A/N Sorry for the wait. I have no excuse... :S I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for it!


Chapter 28 - The truth at last

Yuzuru Otonashi - 第二コンピュータ室外 (Outside second computer room)

You'd think with Guard Skills, battle formations and strategies would be the last thing harmonics clones needed. After all, brute force alone would almost guarantee victory, right? Yet, in front of us, the ten or so clones had placed themselves in a strategic position, hand sonic at the ready and geared up to fight.

Each and every clone, violent and ferocious as they were, must have been created by Kanade herself in the exact same mindset. That was what we'd learned during our last encounter with Guard Skill: Harmonics.

So every other pressing issue aside, what prompted Kanade to feel that way?

/ / / / / / / / / /

Anyway, I'd regained consciousness when we were - as I would learn later - running from another harmonics clone. Shiina had stayed behind to fend her off as the rest of us made our escape.

To say I was surprised to see Yuri, and Iwasawa, and Matsushita – and quite a lot of people actually – would be a gross understatement. It made me wonder exactly how long I'd been unconscious, or maybe I was still unconscious and I was dreaming up the impossibility. After all, what could possibly explain their being in the Afterworld with us? I was really confused, but no one had the time to fill me in on anything. At least, not yet.

'Where's Hatsune?' I asked after looking around to locate her.

'I asked her to do something for me,' Shiina said suddenly, materializing right behind us.

'By herself? Will she be okay?'

'I sent her along with Fuko. And they'll be fine, don't worry.'

'Huh?' I asked, clearly bewildered, and pointed to the small figure still holding on her computer dearly. 'She's right there.'

'Seems that way.' Shiina didn't say anything other than the offhand response.

I didn't know whether I should drop the issue, but then Shiina whispered, possibly to herself, 'Sometimes I swear there are two Fukos here.'

We arrived at the very last trap that always managed to get Shiina, but apparently the Battlefront was out of cute dolls, so Shiina was off the hook this time.

/ / / / / / / / / /

Anyway, back to the here and now, the clones had turned their attention to us.

I searched frantically for the original, but it was almost impossible to make her out, especially when Kanade only differed from these clones in eye color. On the other hand, if Kanade really was in there, would she really wait for the clones to fight us and do nothing?

Tension grew as we all froze in silence. One wrong move and we'd probably be decimated.

Then, very cautiously, Shiina reached into her back pocket.

'Guard Skill: Hand Sonic.' The clones' voices reverberated in the stone tunnel as blue blades appeared almost simultaneously on the backs of all of their hands. Whether it was because they picked up on Shiina's carefully inconspicuous gesture, or whether they just decided to start a fight all at once, I wouldn't know.

Shiina hesitated again, which was exceedingly unusual and even a bit unnerving. If even she felt intimidated, what hope was left for the rest of us?

Just when the tension was about to reach an unbearable level, the foremost clone took the initiative and spun once, the strong gust of wind instantly extinguishing all the tunnel lights and plunging it into total darkness.

Then several things happened at once.

'Everyone, fall b-' Amidst Yuri's half-finished order was a grunt of pain as she fell to the ground. The sound of rushing wind around us never ceased, the all-too-familiar stabbing sounds clear and horrifying.

Punctuated by a final shriek of pain, the tunnel lights finally came back on, but what I saw was utterly incomprehensible.

A man with jet-black wings had an equally dark Hand Sonic blade thrust into one of the clones, paralyzing her with a sudden surge of electricity.

All around me, every one of my teammates had been knocked on the ground, paralyzed by the very same electricity.

What the hell was happening?!

As I stood frozen in place, the mysterious man darted back and forth at a speed almost imperceptible to the human eye. He was so fast he was practically vanishing and reappearing wherever he pleased, and with each strike of his dark blade, he managed to paralyze a clone.

My mind snapped from my dumbfounded trance, and I crouched hastily.

'Yuri, Yuri, are you okay? Ow!' My hand withdrew itself as the surge of electricity still running through her body threatened to paralyze me.

'Shiina! Ow. Damn it!'

No use. Some of us had already been knocked out cold. Yuri and Shiina were still holding on as they bit their lips. But why was I the only one not affected? Or had I been spared?

'Stop this!' I shouted, but to no avail. On the other side, the battle between the remaining clones and the man intensified as they used delay to match his speed. Slowly, they had him surrounded.

The man broke out the encirclement with a flip, only to grunt in surprise as another clone hidden in the back materialized and stabbed him in the back. No. Wait… Her eyes…

'Kanade!' I nearly shouted in surprise but managed to hold myself back.

'Ambush…' The man grunted again as a clone leaped backward and another in front of me, shielding my teammates and me. Holding their Hand Sonic high above their heads, they activated another Guard Skill.

'Guard Skill: Howling.'

The air in front of us warped violently as powerful ultrasound waves shot directly at the mysterious dark-winged man.

Another surge of electricity.

Then everything ended.

The clones slouched as the original was captured, electricity from the dark blade coursing through her.

'Kanade!' I shouted in horror as he slid the blade back effortlessly. I stared at the blade, the blood slowly seeping out of it and Kanade's pained expression. My legs carried me forward with newfound strength. I gave it everything I had. My hands were balled tightly into fists and shot out like lightning.

Slug!

I didn't stop to think why he didn't block the attack as my other hand shot out to deliver the next. Before it made contact, it was blocked effortlessly as the man caught my hand. But another body made its impact on the man and he crashed mercilessly into the wall. It was Yuri.

A remarkable feat of resistance, Yuri panted heavily from the pain. 'You wretched program!' she finally managed as she produced a samurai blade and thrust it into the man's body. 'Your plan ends here!'

The man's wings disappeared and his dark blade dissolved, along with the crackling sound of electricity. Shiina, the only other member who managed to resist being knocked out cold, stood up slowly with effort.

'Why?' the man managed. 'Why do you oppose me?'

Yuri, her hand still firmly gripping the handle of the samurai blade and her hair concealing whatever emotion hidden in her eyes, said coldly, 'You almost killed our friends and almost turned me into an NPC. That should be good enough reason.'

The man studied Yuri's face in silence before saying slowly, 'And if you were an NPC now, would you need to suffer anymore?'

Yuri's grip on the handle tightened. 'You will die here. I will finished what I started.'

'I will never die,' the man said. 'As long as Angel Player still exists.'

Yuri gritted her teeth. 'What do you mean!'

'You'd think you'd make the connection,' the man's strength slowly came back to him as white light gathered on his wounds. 'Why I'm doing this. What my purpose here is.'

Yuri thrust the blade further. 'Out with it!'

The man grunted. 'I'll tell you. You can do nothing to stop it anyway. From the very first time we met, I already told you. I am a program. Specifically, I am the program.'

Whatever Yuri's reaction toward that statement might be, it was extremely well hidden.

'Yes. I'm the physical manifestation of Angel Player itself.'

Yuri slightly faltered.

He gripped the blade and slowly pulled it out. 'I believe your next question would be: what triggered my activation after all this time?' He yanked the blade out of Yuri's hands and tossed it away. 'After all, that was also the first thing you asked then.'

'The trigger last time was blossoming love. The trigger this time, however, was the sense of overwhelming pain.

'When I was created, the programmer had only one purpose – to rid this world of suffering. When pain became too much to bear, that was when I had to step in.' He paused. 'Did you like the world I created for you, even if you just lived there for a split moment?'

'You're wrong.' My mouth moved before my mind could will it to stop. 'Life is worth living.'

I couldn't stop the hospital scene from rushing into my head. When I had to see my sister leave this world for the second time. The pain I had suffered was more than enough to tear me apart.

And then I thought about earlier today, when I was helped by Naoi in regaining my memories. Hatsune had been staring at me with eyes on the verge of tears, her hand gripping mine in a sign of reassurance.

She told me once she was lucky to have me at her side, cheering her on, supporting her. In the end, she was the one I was lucky to have at my side, reminding me the good things life could provide. She was stronger than I could ever hope to be.

'I agree,' Yuri's low voice pierced the silence. 'Whoever the programmer was, he was dead wrong. Running away will never be an option for me.'

'Shiina-san, I've found it! I've found Angel Player!' A fourth, high-pitched voice came from behind us, which I recognized at once to be Hatsune's.

'Perfect,' Yuri said as she picked up the samurai blade and tossed it to me. 'Now we only have to destroy it once and for all. Yuzuru.'

'Right,' I replied.

Amazingly, the program didn't try to stop me. Instead, he said in an exceedingly calm voice, 'If that's how you truly feel, then I understand. But if you destroy the Angel Player, there's a very heavy price to pay. Angel will be obliterated… forever.'

'What?' I froze.

'The Angel Player isn't a mere plaything. It grants the host immeasurable power, yet it comes with a price. Its fate is forever intertwined with its host's.'

'No…' I faltered, my hand trembling slightly with the blade as the words rang clear in my head.

'That means, if Angel Player is destroyed, so will Angel.'

I staggered again, my arms shooting out to grab the program's shoulders. 'I won't let that happen!' I shouted. 'There has to be another way!'

The program smiled. 'If only it were this easy. The Shadow is spreading as we speak. You don't have much time. This is the only way.'

On the far side, Kanade slowly stood up with effort, her hand covering her wound dealt by the earlier dark blade, and staggered forwards.

'I understand.' A luminescent Hand Sonic reappeared on her hand.

What? No!

'Yuzuru,' she said in a soft voice, her tenderly affectionate gaze meeting my terror-struck eyes. 'Thank you. For everything.'

Using the last ounce of her strength, she leaped and aimed straight at the software that had once defined her.

'Kanade, no!' Yuri shouted. I couldn't move in time, the samurai blade I had thrust out at the last minute to shield Kanade was useless and neatly cleaved in two by Hand Sonic. Shiina had placed herself between Kanade and the Angel Player, but Kanade neatly dodged her with a slight tap and turn on the floor. And then came the sound of fate.

I couldn't overlook the slight trail of tears that traced down Kanade's cheek as she thrust her Hand Sonic into Angel Player, her body slowly dissolving into little light orbs.

'KANADE!' I shouted as my knees went weak and dropped to the floor.

'Truly, thank you.' And then she vanished.