Chapter 29

Ai, Flick immediately sent the thought to her mental companion. Is this what I think it is?

"You are correct, Flick," came the response. "Mifuyu has been merged with an Uwasa."

Right, shit. Unlike Flick, the merging didn't seem to have much of an effect on Mifuyu's outward appearance, besides her clothes and the way her eyes swirled. Her mental state, however, was obviously changed, perhaps even more so than it had been when she'd used her Doppel. Flick couldn't help but shiver when looking at the grin on Mifuyu's face.

At least, her words and appearance had brought everyone to silence. No one was making a move to attack anyone else yet. In fact, no one dared move at all.

No one, that was, except for Yachiyo. Her eyes had widened in horror, her mouth open as a low, guttural sound escaped her. "Mifuyu . . ." She shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no, that can't be you! What did they do to you?"

Mifuyu stepped forward, leading Flick the others to summon their weapons to their hands. That only prompted all the wings to ready their claw-like blades. However, no one attacked, even as Mifuyu stepped closer to Yachiyo. Neither of the two had their own weapons ready, and they were so focused on one another that they seemed to forget everyone else in the room.

Finally, Mifuyu was inches away from Yachiyo. She reached a hand out, cupping Yachiyo's cheek.

"Oh, Yachan," Mifuyu whispered, barely close enough for Flick to hear despite being the closest to the two. "I truly wish you had joined us. You would have risen to the top of the Wings in no time. Then, we could have seen liberation through together."

"You . . ." Yachyio swallowed, her voice hoarse. She sounded moments away from tears. "You can't still be with them, Mifuyu. Not after everything we've been through . . ."

Flick had to speak up. It wasn't her moment, but she couldn't let Yachiyo think her best friend (and probably more than that) had betrayed her.

"She was merged with an Uwasa." Yachiyo's head snapped in Flick's direction. "The Magius, they've effectively brainwashed her."

"Mifuyu has always believed in our cause," Nemu said, reminding Flick that she and Touka were still there. "We merely gave her the strength to ensure our victory."

Those liars. Flick scowled. Of course, given how many of the Feathers had joined up because they trusted Mifuyu, the Magius couldn't let them know that Mifuyu had betrayed them. That was why they had gone through the effort of merging her with an Uwasa.

Flick had more to say about that, but before she could get a word out, Touka spoke up. "What are you all waiting for? Take them down already!"

There was no delaying after a direct order like that. A gasp caught Flick's attention, and she turned to see Yachiyo struck by an attack she hadn't seen coming, even under the circumstances.

Mifuyu's chakram was buried in Yachiyo's side. Despite having critically injured her partner in life, Mifuyu continued to grin, even as Yachiyo fell to her knees.

"Master!" Tsuruno sprung into action, flames sprouting from her fans and forcing Mifuyu to jump away. Flick couldn't pay much attention to what happened next, as she had her own problems to deal with.

Half a dozen Feathers had surrounded her, and they all shot their weapons forward, chains trailing behind them. There was no time for Flick to doge, and no way for a single shot from her bow to hit all of them.

Well then, she just needed more bows. With a thought, six bows appeared around her, each firing a single arrow that exploded on impact with the incoming blades, knocking them all off course. Even then, she didn't have a moment to breathe, as some Feathers rushed at her to swipe to close range. They probably thought that since she had a bow, she would be at a disadvantage in close combat.

They were wrong. Flick weaved between three different sets of claws, ducking and leaning so close to them that she felt one brush against her hair. Then, with two quick hand motions, she stabbed the front blade into the leg of one Feather, then yanked it out and stabbed the back blade into the side of another. The angle of the stab left the bow pointed at the third Feather, and a quick draw of the string shot an arrow to send them flying back.

Another claw rushing at Flick's face made her eyes widen. There was no time to dodge, but she reflexively leaned back anyway. However, the claw ended up passing right through her face.

An illusion! Just as Flick came to that realization, a real claw struck her chest, and she gasped, pain coursing through her.

Dammit, how were they supposed to fight against this?! With Mifuyu's illusions affecting all of them, they had no way of knowing what was real and what was fake. Yet there were so many real Feathers surrounding them that they were likely to get overwhelmed either way.

Well, Flick was never one to give up against impossible odds. Ignoring the claw digging into her, she drew her bow back as far as she could, launching over half a dozen arrows at the crowd of girls. Even if she didn't know which were real, she could still take out groups of them with the resulting explosions. Sure enough, her path was clear for a moment. It gave her a moment to check on the others. Most of them were in the same situation as her, fighting back waves of Feathers while taking the occasional cut along the way. Tsuruno and Kanagi were mostly occupied with Mifuyu, and they seemed barely able to keep up with her even while teaming up.

There was one girl in more danger than the rest. Pulling out the blade in her chest, Flick called out to her.

"Reathma!" Flick held out her hand. "Connect!"

Reathma's hand grasped her own through a gap in the Feathers, and Flick immediately felt a swell of power. This was the ability unique to Magical Girls in Kamihama, being able to combine your magic with another's for a single, powerful attack.

For Reathma and Flick, their magic combined to make a massive bow above their heads, which fired dozens of arrows at the feet of as many Feathers as possible. The arrows themselves weren't much, but once each one was down, a line of electricity coursed between all of them. Girls cried out as they were shocked, and the amount of Feathers standing noticeably thinned.

One cry rose above the others, and Flick spun around to see Rena was among those lying on the ground. Standing above her and turning her attention to Momoko was a familiar face.

Kaede?! What was Rena's best friend doing among the Feathers, fighting the people she was close to?! Was she brainwashed, just like Mifuyu? There was no Uwasa fused with her, but the Magius might have had other ways of brainwashing people.

It got worse, though, as Tsuruno was also down, and Kanagi was struggling to hold her own against Mifuyu. The Mitakihara girls were stuck as a White Feather with a bazooka fired at them. Homura could have dealt with her, but some of the Black Feathers had worked together to trap her in their chains.

Sheer numbers were against them. Every one of them was so overwhelmed with their own battles, they couldn't work well as a team. Many of their group didn't even know most of the others, and that made synergy even more difficult. Meanwhile, the Feathers were an organization that had been around for months, and had at least enough practice to not get in each other's way.

Seeing Mami about to get struck from behind, Flick switched places with her, taking a claw to the back in her place. Ignoring the pain, she spun and shot at the Feather responsible, along with a few others.

No, it was just the one. The rest were illusions. How close were they to winning? How many of the Feathers standing were real, and how many were fake?

Unwilling to dwell on that, Flick fired arrow after arrow. She got lost in the swarm of girls, her only focused being on taking out whoever was in front of her. There was no telling how much time passed while her world was a flurry of blades and chains. Still, with each passing moment, she could feel her fatigue grow, and her muscles begin to slacken.

Finally, a single voice rose above the rest, speaking the words that would end the fight.

"Paranoia Assault, Piercing Sun."

Reflexively, Flick turned toward the speaker. It was Mifuyu, of course, and there was a bright light coming out of her. The moment that light reached Flick's eyes, pain assaulted her being. She screamed, falling onto her side as her brain felt as though it was being stabbed with a thousand needles. Thought was all but impossible as her mind almost drowned in the agony. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, but by the time the pain receded, Flick felt she could barely breathe, much less stand.

The others were in the same state. Those who were still conscious were on the ground groaning. Most of the Feathers that had lasted this long were still up, so they must have been warned ahead of time to look away.

"That was amazing!" Touka practically skipped forward, standing above Flick and her friends. "You really are our best work, Mifuyu. Second only to Eve!"

Eve . . . Flick had to get up! Eve was going to wake up soon! She struggled, but her arms wouldn't cooperate. Any attempt at picking herself up resulted in her falling back down.

She wasn't the only one trying, though. Iroha was also fighting to stand, and she was making more progress than Flick. She made it onto her hands and knees, looking directly at Touka.

"Touka . . ."

"That's enough, Iroha Tamaki!" Touka whacked Iroha upside the head with her parasol, making her cry out. "Who are you, to get in our way so much?!"

"Stop!" Finally, Flick's arms responded. She was able to sit up, though her legs remained too weak to stand. "Don't hurt her!"

"You're still making demands?" Touka glared at her. "I'll do whatever I want! None of you will get in the way of our dream! Just watch!" With that, her parasol opened up, sending a wave of fire straight at Iroha's soul gem.

No, no, no! Flick got ready to switch places with Iroha, taking the hit in her stead. However, something held her back.

"You'll die, Flick." The hesitation was Ai's. "Your soul gem will shatter from the attack."

Dammit! She couldn't die here, couldn't leave everyone behind. But she couldn't watch Iroha die either! She reached out pathetically as the fire reached her friend . . .

Only to be stopped.

The girl who had suddenly appeared might have been the most beautiful girl Flick had seen. She was tall, with long, bright pink hair that almost seemed to contain stars beneath it. Her gorgeous pastel blue and pink dress reached her knees, and was the only article of clothing she wore. There seemed to be both wisdom and innocence in her twinkling, purple eyes.

"I cannot allow you to do that, Touka Satomi," the girl said.

"The Uwasa?!" Touka blurted. "Nemu, what's going on?!"

"I'm . . . not sure," Nemu admitted.

So this girl was an Uwasa, Like Ai—no, like Flick. The girl looked into Flick's eyes, and there seemed to be some level of understanding there.

"Iroha Tamaki is one of the four girls under my protection," the Uwasa said. "Until the four girls reunite, I cannot allow harm to come to any of them."

"So you'll fight us?!" Touka demanded.

The Uwasa shook her head. "Touka and Nemu, you are two of the girls I must protect as well."

"What?!" Touka looked seconds away from having steam come out of her ears. "I thought the girls in the Rumor were made up!"

By now, Iroha had recovered enough to shake her head. "They're the three of us, and Ui too! It's just like I said, I came up with the idea for this place!"

That was nearly enough for Touka to rave at her again, but Nemu raised a hand to stop her. "This does lend proof to your theory," Nemu said. "But it does not change our goal."

"Yeah!" Touka seemed almost relieved to have an excuse to latch on to. "I still have no memory of you or this made up girl! Even if your words are true, why should I let them stop me?" She raised her parasol to strike Iroha again, but just like last time, the Uwasa stepped between them. "Move out of my way already!"

"Touka." Nemu stepped forward. "Let's bring them all into Hotel Fendt Hope. We'll imprison them, then feed them to Eve once we get our bearings." She looked at the Uwasa. "That shouldn't go against the Rumor, since we won't be harming them here."

The Uwasa grimaced. "It . . . wouldn't."

"There we go, then." Nemu smiled. "Feathers, please restrain them and bring them inside before they recover their strength."

Flick tried to resist, but her body was still recovering from Mifuyu's attack. Her magic had let her assault Flick's mind, and those of her friends. That damage persisted even as their bodies recovered their strength. There was nothing they could do as the Feather wrapped ropes around their torsos and hauled them to their feet.

Any ideas, Ai? Flick asked.

"I'm afraid not, Flick," Ai said. "I'm sorry."

Those words stuck in Flick's head as they were taken prisoner.