried them.”

 

“…I think it’s the only thing you could have done, at the time,” Boondorio says. “I’m the one who hadn’t finished it yet.”

 

“The only things I could have, at the time,” Taiya says. “…Yeah. I couldn’t back down. I just thing she was gripping that wheel so hard she couldn’t steer.”

 

“Maybe.”

 

“…or maybe…”

 

“Taiya?”

 

Taiya goes silent. Mira’s words got to him. Boondorio wonders if she was right.

 

“…I left someone,” Boondorio says. “My team, I… I didn’t say goodbye. I couldn’t.”

 

“…Boonboom?”

 

“I don’t know if I could ever face them again,” Boondorio says. “I wonder if Mira’s right. What would happen if we do something we can’t take back?”

 

Is Byoon D in pain… because of me?

 

But no.. he’s sure his old partner is better than that.

Notes:

Oh Boondorio… you are as dumb as a brick. You are why I gotta slow burn tag this. Byoon D misses you sooooooo much!

Chapter 4: You And You And You

Summary:

Partners.

Notes:

I write these fics in one big google doc then cut them into chunks. This is definitely one of the most convenient chunks.

They’re training for the race and Mira says something Boondorio won’t forget.

 

“It’ll be so much more fun now that I have my wheel,” she says, high five-ing Jou, who had come just barely in second place for once and grinning smugly at Chasshiro, who tied with Taiya for third. Mira says odd things and then ignores them, Boondorio is sure that’s one of them.

 

Sure sure sure, but it feels like another clue, another mystery.

 

Because Mira is bright. She entered and the whole base got warmer and stayed that way. Mira is dangerous - she routinely dents the Kurumaju, she plays games with Chasshiro shooting right at her. Mira is observant, looks at him like she knows all his secrets and empathizes.

 

Loves anyways.

 

It’s not like Taiya - curious but undemanding, Trusting Boondorio absolutely. It’s not like Spinder, pitying and hungry. It’s perfectly Mira.

 

But that knowledge scares him. What it might mean - as far as they know, Mira has lived a normal life on Earth.

In a team of so many, it’s a team. Within it there are duos. Taiya and Boondorio, of course, are partners. Their team and dream they work towards together. The two of them, meant to be.

 

And then there is Chasshiro and Taiya, who trust each other absolutely and can speak without words.

 

There is Chasshiro and Mira, who circle each other like territorial animals, like soulmates, like old friends. Mira who isn’t a spy somehow but absolutely could be except that she wears her emotions in her eyes and once spent an hour saying okay but our code names could be Tuna and Salmon! Because I’m pink and you like fish!

 

There is Genba and Jou with the Changers Boondorio made for workers. Who came in last yet on opposite ends.

 

There is Jou and Mira, who are really the newest and the brightest except where there is some barrier. And Boondorio wants to question it except that Mira is proving she can princess carry Jou (because of Genba) and they’re all laughing and Jou is blushing, and Mira kisses his cheek and places him directly in Genba’s lap, and they’re a team as much as partners.

 

But Boondorio recognizes that look of grief in Mira’s eyes as she lets Jou go. It’s what Boondorio felt after the hearing, realizing he could never be Byoon D’s partner again, and leaving now was his best choice, walking out on stumbling legs that he hadn’t quite fixed up yet from his crash.

 

And so time passes, and he has questions he doesn’t ask.

Meeting the Go-Ongers fills him with zeal, with new ideas, with hope. It… it warms him, the idea of partners staying together so long, another racer with wheels and another racer in his driver’s seat. Partners…

 

Maybe he can’t get it out of his head. Maybe he’s just got a good idea. More partners, with AI that can think.

 

None of them fully know how they came to be anymore. Someone, a long time ago, made something mechanical that could reproduce and think and feel, hive minds of tiny mechanical parts that climbed into shells and became one with them.

 

Boondorio isn’t aiming for something like that, of course.

 

But he is thinking about life, about partners.

 

Byoon D is better off without me… but I’ll make sure that’s not true for Taiya. I’ll make sure that’s never true for any of us.

Jou befriends a Kurumaju made out of a ghost. Mira helps him protect the creature.

 

Boondorio watches in confusion.

 

A million years ago, but really only 15 or 20, he showed off that key he made, a chance for anyone to take a hold on their wheel. Instead it turned a mob boss into and emperor, shadow ruling more and more of the known galaxy.

 

It isn’t possible.

 

It’s just my mistake.

 

A Kurumaju with a heart. A part of him warms at the though.

 

The rest of him just feels guilt when even Jou and Mira’s best isn’t enough to save this life Boondorio’s mistakes had revived.

It’s Chasshiro’s suggestion, when it dawns on Mira that she can dance with Boondorio but not fight - he was made for a different scale, and that’s how a team works. Especially theirs, a team like theirs.

 

(“You don’t have to try if it makes you uncomfortable, either,” Mira had murmured, guilt heavy in her tone. “I’m glad someone will tell me… I know how dangerous I am.”

 

“That’s not what any of us think!” Boondorio had exclaimed. “It just… reminds me of my past.”

 

“...Yeah, me too,” Mira murmured. “That’s why I need to make it mine.”)

 

So they wake up Taiya, and they hit the track in the middle of the night, and Mira wins, grinning and sitting on Marin’s head to pet it.

 

“That was great,” She says. “I always loved driving.”

 

“We were in the lead,” Chasshiro says, which isn’t true, he was tied with Taiya and Boondorio like he always tries to be.

 

“Were we?” Mira asks. She yawns. “Guess we had the advantage, two teams of two, but we also had a car.”

 

Taiya grins and wanders over to kiss her. Mira leans against him and Chasshiro.

 

“Alright, I think I can finally get some sleep.”

 

Boondorio doesn’t Watch with longing. He doesn’t deserve that, after Spinder.

Byoon Diesel is here. Byoon Diesel is here . Boondorio never wanted to see him again.

 

Not because he didn’t miss his teammate, but because he did . Byoon Diesel, his better half. The one he only beat once, the one he ran away from to protect.

 

He’s here, now. A Cleaner. How did he end up a cleaner?

 

Was it because of me?

 

Alone…

 

And Boondorio can’t face him.

 

He can’t .

 

I thought I always lost to you, so you wouldn’t miss me. I can’t tell you that you deserve better without telling you how bad I really am.

 

We can handle it, if you stay.

 

(Byoon D’s careful hands inside him, checking his new upgrades or helping put them in. Boondorio hadn’t asked for help when he got those parts.)

 

I don’t deserve you.

 

Partners…

 

A wheel change, trust to put each other back together in broad daylight…

 

Byoon D is here .

“A new changer?” Boondorio asks. “Why?”

 

“Because there’s someone who needs a reminder,” Chasshiro says.

 

“You mean Shirabe,” Taiya says. “I like the idea.”

 

“I already have some ideas,” Boondorio says. Shirabe… she’s definitely one of them, their important contact, she always compliments their curry, and once, she told him that she thought of herself more as a Boonboomger than an agent, these days.

 

“Any cars you have in mind?” Taiya asks. Boondorio looks at where his hands are moving on screen… Is that even possible for a human? They figured out quickheal, so this is doable, right?

 

“...No, actually,” Boondorio says. “It’s a bit different."

 

She can pin it to the scarves she wears… white and rainbow all at once…

 

Red-blue, purple-yellow…

 

Taiya grins.

 

“This looks cranked up,” He says.

 

“It’s a prototype for another idea I have,” Boondorio says. “But adding this is risky.”

 

“I think she’ll like it just fine,” Taiya says. “If she really is our agent.”

 

Chasshiro hmms.

There’s a thing about teams. There’s a thing about partners.

 

There’s a thing about light.

Chapter 5: Everyone's Different and That's the Best Part

Summary:

She runs. Boondorio stares.

He thinks about secrets.

Notes:

Mira hurtling towards a breakdown, news at 11 for this AU

“I never thought you’d adopt a kid,” Boondorio says. It’s a few weeks later and Mira has dragged them all to the amusement park. Half the rides have looked at him and Byoon D with horror and just said “No”, but they went a few rounds on the love tunnel, them and Shirabe (Who almost passed out, he hopes she isn’t coming down with something.)

 

Now they’re on the ferris wheel, where the operator had just kinda sighed and nodded when Byoon D and Boondorio promised they only weighed as much as an adult man each.

 

“Technically, he didn’t,” Shirabe says. Boondorio waves a hand. On the techno planets his people frequent, it’s almost more common to pick a kid out of the gutter than it is to put some group of people’s nanites together in a hand-made new shell - even the Sanseaters did it, though how they found a Yarucar, Boondorio doesn’t know.

 

“That’s how it tends to work out,” he says. Shirabe hmms. She hesitantly leans against his side. He hopes it doesn’t hurt her, too hard or…

 

She seems to like his touch, though.

 

Boondorio can’t help but worry, after all he’s done.

 

“I don’t know if Sakito sees me like a dad,” Byoon D says. “But we're partners, same as you and Taiya.”

 

“Partners…” Boondorio says. He looks between them - Shirabe who thinks she’s an outsider but that he is perfect. Byoon D who wants answers that will just hurt them both. “There are things I want to tell you, but I don’t know if I can.”

 

Boondorio…” Byoon D says. “Do you mean it?”

 

Boondorio nods.

 

And then the power goes out.

They could get out if Shirabe wouldn’t probably be put in danger by it.

 

“Don’t let that stop you,” She says. She adjusts her glasses. “This is… a dangerous enough situation as it is.”

 

“We aren’t technically needed until the Kurumaju gets large,” Byoon D says. “Maybe that will fix the power.”

 

“...If you say so,” Shirabe says. She looks more worried than Boondorio has ever seen her. That always seems to come up, when secrets are involved. Somehow, Boondorio still knows she’s really on their side.

 

“Is something wrong?” He asks. Shirabe pauses, looks down.

 

“...Probably not,” she says. “Just different… and it worries me.” She looks at him, eyes warm. “So, your secrets. Do we need to know them?”

 

“Not… not yet,” Boondorio says. “But probably you will.”

 

“Then you’ll tell us when you need to,” Shirabe says. “A… cleaner … and an ISA agent are no strangers to secrets, right?”

 

“…Right,” Byoon D says. “What matters is we’re together again. You still trust me.”

 

“I do!” Boondorio says, standing up in the carriage.

 

Oops.

 

He sits back down.

Shirabe’s frown deepens the next time she hears Mira on the comms.

 

Well, they do all have their secrets.

Genba leaves and says it’s because they’re better than him. Boondorio almost spills everything right then and there.

 

But it’s Mira who chases after him.

 

“You’re all STUPID!” she says, running after him.

 

“I should–” Jou says, and Taiya puts a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Genba needs to go off on his own,” Taiya says. Jou stares.

 

“But Mira…”

 

“Oh, she’ll be back,” Taiya says. “They both will.”

 

Jou looks at him.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Taiya’s always sure,” Boondorio says. He sighs. “And Mira, I’m finding, is always right.”

 

You’ll tell us when we need to know.

 

I’m not good, like you are.

 

Imagine being alone.

“Byoon D has a date?”

 

Chasshiro nods.

 

“With Shirabe?”

 

“Yes,” Chasshiro says. “Why?”

 

“...Nothing,” Boondorio says. “I’m just happy for them.”

 

Byoon D deserves better than me.

 

“What… was your relationship to Byoon D, exactly?” Chasshiro asks.

 

“…Teammates,” Boondorio says. “We didn’t specify any more than that. We… I guess we were more, though. I’m not… good at realizing.”

 

(“I’ve noticed,” Chasshiro mutters.)

 

Boondorio sighs.

 

“I’m happy for him, though,” he says. “Shirabe’s amazing!”

 

“No one… for you?” Chasshiro asks. “What about Taiya?”

 

“Oh, no,” Boondorio says. “Taiya’s my best friend, and he’s dating Sakito, and… I don’t think I want to do the ‘partners on and off the race track’ thing again.”

 

“Because you don’t want to disappoint him.”

 

“…yeah.”

 

“But those two?”

 

Shirabe squees at something Byoon D says on the cameras.

 

Boondorio watches.

 

“…I don’t deserve them, either.”

 

“Maybe,” Chasshiro says. “Or maybe it’s on them to decide.”

 

“…Maybe,” Boondorio says. He can’t take his gaze off the screen of their agent and his old partner, happy together.

“How do you… do it?” Boondorio asks Taiya, because who else could he ask?

 

“Do what?” Taiya asks. He grins, hands buried in a new mod for his car.

 

“…the team,” Boondorio says, “I… I guess you’re just so cool… how do you…”

 

“Oh, polyamory?” Taiya asks. “It just kinda happened - you know, I tried all sorts of things when I was a bit younger. The boss said I should. And I just kinda figured, if I found someone I really took an interest in, I’d keep them. It doesn’t matter to me how. I fell in love with you, too.”

 

Boondorio nods.

 

“Byoon D and I… never really called ourselves anything but rivals, or partners,” he says. “But… he went on a date with Shirabe.”

 

“Are you jealous?”

 

“…No.”

 

“Huh,” Taiya says. “Maybe talk with them.”

 

Boondorio looks down, away.

 

They still think I’m a good person.

“I think I blame Taiya because it’s easier,” Mira says, because Boondorio found her alone and looking at her hands in horror. Usually at night, she drags someone else to fight or race, but now she’s just in the hallway, staring.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I think I’m a monster,” Mira says. “And I think you…”

 

“Do you… do you know…”

 

“I think you’re moved easily,” Mira says. “And I like it. I like everything about this whole team! Except maybe the secrets.”

 

“Don’t you have secrets?” Boondorio asks.

 

“…Yep,” Mira says. “And I think I get, more than you and Genba, that I’ll probably be forgiven for them.”

 

When we need to know.

 

“Of course!” Boondorio says, he puts a hand on her shoulder and Mira leans into it. “I mean, it’s you. What would there be to forgive?”

 

And he means it, of course. Even with all his questions, Mira came onto the team and brought light with her. She was unstoppable, but she could make Taiya pause. She was powerful and kind and…

 

Mira is shaking, but her gaze is now turned to Boondorio, with all that same intensity.

 

“That’s the same thing we’ll tell you,” Mira says.

 

Boondorio freezes. Mira smiles. There are tears in her eyes, unshed.

 

“And it isn’t why I’m mad,” she says. “Just… if we lose a fight, and we lost every fight that lead up to it… don’t come running. It’s not gonna fix it. Every fight after that is just going to make it worse.”

 

“Mira…”

 

Mira sighs.

 

“I probably shouldn’t have said that,” she says. “I just wonder if any of you would want… Nevermind.”

 

She runs. Boondorio stares.

 

He thinks about secrets.

Chapter 6: And the Future Is Going to Just Keep On Blowing Up Bigger

Summary:

Reveals keep hitting

Notes:

Warnings for Spinder’s arrival, you know the drill by now
On the bright side: Boon White is here!

Reveals keep hitting and Genba is back, and he hmms.

 

“What do you think of our resident secret keepers?”

 

Boondorio flinches. Mira, Shirabe, and Chasshiro are in deep discussion of something, then they break like nothing happened.

 

At least it’s in the room for once.

 

“I’m not really sure,” Boondorio replies. “But they’re my friends, so does it matter? That’s what Taiya tends to say.”

 

“Hmm,” Genba says. “Is it? Then it’s fine… I worry for them, though.”

 

“…So do I,” Boondorio says.

 

“They’ve seen something they blame themselves for,” Genba says. “But they shouldn’t.”

 

A thought: Mira told Boondorio much the same thing.

And then it’s Boondorio’s turn… his horrible past.

 

After that fight, in the day between the reveal and the explanation, Shirabe came to him. She promised she talked to Byoon D, that he feels hurt by the lack of trust, not by what he did.

 

“And maybe that’s all it’s ever been,” Shirabe says.

 

“Aren’t you mad?” Boondorio asks. Shirabe shifted.

 

“…Ishiro informed me of your past when he went to space,” he says. “It’s not something the ISA needs to know, however. And you were pardoned for your part in capturing a dangerous criminal.”

 

Boondorio hugged her then and there.

 

I don’t deserve you .

 

…What?

Explaining it all doesn’t make it hurt less, but Byoon D leaving certainly made it hurt more . A tiny bitter part of Boondorio thinks that that’s why he never told him, he didn’t want the disappointment of all he’d done to catch up to his old partner.

 

It has anyways.

 

Mira’s eyes were soft in understanding, her touch gentle in the cold tunnels. She was shaking. She always seems so cold. She says she’ll kill Spinder before Boondorio even gets to the worst part…

 

(Spinder was cold in a different way than Mira’s shivering and piercing gaze, he ran cold and Boondorio couldn’t figure out how. Unless he was out to kill someone, and then he burned, and both were pain, and this all is a metaphor, isn’t it?)

 

They’re still like that.

 

Everyone, understanding. Just like she said. 

 

Chasshiro, famously suspicious super spy, who knew and didn’t reveal it. Didn’t act differently.

 

Taiya, his partner and best friend who never cared and was more mad at the forced reveal.

 

Jou’s worry. Genba’s familiarity.

 

You aren’t a bad person either.

 

“Bun-Sama, you made a mistake,” Shirabe says. “Now you’re different. And legally, you have been exonerated.”

 

“Does that make it right?” Bundorio asks.

 

“It’s easy to get lost,” Mira says. “It’s harder to find your way out.”

 

A cry from the comms.

 

“Then why didn’t he let me help him get there?”

 

Byoon D…

 

“…I’m sorry,” Boondorio said. “I just didn’t want anyone to know… how pathetic I really am.”

 

“None of us care about that,” Taiya says. Jou nods from where he’s hugging Boondorio.

 

Boondorio wants to sob.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says. “For not telling you.”

 

For not trusting you.

 

Trust trust trust.

“I told you it would be fine.”

 

“You sure are good at noticing things, Mira.”

 

Mira hmms.

 

“I try,” she says. “But wasn’t I right? Not trusting Byoon D to handle it just made it worse.”

 

Boondorio sighs.

 

“I was scared,” he says. Mira hmms.

 

“It’s easy to be scared,” she says. “It’s so easy. And I don’t think I can stop racing forwards, either. I just wish… when we ask you to sit somewhere out… will you listen?”

 

Listen…

 

“What didn’t Taiya listen to Chasshiro about?” Boondorio asks. Mira pauses, considers…

 

“I actually don’t know,” she says. “It hurt him, is all I know. Taiya doesn’t listen. He doesn’t trust us to help him. And… maybe neither did you. So… please?”

 

Boondorio hugs her. Mira shakes.

 

“…Why was he so cold?” She murmurs, barely above a whimper.

Trust…

 

It hurts to see Taiya crack and shatter. The horror. The betrayal. He’s always been so mature, so dependable.

 

Boondorio thinks about Mira’s words…

 

He wonders. He wonders so much.

 

He worries. They’re in danger on all sides, and Taiya was hurt and used, too, their two dreams all mixed together and tossed aside by someone Taiya trusted…

 

He worries.

 

He never met Naito Raita, but he’s heard of him.  Taiya’s mentor, the only one who listened to him when he was little. Who taught him everything. Who gave him a chance.

 

It must be like Spinder, dancing and being lead into the dark and the horrors.

 

It dawns on Boondorio that Chasshiro was prepared for this, the coding and betrayal and ways in and out that he made perfect for what Naito tried to do to their cars, their dream.

 

Mostly, though, he worries.

 

Taiya needs him. How often has he thought that?

And then Spinder arrives.

 

Shirabe curses.

 

“Not again,” she says, “I’m just gonna have to risk it. Again. Taiya needs a new changer.”

 

“Wait!” Boondorio cries. Because now is not a time he can imagine her going near Spinder unarmed and sparking inside of the cars. “I have something for you… it’s not tested, though.”

 

“…What?” Shirabe asks.

 

Boondorio hands her a box. Inside, her new Changer.

 

“It’s the Boonboom Lighter,” he says. “It’s for you. Because you’re part of the team.”

 

Shirabe stares.

 

“…Thank you,” she says softly. “I mean it.”

 

And then she’s running.

Mira hits and screams until she falls, and Spinder doesn’t recognize her, but she knows him, and she knows the dance, and so much blood so much blood when she is at her worst she always says something about red and—

Shirabe is wonderful, though, at the size of a Mecha, as he turns to armor for her. She is…

 

She’s wonderful.

Chasshiro slips back to the base after it all goes wrong, and he sits and he stares at nothing for long moments. Then he stands and walks towards where Mira lays, resting and hopefully not dying.

 

Boondorio follows.

 

“She’s just like them, isn’t she?” Chasshiro asks. “Always running ahead. Me, too, I…”

 

Chasshiro takes Mira’s hand in his, full body shaking,

 

“She isn’t supposed to be this still.”

 

Boondorio puts a hand on his shoulder, and Chasshiro jolts, staring.

 

“Chasshiro?” Boondorio asks.

 

“It was my fault you died,” Chasshiro says. “And… and we’re going to tell you why.”

And then they learn the truth, Mira and Chasshiro and Shirabe all explaining with a dead tone. Byoon D storming off, tired of secrets.

 

Boondorio keeps it together, supports where he was supported.

 

It was my fault first, he thinks. Byoon D and Mira’s hurt towards him.

 

I can fix it, though.

Chapter 7: A Full Tank of Passion Means You're Ready To Go

Summary:

“…I’m sorry,” Boondorio says. Mira looks at him.

“What for?” She asks.

Notes:

Pls help Boondorio.
Also, a reminder, take a look at the tags~

“I’m so tired of secrets,” Byoon D tells him. “Am I that untrustworthy?”

 

“No,” Boondorio says. “You’re that wonderful, I think… I think they were just scared. All of them. They think they betrayed us. Failed us. And I just don’t think that’s possible.”

 

“…Shirabe told me,” Byoon D says. “Told me she had things she couldn’t say. And I’m still mad. Sakito’s not, I bet he has Mira in his lap right now.”

 

Boondorio looks down.

 

“I know that dance,” he says. “Spinder… when I was recovering. And she— mind control , he made her do all that , and it wasn’t even—”

 

“It wasn’t your fault, either,” Byoon D says.

 

“I…” Boondorio lets out a loud, wet breath. “She knows things. He talked about me. She talks about cold , and I… one of my…”

 

I made his… did he…?

 

“Boondorio, slow down,” Byoon D says. “I can hear your filters buzzing.”

 

Breathing heavy like they need air. In a way, they do.

 

“…I don’t deserve you,” Boondorio says. “Or Shirabe, or Taiya, or… anyone on the team.”

 

“Shirabe said the same thing,” Byoon D says. “It sounds like a lot of you have.”

 

“…I don’t know how to fix this,” Boondorio says. “I…”

“So you knew the whole time?”

 

“Yes,” Shirabe says. “And even the first time, I could never hold it against you.”

 

“An ISA agent who thinks a space criminal’s… dear… is fine?”

 

“My dream is to reform the ISA, remember?” Shirabe asks. “The Boonboomgers can only do good because they are who they are.”

 

“I think Mira blames me for dying,” Boondorio says. “Do you?”

 

“…no,” Shirabe says. “No, I blame the ISA for selling out earth.”

 

“Oh,” Boondorio says. Shirabe turns to him.

 

“I always thought you were perfect, Boon-Sama,” she says. She smiles. “And now I can really say I’m one of you. I just realized I haven’t thanked you yet.”

 

Boondorio takes her hand. She squeezes it tightly.

Mira pulls him into a dance, one of the days where her manager looked at her still-torn-apart state and sent her home. She admits that Spinder did it because he liked to hear her screams for once. Boondorio wonders if that’s why he did it for him, too.

 

Charm, yes. Charm and pain.

 

And making Boondorio feel like the idiot.

 

They don’t stop until Boondorio needs to, and Mira goes boneless as soon as they head back inside, on the couch. They didn’t fight, still. Mira stares at him softly, intense.

 

“Want to talk now?” She asks.

 

“…I’m sorry,” Boondorio says. Mira looks at him.

 

“What for?” She asks.

 

“…All of it,” Boondorio says. “Spinder came here for me. I’m sure he… I’m sure he talked about me. I’m sure he hurt you. I—”

 

“He taught you the dance,” Mira says. “But not the same way as me. He likes power in different ways, for different people. I noticed, I… wasn’t always so good at reading people. But I had nothing to do but watch.”

 

“…Still, it’s my fault,” Boondorio says, “I… I let him…”

 

“Can I tell you something?” Mira asks. Boondorio jolts. “And you have to promise not to tell anyone else the details.”

 

“Of course!” Boondorio says. “If it’s that important.”

 

Mira sighs, leaning against the back of the couch. She really shouldn’t even be up, but stopping Mira? Not exactly worth the attempt.

 

“Every hero we met, I killed,” she says. “The Go-Ongers… the ToQgers I took out most recently. They’re baby , I hope they’re replacements… anyways. And you know that. I said I killed heroes. But I… I just kinda keep hitting until they die, right? So it was ugly, and bloody, and… I got very good at it. And every time they lived, they said this had happened before and would happen again. And it would be fixed again. Covered in blood and… and broken suits…”

 

She laughs. Boondorio stares at her, dark pink shirt and shorts that show all the bandaged up gashes on her legs from being thrown and getting back up. Scared, sad eyes.

 

“And of course, I didn’t believe them,” she says. “I really didn’t, because all that light and color seemed to fade away with you and Taiya, and all I saw was red… but that’s an awful way to live.”

 

“Mira?” Boondorio asks. Mira’s shaking now. Boondorio runs over, and Mira clings to him immediately.

 

“So I’m maybe a bit of a monster,” Mira says. She's called herself that before.. “And I forgive you for being tired, because I am too… And I never blamed you. Never, when he talked about you… if anything… I was almost glad you were dead.”

 

“…What?”

 

“Well,” Mira says. “If I’m being honest… I don’t think anyone else could have handled being his doll and then coming back. I can fix it now. That doesn’t mean I’ve just forgotten how stupid everyone was, but so was I - I think.. I think Jou and Chasshiro and Genba and Sakito all died… because of me. And I ended up a monster , maybe I still am—”

 

Boondorio growls, standing up, a wide wave of his arm in sheer frustration .

 

“You’re not a monster!” he exclaims. “You’re not a monster. There was a mind control ring .”

 

“…Maybe,” Mira says.

 

“And you’re right,” Boondorio says, now energetic and indignant at the idea someone would call the light that crashed into their team and refused to leave anything but the best and strongest. “I don’t know how you can do it. No one else could! I… I would have just given up, without Taiya.”

 

Mira grins.

 

“Well, exactly - it’s because I’m a Boonboomger,” she says. “Every day, I kept going because… I just couldn’t let it end until I could say I’d done a few things. Chasshiro and I were winning the BBG and everything… before I died.”

 

Her hands form fists in her lap.

 

“I spent this whole time back in a dream, figuring I can fix it later, because I missed what used to be,” she says. “But I’m done letting it be a dream. I’m going to fight tooth and nail to keep the colors all around me. It’s so bright .”

 

“Then you definitely belong here.”

 

“…You helped make it that way, Boon-Chan.”

 

…Did he?

 

Boondorio sighs.

 

Mira hmms.

 

“He hurt you,” she says. It’s not a question. “I always think… he’s like some dark Taiya. Charisma. He picks the best from their lowest and just… makes them strong pets. And I know, you were his favorite. But that still meant he hurt you.”

 

“It wasn’t…I knew he ruined my life,” Boondorio says, sitting back down next to her. She puts her legs on top of his. “He told me. I stayed anyways. I got to make things. I had a place to eat and rest again. I wasn’t alone… I didn’t realize how bad it was.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Mira says. “You didn’t have any other options.”

 

“…I could have gone to Byun D,” Boondorio says.

 

“Probably,” Mira says. “But you also were meant to end up here, with Taiya.”

 

“…I never thought of it like that,” Boondorio says. “…what were we talking about?”

 

“You were trying to apologize for Spinder’s crimes,” Mira says. 

 

“No, just mine.”

 

“And I tried to do the same.”

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong!”

 

The silence waits a moment.

 

They both, somehow, laugh.

He doesn’t dream it - mechanical lifeforms like him don’t dream.

 

No instead, one night, he sees a glow from the box where Taiya keeps that strange ball, the thing that appeared at his crash sight.

 

He really should know sense by now, but he goes, and he touches it.

 

And suddenly, boom!

 

He’s in a white void.

 

Staring at himself, dripping sand.

 

“It worked!” The other him exclaims. “Great!”

 

“W-what?” Boondorio asks.

Chapter 8: Arriving On the Scene

Summary:

The World Is Bright

Notes:

Got multiple comments asking why the ghost. I covered this like… twice between Taiya and Chasshiro’s fics. These fics all take place at the same time, but I promise, there’s a reason for it! Different characters reveal different parts or povs on the same situation, but they DO build on each other!

Speaking of, Boondorio’s side of the horror visions!

Past Boondorio voice: don’t think you are worthless pls, this is what happens when you die.

This is the other chapter in the fic that I need all those warning tags be for, so warning for gore, death, suicide, abuse, etc

He’s in a white void.

 

Staring at himself, dripping sand.

 

“It worked!” The other him exclaims. “Great!”

 

“W-what?” Boondorio asks. The other him pauses, lowers his arms.

 

“…We didn’t live long enough to regret,” he says. “Me and Taiya. But… we needed to stay and tell you a few things, and since we don’t really sleep…”

 

That… actually makes a lot of sense.

 

The other him sighs.

 

“Taiya hates himself, I’m sure…”

 

“He blames himself,” Boondorio says. “I know it’s… I know it couldn’t be his fault.”

 

“It wasn’t,” the other him says. “It was mine.”

 

And then they aren’t standing in a white void, they’re back in the base.

 

Mira, Genba, Jou, Sakito, Byoon D…

 

“Trust us to handle this.”

 

They take his past-and-future self’s hand. Boondorio reaches out.

 

They leave. He knows what comes next, and they’re all fallen and dragging themselves up and—

 

He’s standing on a battlefield. Echoing footsteps.

 

“Spinder! I’m the one you’re here for!”

 

“They will scream forever.”

 

“Your friend Boon Blue.”

 

“Taiya!”

 

“Boonboom!”

 

“No!” Boondorio screams, but he can’t do anything, and Taiya reaches him only to…

 

No. Nonononono…

 

No!

 

Boondorio falls. Looks away from the charred corpse laying next to his own body.

 

And now it’s a warehouse.

 

“Mira, it’s too late.”

 

“I have to try!” Mira says. “I’m not… I’m not Taiya, not… everyone who could fix this is gone. I have to try !”

 

She leans over Boondorio’s body. Oh, oh god…

 

“Why did Taiya go alone?” Mira asks quietly. And then she yells. “WHY DID BOON-CHAN COME AFTER US? They’re stupid. What’s the point of any of this…?”

 

Genba and Jou and Sakito all wrap around her, and they’re all shaking, clearly leaning on her.

 

“I’ll fix this,” Mira says. “It’s not like I don’t know anything .”

 

“We trust you,” Sakito says. “Our unstoppable Pink… if anyone…”

 

“We’ll figure this out together,” Mira says.

 

“…Then I’ll buy you some time,” Sakito says. “ Byoon D can stay and help out.”

 

“I’ll go with you,” Jou says. Sakito shakes his head.

 

“Nah, sweetheart,” he says. “Stay here, keep an eye on the others… you’re not gonna like what you see out there.”

 

It just keeps going.

 

Sakito falls next, and Boondorio watched Byoon D fall apart literally and physically. Until he’s torn apart and killed by the ISA

 

But his team, his wonderful team of friends and dreamers, still fight. They… they try so hard.

 

“Why?” Boondorio asks. “Why did… where did it all go wrong?”

 

“I’ve asked myself that for two years now,” his other self says. “And I still don’t know.”

 

Boondorio looks down. He hasn’t gotten up. He stares, and he sees Naito Raita in a pit of his own making, and he sees Shirabe shoot him, and then the bullets are a hail and he’s kneeled next to a frozen Chasshiro, watching them go through Shirabe and Jou, no! Not them, please…

 

By the time he looks up, Mira is screaming, giggling in Spinder’s arms and covered in blood, some her own clearly by the way her legs dangle in his grip.

 

Boondorio almost throws up.

 

A hand on his shoulder. His other self.

 

“They were losing that fight the day we died,” he says. “I don’t think I could have sat back and watched, but… follow me.”

Dancing. Ghosts bleeding sand and greyscale blood.

 

“…What?” Boondorio asks, “Why are you showing me this?”

 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” his other self says. “I guess… Taiya, he has it in his head that he can pinpoint exactly where he messed up and fix it. I’m not sure… I would have done it again, if they were hurt. I would have fought. I would have trusted Taiya.”

 

Boondorio nods. Always. He would always do that.

 

“…But that means I don’t have any answers,” his other self says. “Except that Byoon D asked me to trust him more, and Shirabe… was there. We deserve to be happy, right?”

 

“Even after all of this?”

 

“…Maybe especially,” his other self says, hands on hips. “I think being a Boonboomger is a refuge. It doesn’t matter because we make it that way. I learned that from Taiya.”

 

Boondorio nods.

 

He looks at Shirabe.

 

I think I…

Spinder’s body turns to sand, Mira’s body falls, and Chasshiro…

 

Light.

 

“So that ball is how we got back here?”

 

“It’s the light of earth,” Boondorio’s other self says. “I think… it’s why I think we have a… we gotta keep who we are. Because enough people saw us even at the end and called us back to life. That matters.”

 

Boondorio nods.

 

“…I think I understand.”

 

And then he’s back at the base, at night.

Taiya wakes up early the next morning and goes directly to the box, then jolts and looks to the light of earth, which Boondorio has been staring at for hours.

 

“You too?” Taiya asks.

 

“Yeah,” Boondorio says. Taiya sits across from him and lets out a shaking breath.

 

“I think I failed them,” he says. “Everything I am… is any of it real?”

 

“Nothing is more real than you,” Boondorio says. “That’s why this thing made its way here. Why it gave our friends a second chance.”

 

“I don’t know how to fix this.”

 

“We have time,” Boondorio says. Taiya looks like Mira, shaken and sure she has to do it all. Like Boondorio’s own other self, guilty, tired…

 

But he was hopeful.

 

“Time, huh?” Taiya asks. “A second lap…”

 

“That’s what you told Mira, right?” Boondorio says. “I don’t want to stop believing in our dream. It’s the best part of being with you.”

 

“…okay,” Taiya says. “…Thank you, Boonboom.”

“Yeah sure, here’s the romance novels,” Sakito says, “I don’t get like half of what it says.”

 

“Well, it’s a start,” Boondorio says.

 

“Finally getting with Miss Agent and Byoon D?”

 

“…Hopefully,” Boondorio says. “I just… I figured I didn’t deserve to.”

 

“…I don’t think I deserve Taiya and his lot, either,” Sakito says. “But it’s not about that, is it? It’s about what they want. And they want me, and yours want you.”

 

“…I’m learning that,” Boondorio says. “You’re a good kid.”

 

“I’m older than Taiya!”

 

Boondorio laughs.

 

“I know,” he says. “…Thank you, really.”

 

Sakito blushes, looking away.

 

“No problem,” he says. “Just treat Byoon D right. He deserves something good.”

 

“I will.”

 

And despite what is coming, despite what could have been… 

 

The world is bright.

Notes:

I think it’ll be a hot minute before the next proper installment (it SHOULD be Jou and Mira’s povs swapping back and fourth, the last of the time backs outside of Shirabe’s, who admittedly is dealing with a very separate part of the plot, all leading to a final multi pov ending, but we’ll see), but I think I can post “Chasshiro went to space for a week, meanwhile on earth—“ soon.

Thank you for reading!

Notes:

Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or @dancingqueen-mai for just Toku.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 6 of Second Lap