Ch. 26 Snow Storm
The battle at the shrine has already begun. Hiro and Aki are squaring off while Kurumi and Saori are clashing gun to sword. The two ladies are clashing against each other without anyone taking the advantage. The two boys, on the other hand, is not as on even grounds as the ladies. Aki has taken control of this fight quickly.
Aboard the Bifrost, Kotori is biting her nail while trying to figure something out. She'd go herself, but she can't risk losing control since she has noticed Miyuki's presence at the shrine. At this point, Kotori wishes she had her crew with her since they could, at least, give her an idea of what to do. She can checks on the feed coming from the communicators that Shido, Ellen, and Akane are wearing to find out what they're up to. Shido actually tries to contact the ship.
"Hey, Kotori, Tohka really wants to meet Aki. So can you tell us where he is?"
Kotori doesn't want to lie to Shido, but at the same time, she can't let him get near the shrine. So in a desperate thought, she mindlessly blurts out.
"Uh… Somebody set up us the bomb!"
She then presses the mute button. Shido shrugs it off and simply says.
"I guess she's playing Zero Wing. I didn't think she was interested."
Kotori has a look of disbelief as she says to herself, also with disbelief.
"I can't believe that I just blurted that out."
Kotori then comes to the conclusion that the only person she can send is Akane. Ellen's injured, Tohka wouldn't be thrilled to see her potential son in a bad state, Shiori has almost no idea about her powers, and Mana couldn't be trusted to assist Kurumi and beat Saori. She'd rather not endanger her daughter, but with limited options, there's not much choice. She is hesitant, but sucks it up and calls her on her communicator. As she explains to Akane about the situation, Akane has something more to add.
"Well, that just adds to another problem."
Kotori face palms and asks.
"What do you mean "another problem"?"
Akane explains.
"Well, after Tohka and Shido left, Yoshino went to check on Miyuki, saw she that she is missing, and the added stress caused her to go into labor."
Kotori is shocked and yells out.
"What the holy crap!"
Akane also explains that Ellen and she are helping her with the delivery since it is too frosty out to get her to a hospital. Kotori quickly comes up with a compromise.
"Okay, I'll come down to help Yoshino with her delivery, Mana will monitor the ship, and you go to the shrine."
Akane agrees and tells Ellen the plan. Despite only using one arm, Ellen is showing some good dexterity with her helping. She's already gathered the necessary items, fresh sheets and hot water, and is sitting next to Yoshino in the living room. Yoshino is lying on the couch, doing her Lamaze. Shiori is doing everything she can to help.
Kotori decides to call Shido again and tell him about the situation in the hopes of keeping him away from the shrine in any way. Naturally, Shido can't Ellen and Yoshino alone, so he agrees to go back. Tohka is adamant due to her excitement to meet her potential son, but Shido gently explains to her.
"Tohka, we can meet Aki later. But right now Yoshino is almost alone in that house pushing out a new life. Plus….I kinda want to be there when that happens."
Tohka can tell that this is what Shido wants, so she responds.
"Fine, but you owe me a date."
Shido pats Tohka's head and agrees.
Back at the shrine, Miyuki is wandering the shrine, ignorant to the violence since it has escalated to the sky. She is frightened from being separated from her mother again but tries to stay calm. She is starting to get dizzy from the smell.
"Yoshinon, this place smells like daddy's ¥ 10 coins."
Yoshinon and Miyuki look at each other as the puppet responds.
"Maybe somebody dropped a lot of money around here. We should pick it up and buy some candy!"
Miyuki then wags her finger at Yoshinon and rebukes in a scolding manner.
"No no no, remember, Yoshinon, that money wouldn't be ours. We'll give it back to the person who lost it."
As Miyuki wanders the shrine more, she trips and falls down on the brick walkway, which is still stained crimson. Miyuki picks herself up and realizes that she has cut the palm of her hand. She looks at her palm and sees that it is slightly bleeding. Miyuki starts to tear up from the pain, but then she looks at her hand and compares it to the ground.
"Yoshinon…I think….."
Miyuki young mind begins to glow blank for a few a seconds as she continually stares at the ground; to make things worse for her, Miyuki has hemophobia, so this is possibly the worst place in the world for her to be at. Due to the outrageous amount of blood present, Miyuki just legitimately thought it was paint coating the area.
Akane sprints to the shrine and enters her spirit form since time is of the essence. Once Akane has reached the shrine area, she is taken by surprise as the shrine has been coated in a sheet of ice. Not wanting to back away, Akane continues towards the frozen shrine and melts the ice that she steps on.
In the skies, the two fights haven't made much progress. Kurumi is attempting to shoot Saori with her two guns, but Saori keeps countering by having one her puppets shoot at the same angle and completely block any shots. Saori then berates her opponent as she relishes her advantage.
"Ufufufu, don't you get it, Kurumi, you can't even touch me."
Kurumi smiles through her disadvantage and continues to press on. She then rushes up to Saori and they start clashing again. The two girls are equal like this, so Saori backs off and says.
"You know what? This is getting boring. I can't kill you, but I can test out my newest toy."
Kurumi attempts to keep up the struggle going, but Saori disappears into one of her dark portals. She(Saori) reappears a bit further away and announces.
"Come, Throne!"
Saori's guardian, Throne, appears behind her, and she immediately gives her an order.
"Throne, I want you to use our newest acquisition to give us a show."
The guardian appears uneasy and hesitates, Saori then gives her an annoyed look and states.
"Did I stutter!? I said do it!"
The guardian then nods, and Kurumi noticed the hesitation and thinks.
"Does that guardian have a mind of its own?"
The guardian opens her palm and sends five threads from her fingers into another portal and begins to pull something out. Kurumi prepares for an onslaught of more dead versions of herself, but she isn't prepared for what is about to happen next. Saori announces.
"For my next dance, I'll show you…The Rondo of The Second Witch."
Throne then produces the lifeless body of Artemisia Bell Ashcroft, the one that Saori killed in the previous world. Her eyes are devoid of any life, but she is moving like a puppet. Kurumi readies herself for a new challenge and utters.
"Well, aren't we always coming up with new surprises? I guess it would be boring if didn't though, Saori."
Saori smirks and quietly announces.
"It's Showtime!"
Hiro and Aki's fight is getting closer to the finish. Hiro is severely holding back to avoid hurting his ally; it also doesn't help that Aki is Tohka's son. Hiro is panting from his injuries as he tries to think of a way to Aki to snap out of his trance. He's only partially inversed, so Hiro is concentrating on this endeavor. He escalates the fight back to the ground. The two boys are now standing opposite of each other and are ready to go at again.
Aki and Hiro come at each other with different intent. This time, Hiro is the one who wants to do the saving, and Aki is the one with killing intent. The two boys clash blades and press on to gain the advantage, but nobody manages to win the struggle. Due to holding back, Hiro has only equipped his arm and leg armor. He uses his speed to get behind Aki in the hopes of stunning him with a quick jab to the back, but as Hiro's blade makes contact, Aki seemingly warps out of the way. His body fades into the air. Hiro is shocked at this technique as Aki appears above him and attacks with a downward slash that successfully hits Hiro and slashes through his shirt. The wound that is inflicted isn't very bad, but Hiro is now feeling the effects of the weather. His wounds aren't helping either. He is starting to become dizzy and distracted from his body's temperature dropping.
Back at the shrine, Akane has reached the shrine itself and to her shock, she sees Miyuki encased in a sphere of ice near the fortune stand and her eyes are closed and has a plain look. Miyuki is also wearing a new outfit that is almost identical to Yoshino's astral dress, but ears on the hood have holes in them, and the overall color of the dress is pink. Yoshinon is still on her left hand. Akane, completely worried for her, runs over to break her out of the ice. Akane gets to the sphere and starts using her flames to the melt the ice with as much gentleness as possible to avoid hurting the young child. But unknown to her, Miyuki's expression becomes one of terror, and from behind Akane, a sharp tail-like object begins to form from the surrounding ice.
At the Itsuka residence, Yoshino is still in labor as everyone stands at her side. Kotori complains by saying.
"You know, her Shido should be here for her. Even in this time, he's useless."
Ellen looks at Kotori with scolding eyes as she rebukes.
"Kotori, that isn't fair to anyone. Her husband works hard to provide for his family."
Kotori scratches her head as she apologizes.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little tense right now."
Shido then gently walks over to the expecting mother, holds her hand, and assures her.
"You're not alone right now, Yoshino. None of us are leaving."
Yoshino manages to smile through her pain as she knows that she is in the comfort of people she knows she can trust beyond any doubt.