I've been working a lot on this chapter, even though it's not really that big. I noticed an error in chapter 2. Where Kakuzawa gets a call from his new assistant, he seems surprised by Shirakawa's and Isobe's death. But in episode 13 it's seen that Isobe already informed him about Shirakawa's fate. I corrected this and simply removed the new assistant character Misaki. Now he just talks to what seems a member of the SAT, to retreat. Giving way to his special team project.
This chapter in general is very important, marking the start of a pivoting point in the storyline. Some of you might not like it, but it's key to further events.
Enjoy.
She roamed past the many stalls that portrayed the general image the Kamakura festival gave off. But none of that could even entertain her to the slightest. A more intense feeling of instinct drew her to seeking Kouta. An instinct called: being in love.
~"Stupid! Not here!", she suddenly hears. Turning her head towards where it came from, she soon knew why it drew her attention in the first place. She recognized his voice. Kouta's voice. But unlike she expected, with another girl. Her heart both raged and cried over the sight.
~"But I don't wanna be away from you until next summer!".
~"Come on, stop crying!".
'Why', she thought. The instant changed her heart as if injected with a viscous purple-violet venom. Not only had it opened the gate to a more monstrous part of her consciousness, it broke her heart and mind, seeing Kouta liking another girl. She could have cried just there and then, but something... something inside her made her think otherwise. Something inside her started emerging, growing to it's full potential.
… ~'Liar'.
"Goodbye Kouta".
"H-Huh?".
A bright pale reddish light filled the chamber and Kouta soon found himself lying on the ground. His ears plagued by a tinnitus ring.
"K-Kouta! KOUTA!".
His hearing soon came back as he heard Yuka call him. "W-What is it?", he replied. He slowly got up from his former position. Still a bit disoriented, he looks up at Yuka
"You've been sleeping late again, silly!".
"Huh? So it was a dream after all?".
Yuka frowned. "What do you mean dream?".
Kouta shook his head in disbelief. "How's nyu? - ".
Yuka looked down for a second.
"Umm well, about that...". Kouta frowned. "Uh?"
"Well she's got her fever back again", Yuka says. Slightly skew-faced.
…
RESEARCH FACILITY
Professor Kaito, head of the diclonii study and research team was in his office busy writing his weekly report. As always punctual and without errors.
"
We're making progress. The diclonii seem to require maturity to endure the removal of their horns. As we've tried our experiments on many of the younger girls, we've been able to conclude that they should at least be 15 of age or older.
Because of the lack of such specimina we've asked another sector of the facility, mainly occupied with the biological process, to set us up with a few diclonii. As far as I know we were promised 8. We have one girl with only one horn and she's still alive and not paralysed as far as we know.
The vector matrix detector noticed a drop in activity. The frontal lobes seem to have swollen severely, but we can't move in to stop the swelling and bleeding, for we don't know what would happen if we tried that. Are her vectors working? I would like to be able to say that removing the second horn would disable their vector capability. Thus rendering the current diclonius on the loose, useless. We're gladly awaiting the 8 specimina we've been promised.
Professor Kaito
"
As he shuts his computer off, an assistant walks up to him. "Professor, I have to show you something!".
The professor gets up without asking what it was and followed his assistant to his desk.
"Look at this". He points at a screen showing a ct-scan of the diclonius they were working with.
"She is healing at such incredible rate, and without treatment. This truly is fascinating".
Kaito chuckled, then went to take a closer look.
"Fascinating, get ready to shoot off that second horn by tomorrow!".
"P-Professor, she might be healing … B-But she's still very weak-"
"Just do it, we're running behind on our schedule after all!".
…
Meanwhile at the anti-diclonius sector of the facility, professor Yukinari finalizes his training program.
"My dearest members, the time has come for me to show you something important".
As he steps off, implying the men to follow him, he makes a gesture to the guard at a large sealed door to open it up for them.
As it opened, it revealed a control room with tons of screens and equipment, and a crew already monitoring them.
"This is the control room from which we will be working with you closely. With your suit's vector matrixing ability, it can detect a vector matrix from just a few miles away".
One of the men raised his hand slowly. "Yes what is it?".
"What is a vector matrix?", he shyly inquires.
"You don't know that? You've been in this training program for this long and still don't know about that?".
But to the professor's surprise, all the others were equally unfamiliar with the term.
Upon letting out a sigh of frustration, the professor explains:
"Basicly vector matrices are generated around a diclonius which roughly extends their 'reach' with about 300-400 metres. The actual phenomenon on it's own is simply some jittered electromagnetic dispersion. We don't know why. It's just there. When two diclonii are placed within each other's reach, the energy sort of interacts with one another. We built some sensory equipment that picks up general strings of energy from this matrix. This way we can get a fix on their location, when we are within range".
Before handing over his clipboard to his assistant, which he usually never does, he finally puts off his reader glasses.
"Gentlemen, the time has come for your deployment!".
…
MAPLE INN
It's a beautiful morning and the members in the inn are sitting together for breakfast. All except for Nyu.
Mayu thinks deeply. "Umm, so.. How's Nyu getting along?", she asks.
Yuka looks up kind of worried. "Hmm, well she still has her fever. About that, it's been a long time since I-".
"I'll go check on her", Kouta suddenly states, and stands up, irritating Yuka slightly.
Nana keeps feasting upon everything on the table as usual, but is clearly distracted from her surroundings as Mayu notices her hunger.
"Geez Nana-san, careful, you might choke on something", Mayu says smilingly.
"Hey, I'm not that clumsy", Nana replies and giggles.
Meanwhile Kouta opens the door to Nyu's room.
'She's still asleep. Best leave her alone then'.
He goes a little closer to look at her, and smile, when suddenly, she slowly opened her left eye.
At the table Nana kept vigorously eating away when suddenly she felt something crop up in her, and in all her shock, she spewed what she ate out towards Mayu.
"EWAAA, NANA-SAN".
Kouta cups Nyu's cheek as she slowly awakes. "K-Kouta".
"Hey-Hey, easy now Nyu, keep resting", he says cheerfully.
But she seemed more in sort of panic. "Kouta!".
"N-Nani? What is it?".
She lifts up from her futon, grabs her horns. "What happened!", she shouts out.
"Uhh? What do you mean?".
She thought deeply to herself. 'What am I doing here?'.
"I blacked out again".
"Hee?", Kouta said.
But suddenly she felt something grow inside her.
She mumbles something, but seems to lose her power.
"Hey now, just lay down, we have to get that fever down!".
"Kouta! If I were to hurt you.. Please don't hesitate!".
"What are you saying! Just get some sleep now... Kaede".
Upon hearing him saying her true name, she blushed, closed her eyes and fell asleep again.
…
A few days pass by, but her fever does not seem to be going down too easily. Moreover, she remains unresponsive for most of the time.
"Shouldn't we be taking her to a hospital Kouta?".
But every time the request rose up, Kouta generally denied the thought of even bringing her out in public these days. The day he went to go after Nana really freaked him out.
Yuka also noticed Kouta whispered the name "Kaede". But she wasn't sure if she heard it correctly. She herself was very worried, but Kouta seemed to be torn apart by seeing Nyu like this.
It was only in one of the evenings they least expected it, something horrible happened. When Kouta was about to just check on her one last time before going to bed, he had noticed, to his great shock, that she was in fact not there anymore!
"Yuka-san! Come quickly!".
The two looked at her empty futon in most disbelief. But Kouta turned away and ran outside.
"Kouta, wait up!", Yuka yelled.
Then suddenly Mayu came around. "Umm, guys are you looking for Nana too?".
"Hee?", Kouta shouted.
"She's not in her bed as I expected, it was empty when I entered the room. I thought she was taking a bath..."
"Damn! What's going on!", Kouta shouts.
"Ok, Mayu, you stay here while me and Yuka go search her, good?".
Mayu nods, and the other two fly off into the dark night.
…
Nana ran constantly. Keen on catching up with Lucy. Remembering that horrible feeling as she exited her bath. She felt Lucy. But there was something different. Something ferocious about her. Something was clearly not right. The days before she sensed Lucy, weakly fading away. But this signal was so strong it startled her in every way.
Then there she stood. Looking down on her, Lucy. She was wandering slowly downhill by the street. Nana didn't feel she was 'noticed' by her yet. But she took careful distance. 'What's up with her! She was nearly unconscious all that time and suddenly she walks around like this?'.
To Nana's dismay, a car, oncoming Lucy's direction, had to brake hard. Smearing the road with rubber. "Oy, what's up with you, can't you use the sidewalks up there?", the annoyed driver yells at her. Nana was afraid. She felt something about Lucy's presence, that made her worry about this particular situation.
Then suddenly, the car gets lifted up. "Aaaah, what the fuck is this". Then gets smashed into oblivion. A thousand pieces fly away as the thing crashes into the walls next to the road with incredible speed.
Nana was determined. She had to do something quick, so she jumped down to interfere.
…
"Nyuuu? Nyuuu!", Yuka yells as they run down around the area. Having run for about 30 minutes flat now, Kouta sits down to catch some breath. "It's useless". Yuka stops and turns around towards him. Kouta lets down a tear. "We've lost her...".
"Kouta! Come on now, you know how she always returned before", Yuka says. Trying to cheer him up.
"It's not like that now", he answers. "It's not like that at all! She's not Nyuu anymore".
"Uh?". Yuka frowns.
"She's...". Kouta pauzes.
Then the two hear something like an explosion.
"What was that", Yuka yells.
Kouta jumps up, "Let's check it out".
…
"STOP", Nana shouts, interrupting Lucy's further destruction of the car that 'bothered' her. She stopped, still facing her back towards Nana. When she turned around towards her, Nana was shocked to see that her eyes, had shifted into a purple-like color. "W-What the..", she murmurs.
"What did you say?", Lucy said.
"I said stop it!". Still determined, after all this time, that her words would change people's minds.
"You're a pretty girl...", Lucy chuckles.
Nana, clearly surprised by her weird answer, bites her teeth.
"...Too bad I'll have to rip your beauty apart now".
Her vectors emerge at light-speed towards Nana, who barely escapes where they blow into the ground, reducing it to a dust-cloud that rushes upwards.
Just then Kouta and Yuka run around the corner. Finding the two. "Nana what's going on here!".
But before she could answer, and through her distraction, Nana received a full hit from one of Lucy's vectors. Blowing her into the wall she stood in front of.
"NANA-SAN", Yuka yells and runs up towards her.
"No Yuka", Kouta shouts and takes her by her arm and pulls her backwards. Kouta knew of the strange power. He saw it before. That day. And Nana showed it to him too. He knew that something was different about Kaede too.
When he looked up to her, he realised what it was. Her eyes were different. 'What in hell's name'.
But before he could think any further, she jumped up into the air towards where Nana crashed.
Yuka looked in disbelief. "Nyu.. can fly?".
"That's not Nyu Yuka", Kouta yells and pulls her back even more.
"What are you saying Kouta, we have to help them...".
"YUKA". Kouta holds her in front of him to look deeply into her eyes.
Meanwhile Lucy approaches Nana, laying on the floor. Her head was bleeding severely, as it took most of the impact.
"W-Who are you", Nana asked.
Lucy grinned. "You should know that by now".
Nana opened her eyes widely. 'No it can't be. It's THAT. It has taken her over?'.
Then she feels Lucy's vectors grab her by her throat, choking her.
"You should be happy I'm killing you like this. I'm just not in the mood to see your flesh, when you're such a beautiful girl".
Just then Kouta ran over. "HEY LEAVE HER".
"Huh?". Lucy turned around. Only to be greeted by a slap in her face.
"I told you not to kill anybody anymore. And yet here you are! You promised me something and broke it already?".
Lucy smiled. "Hah. You think I promised that? That foolish girl did, giving up her sole purpose. I couldn't let that happen".
Kouta couldn't really understand.
"Kouta!", Nana shouts as she gets up. "RUN AWAY, IT'S NOT LUCY!".
Lucy turns back to Nana, and pushed her back into the wall with her four vectors.
Nana used her vectors to countermeasure Lucy's attacks, but felt them being stopped by her vectors. 'Even more hands?', she thought. 'She has 8 already?'.
Then, another few vectors grabbed loose stones from the wall, and repeatedly started throwing them at Nana's head.
Kouta watched it happen in front of him once more. Something dear to him was being destroyed by her. Again. Stone after stone. He couldn't bear to watch no more.
He ran up and pushed her to the ground. "STOP IT ALREADY". But unlike before, it didn't bring her back. In fact she smiled. "Is this the boy she was so keen on seeing all that time?" Kouta looks down on her in disbelief, as she gets up on her feet again. "You... were nothing but a waste of time".
It started getting clearer. If Nyu was another personality, then the person in front of him, must also be. Her eyes were also different in color, which freaked Kouta out even more. But then he felt something grab his arms and legs. As he was being lifted up into the air, he felt something pull outwards. Then all the sudden he gets plunged back to the ground, crashing him into the concrete.
It set him into a more drowsy state. Suddenly remembering Kaede tell him: "Kouta! If i were to hurt you...".
Upon getting up, much to Kouta's dismay, Yuka ran in as well. "Kouta!".
"Stay away Yuka!".
But it was too late, Yuka too, received a full blow into her stomach from one of Lucy's vectors. Just then when she was about to finish her, Nana's vectors push Lucy away and press her into the wall.
"I have a longer reach than you, so don't try anything funny", Nana says.
But it only made Lucy grin. And just then a set of purple-colored hands emerge from her back.
'You can see them?', Nana thought.
Yuka and Kouta seemed to see them too. "What the -". Just before Yuka would say they looked beautiful, their true destructive force landed upon Nana, outreaching what she had anticipated. Throwing her away downhill. Leaving her to slide 20 metres on harsh asphalt.
Just before Kouta could shout out, he sees the violet hands approach him. Their touch scorched his skin. The temperature was so high. They pulled him, making him fall onto his back, and then sliding him towards her feet.
He couldn't help but cry in fear. "K-Kaede! Please don't -". But just then he feels her vectors twitch his fingers, breaking them!
"AARRRGGH".
She positioned herself to stand right above him. "I'll break every bone in your body, just as you broke her heart. A pity she isn't here to enjoy it".
"...S-She wouldn't...!".
"What did you say now? I thought I heard you say something".
She lifts Kouta up with one vector, by the throat, choking him. "... I-tai..."
Kouta looked down behind Lucy. Where Nana lay, motionless. To his left, Yuka too stopped moving from where she collapsed to the floor. Tears came into his eyes. 'Is this how it ends Kaede? When are you coming to save me. Nyu... Nyu help... me'.
And then he plunged to the street, feeling that Lucy had lost her grip on him. She stood in front of where he lay, covering her eyes.
Then out of the blue, what seemed a million ruby-red hands emerge from her back out into the night sky. Kouta looked up in disbelief. It was her, he was sure of it. As if thinking about her, had summoned her.
She removed her hands from her eyes, and revealed how they regained their original ruby color. But as soon as she came to her full consciousness, she slipped away again, and fell to her knees. "... Nyu".
Nana opened her eyes. In complete state of pain, she noticed the previous presence, was gone. However, and still alarmed, she felt Lucy's normal presence appear. She turned around and noticed how her legs were bleeding intensely. Flesh scraped from the asphalt. She started crying in panic.
"Kouta...", Kaede uttered.
"..." Kouta did not say anything.
Kaede looked around her. A scene of destruction. Then back at him. She was completely destroyed by this herself. She knew very well this would happen. Her conscious mind was falling apart for some time now. It was split once more. Giving way to a darker part of her. She knew Kouta would fall to her destructive force. But this signed away the peace she was hoping for, forever.
She looked down in utter shame to what she had done, even if she herself wasn't responsible for it. Kouta, stood up, holding his left hand, which she had broken the index and middle fingers of.
"After all this...", he said. "... After all what we've been through. After what you've promised... Unforgivable".
She gaped in shock. Tears rolled down her face as every second the realization became clearer. This was it. It's over for good. She screwed it up. But all she could do was start crying aloud. She held her hands onto her horns, damning them, damning herself! She shortly recalls herself saying "What's wrong with this magician... Why can't I save this girl's life", instantly recalling all her sad memories, caused by those horns, by her difference to the rest, by her rotten childhood. "If you're miserable, you only need something more miserable than yourself".
'But what am I? Am I really a monster?'. She suddenly finds herself in the dark-purple void of her own mind. Appearing in front of her, the dark entity. "You know he doesn't love you anymore. It's over", she chuckled. "You're lonely now. All alone. Forever. There's no place for you in this world. What did you think anyway? With those horns". 'That voice again', she thought. 'I'm not going to talk to it'.
"All you have to do is kill and destroy, with your powers this world will bend to your own liking". She suddenly feels an urge in her stomach. Just like a sexual urge, but yet this urge's purpose was to kill. 'Maybe I should...'. But before anything else happened, the purple-hazed void turned more ruby, and another entity appeared. It was bright of light, and did not speak like the other voice did and rather used the language of intent. 'What is that'. She felt all the depths of her mind warm up again. Yet then again, the voice fought back. She watched how it happened as if in front of her. But the voice, in her mind, left her alone. '... Nyu'.
She snapped back, still on her knees. Kouta still looking down to the ground, avoiding to look at her.
"Kouta... I-I'm sorry".
But a less forgiving Kouta did not seem to pick up on that. He turned around, and ran towards Yuka. Kaede looked up to the night sky. 'This... Why'. She got up on her feet, and walked away, not noticing Kouta watching upon her.
"Yuka, are you ok?". She slowly opened her eyes. "Kouta!".
"It's ok Yuka, everything is over now".
But all Yuka could do was let out a tear. "Nyu... Why did she do this".
"Easy now, let's go back first".
Kouta helped her get on her feet and held her arm around his shoulder.
"U-Uh? Where's Nana?".
…
Kaede further roamed the streets, nearly running into trash bins as the tears in her eyes blurred her vision. What she hadn't yet noticed, was that her follower, Nana-san, had been sneaking up on her.
She halted, and sat down at a nearby bench, covering her eyes. Nana approached, deliberately blowing her own cover.
"Huh?". Kaede noticed her approach.
Then Nana stood in front of her. With her body severely injured, looking angry.
"Go ahead. You can kill me if you want to. It doesn't matter to me anymore".
Nana, who hadn't expected that answer, tried to further scare Kaede with her intentions.
"If you're like that, I might as well just kill you quickly".
"...". Kaede didn't answer, she looked down to her feet. Nana summoned her vectors. Grabbing a blood vessel inside Kaede's head. "I'll just do it quick and painlessly", she said determinedly. But to her greater surprise, Kaede seemed ready for it. Carelessly breathing her last breaths, crying her last tears. "Ok, I'm going to do it now", Nana then said. As if she was afraid to actually do it. Yet again, not one twitch of response was seen from Kaede. It surprised Nana.
"Didn't you make a lot of bad memories too Nana?", Kaede said.
"Huh?".
Waiting for an explanation that never came, Nana grew angry.
"It's not like you're the victim here!".
"It's not like that... But in THAT place, didn't you too, make a lot of horrible memories?".
Nana halted. 'What's with her all of the sudden'.
"Didn't you wish, you never had horns, and lived happily and normally with a family?".
Nana thought about Papa.
"Papa...", she mumbled.
"I might wish that, but it's not like that! I have family! It's Kouta, Yuka, and Mayu".
"You're lucky. You can live the life that... I cannot", Kaede said, still looking coldly out to her front.
"Lucy...".
Nana started feeling pity for her. She went to sit next to her.
Then it was quiet for some time.
"Hey, Lucy. That person back then, it was that right?".
Kaede looked up at her, shocked. 'How does she … ?'.
"How did you know?".
"It didn't feel like you", Nana calmly said.
Lucy didn't sense as much as Nana did. She was sure about that thus far. She hadn't even noticed Nana was on to her just a few minutes ago. Maybe because she wasn't in full control of herself anyway.
"Do you... have that voice... too?", Kaede asked.
Nana looked at her.
"My whole life I've been in that place. Never before have I been out here. In there I had papa. But out here I'm all alone now. This voice has been calling for revenge, but every time I would listen to Papa, because he loved me!".
Kaede looked at Nana too now.
Nana continued: "Don't you have somebody that loves you too? Just listen to them, and forget about the voice".
"It's not like that", Kaede answered. "With these new horns I feel like I'm not in control anymore. It's a true nightmare".
Suddenly she feels Nana's hand touch hers. "Huh?".
"Love and happiness is what killed the voice for me. I really think it's what you need".
But Nana never really had a voice in her head. Something dark emerged inside her every time she was reduced or angry by another person. Like Bandou or some of the security in the facility. She hadn't a clue of how 'developed' it was in Kaede's case. Little did she know that Kaede actually had it pester herself. As if it was more a result of insanity caused by her broken childhood.
"Do you... like Kouta?".
Kaede's eyes sharpened. THAT name. Him. She thought about him once more. Looked down as she gaped hearing his name. 'Kouta'.
"There's no way I can be together with him anymore".
Nana looked down.
"You know. One night he talked about you to me".
Kaede looked in surprise. "Uh?".
"He told me, that he really liked you. I don't think he would give up on you just like that. Just because of this situation. He would never forget about you".
"But... I nearly killed you, and... -".
"That wasn't you. I think he knows that too".
"So, do you really think he would..."
Just then Nana gets a huge cramp in her stomach. Her pupils contract to their absolute minimal size. "What's wrong?", Kaede asks. But she doesn't respond to her immediately.
"... Something is coming this way".
…
Meanwhile at the control room in the research facility the team gets an unexpected transmission from their units.
#"General, we've got a signal fix on something not very far".
"What is it? Stream us the data of the vector matrix".
On the middle screen in the control room suddenly appeared an image only the scientists could comprehend.
"My god! Look at the magnitude! What is that?".
Professor Kaito, also present, steps up.
"We've never seen anything this scale before. Something must be wrong with the equipment".
Professor Yukinari takes careful note on the scientist's advice.
"Ok, all units, track them carefully. Can't be too cautious enough. Also, stay unseen!".
#"Yes sir".
…
A few moments later Kaede gets up.
"We've got to go back", Nana says.
But then Kaede starts feeling it too. 'W-what's going on with this'.
"We better get back to the inn", Nana proposes.
"No. I don't want to be more of a bother".
"That's not it! You can't keep avoiding him!".
Kaede's eyes widened.
"But it's.. no use -". "Watch out".
All the sudden a unit jumps over the ledge they stood at, soon followed by 3 others.
"Surrender now! It's no use!", one of them yells with a muffled voice, from the overall suit and helmet.
"W-What the hell is this", Kaede yelled.
Then one of the men remarks: "It's number 7, take proper distance"'.
The men jump backwards a few metres.
Nana tried to reach them but couldn't. She looked at Kaede.
"You have a longer reach now! You can take them out".
The men in the suits look at each other as they overhear their conversation.
"It's no use", Kaede says. "It's over anyway".
"It's not like that! Lucy! You still have a chance! Come on we can win this".
"...He would never forgive me".
Then suddenly Nana feels a vector grab her. "Hee? Lucy let go of me".
Kaede looked around at her. She didn't grab her at all.
One of the units shouted out: "We have vectors too! So don't try to resist".
"Oh really", Nana mumbled with a darker voice.
She grabbed the park-bench with her vectors.
"Quickly, stun number 7 before she can make any more moves!".
But luckily, the men were too late, and the bench flies into two of them.
"D-Damn, Unit 1 & 3 are down, 4 flank from behind I'll keep them busy".
Nana rose up into a nearby tree, then plucked the lantern from the ground, and fired it at the man still standing still. As it flew towards him, he jumped away and his vector grabbed it, only to throw it back at her. 'So they have vectors too?'. She cuts the lantern in half and splinters it to pieces.
"Let's see if you can handle this". She shoots the splinters at the unit and just barely misses him.
But then the three others suddenly stand near her, and punch her before grabbing her vectors. With her last vector, she manages to punch one of them, but then the last one holds her last vector, rendering her useless
"SHOOT THAT STUN-ROUND NOW".
Just then Kaede physically pushes one of the men, freeing Nana. 'Why isn't she using her vectors? Are they disabled?', Nana thought.
With her remaining vector, she tried to slice away a man, but it only bounced him off. She then ran off, retracting her vectors as the range maxed out. 'Lucy, I have to do something. But I'm not strong enough".
"SURRENDER NOW LUCY".
She remained silent. One of the men fires a stun bullet into her chest. Injecting her with a neuro-toxin that spread pain into every inch of her body. "UWWAAA". She dropped to her knees, and the men moved in to restrain her.
"It's over now! Lucy!".
'Kouta', she thought. 'Will I ever be with you?'.
