A/N: Sorry again for the late update! Your reviewing and favouriting of this despite the inactivity has served to motivate me- thank you! My excuses this time round? Exams, video games and projects. But I went to an anime convention and cosplayed Tsukasa, also met a few fellow fans along the way and bought some new .hack stuff (The novel Cell and the LINK manga), which inspired me to get going and finish this chapter! The poem at the start is a clue to the woman that Kenji and Akira met last chapter (NOT Helba :P)
Chapter Seven: Collision
The winged one, Descendant of Fianna
joins battle- the red hawk strikes;
let Avengers and Temptresses fall before him.
The warrior entwined in black roses
searches for justice as the mother of the goddess arises.
The Rebirth of the goddess takes place
before the trio and their legendary companions:
their names shall be eroded by the sea of time
but let their story be retold.
- W.B. Yeats, an excerpt
Golden rings descended as a PC appeared in front of the Chaos Gate. Around the PC, The World turned- the Aqua Capital's numerous canals trickled, turquoise water flowing onwards as they carried empty barges, and the dusky sky hung between nightfall and daybreak. The PC opened her wine-coloured eyes and Mac Anu came into sight, Venetian-style architecture looming over her. The occasional sounds of footsteps reached her ears as players crossed the wooden bridge in the centre of the root town. Stepping forwards, a soft smile appeared on her face as she returned to her second home.
"Tadaima!" She murmured and them laughed at herself. A Heaxy Axeman passing by glanced at her before using the Chaos Gate. It was relatively early in the morning and Mac Anu was rather empty- there were a few players scattered here and there. BlackRose wasn't even sure that Elk was awake yet, and she proceeded into the town in a leisurely manner. Coming to the bridge, she stopped and leaned against it. If it had been reality, the wooden railings would be digging into her back. A gaggle of Wavemasters came past, chattering in a language that BlackRose couldn't understand.
"She's a Heavy Blade!"
"Isn't she one of those legendary Japanese players?"
"You mean the one that completed the game?" The most senior looking Wavemaster, wearing robes that made him resemble a venerated priest, shook his head in despair and elbowed the speaker.
"You can't complete an online game, idiot! But she definitely looks like one of the dot hackers from the BBS postings." BlackRose felt uncomfortable- they were all staring at her and chatting animatedly... "Excuse me!" The priestly Wavemaster switched to Japanese and BlackRose felt minimally less awkward.
"Yes?" She answered, and the Wavemaster replied,
"You are a dot hacker, yes?" BlackRose raised an eyebrow. She'd heard the reference before, but she'd never found out precisely what it referred to. The Heavy Blade had assumed it was something to do with Helba's field of expertise.
"What's a dot hacker?" This sent the foreigners into a flurry.
"She doesn't know, of course it's not her!"
"It's probably a newbie stealing her character model to look cool!"
"They completed the game, yes? A Twin Blade and Heavy Blade?" BlackRose twitched as she realised what they were talking about- after just over two years, their fame still hadn't receded and she was left to deal with the Wavemasters as she nodded and they immediately shouted all about her in a garble of Japanese and whatever their native language was. Sweatdropping, she was left to deal with their questions until she received a party invite from "Moonstone." She asked,
"Which one of you is called Moonstone?" The Wavemasters seemed baffled, so she accepted it. As they began to ask questions again, BlackRose suddenly vanished.
Delta, Hidden Forbidden Altar
The water field appeared before BlackRose and she looked around in confusion. The party leader must have warped out, but where was he? Then a Twin Blade appeared next to her and she regarded him in confusion- he was an odd sight, with a mixture of red wave markings and purple dye covering his limbs. His eyes were unseeing, hidden under a red headband and his lower face was obscured by a high collar.
"BlackRose. Kite's friend." He spoke only these few words and the Heavy Blade relaxed.
"Thanks for rescuing me from my fan club!" He nodded, acknowledging her gratefulness before looking around to check that nobody had managed to follow them. Then he stood in silence. BlackRose felt awkward- evidently Moonstone was a man of few words. "Uh...so, what do we do now?" She asked- they were in a field as a party, so was the Twin Blade expecting a dungeon run?
"Wait for Elk." BlackRose raised an eyebrow. Did Moonstone know Elk? She'd been out of the loop for too long and she didn't spend time with many people in Kite's circle of friends except Mistral and occasionally Natsume. They seemed an odd pair... She blinked as she received a flash mail from Elk informing her that he was online. Moonstone twitched, and the Heavy Blade assumed that he'd got one too. He commented, "I'll add Elk. To party." BlackRose shook her head,
"...No. This is Elk's quest. I think he should lead." Moonstone paused, eyeing BlackRose from under his headband. His keen scrutiny made her feel uncomfortable, but he nodded again and disbanded their party. Then they both gated out to meet Elk in Mac Anu.
Kenji hummed a tune to himself while he stacked shelves, bouncing on his heels as he moved along the aisles. Shirogawa Kyou, his colleague, stared after him, flabbergasted. Kenji was very out of character this morning- it was an early shift and Kyou was beginning to think that Hashimoto hated them... Despite the early start, Kenji was lively and even cheerful, greeting Kyou with a nod and a wave before getting straight down to his job. There were only two possibilities as to why this was happening, the co-worker thought. Either someone had slipped antidepressants into Kenji's breakfast, or he had found...
"A GIRLFRIEND?" Kyou exclaimed, bug-eyed, and Kenji turned around in the middle of putting boxes on shelves,
"Hm?" He looked back at Kyou, who immediately winced, expecting a rage-filled reaction, but upon seeing that Kenji looked distracted and was attempting to stack shelves while making eye contact, the ex-Silver Knight decided to have some fun, evil smile blooming across his visage.
"You're abnormally happy. You must have finally found love!" Kenji's face was immediately flooded with red and he stammered,
"N-no, that's not it!" Then the blush receded as he added defiantly, "Am I not allowed to be happy?" Kyou assumed a knowing smile and flapped his hand at Kenji,
"Sure, sure. If by happy, you mean smitten." Kenji merely replied with a rude gesture, poking out his tongue at Kyou before he got back to work. Shirogawa sighed- the youth still had enough of an attitude to swear at him. He had no time to mull over the newfound attitude of his colleague as a customer appeared with a question to ask. She was a woman in her late twenties to early thirties, it seemed, attractive too.
"Excuse me. Do you exchange equipment?" Shirogawa frowned. The voice sounded familiar.
"What do you mean?" She explained herself again, looking ever so slightly impatient.
"Swap used electronics for money, like they do with computer games in game shops." He felt an odd sense of deja vu as she spoke, and shook his head.
"No, sorry. We only sell new goods." She turned away and walked over to a man in a suit. Shirogawa watched them curiously.
It's no good, Kouji. You're going to have to throw them out." He shrugged with a grin, putting his arm around the woman's shoulder,
"No problem, Machiko. I've renounced that world and chosen this one and you over your Wavemaster." She acted standoffish, pushing him away roughly with a cool look at him, but Shirogawa could guess that she was secretly pleased that he had displayed his affection so openly, a difficult thing to make a man do in public.
"Alright, alright, I get it already. Let's go." The pair moved off as Kenji dusted his hands off, pleased with his work. Shirogawa watched him return, a spring in his step. The teenager checked his watch and shrugged. It hadn't taken him long to sort out the stock, so now it was back to work behind the counter. It was a few hours before their shift ended, and he was counting down the hours until he could escape and contact Akira. It had been almost a week since their last encounter and he was ready to visit her. However, one thing stuck in the back of his mind- the woman who had spoken to them so familiarly when they were out together and Akira's mention of the name "Helba". Casting his mind back to what he remembered of 'The World' and the Queen of the Dark, he surmised that she wasn't generally well-known. Her name was probably the only aspect of her that was known to a large amount of players back then. For someone to know her name wasn't common, but wasn't extraordinary either. However, it was curious that Akira would automatically leap to the conclusion that someone who seemed to know them in real life could be Helba. Kenji bit his lip anxiously as he wondered if Helba could track them down with ease. She certainly knew a lot about online affairs and Kenji doubted that there was anything she couldn't do in that realm. But could she go so far as to delve into character records, somehow dig up offline information about players and track someone down?
"He-LLO, earth to Kenji-san, we have a customer!" He almost leapt out of his skin as Shirogawa bellowed in his ear. After coolly slapping the back of Shirogawa's head,
"Don't scare me like that," he politely served the customer and decided that he wouldn't ask Akira about it. Such things would either dredge up the past he preferred to keep buried or make him anxious again. But such an allusion to 'The World' he wanted to escape left him uneasy.
"Kenji, good afternoon. What can I do for you?" Akira answered the phone within a few rings, pleasant as always. Kenji grinned instinctively, having managed to forget about his earlier qualms.
"Well, if you feel like being a tour guide, I wouldn't mind turning up and looking lost in Yokohama at some point this weekend!" Akira snorted and then enquired,
"How's Saturday? Tennis practice got cancelled because the coach is away." Kenji mentally checked his schedule, grimacing as he hit a roadblock.
"Ah, about that...thinking about it, I'm going to naginatajutsu class since I couldn't make the class in the week thanks to my job, so Sunday would be better..." Akira sounded curious as she took advantage of his pause by jumping in,
"You have a job? I didn't know that! What do you do? A paper delivery round?" He shook his head, momentarily forgetting she couldn't see him.
"No, I work for the electronics section in a department store." Akira hummed thoughtfully,
"Would you get discounts on stuff like those FMDs they play 'The World' with?" Kenji's face automatically changed as if he had eaten an entire lemon, expression sour,
"Bleh, why would I want one of those? I don't play that stupid game and it's a waste of time." Akira sounded slightly surprised at his strong objection.
"Whoa, okay, okay!" Then she began to laugh, utterly confusing him. "Hahahaha! Hehe! Priceless!" He opened his mouth, on the verge of asking what on earth she found funny- "You hate 'The World' yet your job involves selling the game and all its components! What irony!" Kenji replied dourly,
"Ironic it may be, but I make money. What do I care if someone foolishly decides to play it?" Akira took some time to reply and he hesitated, coming to himself slowly. Was that a bit too grumpy?
"I...see." She pronounced delicately. "Foolish. You...don't like the game then?" Kenji answered with less heaviness,
"...No. It's just not for me."
Akira hung up after saying her goodbyes. It had been arranged that they would meet on Sunday, but Kenji's sudden burst of moodiness was what lingered in her mind. As she laid on her bed, arms behind her head, staring sightlessly at the computer, she wondered what would make him so. Someone that aggressive about an average computer game must have reason to react in that way when it was mentioned. The only thing she could think of, which frightened her slightly, was the Twilight Incident. He had told her the last time they met that he had quit after that. Perhaps he had a friend who was a coma victim and begrudged the game for stealing away his friend's consciousness? Akira sighed deeply. She had sometimes found it difficult to log on after visiting Kazu, sometimes out of hatred because the game had ripped his consciousness from his body and left him a shell on a ventilator, sometimes out of a deep-rooted fear that crawled up her legs until it reached her stomach and made it churn nauseatingly. She had risked falling comatose just to find out what had happened to him. But thanks to...Kite...she paused as she recited his name in her mind, wondering if everyone had started to chase him yet... thanks to him, every coma victim had woken up. There hadn't been a single fatality and everyone had received a happy ending. So why would Kenji harbour such rage towards the game if his theoretical friend had awoken? At last she shrugged. Everyone reacted differently to different things. Everyone was unique. Something that might make Yuuko burst into tears might simply irritate her slightly. She acknowledged that Kazu's situation back then had caused her stress, but she had accepted that Kite had made the game safe again. Her residual anxiety and fear had gradually receded until everything returned to normal. But perhaps whatever had happened to Kenji had managed to injure his psyche, to leave lasting bitterness. Perhaps he should talk to someone about it. She settled on sending him a message. He could delete it or ignore it if he wanted, he wouldn't feel as pressured to respond as to a phone call, which was something immediate.
Kenji entered his house as his phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket, he flipped it open.
If you want to talk about anything, I'm always ready to listen. If there's something wrong and it's been wrong for too long, it's not good for you. You should talk about it, no matter who with.
It was from Akira. He closed the phone with conflicting emotions warring for dominance, indignation at her meddling struggling against an unpleasant sensation of weakness, which in turn fought against slight affection towards the young woman for sensing his consternation and offering some support. He decided not to reply until his mind was clearer, which it would be after tomorrow's naginatajutsu class.
Kuchinashi Ayaka inclined her head as the sole male of the naginatajutsu class entered the room which served as a dojo. He had turned up to one class each week, always quiet, always obediently following her instruction. Last week he had changed somewhat- he seemed a lot happier but was lacksadaisical in some of his katas. She almost hadn't the heart to reprimand him, instead passing simple remarks on his mistakes, which he sheepishly yet eagerly corrected. As he entered the room, she couldn't sense any of the happiness that had been present within him last time. He seemed...focused, if anything, ready to participate in this class. He began to throw on the required uniform for the class, putting on his helmet last.
As was her habit, she started the class with a warm-up spar session, everyone changing partner every few minutes until she arrived at Kenji. He nodded to her, face obscured by the helmet that everyone was required to wear. "Spar!" She called in her clear voice and they began. His movements were slow, sweeping, yet considered. As their naginata shafts clashed several times, Kenji began to exert more of his strength, turning this warm-up into more of a battle. Ayaka fended off several thrusts in quick succession, batting them aside gracefully before whirling the shaft of her naginata to trip Kenji. He stabbed his wooden spear point onto the floor and her naginata slammed against it, blocked by his defensive manoeuvre. He then moved his naginata from the vertical position, arcing it as he went for his own strike. Ayaka hopped backwards and it swung past her. Before long, she noticed that everyone else had slowed and stopped, watching their battle. It took a good few minutes before she decided to end it, batting Kenji left with a strike to the side of his ribs, then right, catching him off balance as she thrust the naginata, sending him flying backwards and onto the floor. A few gasps were heard as the plastic armour protecting him thudded against the padded floor. He lay unmoving, almost as if the fight were real and she had slain him. She merely asked calmly,
"Are you alright?" His voice, muffled, replied,
"I'm fine." She left him to his own devices as she halted the warm-up, and within a few minutes he was on his feet, right as rain. His armour had protected him from the rib strikes, merely serving to unbalance him rather than bruise anything. After some kata practice, in the break he sat against the wall, knees up to his chest, helmet still on. Ayaka went and sat next to him.
"You are alright, yes?" She checked, and he nodded slowly. "You fought well." Her compliments were usually spartan, devoid of any particularly flowery or embellished praise. But that was enough for those who knew her and those in the club. He nodded again and they sat in companionable silence for a short while. "You picked a real fight." She remarked on the warm-up that was supposed to be only a short and energetic piece of combat, only a few blows traded either way. "Perhaps it is therapeutic." She thought she heard him laugh wryly.
"Perhaps." He spoke. Ayaka sensed that it was therapeutic because he had something to exorcise in throwing himself into combat where all concentration was on defense and offense rather than idle thoughts. She offered an ear nonchalantly,
"I have time after the club. There is a coffee bar downstairs." Kenji was silent for what seemed like an age before he murmured slowly,
"It might seem foolish, what I would say." Ayaka said nothing either way, the model of neutrality.
"Foolish is trifling. If it is trifling, it is foolish. Whether it is trifling is something that you yourself know best." She rose to her feet, helmet in hand, ready to resume the club activities. As she taught them some more advanced feints, she kept an eye on Kenji. He was calmer now, less wound up. After the class wrapped up, she had time to glare piercingly at a few jokers who commented on her sudden attention to the only boy in the class before packing up and catching up with him, her naginatajutsu equipment packed away in a sports bag flung over her shoulder. She pushed open the door, hurried through it and caught him. "It cannot be trifling if it is pestering you." She picked up the thread of the earlier conversation and Kenji wheeled around, looking slightly confused. Then he shrugged apologetically,
"You are a busy person, Kuchinashi-sensei. I don't think that I should waste any of your time on something minor." She allowed herself a small smile of sneakiness,
"So it goes from trifling to minor. Are you sure?" Kenji facefaulted, sighing. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by young women who wouldn't leave him alone with any of his problems. Unbidden, a thought arose in his mind- if this were Yasuhiko, his former friend would probably love the attention. His face grew dark as he allowed himself to acknowledge that he missed Yasu a bit.
"...Where is this coffee place?" Aya turned to lead him there, hiding her victorious expression from him.
BlackRose and Moonstone stood awkwardly in the back alley of Mac Anu, waiting for their leader. BlackRose had sent him a flash mail to let him know where they were, hiding from prying eyes that knew them as idols. Suddenly a small figure hurried towards them, stopping right in front of them,
"S-sorry I'm late, I couldn't get online and h-had to go to an internet cafe, otou-san c-confiscated the power cable for my computer." A wavemaster with crimson eyes decked in blue and grey apologised. BlackRose was reminded of his timid posture and uncertain intonation by seeing him again, thinking back to the old days. Encouragingly, she smiled gently at him,
"Well, you're here now, so whatever we're going to do, we can do it. You're the party leader." Elk stammered incoherently at that and the Heavy Blade visualised his offline player all flustered, perhaps even blushing. She guided him, "If you invite us to your party, we can start the search for Mia." He fell silent, the name reminding him of what he was here for. Then he invited the pair into the party.
"Helba gave me Virus Cores." He informed the group and Moonstone spoke up,
"She knows." Elk backed away slightly, intimidated by the powerful figure that the Twin Blade cut and BlackRose elaborated,
"If she is giving you Virus Cores, surely that's a hint that she knows where we need to go, right?" Elk shook his head glumly,
"...She couldn't trace Mia...she just gave me them in case I need them." After she had given him the Cores, she had informed him that she was finding it difficult to get a reading on Mia's location. Tracking programs seemed to malfunction and Mia seemed to be able to conceal her online presence. The main question was why she had vanished for no reason. There was nothing that Elk could think of that would drive her away, and the unspoken fact of her existence as an AI only complicated the situation. She couldn't just log off and quit the game. But she wasn't hiding in the Net Slums either. BlackRose folded her arms,
"Well, then we'll just have to do all the detective work. Have you checked out Mia's usual hang-out areas?" Elk nodded, grasping his staff tightly,
"Yes, I a-also sent her messages but she hasn't replied." BlackRose frowned. What else could be done? To her surprise, it was Moonstone who suggested something.
"Kite's email. That dungeon." The pink-haired girl shivered instinctively, memories of that horrible place coming to the surface. Kite had...it was so dangerous, they had lost levels...fifteen floors of unending danger...
"You think we should go back...t-there?" Elk's voice trembled. Moonstone reasoned slowly,
"She was reborn. There." BlackRose at last forced words out, her voice uncharacteristically shrill,
"We need Kite to get through that dungeon!" The Wavemaster sounded depressed when he turned to her,
"But he's gone..." BlackRose couldn't face that dungeon again. It was the only thing that still had the power to make her afraid. When she was with Kite, not even the most monstrous of Phases could give her nightmares. But that dungeon had shaken her confidence...and she reflected on it, chills running up her spine. If the place had scared the fierce Heavy Blade so, she could only imagine what it did to Kite- the heavy responsibility of defeating the thing, the strain of Data Drain, the fear that it might destroy those with him, the risk that he could ruin the very system if his Data Drain got out of control. When she considered these points, she felt sympathy towards Kite, understanding why he would quit. Elk continued to regard her nervously,
"They said they were going to try and f-find Kite...if he won't reply to emails, m-maybe we should find him too? So he can h-help find Mia!" BlackRose encouraged him half-heartedly before excusing herself to clean up a fictional mess created by her younger brother apparently spilling his drink.
Akira pulled off her FMV and placed it on her desk, turning off her monitor and leaning back in her chair. She didn't know what to do. Kite had quit for a reason, and from the sounds of the email, he wasn't the Kite that she knew. She wasn't going to chase and harass him if he didn't want it. She would respect his right to privacy. But she couldn't help but be slightly curious. In the end, she turned on the monitor to ask Mistral to keep her updated about what was happening in the search. Mistral's reply was prompt, letting her know that they were just getting co-ordinated, but no concrete action had been taken. Akira then fired off another quick email asking to meet up. The woman behind Mistral, Kurokawa Mayumi, was like an older sister to her and had eased her mind before. Mayumi had suggested Sunday, and in all her worry about the Data Bug dungeon, Akira accepted thoughtlessly.
Ayaka passed the lemonade across the table to Kenji as she sat down. She had denied all his offers to pay for the drinks and had ordered them herself. She herself had chosen coffee. It was a nice little coffee bar in the university campus and Kenji admired the deco before fixing his eyes on the woman opposite him.
"So." She simply said, waiting for him to start. He didn't know where to begin. At last, he managed a wry smile and started,
"When something's up, when something's wrong, sometimes you just want some space. And people pester you about it and don't drop the subject." Ayaka snorted.
"Is that all?" Both of them knew that it wasn't just that, and Kenji slowly added,
"Something happened. In the past. I quit...something. Let's say it was a club. And yet people won't let me forget it or keep chasing me. And I keep bumping into people from it when it's the last thing I want to do." Ayaka listened intently. "It's definitely affected my life. But just when I think I've made a friend who isn't associated with it all, they won't stop talking about...it." Ayaka probably thought it cryptic, Kenji mused, but as he opened his mouth to continue, there was a beeping sound.
"Sorry! My phone. I'm listening." The young woman pulled out her cell phone and checked it- she had a text message. Kenji went on as she read it,
Gardenia, everything's in place. We have Elk, Balmung, Wiseman and Terajima Ryoko on the case. I'm standing by in case any extra help is needed. BlackRose hasn't replied. Elk might be a bit preoccupied. - Mistral
It was strange, the sudden collision of virtual and real world, receiving a text from a character from an online game. But this made it all real. She barely took in a word that Kenji said for the rest of the meeting, things he had said earlier slipping from her mind as they parted.
Kenji wasn't the dullest tool in the shed. He noticed that Ayaka wasn't concentrating after that message, and he wondered what could make her lose her focus like that. Secretly, he was glad that she hadn't listened. He felt foolish complaining about everything and he reckoned that his rant didn't make sense because he didn't mention that he was talking about 'The World'. Heading home, he steeled himself for a meeting with Akira tomorrow.
Kenji stepped down off of the train and waved at the welcoming figure of Akira, and she greeted him just as enthusiastically. The weather outside was pleasant and a good night's sleep had rejuvenated his mood, and he spoke brightly,
"So what's on the cards for today?" Akira grinned evilly,
"My turf, my choice, right? So we're going to play sports." Kenji couldn't help but sweatdrop as she even cackled, snatching his arm and hauling him towards the exit and out into Yokohama. First they played tennis, with Kenji putting up a half-decent fight but losing badly to the tennis expert. Then Kenji was allowed to pick a sport. An hour later, he had scored 5 goals to Akira's 3, winning the soccer 'game'.
"One all, Akira-san! What now?" He teased, and she folded her arms, not rising to the bait,
"I bet you play soccer a lot, so technically you cheated just like I did." Suddenly Kenji's smile vanished and his expression was devoid of any emotion.
"Not really, any more." She was about to enquire as to what had bothered him when her phone rang,
"Sorry!" She answered it and he looked away in exasperation. Girls and their pestering and getting inopportune phone calls! Were they all the same? Akira sounded panicked, and he turned despite himself to watch her, "Ah no! Mayumi-san, I'm sorry! I totally forgot that I was doing something! You're already here? No, don't leave, you went to that effort to come here...is it alright if I bring my friend? Okay, meet you at the usual place?" She hung up, cheeks painted with red before bowing in apology, "I'm sorry, I'm being stupid today. I somehow completely forgot that we were meeting when I told my other friend that I could see her today. Is it alright if we go see her?" Kenji shrugged nonchalantly,
"Everyone makes mistakes." Then he dared to try a joke, winking tentatively, "If your friend is like you, it'll be no problem at all..." Then he mimed a thoughtful demeanour, raising a finger to his chin, musing, "If she's prettier, consider yourself forgiv- itai!" He suddenly squeaked, bending over and hands going down to massage his shin where Akira had ungraciously kicked it. She gave him the look that women are so fond of.
"Oi." Then she added, "You hardly look like a ladies' man," and he knew she was also joking. Her reaction, like a lot of things that she did, caused aimless deja vu to trouble Kenji's thoughts. Wincing, he muttered,
"Not only do you kick me in the shin and hurt me, but also you wound my pride," and she laughed before tugging on his arm again.
"Stop being a slowcoach and I won't have to kick you again." Kenji complied meekly as his shin throbbed. There would be a nice bruise forming there right now. They crossed the street and eventually came to a cafe on the corner. Entering, Akira took him straight through to the back where a table was occupied, sitting on a chair opposite her friend. Kenji sat as Akira introduced the woman,
"Kenji, meet Kurokawa Mayumi-san. Mayumi-san, this is Ishida Kenji, my new friend." Kenji looked up to meet Mayumi's eyes affably when he saw them shine with recognition. He froze instantly, a rabbit in the headlights. Sitting opposite them was the woman that had been at the New Year's Party, that he had recognised and announced his other identity to. He was sitting opposite Mistral the Wavemaster! As Mayumi opened her mouth, he prayed to Kami-sama...
