"Majima and his gang have already passed the first detonation point of the new tower at
Enkuboku, however they are currently still at the second observatory."
Takina was sitting on a bus, as she was returned to DA while Erika-her old partner-sat next to her. It was dark, but Takina seemed only to pay attention to Kusunoki and her briefing on the screen.
"I'm glad you were able to come back, Takina. I…"
"4 Teams will press the attack on him, from each emergency stairwell."
Ignoring Erika, Takina found that Chisato's name was on the 3rd team, Charlie.
So she really did come. I didn't see her on the bus, though. I must've missed her.
Takina looked around as she saw Chisato waving at her with a smile. She was in the very back, but didn't seem to mind.
"In approximately 30 minutes, the mission will begin. You will remain in these buses until then. Mercy is not needed, just kill them."
—-
"Takina! We're not in the same team, Ms. Kusunoki must be doing that on purpose..although, I feel bad for you. You have to be stuck with little Mrs. Uptight and your entire old squad-must be at least a little awkward, right?"
After the briefing, the Lycoris on the bus had some time to talk. Chisato had gone right up to Takina almost immediately.
"Eh? Chisato, I didn't notice that you were here!" Erika commented, surprised that the troublemaker was let into DA.
"Hehe, I had to break a deal with the Director, so that Takina could be let back in! It worked out, although I had to spend hours arguing with her to let me use Teach's non-lethal bullets. That little h- I mean, woman even brought up my old squadron to try and tell me how useful I was back then. I mean..I guess that the guys will get killed anyways..by the rest of my squad.."
"And you don't mind being here?"
"It's rough, but I can handle it. Besides, if it'll make her realize how useful Takina is for DA, then I don't mind at all!"
"I think that the Director wants your skills in DA regardless," Takina added.
"Come on, Takina, they've got enough elite people before me! Maybe it's because she just wants more numbers to deal with this big dude."
Takina and Erika both thought of the same thing, witnessing Chisato's skills before.
Or it could be that you dodge every bullet and shove one right back at the enemy's chest not even a second after.
"Enough. We should stay at least relatively silent for any motion nearby or announcements from the Director," Fuki said, specifically staring at Chisato.
"Boo. You're no fun at all, Fuki."
"I didn't say that we shouldn't whisper or talk softly," she explained.
With that, the Lycoris on the bus continued chatting-although with lower noise.
—-
"Radiata is not responding!"
Not long into the operation, the Lycoris on the observation deck ran into trouble as Majima appeared on screens around the entire city.
"Testing..Oh, hey, this really does work. Nice going, Robota."
"You called me by my name!" The hacker celebrated as he sat at his apartment, tons of screens around him whilst he breached Radiata's security.
"So…a few of you in Tokyo were able to enjoy your first freedom, right? You got a weapon of your own. Or maybe you didn't get to have that live on? Did girls like these," Majima went on as he swapped the screen to a live image of the Lycoris with their guns out, "stop you before you had freedom? You gotta look out for these uniforms. They're dangerous. They're called 'Lycoris', and are secret agents of the government. They'll kill anyone, and I mean anyone, to keep up the so-called 'peace' of this land."
Majima went on an entire monologue, whilst the Lycoris were panicking due to the sudden leak.
"This is bad, bad, bad, bad!" Chisato was freaking out as her team tried to get her to stand still. Meanwhile, the only thing Takina could think of was how this would affect their entire lives..and more importantly, her relationship with Chisato. Would they never see each other again? Would they have to leave the entire country?
"How is Radiata right now?" Kusunoki asked, with a slightly pressed voice.
"It'll take a while, we-"
"Commander! We've lost communication with the Lycoris at the Observatory!"
"What?! What's happening?"
Back over at the mission site, Chisato had just barely saved her team and herself from multiple surprise bombs. The cleaner roombas had been hijacked, likely by Robota, and set to chase after the Lycoris in the different parts of the tower.
"Jeez…making more of a mess for us, huh?"
"Yo."
Surprised by the manly voice, Chisato darted around as her group also searched for the source of the voice.
"I see you have quite the experienced group. However…"
The voice cut out, as the clicking of a remote control went off and each section of the tower-North, East, South, and West-closed any window or sunlight from the outside. It became pitch black, however Lycoris were equipped with a flashlight for scenarios like these.
"Who's there?!"
"Team Charlie, regroup arou-" a girl's voice was silenced as a gunshot rang across the room. In the other sections where the other Lycoris were left confused, nothing was happening other than the darkness. However, Chisato and her team realized the situation as another girl screamed and suddenly stopped after another gunshot.
"Yikes, yikes, yikes, Charlie! Flashlights and move towards the center of the room! We're being picked off by the enemy!"
Chisato had to give an order, which she'd never done, in the tense event. Although successful, upon reaching the center herself, she found only 2 other Lycoris waiting there. The other 5 had been killed off. Through the lights of the flashlights they had, Chisato and the girls found large pools of blood. And bodies.
"Seems like sight is really a key factor for you Lycoris."
"Is that…Majima?!" A girl noticed, and a man was illuminated as she turned around. He wore a fancy tophat and coat with a casual and normal shirt with shorts. His mask was new, however, as it likely had been an annoyance to him being cracked for so long. He had a large, fresh blood stain across his coat, along with a pistol by his side.
"Been a while, Alan Lycoris. I would like to have a chat…although your pesky squad ruins it for me, so I've been...cutting it down a little."
Not hesitating to open fire, Chisato's remaining squad members jumped into action and attempted to kill Majima as quickly as he appeared. Although taken aback by their swiftness, Majima took cover quickly as he shot one-which only hit in the shoulder, but knocked her down. The other flanked behind him and nearly surprised attacked him if it weren't for his reacting.
"You know..for a trained, secret agent, you sure do make a lot of noise. It hurts my delicate ears a little," Majima prepared as he kicked the girl down, moving to shoot her. However, Chisato was the one to surprise him as she suddenly rolled over and shot Majima where it hurt-both at his crotch, and at his chest, where his old injuries from the previous tower remained.
While his grip let loose slightly on the girl, Majima did not fully falter and instead threw the girl away as he focused on the red-uniformed girl.
"You little annoying bitch! I'm gonna have to keep you knocked down until I can get rid of your other squad members, huh?!"
"Sorry, terrorist. Men's disadvantage!"
The girl who was shot in the shoulder was still on the floor, as she was struggling to get up and fight longer. However, the other girl that was thrown away helped her up and got her standing again.
"C'mon, we have this. As long as we stay focused and work together, we can beat him with the help of DA's greatest Lycoris."
"What a pain!"
Majima started to rush towards the two injured girls, as Chisato chased him down and consistently fired bullets to prevent his approach.
"You two!"
Without delay, the two realized that the terrorist was coming over to them, and raised their guns to shoot him-although he was quicker. Chisato had been left with her entire squad around her…dead.
"Yo, Alan Lycoris. This remind you of the old times?"
—
"Headquarters?! Headquarters?!" A panicked Fuki repeated whilst pressing on the device in her left ear. The room was pitch black, but nothing could be heard other than the shuffling of Lycoris, their voices, and their clicking of their flashlights. Searching for one another close by, Team Beta seemed to have suffered no injuries or casualties.
"What just happened?" Erika questioned, slightly afraid.
"Majima must've wanted to surprise one of us. But it looks like we weren't the…target…" Takina explained, realizing who Majima would want to attack the most.
"Hey, hey, hey! Takina! Where are you running off to?!" Erika worried, gripping onto her clothing as the way she was going was not their planned pathway for the assault on Enkuboku.
"Chisato's in danger!" She yelled, shaking off Erika-but running into the rest of her squad. Unsurprisingly, it reminded her of her actions a while back that Takina had taken in order to save Erika. Fuki stared at her with a stern look.
"We can't be worried about other squads now. The whole point of this is to storm Majima and his squad, gradually heading up the tower and eventually meeting up with each other to ensure a victory. Though ideally, we want to catch him before we get to the top-which is why we're all split into 4 squads; so that he can't bomb this tower like he tried last time."
"You don't understand! If that man isn't after me, he will be focusing on Chisato the most!"
"And what makes you think that?"
"He..he's wanting revenge. Chisato and I have seen him twice, once beating him in a fight. The other time he visited and held us at gunpoint for a short time."
"You don't say. Still, I don't believe-"
"I'm going!"
"Hey! As the field leader, I order you to stay where you are! You'll be disobeying not only my own orders, but the Director's too!"
"...To protect one another…that's the duty of a partner, isn't it? If I have to sacrifice my position in DA, then it is gone."
With that, Takina shook off Erika's hand, kicked Fuki out the way and dashed past everyone.
—
"They're all…dead."
"Don't stress out too much, girl. I have to speak with you one way or another."
With her gun raised up to the man, Chisato slowly paced around Majima.
"I don't think I need to hear another word from you, terrorist. I failed the first time, but things will be different now."
"Really now," Majima chuckled, "I wouldn't mind fighting. But you wouldn't listen to me even if it's about your little savior?"
The mentioning of Mr. Yoshi made Chisato falter for a bit, but she still did not lower her weapon.
"...What is it?"
"That's all it takes for you to pay attention, huh? I'm an Alan myself, remember? But that old man is too crazy. Everything needs to be balanced, even him. What do you say we…team up, and take the institute down? I'd reckon that if you and I were a team, we'd beat anyone, even Lycoris, or Lilybell!"
"Why would we ever need to take him down?" spat Chisato.
"He makes every Alan, not just us, forced to live a certain way. To ensure our abilities are used and seen by the world. But you and I…we both don't like to follow that, right? I'm a 'terrorist', and you use those damn non-lethal bullets. Hell, even your organization is corrupted! They use you young orphans as agents, soldiers! Only the best of the best of you even manage to live to see the next day. That's the real truth of you Lycoris."
"We're not the same! If not for the Lycoris, I would have never used non-lethal bullets! My partner…both previously and presently, they have been the best for my life!"
"Your life, huh? With that heart of yours…what are you going to do with everything?"
"Huh..?"
"You can't be dying on me, let alone your own friends. If we attacked him, I'm betting that Shinji would be…willing to give some information on that heart of yours. We could make you live a normal lifespan!"
"..." It was obvious to both herself and Majima that Chisato was hesitant in the face of the man's offer. However, in the end, it meant that she'd have to destroy the Lycoris, her home. What would Takina think of her, the one who so cheerfully changed her experience?
Suddenly, without being able to think further, Chisato's phone rang in her backpack. She could feel it vibrate once, twice, and then three times before suddenly coming to a stop.
"Heh, scam call much?" Majima scoffed with a smirk, hearing the phone.
Then, the phone vibrated once more and suddenly stopped again. Instantly clicking in her head, Chisato realized what the ringing meant, and resumed her stern stare at Majima.
"I will never join the likes of you. Not only are you bringing danger to everyone, but joining you would mean to ruin all the relationships I have made!"
"Tch, really? And here I was hoping that I could solve this easily," Majima said as he rushed to Chisato. Although he managed to rid her of her only light source, her flashlight, Majima also suffered a few shots in the chest from Chisato's gun, and moved back in reaction.
"Shit, that thing actually hurts. But now, you can't really see, can you? Your little light fell down."
"And you can see?"
"Nah," Majima said as he surprised Chisato with a punch in her stomach along with a kick to send her flying, "I can hear all of it."
"Gr.." Chisato let out, as she got up from the floor.
"The ability to calculate bullet trajectory from the shooter's movements, huh? Really no suprise Shinji liked you so much. But in a place of darkness, an ability like mine really shines."
"Sound…"
"Yep. That's why I know we'd make the best team. You can rethink your decision if you want, but I'm going to keep beating you up as long as you refuse!"
Despite his offer, Chisato knew why she stayed in Lycoris, and why she did not kill. Her partner would always be there for her to change things-and once again, Chisato would be proven that by Takina herself. Light entered the room as Majima and Chisato looked to the sudden source.
"You…will never use Chisato! I am her partner, and no one else!"
Takina stood in the hallway entrance to the enclosed dome, flashlight in hand. She looked out of breath, but still stood up straight.