A Web Serial Novel by Magic Conan 14 (aka Courage's admin) that can be read here
. However, in the spirit of Tumblr, the latest chapters appear first. It's a story which was first published in 2013.
In 2014, there are creatures called Barcodes which are released to keep the inhabitants of Sezaria under control. Kieran and Dawn, the two protagonists, defeat the Barcodes and relieve the citizens of their fear.Some of the citizens, including Dawn's father and Kieran, are the Dated - their wrists have their expiry date on them. So, Dawn and Kieran try to live their lives as much as they can before the latter dies. However, Kieran's sister Electra, who's one of the Barcode creators for a group called Alkahest, won't make it an easy task...
Expiry Date contains examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: Hideaki and Haruka get theirs in a side story called Different. Dawn receives a less extreme version in the first chapter and Daisuke gets his less extreme version during the fight focussing on him.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: ...everything but the "gentle" part works, because Dawn's an Action Girl who actually hogs the spotlight during the first Barcode battle.
- Captain Obvious: The creatures are called Barcodes because they have barcodes on them. See Temporal Theme Naming for another example.
- Cat Girl: Miyano-sensei, who was an experiment of Alkahest before becoming a teacher for the Dated.
- Humanity Ensues: Daisuke the bird can become human. Noting that he's very small as a bird, it's quite understandable.
- Improbable Weapon User: Daisuke uses a laptop in combat - not by hitting people with it, but by typing commands with it.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Kieran.
- Like You Were Dying: Kieran and Hideaki, both being Dated, can be said to have this bond. Kieran isn't much of a "life is fun" person, though.
- Magic Pants: Averted with Daisuke, who has to gain his clothes from "who-knows-where" and dress himself before anything happens.
- Next Sunday A.D.: Except for the Barcodes and the Dated, it's pretty much the same as the present - the end of the first chapter even mentions they still have to go to school. The world must have changed a lot in 2013.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Averted, big time.
- Part-Time Hero
- Royal Rapier: Kieran has not one, but two dual wielded.
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: the Automata, which were what the author was aiming for in Fan Fic/Experiment.
- Shout-Out: Of Dusk and Dawn, a fanfic by the same author, was published around the same time. With the Temporal Theme Naming mentioned below, it's got to be a coincidence.
- Shapeshifter Weapon: the Automata are this, with Haruka showing how it's done in Different.
- Summon to Hand: It's explained the weapons exist in a dimension of their own until the procedure to associate a weapon to a person is done, hence it being a property of all the items.
- Super Weapon, Average Joe: One trope for all the associated weapon users, but especially Hideaki.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Kieran's name, depending on source, will vary in meaning but will always have one thing in common: the word "dark" - obviously referring to a darker time of day like dusk. Dawn is...well, dawn.
- Title Drop: In the first Barcode battle. A bit ironic, if you observe it.Barcode: Your exss-piry date is today.Kieran: (after finishing off the Barcode and glancing down at his right wrist) Nope, it's your expiry date.
- Triple Shifter
- Urban Fantasy
- Your Days Are Numbered: The basis of this story.
