"I am her partner, and no one else!"
"How many times do you have to get involved in this, you damn kid?!"
Majima was already on edge from the earlier battle, and let loose of his calm demeanor
for a few moments. He didn't know if he could fight the two at once, even with his crew distracting all the other Lycoris.
"No matter. I'll go through anything to set the balance, even if I don't get the help from your Alan Lycoris over here."
As cocky as he was, Majima had a different plan in mind.
"Takina! I should've known you'd get bored without me, huh?" Chisato teased, although she was still shaking from witnessing her squadron's demise.
Takina attached her flashlight to her silenced pistol, and moved to Chisato's side, pointing her gun towards the man.
"We'll take him on together."
"I wouldn't like it any other way, ha!"
Chisato took the lead and went ahead to start fighting, with Takina following up. Majima had lost his advantage with the darkness, now that Chisato's partner interrupted him. However, instead of trying to fight the two then and there, Majima slowly defended against them as he climbed upwards in the new radio tower. As much as he hated having to back away after nearly every attack, Majima didn't think it'd be worthwhile to have a fun fight to the death now of all times.
"I've always loved heights," Majima remarked, looking out of a window as he backed upwards onto a large spiral staircase. Although he wielded a pistol of his own, Majima made sure not to aim to kill.
"I'll be sure to ask them to make your prison up high for you then," Chisato talked back.
"You sure sound confident you'll catch a guy like me."
"And you sound too calm for someone stalling the inevitable."
Majima didn't respond as he simply pulled a quick piece of dynamite out from his coat, lighting it from a few of his hidden matches and threw it at the ground as he ran up the stairs, skipping a few to hurry upwards.
"Chisato, don't charge him yet. He might be setting up a trap."
"But we can't wait for the others..He'll get away!"
"I understand that, but you shouldn't fling yourself into danger. Even if you can dodge, he already knows that you have that kind of capability. Just…keep yourself safe."
"Aw..you're worried about me, aren't you?"
"I am not….just concerned about your….recklessness."
"Mhm, I won't be scared if I have you by my side, though!"
"I should be the one saying that."
Majima made it up a floor as the stairs ended, and continued his plan in ridding the Lycoris via public leaking. Cameras had been nearly no help for a short time, thanks to his own covering of each observatory. The people who had been watching his broadcast weren't able to see anything, and instead only heard the countless gunfire and yelling that went on as the other Lycoris groups fought some men.
—
A certain little short hacker started bouncing around as she screamed with a tablet in her hands. Since both Takina and Chisato were out, the LycoReco Cafe was closed, classified as a "Honorary Break Day" for the workers. However, Kurumi was browsing the internet when she found Majima's very noticeable broadcast.
"Boss! Look at this!"
Mika was sipping a cup of coffee when he was startled by the girl, and nearly dropped the mug.
"What's this, so early in the day?"
"The Lycoris! Their existence was leaked by Majima just a moment ago, during their raid on the Enkuboku tower!"
"They what now?!"
"It doesn't look good right now, but I could pull something off…if I had some transportation!" Kurumi hinted, her eyes narrowing at a certain woman.
"Alright, alright! Lycoris is in trouble, so I got to get you up and running to help them!" Mizuki understood, going to reach for her keys inside her coat that was hung up.
"No, not some run-down car!"
"Hey, it's a perfectly functional vehicle!"
"I need something that can fly…a helicopter!"
"You little brat, do you think I'm some person in a game that can summon a vehicle at will?!"
"Boss!" Kurumi started, ignoring Mizuki, "Do you have some way to get one?"
"I might have some ties…'' MIka hesitantly admitted, "you need one that bad?"
"Yes! And not only will it help me, it will be very cool!"
"You-"
"You really need to close down today?"
A familiar voice sprung up as the three remaining in the cafe turned towards the source. The door was sprung halfway open, and standing there was a businessman, with a suit and tie.
"Shinji…"
"It's been a while, Mika. Can't we have a chat, even if you're closed? I'm not wanting service."
"...Sure. I need to make a call, fast, though."
"Take your time."
Back at the headquarters, Kusunoki was pacing around as she struggled to deal with the situation. Before she could think more, her phone in her pocket rang.
"Yes? This is Kusunoki."
"There's something that I need. There might be a way to save the Lycoris."
—
"Where are we going!?" Mizuki shouted as she flew the helicopter with her limited knowledge.
"Let's get close to the radio tower that the Lycoris are inside-I need to get them this little USB so that I can fix this!"
The two flew off as Mika watched, with Shinji right by his side.
"You don't want to go with them?"
"You needed to talk with me, didn't you? Here I am."
"Heh, I can't remember the last time it was like this. Just you and I. Back when Chisato was still a kid."
"And you saved her."
"I did…but I'm afraid that her talent wasn't used to its potential for long. I believe that…person, whoever, turned her away from the gift granted to her."
"Shinji…"
"Don't you get it by now, Mika? I just want her to make the most of her talent…even if it is for killing…and even if her lifespan is abnormally low."
"I know. You want to, but you can't, can you? Her new partner must've gotten in your way…so now you turn to me to try and get Chisato back to how you made her.
"Not necessarily…but that is an option."
"You're going crazy. You need to understand that this isn't the way she wants to go anymore."
"Even if it's a talent for killing, it must be delivered into the world. That is what I told you when we underwent such an operation for her, right? Although she was unconscious long before then.."
"So? What if I don't want to help you do this?"
"I suppose I'd have to put in more effort, then. You raised her before she changed, too. Mika, you must understand that it'd be much less…taxing for everyone if you helped change her back."
"Put in more effort, Shinji. I won't help you."
"I…I see. Then…I suppose that I will be going.
"What are you up to?"
"I'm simply going to put in more effort. I will do everything and anything that I can possibly do in order to deliver this talent once again, for as long as it lasts."
With that, the door shut and Shinji was driven away by a woman.
"That man…"
Mika got up from his seat as well, and walked with his cane outside towards his own car, parked around the LycoReco cafe. He entered inside the vehicle, and pulled out a shotgun from a suitcase in the passenger's seat. It had a red mark on it, signifying the bullet used.
"I did raise her before she changed. Now I am raising her after the change."
—
"Majima!" Chisato yelled.
"Don't move."
"Ho, what a sight. Two little girls on camera, pistols aimed at a man."
"You…you've got cameras all around, don't you?"
"Pfffff. Of course I do. That's been a part of what my plan has been."
Elsewhere, Fuki was struggling to maintain numbers as she and her group, Alpha, fought against the seemingly never-ending flow of Majima's gang.
"This is some stupid shit. I can't even know the conditions of the other groups because of our communications!"
"Fuki! There's one behind the railing up above, watch out!"
In reaction to the warning, the girl shined her flashlight upwards and saw one, quickly firing a few bullets into his chest as he fell forwards and barely missed landing on top of the Lycoris.
"Thanks, Erika. Everyone! Keep each other backed up until we handle this mess! I want no reckless decisions!"
"Hey, once we get these guys outta here, we should definitely break through this dome to let us see, yeah!"
"Suggestion heard, we need to hurry up and deal with this so we can group up with the others! Hopefully this mission doesn't go out on a fluke…with this and our secret being out."
"We have to let headquarters handle that, there's nothing else we can do right now but push on our objective!"
Fuki yelled across the battlefield as she rolled over to take cover from a rifleman. Upon noticing that no more bullets were being shot around her, she then looked around. Picking up a loose bar, Fuki threw it as a diversion-making the man shoot at the thrown bar-and then leaned over on the other side of her cover to shoot him three times in the chest, hiding back before any of his comrades could fire back.
—
"Your plan…to reveal Lycoris to the public?"
"Yeah. I know I said that I'd take down the Alan Institute, which I will, I just thought that it was better to get done with you guys first. Especially you, Nishikigi," Majima reasoned, pointing to Chisato.
"Her?" Takina asked, confused. Despite that, she still stared down Majima as she was determined not to let him go this time.
"He wants me either gone or on his side when he raids the institute. Maybe I'm just a little too much for him?"
"Say what you want, but I was doing well one-on-one. You're a special one, too. I don't want you dying on me, so I'd rather have you fight with me."
"Heh. What, are you some battle-crazed man? If I didn't have to fight you, I wouldn't..but you're not laying a hand on Mr. Yoshi."
Chisato shot at Majima, hitting him in the gut as he flinched backwards.
"Oi…not very fair, are we?!" Majima yelled, pulling out two pistols from his large coat. Knowing that Chisato would likely dodge his shots, he instead aimed for Takina with both of his firearms, although Chisato jumped in front of her and sacrificed her heavy bag to block bullets. It was flung away from the impact just as Majima had to reload in quick time, with the bag falling down an endless pit in the tower.
"Give it up, Majima. An entire squadron of Lycoris will be here soon," Takina tried to reason.
"And what are you going to do about your big debut to everyone? I'm sure they wouldn't take this…lightly."
"We.."
"That's a job for the higher ups!" Chisato interrupted.
"It's also very beneficial for me that you brought a whole assault right to my footsteps. You see, I wasn't planning to snuff out the Lycoris just by exposure. I'm looking for something more…explosive."
The two gasped as they realized in an instant what he meant, as Majima put away one of his guns and pulled out a phone instead. He then pressed a few buttons on it, and turned the device around to show Chisato and Takina. A countdown with a flashing red light was on it, going down from 30 minutes.
"I didn't want to battle to the death, but here we are. Be sure to make this fun for me!" Majima yelled, shooting a window nearby and throwing out his phone.
"I was starting to get attached to that little device, too.."
"History really repeats itself, doesn't it?" Takina muttered as she prepared to fight.
Chisato was too busy with her anxiety.
'Majima just activated a bomb. None of us know where it is, so we can't even start to defuse it in time…and he threw out his phone, so there's no deactivating it…history is starting to repeat…Takina..'
"You're done for, Majima!" Screamed Chisato, going right ahead to gun Majima down with her bullets.
—
A limo drove across roads as a man in the back seats peered out the window, staring into the distance. He had a worried look, and was holding a small case as well as an automatic rifle. However, he didn't notice that within the rear mirrors was more than just normal cars. A small car was driving fast and creeping up on the limo from afar.
'I can't let this man touch Chisato with whatever intent he had in his eyes back at the cafe.'
Meanwhile, the Lycoris were wrapping up their battles in the tower, as they shot down men one by one. Their headquarters, however, was unable to make a decision in all of the chaos as an old man waltzed in, accompanied by several guards.
"You bunch really are useless. Ms. Kusunoki, was it? I'm afraid that this will be the last time you'll see your Lycoris."
A helicopter was flying quickly towards the tower, where everything was going down.
"You better have a good solution for this, kid!"
"Ha, who do you think I am, Mizuki? I'll have it all over with, quicker than you can get me one of Takina's shitty deserts. It's crunch time," Kurumi said, pulling out a headset from the suitcase on her legs.