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Riko is dead, and he left him behind.
An amalgamation of crooked bones and a damaged psyche, Red Tanaka is the product of Riko's callous carelessness. The boy has not known a life outside of Riko, outside of ruthless training sessions and hours spent in a bed that would never keep him warm. He is what happens when Riko has complete control over someone else—someone lesser, someone worthless, someone like Red. He wasn't given up as payment to the Master, but given up as a plaything for the Son of Exy—to the boy who got what he wanted no matter what, and what he'd wanted at age twelve was Red. What he wanted was another number, another perfect player. Another trophy for him to display.
Before, Riko was invincible—he was... unwavering and unkind, a boy-king with his crooked crown, a monster meant for eternity. Now, he is bones, a decaying body buried deep within dirt, untouchable still but untouching, too. And Red isn't sure what he is supposed to do now, without him. He was nothing before Riko and he is nothing without him—the once-king had told him for so long what he was living for, but now this false-god is dead and Red is alone.
He was never supposed to outlive his maker; Riko had told him a thousand times that Red would bite the bullet before he ever did, and yet—
— and yet he'd have to settle for shortly after, for following Riko into the afterlife and hope that Riko would forgive him for being late, for not being there to welcome him.
But Red Tanaka does not die. Instead, he wakes a bloodied, bruised mess with Kevin Day standing over him, the runaway knight come to save who he was never meant to protect. Instead, he finds himself drafted by the Foxes, those timebombs and their unwavering loyalty.
On second thought, maybe Red Tanaka does die, maybe he does follow Riko into the very depths of Hell to spend an eternity as his punching bag. Because the man that stands on the Foxhole Court isn't Red—it's the boy he was before.
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Red Deserves The World™.
ANYWAY, i've been having Ideas™ for an aftg fic for a while now, but only recently did i come up with ideas i really loved. even so, i wasn't originally planning on uhhh publishing them, but i came across sectumsirius' beautiful kevin day fic titled 'wink murder' and just... it inspired me to actually share this with whoever is interested.
so, this is it. the first of my two upcoming aftg fics published. i'm really excited to share katsuo's story with you, because i love him so much already.
also thanks to sectumsirius' god-tier brain, katsuo and haein (the main character in my fic 'collateral') now exist together in the same universe! so, this fic will run in conjunction!!! because neither of us can imagine a world where haein and katsuo don't... exist together honestly!
