(32)

It was an odd thing to see Dakunaito, in full armor, standing in the middle of the fountain shop. Nothing could have possibly looked more out of place. Thanks to Miss Sada's obfuscation magic, however, everyone else remained blissfully ignorant that anything was wrong with the sight.

The teacher approached him with a smile and held out her hand. "Lord Dakunaito, what a rare pleasure. To what do I owe the honor?"

He, of course, completely ignored the proffered limb. "I don't yet know. I was told there was something important I needed to be here for." His red eyes narrowed. "If that is not the case, then I suggest you better educate your changeling on the consequences of wasting a demon's time."

"Changeling?" The inquiry came from Natsumi. It wasn't surprising that the question came up. After all, only Haru had ever been around to hear him use that title before, and no one had been around when he determined it.

It really wasn't surprising that Wakumi was quick to provide the answer to her friend. "European folklore," her quiet voice filled in. "A fairy child left in substitution when they kidnap a human. He is referring to the fact that she is not Nariko, but fills in for her."

"Do not attempt to speak for me, Witch," he growled irritably, a tone which caused the waifish girl to flinch away. "I speak as I intend to be heard. I hold no patience for flowery metaphors."

"Ah, yes," Miss Sada inserted again. "Miss Kelly mentioned your deduction was that Thunder Witch had actually been abducted by a third party."

"The changeling does not conform to the limitations of either witches or demons," the dark knight countered, motioning with his offhand as if to illustrate his thoughts. "The things she has done violate too many laws. It is as if she were an imperfect duplicate, made by an entity who only understands that a Witch is to be a powerful magical prodigy, and that Thunder Witch has analytical capabilities. In no other way does she behave according to our world."

"And since she can do things that we believe Thunder Witch could not," the teacher filled in, "the only logical conclusion is that she cannot be Thunder Witch."

The dark knight just gave his glowering gaze, as if he felt like any response would necessitate the thing he hated most - repeating himself.

Ran spoke up in the silence, instead, though if it weren't silent, it might have been hard to hear her. "That would actually also conform with a changeling, ironically. One of the identifying traits is being too intelligent, with an unsettlingly keen sense of intuition."

Poor Haru looked entirely out of her depth in the conversation. "But that's just normal Riko!"

The glow of Dakunaito's eyes intensified in clear irritation. "When that one believes she has something substantive to add to a conversation, it is certain to have run its course."

He didn't at all give the puffed cheeks of her pout the slightest recognition as he turned to the brunette. "The point, changeling. Now."

She looked to him, then down at her hand, where a familiar double-edged short sword appeared as the bracelet on her wrist vanished.

"As a reminder to everyone here," the brunette explained briefly, "demon weapons are mimetic. They adjust to the user. But mine does more than just adjust. It would even be appropriate to say that it is not a sword at all."

She turned the blade around and held the hilt to Dakunaito. "Please, indulge this. The demonstration is important to the end result."

The greater demon's eyes narrowed, but he took the blade in hand, and immediately, the too-small grip fit his own perfectly as the blade flashed out into a massive tsurugi, in no way smaller than his own blade, with a bulbous skull-cracker and a cross-guard in the form of crescent horns or fangs.

"If anything," she continued, "my blade is the concept of a sword. Specifically, the wielder's concept." She motioned Dakunaito to pass the weapon to the Witch closest to him.

When Ran's timid hands closed about the hilt and the demon released it, the flash of light made her yelp. The result was by far the shortest blade they'd seen. It wasn't a sword at all, but a large kitchen knife.

The sloppy circle hung in silence for a moment at the sight, even as Ran still held it out before her pointed toward the ground like it was a loaded gun.

"As you can see," the brunette improvised, "it doesn't matter if the user understands what a sword is, or could even list all of the different types from across the world. It doesn't even matter if they know the concept is--"

Ran had been all too eager to pass the weapon on, which led to a disruptive thunk when it entered Haru's grip. Now, there was a six-foot-long buster chain sword with a hollow golden frame and neon blue hearts linked together for the chain, its edge three inches into the floor boards.

Rather than looking guilty, the blonde just made a silly face with her tongue out as she rapped her knuckles on the side of her head.

The brunette cleared her throat and tried again. "... if they know the concept is wrong. Whatever the wielder conceives of as a sword, that is what it will be."

Natsumi snatched the hilt from Haru with a glare, so that it disappeared from the damaged floor and returned to her increasingly familiar flame-edged wakizashi. "You're lecturing, Riko. You're as bad as Miss Sada!"

"Let her have her moment," the aforementioned teacher advised gently. "I am certain she is reaching her argument. After all, she is running out of people to hand it to."

As the demonic weapon was passed to Reina and, very predictably, took the form of an ornate rapier, the brunette's eyes remained on Sarasa. Did she know where the girl was going with this?

It didn't matter. There was no other course. The only form left was one everyone had already seen.

"My point," she clarified instead, "is that every person has a different and wholly unique concept of a sword, but the biggest shaper is easily the culture the wielder was raised in. Homura was raised in a very traditional and martial environment, so her concept holds tightly to a very traditional form. Meanwhile, Haru was apparently raised by lollipops and chainsaws."

Again, rather than guilt, the girl flashed her megawatt grin proudly.

The brunette ignored her in favor of closing to her final point. "The more distant the culture, then, the more unique and even alien we can expect the concept of a sword to be."

Sarasa reached over for the sword from Reina. "Oh, pass it here, dear, I believe that's my cue."

Like Haru's, the form in Sarasa's hand was a hollow, golden frame, no doubt to permit its dimensions with the limited material. Instead, the interior of the three-foot triangular blade was filled with a line of blue circles that started out largest at the base and shrank toward the tip.

The moment its form became distinguishable, Dakunaito drew his own midnight blade, sending the girls into a flurry as they threw themselves in front of their mentor.

Except the brunette known as Sword Witch. She stayed where she stood, as calm as ever.

"You were right, Dakunaito. The Arbiter isn't a god. He's a fifth-dimensional being."

Miss Sada didn't seem bothered, either, just casually twirling the sword like it were a plaything. "Is that who picked a fight with you two dears? I wondered who would be so bold."

"So you do know him."

The teacher stopped playing with the sword and stepped over to her brown-haired charge, even as everyone else in the group remained on edge. "If you were able to gather that much, there's an even more important question," she said, and took the girl's hand before placing the hilt back into it.

Sarasa closed Sword Witch's hand around it and the blade flashed back to its original form. On the white-haired woman's face was a motherly, but sad smile. "I'll need you two to tell me anything that naughty boy said to you. Everything could depend on it."

The other girls went quiet at that, their readiness dropping as their attention left the demon lord to go to their mentor.

Dakunaito only narrowed his coal red eyes at her. "Define everything."

Yes, everything was certainly a lot, but it was also surprisingly subjective. The brunette had her suspicions, too. Not of Sarasa, surprisingly. She had certainly thought the concern high enough to use subterfuge to bring up the triangular weapon, but the history teacher's response had been genuine.

There were certainly times that word couldn't possibly fit the fifth-dimensional mentor, but this hadn't been one of them. She was certain now that Miss Sada hadn't been involved in the attack. Unfortunately, she was also just as certain that she was involved with the Arbiter, at least more generally.

And why not? She had never hidden that she was there to monitor the Witches. That, alone, implied a larger organization, not including the overarching government. Sarasa didn't speak of the Arbiter as a superior, either, though that meant very little with the catwoman. Just now, she had even called Dakunaito a dear.

However, it was very much in Sarasa's character to choose heavy words specifically to give impressions that weren't necessarily wrong so much as just misleading. She liked to make her audience miss the bigger picture with sleights of hand both subtle and overt. Like saying everything could depend on something.

"That's a good question," she agreed with the demon, albeit with less accusation in her tone. "Everything doesn't say as much as it sounds like. Everything to us could be different even from what it means to a regular human, and it would mean far less than it would to you as a fifth-dimensional being."

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Honestly, she was a bit surprised Dakunaito had caught it so readily, for lack of interactions with her. But then, given his description of demon society, perhaps he was naturally suspicious of such word games.

Sarasa's smile beamed back at them proudly, as if the dark knight weren't still standing with the point of his sword trained on her. But then, with the power the Arbiter had already displayed, it was fair to say that the pitch black steel was barely more of a threat to her than a ruler.

Though she didn't get the impression Sarasa would have acted much differently even if that weren't the case. She knew too well when she wasn't really in danger, and had no intention of pretending otherwise. Unless she thought it'd amuse her, anyway.

"So clever, the both of you." Her smile turned sad as she directed it at the demon lord in particular. "Though the reason for that cleverness can be quite tragic."

The teacher sighed all the same, crossing one arm over her chest as the other hand rubbed her nose as she focused and sorted her thoughts. "It is true that when I say everything, the concept is limited to your own respective portions of the world. Who you love, to whom you are loyal, what you fight for. The boxed lunch sale at the convenience store down the street will still happen tomorrow regardless."

She raised her face again with a grin, and one could almost see the cat tails waving behind her even though they weren't there. "It would be more accurate to say, everything of any importance to you, but I thought that would sound cheesily overdramatic and wouldn't mean anything extra, anyway! After all, by the very definition, you aren't liable to care about what happens to anything beyond that, right?"

"And it absolutely wasn't just because you wanted to make sure you had our attention," the brunette offered sarcastically.

Miss Sada clapped her hands as if to call a class to attention. "Anyway, I still need to hear all the juicy little details, and then I'm sure I'll have some talking of my own to do, so why don't we all stop standing around and take a seat so we can get started? Lord Dakunaito, I am certain that this eatery has something even you would find palatable!"

* * *

"... And last but not least, a refill of bitter tea for Miss Sada's handsome workplace acquaintance!" Haya gave the dark figure a wink as she placed the hot cup of tea and teapot in front of him. "Any of you need anything else, all you have to do is holler!"

Natsumi stared in disgust after her sister as the older girl turned and spun away. "No, really, what in the world is your magic showing my sister, Miss Sada?" she asked once Haya was out of earshot.

Dakunaito just gave an annoyed growl that was probably the closest sentiment they were going to get to agreement out of him.

Of course, Sarasa didn't even try to answer the question. Ignoring it entirely, she kept her attention on the greater demon and the brunette witch. "And you are certain that is everything Arbiter said to you?"

The latter rolled her eyes. "Please, Miss Sada, now of all times, don't imply that many bombs in short order wrapped up with a threat to make us all suffer isn't enough."

The teacher's gaze was sympathetic, and this time, it wasn't brain magic giving the impression. "I understand how you feel, dear. Really, I do. But it's important that you answer the question."

The two of them had relayed their encounter on the bridge from both of their perspectives, then the appearance of the Arbiter, what he did, and to the best of their recollection, everything he'd said, up until the moment he retreated.

Now, the brunette sighed, looked to Dakunaito to see if he remembered anything else, but when all he gave her was the cold shoulder, she turned back to Miss Sada. "Well, he was able to say my name."

Haru and Natsumi looked confused, but Reina and Ran seemed to catch on.

"You mean the erased one?" the gunmetal girl asked.

She nodded in confirmation. "I still can't say it, myself." She thought for a moment. "It was just a nickname, though, not my given name. I mean, I can't say either, but still, he obviously knew who I was, and he didn't act like I wasn't supposed to be there."

Sarasa hung her head between her hands. "That blathering fool ... What was he thinking?"

"That we would not live to make use of his recklessness." Dakunaito's red-hot coals of eyes narrowed. "An amateur mistake."

"No." The teacher sat up straight again and pointed her finger at the demon lord like he were one of her students, a behavior that made him growl. "No, I mean it! You can't fight him! Not and win!"

"He made it pretty clear he doesn't intend to give us a choice," the brunette put in.

"It was all true ..."

Ran's small voice, sounding more frail than ever, forced the focus of the table to the others still sitting there. The ones that weren't thinking of strategy or tactics or threat assessments.

"A suicide squad," she continued, looking like she was about to break down into tears. Even her voice was starting to break down into sobs. "You lied when you said it was just a story. You knew all along ... We were horrible people in our past lives and now we're being punished ..."

They were just girls, the brunette realized for what felt like the first time. Yes, she'd thought of them as children before, a matter of mere months ago that already felt like a lifetime, but the context was different now.

Yes, they were Witches. Yes, they were all inhumanly exceptional in their own ways even without demigod-level elemental powers. Yes, they had willpower to break a Green Lantern. But behind all of that, they were still just high school students. Their thoughts were meant to be on things like boys, holidays, their favorite bands and midterms. Their concept of an existential crisis was supposed to be limited to nightmares of showing up to class in their underwear.

They weren't supposed to be questioning the very literal existence of reality, itself. They weren't built for it. Reina kept the stiffest lip, of course, but the brunette could tell even she was shaken.

It was Natsumi who found stable ground to raise from first, driven to her feet by the sight of Ran nearly collapsing in on herself. "Miss Sada, we deserve to know the truth! What's really going on?! What is that asshole really talking about?! What gives him the right?!"

Sarasa looked more guilt-ridden than the brunette had ever seen her, and when the teacher looked to her, it seemed like an expression that was asking for an escape. Had she forgotten how that went with Reina trying to avoid talking about their deaths? Or perhaps some chains still bound her, keeping her from speaking freely, chains she hoped Sword Witch could cut.

Either way, the brunette crossed her arms with a sigh of her own and opened with the cannons that were her preference.

"There are no prophecies," she fired, "on either side. No future, no past. No scales, no premonitions, no balance." She motioned toward Ran. "We aren't even really a suicide squad, because even death is one big lie. It's just a big loop we all keep running through like a bunch of gerbils in multicolored skirts."

"Miss Kelly, please," Sarasa pleaded. "You are being too harsh to your comrades. Think of them and tone it down."

"The Arbiter has played even the empire for fools." Dakunaido's eyes were so bright they were nearly aflame, but they were directed at nothing, his gaze falling somewhere loosely off-center of the middle of the table. "We were never going to receive the world. We were never going to escape the barren pit that birthed us. The very moment of our victory would see us thrown back to do it all over again."

"The same, I suspect," the brunette confirmed, "as would happen if we ever actually managed to breach the imperial palace and destroy the emperor. We wouldn't have to wait centuries for all of the demons to regenerate. The ending is completely irrelevant. We'll just keep doing it all over and over again."

She motioned to the massive man beside her. "Dakunaito could run me through right now and it wouldn't change a thing. I'd just wake up at the start of the school year again when the cycle restarts. Heck, it'd probably even fix Nariko!"

"Riko!" Haru practically screamed at her, gripping the table as she leaned over it. "Don't talk like that! Never talk like that!"

Reina, too, used that as an anchor point, reaching forward to tap the table as a way to announce her own turn to speak.

"I concur with Chiaki, that line of thinking must be one we reject. Even without speaking so casually of killing one Kelly to revive another, despite meaning the return of Thunder Witch, it would also mean returning to conformity with Precognition. If it is true that we have repeated those steps so unerringly, then annihilation is the only outcome on that path. We must remain separate from it, no matter the trials."

"Then you have a problem," the dark lord growled, as if this whole talk grated at him. "Even if your deaths are meaningless in reaching an end, you cannot afford to die. Resetting would remain a true death to our new awareness."

"The whole Witch-Demon War," the brunette agreed. "It's all gotta come to a stop. Or at least a ceasefire until we can go back to murdering each other for no good cause in peace."

"That will never happen," he unflinchingly confirmed. "The Emperor would never be convinced by the words of Witches, and too many demons would be all too delighted at the idea of endless bloodshed. You will not cease to be hounded by my kind unless we are wiped out to the last. As beyond you as that is, even managing it would only trigger the reset we must avoid."

The brunette sighed, flopping her cheek against her propped up hand. "In other words, we've been set up into a Cache-22 but good from the very start."

"Maybe that's why he's able to talk so easily of killing us," Haru ventured tentatively. "It sounds a lot less heartless when you realize that, to him, it's more like sending us to our rooms."

"That's your real superpower, Haru," the brunette smiled across the table at her. "Always able to see the best in people."

Her return smile was interrupted by Homura. "Yeah, well, I'd be a lot happier with looking on the bright side," the redhead retorted, "if it weren't for that little bit about it being to lock us in an eternal paradox."

Dakunaito moved his glare from the table, which the brunette was mildly surprised hadn't started smoldering, to Miss Sada. "There is another detail you are all ignoring. The Arbiter is not the only fifth-dimensional entity, nor is he working alone. It would seem there is one for each faction. You would be wise to not let your emotions blind you to that."

The history teacher frowned back at him, but it had absolutely no effect on the stoic knight. After a protracted moment, she sighed in surrender and leaned back in her seat. "For the record, I disavow everything that idiot is doing in this instance. The whole reason I can't just go fix things for you girls as I please is because there are rules in place. You know that, we've had that discussion."

"I suspect," Dakunaito countered, "that discussion did not include that you are their jailer."

"Warden," she protested with a sigh.

"Whu?" Natsumi had her mouth around the straw into her Cherries Jubilee milkshake again and had jerked up at that straight answer.

Sada tucked her hair behind her ear with a frustrated jerk of her arm. "I'm called the Warden. He's the Arbiter, I'm the Warden. Not the Jailer."

Ran raised her head from staring at her hands. "... Aren't they synonyms?"

The teacher shook her head. "We're not a jail. Or we're not supposed to be. We're more like ... a rehabilitation facility. My job is to watch over you and tend to your needs. Arbiter's is to judge when the conditions of your rehabilitation have been met."

She sighed and let her head roll back. "I am going to be buried under so much paperwork from all this ..."

Dakunaito narrowed his eyes in response to the dramatic gesture. "You would have my sympathy, I'm sure, if I had any, Warden."

"Let's not get ourselves lost in emotional responses," Reina intercepted. "If you are both working for the same organization, Miss Sada, how did you not know what he was doing until Nariko told you?"

Sarasa shook her head again, more slowly this time. "We may be of equivalent authority, but our positions are not parallel. For your own sake, I receive the same reset you do, since I work so closely with you. The sole difference between how you experience the cycles and how I do is only in that I know they exist. Arbiter's position necessitates an awareness outside of the cycle, and so he is aware of every loop that has occurred."

"Can't you just rat him out?" Homura asked next. "If you've got rules, just report him for breaking them and get HR on his ass."

The redhead's swearing clearly made the teacher uncomfortable, and she cleared her throat. "I fully intend to file a report, but it will not be an easy sell. As it stands, he could simply claim he was acting to correct an error that came to his attention."

"Me," the brunette put in, and the teacher nodded.

"Exactly, dear. I'm afraid until he gets bolder, you shouldn't expect much. To avoid contaminating your recovery, active interference is avoided as a last resort."

"The potential damage would have to exceed the risks such a drastic intervention would bring," she summarized, and Sada nodded again.

"Then our course of action is determined," Dakunaito declared with an air of finality. "We must endure whatever attacks the Arbiter brings until he is forced to overstep his bounds to be rid of us."

When he pushed himself away from the table at that, the brunette looked to him. "You're leaving already? I thought you'd have a lot more questions after a reveal like this."

"Plenty," he replied, "but not all curiosity is constructive. I have much to do, and I know enough to do it. Anything else wastes time." He narrowed his eyes once more at the witch he helped create. "I would advise any of you against dawdling, as well. A being capable of doing anything is one capable of attacking from anywhere."

She nodded in acceptance of the advice and he turned to leave.

Sarasa stood and bowed her head to him like a hostess seeing off a guest. "Thank you for coming to see us, Lord Dakunaito."

He only glanced over his shoulder to glare at her. "Be thankful I did not cut you down just to have one less serpent's head to deal with."

"Yes, thank you for that, too!" the teacher called as the demon walked out the soda shop door.