"Mawata!" Go cried, shielding her from the attack. The flames he used to counter only made the situation worse; the foliage caught fire immediately and the wind only served to fan the flames and spiral them out of control.
Your presence is not welcome here, Leafe Knight the voice shot again. Crying out in pain, Go quenched his flames.
"Show yourself, Takako!" Go cried out, his temper getting the better of him. Mawata watched Go's dialogue with the voice inside of his head with concern. He seemed to be straining too much. Had Takako truly survived? Or had she become a cluster of Leafe, only able to attack through mental force?
As Go clenched his head and focused inward, Mawata felt her presence for the first time. Himeno's presence.
"Himeno," she breathed. But there was something wrong. Her presence felt fragmented and confused. What had happened to her Leafe since that time?
Mawata leave! You should not be here—you or Go! Himeno's voice cried into Mawata's mind. Mawata suppressed the cry of pain that she would have uttered from the mental contact with her stepsister.
Mawata turned to the direction where the voice was coming from and blanched. She could sense a concentration of Leafe that was both positive and negative—a fusion that was neither good nor evil. As if drawn to the mixture of Leafe, she began to walk towards the forest.
Go caught her hand.
"Where are you going?" he demanded. Mawata tilted her head towards the forest.
"Himeno's there, I'm sure of it," she responded.
"We need to be careful. I sense a strange presence coming from the center of the forest," Go said, frowning.
"When have you ever stopped and thought before doing anything?" Mawata said—and to Go's surprise—with a soft smile. Go sighed in defeat and followed after her.
"When it comes to you, it seems like I'm doing nothing but thinking…" he muttered in a low voice, too low for Mawata to hear.
Mawata's attentions were elsewhere. She strained her senses, trying to feel out her stepsister's presence.
Himeno…she thought desperately. She closed her eyes and felt the memories of that day rush into her—a painful and nostalgic stream of memories.
The Princess of Disaster was done toying with the Leafe knights and had moved her plans into action. Her plan to remove all the Leafe from the world, leaving behind a barren, new world. Mawata thought back to how absorbed she had been in her own pain, her own loneliness and her own anger that she had not realized how she was being manipulated—by both Sasame and Takako. As the core of the great tree of Fenrir, she saw little of the events that happened that day. Only that when she came to, the tree was shattered…and her family was gone.
The true loneliness manifested in reality…
"We're here," Go announced, breaking her out of her reverie.
In the center of a giant tree was a being frozen in crystal. Tears welled up in Mawata's eyes as she realized what she was looking at.
Go placed a hand on her shoulder as they both drank in the truth. Instead of pushing him away, Mawata turned and buried her face in his chest. Embracing her softly, Go continued to gaze at the sight before him in horror.
…
It was their tenth creature today. Hayate could feel Hikari tiring from the multiple battles, but he could not bring himself to stop. And he sensed in her a determination to gather Himeno's memories—to become whole. As Hikari absorbed each shard into her core, Hayate could feel her transformation into a more complete shadow of the Himeno he had known. Even as it tore him apart, he continued.
"We should stop for today, Hayate," Sasame called out after Hikari had thrust the wind sword into an eleventh creature.
"No," came the firm answer from Hikari, "I can continue."
"Hayate…" Sasame snapped.
"You should rest," Hayate said to Hikari.
"That is not what you truly wish, is it?" Hikari answered back to Hayate. She sensed his internal sigh.
"You can feel the wasteland improving with each creature we defeat," Hikari replied.
In reply, Hayate undid the pret.
"We can't have our only pretear collapse on us. Let's head back," Hayate said in a low voice, looking as if he was struggling with himself.
As they passed through the barrier, they were stopped by a group of individuals in suits, their guns poised at the knights, ready to shoot.
"You came sooner than I expected," Kei said, making his way in front of the group.
"Kei…" Sasame began, when a sharp look from Kei silenced him.
"I will handle this. Take the kids and go," Kei said.
"I'm staying here. Sasame…" Hayate began, but before he had even finished, Sasame was already herding the kids back to the hotel.
"If you're here about the pretear, the information I provided was sufficient, was it not?" Kei asked them.
"We have orders to take custody of the pretear," one of them replied. Hayate immediately stood in front of Hikari, his eyes narrowed with anger.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he spat.
"We are the keepers of the peace in the Upper City. This new pretear serves as a potential threat to the peace of Serenity, so we have come to detain her for examination," the leader of the group responded, stepping forward.
Hayate's eyes widened as he recognized the speaker.
"Mrs. Awayuki…" he breathed.
"With all due respect, she is not your daughter. I can provide further details personally in Upper City," Kei said.
"What is going on?" Hayate hissed.
"The three of you follow me," Mrs. Awayuki commanded, "We have much to discuss."