...
In front of her, a familiar scene was playing out from in front of a befuddled Kiyoi as she 'gazed' upon exactly what was in front of her. The very setting and the door before her were very familiar as she had recognized it to be the hospital that she had stood in over one year ago. And that the room beyond that door was the exact same room where the comatose Sakaguchi lay, unaware of the cold hand of death that would soon befall her. But at the same time, this had also confused Kiyoi as suddenly, she had found her body moving against her will, almost far too naturally for her likes.
What is all this about? she murmured in her thoughts.
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Chikara ni Obareru Mono Tachi)
As the door opened, from her body's lips, a sinister giggle echoed from within as the room before her had a very frighteningly familiar scene before her. It was host to the comatose Sakaguchi exactly as she had seen it from long before as the body drew ever closer to her friend's form. Her right hand moved out towards the same mask that covered over the comatose girl's face.
"I did a bit of preparation so that no one would interfere," a soft, yet sinister tone spoke from her body's lips "Who am I to disappoint her? Now then... enjoy your peaceful rest."
Inwardly, or so she initially believed, Kiyoi suddenly realized that this was the exact same memory of her friend's murder that she had endured through time and again from the very moment she had witnessed it from the White Room... only this time, she was seemingly reliving said memory from the perspective of her own body whilst Remember was in control of it.
Wait Sakaguchi...! she screamed, having thrown rationality aside for a brief instance This... this isn't me...!
But as a wise person had once said, what has been done cannot be undone. And now, Kiyoi was powerless to do nothing, but witness her friend's death all over again from her body's own perspective. As the familiar noise of the machine droned on until it came to a flat bleep, indicating that Sakaguchi was indeed dead, all that remained of the body's memory was Remember cackly loudly after exiting the hospital in seemingly utter triumph. She had brought despair to her Selector, by twisting the very meaning of her intended wish in the most cruel and inhumane way possible.
Soryu Island
After being unable to bear through anymore of Remember's evil laughter from the day that Sakaguchi had been killed, Kiyoi shot up from her bed, sweating heavily down the front of her forehead and breathing heavily. Upon taking a moment to gather her emotions or at least the state of them together, she breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm herself down as she looked down upon her hands, the same hands that had murdered her friend, even if she wasn't the one to commit the atrocity itself. With the amount of time Remember had spent in her body, who knew what other vile and dispicable memories she had left behind in her brain to endure as even more nightmares to come.
"So this is the price Mayu spoke of..." she murmured to herself "Being forced to relive memories of Sakaguchi, even from Remember's perspective in my body for an eternity. This is the burden I..."
Her rambling was interrupted when she had heard the door to her room open up as Ruko entered inside with a small hint of daylight from the open 'window' in the corridor outside shining into her room. Kiyoi was slightly surprised that she had been asleep for this long, let alone enduring the nightmares she had gone through for such a night. The Selector in front of her now was worried, having overheard what she had been saying in her sleep when she had previously approached the bedroom itself.
"Are you okay Kiyoi...?" Ruko asked nervously, recalling that she had not been in the best of moods since her fight with Jillian had come to an end.
"My feelings should not be of your concern," Kiyoi replied in what seemed like an attempt of her usual monotone, only laced with the fact that she had been greatly shaken from her memories.
The Selector didn't seem quite convinced, but she knew she had to press on with what little conversation she could bring up with the former blue LRIG and with everything she and Kai had been told about her from what Kamui knew, she could at least try to get through to her. She felt it would be easier to do this on her own, as she was worried that Tama might inadvertently say something that would cause the girl in front of her to lose her temper.
"I... did hear you say something about Sakaguchi in your sleep," she said.
Kiyoi huffed to herself for a moment, cursing her inability to keep her actual mouth shut in this entire debacle, but at the very least, it seemed that the only thing that Ruko knew of Sakaguchi was just her name and she intended to keep it that way. She rose up from her bed and decided to leave the bedroom at once, wanting some space to herself to reflect on everything that had happened. The Selector upon seeing this knew at the rate things were going, she wasn't going to get anywhere with trying to get the former blue LRIG to open up more on the situation that had been plaguing them ever since they, her two LRIGs, Kamui and Kai had landed on this island the previous day.
"I'm really sorry about what happened to her..." she continued "But what happened then wasn't your fault."
Before she could exit through the door, Kiyoi suddenly stopped in her footsteps as she absorbed everything that Ruko had just said to her. First, she was shocked that she seemingly had knowledge as to what happened that day without her saying anything about it to her in the first place. Then, that shock slowly began to turn into boiling anger as soon as she began to realize who it was that had told her about what little they knew about her past, without her consent or permission no less. Hearing her teeth being clenched in silent fury, Ruko backed away slowly, knowing she might had said something to anger the girl in front of her and that she might lash out against her. But that never came as she heard the question that had just left Kiyoi's seething mouth.
"Where is he...?!"
(End Music)
Japan
The very next morning within the lower levels of the mall that held the teleporter to the sanctuary, or at least what was intact of it, Tetsu and Neve were inspecting the area where the keystone had previously shattered. The two of them had already gathered the shards of what remained of the 'switch' to activate the very mural they stood atop of and had sealed it off within a small container that they had left outside of the large black square. The Dark Irregulars user knelt down and ran a finger down the Vanguard circle markings that made up the remainder of the complete mural.
"To think you managed to construct this underneath all of our noses," he commented, looking back up at Neve "I must admit, I'm impressed."
"But with our talismans gone, simply building us another slab to fit the slot won't accomplish anything," the former Quatre Knight replied "The only way we can even hope to repair the damage is to find a way to activate it through a different means."
"I see..."
Tetsu got back up and looked back to the empty slot where the complete keystone previously lay, now having a much greater understanding of the dilemma that lay before them, as well as Kai and Ruko if they were planning to get them back to the Selector's own world.
"I might be able to run a diagnostic over the damage to the pad," he spoke "But repairing it to get Kai and his new 'companions' back to the other world he was sent to before will require a greater level of computer expertise... one I'm afraid that I may not be able to accomplish on my own."
Neve nodded grimly in agreement, knowing that this task was bound to take quite some time to accomplish and with the lack of his, Gaillard's and Ratie's talismans to repair the mural itself, this said task was going to be far from easy. That was when he noticed the mark on Tetsu's right hand, not quite knowing of the exact circumstances that had led to that.
"I see Tokura wasn't lying when she said you had been marked," he spoke "When you fought that night, did you encounter a woman by the name of Miyako?"
"So I see you've encountered her too," Tetsu replied "But to answer your question, Miyako was the person I had lost to. There was one other individual that fought Asaka calling herself Ulith and someone named Futase fought and lost to Tokura when she arrived."
"And then there would be Kiyoi," the former Quatre Knight continued "However from what word I have received recently from Ratie, Kai's told her that a person calling herself Remember had assumed Kiyoi's actual identity, previously captured Katsuragi Kamui and had been marking fighters as her."
The Dark Irregulars user, having not encountered Remember whilst she had been masquerading in Kiyoi's body as the aforementioned person herself, didn't have much of an opinion to offer to Neve's statement. But right now, this much was clear to him. These were individuals that cardfighters across the world had to be careful of encountering and that their attacks were only getting started if the smaller scale ones before the assault on Foo Fighter were anything to go by. A part of him was still frustrated from losing his units to Miyako, but he knew that if he did nothing to aid in the effort to stop them and possibly get them back, he was in no position for complaining.
"The individuals aside," he murmured "There may be one who could be of assistance..."
"Who do you have in mind?" Neve asked.
"I am aware he has only just registered for the advanced course from his studies," Tetsu continued "But with what the remainder of the Tatsunagi Corporation has seen in his prowess, he may be our best chance in even trying to repair this mural."
The former Quatre Knight continued to listen, having not heard about the particular fighter that the Dark Irregulars user was bringing up in regards to attempting to make a solution to their current problem.
Soryu Island
Later in the morning, Kamui had been wandering along the corridors of the fortress ruins on his own. It had been some time since Ruko had left the kitchen in an effort to try and get through to Kiyoi and he was curious if she had any success in doing so. A part of him felt guilty for spilling everything he knew about Sakaguchi to both the Selector and Kai the previous night without asking her, but he felt that if Kiyoi was going to overcome whatever it was that was making her act this way, she was going to get all the help she could get whether she wanted it or not.
"Sheesh, why the heck won't Kiyoi say anything?" he muttered to himself "It's like she's gone straight back to how she was when we first met."
Huffing to himself, he dug into the right pocket of his orangish coloured hoodie and pulled out what appeared to be a picture of some kind. It was very recent, despite the slightly bent corners that it had and the sight was one he never thought he would have seen throughout his time in the other world. Amika at the very back, held one hand on the Nova Grappler user's right shoulder as the two of them brightly smiled towards the camera that had taken this picture. Wrapped within her right arm was a somewhat dumbfounded Kiyoi who had tried to smile naturally in a reluctant manner for their group picture, coming across as somewhat awkward.
Thinking back to the photo, a part of him could only wonder about how Amika was doing now. Although he knew that she would be glad that her mother was finally well and back with her family thanks to his and Kiyoi's efforts, the fact that she would eventually discover that he and her newest friend had vanished from that world was bound to crush her heart once again and that Aichi and the others might had to be ones to break the bad news to her. But right now, he knew that worrying about her whereabouts in life now was the least of everyone's concerns at this point.
"Well, at least we're not dealing with a reversed Kiyoi again," Kamui murmured somewhat offhandedly as he put the picture away "I wonder what Kai's been doing now since breakfast?"
He then walked back down the corridor towards the kitchen, looking to brush up and practice on his cardfighting skills since his absence from this world. Although he was thankful Miwa was holding onto the now restored Raizer deck back in Japan, he felt that he could go for a round or two with his Beast Deity deck now back to the way it originally was.
"KATSURAGI!"
(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Frustration and Fear)
Upon hearing the angry voice that had just addressed him by his last name, Kamui immediately spun around, only to immediately be pinned to the wall in an instant by a hand that had grabbed ahold of his right shoulder. Wincing for a moment from the hard impact of being shoved into the wall behind him, the Nova Grappler user then realized that in front of him was none other that Kiyoi herself. And she wasn't just upset from what he could tell of the murderous look in her eyes that he was now seeing.
"Kiyoi..."
"Why did you tell them...?!" she growled "You know how personal that issue is to me!"
Having known that it was only going to be a matter of time before Kiyoi had discovered he had told everyone else about Sakaguchi and Remember's hand in her murder, Kamui had expected the former blue LRIG to be in such a mood, albeit not to this extent.
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't ask about it earlier..." he said as he regained his composure "But that's not really the point now!"
"Then what is?!" Kiyoi yelled.
"You've been out of it ever since we ended up here and I think that me telling Kai and Ruko about Sakaguchi is the least of your problems!" the Nova Grappler user replied "Besides, they asked me to tell them and they would have got it out of one of us sooner or later!"
But his reasoning had done very little to calm her down in the slightest as her grip on his right shoulder had tightened, causing him to wince a little from how far she was willing to take out all of her anger upon him. She lowered her head slightly as she didn't let go of him for even a single moment, not quite finished with what she had to say to him.
"I trusted you...!" she growled, her voice on the verge of breaking "You helped Amika when she needed you the most... you freed Sakaguchi from Remember's hands... and this is how you repay me?!"
"Kiyoi..." he muttered with gritted teeth.
"You think that this is something you can casually speak of to others?!" Kiyoi snapped "If that's really the case... you really have no respect for those in front of you as I originally believed!"
"No respect?!" Kamui replied, somewhat confused by her statement "Of course I understand what happened!"
"You're wrong...!"
The Nova Grappler user suddenly blinked as he felt Kiyoi's grip on his shoulder finally beginning to loosen up as she backed away slightly from him, keeping her glare fixated upon him and her right arm behind her back.
"It seems that you're completely incapable of understanding how personal certain occurrences are to people, the subject of death clearly being one of them!" she growled "But clearly, you're not the person I believed I understood, Katsuragi Kamui!"
After letting go of Kamui, she immediately ran away from him down the corridor towards the outside of the fortress ruins, just as Ruko and Sharlene came in as the former blue LRIG was eventually out of sight. Having heard what was being said and done, the three of them were simply left stunned in silence as they had no idea that she had much anger pent up inside of her and after learning what had happened, who could blame her for feeling the way that she did. Clutching his shoulder for a moment, the two girls gasped as they ran over to him.
"Are you alright?!" cried Sharlene.
"This is nothing...!" Kamui replied as he shook his right shoulder, easing him of some of the pain.
"I'm so sorry..." Ruko spoke "I didn't think Kiyoi would attack you after I told her that..."
"Forget about it," he muttered "She's always been difficult, one way or another."
The Selector felt bad for him, feeling that it was partly her own fault that he had even been made a target by Kiyoi's wrath, not helped by the fact she had told him about how she had learned about Sakaguchi through him after she had woken up from an alternative perspective of that terrible memory. Yuki, glancing down the corridor in the direction that the former blue LRIG had run down from the card her Selector held, could only begin to ponder as to how this was going to unfold with the circumstances at hand.
"It seems that this has been affecting her for some time now, even as Piruluk," she commented "I can see now that this was the hidden rage I sensed when I battled her and Akira as Urazoe Iona."
"You don't know the half of it," Kamui remarked "Even if it was just her from her memory, I saw what happened then. Believe me, she has every right to be pissed off at Remember for betraying her like that."
Despite this though, a part of him couldn't help but think about the words she had gotten across towards him in the midst of her angry rant.
"But still... this is only the second time I've been around someone who's been somewhat like that..." he murmured "Aside from you guys knowing more about how to deal with this whole thing better than I can, I don't quite get why Kiyoi's mad at me for telling you guys in the first place."
"From my understanding of my time as a human in various runs of the Selector Battles, the death of close ones is a very heavy subject," Yuki replied "Sometimes, people need 'personal space' to sort out their feelings and eventual closure on their own. The fact you disclosed what happened to this Sakaguchi Ayumi to us without talking it over with Kiyoi may have only served to complicate the matter between you two."
Everyone else in the room seemed more or less down within their moods now that it was clear that Kiyoi had her trust with Kamui severely affected and that they weren't quite sure how they would approach her if her mood had even calmed down at all.
(End Music)
"Anyway..." Ruko murmured, trying to calm the tense mood in the corridor "Could I get your help in rebuilding my deck around Yuki? There's so much I don't know about Dark Zone and how I can make it fit as a different strategy."
"We'll figure something out," Sharlene replied happily "Besides, you said your cards worked with Shadow Paladin before. Maybe they'll work the same way again."
And that made the Selector feel much better as she looked over to Kamui who grinned in agreement, feeling that perhaps that some space was all Kiyoi needed and that they could focus their attention on this new task for the time being.
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: BGM 5)
Meanwhile, at the top of the fortress ruins overlooking the distant blue sea in the horizon, Kai sat within the exact same spot that Kiyoi had been reflecting on during last night's events. He knew that it wouldn't be much longer before Jillian would eventually be able to plot a route back to Japan with the boat that she, Sharlene and Leon usually travelled on and that he could bring the remainder of his companions up to speed about his time in Ruko's world and the Selector Battles themselves. He had much of a tale to share from his and the others' adventures and their fight against Mayu and Chaos Breaker, as did they from what had been happening here in his complete absence.
In a way, part of him felt glad to be back in this world after so long, back onto familiar ground that he was naturally acquainted with and companions that he had come to accept in all of his years through his own journey of Vanguard. But at the same time, he knew that he could not afford to stay for too long as there was no telling how much closer Mayu was to completing whatever plan she had in grandeur behind the curtain of the Selector Battles themselves and that he also had to ensure that Ruko and Kiyoi made it safely back to their homes as well. Right now, his mind was focused on two aspects he had been familiar with since the previous day and had spent most of the morning trying to figure them out.
First of all was Ruko's mother and the General of the forces serving Mayu within the Selector Battles, Miyako. Whilst he could understand her rage behind the circumstances that led to the death of Mayu whilst she was still alive, her motivations, the actions she took to achieve her goals and her warped views on both humanity and what she saw as her ideal way of a family sickened him to the core. Genocide was one thing that anyone would be against when it came to observing and discussing the disgruntled woman's true wish, but her treatment of Ruko and Ayumu in her plans along with a further scheme to 'adopt' him had the Link Joker invasion of his world been successful was something he could personally not forgive her for.
"Wherever you are now Miyako, I won't allow your plans to reach fruition," he murmured to himself as he gazed down at his deck "The same goes towards you... Chaos Breaker."
His attention also turned over to that of Noriko and Kaen, no doubt awaiting the day and moment where they would clash once again, with him no longer having any doubts to hold him back. Kai recalled that Miyako had planned to 'adopt' him to take her place as the 'Exception' for the Selector Battles which only led to even more questions he would need the answers for, provided he could find and defeat her in a rematch as well answers in regards to her reasoning behind her involvement in saving Ruko's life six years ago. Before he could contemplate on this any further, he heard the phone in his pocket vibrating in short buzzes. He picked it out to see that it was Tetsu who was calling him up in an instant.
"What is it, Tetsu?" he asked.
"Kai, we have a request for you to pass onto Jillian when you leave the island," the Dark Irregulars user spoke "If it isn't too much to ask for, we need you to stop by in Singapore on the way back to Japan and pick up Christopher Lo of Team SIT Genius."
"You believe that he might be able to fix the Sanctuary gateway to get us back to the other world?" Kai murmured.
"That is correct," he answered "I've informed him of what has happened and he said he'll need a closer look to properly examine the mural."
"That is good," the Kagero user said "If the damage isn't as severe as Ratie believes, we might be able to rejoin Aichi and the others depending on the length of the repairs."
"There's also one other thing I wished to ask..."
Kai simply remained silent for the moment, giving the chief engineer of the Foo Fighter organization a chance to prepare the question he wanted to ask him at this very moment.
"You mentioned to Ratie that the Mizushima Kiyoi that had marked several fighters before last night was someone else assuming her identity," Tetsu spoke "Are you really certain that is the case?"
"I may not have been around the person assuming her identity as long as Katsuragi has," the Kagero user replied "But even so, I can easily the difference between them through their mannerisms and that the Kiyoi that marked several fighters in this world, Katsuragi included, is not the same as the real one with us now."
"Very well then," the Dark Irregulars user murmured "I will contact you again if anything new in regards to our situation happens."
(End Music)
And with that, Tetsu ended the call as Kai placed his phone back into his pocket. Sensing with suspicion that had been watched somehow, he gazed over the edge of the ruins, noticing Kiyoi ascend the stairway and approaching where he was now, stopping at a distance and gazing upon him with some of the harsh outlook from her outrage at Kamui remaining in her eyes.
"You know why I am feeling this way," she spoke, suspecting he too had knowledge about Sakaguchi from the Nova Grappler user.
"Kamui eventually told us everything that happened between you and Remember," he answered, standing up from where he had been sitting "You have my condolences for your friend."
Kiyoi could only frown, trying her utmost not to lash out at the Kagero user for knowing about this through the person that told him in the first place. Then again, she sensed that Kai was always somewhat one of the more mature out of the cardfighters and Selectors she had encountered, even as the blue LRIG Piruluk, and felt that he would be more reasonable in talking with her.
"I would have preferred it to have remained between those that had seen it and the few I... trusted," she began in her usual monotone "But it seems that Katsuragi has yet to learn that death of close ones is a subject one cannot disclose as casually as he might believe."
"That is true," Kai replied "But, this is only the second time that he has been around a companion with that issue being public knowledge to him."
"Inexperience then."
Kiyoi then walked over towards him, stopping just a little in front of him as she looked up at him, narrowing her gaze.
"Katsuragi told me that you asked him to speak of Sakaguchi," she spoke "Is that true?"
Kai simply nodded once, answering her question resolutely. The former blue LRIG simply stared at the ground before her, contemplating everything that had erupted within the last hour or so since she had woken up from reliving the memory that was also a nightmare. Whilst she felt her anger towards Kamui was still justified, she couldn't help but ponder over how violent the entire confrontation had almost ended up if the slight pain in his shoulder was anything to go by.
"What did you see in Ruko's fight with Jillian?"
Blinking for a moment, Kiyoi immediately realized that the Kagero user had asked her yet another question, only this time in regards to what she had experienced the previous night, having sat nearby him when she came to watch the fight.
"I saw memories of my limited time with Sakaguchi... and of the fight as if I were on the surface of this Planet Cray," she answered, shuddering slightly for a brief moment, slightly clenching her teeth "I never wanted to experience said things when I watched out of curiousity... but it is clear to me that Vanguard is the cause behind it and I won't stand for it any longer."
Bringing her right arm out from behind her back, Kai could immediately see that she was holding a very familiar deck case that he knew belonged to a certain someone. He didn't know why she was holding it now, but he suspected that he would find out the answer to that very question in a short matter of time.
"I want them gone," she spoke harshly as she took the cards out "The images. My past. My ties to all of you."
"Are you certain you can fight without knowing all of the rules yourself?" Kai asked sternly.
"That won't be necessary."
The Kagero user said nothing more as both of them took a seat beside the small rock formation that held the various circles and zones engraved into the surface, making it the ideal fight table to use outside on a dry day on this island. After both had made the necessary preparations required to start a cardfight, both of them finished obtaining their starting hands as they then reached out for their starting Vanguards.
"Stand Up, the Vanguard!" Kai called as he flipped over Dragon Knight, Sadegh.
Kiyoi said nothing in response as she turned over her starting Vanguard, the fight she started in an effort to bury her past and cement her isolation from the images and bonds around her having now begun.
Back in the kitchen, Ruko had finally managed to put her deck centered around Yuki back together as Tama and Charlene cheered loudly in celebration. Whilst Yuki and Jillian gave approving smiles of their own, Kamui gave her a brief thumbs up in the fact that she finally had some functioning decks around the girls of white and black to use in future cardfights around this world.
"Nice going!" he said in compliment "Now you've got your decks around both your LRIGs all ready to go!"
"Mhm," the Selector replied "You wouldn't mind if I had a fight against you?"
The Nova Grappler user nodded in excitement, having wanted to fight against Ruko regardless of which world they had been in for quite some time now. When he reached into his right pocket of his orange coloured hoodie, his expression changed to that of confusion, as everyone stared at him immediately.
"What...?!" he murmured in shock "I definitely had my deck on me when I left the kitchen... right before..."
Gasping for a moment, he suddenly recalled that when he had been pushed against the corridor wall forcefully by Kiyoi, he thought that he had felt something had left his jacket pocket and that she had only pinned him there with one arm. Now there was no denying that before she vented all of her anger upon him, she had taken his deck in the confusion.
"Man... she really likes to make things difficult...!" he muttered "I thought something left my pocket when she stormed over."
"But why would Kiyoi take Kamui's deck?" Tama pondered.
"I don't know," the Nova Grappler user replied "But exorcism is the last thing I'd think of when it comes to Kiyoi."
"First, I believe you meant to say extortion," Jillian replied, correcting him on his choice of words "Secondly, we haven't seen much of Kai around this morning. If she's been acting strange during our fight last night..."
Putting all of the pieces together in an instant, everyone in the room looked to one another and nodded in agreement. All of them and the girls of black and white had come to the same conclusion, that Kiyoi had taken Kamui's deck for the sole purpose of fighting Kai herself. But for what reason she did so, was one that currently remained a mystery which they were bound to uncover very soon.
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Kinkou)
"Ride! Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev!"
Back at the top of the fortress ruins, Kai placed down a new Kagero unit that was unfamiliar to Kiyoi on top of Dragon Monk, Gojo as she had glanced down at it, taking note of the symbol on the bottom right corner of the card. So far from what little of the fight had progressed, the former blue LRIG had managed to take a slight lead after the second turn, scoring two damage against him with Beast Deity, Damned Leo as her current Vanguard to her single point. She knew with the opening turns so far, that not much of the fight would sway in either participant's favour until much later on.
"Attack with Sadegh's boost!"
On the battlefield imaged within the Kagero user's mind, Tarayev aimed the large firearm it wielded in his armoured right hand at Hatred Chaos who remained motionless as the fiery bullets struck it head on. Through his image of the Dragon Knight, Kai could only stare towards the Beast Deity, sensing that there was something off about this unit from the way it appeared, or more specifically, its eyes which appeared to have little to no life within them. On the table in front of him, two more cards had already entered Kiyoi's damage zone as a result of the attack being successful. She didn't pay much mind to this scenario, choosing to instead just to focus on the way things were to her as she drew her next card.
As this was happening, Kamui and Ruko had already climbed the stairs to the area they were now at, followed shortly by Jillian and Sharlene as they saw what was unfolding before them.
"They've already started!" the Nova Grappler used called.
"But Kai's winning!" Tama called.
"It's still early," Yuki murmured as she glanced upon Kiyoi, noting her gaze.
She had been keeping a cool head so far, having not experienced any unwanted images or flashbacks to past memories up to this point. But she knew that could all change within a instant as she continued with her turn.
"Ride. Beast Deity, Ethics Buster," she spoke in her monotone "Call."
Placing down Brainy Papio and Desert Gator's cards in her front row, she immediately rested the latter in a calm manner to signal her attack in silence. Kai moved the top card of his deck into his damage zone, the third point being Dragonic Burnout. Kiyoi then turned her gaze down to Ethics Buster, recalling that the actual unit had also played a part in knocking her out of Reverse and freeing Sakaguchi's spirit from the remains of Necro Raizer during Kamui's last stand against Remember. Closing her eyes and thinking back to further memories of her past, she made one thing clear to herself from nearly all of her past experiences, including her most recent.
That's right. If there is one thing that must be followed... the only person one can trust is themself and only themself! After learning that for myself multiple times, I will never make that mistake again!
"Attack," she spoke.
"No guard," Kai replied.
Kiyoi then immediately conducted her twin drive, one card at a time. The first card was Max Beat, followed immediately afterwards by Rescue Bunny.
"Heal Trigger. Power to Brainy Papio."
Within the Kagero user's image, the giant Battleroid that had fought beside Kamui in the last dozen or so Selector Battles he had participated in loomed over Tarayev with one fist raised back. As Kai through the eyes of Tarayev gazed up at Ethics Buster, the same suspicion he had in the earlier turns of the fight came into play once more, just as it lobbed back the Dragon Knight with a backhanded punch. Shortly afterwards, Brainy Papio leaped into the air and launched a volley of missiles towards Tarayev as Calamity Tower Wyvern and Blue Ray Dracokid both appeared in front of him to intercept the explosive projectiles. As the turn came to an end, the positions had certainly reversed, with Kiyoi now just leading at two damage to four.
Wanting to get some answers from her sudden behaviour as of lately and to see if he could clear things up about the previous night, Kamui approached the table as he came over to the girl.
"Hey Kiyoi!" he called, getting her attention "If you wanted to fight Kai that badly with my deck, you could have just asked if you could borrow it!"
Kiyoi however, remained silent as she blankly glared back at him, without saying another word for several long moments. The Nova Grappler user could only cringe internally as he knew that this wasn't the first time she had chosen to play the cold shoulder to him this way.
"Don't tell me this is still about last night," he moaned.
"You're not exactly what I would consider trustworthy now, if no one else has any objections," she murmured coldly, trying to keep her anger from earlier under control now that she was in the middle of cardfighting against Kai.
"Then why fight against Kai in the first place?" Jillian asked "He was the one that asked Kamui to spill everything."
Kai gazed at Kiyoi, knowing that the older twin had indeed raised a rather interesting question about the former blue LRIG that sat before him with Kamui's deck. Although everyone on the island now had basic knowledge on why she had held such a grudge against Remember, this was indeed something that they did not know the answer to.
"Because I want to verify something for myself," she spoke as turned back to face the Kagero user "Kai, Miyako told us that you once fought alongside Chaos Breaker under your own volition. Given that is the case, along with Ruko's LRIGs being direct byproducts of Mayu herself and you all having public knowledge of Sakaguchi because of Katsuragi, how can I be certain you aren't hiding your own intentions?"
(End Music)
The Kagero user knew that she had every right to be sceptical towards him, given his previous connections to Reverse and Chaos Breaker itself. But the fact she had extended her scepticism to the entire group for additional reasons outside of the fact that Kamui had told them all about Sakaguchi and the circumstances surrounding her death meant their had to be more to her reasoning than she was seemingly letting on.
If she's been sceptical of all of us beyond our knowledge of that incident... he murmured in his thoughts as he drew his next card Then there's something she's not telling us, willingly or not.
He then held up one card into the air as everyone but Kiyoi looked closely, wondering if 'that' unit was going to be the one that he would Ride next.
"Ride the Vanguard!" he declared "The apocalyptic flames that burn everything in this world to ash!"
(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Culmination)
Within his image, a whirlwind of flames enveloped Tarayev as he disappeared from the surface of one of the many rocky plains that made up a majority of the Planet Cray. From the growing inferno, the shadow of the familiar 'Wind of the Apocalypse' rose up before a single blade cut away the raging fire, revealing the all-too familiar presence of the unit that was most associated with Kai.
"Dragonic Overlord!"
Dragonic Overlord (Break Ride)/Grade 3/Twin Drive!/SLD: 0/POW: 11000/Dragon Empire/Kagero/Flame Dragon
"So we meet again," she commented as she gazed down at the card, recallng her first personal encounter with Overlord as the blue LRIG Piruluk.
"Call," Kai spoke as he placed down a second Tarayev and Dragon Knight, Nehalem on the rear-guard circles in his front row before resting the latter "Nehalem attacks Desert Gator!"
Kiyoi didn't react as she simply moved Desert Gator's card straight into her Drop Zone, not concerned with the result at all. She then looked back at Kai who still kept his serious gaze upon her.
"I believe I understand now..." he murmured.
"Hmm?"
"A clear image is the key to forging your own path in Vanguard," he answered "But throughout the fight, I've noticed one thing. You've constantly been refusing to image your own path."
"I do not mean any disrespect to Ethics Buster or Cray's other units," she replied "But I find the concept of imagination ludicrous."
Everyone else on the sidelines blinked for an instance, partly curious but somewhat befuddled as to Kiyoi had not only chosen not to image her view of the fight but speak out against the use of imagination to form a clear image. Sharlene tapped a finger on her chin, trying to narrow down a list of possible reasons as to why she would speak out like this.
"This isn't making any sense!" Kamui muttered "First you're saying you don't trust us, now you're saying that imaging in a fight is a bad thing?!"
"Precisely."
The Nova Grappler user blinked in disbelief as he gritted his teeth, not quite happy with the opinion that the former blue LRIG had been offering to him and the others.
"Imagination doesn't just shape one of your fights," she continued "It also shapes who we are as people, our desires and our true intentions. It can also be one of the very things that shapes our own dreams and nightmares."
Kiyoi then clenched a fist as she looked back to Kai, ready to resume the fight and continue to defend against his coming attacks.
"I've had enough of these images that plague my mind, my memories and those unwanted from Vanguard. In order to prove my point and bury my past for good, I will defeat you without the use of that topic."
The Kagero user did not say anything else in response as he then rested both Sadegh and Dragonic Overlord's cards to commence his next attack. Kiyoi did nothing for a few long moments, indicating that she had no intention of guarding this next attack.
"Twin drive," he spoke as he revealed the first card as Dragon Monk, Genjo "Heal Trigger. I recover one damage and give power to Tarayev."
"Now he'll tie it up," Ruko murmured.
Kai then revealed the card from his second check as Gattling Claw Dragon, allowing him to draw an additional card in addition to powering up his rear-guard Tarayev. Within the field he had imaged, Dragonic Overlord unleashed its signature attack, Eternal Flame, right at Ethics Buster who stood its ground with little emote over than shielding its face from the heat with its arms. Tarayev then leaped into the air and fired away at the tall Battleroid, knocking it around from the fiery bullets that it had unleashed from his gun. The next two cards in Kiyoi's damage zone were a copy of Ethics Buster Extreme along with Van Paurus, the Draw Trigger having increased her hand from choosing not to guard during this turn.
"Kai's taken the lead!" Tama cheered.
"But... he's given her the conditions to set off the Break Ride," Jillian muttered, having known about Kamui's Beast Deity deck all too well.
The former blue LRIG, took no notice of the Nova Grappler user's words, deciding that he wasn't worth responding to or talking with until much later, believing that he still hadn't gotten the message she was trying to get across to him. She drew her next card immediately before looking over the options that she had available in her hand and taking one of them, placing it on top of Ethics Buster.
"Ride," she spoke in her monotone "Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme..."
"Come on...!" Kamui groaned "If you're gonna use my strongest units, at least be positive about it!"
Ignoring him, the former blue LRIG then called Hatred Chaos and Max Beat straight to her left column, more or less completing her formation to throw everything that she had against Kai. Not that it was her initial intent in the first place with other issues around her that she was wanting to sort out on her own sooner or later.
"I am curious."
She then blinked as she looked up to the Kagero user who had just spoken out to her before she decided to wage any attacks at all during this turn.
"You claim that you have your reasons for distrusting everyone around you," he spoke "But what I don't understand from what little I've known about you personally is how both Sakaguchi and Amika correlate into this."
"What are you insinuating?" she asked, narrowing her gaze.
"If you really are distrusting everyone around you as you claim," he continued "Why did you entrust the fate of Amika's mother into Kamui's hands? Or as we should we be asking... why would you even try to save Sakaguchi in the first place?"
Before Kiyoi could answer either of his two questions, she ran the logic behind them through her mind in an effort to present an answer in relation to her earlier claim of distrusting everyone around her for good reason. As she did so, the question of her reasoning of trying to even save Sakaguchi in response to what she had said earlier in the fight suddenly caused her to clutch her head in pain as more memories began to flash before her eyes.
"Kiyoi!" cried Ruko.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Kamui exclaimed.
Why won't it stop...?! she cried in her mind as more memories flashed through her mind I haven't even imaged the fight willingly and yet...!
(End Music)
Kai then closed his eyes as he came to the conclusion that everything about Kiyoi and the reasoning behind her behaviour was about to come into light at last. But the one thing that tied it all together between her distrust of people and how much of an impact Sakaguchi's death had upon her as a whole was still the missing piece of the jigsaw that made up who she was today and why she was acting the way she was now.
"Image it," he spoke "The first moments of yourself, when you decided to distrust the world around you."
"... Never...!" she hissed as she closed her eyes and covered her face "I...!"
But as much as she had tried to, Kiyoi had subconsciously began taking through a trip down her memories once again, only this time, she was finding herself seemingly falling through the entire collection in what would have been her spirit form on the Planet Cray had she chosen to image the fight from the beginning.
...
When she had seemingly regained consciousness, Kiyoi had found herself standing within a very familiar memory, the one that had seemingly started it all from what she could recall from the scene that was playing out right in front of her. Looking to her side, she could see that Kai was now standing beside her, observing what had been playing out through her memories at this point.
"Why have you taken me here?!" she demanded "Was this your's and Katsuragi's intention?!"
"This image is merely a reflection of your heart," he calmly replied "You said it yourself that imaging can shape a part of who we are and our own memories."
Reluctantly, the former blue LRIG could only find herself agreeing with his statement as she looked back out to the scene in front of her. The girl in front of the two of them was instantly recognizable to her, that being her very younger self sitting in front of a notebook that had not only been torn to shreds, but also had the words ugly, stupid and gross all written down on the pages that had remained. Another girl approached the distraught Kiyoi as she helped her up to her feet before turning away with a seemingly serious expression.
"They did it again?!" she muttered "Honestly, I might as well tell a teacher at the rate you're ending up...!"
"But...!"
The girl then turned back to the younger Kiyoi, who had seemingly tried to object to her suggestion.
"If they were to find out..." she murmured, her voice on the brink of a whimper "They'll just do it more."
The girl before her then changed her expression to show one of curiosity as she pondered on what to do next before holding one hand over the shoulder of the person in front of her, smiling immediately in an instant.
"Got it," she replied "But next time they do something, tell me and I'll be on your side."
The younger Kiyoi although somewhat in disbelief at first, eventually nodded in agreement as she and the girl she talked with left the room together.
"After all... what are friends for?"
The present Kiyoi could only scowl to herself upon reliving that memory as Kai could tell from a quiet, yet noticeable hiss. If his assumption was correct, this had to be some of the former blue LRIG's earliest memories as the scene around them had suddenly changed to that of a school hallway. This time, the memory displayed before them was the younger Kiyoi, now in a state of shock and disbelief as the girl who had seemingly offered to help her against the ones responsible for her misfortune was standing beside two others. The three of them had sinister grins upon their faces as they gazed down upon the girl who would later become the LRIG Piruluk.
"Aw man, she found out," she spoke in a seemingly pouty, yet playful tone "Just when we were about to plan out our next move."
As the younger Kiyoi became distraught once again, this time through disbelief and horror, she could only take a few steps backwards as she tried to process what was happening before her.
"W... what's going on...?"
"And it was such a good idea!" a girl with a frilled dress and brown hair snickered as she turned to one of her partners in crime "We were wondering what you were saying behind our backs."
"Hey Kiyoi..." the ringleader of the group spoke "Whenever something bad happens, you have this habit of peeking over at me. Are you seriously asking for help? You're disgusting. Nobody would ever be friends with you."
And with that, the girls left the younger Kiyoi all alone to herself, betrayed and distraught from what she had witnessed just now and how her entire life up to this point was just nothing more than a fiddle to the person she thought she could call a friend. As the memory concluded, so too did the image itself as a whole.
Soryu Island
When both had regained their sense of reality back to the fight before them, everyone else watching from the side couldn't help but ponder what it was that Kiyoi had to go through as a child from her memories alone and why she was acting the was she was now. She shuddered for a brief instance, trying to regain her lost composure as she then looked up to Kai who had seemingly managed to draw up a conclusion from what little he saw through her image of her memories.
"I believe I understand now," he spoke, bringing everyone else's attention to him "The way you have been behaving now and why it relates to that of your past, before meeting Sakaguchi and Remember on later accounts."
"What do you reckon it is?" Kamui asked as he looked over to Kiyoi.
The former blue LRIG gritted her teeth, having not been pleased that more of her past before becoming a Selector had been unveiled to the Kagero user without her consent. To her, he had just crossed a line much like Kamui had earlier in the day and now had every reason to confirm her suspicions in not placing any trust in him at all. She glanced up to him, wondering what it was that he had drawn up from his observation of her past through that image. Needless to say, he immediately voiced his answer out, revealing his stance on why she was behaving the way she was.
"Kiyoi, you're afraid of trusting anyone. Even yourself."
And there we go! Tormented by more of her memories and discovering that Kamui had revealed everything he knew about Sakaguchi to everyone else on the island, Kiyoi angrily confronts him, stripping him of his deck in the initial first move of her confrontation with the intention of fighting Kai. Wanting to put an end to both her past and the images she experienced in Ruko and Jillian's previous fight, even if it means everyone around her under suspicion, she takes the fight to the Kagero user. However as the fight is drawn out, Kai discovers that Kiyoi is refusing to image her path, believing that there may be conflict within her emotions and intentions as he eventually discovers when the two end up visiting her earliest memories through an image.
Can he and the others break through to her and convince her that she doesn't have to see the world around her as an enemy? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG! Please share your thoughts with a review or two and I'll see you next time! Until then!
