Chapter 5: Ishida
Just what was I doing wrong? Does he find me repulsive or unattractive or something? Am I…ugly? No, that can't be. Clearly, my womanly charms have affected Hajime-kun and Hinata. So what makes that Yamamoto Yahiko so different? Is it because he's a 'fool'? That he's empty? Actually, what the hell is wrong with team? We've been trapped in a video game for about a month now and everyone seems unphased. I'm wrong again, actually. Even now as we're stuck on a speeding, freezing monorail in a green midnight, everyone's mentally unscathed. Well, except for Ishida-kun, I wonder what made him run off like that.
As the three of us (Hajime, Yahiko, and I) moved to the next train car, the temperature seemed to drop. We also now had six minutes before the train hit the train in front. 5:59, 5:58…In the distance, we saw the door leading to the next car close; it must have been Ishida. Yahiko-kun walked forward with Hajime-kun on his left rear. I decided to take the right. Hajime stopped and stared at an upright coffin on the seat.
"So this guy's an NPC, huh?" He asked bluntly.
"Probably," Was Yahiko's response.
After he spoke, two Muttering Tiaras swooped down and ambushed us.
"It's all you, Hasegawa-san. It's weak against wind attacks." Hinata-kun said.
"Showtime, huh?" I removed my evoker-pistol-thing from the holster belt on my waist and put the nozzle on the middle of my forehead.
"Io!" And I did not even need to give it a command. Io used a weak wind spell that left the right Muttering Tiara reeling. Hajime swung his two handed sword and took it down. One remained. I noticed that when I hit its weakness, some icon of some sort appeared saying 'one more'. I wonder what that meant.
"Nanami, you and I, together. Orpheus…!"
"Alright!" I shouted. I pressed the evoker on my right temple and summoned Io once more. She fired a wind spell at the same time Orpheus fired a weak fire spell. The combination created a large explosion and defeated the enemy in front of us. Yahiko gave me a thumbs-up and entered the next room. We encountered the run-away having what appears to be a hard time with a two shadows.
"Tanamura Ishida…! What the hell is wrong with you?" Yahiko-kun shouted.
"Shut…Shut the hell up, traitor…!" Ishida shouted as he summoned his Persona, Forneus.
The manta ray-like being thrashed itself into one of the muttering tiaras and gained a "One More".
"You think you-you can forget about me? Your friend?!" Ishida screamed while pulling the trigger of the evoker again. Ice rained downed from the top of the train and hit the muttering tiara. It exploded in a black miasma. Ishida took out his bow from his back and got an arrow from his waist.
"You thought wrong." Ishida shot the remaining muttering tiara in the core twice with his arrows. He kept firing until it disappeared.
What's the chemistry between these two? They clearly know each other. He said they were friends, right? Well, what's with the damn shouting match? We're about to freaking die here!
Yahiko-kun burst towards Ishida-kun with great speed.
Yamamoto Yahiko's point of view.
I ran. I cannot say for sure. I just did. I ran towards my dear old friend, no, partner, Ishida. I ran at my top speed and made a fist. Unbeknownst to me, the fist that I made had hit Ishida right on the bridge of his nose. He flew back into the door and broke the ice freezing it. My legs moved forward toward him. He held his nose as my uncontrollable body moved towards him. He looked different; different than the Ishida I once had. He appeared as though he lost a part of him…Just like how I was when I lost him and Eri. Even though you look different, Tanamura Ishida…Why are we fighting like this?
I picked up speed as I approached. Ishida equipped his bow and arrows again and shuffled around his waist getting another arrow. He aimed it at me.
"Yahikkun, watch out!" Hajime shouted. Ishida released his finger and fired.
I caught the arrow with my left hand right before the tip reached my forehead. I broke the arrow and its durability dropped to zero. It broke into digital fragments and disappeared in a blue pixelated light. I reached him. He was shaking with another bow in his hand.
I grabbed his hand, which was very cold. He dropped the bow and his lips began to move.
"Yahiko…I…" I gripped his hand tighter and pulled him up.
"You and Eri…you both left me…" He muttered.
"She left us first. She decided that she was too good enough and left for the popular crowd. And…You! You ditched school and no one knew what happened…Like you dropped off the face of the Earth…!" He said, growing more intense with each word.
"I would like to warn you all, you only have four minutes until the train collides with the other one. The Boss is in the next train. Hurry." Hinata said in our heads.
"We…We can discuss this later. It's time to end the mission." I said, sliding open the door to the boss room.
Upon entering, we were greeted with an erotically dressed woman. She had her legs positioned sexually. It was as if it wanted us to see an upskirt of it. No, this is not a 'she'. It is an 'it'.
"What the hell is that?!" Hajime cried when he entered.
"That would be what the game is making control this monorail; also known as the boss." Hinata said.
There was a sudden jerk in the train, which made us weakly stumble.
"The monorail is increasing in speed. I cannot estimate the time anymore! Defeat it quickly!"
"This one uses ice spells, I presume." I said.
"I have a resistance to Ice attacks, Yahiko." Ishida said.
"Your persona is weak. Level eight, are you serious?" I said, staring at the enemy.
"Huh? What did you say…?" Ishida said angrily.
"Watch out!" Hajime shouted as he knocked me aside. He took an ice shard to the head and was flung to the door. "Shit! Hajime!" I shouted.
"I'm alright! My health's around fifty percent! Get started already…!" He said.
The enemy hugged itself and two shadows appeared at its side. Muttering tiaras.
"Nanami, heal Hajime. Shiori, Hajime, attack the children. Ishida, you're with me. Watch my back." I gave orders.
"Roger." Ishida said and he moved to stand next to me.
As he did, text appeared above my head stating that 'A new power' was mine.
"Forneus, get her! Bash!" The manta-ray-like persona thrust itself at the enemy. It took off sixteen percent of the Shadow's health. "Not enough…" Ishida muttered.
"Move it, Ishi. Orpheus, Agi!" The lyre-wielding poet strummed his instrument, causing fire to be thrown at the enemy.
"The enemy isn't going down without a fight, so attack it harder!" Hinata shouted.
"Is that all?" A voice rang in my head. It was not Hinata. The shadow...?
The word 'Mabufu' appeared on top of the boss's head. Ice spears were shot at everyone. I used my sword to block the ice but the sword had shattered and became white pixels.
"Weapons have durability in this game?" Shiori asked.
"Hell if I know?" Hajime replied while summoning Hermes.
"I can see the next train in the distance…We're really gonna die, huh?" Ishida said.
"Cut that sappy shit out. We're not going to die. We still have time." I said. However, I began to doubt my own words. We really might die. Crap. Shit. DAMMIT…! Our attacks aren't doing a thing to this thing. On top of that, those Bufu spells are dangerously fast. If I didn't use the sword to block, I might've been hit. A plan…this thing doesn't have weaknesses, right? There's no time to ask Hinata, so what can be done? How can I get stronger fast to beat this thing? To…ensure that I return to daily life. Here comes these suicidal thoughts again…I probably can't go back…Even so…
"I refuse to quit!"I threw my evoker to the side and extended my palm. The evoker went through the window. I closed my eyes and focused on two personas. Two cards appeared in front of me
"Give me something…!" I opened my eyes and called upon the power of both Orpheus and Apsaras. I managed to summon them both. The word 'Cadenza' showed on the HUD. Music notes of various color surrounded the team and healed us. It also said agility was up by 50%.
"You…summoned two at one time?" Ishida said with a hint of jealousy.
"Yep. Can't you?" I said, noticing that jealousy.
"The kids are dead, let's get the mama." Hajime said, placing the gun on his head and fired.
Hermes dived feet first into the Shadow. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" Shiori said as Palladion rammed itself into the boss. It scored a critical hit.
"The Priestess is reeling; give it all you've got!" Hinata said. "Priestess…?" I said under my breath.
"On your orders, partner." Hajime said.
"Let's go." And so we dived at the enemy giving any attack possible. With my weapon broken and my evoker gone, I aimed for the shadow with only physical attacks.
Hajime swung his one-handed sword between the legs of the shadow while Ishida and Nanami shot arrows at it.
"Move out of the way~!" Shiori cried while aiming her Albireo grenade launcher at the enemy. We cleared out of the way and she fired. It made a large explosion, melting all of the ice in the room, but did not harm us. The enemy was still alive however.
"That didn't kill it?!" Shiori yelled.
"Crap, the train…"
"Oh, no…"
"You guys…"
"Eri…"
I balled my fist and engaged the enemy face-to-face. I walked between its legs and stared at its mask. I climbed its calf and stood on its knee. Kicking off the knee, I gathered my remaining strength and punched the shadow right in the mask. The boss shouted, screamed, kicked, moaned, did whatever to show the animation of death that she had. She became a mist of red and black smoke.
"You did it…!" Shiori said.
"Wait, we beat it, so why isn't the train stopping?" Hajime said.
"There's the other train!" Ishida shouted.
"We're gonna die!" Nanami screamed. She dropped to her knees and covered her ears.
"Hajime, I'm borrowing this..." I snatched his two handed sword and went into the final room of the train; the control panel. I pierced the controls with the sword and plunged it deep.
The train stopped two and a half feet away from the other one. I fell to my back and took a deep breath. "My hair better not turn white because of all this stress…" I mumbled.
"Yahiko-kun, how'd you know that that would do the trick?" Hajime asked.
"I noticed it during the fight. Remember when I tossed my evoker and it went through the window? This train has durability or 'health'. Just like how my sword broke. I also noticed when Shiori used her grenade launcher, it left behind ashes on the seats, meaning something had burned. Since the train has durability, I also assumed the possibility that we were intended to fail and both durability of the trains would cancel each other out, meaning some form of an explosion for both trains. Therefore, I took a gamble: destroying the core of the train. Maybe there is a switch somewhere to stop it, but I took a faster way. Since Hajime's sword is bulkier, I thought that it would not break if I were to thrust it into another object. But damn, if that didn't work, we really would've died!"
"That's Yahi for you. Always analytical." Ishida said.
"You guys have defeated the enemy, well done!" Tsukatani Hinata cheered.
"Wow, you're real smart, aren't you, Yahikkun?" Shiori said, in a singsong fashion.
"The real question is where are we? How far are we from the station? Moreover, when is the Dark Hour going to end? We can't be on live tracks when the trains are moving."
When I said that, like magic, the doors opened. We climbed out of the train using the ladders on the side. We were near the school. Well, Tartarus at the moment. The island was surrounded by a sea of blood. "Wanna take a dip, Ishi?" I asked Ishida with a wicked smile. "Cut that out, Yahi. How do we get back to the dorm?" "We walk, duh." Nanami bluntly stated.
She walked to the left guardrail on the tracks, stared for a few seconds, and raised her left foot tot the rail. She raised her evoker to her head and jumped off.
"Nanami!" I shouted. In the shout, I heard the sound of glass breaking. I ran to the rail. Nanami was laying on top of her persona, Io. "See you all at the dorm~! Io!" She cast a wind spell and sped west.
"I'm not doing that, Palladion's too hard for me, I'll walk. Shima-kun, won't you join me?" Shiori asked Hajime.
"Call me Hajime, and yeah, sure." And the two began walking. As they left, I stared at the glowing moon in the sky and sighed.
"Ishida, I'm sorry that I left you. I…"
"I left you first, Yahi. I turned my back on you, just like Eri did. I left you for the popular scene and…Then you left school. That year was the worst year of my life. I couldn't contact you. I felt as though I lost family. And I did; I lost you."
"…"
"But there's a miracle in this Hell of a game. I found you again, and I've been meaning to tell you something."
"What is it?" I asked, feeling some sort of liquid form in my eyes.
"Let's be brothers again." Ishida said, extending his right hand.
I slapped it and removed my tears.
"We never really stopped, idiot." I said and began walking.
"So, what about Eri?" He asked.
"Eh, I think I'm not entirely pissed at her anymore. I think I'll patch things up with her soon."
"And then we can be the three musketeers again?
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Ishi."
Yo, it's been a while!
I've been busy with Track, work, and life itself. This chapter may seem short/rushed in a way. To be honest, it's been done for a while, it just didn't have an ending. The original ending was to have me kill off another character, but that's just bad for character development at this moment. Maybe the next full moon boss?
You readers should notice that someone is missing. That missing character shall be pivotal to the plot in the next coming chapters. She's been missing for quite a while now~!
I apologize that this chapter is late, I've been real busy.
Don't worry though, they'll be out faster now!
Oh yeah, who's that Kana girl?