Hello everyone and I kindly welcome you all back to the second half of the epilogue for the second arc. I hope you enjoy what I have here for you.


Apartment Blocks

"Thank you very much for staying over."

Ruko kindly offered her gratitude to both Hitoe and the group of cardfighters that were now outside the door to her apartment. Now that she was settling back into her normal life slowly, whilst being kept at home until both Ayumu and her grandmother were sure that it was safe for her to venture outside once again, for the moment she could finally put behind any previous doubts that had been previously quelling in her mind. All previous worries about Reverse plaguing her or Kuro and any memory of her previous 'grudge' that she had held against Tama for not conducting the oath until the previous battle having finally left her head, but more importantly, she could finally be amongst her family again with nothing to endanger them.

"Hey, it was no problem," Naoki replied "Glad we could help."

"Are you certain you will be alright?" asked Kai.

"Yeah," the Selector answered before looking behind her to check that no one else was listening in "When we meet up again on our own, we'll talk to Kuro. She might know more about what's going on."

"Then we wish you the best of luck in your recovery," Ren interjected cheerfully.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Ruko called as she waved to the departing group as she slowly closed the door to the apartment.

As Leon led the way up the stairs to the rented apartment, before Hitoe could go down the other set of stairs to exit the building itself, she looked over to Aichi who was just about to follow Kai and the remaining cardfighters that were still on the current floor.

"Aichi...?" she asked, pausing for a brief moment as she did so "Can we have a minute?"

Turning around to face the Selector upon hearing her request that was directed to him, the Royal Paladin user briefly looked back to Kai who nodded in compliance with before going up the stairs and back to the apartment. Seeing that the two of them were now alone, not counting Yuzuki whose card that she was still holding onto, Aichi walked over to meet Hitoe at the center of the floor that they were currently standing on, wondering about what it was she wanted to talk to him about.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, a hint of concern in his tone. Hitoe shook her head in response.

"I just wanted to say thank you... for you and Kai helping Ruko," she answered as she brought out Yuzuki's card into view "And... I didn't get a chance to say this last night with us being around my parents, but I wanted to thank you for your earlier advice."

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Kesenai Kioku)

"What Hitoe is trying to say is, we wouldn't have overcome Akira had it not been for you," the LRIG interjected "I mean aside from Kai's Kagero units giving us the power to win the battle… to see Hitoe standing up for herself and everyone else that Akira had hurt because of your little confidence boost, I only wish that you or even Midoriko could have been there to see what had happened. She really meant it when she said she wouldn't let Akira hurt you, even with that 'cute' self-reference she had for you."

Hitoe's felt her face heat up as cheeks flushed a bright red as she briefly looked to the ground, having suddenly recalled her previous moments from referring to the Royal Paladin user himself as 'Aichi-kun' on her own initiative, with one of the occasions having her only half aware that she had actually said that out aloud. For one reason or another, having Yuzuki bring up that mention felt somewhat... embarrassing to say the least. At least, from the Selector's own personal perspective, it sort of felt like that. Aichi just blinked for a brief moment as he looked at Hitoe, wondering if something was really troubling her at this moment judging from her current expression.

"Um... there's nothing wrong with calling you 'Aichi-kun'... ri...right?" she stuttered "If... if you want, I can drop it..."

"It's alright," he said with a gentle smile "Me and some of my friends can associate each other with honorifics as well so I don't see a problem with it. Don't be afraid to talk to any of us if there is a problem."

Feeling reassured and somewhat relieved from his answer, the Selector smiled warmly as her cheeks cooled down and reverted back to their normal colour. Thinking to the back of her head, she realized that her parents were more than likely to be expecting her back at her home by this point in time. Knowing that she would be more than happy to tell them the good news in regards to Ruko being brought back to her family safely, she walked over to the stairs leading down from the current floor of the building and looked back to Aichi one last time.

"Well then... I'll see you tomorrow..." she said.

"Mhm," he replied "Take care, Hitoe-san. You too, Yuzuki-san."

"Same to you, Aichi!" Yuzuki called as she waved farewell before her Selector went down the stairs to head back home.

Aichi waved goodbye to Hitoe as he eventually turned around and went back up the other set of stairs on the opposite side of the floor he was currently standing on so that he could reunite with Kai and the others back at his apartment.

(End Music)


Mayu's Domain

Takuto hurried through the dark dimension that he was running through as he carried the motionless Umr and Tawil over his shoulders, having known that Ezel would no doubt would have been doing everything in his power to prevent Ulith from pursuing him, not knowing that Photon had the Salvation Lion currently restrained back at his lab. The Cray being also knew that with Mayu's recent defeat to Aichi and Kai and with her no longer having possession over Ruko's body as her own physical being for the outside world, she would now be back within her domain and presumably would have also recieved knowledge of his escape, prompting her to pursue him and detain him once again for defying 'her will'.

As he approached the tall structure in front of him from what he could assume was the mastermind's White Room, Umr suddenly began to stir as she slowly opened her eyes to indicate that she was regaining consciousness. Takuto looked over to his shoulder to notice this before glancing behind his back to his left and jumping in the opposite direction just in time to dodge a dark purple energy based projectile that struck the floor from where he was previously running, creating a rather large mark in the ground.

"So she's caught up already...!" he muttered.

"You will not escape!" Mayu's voice bellowed as she flew across the dimension in pursuit of the Cray being, the dark purple aura of the Void surrounding her at this moment.

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Run!)

"Takuto... is that...?" Umr asked.

"It's Mayu!" he interrupted "We need to get to a window from her White Room if we're to get out of here! That's how Tama managed to escape to Kai before!"

The LRIG could only look towards Tawil who had still remained motionless in the midst of the chase that they were currently engaged in as Mayu continously fired more energy bolts at Takuto who could barely jump to the side to dodge them as the fact he was carrying both girls was already making it difficult for him to run even faster in the hopes of being out of range from the mastermind's attacks for some time. Eventually, he managed to run up to the front of the giant structure that contained the White Room as he along with Umr and Tawil vanished into a dark gap, just barely dodging two more energy blasts from Mayu in the result.

The mastermind gritted her teeth in annoyance before stopping in front of the gap that led inside to the White Room itself. She held out one hand and with the power of the Void that had been coursing through her, she closed up the gap with a set of doors and opened up a different gap within the wall in front of her as she promptly hovered inside with the lack of gravity around that portion of the area, taking a different route to that of the Cray Being.


Photon's Lab

Back inside the damaged lab, Ezel could only grunt as he tried desperately to break himself free of the Lock that he was now trapped inside of with the aid of his scissor like wrist blades and having very little success in doing so. Whilst he knew his tool was indeed effectively in breaking the Locks around him when he had enough strength to do so, using them to break himself out of a Lock was another challenge entirely, one that he wasn't sure that he would even be capable of accomplishing. The Salvation Lion could only watch on as Ulith came over to join him and Photon who had remained standing beside his prison, the Cyberoid commander remaining seemingly motionless.

"You certainly took your time, Photon," the Selector spat "Has Mayu been busy with her temper tantrum?"

"Ulith, you are aware that both the commanders of the Star-vaders and myself do not tolerate failure," he spoke in an almost monotone fashion "Your distraction has caused Takuto to begin his escape with the components of Project: Locked Soul."

"And what if that's the case?" she mused "I know the end product needs to have both Umr and Tawil merged together to form Ut'ulls to ensure that the system returns to its optimal state from the very beginning. Which is why I'm proposing... a change of plan."

"What do you mean?" asked Photon.

"Allow me to explain," Ulith continued "As you are already aware, this project has been set back with Umr already beginning to gain a conscious from meeting with that boy scum, Sendou Aichi. And now that I know where to make him crack... I believe that she will be beneficial to my aim whilst at the same time, contributing to a key factor in the completed development of Project: Locked Soul."

Ezel, upon listening carefully to the conversation that unfolded between both the cruel demanoured Selector and the Cyberoid was trying to piece together everything that he was hearing at this very moment. He didn't know exactly everything that was going on in this lab or the Selector Battles themselves, especially in regards to this Project: Locked Soul, having only recieved information about the second subject through Blaster Blade himself back on Cray, with neither of them knowing that the Star-vaders had been heavily involved with Mayu's plan to continue her game in the outside world for as long as possible, before she would allow the troops to run wild and destroy it before moving on to the next world she could come across.

Noticing a small wedge that had been carved into the sphere that he was imprisoned in, the Gold Paladin unit took several deep breaths before thrusting both of his blades into the tiny crack, causing it to expand slightly as he panted heavily from exerting that much strength. Then pulling back his wrists, he let out a loud yell which brought the attention of everyone else in the lab over towards him as he stabbed his blades with all of his strength into the one point that had been cracked. Sparks raged across Ezel as he continued to resist in his attempt to break himself free of the Lock. Eventually as several moments passed, the sphere broke apart as the two circling rings disappeared in the result, causing the Salvation Lion to fall onto his feet.

Upon seeing that he had freed himself, the Radons in the lab immediately turned their beam rifles upon him and opened fire immediately. Ezel leaped into the air and charged down towards a group of the Cyberoids. He slashed past them, causing them to fall to the ground with sparks flying out of the scores carved into their cybernetic bodies. With much less of the group firing at him, he felt as though he could make a second attempt to run for the exit in order to regroup with Takuto and warn him about what he could be potentially running into. The Salvation Lion took the opportunity to do so, briefly slashing away at some black rings that Photon had cast at him, before running through the doorway to find the Cray being on his own. Photon was about to pursue him when Ulith held a hand onto his shoulder.

(End Music)

"He's not worth our time," she spoke "Although it will be worth it to see him try to aid that Cray scum. After all, I believe you were here to contact 'The Clown' about Mayu's unfortunate setback?"

The Cyberoid gazed upon Ulith, noticing her all too calm expression had been present even in this most unexpected of scenarios that had been playing out before them. For some reason, he felt as if she was acting a little too collected, even from her usual cruel demanor and her earlier shock from witnessing Mayu lose to both Kai and Aichi at the end of their battle. Deciding not to ponder on the Selector for the moment, Photon went to the Cyberoids that had not been downed by Ezel and immediately ordered them to begin repairs on the lab so that he could establish communication with his 'superiors' as the mastermind herself had put it. All the while, no one else in the room noticed Ulith close her eyes, keeping a malicious smirk on her lips as she did so.


The White Room

Eventually, after a long climb to the main portion of Mayu's White Room, Takuto eventually came to a stop to quickly catch his breath as Umr, who had dismounted from his shoulder the moment they had entered the main structure and followed closely behind, joined him shortly afterwards. The two of them looked around to see that all of the windows that had not shattered as a result of the mastermind's earlier tantrum had been sealed behind the gate that had kept them locked up, preventing anyone or anything from entering or coming out from the outside world for the time being. Looking carefully amongst them, the Cray being eventually found one which displayed the view of an all too familiar cardfighter as he was walking up some stairs.

"Aichi..." murmured Umr.

Setting down Tawil from his shoulder gently onto the ground, Takuto's forehead marking eminated a dim greenish colour as he held out one hand towards the gates that sealed that particular window, hoping to pry them open so that the three of them could escape to the Royal Paladin user and his friends, together. Before he could do so, from the other side of the White Room, Mayu walked up to the group as the aura of the Void continued to swirl furiously around her, almost as if it was conveniently matching her temper at this very moment.

"Go ahead, pry the gate open and step forth," she spoke, as if she was somewhat attempting to goad Takuto "If that's what you really want."

"What are you saying?!" he demanded.

"If you want to step into the outside world as an LRIG where whatever power you have managed to regain will be useless to you or anyone, then by all means," the mastermind replied "Or you can hand back the components to Project: Locked Soul and stay in this very room to suffer for an eternity."

(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Door)

Her ear twitching for a brief moment, Umr stared at Takuto before looking back at Mayu, having only known through his explanation that the mastermind had attempted to merge both her and the sleeping Tawil into the being that Ulith had come to dub as 'Ut'ulls'. Having previously fought the Selector alongside Aichi and the Royal Paladins that he had brought into battle, she had previously relied on partial instinct and clarification from those around her to make her choices in how to proceed in any given situation. At the same time, having had no awareness or knowledge of her own existence until the first time she had met the Royal Paladin user under bizarre circumstances, she had longed to learn more about him and where exactly he had come from.

Now seeing that she was now face to face with her 'creator' as Takuto had previously described to both her and Tawil whilst they were still within the lab, she didn't know how to approach the dillema they were now faced with. On the one hand, she had questions that had been brewing within her mind, mainly as to Mayu's objectives and the purpose of the Selector Battles and what they had to do with her. However, she also had to take into account from what she had been told about how determined the mastermind was to see through the completion of Project: Locked Soul to the end along her own plans for the outside world, bringing around a maelstrom of despair to those who inhabited it so that eventually, the Star-vaders could invade and bring it to ruin, before moving on to whatever unfortunate world that the lead commanders had in mind next.

"Umr!" Mayu's voice called out, snapping the girl out from her trance like state as a purple aura surrounded her right hand, materializing a giant golden key within the palm. "I command you to apprehend Takuto and take Tawil back to the lab!"

Umr looked down at the key that she now wielded and then looked back at Takuto and the motionless Tawil. Although her outward expression still seemed bewildered and somewhat emotionless to a degree, deep down, she had simply frozen still with one question running through the back of her mind. What should she do? The answer to that question didn't seem anywhere in plain sight as Mayu's expression suddenly became less displeased, indicating that her patience was now beginning to run on a very thin line and that the slightest happening could cause her to snap again.

"What are you waiting for?!" she demanded "I gave you an order and I expect you to follow it!"

"Umr!" called Takuto, bringing the girl's attention back to him "If you do what she says, not only will our efforts be for nought, but you won't even get to see the outside world the way you wanted! You won't even see Aichi because of that!"

"Shut up!" Mayu interrupted as she hurled another purple energy bolt in the Cray being's direction.

He clenched his teeth as he knew if he were to jump out of the way, the mastermind's attempt at retaliation would result in her injuring the motionless Tawil and he did not want that to happen in the slightest. Closing his eyes in preparation to accept the inevitable outcome that soared closer to him, that was when Umr had finally made her decision. Jumping in front of Takuto, she swung her giant key into the energy bolt which sent it flying towards one of the gates in front of a window across the walls of the White Room, shattering it in an instant. Mayu's expression changed to shock as soon as she saw what had just happened, just as Takuto opened his eyes to see what had unfolded.

(End Music)

"I won't allow it..." Umr spoke, her tone monotonous but with a hint of defiance to it. "I won't allow you... to harm Aichi."

"You... you dare turn your back on your own creator?!" Mayu yelled "Yours and Tawil's original purpose was to be the girls of black and white before I found the defects within you! You will comply with that role once more, otherwise you have no purpose in your own existence!"

"I already have a purpose," the girl replied bluntly as she brought up her gaze to meet the mastermind's. "To protect Sendou Aichi... and to see the outside world for myself."

"Umr..." murmured Takuto.

He looked back to the window that had been displaying a view over Aichi as he eventually made it back to Kai's rented apartment back in the outside world. Before he could do anything else, a crash suddenly sounded throughout the White Room as Ezel burst through a portion of the wall and landed beside him and Umr as he looked forward to face Mayu, whose expression had not changed in the slightest as the Gold Paladin unit stood side by side alongside the 'defective' girl of black as she originally saw the girl as.

"Takuto, if you go out that window...!" the Salvation Lion began.

"I know!" he replied "But that's not my concern right now!"

The mastermind glared back at Takuto, seemingly not pleased with his efforts for a desperate escape and for convincing Umr to take his side in regards to everything that he had told her about.

"Don't tell me... you...!" she growled, an assumption having brewed in her head.

"This is the decision Umr has made for herself," Takuto interrupted "And I'm sure once Tawil recovers, she'll understand the terrible things you have been doing with the Void!"

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Even if I Hurt Someone)

As Ezel swung his blades outwards and took up a stance in preparation for battle, the Cray being held a hand on his right arm to say otherwise. The Salvation Lion looked down to see what issue it was that he had to raise to him.

"Right now, even Mayu with the full power of the Void can overpower you," Takuto interrupted as his forehead marking glowed again, causing a green aura to surround Ezel as he began fading from view. "I'm sending you back to Cray so that you can inform the United Sanctuary about what we've found out."

"Understood," he replied.

As the Gold Paladin unit eventually vanished from the White Room and out of sight from everyone else, Mayu turned her attention back towards Takuto who clutched his head for a brief moment, having exerted more energy than he anticipated just to send Ezel back to Cray and out of harm's way. Clenching her fist, she began to charge up energy she had from the Void for another attack to use as Umr braced herself to defend from the oncoming assault. Holding out his hand and focusing what little energy he had left onto a certain window of the White Room, Takuto pryed the gates blocking it open and in doing so, caused a gust of wind to start pulling up everything from the location towards it and knocking almost everyone off balance from the sudden gale.

Suddenly finding herself swept up from the floor, Umr briefly gasped as she was hurled through the air and towards the open window whose whirlwind was sucking her towards it. She grabbed onto the frame and struggled to keep her grip as she saw Takuto fly up towards her with a familiar pinkish glow within his golden yellowish eyes, having recognized it to be PSY Qualia from Aichi, not knowing the name of that power until the Cray being had informed her beforehand.

"Let go!" he called "You may get stuck as an LRIG like Mayu has said, but you'll make it to Aichi! Tell him everything I've told you about and fight with him so you'll both make back here together!"

Nodding in partial reluctance and understanding, but mostly bewilderment as to what was going on know, Umr closed her eyes and let go of the window frame, disappearing from the White Room in a bright white flash. All of that was done in addition to the pinkish glow of PSY Qualia, indicating that Takuto was sending her, albeit as an LRIG via the window's own properties to which he couldn't overwrite, to Aichi's present location. Before Takuto could attempt to safely lift up Tawil with the remainder of his power, he suddenly cried out in pain as he was shot right in the back by the gauntlet blaster of a Neon who had entered the premises of the White Room, causing the Cray being to fall to the ground and flat on his front.

Mayu slammed the window shut with the power of the Void before walking over to the unconscious Takuto and draining him of the remainder of his powers, to ensure that he would no longer interfere with whatever plans that she and the Star-vaders had in mind. She looked over to the Cyberoid who had shot the Cray being in the back, killing off any chance he now had of escaping on his own.

"Take Tawil back to the lab!" she called before gazing back at Takuto "There is much to be done before we move on with the final plan."

The Neon nodded emotionlessly without emitting a noise or any kind of vocal response before walking over to Tawil and picking her up, leaving in the direction of Photon's lab.

(End Music)


Apartment Blocks

As Aichi approached the front door of the apartment that he, Kai and the others were staying in, needless to say, he was in a most relieved and cheerful mood, considering what had unfolded before them earlier in the day. Ruko was finally home, safe and sound and once things had settled down calmly for her between her and Ayumu and Hatsu, they could resume their search for any further clues to the Selector Battles. Before he could open the door to join his friends, a bright glow suddenly emitted from his right pocket to catch his attention as he pulled out his deck case to find that the source of the light was glowing right from there. Just as he was about to investigate, the door swung open to reveal Kai and Naoki who had seen the light glowing through the outlines of the door, prompting them to investigate what it was.

"What the heck is that?!" the Narukami user exclaimed.

Looking much more closely, Aichi saw that the exact source of the light was coming from a single file within his deck case, or in this case to be more exact, a single card. Taking out all of the cards in his deck, he could see that everything had remained seemingly unchanged with the exception of one thing. The Royal Paladin user could now feel from holding the deck itself was that there was now an additional card amongst those that he had used to battle both Ruko and Mayu earlier in the evening, but the question that he was wondering was what it was? Checking through each card throughly, he eventually made it to the very back and saw that a card with a white backing was facing away from the rest.

Placing the rest of his deck back into the case before putting it right back into his pocket, he turned the card over and when the three of them saw what exactly it was, they were all shocked to say the least. None more so, than Aichi himself.

"This is..." Kai murmured.

"Umr...?!" he gasped.

Long and behold, the Royal Paladin user was indeed correct in what he was now holding in his hand. But this wasn't just a 'regular' Umr LRIG card that he was holding, not one that Yuzuki had considered like many others in the real game to almost be one of a kind for simple play value in friendly non-Selector battles, this was the real girl herself that he was now holding in his hand, now unconscious as a result of Takuto's valiant efforts to get her to him, not that he knew of it at this very moment.

"Wait a minute... the same LRIG that helped you defeat Ulith back then?" Naoki pondered as he glanced closely at the card.

"It has to be her," Aichi replied, hearing her quiet breathing as she remained unconscious "But... how did she get to me? I didn't use my PSY Qualia to contact her... if I knew how I did that."

"If that's the case, then there's other powers at play that we simply do not understand yet," Kai spoke, his tone seeming rather serious as he gazed upon Umr.

Turning around to the doorway, the three of them entered inside the apartment just in time to see both Leon and Ren approach them as they looked upon the LRIG that the Royal Paladin user had now held in their hands. Both of them looked on with intrigue as they could finally see Umr for the first time since her battle against Tama where she had saved Aichi from the brink of despair and restored his will to fight on.

"So she has returned to Sendou at last," the Aqua Force user murmured "But... the circumstances as to why, we do not yet know."

"True," Ren spoke "But... I'm sure we'll get a reason as to why when she wakes up eventually. Perhaps by tomorrow morning, we can find out more from her."

The others nodded in agreement, now seeing that it was rather late since they had left Ruko's apartment and decided to tuck in for the night, with Aichi and Kai having needed the rest more than anyone from the long battle that they had to endure through. When the Kagero user had entered his bedroom and turned out the lights for the living space, everyone else began to settle down in each of their futons for the night, each one falling asleep as they tucked themselves in. As Aichi did so, he looked down at Umr's card that he still held, seeing that she was still unconscious for the moment before giving a gentle smile, presumably directed towards her, as a sign to wish her a quick recovery, not knowing what she had been through for the moment.

"Good night, Umr-san," he whispered before settling into his futon and leaving the card beside the pillow as he eventually went to sleep.


Ruko's Apartment

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Subete no Tatakai wo)

Over from her bedroom, Ruko gazed upon the cards that contained both Tama and Kuro whilst keeping on only a dim light from the lamp that was on her desk. Both LRIGs still remained asleep since Aichi had carried her back to the apartment and Kai returned both the modified deck along with the cards containing them to her. The previous five days as Hitoe had previously confirmed to her had certainly been mostly eventful for her and just thinking back to everything that had happened during those same five days had her feeling rather unhappy.

On the one hand, she knew that her actions in running away from both her brother and her grandmother were somewhat justifiable, given that Reverse had been attempting to constantly consume her since the night of her final battle with Kuro, whilst she was in possession of Iona's body whilst the real one had been stranded on the Planet Cray, with almost no one knowing how she had even got there in the first place. At the same time though, the thought of how things could have gone involving the removal of that power from her and that if she put a little more faith in Hitoe or any of the cardfighters in finding the solution, perhaps she wouldn't have been possessed by Mayu midway through the battle.

"But... I can't change how things have gone..." she whispered to herself.

Sighing for a brief moment, Ruko turned her attention to the two LRIGs whose cards she still had on the desk that lay in front of her. As she gazed upon Tama who had been sleeping peacefully whilst almost murmuring a cat like noise under her breath, the Selector couldn't help but smile warmly. It seemed almost nostalgic to her, just like the first time she had seen this on the evening that she had returned home to tell her grandmother that she had made a new friend, 'Tama'. Naturally at the time, she like all of her friends, barring their LRIGs, knew very little about how the Selector Battles worked, seeing it as nothing more than a harmless quest they could choose to partake in, even though other Selectors could rope them into battle whether they liked it or not.

Once Yuzuki had discovered the truth behind the battles however, long after she came back into Hitoe's possession, everything had changed around her. Having previously no longer having a wish of her own to go by, Ruko resolved to free everyone from the cards that Mayu had trapped them in, hoping that would just be enough to set things straight, no matter the cost. However, she did not know that resolve was all that Kuro had needed to become her LRIG, in turn infecting her with Reverse shortly after coming into her possession. At that time, it had made her bitter towards Tama, singlehandedly blaming her for everything that had happened because she was afraid of the Selector turning into an LRIG instead.

During her second battle with Kai, this time when she had allowed Aichi to fight alongside him, she finally came to her senses, albeit a little too late by then to which Mayu had control of her body, until Tama had managed to break her free from both that and Reverse itself, in turn undoing the 'curse' that Kuro had been infected with, leading up to the point where they had all found themselves now. Looking over at Kuro's card, she could understand why the girl of black had been insistant in becoming stronger, regardless of what happened around her. Looking back, Ruko wanted to question the LRIG about her insistance on the subject, especially in wanting to surpass Tama and make them both the strongest of the Selector Battles.

But she knew that as long as she remained at home on close watch, until her grandmother said it was safe for her to go out on her own again, there was not much she could do to get more information without raising any suspicion. Yawning for a brief moment, she turned out the lamp on her desk, went over to her bed and tucked herself in for the night, knowing that there was much to do starting from tomorrow.

(End Music)


...

Meanwhile, outside of the apartment blocks, Ayumu gazed up into the night sky as the chilly cold air around him did not seem to bother the older brother of Ruko in the slightest. He had told Hatsu shortly before Ruko had turned herself in for the night that he had to get some 'fresh air' in order to cool himself off of something that had been bugging him. Whilst his grandmother did not mind at all from the sudden action, he knew that she was concerned in the way that he had been acting recently, especially in regards to the 'disappearance' of his sister and his initial reaction to the fact that Aichi and Kai had succeeded in where he had failed. He clenched his fist tightly, having no knowledge of the Selector Battles himself and wondering as to why Ruko had gone missing.

Why did they have to be ones to find her...?! he growled within his thoughts I already worry about Ruko as much as her grandmother and Hitoe and yet... I couldn't do anything! Not to mention that she said she had no memory of what happened... Why does something feel off about that?

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned around to reenter the apartment blocks and return back to Hatsu, not wanting to worry her for being outside for quite some time since Kai and the others had left the apartment. Before he did so...

"It has been some time, my boy."

His ear twitching and his eyes widening at the sound of the voice that he had just heard, Ayumu turned around to face a figure that was practically a little taller in height that he was. The voice that he heard was indeed female, belonging to a middle aged woman as evidenced by the similar height complex. She had been wearing a black coat with a rather large hood that had covered all view of the top half of her face from him, but what had shocked Ayumu more than just the voice familiarity was the brown hair that had draped out from both sides of her face. Taking a step backwards, he could only utter one word from underneath his breath, confirming who exactly had addressed him at this very moment.

"M... Mother?"


And there you have it! Arc 2 of Stand Up, the LRIG has officially come to an end and with the ending of one story arc marks the beginning of the next one. Takuto succeeds in managing to aid Umr escaping the White Room into the possession of Aichi, albeit as an LRIG, but before he can aid Tawil, he is shot in the back by a Neon who takes Tawil back to the lab, for whatever plans Mayu now intends to complete. Meanwhile, Ayumu becomes frustrated from everything that has been happening thus far, having no real knowledge as to what is really going on along with a burning resentment towards Kai and Aichi for succeeding in where he had failed. But before he can return back to the apartment, he is shocked to now find himself face to face with both his and Ruko's very own mother! What will happen from here and will the group of cardfighters along with Ruko in tow, still discover a way to save everyone involved with the Selector Battles?

Join us next time for the start of the third arc, which will primarily revolve around Ruko as she eases herself back into her daily life and continues her search for answers into the Selector Battles whilst still keeping some focus on both Aichi and Kai in their own respective developments for what is to come. What were your favourite bits and what do you feel could use improvement as I roll into the third arc? Please drop a review and tell me your thoughts on the story so far and the second arc as a whole. Until then, I'll see you next time when the third arc begins!