CH.29 Joy Amongst the Snow Pt2
Mana can only watch aboard the ship as a battle between the three spirit children is about to heat up. Aki is standing on the snow covered streets as he looks upon the two girls with a blank expression. He sees the flames around Akane, and Saori holding her swords, and Aki simply states in his dual voice.
"Have you two come to bring harm to my child?"
Akane immediately lowers her flames as she can tell this is making Aki uneasy. She has to make sure that she makes the right moves to make her plan work. Luckily, the AST had the locals evacuated because of the spirit activity. They're going to keep it this way for a while, so there isn't any real rush.
Aboard the ship, Kurumi helps Hiro to the medical bay as she feels a little inclined to help him after what happened with Saori. Mana, feeling great concern, immediately makes her way to the medical bay to help. Kurumi immediately goes back down to the streets, after undoing all of her wounds with Dalet. She really doesn't want to deal with Mana, and would rather go to the Itsuka residence to be closer to Shido.
Mana is naturally mad at Kurumi for abandoning Hiro after what he did. Mana gets Hiro's body bandaged as his injuries are bad. His clothes are torn to reveal his injuries; he has a big slash wound on his back, his legs are heavily bruised, his left eye is now too damaged to be useful, and he has become sick from the cold weather and has a fever. Mana removes his shirt to cover his body in bandages, but is shocked to see the scars the cover his torso. She is mortified by the amount of scars that this nineteen year old boy has all over his torso. It's clear that he has put his body through hell for his ambitions. But for now, she's going to see to it that Hiro gets some rest once she patches him up. She goes back to the bridge and contacts Ellen to find out about any medicine that might be aboard since she can't tell what is best to use at this time.
Ellen, who is still helping with the delivery, answers Mana's question. While this is going on, Shido is still at Yoshino's side and holding her hand. Yoshino then calls out.
"I can feel the head now!"
The group manages to stay straight with Shido and Ellen constantly telling them to keep it together. Tohka is particularly anxious since she's been with this Yoshino for a while and has actually been looking forward to this. She then reaches for Yoshino's phone and dials a number, then hands it to her (Yoshino). She is a little confused until she hears the voice on the other side and says.
"Shido…the baby's coming."
While Shido can't hear his alternate self, he can imagine the regret that he is feeling for not being here for this. As Yoshino talks to her husband, she looks at Shido and tells him (her husband).
"It's okay, I really feel like you're right at my side right now."
Shido's heart begins to race as he can see how happy Yoshino is despite being in huge amount of pain right now.
The fight between the three spirit children is starting to get more intense again. While none of them have moved, Akane has to enact her plan. She looks Saori, who is having trouble staying up, and notices that her clock is moving; Akane reviewed her fight with Ashcroft, and knows about this tactic. Curious, Akane watches and waits as Aki begins to walk closer to Saori. He is acting like an animal inspecting a hazard. Saori is staying a cautious of his movements as she slightly moves her foot; something that Akane notices.
"So, she's afraid of him."
Akane smirks as she decides to enact her plan; she runs away towards the shrine. Aki ignores this as he perceives it as her showing fear to him. He instead walks closer to Saori, who, in a panic, shoots him with her hidden gun and stops time around him and she thinks to herself.
"Damn it!"
The time freeze disperses immediately as Aki's aura bleeds through it. He then charges at Saori with a blank expression on his face. She runs with Akane to hopefully get his attention aimed at her instead. Akane then shouts to Mana aboard the ship to pick her up. Mana swiftly presses the controls to pick up Akane. Once Akane has left, Saori is alone with the attacking Akihiko. The minute Saori realizes her situation; she is immediately punched in the face by Aki and sent crashing into another wall. Saori picks herself up immediately and angrily says.
"Screw this! I'm out of here!"
Saori then fades into the shadows causing her guardian and her puppets to disappear with her. Now alone, Aki aimlessly wanders around the area. Akane then teleports back down upon seeing Saori retreat. With the current situation, Saori will need to be dealt with a different time. Akane then notice Aki walking towards the shrine. She tries to stop him, but she lowers her flames first to avoid provoking him.
Aki turns to see her approaching and readies his sword, Akane stops and holds up her hands and calmly says.
"I'm not here to hurt you, Aki. I just want to talk."
Aki takes a minute to inspect her and reacts.
"You are similar to my child. Very well, speak."
Akane can't get used to his dual voice, but she asks him as calm as she can.
"I'm your friend Akane remember? We're supposed to be looking for Tohka and Origami, remember?
Aki approaches closer as he doesn't appear any more trusting. Akane continues.
"Remember when you told me that you wanted to help Shido? What about your mother? Don't you still miss her?"
Aki then speaks in his normal voice as his eyes widen at the word "Mother".
"My…mother…."
Aki then drops his dark sword as he begins to put his hands to his head and after a minute of doing nothing. Something seems to go off as Aki begins to fall to his knees as he starts to sweat a little but it doesn't appear that he is experiencing pain as this inversion is only partial. He then raises his fact to the sky and his dark armor fades as he falls forward and passes out. Akane then says to herself.
"Two down, one to go."
Akane makes her way back to the shrine and now sees a wondrous site. Miyuki's ice sphere has completely changed shape. It now resembles her parents holding her tightly with what appears to be a baby being held alongside her. The tendril-like ice shapes are now replaced with what appear to be trees. All of these shapes are formed from the ice. From a distance, Saori watches and holds out a pistol and says.
"Let's see you get out of this one, flame Bitch!"
Saori fires and hits the ice sculpture of Yoshino causing Miyuki to start panicking again. The sculptures of her parents form the sphere again and the trees turn into sharp spiked poles that start spinning. Akane can't help but feel worried as her plan to stop Miyuki needs more time, so she spends minutes dodging the poles and Miyuki refuses to calm down since Akane needs to use her flames to melt the objects as dodging them can be difficult. After some more time of this, Miyuki's sphere gathers the surrounding ice and it begins to take a new shape.
Akane readies for whatever this new shape is, but to her surprise, this new shape looks like an adorable bear with a big grin and Miyuki is sitting in the chest. Either way, the bear slaps Akane across the shrine and the claws cut her side, but they quickly heal. After recovering, Akane then hears what she's been waiting for as she tells Mana to blast up the volume on the communicator's broadcasts on the ship so that the others can hear what's going on. Akane then takes off her communicator, leaps into the air, and gathers a bunch of flames into her fist as she drives into the bear's chest and puts her hand near Miyuki's head and she can hear what Akane wanted her to hear as she says.
"You're a big sister now, Miyuki."
Miyuki's eyes then open as she listens to the sounds of a baby crying through the communicator. The ice then begins melt when Miyuki wakes up. Mana then pick Aki up with the ship to get him to bed.
At the Itsuka residence, Yoshino is now holding a baby that has been cleaned and wrapped in a blanket. Her crying echoes through the house as everyone looks at her in awe. Yoshino nuzzles her head against her newborn daughters face. She then looks at Shido and asks.
"Do you want to hold her?"
Shido gets a little nervous as he answers.
"Well…I don't really know how to feel right now."
Yoshino sits up and then hands Shido the baby. He looks at her little face and gets a little blush as he is moved by her cuteness and suddenly has a better idea of what his counterparts felt when their children were born. He feels joy holding her, and the baby suddenly begins to open her eyes and sees Shido. She then actually starts giggling a little and even reaches to him. Yoshino laughs a little and says.
"Look, she already knows her daddy's face."
Moments later, Akane arrives at the residence with Miyuki, who immediately runs over to see her baby sister. The house is then filled with even more warm feelings as Miyuki lovingly tickles her baby sister while Shido kneels down so that Miyuki can see her.
Unfortunately, Akane talks with Ellen and Kotori about the situation and it doesn't go well. From the start, Kotori and Ellen have been unsure about Saori, and with the incident with Aki, they think that she had something to do with it. Moreover, Kotori and Ellen are baffled by a partial inversion.
Based on the on the idea that Saori somehow caused the partial inversion, the three girls come the conclusion that whoever Saori is working for is either Westcott, and that he's trying to force the spirits to inverse again, or someone else who needs them to inverse for a different purpose. This leaves them worried about Miyuki since Akane noticed her unusual amount of power for a base awakening. They feel that it isn't good for Miyuki to be here alone without too much protection.
After a while, Ellen decides to be the one to break the news to Yoshino. Kotori and Akane agreed since Ellen is a mother and can best empathize with Yoshino on this matter. Shido took the girls out for soup to leave Ellen alone with Yoshino and the baby. Ellen empathetically tells Yoshino.
"I understand that you don't want your daughter, especially at her age, to be on such a dangerous mission with us. But you have to understand that we're only trying to help her."
Yoshino looks at Ellen with a serious look and says.
"It's not that I don't trust what you're saying, but Tohka's been with us for months and we haven't seen anything strange until today."
Ellen explains.
"Yes, but there are two factors into that are most likely behind that. The first, is that, from what we've seen, time seems to move at different speeds between the universes, and the other being that your daughter's powers may have been awakened only recently."
Yoshino still doesn't want to let her daughter go, and then Ellen adds.
"Yoshino, I've seen what these people can do. There was this woman who beat Kotori and Kurumi like they were nothing. She could easily come here and take your daughter from you. I'm genuinely afraid of that woman; she's not like anyone I've ever met."
Yoshino gives a sad look and after a moment she nods. Ellen then puts her hand on Yoshino's shoulder and then tells her.
"I'm a mother as well. I know this can't be easy, but we'll protect her with everything we have, I promise."
Yoshino still has a sad look and it's going to be harder to tell Miyuki the news. Yoshino tries to cheer herself up and says to Ellen.
"I can't believe that you used to be the woman that used to cause us so much trouble."
Ellen smiles and shrugs. Aboard the ship, Mana is looking after Hiro after Akane told her everything was settled. She has also moved Aki to a bed without treatment as he has only gotten a couple of bruises. With the boys resting, she decides to see exactly what happened at the shrine when Aki partially inversed. To her shock, the video feed shows what happened. The moment Hiro left, Saori assaulted Aki from behind, knocked him down, and she actually manifests his Azael, this surprises her because she thinks that this is Aki's sword. Then, Saori drives the sword into his body. But oddly, he doesn't bleed and this is what caused his partial inversion.
Upon getting the soup, Shido and the girls make their way back. Shido isn't aware of what happened as the girls thought it would be better to tell him once everything was settled. Immediately, Tohka walks next to Shido and asks.
"Now can I meet our son?"
Tohka has a somewhat impatient look, but Shido casually smiles and answers.
"Fine, you've been patient for a while now."
Shido talks to Mana through his communicator. Kotori said that she wanted to be there when the baby was born and told Shido that Mana was better suited to monitor duty among their peers. Aboard the ship, Mana is trying to figure out the video because there's something that still boggles her mind. Shido calls her and asks.
"Hey, Mana, could you tell me where Aki is?"
Mana, knowing the situation, tells Shido.
"He's asleep right now. He burnt himself out running around apparently."
Shido understands and tells Tohka.
"Our son is asleep, so we'll have to meet him when we leave."
Tohka is tempted to get pouty, but Shido is only being considerate about everyone else, so she decides to be a little more patient, but still adds.
"Then you owe me a kiss on our date."
Shido agrees but then gets a little bit of a stink eye from Akane and even Shiori. Once they arrive back, Yoshino tells everyone that she's agreed to let Miyuki go with them. She accepts that Miyuki may not be safe with all of the crazy events going on. Miyuki is upset about this as she asks with a sad look.
"You want me to leave, Mommy?"
Miyuki starts crying and her body begins to glow green a little. The others are ready to for anything, but Yoshino puts down her baby, walks over to her daughter, and hugs as she explains.
"Of course not, I always want you around. But bad people are doing bad things, and they could be out to hurt you. These people are our friends, and I promise they'll look after you."
Miyuki is prepared to talk back, but Yoshinon interferes by saying.
"Yeah, Miyuki, we can't just stay here and let the bad guys get us."
Miyuki looks down at the ground as she adds.
"But…I'm not a superhero, I don't have special powers or anything…"
Akane interjects and tells her.
"Actually, you do have special powers. Everybody here does, and we're part of a secret school here to teach how use those powers."
Shido, Ellen, and Kotori give Akane a "really" look. Miyuki looks at Akane with awe and asks.
"So…you're saying that everyone in here is a superhero?"
Shido and others go with it as they agree that they shouldn't tell Miyuki the scarier parts. But Miyuki still sadly asks.
"How long will I be gone for?"
Shido, empathetic towards her situation comfortingly answers.
"We can't say, but I promise it won't be very long."
Miyuki finally agrees and goes to pack some of her stuff. Shido then asks Yoshino.
"How are you going to tell your husband?"
Yoshino simply answers.
"I'll tell him the truth. He'll understand once I explain to him."
Shido rubs the back of his head and apologizes.
"I'm sorry we've been such a burden on you."
Shido feels guilty about this whole situation, but Yoshino assures him.
"You've done a lot actually."
Yoshino picks her baby up and sits down as Shido disagrees.
"I didn't much for you."
Yoshino shakes her head as she rebukes.
"You were all right at my side the whole time."
Shido blushes again as he asks.
"Can I hold her again?"
Yoshino hands Shido the baby as he warmly looks at her small body in amazement.
Elsewhere in the city, Saori is hiding an abandoned building. She is upset at her defeat again as she notices that her lip and nose are bleeding from being hit in the face repeatedly. She is tempted to attack the ship, but realizes that wouldn't survive a full assault. So she calls out.
"I know you're here, Freki."
Surely enough, Freki walks out of the shadows as she casually asks.
"How was your venture, Miss Shooter?"
Saori angrily retorts.
"Don't condescend to me, you Tobiichi wannabe."
Freki clenches her fist and smacks Saori across the face with her fist as she angrily snaps.
"Don't ever compare me to Origami Tobiichi, ever!"
Saori lets being hit slide this time as she is more upset at Shido's group. The two then leave together as they need to report to Shinra about what has happened.
With everything settled, the group boards the Bifrost with their newest member or members in this case. Shido is then informed in private about the battle of the shrine. Akane, Mana, Kotori, and Kurumi are present to informing him. Shido is naturally upset about this as thought that Saori was changing, no it's more like he wanted to hope that she was changing. Akane states.
"I expected this to happen anyway."
Kotori adds.
"Yeah, I don't think anyone on the ship trusted her."
Kurumi shrugs and says.
"Well, she is MY daughter after all."
Shido rebukes this by saying.
"But it doesn't make sense! She has such a loving family, a good home, and friends."
Mana then retorts this by asking her brother.
"But we don't know anything about her personally. Other than she's a murderer like her mother."
Kotori says the obvious thing at this point that Shido doesn't want to admit.
"Yeah, she's made it clear that we're enemies."
Shido goes to check on Hiro, who is still asleep but his fever has gone down from the medicine. Aki wakes up shortly after they crew came back. He is still lying in bed as he is still a little tired and has no memory of what happened. Shido arrives in the room and sees him. He tells him to wait a minute as someone is dying to meet him. Shido figures that Hiro can wait as he isn't going anywhere. Aki waits a minute, and after this wait, Tohka opens the door to the sickbay, and her eyes suddenly light up with wonder. Shido approaches from behind her and she asks.
"Is this him, Shido?"
Shido answers.
"Yup. Tohka Yatogami, meet our son Akihiko Itsuka."
Aki is beyond words as it has felt like forever since he last saw his mom's face with that look on it. He raises his hand and says.
"Uh…hi."
Tohka slowly walks up to him and immediately gives him a bear hug while shouting.
"He looks just like us! He has my hair, he has my eyes, but he has your face!"
Shido is happy for Tohka, but is worried about Hiro's reaction if he wakes up and sees Tohka. Shido pulls Tohka away as he says.
"They need some rest, Tohka. You can hug him later."
Tohka is struggling to get back as she is finished hugging him. Aki feels refreshed as he misses being hugged by his mother. In the dining area of the ship, the group decides that Miyuki should decide dinner as they feel very guilty about bringing such a young child aboard. Shido is wearing an apron, ready to cook anything, as he asks Miyuki.
"Anything you want, I'll cook. So what'll it be? Ice cream, candy, cookies, or pancakes?"
Yoshino gets in Shido's face and tells him.
"Does Miyuki look like a piggy to you?"
Miyuki pulls back Yoshinon and scolds her.
"Yoshinon, that isn't a nice thing to say to grownups."
Miyuki then looks at Shido and nervously asks.
"I…would it be…okay…to have…pork curry with rice and salad?"
Ellen, who is watching from the table giggles a little because she is somewhat reminded of her daughter, who she is beginning to miss more and more. Shido then proceeds to make what Miyuki wants, and as the crew eats their dinner, Miyuki remarks to Kotori and Akane as they have neglected their salads.
"Oh, you two don't want dessert?"
Kotori and Akane are both getting ready to unwrap some candy as they both ask.
"What?"
Miyuki explains.
"Daddy says that girls and boys, who don't finish their veggies, don't get dessert."
Shido nods as he walks over to the flame users and takes their candy from them as he says.
"Yup, I agree."
Kotori snaps and tells Shido.
"Hey, give me that back! I not a little girl anymore, Shido."
Akane adds.
"Yeah, and I'm older than she is!"
Shido shakes his head as he responds.
"But isn't the job of the elders to set an example for the children?"
Kotori and Akane both eat their salads to get their candy back as they both feel like they just became ten years younger. Shido has a feeling that retribution is coming, but he's having a little fun right now acting like a dad. Miyuki then gets ready for bed as she brushes her teeth and puts on some pajamas. She then asks for a story. Shido is getting ready to tell her one, when Ellen interjects and offers to do it. Shido doesn't object, but still asks why. Ellen explains in a soft way.
"What happened today makes me miss being a mom a little, so I'd like to do this to relieve some of those worries."
Shido agrees and lets Ellen do it. The group waits for Miyuki to fall asleep so they can move to the next time.