In the mind of Sanbey, time practically stopped on the outside as the boys spent hours after hours of receiving training from Hell in the placed deemed 'The Center'. Familiarizing themselves in the use of their enhanced strength, agility and reflexes, The Center was an absolutely perfect place to train without wasting precious time. The Warlocks could strike at any moment, so the boys had no time to spare nor waste. It had been over 30 hours of training in the boys' point of view, and they were still going on.
Takuya and Mamoru, in the very thickness of the gargantuan tree of the forest, leap from branch to branch in their training suits as they climbed the enormous tree as an exercise. All the thick bushes and vegetation made navigating difficult and a misplaced step could cause them to fall. Now, they were not sure what would happen if they did fell, as they were busy paying attention to the giant pythons slithering up the tree for a quick meal.
Turning around when the hissing got close, Mamoru materialized his buckler shield and the maws of a giant snake bit down hard on its edges. Scaly, green and bearing yellow eyes with thin black slits, Mamoru gritted his teeth, "Bloody Hell, is this really necessary?!" he summoned his axe and chopped the python by the neck, shoving away the dead head of his shield to continue climbing with bloodstained clothes.
"A Warlock will do whatever it takes to kill you boys. To be ready for that, you must learn how to keep your calm throughout the fight, Mamoru."
"No complaints about that!" Takuya agreed, crouching on a high branch and firing down arrows of pure energy with his energy bow at pythons that got too close to his friend. Pulling the string with a hand that wore a specialized glove, he fired an arrow that bounced off the head of a python and ricocheted to slice a thick branch by the stalk. It tumbled down to Mamoru's way like a falling log, "Heads up!"
A devious grin spread on Mamoru's face as he kicked himself away from the tree and grabbed onto a nearby vine. He looked below and saw the log-sized branch wreck into the reptiles, bringing them down to ground level as they hissed loudly. Mamoru landed on a branch next to Takuya and they high-fived each other. Mamoru wasn't above celebrating with a simple gesture like that, but more snakes came and the two hastily continued their climb.
On the forest floor, Hideki and Tateyama were having an ordeal of their own: a tank-sized scorpion with an ash-black shell clawed at the Puerum Magi, its barbed tail whipping in the air as its shear-like pincers clipped off any tree the two hid behind. Fighting with only their main weapons and black training suits like the other pair, the protective Recicio field around their bodies soaked up most of the damage.
Rolling across the grassy fields to avoid a claw swipe, Hideki saw the barbed tail lash at him and he flipped a switch on his great-sword's hilt. Rocket thrusters on the blade's back ignited and the blade swung upwards. The slow, but powerful blade chopped off the tail's tip and the severe wound sprayed juices both on the grass and Hideki. He took this chance to breathe, "A scorpion, really?" he said dryly, "What's next, a giant dragon?"
Tateyama's giant shield protected him from the thick juices as he defensively wielded a lance, "Don't give him any ideas, Hideki."
"Right, right," he spat on the floor and smirked.
Enraged, the scorpion's pincers lashed at the blue Puerum Magi and were caught in the door-size shield of Tateyama. The pincers couldn't fold the giant slab of metal as Tateyama wrestled his shield away and pointed his lance at the scorpion's collection of eyes. Clicking a button on the handle caused the spear tip to launch forward like a missile which impaled itself in the scorpion's maws.
Tateyama shielded himself and Hideki from its blood as it let out a high-pitched squeal before collapsing, creating a wave of dust and shaking the ground as its 8 legs twitched.
"If you're going to fight a Warlock, you would have to use every weapon you have, your wits and a strong will to live. You must show no fear if you want your Soul Gem to be at its greatest."
Wiping the thick juices off his face, Hideki sat on the soft grass with Tateyama and sighed, arching his head backwards, "Can we take a break? It's been God-knows-how-many-hours already."
"Of course."
Slowly, the green scenery and dead arachnid carcass around them blurred and twisted in the blink of an eye, turning into a open field of wheat which the boys found to be much more comfortable. A gust of wind picking up their hair as Hideki's suit was clean of juice, Tateyama dropped his weapons and lied down on the wheat to sleep. He huffed, staring at the hazy sky with one eye.
Hideki dug his giant blade into the ground and lied against it like how one would rest on a tree stump. Hands on his torso, he plucked out a stalk of wheat from his side and placed it in his mouth. Hideki's muscles felt sore from the countless hours of mountain hiking, combat training and branch climbing, but their training was only halfway done. They still had their Recicio powers to learn and practice with and that was not going to be any easier than fighting over-sized animals. Fiddling with the wheat in his lips, he let the soothing atmosphere take him.
Noticing Sanbey's sudden silence, Hideki raised a brow and thought of speaking up for small chat. He felt like asking their little teacher some questions to get to know him more, "Hey, Sanbey, you mind if I ask a question?" he asked, gazing at the cloudy skies with Tateyama, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"Go ahead," Sanbey didn't sound offended.
He held out the wheat with his hand and twirled it, asking again, "Where are you from in the first place? You've told us about the Warlocks and Witches, but, you never really talked about yourself," Hideki felt worried when he heard no reply, "I'm sorry if you don't-"
"No. It's fine," Sanbey had a hint of surprise in his voice, "It's just something I never really got to share with anyone over the years."
Tateyama and Hideki exchanged curious glances. Tossing the wheat away, Hideki pushed with his question, "You mean you've never had a friend before?" he hoped that question wouldn't offend him either.
"You could say that. I don't remember much... but, let's just say I used to be a part of something bigger, before I eventually became a product for experimentation by Puella Magi. To be specific, the very Puella Magi that had created the Warlocks."
"What happened?" Tateyama interjected, sitting up to lean on Hideki's giant sword.
"I escaped. My creators dead and the Warlocks free from the same institute I came from, I wandered the earth for years. I was alone. I didn't know friend or foe nor my purpose in life. That is, until... I met Homura," there was a momentary pause, "Seeing her needing help, I thought it was a chance for me to do something good in my life. As I am now your mentor and guide to becoming a Puerum Magi, I wonder just what Homura is thinking of us right now."
Frowning at the mention of a deceased friend, Hideki crunched up some of the dirt in his hand and watched the brown soil pour between his fingers, "I'm sure she's cheering for us from up there, Sanbey. Right now, all we can do is to give her a reason to keep cheering. You, me, Tateyama, Mamoru and Takuya, she gave her life for ours, and we can't let her sacrifice be in vain."
Tateyama quietly nodded beside him.
"Yes... I suppose you're correct, Hideki... I guess we can stop today's session here."
Closing his eyes, Hideki leaned on his blade as he felt his body becoming light. A warm sensation bathed onto his skin and upon reopening his eyes, he woke up in the Freelancer club room. The clock on the wall said that only 35 seconds had passed since they started, but Hideki could still feel his muscles sore from long training. He was getting used to the pain, though.
Takuya sat up in his seat, yawning and stretching his back. Tateyama was still sleeping, snoring loudly until Mamoru gently kicked him to wake him up. Tateyama's flat, "What?" got a giggle from Takuya and an annoyed stare from Mamoru.
Looking around, the small cat-like mentor was nowhere to be seen, "Sanbey?" Hideki called him out-loud.
"I am on the roof, Hideki. You four can go ahead with your classes. I shall meet you downstairs when school ends."
A warm breeze brushed on Hideki's neck as he turned around to see the room's window wide open. Through it, he could see the city of Mitakihara in the distance, the city they had sworn to protect and the hometown the four had grown up in. He could already feel the weight of this responsibility weighing on his shoulders, and he did not refuse it.
Sitting at her personal desk, Narita's finger slid across her digital tablet as she made preparations for Homura's funeral service. The prayers from a monk, the cremation service, the everything was all done by the nurse herself in her office. The curtains surrounding her desk shut closed to give a sense of privacy, the brunette's eyes had spaces of black beneath them and a stiff frown on her face. In the trash can near her feet, there was a crushed can of cheap alcohol that she had received from Teacher Kuragawa to ease her pain.
The sliding door to office opened and Mirai came in with a tray of steaming, hot coffee. She made no noise when closing the door to avoid disturbing the nurse and placed down the tray on one of the vacant beds. Slowly opening the curtains, she handed the much-needed drink to her elder with a smile, "Here. I thought you needed some."
It took the depressed nurse a second to notice it and she took it wordlessly. Only after taking a sip of good, warm caffeine did she say something, "Thank you, Mirai. You're a lifesaver," she placed the cup on her table and continued with her preparations. She was almost done with the last orders.
Mirai sat down on a bad, facing the nurse with a cup of her own coffee in her hands. To be honest, seeing Narita like this was just painful to watch. Knowing how close she was to the boys and how Narita knew her since preschool, Mirai perfectly understood why she was so distraught, but still felt the pain. When she was with Takuya earlier at lunch break, she could feel tints of sadness behind his usual gleaming smile. The boy was always good at hiding his true feelings, "I'm sorry about Akemi," Mirai blurted suddenly, "I'm sure it was just-"
"An accident," Narita cut her off, setting her tablet on the desk and chugging down all her coffee to ease her stress and dehydration. She coughed, and wiped the corners of her mouth with her outfit's white sleeves, "I know. Even if it wasn't, we wouldn't know. She's gone, and we can't change that," her tone was low, as she opened one of her drawers to take out a small book of old pictures. Flipping it open to see pictures of young preschoolers back in the day, one of them had a bespectacled Homura fidgeting in the corner.
Mirai saw the nurse brush a finger on the picture and heard a knock on the door. She left her seat to open it and see Tomura and Yuri standing in the hallway. They looked like they wanted to ask something and Mirai brought them in quietly, "Miss Narita, you have visitors."
Narita looked at the two and put away her book of pictures. She had a gut feeling they were going to ask about Homura, "What is it, Tomura, Yuri?" she forced a smile to not unease them and used her feet to slide the trash can underneath her table away. The two didn't need to know she had been drowning in her sorrows.
"W-We wanted to as something," Yuri said before trailing off. She had Tomura ask the question in her stead.
"When is... Homura's funeral?"
She got it right and the nurse opened her mouth to speak. But nothing came out. Seeing the stare her with begging eyes as they waited for an answer, she never thought in all her years as the school nurse that she would have to answer such a question from kids. But, she knew she would have to move on. She couldn't stay like this forever. Homura wouldn't have wanted this, "Soon," Narita finally answered, "Soon..."
Seeing as how she didn't need anything else to bring her down, Mirai placed her hands on the two's shoulders, saying in the most cheerful tone possible, "Come on, why don't we get something to eat? I'm sure Miss Narita is busy with her work, right?"
"O-Of course," Tomura could see what she meant and bowed in respect with Yuri before leaving. The young pair was lead away by the nurse's assistant and once they left, Narita turned to the phone on her desk. She dialed the number of Mirai's father, Kobayashi Kosaku, wondering if he and his team of 'Hunters' knew anything that could be related to Homura's death. She needed to know.
The phone call ended with nobody answering it and Narita settled it back down on the receiver with a puzzled look. She got off her seat and out of the office, calling to Mirai who she spotted down the hallway, "Mirai, I need to ask something from you," she walked up to her, asking in a serious tone as she ignored the looks from Tomura and Yuri, "Where is your father?"
Mirai didn't seem to be worried about her father, as she of course did not know of what he had been doing for the past few days, "Oh, his friend called me about him. He told me he had business outside the country and left last night. I'm not really sure when he's coming back."
Narita stayed quiet, then nodded and slowly went back to her office in silence. She closed the door behind her and Narita stared at the floor, wondering if he had really gone out of the country for business.
The final bells of school ended the last of the students' classes as the chiming echoed through the hallways filled with students. Everyone was already heading back home or out for shopping malls as the school quickly became quiet and empty. Wandering around these empty hallways of the school was Morikawa Minami, the school council president, as she put her canteen to her lips and found not a single drop of her drink was left inside it. The council president closed with a low growl before pocketing her canteen and heading back to her council room to work on the last collection of papers. It was her duty to set a good example to her fellow schoolmates.
But lately, she just couldn't keep up her reputation. With so much that came from being part of the family that owned the most powerful company in the neighboring city, Kizamono, and being the leader of the student council, she was nearing her limit. The news of Akemi's death only pushed her further into taking up her drinking habits that Yuri never knew about for years. Minami remembered only a few days ago where she met Mamoru in a bar and challenged to a game of hatchet toss. She was intoxicated and her disguise, but she was glad he didn't see the mess she was that night.
Tired and frustrated, Minami didn't realize that she had gone down the wrong corridor and wandered near the storage rooms instead. She mentally slapped herself for this and turned to redirect herself. That is, until she heard the sound of someone rummaging in the storage room nearby. What was someone doing in there as this time? she thought, walking up to the room with an open door.
Minami stood underneath the doorway, all sorts of used equipment and stuff for P.E strewn around the floor at her feet. Minami flicked on the lights and saw Makoto a midst piles of equipment, "M-Makoto, what are you doing here?"
He snapped his face to her, his hands stained with dust and dirt like his uniform as grime covered his orange hair in streaks. Since Homura nor Yuri was here to ease tensions between the two that shared a complicated conflict between each other, Makoto nonchalantly continued what he was doing, "Digging up old stuff," he answered and sniffed the air when he noticed the whiff of alcohol, "You've been drinking again, have you, Minami?"
She flinched, never realizing the odor that persistently to her clothes, "Yes... But, really, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be heading home right now?"
"Shouldn't you?" he answered with a question of his own, as he pulled out a small device from a low shelf. He pried it from the rusted musical casing it was inside and blew off the dist on its surface, revealing a keyboard-like device with two rods at the sides, "There it is."
Silently standing in the doorway, Minami didn't know what else to say. The relations between her and Makoto was complicated to say the least. One moment they were working together to keep up a good image of the school, in another moment, they would be cold as ice to each other with Yuri being the only thing that kept them talking.
Suddenly, what brought back to reality was the most beautiful melody that had ever crept into her ears. A sad, but beautiful melody of a piano which bore a strange embracing warmth. The melody came from the device in Makoto's hands, a digital, holographic-key type piano which he played with utmost skill and fluidity. Minami knew that device, as it was new type of piano that had been invented. Roughly a plane of glass with two rods that emitted the sound and produced the keys on the glass, "Is that...?"
"I got permission from the music club to keep this. I'm not stealing it," Makoto continued to test the device, fingers dancing on the plane of glass as Minami was entranced by such music. It was as if it came from an actual piano, :Do you remember what happened here a few days ago, Minami?" Makoto asked, "When Akemi first came to school?"
Minami stuttered, the memory of an amnesiac Homura hiding here after a pursuit by Hakamichi and Tezuka coming to mind, "Yes... It's not hard to forget that day."
"We really didn't do anything to help, didn't we?" Makoto gave a low chuckle, "We just watched, while Miss Narita and the Freelancers chased her around the school. It hurts to even remember that," he deactivated the holo-piano with a flick of a switch and the keys disappeared from the glass. Getting up to his feet in dirt-stained clothes, Makoto announced, "I'll be playing at Homura's funeral. It's the least of what I can do," he carried the holo-piano under his arm and made his way to the door. He stopped at Minami's side, turning to her, "Will you be there?"
Minami chewed on her bottom lip and tightened her hands into shaking fists. Knowing that what Makoto said was true, she replied without any hesitation, "Of course, I am. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"
Makoto smiled and clapped on her the shoulder, fixing the Prefect strap around her arm before leaving, "I'll have my driver bring you, Yuri and I there, sister."
As the cold breeze at the final hours of sunlight swept across the cemetery of Mitakihara city, sakura petals danced in the wind, bright pink colors that brought a peaceful imagery to the rows and rows of headstones in the field. The orange light from the sunset shine shone on the marble headstone of the Akemi family, growing flowers surrounding it swaying in the wind.
Approaching this grave that stood among rows were Narita, Mirai and the boys. A bouquet of flowers in the nurse's hands, she crouched it and placed it on the headstone's base as she stared at the name 'Akemi Homura' with red eyes. Takuya patted her on the back to comfort her as he held Tomura's hand. Sanbey sitting on Hideki's shoulder, he watched as the group silently prayed for the deceased. But, in that moment, not a single tear was shed by anyone at all.
They had already cried enough, it was time to pay their final respects and say their last farewells.
From his bag, Mamoru took out a piece of woodwork he had etched earlier in class. It was the best piece he had made until now, and the the hands that held it out had visible bandages. Carved in the shape of a sharp diamond and sprinkled with amethyst glitter, the boy placed the wood carving next to the flowers and bowed. Mirai wrapped her arms around Takuya and Tateyama closed his eye before looking away. Hideki's fist tightened at his sides while he fought the urge to even cry again like last night.
Then, they heard the sound of a car engine at the entrance. They all looked back to see Takamatsu Makoto approaching them with a holo-piano under his arm. Wearing a thick coat over his uniform in this cold wind, he reached them and bowed as a greeting, "Hello, everyone. I... We wanted to give our respects to her as well," he gestured a hand to the two coming out of his car at the entrance: Morikawa Minami and Moraki Yuri, approaching them in similar outfits, "May we?"
A sad smile came to the school nurse's face and she wiped something off the corner of her eyes with a thumb, "Of course, Takamatsu. It's fine," she looked at the grave, still bearing that depressing smile of hers, "Everyone who cared for her is welcomed here."
Yuri and Tomura waved at each other, as former's older sister placed her own set of flowers on the gravestone. Minami looked at Mamoru and they exchanged warm smiles.
"Miss Narita," Makoto respectfully called the nurse, "If I may, I would like to play a song for her."
Narita answered with a nod, "Go ahead. She'd like it."
Extending the pane of glass to its full length, the keys glowed with power and a small stand stretched out from beneath its sides as support. Laying the feet of it on the fluttering glass, Makoto stretched his fingers and moved them above the piano.
What came next was nothing like Narita had ever heard of before. It wasn't just music to her, but a graceful lullaby that naturally flowed with howling wind and mesmerized all those that heard it. To Makoto, it all felt natural as his fingers dashed about on the keys, each press lighting the key before heading to another in quick succession. Even with his eyes closed, he skillfully tapped every note with sharp precision and coordination, letting loose his hands as he played out the best song he could for Akemi Homura.
Narita paced towards the further rows of gravestones, listening to the melody as from her pocket, she took out a single cigarette and dropped the rest of the packet on the grass. She fished out her lighter and lit her stick, blowing out a mouthful of smoke as she watched the sun setting into the horizon, smoke flowing in the air. Once she was done with her stick, she let it fall to the ground and extinguished it with her foot, tossing her lighter away, too, as she pocketed her hands and went back to group with a solemn smile.
It was time to go home, and it was time to move on.
Soon, night fell with the moon now gleaming in the pitch-black sky. Everyone having gone back to their homes, friends and family, the cemetery was completely deserted as a small mist covered the area. An owl on a tree twists its head by 360 degrees and swooped down from its branch to land on a figure entering the area, sitting on his cloaked-covered shoulder like a trained animal. The approaching figure walked on the side of the road parallel to the cemetery, where a close opera house sat like an old relic of the past.
Standing in front of its unlocked doors, he kicked the cut chains at his feet and petted the owl before it flew away. From his pocket, the holographic compass arrow blinked repeatedly and clicked, signalling the arrival on the correct destination.
"Finally," the cloaked figure said, kicking open the double-doors and entering the secret domain of his brethren. As he expected, the place was broken and was an area one wouldn't expect anything or anyone to live in: Ripped wallpaper, broken floorboards, dust on every surface and a nasty stench in the air, the figure closed the doors and continued walking. Brushing the dust off his cloak and Chinese straw hat, the figure announced his presence, "Phantom! I, Zed the Oracle, have arrived to follow you once more."