Shinra High Chapter 53
Notes of Interest
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Chapter 53). - in which Julia has three legs
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Guards came trooping into the room and picked up the various bodies of unconscious students. As three heavily armed guards reached for Sephiroth, he slapped their hands away, standing on his own. He glanced at the large chunk of metal sticking out of his shoulder, but seemed unconcerned.
Lian Hua: What kind of picture frame was that? Does the author ever think things through before she writes them?
On the other hand, Julia, who was barely conscious, made no effort to stop the guards as one of them scooped her up into his arms and indifferently carried her from the room.
Sephiroth carelessly followed the guards and fellow students from the room.
Lian Hua: He’s like a male Julia, only more passive.
In the infirmary, the relatively uninjured "specimens" were dumped onto cots. The two that were visibly injured were led over to another section, where their wounds would be tended to by a team of doctors who happened to be on call. "Please, Alpha 1...if you would just sit down over here..." the head doctor looked over at the guard carrying Julia. "And just put her down over there." She gestured at a chair over in the corner of the small room.
Lian Hua: They are placing a bleeding, heavily injured girl on a chair?
"This really isn't too bad..." Sephiroth commented as the doctor swabbed the sides of the metal and the then opening opened of the wound.
I'm beginning to feel like a Marty Stu for some reason. And my Masamune has been confiscated by the sporker. Hate.
"Not to too bad, eh?" She appeared to be amused. "Of course, I should expect nothing less from one as advanced as you are."
Nodding apathetically, he watched as the doctor braced one hand against his chest and wrapped the other hand around the picture-frame. She then gave a sharp yank, bringing the piece of metal cleanly out of his shoulder in a spurt of blood. A second doctor quickly placed a large piece of gauze over the wound to stem the bleeding. Then the first doctor chanted, "Cure 3!"
Lian Hua: I think this is a rather silly way to cast a spell. I don’t think mastering a materia is something which someone can do with mathematical precision (we’re talking outside the game mechanics). Can you say “my materia is at level two” in a story? Just another example of something which stands out like a sore thumb. I’ve read some stories in which the writers beautifully described the almost spiritual process of casting a spell and how the recipient felt the magic at work. Some of them even mentioned the risks of carelessly using healing materia, such as when a character’s bones had to be broken again so they could be put in place properly.
The small hole his shoulder vanished, leaving in its place a dull red scar.
Lian Hua: Maybe they’re using Senzu beans.
He knew that would fade with time, and shrugged it off. It wasn't like it was the first scar he'd acquired and it likely wouldn't be his last.
Lian Hua: A statement valid only if this story goes on for much longer.
Now that he was thinking clearly again, he looked over at Julia, worried. He couldn't remember what had happened in the fight after when Julia had slashed his back.
Lian Hua: True love, guys.
When the guard decided to move, Sephiroth got a clear view of his girlfriend FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU- By the ghost of Squaresoft, we get it already! You’re the queen of his apathetic soul, the only one he cares about, his forever soulmate, his equal, the only one worthy of being his girlfriend. You’ve etched this into our skulls with a red hot fire poker! She still had the table leg stuck in her stomach, and was hunched over the wound, blood dripping slowly from the corners of her mouth.
Lian Hua: She can technically say that she has three legs now.
"Oh God..." Sephiroth stared at Julia, appalled by what he had done. He had failed to eliminate her. He leapt off the table he was seated on, and made his way through the guards over to Julia.
"Alpha 1!" The head doctor snapped. "Get away from her until we've managed to heal her!"
"Yes ma'am." Sephiroth looked unpleased. "I suggest you hurry. Father-dearest will not be amused if you let one of his precious specimens die."
Lian Hua: But WE will!
"Of course." The threat Sephiroth had implied was not one the head doctor cared to bring into reality. The happier Professor Hojo was, the longer they were all guaranteed to live.
Lian Hua: Did he get a Death Note?
The guards picked up Julia and lay her on the head doctor's work table. She was by now not responding to what was going on around her, and was still bleeding heavily. The doctor looked over her injuries swiftly and nodded to herself. "You've made quite a mess of this one, Alpha 1."
Lian Hua: And for that we love you.
"Would you please address me by my name?" Sephiroth asked irritably.
Lian Hua: Say my name, say my name,/ When no one is around you, say baby I love you~
"No." The woman now poured a cleansing alcohol around the wound and then yanked the table leg from Julia's body, leaving her in a sad state of bipedalism. Immediately blood began to pour from the wound, bleeding even through the gauze that had been applied seconds after the table leg had been removed.
"Cure 3!" The head doctor chanted, knowing it wouldn't be enough.
Lian Hua: You can’t save everyone, doc. Just let her go. The fandom will rejoice understand.
The wound on her stomach began to partially close, but around halfway, the spell ceased working, leaving a smaller hole where the large one had once been. And it was still bleeding heavily.
Lian Hua: If it were Sephiroth’s car she was in, Julia would have a fit about staining the upholstery.
Julia was deathly pale as she lay there on the table. Blood loss was making her weaker and weaker, and she was finding it hard to focus. As the Cure Spell registered in her mind, she felt slightly better.
Lian Hua: No! Nooooooo!
"Cure 3!" The doctor tried again, hoping to seal the wound a little further.
Lian Hua: Just give it up, you Mary Sue resuscitator!
Fortunately this time around, the Cure Spell did what it was supposed to do, and the wound sealed completely, leaving the faint red scar in its place.
Lian Hua: This story practically defines the words “miracle cure.”
Professor Hojo strode into the room just as the doctors had finished their jobs. He looked irritable as he clutched his clipboard, and approached Sephiroth.
Hojo: Once again, you disappoint me, you insignificant worm.
Sephiroth: Like I care what you think, you can't do anything to me.
Hojo: (pauses) Wait, I thought I was supposed to be overly antagonistic now and you were supposed to be meek and helpless.
Sephiroth: No, we just got through one of your traumatic experiments, so now it's my turn to be needlessly antagonistic and you're supposed to be frustratingly impotent.
Hojo: But Julia is safe, which means I need to be a source of fake drama.
Sephiroth: Hmm... are you sure it's not time for you to be a source of bland comic relief?
Hojo: Positive. Reno just ran into a wall, for materia's sake!
Sephiroth: Right, right, forgot that. Okay, how about you be generally antagonistic about my performance, but not confrontational?
Hojo: Okay, I can work with that. And you'll?
Sephiroth: Hmm, I'll show my wishy-washiness by being concerned about Julia - in as apathetic a way as possible - while bragging about how I could have killed her.
Hojo: Okay, that'll work. I'll go out and come back in and we'll try again.
(little_masaouki, we love you!)
"While most of the specimens performed admirably, it is you I am most disappointed in." He stated, his face drawn with anger. "You tied with another specimen...one who has only undergone Makou Therapy Treatments twice."
"Give me a break, she's a Mary Sue! Plus, I didn't tie with her." Sephiroth said quietly. "I won."
"Oh did you now?"
"Yes. Look at how the final blows were placed: She hit my shoulder, and I impaled her on a table leg." He paused to shudder. "I could have easily killed her if the fight had been allowed to continue."
Hojo sniffed. "I still think you did not perform to your optimum level. You were holding back, weren't you?"
"...Yes. You can't expect me to fight my girlfriend, for God's sake! You senile old man, I have feelings for her!"
Lian Hua: Julia, on the other hand, did not hold back.
Now Hojo looked offended. "Senile? Me! It seems you've dug yourself a hole enough as it is, Alpha 1. I suggest you stop digging." He slapped Sephiroth, digging his nails into the teen's cheek as he did so.
Lian Hua: Every good professor learns to cut his nails short every week.
Did I just get bitchslapped by professor Hojo?
Don’t look, Sephiroth! Just close your eyes and think of a far, far away place.
Put that goddamn camera down, Genesis!!
What camera?
The one you're using to record every step of my humiliation.
...
The one you’re holding in your right hand.
Oh... how did that get there?
"Son of a bitch!" Sephiroth rose and stormed out of the room, shoving Hojo out of the way as he did so.
Hojo merely shrugged, jotting down some interesting points of the battle on his clipboard as he did so.
Julia was coming to, with the doctors in careful attendance. She heard Sephiroth leaving the room, and heard the scratching of Hojo's pen against the paper held fast by the clipboard. A small groan escaped her lips, and she tried to sit up, only to be stopped by the pain still lingering in her stomach. Her eyes opened, and she asked of the nearest person, "Is Sephiroth alright? I need to make sure my lifesource is intact!"
The head doctor laughed. "Alpha 1 is just fine. You probably will be a little sore for your encounter with the more nasty side of his personality...but that should pass within a few hours."
Lian Hua: I dare say she is the nasty side of his personality.
Having no more need to speak with these damned scientists who just saved her life, Julia rose and left the room, grimacing at the pain that slowed her down.
Watching the girl leave the room, Professor Hojo wrote down a few more interesting points on the rapid recovery of the specimens that had been the worst injured, and the slightly slower recoveries of the weaker specimens. For some, this meant an increase in Makou dosages, for others...The Professor began to laugh.
Lian Hua: Why is this a chapter, again? It could be easily concentrated into one or two paragraphs. Perhaps the author enjoys torturing not only her characters but her readers as well.
ONLY SIX CHAPTERS LEFT! There is still hope for me.
