Chapter 9 : Memories“Leave now.” Mayu shot one last smirk at them before Kumi and Yuria tumbled themselves up and attempting to flee the scene.
“NO!!” Paru suddenly rushed in with her Judgement and attempted a strike, but to no avail as they have already left the ground and started flying away. Not wanting to let them leave, she activated the hook from her Judgement.
“That’s enough, girl.” Mayu shifted Paru’s Judgement away and caused her hook to miss. Mayu snatched her Judgement out of her hand and neck locked the desperate girl. “That’s enough of your stupidity, girl.”
“They are gonna call reinforcements!!” Paru resisted as she stretched her her hand far out at Kumi and Yuria fleeing the scene.
“Forget about them, girl! They’re the least of your concerns.”
“NO!!” Suddenly a ray of force was released from Paru’s palm as it shot towards their direction. Upon impact, Kumi and Yuria felt that their whole body was being pulled in a little. But it didn’t last long. They were simply pulled back a little before they managed to escape successfully once again.
“What the..” Mayu who was restraining Paru in a neck lock was a little shocked at what Paru did. Her eyes twitched a little.
Yuki was shocked as well. “Did she just.....pull them in like a magnet?”
As soon as they had escaped, Paru smacked Mayu’s hand away. “You’re just gonna let them leave?” Paru raised her voice.
“I don’t fancy unnecessary deaths.” Mayu answered.
“Why? Because they are your own kind?”
“Excuse me?” Mayu’s ear twitched from that.
“You should have killed them! Now they’re gonna call in reinforcements!”
“Quiet down, girl.”
“Paru. I know what you’re thinking..” Yuki voiced out. “But I have a feeling we should listen to Mayu for now.”
“Yuki sensei.. Not you too?” Paru pointed at Mayu. “She just asked them to bring The Core here. God knows what The Core is capable of!? And you’re asking me to listen to her?”
“.....” Yuki had nothing to say.
Mayu intercepted. “Forget about that, i said. Let me finish checking you up. Priorities first.”
“No! You Cybers are all the same! I shouldn’t have trusted you!” Paru shouted.
“I’m not in the mood to argue with you. Come over here.”
“No!” Paru crouched down and hugged Romeo’s unconscious body. “I don’t trust you anymore!”
“I see....” Mayu nodded her head. “You’re not going to cooperate with me? That’s cool with me.”
Paru looked confused. “Hmm?”
Mayu’s expression suddenly changed. “Then there’s no reason for me to let you live anymore.” Mayu snapped her fingers as a laser cage appeared right above Yuki and dropped down on her.
*BOOM*The next second, Yuki was already trapped inside the laser cage as she had not expected it. “What the hell!? What are you doing!? Let me out!” Yuki unclipped a Judgement and clicked on it. Nothing happened. She spammed on the other buttons but to no avail. “What!?”
“The laser cage is armed with my Anti-Judgement Device and the cage is made out of laser. If you were to touch it with your bare skin, you’d melt so don’t even bother resisting, love..” Mayu giggled a little before her expression changed to a cold one as she looked upon Paru. “If you’re not willing to work with me, then you’re useless to me...”
“I should have known better than to trust that you were trying to protect me!” Paru shouted.
“Change of thoughts.” Mayu shook her head. “Tsk tsk tsk... It was your mistake trusting me..”
“Paru, run!” Yuki screamed.
“Romeo is still unconscious! And you’re still in the cage!” Paru didn’t want to run, but if she don’t, she would be killed.
“Pity...” Mayu sighed before snapping her fingers. Two drones appeared above Mayu and aimed their guns at Paru. Mayu smirked. “Now do me a favor and die.”
Mayu snapped her fingers once again and all the drones flew towards Paru and started shooting bullets at her. Paru unclipped her Judgement and transformed it into a shield. The bullets repelled as they hit the shield. “Damn it!”
“Scream all you want, little girl. Nobody will save you.” Mayu grinned.
“You son of a bitch! Let me out!!” Yuki screamed at Mayu in anger.
Defending against bullets forever won’t do Paru good, so she tried to recall her lessons with Yuki and she remembered something before whispering it to herself. “Combat lesson chapter 2. Clause 3.5.2.1. Shields can be used as both offensive and defensive at the same time if given proper strategy and planning.”
Paru then started running away as she continued aiming her shield behind to block the bullets. She ran towards a tree in a fast speed, fast enough to give her a boost in uplift force as she ran up the tree trunk and pushed herself back. This allowed Paru to knock one of the drone hard with her shield, destroying it before tossing it at the other drone’s direction. The force of the tossed shield destroyed the other drone as it bounced back to her arm. Paru landed successfully and shot a glare at Mayu.
“Ho.... Not bad for someone who hasn’t been in the field before..” Mayu smiled and nodded. “How about this?”
Mayu snapped both her fingers as a huge mechanical-like creature was summoned. It was about 10m high. Mayu jumped up and stood on its head.
Yuki’s eyes widened in shock. “Andromeda..”
“Stomp her flat, will you?” Mayu smiled and patted the head of Andromeda.
With a loud mechanical roar, Andromeda lunged itself towards Paru using its spring-like feet and reached Paru in an instant. Paru could have dodged it but she didn’t because Romeo was just few feet behind her. If she were to dodge, who knows what would happen to Romeo. It raised its foot and stomped it right on top of Paru. She lifted the shield up as Andromeda’s foot stomped on it hard. Who was she trying to kid? The Andromeda easily weighs more than 10tons. Of course Paru couldn’t stand it. With just a stomp, Paru fell down on the ground flat, but she was still holding onto the shield. “ARRRRRGHHHH!!!!!”
Forcing the entire strength out of her body, Paru resisted against the weight of Andromeda. Her whole body trembled from the amount of strength exerted. Still, Andromeda’s foot was sinking deeper and deeper onto Paru’s shield. “I’m not......gonna die......today!!!! ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!”
To Mayu’s surprise, she noticed a small burst of force released from Paru’s body and suddenly Andromeda’s foot couldn’t go lower anymore. Instead, it was slowly lifted once again. Paru slowly shifted her body little by little and managed to get on one knee before slowly standing up once again. Yuki was shocked to see Paru being able to lift up Andromeda’s foot.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!” Suddenly Paru’s eyes glowed purple for a moment before three strong force waves were released from her body. The force this time wasn’t anything like the tiny force release earlier on. This one was destructive. First force wave pushed Andromeda back a little. Second wave started crumpling Andromeda’s armor like a tin can and the third crushed Andromeda’s main power source and caused it to malfunction as it fell down to the ground hard.
Mayu leaped off Andromeda and looked at Paru. She was on both knees and was sweating buckets. She was panting heavily and coughed her heart out as if she just got choked hard. Mayu walked over and stood in front of Paru, emotionless. Paru cursed. “S-Shit....”
“Paru!” Yuki screamed.
“And it’s done. Good job, girl.” Mayu snapped her finger as the cage confining Yuki disappeared.
“Wha-?” Paru and Yuki both looked confused.
“That was a test.” Mayu explained.
“A test!?”
“Why did you look so serious and lock me up in a laser cage then!?” Yuki was angered.
“I was testing out the conditions for activating the powers and as I suspected, her power activates in the presence of either strong willpower, desperation or danger. Which was why I needed to look serious, love. If she knew it was a test, she would not take it seriously and hence, her powers will not activate. Did you really think I would go back on my promise?”
“Tch-” Yuki scoffed, still being angry about it. “I don’t even know what to believe in anymore.”
“Oh, don’t be mad at me, love..” Mayu walked over and placed her hand on Yuki’s face with a smug look. “I’ll make it up to you...”
Within a second, Yuki removed Mayu’s hand off her face. “No thanks..”
“Ugh-” Paru slowly stood herself up and placed her hand over her forehead to contain her dizziness. “You almost killed me!”
As Mayu turned back and took a glance at Paru, she was speechless. “.....”
“Paru...” Yuki called out suddenly.
“What?” Paru said.
Yuki pointed at Paru’s face. “Your nose..... It’s bleeding..”
Paru ran her finger across the bottom of the nose and noticed that her finger was smeared red completely.
“So there are side effects of over using this power..” Mayu noted down.
Paru wiped the blood off her nose with her handkerchief continuously till it was clean. So much blood came out of her nose that her handkerchief was almost completely soaked in red.
“It’s powerful but dangerous to the user as well.. Or maybe because your body isn’t used to the power yet.” Mayu explained. “Look at what your power did, girl. It literally crushed Andromeda.”
Paru turned her head over and noticed the busted Andromeda laying on the ground. “That was.....my doing?”
“Yes, Paru.. I saw it.” Yuki said,
“So my powers activated in the presence of both strong willpower and danger.. Why didn’t my power activate when I was in so much danger before this?”
“Hmm..” Mayu thought about it. “You’ll be 18 this year, am I right?”
“Yes.. I’m turning 18 in a week.” Paru answered.
“Interesting... That’s the age where most cells in the human body starts to mature and act differently... Yes.. Maybe that was what triggered that alien DNA within you. That has to be it..” Mayu snapped her fingers realizing something. “So that is the very reason why you’re being hunted by the Omega and Core now and not before this..”
“So.....that means?” Paru asked with a questioning tone.
“This is the starting point where you’ll be able to activate your powers at your own free will... You just have to find out how.”
“........What makes you think I trust you now?” Paru was being doubtful all over again.
Mayu rolled her eyes. “Fine. I give up. It’s up to you to believe me or not, alright?”
“......That doesn’t change the fact that you let the two Cybers go.” Paru said.
“Never mind that, Paru. What matters is now.” Yuki voiced out. “You must stick with us from now on, Paru. No wondering out by yourself again. You’re a huge target from both sides. But having only three of us in a group isn’t enough.. We might still lose to stronger opponents.. So there’s only one way to make this group sturdy enough..”
Knowing what Yuki meant, Mayu raised a brow. “Wait, you don’t mean..”
“Yes, we’re going to find Takamina sensei and ask for her help.”
“You’d go back to her even after she busted your foot? Why would you?”
“You came back to me after I busted your foot. Why would you?”
“That’s because I need you, love. Simple.” Mayu’s answer was straight forward.
“Yea, well this time, we need her. So we have to find her.” Yuki insisted.
“What if she tries to kill you again?” Mayu asked.
“......S-She won’t. I believe in her.” Yuki stuttered a little.
“You just stuttered. So you’re unsure about this after all.”
“I just have the feeling that Takamina sensei is the best person to find right now.. And I wanna believe my gut this time.” Yuki stayed firm on looking for Takamina.
Mayu smirked. “Confidence.. I like that. Alright then. Takahashi Minami it is.. Though I don’t think she’ss be pleased to see me.”
“We’ll see what happens later on. Let’s get moving then.” Yuki said as she started walking.
“What are you doing?” Mayu asked suddenly.
“Uhh... Walking?” Yuki replied with a confused tone.
“You know I don’t like walking. It’s too troublesome and too far.”
Yuki raised a brow. “And?”
“Why walk when you can fly?” Mayu snapped her fingers and a drone appeared beside Paru. “There girl. Since you feel so stressed up about me now, feel free to have all the fun you want with it. I can be controlled manually.”
Paru hesitated a little as she touched the drone. She then carried Romeo with her and climbed up the drone. It was definitely enough for only one person to sit on. Well, plus a dog. Paru noticed there were actually some controls for the drone. “Wow, I can actually fly this thing myself? Cool!” Her expression brightened up as she played around with the controls. After clicking a few buttons, she managed to fly the drone around by herself. “Wooooo!!!”
“.....” Mayu was silenced by the sight of Paru flying the drone around and whispered to herself. “The controls for the drone are really complex.. She figured it out in mere seconds?”
“Well?” Yuki’s word brought Mayu back to her senses.
“Ah yes..” Mayu pointed at her own back. “Hop on my my back, love.”
“Excuse me?” Yuki raised a brow.
“On my back. I’ll carry you and fly.”
“Why don’t you just summon another drone for me to sit on?” Yuki asked.
“Because I used up the maximum number of drones I can summon in a day, so I need to replenish the energy I need for summoning. That girl already had the last drone. So hop on my back if you don’t want to waste time.”
“Forget it. I’ll just walk.” Yuki rejected.
“I don’t want to walk.” Mayu insisted.
“Then that’s your problem.” Yuki retaliated.
“Just get on my back, will you!?” Mayu insisted.
“No thanks.” Yuki walked past Mayu as if she was invisible.
Mayu dashed in front of Yuki and blocked her way. “Hop on, I said!”
“No.” Once again, Yuki walked past her.
Mayu dashed in front again. “I’m not gonna repea-”
This time, Yuki simply walked past Mayu without even answering back. Mayu was being treated as an invisible being.
“Now you’ve done it...” Mayu dashed in front of Yuki yet again and with a swoop, she carried Yuki up bridal style.
Yuki was stunned by Mayu’s sudden action. “What the-”
Before Yuki could get a chance to finish, Mayu increased the power of her thrusters, dashing up high into the sky, piercing through the clouds with a huge grin on her face.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!” Yuki screamed from the sudden boost of height. In just a few seconds, they were already a few hundred meters off the ground and everything below looked just like ants.
“Wouldn’t it be much easier if you went along with hopping on my back earlier?” Mayu smirked.
Yuki screamed for Mayu to put her down. “PUT ME DOWN NOW!!”
“Sure.” Mayu let go of Yuki suddenly with a smug look on her face.
“NOT LIKE THIS-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” As the action was too sudden, Yuki didn’t prepare for this fall at all. She plunged down fast before Mayu came down few seconds later and swoop her up once again. Yuki was angry. “Stop doing that!!”
“You’re the one who told me to put you down, love. Why are you angry with me?” Mayu showed a smug look.
“I said put me down on the ground, not toss me from the sky! Who do you think I am!? Superman!?” Without realizing, Yuki’s grip on Mayu’s was tighter than before. Most likely she did that unconsciously. After all, Yuki once had a trauma of falling from the sky years ago during one of Takamina’s inhuman training.
“I’m already all the way up here, so I’m not gonna go back all the way down there. It’s too troublesome.”
Yuki gave up resisting against such a stubborn Cyber. “........Then at least let me get on your back.”
“It’s already too late for that, love.” Mayu smiled. “Besides, you’re light.” Mayu lifted Yuki up and down like a dumbbell.
“I’m feeling so uncomfortable right now..”
“Uncomfortable? As in shy-uncomfortable?” Mayu grinned.
“Uhh... No. Being treated like a mere child isn’t my way of living. It makes me really uncomfortable.” Yuki replied.
“Then you should have hopped on my back instead.”
“......” Yuki could only sigh. At that time, she noticed Mayu’s eyes were fixated on something behind her. She blinked slowly and her eyes glimmered in awe. To ease her curiosity, Yuki turned her head around and noticed a huge rainbow shooting across from one cloud to another very close to them.
“It’s so...beautiful.....” Mayu was smiling to herself at the sight of the rainbow before her. She looked completely mesmerized at the beauty of it. “I’ve never seen one nor have I bother looking for one... I never thought it would look so different up close....”
“It’s pretty isn’t it?” Yuki smiled as well as they both admired the magnificent scenery before them. “That’s one of Earth’s beauty.”
The look on Mayu’s face was more than amazed. She literally couldn’t keep her eyes off of it. The expression on Mayu’s face was genuine. “Yea... I just wish my planet was this beautiful..”
Noticing this, Yuki remained silent as she stole a few glances at Mayu and that caught the latter’s attention. “Oh, stop staring at me like this, love. You’re not interested in me, are you?” Mayu asked with a smug look on her face.
“I’m not really staring at you. I’m just wondering..”
“About what?”
“Your expression earlier......”
“What about it?”
Yuki let out a smile and then shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“We should get going..” Mayu started looking around. “Where did the girl go?”
“I’m right here.” Paru flew the drone towards them.
Mayu took a glance at Paru smiling about, flying the drone around as she thought to herself. “Her powers.. No matter how I look at it, there’s no doubt at all.. But it can’t be.. This has to be a mistake.. Why would that girl have that power?”
“Shall we go now?” Yuki asked.
“Alright, then. Now be a nice girl and hold tight, love.” Mayu smiled at Yuki and held Yuki tighter to her chest. No words needed. Yuki tightened her grip around Mayu’s neck as they flew off to find the legendary Reaper.
Beside a riverJurina sat below a tree alone and sighed, as her memory flashed before her.
~~~~~
“Jurina!!!”
Jurina placed her hand over Rena’s mouth, stopping her from attracting more attention. “Shh! Stop screaming like that. What if someone heard you?”
“Why are you so worried? Nobody’s gonna hear us from here.. Wanna bet?” Rena smiled and suddenly started screaming like a mad woman. “WOOOOOOOOAHHHHH!!! OOOOOOOOOHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”
“....”
“ See? Nobody can hear us.. I told you so many times, Jurina.. Stop worrying about things like these.. How are you going to live your life if you keep on being a worrisome person?”
Jurina looked into Rena’s eyes. “Does worrying about you count?”
Rena wanted to smile so much from hearing that since it made her really happy, but she suppressed it instead. “I don’t know~ What do you think?” She then made her way under a tree and sat down.
Jurina went over and sat beside Rena. “What I think is that I’ll probably won’t stop worrying about you, so might as well just go with the flow and keep on being a worrisome person.”
Rena poked Jurina’s nose and smiled. “I’ll let that slip.”
Jurina smiled as well. “So what’s the occasion that you just have to meet me today?”
“Well I missed you.” The bright yet childish smile on Rena’s face was melting Jurina. “Can’t I?”
Jurina smiled. “Of course you can..”
“What about you? Did you miss me?” Rena asked while the smile was still carved on her face.
“...” Jurina didn’t answer and merely looked away.
“You do, don’t you?” Rena smiled again, this time showing all her teeth. “Admit it..”
“Hmm.. On second thought, maybe not.”
Rena stretched both Jurina’s cheeks hard suddenly. “You’re a bad liar, Jurina.”
“Ouch....” Jurina uttered while her face was being pulled, slightly distorting her word.
“You look and sound like a frog.” Rena started laughing like a kid and stretched more.
Jurina just remained there, allowing Rena to make fun of her face as she stared back at the childish, entertained Rena. “Had enough fun?”
Rena suddenly pressed Jurina’s cheeks in. “Now, you look like a fish..” and started laughing all over again.
“Guess not..” Jurina let out a suppressed laughter as she looked upon the amused Rena.
It didn’t seemed like Rena was gonna stop playing with Jurina’s face anytime soon, so Jurina was forced to stop her before her face gets distorted permanently. As Rena was pressing on Jurina’s face, Jurina grabbed both Rena’s wrist, stopping her from playing any longer. “Aren’t you a little too old to be doing this?”
Rena pouted a little. “There’s no such thing as too old. Living is not about being young or old. It’s more to how much fun you’re having while you’re still alive. So, yeah.. I’d probably still be pinching your face 100 years from now.”
“Will you even still be alive 100 years from now?”
“You get my point, Jurina..”
Jurina nodded and leaned against the tree before smiling to herself.
Rena noticed the smile on Jurina’s face and asked. “So... What’s going through your mind right now?”
“I find it amusing...”
“Hmm?”
Jurina turned her head over. “That a Spectre like me and a human like you still be so close like this despite our race having a war against each other..”
“At least I know not all Spectres are bad.” Rena smiled at Jurina.
“Not all are nice either. They’ve killed quite a number of humans.”
“As if humans haven’t done any killing.. I mean, we’re best friends, right? So it doesn’t matter.”
“Best friends, huh?” Jurina placed her arms at the back of her head and leaned against the tree before letting out a loud breath.
Rena noticed the expression on Jurina’s face and bit the bottom of her lip to contain her laughter. “Oh~ I see you want to be more than best friends~?” Rena’s smile widened. “Just say it~”
“Mega best friends? Sure. I can live with that.”
“I hate you.” Rena pouted and let her body fall back towards the tree with a thud.
“....” Jurina took a short glance at Rena and was aware that Rena was a little mad. So she tried a conversation. “So... I-”
“Not talking to you!” Rena intercepted.
Jurina tried again. “And I really-”
“BLA BLA BLA! Can’t hear!!” Rena covered her ears
“Now you’re just being childi-”
“TONIIIIIIIGHT~~~~ WE ARE YOUNG~~~~~”
“..................You have to-”
“SO LET’S SET THE WORLD ON FIIIIREEEEEEEEEE~~~”
“You’re just gonna ignore me?”
“WE CAN BURN BRIIIIIGHTEERRRRRRRRR~~~~~”
“I like you.”
“THAN THE SUUUU--” Rena stopped and blinked her eyes before turning her head over. “What did you just say?”
Jurina moved her head closer to Rena’s and grinned. “I don’t know.. What do you think I said?”
“Either you say that again or I’m gonna continue singing~”
Jurina smiled and leaned in towards Rena’s ear as she whispered softly and tenderly. “I like you.”
Rena couldn’t hold in her smile at all no matter how much she didn’t want to give in to it, but it was probably what Rena wanted to hear the most so how could she? She was already grinning like a mad woman right now. “So......? What are you gonna do about it?”
“I’ll lend you my shoulder for tonight? How does that s-”
*thud*
It didn’t even take a second for Rena to lay her head on Jurina’s shoulder. “Sounds great to me.”
“Just for tonight.”
“Okay~” Rena clung on Jurina’s arm tightly.
“That wasn’t what I-”
“SHUSH!!”
“....” All Jurina could do was just smile.
All of a sudden, Rena’s face came closer to Jurina’s neck. “*sniff*”
Jurina twitched her head away a little from Rena’s action. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m smelling you.” Rena continued sniffing as her nose was drawn closer to Jurina’s neck. “Hmm.. Strawberries.”
“Strawberries?” Jurina looked confused.
“Yup.” Rena smiled widely. “You definitely smell like strawberries.”
“Really?” Jurina started sniffing herself.
“Mhm..” Rena nodded as she sniffed again. “And god, I just love the smell of strawberries so much...”~~~~~
*SNIFF SNIFF*Jurina’s neck suddenly felt uncomfortable from an anonymous heat radiated from her side. To be more precise, she felt somebody’s breath right on her face. She turned her head to the side and saw Rena grinning at her with her eyes wide open while sniffing Jurina. She was stunned. “Rena?”
“Nee....... Okotteru?”
“....”
Rena started hissing at Jurina suddenly and that shocked the latter girl.
Jurina initiated a conversation as she knew she shouldn’t rush in on things. “I’m Jurina.”
Rena tilted her head a little. “Ju......rina.....?”
“Yeah.. That’s my name. What’s your name?” Jurina asked softly.
“Name.......?” Rena blinked.
“Yes.” Jurina pointed at Rena. “Your name.”
Rena pointed at herself slowly and tried her best to pronounce. “Name............ Re.............. Re.........”
“Is it Rena? Is that your name?”
Rena was more interested in Jurina’s face as she shifted her hand onto Jurina’s face rather than replying to Jurina’s question. Rena’s hand was moving all over Jurina’s face as if she was scanning her face thoroughly using her fingers.
“.....” Jurina could only remain silent.
“Ju..........ri.............na..” Rena mumbled once again as she blinked continuously.
“......Do you remember something, Rena?”
Rena suddenly jerked her hand back from Jurina’s face and placed it on the side of her head. “........H-Head........Pain..”
“Are you alright, Rena?” Jurina tried to move in closer to Rena but instead, she shifted away from Jurina.
Without a single word, Rena stood up and started walking away, still grabbing onto the side of her head. Jurina could only look at Rena’s back moving further away from her and that made her heart ache.
Takamina and Atsuko stood by the river as Rena ran over to their side and poked on Atsuko’s shoulder, grinning like a mad woman. Guess she wanted some attention from them.
“Oh hey, Rena.” Atsuko smiled as she glanced over at Jurina sitting alone by the tree. “Why’d you come over here suddenly?”
“Playyyy................” Rena grinned.
“Play? Why didn’t you play with Jurina?”
Rena tilted her head a little. “Ju....ri......na?”
“Yeah, that girl over there.” Atsuko pointed at Jurina who was leaning against the tree.
Rena looked over and tilted her head. “Ju.....ri....na?” Rena had most likely forgotten what happened a minute ago when she was there with Jurina. She looked back at Atsuko and grinned once again. “”
“You wanna play with us instead?” Atsuko smiled as her nose twitched. “Alright then.”
“The three of us by the river... Pretty nostalgic, right?” Takamina suddenly said with a slight smile on her face.
Atsuko smiled. “Yup.”
Takamina picked up a flat rock and tossed it up again and again. “Do you remember?”
Atsuko smile widened. “Of course I do.” She picked up a flat rock as well. “How could I not? We used to play it almost everyday before lunch.. Whoever’s rock can bounce on the water the most number of times gets free lunch.” Atsuko paused for a moment before continuing. “But you do know that there’s actually four of us who played the game right..”
Takamina lost her smile, knowing who Atsuko was talking about.
“Yuki was the best at this game.”
“....”
“Yuki... You used to praise her so much and treat her so well that Rena actually got jealous.” Atsuko smiled, reminiscing the memories. “Remember that time when you gave the melon pan to Yuki instead of Rena? Rena ended up ignoring you for two days.”
Listening to Atsuko, Takamina remembered those great times as well and it actually made Takamina smile a little.
“Oh, you’re smiling now?”
Didn’t take a second for Takamina to lose her smile once again. “Stop trying to convince me, Atsuko.”
“Don’t you think you’re taking this matter too deep into your heart?”
“Can we not talk about this?”
“We can if you aren’t this hot headed and stubborn.” Atsuko replied.
“Playyyyyyy...................” Rena poked Atsuko’s shoulder and repeated once again.
Noticing this, Takamina passed her flat stone to Rena. “Here, hold this stone, kid.”
Rena took it from Takamina’s hand slowly and stared at it. “S-Stone..........”
“Yes, kid. Stone. Do you remember? We used to play this game..” Takamina pointed at the river. “Whoever can bounce the stone on the water the most number of times gets a free lunch.”
Rena tilted her head as she blinked back at Takamina’s face blankly. “L-Lunch......”
“She looked like she remembered something.” Atsuko said.
“I think she does..” Takamina was also convinced that Rena remembered something as she stepped back a little.
“RAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!” Rena suddenly let out a roar that shocked Atsuko and Takamina. She then took the flat stone and ran into the river, hitting the water with the stone instead.
“......” Takamina was speechless because for a moment, she actually thought Rena understood her.
“Oh dear..” Atsuko smiled and twitched her nose at Takamina. “I think she misunderstood you.. She thought you wanted her to use the rock to hit the water instead.”
“Well....” Takamina sighed a little.
“At least she remembered us both, right?” Atsuko said as they both looked on at Rena mindlessly smacking the water.
“AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHA!!!!!” Rena laughed in a crazy manner for every splash of water she made.
“This is getting a little out of hand.” Takamina said.
At this time, Atsuko looked behind at Jurina and told Takamina, “You keep an eye on Rena, alright?”
“Yup.” Takamina nodded and looked at Atsuko making her way towards Jurina before letting out a loud breath.
“You alright?” Atsuko placed her hand on Jurina’s shoulder.
“Aren’t you supposed to be there with them?” Jurina answered blankly.
“Mhmm.” Atsuko nodded before sitting beside Jurina. “But that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna leave you sitting here alone, right?”
“....” Jurina just sighed as her mind is troubled with something.
“You know, if you have something going on in your mind right now, it’s always best to share it with someone else.”
“I was just thinking about Rena... How much we’ve been through together.. Now, it’s as if none of those happened before.. Just like a dream.”
“Ahh... So in short, what you really want is just Rena regaining her memories of you.”
“Maybe...” Jurina nodded.
“And what if she doesn’t? What’re you gonna do?”
“I will still stay by her side, protecting her..”
Atsuko smiled, being satisfied at Jurina’s answer. “So I was right to entrust Rena to you before this..”
“Too bad somebody doesn’t appreciate my effort no matter what.”
“Look, Minami is just that stubborn. You know that. Just let her be.”
“And everything that happened till today.... It’s all her fault.. If she hadn’t waged a war against us Spectres, Rena would not............” Jurina choked on her words suddenly. “She would not end up this way..”
“I understand you, Jurina... But it wasn’t entirely Minami’s fault..” Atsuko convinced. “Rena made her own choice..”
“....” Jurina shut her eyes and sighed.
“You have to move on, Jurina. We can start everything from scratch from now on. No guilt, no regret, nothing.. Just the four of us and the future.”
“What’re we gonna do from now on?” Jurina asked.
“Survive.”
Chapter 9 : Memories
END
Topic: [Atsuko_love's fanfic] The Ultimatum - CHAPTER 27 (multipairing) 31/03/2016 (Read 157836 times)