Ch. 27 The Joy Amongst the Cold Pt.1
In the prime timeline, Shinra is wandering through the halls of DEM headquarters. He is contemplating his next move in his master plan.
"Hmm, Neither Geri, Freki, or Kokoro have found Origami yet. I know this isn't easy for Freki, but I have faith in her self-control."
Shinra then bumps into a young female wizard who appears to be in her early twenties. She quickly apologizes in a bashful manner as she appears to have a crush on him.
"Oh, I'm very sorry, Mr. Shinra, I didn't see where I was going."
Shinra smirks a little as he thinks to himself.
"I guess I'll try Isaac's way for once."
He then invites the young lady to accompany him on a date, to which she happily agrees.
In Yoshino timeline, Mana has taken the helm of the Bifrost. She is now aware of the action going on at the shrine, and the situation at the Itsuka residence. She also realizes that Kotori purposely kept this from her. She is irritated at this, but is more concerned with Hiro and Akane at the shrine.
Akane is still in the middle of trying to thaw Miyuki out of the ice sphere. As she concentrates, she feels a sharp pain surge through her chest. She looks down and sees a sharp object pierced through her chest. She then immediately shoots a fireball to sever it from her back. She then pushes the point out through her back, and utters through the pain.
"*Groan* that didn't feel good."
Her injury heals automatically as she notices more sharp objects forming from the ice around the area, and says, surprised,
"This is not good."
Kurumi and Saori's fight is nearly at its climax. Kurumi is covered in scratches and she can't use her angel, Zafkiel, because when she attempts to enchant a bullet, Saori simply has another Kurumi shoot her opponents hand and knock her guns out of her hands. Also, with the corpse of Ashcroft at her demand, Saori has dominion over her abilities. Saori doesn't have s ingle scratch, and has Kurumi held down by her reanimated past. She is out of stamina from constantly fighting back; all she can do is listening to the cackling of Saori's puppets. Saori neatly lands on the ground next to the shrine's stairs. She then snaps her fingers to summon her newest puppet. Ashcroft's lifeless body neatly hovers next to her new master as Saori looks at Kurumi as she compliments herself.
"Beautiful, isn't it."
Saori snaps her fingers again, but this time the corpse bends gets on all fours, and Saori sits on her like a chair. She puts on a thinking look for a second, and then says, sarcastically.
"You know, I don't get why anybody would ever enjoy this. There's no lumbar support, and frankly, my ass isn't feeling any less stress."
She then smiles a bit bigger as she then adds.
"But the thought of doing whatever the hell I feel like with the stupid bitch's carcass makes it worth it."
Kurumi smiles and tries to maintain her demeanor despite knowing she is beaten.
"So, what's the plan, Saori? Are you going to devour me and take my powers for yourself?"
Saori smirks a little as she wags her finger at her other-world mother.
"That's too easy. No, more like…not fun enough. I'm the kind of girl who prefers savoring her plans. My real intention…well, I'll level with you since I know you can't stop me. I intend to breed you."
Kurumi looks irritated as she tries to get up. She then retorts.
"I'm not an animal in case you didn't notice."
Saori puts on a fake genuine smile as she explains.
"Oh, I'm very aware. But I guess I should save the juicer bits for the right time comes. I've had my fill of fun for the day anyway."
Kurumi chuckles a little as she rebukes.
"Fun? I seriously doubt you could have had as much as you claim, Saori."
Saori wags her finger again she crosses her legs.
"Tsk tsk, I think haven't noticed certain things yet. Think about it, Kurumi, a pissed of Akihiko suddenly comes to a shrine and partially inverses from an "unknown cause", a hemophobic spirit child comes to a shrine coated in blood, and I have three of the punks, who made a fool out of me, right where I want them."
Saori then orders her puppets to let Kurumi up, with her hands held back, to see other battles. Upon seeing the destruction, Kurumi smiles a bit more as she actually compliments her other-world daughter.
"Wow, so you've had all this planned out, didn't you?"
Saori's face suddenly shifts from happy to irritated. She stands up off of her makeshift seat and summons her swords. She points her longer sword at Kurumi's face and she demands.
"Stop smiling. It irks me when my prey smiles at plans."
Knowing she's struck a chord, Kurumi now starts to have her own fun.
"Oh, did I hit a soft spot? I'm very sorry, Saori, it's just so funny."
Saori walks up to Kurumi and picks her up by the throat.
"Don't-you-mock me!"
Despite being chocked, Kurumi continues to smile as she then explains.
"If I'm part of your plan…then...don't you need me…I don't know…not dead."
Saori lets her go, and then says, with her eyes wide open.
"You know, you really don't need both eyes for my plans."
Saori now orders one of her puppets to hold Kurumi's clock eye open. This is what gets Kurumi to stop smiling as she is now trying to struggle to get out. Saori then readies to swing her sword and smiles as she does.
As she swings down, Kurumi and her (Saori's) puppets are knocked aside by someone. Too late to stop her swing, Saori now hits a new target, Hiro. She slashes his face vertically and even manages to hit his left eye. Hiro immediately falls over once he has been hit. Saori is annoyed as she insults Hiro with anger in her tone.
"You annoying piece of crap. You just have to get in the way of anybody who involves any spirits."
Hiro, barely conscious at this point, manages to retort.
"At least…I have…my principals."
Saori prepares another swing to finish off the soldier, when suddenly; she is hit in the face by an unknown force which sends her flying through a nearby building. Saori emerges from the hole she created upon impact and does not look happy. She sees Akane standing across the way, cracking her knuckles without her sword on hand. Saori's face is burning a little as there is steam coming off of her face where she got hit. Saori growls under her breath as she threateningly says.
"You're going to regret doing that, you little bitch!"
Akane angrily retorts.
"You just stole my line, only I was gonna call you a psychotic bitch."
Aboard the Bifrost, Mana is watching the new action as she says.
"Get her, Akane."
Mana had heard what Saori had said from the video feed, so she informed Akane of what she had heard. Akane just left Miyuki alone because she really isn't in any danger.
Akane angrily walks to Saori and says.
"So, you're the reason that little girl's powers woke up so suddenly! What did you do to Aki!?"
Akane's flames turn from blue to red and she summons her guardian. Only this time, her guardian is using a new power emerging from Akane's anger. Her guardian produces a smaller version of Kotori's Camael. She doesn't hand it to Akane, but rather, she uses it to manipulate the flames coming from around her. Whenever Saori sends any of her puppets at Akane, the guardian uses the flames to incinerate them. Akane looks at her guardian with a smile and compliments her.
"Wow, you're always finding new ways to be cooler."
Her guardian winks at her and Akane gathers flames into her fists as she runs up to Saori, who tries to warp away with her shadows. Before she can, Akane gets too close and immediately unleashes a flurry of punches and announces.
"Phoenix Dance: Blaze Bloom!"
Saori can't do much of anything without her puppets as she takes the barrage as her face is constantly assaulted by Akane's fists.
Back at the shrine entrance, Kurumi is looking at Hiro's injuries. His face is bleeding, is legs are covered in thick bruises, and he is starting to get a fever. Despite feeling grateful, Kurumi insults Hiro by saying.
"That was really stupid of you."
Hiro simply asks.
"You're not hurt, are you?"
Kurumi sighs and replies.
"How dumb are you? Guess I know where you got your intelligence from."
Hiro chuckles a little before finally passing out. Kurumi looks at the ground and sees the skid marks from Hiro's sudden run.
"I can't believe he ran that fast. He's just as stubborn as Shido."
Mana, aboard the ship, sees the situation. She notices that Aki can't find Hiro at the moment. Knowing that this is a safe moment, Mana decides to hover the ship over the shrine and picks up Hiro and Kurumi since Hiro needs medical attention.
Akane is now alone at the shrine with a partially inverted Aki, a recently awakened Miyuki, and Saori. Akane has a plan to do this, but it is going to be difficult. Akane finishes her assault on Saori and knocks her further through the building and out the other end.
At the residence, Yoshino is still in labor, and the group with her is doing their best to make it as comfortable as possible for her. Shido, in particular, is taking the charge. He has the others sitting down while he holds the adult Yoshino's hand. Yoshino smiles through the pain as she explains to Shido.
"You know, my husband held my just like this while I gave birth to Miyuki."
Shido now imagines what kind of feelings that his self in this world felt. While he can't fully understand it, he has a good idea of what that Shido felt. He intends to see Yoshino through this as really wants to get an idea of what his other selves felt when they became fathers.
Author's Note- I cut this chapter short because due to a medical problem I was dealing with last week. I'd rather cut the chapter short and make it a two parter rather than just posting part of it and updating it like before. Part 2 will be up sooner than Part 1 since I am feeling much better.