Keeping Busy [open]

    "...Co do diabla?" = "...What the hell?"

The day in the small, peaceful town of Duwang had started like any other, with people waking up to live yet another day of their simple lives.

Little did they know that by the end of the day many of them would be killed as collateral damage in the showdown about to occur.

For fifteen years, women between ages 18-50 had been suddenly vanishing slowly but constantly without a single trace, leaving everyone baffled. Not even the Japanese Secret Service had managed to find the cause behind the disappearances, causing rumours to spread about the town having been cursed by Izanami herself... However, a group of youngsters blessed with a special gift had found the truth!, It was no supernatural force pulling the strings, but a man, a vile man that heartlessly ended the lives of people using the power of Persona!

During the course of a year, Josuke Higashikata leaded Okuyasu Nijimura, Koichi Hirose, Yosuke Yoshikaze and Rohan Kishibe alongside his older nephew Jotaro Kujo in the search of this monster, creating an Investigation Team to end for once and for all with the veil of darkness over their beloved town.

Now, after many bizarre adventures and misadventures in which their lives had been constantly on the line, the group had discovered the identity of the Killer... Yoshikaze Kira, Yosuke's own father.

The confusion had been absolute. It was unthinkable that someone like Kira was capable of such unthinkable, appalling crimes... However, despite of how close he was to the Investigation Team, they decided to confront himself regardless in the name of justice and love.

The Kameyu Market offices were located on the urban centre of Duwang. Kameyu Market was one if not the most important business in Duwang, providing employment to over 300 people, most of them middle-aged family men.

Well, not anymore.

At 8:29, almost half an hour after the entrance of the employees, the building suddenly started softly glowing.

A brief second afterwards, it exploded.

Let me be clear here. The building did not suffer some kind of explosion which caused it to crumble like a card castle... Far from that, the walls, the tiles, every single stone that composed the building exploded. The Kameyu Market facilities themselves were the bomb.

Not even the dust was left. Kameyu and everyone within it were simply erased from existence in a flash.

After a moment of astonishment, panic spread like wildfire, and amidst the tide of people struggling to both get away and draw nearer Kira Yoshikaze nonchalantly walked away, his grim frown quite revealing his feelings and thoughts, which were powerful enough to drown the faint, bittersweet feeling of his victory. Today, he had to kill. He had never wanted things to reach this extreme but now he had no option. For him to be able to keep his identity and actions hidden and protect the life he had built he had to find a way to deal now and here with the Investigation Team, even if his son forming part of it complicated things to the point it was painfully clear that nothing after this battle would ever be the same.

Right after discovering him, the Investigation Team decided to separate and search for him. Two of them, Higashikata and Nijimura, had decided to search Kira at the place where it would be most logical to find him in a typical day. In his workplace.

What they had not predicted was that Kira had already accounted for such an ambush, having set this trap throughout years of effort that had finally payed off. Not even the slightest trace of Okuyasu and Josuke was left now.


Kira's heart skipped a beat, quicker than lightning he turned towards the origin of the voice, just in time to see the gigantic fist that travelling at over 300 km/h about to pummel his face.

Launched backwards, Kira crashed against the floor, sent rolling for several meters before recovering from the surprise attack. As the dust begun settling, his attacker was revealed. It was Josuke holding the limp body of Okuyasu.

"Did you really thought you could it'd be that easy to defeat us?.", he said and, even before he finished, the dust and ashes of the building that had been erased moments before gathered, rejoining to reform the structure as if nothing had ever happened to it.

"You... You break, shatter and destroy everything that your hands touch", he said, advancing a few steps towards the downed Kira, still holding the body of his dear friend, "But guess what?...", a pink, large and musclebound Persona appeared behind Josuke, clad in a armour with heart dessigns "The power of my heart, my love, is unbreakable!"

'So, it has come to this...', thought Kira as he got up, brushing his injured face with his sleeve as he stared at the high schooler. His foe, Josuke of the Lovers Arcana, wielded the power of Crazy Diamond, a Persona with the power of instantly fixing almost anything with just a touch of its hand, meanwhile his Killer Queen was able to destroy anything and anyone at any time via turning them into lethal bombs. This would probably be Kira's toughest battle to the date.

However, Kira had an advantage. During this year he had observed these brats. He knew how they thought, felt, reacted and their limitations... Josuke may be able to completely heal himself, others and objects instantly, but he could not heal his Persona's wounds or raise the dead, even if he fixed their bodies.

"... Seems like Okuyasu is not recovering his consciousness", he said with a confident smile as he raised from the floor, "You know what that means, right?"

"SHUT UP!!, He'll wake up any moment now!", replied Josuke, clearly infuriated at Kira's insinuations. In response, the killer let out a chuckle as Killer Queen appeared behind him, "The better. We wouldn't like him to miss seeing you blown to bits, would we?"

Their stares collided, Josuke let Okuyasu on the floor and called forth his Persona. There was no more need for words. Now the fists would do the talking. Both advanced towards the other in a slow, almost casual stroll as they sized eachother up, Kira taking his time to even light up a cigarrete.


And just like that, in the blink of an eye, both charged against eachother, using their Personas to exchange blows. Josuke could not afford to have Crazy Diamond be touched by Killer Queen, but fortunately, he was faster than Kira, although not by much. At the same time, Kira's blows were stronger, but, once again, not by much.

The Personas' fists blazed, Crazy Diamond managed to narrowly dodge Killer Queen's attacks, but was too busy with that task to send many proper, well-aimed strikes.

Eventually, Killer Queen managed to corner Crazy Diamond, delivering a karate chop to both sides of Crazy D's neck that would blow its head right off and, with it, Josuke's. However, the pink Persona opened his arms wide, striking KQ's forearms, interrupting its attack and leaving it open to attack. Maybe Kira knew his weaknesses, but the boy knew that, as a matter of fact, only the hands of Killer Queen were able to turn things into bombs.

Josuke did not stall and took the chance right away, Crazy Diamond reared its head and smashed it against Killer Queen's, causing it to take yet another step back and opening wounds on Kira's head... But in that very moment, Kira sneaked in an attack, hitting Crazy D's leg and causing it to fall back. Now Josuke had nowhere to run.

Killer Queen sent its left hand with amazing force, so much that it would plunge right through Crazy Diamond's chest should the blow land, however, when it seemed to be all over, the Persona kicked Killer Queen's chin, sending its owner flying backwards as he spit the cigarette from the impact.

"I told you already", Would say Josuke as he pointed down at Kira, "Someone like you will never beat me!"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?", replied the killer nonchalantly almost cheerily, "But the truth is that you are already dead".

And in that instant, the air surrounding Josuke exploded, sending the youth flying back as well. How could this happen?, Well, the answer lays on Kira's cigarette. The moment he touched it it became a bomb and so did its smoke. The only thing Kira had to do was releasing it near Josuke and then increase the distance between them so he could detonate it safely. The boy hit a nearby wall, spurting blood from his mouth and collapsing to the floor, "W-what?!"

"Hehehe...", Kira chuckled as his Persona manifested behind him once again, "You seriously thought I had nothing up my sleeve?, Even before we started my victory was already ensured... And now...", several knives appeared in Kira's hands as he performed an aerial somersault, "This is checkmate for you!"

Kira let go of the knives on his hands and, as they were suspended for a second in the air, Killer Queen sent a barrage of punches against them, both turning them into bombs and making them rain down on Josuke.

"No... Not yet!", the boy called forth Crazy Diamond and together sending drops of Josuke's blood, fixing them into sharp blades that cut through the knives, making them safely explode away from the youngster, at the same time, the wind threw Kira off his balance and, though he tried to protect himself, he couldn't foresee what came next.

A blade of blood pierced the screen of explosions, cutting through Kira's clavicle and, more importantly, staining his clothes with Josuke's blood.

"Ghh!", Kira held his shoulder as he flailed and the explosions ceased, revealing a bloody Josuke standing despite even his broken bones, "This is it!, The Golden Chance!!", he roared as both him and his Persona aimed a blood-stained peeble right at Kira's heart, launching it at blinding speeds.

Adrenaline surged through Kira's body, for the very first time since he obtained his Persona he felt it. Fear. The dread that he might loose, that the inconceivable happened and he got killed. Josuke had been the first one to ever corner him like this and he was starting to doubt he would win. His terror was overwhelming and pushed him forward, summoning his Killer Queen, he deflected the pebble with a speed and precision he had never imagined he was able of, buying him a precious moment to escape his opponent's pressure and safely land.

In that moment, both combatants understood that the decisive moment was at hand. Both had been courageous and daring, now it was the time to follow through. The one with the stronger mind and heart would be the victor.

Kira readied himself, summoning one of his knives. He understood what he had to do in order to win. Josuke could easily heal right away any damage other than that received through Crazy Diamond and he was resourceful enough to deal with almost any kind of bomb he could use against him. Thus, if he truly wanted to win he had to do something drastic. The carefully schemed strategies were over, it was time to take an unexpected Final Gamble.

However, before he could do anything, Josuke smiled. It was a relaxed, somewhat cocky half-smile that transmitted a feeling of accomplishment. Kira stared at him dumbfounded, what he was smiling for?!, Had he overlooked somethi-

Kira's train of thought was interrupted when he felt a sharp pain on his back. The pebble he had deflected moments ago had impacted his shoulder-blade, shattering it.

"Sorry, but you won't avoid my Homing Bullet so easily!", exclaimed Josuke, "Once my blood has left my body, I can 'fix' it so it gathers into a single body. If I stained your clothes and the pebble it was so you couldn't escape my attack!", he explained (told you it was important), "And now I'll finish you with this!", another homing bullet was aimed and launched at Kira's chest... However, the man wasn't about to give up when he had finally found the determination to definitely win this fight. If he couldn't avoid the stone, he would destroy it before it reached him!

"Killer Queen!!", cried Kira, the cat-like entity appearing behind his back, thrusting two of its fingers with incredible precision into Kira's wound,, hitting the pebble jammed inside it and making it fire through Kira's shoulder against the incoming projectile. Having primed the first rock, as soon as both met, they exploted, sending chunks of them all around Kira, "It's useless! I-"

"Your next line will be 'I won't fail for the same trick again!'"

"... Won't fail for tha-", Kira's words were cut short, stunned by the precision of Josuke's guess. He didn't look fazed at all, if anything, he looked even more secure than before, "You would think that your idea was brilliant, but the truth was that I had already predicted your actions. As a matter of fact, all throughout this fight, I've been pushing, guiding you to this very moment, the moment of my victory!"

In that moment, the pieces of stone that Kira himself had scattered shot towards him, compelled by Crazy Diamond's power to fix anything and everything to rejoin to form a single rock inside Kira.

The little pieces were driven through his skin and muscles all over his body, producing an indescribable pain, so great that Kira couldn't keep a cry of agony from leaving his mouth. The only reason he was still alive was that the projectiles were too small and light for burrying too fast, but at this rate it'd be only a matter of seconds before they pierced his internal organs and if that happened, it'd be all over. The only thing he could think of to avoid a sure death was perhaps even worse than the original problem in the first place... Still, it was his only option.

Surprisingly enough, micro-explosions begun taking place all over Kira's body, as he used his powers to blow up the stones within his wounds, definitely turning them to dust so they couldn't advance anymore.

Kira had avoided death but... At what price?, His wounds were ripped wide open and they started releasing smoke as the smell of charred flesh filled the air. Kira just fell back, hitting the floor with a loud thump. At this point it was hard to even draw in yet another breath. He could barely move his limbs let alone stand... However, it didn't matter. He was alive and conscious and that was the only thing he needed to win.

In silence, he waited as Josuke calmly walked over towards him, stopping barely two feet away, "Now it's time for you to face justice. You will never terrorize Duwang again", he said, looking down at Kira. In response, the man said nothing, slowly raising his arm towards the boy's face.

And then, at the speed of light Killer Queen manifested as Kira's eyes were filled with an all-consuming fire. before Josuke could even react, Killer Queen cut clean through Kira's raised arm below the wrist with a sweeping motion (thus cutting its own arm as well), "What?!", exclaimed Josuke as he was taken aback by this shocking development, "...", Kira said nothing, just smiling faintly as the watch on the severed hand's wrist exploded, disintegrating a good part of it, but also hurling the upper half of it towards Josuke's face, Killer Queen's own detached hand following suit, aiming at Crazy Diamond's head.

Perhaps Josuke could intercept his bombs and avoid being even graced by them, but he couldn't protect himself from this. For a few seconds his hand would preserve its power and if he only managed to touch his head he would make it explode, instantly killing him. Even if he tried to protect himself, whatever he used to try deviate the hands from their path would instantly explode, plus Josuke was too close to escape any explosion that took place unscathed. Even if he died, he would at the very least drag Josuke to hell alongside him.

Kira's hand flew without intromissions towards Josuke's head, but, when there were only two centimeters left for it to make contact, it was suddenly teleported a while feet to the right, making it miss

"!!"

"!!"

Both Kira and Josuke were perplexed... That was, until they heard a familiar voice...

"Yo!", it was the idiot Okuyasu alongside his Persona, The Hand, an entity capable of using its left hand to cut space, ability he had used to pull Kira's hand away from Josuke. After the momentary confusion, Josuke looked down on Kira with a smug smile, "Told ya' so". Mustering enough strength to defiantly glare at the student, "And... I told you...", he weakly said, "That... It'd be just for him to see you bite the dust.", no one had noticed it, but once again Kira held an invisible detonator in the hand he had left. What would Kira do now?!, Could he really find a way out of this situation?!



That was how the first confrontation between Kira and Josuke went. However, everything was far from over, for Kira possessed a power, a secret power he had never wanted to resort to and that just might be the tool that allows him to be prevail over all of his foes. You'll find out what happened on the next episode!: "The New Killer Queen! -- Queen of the City Bites the Dust"

"Yeah", I don't see how you'll do that.", replied Josuke, unimpressed at Kira's threat, however, much to both youth's surprise, Kira suddenly hurled some debris at Josuke with his one good arm.

"Huh?!, Are you stupid or what?!", Okuyasu's Persona swept its terrific hand in the direction of the rubble, erasing the space between them and pulling it towards him, though not near enough to be affected by a possible, would-be explosion, "You should know by now that your shitty bombs are nothin' to us!"

Blatantly ignoring Okuyasu, the David Bowie look-alike detonated the bombs, causing several explosions of much greater magnitude than expected. Kira had put a lot on this one, but why?, the explosion still didn't damage either Okuyasu or Josuke, so what was the point?... The correct answer is 'the expansive wave'. The explosion didn't damage anyone, but sent all three flying away, greatly increasing the distance between Kira and his foes.

"Oh man, I think I've hit my head!", said Okuyasu, rubbing the backside of it.

"I could fix that, but at this point you can only get smarter from cranial trauma", replied a teasing Josuke as he tried to get up, "Alright, dis' been fun but now it's o-"

Josuke's words ceased as the dust settled, the scene before him taking his breath away.

It was Kira. He was standing.

He was bent over, the broken bones preventing him from straightening up, his breath was heavy and erratic, not unlike the struggle of a dying animal to breath, the wound from severing his hand bled very profusely, spurting blood on the floor with every beat of Kira's heart, the wounds all over his body were still smoking and they leaked a transparent (slightly yellowish), thick fluid, his skin was deathly white because of the blood loss and when you looked into his eyes it was clear that he was more gone than here. And nonetheless he was standing.

Josuke couldn't help but to feel a chill going up his spine. Kira was clearly about to topple over and die, but seeing him like this was certainly intimidating. Josuke shook his head, "Quit messing around!, If you surrender now we still get you to a hospital!". Honestly, Josuke was not sure of what to do with Kira. If he killed him, he would be killing Yosuke's father, but if he didn't, there were no guarantees that a normal court could even convict him... To be honest , he just wanted to give closure to all of this suffering and disgraces.

However, what he saw next in Kira's face both scared him and sunk any hopes of sparing his life. A smile... But not any ordinary smile. It was a smile very similar when he saw the road to victory clear. It was a smile full of hope and joy, a smile that reflected a complete inner peace.

With was practically his only able limb left, Kira searched within an in pocket of his torn jacket, picking something.

Josuke caught a glimpse of it. It was a golden arrowhead. The arrow that Kira had been using to create the Persona-using subordinates that had interfered with the Investigation Team all throughout the year.

Without giving it a second thought, Josuke set off, sprinting towards Kira even though he himself had been badly hurt during the confrontation. He couldn't tell what Kira exactly intended to do, but with that smile it could only be something terrible.

Josuke tried his hardest, but it was in vein, raising the arrowhead, Kira summoned Killer Queen right before him and stabbed both him and his Persona with all his strength before Josuke could make it,

An immense power was immediately released from Kira's and Killer Queen's bodies, sending Josuke flying back once again, the boy crashing against the floor with a mutter yelp. Raising his head, both him and Okuyasu simply stared as the light faded away... Kira seemed to be in the same condition from before, but Killer Queen...

Its aspect hadn't changed much, it now had a pair of golden arrowheads on the backside of its hands (well, the one it had left), but there was not much change besides that. What had definitely changed was its aura. Killer Queen now released a tremendous, unbelievable amount of power, much greater than anything the Investigation Team had ever seen. "Killer Queen Requiem...", said Kira, coughing up some blood as he sufferered violent spasms "... No..."

Much to the amazement of both Josuke and Okuyasu, with a deep groan, Kira slowly started straightening, the sound of cracking bones being heard loud and clear. After several moments that felt like centuries, Kira stood at his full, height, looking at his opponents face to face once again.

"I will call it... Queen of the City".

And in that precise moment, the clocks all over the world started ticking backwards.

    I suppose it was that luck of his, hmm?
    I'm impressed. You see Kira as a person, not just words on a page. True, he is twisted, but how he deals with his personality is interesting. I never would have considered him to have pure love, but I guess that's what it really is in a way. Honestly, I really like how you've made him deplorable and likeable all at once. Not an easy thing to do, but you've done it well.