Entry 7: Someones Glory
Kira Yamato flexed the fingers on his left hand, and found there to be little pain in them. This fact was cause for concern.
He was currently on his fifth day of being back on the Archangel, not counting the three he had been out cold for. So, eight days in total since he'd basically skinned his arm, and here he was, feeling like it'd never happened in the first place.
"What the heck's got you so freaked out?" Tenshi asked. "It just means you've awakened a talent for healing. Happens to everyone in Gensokyo."
"I hope that's the case," he muttered. "It's just... weird, is all."
"Well, get use to it, kiddo," she said plainly. "Seriously, why'd I have to get rescued by a novice who's weirded out by his own powers?"
Kira looked at her, before laughing lightly. "I guess you're right," he said. "I really should be use to the oddities of Gensokyo by now."
Tenshi, in response, blushed. "Wh... what's your deal?" she asked. "You're suppose to act all indignant about me calling you weird, you weirdo!"
This, however, only caused Kira to laugh more. "I can't help it," he said. "I guess I'm just that much of a 'weirdo'."
Tenshi pouted and looked away. Kira really couldn't help but think that it was rather cute.
From the security room, Athrun watched the cameras and took notes, while further comparing them to the newspapers he had stacked up on the desk.
Right now, he was trying to get a concise idea as to what sort of person Hinanawi Tenshi was. He'd already tried the direct approach, which went a whopping nowhere. So, here he was, spying on her and Kira like a pervert.
The price of knowledge sure is steep.
So far, he had learnt that Tenshi was a remarkably child-like person, at least in terms of reactions. Also, a bit of a picky eater, which again, fit into that child-like attitude. The Bunbunmaru had her written up as a dangerous person, who partook in gleeful, wanton destruction. Yet here, all he saw was... someone who never really grew out of her childish attitude.
Athrun also thought that maybe, just maybe, Kira had already figured that out. The way he played off her japes, to how he never seemed to show anything other than a smile to her.
Kira Yamato had, at some point over the week he had to know her, decided that Hinanawi Tenshi was 'a friend'.
"Well, if that isn't the most Kira thing to do, I don't know what is," Athrun muttered as he closed his notebook. At this point, there really wasn't much else he could learn. Anything further would have to come from either third parties or deduction.
Bundling up the weeks worth of newspaper, Athrun stepped out of the room.
"Oh, Zala-san," someone spoke up upon noticing him.
Athrun turned to his left, and saw the heavily bundled up form of Wriggle Nightbug. "Wriggle," Athrun said. "You sure you should be out of the heated room?"
The 'heated room' for all intents and purposes, was just the new go-to term for the engine room, as it was the warmest part of the ship during this cold-snap. The name stuck after it was discovered that Cirno had a hard time pronouncing the word 'engine', and Dearka decided to join in on the 'heated room' name train.
If anything, that just told people that Cirno and Dearka were the textbook example of 'one brain-cell'.
Wriggle sneezed. "It's... not too bad right now," she said, keeping the heavy doona tightly around her body. "Eternity's got it worse, though. She can barely stay awake as it is."
"It's really that bad, huh," Athrun muttered. "The life of a youkai must be exceptionally hard."
"It's not s-so bad," Wriggle stuttered. "I'd think it's better than being a human in the village, at least. When things start happening, at least we can do s-something about it."
"I guess so," Athrun agreed. Then, he picked Wriggle up and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Now, let's get you back into the heat room before you freeze to death, yeah?"
"Ah! H-hey!" Wriggle exclaimed. "I... I can get back myself! B-besides, aren't your hands already full with those books?"
"Do I look like I'm over encumbered?" Athrun asked. "Please, give us Coordinators a bit more credit."
Athrun paused, as he could have sworn he heard a sound akin to shoes skidding on the ground. When he turned around, though, he saw nothing but an empty hall.
"Strange," he said. "Must be hearing things."
Shrugging, Athrun turned back around, and began making his way to the engine room. Unbeknown to him, though, a certain someone peaked their head around the far corner.
"Another missed opportunity," Sanae sighed. "I'll get it one of these days!"
Up on the bridge, Murrue poured out several cups of coffee for the staff on hand. "How are we looking?" she called out. "Think we can do something about the cloud coverage?"
"I don't want to sound too positive, captain," Neumann replied, "but the numbers are coming back quite favourably."
"If the beam output is high enough, we could feasibly burn away the dust layers," Miriallia followed up. "According to Murdock and Nitori's estimations, once we get the Strike back up and running, using all our firepower, we could feasibly clear the skies in little over a week."
"Defeating pollution by shooting it with lasers," Jackie Tonomura muttered. "God, it sounds so stupid when I put it like that. Does anyone else think that?"
"Absolutely," replied Romero Pal.
"Without questions," added Dalida Lolaha Chandra II (actual person on the crew, look it up).
"If you told me two weeks ago we'd be fixing one of the 21st centuries greatest problems by shooting it," Natarle followed up, "I'd have called you crazy."
From beside Miriallia's workstation, Hatate watched the exchange that took place with interest. "You guys work quite well together," she commented. "I think the phrase for this is 'a well oiled machine', right?"
"Well, we kinda have to be," Miri responded, taking the cup as Murrue handed it over. "After the destruction of Heliopolis, it was either survive together or die together."
"And at the end of the day? We'd rather not die," Neumann said.
The door to the bridge slid open, which was followed by authoritative sounding footsteps. "Well, you all seem to be doing fine," spoke the passingly familiar voice of one Yasaka Kanako.
"Kanako-sama?" Hatate said. "What are you doing here?"
"What, a god can't check up on the people they owe for saving Gensokyo?" Kanako replied. Then, she faced Murrue. "You're the captain of this ship, correct?"
"Indeed," she replied. "Murrue Ramius. Sanae's told us a fair deal about you as well, Yasaka Kanako." She held out one of the cups to the god. "Coffee?"
"Don't mind if I do," Kanako responded, taking the cup. "Heaven knows I need it after all those 'conversations'."
"Lot of bureaucratic business?" Murrue asked.
"Absolutely," Kanako sighed. "When you've caused as much trouble in the past as we have, it takes a lot to convince people that dropping Heaven on your own shrine and blowing it up was not, in fact, a publicity stunt."
"Ah, the joys of press meetings," Natarle muttered sarcastically.
"I can't imagine the amount of shit the dai-tengu gave you," Hatate added.
"No kidding, Himekaidou." Kanako took a brief look around the bridge. "Say, I was under the impression that there should be at least one more person up here."
"You're thinking of Sai Argyle," Natarle answered. "And unfortunately, he's been under the weather for a few days. We think it might just be a cold, but he's been ordered four days bed-rest."
"A crew that looks out for each other, no matter what," Kanako mused. "I certainly hope Sanae takes at least that from being here."
Down by the lake, Kagiyama Hina looked around, and saw no signs of Sai Argyle.
On the surface, she pretended to not be too surprised, but deep down, she had really started to like the time he'd spend with her. So, for him to have not shown up for three days in a row... it was kind of starting to hurt.
"Yo!" an older, mature voice shouted, startling her greatly. The man approached from the other side of the river, and by the way he dressed, he was almost certainly from the same circle as Sai. On top of that, from how he looked, he could have even been related to Sai. "You the young lady that's gotten Sai's attention lately?" he asked.
"I... I guess?" Hina hesitated briefly. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
"Name's Mu La Flaga," the man responded. "One of Sai's superior officers." He casually strolled across the frozen lake, and gave Hina a good look over. "Yeah, I can definitely see why he's fallen for you. You are quite the looker, young lady."
"Personal space, please," Hina said plainly. "Um, where is Sai-san?"
"A bit under the weather, unfortunately," Mu answered. "So, I figured we'd surprise him by bringing you to him."
"Wait, what?" Hina asked in surprise. "Bring me... to him?"
"Of course," Mu stated boldly. "If you two are gonna get hitched, then it's about time you saw our home and met the rest of this dysfunctional family." This caused Hina to blush quite intensely, which Mu laughed kindly about.
As he guided Hina to the Archangel, a familiar sensation tickled at the hairs on the back of his neck. Pivoting quickly, he scanned the area for enemy signs, and found nothing.
"What was that?" he muttered. "It felt like... Rau Le Creuset, but that's impossible. He's nowhere close to Gensokyo..."
"Mu-san?" Hina spoke up, dragging Mu out of his caution.
"Oh! Sorry about that," he laughed, playing it off. "Just stress catching up to me, is all."
"I suppose so," Hina said, looking up at the sky. "The weather's been like this for so long now. Do you think it'll let up soon?"
"If our planning goes well, and we can get the all-clear from Gensokyo's top brass, we could actually do something about it," Mu replied. "But, don't let me get your hopes up. Our brainiacs are the ones doing the heavy lifting right now."
The two continued on, yet Mu's mind still lingered on that feeling. It was a sort of sixth sense he'd developed during his battles, and only really seemed to go off when Rau, someone with a similar ability, was present. If he could reasonably rule Rau Le Creuset out, then what does that mean?
Could it be that, somewhere in Gensokyo, there was someone with a similar talent?
Far away at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
Reimu's long time friend and rival, the black and white witch Kirisame Marisa, noticed the sudden, subtle change in her demeanour. "What's up, Reimu?" Marisa asked. "You look like you remembered you left the kettle on."
"I don't know, Marisa," Reimu replied. "Something feels... wrong."
"Something... you mean your intuition?" Marisa's ears perked up. "That thing's hardly ever wrong. You think there's another Incident going on alongside this snap winter?"
"I think so," Reimu said. "At least, did doesn't feel like it's all too related to it. What's the word; tangential?"
"Probably," Marisa said. "So, what's the plan, then?"
"Oh, you know the deal," Reimu replied. "Just the usual."
From the top rafters of the hanger, Tenshi stared long and hard at the forms of both the Buster and Strike. They were different, to be sure, but she would be hard pressed to have forgotten that shape so soon.
"Tenshi?" Kira called out. "Are you alright? You've been staring at the Mobile Suits for a while now."
"Can't help it," Tenshi replied. "That shape... it's so much like the thing that destroyed Heaven."
"It was a Mobile Suit?" Kira asked. "Do you remember anything else about it?"
Tenshi shook her head. "Too much fire. Couldn't really make out much details."
"I see," Kira mused. "I... think I might have an inkling about who it was, but I can't be sure, and I think Athrun and Dearka might take exception to it."
"How do you mean?"
"Athrun's team was made up of four people in the past," Kira explained. "One of them... died by my hands. With the two here right now, that just leaves one unaccounted for."
"And this last guy'd be the sort to raze a continent worth of land?"
"I... don't know him well enough to say," Kira said. Personally, though, he was leaning more towards saying 'yes', considering the pilot of the Duel did shoot down a shuttle filled with civilians in the past, but he was wanting to give the pilot in question the benefit of the doubt.
Down on the bottom floor, the two spotted Mu entering the hanger, followed by an unfamiliar green haired girl.
"This, my friend, is the hanger," Mu said. "It's where all the magic happens, and all the stars gather." He looked up, and noticed Kira. "Speaking of stars. Yo, Kira! You and the princess finally get your medical discharge?"
"An hour ago, yeah," Kira called back. "Who's your guest?"
"None other than the girl that's had Argyle's attention!" Mu stated. "Kagiyama, that right there is Kira Yamato. I'm sure Sai's mentioned him several times."
"He certainly has," the woman replied, before casually floating up to Kira's level. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Yamato-san. I'm Kagiyama Hina."
"The pleasure is all mine, miss Hina," Kira responded happily.
Tenshi looked between the two with an expression of amused disgust. How two contradicting emotions could be expressed at once on a single face was a mystery for the ages. "Dear god, there's two of you," she muttered.
On the bottom floor, Mu laughed heartedly. "Well, you mind showing her to Sai's quarters, Kira?" he shouted. "Seeing as though you're already on the level of it!"
"Sure thing," he called back. "Shall we, miss Hina?"
"Please, lead the way," she responded, as the two headed off down the hall.
Tenshi, for her part, leapt from the balcony, landing on the bottom floor. "Spooky how those two can be so similar," she said. "Wonder what that says about that Sai fellow?"
"What, that he ended up falling for a woman so much like one of his best friends?" Mu asked. "I'd say it just means he values people who are kind."
"Yeah, that's Sai in a nutshell," Flay called out from the Skygrasper.
"You're still there, Allster?" Mu shouted back. "Good to see you're remaining diligent on your new career choice, but you don't have to be learning the ins and outs of the Skygrasper 24-7, you know."
"I'm aware, but..." Flay's voice trailed off, "it helps keep me distracted."
"Still not sure how to approach Kira?" Mu asked. "You did pretty well when he first woke up."
"Well, yes, but that was then. Now that things are sort of normal again, it's just... awkward," she said. "You've been around longer than most of us, Lieutenant. Surely you've had some bad breakups with coworkers."
"I feel like you're calling me old there, Allster," Mu said darkly. "Well, you're going to have to officially bury the hatchet at some point." Then, he noticed Nitori in the distance, with a rather concerned look on her face. "Kawashiro! What's bothering ya?"
Nitori flinched a bit. "Oh, just you," she sighed. "Well, to put it bluntly, dude, I'd say this is 'worst-case' scenario."
"Worst case?" Mu repeated. "What do you mean? She looked harmless enough."
"Oh, no doubt about that," Nitori said. "Kagiyama Hina's one of the top dogs as far as human relations go. The problem is in what she is."
"'What' she is?" Flay asked. "What do you mean?"
Nitori let out another sigh, this one deep and heavy. "Well, you're probably going to find out sooner or later, so I'll tell ya," she said. "Kagiyama Hina is a pestilence god. Her nature is to absorb misfortune and negative energy. I take it you can figure out what happens to humans that hang around someone like that?"
Mu pondered, then his face paled. "Oh shit," he muttered. "The osmosis effect. That negative energy would be making its way into Sai."
"Bingo," Nitori said. "And if a human absorbs too much, then..."
Kira and Hina stood at the door to Sai's quarters. As far as doors go, there wasn't much to say about it, other than the fact that it had the word 'quarantine' on it. While the crew was still big enough to comfortably run the ship without feeling like everyone was doing seven jobs at once, at some point it began to feel like there was just more room. Enough so that, in case of a situation like this, they could write a room or three off for sick patients.
"Are we sure it's safe to go in?" Hina asked.
"Perfectly," Kira replied. "The doctor onboard has been running many tests, and he's concluded that whatever Sai's caught is hardly that contagious." Kira knocked on the door. "Sai! Are you awake?"
There was a small groan from behind the door. "That you, Kira?" Sai asked, voice rather strained. "What time is it?"
"A bit before 11, actually," Kira answered. "How are you feeling?"
"Not the worst, but pretty crook," he replied. "You ever been so sick that your teeth feel weird? Because my teeth are feeling very weird."
Kira laughed. "I can imagine," he said. "In any case, you've got a guest today."
"A guest?"
"Good day, Sai-san," Hina spoke up. This was immediately followed by something going 'thud' behind the door.
"Sai?!" Kira and Hina both called out in shock.
"I'm okay!" he called back. "Just... caught off guard! Is that you, Hina?"
Hina giggled. "Yes. It's Hina."
Kira could only imagine the sort of innocent panic going through Sai's mind right now. "Would it be alright for us to come in?" he asked.
"S...sure thing," Sai stuttered out. "Just... please be careful with the lights? My eyes have been rather... weird with light since yesterday."
"It's got to be the lack of direct sunlight," Kira said as the door slid open, whereupon he and Hina noticed it was... very dark.
"My, your eyes must be quite sore," Hina said, stepping in. "I'm use to travelling the forest, and even they aren't this dark during nightfall."
"That's no good, Sai," Kira said. "You can't let your eyes get too adjusted to the dark like that. Once the light comes back, it'll only cause you more harm."
Sai let out a small, amused sigh. "When you're right, you're right," he conceded. "I swear, if you weren't so hard-set on programming and engineering, you'd make an amazing doctor."
"Once things settle down, I'm actually considering it," Kira replied, as he palmed around the wall for the light switch. "I personally don't have high hopes on us leaving Gensokyo, and I don't think mechanics will have much work here." Finally, he found the switch he was looking for. "There it is. I'm turning the lights on low, okay?"
"Alright," Sai said. "Thanks, Kira." The lights came on, and...
Hina let out a gasp of shock.
"What, do I look that sick?" Sai joked lightly.
Kira looked over, and immediately realised that Hina's gasp wasn't because he looked sick. "What... the hell?" he uttered in disbelief.
"What is it?" Sai asked, suddenly very concerned. "What... what's got you two so spooked?"
"It's... already starting?" Hina muttered. "But it's... it's only been a month... Why... is it happening now?"
"Why is what happening?" Sai yelled. "What's going..." Then, in the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his own shadow. More specifically, though, the two small protrusions on the top of his head that he recalled not being there.
Slowly, he reached his hands up and felt them. They were bony, pointing, and felt as if they had been there since forever. That fact alone made them wholly wrong.
"What... is happening..." Sai muttered, turning to Kira and Hina with a shocked expression. "Kira... Hina... What's... happening to me?"
An alarm blared throughout the ship. Everyone stopped what they were doing immediately, and looked around for any sign of danger.
"This is Kira Yamato speaking," Kira's voice sounded over the ship-wide comms. "All ranking personnel and youkai, please report to the war room immediately. We've... got a situation on our hands."
In the hanger, Mu had a look of apprehension on his face. "That's... not good," he muttered. "If it's Kira calling it, then... is it 'that'?"
"Are we seriously going to play the pronoun game?" Tenshi asked. "This is... isn't this bad for that guy?"
Nitori, however, remained silent, with a sad look on her face. "Hina," she muttered. "I can't imagine what it's like for you, going through all this shit again."
By the engine room, Athrun looked quite worried. "Kira, calling an emergency?" he said. "That can't be good."
Up on the bridge, all crew-mates + Hatate shared this concern.
"What happened?" Natarle asked. "Is someone pulling a prank or something?"
"Kira? Never," Murrue responded. "All hands, report to the war room, then! If Kira thinks whatever it is is important, we'll have to trust his judgement."
Everyone quickly evacuated the bridge, and Hatate kept close to Miri as they did. "Everyone really trusts that this is genuine, huh?" Hatate asked.
"Kira's not the sort to pull a prank like this," Miri explained. "But... that still makes me wonder what's going on."
Within the hour, all personnel had arrived in the war room, save for Kira himself, Sai, and Hina.
Said trio was just outside the room, mentally preparing themselves. "Sai, are you sure about this?" Kira asked. "I can handle most of the talking if you want."
"Thanks, Kira," Sai replied, keeping the grip on his new hood tight. "But, I feel like this is something that I need to do myself." He looked over to Hina, who still seemed to have a pensive expression on her face. "Hina," he spoke up. "Please, don't blame yourself for this."
"But..." she started. "But I knew this would happen eventually. I... I should have..."
"Don't. Please," Sai interrupted. "I think that, even if I did know this was coming, I'd still want to go through with it."
"But, because of this, you'll..."
"It's a risk, but... I think I'm willing to take it."
Kira allowed himself a small smile, despite the situation. "Alright," he said. "I'll take point, but anything after that... That'll have to be your job."
"Got it," Sai responded. "And, again, thanks."
Kira nodded, and leading the way, opened the door.
It was quite intimidating, walking into a room with all eyes focused on you. It felt like he was going up to the front of the class to give a presentation, only it was a room filled with military-trained people and youkai. Which, in a way, made it infinitely more tense.
"Kira, what's going on?" Mu was the first to speak up.
"If this is your idea of a joke, ensign," Natarle said next, "then it's grounds for a court martial."
"I'm aware of that," Kira said, "but... well, it's not easy to talk about."
Kira gave Sai a nod, and stepped aside. "It's... going to be easier if I just show you guys," Sai said, as he removed the hood slowly.
"Sai, what are you..." Mu's voice trailed off, as everyone in the room collectively gasped in surprise.
Sai Argyle looked slightly paler than normal, which alone wouldn't be much concern. What was cause for concern, though, were the small pair of horns that had grown from his forehead, and his once green eyes now a deep crimson.
"What on Earth?" Murrue muttered. "Sai, what... happened to you?"
Before he could speak, Nitori spoke up. "Youkai Metamorphosis," she said. "Usually it takes up to a year, though. For it to be this far along..."
"Kawashiro Nitori," Murrue spoke in a low voice. "Did you know about this? No, more to the point, did you know and not tell anyone?"
"Would I have been able to convince anyone about it?" Nitori asked. "Besides, it's never this sudden, even with Hina involved."
All eyes fell on Hina, until Sai stepped between them. "Even if Nitori did warn me, it wouldn't have deterred me," Sai said. "I... I liked the time I spent with Hina, and wouldn't trade it for anything."
Mu nodded sagely. "Spoken like a true man," he said proudly, before his expression hardened. "But, that still leaves us with a problem."
"A problem?" Murrue asked. "What do you mean?"
"Gensokyo's balance," Kanako spoke up. "Gensokyo is designed in such a way that allows things from Outside to come in with no problems, but that's it. Anything else that threatens to destabilise the balance of humans and youkai are seen by some as... dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Miri asked. "What does that mean?"
"A human that has turned into a youkai is..." Sanae hesitated, "considered the greatest of sinners. Higher than causing Incidents. For Gensokyo's main peace-keepers, a human-turned-youkai is grounds for immediate extermination."
"I...immediate extermination?" Miri muttered. "You mean..."
"Hakurei Reimu is coming," Nitori said bluntly, "and she is coming to kill Sai Argyle."
The words hung in the air like lead. No one knew quite what to say to Nitori's statement.
"That..." Dearka began. "That's just bullshit! Why?! Why should he have to die because of some stupid shit like that?!"
"Dearka, calm down," Athrun said, putting a hand on Dearka's shoulder, which he brushed off rather violently.
"Don't tell me to be calm, Zala!" Dearka yelled. "You can't tell me you're okay with this!"
"I said calm down!" Athrun yelled back. "Because from the sounds of it, this isn't the first time this scenario has happened, am I right?"
Hatate nodded. "It has. In fact, you're quite lucky to have most of Youkai Mountain's big names here right now," she said. "But, we're usually a step ahead of the situation, not this far into danger."
"What danger do you mean?" Mu asked. "In fact, how would the Hakurei maiden find out about this?"
"Reimu's intuition," Sanae answered plainly. "It's borderline insane, really. She can find a culprit with little more than that alone."
Mu, at this point, seemed to have an epiphany. "That feeling!"
"Explain yourself, Lieutenant," Natarle demanded.
"When I went to pick up Hina, I had a strange feeling," Mu answered. "The sort I only ever get when I'm on the same battlefield as Rau Le Creuset, at that. I think... what I felt then must have been that girl's intuition."
"Mu's senses have never been wrong before," Murrue muttered. "Hatate, how long would you say we have?"
"If Reimu's already on the move?" Hatate spoke. "Then we've got a day at most. Our usual plan is to hide the people that are turning down in Old Hell, before she can realise it's happening."
"And how likely is Hakurei to go down there?" Athrun asked.
"Very, if she knows to look there."
"So, what?" Sai asked. "I need to -quite literally- go to Hell before she can send me there herself?"
All eyes fell back on Sai briefly. "Well," Mu said. "If anything, at least you still have some humour about it."
There was a brief pause, before a good chunk of the people present broke out into laughed, including Sai himself. This left just about everyone else rather bewildered.
"Right then," Murrue stated, as the air became serious. "All those in favour of getting Ensign Argyle somewhere safe until Hakurei Reimu loses interest, raise your hands now." All hands were raised into the air, including from Kanako and Sanae.
"While the Moriya Shrine can't do too much openly," Kanako said, "we can at least provide some... special resources, in the event things go catastrophically wrong."
"Wouldn't ask for much more," Murrue responded. "I'm sure this much alone is dangerous enough for your shrine." She turned to face the youkai in the room. "Kawashiro, Himekaidou, Yamashiro, what route to you usually use in these smugglings of yours?"
"We go through the Underground Geyser Centre," Nitori answered. "It's one of the few places away from the Hakurei Shrine that connects to Old Hell, and involves going through the Nuclear Furnace."
"So, you mean to tell me," Natarle began, "that your strategy is to smuggle some in fear of their life... through the most radioactive place in Gensokyo." Then, she slapped her hands on her knees. "Fuck it! It's not like we didn't literally blow up Heaven to stop it crashing to Earth! What's the worst that can happen?"
"Oh, you know it's bad when Natarle Badgiruel's cursing about it," Mu muttered.
"Then we'll just have to make it work," Murrue stated. "Kawashiro and Yamashiro, you're with me and Natarle for strategising. Everyone else, to your stations! We're keeping him alive, no matter what!"
Sai, for his part, had a rather sad smile on his face. "I guess... this will be my last mission aboard the Archangel, then."
Hina, on the other hand, looked very shocked. "You're... just going along with it?" she asked. "And... even after what everyone's said, you're not..."
"Why would we blame you?" Kira spoke up. "We've come to accept that not everything is in our control. So, why should we blame you for something you couldn't control?"
"But... I still could have prevented..."
"Don't start this," Tenshi interrupted. "If you told him to go away, or just up and vanished, odds are he'd go looking for you. I may not be good at this whole 'people' thing, but even I can see he's fallen hopelessly for you."
Off to the side, Athrun watched as Kira and Tenshi attempted to lighten Hina's mood. Of course, from where he was standing, it just looked like the two were teasing her for having a crush on someone.
Yet, he still couldn't help but smile at the scene. Doubly so when Miri, Dearka, and even Flay joined in, dragging Sai along with them. It really just went to show that the whole Natural-Coordinator dichotomy was, at its most fundamental point, entirely pointless.
"It's certainly a good sign," Kanako spoke up, approaching Athrun, "seeing them still in good spirits."
"Agreed," Athrun said. "But, the odds are still stacked against us. I can't say that I personally have high hopes for this."
"Understandable," she agreed. "It's important that one of you has your feet on the ground." Reaching into one of her pockets, Kanako pulled out an odd looking keycard and handed it to Athrun. "Take this."
Athrun took the card, and looked it over. It was golden in colour, with glowing red highlights, and a single letter, H, on one side of it. "What is it?"
"An emergency contingency," Kanako answered. "Something more is going on, Athrun Zala. Heaven doesn't just fall out of the sky with a lone survivor, then less than two weeks later, a man sudden turns into a youkai on the same ship. Someone's trying to draw Reimu's attention to this ship. No, perhaps not even the ship itself."
"You suspect foul play too, then?"
"The foulest of play. The question, though, is who?"
A/N:
If, at any point in your life, you think Hakurei Reimu is coming for you...
Run.
If you can't run from Hakurei Reimu, then pick a God and pray for mercy.
Nothing more to say here, let's move on.
