Ch.38 A moment of Shock

Aboard the Bifrost, everyone is back and no one is smiling. Everything seems to have stopped in place and gone silent. Shido and Shiori are both crying, Hiro is pounding his fist against the wall, Aki is still in shock, Miyuki looks confused, and the others have clearly uneasy looks, including Kurumi. Kotori is reviewing the footage captured from the ship's computer and is trying to figure out what happened. The city below is in ruins and is decimated from a spacial quake leaving a giant crater below. There weren't any fatalities, but the body of this world's Miku was lost in the stadium. Ellen's hearing was restored by Kurumi by this point.

Shido and Shiori are both sad because at the end, they couldn't help her, and they didn't have a chance to talk with her at the end. They just found her, lifeless, bleeding, and her eyes blank…she was gone and they couldn't do anything. Aki caused a spacial quake which devastated the city. Miyuki then walks up to Ellen, who is the most collected looking, and asks her.

"Miss Ellen, why are those two crying? Did they want to play with that girl back there?"

Hiro stops his pounding and listens to what Miyuki says as she continues.

"I thought she was mean, but I think mister Shido liked her, and she could have just played with us when she woke up from her nap. I think that girl just needed more friends."

Hiro walks away with a frustrated look on his face as Mana follows him. Ellen then actually hugs Miyuki and rubs her head as she was her own daughter and thinks.

"Of course she wasn't taught about death. She's so young."

Kurumi becomes annoyed as she continually slaps Aki across the face and tells him.

"Stop that whining, and get over it. You killed a threat, and protected the group."

Aki doesn't respond but he does become quieter. Ellen approaches him and reminds him.

"I've done horrible things too, Aki. I know what you're going through. But please don't be too hard on yourself."

Aki returns to his shocked state as he keeps repeating.

"I killed someone, I took her life…."

Tohka puts his head to her chest and tries to be comforting as best she can, but he is just unable to communicate. Akane is hell-bent on finding who killed this world's Miku as they don't know who did it, but they have an idea. Unable to find anything, they decide to be done with this time, and warp away.

Prime Timeline

Saori is reporting to Shinra in enclosed area outside of DEM headquarters. Shinra is actually beating her as she has bruises on her body and blood dripping from her lip as he yells at her.

"I never told you to kill any Spirits! Who gave you the right, you ungrateful brat!"

He throws her across the ground as Saori tries to stand up and spits out some blood. She then retorts.

"What does it matter? You're never going to that time again, are you?"

Shinra walks up slaps her again as he grabs her by the hair before she falls and answers.

"I don't care. I gave you direct orders to not kill any Spirits no matter what. You broke that one rule, and killed Miku."

Shinra drops Saori and tells her in a much more calm tone.

"Don't forget who saved you, Saori. I'll give you another chance, but if you kill another Spirit, I won't hesitate to kill you myself."

Shinra warps away as he states he needs to see this world's Miku to calm himself down upon being mad. Saori is forbidden to use her power to undo her injuries as she is being watched by the others and knows it. Freki makes her presence known again by appearing to Saori and offers a helping hand by giving some bandages.

Tengu City

Shinra appears before a mirror in a nearby restroom near the park as he prepares himself to interact with the girls of the base timeline. He removes his mask and utters.

"Time to begin my date."

He smiles and his body shrinks a little and he adjusts his hair and his eyes are amber-brown and he resembles Shido down to his expressions. He also changes his clothes to look exactly like him. He wanders around the town and notices that Miku was supposed to have a concert today, but she cancelled. He smiles again as he warps to her mansion in an isolated area where he won't be noticed.

He makes his way to Miku's home, and she's not seeing anyone right now out of depression. Shinra phases through the fence and the girls outside the residence as she hasn't allowed anyone inside her home. Miku is in her tea room as she holds a rose and pulling the petals off while muttering.

"Darling loves me, he loves me not…"

Shinra makes his way to the door and slightly opens it. Miku looks at the door with annoyance as some people have managed to get in to her dismay as she has sent everyone away. Upon seeing his face, Miku instantly becomes hopeful. Shinra, disguised perfectly, looks at Miku immediately as he casually says.

"Hey there."

He scratches the back of his head and his demeanor is just like that of Miku's missing darling. She walks slower and then runs to him with a loud.

"Darling!"

Shinra opens his arms as Miku hugs him thinking he's Shido. Miku's face is planted in his chest as she cries tears of joy. Shinra then tells her.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around. But you have no idea how much I've missed you and that beautiful voice, Miku."

Shinra then lowers his head to her hair and sadly thinks in his mind.

"I've missed you so much, it truly hurts"

Shinra hugs Miku tighter as he can't contain his excitement.

Bifrost

The ship is above a more peaceful city full of life and happy people, but the same can't be said about the crew of the Bifrost. Hiro returns to the bridge after thinking for a while and walks to Aki, who is just sitting with a blank expression now. Shido and Shiori have stopped crying, but are both still upset about what happened. He has to stay on the ship because of his injuries and most of the others are recovering emotionally, so Kotori and Ellen along with Mana are going down below while Akane helps consol the others and Miyuki is too young to go without confirming the safety. Tohka isn't leaving without either Shido or Aki.

Base Time

Yushin is meeting with his "father" as Isaac simply shakes his head and laughs and says.

"This is just great…I actually do have a kid."

Yushin mimics his shrug and replies.

"Maybe, or maybe I'm a clone. How would you know? I don't, and we've only just met."

Yushin is being followed by a woman wearing a red visor and a red suit with black hair, Codenamed ZaFkIeL M1. The two are talking about the little things as Yushin makes his motives blunt.

"I'm going to be frank, old man. I'm not here to be your ally, your friend, or even you acquaintance. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want near my spirits, I don't want you near my ships. If you want to me, I want to know a day in advance, so I can skip it. I'm just here to use you to further my own goals."

Isaac maintains his calm demeanor as he simply replies.

"Works fine with me. I'll just use you to further my goals too."

Yushin stands and says.

"Good, now that we understand that simple thing, I'll be going."

Yushin attempts to walk away, but a territory appears around him. Ellen is generating this as Isaac isn't finished. Yushin isn't fazed by this as he says.

"Good grief, were you really this bland."

Yushin raises his hand and touches the territory and Ellen is blown back with her clothes seared by something. Yushin looks back at Isaac and tells him.

"When I say I'm done, I mean it. Don't forget that I call the shots around here, and my technology is vastly superior by a good margin. Plus, I've got friends in places you can't even imagine."

Yushin moves up his sleeve and reveals a weird implant in his arm and describes it as.

"Imagine a mana eater on steroids. This is the ultimate weapon against any human, wizard or otherwise."

This is end of their meeting as Yushin walks away and prepares to board his ship, the Enoch. He also is greeted by a young man, who asks.

"How'd the meeting go?"

Yushin shrugs and answers.

"Pointless and boring, but at least he should know who's the better leader. I think we should take a break until our other Spirit Child makes his or her move."

When asked why he worded his sentence like that, Yushin responds.

"Why indeed?"

Bifrost

Akane is looking at the monitors and notices a pair of twins who heavily resemble the Yamai twins walking while wearing Raizen uniforms. On the surface below, the grounded group is approaching a girl with ash-gray hair reading a comic book also wearing a uniform. Neither group knows about both, and they may have another problem at hand.