Intro Song: https://youtu.be/v29I0srhPwg / I Follow You by Melody’s Echo Chamber
Full circle...
Going back to the start...
I'm the next one to decide it all...
Where Japan heads next...
The Future...
Is in my hands...
Just out of reach...
Right for the taking...
The alpha grade...
The anomaly...
The one to bring about great change...
Wasn't on our side...
TRAITORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of them...
The Great War that enveloped the entire world...
A whole century ago...
They won...
And Ishii was locked away...
Never to be used...
Our potential as the great rulers...
The rightful rulers...
Of the entire world...
Was taken from us...
But they lost...
In the second great war...
They are the false ones!!!!!!
They have only led the once great empire of Japan...
To ruin...
Well...
No longer...
Will we be the losers...
As Ishiins...
As the Japanese...
We will prevail...
The Great Empire...
Will rule supreme...
Senpai...
You will know...
Greater pain...
You will know...
MY PAIN....
How dare you...
You arrogant bastard!
How dare you resist...
Our heritage...
And kill so much...
In the name of your false beliefs...
My own parents...
My own family...
You will...
PAY
Tonight...
Tokyo will fall...
Tonight...
The third great war...
WILL BEGIN...
Tonight...
YOU WILL DIE...
Senpai...
.
.
.
Multiple surges of aura whirl all over the ballroom, the intense energy causing the entire floor to shake
"Their body movements aren't bad..."
"But I will admit..."
"They could be improved upon..."
"Don't you think?"
Rushiko turned his head to face her
Himura...
She nods in return
Her eyes acknowledging his presence
"That's right!"
"But this Nayumi girl..."
"She ain't half bad..."
"I think she's the most experienced one out of them..."
Ther eyes follow their movements, enhanced by their aura
They pass through like flashes of light or like the trading of blows between blades
Manaka grins, her hands arching and crossing each other
She makes short work of her strings
Completely scattering it all over by a few metre intervals-
She slides and dodges her own traps, the both of them are caught in her web
Unable to move
Jisei's eyes never leave her, his concentration absolute
His hands forming-
A dragunov rifle!
He sends multiple shots directly at the ceiling, the floor, the walls
His aura...
Is connected by this!
His eyes widen, with each shot affected by this
They all explode one by one, creating a thick smoke
Dismantling of Manaka's traps
"Not bad... heh!"
Rushiko chuckled
"Jisei-kun..."
He and Himura watch attentively...
Impressed by his transformation of the properties of an aura projectile...
Into something more...
Dual purpose...
And with this...
Jisei emerges out of the smoke, his form glowing giving away his position
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And yet...
Manaka is backed into a corner
Jisei's hands are obscured...
And with the sudden blow...
Her thick-stringed defense is cut into half
Her strings almost mimicking the properties of steel cables...
And yet...
They were cut...
By...
Rushiko's blade...
Manaka pants uncontrollably...
She grasps her thigh to find...
Indeed it was gone...
And yet she hasn't smirked this much since...
Since...
Their first encounter...
"Jisei..."
"You're a great strategist..."
"Since when did you-"
Jisei looks at her with such determination...
He swipes the blade over to her, the lightning properties of Rushiko's specialty aura
Still flickering by the smoke enveloping the massive ballroom
"Since when you slid over to my position..."
"You told me to never let your guard down..."
"And yet..."
"You completely ignored Koyo..."
He points over to her, still stuck in her position...
But in her extreme bated breaths...
In her hands was a thick aura...
Of black...
In the ground beneath her...
A growing and shrinking form of a shadow portal emerges...
Koyo grits her teeth unable to control it...
"At the last minute, she used all her might to grab your blade..."
"What an oversight on your part..." he said coldly, but his face chuckled right afterwards
"Jeez Jisei! You always get too serious when training!" she grabbed her neck, running her mouth off
"Well you know why..." he suddenly looked at the floor, his voice showing no signs of humor or divided attention
"I've got to find him..."
"No matter what"
He grits his teeth, clenching his fist, shaking...
Manaka sighs, looking at him...
With concern...
"Alright you three!"
"That's all for today!"
Rushiko and Himura both applauded them
Clearly showing their signs of approval...
They all huddled up together, with Koyo staying a little behind them...
Her demeanor...
Is all silent and non-expressive...
She puts her hands on her pockets...
"I couldn't even use my abilities constantly..."
"What a bad joke..." she muttered, biting her lip
"Jisei... what an astounding showcase of thinking outside the box!"
"Even though you are a long-range fighter... you not only found a way to corner Manaka even with other superior movements and abilities, but also you worked with your teammate to gain an upper hand!"
Jisei nods, his look giving Rushiko the chills...
His eyes glint at saying this...
Jisei's face... is a spitting image...
Of Atsushi-san...
Brilliant at strategy...
Despite such an inflexible ability...
As their gifts...
"Manaka! You also did great! Your movements are far superior to everyone! You clearly have had past experience in combat! The way you planted such traps on such short notice! That is necessary when coming up against powerful, smart and most of all... more enemies than you yourself..."
"Could surely handle!"
"Just... work on the smaller details in the fight!"
"You are very promising..." Himura applauded Manaka... and with her own encounters of how such quick action is paramount in a fight...
"For someone like me... who is the fastest in the entire ICA!"
"You sure are gifted!"
Manaka just laughs it off, not used to the compliments...
At what she has always been good at...
Miss juvenile delinquent...
Huh...
Koyo just stares at them both, her eyes fixated on them...
Her mind...
Drifting...
Disassociating...
Tch!
She taps her foot repeatedly on the floor...
When can I leave...
TCH!
"Koyo..."
"Koyo!"
Her attention is then shifted to Rushiko, who woke her up...
From her...
Umm...
"You alone have the most interesting power..."
"Similar to a former mentor of ours... Ko-san..."
"Kokko Yanou... your assailant..."
Koyo hides her gaze from him, ashamed of herself...
"I heard from both Jisei and Manaka... you didn't have this ability when you fought them..."
"But I..."
Rushiko looks at his hand...
"I remember her ability vividly..."
He clenches it rough...
"I almost died to it after all..."
"And many have fallen to her..."
"And who knows how many more will fall to her..."
"She... gave you this power..."
"As a memento? As a souvenir?"
"As an oversight?"
Koyo shakes her head, still looking away from his gaze...
And theirs...
"I don't know..."
"I still can't grasp it further..."
Rushiko seeing her like this, decides to lay off
"I see... take all the time you need to train..."
"But remember this..."
"Without proper Ishii exertion and augmentation..."
"Let alone an incomplete and half-usable ability..."
"You cannot be an Ishiin!"
"You cannot..."
"Avenge Omoi-san..."
Koyo suddenly jerks her head to his look
Her eyes streaming...
"That's not true!"
"I will avenge her!"
"NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!" her voice straining... she grabs both her arms, tightly grabbing them...
She instantly leaves the ballroom, her tears...
Silent...
But infectious...
Manaka just scoffs but hidden inside of that...
Is a sort of sympathy?
Pity?
But just as Jisei was about to chase Koyo...
Himura raises her hand to his chest...
Shaking her head...
"Let her... on her own..."
"She needs it..."
Jisei's eyes slant ever so slightly...
The pangs hitting his heart...
To see his former lover...
In such a state...
...
"Everyone... that's all for today..."
"You're dismissed..."
"Take a rest..."
Rushiko stated, both Jisei and Manaka nodded, their hands intertwined together
Tightly...
They left the room...
Rushiko faces Himura...
His look still affected by Koyo's state...
He decides...
...
"It's time... Himura..."
"Hmmm?"
"Yeah?"
"It's time I tell you..."
"About Ko-san..."
.
.
It was past midnight...
Colder than ever...
And yet...
Her steps clack and echo through the empty ballroom...
She sits over to her position from earlier...
Slight signs of her aura residue still beneath her...
She punches the ground...
Failing to crack the floor tile...
She closes her eyes...
Breathing in closer...
And out...
Breathing in closer...
"And out..."
"Breathe in closer..."
Her body starts to grow potent... full of it...
The same black aura from earlier...
"I've just got to concentrate..."
"Just like..."
Her eyes suddenly were split open...
She stares at her reflection, on the floor...
It's all muddled...
All wet...
Filled with her heat... and sweat...
In sighing...
"Just like..."
"J-Jisei-kun..."
The aura in her fist grows larger and larger...
The nerves and muscles around it...
Shake...
And shake...
"FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She smashes the tiles so effortlessly...
But that's not all...
It shatters beneath her...
There...
There was a hole...
Clean right off...
She gasps, falling right across to the lower floors-
Her mind in a rush
Her mind in a panic
What do I do?
What do I do?
WHAT DO I D-
The shadow looms beneath her...
It floats...
In thin air...
She is sent...
Right where she was...
She falls and rolls harshly, causing more cracks beneath the floor tiles-
She hits her head on the wall...
...
...
"Koyo?"
"Koyo?"
"KOYO!"
She gasps for air as if she was underwater...
Coughing constantly...
She's where she landed earlier...
In raising her head
Rushiko's figure looms over her...
She averts her gaze once again...
Closing her eyes...
Forcefully...
But...
Rushiko...
Grabs her jaw, and with this... she resists...
Further...
"What do you want?"
He lowers himself to her level...
She scoffs at this...
"Tch!"
Rushiko's expression lightens up a bit...
"Koyo..."
"Hmmm?"
"Would you get your hands off me!"
"Koyo" he said straight up, her eyes don't leave him...
She...
Bites her lip...
"You don't know it... you always think you're always the lowest of the low..."
"I know what that's like-"
"No you don't!"
"HOW COULD YOU!" she raised her voice, practically spitting at him
He doesn't budge an inch...
"How could you understand how I feel..." she averts herself once more...
Her eyes...
Expecting the same...
Even from him...
"You think I don't know how it feels to not have anything left?" Rushiko said in a biting manner, Koyo taken aback by this, doesn't budge either
She just glares at him...
"You think I don't know how it feels to be so small? To be so powerless..."
He grabs her jacket firmly, pulling her towards him...
Closer...
"To want vengeance... and nothing else?"
"To obsess over it so much..."
"I may not look like it..."
"BUT I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!!!!!!!" Koyo's chest falls in response to his loud voice, it almost awakens something in her...
"Suzu-senpai... entrusted so much to him..."
"Only for him to throw it all away..."
"Why?"
"WHY?"
"Simply because... he couldn't accept it..."
"And move on..."
"He just had to ruin everything... to make things worse..."
"And now... he's one of them..."
"That bastard... Kuroke!"
"Just because he couldn't accept anything..."
"He's here to make us feel... just like him...!"
"What a fucking joke!"
"And a bad one at that!"
He gets so close to Koyo, they're basically touching each other's noses with their faces...
"Listen to me..."
"Never underestimate yourself..."
"You're not the lowest of the low..."
"You're so much more than that..."
"I can see so much in you..."
"I'll believe in you... even if you can't believe in yourself..."
"And you know why?"
"Nobody believed in me then..."
"Not even myself..."
"But that changes..."
"I don't want you to end up like me..."
Koyo...
Begins to break down...
Having been seen for who she is...
Being confronted face to face...
Like that...
It...
Was just all too much for her...
To handle...
And with such conflicting feelings...
A sudden jerk of the head...
Both of them collided...
A sweet tinge...
A feeling...
So soft...
So...
So irresistible...
"W-why?"
Rushiko stammered, not knowing how to react with what she just did...
"I d-don't know..."
"Why I j-just did t-that..."
She blushed hard...
Her face so hot...
And enveloping...
"I'm..."
"I'm so lonely..."
"Even now..."
Rushiko looks at her...
A small petite fragile frame...
That is her...
He embraces her...
But his heart...
Swells...
With understanding...
But from a distance...
"I don't want to be like everyone who treated you... to turn you into who you are now..."
"But I'm sorry..."
"Koyo-san..."
"This is something..."
"You have to face on your own..."
Koyo's face then contorts into her usual state...
One of enormous...
Crushing...
Disappointment...
"Then just hold me..."
"Like this..."
"For just a little bit longer..." Koyo pleaded...
"Before you have to go..."
Rushiko nods...
His warmth spreading...
She softly smiles at this...
Sharing in this short moment...
Of bliss...
If only...
It were eternal...
If only...
It wasn't like this...
If only she didn't just take and take...
If only...
She had anything to give...
At all...
.
.
.
"This is it..."
The doors creak as both figures' steps spread all over the empty room...
"What happened here?" the coldness expanded all around them...
But they were both used to this...
It didn't faze them...
Not when they...
Had business to attend to...
"Guess they've been busy for the past 4 days..."
"I wonder..."
"If they're ready..."
"I wonder..."
"How... Jisei..."
He sniffled...
The weight around his hands...
Being even heavier than ever...
Then it was...
The whole trip...
"Jisei..."
"Natsuno..."
"Inari..."
"I'm sorry..."
I failed you...
Just like always...
A hand grasps his back...
It's as freezing as ever...
But...
It's the thought that counts...
"Huh? Shion?"
"Don't... Suzushii..."
"That's enough..."
He nods...
Still feeling it...
That crushing feeling...
That...
Responsiblity...
And now Jisei...
What will he fight for?
I wonder...
I really wonder...
-To Be Continued-
...
Ending Song: https://youtu.be/VGfDg7wju6M / Champagne Supernova by Oasis