夜明けの晩に

"waiting for the world to burn, now"

ある運命の日

Born on the last day of the year to a couple young and inexperienced, were Gishiki and Seita Karasu, a pair of twins inches from death. They were albino, severely underweight and delicate to the touch, wailing when their mother did so much as touch their underdeveloped skin.Near their village resided a spirit known as Ohatsu, a river serpent with the face of a beautiful woman who protected all who prayed to her. The twins’ parents had long prayed for children, and asked the river spirit to save the lives of their babies in exchange for daily prayer.In a coincidental, yet remarkable turn of events, as soon as the frightened couple placed the children in the river’s water, the twins began to calm and their skin strengthened. Their eyes opened, and they were filled with life.However, by basking in the river of the serpent, they retained some of the water’s powers, becoming dependent on the energy of snakes to survive. Their energy shift between each other grew extremely strong, and the two bonded through the soul while in the water in the presence of such intense spiritual energy. Thus, the twins kept each other alive, and gained strength from the spirit that blessed them with the gift of life.After they returned home, their grandparents each gave the twins a gift. To Seita, a taiko drum. To Gishiki, a wooden flute. Due to the residual bonding energy present from the river, they bonded to these objects spiritually, and were given their Ultimate Talents.However, yokai often steal without warning. The twins were confronted in their cribs by a spiritual malice that took root in their instruments, residual wrath from the lake’s waters. This was known as Kaage, and corrupted their minds into a deadly sort of genius that had never been heard of before. In reality, this was most likely the side effects of a slew of health issues and suffering from the traumatic amounts of pain they endured through infancy, but the twins will claim that Kaage had consumed them, and they are only loyal to it.After this, they did not speak.As they grew older, it was apparent that their health issues did not extend to their intelligence, as the two were extraordinarily gifted and intelligent for their age. However, even as toddlers, they were strangely quiet, never speaking to teachers, friends or even their own parents. The two were as silent and still as the water that spared their lives.It was apparent that the two had interests that vastly differed from the other children their age. They believed their albinism to be a sign from the kami that they were chosen to live among spirits, so they began to dissociate from people altogether and explore their strengths.It is extremely rare for two siblings, twins no less, to become Ultimates, but these two had their abilities from the age of six years old. On a stormy day spent in the city, their parents came home and discovered a grisly scene.

GISHIKI AND SEITA HAD MURDERED THEIR CARETAKER.

ある運命の夜

Gishiki and Seita had murdered their caretaker.With the calming, rhythmic beat of a taiko drum and the charming melody of a flute, the woman had seemingly fallen asleep and had been drained of every drop of blood in her body. Appalled, they sent the twins away to a children’s home.Because they were known to be dangerous when together -- instruments creating a deadly melody -- they were forced apart. When this happened, the two screamed until their throats bled and clawed at the walls until their fingers were reduced to nothing more but bone and nerves, seemingly driven mad by their newfound distance.After being reunited, their parents signed a form to sell their children to science, as their many rare conditions would greatly benefit Japanese modern medicine. They had their blood drawn, brain mapped, skin grafted from them and bones extracted in a series of cruel experiments. However, though it was gruesome to any sort of onlooker, the twins were as peaceful as ever, strangely tranquil through every drop of blood spilled.After a neurologist conducted a formal exam, it was confirmed that the children were extremely intelligent and both possessed Ultimate Talents. However, it was unknown what these talents were, so they were given access to each type of hobby imaginable. After years of hearing results and data, reading brain waves and cardiac rhythms, the two returned to their instruments instead, and after a beautiful melody of Taiko and flute -- researchers thought them to be musicians -- the doctor who inhabited that testing space had met a similar fate. Fast asleep, with every drop of blood drained from their body.They secured a home in the rural North of Japan, where they began their research. It started with a group of children at their school. Seita would put them to sleep and analyze neural waves to detect their dreams, and Gishiki would draw their blood to analyze it and check for anomalies in their purity. The two worked in unison, curing diseases, aiding disorders and analyzing the very root of the human condition for what every human and spirit yearns to learn.Absolute Truth.