As the pillar of flames erupting from her eye suddenly returned to its normal size, Black Rock Shooter lowered her face slowly to fix her gaze on Black Matagi, who felt a chill as she thought she saw a glint of red in her blue eyes. Raising her cannon, as Black Rock Shooter began firing at her continuously while advancing at a slow walk, she quickly rushed for cover.
Behind the momentary safety of a heap of fallen rocks, Black Matagi quickly erased her presence as she had done the whole fight to keep closing in on Black Rock Shooter and wear her down. Heartbeat, killing intent, every movement and action was shrouded in absolute silence. Escaping her cover, she raised her gunblade and soundlessly fired the blade's end attached to a cable, using it as a grapple repeatedly at high speed to move across the rock formations.
However this time Black Rock Shooter suddenly surprised her by taking aim and firing at her while still in mid-grapple. Firing the gunblade to blow herself back with the recoil and narrowly evade, as she reeled her cable back in Black Matagi rolled to one knee as she landed and dove forward to escape a hail of cannon fire, firing back with a sneer.
Ignoring any bullets that struck her body, Black Rock Shooter continued advancing without letting up. The full fire-rate of her cannon was around a staggering 20 shots per second, but weaving through the countless blazing shells exploding around her, Black Matagi fearlessly discarded the option to seek cover again and matched her in continuously fired back as if this had become a rapid-fire competition.
"Taking my advice?! Now you're just being uncreative!"
Getting bored of comparing fire-rates as her opponent stayed quiet as ever, switching shot types Black Matagi aimed briefly and fired one of the high-powered rounds shrouded in purple flames she had used in the desert area. Striking Black Rock Shooter's shoulder and nearly blowing her left arm off, the arm drooped limp at her side along with her cannon, halting the barrage at last. She didn't so much as flinch though.
Blue flames suddenly erupted around Black Rock Shooter's right arm, and chunks of black metallic ore within the rocky surroundings began breaking away or uprooting themselves, gathering around the flames to take form as a second cannon in a flash. Raising it up, she simply took aim and opened fire again. Almost stumbling in surprise, Black Matagi raced through a field of exploding shells again to find cover again, the slab of rock she chose already cracking from the unending bombardment.
"Heh… Alright, that's a bit more creative."
Her shoulder healing in mere moments while all of this occurred, Black Rock Shooter stopped firing for a moment and raised both cannons, each alight with the blue glow of energy gathering within their barrels. Aimed at Black Matagi's cover, after charging up the dual cannons unleashed massive azure beams of burning energy, annihilating everything in her path.
Flying through the air on her grappling cable just in time, Black Matagi pulled herself up onto the side of a slanted rock spire and pulled out her gunblade to aim without any concern at narrowly escaping death. Rather, she was wearing a zealous ear to ear grin now as her rifle's interior reshaped itself again and she charged up her weapon as well.
"Did I strike a nerve after all?! About time, this is what I signed up for, this is it! This is the thrill of the hunt! Bring it on Wandering Prince of the Heavens!"
As Black Matagi began firing purple energy blasts at her, this time Black Rock Shooter evaded and fell back, moving swiftly with mechanical precision through the barrage. Circling around her position, she ran up a broken section of ground that rose unevenly among the terrain and leapt off the edge into the air, rapidly firing one cannon as she changed the other into a cannon-lance.
Blocking and deflecting the cannon shells, as Black Matagi eagerly leapt up to welcome her the shockwave resounded through the Sky Gates as each met the other's weapon with a clash of blue and purple flames. At the same time, a strange red glow was slowly growing brighter all around the edges of the great chasm itself.
"Who could even manage a feat like cornering Zero Two of all people?"
Skimming the sides of land bridges lit up by the crystals on her broomstick, her search moving further and further down into the darkness below the Sky Gates, with knives at the ready Magician was impatiently trying to locate her ally who was supposedly near death. Although she'd considered the possibility it was Dragon Slayer's deception, the obvious pride and confidence of the person in question aside, she herself simply couldn't ignore the chance of losing Ninja Zero Two.
"I still feel like you're hiding something from me, so don't just go and die suddenly fool! You're supposed to be a ninja aren't you?! Surely escaping at least should be a simple-"
Caught up in her rant, Magician suddenly flew past and illuminated a thin, pale-skinned boy with short black hair and orange eyes behind glasses with rounded frames who was lying in wait in the shadows amongst some rocks. Aiming a one-handed shotgun directly at her, she barely reacted to the glimpse she'd caught of him, performing a combination of free fall and rotating sideways in the air as shrapnel narrowly grazed through strands of her hair.
Righting herself with her hat blown clean off and quickly moving out of the effective range of the shotgun, with her enemy undeterred by the failed ambush Magician had no time to mourn her loss. He was dressed in nearly all black like most otherworld denizens, and beneath his jacket with an inverted zippered collar he wore a white dress shirt together with a black tie. There was some sort of small keyboard affixed to his right wrist, and his skeletal claws began moving swiftly across the keys.
Clearly responding to the action, five robotic drones with glowing orange sensor eyes appeared in the air around the pale-skinned other self and opened fire with rotating gun turrets. Making evasive maneuvers again at high speed, as they tried to surround her Magician outsripped them in speed and forced them all on one side as she called out her spiked ring, raising her radial barrier. As they all immediately concentrated fire on specific points and began to break it apart piece by piece though, she was momentarily dumbfounded.
Magician's radial barrier was made of seven layers of magical power with eight moon glyphs seamlessly blended into them representing the waxing and waning of the moon, the new moon and full moon both overlapping on the seventh layer. The targeted spots were the two dots recurrent in all eight which should have remained unseen. With no room for doubt that they'd seen her barrier's weak point somehow, she quickly understood how Zero Two could have been cornered.
Aiming to bring them down while disrupting the aim of the drones by rotating the layers still left intact, as the drones kept evading her arcing knives easily, Magician shot a narrowed glance at the enemy watching her closely. Flinging another knife that glowed as it arced through the air, the glow suddenly intensified into a blinding green flare and all five drones stopped in place, hovering blindly as the other self who controlled them panickedly shielded his own eyes.
"A bit too observant for your own good I see! For exploiting my ally's weakness, I'm afraid I must return the favor!"
Another stream of glowing knives mercilessly destroyed the drones, all broken into nothing but scrap metal on impact. Though her opponent was still clutching his eyes defenselessly, Magician left him be and quickly began descending deeper into the darkness while muttering to herself more remarks she would have liked to have left him with.
"Be thankful to the humans of Black Zero whose goal is to save others. My time is short either way, but this world is not normally so forgiving…"
With that darkening the forefront of her mind, Magician was convinced Zero Two would have only been able to escape the eyes of those drones by casting herself into the abyss. She still believed though, if this pit called the Sky Gates had a bottom to land on, Zero Two would surely survive. She'd already somewhat realized the sad truth after all. Her missing ally had no other choice but to survive.
Seated at her desk, Rei felt a chill creeping through her almost in sync with the ticking of the clock, each passing second already 15 minutes past the start of homeroom. Yet just like Ninja Zero Two, now even Magician wasn't here. A substitute teacher finally arrived, and the moment he announced 'Ms. Grunwald's' unexpected absence she rose from her seat with a clatter.
"I don't feel well, can I please go to the infirmary?!"
Taken aback, slowly the substitute gave a nod and stared as Rei bolted out of the classroom. Clearing his throat as he returned to his senses, since it was sudden he announced today's homeroom would be free study. Disinterestedly reminding them not to bother other classes, as he abruptly walked out with just that, Katsutoshi Mihara was in shock for a moment.
"What was that?! Substitute or not, did I just witness a teacher skipping class?!"
In the desk behind him, Haruka Kagotani couldn't be happier with the development and had already pulled out her smartphone, at ease again as she buried herself in her blog.
"It's just one class, what's the big deal? You're too serious lately. Everyone will look at you funny if you say something like 'My father will hear about this' and all that y'know."
Turning back at her with a glare, he quickly decided not to bother as he saw her smartphone out. Glancing up at him a bit apologetically now though, she quietly added,
"You aren't pushing yourself… because of me? You keep saying so, but you've been… it's like you've been in a bad mood ever since the school year began you know? It shouldn't be Toshi's problem so… just please don't worry about taking attention off my grades."
Frowning as she used his nickname in class again, Mihara faced forward again and just irritably snapped at her. However his harsh tone now carried more of the feeling of being a childhood friend than usual.
"If you're still concerned about that, quit hiding behind that stupid screen! You're hopeless like this, you know it's not like I'd really mind if it helps you but any pride your father takes in his boy is none of my concern. I don't know why you're always overthinking it, with all the troublemakers I have at home looking after others on top of that…"
Despite the intention behind his words, as they ended up reminding him he turned to look over at the empty seat in the room now with a sigh and grumbled to himself.
"If she was sick, she didn't need to be so defensive about it. Hmph, trying to put on airs like that is just more sickening if anything."
Looking up from her smartphone again now as he mentioned Rei as he often would in passing lately, however negatively, after a moment Kagotani got up out of her chair somewhat hurriedly and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" As Mihara looked back in confusion at the sudden noise of her chair moving, with her face already glued to her smartphone screen again Kagotani just replied, "Toilet."
Regretting he'd asked, some girls in class shooting him sharp looks, Mihara leaned to rest on his desk with head in hand. Sitting there in melancholy, he suddenly noticed another seat that was vacant and suspiciously wondered to himself,
"When did she suddenly take off?! Her and that golden goose were rather chummy this morning too… Dammit, why do I feel like I'm about to get caught up in some sort of spiriting away?!"
Heading straight for the Dawn Counseling Center, Rei surprised Saya by barging in during class time. Listening to what was going on though, she found herself wishing she'd called her the moment something seemed amiss.
"If both Ninja Zero Two and Magician have disappeared suddenly… I don't think we even need to guess at whether something's going on."
Still surprised at how composed she was despite the obvious crisis, she gave Rei a sideward glance in concern as she gathered her things up to leave quickly in case of emergency.
"I'll send Gold Saw scouting and call Yuu during lunch break. Hopefully she can get us some more info with Kagari's divination. You should return to class, or go to the infirmary like you said I guess."
Said with a shrug of her shoulders, it all seemed a given with their limited options.
"You can't use invocation, there's no big advantage to me connecting with Gold Saw and she can scout on her own… I know it's unpleasant, but there's not much else to do but wait things out right now."
Nodding in agreement rather than raising any hesitant objections, Rei rubbed at the edge of her eye sluggishly, feeling a bit tired as she moved to leave the office. There was at least one thing she could do, and she'd already thought of it ahead of time.
"I'll go to the infirmary, if Zero Two comes back we still won't be able to use invocation while I'm stuck in class."
Watching the door close behind her with the mistaken impression the stress had simply worn her down, Saya hesitantly considered bluffing the high school staff over the phone as Kagari's former counselor. Deciding against it though, she called out for Black Gold Saw.
Only to receive no reply. Getting a sense of foreboding, as she quickly found she was unable to even use her clairvoyance now, it looked as though her fears were confirmed. Slumping into her swivel chair, thinking she was tired of how it seemed to almost be a pattern, she again found herself just as stressed out as someone she'd worried about only moments ago.
"Even Gold Saw?! Whatever we find out, if we can't move on the other side…"
Looking up in surprise as there was a knock on the door suddenly, though it was her job this had to be the worst timing for a student to come for counseling. Sliding the door open a crack, despite being one of her regulars Haruka Kagotani still peeked inside nervously.
"Ms. Irino, um… I know I'm already here, but is it alright to see you right now? Class was basically cancelled, so I just…"
Mustering all her professional pride, Saya smiled warmly and somehow put one of the worst case scenarios they had ever faced aside.
"It's no problem at all Kagotani, come have a seat. My policy is students can come whenever there's something they need to talk about." As she started to prepare the usual drinks, she jovially added, "Health is about body and mind after all, I won't be losing to the nurse that easily!"
"Yes… One of my classmates just went to the infirmary, so I guess this makes things even?"
Halfheartedly joining in on her joke with a nervous smile, Saya couldn't hide her surprise at the coincidence as she set the drinks on the table.
"I haven't seen you for more than a week, have I Kagotani? Could you possibly be in the same class as the transfer student, Rei Kuroi?"
Blinking in confusion, an inelegant phrase echoed through Saya's mind as the other party immediately asked how she knew. "Oh crap." Not having been supposed to know Rei went to the infirmary, she quickly made up something about meeting in the hall, with a touch of excessive laughter, as she steered things back to her reason for coming in.
Walking to the school infirmary while zoning out, Rei's feeling of something being off continued to grow. It was like her mind were becoming blank, as all worries and interest seemed to disappear. Entering to find the nurse must be out, she walked over to one of the infirmary beds and outright collapsed on it.
"How can I just lie here and rest at a time like this? I still have to save Mato, and Zero Two now as well... Huh? This is... why does it suddenly feel so familiar?"
With that final question to herself she passed out there as though in a deep sleep, just as the person she'd failed to realize was following her quietly entered the infirmary.
Setting down her bag on the ground and taking out a syringe that she filled from a bottle of clear fluid, moving to stand over her wearing a pained expression Rei would have surely rather not seen upon her face, Mineko Tenma was at a loss.
"What is this?! This isn't like the coma victims at all, when did they even get to her?! I'm so stupid, dammit all!" A sharpened seriousness in her eyes unlike her usual self, Mineko readied the syringe. "Without the Doc around there's no one on call that's subtle at all, there'll be chaos if I have her picked up here. You can do this Mineko…"
"Why is it always just my luck?" Letting that slip in frustration, she was startled as a familiar voice suddenly responded to it. "Yes, please explain just why it looks like you're drugging one of your classmates Tenma."
Whirling around and realizing she herself had been followed, Katsutoshi Mihara stood in the doorway staring her down with a cold gaze. Briefly making a half-hearted attempt to hide a syringe full of clear fluid, Mineko quickly gave it up and smiled at him reluctantly.
"Mihara, here I thought I'd finally given you the slip for once. It's just a sedative you know, though that probably won't get you off my case huh?"
"Of course not. If you noticed I suspected you of something, don't you think I've had reason to? The school board heavily discussed that incident you know, and I was naturally curious. Enough to ask my father to let me at least examine the class rosters."
Hanging her head and doing a facepalm, Mineko lost the seriousness of their situation for a moment.
"That's it?! Seriously?!" Looking up at him indignantly, she began venting over a month's worth of frustration. "Boring holes into the back of my head, stalking me all the way to the station, all of it was just because me and sis transferred before the start of the year?! Why the heck are you playing detective on Dark Souls difficulty anyways?!"
Continuing to give her a cold expression, in a somewhat typical detective-like fashion Katsutoshi pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with one finger now.
"Call it a hobby. Arriving the same year as the accident is one thing, but the lack of information I could find outside of those school records makes two things that are extremely suspicious when put together."
"Ugh, you investigated everyone and just managed to single us out. Mihara… you seriously belong in a detective anime."
Nodding with a face that showed she finally understood, contrary to Mineko's odd praise Katsutoshi's face twisted in absolute frustration as he figuratively exploded at her.
"Are you really not pretending to be an idiot?! It's nothing the police wouldn't already know! As ridiculous as it sounded I didn't know whether you were an undercover agent or what! I'm just a middle school student you know, I wasn't looking to be a hero, I must be an idiot as well trying to confront you alone like this in spite of myself!"
The first time she'd seen him lose his cool to this extent, as she finally noticed he was shaking slightly, Mineko cringed. Being feared was a painful thing, but more than that she felt ashamed that she hadn't realized which of them really felt more cornered.
"Um, I'm going to slowly put the syringe on the ground and kick it away Mihara. It's okay, I'm definitely someone suspicious but…" Slowly doing as she said, as the syringe slid across the floor Mineko stood back up with a reassuring smile and finished, "I'm not here to hurt anyone."
Raising her hands up as well for good measure, she briefly glanced over at Rei in concern, still appearing as if she were sound asleep even after Katsutoshi's outburst.
"It's strange that Rei hasn't woken up by now, right? Something hard to explain is wrong with her, I want to move her to someplace where she'll be under observation, but I don't know if she might suddenly wake up and get violent…"
She realized it was far too vague, but Mineko couldn't figure out how to tell him without saying too much. Faced with Mihara's expectant frown though, she sighed and decided to first give him fair warning.
"Sorry, I can't explain it very well without getting you involved, and I'm pretty sure you're not going to believe me. You really sure you want a taste of my anime-styled life Mihara?"
"I'll have you know I may as well already be living a slice of life, and do you think I'm just going to walk away with some nonsense excuse like 'an anime-styled life'?! Honestly, there really is something wrong with your head…"
Shrugging her shoulders, after informing Mihara she was taking out her identification, Mineko slowly pulled out a card clipped to the inside of her skirt. A badge with a polar bear design was attached to it. While all this was transpiring right next to her, Rei meanwhile was lost in a dream that didn't seem her own.
It was fine with me. From the moment she opened her eyes for the first time, 14 years ago at exactly 00.00 hours on the 2nd of April, I probably already wished for nothing but to be a part of her. Although part of me was surely aware I could be more than that, would have logically already been more than that, I myself was the one who continued to deny it.
"Look, look! She has your eyes dear!"
Looking out through her eyes at her mother, who sat on a hospital bed with a slight case of reddish-brown bed hair and held her newborn child while staring back with green eyes, I could no more understand her parents' words than she herself could back then. I simply retained every detail because it was about her. So of course, I also recall the meaning behind her naming that day.
"I've heard it actually takes time for the final color to be decided, but it would be nice if she turns out to have your hair. About the names we thought up though… are you sure you want to choose something different just because of the time?"
"Won't it be interesting to talk about someday, especially with my maiden name? Besides, the time is only an extra silly! You see, when they showed me the time and date I thought a bit and remembered how my mother always talks about Spring because it's her favorite time of year…"
霊, Rei, pronounced the same as zero but meaning soul. The wish for her to have a 'soul' matching the season she was born, a time of new beginnings and nature's liveliness, symbolic of people's times of love and youth. Brought to mind simply by a time and date, the duality of it complimented her mother's unusual maiden name, 二葉, Futaba, meaning two leaves.
Having been beside that soul from the beginning, I who quietly admired and adored Rei even then would always believe there could be no more fitting meaning than such a beautiful wish. Even as the world in all its ugliness pushed her to close herself off from everything.
"You're doing it wrong."
At age 5 in the local playground, Rei called out to a boy maybe a year older who was trying to tie his shoelaces. Already frustrated, the straightforward statement made him look at her with a mixture of irritation and embarrassment.
"I can do it, I'm not stupid!"
"I didn't say you were stupid…"
Uneasily watching him struggle to do it even more stubbornly than before, Rei finally knelt down and untied her own shoe laces and told him to watch, retying them so he could see how. A simple, well intentioned act from the Rei who still openly displayed her childish innocence. Yet that only made it more painful as her goodwill was not returned.
"Yeah you're so smart, who asked you?!"
Pushed down as he got up and displayed the cruelty of children, now clutching a skinned elbow with tears in her eyes, Rei couldn't understand. Whether it was naming planets and constellations, being able to read fluently, mathematical addition or multiplication, why was it different from when she shared the things she knew with her family?
"That's what you get for showing off, stupid girl!"
Seeing her ready to cry, he quickly ran away. Although it may seem trivial, Rei was constantly questioning what she had done wrong. How was she she stupid, wasn't it clear she was right? Hadn't he just yelled at her for being smart? Which was it? As she was then, she was too sensitive to easily shrug it all off without a resolution to the problem.
Rejected by her peers the same way many times though, these thoughts were finally discarded as irrelevant. Rei quietly withdrew into a shell rather than becoming stained by dark emotions like hatred or spite, deciding there was no reason for her to be involved in what they might say or do. Yet…
"You're a smart girl, you understand right?"
As her parents became busy with work and slowly drifted away, Rei began to hear words along those lines. Though she did understand, and obediently tried not to mind, it did nothing to relieve the pain called loneliness those words brought. Loneliness not as simple as to be dependant only on others, but rather a feeling that the fault for her isolation must lie with her.
"I wish I was normal."
By age 7, Rei often played by herself in the back yard or deserted areas near the school, pretending to be a ninja. Usually portrayed not as the original clans of unseen assassins who relied on innovative but very human trickeries, but as lone wolf warrior-assassins whose existences cross into fantasy and do the impossible, knowing both truth and fiction Rei was still drawn to the famed ninja who concealed themselves and made it their strength.
Knowing her better than anyone else though, I knew it was because she had already resigned herself to concealing her own feelings. As the silent observer who lived within Rei, it had become hard for me to watch her continue to bear such burdens alone. Even so...
"What else can I do?"
In the first place, I'd told myself that 'I' had no 'self'. It only frightened me to think about it, to notice the contradiction. In truth, though we were both born that day in the same body, I had already fled from the world in fear. Rei's brilliant soul had been my solace, my protection, my guidance. She was my everything, because I had chosen to do nothing.
However neither of our immature, overactive minds could endure the loneliness we both had brought upon ourselves by giving up before we'd realized.
"Who are you?"
"...?!"
Suddenly one day, I somehow found myself standing before Rei. It wasn't a mirror. I could feel her gaze, as well as a foreign form around my consciousness. It would be still be a while before I understood how, but our subconscious desires that day made 'reality' out of the children's fantasy called 'an imaginary friend'.
The consequences we would face for opening such forbidden doors though... Even now I still regret my existence, it would have been better if she were the only one who was born. If I could atone in the end, if it was to protect her, it was fine with me...
Slowly opening her eyes in the depths of the Sky Gates as she regained consciousness, Ninja Zero Two was so far down that aside from the single shaft of light shining down on her, most of the surroundings were filled with nothing but pitch black shadows. From the black metallic surface she laid on, she stared up towards the faint light of the skies far above with clouded eyes, recalling the dream she'd been having.
"It was fine with me... so why couldn't I have just died back then?"
There were wounds all over her body from crashing into the jagged rocks strung about the chasm as she fell. Zero Two had planned to use her ribbons like a grapple, but couldn't get a hold on anything before breaking her left arm. The last thing she remembered was clinging desperately to the side of a jutting shard of stone with her good arm's claws until finally losing consciousness.
"Why? What makes you want to die?"
Shifting her gaze in surprise as a telepathic voice responded to her unguarded thoughts, Ninja Zero Two finally realized she had been lying in the palms of Strength's enormous mechanical hands. Sitting there staring at her blankly with mismatched eyes, one white and one orange, there were some painful looking cracks beginning to spread through her face and arms.
"Strength, why are you here? No, what happened to you?"
"Yuu is thinking the same, but I can't understand. Even though Yuu might hate me for trying to protect her again, I don't want her to die. I don't believe that could be her heart's desire."
Feeling so weak that she barely showed her astonishment on her face, the sight of her ragged form still gave Zero Two chills as she realized what Strength had done.
"Stop it Strength, her deathwish is just becoming your reality! Look at yourself!"
"Aren't you the same? Your eyes have lost their color like mine."
As though her weakness had been an illusion, Zero Two raised her clawed hand up now to stare with eyes wide at her reflection in the metallic talons. Her eyes were no longer pink, only a pale white. Biting her lip as her complexion whitened, she just let her arm drop after a moment.
"Not the same, but yeah it's similar… Sorry for interfering, I'm sure you're already prepared."
Seeming more lifeless than before as she fell silent, Zero Two couldn't believe she hadn't noticed the absence of Rei, the missing connection she herself must have closed off instinctively. Along with the resulting deterioration of her body, it was enough to fall into the depths of depression. Tilting her head as she watched her reactions, Strength also went silent.
Then Zero Two suddenly heard a mechanical sound pierce the silence, clangs of shifting metal mixed with a hiss like some sort of steam or hydraulic pressure release. The parts up around the elbows of Strength's mechanical arms opening wide, she pulled out a normal pair of arms covered by elbow length gloves. Before Ninja Zero Two could ask what she was doing, Strength moved behind her and knelt down to pull her up under the arms, eliciting a series of pained protests from Zero Two as she stood back up with her arms wrapped around her.
"Hurts, that really hurts! I'm injured all over dumbass, what the hell are you doing?!"
Still keeping hold of her while tilting her head again and narrowing her eyes slightly as though troubled, Strength only went on to confuse her further.
"I don't feel it either. Do I need to be lying down as well?"
"Hey, hey, hold it! Just what the hell are you trying to imitate?! My instincts towards other selves of Rei's friends have limits…"
Zero Two's recollections of Rei's interactions with Yuu Koutari had brought to mind an alarming context. She somewhat understood the nature of the shameless prankster, but could only guess at the ideas such 'pranks' would have given Strength. Her concern was only half on the mark though.
"Holding someone. I've learned holding someone makes you both feel better somehow. When Rei collapsed at the library as well, holding her made Yuu's fear fade, but they both also laid down the same way then. Is the position important?"
Grinding her teeth at that last bit of phrasing, Zero Two wondered if she'd developed a talent for accidental harassment from her human self's antics. Trying to think of the least troublesome way to educate her, she suddenly realized something she should have before.
"Hey Strength, I've never spoken to you before, but you're unusually talkative aren't you?"
Suddenly Strength abruptly tossed Zero Two onto her back next to her and immediately threw herself over her. Starting to sputter all sort of shocked objections, she quickly went silent as she noticed a golden-edged blade that had stopped just before piercing Strength's back.
"What nonsense is this? Strength, are you trying to squander even your own foolishness?"
Standing over them both with a cold gaze, Black Gold Saw held the blade ready to deliver a killing blow as she telepathically questioned Strength. Turning her head back, she returned Black Gold Saw's gaze with a defiant one.
"Only caring about Yuu's pain was my mistake. Something precious to Yuu, I warned you before that anyone who destroys such things will be my enemy."
While she didn't back down, Black Gold Saw looked extremely frustrated now. Watching her reaction and listening to the two of them speaking familiarly, Ninja Zero Two realized the likely explanation behind Strength now as she recalled how she'd protected Black Gold Saw at the desert area.
"The two of you were allies all along then... I won't complain about how you don't see eye to eye right now, but why the hell were you trying to kill me?!"
They all remained in that awkward position for a moment as Black Gold Saw remained silent, only casting her a particularly sharp glance, until Zero Two filled her tone with daggers as she demanded,
"Are you siding with that magic sword bastard?"
Stabbing her blade into the ground with a clang, the land itself completely made of the black metallic ore at this depth, Black Gold Saw swiftly reached down and grabbed the neck of Strength's hood. Hurling her back behind her like a ragdoll, she just as quickly lifted Ninja Zero Two up up off the ground with her skeletal claws clamped around her neck, a monstrous anger radiating from her every action.
"The one here who will bring Solomon victory is you with your sacrilege against the heavens, human! This vessel may have once belonged to a servant, but I serve no one! I am the Empress, I am Black Gold Saw!"
"If Ms. Irino knows about Kuroi, maybe it will be a bit easier to understand. Even if Toshi wasn't pushing himself before, now that there's also Kuroi around…"
Raising an eyebrow as she sat across from Haruka Kagotani in the Dawn Counseling Center, though she genuinely didn't see what was easier to understand, Saya did have several ideas where this could be going already. She kept those thoughts to herself for now.
"Did something happen between you two and Kuroi?"
"No, it's… well Toshi did bother her this morning a bit, but that's not what I mean. Kuroi, she's amazing isn't she? Before she even joined the class, her grades from overseas got him so worked up, Toshi is already acting like they're rivals."
She seemed to fidget uncomfortably as she spoke about it, probably unaware of the lonely expression on her face.
"I don't even know when he had time to study before, shouldn't someone stop him from suddenly trying to compete with a genius?"
It wasn't like Saya couldn't understand some of her concern for Katsutoshi Mihara. As the eldest of eight siblings with two working parents, his home situation alone drew her own eye. Rei being a genius seemed to be a sensitive topic to her, but it was also true there was likely no one who could compete with her grades.
On the other hand, Kagotani clearly had budding, tender feelings that Saya could never touch upon with much success in any sessions with her. As much as she wanted to simply tell her that neither Rei or Mihara were likely to spare the energy to endanger her future love life, that wasn't proper counseling. More than that…
"Kagotani, aren't you worrying too much?"
Kagotani had reasonably severe social anxiety, and this session was more or less the usual, minus the possibility she felt threatened by Rei. There were limits to what the counselor can do when the patient is less than willing, Saya had treaded lightly regarding her condition after her initial failures, just taking things case by case.
"B-but…"
On the other hand, choosing her words well enough without mentioning 'anxiety' tended to work surprisingly well.
"Covering for you is one thing, but a rivalry or two sounds healthy for a boy his age, and Kuroi's academic ability won't change the level of your studies. It's fine to keep looking out for him, but don't worry yourself sick over what may not even happen."
In Saya's own opinion, the blunt methods with inconsistent results that were her go to strategy weren't well suited to the career of a typical counselor, who had to work on equal ground with adult patients. The whole of her career had been directed towards one thing from the start; a certain friend with a troublesome age gap.
"I've said this before, but he's allowed to make his own mistakes as well Kagotani. If he does end up carrying too much on his shoulders, that's when you support him so he doesn't fall flat."
"Worrying too much, in other words… overthinking things? Toshi said that too. I'm always the one getting helped though, maybe I really am hopeless…"
Getting the feeling she had hit some sort of land mine as Kagotani wilted in her seat, Saya could see it was time put the brakes on her usual ways.
At that moment though, the cell phone she kept for other world emergencies suddenly gave off a ringtone of receiving a text message. Her train of thought completely derailing from the surprise, her face must have turned pale as Kagotani immediately seemed to become worried about her.
"Ms. Irino, is… is something wrong? Your phone…"
Slowly bringing it out as she tried to mask her concern, Saya didn't know what to expect having received a text of all things. Since hadn't even asked Yuu for help yet, something else may very well have gone wrong on top of everything else. However, she wouldn't have believed it could be something that would make her prefer any other imaginable catastrophe.
"Why...?"
What had she missed? How could she miss such a thing? Where had she gone so wrong, for it to become like this? Zoning out as she read Kagari's text about Yuu's bullying and her behavior, the vision of Strength, as well as the street she had followed her to, that street, Saya's mind spun without end. She didn't even seem to register the world around her anymore.
"Ms. Irino!"
Pulled back to reality somehow, Saya found Haruka Kagotani was now holding the hand in which she had held the cell phone, having at some point let it drop to the floor it seemed.
"What happened Ms. Irino? Is there something… I can do? M-maybe another cup coffee to help you calm down?"
The sight of the timid Kagotani trying to help her, whose anxiety alone would have been reason enough to freeze in place or run off shouting for someone else, was just the jolt Saya needed. As she slowly but surely put her senses back into place, her rigid frame relaxed slightly as she slowly closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"Kagotani… Thank you. You've saved me."
"Huh?"
Overthinking things wouldn't help. There was no time to think, she had to go before it was too late. Yuu acted on her own and had already made her own choices, her own mistakes, and it was now when it all became too much to handle that Saya needed to go to her.
"Please do me one more favor. Take the message I'm about to write to Kuroi, I have to leave immediately so I can't do it myself."
"Eh, Kuroi? B-but…" Done writing it already, Saya grabbed her car keys and handed a piece of notepad paper to Kagotani, imploring her, "Please."
Within a certain room at the hospital, a man concealed by black hooded robes sat in a chair silently watching a young girl upon the bed as her body writhed in her sleep, a blood red light being cast upon the room from outside the window. Suddenly opening her eyes which had remained closed for more than a month now, she let out a scream as she awakened from a nightmare.
Breathing heavily, she looked out the window in shock as she saw some sort of red glowing lines and an unnatural sky, and sensing him there somehow she hesitantly turned away from the absurd sight and faced the hooded man. Feeling chills down her spine as she laid eyes on him, although she had no idea who he was, he radiated a presence that felt like he were the continuation of her nightmare.
"You've awakened, Mato Kuroi? As expected, such side effects… A vessel devoid of a heart is an obvious loophole to exploit for those incorrigible Marid. 'One cannot accurately tell of a person's future when only an object can be observed', it will surely be some such excuse."
"Who are you? What were you… doing to her?!"
Mato hadn't understand a word he'd said, but she somehow knew this eerie person had done something painful to both her and her dear friend in the otherworld. Not a very confrontational girl to begin with, if not for that fact she wouldn't have been able to speak from fear of this second nightmare she'd awoken to, let alone show the glare she was giving him.
Laughing dryly, the hooded man seemed dismissive of the mixed fear and anger she directed at him. He glanced back at the door, which had not a pentagram but a six-pointed hexagram within a circle drawn upon it in glowing red lines, loud noises of someone trying to break it down coming from the other side. Choosing to ignore the sounds, he reached up and casually pulled down his hood.
"Forgive my late greeting. As a mere servant of the fallen Solomonic Dynasty I have no legally ordained name, however a number of organizations have apparently coined me as 'Weissman'. I'm sure you can see why, though I feel it's a tad grandiose… Feel free to just call me White."
The man perhaps in his early to mid thirties before Mato was devoid of color. His skin, his hair, even his eye color. Weissman's entire outer appearance was afflicted with severe albinism, a birth defect where skin pigment is partly or entirely absent, making the reddish-pink of his mouth's interior that showed when he spoke stand out like a red line on his pure white face.
Just from seeing his face and neck he was clearly a rather thin, sickly man in contrast to his deep, imposing voice. Albinism raised vulnerability to skin cancer and was associated with numerous vision defects, sometimes even CHS, a rare immune disorder. She also couldn't help notice there was an unsettling amount of scarring around his neck and collarbone.
Mato jumped as the noises from the door raised a particularly loud crash, being rammed with considerable force. Chuckling a bit at her frightened reaction, the red of his mouth resembling a thin smile on a white harlequin's mask just a bit, Weissman stood and raised a white wand with a red gem-studded tip and the room began to shake and fill with red light.
"My reason for being here with you today was to awaken the sleeping existence you call 'Black Rock Shooter'. Everyone has underestimated our boldness, especially those waiting outside. With so little resistance the circle is proceeding smoothly, I believe we can look forward to promising results from the young master's latest experiment."
Casting her a foreboding smile now, Weissman's tone became slightly mocking for the first time as he bid his farewell.
"Apologies for inadvertently ruining your role as the captive princess, but the part of the tragic heroine really belongs to the knight herself if you ask me… Until we meet again Mato Kuroi, oh brave heart swallowed up by the flames of kindness and destruction."
As he vanished without a trace, the light and the glowing hexagram disappeared as well. Almost immediately, the door was broken down as a number of heavily armed soldiers wearing black body armor and helmets stormed inside. Entering with pistol in hand, Dr. Rothcall Shepherd blinked in surprise seeing Mato sitting there awake and confused. Then he put away his pistol and pulled out a radio communicator with a sigh.
"PSS call! Hey, can anyone hear me?! Marion, Phobos?! Shit, the circle isn't complete but we're already blocked in… can't they see this from outside?"
He gave up and stared out the window for a moment, an enormous magic circle filled with strange symbols and a hexagram in the center slowly completing itself in darkened skies above the hospital and surrounding areas. Turning to Mato again finally, Dr. Shepherd wondered,
"Did Weissman make some sort of mistake? Either way, she's awake… but just what on earth am I supposed to tell her?"