Date A Re:Live
S3 Chapter 63: Mukuro Quasar, Part 6
By : Tohka_Yatogami
...
Summary
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?" (Stronger Ratatoskr, weaker DEM, games & movie are canon to story) [Shido/Tohka/Harem]
OK, before I do anything else... I forgot to say the arc emotion, again! Why do I keep doing that!? *sighs* OK, let's fix that up before anything else, the arc emotion is "Passion" since with Mukuro's emotions unlocked, we have the opposite of apathy as passion means to strongly feel emotion. If any Spirit is passionate about something, then I'd say the seriousness Mukuro has about love more than qualifies.
Well, here we are, Volume 15's infamous moment with Mukuro where she decides to essentially lock out Shido's existence from everyone's memories except her own. However, I'll say doing the exact same thing would pretty much make the rest of this arc go the same way Volume 15 did in canon, so there's a twist involved to avoid that. I'll have more to say at the end notes after it happens, but you'll see it soon enough.
Either way, now Shido has to try and get through to Mukuro and seal her powers without her finding out, otherwise she might lock his ability to seal Spirits or make herself unable to be sealed. Needless to say, right now Shido is... what's the idiom again? "Walking on Eggshells" I believe, then again considering Mukuro's level of strength, I think the eggshells might be a mine field in this case 0_0
Now to answer a guest review: "Yeah, Nia and Kurumi might be the only two Spirits in canon that could have a chance due to their powers, so that would mean Nia got two reasons to be nerfed aside from what her Angel could have revealed before it should be. Even then, I'd say they'd need to be stealthy and lucky for it to work because of major reason... if Mukuro could prevent Shido's Haniel from becoming Michael, she might be able to lock a Spirit's powers."
"If she truly does have the ability to do that, then we're really lucky that Mukuro never thought about actually using it against Inverse Tohka, otherwise she would have killed her before Shido could stop it. No matter how strong Kurumi is, it means nothing if she can't use her powers. *sighs* Aw man, I really wish a fight with Mukuro and Kurumi with their powers unsealed could have happened, but now the chances of that are pretty unlikely if they aren't zero."
Alright, that's it for today's start notes. Now it's time to buckle up and get this show on the road! You can do this Shido!
From the top of a building in Tenguu City, Mukuro's eyes shook as she held Michael close.
"I... can't lose him, I... mustn't lose him... I can't risk him around anyone else. I must... make sure he won't leave me, I don't want... to lose him." Mukuro panicked.
[Uh... Mukuro, I think maybe you need to calm down a bit.]
"Michael, there's no choice... I need to use it." Mukuro stated.
Michael showed surprise at that.
[Mukuro, are you sure? I can't remember, but I swear we tried this once before... and it didn't go well.]
"I have, to I... I don't want to lose him!" Mukuro cried.
[Alright... no matter what happens, I'll stay by your side. Do what you think you have to.]
Mukuro nodded and raised Michael into the air.
"...SEGVA - LOCK!"
Michael glowed as a wave of golden-yellow Reiryoku shot across the city, and phased through everyone unseen as the effects of Michael's locking ability applied its affects in what would soon be a particularly troublesome way.
~December 24, 2051
As his alarm clock went off, Shido groaned as he pulled the covers off him and slammed his hand on it. He sighed as he got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Once he walked in, the sight of Rinne trying to cook was seen before she noticed her son.
"Oh! Hey Shido, you woke up just in time for my special Christmas Eve Break-Ah!" Rinne smiled.
Rinne noticed the pancakes she was making starting to give off slight smokes signs, and quickly flipped them over before they went past barely singed and became outright burned. She sighed in relief at her save.
Shido chuckled at his mother's struggle with cooking.
"Mom, no offense, but I think you should stick with a microwave." Shido joked.
"Mu... Shido, that's not funny. This is the first Christmas Eve we've ever spent together." Rinne pouted playfully.
Tohka soon rushed out into view, smelling the pancakes and drooling slightly.
"I smell pancakes, where are they!?" Tohka begged.
"Calm down Tohka, I'm still making them... and trying not to burn them." Rinne chuckled embarrassingly.
Soon the other all walked out of their rooms and joined the kitchen, Macaron soon stretched before walking by, looking at Shido oddly like he was seeing a stranger before hiding behind Kurumi in fear.
"Huh? What's wrong Macaron, do you hear something?" Kurumi asked.
"It is Christmas Eve, so there's probably already a few festive sounds going on outside he hears but we don't." Mana guessed.
"Hmm... I guess that could be possible, I hope he'll be OK for the rest of today and tomorrow if that's the case." Kurumi replied.
Kurumi picked up her kitty and pet him, trying to help relax him.
Mana smiled a bit, soon looking outside.
"You know, this Christmas seems like it'll be the best one yet. It was always me, Shido and Kotori most of the time, and now we have all of you, my little sister Rio and mom. Oh, I don't wanna forget Aunt Reine either... the only thing that would make it better is if they were both here." Mana said sadly.
"Mana..." Rinne whispered.
Rinne saw that look in her eyes, she and Shido both have it so often, even Rio occasionally gave a glimpse of the feeling. Seigo and Isamu... even she wanted them both to somehow come back, to hold Seigo in her arms again and see Reine smile at her greatest wish being realized.
Marina soon noticed something about the pancakes.
"Rinne, better take the pancakes off in the next few seconds or they'll start burning." Marina mentioned.
"Huh? Oh no, crap!" Rinne exclaimed.
Rinne barely managed to get the pancakes on the plate in time, sighing in relief.
Soon enough, everyone began enjoying the Christmas Tree shaped pancakes that Rinne had struggled to make. Not to long after everyone was seated, a knock was heard on the door.
"Who is it?" Rinne asked.
"It's me, Reine." Reine answered.
"Come in." Rinne replied.
Reine soon opened the door, soon walking in.
"Rinne, do you think I could get your advice about-" Reine asked.
Suddenly she looked at Shido, tilting her head confused.
"Anyone wanna tell me who this boy is?" Reine asked.
Everyone suddenly looked at Reine like she went crazy, while Shido did a spit take on himself and Mayuri choked on a piece of pancake as she tried to hit it out or properly swallow it.
"OK, real funny joke there Reine. Now what did you need to ask me?" Rinne asked.
"No seriously, who is this boy? I've never seen him before." Reine answered honestly.
A vein formed on Mana's head.
"Aunt Reine, that's not funny anymore. You aren't fooling anyone. You of all people would know my big brother, so stop with the odd Christmas humor." Mana requested.
"I'm not kidding, and what do you mean brother? You know very well Rio's your only sibling." Reine stated.
The next thing Reine knew, Rinne had suddenly grabbed her by the collar as she and everyone else but Shido (who had just gone white and frozen with shock) looked at her like they were ready to murder her with their terrifying expressions.
Rinne's face touched hers directly as Reine felt her blood suddenly go cold, sweat trickling down her face.
"I know the son I gave birth to very well Reine, he was the first child I ever gave birth to. Saying I don't have a son? I'm not sure what you've been smoking to suddenly say I never had Shido and act like he doesn't exist, but say that again and I will strangle you!" Reine glared eerily.
"Uh... you know what, I think I'll come back later when you stop making me feel like I'll wet myself in fear... yeah! See all later, bye!" Reine answered shakily.
Before anyone knew it, Reine had disappeared and the left a half-closed door behind her.
Everyone turned to the whitened Shido, the younger Takamiya sibling snapped her fingers and caused Shido to jump as he regained his focus.
"Huh!? What!?" Shido asked.
"Shido, what the heck is going on here? Aunt Reine is suddenly acting like you never existed before now!?" Mana panicked.
"I don't know! Hey, wait a minute, this is just hypothetical at the moment, but... what if it isn't just her?" Shido asked.
This suddenly made everyone gasp as they quickly got their phones and tried contacting everyone they knew, hoping to verify it.
"Hey Saya, do you recognize anyone named Shido Takamiya?" Kurumi asked worriedly.
"Who's that?" Saya replied via phone.
Kurumi paled as she unconsciously hung up on her best friend.
"Hey Ai, Mai, Mii, I think I heard there'll be a new student named Shido Takamiya joining your class." Origami joked.
"Oh really? Tell me more!" Ai replied via the phone.
'Oh no! She didn't call me out for trying to make a stupid joke, this is real!' Origami mentally panicked.
Soon enough, all remaining doubts were cleared...
...aside from all of the Spirits, the existence of Shido Takamiya has been effectively and completely erased from everyone's memories. Rinne went blue in the face, falling backwards before Rio caught her midair.
"This is... this is real, I think I'm about to have a heart attack..." Rinne breathed.
"What's going on here!? W-why can no one remember big brother, this doesn't make any sense!" Rio panicked.
Origami tried thinking for a bit, and then it suddenly clicked in her head. A certain pair of words that were spoken yesterday by a pair of siblings.
" I can't use Michael to lock a single memory, or lock someone's memories in general. " Mukuro's voice echoed.
" The day afterwards, me and my parents felt like we had lost something, and suddenly most people we knew surprisingly forgot about us. " Mildred's voice echoed.
Origami gasped.
"OH MY GOD!" Origami exclaimed loudly.
"Wait, did you figure something out Origami?" Nia asked.
"I did, but before I say anything about it, I need to make sure." Origami answered.
Origami turned towards Shido.
"Shido... try go outside for yourself for a moment, we'll watch and hopefully that will make me know if my theory's actually right or not." Origami requested.
"Uh... sure. Not sure why, but with how weird things are right now, I'm game with anything that can give us answers or a solution." Shido agreed.
Shido was soon standing outside, everyone waiting by the door as he walked across the street a bit, and then...
"Shido!"
As a certain voice sang towards him, Shido turned to see Mukuro appear via one of Michael's wormholes.
"Mukuro? What are you doing here so early?" Shido asked surprised.
"I came to make sure you were alright." Mukuro smiled.
"Uh... thanks Mukuro, but this isn't the best time. I'm trying to figure out why suddenly the people I know have completely forgotten I exist." Shido replied.
At that moment, Mukuro soon gave Shido a smile in response to his words. Upon seeing it, Shido suddenly got a bad feeling as he started to connect the dots.
'Wait a second, this is... don't tell me!' Shido mentally gasped.
"No one can take you from me now Shido, there's no need to worry." Mukuro smiled innocently.
Shido gasped as she said nothing to properly connect it, but confirmed the culprit with her own words.
"Oh my god. Mukuro, it was you... you're the one who altered everyone's memories!" Shido gasped.
"Don't be scared, you still have me." Mukuro replied.
Meanwhile by the door, Origami's eyes shook a bit.
"I knew it, it was her! Mukuro said the other day she can't lock the memory of a single person or event, but when I remembered Mildred's story, that's when I realized she never said she couldn't lock away memories in general!" Origami exclaimed.
"Wait a minute... Origami, are you saying that-" Tohka asked fearfully.
"I am Tohka, remember when Mildred told us how the day Mukuro ran away, they found out everyone she and her parents knew suddenly forgot about them? That's exactly what happened here, Mukuro essentially locked Shido outside of existence, making everyone lose their memories of him!" Origami exclaimed.
Everyone gasped loudly at that.
"No way, she did it!? Hey, wait a second... then how come we all still remember?" Marina asked.
"Back when I used my powers on everyone, it didn't work on other Spirits, even if I was in my Inverse Form it wasn't enough if a Spirit was wearing their Astral Dress. I bet the same applies here, leaving us immune to the effects." Miku explained.
"Really? Oh man, then we're really lucky right now, I'm not sure what Shido would do if he had to do this by-" Marina replied.
She blinked as she suddenly realized something.
"Hold on, why are we still inside and just talking about this? Now that we know the truth, we've gotta call Mukuro out on this and make her undo the damage!" Marina exclaimed.
"Oh right!" Everyone replied.
Mukuro suddenly heard the door to the Takamiya household slam open, surprising her as the sight of the other Spirits, the other angry Spirits, ended up rushed around Shido and staring at her. This slightly confused her a bit.
"Mukuro, give back everyone's memory of our Shido!" Tohka shouted.
"Yeah, you had no right to make anyone, including his own family, forget him!" Kotori stated.
"P-please give them back." Yoshino begged.
Mukuro flinched slightly, taking a few steps back as she saw what she viewed as the impossible reality before her. Despite using Segva to lock everyone's memories of Shido, the other Spirits all still remembered him.
The people she wanted Shido to get away from most were still the closest people to him!
"H-How is this... this is... no way, you shouldn't be able to remember. How can all of you still remember?" Mukuro stuttered.
"Bad luck to you there kid, a lot of Spirit powers are useless on another Spirit. Whatever trick you did might have hit us, but it was as useless as trying to fight a whale with a feather, it won't leave a mark." Natsumi answered.
"No... no, no, no, no! This isn't what was supposed to happen, it wasn't!" Mukuro mumbled.
Mukuro's eyes blinked before a line began to spiral in her pupils to showcase her panic and paranoia, and everyone suddenly felt a sudden terrifying and cold chill blow off her like a blizzard, a strong aura of Reiryoku manifesting from her.
However, Rio noticed something odd from the wave of chills that were hitting them, before she could comment about it though...
"No, I won't... let you take... Shido from me!" Mukuro exclaimed angrily.
Mukuro summoned Michael as she materialized her Astral Dress, putting everyone on guard as they felt Mukuro readying herself to attack.
"You won't hurt my friends!" Tohka exclaimed in return.
Tohka formed her Astral Dress and soon Mukuro held up Michael as she swung down Sandalphon against her, causing their Spirit power to clash.
The two rushed at each other again ready to strike, but Rinne suddenly appeared in between them and caught their attacks with her hands. She gave each of them a fierce glare, making the two go white eyed and gulp.
[I-Is that you F-First Spirit?] Michael asked.
[Oh yeah, so shut and listen if you wanna live!] Sandalphon answered.
Rinne pulled Mukuro and Tohka closer to each other, the two still shaking a bit from the angry aura Rinne was emitting.
"I can't believe you idiots decided to do something like this! Fighting in the middle of the city when the alarm hasn't warned anyone about evacuating? Are you two trying to get someone killed!?" Rinne berated.
"S-Sorry ma'am..." Mukuro replied fearfully.
"I deserve that comment." Tohka admitted shamefully.
"Wow, she broke them by just talking." Nia said nervously.
Natsumi chuckles at that.
"Well she is the First Spirit, so I guess it isn't that different from a mom telling off her kids for misbehaving." Natsumi replied.
"Hey guys, you know that weird wave we just felt?" Rio asked everyone.
Upon asking that question, everyone shivered a bit.
"That was such a terrifying aura, I've never felt such a thing before. What kind of malice did she have in wanting Shido to herself?" Kurumi asked.
"It isn't obvious? Wants the guy for herself, willing to do anything to get him? Mukuro has to be a Yandere! Worse, that means we've likely going to be so very dead after this!" Nia replied in a panic.
Rio shook her head.
"It wasn't malice, or hate, blood lust, dread, animosity, vanity or a sense of ill will... it was fear." Rio answered.
"Wait, fear? You mean... Mukuro was afraid?" Kotori asked confused.
"That's... how can... why would... I'm so confused now, what's going on here?" Miku groaned.
Rio tilts her head, trying to think a bit.
"Mu... I don't know why, but whatever Mukuro's reasons for doing this are, I don't think it's because she hates us. Problem is I don't know what she's afraid of, I knew mom's worries about disappearing were as such because I was there to prevent it. Mukuro on the other hand, I've only just met her." Rio explained.
"Which means we need to figure out what she's afraid of, if we do then we might be able to convince her to undo Michael's lock and restore everyone's memories." Yoshino replied.
Maria thinks a bit, looking at Rinne's direction as fist bumped the two Spirits on their heads, making slight swell bumps form.
After getting their focus, Rinne breathes before continuing.
"Since you two seem to want to fight and your reasons oppose one another, then we'll fight like this... the fight is to get Shido to kiss them first!" Rinne declared.
"Eh!?" Tohka and Mukuro exclaimed.
"EH!?" Everyone else repeated.
Rinne winked her one eye at Tohka, and her eyes briefly widen as she realized Rinne planning something, and she needed to play along.
"Mukuro, you clearly want to be the only girl my son likes, right?" Rinne asked.
"Y-yes." Mukuro answered fearfully.
Rinne soon looks at Tohka.
"And you Tohka, you clearly don't think Mukuro's being fair consider you and most of the other Spirits have already been sharing him and you were the first one who even had to agree to the harem idea, right?" Rinne asked.
"Yes ma'am." Tohka confirmed.
Rinne put her hands on her hips and looks at both of them.
"Then since Shido's already involved, we should let him be the one who decides who's wish is stronger, and that'll be decided by the one he chooses to kiss. Therefore, we will have a contest to see who will get Shido to kiss his first. If Tohka wins, then things continue as they've been and you have to accept it Mukuro. Likewise, if you win, then you alone get Shido." Rinne explained.
Rinne's eyes focused, making them glow and causing them to look red.
"Do I make myself clear?" Rinne asked.
"C-Crystal ma'am..." Mukuro whimpered.
"Now, with that done... uh, how about you go wait by the bunch while me and the others discuss how we'll set things up and some ground rules." Rinne suggested.
"Yeah... I'll go do that, right now, please don't hurt me!" Mukuro whimpered.
Rinne blinked as Mukuro rushed to said bunch and sat, looking a little terrified.
"Wow... did I really manage to appear that scary just now?" Rinne wondered aloud.
"Mom, mind explaining what you just did?" Shido asked.
"I basically put us into a win-win situation." Rinne answered.
"You... did? OK, help us out a bit." Mana requested.
Rinne nods, clearing her throat as she began.
"OK, we know the problem here is that at the very least, Mukuro seems to have developed strong affections for Shido regardless of where you'd rank her feelings right now. Also, for some reason we still don't know, Mukuro doesn't want Shido to be involved with any other girls, so her solution was to make everyone but herself forget he even exists." Rinne explained.
"Yeah, that's the obvious part, so are you gonna tell us the whole win-win thing now?" Nia asked.
Rinne chuckled embarrassingly.
"Sorry about that. Well, she needed Michael to do that, so since we didn't lose our memories due to being Spirits, by having Mukuro do this contest... I've giving Shido two possible outcomes he can use to his advantage. If he kisses Tohka, then Mukuro has to accept she's gotta share Shido with all of you and we can convince her to drop the lock she put on Shido. Though if he kisses Mukuro..." Rinne answered.
Origami gasped as she realized it.
"Then Shido just has to use his Spirit Ascension and he can have Michael undo it! Because this Michael's made of her powers, she can't lock it because Michael would realize it would lock itself. If everyone remembers and Shido could just undo any attempts to restore the lock, it won't feel like a victory." Origami stated.
"Bingo Origami! Admittedly, the latter might make Mukuro a bit irritated and harder to seal, but with where we are now..." Rinne replied.
Nia's eyes widened, suddenly realizing the one thing that could go wrong.
"Oh no... Rinne, do you think Mukuro could actually lock Shido's ability to seal Spirits?" Nia whispered.
Rinne nods.
"I hate to say it, but that's a real possibility, as is her locking her ability to be sealed. We don't know what the limitations of her powers are, and if certain rules that apply to Spirits don't work since she's Michael's master. If Mukuro realizes something like this, then we're in trouble." Rinne whispered back.
"So basically, we need Mukuro to be sealed in order to avoid a worst-case scenario. At the same time, if Tohka did win, she'd likely keep her word because she wouldn't want to risk losing Shido by being a spoil sport... at least I think." Maria summarized.
"I guess it isn't like we've got any other options... I wonder though? Hey Rio, do you think this relates to why Mukuro was emitting fear from her aura?" Marina asked.
Rio thought a bit about that.
"It might be, but I don't know what else to think beyond that, we'll have to find out by seeing how this goes." Rio answered.
"Yeah, this is the best we can do, we're basically playing a game of chess to support Shido, and wrong move makes the game unwinnable before he even takes his first turn. That's why we've gotta be careful." Rinne added.
Rinne soon took out her phone.
"With that out of the way, try to think of some ideas of where they can go and some rules, I've got a call to make." Rinne smiled.
Reine was pacing around the base, biting on her nails lightly as she tried to piece together what had happened earlier. She had come over to the Takamiya household to ask Rinne a question, but upon arriving met an unfamiliar house guest alongside the usual residents.
Yet strangely, the moment she had said that, everyone had reacted with a synchronized rage to the claim, with Mana having even stated he was her elder brother. They had sounded completely crazy to her at that moment.
"That can't be right, can it? I know the only child my brother had with Rinne was Mana. Not to mention there's no way anyone who's a boy could have the power of Spirits considering their origin in the Spirit Dimension as an all-female species." Rinne mumbled to herself.
At least, that's what she wanted to believe... but the looks in their eyes, they burned with such seriousness and passion, it was if she was the crazy one. Though if they were telling the truth, then... why didn't she know about him?
"Something's not right here, and it seems like only the Spirits know about it so far. What happened?" Reine wondered.
"Commander, please stop pacing! I think you're starting to wear out the floor and I just cleaned it!" Mildred groaned.
Reine blinked and looked down and noticed a slight dark line on the floor, making her blush a bit.
"Oops, sorry about that Mildred." Reine apologized.
"Why are you so distracted anyways?" Mildred asked.
"Well... I saw this boy when I went to see Rinne this morning, one I hadn't ever seen before. Yet the moment I mentioned that, everyone suddenly freaked out and asked me how I could have forgotten him. They say he's Mana's older brother." Reine answered.
Mildred's eyes widened.
"Wait... Shido, was that the name you just said?" Mildred asked.
"Uh, yeah? Why?" Reine asked.
"Reine, I was intending to ask you about that, the system says we've had someone named Shido assigned to Ratatoskr as a member since April 10th! That was the same day Tohka's powers somehow got sealed!" Mildred answered.
Reine's gasped at that.
"Wait, April 10th!? No way... but then we would have... hey wait a second, now that I think about... what did cause Tohka's powers to be sealed? Not just her, how has every Spirit been sealed? We should know that, but somehow even after nearly 9 months I don't remember." Reine realized.
"I'm not sure, the last thing I remember is... I think it was about our plans due to Elliot and Karen's deaths during the last fight with the DEM." Mildred replied.
"OK, now something's seriously wrong. Missing bits of info, clear contradictions, and all the Spirits speaking of things we don't know... gather everyone here. I have a strong feeling we won't figure out the answers to this problem unless we have everyone gathered in one place." Reine reasoned.
"Got it." Mildred replied.
After about 5 minutes, everyone in Ratatoskr was gathered together in the base's main room.
"Alright everyone, you might be wondering why I've gathered you here. The reason for that is because there's been a few events today that have made me notice something... how did we get here? We know nine the Spirits have been sealed, and there's still one more out there, but... that's where the problem suddenly shows up. After talking to Mildred, I just realized I don't remember how they were sealed." Reine explained.
Everyone began looking at each other.
"She's right, how have we been sealing them?"
"Are we using a Realizer?"
"No way, that can't be it, the Spirits would trust us over that.
"Yeah, it's gotta be... wait, that can't be it."
Reine soon whistles to get their attention.
"We aren't gonna get anywhere like this, all we can know is for some reason there seems to be contradictions and holes in the info that lead us to this point. So, in order to fix this problem, the only thing we can do is gather all that info and try to fill in the blanks." Reine stated.
"This is where we'll begin, Mildred?"
Mildred nodded.
"Right." Mildred replied.
Mildred pulled up a picture of Shido and put it on the screen.
"According to our systems, this boy here is a member of Ratatoskr, I have no recollection of him. Yet what's strangest is it says he joined us on the same day that Tohka was sealed, but that's not the strangest part... it's what his name is." Reine stated.
Right as Reine was about to say it, she suddenly heard her phone ring, making her sigh as she answered it.
"Hello?" Reine answered.
"Yes, I got through!" Rinne cheered.
"Rinne? What are you doing, I'm in the middle of something important, we're trying to figure out why there's so many gaps in the info we-" Reine groaned.
"Let me on the screen and I'll be able to answer those questions. I know who Shido is after all." Rinne replied.
Reine suddenly went wide eyed.
"...Are you psychic!?" Reine asked.
"Nope, the situation just makes it obvious." Rinne chuckled.
"Alright, putting you on now." Reine sighed.
Rinne's face soon showed on a camera feed as she face-timed herself to everyone.
"There we are." Rinne smiled.
Rinne cleared her throat as she adjusted the camera screen a bit.
"Now, where are you so far on this filling in the blanks overview?" Rinne asked.
"About to reveal Shido's full name, just mentioned how we know the Spirits are sealed but now why, and how this Shido boy has been registered as member since April 10th despite we don't know anything about him." Reine asked.
"Good, that helps make explaining this easier. First off... Shido's full name is Shido Takamiya, my son, first child, and the only male in the world that possesses any Reiryoku." Rinne answered.
Reine recalled Rinne's violent shouting at her earlier, making her shudder a bit.
"Yeah... I think you screamed that at me, but how can I prove that your being honest about that? Not that I don't wanna believe you, but-" Reine asked.
"Here's a simple way to prove it, you claim that Mana was my first-born child, do you remember when Mana was born?" Rinne asked.
"Of course, she had her 15th birthday on December 5th a few weeks ago." Reine answered.
Rinne nodded.
"That's right, now... when is the date my first child was said to have been born?" Rinne smirked.
"Easy, ignoring the 20 years they were in time stasis 16 years ago on March 5th... wait a second, March!? Oh my god, a 16th birthday on March? If that's true, then that would mean-" Reine gasped.
Rinne smirked.
"Exactly, it means that Mana isn't the first child I gave birth to. That happens to be Shido's birthday. Mildred, is March 5th listed as Shido's birthday on his Ratatoskr membership?" Rinne asked.
"Let me see..." Mildred replied.
She checked and saw it was indeed listed as his birthday, making her gasp.
"It is!" Mildred answered.
"So, it is true... but how could I forget about my own nephew then? One of the children my brother left behind? Not to mention, how did you and the other Spirits all remember if we didn't?" Reine asked.
"To answer that, I'll ask another question. Mildred, do you still remember what Nia told us after we sealed her?" Rinne asked.
Mildred nodded.
"Yeah, I remember that she told us my sister Mukuro was the last Spirit." Mildred answered.
"Wait... huh!? What do you mean, I don't remember that!" Reine asked in shock.
Mildred gasped at that.
"Wait, you don't remember that?" Mildred inquired.
"No, not a bit!" Reine replied.
'So, Mukuro used Michael's it on herself too, for a naive and innocent girl, she's able to pay attention like Tohka can when she needs to. I wonder why Mildred still remembered though? Hmm... maybe she might know?' Rinne thought.
Rinne cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention.
"The reason for this is simple, and I think Mildred is aware of it well, this happened to her and her parents 5 years ago." Rinne explained.
"Wait, 5 years ago? That was... when... everyone..." Mildred mentioned.
She soon gasped, remembering that Mukuro had somehow made everyone forget her and her parents, the moment she realized that... the entire situation and the various contradictions became clear to her.
"Rinne... Mukuro did the same thing to this Shido person that she did to me and my parents, didn't she? We don't remember Shido because she removed him from our memories, am I right!?" Mildred asked.
Rinne nodded.
"Exactly Mildred, the reason none of you remember Shido is because Mukuro locked him out from everyone's memories, and based on what Reine said she likely did the same so no one knew she was a Spirit." Rinne answered.
"And the reason you and the Spirits all remember is..." Reine realized.
"Because it seems like with Miku's voice, this ability doesn't work on other Spirits, so we were all unaffected. I will admit I'm not sure how Mildred still remembers that Mukuro's a spirit when the others don't." Rinne confirmed.
"Hmm... I may have a theory on that." Mildred suggested.
"Really, what is it?" Reine asked.
Mildred scratched her head as she thought of how she should explain it.
"Let's see, the best way I can explain it? You know how the main point in a game of Jenga is to prevent the tower from falling? The concept with how some remember and forget in response to this is kinda the same. Removing a vital block on the tower can topple it, but if you don't the tower doesn't fall." Mildred explained.
"OK, based on what you just said... the more vital a memory is, the less likely it can be removed, with some being unable to be removed without risking some kind of danger or permanent damage?" Rinne asked.
Mildred nodded.
"Precisely. Because Mukuro's my sister, too many of my memories are tied to her, so if I lost those memories... well, at best I'd be in a vegetative state and at worst I could be brain dead. The mind, body and various things all have vital and non-vital parts, since Michael's trying to lock the memories, it likely can't interfere with anything that does more than lock them." Mildred answered.
"I get it, the others don't have Mukuro and Shido as vital in their memories so they forgot him, but you can't forget Mukuro without ripping too many memories away." Rinne realized.
"Exactly, it's how strongly the erased person is connected to someone that should matter. At least... that's my theory, I could be wrong. I don't exactly have a reference to use." Mildred admitted.
After a bit, Reine soon realized there was still something Rinne hadn't answered.
"Hey Rinne, what about the how the Spirits have been sealed, you haven't explained that to us just yet?" Reine asked.
"Oh right. You can thank Shido for that part, he's the one who can seal a Spirit's powers." Rinne answered.
"Wait... he's doing it?" Reine inquired.
Reine suddenly put a hand to her mouth as she thought about something.
"Wait... it says he joined us April 10th, the same day Tohka was sealed and joined us... oh my god, of course! If we can't remember him, then we wouldn't remember he's the one who's sealing their powers." Reine realized.
Rinne nods, but after she did that her eyes widen as she realized the main reason for Rinne's call.
"Of course, that's it! If you know Mukuro did it... then the reason you called us in the first place is-" Reine asked.
"Yeah, we need your help. I just managed to stop a fight between Mukuro and Tohka. We're trying to set up a scenario where Shido can seal her and undo the lock on all your memories, but we're trying to be careful because... we have no idea if Mukuro could lock Shido's ability to seal her powers."
Mildred gasps.
"If that happens, then..." Mildred stated.
"Game over, and unlike with your family Mildred, I doubt she'd undo the sealing lock, or we'd just be repeating what we did in space over and over to get her back. That's why we need your help, we gotta figure out the right choices for how we'll proceed, and most of all..." Rinne explained.
"You need us to make sure the headset is functioning properly, since Shido shouldn't kiss Mukuro until her happiness level is enough to be sealed." Reine reasoned.
Rinne nods, and Reine smiled.
"Alright, as clueless as we are... you seem to know most of what's going on. We'll help you out, I guess luck was on our side, or we might have taken days to realize this and have been way too late." Reine sighed.
"Thanks sis. Now Mildred, you'll be our ace in the support area here, can you let us know what Mukuro likes and dislikes? Regardless of accuracy, it's the best we've got to go on right now." Rinne requested.
"Sure thing, I'll even text it over to you so it'll be easy to remind yourself if you need to." Mildred agreed.
Unknown to the Spirits or everyone on the phone with Rinne, Chinami had been nearby and listening, and unfortunately for them... she heard everything.
"So, one of [Zodiac]'s abilities let her cut off most of the people who remembered this Shido Takamiya. To think if she had somehow used it on Westcott..." Chinami whispered to herself.
She felt her own head.
"To think my own memories have been affected, I had no idea I knew... that..." Chinami whispered slowly.
"What's going on, for some reason I feel... off?"
Chinami scratched her head, trying to figure out what the problem was, but soon shrugged.
'Never mind how I feel for now, what's important is I keep close watch. Hopefully if things go the right direction... [Zodiac] will undergo an Inversion. Though since everyone's gonna be following her... how exactly do I push it that way if things go too smoothly?' Chinami thought.
Chinami began thinking, trying to get some ideas.
Around that same moment, she saw a shop with some hot chocolate and lost his focus.
"Ooh, hot cocoa." Chinami said cheerfully.
Chinami went inside to buy some, right around the same time the Spirits all ended up heading off to start the contest between Mukuro and Tohka.
She came back out while sipping her hot chocolate, but once she did...
"...Wait, what was I doing again?" Chinami wondered.
"Aw dang it!"
Meanwhile deep within the DEM base, Westcott was seen coldly sitting on his chair, having spent the last day doing nothing but shed tears over the death of Ellen in the previous fight when they tried to capture [Zodiac].
He had his head down while his elbows rested against his lap, and his hands clasped together in front of his face... finally, he reacted and raised his head. His eyes now bloodshot from the long period of tears shed from them.
"...I've viewed those bastards as mere greenhorns one time too many, and for much too long. That changes here." Westcott said with no emotion.
Westcott stood up, and walked over to where he held the dark Reiryoku samples of each Sephira Spirit's inversion, staring deeply at the 9 samples he had already managed to obtain and the empty spot where [Zodiac]'s would hopefully appear.
Taking each of them out, he soon hit a switch on his desk, revealing a hidden panel with 10 slots, and said panel was styled after the Qliphoth. As Westcott looked at it rise into full view, he placed the 9 samples and their spherical containers onto all but the second in the middle row.
"Now is the time I start setting the steps to beginning my dream into motion." Westcott stated without emotion.
Westcott pressed a few buttons, leaving only one untouched, and then grabbed on a handle.
His face contorted into one of rage as his emotions finally snapped back into reality.
"This is a new dawn for me, and now... I shall finally take back what should have been mine 30 years ago!" Westcott exclaimed angrily.
The spots where the dark Reiryoku samples were place all suddenly were struck with some strange power, causing the power inside and their containers to start shaking as Westcott stared at them begin to change.
Finally, he shielded his eyes as a series of burst fired off, and then... he saw the result.
Standing before him stood a total of nine spheres resembling the Sephira Crystals, only much darker in color, and unlike the similar colored glow they had and the whitened ones from an Ethereal Form, these had dark glows matching the Inversion Taint.
"Yes... yes! I've done it, just as [Phantom] managed to do with [Watcher], I have done the same... no, exceeded it!" Westcott cackled.
He had done it, Westcott had managed to do something that had seemed impossible, but he had learned thanks to a monster he had summoned around the beginning of Autumn. He had managed... to create his own set of Qlipha Crystals!
"All I need is [Zodiac]'s Inversion, and my Qlipha Crystals will truly be complete. Prepare yourselves Humanity, because soon, very soon... all of Earth will drown into chaos!"
Uh oh, it finally happened... Westcott's snapped himself into walking the point of no return, and he did it by doing what had been formerly claimed the impossible no less. Yikes! He only needs Mukuro's powers now, and one he gets it... *shivers* I think Marina's going to be horrified once she discovers this, because she's the only reason that Westcott managed to get this far.
As you can see, the Spirits weren't affected by Mukuro's memory locking because... well, they're Spirits. *chuckles a bit* Though that doesn't mean they weren't unaffected by it either. In the previous arc, when Mukuro locked Shido's communication probe, she somehow caused everyone with Reiryoku to faint despite she didn't use Segva on them. This time, she did use Segva on them, and it's done something... and none of them even know.
The good news for Shido is unlike canon, he's got some of Ratatoskr's help this time, even if only to have accurate headset readings. I personally feel if Vol 14 didn't have the story world, and Vol 15's first two chapters replaced the rest of Vol 14, then the rest of Vol 15 could have focused on objects like Mana's locket revealing their missing memories, while still having Inverse Tohka show up from the revelation.
Well, the stage is set now, Tohka and Mukuro are going to be competing to see who can get Shido to kiss them first, and hopefully get out of this without Mukuro realizing about Shido's sealing powers or something worse happening. Like I said above, they're walking on egg shells that happen to be a minefield in this case, and they only get one chance to make this work, so they've gotta hope for a miracle here.
Until next time everyone, and stay awesome! ^^
-Spirit Bond Levels & Passive Abilities-
Tohka - 100%, MAX (Form a mana barrier automatically)
Origami - 99% (Teleport Dodging)
Yoshino - 99% (Dampen enemy territories)
Kotori - 99% (Healing from fatal wounds minus losing his head, doesn't work on wounds caused by blunt force)
Kurumi - 99% (Hide in his shadow, and only his)
Rinne - (Summon a weakened copy of Uriel)
Natsumi - 99% (Transform into Shiori)
Kaguya - 99% (Flight)
Yuzuru - 99% (Weight Manipulation)
Miku - 99% (Pain Reliever)
Maria - (Restore dying/withered/dead vegetation and plant life)
Marina - (Remove toxins or other harmful substances, either from a living creature or an object)
Rio - (Create a soothing aura of Reiryoku to reduce a sealed Spirit's anger)
Mana - (Allow Mana to use Spirit Ascension at its weakest level without Angels)
Nia - 99% (Photographic Memory)