Ch.51 Aki Returns
The crew aboard the Bifrost is departing the timeline of destruction. Kusakabe isn't saying last words to her comrades because she has no intention of returning here. Kenji learned of his sister's fate and is visible mad about it.
On the deck, Kenji is pounding his fist on a terminal in anger over what happened to Sora as shouts.
"What did she do to deserve this!? We just wanted to go eat noodles with our mom! Demand, what did she do, why did this happen!?"
Kenji's outburst catches the attention of the others when Ellen attempts to comfort him by saying.
"Kenji, at least she's safe."
Kenji turns his gaze to Ellen and reprimands her and states.
"Statement, this is all your fault. You and your crew came to OUR time and screwed it up. If only…"
Before he can speak further, Kenji is slapped by someone. He and Ellen look to see Ryouko with a stern expression and she says in a firm voice.
"That's enough of that."
She lights a smoke with a gold lighter that she produces and reminds the son of Yuzuru.
"You can sit here and bitch about it, or you can calm down and think for a minute. I don't get the full details, but I just had to bury my closest friends, see my best student die before my eyes, and on top of that, I'm in a battle that I'm scared of now."
Kenji touches the part of his face that was slapped and looks at Ryouko with apologetic eyes and apologizes to Ellen for his outburst.
"Apology, I didn't know about that. I'm…sorry, Ellen."
Ellen reminds Kenji of the sacrifices they're willing to make to help Shido and his friends. Tohka is afraid for Shido and Aki despite the latter not even existing in his time. Origami looks to the side and adds her own two cents to it.
"I'm working with people I'd rather have nothing to do with. I'm only doing it for someone special to me."
Origami stands up and walks away under the premise that she's leaving for something to eat. Kotori and Mana are at the helm with Akane being in the training area. Akane is still mad about what happened with her guardian and is training without it get stronger. Tohka and Kotori were worried about their powers coming back, but Ellen assures them that their power should undetectable while aboard the ship since DEM intended for this ship to cloak Spirits as to detain them without suspicion.
Ryouko walks over to the controls and mentions.
"I had some training with airship piloting these last few years. I can take the controls if you need me to."
Mana and Kotori are thankful to her for the help and they invite her to help out. While at the controls, Kotori asks Ryouko.
"Hey, what happened to the Ratatoskr crew of your time? I'm sure you must know."
Ryouko takes a puff of her cigarette and answers in the most monotone way possible.
"Kannazuki was our main concern because of his skills with a Realizer. He actually designed mine, but we lost him during our third attempt to fight Nemesis. The others, I assume, perished in the initial struggle."
Kotori and Mana have uneasy looks on their faces upon learning this. Hiro enters the deck with his own thoughts. He is wondering about his other self they met and sits next to Mana with concern for her and asks.
"Hey, Mana….do you think I could have turned out like that?"
Mana is jarred by the sudden question and asks.
"What's with that? I mean, you're you, and he was different."
Hiro acknowledges this but explains.
"When I learned of Spirit Children like Aki and Akane, I was jealous of them, and I still am. I love the Spirits so much and I hated the fact that we attacked them without mercy for that. But seeing what could have happened if I had the powers I crave, it makes me wonder."
Kotori thinks for a second to help Mana, but Ryouko gives an answer to Hiro.
"No, Hiro…I don't think it was his power that made him going mad. He fought in a war where his friends died, and he killed his mother with his own hands. It isn't easy to deal with something like that. When that happened, the moment he knew this, something in him broke. It broke so much and so badly that he simply fell into despair."
Hiro pulls out his half-empty bottle of medication and says.
"Well I'm not exactly completely sane myself."
Ryouko finishes her smoke and tells Hiro the obvious.
"Hiro, you're not the same as him. The Hiro I knew died in that war, the one you are now. I think the better question is, could he have become you? I think if he didn't kill his mom, he would have fought with us until his last breath. You did, and you made your world a better place for it. I'm actually jealous of the me from your time. I bet she's very proud of you just like your mom."
Hiro thanks his alternate coach for her words because they do help. Mana and Kotori sigh with relief over this because it has calmed things down. With all that said, they move on to the next timeline. While this happens, the rest of the crew goes to sleep.
Kurumi Timeline
Kurumi is keeping an eye on Shido as per usual. It has been three days since she learned what happened to Saori and she is noticing a decline in mood for the household because the adult Shido is still missing his daughter, but the city is still searching for the Shooter because of the amount of people who were killed by her. The adult Kurumi is doing a fine job taking care of Shido in the meantime because of her time she spent as a mother but has to juggle this with her family.
It around these times when she notices something about this future, herself, who is married with Shido, has six kids with a seventh one on the way, and is a stay at home mother, is actually very happy with her life. Despite the problems currently, her older self is a great baker, hums while she cooks, and is always smiling a warmer smile. Currently, she is humming while mixing things together for a cake. Kurumi notices her older self humming a song that sounds happy. Curious, she asks her older self.
"Do you enjoy making stuff like that?"
Kurumi stops her humming, reaches into the fridge, and pulls out a little butter and answers while mixing it.
"Not really. I just enjoy making them smile. Shido works so hard for us, and the least I could do is the housework and picking up the children."
Kurumi is just having mixed thoughts about everything because the woman before her, was her to the letter at one point, but she seems genuinely happy and comfortable with her quiet life with a family. Kurumi then remembers something when she asks her younger self for a favor, and the young lady has no objections considering the circumstances. Her older self has a pot on the stove filled with soup that she puts into a bowl on a tray with a glass of juice with a straw in it. She nicely asks her younger self.
"Emi is sick again, and I'm busy here, so could you please bring her this soup?"
Emi was sick when they left this timeline previously, which was a while ago to this world. Kurumi is worried because Emi has been getting sick frequently and she's missing a lot of school because of it. Taking the tray with a nod, Kurumi is instructed to wear Emi's room is since she hasn't gone into any of the other rooms. Kurumi goes into the room and takes a quick look, definitely the room of a young girl, and sees Emi watching a move with her head turned and has an ice pack on her head. She is a little delirious and thinks that Kurumi is her actual mother, though their resemblance helps this. Emi simply calls her mommy, to which Kurumi trembles a little. She places the tray in front of Emi, but realizes that she is too weak to feed herself because she can barely move at all. Understanding this, Kurumi proceeds to feed with a spoon and even blows on it because it is hot.
Somewhere outside the city, a dark vortex appears in an alley and someone steps out of it.
After some minutes of helping Emi, Kurumi takes the empty bowl and glass away. But as Kurumi walks away to leave Emi alone to sleep, the little girl simply says.
"I love you, mommy."
Kurumi smiles at hearing this and just walks away from the room with the dirty dishes. She returns to the kitchen where her adult self is cleaning dishes from making her cake. She asks rather casually.
"Did Emi enjoy her soup?"
Kurumi replies with a simply yes, and her older self adds.
"She is such a good girl, just like her big sister."
Kurumi imagines what life must be like to have children like that and considers it. While in her thoughts, a knock comes at the door, and Kurumi asks her younger self.
"Could you please get that?"
Kurumi walks to the door and sees Aki on the other side and he is wearing his normal clothes. Kurumi is relieved to see him and she asks.
"Did the others send you to find us?"
Aki shakes his head and mentions.
"I got separated from the others…"
Aki is invited in, shown where Shido is, and then he explains what he remembers in the bedroom to Kurumi.
"I just remember hearing my mom's voice and then everything gets fuzzy after that, so I don't remember anything after you both vanished."
Kurumi asks how he found her after this and simply explains.
"Well I figured I'd ask about the Itsuka family. I told them I was a friend of the family, so I got some tips that led me here."
While not the best news, Kurumi is a little more relieved that she has another ally with her to help with Shido. He looks at Shido's comatose body and asks.
"How's he doing?"
Kurumi explains.
"We've been here for a while, but he barely responds to anything."
Aki doesn't appear happy to learn this, but he does smile and replies.
"But I'm glad that you're both okay at the moment all things considered."
Aki then leaves the room and Kurumi's smile is replaced by a stoic expression and she thinks.
"Too bad you didn't explain how you got here."
Kurumi is skeptical about Aki given the circumstances. He appears fine and his clothes are a bit dirty, but there is still something not right. He appears fine at dinner since he is welcome to stay according to the adults in the house. Shido and Kurumi have no real problems seeing that the former got a raise at work so he can afford to buy more food. The table is lively and the conversation good. The cake Kurumi baked is great and the icing amazing. After eating, Asami and Reiji leave the house to hang out with friends with encouragement to stay safe from their parents. Aki stands up as well and mentions.
"I'm going out too. I need to clear my head and see I can remember anything else."
Aki leaves and everyone else simply smiles. Miki has to do homework as usual, Emi is still in bed, and the infant Koji is being taken to bed by his mother. Shido gets ready for a bath after a long day at work, and Kurumi leaves without anyone noticing. Shido will be watched by the adults while this is going on so there isn't any worry for him.
A little later, Asami along with a couple of her friends are meeting up at a local hangout spot under a bridge. It is just her and three girls around her age hanging out and drinking pop. Despite her appearances with these girls, Asami and her friends are law abiding and don't do anything illegal. They talk about typical teenager stuff, parental stupidity, annoying school stuff, and some things about boys. The four girls are laughing about their recent comments. Then a group of older boys, college student age, approaches them with ill intent since they're holding beers in their hands and look drunk. They are a little rough, and the girls say no, but then one gets a little violent and grabs Asami by the arm and she pulls it away telling them.
"What part of no don't you get!?"
The drunk men then gather around Asami with focus directed on her for her feisty attitude. Her friends then immediately call for the police, but a familiar voice tells them.
"The lady said no, so back off."
The drunkards are then thrown across the ground by Aki, who appears from the shadows of night. He manages to get them away and they true to beat him up, but Aki is simply too strong for them. The drunks run away. After this, Aki encourages the girls to go home since the bars will be letting out all the worse drunks soon, so the girls heed his warning. Asami, grateful, follows him home and thanks him.
"Akihiko, thanks for backing me up there. I gotta feeling those guys were going to be ruff on us if you hadn't stepped in."
The two walk through an alley on the way and Asami mentions.
"I haven't been that startled since…"
Aki turns around with a smile and interrupts her by asking.
"Since Asami threatened you, is that what you're saying."
Asami gets a little nervous, but then Aki's eyes turn dark and empty like his inverse form. He then punches Asami in the stomach and knocks her out. He then puts her over his shoulder and begins running somewhere unknown. Kurumi sees this in her Spirit form while watching from the shadows. She smiles and says.
"I knew he wasn't telling me everything."
Kurumi follows Aki a little to get an idea of what's going on with him because she knows that he isn't himself. He runs towards the edge of the city and this is when Kurumi makes her appearance known to Aki. The crater-like city entrance is where they are. Aki places Asami down and waves above, like he's expecting something or someone. Kurumi fires a shot at him as a warning, something that he immediately notices. His voice now sounds different again, but unlike the mix of male and female voice, it just sounds deeper and mechanical. He then is covered with darkness and his outfit changes into his inverse form. Kurumi is surprised by this change and casually says.
"Wow, you really have changed."
Aki approaches Kurumi with a glare in his eyes and he appears annoyed, but he does utter.
"Hello, Kurumi."
Kurumi readies her guns and is mostly aiming to test his new powers so she can see what she's dealing with. However, Aki stops in place and smirks as he is ready to reveal his weapon. He then does something unexpected and punches into the sky and seemingly through the fabric of space and time as he begins forcing something out of it. He then reveals what he is pulling on, he is pulling on the sword that Tohka used during her inversion, Nehemah. He is pulling the sword along with its throne and the sky turns darker upon the sword being pulled out. He does have to force the sword out, but this causes part of it to break off during the pull and Aki is wields a smaller version of the sword, but it isn't any less dangerous and still good size. Kurumi needs to find out what's going on now more than ever and she has to actually rescue Asami from someone is supposed to be her comrade.