cisda-san: Thanks for reading all this time!
And well, you can start finding out right now~
(Unless other things happen, the Days in the chapter do not say anything about the time period of the story except serving as an unique way of chaptering~)
Chapter 1 (Day 2)“Yuko...”
“I want you~! I need you~!”
“Yuko, where are you?”
“I love you~!”
“Yuko?”
“Atama no naka, gan gan natteru MUSIC~”
“Yuko, don’t go!”
“Heavy Rotation~!”“Yuko!” Mayu’s eyes shot open as she woke from her sleep. She caught her breath as she looked around at where she was.
It was an infirmary, one she recognized very well. It was for the Team B’s homebase.
“How did I get here?”
Her head throbbed a bit as she sat up. She remembered she was talking to Yuki outside, when she suddenly told her eight months passed from the Walpurgis.
Mayu can’t figure out exactly why she can’t remember anything. Yuki told her she fell and probably hit her head, but something was telling her it was much more than that. And she had to figure out what it was.
As she tried to think, the door opened and a girl with short hair walked in.
“
Oh my god, you’re awake!” she said happily in perfect English. She hugged Mayu around the neck. “
You had me so worried! Be more careful next time!”
“Eh? E-English?” (Let’s just assume that everyone’s speaking Japanese.
)
It was then Mayu recognized the girl as a former angel trainee, Hirata Rina. She was born in America and was half-Japanese, half-American, which explains why she was speaking English. Mayu thought maybe she got promoted and joined Team B, and that’s why she’s here.
“
Are you okay? Did you hurt your head?”
“Um… Y-yes?”
“
I’m so glad you’re okay. Come on, everyone’s waiting for you! Let’s go!” the girl grabbed both of her hands and dragged her down the hall.
“Uhh,
e-excuse me… I can’t speak Engrish… ano…
c-can’t...”
“Mayuyu!” Mayu looked and saw a lot of familiar faces in the room. Not only AKB squadron, but now, it looks like some HKT and NMB were in here, too.
“Good, you’re okay.” Mocchi came up and patted the younger girl’s head. “You had everyone worried.”
“What happened?”
“You fainted! Yukirin brought you in after she found you, so we had to cancel our Capture the flag match.”
Mayu looked at everyone staring at her worried. She smiled awkwardly and bowed in apology. Yuki told everyone about what happened to Mayu and her memory problems, so they knew something was wrong.
Then, she felt someone tap her shoulder, and when she looked, she saw a familiar NMB zombie.
“Hey, um, I’m sorry for ram-sacking you back there. I kinda paid for it, too. I fractured my shoulder.”
“Hehehe. Maachun, you’re a zombie. You can’t even feel pain,” a certain HKT devil giggled.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Mio-chan. Hahaha.”
Now, this was a sight to Mayu. A demon and a zombie getting along. She remembered how bad things went when the HKT girls and set off a huge war with Heaven and Midgard. Now that they were on the same team, all was at peace.
The little trainee, Rina, looked up at Mayu and smiled.
“
You look happy.”
“Eh? H-happii?”
“
You’re smiling.”
“S-sumairu?”
“Hilary,” a certain Oya Shizuka came up from behind and hugged the small angel, “don’t speak English with Mayuyu. She just woke up.”
“Haha, sorry, Shiichan.”
“She can speak Japanese?!”“So, Mayuyu…” Mocchi sat down, looking at the young angel. “You really can’t remember anything from the past eight months?”
“No. All I remember is when Sasshi was fighting the Walpurgis, and then… nothing. I just woke up and I’m here now.”
“It seems she doesn’t even remember the Grand Shuffle...”
Mayu’s eyebrow twitch at that phrase from Yuki. “The what?”
“We’ll explain everything later. For right now, maybe you should go take a walk to clear your mind.”
“Why don’t you go see the others? Maybe they can help jog your memory.”
“Well...” Mayu scratched her head and thought about it. “I was thinking about Sasshi… Where is she?”
“She’s actually in HKT squadron now.”
“HKT?”
“Yup. After she defeated the Walpurgis, she went down to look after the HKT members.”
“Alright then. I’ll go see her there.” Mayu excused herself and started flying down to Hell to where the HKT hideout was.
She was still nervous, because she remembered how bad things went in the past.
Slowly, she knocked on the door and waited for a response. After a few seconds, she tried to knock again, but then heard a crash and a few voices screaming. When she pressed her ear against the door, she heard what sounded like children laughing.
“Miku! Nako! Get back here!”
“Is there a fight going on?”She cracked open the door and saw these two young demons being chased around by the others. She didn’t recognize them, so she thought maybe they were promoted trainees.
“Hey!” She saw Chori run by and tackle the two girls, tickling them.
She then realized this wasn’t a serious fight. They were just playing.
Then, Chori saw the angel’s figure and smiled.
“Hey, everybody, look! It’s Mayuyu!”
“Mayuyu~!”
“...” Mayu stepped in as she saw the HKT members were welcoming her warmly.
“Mayuyu-shan, it’s been a while.” Haruppi said as she hugged the girl.
“How’ve things been up there?” Rabutan said as she noogied the angel’s head.
“Everything’s okay. But, there’s a bit of a problem.”
“Problem?”
“I’m not really sure how or why it happened, but something’s caused me to lose my memory. I can’t recall anything that’s happened after the Walpurgis Night.”
“The Walpurgis?”
“But that was almost eight months ago.”
“I know. I’m here to see Sasshi. I want to see if she’s okay. Maybe she has something that could help me.”
“Who wants to see me?” Sasshi walked in and saw Mayu looking at her.
“Sasshi..!” Mayu was shocked when she saw Sasshi had one white wing, and one black wing. Her outfit was also a bit different from the others, and there was a crystal orb around her chest that looked like the Yin Yang, blue and purple.
“Well, hey, look who it is.”
Sasshi hugged the slightly shorter girl.
“How’ve you been?”
“S-sasshi? Your wings… and that crystal...”
“Yeah?” Sasshi separated from the angel and looked at her, confused. “What about them?”
“They… your wings are… and you...”
“OK, what’s going on?” she said as she sat down on a small couch. Sakura came up to her ear and whispered the current situation. “Oh… is that it? Sounds pretty serious.”
“It is.”
“You must’ve hit your noggin pretty hard.”
“Honestly, I think it’s more than that. I have a gut feeling that there’s something else going on, that something different happened that caused me to lose my memory. But I can figure that out later. What happened to you?”
“Oh, yeah. See, after I mastered the power of the Soul Gem, I got all up in that guys business. I was all, wa-cha! Ooh wa! Hiyaa!”
“You really defeated him?”
“Yup. And after he was dead, I was left in the possession of the Phantom Crystal, too. Apparently, when I was able to finally control the two, they combined and I became like a God.”
“That explains the wings.” Mayu couldn’t help but keep staring at them.
Sasshi wasn’t any ordinary angel or demon. She was a combination of the two; a nephilim. Mayu knew that was one of the most rare type of angel clans. Nephilim, and the second most rare, archangels.
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. And everything doesn’t seem to be wrong here.”
“Yeah, that’s another good thing about all this. After I mastered the Phantom Crystal’s dark magic, all the evil inside everyone’s hearts just disappeared.”
“Everyone?”Now, that was something that made her think. If Sasshi meant “everyone”, she started thinking about who else it could’ve affected. It’s probably also the reason why Yuki was acting different.
“Basically, everyone’s real nice now. Even Chihiro’s back to her ol’ self.”
Mayu saw the captain trying to play her guitar, but ended up getting scolded by Tanaka. Those two kinda reminded Mayu of a manzai group only NMB squadron could come up with.
“Wait… NMB. Sayanee.”Mayu had an idea. She remembered how Sayanee was from another world, so maybe she knows a little something about inter-dimensional travel. Or maybe even time travel.
“Well, it wass great to see you. I’m gonna go, okay?”
“Alright. Bye, Mayuyu.”
“Bye~!”
----------------
After leaving Hell and letting Sasshi take care of the HKT girls once more, Mayu headed up to Midgard to look for Sayanee. She found her at her regular “thoughtful spot”, where she likes to be alone and play guitar. Only now, she was with someone else, giving them guitar lessons.
“Then, you go like this… and strum.”
*Purun*“Ah, I did it!” When Mayu got close, she soon realized the person with her was Milky. She now had short brown hair, but she was able to recognize her with her horns and tail.
“Good job. That’s my lil’ succubus~” Sayanee cutely said as she patted the girl’s head.
“Sayanee. Milky.”
The two looked at Mayu and smiled.
“Well, if it isn’t the other Watanabe.”
“Mayu-chan~. How’ve you been?”
“Oh, I’m okay, guys. Hey, Milky, did you get your hair cut?”
“Yea, just recently. Is it cute?”
“Hehe, very cute.”
“So, what’re you doin’ here, Mayu?”
“I actually came for your help, Sayanee. See, I have a problem. Something happened that caused me to lose my memory of everything that happened eight months ago today.”
“You don’t remember
anything?”
“Nope. Only up until when Sasshi defeated the Walpurgis. I already went to Sasshi and she told me what happened to her.”
“How did this happen?”
“I have one theory, but it’s kinda out there...” Mayu sighed as she sat down between the two girls. “I think when I got caught up in the huge explosion, I went through some kind of time portal that opened in between it.”
“So, like, you might be your past self?”
“Yes. I wanted you to see if there’s anything lingering on me, since you’re from another world.”
“She’s right, Sayanee. Normally, when people travel in between worlds, they have an energy that lingers on them a bit. Um, what was it?”
“Souma.”
“Ah, right.”
“It’s possible that since it’s been less than 24 hours,” Sayanee’s companion, Alastor sounded,
“there should still be a trace of it on you if you really did travel through time.”
Sayanee held her hand out and her fingertips were just a few inches away from Mayu’s forehead. Alastor’s eyes glowed and a fire-colored light ran down Sayanee’s arm and circled around Mayu a few times before returning back into Alastor.
“Nothing. Not even a little trace of inter-dimensional cosmos.”“So that means, it’s
not time travel.”
“What else could it possibly be?”
“It’s okay, guys. I’ll figure it out later. But, for now, can you help me catch up on everything else that happened?”
“Sure. Don’t see why not.”
“Okay, so what happened after Sasshi became a nephilim?”
“Well, after she combined the full powers of the Soul Gem and Phantom Crystal, she took over Chaos chair of the Fate’s Court, and pretty much became an Overlord. Now she watches over them.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
“Then, about two or three months after that, there was an invasion of Changelings that tried to come after the Center’s ring. So we set up an army to help fight them and protect the ring. It was called the War of Five Armies, and you won’t believe who led the army.”
“Who?”
“Jurina-chan~!”
“Jurina?”
“She was the first one to set up and lead the whole army. She did get a scar on her eye, but that actually benefited.”
“She was somehow able to become an archangel.”
“A-an archangel?!”
An archangel, an angel of very high rank and pretty much considered the protectors of God. One of the most respected types of angels in Heaven.
“She was able to prove herself as a true warrior and take the Center position. She stood up even as she got knocked down again and again, and won the war.”
“That’s amazing. So, the scar?”
“It’s kinda like the source of her powers. She has some pretty cool psychic powers.”
“Yeah, but she still needs some time to control them, so she normally covers it with an eyepatch. They're very powerful.”
“Well, either way, she looks pretty cool.”
“Then, what happened?”
“Um… then we had to save part of the world from a zombie invasion.”
“Z-zombie?!”
“Yeah, that got a bit weird.”
“Luckily, though, Maachun and the others were able to help, since their special and rare infected.”
“There was also a giant lycan.”
“What on Earth happened?” Mayu thought to herself in all that chaos. She thought perhaps THAT took place in another world.
“After that calmed down, we had the Sky Gods festival. At the same time, there was a bit of a group reformation.”
“Reformation?”
“The Gods called it the Grand Shuffle. I’m guessing the others have told you about it before.”
“Yeah...”
“But, basically, after that, we all received new positions in all four squadrons. For example, I am now co-current in AKB squadron, Team K. So is Jurina, and Haruppi.”
“And I’m~ co-current in SKE squadron’s Team S.”
“Wow.” She held her head listening to all of it. It definitely explained why Team B had some new members, including Maachun and Mio.
“Ah, speaking of which, I’d better get going to SKE squadron. Team S is supposed to start training. I don’t want the captain to get mad.”
“Can I come, too?” Mayu asked, standing up. “Maybe there’s someone else who might know what happened… or, at least, something that might help.”
“It’s okay. Sure, you can come.”
“Thanks.”
----------------
Mayu came up with one more idea she could try out as she flew with Miyuki to the main SKE territory. Since Jurina was an archangel, and she got special psychic powers, perhaps she could use them to read her mind and search for her lost memories.
If they were really suppressed in her mind, or if there was a spell put on her to block the memories out, she knew that a powerful archangel’s magic could break through the wall. Since she still wasn’t sure if someone purposely erased her memory, doing that is her only other option.
They finally arrived at Team S’s shelter, and when they opened the door, they saw everyone in peace, relaxing a bit. Nakanishi had made some snacks and was serving everyone, talking and smiling with them.
“This confirms it,” Mayu said in her mind.
“The darkness and evil really was removed from everyone. Even Nishishi’s eyes seem brighter.”“Are? Miyuki-chan. Mayuyu.”
“Sorry, I’m late, Nishishi. Did practice already finish?”
“Nope. You’re just in time, we’re starting in a few minutes.”
“Good.”
“So, why are you here, Mayuyu?”
“I want to see Jurina. I need her help with something.”
She and Milky explained to the others what was going on, so Nishishi asked Mieko, who was the new co-captain, to bring Jurina. Mayu and Milky just sat and waited for her.
Mayu observed carefully at everyone who was and wasn’t here. As she expected, members were removed and added. She was even surprised to see Karen and Suzuran talking to some of the members.
What surprised her even more was that, Rena wasn’t there. As she looked, she saw a photo sitting on a dusty counter. She walked up to look at it and saw it was a picture of Jurina and Rena.
Jurina was in an infirmary, which she guessed was after the war, and had bandages wrapped around her left eye. Rena was sitting beside her hugging her, and she was surprised to see Rena had dyed her gorgeous black hair brown.
“Ah, that? Rena took that before she left.” A certain trainee, Kitagawa Ryouha, said.
“Left? Is she dead?”
“No. She became a guardian angel for an elder man who lived in Akihabara. He was a Christian, and close with God, so Rena was something precious to him. After he died and left his will to Him, Rena was given the task to take a gift he left behind.”
“What kind of gift?”
“None of us knew. Only Rena. She said he wanted to take it to another world, another time.”
“Really?”
“It seemed important, so Rena went alone and dropped down as Team E captain. She gave the position to Akarin on the Grand Shuffle.”
Speaking of Grand Shuffle, she realized how much the team had changed. But now, it seemed like a light was missing. A light known only as…
“Yuria...”
“Hm?”
“Where’s Yuria?”
“Oh, Yuria-chan. She got transferred to Team 4 over in your section after the Grand Shuffle.”
“Eh? They reunited Team 4?”
“And guess what? She and Miichan are co-captains~.”
“Whoa… A lot really has changed in the past eight months… How could I forget..?”Then, the door opened and everyone stood up as Jurina walked in. Mayu just stood shocked at her new appearance.
Her hair had grown out now, and her bangs cut and fell completely over her forehead, no longer just to one side. Her wings seemed more beautiful, and even a bit bigger, and looked like there were four of them. And, just as Milky described, there were two huge scars around her left eye, the final middle scar covered up by an eyepatch.
“Jurina...”
“Mayu.” Her voice sounded lower than normal. It made Mayu’s heart skip a beat. Jurina patted the girl’s head, caressing her hair.
Again, she felt warmth.
“Now, what’s this I hear about you losing your memory?”
“Something… I don’t know what, caused me to forget everything eight months ago, after Sasshi defeated the Walpurgis. I can’t remember anything that happened passed that.”
“Why do you need me?”
“I want you to look inside my memories. See if they’re inside my head, locked away somehow.”
Jurina’s facial expression changed a bit, a worried expression appeared on her face.
“Are you sure? My powers are very strong. I don’t want to hurt you, Mayu.”
“Trust me, Jurina. I need to know.”
Jurina gave a soft smile. “Understood.”
She slowly untied the eyepatch and revealed the final scar on her eye. It was barely noticeable now, but you could definitely see the change. When Jurina opened her eye, it was now glowing bright blue. It was beautiful, yet also very eerie. A hauntingly kind of beauty.
Jurina took the girl’s shoulders and stared at her eyes, having Mayu look back at hers.
The angel could feel Jurina peering deep into her soul, as if the girl’s spirit was inside her body. She could hear her voice whispering inside her, her mind racing with thoughts that played over and over like a record scratch.
When she was finished, her eye close and she covered it back up with the eyepatch. For Mayu, it felt as if this heavy weight lifted off of her, her dizzy mind pulled back suddenly into reality. Her body went weak and she fell to her knees, panting. She held her head as her vision oriented to normal.
“Well?”
Jurina shook her head.
“They’re not there.”
“What? What do you mean-?”
“None of your memories are there. It’s as if the past eight months had ever happened… at least, in your mind.”
Mayu held her head, trying to come up with a simple solution to this.
“There has to be an explanation!”Then, she overheard a conversation with Nishishi and Milky that made her even more confused.
“Hey, Nishishi, where’s captain?”
“Ah, she’s setting up the training grounds. She’s probably almost ready.”
“Eh?” Mayu got up and looked at them. “Nishishi, you’re not captain?”
“No. I gave up that position a long time ago.”
“Wait… if you aren’t Team S captain, then who…?”
Just then, the door to the training hall opened. A young woman walked out and stretched her arms.
Mayu’s eyes widened, her heart seemed to pound endlessly as she felt a heat growing up behind her eyes.
“Alright, guys! Everything’s set up in there, so let’s get up and--” The angel stopped in front of Mayu and smiled. “Ah. Mayu. Hey, girl, what are you doing here? Did you come to visit me~? Did you miss me~?”
Mayu recognized that voice. That cute, sweet, sugar-coated voice. Those eyes filled with light. And that unforgettable smile that could lift someone’s spirits on their worst day.
“S.. S-Sae...?”
“Hm? What’s wrong? You look a little pale...”
“Sae!” Mayu ran up and hugged the girl, crying. Her salty tears floated out onto the girl’s shirt. “Thank God… you’re okay...”
“Eh?”
“When you disappeared… I thought… you were dead… I...”
“Mayu, calm down.”
“But… you--”
“I didn’t go anywhere. I’ve always been right here. Well, I mean, I gained this position as captain during the Grand Shuffle, but… I didn’t disappear. Did something happen?”
“What?”
Sae looked at the younger angel a bit confused. Mayu had heard from Yuko about when they got into a big fight, then Sae went down to Earth so she could live a normal human life with Sayaka. But now, she’s here. An angel again. And she seems to have no memory of when she left.
“But… what about Sayaka?”
“Oh, her? Don’t worry, Mayu, I still look after her. I’m her guardian angel, remember?”
“Uh...”
“Well, nevermind that. I’m gonna get to training, alright?”
Mayu went silent and wiped away her tears. “....Okay.”
“Try to rest, Mayu. You seem to be going through a lot.” the genki girl said as she wiped away the girl’s tears.
“You have no idea.”“Alright, guys. Training time~!”
“Hai~!”
Then, Mayu suddenly thought of something and grabbed Jurina’s hand.
“Wait!”
“Wha-?”
“Yuko! Where’s Yuko?! I need to see her! She can tell me what’s going on!! I NEED HER!!!”
The entire room went silent. Jurina and Sae looked at each other.
“You forgot that much, huh?” Jurina said lowly.
“Eh?”
“Mayu… Yuko graduated months ago.”
Mayu’s heart stopped a moment. She took a step back.
“Wh… what did you say?”
“She’s gone. She left not too long after the Crusades ended. She...”
“What? Where is she?!”
“...She went to the place Acchan went to.” Jurina answered for the captain, who was frozen in shock by Mayu’s sudden outburst.
Mayu found herself crying again. Those words repeated over and over.
“Yuko’s gone...”She ran off, flew away. She flew into the sky as fast as she could, hiding in the clouds. She flew down to Earth, into the forest where no one could see or hear her. She went to the broken church ruins, the only place she felt safe, alone.
Her heart poured out emotions, frustration and confusion, anger and depression, loneliness and shock. All of it was too much for the poor girl.
“Yuko's gone... now it's like I'm in another world...”She hugged herself, closing her eyes tight as she prayed to God.
“Please… someone… tell me… what is happening?”Then, she saw a light. She looked up and saw a small slit opening up to reveal a portal of light.
“A Gate?!”A “Gate” was a term normally used to describe a portal that opened to another dimension. But the thoughts of a Gate opening at this time and place was quite confusing.
Mayu saw something slowly emerge from the light, the figure of a person.
As the light slowly went away, unraveling from the figure’s body, it showed a human girl. No wings, no special markings. Just a normal human girl with short black hair and pale skin. She was wearing a plaid vest over a white button up shirt with a matching plaid skirt and velvet red ribbon tied on her chest.
As the Gate vanished, she slowly floated down and collapsed into Mayu’s arms. Mayu stared at the sleeping girl and felt her warm heartbeat.
“Who is she?”Just then, she saw another gate open, but this time, it was filled with darkness. She saw a monstrous claw rise out and a very grim looking monster slid out and started crawling towards the two girls.
Mayu didn’t know what that creature was, and was scared out of her mind. She never felt this much fear inside her, and she couldn’t do a thing. She held the girl in her arms tighter, wanting to scream.
Just then, the sleeping girl’s arm dropped, and a small ring was heard. There was a red string tied like a bracelet around her arm, with two golden bells attached to it.
“Mai-chan...” she whispered in her sleep.
A huge gust of wind surrounded them and blew the monster back, slashing it a few times as it spun like a tornado.
It cut the creature’s arm and eventually, it split in half and dispersed into black dust.
As the wind calmed down, Mayu sat there with a shocked expression, staring at where the black dust remains stained the grass.
“What was… that?”
She stared at the sleeping girl once more, believing that she was definitely
more than human.
Topic: Tengoku Crusade (20/20) + sequel (Chap6 - 15/04/2015) | Multipairing - DROPPED (Read 51575 times)