Chapter 22: Rekindling Point
November 20th. Fourth Day of the CCSE.
(Within the Jungle. 04:52 PM.)
[Takeru]
"Done." I wave to the girls after cutting the wire.
Traps. Traps everywhere. The sheer amount of them is staggering, and with this rain we're having trouble spotting them all. We also have been walking really slow, to not trip with the mud and get more bruises.
As we slowly advance through the flora I take a peek backwards. We did use most of Meiya's and Chizuru's med kits to patch ourselves up, but it seems to not have been enough. Meiya is to my left, and she's been constantly slowing down. I have found her holding her sides with a pained expression a lot of times. Chizuru is to my right and her right leg seems to be troubling her, she's stopping every once in a while to rub it softly. My left shoulder and back are also hurting quite a bit.
The only good news here is that at our current pace we might end up reaching the evac point by dusk, which means that we could use the cover of the night to escape on the boat, so long as the soldiers don't have flashlights or a sniping rifle. Hopefully, we won't see any more sol-
Click
RATATATATATATATA!
We all dove to the ground as we heard the machinegun's roar. This is the third one today, I ended up triggering one by accident and the other was a well hidden trap.
"Sorry, I didn't see the cable." Meiya apologizes weakly as the bullets fly above us.
"Don't sweat it, Meiya. I did the same a while ago." As the barrage stops we slowly get up. We're now all covered in mud. Oh well, at least the rain will wash off most of it.
But… these two look to be in really bad shape, especially Meiya. We've been walking non-stop since we woke up after all. We had to walk for an hour until we found an old bridge to cross the cliff, but we ended up on the southernmost part of the island, and while continuing to march along the cliff would have been easier, if we were spotted by the soldiers they could snipe us from a distance. So we have been powering through the jungle for… around eight hours? Nine?
"Hey… Wanna take five to rest? We're already drenched, and we could all use a breather." Chizuru looked like she wanted to protest, but I signaled Meiya with my chin and she gave a nod.
"Yeah, let's take five. This… is harder than I thought it would be." She takes off her glasses and fixes her hair, breathing a sigh.
"Same. I did not expect so many traps to be here." I drink what little is left of my water.
"Umm… Thanks for taking care of most of the traps, Shirogane." Chizuru says bashfully as she munches a fruit, unable to look me in the eye.
"Don't mention it. How are you holding?"
"Fine, don't worry. Mitsurugi, how about you?"
"Don't worry. Haaa… I'm just a bit stiff, is all." Dude, why do you have to be like that? If it hurts, just say so.
"You sure you're okay Meiya?"
"Yes, thanks for worrying. But I am fine, no need to keep asking. And do not think of giving me another of those massages." She sends a firm glare my way as she takes out her canteen to drink.
"If you say so." I start eating a fruit I picked up on our march as I look up.
"Massages? What are you talking about?" Neither me nor Meiya wanted to answer Chizuru's question.
The rain should end in about an hour, I think. At least that will give us some relief, even if the mud remains. I wonder how are the other three… Hopefully they don't have to face off against the soldiers too. Tama and Mikoto would be at a severe disadvantage against them, unless they also managed to disable one of the machineguns on the jungle and got it for themselves like I did before. We still have one machinegun with most of its bullets, since one we had brought with us was already empty. If the soldiers appear we are not defenseless, but in our current state we cannot run away for long if we are faced with many of them.
"Well, let's go." Chizuru moves away from the tree and gets ready to move out.
"Alright, let's keep moving." I check my compass to confirm we're going in the right direction and we resume our march.
…
Sigh… And another trip wire here. That pitfall looks really dangerous, with all the water that must be at the bottom getting out of it would be an impossible ordeal.
"Let's tread carefully, this part seems to be full of pitfalls." Chizuru points to another spot to my left, where some sticks looked to be sinking into the ground.
"Yeah, we don't want to fall into one of those."
Hugging the trees, we move by jumping from one root to another. Rain is still coming down as hard as my history grades so this isn't exactly safe, but with how muddy the ground is we shouldn't get closer to the pitfalls.
And one last jump… I made it past all those pitfalls, Chizuru had already got through it. Meiya jumped behind me with rugged breath. Damn, this is wearing us down more than I thought.
Luckily, this next part doesn't seem to have many traps, as we advance I found only a few nets and some wires. Thank God, we can finally move a bit faster. If we can keep moving like this then… Wait a sec…
There's some wires to the side… that are all cut. Not by the wind, but with clear cuts. Someone cut this wires. And it shouldn't have been the others. Even if they were running away like mad they shouldn't have been here walking from their position, since they crossed at the northern part of the island.
"Shirogane? What is it?" Meiya seems to have noticed me being quiet and came near me.
"Meiya this wires all are cut."
"Oh, so that's what you were doing. Impressive as always, I didn't even-"
"No, I didn't do this. They were already cut."
"Huh?" Confusion apparent of her eyes she stood there looking at me, then at the wires, then back at me.
"You two, what are you doing?"
"Sakaki, I found some wires that were already cut cleanly with a knife." I move away to let her see them clearly.
"Huh? What the… I mean, the others could have-" Meiya interrupts her.
"No, Sakaki. We're marching through the jungle from the south, there's no way they would have been here. We're still around halfway to the evac point, coming from where they crossed would have meant a great detour for them." She slowly caressed her chin as she looked around.
As I did the same I could spot a number of nets hanging from some trees in the distance, someone passed through here and disabled all the traps. Me and Meiya nod at each other as we realize this, her face tensed up as she keeps looking around.
"Mitsurugi, Shirogane. If the others did not do this, there's only one other party that could have done this. Let's make haste. And silence." We both nod to her. The soldiers are close by. With some luck, we may have missed them for a few minutes and they're now marching south.
We keep marching, trying to make as little noise as possible. Since we have all those pitfalls behind us we can't really go back without putting us in danger of falling into one. There are next to no traps on our way, we change our direction but the traps are still all taken care off. I have a bad feeling about this, I began feeling the cold hands all over my back again.
As I get past a big bush, I spot another net that was disabled, and some more wires that were all cut. No matter where we go, it seems as if the traps have all been taken care of. Are we following their path by sheer coincidence? Under the rain, in such a wide area?
We change directions to our left again. We pass some trees that had their nets disabled, there were some trip wires cut and some pitfalls that were exposed. Maybe… we should turn back while we still can? Is there a path where there are still traps intact?
And as I was looking around for any traps that were not disabled… I saw them, in between some trees wearing the same gray uniform. In the distance, some thirty meters to the east of our current position. Despite the space between us I could feel something in their eyes, like a hawk glancing over prey. And as they moved from behind the trees and we made eye contact, the blizzard returned to my lungs.
"You two, run." Meiya looked surprised as she tried to speak up.
"Huh? Shirogane, what are you-"
"I said RUN! They're there and they have-"
BANG! BANG!
As I pushed them backwards the wood of the nearby tree was splintered. We run away as more gunshots chase after us. Damn it, since they disabled the traps all around here they have no problem chasing us.
"Shirogane, how many are they?" Chizuru asked as we ran.
"I saw two, dunno if there's more." I take out my rifle and shot at them, bastards hid behind the trees. If we are surrounded, that's it. Even if we are at our limits, we can't afford to fight them head on.
I shoot two more times as I saw them trying to shoot back and after that I ran again. Meiya is barely running, she won't be able to keep this up. As I thought that, a gunshot that hit a tree close to her made her trip. She hit her head against a root.
"Mitsurugi, give me your hand!" Chizuru helps her up and both start running again.
I stand my ground to return the fire towards the soldiers. However, they quickly duck behind some trees, making my attack pointless and a waste of bullets. Damn, this isn't going-
"A-Aaaaaahh!" W-What? What happened?!
As I look behind me I see Chizuru got trapped by a net. Oh those sons of an eldritch bitch! They left some traps to get us, once we got the feeling of being 'safe' in this area we started running without checking for traps. Meiya was trying to get her out, but without much success.
Gotta go help her break that net. Damn, we don't have time for-
"Quiet!" A female voice yells at us.
Both soldiers were getting closer, guns pointed at us. Reacting quickly, I was also pointing my rifle at them, so we were at an impasse. As they got closer slowly, I could see their faces clea…
Wait… What? Is that… Tsukuyomi-san? No, she isn't that young. But…
The two female soldiers in front of me looked really similar to Tsukuyomi-san and Maya-san. One with green, long hair with a high ponytail, emerald eyes, a firm, tense, and menacing glare, the other with turquoise eyes and hair, that was long and cascading to her waist, this one's eyes were as piercing as Maya-san's. But they looked to be around my age, perhaps just a year older.
"You, drop your rifle." Ponytail addresses me.
"How about no?" I maintain my posture aiming my gun at them.
"Oho, you're outnumbered yet you still wish to fight?" Turquoise says in a mocking tone. They should have taken their chance to shoot me when they could.
BANG! BANG!
Damn bitches, they're quick. They threw themselves behind some trees. If they're apart from each other I'm at a disadvantage.
"Meiya, how's the net?"
"Almost, just buy me a minute."
"Guys, it's okay. Run away, leave me here." Chizuru's voice was almost a wail.
"Sakaki, shut up and let Meiya take care of the-"
BANG! BANG!
I ducked as I saw them move from behind a tree, Meiya was hidden in a blind spot so she could keep cutting the net. I return some fire and make one of them hides again, but the other is still firing at me. I can't even move now, dammit.
I keep sending some volleys irregularly towards the one that keeps shooting at me, until I heard the sound of the net being ripped. Chizuru came out of it and with Meiya's help she got up and both were ready to run. However…
One of the females soldiers, the one with the ponytail that I could not see from where I was, had circled around to our position and was pointing her barrel at Chizuru's face.
"You, Shirogane. Drop the rifle or the girl gets hurt." You fucking bitch. "Mitsurugi, you get slowly away too. Any sudden movement and I fill her eyes with rubber." Meiya glared at the woman with fury, and biting her lips she slowly crawled away from Chizuru.
BANG!
A gunshot reminded me of the other soldier, that was now getting closer pointing her gun at me.
"Are you deaf, Shirogane? Drop the gun, now." She said with a wicked grin on her face. The other one teasingly poked Chizuru's glasses with the tip of her rifle. Dammit, dammit, dammit!
Sigh… I'm surrounded, and I can't turn around without them shooting at me and Chizuru. Meiya stared at me, begging me to drop the rifle. She's obviously in no condition to struggle against an opponent with a gun.
…I throw the rifle away, and the other woman gets closer now that she's safe. Looking at her closely, she really does remind me of Maya-san, except for the smile. Her eyes have this deep piercing feeling to them. Who are these people?
"Alright, you three." Ponytail said, "You shall follow us closely, without resisting. You, Sakaki. You'll walk with me, if any of you two do anything stupid I fill her with rubber. Mitsurugi, Shirogane, you will walk behind me and in front of the other soldier. We'll move to a clearing that's west of here. Resist and we will take you to a world of pain. Are we clear?" We all nod. Dammit, am I going to fail this?
"Look at them, being all obedient! Think we can make them walk on all fours?" The one near me talks as if she were messing with some friends.
"Hahaha, they might. But that would be a waste of time. Let's get this done already."
"Tch, Mion you're no fun." Mion?
"Shut it. Now you three, walk. No talking, no whispering, no signaling, no nothing." This Mion talks with a sense of authority and composure that reminds me of Tsukuyomi-san. Her ponytail is almost as long as Meiya's.
Shit… What can I do? Are we being taken to some sort of losers' prison, or are these girls here to harm us? I take a glance at Meiya, who was gazing sharply at the woman in front of us. Does she know her? Are these two actually related to Tsukuyomi-san?
After a few minutes of walking, we reach a clearing in the jungle. There were some big puddles of muddy water, the base of a tree that was long gone and nothing else. Unlike the rest of the jungle, we had quite some free space here to move around. But the weird thing is… That's all there is here. No other soldiers, no building or anything of the sort. What are these two planning?
"Alright, you three. On your knees by the remains of that tree. C'mon, move along." Mion pushed our back with her rifle.
We all knee by the base of the tree facing our green captors. Both of them were still, gunning at us under the rain.
"We're going to ask you some questions, and we would like you to answer them quickly and honestly. If you take too long we'll shoot someone else, maybe their shrieks of pain will motivate you to speak." Mion made her terms clear, and we all gave a nod.
"Then, first question." The other one asks, pointing a finger upwards. "Who was the one that broke the arm of a soldier?"
"Me." I answer looking at them in the eye. The yet nameless woman returns my gaze and smirks evilly, then continues to ask me questions.
"Were you the one who killed the other two soldiers?"
"Yes, that's right."
"And you also took the eye of the gray haired one?" Her grin gets wider with each question, as her eyes curve upwards as she stares at me.
"Yes."
"Hmm… What could have driven you to such actions, I wonder?"
"Because they were maiming my comrades." Her face twitches at my answer.
"What do you mean by that, Shirogane?" This time Mion addresses me.
"I broke the woman's arm because she kept resisting and trying to harm my shoulder." I move my bandaged shoulder upwards as I said it. "As for the others, they were kicking these two mercilessly on the ground, one of them was unconscious, so I snapped and retaliated with all my strength."
"Who was the unconscious one?"
"I was. They kept harming me despite being knocked out." Meiya answers before me.
"Hmm… Is that so? Then, do you believe his actions to be justified, Mitsurugi?" Mion stares into Meiya's eyes, undaunted and inexpressive as the rain continues to fall.
"While I think he used excessive force, he stopped them from harming me further. They were the ones who committed a fault first, and considering that they were kicking my head one could say Shirogane saved my life. I believe… he did the right thing." Meiya took a brief side glance at me before looking towards the ground.
All we had to go through, to end up captured by these two. Dammit…
"Then, Sakaki. Could you tell us of how you saw the incident?" Chizuru tells them what she told me, and when she reached the part of my involvement she also took my side, saying that I saved them from a clear case of abuse.
"I also think Shirogane did the right thing. I know you are upset about him harming your partners, however they were the ones in the wrong."
"Partners? Sorry, but we have nothing to do with those men." Mion answers as she frowns, her voice harsh as she quietly lashed out to Chizuru.
"Wait… If you're not with them, then-" The other woman cuts me as she answers.
"We are also part of the Wasp Squad that was assigned to be your chasers in the CCSE, but we come from somewhere else, and we have our own set of orders." Somewhere… Their look, their methods… Are they…
"Regardless, we took it upon ourselves to give you a proper test. So, here's what we'll do. You all will fight against us in CQC, if you win you can continue your test."
"Huh?! Are… Are you serious?!" Meiya voiced our surprise. They can't be serious, this has got to be a trap.
"Of course we are. In the name of the Tsukuyomi family I, Mion Tsukuyomi, swear to uphold these words." So she is a relative of Tsukuyomi-san. So they are from the Shogunate… Meaning… They're my enemies… No, don't think like that. No negativity.
"I, Shion Tsukuyomi, vow to do the same." So this one's name is… Wait a second. Mana and Maya, Mion and Shion. Do the Tsukuyomis always name their children with similar names?
"Uuhhh… Why are you two here?" Meiya seemed distressed about them revealing their identity as she hid her eyes behind her fringe. Chizuru was surprised, I'm sure she knows who they are by their surname.
"We are here as part of the CCSE, didn't we say so just a while ago Meiya-sama?" Shion retorts playfully with a wide smile at Meiya, who just sighs in clear exasperation.
"You do not seem surprised, Takeru Shirogane. Do you not know who the Tsukuyomi Family are?" Mion glares at me with a carnivorous stare.
"I do, and I don't care. Doesn't matter if the Shogunate sent you, if you're my enemy I'll take you down."
"Shirogane! Don't talk like that to-" However, Meiya's scolding was stopped as she looked at Mion.
She was slowly inching closer to me, she crouched near me and our eyes met. Unlike both Tsukuyomis I know in this world, I could feel the killing intent in her eyes devoid of light. As the rain fell on us and she continued to stare at me, a wicked grin formed on her face.
"Heh heh heh heh heh heh, aren't you something? You look almost like the real deal." What does she… Ooooh, shit. She knows this world's Takeru, doesn't she?
"What do you mean by that?" She cackles at my question.
"I wonder. Who were you again?"
"Takeru Shirogane, it's a pleasure." I smile at her, making her tense up and her eyes lose even more light. Her face twists itself, letting the inner anger show for a second.
"…I don't like liars."
We keep staring at each other. I feel the cold hands reaching my own, they're beckoning me to punch this woman. Yet again, I feel the bloodlust seep from within. I start inhaling deeply from my nose to stop those thoughts. I'm not like that, I'm not so aggressive.
"Mion, isn't that enough? Staring at him won't solve things, you know."
"I suppose. Well you three, I think you do have knives and some batons on you? We'll fight using those." Her demeanor changed as she rose, she spun around and dropped her gun to the ground with a splash.
"Mion, what… what was the meaning of your words to Shirogane?"
"Apologies, Meiya-sama. But we cannot answer, we are in the middle of a test after all. If you wish to know, please ask Sister for information. I'm sure she knows of… him." She throws a hateful glare at me. But what did she mean by sister? Is she… Tsukuyomi-san's younger sister?
"I have already asked Tsukuyomi about it but she-"
"Then that's that, right? Let's not waste more time and start this test." Shion replied playfully at Meiya again, she also dropped her gun and took out a baton.
What the hell? No, this just confirms my suspicions. Tsukuyomi-san did know of me not being this world's Takeru and was playing dumb, and if I had to guess maybe Takamura was used as a smoke screen. I was so focused on her being our next threat that I didn't think Yuuhi would send people after me during the CCSE. And if they're related to the Tsukuyomis… These two must be Royal Guards. Sensei, did you knew of this?
I stand up and take out my baton, last thing I want is to get angry again and end up harming them with the knife, I don't need more blood on my hands. It's not like I can't harm them with the baton, but at least I won't end up cutting their arms or neck with it.
Chizuru also gets up and takes out her knife. She quickly brushes her hair off her face, she stomps on the ground as she takes her stance, but I can see her hands twitching slightly. She's completely tensed up, clearly intimidated by the two soldiers in front of us. Meiya, however, stands upright with a knife pointed to her back. Her eyes look sharp, and even if her hands are also shaking a bit one could see in her face a lion about to pounce onto prey. I suppose that's the fruit of all her mental training as a samurai.
"Alright, you can come at us whenever you're ready. These shall be the rules, if one is pinned on the ground unable to move, loses its weapon or falls unconscious and doesn't get up by the count of ten, loses. Any of you who lose will fail the CCSE, even if we are later defeated by any other of you. If we lose, we will let any of you remaining to keep going and won't chase after you. Clear?" Mion looks at us for confirmation, we all acknowledge her terms with a nod.
We stand looking at one another under the rain as the wind swirls around us. Then, as a thunder lighted up the sky… We all stepped forward.
I quickly went after Mion, who was also charging at me, and taking my Mugen rhythm I started attacking her with a flurry of blows. First a mid-blow to her right side, she dodges doing a sidestep and tries to hit me in my shoulder. I block her attack and take a step forward, splashing mud and water around us, and try a downward blow at her.
She parries it and tries to kick me in my privates, I quickly move to my left and throw a punch at her from the side. I hit her cheek, sending her away and also giving me more pain on my left shoulder. Yet again, I feel the anger welling up in me. She returns a wicked grin at me and charges at me, she… She's also using the Mugen Kidou, I can barely keep up with her steps and attacks. This is… like when I trained with Maya-sensei. I recognize her patterns, she is using Mana's style. She might be more well-versed in the art of the sword, but all my battle experience and superior strength should put me on even ground with her, I hope.
As she takes a few but well placed swings at me, I keep moving backwards. Taking one long step back, feeling ground that was not too muddy on my feet, I spring forward and clash my baton with hers. I have more strength so she flinches backwards, I use this chance to press her. One swing to her left shoulder, one towards her left leg, an upwards swing towards her right hand, but it's a feint to try to hit her face. She stops my feint, and since I got too close I took a punch to my shoulder. The pain spreads again as I bite back a scream. These bitches… fucking Royal Guards…
She is now on the offensive, she seems to have changed her approach. She's being reactive despite being the one pressuring me, she gets close quickly forcing me to attack her to keep my distance, only for her to either parry me or dodge me gracefully and then land a hit on me. This bitch… she's hitting my left shoulder exclusively… Calm down, gotta focus.
She comes again from my right, running through puddles of muck and liquid, looking like a hyena. I move fast as I try to attack her, but then I take a step back as I was about to attack. She fell for it and lost her balance when her parry was met with the air. Now, grabbing the baton with both hands, with the back of my feet firmly planted on the ground and tensing my back, I hit her face as if it were the winning ball of a baseball game.
THWACK!
Blood is splashed onto the baton as she's sent towards a puddle, that also gets dirty with her blood. Payback is a bitter treat, Mion Tsukuyomi.
However, she gets up and doesn't even try to clean the blood that's coming out from her nose. And she starts cackling again.
"Heheheheheheheheh! Look at you, this is almost as if you were the real one! Hahahahahah!"
"The hell you're talking about?"
"Oh please… Do not think yourself capable of beguiling me, American. I know for a fact that you are not Takeru." She smiles at me, as if my words were a funny joke.
"…Sorry to disappoint you, but I am Takeru Shirogane." Her amused face changed into that of an enraged monster, her eyes lost all light and sanity.
"…You think you can take his face and name? You think you can soil his memory?! Oooh, how I'm going to enjoy killing you. The UN might have to pay a great price for this, but we can't lose their support yet. So I'll have you disappear in the mud today, faker."
"Come at me then!" Shit, she's moving even faster. Her swings are also much more stronger.
"C'mon! Whatever is the matter, Takeru?! Why are you not attacking?!" She's… She's crazy. What the hell is wrong with her?! I keep parrying her attacks but… They're getting stronger with every swing.
She makes a feint, I fell for it and with a step forward she got a clear swing to my right side and follows it with a hit to my right shoulder. I throw a kick at her, forcing her to stop her assault and try to regain the upper hand with some quick swings as I zigzag to throw her off.
"Die already! You damn pest, you'll pay for this offense!" She's keeping up with my speed, no problem. Dammit, I'm at my limits here. I can't parry all her attacks, she dodges my swing and in a fluid downwards swing- Ough, my left shoulder again! It hurts! Oh, shi-
THWACK!
Oooouuughh… She got a clear hit to my jaw. I still have my baton on my hand, but… Ugh, it's so hard to stand up.
"Wheeze… Haaah… Haaah…"
"Oooh… Poor you, you must be wanting to return home to your friends and family, do you not? It is truly such a shame, you even copied our techniques quite well, truth be told. However… We do not take kindly to those like you… So, could you please die without making a mess?"
As I looked up at her, a thunder rang through the sky. It covered her face with a deep shadow, highlighting her eyes. Those emerald, angry, and void of light eyes. Staring at me coldly, those sharpened eyes told me all I needed to know. She was not kidding, and she wanted to end this quick.
I can't lose here. I have to… I have to fix the negativity… I gotta… at the least… See the results the second theory can bring about… Just a few more days…
"It's time to die, pest. Don't worry, even if you're a monster I'll show you some mercy. I won't kill you while you're conscious, you did fight quite well. You earned a tiny speck of respect from me for that."
Pest… Monster… How dare you… It's not like I wanted… I just wished… To save as many as I…
I try to get up but she kicks me in the head. She then steps on it and grinds her foot on me, I can't even breathe now.
Uuugh… My head… hurts… It's going to be split apart… Aaaaugh! Stop… This… hurts too much. Gotta stand up…
"Hmm? What is it, faker? Did I not hit you with enough strength, perhaps? Oh, whatever. Might as well!"
Ough! She kicked me in the stomach quite hard. My lungs burn as I gasp for air. But then she steps on my back, preventing me from getting up, making my wound flare up in pain. She keeps stomping on my back with much force. Ouuuuh…
"You took his face and name, for what reason I don't know or care. We will investigate this throughly, but you… You must die. A monster like you, who impersonates others and ploys against Yuuhi-sama, should-"
The rain fades away, Mion's voice fades away. The smell of mud fades away. My sight gets blurry and my ears stop ringing. The coldness envelops me whole, and I feel no more nothing.
…
What is this? Where am I? Why do I feel no more pain?
"Hmph. Royal Guards, nobles or not, deep down you're all the same."
Who… Who said that?
"Despite your graceful act in front of the people, you're all nothing but hypocrites."
Who is speaking to me? It sounds… familiar, for some reason.
"And you still have the gall to insult me?! You call me a monster? You all made me like this!"
That energetic shout… That's… my voice. It's so weird hearing your voice from somewhere that isn't from within yourself. But I can tell… that's my voice.
What is he, or rather me, saying? What is he doing? To who am I saying these things?
I feel… a great deal of sadness. Someone took something from me, someone hurt me gravely. Who?
I can't see anything, I can no longer hear anything. But… I can feel the frozen hands pulling at me, trying to get me up. This feeling… This is… Like when I recovered my memories during the Valgern-On test, like when the power plant blew up and I clearly remembered all the deaths and even some things that happened on the world after Babylon.
Wait… Sensei did say that when I recovered my memories… Since I hadn't experienced anything as traumatic as that I went into shock. Then, are these hands that I feel my nervous system going out of whack right now?
Is that voice… This world's Takeru's voice? But…
I feel a deep sadness. Similar to how I felt after Babylon, to the moments after Ouka. Despair, dread, hopelessness. But there's also hatred, not towards the BETA… But… Towards the Royal Guard.
Figments of words come to me. You… saw yourself as a lone wolf, alone in the Guard. No one shared your views? You… felt betrayed? What did they do to you? What did they took from you?
Did you went through something similar to what happened to me during your life here? Did you… lost all of your friends? Anger. Hatred. Fury. I think he wanted… his peace back. I can't see or hear anything, but I can feel it. This animosity I've been feeling towards the Shogunate, this wrath that took over me when I fought those soldiers and now too. This was your heaviest data flowing into me.
Because… You also wanted to live in peace, like I do? A clear image appears to me. It's the view from the hill with the tree. But this isn't my Hiiragi district, it's a more old fashioned one. With only a few big, 'western' buildings, the commercial part was filled with some green apartments I think, it looks more 'traditional' than my world's Hiiragi, that's for sure. Was this your home too? He did live until he was twelve here, if I remember correctly.
You, just like me when I triggered the transfer, wanted to save people. As many as you could. But what happened? Why do you resent the Shogunate so much?
I can't feel nothing no more. But just before returning to the island, I could hear him one last time…
"I will become the wolf that lurks in the night, watching over all of you. I will become the sword that smites evil!"
With such youthful passion, just like when I thought I could be a hero. Before Marimo-chan died twice because of me. Yeah, you were younger than me. And they made you go through so much more shit than me, all alone. Man… You're making me cry, goddammit.
Don't worry, my parallel twin brother. Your feelings… have not fallen on deaf ears. I might not hold the same love you had for this Japan, but at least… I'll try to do my part in your stead. Give me some strength, lend me some of that passion I've lost somewhere along the way.
Let's flow onto our enemies… with the might of an unending waterfall! To save as many as we can!
Light returns to my eyes and I rise from the ground. Despite the resistance I was feeling on top of me, I manage to get Mion off me. She staggers backwards as she sends a glare my way.
"Tch, I thought you had fainted for a second. You think you can deceive me? Who do think you are, huh?!"
Her hateful tone was now leaking madness. Her eyes looked at me full of wrath, brows furrowed and her upper face with visible wrinkles. She looked like a wolf just about to attack. A wolf, huh?
"I am… the wolf that lurks in the night." Slowly, the hands melt. I feel a bit better for some weird reason.
"…Huh?"
"I am the sword that smites all evil." The cold fades within me as I take a deep breath. For my Hiiragi… For your Hiiragi… To bring some peace to both worlds.
"What… did you just say?"
"I am… Takeru Shirogane. And you… You're going down!" I rush at her with unleashed vigor.
I take a swing at her right hand, she dodges me but I keep pressuring her. Keeping up the offense, taking a step back occasionally, I can't pierce her defense. Gotta knock her out before I collapse, in no way can I go for a long fight.
"M-Mion?! Are you alright?!" Shion shouted from somewhere.
"Shut up! He's… He's mine! I will take- Ough!"
Maybe you should focus on your opponent instead of looking somewhere else. I got a nice punch to her face. My right hand is dirty with her blood, ew.
I take a step back, to avoid her flailing as she tried to regain her footing, and after she seemed to have stopped I resume my attack. We rush through the puddles as the thunders roar above us, I try to make her trip or to force an opening but it's futile. She tries to counter my moves but doesn't find enough space to do so without exposing herself.
Throwing a left swing towards her torso, she blocks it and tries to hit my hands. I follow up my swing with a downwards strike at her, our batons are parried again. Ugh… Fucking Royal Guard… No, don't lose it. I throw a kick at her as our batons remained locked, making her bounce backwards. She comes at me again, I retreat circling around a puddle and try to go for her hands after hitting the ground strongly with my heels.
Mion spins on herself, dodging me as I charged at her. She hits my left shoulder again, but this time I bite down the pain and throw a punch at her. Landing another hit to her face again, she almost fell to the ground but rolled to a side as I was about to smack her head with the baton. I take a step backwards to avoid Mion's incoming rush as she gets up. She's coming at me blindly, this is my chance to knock her out!
I lower my stance and pounce at her from below, seeing the fear in her eyes as my baton clashes with hers. I'm stronger than her, so she ends up falling backwards into the mud. I get on top of her, landing with my right knee in her stomach with all of my weight.
"A-Aaaauughhh!"
Quickly grabbing her baton, I throw it into the trees. As she tried to grab me I smacked her head with my baton. Grabbing one of her hands with my right hand, I bring my baton to her chin.
"I think this is my win, don't you agree?"
"…Who are you? Why do know those words?!" She looks enraged as she howls, squirming under me. She keeps trying to grab me with her free hand, I move her body to a side to prevent her from struggling.
"I told you already, I'm Takeru Shirogane. Now, give up. Or I'll have to knock you out."
"Takeru? No… You're lying! He… Takeru is dead!"
"Do I look like a corpse to you?"
"LIES!" She almost broke free from my grasp as she struggled violently. Her free hand reaches my face in a swift motion, and before I could react she starts pulling and clawing at me.
"Ouch! Stop that- Dammit!" I hit the back of her head with the baton, forcing her to ease her grip on my face.
"Aauuhh! You… You don't… have a mask…"
"Of course I don't! Let go of me! According to your words I won the du-" She starts struggling again, but this time her hand does not harm me.
Her sudden change left me in shock for a second. Her face stared at me in wonder as her hand slowly caressed my cheek. What the hell… is she… No, don't fall for it! I knock her hand away, aiming my baton upwards.
"Surrender now or I'll have to knock you down. What are you going to do?!"
"But… You… Then… How… When…" She doesn't seem to be listening to me, she's just staring at me with wide eyes.
"Hey. Do you surrender or not?"
"No… This… This is a lie! Takeru… Takeru is gone! You're not… You can't be…" She starts struggling again, I bend the arm I had grabbed with some force and change my position on top of her to restrain her legs.
"I don't care about what you're saying. But I am Takeru Shirogane, for real. I'm no dead man." I stare into her eyes as she stops resisting. Light returned to her eyes, all killing intent gone from her body.
"But… Those eyes… This can't…"
"Mion Tsukuyomi, I won our duel. Give up or be knocked unconscious. It's your choice." I grab her hand a bit more strongly but… Why is she looking at me like that?
"Takeru? Is that… You're alive?"
"No more wasting time. Choose." I raise my baton and she makes a panicked expression.
"WAIT! Wait, wait, time out!"
"Now what? If you're buying time for the other to attack me…" I look for the others…
Meiya seems to be distracting Shion as Chizuru tries to strike at her, but the turquoise head dodges without much trouble. I know those two are in bad shape but… She's holding up quite well against them. Meiya seems to be having trouble with her. Chizuru is trying to jump on her from a blind spot, but then Shion dances away.
"…Takeru? Is it really you?" Mion's voice lost all anger and tension, now being more of a sweet whisper. Nice try, jackass. I'm not lowering my guard for some simple trick like that.
"I said no more of that attitude. You're not going to uphold your word?"
"Oh, screw that! Are… Are you really you?! You're alive, you're not… some sort of spy?"
"I'm so done with you. Go to sleep already, good night." I tense my grip on the baton as I raise it. This world's me saw you Royal Guards as his enemies, he was alone. All of you…
"Wait! I surrender! You win!" Her face panicked and she brought her free hand to the back of her head.
"…For real?"
"Yes, truly."
"You're not tripping me, are you?"
"N-No! I surrender. No more struggles. L-Like when we played in the gardens, remember? Takeru?" Why is she making that weak voice?
"You better not be lying." I slowly get off her. Watching her carefully, she slowly rises from the ground. But her body language is totally different, was she… a friend of yours?
"So… Um…" Mion cleans the mud off her arms, avoiding my eyes, her tone as relaxed as a cat eating fish. "Forgive me for… jumping to conclusions. We heard your name, and we… Well, I kinda… snapped." Grabbing one of her elbows, she sways a bit as she shivers a bit under the rain. "I didn't knew what to think, and when I saw you I… assumed you were a spy using a mask. Can I… Um… make sure you're not using a mask?" She makes a low bow as she gazes at me timidly, slowly tapping the tip of her index fingers together as she stares at me. Who… Who are you? Where did the menacing Tsukuyomi in you go?
"You just want to get close to attack me, don't you?" I take a defensive stance, but she fumbles her hands in the air.
"No! If it is really you, then… Um…" Who were you for this world's me? I never met her, not even in my world, so I have no idea what kind of person she is. Going by her reactions when we fought… Hmm…
"Do anything suspicious and I'll knock you down, no sudden movements. Got it?" She nods and slowly gets closer, I feel no hostility from her gaze now.
She gently touches my cheeks and neck, tapping and poking me. Her hands run through my face, down to my neck and chest softly, her emerald eyes staring right into mine. She pinches me and tries to pull my neck's skin, but her eyes widen as she seems to realize I have no mask on.
"You're not a cyborg going by the feel of the skin, you don't have a mask. Are you… really you, Takeru?"
"I do not remember when I allowed you to call me by my name, Tsukuyomi." She pouts at me as she grabs my clothes.
"What? You… You really are you! Why must you be this contrarian whenever you get upset?! I… I already apologized! Can you blame me? It's been two years! Two fucking years! You didn't say anything when you left, Yuuhi-sama forbid us from speaking about you, Mana-nee and Maya-nee also refused to say anything! And then suddenly you appear out of nowhere! Whatever did you want me to do?! I thought you were dead!" And you were right, until a month ago.
I can feel her anger as she spoke fast and complained at me, but not an 'I'm gonna kill you' angry, more like a… sibling kind of anger? Kinda like how Sumika used to get angry at me?
"Uuhh… I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about. If you're done, get off me please." She blushes for some reason, her eyes dart around as she releases her grip on my clothes.
"I… But… Yeah, I mean… Are you… No, of course you're on a mission. Forgive me." She nods to herself as she moves away.
"Just to clarify, I still have no idea what you're talking about." Sincerity first, just so they don't say I'm trying to deceive them.
"Of course you don't. Yes, you don't. We… never saw each other, no sir. Um… Don't tell Mana-nee about this, please? I don't want to get scolded again." Mana-nee, huh?
"So… I am free to continue with the CCSE? You won't come after me?" I doubt she's being serious, she's trying to deceive me. But instead her shoulders drop, her head lowers slightly as her eyelids almost close.
"Hey, there is no need for such words, Takeru. I am sorry, truly. I… Please understand, I trulylost it when I thought someone could be impersonating you. I didn't… mean what I said. We haven't seen each other since two years ago, surely you know how shocked we were when we heard about you? But I'm truly sorry, Takeru. Forgive me for hurting you." She keeps calling me by my name and she looks really sorry. Who are you really, Mion?
"Whatever. I have no idea what you're talking about, or who you are actually. So you better leave me alone or I'll knock you out." I'm not, I'm so tired I could faint right here if I wasn't high on adrenaline.
"Huh? You… Wait, Takeru. Do you… not remember me?" I turn around, moving a shoulder up and down, wiping the mud off my arms with the falling rain. "Takeru? Takeru! Hey, what happened in these two years? What happened to you?"
"…None of your business." You Royal Guards probably had a hand in his death, and the actions of the Shogun have proved me that she also wants me dead. You might have seen him as a friend but, what about the rest of the Shogunate?
"…What? Hey… Hey, Takeru… Wait…" She tried to grab my shoulder but I shake her hand off, which makes her twitch.
"I have a test to pass, soldier. Please do not go back on your word." I turn my back to her and look for the others.
I see Meiya knocking Shion's baton away, as Chizuru had… Did she threw a mudball at her face? Shion's hair and upper body were full of mud as Chizuru struck her with another mudball. Holy shit, Chizuru you're such a savage this time arou… That roundhouse kick was totally not necessary. Shion was already staggering, Chizuru that right there was overkill. The mud-stained one laid on the ground covered in mud as Chizuru restrained her, Meiya then pointed her knife at her face. I approach them as I rub my sides.
"Yo, looks like you're done too."
"Shirogane, are you alright? Forgive me for leaving you alone with Mion. I… I tried to go to your aid when I saw you on the ground but Shion did not let up." She then did a small bow in apology.
"It's alright. We won, that's what matters. She will uphold her part too, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I will, no worries. It is truly surprising to see you in one piece, however. Aren't you lucky, Takeru Shirogane?" Her voice is full of the venom I'm so used to hearing since some weeks ago.
"Well, shall we go? Or do you two want to rest?"
"I rather rest away from these soldiers." Chizuru said as she got off the muddy one. Meiya nodded as she spoke up.
"I agree. We also took quite a detour from our path. It will take some time until we reach the evac point now." Remembering that I check my waist, luckily I had put the oil inside my beltkit so it didn't get opened or anything, going by it's feel to the touch.
"Congratulations, you three. Good luck reaching the evacuation point in one piece!" Shion gave us a mean grin as she waved at us weirdly once she got up. What the hell is wrong with these two Tsukuyomis?
"Shion, don't be like that. We lost, fair and square." Mion walks up to us, wiping the blood on her face with a cloth.
"I lost against two opponents and they played dirty. And by dirty I mean it, look at me. I'm full of mud and grass. You just had to deal with Takeru Shirogane, what's up with that? You couldn't win." Midway through her speech, her eyes turned into those of a hawk, light vanished from them. Her tone also got malicious as she shot a glance at me.
"Shion, come here for a second and keep quiet. Whisper… Whisper…" Mion put one hand over Shion's shoulders as she whispered on her ear. Shion's eyes looked conflicted, then they turn into fried eggs, and finally as Mion finished speaking to her she looked like a goldfish.
"Um… Mion, we will take our leave. I hope you uphold your-"
"Meiya-sama, please. We live for our honor, it was a pleasure to be able to cross strikes with all of you. Do be careful, and best of luck in your last push." She gives us a salute that we return before going our way.
Meiya and Mion share a nod, she then briefly looks at me and seems to hold back on waving at me and just gives me a smile. What were you for this world's me? We turn our backs to them and, after looking at our compasses, move into the jungle. After walking some steps, we could hear Shion screaming something at the top of her lungs despite the rain.
"What are those two arguing about now?" Meiya looks worriedly at them. Mion was grabbing Shion from behind as she was trying to shake her off for some reason. Let's get the F out of here.
"Meiya, let's move it."
"Shirogane is right, better safe than sorry."
We then resumed our march into the jungle, leaving the two new Tsukuyomis behind.
Some minutes after that.
As the rain stopped we crashed onto the trees. All of us were completely spent, no one could take another step.
"Uuugh… I'm so hungry" Chizuru fumbled with her belt kit to take out the last fruit she had.
"I did not… expect to run into those two. Haah… Twas a nice challenge, but… Haah…" Meiya looked exhausted as she gasped with her mouth wide open for air.
"Meiya, do you know them?"
"Hm? Yes, they're… members of the Royal Guard. They're relatives of the 1st Lt. that's in our base. But what about you? They seemed to know you as well." She stares at me with sharp eyes as she strokes her hair. A little light waved behind her eyes, awaiting my answer.
"No, they were probably paranoid about the foreigner that was too close to Meiya-sama."
"Hmm… You have a point. That was probably it. Sigh… However, you never cease to amaze me. Despite your exhaustion, you managed to hold out against Mion. You're truly impressive." She's praising me honestly as she smiles at me. But… that's weird, coming from you Meiya.
"Why do you say that? You can't win against her?"
"I always have problems with them. You see, they already were trained by the Master of my style, so they have an edge over me. Even so, today I think I broke my limits. Despite how much my muscles ached, I couldn't stop fighting." She then rubs her forearms slowly, wincing a bit.
"Yeah, we had a lot of trouble with that Shion." Looking insulted to no end, she munched on her fruit."She was just playing around with us. She was shouting 'Dodge!' every time she dodged my attacks. She wasn't attacking us seriously either, it looked like she just wanted to wear us down."
"That's why you spammed Mudslap?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Something like that. I did kinda let the anger get hold of me for a second." She scratches her head in embarrassment.
"Nonsense. That roundhouse kick was marvelous, Sakaki!" Meiya beams at her, which only makes Chizuru blush. I still think it was overkill.
"Ugh… Well, we made it out of that. Let's hope we don't run into anybody else." They nod as we all sit on some roots.
I enjoy the cold raindrops that fall on me from the trees. I take a deep breath as I relax my muscles. My head does hurt a bit and I can't even find the strength to get up, but I gotta. I have to find some fruits or something to eat, because I'm starving.
"Shirogane? Where are you going?" Chizuru speaks to me as I got up after resting some minutes.
"Looking for food, all of us are starving."
"Then let me go with you." She gets up, while putting her glasses on again.
"Wait, shouldn't we all-"
"Meiya, you're completely spent. Take it easy, will you?" I smile at her and she nods timidly with a soft gaze, relaxing while rubbing her shoulders.
Well, let's look for something to eat. We move into the nearby trees, minding our steps and with our eyes peeled. Hmm… Nothing over there… Nothing here…
"Say, Shirogane."
"Hm? What's up?"
"Are you alright?" Her serious tone startled me.
"Huh?"
"I saw how that Mion was stomping on your back. Are you alright? Does it hurt?" She stopped looking for food and faced me, taking a few steps towards me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It does hurt a bit but it's not that big of a deal."
"Is that so?" She doesn't seem to believe me, I am bluffing right now after all.
"Yeah, I'm okay. But it hurt a lot at the time, she was really fierce when she faced me. She thought I was an American trying to take advantage of Meiya, so she fought seriously against me. Boy, did those swings hurt." I rub my sides slowly as I look around for food.
"I see. That must have been hard. Are you really okay?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I won't do anything to get in your way, I'll be careful."
"That's not it, I'm really worried, you know? When Shion threw me to the ground once, I could see how that Mion was pressuring you. It was truly a horrible sight, I didn't think you could lose so badly." She looks genuinely worried, going by those glances she's taking at me. Thanks Chizuru.
"Well, I'm not invincible. Someone out there is better than me at something, I have been telling you all that I'm not perfect for a while now."
"Yeah, and you were right."
"So, how are you holding?"
"I'm fine. Mitsurugi was the one who took most of the hits, to be honest. Oh, aren't those the brown mushrooms we can eat?" She points to her left. Lucky us, we found quite some mushrooms for tonight.
"Nice catch, we'll roast them before nightfall and rest early to recover as much strength as we can." We pick them up together, and while making small talk about our fights we made our way back to Meiya.
The next day. Around 8 AM.
"Shirogane… Shirogane, wake up." Meiya's voice casts me away from sleep as I open my eyes.
"Yaaaawn… Good morning, Meiya." I rub my eyes as I look around.
"Morning. Sakaki is already up, eat some mushrooms so that we can start marching as soon as we can. We all ended up sleeping quite more time than we should have." I look at my watch, we're already on the fifth day. So, it's around eight in the morning.
"Wait… Wasn't your shift the last one? Why didn't you wake us up earlier?"
She fumbles with her hair as she curves her lips and looks away, hiding her sight behind her fringe.
"…I fell asleep."
"Pfft! Ahahaha!"
"What? Mmgh, do not laugh!" Can't help it, you looked so cute right now. Just like the other Meiya used to be.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll get up now, let's eat."
I stretch and go sit with them on the ground. We used the last of my curry powder on the mushrooms and they ended up quite nice, if I say so myself. Luckily, the Tsukuyomis kept their promise and didn't chase after us. My shift went by without nothing happening, and the girls' one seem to have also ended without a problem.
A noise from the radios startle us as we were finishing our breakfast. Chizuru grabs one and answers it.
"Sakaki here. Over."
"Oh, good morning Sakaki. I'm informing you that you all have less than twenty four hours remaining to clear the test, just a few minutes ago the other three reached the evac point. I expect you all to arrive here as soon as possible. That is all. Over and out."
"Huh, neat. So they already finished." I munch the last mushroom I had. So those three made it, that's one problem less to worry about.
"Those three are amazing. We must also get going, Shirogane, Sakaki." She quickly got up and extinguished the fire.
"Yes, let's. We still don't know how far away we are from the final evac point." Tapping her glasses as she got up, she then checked her beltkit was in place.
"Alright. You two are ready?"
They nod and we begin our march again. Time to bust more traps, dammit.
…
"So… What do you think happened here?" Meiya asked us as she glanced at the helipad that was completely destroyed.
"Gun battery, maybe?" That's what happened last time, even if it was nowhere near this level of damage.
"You think so?" She cocks her head sideways while poking one of her cheeks with a finger.
"I dunno, it was just a thought."
I slowly approach the helipad, but nothing happens. I move around it, but nothing. Meiya goes to the opposite side of it, but nothing happened.
"Whatever it was, it was disabled I think." I know they did, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to reach the evac point.
"So those three neutralized it? This will play in our favor for sure." We share a smirk as we move away from the helipad.
"Guys, I found the directions." Chizuru called to us. She had found another box with a paper hidden near the box with the smoke signals.
It was a map that showed our current location, the location of both gun batteries, the evac point, both bridges and the boat. Thank God, now I don't have to go looking suspicious to ride the boat.
"So there's a boat nearby, huh?" Now all we gotta do is fill it with the fuel and-
"Shirogane, using a boat during daylight would cost us several points." Meiya you can't be serious.
"What if we run into more soldiers?"
"Ah… That is true, we may not be able to fight off more pursuers. Sakaki, what do you think?"
"Hmm… While normally using the boat would be a bad call, given our current situation it's the best method we have. Shirogane does still have the fuel with him if the boat has not enough of it, we need to get away as soon as possible to avoid being ambushed and to reach the evac point in time. Since the batteries have been taken care of by our allies we won't lose so many points, I think. We also might not have enough time to reach the bridges, going by how many traps are in the jungle waiting for us and how exhausted we all are. I approve of it." Thanks Chizuru!
"So, what do you think Meiya?"
"I also approve the idea then. I probably cannot fight in my current state, so if we did encounter more enemies I would be a sitting duck. However, I propose to wait until nightfall. Let's hide here between the rocks, and after the sun has set we can safely travel with the cover of the night on our side. We still have a full day to finish this and we need all the points we can get since we're already behind schedule."
That's true. We no longer have guns with us, so if any other soldier finds us we are so done for. But we need to get enough points to pass the test, and this time us three are technically holding our team back. And, if this memory isn't wrong, we would have to climb a cliff to reach the evac point. I almost forgot about that.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's lay low until the night."
"Alright, if you agree with her then let's look for a good hiding spot." Chizuru moved towards the rocks with us following her closely.
There was a small platform of rocks under the cliff, we hid there and after I went back up and tried to scout our location from above we concluded we were safe. Now we just have to wait until night. Meiya had taken out her blanket and laid on the floor while Chizuru was sitting close to the sea.
"We've been through a lot these days. Can't believe everything will end in just a few hours." Chizuru said as she stared at the waves.
"Yeah, this test was nuts. Was your last one like this?"
"Of course not." Meiya answered without even moving from her spot, someone is comfy there. "There were many traps, but not as many as the ones here. And there were no pursuers obviously."
"So we got screwed this time." Chizuru tries to hold the laughter, but gives up eventually.
"Ahahaha, you're right. Well, it's still around four in the afternoon. We should rest too, do you want me to keep watch?"
"Nah, I'm good. If you're still tired you can rest."
"No, I'm fine. I do want to just lie down, my feet are killing me today." Chizuru stretches her arms upwards as she sighs.
"We all did went through some tough battles these days." Meiya brought her blanket closer and laid on her belly, looking at the sea.
I did the same, staring at the rocking waves as the sea breeze came our way. It is odd to see something so peaceful in this world. If only a time could come where most people could get a chance to experience something as soothing as this. At least this mad CCSE is done with.
"Say, Shirogane."
"What is it, Sakaki?"
"Thanks. For being with us, for not abandoning me when I got caught on the net." She then gives me a small bow.
"Don't mention it, that's what comrades do, right?"
"Yes, but… with how I've been treating you…"Her gaze gets shot down as she hugs her elbows.
"That's on the past now. We did promise to get along for the test."
"And… what about after it?" Meiya asks me with an intense stare.
"Huh?"
"Would you consider… starting over with us?" She looks at me pleadingly as she sits up.
"Are you sure the rest won't mind? I am a murdered now, remember?" Both of them make a pained expression. Chizuru clears her throat and speaks up.
"Well, maybe Ayamine will. But I believe the rest won't. You have made it clear you are nothing like the Americans. You've done more than enough to gain our trust. So… Can we start over, Shirogane?"
"Sure, if you don't mind."
"Really?!" Their eyes sparked up.
"Yeah, it's not like… I enjoy being alone." I don't. So even if we might end up as enemies… Just for a few days, let me remember my old friends through you.
"Oh, of course. Well… Let's keep doing our best from now on together. Yes?" Meiya extends her hand and we share a handshake. Chizuru puts her hand above ours.
"So… Thanks, Shirogane. Let's clear this last push, and do our best in our piloting training. I'll do my best as a Leader to recover your trust, so please keep supporting all of us like you did these days." She gives me a smile, the same warm smile my Chizuru always gave me back in my world. Uuuhhh… Don't make me remember them when I'm so tired. I don't wanna cry in front of you two.
"Thanks, let's leave all that behind us." Both of them nod at me as the release my hand.
Even if it's only for a few days, I'm glad I could get past all that negativity in them. Sadly, they might revert once they get suspicious of my piloting skills or when Yuuhi comes after me.
We then threw ourselves to the ground, and just laid there looking at the sea. No need to rush, Takeru. In just a few hours, this hellish CCSE will be over. I don't know how but I did it.
But from now on… I will have to speak with Tsukuyomi-san about my sword, these new Tsukuyomis might also become a problem for me, and now that I know how this world's Takeru felt about the Empire I can understand why Yuuhi wants my head. Maybe he really was a traitor after all. Though, maybe that Mion was someone who saw his good intentions? And that's why she was friendly with me when she saw that I am Takeru Shirogane?
Sigh… I'll deal with that starting tomorrow. I also need to have a talk with Sensei about the chasers. I need to stop the negativity from spreading even more, but with the Shogunate coming after me that will be a tough ordeal. Restarting the loop might be my best choice here. Oh well, no point in complicating myself. Just for a few hours, let's rest. I'll have my fair share of shit to deal with starting tomorrow.
A/N: Mion and Shion are physically the same as the characters I based them on from the VN Higurashi When They Cry, only with muscle because training. So that you all can have an accurate mental image of them. Their personalities will be different, as I'll make them into their own thing even if I give them some traits the originals have, so people that have read Higurashi rest assured, no nails will be present in this fic.