Rin grinded her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was hopeless!
For the past 10 minutes she'd watched as Queen Bee evaded attacks from the hollow but had yet to make an attack against it herself.
Out of sheer annoyance of the soiled brat's antics the soul reaper simply stated, "This isn't a video game, you know. It's looking to devour your soul. If it doesn't get yours, it'll get someone weaker than you. What if it was going after your friend, Sabrina? Step up and fight, Paris Princess!"
Chloe scowled at Rin before throwing her trompo with a streak of yellow energy flowing behind it right at the hollow. It struck the hollow's mask and Queen Bee watched in amazement as the hollow vanished.
"Alright. Let's get a few more in," Rin suggested before flash stepping off, Queen Bee followed suit, flying behind the soul reaper girl.
A question that had been plaguing the blond girl for a while finally materialized while she asked, "So is everyone a soul reaper where you come from or did you chose to be one?"
"Not everyone. We don't all have the ability to become a soul reaper. You have to pass an exam to gain admittance to the academy," Rin answered.
Chloe felt her jaw dropped as she exclaimed, "You have to take a test before you go to school? I'm never complaining about our education system again!"
Rin gave a slight giggle at the rich girl's response, before adding, "it isn't all that bad. You just need to be able to demonstrate you have the ability to master the combat skills required to protect others against hollow. I always had skill with controlling my spiritual pressure which made mastering kido, the spells I use, easy. Kendo wasn't much of a challenge either but it's the one skill I'm not really spectacular at. Sora's better with a blade than I am, but I can out kido her any day of the week. I'm strong enough to make my rank of my own accord and accomplishments, I'm proud of that."
Chloe nodded as the girls landed on a roof top. Rin quickly surveyed the area, while she was aware the Miraculous weilders were able to sense them a little as their super hero alter egos, they were still not as skilled at sensing them as a seasoned soul reaper.
On the other side of Paris, Mamoru and Adrien were doing much of the same thing. Something was bothering Adrien however and he suddenly blurted out, "So question for you, once this whole thing's done and we get the missing two miraculous back—what happens to you?"
"I go back to my time, and wait two weeks to die," Mamoru replied in a robotic tone.
Adrien's eyes narrowed, "That's crazy. How is it that someone who can control and manipulate time, even use it for time travel, dies?"
"It is the nature of all things and I must not abuse the power given to me," the chestnut haired boy answered.
"That stinks," Adrien grumbled.
"I have come to terms with my demise," Mamoru replied.
"For Rin. It stinks for Rin, Sora, Tomoya, Ichika, all of them. Everyone that knows you. What about Byakuya? He raised you as his own son," Adrien challenged.
"I'm well aware of this, and hope that they like many others before them can find comfort in the memories created among ourselves. It is the truth of all living things. Everything gets created, everything lives, everything dies. There is no method to stop this process and the unfortunate part of that is there will always be people left behind. The memories you create with them before you die become your legacy," Mamoru explained in a calm tone.
He gave a slight sigh before adding, "though I'm grateful Rin discovered me here, in this time. I could see how trying to live without me after knowing me for a century and a half was slowly destroying her. Figuring out why that is, allowing myself to not hold back seems to have helped her considerably. She would need something extra to continue to thrive however and that I'm not sure I can provide."
Adrien gave a small nod while voicing his agreement, "I'm glad you finally took the plunge too. I mean when I met her it was like she was trying to commit suicide by hollow. I literally pushed her out of the way just in time. If I hadn't—I don't know what would've happened. I don't regret that choice though. How I could I? It lead to getting the chance to go to school—to be Chat Noir. I'll always be grateful for that chance."
At this Mamoru's facial expression changed for a millisecond, at first Adrien wasn't sure he'd seen it but for a brief moment the time master's facial expression reflected fear and remorse.
"I have made mistakes. I hope I've been given enough time to correct those mistakes," Mamoru concluded.
Adrien gave a small smirk before heading off after a hollow, Mamoru following him closely.
Ichika wore an exasperated expression conveying far too well that she was irritated with her charge's attempts at the konso practice. Her exasperation turned into annoyance rapidly while Volpina attempted use hand to hand combat against the hollow.
"If you want to be this hollow's next meal keep it up, if not I suggest you use your weapon," Ichika growled out.
Finally after the hollow made a third charge at her Volpin swung her flute, extending it like a stave weapon and slammed it into the hollow's mask.
"Yay, she finally figured it out," Ichika responded with mock enthusiasm.
Volpina raised a brow as she watched Ichika, "Are you okay?"
"Peachy," Ichika replied as she gripped Volpin'as wrist, throwing the girl onto her back before flash stepping off.
'I don't know, you seem pretty tense,' Alya thought to herself while still in her fox themed superhero alter ego attire. She knew that Nino was being trained by Byakuya and Tama was working with Therese while Sora worked with Marinette.
Disdainfully Alya thought to herself, 'How did I get so lucky as to get miss Moody Firecracker?'
Ichika's thoughts were on the last interaction she'd had with someone she'd hoped Byakuya would remove from the team and replace with someone else for the remainder of the mission.
Ichika stood with her arms crossed over her chest a soured look on her face. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. She hardened herself against the sting of betrayal that would at this point serve no other purpose than to empower their enemy. Her soured look quickly turned to enraged when the raven haired boy requested, "please say something?"
"You're a selfish dick," Ichika spat out. A momentary look of hurt crossed his face before vanishing. The entire process had been so rapid for a moment Ichika questioned if she'd actually seen what she believed she saw. He shrugged his shoulders, avoiding eye contact with her.
"I deserve that," Tomoya admitted.
"Do me a huge favour on this mission, and every day after: stay away from me," Ichika growled before she left the room. The red headed soul reaper hadn't seen the broken look on Tomoya's face as he watched her leave, nor the tears that dropped onto the floor. Neither of them had noticed the purple butterfly that had appeared in the room.