Crimso's Corner:
WINTER BREAAAAAAK! Heck yes! I've been waiting for this since the day I first stepped into the halls of my school! Well, maybe that's exaggerating it a little. I was actually somewhat excited to get my schedule on the first day… I wanted to see my classes on the second… there were a few I missed and did not get to see until the third… so the fourth day of school. That sounds accurate. Anyways, I think updates will have a dramatic increase in speed and we may even reach the end before January ends.
I still have that loaner. Too bad. The only thing I backed up… was a folder with the title "BLOOD FLOWS BLACK" on it. Yeah :|. I wish I had my music, but I guess that's what my iPod is for?
Note: It's still Watanagashi. Please do note that it WILL remain Watanagashi until I say so.
~~~~X~~~~
Chapter Thirty-Four: Battle
Takeru stepped into the Sonozaki Manor, eyeing the world behind him carefully to make sure no one was following him before he went inside. He quickly made his way down the halls of the Manor, to where his grandmother's room was. He had insisted to his grandmother that he take responsibility for this year's Watanagashi as a part of his training, and suggested that Yasuo be the one to do the speech this year. She had accepted, much to his delight.
He had also been the one to tell his parents to stay at home and watch her. One of the reasons to that was that he did not want his parents to lay eyes on the demon twins, no matter what the cost was.
The other reason…
He stepped inside his grandmother's room and closed the sliding door, turning around to face the three figures inside of the room.
"Takeru!" cried his father. "What are you doing here?"
He ran into the room and stood next to his parents, faking a look of distress on his face. He hadn't been practicing his acting skills for nothing, after all. "Mom, Dad! Grandmother! It's happening!" he yelled out. "The fall of Onigafuchi is happening right now… and I'm supposed to be taking care of it!"
Akane looked startled. "Takeru…!"
Oryou did as well. "Wait, what's going on? Tell me what happened!" she demanded at once.
"There's a war breaking loose outside. Kimiyoshi Masaru… his demons hadn't actually been stolen all along. He had been hiding them and training up to massacre the village, and that's what's going on right now!" he lied to all of them, hoping that his acting skills were believable enough for them.
All three of them looked completely taken aback.
"Masaru… did?"
Takeru nodded. "And I'm supposed to be doing something… but I don't know what that something is! Please, keep me here and help me!" he begged them. "I don't want to show my face outside! The whole world is depending on me… and I can't do it, I just can't do it!" He faked fear on his face as he sat down, his face facing the floor. "I'm just not the right hero. Maybe this was all a mistake."
"Takeru, you're the right number! You are the hero!" snapped Oryou. "Get out there and fight like I trained you to!"
Akane glared at her mother. "Mother, please don't!" she yelled out. She then turned back to her child, gazing at him with worry in her eyes. "Takeru, I knew that something wasn't right about this whole hero thing. If you can't do it… then we'll just have to find some other way. But stay here for now. I don't want you to die." There was fear in her eyes as she spoke those words, and Takeru wanted to punch someone in the face when he knew that fear came from the fact that she had lost her twins.
She never truly cared about him.
"Thank you, Mom. Please don't go out, either. I don't want you to die… and you're much stronger than me, Mom. If someone breaks in here, then… can you fight?" he asked her, eyeing the sword that Oryou kept in her room. She had insisted on keeping it there when she heard from Takeru that he had a bad feeling about this year's Watanagashi.
Akane nodded. "Of course, my dear. I'll protect you no matter what."
This was another reason he kept them at home. No one came in the direction of the Sonozaki Manor, as most people were fighting back at the shrine, so there was no one to tell them the truth behind his actions. He knew that his mother and father would definitely protect him, and while his mother didn't really love him, she wouldn't believe if he told her that lie about Kimiyoshi Masaru before.
Here, he was safe. There was no way that anyone would attack him in this area. He looked out a window, making sure that no one was coming. There was absolutely no one outside, most people having gone home in another direction. Either that or they were still at the shrine, or perhaps they had fled into the dark woods, hoping that no demons would go in there and hunt them out.
On the inside, he was smirking. On the outside, he was wearing a face of relief. His mother would never suspect him of being the true mastermind, and his father wouldn't either. As for Oryou… she was too set on this whole idea of him being the Hero, and wouldn't believe anyone if they were to say that he really wasn't and that the true heroes were the granddaughters she had stuffed into a basement.
They would never find out if they stayed here to protect him, and they would never be able to see Mion and Shion. Yasuo was out there with the orb; murdering anyone he could get his hands on. Everything was going his way. If he could keep this up, then his plan would be a success. Together, the two of them were unstoppable.
~~~~X~~~~
As much as Keiichi tried to run away, he realized that the girl behind him, the girl who used to be his greatest companion until her control happened, would not lose him. She was hot on his trail, and it looked as if she wasn't about to lose him. He gulped as he attempted to pick up the pace of his running as he found himself going further and further down the paths of Onigafuchi. He found that no one was deep on these trails for whatever reason, probably having not gotten very far or having gone in the other direction. Now that he thought about it, not too many houses were over in this area compared to the other parts.
He wondered why that was. There weren't any other buildings in Onigafuchi aside from houses, the school, the doctor's, and the shrines. Was something important this way?
Now that he thought about it, he could vaguely remember this path. But when he thought more about it, he realized quickly that Mion was centimeters behind him, so he shook off the thoughts for later and decided that survival was most necessary at this time. He needed to find Yasuo at all costs. If he could grab that orb from him, then he could change the fate of the village. Then, there would be Takeru to deal with, though he didn't seem to be as good as a fighter, and no one was on his side aside from the demons since everyone was at the festival.
He felt claws grab his shirt, and he was tugged backwards and met by another set of claws scratching right down his back, causing a loud scream to come out from the boy. He whipped around to meet the eyes of his friend, who promptly tried to scratch him in the face the moment it happened. He dodged at the last second, however, his feet sliding against the dusty paths, creating a dirt cloud underneath his feet.
"Mion! Don't do this!" he yelled out again. He couldn't find Yasuo, so he needed a way to hold her off. "You don't know what's going on at all! Do you really respect the man that trapped you under the ground for years, preventing you from eating or having a name?"
"He is my master. I shall obey no matter what!" screamed Mion. "Stop talking! I'm going to kill you!"
Keiichi gritted his teeth. The Orb of the Demon Kings was certainly amazing.
"That's right!" a voice suddenly called out from behind him, causing Keiichi to turn around. "That girl is under my control now."
It was just the person he wanted to see. He was smirking as he held the golden orb in his hand. "Number Twenty-Seven, you can ignore everything that this boy is saying right now." He ordered her, walking up to her as he casually rolled the orb about in the palm on his hand. Keiichi's eyes focused on it completely as he tried to figure out a way to grab it from him. "You don't love this boy. He's your enemy, and all he wants to do is kill you. For that reason… I don't want you slacking off anymore. I want you to murder him here and now. Do not waste anymore time, Number Twenty-Seven!"
Mion's eyes glistened with his words, and she nodded her head as she barred her fangs, licking her lips in excitement as she stared at the boy.
"Feel free to eat him when you're done with him," Yasuo told her. "I don't mind if you do that. I have been very bad with feeding you, after all."
Such an offer was hard for Mion to refuse, especially since she had The Orb of the Demon Kings. Even so, if she hadn't been controlled by it, it would be hard for a demon to refuse the offer of killing someone for meat. The real Mion would never do it, though. But right now, the Mion standing before him was seriously considering this as she eyed him as if he were a piece of juicy, fat meat.
Mion giggled darkly as she advanced towards the boy, madness clear in her golden eyes. "Food…" she whispered as she stared at the boy. "I'm going to eat you…"
Keiichi gulped. What should he do? He hesitated as he looked from the hungry Mion to the smirking Yasuo and the orb he was holding. He needed that orb. If he were to run away here, Mion would keep hunting him down, so long as that man had his hands on that glistening orb. It was clear that he only had one option here, and that was the option of snatching that orb right out of the man's hands.
He ran towards Yasuo and lunged for the orb, catching him off guard for a moment. He had been expecting the boy to go for Mion, like all the foolish demons did in The Legend of Makoto and Koichi. The reason why no one succeeded in slaying the man until Makoto came along was that they had aimed for the controlled demon and not the man that was controlling the demon. If they killed the controlled demon, they were then replaced. While that wasn't possible for a human like him, he wasn't going to kill Mion. Yasuo hadn't been expecting him to be smart like that. He held the orb up high with his hand, causing the boy to miss it.
He slammed Keiichi into a tree with brutal strength, causing him to gasp. But he quickly pried himself off the bark of the tree and made a second attempt. This time, however, he appeared from the behind and attempted to wind his arms around his body and grab onto the orb, though the man held the orb high and pounded his fist down on his head.
Keiichi tried not to scream when he felt such force go down on his head. He wondered how in the world the man before him got so strong. It didn't seem like any normal person could have such strength. He tried his best to ignore it as he went for a third attempt, this time running around him and jumping at him from the side, using a hand to punch him and another to try to grab the orb. He realized that Yasuo's sturdy body hardly felt such punches, just like when he attacked them before. He was definitely the same man.
Keiichi slapped the man's wrist with all his strength, hoping that it would do something to the grip that he had on the orb, but he found that it didn't do very much. He jerked his hand back when he realized that the boy was getting very close to grabbing the orb. It would be all over if he were to get that orb, even if he wasn't going to kill him, just like how the man who had stolen the orb and used it to massacre demons had been rendered useless when Makoto managed to snatch the orb away.
"Number Twenty-Seven, is there any reason why you're just standing there? !" barked Yasuo when he noticed that the girl was simply eyeing the boy with hungry eyes.
"…I thought you were dealing with him!" yelled the girl.
"I don't care what I'm doing with him right now, Number Twenty-Seven! What you have to do right now is intervene and kill this boy! I don't care how you do it. You can murder him or you could just eat him alive!" he yelled out as he held the orb up higher than ever to prevent the boy from ever so slightly touching the orb. "Just fucking do it!"
The next thing Keiichi felt was two sharp horns ramming into his side, causing him to gasp. Luckily for him, Mion's horns were curved, so the pointy part didn't impale him. It did hurt with the amount of force she had used, though. In seconds, Mion had him pinned against the tree, smirking madly as she stared at him. Five sharp claws dug into his flesh as she raked his stomach and cut right through his shirt.
She did not do anymore than that, though. After that, she looked at him straight in the eyes and licked her lips as she began to inspect the boy's body, wondering which part of him she should eat first. She lifted up one of his arms and positioned her head right above it, then opening up her mouth wide, drool dribbling out of it as she prepared to chomp right down.
Keiichi thought fast. He shook his arm out of her grip and smacked her right back in the face, causing her to yelp out in surprise. She growled at him in frustration as he did that.
"Just for that, I'm going to rip out your stomach here and now!" she screamed out. "Forget about eating you alive! I'll kill you brutally and then I'll eat you!"
He screamed as her claws dug into his stomach once again, and then again, and again. She raked her claws up and down his stomach over and over again, causing a great amount of pain for the boy and a great amount of blood to be lost. She cackled loudly all the way, enjoying the feeling of killing someone so slowly and brutally. The orb had truly turned her into a monster. He noted that she wasn't really thinking about what she was doing, though. The claws weren't really burying into his flesh.
She then moved up to his face and scratched him right across. Keiichi felt one of her claws barely miss his eyeball, and then he realized just what would have happened if her claws had been moved a bit. His whole eye would have been lost.
He grabbed onto her arms and tried to struggle out of her grip, kicking and wiggling about, hoping that it would do some good for him.
Yasuo chuckled. "You're doing wonderful, Number Twenty-Seven! Anymore and he will be dead! Go at it!"
She cackled mildly as she hammered her claws back down on his stomach. Keiichi realized that he was really getting close to death, and if this continued like this… Onigafuchi could be completely destroyed.
A tear trickled down his eye. Was this really how it was going to end? He had just escaped death, and now he was back in the hands of him again. Mion, his best friend and the girl he loved, was going to kill him right here with her own claws, and not by her own will. She was being completely controlled, turned into an insane monster so that she could murder the boy. He didn't want it to end here. He had gone so far, and he had escaped so many of these attempts.
There was nothing he could do against the girl. She was too strong.
"Please… Mion, stop," he begged weakly. "You're… going to kill me."
Mion did nothing to stop.
"Please…"
Yasuo began to laugh loudly and mockingly. "GIVE IT UP, BOY! NUMBER TWENTY-SEVEN, KILL HIM NOW!"
She cackled again as another swing slashed his stomach again, causing him to cough. Her cuts were hardly deep, but they did hurt quite a bit and after a while, there was quite a bit of blood that was lost. When she observed him, she realized that her task of torturing him a bit before he died was over. Her stomach grumbled as she looked at the boy, deciding it was now time for her dinner.
He realized this quickly and knew at that moment his life was over. Mion was a hungry demon, and it wasn't easy to stop a hungry demon. She licked her lips again, wondering which part of him she should eat first.
"GO, NUMBER TWENTY-SEVEN! RIGHT NOW!" bellowed Yasuo.
This was the end for him. After all this work, he was going to die. He had managed to escape from the Watanagashi for nothing. Really, if he had been killed back then, it wouldn't have made a single difference. Now, he actually wished that he had been killed back then instead of being left to suffer here, where the thought that he had a chance. He had been foolish for thinking he could go up against Yasuo, who held The Orb of the Demon Kings and also had a great amount of power.
"KILL THE BOY, DEMON! DO IT FOR YOUR MASTER!" he yelled out.
Keiichi shut his eyes tightly to brace himself for what was to come.
He felt Mion grab his wrist roughing, pulling it towards her and digging her claws right into his flesh. This was the moment it was all going to end. Everything he had worked for, everything he had sought for, and everything he had wished for was going die along with him.
Her claws stayed there, in his skin, but he realized she was doing nothing else.
"Number Twenty-Seven, I order you to waste no more time! You have to kill him, now!" he heard Yasuo bellow.
Mion's claws didn't move.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Number Twenty-Seven? !" Yasuo yelled. "Do it!"
Keiichi was very, very confused at the moment. What was Mion doing? Shouldn't she have killed him by now? Curiously, the boy peeked an eye open.
And when he did, he found that Mion's eyes were fixed on something… something on his wrist.
It was the bracelet, the bracelet that he had given to Mion to remember how much he loved her. He had put it on when he had discovered that she had dropped it. And now, Mion's attention was fully on that bracelet.
"Number Twenty-Seven?" called Yasuo. "Number Twenty-Seven, if you hear me, just get it done!"
Mion stared at it, her golden eyes wide. At that moment, she felt something click in her mind. Perhaps it was a realization, or perhaps it was a memory. She didn't know, but whatever it was, it made her mind go completely wild. Her brain, plagued with thoughts of death and killing, was now starting to overload the more that she stared at it. It was hurting her head, and it felt as if the pressure was going to make her explode.
First, it was Keiichi's soft voice, speaking to her about what the meaning of love truly was, causing a small spark to start off like the beginning of a wild fire. "I don't know how to explain it, Mion, but I want you to know that I am in love with you. …When you figure out what that is, I want to hear from your own mouth if you love me, too."
Second, it was the words spoken when Keiichi told her what the meaning of the bracelet truly was, causing an explosion of emotions to occur within and stir memories. "Please think about what I told you. Every time you look at this bracelet, I want you to remember what I told you and the feeling you had before when I was holding you."
Third, it was the warm feeling she felt whenever she stared at the bracelet, and how her heart raced and her cheeks heated up and turned crimson whenever she thought about him through that bracelet and what he had told her, causing this same feeling to ignite in her chest and grow.
Fourth, it was what he had told her shortly before she had been captured, the words burning right into her mind like fire scorching through acres of woodland trees. "It feels just like how you feel. My heart beats loudly in my chest and my cheeks get all warm, and there's this very nice warm feeling inside of me. That's how love is, Mion, and because of that, I know that I'm in love with you."
And finally, it was her own feelings, when she truly realized what the identity of that warm feeling was, that final thought ripping past all the memories at a faster velocity than any of the other feelings, like a hurried cheetah rushing past the grassy savannah. Love. It's love. I'm in love with him.
All these memories and feelings combined caused her to look straight up at the boy in the eye, straying away from the bracelet for a brief moment. His eyes were a bright blue, a color that she had always loved since the day she first learned what it was. She remembered the day he first came to her, the day he brought her the meet, the time where he played cards with her and she admitted that she did not understand human emotions, the time where she had overloaded him with questions about the life of a human, when he had let her and her sister go free out into the world, when he had played games like Clue with her, how he had comforted her when she lost her sister, how kind he had been to her this whole time, and finally, the pain she had when she had lost him.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Mion's eyes practically exploded back into its original green color. Suddenly, there was a golden glow from the back, followed quickly by the sound of shattering.
Yasuo stumbled backwards as he stared at the sharps that used to make up The Orb of the Demon King, which were now laying about the ground. Confusion and horror lit up his eyes as he slowly looked upwards at the demon girl in front of him.
Her emerald green eyes were staring at him with fierceness and defiance in them, and the next thing he knew, she was yelled right at him. "That's right!" she yelled out, stepping forward. "That's who I am! I'm not Number Twenty-Seven, and I'm certainly not your little pet! I'm Mion, a free demon with the right to do anything! I don't obey anyone's orders and I certainly am not a ruthless murderer!" She turned around and walked towards Keiichi, and once she was by his side, she turned back around to face him. "And this boy is Maebara Keiichi, the one who saved me! He did so many things for me. He taught me how to play games like tag and clue, he taught me the color of the sky and how beautiful the outside world can be, he taught me what it's like to sleep in a futon at night, he taught me what emotions were, and lastly…" She clenched her fists tightly, staring right at him. "I'm in love with him! So there's no way in hell I'm going to listen to you!"
Keiichi's eyes were filled with shock as he stared at the girl in front of him, wondering what she had just done. What in the world had just happened? He gazed at the bracelet in awe. …That's right! I told her to think about me when she looks at this bracelet… so it must have made her remember…! A huge grin broke out across his face.
"Mion!" he cried out.
Mion turned to him, a smile plastered on her face. "Kei-chan!"
The two of them ran towards each other, tightly embracing each other for what seemed to be the first time in forever. Tears of joy began to trickle down both of their faces. The two of them believed that they would never be reunited again, and here they were in each other's arms… for the rest of eternity.
She smiled gently at him, pulling away so that he could look at his face.
"Mion…"
"Kei-chan…"
Suddenly, Keiichi grabbed her, much to her confusion. The next thing that she felt was his lips press against hers, and her eyes went wide. She didn't know what he was doing, but whatever it was, she liked it. A warm feeling sparked up inside of her, this warm feeling much stronger than the warm feelings that she had felt before. It was the same romantic love, but this time, it was stronger. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, returning the kiss. She really didn't know what she was doing, either, but it made her feel better and that was all that mattered.
The two of them pulled apart from each other, staring into each other's eyes.
"Mion… I love you," Keiichi told her.
Mion smiled. "I love you too, Kei-chan."
They leaned in again for another kiss, but that was interrupted when they heard a scream coming from Yasuo, causing them to break apart from each other and stare at him.
"How could this happen?" he asked, gathering the shards of The Orb of the Demon Kings in his hand. They were a clear, glassy color, no longer having that golden glint to them. "How could The Orb of the Demon Kings shatter like that? That can't happen… no one can break free from the hold of the orb…"
Now that he thought about it, Keiichi was a little confused, too. The orb wasn't supposed to shatter… was it?
But that's when he realized what had happened. The Orb of the Demon Kings bound itself to a demon's soul, and since Mion's soul broke free of its hold when it was bound to her, it just ceased to exist because the binds were destroyed. He couldn't help but grin as Yasuo let out a frustrated grumble as he dropped the shards back on the ground.
"Now this messes everything up. Oh well, I'll resort to Plan B." He stepped forward, crushing the sharps under his shoes as he advanced. "…Takeru-sama told me it was okay to do this in a time where it was desperate."
Suddenly, Yasuo whipped out a knife from up his sleeve and pointed it at the two of them, smirking. "I know Oryou-sama wants you alive, Number Twenty-Seven… no, I guess you're 'Mion' now, hm? Well then, 'Mion," I hope you know that while Oryou-sama wants you alive, Takeru-sama told me that he wants you dead at all costs. You'll ruin everything if you stay alive for any longer."
Mion gritted her teeth.
"So for that reason…"
Yasuo ran forward with the knife in one hand, aiming for the girl's stomach. Mion spun out of the way and got behind him quickly, slashing her claws deeply into his back. As fast as he could, the man turned around with a punch, but she ducked underneath it and proceeded to use her demonic strength to kick him in the side, causing him to gasp out. Her demonic strength was enough to hurt his body, thankfully, though it was still rather bulky and it wasn't as effective as it would be normally.
The man responded to her kick by punching her right in the stomach, also causing her to gasp out. He quickly used this chance to knock her right into a tree, then approaching her with a balled fist.
Keiichi hesitated. They had nearly beaten him before because they had been working together to distract him. If they could do that again, perhaps they could win. He grabbed a stone from the ground and chucked it at the man as hard as he could. Though it was small and barely inflicted any pain on him, it caused him to turn around to find the source of the rock and Mion responded to this opening by thrusting her claws deeply into his back, raking downwards as she went along. He whipped back around and threw her into the tree once again, then punching her over and over again with brutal strength.
Mion coughed out crimson blood onto the man. He wasn't being nice to her at all, even though his other master, Oryou, had specifically told him to treat her well. Not that he ever obligated to that. It was when she truly realized he wouldn't go nice on her. Wincing, she brought a knee up and hit him right in the groin, instantly causing him to yell out and jump backwards. She lunged forward with her hand, using all her strength to claw out a good portion of the skin on his stomach before knocking him backwards by charging into him with her body.
Keiichi grabbed onto an even larger rock and ran forward with it, bashing into his already wounded back with it as hard as he possibly could. Yasuo gasped as he turned around to face him, and when he did, Keiichi threw the rock right at his face, which then proceeded to hit his nose. Blood streamed out of it and painted the ground with droplets as a hollow sound of the rock hitting the ground echoed. Mion wasted no chances. She rammed into his back as hard as she could with her horns, pushing him forward. As he did so, Keiichi raised his fist up in the air and punched the man right in the face.
He fell to the ground. The two of them stood back as they wondered if they had done it, if they had defeated the man.
However, he simply got up, an enraged expression on his face as he spat out the dirt that had gotten in his mouth from the fall. He rubbed his eyes, hoping to restore his vision a little.
An arm was rammed into Mion's stomach and then a foot to Keiichi's leg, both of them stumbling a little from the impact. Mion tried to go at him again, but he grabbed her arms and threw her on the ground with brutal strength. Keiichi's hand latched onto a rock again, and he tossed it right into the man's stomach. He ran towards the boy with a punch, which hit him right in the face. However, during this time, Mion had managed to get up. She punched him in the back, and he whipped around to face her. Then, with all her demonic strength, she lunged her arm forward into the man's stomach.
It went right through. The man looked down at the puncture, horrified. She drew her arm out from the man's stomach and allowed it to rest at her side. It was now coated in blood, but she obviously didn't care.
The man now collapsed on the floor, and satisfaction filled the teenagers as they walked over to the man and stood above him, looking down upon him.
"Yasuo, you've been defeated," Mion told him as she placed a foot on top of him. There was no way that anyone could recover from a wound such as that one.
Yasuo spat into the ground, a frustrated look on his face. "Fine then. You win," he grumbled. There was clear pain on his face and hatred in his eyes. He hated to lose, especially when he had been given such strict orders.
Keiichi smirked. "It looks like your plan isn't going to work, huh?" he commented.
"…Not necessarily," he replied.
Keiichi blinked at that comment. There was still Takeru he had to deal with, and as long as he was alive, there would still be war. Yasuo was right about that. However, he had taken down the strongest one. At least he had done that, right? Besides, now that he had Mion, he was several steps closer to bringing this fight to an end.
"Where's Takeru?" Keiichi demanded.
"…Where… do you think he… is?" Yasuo managed to speak.
Keiichi didn't say anything. Where would he hide if he were Takeru? He needed to find a place that was safe, a place where no one would find him. He also needed a place where he would be protected if someone were to attack.
"Just tell me. You're dying anyways," Keiichi demanded.
"...Figure… it out," he rasped out.
His eyes shut tightly, and then his body lay still. The two of them took a step back and they looked at each other.
"It's done," Keiichi replied. "But we still don't know where Takeru is…"
Mion simply smiled at him. "What does that matter? We'll find him. We should just be proud of ourselves for now." She kicked the man on the side. "Haha, this old bastard is dead! This demon here really is a free demon now!" she laughed loudly with her victory, a huge grin on her face. "Take that, loser!"
Keiichi couldn't help but grin at Mion. She had gone back to her old, competitive self once again. How long ago had it been since he had seen her like that?
"Well, now that that's done, we're going to have to search for Takeru. We can take him down, easy. I must say, Mion, you're not kidding when you say you're good at fighting," he spoke, amazement in his voice as he recalled how hard she had fought. It had been tough before, when she was fighting Yasuo for the first time, since she had been in a state of shock and couldn't think too clearly, but it went over well this time.
Mion wore a mischievous grin. "Well yeah, this demon here is only the best at fighting! And this Takeru guy isn't going to have a chance against me!" She clenched her fists tightly, determination and excitement in her green eyes. "Just watch me again, Kei-chan! I'm going to show everyone who the true hero of Onigafuchi is… and I'll take down this Takeru guy in a matter of seconds. He deserves it after what he's done to me."
Keiichi wondered what Takeru had done to Mion in the past, but he didn't ask. He could ask her some other time. Right now, they needed to focus.
"Where could Takeru be, though?" Mion asked. "I can't destroy him if I don't know where he is."
"…Everyone saw Takeru. It's not like he has a place to hide." Keiichi scratched the top of his head as he thought about it. "Unless…"
Wait, that wasn't true, was it? Not everyone has seen Takeru. There were still the people that stayed at the Sonozaki Manor, and those were all Sonozaki relatives, since they could always get away from the festival when they wanted to because their family was the ones in charge of it, anyways. So if he had people who didn't know, people who would back him up, then…
He looked around him. Now he knew where he was. This was the path to the Sonozaki Manor, which he had been down so many times before. Why hadn't he realized it before?
"Mion!" he cried out. "I know where Takeru is!"
Mion blinked in surprise. "You do?" she asked.
Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, just follow me!"
The two of them turned around, leaving behind the dead body. As they walked down the pathway, Keiichi began to wonder many things. What was going to happen when Mion showed her face at the Sonozaki Manor? He gave her a good look. She looked a lot like her mother, and it was possible that everyone else noticed it at the festival but did not have time to go and tell the Sonozaki family, either that or they thought it was just a coincidence, seeing as Shion wasn't present.
Someone at the Sonozaki Manor would definitely notice it.
Could this be… the time where everyone finds out the truth about Mion?
Keiichi didn't know, but for her sake, he hoped so.
~~~~X~~~~
Crimso's Corner V.2:
I actually finished this two days ago but I didn't want to upload so that we could spread out the time between updates, since that's always better than updating all at once. It gives me some time to relax in between chapters, too, knowing that I have a chapter at the ready that I can upload anytime I feel like it. That being said, I feel like uploading it, so I did.
That was very dramatic for me to write. …If that made any sense at all. It didn't? Well, I guess what I mean is that it was very dramatic and I could feel it when I wrote it, like those whole paragraphs about her being snapped back to normal. I hope you all understand why The Orb of the Demon Kings exploded when she turned back to normal. Basically, it was bound to her soul and when her soul broke free, so did the orb. …Does that make any more sense, or did I just make it even more confusing? Ah, oh well.
Winter Break has been good so far. I went out with my friends yesterday and wandered around for around five hours. We were actually doing English extra credit, which I need because my English teacher seems to hate giving children As. It was kind of miserable at first. It was cloudy, it was cold… try waiting for a bus in the bitter cold for around thirty minutes when all you are wearing is a light sweater and a medium jacket. I was shivering. But it got better after that, thankfully. …And what do you mean by "seven more days until Christmas?" …Seriously? Wow. Just wow. I don't think I have very much on my wish list. Also, I need to buy Tsumiboroshi-hen Volume 2. Because I don't want to wait. And I have money.
I also want to ask you guys if you have any suggestions for what I should watch (anime) during winter break. Break is the only time I can watch new series due to the amount of work I have, and I can usually finish a twenty-something episode anime in around four days if I'm into it. If you have any, would you mind recommending me some?
Please review as usual. Maybe less people reviewed due to the lack of "reward" last chapter? Well then, take a Keiichi figure if you review, and if you point out typos, I'll give you some hot chocolate, because everyone loves that when it's winter. Unless you don't.
~Crimso
P.S: I seriously need to come up with better titles for these chapters. Really... I'm just out of ideas.