Gift fic for turtle_aya: Moving in Circles
Title: Moving in Circles
Recipient: turtle_aya
Pairing: Akame in between
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3000
Disclaimer: All of this is fiction.
Note: You can also read this story at the Archive of Our Own.
Warnings: Character Death, some Angst, AU
Author's Notes: I hope I somehow hit your taste and didn’t fail completely with my twist on the Pacific Rim universe. There were too many interesting parallels to resist writing in it, hopefully its wiki gave me the correct mechanics. :) It is set before the movie to avoid some timeline problems I had in my head. I big thank you to everyone surviving my whining and last, last, last minute panic attacks.
Summary: They live, they fight, they die.
Kazuya’s life never has been easy, what with all those brothers in his family. All had to somehow be put through the Japanese eduction system without them ending up in eternal debt and being the second youngest certainly didn’t help, but he liked to imagine that they would have had a good life, in particular after he was accepted in one of the better universities in Tokyo.
The whole situation changed without a doubt with the first attack on the capital city. The Kaiju, a giant monster with its borrowed Japanese name looking eerily like a brother to Godzilla, started in its first steps to world domination with the destruction of Odaiba and the Rainbow Bridge. It continued onwards to the Tokyo Tower and ending its journey unexpectedly somewhere between the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. It could only be stopped after they got help from the Americans stationed all over Japan.
This happened on a Sunday in 2016. Due to Kazuya’s successful university entry, they decided to celebrate it together and eat out in the city. This was falling together with the Kaiju category two attack. It didn’t end well for the city nor for them, Kazuya being the only survivor of their small family adventure. All his brilliance no counterpoint to the chaos around and in him.
The very first attack on San Francisco warned humanity, but Japan didn’t react to it at all. It was an American problem that was reported through the news, the world felt sorry for them, expressed their condolences and moved on. After the forth attack humanity discovered the truth that it wouldn’t stop and the Jaeger program was born. Japan decided to participate after a long political discussion with their skills in robotics and their sheer amount of imagination concerning Mechas. In secret the society didn’t expect them to cooperate in any way. After all, it took them far too long to organize the disposal of the Kaiju corpse and its toxic waste. It was Tokyo’s problem to organize themselves, not the problem of the rest of Japan.
After the scientists solved the single pilot problem and figured out how to operate a Jaeger to their advantage, Japan worked on creating their own program for Jaeger pilots, JE, the Jaeger Establishment.
At first Kazuya searched for absolution somewhere else, made himself get lost in what was left of the city between the skyscrapers. After all there was a lot left that wasn’t broken to pieces or contaminated. With some of the infrastructure broken down, a monster walking through the Yamanote Line several times left traces, it became more difficult to reach the emergency areas. Some parts of Shinjuku survived, especially the reconstructed red light district made all the difference. Many people like him got themselves lost there in order to forget what happened. It couldn’t be possible after all. The skyscrapers on the ground? Just some new decoration. The fires around from broken down power lines and other origins? You always need some light and additional power for your electronic gear. It would take the city of Tokyo longer to fix what happened than they would have time to prepare for the next Kaiju attack. Tokyo with its prime location to the ocean and its population density appeared to be the perfect location for a hit. If it wasn’t another attack to Tokyo it would be the Kansai area. Nobody wanted to believe in that, so they flew into avoidance in the depths of Shinjuku and its everlasting pleasures.
It was a good time till the anger hit Kazuya. Not even all the alcohol left and produced in Japan was sufficient anymore to tame him, any potential fight he wouldn’t even recognize before the attack made him react now. He got good at it, finally utilizing those Judo skills his brothers tried to teach him in vain. There was nothing else left to do in any case, some bloody marks here and there on his body wouldn’t change that.
Monotony and apathy was his frequent friend till he heard the announcement spoken of everywhere. Titled humanities backup plan and their way out of the chaos, what a surprise.
The politicians were looking for a handful of people to be trained as pilots for the Jaeger program while the Shatterdome was build just right outside the Tokyo Bay on one of the Izu Islands. Far enough way to attack before a Kaiju can breach the ten kilometer line and reach the main population. No real requirements necessary for an application except being young and healthy, so naturally many teenagers left without a family appeared to the first day of the election process. Politicians were desperate to find the right people even if it meant for them to go through the whole population. Money wasn’t the issue for the moment like it most likely would be later, their best chance of survival being seen in the Jaegers and approved by the tax payers.
Being alone and fueled with all this anger without a satisfactory outlet, Kazuya went to the audition. Counted as at least something effective to do with his life. A way to get back at the Kaiju and attack something that had earned his righteous anger. More than one person seemed to have the same feelings as him considering what he saw looking around the other candidates assembled at the first stage of trial. A mixture of determined male and female faces looking weary and the occasional few who looked like they were at the wrong place wherever they turn up, like the guy with a long nose two rows away looking uncomfortable and nervous.
“Dear candidates, welcome to the first stage. You all know why you are here, for sure the condition of our capital city is all the motivation you need. You are here to avoid this happening again to any part of our country. You will be sorted, trained, taught, evaluated and in the end either chosen or returned to your sorry life. Today’s the day we will find the best potential candidates out of you. Good luck.”
Kazuya didn’t really know how he survived the first few rounds. Some random fitness and intelligence tests to pass. Fast half of the participants are thrown out and the rest was allowed to stay in the building to continue. They stopped when the count of candidates was down to three guys and a woman.
His determination kept him in the program. So far Kazuya kept his unsocial tendencies, not going out of his way to meet with anybody that might have survived the attack; not even seeing the point of forming new bonds. Realistically they will die sooner or later anyway. Japan had been lucky so far to avoid any future attacks with the last Kaiju attack being concentrated on the American continent on the other side of the Pacific, although it was only a question of time till they hit another high populated area in this part of the world. Despite the efforts of the politicians, the people didn’t leave the major population areas, not even the after effects of Kaiju Blue, a toxic substance for everything living, could change their mind. They all stayed declaring it happily their home and started to rebuild everything in the danger zone from scratch.
Hence he concentrated on becoming the best men they have in the small training group. Being controllable to his trainers & teachers and an unreachable badass to everybody else. In his books: using what was left of his smarts into something useful. They started them off with the fundamentals of various martial arts like Boxing and Krav Maga with an additional emphasize to fighting with short range weapons. In between, they were taught the basics of controlling a Jaeger; they are created to be usable by intuition alone, but there’s always the need to know the limits of what they can do or how to survive if it stands still in the middle of the sea without a working reactor. Especially what to do with that nuclear power source and how to not short-circuit the whole construction. They told them that it was save to be in a Jaeger, but who knows if that information can be trusted, considering that the Jaeger were built in a hurry and not in view of the safety of two human beings cradled in his core.
If the current rumors are to be trusted, they soon will try to put them together in pairs into the Jaeger Simulator to test if they are a good match or not. According to the grapevine the preliminary compatibility tests are half bullshit half useful; fighting against each other in the Combat Room and some algorithms over their filled out questionnaires the only indication of a possible match. In the end the only way that works is putting two pilot trainees in a Jaeger and let them survive the drift or fail spectacularly.
Not even two weeks later he found himself in the Simulator, basically JE playing combinatorics with all somehow compatible trainees. He got good results with nearly everybody, they told him that he appeared to be adaptable to other people. Kazuya didn’t have a preferred partner, he would worked well with nearly everybody. His attitude of not caring being useful for once.
That fact didn’t manage to stop the twitching in his limbs every other second; stillness just out of reach in the confrontation of decisions not under his own control. The tests will either break or make his carrier here, nobody needs only one pilot. This is one of the days he was trained for: to be in the Jaeger with his partner-to-be. They only would keep the working pairs in the program for the latest two Mark II Jaegers, Golden Chain and Red Promise, they are going to have in Japan. More would be sensible, but not economical without turning their GDP to even more hilarious pieces of nothingness.
A door opens and another trainee, interestingly Jin, enters the room; bets heard between the rooms were on him having good results with Yamashita. All in his own fancy Drivesuit, nervous smile on his lips and mischief in his rising eyebrows like all of this was more a game than anything serious. Jin who would manage to entertain even an empty room with his presence. Kazuya’s usual response was rolling his eyes. If he remembered correctly it wasn’t Jin’s first drift, having been the first to be tested with other compatible trainees due to alphabetical reasons.
They didn’t let him have more time analyzing his thoughts before they put him through the last minute introductions of not chasing Alice’s R.A.B.I.T. - Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers - down the hole and the order to use actual speech to describe every step of what they plan to do in the Jaeger. It’s supposed to make them more comfortable interpreting the actions in their shared headspace.
Getting into it and putting on the last necessary gear, JE let him take the role of being in control of the left hemisphere. It is said that it’s the more rational side of the brain: logic, numbers, facts and analyzing situations. Kazuya raised a sardonic eyebrow under his helmet, he’s not completely out of creativity himself to be in charge of the slightly more important part of the Jaeger that is going to be Jin’s job. Taking a last look at Jin, the other offering a question with puzzlement.
“It’s your first drift, isn’t it? Why are you not being nervous over there, my hands are still wet even though it’s my third time.”
“What’s the sense in telling you? You will know it in a few seconds anyway.” Rolling his eyes again.
In particular in the next second, since the counter on his screen reached zero and changed to a notification about ‘Initializing Neural Handshake’.
The next moment he was drawn into foreign memories. At first the warm smile of a woman, changing to a scene of heaps of food. In a flash back to scenes with a smaller boy, playing outside or in another flash in front of a television set with controllers in their hands and loud screams of victory.
‘Right hemisphere calibrated.’
One of the last scenes before they entered their shared headspace being of Jin’s determination during the drafting process, fueled by the need of creating a safe place for his little brother.
‘Left hemisphere calibrated.’
Opening his eyes, Kazuya wasn’t alone anymore. Moving his arm slightly resulted in Jin moving his arm as well, Jin smiling resulted in Kazuya’s mouth making the involuntary motions as well.
I always wanted to know how you would look with a smile on your face. Comments not out of his own mind in the background accompanied with warm emotions coming along with memories from Jin watching him during training.
‘Ready to activate the Simulation.’
The big wall across the Simulator changed from black to a loading screen. Their random action scenario to test their skills.
‘100%. - Osaka Bay #2’
After the first drift with Jin Kazuya couldn’t shake of the feeling of not being his own person anymore. There had been other drifts with other trainees like that guy with Sayajin hair called Ueda, but only Jin left a feeling of ‘Ghost-Drifting’ in his mind.
The effect was smaller when he was alone, but as soon as his partner was in the same room he couldn’t stop his eyes tracking his every movement, having no problems anticipating his next step in teasing Yamashita or differencing between his mood changes. It was a strange feeling to know a person inside out again and not having any bitter or angry thoughts in his head about it.
After a second trial run which confirmed their compatibility, it was decided that Jin and him would be the one’s that are going to pilot Golden Promise, its coloring of yellow gold and the earnest promise to destroy everything trying to hurt Japan reasons enough for its name. Coming along with the confirmation came a room with a bunk bed for him and Jin. Their names on their door soon overwritten by Jin’s scrawl, calling them Team Kizuna.
They let Yamashita stay on the program to pilot Red Promise together with a guy called Nishikido. They would be transported to Nagasaki as soon as their Shatterdome was finished. They had backup pilots for emergencies, but they weren’t going to be the main players. JE gave the press a short memo with their names and it went viral in minutes. It didn’t take the press long to dig up every kind of information they could about the pilots, changing between celebrating and doubting their abilities.
The second attack to Japan followed roughly two months after getting comfortable in their room. The earthquake sensors notified them about suspicious movement from the breach in the Pacific moving in the direction of Northern Asia. Everything south of them was either handled by the Shatterdome in Hong Kong or Sydney as long as the next Shatterdome in Japan wasn’t finished, Vladivostok being notified to be their backup if they don’t make it. The whole world was notified about the attack and holding its breath seeing the outcome. In roughly half an hour they were suited up and connected in the Jaeger, another ten minutes and they were transported to the calculated meeting point to intercept their first Kaiju. Their success was a forgone conclusion by everybody else and thankfully they delivered, leaving behind a gigantic toxic corpse in the water.
The press changed their behavior from doubtful to utterly celebrating their heroes. Kazuya was sure that his family would have teased him without mercy seeing the spectacle happening around them, making them into Japanese idols. Back in their rooms Jin only had to look at him to pull him in a hug and soothe him with calming hands on his back. Their personal histories no more a mystery to each other and their synchronized behavior starting to be the rule instead of an exception in daily life. Jin pulled him onto the lower bed and just holding him while his already dried tears started to flow again. Crying out his frustration and anger for the last time to finally accept what happened to his life. Looking back with a sad smile and seeing the good parts again, ready to move on.
After their first mission Kazuya found reasons to smile again, to enjoy small joys of his life again and not just move through the daily duty of protecting every single inhabitant on the Japanese archipelago.
‘ALERT. Kaiju category three attack. Everybody go to their stations.’
Kazuya and Jin jumped out of each other’s arms after their obligatory peck, fetched the necessary clothes and run to the Drivesuit Room in record time. After over two years it was routine, Jin was probably still half way in sleep country while he was running through the Dome. In slightly more time they were back in each other’s heads, continuing the morning peck interestingly in their headspace while there were transported to a place somewhere in the middle of water and being informed about what to expect on the upcoming attack on their way.
In their belief they would life, fight and keep going to start the process all over again.
They didn’t survive. The Kaiju managed to immobilize the Jaeger and slowly tear them into pieces. It continued on its way to Tokyo and was only stopped after Nagasaki and Vladivostok were transported to the scene. Hours too late for the main part of the inhabitants.
Soon after their death of Team Kizuna Japan started a discussion about what to do. The rest of the world decided in 2020 after another attack with Gipsy Danger as its victim to invest into the Wall of Life as a better option for their tax money. Japan following the advice. It was enormously cheaper than building or maintaining another Jaeger. With their current economic standing the popular opinion was that it was the better choice for a safe future. After all Japan could look back at enough experiences to survive isolated without foreign help.
Recipient: turtle_aya
Pairing: Akame in between
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3000
Disclaimer: All of this is fiction.
Note: You can also read this story at the Archive of Our Own.
Warnings: Character Death, some Angst, AU
Author's Notes: I hope I somehow hit your taste and didn’t fail completely with my twist on the Pacific Rim universe. There were too many interesting parallels to resist writing in it, hopefully its wiki gave me the correct mechanics. :) It is set before the movie to avoid some timeline problems I had in my head. I big thank you to everyone surviving my whining and last, last, last minute panic attacks.
Summary: They live, they fight, they die.
Kazuya’s life never has been easy, what with all those brothers in his family. All had to somehow be put through the Japanese eduction system without them ending up in eternal debt and being the second youngest certainly didn’t help, but he liked to imagine that they would have had a good life, in particular after he was accepted in one of the better universities in Tokyo.
The whole situation changed without a doubt with the first attack on the capital city. The Kaiju, a giant monster with its borrowed Japanese name looking eerily like a brother to Godzilla, started in its first steps to world domination with the destruction of Odaiba and the Rainbow Bridge. It continued onwards to the Tokyo Tower and ending its journey unexpectedly somewhere between the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. It could only be stopped after they got help from the Americans stationed all over Japan.
This happened on a Sunday in 2016. Due to Kazuya’s successful university entry, they decided to celebrate it together and eat out in the city. This was falling together with the Kaiju category two attack. It didn’t end well for the city nor for them, Kazuya being the only survivor of their small family adventure. All his brilliance no counterpoint to the chaos around and in him.
The very first attack on San Francisco warned humanity, but Japan didn’t react to it at all. It was an American problem that was reported through the news, the world felt sorry for them, expressed their condolences and moved on. After the forth attack humanity discovered the truth that it wouldn’t stop and the Jaeger program was born. Japan decided to participate after a long political discussion with their skills in robotics and their sheer amount of imagination concerning Mechas. In secret the society didn’t expect them to cooperate in any way. After all, it took them far too long to organize the disposal of the Kaiju corpse and its toxic waste. It was Tokyo’s problem to organize themselves, not the problem of the rest of Japan.
After the scientists solved the single pilot problem and figured out how to operate a Jaeger to their advantage, Japan worked on creating their own program for Jaeger pilots, JE, the Jaeger Establishment.
At first Kazuya searched for absolution somewhere else, made himself get lost in what was left of the city between the skyscrapers. After all there was a lot left that wasn’t broken to pieces or contaminated. With some of the infrastructure broken down, a monster walking through the Yamanote Line several times left traces, it became more difficult to reach the emergency areas. Some parts of Shinjuku survived, especially the reconstructed red light district made all the difference. Many people like him got themselves lost there in order to forget what happened. It couldn’t be possible after all. The skyscrapers on the ground? Just some new decoration. The fires around from broken down power lines and other origins? You always need some light and additional power for your electronic gear. It would take the city of Tokyo longer to fix what happened than they would have time to prepare for the next Kaiju attack. Tokyo with its prime location to the ocean and its population density appeared to be the perfect location for a hit. If it wasn’t another attack to Tokyo it would be the Kansai area. Nobody wanted to believe in that, so they flew into avoidance in the depths of Shinjuku and its everlasting pleasures.
It was a good time till the anger hit Kazuya. Not even all the alcohol left and produced in Japan was sufficient anymore to tame him, any potential fight he wouldn’t even recognize before the attack made him react now. He got good at it, finally utilizing those Judo skills his brothers tried to teach him in vain. There was nothing else left to do in any case, some bloody marks here and there on his body wouldn’t change that.
Monotony and apathy was his frequent friend till he heard the announcement spoken of everywhere. Titled humanities backup plan and their way out of the chaos, what a surprise.
The politicians were looking for a handful of people to be trained as pilots for the Jaeger program while the Shatterdome was build just right outside the Tokyo Bay on one of the Izu Islands. Far enough way to attack before a Kaiju can breach the ten kilometer line and reach the main population. No real requirements necessary for an application except being young and healthy, so naturally many teenagers left without a family appeared to the first day of the election process. Politicians were desperate to find the right people even if it meant for them to go through the whole population. Money wasn’t the issue for the moment like it most likely would be later, their best chance of survival being seen in the Jaegers and approved by the tax payers.
Being alone and fueled with all this anger without a satisfactory outlet, Kazuya went to the audition. Counted as at least something effective to do with his life. A way to get back at the Kaiju and attack something that had earned his righteous anger. More than one person seemed to have the same feelings as him considering what he saw looking around the other candidates assembled at the first stage of trial. A mixture of determined male and female faces looking weary and the occasional few who looked like they were at the wrong place wherever they turn up, like the guy with a long nose two rows away looking uncomfortable and nervous.
“Dear candidates, welcome to the first stage. You all know why you are here, for sure the condition of our capital city is all the motivation you need. You are here to avoid this happening again to any part of our country. You will be sorted, trained, taught, evaluated and in the end either chosen or returned to your sorry life. Today’s the day we will find the best potential candidates out of you. Good luck.”
Kazuya didn’t really know how he survived the first few rounds. Some random fitness and intelligence tests to pass. Fast half of the participants are thrown out and the rest was allowed to stay in the building to continue. They stopped when the count of candidates was down to three guys and a woman.
His determination kept him in the program. So far Kazuya kept his unsocial tendencies, not going out of his way to meet with anybody that might have survived the attack; not even seeing the point of forming new bonds. Realistically they will die sooner or later anyway. Japan had been lucky so far to avoid any future attacks with the last Kaiju attack being concentrated on the American continent on the other side of the Pacific, although it was only a question of time till they hit another high populated area in this part of the world. Despite the efforts of the politicians, the people didn’t leave the major population areas, not even the after effects of Kaiju Blue, a toxic substance for everything living, could change their mind. They all stayed declaring it happily their home and started to rebuild everything in the danger zone from scratch.
Hence he concentrated on becoming the best men they have in the small training group. Being controllable to his trainers & teachers and an unreachable badass to everybody else. In his books: using what was left of his smarts into something useful. They started them off with the fundamentals of various martial arts like Boxing and Krav Maga with an additional emphasize to fighting with short range weapons. In between, they were taught the basics of controlling a Jaeger; they are created to be usable by intuition alone, but there’s always the need to know the limits of what they can do or how to survive if it stands still in the middle of the sea without a working reactor. Especially what to do with that nuclear power source and how to not short-circuit the whole construction. They told them that it was save to be in a Jaeger, but who knows if that information can be trusted, considering that the Jaeger were built in a hurry and not in view of the safety of two human beings cradled in his core.
If the current rumors are to be trusted, they soon will try to put them together in pairs into the Jaeger Simulator to test if they are a good match or not. According to the grapevine the preliminary compatibility tests are half bullshit half useful; fighting against each other in the Combat Room and some algorithms over their filled out questionnaires the only indication of a possible match. In the end the only way that works is putting two pilot trainees in a Jaeger and let them survive the drift or fail spectacularly.
Not even two weeks later he found himself in the Simulator, basically JE playing combinatorics with all somehow compatible trainees. He got good results with nearly everybody, they told him that he appeared to be adaptable to other people. Kazuya didn’t have a preferred partner, he would worked well with nearly everybody. His attitude of not caring being useful for once.
That fact didn’t manage to stop the twitching in his limbs every other second; stillness just out of reach in the confrontation of decisions not under his own control. The tests will either break or make his carrier here, nobody needs only one pilot. This is one of the days he was trained for: to be in the Jaeger with his partner-to-be. They only would keep the working pairs in the program for the latest two Mark II Jaegers, Golden Chain and Red Promise, they are going to have in Japan. More would be sensible, but not economical without turning their GDP to even more hilarious pieces of nothingness.
A door opens and another trainee, interestingly Jin, enters the room; bets heard between the rooms were on him having good results with Yamashita. All in his own fancy Drivesuit, nervous smile on his lips and mischief in his rising eyebrows like all of this was more a game than anything serious. Jin who would manage to entertain even an empty room with his presence. Kazuya’s usual response was rolling his eyes. If he remembered correctly it wasn’t Jin’s first drift, having been the first to be tested with other compatible trainees due to alphabetical reasons.
They didn’t let him have more time analyzing his thoughts before they put him through the last minute introductions of not chasing Alice’s R.A.B.I.T. - Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers - down the hole and the order to use actual speech to describe every step of what they plan to do in the Jaeger. It’s supposed to make them more comfortable interpreting the actions in their shared headspace.
Getting into it and putting on the last necessary gear, JE let him take the role of being in control of the left hemisphere. It is said that it’s the more rational side of the brain: logic, numbers, facts and analyzing situations. Kazuya raised a sardonic eyebrow under his helmet, he’s not completely out of creativity himself to be in charge of the slightly more important part of the Jaeger that is going to be Jin’s job. Taking a last look at Jin, the other offering a question with puzzlement.
“It’s your first drift, isn’t it? Why are you not being nervous over there, my hands are still wet even though it’s my third time.”
“What’s the sense in telling you? You will know it in a few seconds anyway.” Rolling his eyes again.
In particular in the next second, since the counter on his screen reached zero and changed to a notification about ‘Initializing Neural Handshake’.
The next moment he was drawn into foreign memories. At first the warm smile of a woman, changing to a scene of heaps of food. In a flash back to scenes with a smaller boy, playing outside or in another flash in front of a television set with controllers in their hands and loud screams of victory.
‘Right hemisphere calibrated.’
One of the last scenes before they entered their shared headspace being of Jin’s determination during the drafting process, fueled by the need of creating a safe place for his little brother.
‘Left hemisphere calibrated.’
Opening his eyes, Kazuya wasn’t alone anymore. Moving his arm slightly resulted in Jin moving his arm as well, Jin smiling resulted in Kazuya’s mouth making the involuntary motions as well.
I always wanted to know how you would look with a smile on your face. Comments not out of his own mind in the background accompanied with warm emotions coming along with memories from Jin watching him during training.
‘Ready to activate the Simulation.’
The big wall across the Simulator changed from black to a loading screen. Their random action scenario to test their skills.
‘100%. - Osaka Bay #2’
After the first drift with Jin Kazuya couldn’t shake of the feeling of not being his own person anymore. There had been other drifts with other trainees like that guy with Sayajin hair called Ueda, but only Jin left a feeling of ‘Ghost-Drifting’ in his mind.
The effect was smaller when he was alone, but as soon as his partner was in the same room he couldn’t stop his eyes tracking his every movement, having no problems anticipating his next step in teasing Yamashita or differencing between his mood changes. It was a strange feeling to know a person inside out again and not having any bitter or angry thoughts in his head about it.
After a second trial run which confirmed their compatibility, it was decided that Jin and him would be the one’s that are going to pilot Golden Promise, its coloring of yellow gold and the earnest promise to destroy everything trying to hurt Japan reasons enough for its name. Coming along with the confirmation came a room with a bunk bed for him and Jin. Their names on their door soon overwritten by Jin’s scrawl, calling them Team Kizuna.
They let Yamashita stay on the program to pilot Red Promise together with a guy called Nishikido. They would be transported to Nagasaki as soon as their Shatterdome was finished. They had backup pilots for emergencies, but they weren’t going to be the main players. JE gave the press a short memo with their names and it went viral in minutes. It didn’t take the press long to dig up every kind of information they could about the pilots, changing between celebrating and doubting their abilities.
The second attack to Japan followed roughly two months after getting comfortable in their room. The earthquake sensors notified them about suspicious movement from the breach in the Pacific moving in the direction of Northern Asia. Everything south of them was either handled by the Shatterdome in Hong Kong or Sydney as long as the next Shatterdome in Japan wasn’t finished, Vladivostok being notified to be their backup if they don’t make it. The whole world was notified about the attack and holding its breath seeing the outcome. In roughly half an hour they were suited up and connected in the Jaeger, another ten minutes and they were transported to the calculated meeting point to intercept their first Kaiju. Their success was a forgone conclusion by everybody else and thankfully they delivered, leaving behind a gigantic toxic corpse in the water.
The press changed their behavior from doubtful to utterly celebrating their heroes. Kazuya was sure that his family would have teased him without mercy seeing the spectacle happening around them, making them into Japanese idols. Back in their rooms Jin only had to look at him to pull him in a hug and soothe him with calming hands on his back. Their personal histories no more a mystery to each other and their synchronized behavior starting to be the rule instead of an exception in daily life. Jin pulled him onto the lower bed and just holding him while his already dried tears started to flow again. Crying out his frustration and anger for the last time to finally accept what happened to his life. Looking back with a sad smile and seeing the good parts again, ready to move on.
After their first mission Kazuya found reasons to smile again, to enjoy small joys of his life again and not just move through the daily duty of protecting every single inhabitant on the Japanese archipelago.
‘ALERT. Kaiju category three attack. Everybody go to their stations.’
Kazuya and Jin jumped out of each other’s arms after their obligatory peck, fetched the necessary clothes and run to the Drivesuit Room in record time. After over two years it was routine, Jin was probably still half way in sleep country while he was running through the Dome. In slightly more time they were back in each other’s heads, continuing the morning peck interestingly in their headspace while there were transported to a place somewhere in the middle of water and being informed about what to expect on the upcoming attack on their way.
In their belief they would life, fight and keep going to start the process all over again.
They didn’t survive. The Kaiju managed to immobilize the Jaeger and slowly tear them into pieces. It continued on its way to Tokyo and was only stopped after Nagasaki and Vladivostok were transported to the scene. Hours too late for the main part of the inhabitants.
Soon after their death of Team Kizuna Japan started a discussion about what to do. The rest of the world decided in 2020 after another attack with Gipsy Danger as its victim to invest into the Wall of Life as a better option for their tax money. Japan following the advice. It was enormously cheaper than building or maintaining another Jaeger. With their current economic standing the popular opinion was that it was the better choice for a safe future. After all Japan could look back at enough experiences to survive isolated without foreign help.