VOLUME #4 - EPISODE 12 [SERIES FINALE]
[CONTENT WARNING: MA17+]
[NARRATOR: Some battles end with explosions. Some end with treaties. And some end with impossible meetings in bakeries where mysterious figures watch from shadows carrying power that shouldn't exist—time energy itself, swirling around someone who's about to offer Riyura Shiko the most dangerous gift imaginable: the chance to save his ancestors. Today, the final agents turn from enemies to allies. Today, Muzaki and Kaiju's father-son bond finally reaches its conclusion. Today, graduation approaches and futures are decided. And today, a stranger with time manipulation abilities offers Riyura a choice that will reshape everything: save the 1876 founders by sending letters to the past, change their fate while keeping history the same, and create an impossible paradox where three dead founders live in the present day while remaining dead in history. Welcome to the finale. Welcome to when time becomes a weapon and salvation simultaneously. Welcome to the beginning of the next story.]
PART ONE: THE REMAINING AGENTS CHOOSE SANCTUARY
Monday. One week after Hansamu and Komedi joined the friend group. Final week of the school year before spring break.
Jeremy High's courtyard had become a meeting place for impossible conversations. Shinda Shokubutsu sat with Pan, learning to grow plants in the bakery—a small herb garden in the window boxes, proof that beautiful things could grow from ashes. Akuma Kodomo stood with Jimiko, both marked as demons by different circumstances, both learning that being marked didn't define your worthas a person.
And Gurōbu Ītā—released from psychiatric care with strict conditions and medication that helped separate reality from glove-conversations—sat awkwardly with Shoehead and Socksiku, three clothing-eaters learning that weird coping mechanisms didn't make them monsters.
[RIYURA'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: We did it. Actually did it. Turned all five government agents from enemies into allies. Stopped the exposure. Saved Jeremy High. Protected abilities' secrecy. Proved that broken people can choose connection over destruction. And now—now we're just existing. Going to classes. Planning graduation. Living like normal students except nothing about us is normal and nothing will ever be normal again. But that's—that's okay. Normal is overrated anyway.]
"So," Principal Jeremy said, standing before the assembled group—all the original friend members plus the five former agents plus Hansamu and Komedi, "the government has officially closed the investigation. They've determined that Jeremy High, while unusual, doesn't pose a threat requiring intervention. The agents have been reassigned. You're all—" He smiled slightly. "—you're all officially just students now. No more missions. No more investigations. Just—just people trying to graduate."
"What about our abilities?" Shinda asked. "What about the preservation technique? What about everything we learned?"
"It stays secret," Principal Jeremy confirmed. "The government prefers it that way. Easier to keep abilities classified than explain them to the public. Easier to let Jeremy High continue as a sanctuary than shut it down and scatter students who need a specialized environment. You're—you're safe. For now. As long as abilities stay hidden to."
"We can handle that," Riyura said. "We've been handling it. We'll keep handling it." The meeting dissolved into smaller conversations. Muzaki-sensei approached Riyura specifically.
"I wanted you to see this," Muzaki said, showing him photos on his phone. "Kaiju and me. Father and son. Actually functioning relationship. We're—we're planning a trip together this summer. Actual vacation. Actual quality time. Actual—" His voice caught. "—actual family."
"That's amazing," Riyura said genuinely.
"It's because of you," Muzaki replied. "Because you showed me that broken things can be repaired if people care enough to try. That PTSD doesn't make me a permanent failure as a father. That—that second chances exist even when you think you've destroyed everything."
He pulled out an envelope. "This is a recommendation letter. For university. For your future. You saved my relationship with my son. Least I can do is help your future."
"Thank you," Riyura said, taking the envelope with genuine gratitude.
As Muzaki walked away, Yakamira appeared beside Riyura. "Graduation is in two weeks. Have you thought about what comes after? University? Career? Future?"
"Honestly?" Riyura admitted. "I've been so focused on surviving senior year that I haven't thought past it. Haven't planned for a future because—because planning felt presumptuous when we kept almost dying entirely."
"That's fair," Yakamira said. "But we survived. We're here. Future is—future is actually possible now. Should probably plan for it." "What about you?" Riyura asked. "What are you doing? You came back from death. You could do anything."
"I'm staying at Jeremy High," Yakamira said simply. "Taking gap year. Helping Principal Jeremy. Learning more about the preservation technique. Trying to understand what I am now—living person or preserved echo or something between. Figured I should understand myself before planning my future."
"That's—that's very you," Riyura said with a smile. "Analytical even about your own impossible resurrection." "Someone has to be," Yakamira replied.
PART TWO: THE GRADUATION THAT MEANT EVERYTHING
Two weeks later. Graduation day. Jeremy High's gymnasium decorated with school colors, filled with families and students and the particular energy that came from endings that were also beginnings.
Riyura sat with his class—all the broken people who'd survived together, who'd become family through shared trauma, who'd chosen sanctuary over destruction.
Principal Jeremy gave his speech about resilience, about students who'd overcome impossible odds, about how this graduating class had faced challenges beyond normal a high school experience and had survived anyway. He didn't mention abilities, preservation techniques, government investigations, or the fact that several students had literally died and come back. But everyone who knew understood the subtext.
Names were called. Diplomas distributed. Futures officially beginning. "Riyura Shiko," Principal Jeremy announced.
Riyura walked across stage—purple hair catching light, yellow star hairclip positioned naturally instead of crookedly, red bow tie present because it was part of his identity now instead of performance armor. He accepted his diploma, looked out at the crowd, saw his mother crying happy tears, saw his friends cheering, saw Yakamira giving a subtle nod of approval.
Saw a mysterious figure standing at the back of the gymnasium. Someone he'd never seen before. Someone who shouldn't be there. Someone whose presence made the air around them shimmer slightly—almost like time energy itself was swirling around them.
The figure smiled at Riyura, then disappeared into the shadows before he could process what he'd seen.
[RIYURA'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Okay. So. Graduated high school. Survived four years at Jeremy High including: transferring with purple hair, making weird friends, exposing father's corruption network, brother dying and coming back, government investigation, preservation curse revelation, turning enemy agents into allies that the government luckily accepted they could quit, but only because they caused way to much chaos for their buisness because they were such good agents to let go of, but you can't hold onto things forever. And It's obvious that's why considering them they were willing to let go of some of their best agents. And so their story as agents ended. And general chaos. And now—now there's a mysterious person with time energy watching my graduation. I can tell that's what he is just by looking at him staring into my eyes and mine staring into his. This is—this is fine. This is extremely normal. Just another Jeremy High mystery to solve. At least I can graduate before dealing with whatever impossibility comes next.]
After ceremony, after photos and congratulations and promises to stay in touch, Riyura found a note in his diploma folder. Handwritten in elegant script:
"Congratulations on surviving. On graduating. On choosing hope when destruction seemed easier. You've earned rest. But if you're interested in one more impossibility—in saving ancestors who died in 1896, in giving founders a second chance they never got—meet me at Pan's bakery tonight. 8 PM. Come alone or bring Yakamira if you need analytical support. Either way, we need to talk about time, about fate, about changing history without changing it. —Jikan Sōshin-sha"
PART THREE: THE MEETING THAT CHANGED PAST AND FUTURE
8 PM. Pan's bakery. Riyura arrived with Yakamira because facing impossible time-manipulation offers alone seemed foolish even by Jeremy High standards.
The mysterious figure from graduation sat at a corner table, and up close Riyura could see them properly.
"Riyura Shiko," the figure said, voice carrying harmonics that suggested they were speaking from multiple moments simultaneously. "And Yakamira Shiko. The preserved brother. Perfect. You both need to hear this."
"Who are you?" Riyura asked carefully.
"Jikan Sōshin-sha," they replied. "Time Manipulator. I have the ability to send objects—but not people—backward through time. Letters. Photos. Small items. Anything that can carry information. I've been watching Jeremy High for years. Watching bloodlines. Watching the preservation curse. Watching broken people survive. Because I'm a student to. And a rather intelegant one too, so I could tell exactly what was really happening. And that allowed me to not be willing to get involved for other reasons that may get me killed. And I wanna live after all. And I've been—I've been waiting for the right moment. Right person. Right opportunity to offer an impossible choice."
They pulled out photographs—the ones Principal Jeremy had shown of the 1876 founders. Hikari Shiko, Yami Hakizage, Kage Poleheadedsandwich. Looking human in these photos, before abilities transformed them into demons.
"They didn't deserve what happened," Jikan said. "They built a sanctuary. Helped hundreds. Chose hope despite trauma. And they—they experienced several years of burning alive because the preservation technique trapped them in death. That's not justice. That's not fair. That's just—cruel."
"What are you proposing?" Yakamira asked analytically.
"I'm proposing," Jikan said, "that Riyura writes letters. Letters sent back to before the founders became friends. Letters that reach the founders before they commit suicide. Letters that—that give them an alternative. Give them an escape that doesn't involve death or preservation. Gives them a future."
"That would change history," Yakamira said immediately. "Create a paradox. If they don't die, if the preservation technique isn't created through their suicide, then—then everything changes. The bloodline. The curse. Everything we've experienced."
"Not if we're clever," Jikan corrected. "Not if the letters create a specific outcome: the founders fake their deaths. Create the preservation technique as planned—that part stays the same. But instead of actually dying, instead of burning alive, they escape. They hide. They live in secret for many years. And then—then they reveal themselves now. In the present day. Join their descendants at Jeremy High. Meet Riyura. Meet everyone. Get the second chance they deserved."
"That's—that's impossible," Riyura said.
"It's a paradox," Jikan agreed. "But it's a stable paradox. History records them as dead—that stays true. Preservation technique still gets created—that stays true. Your experiences, your bloodline, everything you've survived—that all stays true. The only difference is the founders didn't actually die. They just let history think they died while they lived in hiding waiting for the right moment to return."
"Why now?" Yakamira demanded. "Why this specific moment?"
"Because," Jikan said, "because you graduated. Because you survived. Because you proved that the bloodline curse can be broken through connection instead of destruction. Because—because they deserve to see what their sanctuary became. Deserve to meet descendants who chose hope. Deserve to witness that their suffering wasn't meaningless."
They pulled out blank paper and pens. "I can send letters back. Small objects. Information. But I can't change what the letters say. That's—that's up to you. You write instructions. You tell them how to fake deaths while creating the preservation technique. You give them a plan that keeps history the same while letting them survive. You—you save your ancestors while making them believe that the letters are really from the future. Because they are gonna be of course."
"And if I refuse?" Riyura asked.
"Then they stay dead," Jikan said simply. "Then many years of burning alive was their only fate. Then the preservation curse continues without the founders ever knowing what it became. Then—then history stays cruel for their fates. That's fine too. That's your choice."
"There's consequence though," Jikan continued. "Always consequence with time manipulation. You'll forget doing this. The act of changing the timeline—even a stable paradox—it erases your memory of the change. You'll write the letters, send them back, and immediately forget you did it. Only way you'll know is when the founders arrive in the present day and tell you: 'Your letters saved us. Your plan worked. Thank you.'"
"So I won't remember saving them?" Riyura asked.
"You won't remember the act of saving," Jikan confirmed. "But you'll remember the result. You'll meet them. Know them. Have a relationship with ancestors who should be dead. That's—that's the trade. Lose memory of writing letters, gain relationship with founders you saved."
Yakamira leaned forward. "I'll remember. I'm not doing the writing. I'm just witnessing. So I'll remember both timelines—original and changed. I'll remember Riyura writing letters and sending them back. I'll be—I'll be the anchor. Proof it happened even when the timeline says it didn't."
"Exactly," Jikan confirmed. Riyura looked at the blank paper. At the pen. At an impossible choice.
Save his ancestors. Give them a second chance. Meet the founders who'd created everything. But lose the memory of saving them. Trust that Yakamira would remember. Trust that the letters he wrote would be clever enough to create a stable paradox. Trust that—that changing the past wouldn't destroy the present.
"What would I write?" Riyura asked. "What instructions would keep history the same while letting them survive?"
"That's—that's up to you," Jikan said. "That's the test. Can you write a plan that fakes their deaths convincingly enough that history records them as dead? Can you give them instructions that let them create the preservation technique while not actually using it on themselves? Can you provide them with a massive survival plan that ends with them revealing themselves now? Can you—can you save them while keeping everything you've experienced true?"
Riyura picked up the pen.
EPILOGUE: THE LETTERS THAT REWROTE FATE
Riyura wrote for hours. Yakamira beside him, helping strategize, pointing out timeline inconsistencies, ensuring the plan worked. The letters explained everything:
"Dear Hikari, Yami, and Kage,
I am your descendant. Riyura Shiko. Writing from March 2026. Many years in your future. I know you're planning to die. Know you're going to burn yourselves alive to escape abilities that are consuming you. Know you're going to create the preservation technique and trap yourselves in many years of a crazy death experience.
Don't. Please don't. I'm sending this alternative. I'm sending this plan.
Create the preservation technique as planned—that part is crucial. Build it into Jeremy High's foundation exactly as you intended. But don't use it on yourselves. Instead, fake your deaths. Use Kage's preservation power to create three perfect corpses—preserved bodies that look exactly like you but aren't actually you. Burn those bodies. Let history record you as dead.
Then escape. Go into hiding. Live secretly for the next couple of years. Don't reveal yourselves until March 2026. Don't contact descendants until I graduate Jeremy High. Don't—don't let history know you survived. And make sure you don't die from old age either.
I know this seems impossible. I know a hundred years is long time to hide. But I'm including instructions. I'm including resources. I'm including everything you need to survive in secret while letting history believe you died.
Why am I doing this? Because you deserve a second chance. Because seventy years burning alive isn't justice. Because the sanctuary you built became a home for broken people—became a place where I survived, where my brother came back from death, where government agents became friends, where hope worked even when hope seemed foolish.
You deserve to see that. Deserve to know your suffering created something beautiful. Deserve to meet your descendants and witness that the bloodline curse got broken through connection instead of destruction.
Please. Please take this chance. Please fake your deaths. Please survive. Please come to the present day and meet us. We're—we're waiting for you. Even though we don't know it yet. Even though the timeline will make us forget you were ever supposed to be dead. We're waiting.
Instructions enclosed. Resources provided. Trust me. Trust this works. Trust that in 100 years, when you reveal yourselves, we'll welcome you with open arms because that's what Jeremy High does. We accept broken people. Even broken people who've been dead for 100 years.
See you in 2026. See you soon. See you in a future you created. And deserve to witness not from a gruesome death point of view. But a living and heartfelt one.
—Your descendant, Riyura Shiko"
Riyura attached detailed instructions. How to create preserved corpses. How to fake burning deaths. How to escape without being noticed. How to survive 100 years or so in secret, at least somewhere around then. How to re-enter society in 2026. How to prove they were real founders despite being historically dead. Everything.
He sealed the letters. Handed them to Jikan Sōshin-sha. "This will work?" Riyura asked.
"This will create a stable paradox," Jikan confirmed. "History will record them as dead because of preserved corpses they'll be using. That's true. But they'll also be alive because they escaped and survived 100 years in secret. Also true. Both timelines exist simultaneously. That's—that's successful time manipulation. That's changing fate while keeping it the same."
"When will I forget?" Riyura asked.
"The moment I send the letters back," Jikan replied. "The moment the timeline changes, your memory changes. You'll forget writing these. Forget this conversation. Forget meeting me. Only thing you'll remember is graduating and going home. Then, in approximately three weeks, three strangers will arrive at Jeremy High claiming to be the 1876 founders. And you'll—you'll have to decide if you believe them."
"But Yakamira will remember," Riyura confirmed.
"I'll remember," Yakamira said firmly. "I'll be proof. I'll verify their story. I'll—I'll make sure everyone knows you saved them even though you won't remember doing it."
"Then do it," Riyura said to Jikan. "Send the letters. Change fate. Save them."
Jikan Sōshin-sha held the letters, time energy swirling around them intensely. "Sending now. Backward 100 years ago. March. Letters arriving at Jeremy High addressed to the founders before they became the founders. Timeline changing. Paradox stabilizing. Memory altering. Goodbye, Riyura Shiko. Thank you for choosing hope one more time."
The letters vanished in a burst of time energy. And Riyura blinked. "Why are we at Pan's bakery?" Riyura asked, confused. "Wasn't graduation this afternoon? Did we—did we come here after? I don't—I don't remember—"
"We came to celebrate," Yakamira said smoothly, covering for the timeline change. "You graduated. We got bread. We're—we're planning summer. That's all. Nothing weird happened. Nothing at all."
But Yakamira's eyes held knowledge Riyura couldn't access. Held memory of letters and time manipulation and a choice to save ancestors who'd been dead for 100 years or so but would soon arrive alive. Yakamira also knew Jikan hid for a reason, which was to not let Riyura know he was there or even existed at all until he learned about him again. As Yakamira could tell he was a secretive person. And he preffered to stay that way with promises and sometimes not promises. But this case was one of those very promises. And Yakamira could see it all in his time energy swirling eyes.
In three weeks, everything would change again. In three weeks, the 1876 founders would reveal themselves. In three weeks, the next story would begin.
But tonight—tonight Riyura just celebrated graduation with his impossible brother, ate bread that tasted like surviving, and looked forward to a future that would be more complicated than he could possibly imagine.
[SERIES FINALE NARRATOR: And so ends Volume 4. The Battle of Jeremy High. Government agents turned allies. Abilities kept secret. Preservation curse explained. Four abandoned sons choosing hope. Graduation achieved. And in the shadows, in the margins of history, Riyura rewrote fate for ancestors he'd never met—changed the timeline while keeping it the same, created a paradox where dead founders lived, set up the next story. "THE NAMES... RIYURA SHIKO! - The 1876 Generation" begins soon. Where we'll see the founders' original story—but with Riyura's influence woven throughout, with letters arriving at crucial moments, with fate bending to accommodate impossible survival. The next generation's tale awaits. Thank you for surviving this far. The story continues. Always. Forever. Stay with us.]
[POST-CREDITS SCENE]
And that—that was enough. That was always enough.
And as they had fun eating bread and celebrating graduation, a mysterious shadow watched from a corner from a distance from the bakery, hidden from their view with a smile on their face. With power swirling around them too. Almost like time energy itself.
Jikan Sōshin-sha watched the timeline settle. Watched the paradox stabilize. Watched letters arrive in 1896 and watched three founders read them with desperate hope.
Watched history record them as dead while they escaped into 100 years or whatever of secret survival.
Watched a future Riyura had created—a future where broken people got second chances, where bloodline curses got broken, where hope worked even when hope required impossible time manipulation.
"See you in three weeks," Jikan whispered to the founders existing in 1896. "See you when you arrive in 2026. See you when the timeline fully integrates and Riyura meets his ancestors he doesn't remember saving."
The next story was beginning. And it would be beautiful.
END OF SERIES: THE NAMES... RIYURA SHIKO! - VOLUME 4
NEXT SERIES: THE NAMES... RIYURA SHIKO! - THE 1876 GENERATION
Coming Soon: Where we witness the founders' original story—with Riyura's letters arriving at crucial moments, with fate bending to accommodate survival, with three doomed founders choosing life because their descendant gave them an alternative. The past and present collide. The next chapter begins.
[FINAL IMAGE: The poster showing Riyura in front with his star hairclip and red bow tie, Yakamira behind him wearing his blue energy mask, and Subarashī doing his explosive heroic pose—all three standing before Jeremy High School with silhouettes of friends and allies and ancestors yet to arrive filling the background. The series logo emblazoned across the bottom. A story of survival. A story of hope. A story that continues.]