Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Archive; all characters belong to their original creators.
Chapter 11: You are not born to suffer II
The Black Market
"Here is your pay," barked a dog man as he handed over a small stack of money to the girl facing him
"Huh?" surprised the girl. Despite her metal mask covering half of her face, her displeasure is still evident to her employer.
"Don't complain, kid. You helped me chase off those thugs like I asked you to, but you also broke a lot of my merchandise. Those anti-tank bullets and sticky bombs ain't cheap, ya know."
"..." Silent, the girl could only hold her head down as she begrudgingly accepted her fate.
"Suck it up, kid. If ya don't like it, then how about going to school instead of working this job? You kids are supposed to "inherit this city, after all," said the dog man mockingly.
"I have never liked you students. Appearing everywhere, messing everyone's day up just because you have those fancy Haloes and power gizmos, knowing that we normal citizens cannot fight back. Heh, imagine my face when I heard that you unruly brats are supposed to take over this place."
Without hiding his contempt, the man returns to his shop. "Now get out of here, I need to open my shop."
With a loud "bang," the shopkeeper disappears inside and slams his doors in the face of the poor girl.
Joumae Saori can only remain silent at her employer's rude remark; her head hangs low as her cap obscures the top half of her face. With a heavy heart, the girl walks away from the shop, her mind lingering on yesterday's news.
She never wanted this life, none of them wanted it. Even before Madam come to Arius, it has already been a failing district.
Since there was no sunlight, crops couldn't grow properly, cattle and poultry cannot be raised to feed the student population. Their main food sources were the mushrooms growing along the Catacomb's wall, the insects feeding on wastes, and sometimes, the unlucky cave bats and rats.
Due to severe malnutrition, everyone is always on edge and angry. Conflicts over small scraps of food were common, leading to more instability and death. If you haven't died due to starvation, then infectious diseases would soon claim you as medicines were also always in short supply.
Ever since she was a kid, Saori has always wondered. If Arius was so bad, why didn't anyone think of moving to the surface?
"The surface hates us"
"Why would they help us?"
Were the answers she would always got when she brought up that topic to anyone living in Arius. Unsatisfied with Arius, Saori swore to herself that she would reach the surface for a better future when she become older.
Then, with no explanation whatsoever, the Student Council President of Arius left the school, leaving behind a dying District in the hands of her 3 years old daughter. No matter how you put it, such a child could not govern a district, and the other members soon found themselves a vacant seat of power.
Many factions soon formed inside Arius itself, dividing the school further under the rules of many different self-proclaimed Presidents. Then, as if reaching a critical point after 2 years, the factions all declared war on each other, inciting the first Civil War in the history of Arius. Any students who were above Kindergarten Grade were drafted to the war, including Saori, Atsuko, Misaki, Hiyori, and Azusa.
Saori was a fearsome killing machine on the battlefield.
Misaki was forced to kill her closest mentors and friends.
Hiyori was forever traumatized by her failure of protecting her squad.
Azusa was branded as a deserter for refusing to join the war.
Atsuko was nothing more than a puppet, controlled by others behind the scene.
The war raged on for 3 years, further pushing Arius into a black hole that would no doubt grind it into dust. Then, as if a miracle descended from the sky, an adult appeared from the outside world, bringing peace to Arius once again.
She crushed the different factions of Arius, branded their leaders and took over the school with minimal efforts. She was Beatrice, the Red Tyrant of Arius, the deceiver, and the usurper.
At first, everyone was hopeful, everyone was happy, for they would finally enjoy the peace that they once knew and yearned for. However, life is never the way we wanted it to be.
Beatrice was their savior, but also was their tormentor. She ruled Arius with an iron fist and a silver tongue. Food under her rule was no longer scarce, medicine abundant, no longer was the fear of starvation and infectious diseases. However, only she decided on who to receive them, if you are not to her liking, then you are as good as insect food. She changed the teachings of the previous Presidents, twisting their values into words of hatred and her new teachings, the Arius students grew bitter and resented the outside world.
Then, in order to protect the sacrifice for her ascension into Godhood, Beatrice formed the Arius Squad, consisting of the best fighters gathered from Arius.
Saori was chosen for her unmatched guerilla warfare.
Misaki was chosen for her fearlessness that borderline on suicidal.
Hiyori was chosen for her unrivaled sniping skills.
They were deceived by her, beaten by her subordinates, but they marched for her nonetheless, committing countless atrocities in her name against Trinity and Gehenna.
Now, Saori wondered to herself: "What would their life look like, if each of them were sent to Trinity instead?"
On the other side of The Black market, a group of friends is now hunting for a long-lost artifact.
"Wait, why...why...Why are we in the Black Market now?" screamed a petite girl with pink hair, her face red as a tomato, and her pupils turning into those of a cat.
"Well, Hifumi-chan wanted to buy the super limited Peroro Ice Cream plushy that can only be found in the Black market. And we cannot leave her alone in just a dangerous place, can we?" replied a girl with pink hair, her school swimsuit clings tightly to her body.
"Then what's the need for YOU to WEAR A SWIMSUIT HERE?" screamed Shimoe Koharu again, her face heating up beyond any measure.
"Ara, isn't it better to be nimble while performing reconnaissance? I'm just being practical here, Koharu-chan. Or. Do. You. Have. Something. Else. In. Mind?" teased Urawa Hanako.
"I... I... I DON'T. That... THAT'S... DEATH PENALTY."
Despite conducting a secret mission of stal... protecting their precious friend from the shadow, the duo is now attracting more and more attention to them than ever before. While one's outfit is the epitome of public indecency, the other's scream can be heard from 3 blocks away, attracting all kinds of gazes from bystanders nearby. Fortunate for them, their target seems none the wiser as she continues to look for her prized artifact in the sea of people.
Then, a sudden call from their radios prompts the duo to focus back on their mission.
"Pink Whale, Dark Crow, can you hear me? White Bird is now at 6 o'clock, taking a left turn at the ice cream shop. Let's get closer so we don't lose her," signaled Shirasu Azusa from the other side.
"The Death Penalty can wait for another day, Koharu-chan. Let's go."
"Hey, this is not over yet. Don't you dare ignore the subject?"
Azusa follows her friends' movements on the top of a nearby building like a hawk. Her eyes switch from Koharu, Hanako, to Ajitani Hifumi at an unnatural speed. Then, as she is about to jump to another building, a familiar figure reaches her eyes.
"Is that...?"
That blue cap, white jacket, long hair, and dark blue outfits. There is no mistake; that figure belongs to Joumae Saori, and she is now walking towards Hifumi.
Ever since the Eden Treaty, they have never met each other again. After that red abomination was defeated by Sensei, Azusa could meet up and reconcile with the other Squad members. However, the one she wanted to talk to the most wasn't there.
"She is on a self-discovery journey right now," was what Atsuko told her about Saori.
Of course, Azusa tried to find Saori multiple times, too, but to no avail. Even Sensei doesn't know about her location unless she specifically messages him. It also doesn't help that Saori actively avoids any SCHALE shifts with the other Squad members, including Azusa.
As she's about to reach for her radio to signal the others about the unexpected encounter, her eyes once again lie on the figure of her once mentor. This time, she finally notices that the girl is just wandering without directions. Her head hangs low, and her hands in each pocket.
When the girl was still a part of the Arius Squad, she had never witnessed that side of Saori. In her head, Saori was a strong, tough figure who would do anything to protect her family and reach her goal. But right now, Saori is weak and vulnerable, like someone who has lost all hope.
"Captain Skull Man, what is your next directive?"
Hanako's question from the radio snaps Azusa out of her fixation on Saori and back to Hifumi. Then, before she can do anything, she finally realizes that Hifumi, in her intensive map-reading, is about to collide with Saori.
Joumae Saori's POV
In my aimless walking, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings and collided with a stranger.
"Ouch," I heard them yelp as the sound of a bag hitting the floor reached my ears.
"Are you okay?"
Reaching my right hand out to help them get up, I finally notice the appearance of the stranger sitting before me.
That blond hair, that Trinity outfit, and that duck backpack, it is truly Ajitani Hifumi. The one who defied us during the Eden Treaty stood before us without any fear and reclaimed the Treaty for Trinity.
It would be weird to face her here, but it would also be rude to leave her as I was at fault for colliding with her. I'll just focus on hiding my face, hoping she won't recognize me.
The girl grabs my hand back, pushing herself to stand up.
"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine. I'm really sorry for not looking. I was just trying to navigate the map around here," the girl dusts herself as she apologizes. It seems like she hasn't noticed me yet.
"Please be more careful next time."
As I turn my back to her, preparing to leave, she suddenly asks:
"Are you, perhaps, Miss Joumae Saori?"
"No, you got the wrong person."
But Hifumi doesn't seem to be convinced.
"No, I could not be mistaken. That outfit, that hair, and that gun. Please, miss Joumae, can you come with me? Azusa-chan has been trying to contact you lately."
I know that Azusa wants to reconcile with me after the Eden Treaty, but as I am right now, I am in no place to talk to her.
"Like I said, you got the wrong person. I'm just a wandering mercenary. If you have the money, I can help you find this person."
Although I have only met her once, I have already got a solid grasp of her personality. A cheerful and brave girl, but unlike Azusa, this girl is too kind for her own good.
"Oh... Then, Miss Mercenary, I'm sorry for mistaking you with another person." An apology filled with dejection. As expected, she doesn't force others to follow her if they don't want to.
"If you have no other business, I'll be on my way."
However, what happened next was something I haven't accounted for. Before I can leave, a white shadow jumps in front of my face, blocking my path.
Then, by instinct, I draw my gun immediately, aiming at the shadow. Before I could pull the trigger, my assailant raised her hands, revealing the figure of Azusa.
"Saori-nee, we need to talk." There, Azusa stands, proud and majestic, in her school uniform, a significant contrast to her cold and dull appearance at Arius.
Then, I hear footsteps from behind me. Turning my attention backward, I see the other 2 friends of Azusa quickly approaching. However, none of them show any hostility towards me. While the Koharu girl is shaking from fear, the other scantily clad Hanako is just looking at me with an amused expression.
Whether this is a ploy of the Make-up Work Club or of Azusa, I do not know. However, I now know I cannot escape her forever. Eventually, I must make peace with her...and my past.
So I embrace my capture and lower my weapon.
"This is not a good place to talk. Let's move to a café instead."
I nod back at her and follow them out of the Black Market.
After a while, we finally arrive at a... "Momo Friends Café"? Looking up, I am surprised by Azusa's choice of place. Instead of an old coffee shop, they led me to a place themed after weird-looking creatures in a kid cartoon show in the Trinity district. Lost in my thoughts, I don't even realize the others have entered the café.
"What's the matter, Joumae-san?" asked Urawa Hanako, who is now appropriately dressed in her Trinity uniform.
"No, I'm just surprised."
Following the Make-up Work club inside, we divide and sit at 2 different tables. Then, the robot waiters soon arrive at our tables to collect orders.
As the waiters leave, our conversation finally begins.
"Do you remember the day we first met, Saori-nee?" Azusa is the first to break the silence between us.
I nod; the memory of that day is still fresh, as if it was yesterday in my mind.
6 Years Ago
As the leader of the Arius Squad, one of my missions was to monitor the other students' training alongside other high school seniors. It was a sparring session; the students that day were ordered to fight each other hand-to-hand using combat knives.
The training session should have proceeded as expected, as usual. Then I heard a shout from one of the training groups.
"I SAID KILL HER NOW,"one of the seniors was screaming at a white hair girl with angel wings. On her side, another girl was sprawling on the ground with heavy breath, flickered Halo, and a heavily beaten body to the point one of her wings snapped in half.
But no matter how loud that senior screamed at her face, Azusa stood her ground with determination, refusing to pick up her knife to finish off the other unconscious girl.
"Weakling," with a cold voice, the senior kicked Azusa in the stomach. Her body flew like a ragdoll under the heavy force until it stopped.
Brandishing a whip, that senior slowly approached Azusa.
"Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas," mumbling our signature cry, she brought her whip up.
"A soldier who can't follow orders is just disposable trash."
"Kindness means nothing in this meaningless world."
...
Shouting profanities after profanities, that senior brought down her whip relentlessly, hitting a pitiful girl trying to protect herself. Azusa whimpered under the pain, but she never begged for forgiveness, just enduring every blow landed on her frail body.
I considered leaving Azusa to her fate at that point. After all, insubordination was equal to the death sentence in Arius. Everybody understood it, and nobody questioned it. It was the common sense of Arius.
The students who refused Beatrice's rules had their Haloes shattered and their bodies paraded through the streets. The weak students who couldn't complete their objective were left to starve in their own cells. The only spared students were the ones still attending Kindergartens.
But something in me screamed to not abandon her, to save her from her demise. Then, I saw different scenarios play out in my mind.
I saw Atsuko lying in the place of Azusa, her body broken beyond repair.
I saw Misaki was the one being beaten instead of Azusa, the whip adding more and more scars to her already damaged body.
I saw Hiyori crying and begging for forgiveness instead of enduring the pain brought down to her.
Then, I hear them, 2 deep voices talking deep inside me.
"Save...her."
Save whom? That girl? Why would you want me to?
"Sariel," one voice declared.
"Samael," the other introduced.
"Azazel," both of them spoke in unison.
"Sinners"
"Comrades"
"Brothers"
"Brothers"
"BROTHERS"
Then, as if being led forward by 2 different people, I sprinted towards the helpless Azusa.
I stand before her and the senior, my hands opening wide. Before she could bring down another whip, that senior stopped and looked down at me with bloodshot eyes.
"What are you doing, Joumae? Step aside so I can punish this weakling."
"Don't beat her any longer."
"Oh, so you have decided to go against the orders of Madam too?
"No, my loyalty with Madam still the same. For this girl, let me train her."
"What?"
"If she is weak, let me train her. Under my training, she can become a better student."
I was practically shouting at that point.
With a look of amusement, that senior just smiled and nodded at me.
"Oh, very well then, Joumae, I will leave this kid to you. You are the one taking care of that "Princess" after all."
"But remember this, Joumae, if she doesn't show any improvements, you will be the next one to be staked at the schoolyard."
With a cocky attitude, she turned back and walked away, leaving me with a curled-up Azusa.
Finally, realizing she was no longer being beaten, the angel girl opened her defense and looked at me.
"My name is Joumae Saori. What's your name, soldier?"
"Shirasu Azusa."
"Then Azusa, from today onwards, you are a temporary member of the Arius Squad. I will train you myself. Understand?"
"Yes."
Despite being beaten badly with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, I could still see the ember of defiance in her eyes back then. She was ready to put up with me, to disobey me if necessary. But back then, I was also arrogant too. I thought I could tame her ember and shepherd it to our cause.
Quickly, she became friends with everyone in the Arius Squad, sharing their stories with each other during the Arius Civil War days. She became a new member of our little family and readily accepted my training without questioning to save Princess.
Present day
In a way, I was successful in my mission of taming her. She did become more merciless, more calculating, but that ember of defiance inside her could never die. Sending her to Trinity was like feeding that ember with gasoline-infused wood. It burned brighter and brighter every day until it became a beacon that attracted even us and the fireman to us.
Using his flame, the fireman led ashes like us into a brighter future. Even if we were just ashes, he was ready to use his body parts as kindling to fuel our flames of defiance against Madam. The fireman tended to our flames without asking for anything back. Such was the kindness of Sensei, and I am forever grateful for that.
"I wasn't able to say it back then, so I want to get it out of my chest now," back to our conversation, Azusa seems to be fidgeting with a blush on her face.
"Thank you, Saori-nee, for saving me that day. If it wasn't for you saving me, I wouldn't be here with my friends. Without your training, I wouldn't be able to protect them."
I was surprised by her appreciation of me. Never in my life would I witness Azusa showing this much emotion ever since the Eden Treaty.
"Th... Thank you."
I'm happy, but I'm also not that shameless to ignore our encounter during the coup.
"Azusa... Don't you resent me for hurting your friends and Sensei?"
"I..." she stuttered but soon reassured herself.
"Yes, I was angry at you, Saori-nee. You were wrong, but I was also wrong too. All of us were wrong for listening to that demon. We were wrong for believing that no one was there to help us."
I was taken aback again by her reply.
"If it weren't for Hifumi, Hanako, Koharu, and Sensei, I wouldn't realize the mistake of my ways. Saori-nee, you have also realized that too. Now, I just wished for us to become a family again, just like before."
Azusa has grown a lot during her time at Trinity. This is a growth that I, no, Arius, could not give her.
Looking at the other table where the rest of the Make-up Work members are sitting, I see that Koharu girl scolding Hanako while Hifumi is heating up from their conversation.
"I see."
I am forever grateful to you, Ajitani Hifumi, Urawa Hanako, and Shimoe Koharu. You have accomplished something I could never have done in the past.
As I turn my face back to Azusa, I am instantly greeted by a weird creature with a black body, white face, and two horns on its head.
"Hello, my name is Skullman. What's bothering you, my friend?"
It is so absurd that I cannot hold my laughter.
Azusa then appears behind that creature with a small smile, too.
"This is Skullman, Saori-nee, from Momo Friends. Isn't he cute?"
Now that I look at it again, this thing does look cute for some reason.
Azusa is right, I have been dwelling too much on the past right now. There's no point in crying over things that have been said and done. I will continue to walk this path of self-discovery, for me, and for everyone in the Squad, until the day I can face them again.
Just like all parties must come to an end, Azusa and Saori must say goodbye to each other as the sun sets beyond the horizon.
"See you again someday, Saori-nee. Good luck on your journey."
Waving at Saori, Azusa returns to her friends and departs towards their dorms.
As they finally vanish from her sight, Saori gives a warning to the air.
"Come out now, I've already known you were hiding there."
Once buzzing with students and citizens going about their day, the streets are now devoid of any signs of life bar a few birds, giving it an eerie atmosphere.
Then, as if replying to her warning, a girl in a casual outfit steps out from behind a tall tree nearby.
"My my, still as sharp as always, Joumae-san. I thought I hid my presence pretty well there."
Despite looking just like any regular student, the girl exudes a mysterious aura around her, hiding any secrets she holds deep inside.
"What does the Sisterhood want this time with me?"
"You don't have to be so rude, you know. How about we exchange some pleasantries first?"
"Cut to the chase, assassin."
"Bummer, still as dull as always." Puffing up her cheeks, the girl pulls out an envelope and hands it to Saori.
"We need you to take care of an illegal Aether Dust trade in the Black Market. Ever since the nature of the dust was revealed yesterday, Nagisa herself quickly put them on the ban list of Trinity. This is the deposit for this job. Finish it, and you get the other half."
"The Sisterhood sure does know how to wipe their hands clean."
"Oh, you know how it is with Trinity. There are things that we would rather... how do I say it? Ah, eliminate them before they become a problem."
"Well, I have to go now. Homework spares no one, and I have been missing too many of them lately."
Just as she has arrived before Saori, the girl disappears without a trace, leaving Saori behind with her thoughts.
"The Blood Angels, assassins who operate behind the scenes of the Sisterhood. Not even Sensei is aware of this Order; I must be more careful around them."
Then, stuffing the money into her jacket. Saori once again moves towards the Black Market. Her determination renews for another day.