Crimso's Notes V.2
My Internet is broken. It's one AM and I don't really want to write right now, but what else do I have to do? Sleep? Yeah, I just drank caffeine because I thought I would be staying up all night on the internet, but… sigh. Never a good idea, Crimso, never a good idea…
Notes: Okay, so the end of this chapter has a lot of information that may be confusing, so I did my best to explain everything, etc. If you're confused, message me or something, and pay careful attention to what the characters are saying!
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Chapter Thirty-Six: All The Evil
Mion looked down upon Rika, smirking at the young girl. What was she here for? Was she going to attempt to get in her way or avenge the people that she had killed? She couldn't help but laugh at the thought. Rika, a little, helpless girl, try to stop her? Mion scoffed as she continued to look down upon the young girl, who continued to narrow her eyes and look up with determination despite the fact that Mion was practically mocking her.
Rion appeared behind Mion's back, looking behind Rika with an oddly serious and somewhat worried expression as she scanned the young girl up and down, though Mion paid no attention to what the goddess was doing.
"Stop right there, Sonozaki Shion. This is as far as you will go," Rika informed Mion as she stretched her arms apart, which did no good, as Mion could have easily walked right by the small girl. However, feeling generous for some reason, Mion decided to stand her ground and listen to whatever it was that the girl had to say. "You've killed everyone in this group, but you won't kill me. With Keiichi, your line of murders will end here."
Mion chuckled a little bit, "so, you're here to try to stop me? Well, I'd say there isn't really much more to stop. I got… yeah… I got what I needed…" Yeah, that was it. There was nothing more for her to do in this world. She felt odd leaving just her and Rika, but… she figured she could spare Rika. She didn't do anything wrong. In fact, she didn't do anything at all aside from sit there and look completely depressed. "I killed them because they needed to die. Because Rena here—" Mion spat with disgust "—took my Kei-chan from me, and Kei-chan betrayed me. They deserved to die. Ahaha… Ahaha… yeah… they deserved it… just like… just like how I deserve to…" Mion wondered what she was going to do now, briefly, before coming to the conclusion that there wasn't anything else to do. All there was to do was leave this cursed, corrupt world, which was certainly not perfect…
Rika looked deep into Mion's eyes, and she nodded to herself. "Sonozaki Shion, I warned you about this."
Mion looked extremely puzzled for a few seconds, before her mind finally snapped back to distant memory in the classroom, something that she should have perhaps paid more attention to…
Rika turned towards the door and began to walk away, though when she was directly in front of it, she froze right up. "Shii," Rika spoke in a tone that was unlike her usual one, one that was much more serious than how she spoke.
Mion blinked. "Yes?" she asked.
Rika turned to her ever so slightly, just so that she could see one of her purple eyes and her slight smile. "Please be careful and don't be reckless about your decisions, okay?" she spoke, this time her voice sounding much more suiting for a girl her age, though there was something chilling about it, something that caused a shiver to run through the older girl.
"Yes, of course," Mion answered, nodding firmly.
"Thank you," the young girl replied, smiling gently at her before finally walking out of the door and out of Mion's sight.
That was a warning? …Now that Mion remembered it, her mind slammed with pain at the memory, scratching at her and yelling as it tried to figure out just what she meant by it. Be careful, and don't be reckless with her decisions… about what? What did Rika want Mion to know by those words?
"You didn't listen," Rika said, sorrow in her tone. "If you had listened… then maybe this world wouldn't have turned out like this."
Mion felt screaming within her as she heard those words. Yeah, yeah… if she had been careful and listened to Rika… that could have saved things too, huh? Everything was pointing to her. A trembling hand reached out to her throat and began to itch at it, tearing harder than she probably should. Yet again, it was her fault. Yeah… everything was her fault. Everything. She could have saved Satoshi, she could have helped Satoko, she could have prevented Rena and Keiichi's relationship, and she could have stopped everything just by listening to Rika.
"I'm sorry," Mion spoke in a hushed tone, her eyes wide and her voice filled with weeks and weeks of trauma. "It's my fault. I caused everything. I could have saved him. I could have saved Satoshi. I could have saved Satoko. I could have… I could have prevented this with Rena and Kei-chan. I could have kept my Kei-chan. I could have prevented you from becoming depressed. I could have stopped everything. But I didn't. It's all my fault. I'm sorry… it's my fault… I'm sorry… it's my fault… I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sor—"
"—Hold it!" Rika shouted with such intensity in her voice that it caused Mion to freeze right in her tracks. "Shion, I want you to answer me. Just what did Mion tell you in the torture chamber that made you think that?"
Mion's eyes went wider than before. "How did… how did… you weren't there… you know…"
Rika nodded firmly. "I know about that, and I know about what happened to Satoko, and how you killed Mi—"
"—NO!" shouted Mion before Rika could even finish the name of her sister. She felt her hand reaching up to her neck again, her nails digging into her flesh. No, not her sister… no… she didn't want to hear about that… about how she had killed her sister… "No… how did… how did you know about that…"
Meanwhile, Rion was gritting her teeth as she thought hard about something Mion didn't know or care about. What she was doing right now didn't matter…
Rika sighed. "I have my sources, Shion, but let's not dig deeper than that. Tell me what Mion told you."
Mion looked down, her eyes wide as they filled up with the words and memories that Shion had told her last night. "I could have saved him. I could have. But I didn't. Satoshi-kun loved me, and if I had said something to him, then maybe… then maybe he would have… ha…. Maybe… maybe he wouldn't have gone inside… Yeah, that was it. I could have saved Satoko, too… but it was my fault… because I didn't do anything. I sat there and watched… I just watched as everything happened around me..." she choked out, her voice full of pain. As she spoke each word, the harsh tone of Shion rammed into her mind, causing her to wince in pain and fear at the thought of her sister, holding the knife in her hand as she screamed threats at her…"Yeah, and I made him fall in love with me. I don't know how. But I hurt Shion. I could have stopped that. I could have stopped her from killing Satoko and trying to kill me if I had made Satoshi fall in love with her, but I didn't even try to do a thing. I didn't mean to! I didn't want to! I just wanted…" as she rambled on and on, her chest heaved with each word, and her eyes grew with more pain. "…Kei-chan."
Rika sighed. "It's not your fault, Shion. There was nothing you could have done for him at that point. As much as you tried to help him, things were already futile. If you held him, would that make his uncle and aunt go away? If you had kissed him, would that chase away the abuse and months of pain piled up on him? No, it wouldn't. And besides, what good what it have done for you? You would hurt Shion that way. You would have hurt Kei-chan that way. Either way, it ends badly." She looked right up into the eyes of the green-haired girl with her own strangely serious ones, seemingly staring right into her soul. "It wasn't your fault."
Those words hit Mion like a stone to the head, but she instantly gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists. "How in the world would you know, now?" challenged Mion.
"I've seen it a thousand times over, Shion," she said, wisdom in her tone. "I know better than anyone else that it was inevitable."
Rion studied Rika closely, or rather, the air behind Rika closely. She was narrowing her eyes with a very confused expression on her face, and one that looked somewhat annoyed in a way.
"What do you—" Mion asked, suspicion and fear in her tone.
"Now isn't the time for questions, Shion. Know it wasn't your fault," she started. Right as Mion was about to ask another question and perhaps relax just a little bit, Rika continued on. "—But also know that Shion is right in another way. If you had listened to my warning and been more careful about the choices that you made… this wouldn't have happened."
Mion gritted her teeth and felt a knife being stabbed right through her heart, and confusing piling and pouring about like never before. So, was it her fault or not? Rika had been referring to her choices, and she had made bad choices, and that was why Satoshi disappeared… right? But before, she was saying that it was futile and that Satoshi couldn't be saved regardless… but…
"Think about this, Shion! When did this all start? What was the decision you made before all this went wrong?" Rika cried out, an odd amount of power in her tone that Mion wouldn't suspect to come from the young girl.
What… was the decision she made before it all went wrong? Mion thought back as far as her brain would let her. It all started when Rena transferred, right? But that wasn't a decision; she didn't ask Rena to transfer or anything like that. So, before that, what had happened? A decision, a decision…
Finally, it hit her.
Just a few days before Rena's transfer, she had decided something, hadn't she? On the same day that Rika had warned her…
"It's perfect…" Mion whispered. "It's all perfect, Rion."
Rion suddenly appeared with those words, looking at the girl with a look of surprise on her face. "Really?" she cried. "It is really all perfect now? Everything is how you want it to be?"
Mion nodded. "Yes," she answered, "I'm with Keiichi now, Satoko's a part of the group, Shion and Satoshi are going to get together soon… it's everything I could wish for, Rion. This world is the perfect world now," she decided, a spark of confidence in her voice as she spoke those words. "I know it is."
Mion was slammed with regret the moment she recalled that decision. How stupid and blind could she be? This world was anything but perfect. If only she could go back and slap her past self in the face and scream about the worlds of suffering that she would face…
But something still didn't make sense. "Why should that change anything?" Mion asked, confusion in her tone. Her head was getting a little bit clearer from the murderous thoughts now, thankfully, but she still didn't comprehend much of this. "It was just me stating that I thought it was perfect…"
"—Shion, it was the decision I was referring to. I didn't want you to do that. It's because of that that everything went wrong, because you decided that tis world was perfect! Because of that, because of that—" Rika gritted her teeth and shook her head, looking down at the floor. After a few moments, she jerked her head back up. "But you didn't know. You had no way of knowing. …I forgive you for that, for there is someone else who is truly responsible for this mess… only one person to blame for the corruption of this world… and it's not you."
One person to blame… one person… but if it wasn't her… then who? Mion scanned her thoughts frantically. Rena? Was it her fault for moving here? Mion shook her head, biting her lip. No, if it were Rena's fault, then how in the world was Satoko and Satoshi's abuse related to it? That was her fault because she—No, Mion had to remind herself that it wasn't her fault, that since Rika said it wasn't, she should just say it wasn't. But… it was her fault… wasn't it? Yeah, wasn't Rika lying? Yeah, that had to be it—
"Shion!" shouted Rika. "Think about it. Why did Rena transfer when she showed no signs of it before? Why did Satoko suddenly break when she showed no signs of it before? Why did Satoshi suddenly have a crush on you when he showed interest in Shion just days before, and when you were so convinced that he would go out with her? What made you suddenly become jealous of Rena, even when this kind of interaction wouldn't bother you in the slightest usually?" Once again with her powerful gaze, Rika locked eyes with Mion, and for a moment, the green-haired girl felt like they had seen into each other's souls.
Yeah… why did those things happen? She had thought about it before, but didn't think much of it. It never made any sense to her. Rena was happy with her parents before, so why did she suddenly come here? Why did Satoko suddenly break, when she was so strong before, even after Mion had fixed her by trying to get her to join the group? That shouldn't have taken away her ability to hold herself up. And Satoshi… well, she figured it would make sense that he would have a crush on her after all she did for him, but as she flashed back to days before the confession, she realized how much she truly thought Satoshi and Shion liked each other. He was always with her, laughing with her, chatting with her, doing work with her…
So why, then, did things suddenly change? What made it change? Did Satoko just reach her limit, even though she showed no signs of it just days before she did? Did Rena's family just suddenly fall apart, even when Rion had shown her such a happy image of how things were back at home for her? Did Satoshi just randomly decide that he loved her more than he loved Shion? For some reason, Mion doubted that such a thing would happen, and if that was so, it wouldn't be so sudden in a day's time like it had been. Well, not really a day's time, but it had felt like day to Mion, certainly…
Mion figured that there had to be some kind of connection between the events, but try as she might, she was unable to form some sort of connection. Rena's appearance had nothing to do with Satoshi's abuse, and had she not appeared, it would have probably happened anyways. Was there some major event that linked to her decision to make the world perfect that had to do with something that changed and then caused all that to happen? But what would cause Satoshi's attention to focus on Mion rather than Shion and Rena to transfer in?
"I…" Mion choked out… "I don't…"
Rika narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Come on, Shion! Think… If not something that triggered it, something similar… something that happened to you, to Satoshi… to Rena…"
Something that had happened? Well, Rena had moved because of her parent's divorce, and she had no idea what exactly made Satoko and Satoshi so weak all of a sudden, but… had there been something similar that had happened? Rika mentioned that it happened to her, too, but… No. She had to think. She had to think harder about this. There had to be another connection between Satoshi's break down and Rena's transfer, right? If not the same exact trigger, at least a trigger of a similar kind…
What made Rena want to move to Hinamizawa? What made Satoshi want to run away from Hinamizawa?
No. That was it. That was it. The reason why Rena had moved back to Hinamizawa was because she said that she felt Oyashiro's presence beside her, threatening to curse her if she didn't come back, and the reason why Satoshi left was because he was scared of the curse, or perhaps, because he was hit by the curse. Either way, it all came down to one thing. And suddenly, something all made sense. The perfect world. Why all these things that shouldn't have happened did.
Something that Mion should have realized a long time ago. Why, why did this all have to come to her now? …The culprit… the reason behind this corruption… Had been right behind her the whole time.
Mion breathed up and down, standing completely still with her eyes full of realization. Fear was gripping at her, pulling at her with its fingers, ripping at her very soul and making her tremble. All she could do was look at the young girl before her as she shuddered a bit in place, finding that her muscles refused to listen to her. Rika just gave her a slow nod, seriousness in her face as she stared right into Mion's eyes. And slowly, right there, Mion finally gave herself the strength to turn around.
Rion stood there, completely still, horror in her eyes.
"You…" whispered Mion, "you're…"
Rion looked horribly surprised, nothing but innocence and shock in her green eyes.
"You…" That appeared to be the only word Mion could choke out, even as she stared right into the god's eyes, fear shaking her very core. She didn't want to think it. She didn't want to believe it.
Rion's innocent surprise curled into a cruel smirk, staring at Mion with eyes that she decided had to contain all the evil in the world. She giggled a bit to herself before she burst out into a mad laughter that echoed throughout the night, causing stabs of fear of the worst kind to jam within her, running up and down her nerves like nails screeching against chalkboard. She held her chest as she flung her head back, barely able to control her laughter anymore. It took her moments to remain herself, and when she did, she looked up with a horrifying grin. "Damn you, Furude Rika!" cursed out Rion as she slammed a foot down on the floor. "I was going to play with her a few years longer! I was gonna have a lot of fun! You made me skip a few thousand years!"
Rika gritted her teeth. "You were right, Hanyuu," she whispered to a spot beside her. "you were right…"
Mion stood there, confusion and hurt like never before spiraling about in her brain. She had no idea how to take any of this. An ally who she had relied on this whole time had turned around and betrayed her, and suddenly, there was this whole mystery about Rika. What was she talking about? And finally, there was one question that burned in Mion's mind, one question that ripped right through her as hot tears began to form in her eyes. Why?
Rion smiled. "I guess I'm gonna have to win that back from you now. What a boring way to start my rule out." She smirked again, and with a swipe of her hand, the god who Mion had trusted and relied on all this time was gone. What appeared to be an explosion of light surrounded Rion, and Mion, barely being able to process anything that was going on as she stared dumbfounded at the scene before her, just stood there. It wasn't until she felt a forceful tug pulling her backwards was she able to move her legs as the light shrunk, and at the same time, grew into another shape.
Rika gripped her arm tightly as Mion started in complete shock and devastation at the light before her. As it faded, Rion's figure became visible, or rather, her new figure. She had grown from a nine-year-old girl to an adult around the age of thirty. She eyed both Mion and Rika with twisted, dark eyes full of power, and it appeared to Mion that darkness swirled within them. Two, shining, white horns curled around from the sides of her head, both of them looking completely new and untouched, compared to the goddess's former state of having only one horn. Her yellow-green hair had extended down to her waist, and fingernails sharper than they should be lay at the end of each of her hands. As Mion looked at her, the image of the demon she saw in Satoshi's eyes popped in her mind, and suddenly, she understood just why he had seen that image.
"I missed this form. I missed it much too much," Rion commented as she ran her long fingernails through locks of her green hair. "It's a shame you had to take it away from me… isn't that right, Hanyuu?"
The next thing Mion knew, there was a flash of light behind her, and a girl Mion instantly recognized appeared behind her. She looked to be no older than nine, but with knowledge of who Rion was, Mion instantly knew it had to be wrong. She had light purple hair that reached down to her waist, but perhaps what was most noticeable was her two, black horns coming from the side of her head, one of which was chipped slightly.
"Hanyuu…" Mion whispered as confusion hit her harder than before. Just what she needed. All this was buzzing in her mind, and just nothing was making sense. It was impossible for her to think. Hanyuu was a former member of the club who had left one day, but now… here she was. And with a single look, Mion now knew just who she was, and just what kind of power she had brought to the club when she had joined.
Rika moved out of the way as she allowed for Hanyuu to take a step forward. There was rage burning in Hanyuu's eyes, similar to the fire that was within her when she faced Takano's gun, but this time, it seemed to be larger and hotter. "Rion!" shouted Hanyuu. "Stop this right now! Do you want me to lock you and condemn you to the further, darker worlds like I did after you murdered Masumi!"
Rion just laughed at her. "As if you could do that anymore! Hanyuu, you're powerless! That power you've kept from me… I've taken it all back. There's nothing that you can do about it now. You're truly cunning, though, I must admit." She smiled as she walked up towards the now much smaller goddess, grinning down at her with darkness in that horribly twisted smile of hers. "You knew what I was up to and you came to this world before I could shut you out. I knew that something was up with Rika, but hell, I didn't bother much with it. I should have killed you the moment I realized something was wrong."
Hanyuu smirked a bit, but it was clear that she was afraid. "Well, I'm glad you didn't, then. I suppose there would be no chance for me to take all that back, then."
Anger flared in Rion's eyes. "No chance?" she roared out, "there's already no chance! Now that I've got this power back, there's nothing you can do, nothing! The universes and power belong to me now, Hanyuu! If you want, you can try to stop… but…" She turned around and took a few steps forward, then whipping around again. "It's just going to make it more fun for me. It's kind of entertaining to watch, you know? Like watching mice running on those wheels. They think they're going somewhere, perhaps, but in truth, they just look like fools running nowhere in place, and children sure seem to be entertained by that!" Rion shot them another grin, this time more twisted than ever before. "So try! But Hanyuu… you're already finished!"
Mion watched with pure horror as Rion extended her arm out and let a flash of light grow within her palm. Hanyuu's eyes grew wide with fear, but she did not hesitate a moment. Right as the light seemed to begin to launch itself towards Mion, Hanyuu, and Rika, the purple-haired goddess leapt for Mion, pulling her tightly as she wrapped her arms around her. That was when the light shot began to envelop them.
And with a flash, Mion's world turned black.
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When she opened her eyes again, Mion did not instantly know where she was, only that she was not within the cursed, corrupt world she had been for so long. In fact, it appeared as if she was in no world at all. She was floating. Just floating. The world around her was completely black aside from fragments that float around her, spinning about as they reflected many scenes before her. Some of them, she recognized. A certain, dark fragment with cracks forming down its side seemed to show images of days that had just passed, with the glaring pictures of Mion brutally murdering Keiichi and Rena, of Shion murdering Satoko…
Where was she? Mion looked around, but she couldn't determine that. Was she dreaming?
"You're not dreaming," a voice that she instantly recognized as Hanyuu's echoed out, and she whipped around to look at the god. "You're in the space between worlds, just outside of the world that Rion dragged you in. That's that one, over there." She pointed a finger to the dark, breaking fragment. "I managed to grab you just in time, but I don't have much time before Rion pulls you back in. I can only stop time for so long."
"St…stop time?" Mion repeated, confusion in her tone. She knew that alternate universes and gods existed, but all this around her was just too much to swallow.
Hanyuu nodded. "You see, as Rion explained to you, there are three Oyashiros. There's me, the Oyashiro that rules the Furude Family, who is bound to Rika. There was Masumi, who was the Oyashiro of the Kimiyoshi family, but she was murdered. And then… there's Rion. You know her already. Oyashiro of the Sonozaki family. Bound to you."
Mion nodded slowly. She should just take things slow and listen to Hanyuu. She was surely going to explain everything…
"First of all, I have to apologize," Hanyuu said, regret in her tone. "Because I know this is all coming as a shock to you, to see your former club member here, and suddenly she's a god..." She shook her head. "I had a good time in your club, Mion. I'm sorry."
She was taken aback by the sudden apology. Why did Hanyuu need to apologize for something like that? Sure, it was sort of shocking when she thought about it, but... now wasn't the time to be concerned about that. "No, it's fine," Mion said. "You don't need to apologize at all, Hanyuu..."
Hanyuu cracked a smile. "Au au! That makes me happy to hear!" she cried out.
"I'm sure you know how limited Rion's power was when you first came to the world, don't you?" It was another voice, this time belonging to Rika, who Mion realized was standing right behind her. The younger girl stepped around her to take her place right next to Hanyuu, looking over at the god. "Very limited. All she had the power to do was show images and pull you into that world. That was the extent of what she could do."
Hanyuu nodded in acknowledgement to the girl she was connected to. "That's right. We spilt the power up and hid most of it away to prevent one of us becoming too powerful and taking over the others if she wanted to. However, we were kept enough power to allow ourselves to be bound to one human being under very specific circumstances and Masumi had the power over nature, I had the power over time, and Rion had the power over life. It's the power we have attached to ourselves, and the power that no one can steal forcefully… unless we die."
Mion blinked and just nodded.
"Rion was never in the right mind. I should have known something was off… but I trusted her anyways. I thought she had turned to good, but she hadn't." Hanyuu looked directly into Mion's eyes, making sure she took in the information. "We all gained the title of god in a separate way, Mion, and while mine was through sacrificing myself, Rion's was through ambition. Murder. Power. Now, I wasn't born into the Furude family, but I am still the god and protector of it. Rion, unlike me, was born into the Sonozaki family." Hanyuu paused for a moment to let Mion think a bit. It was all a bit much for her, but she knew that she had to listen. "Actually, Mion, she's the same as you."
That statement puzzled Mion. The same as her? "What do you mean?" she asked.
"The poor, unfortunate, second-born twin of the Sonozaki family. Rion may have mentioned her sister to you a few times. Rion's sister was her older twin by just a few minutes, and because of that, she was guaranteed the position as family head and was to inherit it." Hanyuu sighed. "Rion was outraged. She pretended it didn't bother her, but it did. In the shadows, she hated, and in the shadows, she plotted. One day, she marched right up and murdered her father, then murdering her sister. She blamed the murder on a servant, and by her pure wit and set up, she convinced them. Then, she took the title of head of herself, and under her rule, Onigafuchi was corrupted."
Hanyuu sighed and shook her head again. "Yet, no one could tell, because everyone respected her so much and would never think that she was the cause of anything. So, Masumi took it into her own hands and fought Rion. Rion fell, and through the power she had gained and her title in the village, she claimed the position of Oyashiro. I thought that she had learned her lesson, but I was wrong." Hanyuu's hands balled up into fists. "She played with the humans in the worlds that she prayed upon like as if they were toys. She would follow them, scare them, and with her own power, bend life with her will. She would watch as those worlds corrupted slowly. What fun it was for her… but you know, she wasn't strong enough. Life itself she could play with, but she was limited. She wanted all the power. So, she murdered Masumi and took her power into her hands. She wanted mine as well, but I stopped her in her tracks. I took the hidden power we have stored and banished her to further worlds, worlds like the one that you were just in, Mion. I removed her powers and hid them far, far, far away where she could never get them. That's where I thought I had defeated her a second time."
Mion gritted her teeth together as she learned the true tale behind the god she thought she could trust. How was she so dark and twisted on the inside, and why did she never notice? Her heart was heavy with the scar of betrayal, which seemed to tear at her every growing second.
"And that, Sonozaki Mion, is where the darkness of Oyashiro-sama comes from. When you hear about the evil, dark side of Oyashiro, that is Rion. She is the part of Oyashiro that is full of darkness, she is the part of Oyashiro that is said to be murderous... She is all the evil in Hinamizawa." She looked down at her feet. "And I thought I had finally banished her..."
Mion's heart became heavy as she thought about the many times Rion would talk about how she was scared of the legends of Oyashiro that people created in her name, when she was the only one to blame for it.
Rika looked over to Hanyuu, a frown on her face. "There was one thing that Hanyuu didn't consider, though. Under very specific circumstances, as we mentioned before, a god will be bound to a human in the family they watch over, just like how Hanyuu is connected to me." She nodded in Hanyuu's direction. "I'm called the reincarnation of Oyashrio-sama because I am the eighth first born girl in a row in the Furude family, which is the circumstance that ties Hanyuu to a human. What Hanyuu realized but thought she had taken care of, was Rion's circumstances." She looked right at Mion again with that powerful stare, which seemed to pierce right through her. "…After Rion's death, it was ruled that the second-born twin in the Sonozaki family must be murdered. It was said to be because it was considered a sign of bad luck, but in truth, Rion could tie herself to the second born twin. And, Mion, being the second born twin of the Sonozaki family, that was you."
Mion blinked. She remembered Rion mentioning a few things like that before, but she claimed she didn't know the answer. She bit her lip as she recalled a few other things that Rion had said that she also had lied about, which had drawn her to the conclusion; the realization of what truly had been corrupting the world…
"I-I think I know what happens next," Mion stuttered out, much to their surprise. "Rion told me about the perfect world, and the "real" Hinamizawa, and how when I claimed it to be perfect, it would become the real Hinamizawa."
Hanyuu nodded. "Correct."
"That shifted the power to her, didn't it? Because she was now in the real Hinamizawa, which she couldn't access before because you had locked her out of it," Mion spoke.
Hanyuu grinned a bit. "You figured it out, didn't you? Where I went wrong, that is. I didn't consider that Rion could possibly do that, at least not recently. That when you died, Rion could pull you into her world and convince you that it was perfect so that she could grab the power. And as you now know, that's just what she did. When you deemed the world perfect, she used her powers in any small way that she could to corrupt things. She forced Rena to move. She forced Satoshi to go crazy. She forced Satoko to become weak…"
Mion bit her lip. That was Rion's true intention. When she was pulled towards this world, it was because a vicious god wanted power and wanted to use her and corrupt her for it. She forced her to stay strong many times in that world when it came to Keiichi and anything else, but… that wasn't because she wanted to be nice. It was because she knew that when Mion deemed it perfect, the power would be hers to take, that she would be able to get her revenge.
"We had a bit of an… interesting struggle before with worlds," Rika started, her tone laced with darkness and years of pain. "You died many times, but Hanyuu knew how to block Rion then so that she could protect your spirit. However, she didn't expect you to die when you fell off that cliff, as we had already deemed that world as perfect and Hanyuu had no intention of corrupting it. That was the moment of weakness Rion grabbed you at. For a while, Hanyuu and I didn't suspect anything, but…" Rika shook her head. "We came right before you deemed the world perfect. We shifted worlds and snuck by Rion right before it was too late to save things."
Mion didn't know what to make of all this. Now that she knew she was being manipulated from behind the whole time, she felt like a fool. She could have stopped it; she could have saved the world. It really was her fault, wasn't it? Even if it was Rion pulling the strings, it was her fault. Shion was right, wasn't she…? If only… if only she weren't so foolish… if only she could go back and fix things.
"We don't have much longer before time unfreezes and Rion can pull you back. Rion has no control over my time power, as much as she takes other power from me, it's the one thing she can't take fully. Listen to me. There's one way we can beat Rion," Hanyuu said, seriousness in her tone. The way she told Mion the words instantly showed her that there was no time for fooling around, and no time to waste. As a god that controlled time, she would be the one to know that.
"This is what I'm going to do. Mion, I'm going to send you back in time," Hanyuu informed Mion.
Mion's eyes blinked in surprise. "H-Huh…?"
Hanyuu nodded. "Yes. Because my powers are weakening, I can't just take you all the way back from the day before you came into this world and make you stop the you from this world from committing suicide. I have to take you back to each event in reverse order that they occurred in, and you have to undo every single change you made to this world. This will stop Rion's corruption from ever happening. Finally, when you jump off the cliff and kill yourself at the end, you'll be back in your own world."
Mion's heart flooded with relief at those last words. Home. She could go home! Back where everything was normal, back where her friends were waiting for her… back where they loved her. Back where they needed her. A tear trickled down her cheek at the thought of home, and how much she missed it. She was a fool for ever thinking that this world was better.
…But it was a tough task she had to complete. Undo every change she did to the world…?
"That's right. Undo every change to did to this world," Hanyuu said, repeating Mion's thoughts as if she could read them. "Meaning, starting from the order you'll have to visit the scenes in, you have to do the following. Prevent yourself from murdering Rena and Keiichi, prevent yourself from murdering Shion, prevent Satoshi from falling in love with you, prevent Satoko from ever becoming the way she did, prevent Keiichi from ever falling in love with you, prevent your transfer. Finally, at the very end, you will have to jump off a cliff just like you did in the beginning and kill yourself." Mion looked alarmed, but Hanyuu held up a hand and silenced any words she had. "You won't die. You'll end up back in your own world. I promise you. Then, Rion's power will go away, and everything will be back to normal… and then, I will have learned my lesson a third time, and Rion shall never attempt such a dirty scheme again."
Mion slowly nodded her head, though somewhat shakily. She had to undo all of that? How was she going to do that? Well… she supposed that she would find out… but it would be tough. Either way, she wanted to go home so badly that it killed her, so she knew she had to do it, otherwise she would literally be killed a thousand times over. "I'm going to do it, Hanyuu. I'm going to stop her and I'm going to go home."
Hanyuu smiled. "You will. Now, time is almost up. I'll be sending you off now. Do this for us, for Rika and I."
Rika nodded her head, grinning. "You can do it, club leader Sonozaki Mion!" She then wore her usual, cute Rika smile that would make Rena burst out into "take it home mode." "Nipah~!" she beamed out as sweetly and adorably as she possibly could.
Mion nodded, this time more firmly and confidently. "Yes!" she cried out, triumph in her voice. "I can do it! I'll do it for both of you, for us, for me, and for all of Hinamizawa!"
Hanyuu grinned. "Good luck, my club leader!"
And with a wave of Hanyuu's hand and a flash of light, Mion was off.
~~~~X~~~~
Crimso's Corner V.3
…! I think at some point some of you realized Rion was up to no good, but who stuck to that conclusion to the end? I was dropping hints at her scheme every here and there so that you would all understand and get a hint of what she was probably trying to do from behing the scenes, and it all adds up to this. Tell me your thoughts! By the way, Rion was originally just going to be downright evil from the beginning. The first Rion was kind of harsh and cold, but then I changed it so that she was much the same, just sort of on a neutral side. She wasn't bad or good. Just doing whatever she felt like. Finally, I switched back, and now you have this Rion.
Please review and share your thoughts! I'll update soon! I can't wait for camp! Tomorrow is a busy day. We have to pack my trunk completely. Yay… And my internet has been so funny since yesterday. I hope I can even UPLOAD this! *kicks internet*
~Crimso