[X] Plan Once More Into The Breach
"All right, this is going to be the final test of your Mystic Code. Hopefully it goes well, and we don't run into any serious accidents or have any serious incidents that we need to correct."
Hopefully.
Asami Saki has fitted Hijiri Kanna with the transmitter formerly belonging to Maki Kaoru, and she's standing next to Kazumi as the two of them look on at Wakaba Mirai. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Kazumis is standing, and Hijiri Kanna is just trying her hardest to not sink into the ground and disappear forever. She's hidden her face as far underneath her hoodie as she can, and she's trying her best to focus on anywhere and anything but the people around her.
"Come on, Kazumi says to Hijiri Kanna, "It's not that bad, is it?"
"You all hate me," Hijiri Kanna says, flatly. She's not wrong. "I… I don't belong here. By rights, I should be dying in a cardboard box somewhere."
"That's not true at all," Kazumi says. "Yes, you made some really, really bad mistakes. You hurt Niko. You betrayed us all. But you don't deserve to die alone and in pain because of them."
"But I still deserve to die, right?"
"No!" Kazumi's shout draws Wakaba Mirai's attention away from the task at hand, causing you to clear your throat at Kazumi rather forcefully. "No," she says, in a much quieter tone. "You deserve the chance to live and to make up for all the bad things you've done. You can't do that if you're dead. Besides-" Kazumi leans over, and gives Hijiri Kanna a playful flick on her ear. Hijiri Kanna flinches, more from the approach and the physical contact than from any theoretical pain from Kazumi's action. "If you died, I bet your parents would be really sad."
"They're not my parents,' Hijiri Kanna says. "They never were. They were always her parents. I was just the imitation they put up with."
You roll your eyes. So does Kazumi. "You know, you and Niko are a lot more alike than you think," she says to Hijiri Kanna. "You're both so… So pessimistic about the idea that other people could love you in spite of your flaws. Sure, Niko's made some really bad mistakes – and the way she's treated you in the past is one of them – but her parents still love her. I still love her. I'm sure your parents will still love you, even after all of this. Just you wait- You'll get a new arm, and you and Niko will be able to make peace and live together as sisters, like you always should have been able to."
Hijiri Kanna stares at Kazumi, asking her "How could we be sisters if I was specifically made to replace her?"
"Don't let what you were made to be define you," Kazumi says. "Look at me-I was made to replace a girl that had died. But I'm not just going to be a carbon copy of Kazusa Michiru. I'm going to be my own Kazusa Michiru. If I want to inspire myself after what she was like, that's my choice. If I want to be a completely different Kazusa Michiru, then that's also my choice. So if you want to be a completely different Hijiri Kanna than the person Niko made you to be, then that's your choice."
Kazumi gives Hijiri Kanna a nudge with her elbow, and this time, Hijiri Kanna doesn't flinch at her approach. "Who knows? Maybe one day you'll find a cute girl you like, and then you two could go on double dates with me and Niko! I bet that'd be really fun."
"There's just no end to your optimism, is there?"
"Nah, I've just had more time to process all the bad stuff that's been done to me,' Kazumi says. "Yo've had plenty of time, too, but you've been swimming in it for so long that you haven't ever really tried processing it, have you? Just give it time. One day, you'll be able to look back and smile at just how far you've come from the you you are now."
You decide to tune the pair out, and to focus on the task at hand. "All right," you say to Wakaba Mirai. "This is going to be a more straightforward test than the combat situations I've had you and Ramesses put yourselves in previously. Hopefully, you find it more agreeable than just seeing how long you can hold out in a fight."
"Oh yeah?" Wakaba Mirai has changed into her battle costume, and her sword is slung over her shoulder as she stares at you. "Then tell me, what the heck's your plan?"
"It's simple. I want to test the limits of your ability to tap into Kazumi and Hijiri Kanna's mana," you say. "I'm more concerned about your purely magical endurance, rather than your ability to hold up in a fight. So make teddy bears. Make as many teddy bears as it takes for you to run out of mana. Big ones, small ones, giant teddy bears made out of a dozen other teddy bears. I don't really care.You don't even need to be able to control all of them. Just make as many teddy bears as you can manage."
A wide smile spreads across Wakaba Mirai's face, and she eagerly plants her sword deep into the ground. "That's the kind of test I don't mind taking," she says, as she taps her heels three times against the ground. "All right, boys, come on out! Mommy's waiting!"
It's as if you were watching a scene from a late-night zombie movie play out in real life. The ground cracks open, and bear after stuffed bear appear from the deep fissures, dragging themselves to the surface and shambling to attention like the ranks of the dead. Does Wakaba Mirai have to be so dramatic about her summoning? Honestly, you have no idea. Maybe she does, and her bears really do spring up from the ground like the skeletal familiars of the Caster servant Archer described to you from his War. Maybe she's just doing it from the sake of being dramatic, and this is just her way of cutting loose and having a bit of fun with your stress test.
Either way, the teddy bears keep coming, in ones and twos and fives and tens and after a while you just stop counting because there are so many of them. They stand in single file, they stand in ranks and in neat columns, they stand on top of each other and climb over each other's shoulders and form into larger stuffed bears. The bears just keep coming and you can neither count them all nor see an end to their numbers.
All the while, Wakaba Mirai stands there, confident, with a smile on her face, as she takes a few of the choicest bears in her collection – they all look the same to you, so how she decides which ones to take is beyond you – and strokes them affectionately, caressing them under their chin and across their cheek, even kissing them at times. It's like the bears are her lovers, except she's already got Asami Saki to fulfil those urges, doesn't she?
Oh, good lord, Wakaba Mirai has done it with her teddy bears before, hasn't she? You're glad Kirika isn't here to see any of this. You don't want to think about the sort of comments she'd be making right now if she were to see Wakaba Mirai groping her teddy bear familiars in front of you. Is this- Is this some kind of mating display? Is Wakaba Mirai signalling something to you? Or does she just like her teddy bears that much?
"Um… How many bears are you up to?" you ask, hoping that by speaking to her, you'll get Wakaba Mirai to stop her display that's making you incredibly uncomfortable. "I'm just curious. I think I lost track at… Some number over fifty, for sure."
"Definitely more than that." Thankfully, Wakaba Mirai ceases her writhing and caressing of her teddy bears when she addresses you. "I could definitely keep going, too. This is wa~ay more than I've ever managed before, and it barely feels like a drop in the bucket. You, uh, you getting bored of this yet, or should I keep going?"
"No, I think you're good," you say. Not so much because you're bored, or because you think you've reached the limit of what Wakaba Mirai is capable of, but instead because you can't stand the sight of her treating her teddy bears like lovers. It's weird. "Now that that's out of the way-" And you can go wash your brain out with bleach in order to scrub the image from your mind forever, "-I think we need to talk about how we're going to approach investigating the areas Hijiri Kanna pointed out."
Wakaba Mirai groans, and with a click of her heels sends her teddy bears back from whatever nothingness they came from. You really don't know what those bears are made of, how they're made, or where they go when they get unmade. She continues to complain all the way into the Saints' base, until you call Asami Saki over, saying "Can you get your girlfriend to stop complaining? We've got a job to do."
"Uh…" Asami Saki is caught off-guard. "Sure," she says, sounding no more sure of herself than you are in her ability to actually succeed at the task you've given her. "Come on, Mirai, stop whining. You're almost twenty." Asami Saki looks to you, and asks "Is this about sending her into the sewers again?"
"I've already given up on having her be the one who investigates the sewers," you say. "Not only is she… Painfully non-compliant, but she's also ill-suited to combat in an enclosed space. Her flame attacks are indiscriminate, her sword is too large to be manoeuvrable inside the sewer's corridors, and if she doesn't want to go, forcing her will just mean that she does a half-assed job of it."
Asami Saki nods her head, and you continue. "Instead, I'd like for her and Kazumi to head up the team investigating the park," you say. "It's a wide-open space with no real danger to critical infrastructure, so if they get into a fight there it's not like they'll actually destroy anything." Madoka's house not included. "I will ask them both to be extremely careful of the residential areas that border the park, however." You look both Kazumi and Wakaba Mirai in the eye, saying to them "If you destroy any of the houses that border the park, you will have to answer to me; and I guarantee you, it will not be a good time for either of you."
"Is there any reason why you care so much about a few houses by the park?" Wakaba Mirai asks. "I'd at least understand if it were some critical piece of infrastructure, but… It's just houses, isn't it? Like, I get that it'll suck for whoever lives there, but that whole area should already be evacuated, right?"
You have a feeling that Wakaba Mirai does not, in fact, get it.
"My girlfriend lives in one of those houses," your currently-ex-girlfriend, actually, but that's none of Wakaba Mirai's business to know. Besides, you nd Madoka are already planning on getting back together as soon as this whole mess with Sidonia is finished with; and as soon as your parents decide to un-ground you; "And her parents have their reasons for not evacuating. We'll leave it at that, if you don't mind." Kazumi and Wakaba Mirai both nod their heads, and you continue, saying "You're free to bring your servants with you; I imagine you'll need them if you run into any trouble there."
"What about the others?" Kazumi asks. "I don't mind taking Mirai and investigating the park, but what about Kaoru and Umika? Ssaki? What about Niko?"
"Have Maki Kaoru and Kanna Niko check out the industrial area across the river," you say. "That area was already damaged in one of Sidonia's previous attacks, and Kanna Niko's magic can help if there's any more damage to the industrial infrastructure there. Take Misaki Umika with you. I don't trust her to go with your group after what she tried to do to you, and I don't trust her to go with me, either."
"Right," Asami Saki says. "So, does that mean I'm going with you, then?"
"That's correct," you say. "It'll be the two of us, along with Matou Sakura and her own servant. That gives us three groups of four each; that should be more than enough to get us started, and maybe we'll even make some decent headway and clear out whatever familiars haven't hatched yet. Any bit counts, even if that's just denying Sidonia resources before they hatch."
You turn to Kanna Niko, who you can see in the corner talking to Nightingale, Matou Sakura, and Medusa. "We'll be heading out as soon as Kanna Niko and the others are finished talking," you say to Kazumi and Asami Saki. "So go inform Maki Kaoru and Misaki Umika, and get ready to move out. I'll let Matou Sakura know as well."
"Oh, come on, Akemi!" Wakaba Mirai says. "Don't act all high and mighty about this just because you've got Kazumi under your thumb! Why'd you break me and Saki up?"
"She doesn't have me under her thumb!"
"Because I know how distracting it can be when you're paired up with the person you love," you say. "What, do you think this is my first time negotiating an effective team when I've got Kirika and her Oriko obsession to deal with? I'm not singling you out or anything, I just would prefer if you kept your mind on the mission and not on how Asami Saki looks beside you."
Wakaba Mirai continues to fume, and would probably have continued to fume, were it not for a knock on the door. Kazumi answers, and you hear "Hey girls, how's it going?" Archer's voice at the door. "I hope you all don't mind, but I brought an extra set of hands to help out."
Kazumi and Asami Saki look to each other, unsure whether or not to just allow Archer's hired help to enter. But the hired help takes matters into their own hands. "Is that one Homura?"
Archer nods his head as the hired help comes into view, and she smiles. It's a girl, no taller than you, with pale, silver hair and bright, cherry-red eyes. For a moment, you feel as though you're looking into a colour-inverted mirror of yourself, except the colour-inverted mirror is moving where you aren't. "Um… Archer, who is this?"
"My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern," the colour-inverted you says with a bow. Illyasviel von Einzbern? Then that means- "And I'm your aunt. Archer's told me all about you, Homura-chan."
[ ] Wat do?
