Next chapter is the last chapter,
once again, really sorry for the quality of this fan fiction Q_Q , i know it's kind of crappy.
but i tried...
S-Shoot….
W-What have I done…?
Wait...either I'm doing it wrong or doing it right…
To open the door and have ourselves revealed to her or to open the door before she ambushed us….
This is so frightening… especially when we all see her gentle smile— which I thought, could probably turn into maniac ones in a blink of an eye.
T-this is all Niko's fault!
"Stand back!" Umi quickly dashes forward and points her katana as she stands in front of me.
"No need to be alarmed, I'm the friendly one…" Eli said.
She is…the friendly one?
Really?
The first thing I check is the thing between her legs!
"Umi!" I said.
And just before I could say anything else, Umi dashed forward and pointed her katana closer to her groin. Eli remained still and unmoving…I would expect she will turn her smile into a maniac one soon—but she stays quiet.
"Come on… I'm ready to fight you if you ever want to harm them!" Umi said.
"Sure… just tell me when you're done playing this game…then I'll start talking…" Eli replied.
"G-Game?! Wh-what do you mean, game?! No one is treating this as a game!" Umi protested.
"Hmmph— putting that aside…." Eli continued,
This is definitely not the Eli I know…
"This is hard to explain— I know that none of you will trust me… with this body…I mean…but… to tell you the truth, we just swapped our sanity level…"
"S-Swapping sanity level?!" Everyone said.
"Ridiculous…" I said.
"I know… but either way, I'm not here to argue… I'm just here to ask you all once again…."
"What? spit it out…" Niko said.
"….do you all want to let it end like this?"
Ah—…..
We know we don't…..
"We don't….!" Honoka said before all of us.
"Harasho…" Eli said,
"..then thats settled, right? We are all going to save Nozomi…" she continued,
"Yeah!" Honoka said.
"Then— we should get going, to the Yazawa-clan fortress…"
"My-my fortress?!" Niko said.
"That's where they are stuck in… we should get them out…" Eli said.
"Understood-nya…!" Rin said.
"Wait!" I said.
Eli turns her sight at me,
"Tell me… tell me everything you know about the wish makers existence…" I said.
I've ever asked this to her before…
But I will ask again to confirm about this situation!
I feel like this is still not the right Eli!
Despite her sweet talk I mean!
"…long ago…." She started,
"….there met a group of adventurers—they who are always destined to be together…." She continued again—there's a hint of mischief in her voice, I knew that! But… I can't accuse her for whatsoever thing out of nowhere…
"..traveled around the world… lead and started by the most powerful Yakuza-clan daughter and along-side with a samurai who fought for honor and a girl who wished to be able to make wishes come true…" she continued again…
I feel like I know the two—but…who's the other one?
"…then one richest yet humble farmer came along side with her best friend, joining them in their journey… followed by a famous daughter of a doctor and an original wish maker…."
W-Wait…what?!
"Wait a minute…!" I said.
"Hmm…?" Eli turn her eyes to me,
"Original wish maker… what do you mean by that?! I thought you were talking about the history of the wish makers itself!" I said.
"Simple, the difference is that one was already born that way and the other was forced to be re-born that way…. I can't explain about the one that was already born that way… so I just started from the history of those who were forced to be reborn that way…"
"Fine—then please continue…" I said.
"as you please…" she smiled,
"….about the famous doctor and the original wish maker…. They're a couple who has always been together for long enough until they decided to make their greatest wish… a real human daughter…which also means that the original wish maker had to give up her power to be human like her husband…" she continued again as her eyes set on me.
"….and they managed to have it… one real human daughter with many talent… one who holds the most ability to support the journey of those five women, one who always has more than enough to share with others in her generosity…"
Heh—that sounds like a real nice person…
Is that me?
Haha…!
Alright…that's not funny…maybe that's me she is talking about… I'm so close to the description…but what do I care about anyway…
"….then at one point of their journey, they met another Yakuza clan who said to be the clan, that has nothing much to offer but the spirit to work together as one. The one who always wanted to make others smile under their protection— they don't call themselves a criminal at first… they call themselves the smiling guardian… yet by the time they were introduced to the strict law, which have gained more trust in the land than them… they started to call themselves criminal—a proud criminal…."
"…they feed from other's suffering…and deluded in their own greed… yet the family remained in their principality of bringing smile to other's face. Twisting themselves to gain more fame than the strict law enforcement. This way of living wasn't well liked by their first daughter… so she left her house to join the adventure group…"
"…little did she know that her action caused a gossip to spread— well… she knows nothing but her own satisfaction anyway! She is such a little selfish bastard, even though she may be the oldest in the gang by then…."
Who's she implying to….
Niko?
"…but the group loved her for her true self… and they just didn't know that their love made her be more and more selfish instead of understanding… that was until a couple who ran this shrine joined the group anyway… because… the couple seems to be very bothered by the idea of spoiling her more than she was spoiled at home…"
"…it gets better when they join and… that one daughter of an original wish maker… she started to realize that she is the only one who could reach her feelings as they found a similarity to each other… a similarity that caused some kind of magnetic attraction…"
"…but…sadly… such attraction are only treated as an attraction.. no one between them was willing to drop their pride and say their feelings towards each other… just as long as it goes until the time is up… until the time when one of them started to feel not as special as the other one…"
"….so she began to try being special…by being the one who caused trouble, the one who gave up her friendship for attention… ah…such a trade worth as much as becoming one who has all the attention—especially from someone she wanted the most…people may call it a typical motive… but what do she care? Her family has ruined from her own actions, and then her friendship was also ruined from her own actionz… it happened, and there's nothing more to it…so she continued her act by sacrificing her own friends to become they who fulfill wishes…"
Ridiculous… just because one fails to become what people call as successful, they become one that people call as a desperate criminal…I mean… I feel like that last Yakuza clan… was probably just being jealous because they didn't get the attention they wanted…
"Hey…." Niko called us…
We all turned our sight to her…
"Is that me you're talking about?" Niko asked.
"I'm not mentioning names… so feel free to guess…." Eli replied.
"You're saying that all of this chaos was caused by my ego…?" Niko said.
"Maybe…." Eli replied.
Niko clenched her fist.
"Nnggh! N-Niko-chan! I-it's ok! We are not blaming you!" Kotori said in panic.
"It's not like I care if you're blaming me or not… but if all these are caused by my ego…then allow me to solve this…"
"Sadly, you're not capable of doing anything… you don't have your right as an owner of a wish maker, not any ability to solve the problem… you can't make things happen by just having the spirit to do it, you know… be realistic…." Eli said.
S…she is right…
"Niko-chan! Don't worry! I'll help you out!" Honoka said in confidence
"Y-yeah!" Kotori said.
"Eli! Don't break our hope now! If you're really the sane one, please think more carefully about what you're saying!" Umi said.
"I am the sane one, mind you! If I'm the insane one, I wouldn't even try to tell you all this… I mean, after all— you are still the one who decides to learn from the past or to sink in it…I only do what you ask…!" Eli replied.
This is not quite the Eli that I know though, I believe it could turn differently if she really is the one that I know…
Yet… for real….
Is there any chance for an insane to hold back their desire to be crazy this long?
But…then…what is crazy?
Does it have to be running around like a psychopath?
Either way—I don't trust this Eli!
"I think we would like to find Nozomi on our own…" Hanayo said.
"Thinking that you can escape from what has been written and to make the rest of your life harder than it should be is foolish…"
"….we wouldn't know about that, because we just need to try first, right?" Hanayo said as she set her eyes on Niko.
"W-what? Y-yes?" Niko replied in her surprise,
Silly girl… can't she be more focused in this time of event?
Sigh…
I feel like this is some kind of a trick question… again—maybe it's just because I don't trust this Eli. Other than also because I feel like she is still hiding something behind her friendly manner.
"Fine then, I'll just stick around when you need me…" she said.
"and do you think we will trust you-nya?!"
"…I know none of you will, but, I'll work that trust out along the way…"
Heh… she is pretty persistent…
It's getting more and more suspicious you know….
This kind of atmosphere….
Is really killing me…
As we keep our feet moving to everywhere it takes us… we eventually feel like stopping and asking away about where Nozomi could be…
Eli keeps her mouth shut as she walks behind us, doing nothing else but following. We all know she knows where Nozomi might be, but it's hard to ask away because she probably is the one that we don't want to meet.
I know she said she swapped sanity level…but is that even possible? I get a feeling it's just one of her petty tricks…
None of us talk to each other—as we feel like we really have to keep our eyes focused on our own safety and also to look for Nozomi…
At night, we couldn't even keep our eyes shut because we're scared to be somewhat in danger as we close our eyes. Except for Honoka and Rin I suppose… they enjoyed themselves too much…
Umi is the one without tiredness, she stood ready as she watched over us, but even with her protection, we're still scared to fall asleep as she might lose to Eli.
Niko…on the other hand… has been complaining about her lack of sleep, though I get a feeling that she fell asleep faster than Honoka and Rin….like, really, she can't lie from her fresh-looking face…
"…..are you going to spend more time than this? Nozomi is going to shut herself away along with that other me soon… that will be the actual end of this if that happens…"
"You can't be serious!" Umi said in her alert.
Eli rolled her eyes,
"Whatever….I don't even care about it anymore… maybe this is why it is the end of time…" she said as she started to walk away,
"Hey! Where are you going, huh?" Niko asked.
"To where Nozomi is… I had enough with following this merry-band-of misfit…" she said as she left us.
I feel like there's something weird about the way she left. When she walks away in a medium pace, even though it looks normal—I feel like something is out of place, but I can't quiet put my fingers around it.
"H-hey! Isn't this a good chance to follow her?!" Niko whispered.
"Good idea Niko-chan!" Honoka whispered back.
"Yosh! Rin is going to stalk her-nya!" Rin said as she headed off first.
"R-Rin-chan! Wait!" Hanayo said as she quickly followed her.
"I'm going too!" Honoka said as she joins them.
"Aa! Honoka-chan!" Kotori quickly followed up
"W-Wait! Kotori!" Umi quickly tried to catch up with her.
"W-whoa…that was the first time I saw everyone listen to me…" Niko said.
"G-gh! You should be responsible to that, you idiot!" I said.
"Huh?! Who are you calling an idiot?!" she replied.
"You!" I said loudly.
"No way! You're the idiot one!"
"Shut up! At least I came up with a brilliant idea—nothing like you!" she said.
Just what kind of brilliant idea did she come up with?
"I don't remember you to have any brilliant ideas…" I said.
"Hah—as expected, you didn't pay enough attention to me…" she said.
"Who the heck wants to pay attention to you anyway?!" I replied.
"Everyone would—and you should!" she said.
"Well—I don't want to pay attention to you!"
"Why? Am I too much for you? I know I am…." She said.
So arrogant….!
But I love her that way….
I-I mean…!
"You're an idiot!" I said clearly.
"I know! I love you too!" she said loudly.
For a moment there….
I'm not sure what I just heard….
Did I hear it right?
"W-what?!" I tried to make her repeat what she just said,
"Idiot!" she said before she stormed away from me.
I don't get it!
I swear I heard her say something!
We keep following Eli,
-through a strange path that I have never known of before…
Then again, I never actually understood this place. It's like, this place has turned into a labyrinth instead of the same village I always knew of…
People always call this place a town, but I think this place is far too little to be called as a town.
This place has more trees than houses—or people in this case.
We keep our distance as we watch over her, each track that she somehow left, and each turn that she took.
Even with that, I still feel like she is going to a place that we may never know where… putting that aside too, I feel like we've been repeating the road over and over, but with just different turns and views…
Where exactly are we going to?
Or…where exactly she is going to?
It's too suspicious and we might have just fallen into a trap or something like it…
"Hey…" I called them.
Everyone turn their eyes on me,
"We should just stop right here, there's no point of doing this…. we're just wasting our energy…" I said.
"but—we're following her, right? She must be going somewhere!" Niko said.
"Yeah! We should keep our eyes on her-nya!" Rin added.
"Yep-yep! Even though it will take us out of this town!" Honoka said.
"Are we even outside right now? We've been walking for hours by now… we're spending too much time to just walk out of the town!" I said.
"She is right…I've been curious because I feel like we're just walking around the town endlessly…" Kotori said.
"We have to oppose her directly and ask her assistance at this rate…" Umi said.
"I—I'm not quite sure about that…." Hanayo said.
"Why? We're stuck… we should drop our pride and just go get her assistance…" Umi said.
"I-it's not about pride…it's about safety… if we actually ask her, will we be safe? She might be tricking us…just like how she keeps confusing us with the path just now!" Hanayo said.
Umi bit her lips as she heard it,
Well…Hanayo has a point,
That also reminds me…
If Eli's really going somewhere, shouldn't she be able to just teleport?
I mean..if she walks, it's like she is just trying to make us follow her….
And we fell into that trap so easily…
I'll blame Niko..but…. why was there no one trying to object to that before this?
"Why did none of us think of this as a trick…." I said.
"I..I'm sorry…I was too flustered…." Umi said.
"I don't blame you Umi-chan..everyone is flustered and we're just doing whatever we can…" Kotori said.
"That's fine… since we're at it now, we should just keep going…" Niko said.
"I doubt that's a good idea, honestly…." I said.
"Why? We just need to keep following her…"
"Don't you realize we've been spinning around? Do you think you know where we are…? I said.
"Oh…come on! We're just at the west of the village!" Niko said as she turns away from me,
"If anything, we can always ask Nozomi to—…." She paused.
"….we don't have Nozomi with us….Niko-chan…. and we're pretty far from the rice field already…." Hanayo said.
"Then, we should just back track, right? Back to the rice field…" Niko said as she turn around and started to move to a direction…
We all remain silent as she began to take a turn… then..waited for a while and she returned again from the same direction….
As what I expect….
"W-What the heck?! We can't back track?!" she said loudly.
"It's expected…." I said with a frown,
Umi frowned too and she quickly grabs her katana,
"Eli! Enough with this! We don't want to play your game!" she shouted,
No respond….
"…. Is it our power that you want, huh?! Then let me teach you about who is the one with most fire power here!" Umi shouted again.
Then I could hear something moving very quickly—like a very fast foot step along with wind blowing,
Within a second, I quickly shouted,
"Crouch!"
I crouched down along with everyone else.
Then as I predicted, I see a very fast slash right above our heads.
As we raise our sight to where it ends, we could see Eli standing with a larger version of her katana in her hands—if I'm remembering it right, it was called Odachi...
She chuckled in satisfaction.
"Not bad, Maki….maybe that other me was right for trusting you…" she said.
Heh— what is she trying to say…?
"T-The heck are you doing with us?" Niko said bravely to Eli.
"Nothing much— I just want you all to gather up to meet the end of time…"
She chuckled again.
"I'm not going to allow you to harm any of them!" Umi said loudly as she stood right in front of us,
Eli smiled mischievously as she glanced at Kotori,
"I request you to allow me to add an exception…." She said.
This is bad,
I have to warn her,
"No! There's no way for me to—…" before Umi finished with her words, I could predict that Eli will attack Kotori immediately, so I quickly pulled Kotori away from her place.
Why Kotori?!
"Youu!" Umi dashed at Eli without feeling a slight bit of hesitation,
By then, they started to fight each other mercilessly.
"Why is she after Kotori-chan?!" Honoka said.
Kotori remain quiet as her eyes averted to somewhere else.
"We have to channel together, Kotori-chan… we can't let ourselves be stuck in here…" Hanayo said.
"Y-yeah nya! Hopefully Umi-chan can stall her long enough-nya!"
"Hmm….? None of you are going anywhere!" Eli said as she tried to attack us, yet Umi pulled her and threw her into another direction,
"No!" Umi said loudly.
"Kayo-chan, let's just use a manual magic to travel for now, I got this…" Kotori said,
"R-Really?" Hanayo asked nervously,
"Yes, I just need Honoka-chan to make a wish about traveling us back to the moment where we started and prevent this from happening…."
T-Time travel again?!
"B-but! Kotori-chan! You can't! The magic cost might be too high for you and Honoka-chan!" Hanayo said.
"It's fine that way than having to destroy this whole village… and it's better if we never be friend as we try to kill each other…." Kotori said.
"W-what?! The heck did you just say?!" Niko protested,
"Don't worry, I was only talking about Eli-chan and Nozomi-chan… we're all still friends…" Kotori replied her.
"A-Alright?" '
I still feel like that's a wrong way to solve this case.
There must be a way where we all can be in peace without this kind of mess!
"Then, I'll help you with the basic traveling…" Hanayo nodded,
As she channeled her magic, I see Eli trying to reach us while Umi was doing her best to pull her away.
Maybe I should help her out.
But as I tried to run a little closer, I could see Eli glancing at me with her deadly glare.
"S-Stay out! Maki!" Umi shouted.
Then within seconds, Hanayo opened a wide portal.
"Jump in everyone!" she shouted.
I was about to jump in, but I'm very worried about Umi.
"Go! Maki! What are you waiting for!" Umi shouted again.
Without anymore doubt, I jump into the portal.
As I got through it, I realized that I'm at a different time zone—again.
I look at my surroundings and started to count everyone who managed to jump in…
There's Honoka who lay down on the ground,
Kotori sat next to her as she looks somewhat dizzied,
Umi who stood, looking at a direction that was opposite mine,
Rin seems to still be on the ground as well,
Niko who seemed somewhat dizzy as she stand up close to me…
D-damn it!
W-Where's Hanayo?!
"Hanayo!" I shouted.
Everyone seemed to be awakened as they heard me,
"Hanayo!" I shouted again.
No response,
But everyone quickly got up.
"K-Kayo-chan!" Kotori shouted too.
"Kayo-chin!" Rin shouted as well.
This can't be….
"Umi! Where's Hanayo?!" I asked—maybe I'm a little too rude...but…
As Umi turned to us…
I could see her holding something….
Something that turned into lights and rice—which left to fall from her hand…
"I'm sorry…" she whispered….
"I couldn't save her…." she continued as her eyes dropped a small tear.
In a second, Rin roughly approached Umi and pulled her collar,
"How could you not?!" she shouted angrily.
This is an unexpected turn of event, but…
"Hey! Stop! Fighting won't solve anything!" I stated clearly as I pulled Rin off Umi...
"You could've sacrificed yourself for Kayo-chin! You're the warrior! Not her!" Rin shouted at her,
"Oi-oi, didn't you hear what Maki said? Stop it, it won't solve anything…" Niko said.
"Sorry…" Umi whispered again—seems like her burden is getting heavier…
"I…I'm not trying to justify this…but… Kayo-chan has to enter last so that everyone could enter….so…I'm really sorry about her….I could've done something but….I'm saving up my energy for something else…" Kotori said.
Rin clenched her fist,
"Yeah—I know, that's why we all should just drop it and move on… we don't want to stay here unless we want Eli to find us…" Niko said.
"Part of this was also your fault, Niko-chan! If only we didn't follow her!" Rin said.
"What the heck?! You're blaming it on me now?! I didn't even expect it either, you know!" Niko replied.
"Hey! I thought you are the one who said to drop this topic and should just move on!" I said.
"I—I know about that! Sheesh! I was just giving a piece of my mind!" she replied.
"Uhm..everyone…where is this…?" Honoka said.
Now we tried to pay attention to our surroundings…
This place is filled with tall, ruined buildings, with a few dead bodies hanging around the broken windows, design seemed to be modern enough, a few cars stuck in the ruins and some wooden objects destroyed and blended with the ruins.
"I know where this might be…." I said.
"This is the age that I came from before I jumped into this mess…" Niko said.
Heh—I feel like that's not quite right…. time wise I mean…
I don't think it was this messy back then…
Maybe we were transported into a different universe but in the same place.
But—ah! Either way!
"Let's go to my house…" I said.
"W-what? You know where your house is? Just from looking at this place?" Niko asked.
"If this place is exactly what I'm thinking of…then I might know…." I said as I quickly tried to move towards the direction that I believe to be where my house is.
Though as I walk—I feel like I'm being displaced to somewhere else, and then returning to where I came from.
We're still stuck in the same place—just different universe….
"Don't tell me…we're still in the same place but in different universe?" Niko asked.
I couldn't say a single word to respond….
"Weird…I thought Kayo-chan supposedly transported us to another place…not another universe…" Kotori said.
"Did she do the wrong magic?" Honoka asked.
"Kayo-chin never mistakes it! Especially if that's her last magic!" Rin said eagerly.
"Then can you even explain why we are here?!" I asked,
"Maybe—Eli-chan did it! Maybe she put us into her trap again!"
That's a high probability.
"Then next problem is how do we escape from this, right?" Niko said,
"Yes… but we really need to think of it carefully, we can't use our powers for something like this again…" I said.
"I-It's not a waste nya!" Rin said.
"Stop pressing on unimportant details!" I said loudly,
Rin looks at me with a face that tells me how hurt she felt from that sentence, but this really isn't the time to care about petty details….
"—we all want to survive! I got that!" I continued.
Then she frowned at me,
"Kayo-chin is…." she took a deep breath,
"—A lot more important than any of you!" she shouted as she suddenly took out a knife from her clothes, and then charged at me. Seeing how predictable it was I moved out of the attack's way.
"R-Rin-chan! Snap out of it!" Kotori shouted,
Rin angrily shouted again as she aimed her knife towards me,
From the side I could see Umi move swiftly towards her, and then landed a very fast knock down aimed toward Rin's back.
Rin fell unconscious in just a second.
"Sorry…. this was necessary…" Umi said.
Everyone sighed in relief.
"Good move, Umi…." I said.
"No…not at all… I hope I didn't have to do it… she could've been one of our power…"
"What power?" Niko asked,
"Remember about the magic that I was about to do…?" Kotori asked.
"Yeah…?" Niko tilts her head,
"We need you to lend some power… but…at this rate… we won't be able to do as much… Rin held somewhat of a decent power as she might've wished to be able to fight….and losing Hanayo is one big problem…." Kotori said.
"Tell us about the magic though, maybe we can help out in another way…" Niko said.
"uhm..the idea is… to summon a decoy Nozomi…" Kotori said.
"Huh? Decoy Nozomi?" Niko asked.
"Yes… my specialty is to summon a decoy that could match with the real one… with her powers, we will be able to travel far back into another time…they who survived will remember, and they who died will not…."
I think that explains something….
But that didn't do much to this for now—we all need to focus on getting into a better place.
"Then—just take our power and let's just do our best…" I said.
"Yeah, there's nothing else we can do other than that. we just need to try, right?" Niko said.
"Yup! I'll do my best to give you all the spirit I have, Kotori-chan!" Honoka said.
"I'll protect all of you…" Umi said.
"Uh…it's actually a little risky, if we don't have enough power, the decoy will act like a statue! But…ok…." Kotori replied.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go for this before Eli catch up to us!" Niko said loudly,
Kotori nodded and she began to channel up her magic—and I could feel my energy slowly being drained.
I hope this will do something for us…
I do not want us to end like this….
Not like I care what will happen to the world…
I do not wish to be a hero…
But to just live in peace and enjoy my life and my music...
Why did I even get dragged into this mess anyway?
Maybe I was just thinking that way because I hate being in trouble…
We waited long enough— enough for us to start feeling sleepy and exhausted.
Though as I was about to fall asleep, I could feel something is incoming toward us.
"No!" I could hear Umi shouting—right after I feel a painful thrust on my neck.
"Maki!"
A familiar sky,
Familiar scent and familiar sound of the winds…
As I woke up from my slumber, I see three people sitting around a campfire, with familiar set of items.
"Ah…you're awake…." A voice that I've never heard before said…And from the looks of it, it seem to have come from the girl with short brown hair.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Just call me Tsubasa…" she said with a smile.
"I'm Erena…" the other girl with long hair replied.
"and Anjuu…." Another girl with wavy hair replied.
"Why am I here then?" I asked.
"That was direct of you, you haven't even introduced yourself…"
I remained quiet for a moment,
I don't know if this is some sort of a joke or something, but I swear…. This place is too familiar…
And I feel like they supposedly already know who I am…
"Haha—!" Tsubasa laughed,
"I'm joking, Nishikino Maki…I know who you are…." she continued.
As expected….
"I'm the bear who has been accompanying Honoka…" she continued again,
I see….
"I know your story more than anyone else…" she smiled playfully.
So…?
"You and Niko surely made a good team…" Anjuu complimented,
What the hell?
"You may never realize it, but you and Niko… both of you are very unpredictable.. you created so much change to the time line…. What's your secret?" Erena asked.
I have no idea what they're even talking about now.
"Let me explain…" Tsubasa said,
I waited for her to take a deep breath,
"The true history of this mess started from the Kousaka clan— one who ruled the land with their power…" she started.
"… they are generous and wise, even though they're also a little bossy... we were also their first wish makers before Sonoda Umi took our place…" Erena continued.
"Because of the generous heart of the Kousaka-clan, they allowed their allies such as Hoshizora and Yazawa to see their secret, the two alliance began to hope that they could get the same kind of power to 'help' with controlling the land…"
"So we gave them a substitute recipe—hoping that they choose a wise spirit to be their wish maker…"
"Well, they indeed chose the wise ones… Hanayo Koizumi, a girl whose obsessed with rice, she's been the best friend of Rin Hoshizora, willing to sacrifice herself to be able to grant the family's wish…"
"While Yazawa choose a shrine maiden, Nozomi Toujou, who was close to be willing to help out the good deeds, offered by the Yazawa-clan, but her lover, Eli Ayase said that she should be the one who did it as Nozomi watched over the shrine…"
"In the midst of an argument the two were fighting over the place of 'who should be sacrificed…' then with a small sign of greed within the Yazawa leader, he came back to us and used an honorable excuse to ask for the second box..."
"At first, we didn't want to grant it…"
"But he insisted and it scared us, whether, if later, he would use the power that we already gave him, to oppose us…knowing that the soul he chose are both known as a witty person…"
"He connected the two despite knowing that they are still thinking of the middle ground for each other…and what would their biggest wish that they will ask to be granted before they are turned into one…?"
"An uncompleted procedure caused them to turn into a wild Wish maker, which could rebel if they wanted to…"
"they realized it as they witnessed the death of the Yazawa leader in the first time line, it didn't affect them…"
"Out of her kindness though, Nozomi used the power she gathered to reverse the time in order to get the best time line…"
"yet everything was out of control and it eventually grabbed more and more people in trouble, including your family, Nishikino Maki…."
"They began to learn that humans are born to be selfish, no matter how they spend their time on learning…their priority will always be what is important to them—not what is important to everyone else…"
"That's why, Nishikino Maki, we wanted to help you to pick the best choice…." They said.
"Remember that there are special people in every time line…."
"We can start with Kousaka Honoka, one who started this…."
"If I may tell you, she would be my choice for the person that I wanted to save most…" Tsubasa said.
"…and why is that?" I asked.
"Because she has a lot of sense as a leader, and she will make the world better in a way… in other words, she will be saving more people… " she continued.
I highly doubt that will be what I actually want… I mean, I do not wish to sacrifice anyone if possible!
"But... there's also Toujou Nozomi… the time magician that you could use to repeat the timeline again…." Anjuu said,
Yet, what will I do with repeating the time line if it will just end up the same…?
"Or you can stick with your special someone, Yazawa Niko…."
W-what?!
"S-She is not my special someone!" I said.
"Really? I thought you two have been close with each other— there's some sort of sparking magnet between you two…?" Erena said as she tilt her head.
"It's just on the way still, Erena…" Anjuu giggled.
"Oh…." Erena raised her eyebrow.
"E-Either way! Why do you think I could just save Niko, huh?!" I asked,
"You should ask that to yourself, why would you want to save her? What will she do to the world…?"
I didn't even say that I will do that!
"Remember that, all these mess happened because one became selfish enough to not care about others…"
"…so saving someone special to you won't do much especially if you have not much reason to do so…"
"This world is owned by no one… not by you or anyone…"
"The best for you is not always the best for the world….while the best for the world may not be the best for you either…"
I feel more confused than ever….i mean…
What is this all about?
What's it got to do with saving and why do they have to talk to me about it…?
"That's all we want to tell you…Nishikino Maki…good luck…" they said as they smiled and my vision once again blurred.
I woke up and found myself sitting on my own piano,
I know this is the strangest thing I will ever get after all that mess…
Though as I put my sight further all the way behind the piano…
A line of chair with everyone I knew sitting on it…
Honoka at the beginning of the line, Kotori next to her, then Umi , Rin, Niko…and...my parents?
I was about to stand up—though I realized that my hands are chained along with my legs…
Then I turn my sight around to find Eli sitting on a sofa with Nozomi who seemed to be exhausted and unconscious on the other side of the sofa—covered with only a piece of blanket.
"Ah… you're finally awake…." Eli said with her mischievous smile.
I tried to say something, but…I couldn't let out my voice…
My neck feels somewhat hurt, though I couldn't feel any wound on it.
It's like I was healed from the outside but not the inside…
I could hear Eli chuckle…
"What's wrong? You can't talk?"
She's mocking me again,
"Hmm… that's a little unfair… huh? Why don't you use your piano to talk?" she said.
How annoying…
But I suppose…
I could do that.
I played a pride sounded etude,
"Haha! Prideful aren't you?" she giggled,
"but that will make things interesting…" she continued again as she stood up.
She walked close to me,
"Did you know why I let you live, Maki?" she asked.
I sighed and played an etude that sounded like saying that I wouldn't know.
"…it's simply because I can abuse your talent to give me more and more power…" she smiled.
What is she even trying to make now…
A kingdom where she is the only one left?
"…don't worry… I'll still give you the honor to ask whatever you want as long as you're willing to cooperate with me…."
Sickening…
"It will be easy… you just need to wish that you were born as a Yakuza… just like those people around you….then we will run the world with our rule… you can do whatever you want and no one will complain…"
I don't want to live like that….
"You can play music as long as you want… you can be immortal and enjoy everything your own way… getting anyone that you like to be on your side… it's going to be a perfect world…I tell you…."
Charming….
"People will bend to your will, you'll be the scariest criminal and not even the greatest law could touch you… how wonderful is that?"
What's the point of winning if we are never able to lose…
"Being the greatest of the great, the richest among the rich. So much you can do as a criminal… and you don't even need to care about your behavior…"
Heh—she really is persistent about it, huh?
"So…what do you think? Do you want it?" she asked.
I played a denying etude for her and shook my head.
"No? That's too bad… then, what about this… I'll set one of you here free, then the rest will stay as my fodder…."
And why is that….?
"…the reason is simply because I'd like to play tag—or maybe just a nice brawl if you ever think of releasing someone like… Sonoda…Umi?" she smiled mockingly.
"…you better be careful of who you're going to release…she might save you and the rest of the people…or she might not even be able to do anything… worse, she might even escape for herself…"
Well…
This sucks…
Knowing that this is what might be related to what those three said before…
Save Honoka…huh?
They said, she'll be able to make the world a better place…
But what will happen to us and Eli…?
What if I save Kotori instead….?
She has that summoning thing…
How was it before?
Did it fail?
Is that Nozomi the one that she summoned?
Can she fight against Eli?
Then…what about Umi?
I know that she certainly will be able to brawl with her… but what else could she offer?
Then there's Rin…
I feel like I owe her something…
I would like to release her because of that…but what's good for the world? Rin probably is angrier than anyone else right now…
And… Niko….
What can she do?
She never shows anything that impresses anyone...
Why do I even like her anyway?
What's so good about her?
Even if I do release her…. will she able to do something for us?
Will she survive without us….?
Sheesh….
Honestly. You're really the only person I want to save…
That smile of yours, and your annoying voice….
Tch….
I can't be selfish…. You know….
Then…my parents…
I certainly want to release them because they have nothing to do with this…
Maybe they do in a way, but I don't want to see them get hurt…
Wait a minute..
Why are they all… not moving?
What have Eli done to—….
Ah….
Wait a minute….
I remember something….
Hmm…
Someone who started this... huh?
I got this….
I think I really do….
There's actually only one person that needs be saved to end all of this mess…..
You may need to really pay attention to the details of this chapter to solve about what exactly this fan fiction means lol. It's not that i didn't plan it, i did planned it but maybe i failed to make it like what i exactly wanted.
