Ok so umm... yeah. Wow. I hope you guys can get excited about this from the title, because I'm sure excited having written it. It sets a few records again - in it is the longest straight narrative (without breaks or changes in perspective) that I think I've ever written, and this is also the longest chapter in general I've ever written coming in just shy of 10k words. So, it's not the longest ever for jphip, but that's not a record I'm trying that hard to break.
So keep that in mind and take a break or two while reading if you need. Otherwise, I've put a lot into it, and I think there's a lot to be taken from it, so I hope everyone enjoys...
Warning for violence and a bit of PG-13 style language and sexual innuendo.
Chapter 17 – The Battle for Seishin“So uh… what’s the plan, fearless leader?” Reina asked in a very sardonic tone.
Airi walked ahead with her hand clasped tightly in Miyabi’s as their surroundings became murkier the closer they came to the wall. Knowing what they did now, it almost seemed as if it was also getting colder with a chill that likely had very little to do with the temperature. Oddly, at least perhaps if one didn’t know the cause, the darker it got the more the storm lightened up as well until it had even stopped raining.
Reina’s question came from just behind the two of them where she walked with Fujimoto and Mari, but Airi heard the soft and tentative footfalls of the other girls as well only a bit further back. Her plans and visions didn’t really include them, but they still followed nonetheless. She pondered on it as she walked. Well, the Circle was gathering students to themselves, right? They even had that big assembly about it. There must have been some reason for it…
When no one answered her question, Reina huffed audibly, causing Miyabi to give a short glance back. “Just give it up for now. Do you think she’d be taking us back here if she didn’t have some kind of plan?”
“I’m just saying it seems like you’re putting an awful lot of blind trust in her. I mean hell, she’s not even a real Skull.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Miyabi growled, eliciting a chuckling response from Fujimoto, and Airi felt the hand entwined in hers tighten. “And from what I’m seeing, a mite more of a Skull than you are right now.” For some reason, as she caught Miyabi’s face out of the corner of an eye that was painstakingly kept forward, Airi thought the girl was actually looking beyond Reina at something.
“Just remember,” Reina retorted darkly. “About
everything that being a Skull entails.”
Airi felt her companion tense at that in a different way, and for the first time she let her head turn sideways to give the girl a questioning look. Miyabi caught it after a second and stared back before shrugging it off and focusing forward herself, looking to the ground as if a fallen branch they were stepping over needed her full attention.
Airi’s mouth tightened.
Please let them get along… she thought.
Not now… This is not the time for one of your famous scuffles! If she had somehow not noticed the two almost co-captains’ propensity for them, Koharu and Chisa were more than willing to share stories of the… entertaining encounters.
To tell the truth though, she was still troubled herself about what had led them out here again. As she looked around her into the now darker and darker reaches of the woods, and even thought she could almost see the deadly swirling fog of the wall ahead, she wondered if this was really a good idea. What was she, as a thirteen year old girl, supposed to do about something like that anyway? But then, there were the oddities…
Coming back to herself, just before they passed it she noticed a fork in the path, one being the way to the road they’d taken before, and the other being one that just goes further into the wood, but still toward her target. She quickly changed direction to go down the new path.
“How can we be sure she knows where she’s going?” she heard the older Chinese transfer student whisper huskily a short way behind. “It doesn’t seem like it…”
“Don’t you remember where that way leads?” another of the girls hissed. Airi was still having trouble recognizing the voices of all the new arrivals, but she thought this one was that Erina girl, also from the Nakazawa group. “She just probably didn’t realize it until the last second… you know how that can happen.” The voice hesitated. “At least I hope that was the case…”
Airi clenched her hands again, her left one now fully in a fist. Her right probably would have been too if there hadn’t been something soft and warm obstructing it. “You’re a very brave and determined girl…” she heard Miyabi whisper warmly into her ear. “Especially surprising for your age. If only Kusumi could have half of that, or Reina even…” The girl leaned in closer until Airi could feel her breath hot against her lobe. “If we ever get some time alone I’ll have to find out how mature you are in other ways too…”
Her girlfriend clutched her arm as Airi stumbled, having apparently missed another tree limb for some reason on this more difficult path, as she even more pointedly tried to keep her face forward to hide as much of the redness as possible.
“Is our girl all right up there?” Fujimoto called.
“She’s fine,” Miyabi said, smiling back reassuringly. “We’re just almost there. Right?” she asked, looking again at Airi, who cleared her throat.
“Right!” she said, trying to keep her mind on the task at hand in hope of bringing some of the paleness back into her features.
She peered ahead of her into the blackness. They must be close – surely it wouldn’t be this dark further back. Unless… was the thing growing? Her face very quickly cleared up completely at the sobering thought. That was even more of a reason why they had to do this now. Plus, Mari needed to go home, right? Then again, didn’t they all really at this point?
Her worries were momentarily alleviated though when the blackness faded into the swirling fog they knew to be the wall, cutting off the path ahead of them. She stopped only a few meters away, staring up at it.
“So what’s the plan?” Miyabi asked slowly and quietly.
Airi swallowed into her suddenly dry throat. “We take it down,” she said simply.
“By ‘we’,” she heard Fujimoto say from behind. “You mean you, right?”
“The three of us,” Airi responded, turning around and looking at a slouching Reina.
“What’s up?” the Captain asked neutrally.
“I realized what our problem was before. Aside from the shock of finding our friends there and all of course… I can’t do this alone. Neither can Miyabi and neither can you. We have to work together.”
“And how exactly is that supposed to work?” Reina asked, sounding bored. “We’ve all been pretty independent in what we’ve been able to do so far.”
“You mean you have been,” Miyabi retorted in an even voice.
Reina widened her eyes as if in innocence. “Yes I have. What, do you think you’re
sharing something doing whatever it is you are to protect your little red riding hood from the big bad wolf? Getting all close and snuggly with her in a… well, a very
disturbing sense.”
“Reina, be careful…” Mari warned from the other side of Fujimoto. She looked like she wanted to step in, but Fujimoto threw out an arm to hold her back, her face expressionless.
The younger girls further back stared at the exchange with wide eyes, and Airi realized they weren’t exactly accustomed to how things went down with the Skulls. Or rather, this was more like the side they
were accustomed to, and perhaps it was bringing back uncomfortable memories. Truthfully, Airi didn’t know if she exactly liked it all either.
“But bringing Yajima and Shimizu to their knees… Did you have anything to do with that? What have you two
really done together?”
“Did you just see us escape from the Ivory Tower through a storm, leaving the Circle in chaos behind?” Airi asked quickly and loudly, trying to break up the atmosphere that was building between the two longtime rivals. Miyabi had released her hand not long after Reina’s first shots, and now had her fists clenched tightly as if she was preparing for a fight, which was something Airi did not want to see right now.
Blank faces turned to her, visibly irritated at the interruption, although Miyabi’s warmed quickly. Airi felt she had no choice but to continue on. “We got out of there
together. I had… I don’t know what to call it, but something happened inside me and lots of things suddenly made sense. One was how we could resonate with each other, focusing our abilities and using them in a stronger way than any of us could by ourselves, or at least with what we know of our abilities now. So we were able to protect someone who was innocent in all this. I wouldn’t have guessed it would have had so many side effects though…”
Reina responded quickly. “So I’m supposed to trust this… feeling… that you had? What? Do I have to give you complete control of myself? Following you is one thing, but this…”
“Do you have a problem with following her?” Miyabi asked quietly, seeming calmer though still obviously very alert.
Reina swung her gaze over to her once again. “Are you telling me you don’t? You’ve always had enough trouble following
me.”
“Please…” Airi implored, nearly at tears. “If we’re going to do this we all have to be united, and have full trust in each other… We can’t be fighting like this. Why can’t you believe me? Do you think I
want all of this to be happening to me? Do you think I
liked the feeling of… of…
curiosity that I had when I almost ripped Maimi’s soul apart? Until Chisa joined I positively
hated the Skulls, and now…” She looked pleadingly into Miyabi’s eyes. “And now…”
She suddenly felt weak, and sagged slightly as if to fall to the ground, but Miyabi caught her in her arms, looking strongly into her eyes. “I’m with you through whatever. You know that, right?” She glanced over at Reina. “It’s true I may not be crazy about playing second fiddle to you lately, but I think there must be a reason for it, right? I mean,” she continued, looking now at the roiling wall. “Like you were saying, this is bigger than all of us, isn’t it?”
“It might be worth listening to those girls,” Fujimoto said, studying Airi and Miyabi. “You know I never gave in one bit while I was in your position, but now I understand where the need is. You’re the Captain – you know what the Skulls stand for, right?”
“Yes,” Reina responded, looking carefully between her mentor and Miyabi. “Yes, I do.” Apparently coming to some decision, she turned to Airi, who was still shaky and partly held up by her girlfriend. “So how does this whole…
mind meld thing… work?”
Airi blinked her damp eyes, still uncertain whether Reina was truly on board, but figuring it at least had to be worth a try. Right now, she thought she’d accept a plan that had any sort of hope in it whatsoever.
“All right,” she responded in a broken voice. “It involves a resonance of our power and… what we are. I apologize, but I should take the lead since I’m the only one who’s really done it before. Even so I’m also not in quite the same… condition I was then.”
“You’ll be okay,” Miyabi cooed, and Airi looked up into her mud streaked face. She nearly giggled. Reina nodded quickly in acceptance of her plan.
“Come on,” she said, getting fully to her own two feet and stumbling toward the fog. Miyabi kept her hands out, ready to pull her back if she tripped again. She smiled. That was something she wasn’t going to do now.
The other girls with the exception of Fujimoto and Mari sat down to watch, many with skeptical faces. Airi was glad to at least see Chisato and even Risako smiling their support at her. After Miyabi came to her side and Reina to her other, face impassive, Airi looked hard into the mist to study it once again. She closed her eyes, trying to feel the free air and the Sun beyond.
“So…” Reina asked, seeming to try her best to be patient. “What happens now?”
Still with eyes closed, Airi replied, “Even though I’ll be trying to… help you along… it’s your element that we’ll need to use, just like what happened with Miya and I back at the tower. There is something very similar to a dense storm inside this wall, and you know how to order the weather.”
“Okay,” Reina responded simply. “I’m not sure I’m that great with it yet though… I still can’t control it well. I’ve felt much more comfortable since I started using—“
“You’ll do fine,” Airi reassured. “The skill is inside you. This is where you have to trust me.”
With that, she opened her eyes and turned to look hard into Reina’s own. This was much more difficult because the two of them didn’t share the same connection she and Miyabi did, but she tried to look deep inside her for what she knew was there. After a few seconds of Reina just blinking at her and becoming more confused, she felt a hand on her arm which broke her focus as she looked over to Miyabi.
“I think I might know what you’re trying to do now…” Miyabi said. “Let me try?” After a glance over at Reina, who was gazing at Miyabi with a conflicted expression, Airi nodded. However, she also felt a little troubled. Here was yet another reminder of the connection Miyabi and Reina shared, however stormy and turbulent it may be at times.
She grasped Miyabi’s hand to at least have some of her own contact with the girl, as she gazed into Reina’s face too. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do…” Reina said in a tight voice. “But I’m having a hard time not breaking out into giggles…”
Airi blinked. “Reina! You have to take this seriously! Do you want to stay trapped in here by this wall of death or not?”
Instead of a response from Reina though, she felt Miyabi squeeze her hand. “It’s okay,” she said, and very quickly, Reina’s expression changed.
The two now shared a connection in their deep look, and Reina’s face relaxed as her eyes widened. “What are you…” she began to ask.
Suddenly Airi felt something tingle, similar to what she’d felt with Miyabi earlier, and she knew her girlfriend had succeeded. “This is…” Reina said, her voice becoming awed, which was a very strange tone to hear coming from her.
“All right,” Miyabi said, still holding Reina’s eyes. “What do we do now?” she asked.
However, Airi just closed her eyes in response, reaching out to the power she felt around her as she felt her own rise within her, from a source that felt somehow so ancient within her young body. After a moment, she could even feel the Sun again. “We don’t do anything,” She responded ethereally. “While the daughters of the Sun, the Moon and the Tempest may be one, for the task at hand…”
She didn’t continue though as she felt a slight disturbance, and she opened her eyes to look through the darkness that was now eerily alight with a red glow in her vision to see Reina now turned from Miyabi, her eyes scanning carefully up the wall. Eventually, those eyes somehow seemed to become moist.
“There is so much evil within this structure,” she said, still in that strange and now somber voice. “I would say it was carelessly constructed if I didn’t think it was intended to breed chaos. Still,” she said, reaching a hand out to it as if twisting something. The wall seemed to roil more violently, strands of mist lashing out from it, but none daring to touch the three girls standing before it. Airi heard some worried whispers break out from behind her, but right now that seemed as if it was another world.
“Even for its intended purpose, it seems very worn. It might have been solid one time, but this is old, bursting at the seams as if it has just been released from an ages-long slumber. Some of the knots holding it together are…”
She jerked her hand back as if pulling at one, and the structure visibly shuddered, now roiling violently in and out as it seemed to lose density in spots. She tugged at another one to even more instability from the wall before them. Her face suddenly became troubled. “I can’t understand it all though. This was made to be chaotic yes, but also with a quick mind…” She glanced over at Miyabi, who stepped toward the wall now also.
“This was not done by the three from the tower,” she stated in a much plainer voice than Reina used. “It does not have Shimizu’s mark.” She closed her eyes and lifted her chin, and Airi could feel a dangerous power emanate from her. Dangerous it might be, but it made her feel joyful at the same time. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Maybe there’s hope then,” Airi said, now gazing with rising excitement at the wall that was now hissing and spitting angrily. At times she thought she could even see a point of light shine through from the other side. “If this was just given to them, perhaps they’re not as strong yet as they seem. Especially…” She felt her own power surge within her as the desire to be once again reunited with the Sun enflamed in her soul. “…Now that we have discovered our own potential!” she finished with a rising tone. Not able to bear it any longer, she flung out her arms to release the radiance that was building up inside her and yearned to rejoin with its complement just beyond the barricade.
She could feel nothing, could sense nothing except the light that was invading her. She felt so alive, so overjoyed, that it seemed something like darkness could never exist. She felt the light burn away what was left of the foggy darkness before her, and it spread out in all directions as if it was made of black oil that had caught aflame, and afterward she fell to her knees in elation.
Once again she felt the Sun beating down on her, infusing within her, the clarity of the air giving her what felt like the first fresh breath she’d had in days. A bit of the power seemed to fade, though the elation didn’t, and she almost trembled in awe. Was this what heaven felt like? It seemed as if nothing could ever be bad again.
After basking in her experience for what really was likely no more than a few seconds, she felt a presence next to her and an arm drape around her shoulder. She opened her eyes to the trees of the wood still spread out before her, the Sun shining fitfully through them, and turned to see Miyabi, who stared into her face as if it was really as bright as the Sun she felt.
“Um…” Miyabi hesitated. “Are you okay?”
Airi’s smile widened. “I’m fabulous,” she responded, and she dove in to hug the older girl as tightly as she could. After a moment Miyabi returned it, and even tried to pull her head back for a kiss, but Airi broke away and stood before she could do so, leaving the Skull sitting stunned on the ground with her knees bent and legs splayed beneath her now muddy and tattered skirt that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.
Airi looked smiling around at her friends. Reina was also smiling over at the two of them, appearing the happiest she’d seen her in perhaps ever. Fujimoto and Mari were blinking, but doing their best to view the three girls as well. The others in the back, most still seated on the ground, were in various stages of getting accustomed to the sudden brightness.
“You could have given us some warning at least, Osuzu…” Chisato said, rubbing her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Airi said quickly. “Did it really happen that quickly?”
“Well the wall burning away was one thing, but you glowing like that… That was the shock, especially for someone like me who was staring at just you the whole time,” her friend responded.
“And me too…” Risako grumbled from beside her, seeming a little embarrassed. Despite her embarrassment though, when she wasn’t blinking at the light she was still staring at Airi, apparently impressed enough to override any other issues that might still be going on.
“Glowing…?” Airi asked, puzzled.
“Yeah,” Miyabi said, finally rising and snaking an arm around her waist, this time with a strong grip as if she wasn’t going to let her get away again. “After I started fighting against that magic that was similar to Shimizu’s, you just suddenly became like a ball of blinding white light that I couldn’t even see you through. Of course after that I… and apparently the rest of us… couldn’t see anything else either. But you stayed like that until the wall was gone. You always have to show us up, don’t you?” she finished with a grin.
Airi blushed. “I didn’t mean to…” she said meekly. “I was just trying to…”
“Shut up,” Miyabi said, still grinning, and leaned in for a kiss that this time she wasn’t going to let Airi escape.
“Well then,” Fujimoto said, clearing her throat. The other girls were finally getting used to the brightness and standing up, playing with each other happily as their courage grew from the destruction of the wall. Airi was trying to avoid losing all trace of rational thought under her girlfriend’s assault. “I’d say that’s a job well done, girls.”
“Most definitely,” Mari said, smiling warmly at them. “I can see now that you don’t need my help any more. Mikitty, where does this path lead?”
Fujimoto squinted down it. “I think if, when it forks, you take the right path, it’ll eventually wind back around to the road.”
“That sounds like a plan then,” Mari responded, and she started down it.
Miyabi extricated herself from Airi’s mouth in order to shout after her, “Hey! You going already?”
The older woman turned back to consider them and nodded. “I have urgent business elsewhere that those accursed girls have already made me late for. I’m sure this won’t be the last I see of you though. And like I said, you three definitely don’t seem to need me anymore. I can’t even begin to imagine what just transpired. And even though I have to go, I’ll leave you… Mikitty. She can give you any more assistance you’d need, I’m sure.”
“Hey!” Fujimoto responded angrily. “What if I wanted to go too?! Huh? I was really considering it you know!” The other girls laughed as Mari just smiled, and with a wave disappeared down the path.
“Stupid woman…” Fujimoto grumbled, walking to the edge of the path and dropping to sit there sulkily. “Who does she think she is?”
As Miyabi and Airi exchanged amused looks, the group of Nakazawa girls came up to them, a few of them looking around in amazement as if they still couldn’t believe what happened. After a moment Lin Lin seemed to realize just where they were and frowned, poking her Chinese companion, who seemed to be having trouble speaking. Airi and Miyabi looked at them expectantly.
“I…” Li Chun began finally. “I’m sorry for doubting you. You obviously do know what you are doing…” Even though she apologized, it was still with a grudging voice as she looked down at the ground, fidgeting. “Although,” she continued, and darted her eyes up to theirs. Lin Lin sighed. “I would like to point out that even though I complained, I was still here along with my friends!”
“Oh give it a rest, Jun Jun,” Michishige said, and Airi felt her heart flutter slightly as she looked at the dark-haired girl. Miyabi apparently reflexively clutched her waist tighter, but Airi just smiled and snuggled into her side. For some reason, it was no longer quite the same as when she’d first met the girl.
“You’re only here because Lin Lin wanted to come and we’re the only friends you have in this place. It had absolutely nothing to do with believing in these… in Suzuki and Natsuyaki here.” Airi noticed she caught herself before saying ‘these
Skulls’, and she grimaced at Miyabi, who gave her a very innocent look. Apparently they still weren’t comfortable with thinking of their new leaders in that way.
The Chinese girl mumbled something unintelligible, but Kamei spoke next, still gazing in wonder at where the wall used to be. “That was incredible! You guys really are something! When we saw Reina capture that wolf it was one thing, but this…”
“That’s right,” Miyabi said suddenly, glancing over at Reina, who walked toward them at the sound of her name. “What exactly happened there anyway? When we saw Shimizu transform and jump out the window we thought you all would surely be eaten.”
“Transform…?” Erina asked in a worried voice.
Reina stared at Miyabi evenly. “Thanks. I’m glad to see how much faith you have in me…”
“Well it’s different now…” Miyabi said, shifting her eyes in her attempt to recover. Airi stifled a giggle.
Reina continued looking at her for a moment before clearing her throat, and was about to speak when Koharu came up to them and interrupted her. “Oh it was really cool! You should have seen it, Miyakko! It was—“
“Ex
cuse me~!” Reina interrupted herself, as Chisato and Risako came up next to the other Skull. “I believe this is
my story?”
“Yeah!” Chisato said, carefully avoiding Reina’s gaze, which was quickly becoming darker. “It started with her and Fujimoto starting to fight it hand-to-hand – where Reina was doing a much better job, I might add—” There was a huff from the side of the path at that remark. “But it was still tearing into them, and we were all like
‘ahhhh!’ and the two of them were like
‘grrr!’ and…”
“If you don’t let me talk soon, you’ll find that Miyakko’s not the only one I’m willing to give a beat down to…” Reina said, glowering, her arms crossed dangerously at her chest. However, Chisato just ignored her and continued on with her tale.
“…So there was getting to be blood all over the place! But then somehow Reina got in a good kick on its belly…” She was punching her fists into the air and kicking as if to act out that part of the story, something that made Airi happy. It was enjoyable to see her friend so in her element. This was beginning to be quite a wonderful day.
“…And it fell by itself into a copse of a few trees. And that’s when Reina got all completely serious—” which she of course acted out with a serious face— “and started doing funky things with her hands—” she waved her hands around like a maniac at this point—“and things suddenly started sprouting from the ground and the trees! They came up so quickly that the wolf didn’t have time to react. It tried ripping through them, but they thickened even quicker until it was completely trapped…”
By this time Reina had apparently had enough and came up and bonked the impetuous girl on the head. “I
think that’s quite enough from you,” she said warningly as Chisato rubbed her head, looking up at her with a pout. Airi smiled as Risako even seemed about to giggle at the encounter. “If you’re going to tell the story, you at least need to tell it well!” And then she turned to Miyabi and Airi.
“Most of what the brat said is true. Well okay all of it is, but she left out things that she just couldn’t have known. You see, you both know my connection with the weather, right?” Airi and Miyabi nodded. “And of course I can heal too…” she admitted grudgingly. “But apparently I can also make things grow. I was just so angry and desperate at that point that something came over me, and I could feel the plants, that they wanted to help me. And so, I talked to them, and they did,” she finished, baring her palms as if it was as simple as that.
Airi exchanged a smile with Miyabi. “Reina, I know
exactly what you mean…”
However, she didn’t say any more before her head started ringing and she fell to the ground. She wanted to scream, but found that her body didn’t want to respond to her.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you it isn’t nice to have fun at someone else’s expense?” a voice reverberating throughout her head said. Then it suddenly seemed to get more serious.
“The dome was the last straw. This time we will show no mercy, and all of you who stand in our way will pay…”Finally the ringing faded and stopped and Airi came to, holding her head tightly and finding Miyabi crouched next to her looking very frightened. “I’m sorry,” her girlfriend said. “It happened so quickly I couldn’t respond right away, and then it was more difficult getting her out. Are you okay?”
“Yeah…” Airi responded, shaking her head. “I’m all right.” She opened her eyes to see all of the girls around her having fallen to the ground as well, most still holding their heads too. “All of us?” she asked, and Miyabi nodded.
Fujimoto strode up to them, no longer seeming petulant in her dead seriousness. “What do you think it is?” she asked.
“It sounded like they’re sore about us taking care of their little wall,” Reina growled, massaging her forehead. “They sure are crabby about it.”
“What did she say?” Miyabi asked, looking between Reina and Airi. When no one spoke right away, she followed, “It didn’t happen to me. Apparently she’s too afraid to try to get into my mind like that too.”
“They would show no mercy…” Risako said, and looked at Airi. “Airin, I’m scared. What if they come for us?”
Airi’s eyes widened. “That’s what they’re doing,” she said. “We’d almost ignored them after leaving them in disarray earlier, but do you think they’ve really just sat back and done nothing? They probably reorganized, and as she said, getting rid of the dome was the last straw…”
Miyabi, suddenly alert, stood quickly, and Airi unsteadily joined her. “You’re right,” she said, frowning, obviously angry with herself. “I’ve not been keeping alert enough since we were celebrating about taking care of the wall.” She closed her eyes briefly before opening them and appealing to Airi. “They’re coming. All of them. And quickly.”
“What are we gonna do?” Kamei asked, appearing terrified once again.
“You are going to stay back and out of the way,” Reina said, stepping forward to look hard down the path. “We don’t know what their plan of attack is going to be.”
“But we want to help,” Lin Lin said, and after a slight hesitation Jun Jun nodded, along with Michishige and Erina.
“We’re going to fight Ai-chan…” Erina mourned.
“No,” Reina said. “
We’re going to. If anything, I want you guys to only be worried about the rest of the girls.” She turned to Miyabi. “Do you think they’ll be armed?”
“I can’t tell,” Miyabi said, gazing off into nowhere.
“If they’re bringing them, I’d guess they would be,” Fujimoto interjected.
“Armed with what?” Jun Jun asked. “This is a school. There are no weapons here…”
“I don’t know,” Reina said, and looked to her old captain. “You stay back with the others for now too, okay?” Fujimoto stared a moment before nodding and joining the other Nakazawa girls. Then Reina considered Airi and Miyabi. “Well?”
The three of them gathered to the center of the path and sat, looking worriedly at each other. “Without knowing exactly what their plan is, I’m not sure how we can prepare,” Miyabi said. “She won’t let me anywhere near any of them to try and find that out…” she added grudgingly.
“It’s okay,” Airi reassured. “I’m sure—”
“SUZUKI!!!” they heard Takahashi shout from down the path, and their attention snapped that direction to see two of the three Circle members leading a fairly large group of girls down the path. Takahashi seemed to be at the head, looking like a storm cloud, and at that time Airi also noticed the Sun fall behind some actual ones as low, black clouds seemed to follow in the wake of the advancing group. Shimizu was nowhere to be seen, but by the announcement in their heads just a few minutes ago, Airi knew she couldn’t be far.
“I’d guess she hasn’t found her friend yet,” Miyabi whispered out of the corner of her mouth, and Airi silently agreed as the three stood to face the arrivals. Behind them, Fujimoto, Chisato and Risako stood at the head of their own loyal party. Reina gestured them to back further away.
When they were close enough that they could all see each others’ eyes, Takahashi and Maimi stopped, the others coming to a slower halt behind them. “First my best friend…” Takahashi ground out in a voice just loud enough to carry. “And now you’ve destroyed our protective barrier…” Thunder seemed to accentuate her every word. Airi glanced over to see Reina curiously studying the sky. “Are you going to keep on until I have nothing left?” She shook her head. “No… It ends here.”
“Your friend hasn’t been harmed!” Miyabi shouted, visibly affronted. “I merely sent her back to your—“
“Lies!!” Maimi shouted, stepping forward with an arm stretched out toward them. Airi hunched down warily. The Matsuura head shifted her always-intense gaze between herself and Miyabi. “Everything the two of you said has always been lies! Nothing more!” However, Takahashi had quieted as if she was considering their words.
“Don’t listen to her, Ai-chan!” Erina shouted from behind Airi, and the girl stepped up just to the side of the three of them. “I don’t know what exactly went on, but I know Natsuyaki-san and Suzuki-san don’t lie! The Skulls may not be well-liked but… they have good hearts!”
Airi felt herself smile at the friendship and loyalty that the girl portrayed, especially since it was in such contrast to her apparent idolizing of Takahashi before any of this happened. It was short-lived though, as she heard something whistle past them and a dull thud from beside her.
Erina, whom she’d just been looking at with pride, now held her mouth and eyes wide as she glanced down at a long, thin object that protruded from her chest. Blood began to form around it, and her legs wobbled before she fell to the ground, trying her best to stay up.
“No!” Reina exclaimed, and knelt down next to her.
Airi darted a look at the group across from them to see a tall and thin, but young, wide-eyed girl behind the Circle members with a bow that she was just lowering. She also noticed, after at first being distracted by the Circle members, that the students arrayed across the path all had some kind of ancient weapon. Some had bows or katanas, while others had things that even looked like clubs or flails. She also noticed that the storm clouds were rising again, and lightning was beginning to strike around them.
“Reina!” she cried, looking over to the Captain who looked helpless, torn between their fallen comrade and the looming threat around them. With one last look of regret, she rose and ran toward a tree.
“Take cover!” she said, and the terrified girls behind them scattered as Airi and Miyabi lunged for the side of the path opposite where Reina went. It was just in time too, as not a second later a large fireball whizzed through their prior positions, illuminating the fallen Nakazawa girl before flying off down the path.
“We’ll take them from inside the trees!” they heard Reina call from the other side. “It’ll be our only chance against their weapons!”
“Come on,” Miyabi said, and she pulled Airi after her deeper into the wood, through in a general direction toward the Circle’s army.
“Right,” Airi said, face still flush with the thought of the girl they’d left on the path with an arrow sticking out of her. “We’re the only ones that can stop any more innocent girls from being hurt…” Without responding, Miyabi kept pulling her on through the trees.
Before long they hunched down as a group of students, most with katanas or short swords and one with a hesitantly raised bow, walked through the trees while looking all around for any movement. “We need to take care of them before they find some of the others,” Miyabi whispered hoarsely. After a moment of nothing happening as they continued walking past, she continued, “We meaning you in this case.”
Airi, her attention distracted by a member of the group, blinked at her. “Oh…” she mouthed, and looked back at them. The member that had distracted her was Aika, holding a short sword tentatively as if unsure or even scared at the possibility of using it. What could she do?
Mittsi… she thought sadly.
Suddenly she turned to Miyabi. “Cover me,” she said simply, and stood up before her companion could respond, catching the attention of the entire group.
As if terrified at finding not one of the helpless groups of students but the one that had apparently caused their leaders so much grief, the pack of students, with the exception of Aika, stared at her. The one with the bow – Kanon, Airi realized it was, from her own House – let an arrow fly that seemingly bounced off the air right in front of Airi, as Miyabi came up beside her with a grim expression.
Airi smiled. “Mittsi, Kanon, how are you?” she asked, apparently ignoring that one of the girls she greeted had just tried to put an arrow through her. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” she asked, as it began raining. The girls looked among each other, confusion now seeping in with their fright. “There’s no need for this, is there? I mean, are you really trying to
kill us?”
“But you’re fighting against the Circle!” shouted Akari Saho, one of Kanon’s friends and also a member of Airi’s House.
“And you killed Gaki-san,” an older girl stated solemnly. Airi recognized her as the round-faced one from when they entered the tower. “Not to mention you’re
Skulls, and it’s time to clean up this school!” she continued, spitting out the name of their group as if it was a curse word
“Airi, what are you doing…?” Miyabi mumbled out of the corner of her mouth. “We don’t exactly have all the time in the world here.” In response Airi just patted her arm.
“But Airin’s not a Skull…” Aika said, lowering her sword. “Right? You’re still a good person!”
“Of course I am,” Airi smiled.
“That still doesn’t explain—” the older one and apparent leader of the group began.
“I’ve already responded to that,” Airi said darkly. “It’s your choice whether to believe me or not.”
“We don’t believe you!” Mia Sainen yelled. She was Aika’s friend being from the same year and House, and for some reason had never been fond of Airi. The other girls aside from Aika nodded their agreement, and Airi sighed.
“Then I’m sorry,” she said. “I have no choice…” She straightened up as if preparing to do something, and the girls started looking at each other nervously, obviously worried about what she might do to them.
Then suddenly, she flung out her arms in front of her and shouted in an angry-sounding voice, “Abra cadabra!” A branch of a tree burst into flame above them, and most of the girls jumped back as if wanting to run. “Oogy boogy! Allakhazam!” she shouted again, waving her arms even more dramatically. This time a couple of the younger girls screamed, and they dropped their weapons and began running as fast as they could in the other direction. Aika was the last to go, giving Airi a wide-eyed look, before allowing Mia to pull her along as well.
After they disappeared, Airi and Miyabi both straightened, Airi feeling a bit sad and Miyabi staring after them. “Well,” Miyabi said wryly. “That’s one way of taking care of them…”
Their moment didn’t last though as it suddenly seemed to become darker, and Miyabi drew in a breath. “What?” Airi whispered. “What is it?” Miyabi though did nothing but stare into the trees across from them, as wary as Airi had ever seen her. Airi quickly followed her girlfriend’s gaze, but didn’t see anything for a minute until a small girl walked casually out from behind some brush. Airi froze, but the girl just stood there in the softly falling rain, looking in their direction as if waiting for something.
“Come on,” Miyabi said after a while, and pulled Airi forward before she could utter a complaint. Soon the two of them were facing the other silently, and Airi tried to keep her fright in check from being so close to the Head of House Goto.
“I didn’t know if you’d come,” she said quietly. A blast sounded off in another part of the wood, along with some screams, and the rain had a sudden, fitful hard burst. The two lovers’ eyes were fixed on the girl in front of them though. “It was genius really, how you made those girls run. Try as hard as I could, I couldn’t even make them come back. Your work, I take it?” she asked Miyabi, who after a hesitation slowly shook her head. “Oh.” Then she glanced over at Airi. “Yet again the one who seems to cause us all this trouble. How interesting, also. You’re far different from Matsuura.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?” asked Airi, upset with herself at letting her fear show in her stutter.
The other girl smiled a smile that held no mirth, the rain seeming to envelop her in shadow. “So now what? Are you going to try that with me? I think you’ll find me a somewhat harder quarry to outwit.”
“No,” Miyabi growled. “I’ll fight you if I can.”
Shimizu’s gaze lingered on her again. “Oh? Well do your best then,” she continued in that irritatingly quiet voice.
“As you wish…” Miyabi hissed in response, and broke free from Airi to lunge at the girl.
“Miya, no!” Airi cried, but Miyabi had already reached her. At least, it looked like she had. When it appeared she was going to plow right into the smaller girl, her form vanished into shadow and Miyabi just stumbled along the ground.
“Where are you!” Miyabi shouted, spinning around as if the girl could be anywhere. “I’m so tired of constantly fighting you off, so let’s just end it right here and now!”
“But why?” the girl’s voice responded, sounding as if it reverberated all around them.
“The fun’s just beginning!”With that, the two girls heard a loud roar as something jumped into the clearing. Airi stared, wide-eyed. A “thing” was about the only word she could use to describe it. The roar came from the head of a lion, but it was set on what looked like the body of a horse covered in long but smooth white fur, beneath wings of a similar but less pure color.
“What the…” Miyabi exclaimed, and the head swiveled toward her before the beast lunged at her.
“No!” Airi shouted, jumping forward herself and trying to call upon whatever she could. She threw out her hands, one palm against the back of the other, that palm facing toward the monster, and a ray of light shot out from her. Upon contact with the creature it fell apart into shadow once again.
Miyabi was breathing heavily, staring terrified at what had seemingly been about to maul her, bad memories perhaps rearing once again, and Airi lowered her hands. “What is this?!” she complained, now looking around herself. “Is none of this real?” She walked up to Miyabi and held her arm tightly.
“No…” Miyabi said. “She’s around here somewhere…” She too was now looking around again, still breathing hard, but now seemingly with more focus.
A bear crashed through some brush toward them, rearing on its hind legs, but this time Miyabi just lurched forward and jumped toward it with a flying kick. Again, upon her contact the image dissipated into shadow. “How many of these things are you going to make us fight!” she shouted in no specific direction.
Then, a girl in seifuku wandered into the small clearing holding a club tightly in both of her hands. Airi recognized her as the girl Maimi had been with in the tower earlier. “All right, that’s enough of your illusions!” she shouted as she raised her hands once again.
“Airi, no!” Miyabi shouted suddenly, and lunged toward her, but it was too late.
Airi shot the bright beam of light once again from her hands, and it connected with the girl’s midsection. This time though her form didn’t disappear into shadow; instead, Airi’s beam burned a hole a few centimeters in diameter just above her stomach, and her face adopted a look of surprise before she dropped her club and fell to the ground, shaking and unable to catch a breath.
Airi stared wide-eyed at the result of her action as Miyabi reached her and clutched her tight. “What… what have I done?” she asked, as the girl gave a last half-cough before becoming still. Despite Miyabi’s support, she fell to her knees in horror.
“What…” Her mind was numb; she could no longer think of anything rationally, so she hardly even noticed that Miyabi was shaking while holding her.
“You…” Miyabi began harshly. “You evil
bitch!” she finished, yelling in fury. Airi felt her let go of her hold, dropping Airi into only the cold chill of despair. Miyabi looked once again from side to side around them, letting her fury take her over, until she focused on one spot ahead and slightly to the right, darting toward it and into the trees.
Airi couldn’t help but stare at the girl she’d killed in cold blood. Her mouth opened finally, but no words came out. She tried again and again before finally a whisper escaped her lips.
“Miya…” With that word, it seemed like she managed to regain a bit of herself again, and she raised her head to look off in the direction her girlfriend had gone, hearing muffled noises coming from it.
“Miya!” she said more strongly this time, and she rose unsteadily, walking in the direction she’d gone, doing her best to ignore the girl lying unmoving just meters away.
Trying to hang onto her new focus, she broke through the trees and brush, the sounds harder to hear now that she was making so much of her own, but she knew she was headed in the right direction. “Miya!” she called again, but before long she jerked to a stop, finding Miyabi straddling a girl whom she was apparently beating to a pulp.
“Miya!” she cried once more, leaning forward and trying to grab at her arm to pull her away. “Stop it!”
“No, Airi!” Miyabi responded through clenched teeth as she continued her assault. “She needs to pay for what she’s done to you!
Everything she’s done!”
Airi could tell that her girlfriend was just lost to her emotion now, just as she was just a short time ago. “It’s not worth this though!” she pleaded to her. “I’m okay, really! Please… just stop…” She did her best to hang onto the girl’s arm as it continued pummeling the small form on the ground, until it slowed and eventually did stop.
By that time Airi was crying and trying to bury her face into Miyabi’s arm, and Miyabi appeared as exhausted as Airi had ever seen her too. “…You’re okay?” Miyabi asked finally, and Airi nodded her tear-streaked face against her arm. Then Miyabi quickly dismounted her victim and pulled Airi off to the side, holding her tightly in her arms as she continued crying into her shoulder. “I’m sorry…” she said, stroking Airi’s hair. “I just couldn’t protect you, so I felt I had to do something… I
needed to do something…”
As her sobbing slowed, Airi peered through her tears over Miyabi’s shoulder at the bruised and bloodied form of House Goto’s head lying motionlessly in the tall grass.”Do…” she began, choking a little in her sobs. “Do you think you killed her?”
“I don’t know,” Miyabi replied, not diverting her attention from comforting her girlfriend. “I almost hope so. I just wish…” She trailed off before finishing her thought though, and the two held each other in silence as Airi couldn’t take her eyes from their fallen enemy.
…
Reina watched from a bush as the girl swinging a long-chained flail above her head approached two others from her own group. She’d thought about interfering, but the others seemed able and prepared to defend themselves even though they only carried thick sticks as weapons. Also, since one was Chisato, Reina thought that she at least should be given an opportunity to prove herself. Her eyes fixed on the newly initiated Skull, she felt her heart speed up as she silently cheered from the sideline.
“What’s the matter, Sugaya?” the girl leered at Chisato’s companion, the
whoosh of the mace-head buzzing past each ear as it swung. “Are you scared of something?”
“I’m not scared of you, Tsugunaga!” Sugaya shouted from her crouch next to Chisato as she cluched her stick protectively before her. “I feel sorry for you though…”
The other girl laughed. “Sorry for what? With the Circle in authority over everything, I’ll be one of the top generals in the world! Who would argue with something like that?” She started waving her flail menacingly further ahead of her.
“Now!” Chisato cried to her friend, and Sugaya jumped quickly out forward and to the side, Tsugunaga whipping the flail out toward her. The younger girl dodged desperately to the side as it smashed into the ground just beside her, and Reina smiled at what happened next.
Apparently that was exactly what Chisato wanted, because the second the girl threw her flail at Sugaya, she dove toward her, and she couldn’t react in time before Chisato slid between her legs on her back and, looking up at her, said pleasantly, “Hello there!” before whipping her long and until now not so dangerous-looking branch up hard to crack along her whole body, up to her face.
The shock of the blow made the Circle’s lackey drop her weapon, which Sugaya quickly collected, if with some trouble since it was so heavy, and she stumbled back with a cry, holding her hands to her now scraped face and stinging midsection. Chisato jumped to her feet, tossing the stick aside, and lunged toward the girl.
“Do
not…!” she said, punching the girl in the gut to make her double over, “…insult my
friend…!” Another blow, this time an uppercut to the chin. “…in front of
me!” she finally finished in her exertion, this time kicking out at the girl’s chest to send her flying into a bush.
Reina continued smiling the whole time. Yes, she will make an excellent Skull. Her eyes lingered on the young Matsuura girl for another moment before she turned from the battle whose result had obviously been decided and continued on her hunt for the source of the rain that’d been pelting her this whole time. In her own sense of the weather, she’d been able to divine Takahashi’s general direction, and had been heading toward it ever since the battle started. She’d run into a few of the Circle’s loyalists that she’d dispatched – she smiled again fondly at the memory of those confrontations – and now knew she was close.
And just as the thought came to her, there her quarry was, stalking through the trees as if on a hunt of her own, flanked by the younger tall girl that had shot Erina at the beginning and another one that Reina thought was also from House Goto.
Seeing it was only the three of them, she stepped out of the trees into their sight. Takahashi’s eyes widened, and the tall girl quickly but more sure of herself this time again drew her bow and fired an arrow toward Reina. With a look though, Reina caused a tendril to shoot out from a tree near its path and snatch the arrow out of the air.
“So,” Takahashi said in a voice of finality. “It’s you. I suppose it was fate that we should be the ones to meet first.”
Reina yawned. “And I’ll be the
last one you meet too.”
Takahashi twisted the corner of her mouth. “So confident,” she said, and gestured toward the girl holding a katana next to her, who charged forward toward Reina.
Keeping a careful eye on the weather to make sure Takahashi didn’t try something through the diversion, Reina waited patiently for the girl to near her and raise her katana before jumping deftly forward, feinting to the side at the last moment before shoving her elbow into the girl’s gut, knocking her completely off the path and into the brush at the side. For good measure, she snatched the dropped katana out of the air as well and in one movement threw it toward the remaining two, Takahashi dodging out of the way before it ran through archer girl’s shoulder, causing her to shriek and drop the bow from her now limp arm, falling to the ground and crying in pain.
Takahashi gave a quick look to her fallen guard before darting a scathing glare in Reina’s direction. “Oh give it a rest, will you?” Reina complained lazily. “You’re not gonna win.”
“For Nii-chan!” Takahashi yelled, the thunder and rain getting louder and harder, as she dashed down the path toward Reina, who now crouched in preparation for the encounter. Finally they collided, and the two girls rolled from side to side across the narrow path, each throwing punches that the other generally avoided.
“You realize…” Reina grunted, rolling to her feet and throwing Takahashi into a tree. As the older girl lunged back at her, she fell back in another roll and kicked up, making contact with the girl’s stomach and making her fly the other direction into another tree.
“That your friend…” She jumped at Takahashi and finally managed to pin her somewhat and get some good blows in at her face.
“Is fine and dandy in her bed…” As Takahashi pushed her away, she backed off a ways down the path.
“Right…?” she wheezed through her heavy breathing.
She heard something rustle behind her, and Takahashi’s eyes looked past her for a moment before the Head of House Nakazawa responded. “She’s more than a friend…” she growled. “More of the type that you would know, right Mikitty?” she asked, and Reina turned to see the former Captain coming up behind her and looking cautiously at Takahashi. “Then again, unlike some, she hasn’t been spoiled by your corruption…”
Her eyes never leaving Takahashi, Miki gave a quick whispered report to Reina. “Yajima has a few girls up to the north, but they’re being given a hard time by a group of our own. Those Chinese girls are surprisingly quite comfortable with fighting, and Okai’s not doing a bad job herself leading some of the younger ones. I’m not sure where her friend got that huge chain-thing, but she somehow is able to use it quite well… The trees are cancelling out some of Yajima’s power advantage. I think they’ll even be pushed back before long.” She hesitated before continuing. “I have no idea where Miyabi and Airi are.”
Reina nodded and turned back to Takahashi, who was grinning at them. “What?” the girl taunted again. “Don’t have anything to say to your old pillow friend?”
“Only you would say it that way,” Miki teased her back. “You always were the soft one. I’m surprised you even had it in you to try and lead this attack.”
“Miki…” Reina warned through clenched teeth, and Takahashi’s face fell into a glower.
“Is that so?” she asked quietly, and she became still. Despite her docile appearance, Reina didn’t like the situation at all, and became very worried as the thunder and clouds roiled worse and worse above them.
“I think it’s time to show you what the power of an heir is all about…” she said finally.
“Miki,” Reina repeated, “I think we need to get out of here…”
Before they could make a move though, a now eerily glowing Takahashi flung out her hand and a wide bolt of lightning shot forward from it, only sideswiping Reina but still blasting her into a tree to the side hard enough to break the trunk in half, but also coming into contact with Miki head-on, throwing her back several meters down the path.
“Mikitty!” Reina yelled at the now smoking form down the path. She wanted to get to her before it was too late, but knew she had no chance with Takahashi operating on this level.
“Come out!” she yelled to Reina. “It’s your turn! One slut down, and the baby makes two!”
“No!!!” Reina screamed, and jumped back out into the path to see Takahashi, who now glowed almost white-hot, glaring furiously at her. Taking a quick, deep breath, Reina charged her once again, and for the last time.
Topic: The Circle of Three [CONCLUSION: 28: Ascension] (Read 84941 times)