[X] To go get Sfira, even if she had to crash down through the floors to do so in time.
Sfira was who I came here for in the first place, and having them here might get him to drop his toying with Daimon's Cultivar, Koyomi thought.
I trust Izumi and Daimon to know they shouldn't listen to one word of a Frostfarer… I trust. She then breathed deep and readied her sword, and before Chigusa could ask what she was even doing, struck down at the floor with all her power.
Plunging through several layers, Koyomi was stricken with pain as she landed in the near pitch-black basement, not having pulled a stunt like this since the Frost Decade. And it wasn't just her, the real Chigusa had fallen right down with her. With her own face more pained than usual, Chigusa shrieked at her of all things, "Have you lost your mind? You used that much force on ice? How does this help against that Frostfarer at all?"
"First, to show this Blue Lotus I won't fall for his schemes. Second, to free the one Vasilisa and you started this whole idiocy over," Koyomi said. As those words left Chigusa gagging, Koyomi spread apart the darkness till she found exactly where Sfira was.
"Sfira, before anything, we have to get out of here now," she called to them, "That Frostfarer I warned you about? They're right above us in this house, so forget the tournament!"
Chigusa's expression did not take that last line well, but with Koyomi glaring back at her, she couldn't take the pressure and said, "Yes yes, tournament's all off. Never really planned to go through with the wretched thing in the first place. Though of course, if you ever fancy helping with an experiment of ours-" she stopped when Koyomi's glare only intensified.
"<Only the Dandelionhearts among us could transfer powers. It is not my clan's calling,>" the withdrawn Sfira couldn't help but say.
Snarling, Chigusa then hissed out, "Ugh, point is you're free to go."
"And forget Pathragada, forget Earth even, nobody owns you!" Koyomi said looking Sfira dead in the face, hand outstretched.
Rather than come with her, Sfira stood there and even said, "<But you don't understand. My clan's whole purpose is to be->" But they were interrupted when the three suddenly received a stairless way out.
The young Narcissi were holding hands to form a human ladder reaching down into the pit. Koyomi first suspected that Chigusa would just take off and leave them to the stairs, only to get whiplash when Chigusa beckoned for them to follow. "Don't get too comfortable," she still muttered, "I'm only giving you this shortcut because I'll take anyone I can get right now against that Blue Lotus. I won't dare give Yamahi the satisfaction of working with the Frost fair again."
"Some shortcut of yours," Vasilisa laughed as she floated down to also lend a hand.
Koyomi still trusted neither of them with Sfira but had to face that there weren't many other options right now. Not that Sfira couldn't zoom up any stairs or dash and jump up this pit.
While they all made the ascent back out, Blue Lotus still stood there between Hibiki and Emi. Gritting her teeth, Hibiki did what she had to do, if only to save Emi the pain of wielding her Cultivar herself, and proclaimed like a doomsayer, "Blossom, Orange!"
From there, she came within inches of striking Blue Lotus with that world of pain, Emi looking on pale and trembling all the while… but then stopped. Freesia may have deserved it, Blue Lotus more so, but still, she just couldn't do it. Her will gave out, and Hibiki's Hanazakari form faded.
"There goes your one chance, Hellebore. What a pity," Blue Lotus sighed and shook his head, before he pinned a Heart Leech right onto the detransformed Hibiki. Not that he had much time to drain, as Koyomi was already back and charging down the stairs at him, all those Narcissi were coming up, and even Emi had steeled herself to reach for her Starshoot and cut that Leech off.
So Blue Lotus then stabbed an icicle straight through Hibiki's neck.
As the Hanazakari all stared at one of their own now fallen, Blue Lotus had to smirk back and say, "A rush job I admit. We usually waited till we wrought all the emotion out of a Pawn before 'promoting' them to Jack. Well, desperate times as they say. But oh, to have the wraith of a Hanazakari at my command," he then laughed as Hibiki's ghost, wreathed in blue flame, rose behind him, "If only my kindred could see me now."
"Oh they'll see you alright, in Hell!" Koyomi roared as she covered Blue Lotus in darkness. The Narcissi leaping in to block Blue Lotus off, Koyomi then ran up and struck him down, no skating away from her this time.
Ready to shatter him to pieces with a single blow of her blade, she was only interrupted when Emi had to yell "Stop!" The mangaka tearing up, she then said, "Please, Arisugawa-sama, don't… don't kill Hibiki for good. If there's a chance we can save her…"
"That 'thing' is not Hibiki!" Koyomi snarled back at Emi, pointing at the Jack Frost that bore Hibiki's likeness. "He killed her, all you're seeing is the twisted corpse of her psyche!"
With Koyomi now distracted, the reflective light of the frost on the floor started gleaming through the darkness. At Blue Lotus' command, Hibiki's Frost wraith was made to channel her 'friend' in life Chigusa's Cultivar. So before Koyomi could bring her sword down again to finish the Frost Fair for good, a whole flock of Hibiki the Jack Frost began to manifest.
The Narcissi occupied by this new squadron; Blue Lotus then acted personally by siccing a Heart Leech upon Emi. "Why the anger, do Hanazakari not believe in their Resurrection? And you know, Hellebore was among a list of lucky Hanazakari who Yamahi told me I was free to use as Snow Queen candidates," Blue Lotus said, then smiled as he looked at the real Chigusa, "You were another. Hellebore now too obviously old, and Narcissus too troublesome and demanding was their logic, though of course you are but children compared to me. I like this arrangement better, it amuses me to think what further trouble your rebel streak could stir while alive, Narcissus. Though this does mean I am forced to provide all of Hellebore's stage directions myself."
Before a second Hanazakari could be lost in a row, Koyomi swiftly sliced that Leech off Emi, though had to glare down at her as she did. The clash between the Narcissi and Jack Hellebores had enabled Blue Lotus to make his escape, or so it seemed.
Shots rained down on him from the ceiling as Vasilisa caught up, able to float her way over either clone army. "Snow Queen this!" she yelled down at him, in lieu of time to think of any better line. At the same time, Sfira had already sped their way right up to Blue Lotus, them quivering yet trying to hold firm on seeing that a Frostfarer indeed still lived.
Blue Lotus' own reaction to Sfira started with laughter. "A Pathragadan have we? So the reports were true. Oh my, and of a 'treasure' caste no less? Tell me, little Bamboo, were you sent to this planet as the Earthlings' consolation prize?" he said, then lowered his voice, "Imagine dying here, far, far from your homeworld. My own people had no need to imagine. I do wonder how Pathragada would react to you perishing. Would we have an interstellar incident, would they commend your sacrifice, or simply not care?"
"Like you'll ever find out!" an approaching Koyomi shouted as she slung darkness back, leaving the Narcissi who'd gotten free to ambush him. But then one of the clones cried out on being hit, a cry that was echoed louder from the other end of the hall by the real Chigusa. Through the darkness, Koyomi saw that Hibiki's wraith had been made to strike back with Emi's imitation Cultivar, so the pain the real Chigusa feeling… was on seeing herself young again. "How dare you…"
Again Koyomi charged at him, only to stop as she was about to be hit with that same Cultivar. "Picture how Orange would feel, the power that so scares her to wield being used on you. Can you put her through that? No, you cannot, just like before when you refused to sacrifice one life to end us for good," Blue Lotus hissed at her, then chuckled. "I too may be forced to retreat as before, but no matter. I got what I came here for. And really, what's one dead compared to all but one living Frostfarer?"
With that, Blue Lotus used his frost to dart off again into the night. Koyomi collapsed into a screaming heap, then sprang off into the night only to find no trace of him. "<Please, Black R-Arisugawa-sama. It wasn't your fault,>" Sfira tried to say, only for Koyomi to shriek back at them.
"You see what happens, when people think of others as just prizes to be won?!" Koyomi lost it at not just Sfira, but also all the way at Chigusa, whose pain had forced her to recall the Narcissi. "You end up like Hibiki, her free will forfeit, only a shadow that can't call itself a living being anymore!"
Emi was a helpless mess at the thought of even approaching Koyomi right now. Still, she turned around to Chigusa and tried to tell her, "L-Listen, it's like any Cultivar, the effects won't last. You, you will be back to normal… sometime."
Catching sight of Emi, Koyomi marched back to the doorstep to approach her, only to be cut off by Vasilisa. "Now look, Nihon-jin, you don't lay finger on her. I admit, I started all this with the Path- with Sfira, it's my fault!" the cosmonaut told her while her exhausted Cultivar still had power left, "You have problems, you take them up with me!"
"Gladly!" Koyomi spat out at first, readying her sword. And then stopping. "No, I can't, what would be the point? Taking it out on you, or even Emi, won't stop him, won't bring back anyone," she muttered, then said, "I was no real friend of Izumi Hibiki. Barely knew her that long, and things went sour fast between us. But that doesn't matter. She was killed and made into a strung-along wraith, by the very enemy we thought we'd eradicated. Who am I to lord anything over anyone?
Who am I to call myself, as Miyako says, a magical girl?"
"Blame me!" Emi then cried out, as she made eye contact with Koyomi again. "You're right, I shouldn't have held out hope for any Resurrection! I should've just accepted Hibiki was dead! If I did, the Frost fair would be gone for good…"
Oh, would you quit your self-pitying?! Koyomi was about to snap at Emi, but again thought what good would it do?
"<Arisugawa,>" Sfira then said, "<The Zinnia said something about the Snow Queen? I've heard about her, every Pathragadan has. If he is King Frost, even by omission, he can recreate her… but not just turning her into a Jack. Only he'd know the exact process, but it's not that easy.>"
Any thoughts Chigusa had on the death of her 'friend' she'd kept to herself, but she still had some insight. "If Izumi is now Blue Lotus' first candidate for the crown of Snow Queen, a rather drastic return to relevance for her, I believe I've already guessed his plan. The fiend will try to stick as many Cultivars on her as possible, even as he's left to do all the work himself. Yamahi and the other conglomerates could already give him quite the database to work with, but if he wants as much information as he can get…"
"He'll go after RUNE," Koyomi took it, "possibly through the back door with the Earthly Purified, they hardly hide their ties with RUNE. Or maybe some organised crime group to do the hacking for him."
By now, Vasilisa's form had faded, her collapsing on the ground as her civilian self. "I go back to Russia," she still managed to say, "Have to warn them. Warn whole world outside Japan."
Koyomi nodded. At first, she had all the sternness in the world, but then she broke down and they all joined together for a group hug.
Her mind was made up. If Hibiki lost her life against Blue Lotus, then what chance did Miyako have?
The morning after at Hinodeharu Shrine, Miyako was already busy sweeping. Hayato had kept her company of course, and had surprisingly been more rather complimentary than normal. Part of her, nervous as she was, wanted to go ahead and just ask him on a date, but part of her was worried that when he was complimenting her, he wasn't really complimenting
her.
Looking up and out of her thoughts, Miyako took a step back when she saw someone she feared she'd never see again at the gate. "Miyako," Koyomi said, arms outstretched, "I was wrong. It's wrong of me to leave you alone, now more than ever."
Miyako glanced either side of her, not knowing how to react if Asahi saw who it was. But with the coast clear, a smile overcame her, crying with joy as she ran over to reunite with the first Hanazakari who'd ever been there for her.
Fountain of Youth has reached its end. This gives you
225xp each to distribute among Koyomi's and Miyako's stats (
their current stats can be viewed here):
Koyomi:
[ ] Technique
[ ] Physique
[ ] Heart
[ ] Mind
Miyako:
[ ] Emotional Intelligence
[ ] Emotional Strength
[ ] A mixture (write-in)
