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.

As a reminder, names are in eastern name order (family first, followed by given name).

Records of the Harvest Festival, Final

Another view

Already, the moonlight shining on Shinsaibashi Hitomi through the corridor's glass windows was dimming, as grey clouds began to fill the night sky.

Having sank back down on the floor after Kotarou had departed, she looked up at the distant and occluded moon from her horizontal position.

It had been too close a call for it to feel like victory. And yet…

That had been insane. Fighting Lucia-senpai, and escaping within an inch of my life! Her mind boggled with exactly what she had just achieved. Never had she ever won against either of her two seniors–not when they got serious, in any case.

Seriously, how did Kotarou-senpai even win? Shizuru-senpai wouldn't have tried to kill, but even then, she should have been able to disable him easily!

It had been too late, when it all started. Among the two, Lucia was probably the easier opponent for Kotarou, given that she used only a sword, but somehow, Kotarou had survived.

Survived and won, looking not at all tired.

And then there had been that strange sword of his, glowing green-blue, that she had glimpsed right before he had dispelled it.

A sword of moonlight…

The gash in her side throbbed once again, bringing her thoughts back to herself. Hitomi took heart that it could have been worse.

Much, much worse.

If Lucia's last sword strike hadn't been deflected, that stab would definitely have killed her, or, at the very least, put her into a critical condition.

She lifted up her coat and shirt to assess the damage.

Indeed, Imako's talismans were now all torn, broken.

I could replace clothing, but…

Making another grimace, Hitomi peeled off two halves of an ofuda that was now stained with blood. That particular talisman had been placed directly on her skin, slightly to the left of where her sternum was.

The memory of Imako's blushing face, as well as the hesitant, delicate touch of her fingers, came to the forefront of Hitomi's mind, and a feeling of melancholy settled into the superhuman's heart.

If this was something like a familiar, then how much of the summoner's life had she used?

The paper was split neatly into two, as if cut by an extremely sharp pair of scissors. The summoner's careful calligraphy was still legible, though, and Hitomi could make out the writing clearly.

Four characters.

They read sekibetsu no namida, the tears shed during departure–that was, sorrow at the reluctance to part.

So this was the charm? Hitomi turned the halves over in her hands.

Then, she burst out with laughter, hard enough for the wound in her side to hurt once more. "It really was good to find someone with the same interests as yourself, huh?" she mused out loud.

For the talisman's other side held a much more practical statement, written in simple pencil. Two statements, in fact.

Grants one chance to endure when HP reaches zero.

And then, right below–

Oh god, what am I even doing?

The superhuman could almost feel herself smiling as she reread the lines.

"You're too cute, Imako. I don't think I deserve your love, sometimes." With renewed energy, Hitomi slowly returned standing upright. A quick check showed her makeshift bandages were holding.

A shame, though. The cloak really was cool. At least, that was what the Guardian operative thought, even if the rest of her classmates would shun anything Gaia. Maybe it has a nice rugged look now?

As if to reproach her, Kotarou's voice echoed in her head again.

You damn otaku chuunibyou.

Her snort of laugher was only interrupted by the ringing of her mobile phone.

"Oi, Hayabusa! What the hell is going on?"

"End of the world, my friend." The tall girl began to slowly make her way to the exit. "I'd tell you to hide away in your home and avoid any strange creatures, but you're not the type to do so, right?"

"Damn right I'm not. I'll be out hunting some familiars with my brothers."

Hitomi choked. "What?"

"Those creatures. They're called 'familiars'. Have you not seen the article that's been going around?"

"Listen." For once, the cheerful younger girl got serious. "Every single one of them are more dangerous than a wild snake or bear. They can kill you as easily as you can snap your fingers. Don't go around finding trouble. Leave it to the professionals."

There was a pause on the other end. "...like yourself?"

"Yes." No point denying it at this stage.

"Heh. Always knew I couldn't measure up. First Tennouji, now you."

"Don't say that." Already, the aches and pains on her body began to dull as she walked. The courtyard still held the dead body of the summoner, and now the winds overhead began to howl an insistent, ominous elegy. "One of the most capable people I know is a completely normal person. All she has is willpower and a vision for the future, and she's already changing the world."

"Willpower and a vision, huh? I'll keep that in mind." Another pause. "I'm going to go help out around town, then."

"No fighting." Hitomi repeated herself. If her fellow chuunibyou got hurt because of their make-believe, she didn't think she would ever forgive herself.

"You don't have to say it twice. Good luck to you too."

~~[r]~~

Another view

"Lucia."

"Are you alright?"

Shizuru nodded her head yes. "Just resting." A gold eye and a blue eye flicked over Lucia's appearance, noting the presence of gloves, though they were slightly ripped and torn, but the absence of a sword. "Are you hurt? Do you need me to–"

"No." Lucia sighed and helped her longtime friend get to her feet. "Looks like Kotarou was much stronger than we thought."

"The document said he was the last in his class, in the ordinary track." Shizuru looked uncertain. "He said that he regained his memories after Guardian drugged him…"

"Standard procedure for information leaks." Lucia summarised. "But…"

"What do we do, Lucia?" At the moment, the blonde truly looked like her physical self: tiny, and vulnerable. "I don't want to fight him or Akira. But I don't want to fight against Guardian…and my family…"

The class representative had an equally troubled look on her face. Her fists clenched into balls, and, in as much as she wanted to embrace her friend at this very moment, she still could not bring herself to initiate the human contact.

"The Key isn't human, Hitomi!"

"I've been into the depths of Gaia! I've seen familiars that hold memories! I've seen the Key itself, and it's just a scared little girl!"

"So you're a traitor? That outward appearance is just a lie! It's still going to destroy the world!"

"It's only because it can't find good memories!"

"We can't leave the fate of the world to one girl's whims!"

"Are you saying that because it might destroy the world, it needs to be killed? That it's not worthy of even trying to be saved?"

Lucia shook herself. She knew her sword had struck her kouhai true, but it had rebounded off…something.

And then, her blade had broken in her hands.

"We'll figure something out," she said eventually. "Let's just go report to Touka…and tell her that Gaia has the Key."

~~[r]~~

Another view

It had taken a while, but Inoue Akira, genius high-school reporter, was beginning to feel fear.

Fear, in the serious, all-encompassing sense. To her, it felt like being trapped in an ominous fog, or being squeezed by a giant, invisible hand.

Senri Akane had not acquiesced to her bargain, but neither had she tried to kill her again. Nor did it look like she was going to be tortured, or anything of the sort. Not much else had been said on her journey from her home to Gaia's HQ.

However, any snappy words that she thought she might have said to Akane had died in her throat, when she had next reappeared from her bedroom.

The girl who held the epithet of "Witch" was clearly not herself, and worse, Inoue knew exactly why that was the case.

From a somewhat pleasant conversation with Ootori Chihaya, she had been escorted, silently, through the labyrinths of Gaia's HQ, with Kagari by her side.

The Key by her side.

The ribbons binding her left arm had been comforting at first, but now they felt like shackles, in more than a single sense.

All the secrets of the world…

Imako had called her a curious cat, and now she was in over her head.

Look at it this way, a voice in her head whispered. In two years you won't be a genius high school reporter any longer. Isn't it good that you're exposing a scoop this big?

The scent of sterility, of cleaning chemicals, entered her nose, and soon she knew why.

In front of her was a hospital bed, in a ward for a single occupant.

Though the woman looked frail and physically diminished, she could still feel her gaze on her, like the sun.

Behind her, the sound of quiet footsteps told her the Disciples were lining up, arranging themselves in formation.

Akane was exchanging quiet words with the old lady.

"Grandmother", huh? Must be adoptive, since Akane was from the House of Ties. Wait, does that mean…

"Come, Inoue Akira." The president of the Occult Club beckoned her over, and she stepped forward.

Or tried to. Her feet wouldn't move.

Yep. I'm definitely feeling scared.

This single old lady terrified her more than anything else she had faced so far. More than any rabid summoner, more than any of the familiars with their many ways to kill her.

She tried again. Her feet came free.

With careful steps, she approached Kashima Sakura's bedside.

"A journalist, are you?"

"Yes." She couldn't lie. Not to this person. Any deception would probably be detected in an instant.

"You broke into our archives?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I wanted to know the truth. Of this world. Of the supernatural."

"The truth, you say?" The purple eyes of Kashima Sakura, so different from those of Kagari, bored into her. "You are wasting your time digging for it. It is not so complicated. How about you take a guess, child?"

Inoue opened her mouth to speak, and her voice cracked before she could give an answer.

But she already knew what the Holy Woman of Gaia, reincarnated a myriad lifetimes, would think. "Despair?"

"Suffering." Kashima Sakura answered. "Pain. That is the ultimate truth. Where there exists humanity, where there exists life, there exists suffering. That is why everything must be put to an end. That is why it is called 'Salvation'."

That's not true! Inoue wanted to shout. There are things worth living for! There's no need to go that far!

But against the overwhelming presence before her, her retort died in her throat.

"Akane says you want to be a summoner," the old woman continued, "but you don't have the ability."

"Yes."

Again came that stare.

"You know naught of true despair. You are not even on the level of being discontent with your life. While you do not pursue summoning for earthly desires, there is no doubt that you only see it as a means to an end."

"I just want to know the truth." Inoue repeated. Her voice was shaky, but she could speak.

"And you brought the Key with you here, to bargain." Kashima Sakura's expression came close to being a cruel smile. "The Key, which has acknowledged you, an ordinary human being. How very fascinating."

There was a pause, in which Inoue could give no reply, but only wait for the verdict to come.

"I'll allow it." The old crone eventually made a gesture, and devotees immediately rushed to her side. "Come with us, and report away. Perhaps you may learn something, in our final moments."

~~[r]~~

There was no light at the end of the secret tunnel.

Only a dusty door. A very dusty, and study-looking door. It reminded me of the bank vaults I had seen in movies.

"Locked. Of course."

But I didn't need a key.

A wedge, a thin version of my aurora blade, goes into the gap between door and doorframe.

I turn, and I will.

The door and the doorframe explode in a cloud of dust and a clatter of falling books. Beyond was an elegant-looking study…and a familiar orange-haired girl.

"Yo."

A familiar orange-haired girl hefting an entire couch, ready to attack me.

"Kotarou! How are you–" She shakes her head. "No! Akane's gone weird! She took Akira-san and the Key and went off somewhere!"

'Akira-san', huh? They must have gotten along. "Where?"

"I don't know!"

I check the rooms. Bedroom. Nothing. Bathroom–nothing. The study–

My eyes fly towards a familiar gaming laptop on the desk. It was Pres'.

These were the private quarters of the Holy Woman? No, the Holy Woman was still Kashima Sakura. These were the rooms of the Successor?

"Where's Shimako, Chihaya?"

"Eh? How do you know about Shimako?"

"Just answer the question."

"She went with Akane."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I cast my eyes around one last time. "Where's the exit? I need to get to the lower levels."

To that tree, which was my only clue.

Shimako had thought it was important enough to show to me. I didn't know for sure, but I think, maybe, that Akane might have rubbed off on her.

And Kashima Sakura too. All those years ago, she had caught on to my true nature, or at least a fraction of what it was at the time.

Familiarity.

"I'm not sure, but this is the way back to the main hall!"

I took off running. There was no time to waste.

I could still hear the song.

It urges me forward.

"Where's Sakuya?" I demand. "Shouldn't he be by your side at a time like this?"

"He's…"

"Chihaya, I already know he's your familiar, and that he's the strongest familiar in Gaia."

"What?"

"Come to think of it, he was born from a cherry tree, right? Is that why you like cherries so much?"

"How–Wha–" She stops speaking for a moment, her mouth opening and closing like a fish."This is why I hate you, Kotarou!"

"Bullseye on everything, huh?" Despite the severity of the situation, I found myself grinning.

"I don't like to admit this, but yes! And look out!"

I didn't really need the warning. One of Shizuru's combat knives, laced with my lifeforce, was enough to cut down the wolf familiars, and with my fist, I apply just enough force to knock the two red-cloaked summoners out cold.

"So you're really a superhuman…" Chihaya speaks with dismay. "That's how you saved Akira in the forest."

"She told you, huh? I hope she also left in the part that I'm not Guardian. Well, not any more. Long story." I wave her off. "Besides, you seem to be a superhuman yourself. That strength of yours isn't normal."

It really hadn't been.

It was incredible to look back on my experiences of the past months and realise just how many oddities I hadn't really taken seriously in retrospect.

Chihaya's strength. Lucia's obsession with cleanliness, and her gloves. Shizuru's eyepatch. That time Kotori had made a sprout grow in a pot with only fake flowers. How Akane somehow had her own room with so many amenities, and never showed up for classes, and never seemed to even get in trouble for not showing up.

Because I was desperate to find somewhere I belonged. Because I wanted nothing but to take back my youth.

I surrounded myself with ignorance and stagnation, and blindly hoped everything would be fine. I closed my eyes.

Now I would open them.

"It's just a side effect of my contract with Sakuya." Chihaya sounded slightly defensive.

"That man sure is convenient."

You remind me of my destiny.

That was what he had once said.

Surely, then, he was like me.

My predecessor. Someone from a previous human civilization.

All those adventures the Occult Club had gone on. Everything that had been explained away.

How many of those instances had actually been real? How many times had we accidentally come close to finding the truth?

"Where did you get that?"

From my pack, which I had somehow retrieved and held on to, I had taken out the stolen Gaian robe and put it on.

"The laundry room," I grinned. "Thought it would be a good idea if I ever needed to sneak around Gaia."

"You and Akira-san have been up to a lot, haven't you?"

"When all this is over, Innoway will probably have an article out. You can read it then."

We turn more corridors. The furnishings become less elaborate, and I knew we were on the right track. Soon, we entered the familiar corridor of the basement research labs.

"I've only been down here once or twice." Chihaya says. She sounded hesitant.

Section Chief Ootori. I decided not to bring up possible bad memories, and instead tried another question. "Tell me about Saku–look out!"

Vines lashed out at me like deadly ribbons. I pushed Chihaya aside, dodged effortlessly, and then cut down the appendages myself. In another moment, the modified treant, with its strange crown of white flowers, had been bisected, and was already turning into dust.

Research and development, Imako had called it.

I found myself clenching my jaw. At least we had known about Krivoy Rog, or that a familiar known as Krivoy Rog, had existed before we set off.

Down here, who knew what new and dangerous familiars the researchers of Gaia had created?

Sakuya passed for a normal human being unless you were looking out for the signs. Imako's familiar just looked like a butterfly, but it let her do some fearsome things.

"You're an imposter, aren't you?"

A familiar voice. It was the man from the other time–Imako's acquaintance.

"Mitsugashira-san, was it?"

"You remember my name?" His tone was of surprise. "A hunter, right in our midst. Well, I suppose I can understand the girl's feelings…but this is Salvation."

I froze. "What do you know?"

"It's close. Can't you hear the song? It is the song of the Earth itself, ready to accept us as we return to it."

I pounce for him, and, almost as if he had been expecting it, three hounds appear out of thin air, converging on me in response. My blade of aurora light whirls around in a circle, eliminating all of them at once, and my left hand forces a knife to the man's throat. "Tell me what you know. Tell me about the tree."

He looks at me placidly, with irritating calm. "I only work on animals. I don't know anything about plants. And if Tanuma saw fit to bring you all the way in here, you probably already know about Salvation. More about it than me, I'd wager." His eyes flick down, and then back up. "Why don't you end it for me right here? I'm your enemy, aren't I?"

"Not quite." I knock the man out cold, and let him down gently. "Don't gape," I say to the open-mouthed Chihaya. "Let's go. And I need your help."

"I don't think I can help you, Kotarou," Chihaya says.

I throw open the door to the mysterious tree. "You're a summoner, right? A talented one? Tell me what this is. If it's a door, tell me where it leads."

Chihaya places her hand on the trunk. Her expression morphs to one I rarely saw on her face–concentration. "It's an 'observer'. It's supposed to act as a gate to and from the other dimension."

That was basically what Imako had said. An otherdimensional emergency shelter.

"Kotarou, I can sense a lot of other summoners contracted with this." Chihaya continued worriedly. "With this many active contracts, it might act up at any moment."

The people that wanted to start Salvation wouldn't be hiding in there.

No, they would be out in the world.

What if Shimako had wanted to show me this so I could hide and survive? One last act of kindness?

"Damn it." I cursed.

Kindness was not what I needed. People protecting me was not what I needed.

To get what I wanted, I had to go beyond the realm of safety.

I turn back to Chihaya.

This was a waste of time. We needed to get back to ground level.

…was what I wanted to say, before the tree, true to the summoner's prediction, came to life with green light, and whisked us both away.

~~[r]~~

Another view

Kanbe Kotori sat on a comfortable wooden chair in the forest, absentmindedly stroking Chibimoth.

There was nothing more left for her to do, nor did she want to do anything more.

The Key had long detached herself from her care, even though it had been her sole duty had been to protect it.

Kotarou, too, was no longer around.

As of fifteen minutes ago, a song that she had never heard before but instantly recognised began sounding in her head, and she decided to just…stop doing everything.

She didn't even bother standing when the border pinged to indicate the trespass of a single individual.

"So, I was right after all, huh?"

The speaker was a girl with a voice on the low side. She had black, square-framed glasses on her face, a dirty-green beanie on her head of slightly faded black hair.

What stood out, however, were the robes. Kotori recognised them as Gaian, having had some familiarity due to being around Martel in her childhood, but they had always been either red or black.

Not white.

"A dead zone, hiding a power spot, and…"

In the girl's hands was a tree branch, decorated with knots and ribbons of white paper.

No.

It couldn't be recognised as that any longer.

At the top, the wood curled into a 'C", and there was a white flower at its tip which vaguely put in mind a lantern. At the bottom, it tapered off into an end which made it look like a tuber or rhizome.

A staff.

The girl looked at it. "...the birthplace of the Key, at that. We always knew that it was somewhere around here, but…"

"Who are you?" For the first time, Kotori spoke.

"You're the summoner that made this place?" The girl's brown eyes met her green pair. "Well, I suppose names don't matter at this stage," she eventually said. "I'm Tanuma Imako."

"Kanbe Kotori."

"Ah." To Kotori, it seemed as if a lot rested on that single syllable. "Are you the one maintaining this place? There's no others here?"

"Yes, I'm taking care of this place. And I'm alone."The only summoner, at least. If the other girl made a move, Chibimoth would take her out in an instant. She was well aware how tactically unsound it was to admit no other people were around, but she no longer cared. "Are you with Gaia?" Kotori finished.

"Not quite. But I'm a summoner like you."

"Alone?"

A smirk rose on the face of the glasses-wearing girl. "I guess you can say…I'm with the Inoue Akira faction." Kotori flinched for a moment, and Imako pressed on. "So you do know her, and Kotarou as well, probably."

At her distress, Chibimoth bounded up to her master's legs. "Mosu."

"Your familiar, I'm guessing. A dog…" Imako adjusted her glasses. "No. A mammoth. Perceptual interference? That's not really a Gaia technique."

"I'm a druid." Undoubtedly, if Kotarou were here, he would say that, at the moment, Tanuma looked more like a druid than she did.

"Interesting. Maybe we can talk more when all this is over. I'd love to learn some new techniques." Imako began walking towards the base of a tree that was faintly glowing green.

"What are you doing?"

The glasses girl paused in her steps. "Sorry. I need to borrow something of yours for a moment."

"That's the–"

"I know." Imako spun around, faced Kotori straight-on. "Are you going to stop me? I won't hold back in a fight."

"...why?" Kotori eventually asked. There were many other questions, but all of them stemmed from this single one.

"Because I need power." Satisfied that she wasn't going to be attacked, Imako walked right up the the pool of Aurora, and dipped the base of the staff in. Ribbons of faint green immediately began to wrap around it. "Power enough to end this. Power enough to face the strongest familiars that Gaia possesses." She looked back over her shoulder, at a watching Kotori. "And power enough to protect the three idiots risking themselves right now."

Before long, the whole staff started to glow a faint green, suffusing Imako in the same ghostly light. "Keh," she snorted to herself. "If this works, I may actually be the greatest summoner alive."

"..." Kotori simply watched in silence.

"Hey, Kanbe. From one summoner to another, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you hate the world?"

"Of course." Kotori answered immediately. "How could I not?"

She had, after all, suffered immensely. From being friendless due to her giftedness, to having lost her parents at a young age, to having to have to shoulder the burden of being a druid all alone, and now, to having the only boy she had ever felt any affection for be stolen from right under her, even if she could never bring herself to make a move.

How could she not? It took a person with a certain type of strength to to not hate the world if they were thrown in her position. And while Kotori had been strong enough to keep smiling all this time, she was also terribly weak, in many other ways.

"Don't worry. You're not the only one. Besides, I think if you really were attached to the world, you wouldn't be able to give up your life. To form a contract with a familiar."

"Maybe."

The mistletoe had chosen her, after all. Revealed the secrets of summoning to her, in both a blessing and a curse.

Had it grasped at her true nature?

But," Imako continued, "this sorry world is the only one that the people I love live in, so I have no choice but to protect it. How stupid this whole thing is."

The summoner ended her monologue with a self-depreciating grin, and lifted her staff from the pool ."Nice to meet you, Kanbe. I probably have no right to give you, or anyone, advice, but…I hope you're not just going to sit here, waiting for the end to come."

"Tanuma–"

"Well, see you around."

With those words, Imako vanished, leaving only fluttering leaves and a faint breeze behind.

Slowly, the first drops of rain began to fall.

~~[r]~~

Another view

"Hamada-san!"

"Run!" The girl shouted to her friend. "Get out of here!"

There was no time to worry about why strange were in the city and attacking everyone. She just needed to run.

But where could she run to?

"Over here!" A voice called, and she headed for it without hesitation. "Wait for it…now!"

"Go…to…hell!" A chorus of voices shouted in English, and a crowd of young men, with various makeshift weapons, descended on the dog that was chasing her.

"Are you all right?" The young man who had called to her addressed her.

"Yes." Michiko simply looked dumbstruck at the scene of the mob beating up the dog. "Um, my friend is still out there! We're not from Kazamatsuri. We came here for the festival, so she might be lost…"

"Got it. We'll help you find her. What does she look like?"

Hamada Michiko described her friend. "Wait! What's your name?"

"He's the King!" One of the thugs who had saved her shouted.

"Shut up, Fuyukiba! You take three people and go search for Hamada-san's friend. Rally back here."

"Got it, boss."

The young man turned back to Michiko. "Sorry about that. I'm Yoshino. Yoshino Haruhiko. Just an ordinary citizen."

Michiko looked at the long metal pole the man was holding as a weapon. It glinted in the faint moonlight. "What's going on, Yoshino-san?"

"Look up the Bonfire Document. It'll tell you everything you need to know."

~~[r]~~

Another view

"Contact lost with Charlie and Delta teams!"

"Retreat from those sectors! Fall back into the city!" Imamiya bit back a curse as he relayed instructions, his mood as dark as the clouds over Kazamatsuri.

It wasn't enough that Gaia had escalated the conflict from "few skirmishes here and there" to "full-scale war", no–they had the temerity to do it just when it was his turn to get some R&R.

What a pain in the ass.

"Imamiya, report." Esaka's baritone was to the point.

"Sir! We're being routed here, here, and here." The redhead gestured to the various sectors on the screen. "There's also reports of airborne familiars."

"Birds?"

"Dinosaurs. Gaia's sending their strongest. Into the open, too."

"This is bad news. If Gaia's abandoned restraint to this extent, that means–"

There was a rapid clicking of heels, and the door to the command room burst open once more. "Imamiya! Send word that Gaia is in possession of the Key!"

Imamiya's expression morphed into a scowl. "Are you serious?"

Nishikujou ignored the rhetorical question. "And move Tennouji Kotarou to full 'wanted' status. Shinsaibashi Hitomi too."

"What? Why?"

"He fought Shizuru and won."

"You're screwing with me. Are you sure Shizuru-chan wasn't just going easy on him?"

"You know how good of a fighter she is. She still should have won easily, and yet…" Nishikujou continued her report. "The both of them–Tennouji and Shinsaibashi–seemed to be trying to get into Gaia's HQ through the school. And the summoner that they all encountered was boasting that the Key was already in Gaia's possession. The only good news is that the summoner is dead, and the named annihilation-class familiar that he was using is gone."

"Tennouji…I see." Esaka was contemplative. What did you witness? What did you learn?

What have you finally found, that you would fight so hard for?

~~[r]~~

Another view

Light flashed down from the heavens, but they were not blessings of any sort.

On the ground, the summoner known as Tenjin stood, his face impassive.

He had been given one final order: to eliminate Guardian.

That was it.

There were no particulars. No locations. No specifics.

Just carte blanche to kill, out in the open, right in the middle of the city.

He exhaled.

He did not possess Tenma's rage, nor Midou's insanity, but, as with all summoners, he had the same longing for the world to end.

Now, with an ancient song in his ears, he felt a semblance of peace–an emotion he had not come close to since he had been a very young child, in a harsh country far, far away from Japan.

At his command, Kilimanjaro effortlessly struck down the Guardian agents bearing down upon him. Overhead, the pouring rain and the clouded sky were both a blessing and a curse, weighing his familiar down while yet obscuring it.

"Divine retribution…"

The words barely came to his mouth when he abruptly felt his familiar…die.

It had been cleaved into two by an incredible force.

"The…Key?"

As he fell into unconsciousness, he noticed a girl.

White robes. A wooden staff.

A green, woollen hat.

Tanuma Imako walked forwards, her steps careful and deliberate.

In the wind and the rain…

…she alone was dry, her robes still.

Her head turned in the direction of the Observer tree, which now was more an observatory.

A voice which was not hers spoke. "I had hoped for a rematch, but clearly, that is no longer possible."

She did not reply, nor acknowledge it in any way whatsoever.

She continued to take another step forward, and then another, her trainers scuffing on the rough surface of the road.

An attack sliced through the air, and she effortlessly parried it, batting it away. Finally, she turned her attention to the other person there with her.

"So, Gaia's strongest familiar has come, huh?" She had anticipated, not this exact scenario, but something similar.

Such a dense concentration of power at a single spot would not go unnoticed.

There was a suggestion of fluttering black clothes and bandages, and then Ohtori Sakuya was standing at the end of the overpass. "Indeed. What is it you intend to achieve, having accumulated that much power?"

Imako glanced up momentarily, pushed up her glasses with a single finger.

Then, she looked back forward, and carried on walking without a further word.

"Summoner–"

"I'm not answerable to the likes of you, you abject failure." The water repelled from her skin splashed on the tarmac. "You show up now, only now, and demand answers?" Imako's head tilted backwards, a derisive stare in her eyes.

In an instant, Sakuya vanished–

Space-rending attacks gouged out lines to Imako's left and right.

"Like I thought. Pathetic." Imako snorted, and carried on walking. "Honestly, of all the people involved in this entire affair, your face might be the one I hate the most."

Long before she had been approached by Inoue and Kotarou, she had, as with many others, witnessed the more public antics of the Occult Club.

She recalled a handsome young man, walking through the corridors of Kaza High, turning the heads of every girl–almost every girl. She recalled how he had behaved towards Tennouji Kotarou, how he had treated someone whom he had thought ignorant.

And she recalled the lore of humanoid familiars, the legendary type of which had only been observed only a few other times in history, the most prominent of which were incarnations of the Key.

And she recalled all the tiny bits and pieces of Gaia's history that had been present in that storage room, all hints to a bigger picture.

Every action, an equal and opposite reaction…

"You have immense amounts of power, and you do nothing, only playing at being a butler and being Gaia's lapdog. You put on a face of superiority and look down on others, only throwing harsh words from afar."

Imako's head tilted at an angle, looking backwards.

But by then Sakuya had already vanished. He was now in front of the summoner, his hand descending downwards–

–and he found himself lying in a pile of rubble. Bits of crumbling concrete detached itself from the building he had been blown into, and landed with a thud next to his legs.

"That was a test, was it?" Imako's tone was acid. "What a stupid waste of life energy, especially when Salvation is at hand." She flicked her staff outwards, clearing dust from her presence. "The ability of rewrite was wasted on the likes of you. For all his faults, Tennouji Kotarou is a hundred times the man you are."

From where he lay, Sakuya said nothing. There was nothing to be said.

"In fact," Imako continued, "how dare you? How dare you only show up, in this place, at this time, and dare to interfere at all? How dare you think yourself to have the right at all? For all of the many other things you could have done, in the whole of your second chance at life, this was the path you chose?"

Her footsteps resumed. "Stay down and don't meddle, human of the past. We're going to right all the wrongs that have been committed."

~~[r]~~

There was no time to be nostalgic over the familiar sight of the City of Stone, not when you had been deposited right in the middle of a pack of familiars.

Every single reptilian eye had turned to stare at us in an instant, and then they had attacked.

Honestly?

After Shizuru, a pack of dinosaurs were easy.

Routine–but my life could still be gone in a second, so I still had to pay attention.

When the dust had settled, I gave Chihaya a quick glance. She had uprooted a lamppost, or at least an imitation of one, and had used it as a…polearm? A battering ram? Every single one of the Occult Club members were monsters in their own way, it seemed.

"Good job, team." I let my blades disperse into the air. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"For a moment, I thought…" Chihaya shook her head. "No, never mind."

"Say it." I wasn't going to let this go. "It might be important."

"For a moment, I thought you were Sakuya."

I glance around the plaza. It was empty, for now. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know! There was just this…familiar feeling, somehow."

"I think it's time you tell me more about your butler."

My eyes continue to dart around for a way out. The City of Stone's physical location in the real world corresponded to the forest. That meant we had to find a way back that didn't rely on distance in the real world.

"He's been around for a long time," Chihaya says. "I've had my contract with him since…since I was young. But he's never said a lot about what he knows."

"And I'd bet he knows more than he lets on," I mutter darkly. "You know the way back?"

"I've never been here before either!" The orange-haired girl seemed mildly cross. While I looked around carefully again, half-considering whether to just run all the way back on my already rewritten legs, Chihaya approached me again. "Kotarou."

"What is it?"

"What exactly did you and Inoue get up to?" Chihaya demands. "Did you know she told me she wanted to learn summoning to read this? Do you even know what this is?"

I glance at the small piece of coral Chihaya held out to me. "It's a familiar that holds memories."

"Where did you even get this?"

"In Gaia's archives. We were looking for more information on Gaia's past. On how summoning works." I pause. "And on the Key and the Holy Woman."

I had passed the stage of panic or self-reproach. All I had to do was to get Inoue back.

I take the coral from Chihaya–

"Warning: Overgrowth protocol in effect. All personnel, prepare for dimensional merger. Camellia and Chestnut groups, stand by. Repeat: Overgrowth protocol in effect. All personnel, prepare for dimensional merger. Camellia and Chestnut groups, stand by."

The unpleasant tingle crawling on my skin was a feeling like static electricity, and I barely had time to curse as I was once again forcibly teleported–

–right into a battle in the real world.

Information entered my visual cortex through my eyes: we were right outside Kazamatsuri City Library, and the Guardian combatants in this particular skirmish were the Bayern Knights. Fresh sensations were also on my skin: the distinct wetness of rain, which had begun after my second break-in to Gaia, and the whisper of displaced air, indicating a thrown axe-blade.

Right. I was still wearing the red robe.

And, judging by the trajectory, if I simply moved out of the way, the most expedient solution, it would be Chihaya that would get cut in two.

"As Yoshino would put it: what a pain in the ass!"

A flash of aurora green deflected the flying axe, sending it skyward, and I forcibly grabbed Chihaya and dashed away.

"What do you think you're doooooooing?!"

"Shut up shut up! There's not much time left!"

Two hundred metres away, I put her down and seized her by the shoulders. "Call Sakuya and tell him to come protect you. I need to go save Inoue." And Kagari too, if she's still herself.

"But–!"

I didn't stay to listen. As much as I didn't like leaving my friend alone, I couldn't save everyone. Besides, there were people more defenseless than someone who had super strength and was the master of Gaia's strongest familiar.

I wasn't a hero.

Just a soldier for one person. One cause.

"I, too, was once called useless in the past."

I remember a conversation long ago, with Esaka.

"The qualities required of a soldier are different than that required of a hero. Superhumans are arrogant beings. They want to be heroes, but I trained myself to be a soldier."

I had limits to what I could do. But that didn't mean I couldn't do anything.

You just needed to find the small point where a little change makes a lot of result.

Just like how Inoue's scoop was going to change the world.

A tiny pebble that changes the course of a river.

A tiny spark that sets the forest ablaze.

A tiny flap of a butterfly's wings that stirs the storm.

I remember my roots. My ability as a superhuman.

I was a Polluter-type.

It wasn't flashy, but with a bit of resourcefulness, I could go toe-to-toe with anyone.

"To think…my way out of anything. I've always liked…that sort of character."

The memory of Inoue's modest voice spurs me on, and I speed up. With the current state of my body, I could outrun a subway train.

Once again, I take to the rooftops.

And that is when I see it.

The giant tree that was now in the middle of Kazamatsuri's park.

My eyes make out the details even this far away, even in the downpour.

There were observation platforms on the top, and tiny dots that were people.

Without hesitation, I pivot on the ball of my foot, and change course in a dead-angle turn.

I land back into the shopping street, an easier path to run down.

That's when I hear the scream.

Two velociraptors near that flower shop. It would take no time, and barely any life at all.

Simple and effective use of force.

A knife each into the neck takes them out, and I register a familiar face. One of Inoue's friends. "Yuuka?"

"Tennouji!" The dark-green-haired girl exclaims. "Akira–the Bonfire–Salvation–"

"I'm on my way to save Akira." I speak calmly. "Did you guys really release everything? Has anyone come after you? I know that Guardian–the superhumans–know about this by now."

Yuuka shakes her head. "We did, and nobody came after us. I don't think people, especially adults, even believed the Document at first–"

"What?" If that was that case, then what was the point of all this?

"-until we made a few adjustments." She shows me her screen, with video footage of me fighting a familiar black dog. "There's also one of Tamako doing a live demonstration of making and getting a familiar to move, but–"

"Damn it. We told her to not use summoning." Yeah, and then Inoue went right into Gaia's HQ and demanded to be taught from the grand masters themselves. So much for being consistent.

"Neither the President nor I could get it to work, but we already knew it was one of those things that had to be seen to be believed," she went on. "Not that it matters after this." She waved a hand at the remains of the dinosaurs, which were now tiny clumps of grey sludge in a roadside puddle.

"Yeah, we knew that," I say grudgingly. "Just stay indoors. And thanks for the help."

"You take care. And get Akira back. Don't let this be one of those stories where the reporter dies in the line of fire."

"I'll do it."

No room for trying. No room for failure.

Gunfire. Screams. Shouts. Roars.

The rain.

I filter out unnecessary noise, leaving only sounds relevant to me.

The cry of an airborne dinosaur as it descends upon me. I cut it down.

Rifle bullets from armoured Guardian agents. They skirt my knees, and I leap forwards and cut them down as well.

A hero would have made sure to not kill humans.

I wasn't a hero.

The stone sign with the words "Kazamatsuri City Park" came into view, even as the song in my head grew more intense.

Somehow, I could feel it, that Kagari was still holding on. The world had not yet been pushed to the point of no return.

But even the blind and deaf could tell that there was not much time left. Already, the storm overhead felt like the world was ending. Water stung my eyes, and I was soaked to the bone.

Even in this state, I could still sense a familiar prickle on my skin. Projectile weapons.

Projectiles more deadly than any arrow, dart, or bullet.

These purple blurs were killing intent itself, honed to literally superhuman levels.

I could not run from such an opponent, who would simply take my exposed back as a target.

No choice but to stand and fight, huh?

"Yo, Nishikujou." I grin and wave. "Long time no see."

Next time: "Records of Salvation".

The long journey finally comes to an end.

Review please!