Inoue Akira and Tennouiji Kotarou are from Rewrite, a 2011 visual novel published by Key, translated into English by Amaterasu Translations, and adapted into an anime by Studio 8bit. Elements of the following story were also inspired by Inoue's story in the now-defunct mobile gacha game, Rewrite: Ignis Memoria (which never received any English translation), as well as her appearances in the fandisc Rewrite Harvest festa!
Spoilers and references to all other heroine routes, as well as Moon and Terra. Minor spoilers for heroine scenarios in Harvest Festa.
Records of the Harvest Festival, Part 6
Another view
The time for games is over, Inoue Akira.
We know you have the Key. Give it to us, and I will guarantee your safety.
Refuse, and you will die. Call for help, make a fuss, and you and all the people you love will die slowly and painfully. We are here right now, and Guardian isn't.
Do not test us. We have familiars that can do unspeakable things to the human body, and I know for a fact that both of your parents are home right now.
Don't think about calling Tennouji Kotarou either. He, as one person, cannot fight off the whole of Gaia's might, which we will not hesitate to use.
I say this again. Come downstairs with the Key, and we will guarantee your safety, as well as the safety of your loved ones. We have already said what will happen otherwise. You may be enough of an idiot to dive headfirst into suffering, but I don't think you're heartless enough to inflict that on others.
You have five minutes.
Sincerely,
Your friendly school witch
P.S. If it makes you feel better, feel free to publish all the articles you want. It won't matter in the slightest.
The brown-haired girl neatly folded up the note, before she locked eyes with the rainbow-coloured bird that had flown up to her window to deliver it.
"Tell Akane that I accept."
The familiar cocked its head.
"Do you need me to write a reply, or can you just tell her that?"
The bird seemed to shake its head.
"Then go away for a bit. If she's allowing me to publish, then I will. Shoo!"
When the bird had flew away, Inoue returned to her computer. With one final check on all the details, she pressed send.
Then, she picked up a pen, and began to write.
~~[r]~~
That was seven minutes ago.
This is now.
"You're late."
"Sorry. The Key didn't feel like moving." Inoue stared down Akane. One of her hands was joined with Kagari; the other was free, ready to form a fist and throw a punch in a flash.
Not that the aspiring journalist thought she would get the chance. The moment she emerged into the cool November night, she had been surrounded by a group of people in dark cloaks, which she recognised as distinctively Gaian. There were no familiars, but she had overheard what Imako had said about summoners being able to teleport their familiars to them with a thought.
Akane examined her with a strange look. "I sincerely thought you wouldn't come. That we'd have to resort to force. You're so wilful, after all."
"Threatening one's family isn't force? Could have fooled me there." Inoue makes a biting remark. "Get on with it."
"Well, since you've so nicely given the Key up to us, I shan't complain." Akane makes a gesture with her hand, and a disciple walks forward. "Take her in, and–"
"You're mistaken if you think I've given you anything." Inoue cuts her off. "I want to bargain."
Akane lets out a chuckle. "Hah! You have nothing to bargain with." She makes a gesture, and several disciples moved forwards.
"Don't." Inoue's voice was quiet.
The closest one, a middle-aged woman, raised a hand–
–and a red ribbon cuts through the air…severing her entire arm.
"Don't…hurt…mama…"
"The Key…" Akane glances at Kagari, and then looks back at Inoue again. "You're under its protection? You? Mama? It recognises you as its mother? Why? How?"
"I warned you." The gaze between the ordinary girl and the summoner was like an iron bar, and none of the acolytes, even while scrambling for aid, dared to step into it. "I want to bargain," she repeated.
The fire alarm began to ring. The two girls still did not look away from each other.
"So?" Senri Akane asked, with acid in her voice. "What do you want?"
~~[r]~~
"Satoru-san."
"Where is my daughter, Tennouji Kotarou?"
The man's voice was totally controlled, and that scared me more than anything else. I knew for a fact that he was angry, but it was not the berserk rage of wild animals, or even that lava-using summoner.
Inoue Satoru's anger ran cold. It promised retribution in a very definite manner, if his demands were not met.
I knew I could easily overpower him, and yet I was still scared.
"I'm trying to find her right now," I say. My eyes dart to his hands. Before the accident, I had toyed with the idea of learning how to use a firearm, seeing as my ability was not really suited for direct combat. The weapon in Inoue's father's hands looked makeshift, but the way he wielded it made it clear he expected it to work.
"Oh?"
With that, I went with Inoue's parents back to their apartment, fire alarm be dammed. All the while, I tried to explain what we had been doing…only to find out that the both of them already knew most of it, or at least, everything that Inoue head written down, in the various drafts of her articles and notes.
They grilled me on every single detail–on Guardian, on Gaia, on everything I knew of the supernatural.
I answered the best I could. I even revealed that I was a superhuman, a former member of Guardian, and how I had been discharged from a service injury, although I left my true age out of it.
The both of them just nodded, as if they had already suspected from the beginning.
"My daughter was very excited." Inoue's father said. "But it was clear that she was always holding something back."
Back in Inoue's room, her computer was still running. Emails had been sent–to her Newspaper Club friends, it seemed like, with the whole of the scoop.
My eyes drifted to the email's subject line.
The Bonfire Document.
Kagari-bi bunsho.
I moved on to the desk, where a short note had been addressed to me.
Kotarou,
I screwed up.
I brought some of those memory objects home from the Gaia records room, because I wanted to try 'reading' it. They must have been able to track it down somehow, because your friendly Club President dropped off a note after you were gone. They knew Kagari was with me, too.
If you're reading, it's likely that both of us have been taken to Martel HQ. I'll try to stall for as long as I can, maybe try to pry a bit more, but I don't think Kagari can hold on for much longer.
I'm sorry, but could you come pick me up?
Love,
Akira
Next to the letter was the small bird beak fossil which I recognised as the one she had tried to 'read' before.
"Tennouji-kun." Inoue's mother peered through the door. "Are you done? You can come out and tell us what you're going to do next."
I nod.
In truth, there wasn't much to tell.
"I'm going to get some people I trust, and then infiltrate Kazamatsuri Cultural Hall." I speak plainly, and sip the warm oolong tea that Kaede-san had prepared. "I'm a superhuman. I should be able to move fast."
"This 'Guardian' faction." Satoru-san peered at me. "They're superhuman too, yes?"
"Well, yeah."
Inoue's father simply looked at me in silence. It takes me a moment to realise what he was trying to imply. "I know. I don't need to defeat every single person or monster," I said. "I just need to get, er, Akira, out of there."
"And Kagari-chan too." Kaede-san adds.
"And Kagari as well," I concur. I knew it was rude, but I stand up to take my leave. Time was ticking. "Thank you for the tea."
~~[r]~~
Another view
Maniwa Yuki, President of Kazamatsuri High's Newspaper Club, was currently up awake. Burning the midnight oil, as the saying went, and slogging away at practice questions for her university entrance exams.
She leaned back in her chair and stretched.
Maybe it was time to call it a day.
Idle thoughts ran through her head. Of the present, of the future, and of the recent past.
The supernatural…likely existed.
She distrusted it. She didn't know how it just worked, except that it did, and not knowing made her distrustful.
Even though Tamako had shown her, right to her eyes, that what Akira had found was real.
It was the promise of juicy gossip that was what had led her to join the Newspaper Club in the first place, but above simple gossiping, she had developed a tendency to…want to look backstage, instead of at the performance.
If she had been interested in things, she would have made an excellent scientist, or maybe a mechanic or engineer. But she was interested in people, and the levers and currents that moved them, and so she became…a journalist?
"Nope," she muttered to herself.
Her phone buzzed, a welcome distraction. It was from Akira. She smiled. Just like herself, her junior never seemed to sleep.
"'5106'? Did she accidentally message me while half-asleep?"
The levity lasted for a few more moments, before she recalled a recent discussion on secret codes and contingencies, all of which she never thought would see practical use–
Now bolt upright with fresh energy, the redhead swivelled her chair over to her PC, and powered it on.
~~[r]~~
Another view
"Finished clearing this sector." Lucia's tone was all business. She would never admit it, but the fighting was doing her good. Having a clear task in front of her cleared her mind, freed it from wandering to darker thoughts.
"All secure." A voice answered her.
"Thank you, Hitomi." She flicked her sword to get the last of the familiar dust off the blade, then returned it to its sheath.
"What do you think is going on, Lucia-senpai? Sudden appearances all over the city…"
"God knows." Lucia shook her head.
Unlike with Shizuru, Lucia wasn't as comfortable around Hitomi. Part of it was because she knew the blonde for longer, but there was also the fact that she found the blue-haired girl slightly intimidating, from both her stature and extraversion.
Of course, there was also the huge wall that was her other ability, which made her highly hesitant to get close to anyone, both physically and emotionally.
Still, there were worse people to be around, and although she thought the younger girl could be a bit of an oddball at times, she did appreciate her constant friendliness.
Her walkie-talkie crackled. "We have sightings of the civilian collaborator. Squads Charlie to Foxtrot move in to capture–" Another crackle. "Cancel last! Concentration of familiars in sector H-31. Move to reinforce. High priority!"
The two girls began to run.
Civilian collaborator. That was how Guardian was referring to Tennouji Kotarou now–a person who somehow was an ally of the Key, yet not a summoner, nor aligned with Gaia.
It was a confusing, ambiguous mess that left Lucia feeling all sorts of troublesome emotions. It would have been so much easier if he was just an enemy or an ally! He could have just stayed out of everything, too!
"Hey, senpai. You're friends with Kotarou-senpai, right?"
The violet-haired superhuman suppressed a wince. Tennouji Kotarou was the last thing she wanted to talk about. "Yes."
Hitomi opened her mouth, but her next sentence was lost as a flock of familiars descended on them.
"!" The sight sent a fresh spike of adrenaline through Lucia's body.
It was no longer mere hounds, but a phalanx of dinosaurs, their colourful scales reflecting the moonlight.
Where's the summoner?! Lucia anguished. Without taking them out, we're going to be hemmed in by familiars!
"Senpai! Leave this to me! You go on ahead!"
"What!?" Lucia dodged the vicious swipes of raptor claws, and her vibrating blade cleaved through a reptilian neck. "I can't do that!"
"Trust me! Or we're going to get stuck here by ourselves! Don't worry about me, I'm good at running away!" Wind shear cleaved away a tiny reptilian claw. "You need to help them out and then find Kotarou!"
Had this not been a combat situation, Lucia would have questioned exactly how her junior knew Kotarou, nor why she was being asked to find him. Unfortunately, the need to focus on the fight and her own feelings meant she did not.
The appearance of yet more familiars–small but vicious attack birds–cemented her decision.
"I got it." Lucia's sword whirled around in a complex, devastating curve, taking more heads with it. Hitomi's a good fighter. She isn't someone I need to babysit. "But don't take too long, okay?"
"I'll be right behind you."
Thrown swords, the first half of the Crane Wing maneuver, buried themselves in the back of another velociraptor that lunged after Lucia as she departed. A Spinning Slash flowing right into a Cross Scissor finished the job, and then Hitomi turned and ran…in the opposite direction, blending into the night.
~~[r]~~
I ran through the night, assaulted by the thought of better, possible futures.
I should have stayed for dinner. Should have brought Kagari with me. Should have brought Inoue herself with me.
I should have seen this coming.
Why didn't she stall for time and call me? I would have come to her rescue in a heartbeat. Gaia wouldn't have stopped me.
Unless…she wanted to get captured?
But there's no guarantee that Gaia would let her live.
And if my hunch about Akane's condition was right, then even trying to get her sympathy was going to be difficult.
Not to mention that the two of them hated each other in the first place.
Sheer instinct made me grind to a halt, and I pivot on my foot, whirling around to deflect a flash of purple light with my own aurora-green claw.
In a way, the attack was nostalgic, and as my attacker came into view, I knew why.
"Nishikujou."
Deflecting, and revealing my ability, had been a mistake. I should have just dodged–no, I could have just kept going, and it wouldn't have hit me. Too late now.
"Tennouji Kotarou." The schoolteacher's eyes were open, showing a fearsome gaze, but I could still read a hint of conflicted feelings in her expression. "Do you mind coming with us?"
A small squad was with her–four others, dressed in dark green uniforms. None of them had their guns up…yet.
I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.
And I rewrite myself.
Speed and strength.
Finesse and precision.
Squeeze every single bit of efficiency out of my drops of life.
When I was much younger, I had tried to make myself 'smarter'. It hadn't worked, because my image of that had been too vague.
But Inoue had given me the first push. She had been the tiny pebble that changed the course of my life.
The first step that let me take all the steps after.
There was always a way. Always a path.
We just needed to find it.
I reopen my eyes. "What do you want with me?"
"For you to answer our questions. For example…" Touka's gaze seemed to become more intense, "where is the Key?"
"What key?" I play dumb. "You're not talking about the ones to my house."
"This isn't a joking matter, Tennouji."
"I'm serious. You could be referring to a lot of things." I watch Nishikujou's eyes as I ramble. Yes, she had mellowed out over the years, but I could still see the same girl within.
Competitive. Harsh. No-nonsense.
My phone rang, and I glanced at my ex-teammate. "Do you mind if I take that?"
She made a gesture, and I picked up. "Tennouji!" It was Inoue's friend, Tamako.
"What's up?"
"Akira has been captured!"
"I already know that," I say as gently and reassuringly as possible, to calm down the girl who sounded as if she was close to crying. "I know what happened. I'm on the way to rescue her now."
Nishikujou's eyes narrowed, but she did not say anything.
"Okay." There was a sniffle on her end. "We released the article. Every single high school newspaper club in the prefecture will have received it by now. A lot of people in Kazamatsuri, too."
"Thanks. Hey, listen. Keep yourself safe, okay? Try not to go outdoors if possible. Tell the rest too." And don't dabble in summoning, I wanted to say, but I was being surrounded by Guardian officers at the moment.
"You too. Take care."
"Who was that?" Nishikujou demands.
"Just an acquaintance." Would Guardian understand if I said I was trying to rescue Inoue? Sure, they might help me out against Gaia…but in the end, I would probably get roped back into the organization, coerced by one thing or another, and be forced to bury the truth.
We could survive…but nothing would change.
"Tennouji," Nishikujou sighed, "I don't know exactly what you're involved in, but it'd be best for us to work together. The world is at stake, and–" The beeping tunes of a handphone ringing interrupted what she was going to say next.
"You should take that." I try to suppress my smile, and end up with a weird expression on my face.
"Yes?" A pause. "What? A leak? On that scale?"
Keep watching. I told myself. Watch the grunts. Watch her stance.
Watch her expression, and try not to laugh at how it changed.
"What 'Bonfire Document'? Do we know–"
Having heard enough, I attacked.
A quick palm strike to the chest to the one on her left, place the others in the line of fire, and then–escape.
Down the road, jump up onto a rooftop, and away.
There was no time to stay and play–as much as I was interested in my old teammate's reaction if I revealed to her what I had been up to.
Twenty minutes later after I was sure I wasn't being followed, I was sitting at the dining table in the Tanuma house. Imako places a juice box (cold out of the fridge) in front of me.
"Guardian's not happy." Hitomi says. There were small scrapes on her face and neck, evidence of getting into a scuffle. "I don't think there's ever been a leak that went into this much detail before. Not to mention how there's familiars crawling all around the city. Gaia's, like, this close to declaring full-out war!"
"Has the organization never been exposed before?" I ask curiously.
"I know as much as you do, senpai. Would be different if I was under Admin or the Information Division, but–" the superhuman shrugged.
"Guess we're lucky you're a capable fighter instead."
"Because Akira's been captured. Yeah." Imako lays a paper butterfly on the table. One of its four wings was blackened, as if shaded by dark pencil or covered in soot.
"Help me." I turn to them.
"I'm more insulted that you felt the need to ask." Hitomi shoots me a salute with her sword. "Don't you worry! We'll get her back. And Akira's strong."
"She's still just a normal human being. Damn it!" I bring my fist down with anger, and my side of the Tanumas' dining table crumpled so much like weak bamboo. "Damn it."
I thrust both Inoue's note and Akane's letter at the two girls. "I should have seen this coming."
"We couldn't have known that the relics would have let Gaia track down the Key." Imako reads the notes with a focused eye. "Not to that extent. In fact, given that Akira didn't even–"
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how Inoue just willingly went along with Akane like that. It's not like her to do so." I resist the urge to thump the table again, lest I got a fistful of splinters. "What was she thinking?"
Was she really that bothered about not being able to read the relics?
Inoue was the strongest person I knew, and her sense of purpose was clear, a blazing fire in pitch-black darkness.
But if there were some secrets that were just simply impossible for her to know, maybe even she would…
"Don't worry about the table, by the way." Imako makes a sardonic comment. "It's not like we use it often."
"Oh, shit. I didn't even–"
"Really. I can't remember last time the family sat around it. Also, it goes without saying that I'm in as well." The summoner moves on, opening a large brown envelope that I didn't notice had been with her. Without Akira, I could have never…" Her fist clenches and unclenches. "Well. Point is, you can't afford to lose your head, not at this stage."
"Are those paper talismans? What are you, a shrine maiden?"
"Shut up!" The summoner retorts. "Do you know how much work time I've spent getting these to work? They're familiars that are designed to take a hit for you. In other words, a second chance. Maybe a third. Be grateful, for heaven's sake!"
I look at Hitomi.
"I'm already equipped." She pulls back her sleeve, revealing one on her arm. A tug up of her T-shirt revealed another of the ofuda on her midriff. "There's more than these, of course."
"You shouldn't be showing your belly to anyone but your lover." I joke. "I can't believe Imako lets you get away with this."
"Eh? But–"
"Listen to him, Hitomi." Imako's voice was quiet, and her face was down. The summoner pushed the rest of the talismans at me. "Now go put these on."
I pick up an ofuda. The script on the front was indecipherable, like a weird mix between kanji calligraphy and circuits on a circuit board. On the back, there were a few words written in Imako's simple handwriting.
For the Ashen One
"Who the hell is the Ashen One?"
"You, of course. Sounds much better than 'Ashen Boy', doesn't it?"
"Inoue told you about her nicknames?" It felt stupid, but I asked anyway.
"She did." Imako said shortly. "If you k-know how to make 'Scissor Girl' sound nice, I'm welcoming suggestions." There was a tiny hint of red on her cheeks. I guess she was just as much of a chuunibyou as Hitomi, in a way.
"Typical journalist. Screw up once, and they never let you forget it." Hitomi grumbled, but it was in jest. "Now are you going to take off your clothes or what?" The tall girl waggled her fingers, and advanced towards me menacingly.
"I get it I get it!" I fled to the first-floor washroom and shut the door.
Imako snorted. "While you're in there, let me volunteer more information. You should enter through the school again. I don't believe Gaia has sealed off the closed space from there, nor do I think they've had time to analyse how exactly we infiltrated the place. In fact, with all the activity ongoing, I doubt that anyone even cared about our little excursion."
"Are you coming along with us?" I stick a talisman to my side.
"Not immediately, but I'll catch up. There's more preparations I have to make."
"Preparations?"
"Don't worry about it. I don't want to give expectations that I might not fulfil. Also, at this stage, Gaia might start pulling out all the stops, so I'd better warn you about some things…"
~~[r]~~
Another view
"Where's Hitomi?"
"We got separated." Lucia flicked her blade to get rid of the grey dust, all that remained of the familiars she had killed. "There's just too many familiars. What's going on?"
"Girls, you have your next posting." Imamiya emerged from the command caravan. "Sector C7."
"Kaza High?" Shizuru asked. "Why?"
"Because you both know the area, and we're stretched thin." The redheaded man looked frustrated. "We're one step from a full-blown open conflict–except it isn't. Man. This dancing at the threshold shit is a pain in the ass."
The two girls just looked at each other, before Lucia asked the question on both their minds. "Any news about K–the collaborator?"
"Tennouji?" For a moment, Shizuru thought she saw a sour look on the man's face. "No clue. Nishikujou almost brought him in, but then he escaped." He handed the girls a dossier–though the word was inaccurate, seeing as it was only a single sheet of paper. "This is all we have on him. Destroy it when you're done reading. Oh, and there's been an information leak–a pretty big one. If you see any panicking civilians, just ask them to stay indoors."
That was all the two girls got.
"Kotarou said…" Shizuru began as they made their way to the school.
"What did he say, Shizuru?"
"He said he would reveal the truth."
There was a pause. In the distance, smoke was rising into the air, and the sirens of ambulances could be heard.
"That information leak." Lucia grimaced. "Surely it couldn't be…"
"I think Kotarou could do it." Shizuru gave her honest opinion. "He and Akira-senpai are certainly capable enough."
A loud boom turned their heads in the direction of the courtyard. Even at a distance away, they could make out a colossal shape…and a strange, tiny green glow.
~~[r]~~
An ironclad tentacle lashed out at me, and I blocked and deflected with my claw. Only sheer technique, coupled with bones and muscles that had been somewhat rewritten, stopped my wrist from being broken.
The summoner, with a head of messy dark hair, had a crazed expression on his face. It did not look like we were going to be able to talk him down.
And the behemoth we were fighting…was a monster named Kirvoy Rog.
A beast made by combining metal, apex predators, and other giant monsters.
A familiar already legendary in mythical times.
There were two loud pings, and Hitomi lands with catlike grace right next to me. "Armour's too tough. Even for me."
"Imako said it could withstand a tank shell. No, a nuclear blast."
Dust swirls around us like a nimbus, giving us cover.
I consider the situation in a second, and speak. "No point in fighting this, when we're supposed to be doing a break-in." I spit out. "I'll distract it, and–"
"Do you honestly think I'd give you time to chat?"
More tentacles lash out.
I can't believe this had been waiting for us in the other dimension…though we had already seen it the first time we passed through.
Kilimanjaro. Kirvoy Rog. The Earth Dragon.
And "the strongest".
My hopes of facing none of them tonight had already been dashed.
From the other dimension we had been chased into the corridor, and then we had been forced out of the school into the yard.
There were no more walls to hide behind. No terrain to use.
Just a monster, standing in our path.
"It's already too late, you know. The Key is already in our hands. Soon, Salvation will begin, and this goddamned world will end!"
A tentacle lashes out.
The tip is unarmoured. That's the weak spot.
I go for it.
A stake of blood forms in my left hand. I deflect again with the aurora on my right hand, sending more stress through my wrist, and drive in the stake with my left.
Then, I use the technique I put together.
Fractal structure.
Spread out like a tree.
Grow and tear it apart from the inside.
The limb falls off.
But it's nowhere near enough.
Hitomi is high above me. Her swords can't cut through the familiar's iron plates, and there were more clear tones of metal on metal.
"You're a real hunter, aren't you? Going straight for the human…I expected nothing less. And that disguise…did you kill someone for it?"
"I'll do anything to protect my friends! That involves putting you down!" Hitomi points her sword accusingly at the summoner. "Kotarou, back me up!"
Kirvoy Rog leaps into the air. For the moment, I thought this would be a chance–until my eyes, tuned to night vision, saw the grey of armour plating on its underbelly as well. "Dodge, Hitomi!"
"Don't need to tell me!"
It slams into the ground. The overpressure wave nearly knocks me down.
Hitomi was already moving. Her body was a graceful crescent in the air, but her blades–
–only met another armoured tentacle, and she was smacked into the air.
"Hitomi!"
She turns her fall into a roll, and springs up next to me. "No big deal. Didn't even have to use one of Imako's extra lives."
"Give up!" The summoner calls. "None of your attacks can penetrate Kirvoy Roy's armour."
"I told you we should have run in the first place," I idly remarked. "You're no longer a member of Guardian, aren't you?"
"But monsters like that have no call to exist in this world." Hitomi gritted her teeth. The black cloak–Imako's black cloak–sways in the night breeze.
"We're here to rescue Inoue, remember?"
The superhuman gives a short, quick exhale. "I know. But we still can't get past this thing. My swords can't cut through its armour, and its not giving us any chances to strike at the summoner either."
"Well? Have the both of you finished talking? Not that it matters. After all, like I said, the Key is already—urgh!"
A line of sparks traces up across the mollusc's armour.
Gunfire?
"More hunters? I'll wipe you all out! Kirvoy Rog!"
"You're kidding me…" Hitomi exhales.
Armoured tentacles lash out, but they hit nothing, their targets already long gone.
A strange blue mist began to suffuse the air. Wisps of it curl up around the tentacles of the behemoth familiar.
Instinctively, I leap back. "Don't let it touch you!"
"Don't worry." Hitomi shakes her head. "Shizuru-senpai's blue mist only harms familiars."
I could already see it. Kirvoy Rog's attacks were becoming slower and slower.
Paralysis.
"Kirvoy Rog!"
It was no longer keeping up with the summoner's commands.
Lucia leaps up. A strong swipe comes for her, but, now standing on the familiar's carapace, she deflects it easily.
Then, she stabs down. "Shizuru, cover me!"
Sparks fly into the air. Lucia's sword glows white-hot, and I hear dreadful screeching, the earsplitting sound of metal grinding on metal.
Not poison, I thought to myself. It was–high-speed vibrations.
Shizuru shoots again at the summoner with her semiautomatic pistols, and the summoner is forced to defend himself, instead of shaking off Lucia.
I feel reminded once again about how strong superhumans were. How strong they could be.
Just like that, the 'legendary' familiar finally comes to a halt. Lucia's sword breaks through, and the iron plate–along with the familiar's 'head'-splits into two.
The summoner spits blood.
Damage to the familiar was damage to the summoner. And sustaining a familiar of that size surely needed a lot of vigor.
He tumbles to the ground, and his hood falls back in the progress. Already, his hair was greying, the colour fading as he aged a hundred years in ten seconds.
"Any last words?" Lucia's sword was at his throat.
"I'll see you in hell, monster." A summoning circle manifests, and a hound leaps out–one final, desperate attack with the last of his lifeforce.
Lucia cuts it in two, and the summoner simply collapses, his life fully depleted.
Then there was silence, only punctuated by the heavy breathing of four superhumans.
I slowly began edging back to the school. Tiny steps, increasing the distance between me and the summoner's dead body.
Not that it was the summoner's dead body I was trying to avoid.
"Kotarou." It was Shizuru. "Hitomi."
I stop in my tracks. Only for a moment, before I resumed walking.
I almost forgot my objective. It was to rescue Inoue. Everything else was secondary.
"Hitomi, explain what's going on right now." Lucia demanded. "And what is that you're wearing? Don't tell me…"
"Inoue has been kidnapped by Gaia." I don't waste words. "Hitomi has agreed to help me rescue her." I began striding back to the school, and my tall junior jogged to keep up.
"Answer me truthfully." Shizuru said. She and Lucia weren't going to let us go, were they? "Are you working with Gaia?"
"No."
"Are you working with the Key?"
Shizuru's neutral, businesslike tone was a large gap from her usual cute self, or even from the few days ago when she had been emotional–revealing that she was a superhuman, so that she could keep Inoue and I out of danger.
But where the danger was was where I needed to be. "She's the other person that needs to be rescued."
"I don't know how to say this, but…" Lucia begins.
"The Key isn't a human being." Shizuru finishes, her voice sombre. "It's a familiar born out of the Earth with specific functions. It brings nothing but ruin."
I turn around face my former Occult Club clubmates. "It–no. Kagari called me her Papa. She's scared and confused, and searching for good memories."
"It's just a simple defence mechanism. She's mimicking humans." Shizuru's face twists, as if she was recalling something bitter. "Imitating the concept of 'family', just for it to survive."
My eyes dart to Lucia and Hitomi. Hitomi had a hesitant expression on her face, while Class Rep clearly looked torn. "Kotarou," Lucia says. "You're a superhuman, aren't you? Come with us. Join Guardian. Help save the world. We'll help you rescue Inoue. Just–"
"You'll help me? Right now?"
"We're under orders to bring you back, because we need information about the Key," Shizuru says. "But after that, we can work something out."
I say nothing. My feet speed up into a run in the corridor.
Hitomi jogs to catch up. She gives me a tiny nod.
Good. She was still on my side. I had to admit I was worried.
"Stop, Kotarou!"
"I'm not going to Guardian. That's not where I belong." I speak. "And I'm going to go rescue Inoue now. Let me go…Class Rep."
"I'm sorry, but we can't do that." In one swift movement, Lucia and Shizuru bypass us, and place themselves in our way.
"There's things I want to protect as well." Shizuru looks sad.
For the first time, I realised I was seeing her without her eyepatch on–and that she had heterochromia. Her left eye, that I was used to seeing, was a striking blue just like Lucia's and Chihaya's, but her right eye, the one usually covered, was amber-gold, just like Inoue's.
"You shouldn't have hid your eye," I say. "You really look cuter without it."
"That's unfair, Kotarou." Pain flashes in the blonde's expression. "And it's too late for that now!"
~~[r]~~
Another view
"Inoue-san! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Ootori." Inoue smiles. "Didn't expect to see you here. As you can see, I got a bit tied up."
The ordinary girl holds up her left arm. In the time she had been escorted to Akane's luxurious private quarters, Kagari had bound an inordinate amount of ribbons to her, such that she, or at least her arm, looked like a half-wrapped Christmas present.
"Tsukuno." Akane snapped. "Put out the word that I am not to be disturbed for the next three hours. That goes both for the Disciples and for Suzaki's yapping dogs. Chihaya. If anyone forces their way in here after my explicit instructions above, order Sakuya to return and remove them."
"But, Akane–"
The door to the bedroom slams shut.
"I will go and carry out my duties." Tsukuno–whom Inoue remembered Kotarou had called Nagai–left.
Four people remained, only two of which were capable of holding a conversation.
Already, Inoue had learnt a lot. Like about how there was a secret connection between the Occult Club clubroom and the Holy Woman's quarters. Or about how that mute little girl, Shimako, was a talented enough summoner to be deployed in the field.
"You can call me Chihaya." The orange-haired girl said hesitantly. She looked once again from Inoue, to the Key, and back to Inoue again. "That's Kotarou's jacket, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Inoue fingered the tartan green material. "So that's the thing you ask me about first, huh? Interesting."
"Eh?" Chihaya looked taken aback.
"Don't worry about it." Inoue smiled, and sat down on a comfy-looking couch. Yep, no point worrying about anything when I'm already in the enemy's stronghold. Might as well get comfortable. "'Akira' is fine by me."
As she said that, Kagari ran up to cuddle against her side.
"Okay, Akira-san." Chihaya looked relieved.
There ensued a moment of silence as neither girl was certain of knew what to say. "Hey," Inoue begins, "can you tell me about the Occult Club?"
"Eh? Hasn't Kotarou said anything?"
"He has. But I want to hear what's it like from you."
"Well…"
Chihaya goes on to explain the various activities of the club, from going out to investigate leads, to simply just lounging around in the clubroom.
"Sounds peaceful and fun." Inoue remarks.
"Right? I liked it. It was the first time that I–" Chihaya cuts herself off, suddenly self-conscious.
"The first time that you…?" Inoue prompted. "Don't worry. I'm not going to publish some overblown article about you. I'm just curious for my own sake." The reporter glances at Kagari, with a self-depreciating smile. "Yes. I'm a very curious person."
"If that's the case, then…I guess it's all right." Chihaya said. So this is the girl that Kotarou likes? "It was the first time I felt I had made friends."
"You transferred in relatively recently, right?" Inoue asked. About a month after our Scissor Girl arrived. Now that I think about it, it's probably because Gaia and Guardian were both mobilising for the Harvest Festival… "Is it okay if I ask about where you were previously?"
"I jumped around schools a lot." Chihaya says. "I was doing jobs for–" She stopped herself again.
"For Gaia?" When the summoner gave her a look, Inoue grinned. "Tell you what? It's not really fair if you're the only one spilling all your secrets. How about I tell you about what I've been up to, and then you can tell me more about yourself?"
"Okay."
Inoue begins to speak. Avoiding names, she tells her about how mysterious people at school caught her eye, and how Kotarou was one of them. She tells her about how Kotarou saved her from a dog (Chihaya wincing as she realised it was a rogue summoner) and how they went UMA hunting together.
Chihaya listens with rapt attention.
Then the story came to the forest. Worms, dogs, other strange creatures.
The leaf dragon. The realization that the supernatural was actually real.
The confession, where being pushed to the brink made her realise how she really felt.
"So it was a dramatic confession after all!" Chihaya says excitedly.
"What?"
"The club members went over to his house after he came back. Akane found out that he was calling you on the computer, and Lucia-san put it together that you both were dating!"
"Well…yeah." Inoue looked slightly put out, perhaps due to the fact that five other girls had decided to call on her boyfriend when she hadn't been able to be around. "Now, your turn."
"Eh?"
By the way, I already know all the mysterious creatures we found were familiars, and that a familiar is created from lifeforce, and Gaia is an organization of summoners." Inoue rattles off, hoping that the rapid revelation of facts would downplay the extent of her knowledge. "So you don't really need to hide anything from me."
"Well…since you already know…"
For Chihaya, this conversation–a sort of girls' talk–was a novel experience. It was the first time she had a chance to talk about herself, without hiding anything, to another person (at least, another person that was not Sakuya).
She glanced at the silver-haired girl on Inoue's lap, whose purple eyes now looked blank and vacant. "Tell me one more thing. This is the Key, right? How…"
"Kotarou and I encountered her in the forest. I guess, during that time, she…took a liking to me, and she's been attached to us ever since." Inoue continues stroking the girl's hair in a soothing motion. "Her name is Kagari. She said she's searching for good memories. But what Gaia is doing is hurting her. She doesn't want to do…whatever she's being forced to do."
Chihaya was silent.
"Never mind that for the moment." Inoue shamelessly changes the topic. "Back to you! Tell me about yourself."
"Oh. Ok. Like what?"
"You said you jumped around schools a lot, right? How was that like?"
"Well…" Chihaya sizes up Inoue. "Can I be honest?"
"Go ahead. I won't judge you."
"I hated it." Chihaya says. "My family has enough money, so I could always live comfortably, but…"
"You couldn't make friends?"
Chihaya's eyes widen. "How do you know?"
"You said it, just now. That the Occult Club was the first time you felt you had made friends."
"I guess I did." Chihaya tells Inoue about an incident, her time looking for a summoner right before her transfer to Kaza High.
Inoue notes her unhappy expression.
"...and I thought that I didn't want to live like this. I just wanted…" The summoner sniffs. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry. Like I said, I won't judge you. I just want to know things. I'll leave the judging to others. Though I must ask…"
"What is it?"
"Have you ever thought about leaving Gaia?"
"I don't know where else I'd go." Chihaya replies. "I've been a summoner my whole life. My parents were summoners too. Besides, if I left, I'd probably have to give up S…my familiar, and I can't do that." She looks at the bedroom door. "And I can't leave Akane alone now, too."
Sakuya. Inoue noted the word she almost said. "How did you know Akane?"
"I stayed with her for a while in the same institution, when we were young. It was called–"
"-the House of Ties, right?"
Chihaya gives Inoue a look. "You know, this reminds me of something strange a while back."
"Something strange?"
"Kotarou knew about this. Somehow. He said he guessed at random, that it was because you were writing an article about something, but…"
It was probably back when Kotarou hadn't fully regained his memory. It must have been subconscious recognition. After all, he was with Martel, and Martel sponsors the House of Ties. "You're right, Chihaya-san." Inoue smiles. "It wasn't random. But it's also not my secret to tell. I think…when all this is over, Kotarou can tell you–can tell his friends–the truth."
"All right."
"I know it's bad timing, but–you're a talented summoner, right?"
"You can say that."
"Can you teach me…how to form a familiar contract?"
Chihaya looked like she had been punched in the face. "Why? After all I said, after that story I told you…"
"Well, I'm not a perfect person. I also have some selfish desires of my own." From her pocket, Inoue takes out a small piece of orange-pink coral, like tiny tree branches or deer's antlers. It sat snugly in her upraised hand.
"That is…"
"A familiar that holds memories. I want you to teach me how to read it."
~~[r]~~
I didn't know that my aurora claw could block bullets.
Now I knew.
But it still hurt. My wrist had to absorb the entirety of the bullets' kinetic energy, and I was beginning to feel the strain.
Superhumans really were terrible monsters.
I had thought Hitomi was fast, but Shizuru was even faster. Thankfully, I could keep up…somewhat. The pre-emptive rewriting had paid off.
I dive into a nearby classroom. Bullets pierce and bury themselves into the walls and desks. They would be no shield.
Shizuru doesn't bother to use the door. The windows above the noticeboards shatter, and she dives in shooting.
Time slows to a crawl. I don't bother with any sudden movements. I simply read the trajectory of each bullet, and trace a path of my own through the gaps between.
Luminous green on my right hand. Crimson red on my left.
I charge and swipe.
Shizuru tosses aside the handguns without hesitation, and knives appear in her hands.
She parries, leaps up, and lands on one of the desks still upright. "Tennouji Kotarou. Unaffiliated superhuman." The blonde recites the words, like reading from memory. "Discharged from duty after injury. Abilities: minor self-healing and increased endurance."
Her eyes flick to my hands–my claws, and I grin.
Come to think of it, apart from never telling a single soul about my rewriting, I had also never demonstrated my blood manipulation at all in front of anyone from Guardian.
It was a tiny advantage, and my weak, untalented self would gladly take it.
"Who are you, Kotarou? Have you been lying to us from the start?"
"I lost my memory, and then I got it back." I level a claw accusingly at her. "What about you? All those times we were running around chasing the supernatural…and you knew all along, didn't you? Don't tell me you were laughing at me behind my back all along?"
"I would never!"
"And neither would I."
Shizuru points her knife at me. "I don't want to fight you, Kotarou!"
"Then let me go."
"I can't let you go put yourself in more danger! And I can't leave you as you are, not while you're brainwashed by the Key!"
"I'm not being controlled by the Key." I say patiently. "I'm not Gaia. All I want is to reveal the truth. Of course, I don't want to world to end, but I can't agree with Guardian's methods as well."
"So you're behind the information leak." Shizuru looks as if she wanted to say several things at once. "You and Akira."
I could hear the sound of blades clashing on blade from the corridor. "Inoue did most of the work."
"She's a good person," Shizuru nods, "but she has a habit of prying too deep. Do you know how worried I was when I heard you both went missing?"
"We survived in the end. And," my voice hardens, "we learnt the truth of this world. Do you really think it's right to hide all this away from the public? To fight in the shadows, and decide what is right for everyone?"
"People would panic! They wouldn't be able to live their lives peacefully. They would worry about the monsters they have no power to fight against!"
"Do you really think that's better than people suddenly disappearing? I'll tell you what happened to me. The Key nearly killed me in Kazamatsuri when I tried to capture it ten years ago. But it was Guardian that came in my sleep and gave me drugs to make me forget." I stare down the tiny blonde girl, my topaz eyes to her gold and blue.
I know better than anyone.
That was what she had said.
I suddenly felt deep regret over my harsh tone.
Speaking to a friend like this, when she, too, had probably suffered as well.
Had it been a childhood friend? Or a family member?
What sacrifices had she made? What had she lost?
I don't think, at this point, I deserved to know.
"They just wanted to keep you safe." Shizuru's voice seems to shake. "You were injured, and you couldn't fight…You would have been happier not knowing anything…"
I shake my head. "They didn't give a choice. And if I had the choice…even if my memories were painful, and sad…"
Even if they reminded me of how terrible a human being I had been…
"...I still want to remember, and I would choose to remember every time."
I'll choose to remember, shoulder the awful truth, take back the time I've lost, and carve out a path to the future.
"Come, Shizuru!"
The lessons I received as a member of Guardian come back to my mind. Superhumans were divided into three main categories.
Hunter- or poacher-types, the most common type of superhuman. They were proficient in, as the name suggested, hunting, which meant abilities related to tracking, pursuit, and the use of ranged weaponry.
Cutter-types, whose ancestral instincts in harvesting plants and cutting down timber now translated to particular proficiency with slashing weapons.
And finally, Polluter-types, who had abilities pertaining to the synthesis and manipulation of chemicals.
I still didn't know which was Shizuru. She was good at using a gun, even better with her knives, could tamper with human memory, could heal herself, and also seemed to be able to produce poisons, judging from that strange mist.
I wasn't just fighting a normal member of Guardian. My opponent was a prodigy, the peak of humanity, someone who had been recruited at an age half of mine and who had been constantly training since then.
On the other hand, I was a half-baked superhuman, with half-baked memories, carried along by the ultimate crutch of a single cheat ability.
With a knife in each hand, she lunges at me.
Cross Scissor. I steal another move, slashing outward with each hand to neutralise the blow.
I could no longer describe the pattern of Shizuru's attacks. I had to trust my arms to move based on instinct alone, and instead use my brain to think of macro-level tactics.
A lull, of less than a tenth of a second–
I kick a desk at her. The surface flies like a wooden wall, but Shizuru simply bats it aside, with more force than her tiny fist should have been able to muster.
A thrown knife comes for my face like a silver bullet. Tilting my head avoids it with minimal movement, but already, something else now occupied Shizuru's hand.
A gun.
The design registers in my memory, and a network of associations light up. It was a semiautomatic machine gun.
Thank you, Pres.
It fires, and I avoid it.
I fling more tables and chairs at her to interrupt. It was easy. My strength had now solidly left the realm of ordinary human beings.
She was now in the air. Her twintails dance on either side of her head, like golden angel's wings.
The firing path was simple.
–so simple and straightforward, that I couldn't avoid it fully in time.
Bullets graze my thigh. There was pain, but it was dim and distant, like the moon.
I let it be. My blood would not leak. I circulate it normally.
And from my pocket, I take out another secret weapon of my own.
Shizuru shatters the vial of blood thrown at her without hesitation, hitting it with her knife hilt. Somehow, she had gotten yet another knife, and now she was back to having a blade in each hand.
I noted that she didn't bother to avoid it. She must be immune to things like poison or acid, to have faith in such a defence.
But my dispersed lifeblood doesn't just harmlessly splash into the air. I command it with my will.
Expand and shred.
Tiny thorns pierce her hand, and she hisses.
But for a moment there was surprise, and a moment was all I needed.
I close in and slash, and she counters.
I take a deep cut to my front, and she takes a flesh-rending claw to her shoulder.
We end up back on opposite sides of the classroom.
"I'll beat you, Kotarou. I'll defeat you, take you back to Guardian HQ, undo whatever the Key did to you, then rescue your girlfriend for you, and then the both of you can be happy."
"I'll never be happy knowing that the world we live in was built on a lie." Our wills were matched. "I'll defeat you, march into Gaia, rescue Innoway myself, and then we'll reveal the truth of this world."
Shizuru's wounds were already closing, and wisps of strange mists were around her. It seemed that her healing ability was stronger than mine.
I could close my own wounds, but the internal damage would take longer to be mended. In a battle of attrition, I would surely lose.
In this case–
I needed to go on the attack.
And–
I needed to demand a bit more from myself.
I stepped a tiny bit closer to the horizon.
It is as if he knows nothing else.
A demon. He is a demon in Human form.
At all costs, I couldn't become like that.
I wouldn't throw away the future for the sake of the present.
But I couldn't reach the future if I couldn't stake the present as well.
This would have to take more than a single drop.
Two. Three. Four.
Like a ship sailing through troubled waters, with a whirlpool on one side and a sea monster on the other. Like threading thread through the eye of a needle.
The point of no return was distant, but to me it felt dangerously close. Yet, there was no choice but to dance.
My claws, aurora-green and blood-red, shattered on my hands.
"Are you giving up, Kotarou?" Shizuru, eyes me cautiously, waiting for me to make the first move.
"Not in the slightest. In fact–"
The lifeforce in my right hand turns into a sword, a weightless knight's claymore.
And the blood on my left hand forms a dagger–a knife, much like Shizuru's own.
"-all this time you've been letting me rest, I've been figuring out how to beat you!"
With blinding speed I close the distance. The world turns into colour.
Red. Green.
Gold. Silver.
Shizuru was fast. She was a human missile. She bounded off the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the desks, the tables–
–and I chased her.
Hunting–the most dangerous prey.
Climbing my way up the bloody rungs of natural selection.
"Give it a rest already, Kotarou—!"
"Never!"
"Just–let us–help you–!"
"This kind of help isn't what I want!"
She bursts out the door, and I pursue down the corridor.
The flat of my blade already begins turning like a clock's hand before the bullets come flying. Of course she would use a firearm in this linear space.
I fling my dagger of blood at her.
This time, she dodges.
That was the moment of my victory.
My blood makes a sharp turn in the air, and stabs into her side. I will it to become a guillotine blade, a wide half-moon, and Shizuru's mouth opens in a groan of pain.
And the finishing blow–
The flat of my aurora sword slams into her, and she slams into the corridor wall. Her body slides down to the floor, until it looked like she was leaning against it, but by that time, my sword was at her throat. "Checkmate."
She simply glances up at me and exhales. Her breath forms white mist. It curls around me–but a single breath wasn't enough to incapacitate me, and by that time, another tiny drop of life had made me immune.
I crouch down in front of her. "For real, Shizuru. I win."
"Ko…tarou."
"Don't speak. Concentrate on healing yourself."
Yes. Her wounds were already closing. Most of the blood was actually mine, and the way it had splattered made it look much worse than it actually was.
I gently pry the knife from her hand. "And I'll be taking this." Truth be told, I felt slightly light-headed already. I had to ration every single use of my ability from now.
"You're…strong."
"No." I shake my head. "I'm still…very much weak." So weak, and so stupid, that I had to resort to fighting, and hurting my friends.
"You…should take this…" She undoes a strap somewhere on her body. "And this…"
A sheath. And another knife.
"I'm sorry it came to this."
She shakes her head. "Go. I'll…be fine in a bit. But you can't…trust…"
"Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."
The school was now silent.
Where were Hitomi and Lucia?
I head to the corridor that we had entered the other dimension through the last time. Imako's instructions on how to pass through had been clear.
"If you were able to wander in by accident, you can do it on purpose."
"Yo…senpai."
She was lying down on the floor. Her swords were near her hands, but not in them.
"Hitomi!"
"I'm…fine."
In the dim light, I could see bits of paper fall off her as she struggled upright. The hem of her cloak was had also been torn, and strips of the fabric were around her waist, her legs, and her arms–makeshift bandages.
"You…"
"The good news is that the ofuda work." She holds up two halves of a talisman. "The bad news is that I'm out."
"What happened?"
"Lucia-senpai is scary, that's what. But I managed to break her blade and send her running."
"Poison," I suddenly realise. "Are you–"
"No. I don't think that's something she likes using. Actually, I didn't even know that was one of her abilities until Imako-chan brought it up." The tall girl coughed. "Anyway. I dragged the fight all the way here to see if I could somehow drag us both into the other dimension, but it didn't work. But I also found this."
"That's Inoue's paper star." I take it from her fingers. "Half of it. Where's the other half?"
"It's not here."
"Then–wait, why would half be here in the first place? This isn't on the way to the Cultural Hall."
Think, Kotarou! Evolution didn't give humanity brains for nothing!
"She left something behind, which means she wanted us to know she was here." I work out the reason. "But not the whole thing, which means she wants us to look for the other half." The scrap of paper goes into my pocket.
What did I know? The school, Gaia–
"Never mind. I know where to start looking." I look at how exhausted Hitomi was, and decided not to ask her to come along. "You should go rest."
"Can't leave you alone, senpai. Imako wouldn't like it. Neither would Akira-senpai." The tall girl struggles to her feet, and her swords go back into their sheaths. For the first time, I notice the faint engravings on the blades.
"Yuuyake? Asagiri?"
"What?" The superhuman looked startled. "How did you–?"
"The names were right there."
Hitomi glances around. The only light was the pale moonlight, filtering in through the window. "You must have good eyes. Yeah, I named my swords. Evening light and morning mist. I'm surprised you could see those scratches."
I kept my thoughts to myself. I hadn't consciously decided to rewrite my eyesight the past few times. "It suits you," I say, "but you should go back." I hold up a hand. "You don't have any more extra lives. And, unlike me, you can't heal yourself or even close your wounds. If I let anything happen to you, Imako would probably kill me."
When the superhuman still looked like protesting, I pulled out my trump card. "This senpai is telling you to go find Imako and make sure she's fine."
"You can't use the "I'm your senior" reason at a time like this."
"On the contrary, it's at these times where I need it the most." I interrupt her again. "Don't argue. Get more amulets from Imako, and take care of her. I get the feeling whatever she's 'preparing' is going to be on the level of some secret ultimate weapon."
"You know what? I feel the same thing." Hitomi slowly limps away. "Don't die."
"You too."
~~[r]~~
Another view
"A familiar…that holds memories…" Chihaya closed her eyes.
Just like the ones Dad made?
From where Shimako had been playing by herself, the tiny summoner becomes curious, and walks over to Inoue.
The reporter closes her hand before Shimako could make a grab for it, and the little girl makes a noise of some emotion.
"You see, I'm not a summoner." Inoue explains. "I know everything about summoning. The costs, the mechanisms, the contract. But no matter how hard I try, I just can't form one."
"You shouldn't want to be a summoner, Akira-san." Chihaya says sadly. "You shouldn't aim to be one of us."
"I don't." Small hints of frustration begin to show on Inoue's face. "I just don't want to have to rely on someone else to tell me. Please, Chihaya-san."
"Let me see it." The orange-haired girl takes the object from Inoue, then nearly drops it with shock. "Where did you get this?"
What's going on? Why does it feel so much like Sakuya's contract?
"From a storeroom downstairs. What does it say?"
"It's an entire story. Someone's–"
~~[r]~~
In the secret tunnel between Kaza High and Gaia HQ, I could hear a song begin.
One of the things I wanted to include from the very beginning was a Kotarou versus Shizuru fight–a serious one. The original conceptualization of it was a lot different from what ended up being here, but I'm still satisfied with how it turned out.
Shizuru's ability to take away memories makes a happy little coincidental juxtaposition to this fic's reoccurring theme about memory and truth. Someone that still punishes herself over what happened to her family, and who wants little for herself; as one of Rewrite's most beloved characters (perhaps the most beloved), I hope I managed to convey her emotions, her motivations, and her ideological views well.
Chihaya's conversation with Inoue references I'm Telling You, I Hate You, her chapter in the Official Another Story.
Next time: Records of the Harvest Festival, Final Part.
Review please!