CHAPTER 07 / Redemption
Utsuho was still out when we arrived at the shrine. Some blankets were set out on the floor, as there was only one bed in the shrine. Despite that, Marisa and I stayed over as well. I had no need for a comfortable bed; I could simply sit leaning against the wall and sleep. Marisa just slept in the floor.
/ / / / /
I woke up around 11:00. I looked to find Marisa and Utsuho were still sleeping. Reimu was up, and had already eaten her breakfast. She was now cleaning the shrine.
She saw I was awake. "Thanks again for protecting us last night."
"Thanks for coming with," I replied. "I wouldn't have been able to handle her alone."
We both saw Utsuho awaken, then jerk up in surprise. "Unyu? Where am I?"
"You were going to fall into the core," I told her. "I kept you from falling in. I brought you back here to rest and regain your strength."
"Oh, if I were to fall into the core, I would have been fine. Most of my being is nuclear energy."
I felt kinda stupid for not realizing that. But whatever. I had her here, and now it was time to get what I came for. I showed her the fusion coil. "Can you repair this?"
Utsuho analyzed the coil. "Psh. I can make you one ten times better than that!"
I didn't want one better. Having this thing alone was dangerous enough. "Please, just fix this one."
"Fine," she sighed. She took the coil and got to work. I went over to Marisa, who was still asleep. She was snoring. Not loudly, but audibly enough to hear the little "ze" sighed after every other snore. I laughed quietly.
I looked over to Reimu. "Think I should wake her?" No answer. She was preoccupied with her cleaning. I decided to nudge her. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, wake up." She twitched. I poked her forehead.
She jerked awake with a sudden "snort-ZE!?" and looked up to find me poking at her forehead. I laughed.
"Nice snore."
"I was snoring?"
/ / / / /
Utsuho had finished repairs on the fusion coil. She brought it to me. I looked it over. Sure enough, it was good as new. I let Marisa know. "Alrighty, ze. Come with me to the shop. I want to give you something." I nodded, and we walked outside. We waved goodbye to Reimu and Utsuho, and took off.
/ / / / /
We arrived at the shop at about 13:30. Marisa entered first. She told me to wait in the main room. She took a book from one of the stacks and went into the back.
Probably about seven minutes later, she returned. She gave me three new cards. They were the same one. But these were different than the others. Advanced spells, that drain a lot of energy. She looked at me. "Figured you were ready for something more powerful, ze. But listen..." Her face became serious. "Only use these as a last resort. They drain a lot of magical and physical energy when used. Use them at the wrong time, and you'll be too weak to continue fighting, and you'll be left open, ze." I nodded, and took another look at the cards. The illustration showed an array of Bass Blast-type lasers that went in a wide area-covering wave, as well as a homing Electrostatic bolt. It also hit a certain frequency that causes electromagnetic pulses that could disable electronics.
Intelligent Dance: 'Subsonic Fracture'.
"Another thing," she continued. "Pretty neat trick that was last night, when you combined Bass Blast with Master Spark, ze. I'm impressed."
I smiled. Then I remembered, I should probably get this coil home. I said my goodbyes to Marisa, thanked her for her help, and went on my way.
I had walked about halfway to my house when it started getting dark again. Not this again...
It suddenly became pitch black. Thankfully, my left eye-the one with the circular deformity-was a prosthetic, and could see in different ways. For example, nightvision. Rumia must not have counted on that.
But she was smarter than I thought. She didn't waste time with reintroducing herself. She took advantage of what would have been the perfect time to strike. Suddenly, she swooped straight in towards me. I put up a small field in front of me to block her. I saw her collide with it. She didn't seem very phased. She moved back a bit, then lunged for me again. I couldn't get a field up quick enough. She sunk her teeth into my arm.
"Agh, you bitch!" I swung her off of me, and pulled a spellcard. Hm. I hadn't used this one yet. I noticed it had two uses: 'hi' and 'lo'. Hi seemed to be a stun. Lo appeared to inflict physical damage. I thought, "let's try..."
"Noise Sign: 'Orbital Sine' - Hi!"
I held out my palm in her direction. A high-treble wave formed a piercingly high sound. Rumia covered her ears and fell to the ground, cringing. I took control of the atoms surrounding her and lifted her into the air, then slammed her down. Rumia was barely conscious. She hadn't the strength to continue.
I grabbed her by the hair and lifted her head so she was looking at me. "Come near my house again, and you will not survive." She passed out. The darkness cleared. Suddenly, my left eye could only see white. Nightvision is useless in the light. I switched back to normal vision.
/ / / / /
When I arrived home, the first thing I did was locate the instructions for the field generator. I assembled the generator, putting the fusion coil in its place, and activated it. My house was now protected from the greater youkai of the forest.
I went to the restroom and observed the damage done from Rumia's bite. It was bleeding, but it was only a little bite. I cleaned it off and bandaged it. Then, I went back to the main room to continue unpacking my things. It's time I actually got settled in.
