[X] Telepathically ask Oriko if she wants or needs you to intervene in any way, or if she has this one in the bag
-[X] React accordingly depending on her answer
"I've got to be strong. I've got to show Komaki that I can make it without her. That I can carry her burdens from now on." In a flash of indigo threads that wrap themselves around her body, Asako Koito transforms into her battle costume, and in the dull light filtering in from the slit window at the edge of the basement foundation, you can see thin, almost invisible wires snaking out from underneath her sleeves, stopping just centimeters short of Mikuni Oriko's throat. "I've got to prove to her that I can do what she couldn't."
"Fight me," she says to Mikuni Oriko. "If you're able to do to me what you did to my sister, then I'll admit it wasn't just a fluke that you beat my sister and I'll let you live. But if you can't, I'm going to string your body up and do to you exactly what you did to my sister."
Mikuni Oriko stands still, at the mercy of her enemy, and says nothing. "Do you need me to intervene?" you ask her mind, your hand poised at your shield the moment you hear a "yes" from her. But that "yes" never comes.
"Don't worry. So far, my hunch is proving to be correct. As long as Koito-san doesn't stray too far from what I think she'll do, I shouldn't need any help." You'll hold Mikuni Oriko to her word, lest you face the wrath of her lover should anything happen to her on your watch. A few seconds more pass, and "I've had Lancer remove the wards surrounding the church," Mikuni Oriko says to Asako Koito. "If we're going to do this, best we do it outside. I should hate for our childish feuding to damage such a beautiful house of the Lord as this."
"You're actually going to fight her?" you ask; are you sure this is the same MIkuni Oriko as the one you've come to know? First she asks to borrow a gun, and now she's throwing away her creed of nonviolence to appease some uppity brat she owes nothing to? "Should I be concerned?"
"Trust me, Akemi-san. I've already planned for this."
You have a bad feeling about this; but Mikuni Oriko has placed her trust in you time and again; the least you can do is reciprocate that trust when she truly needs you to. She leads the pack of girls out of the basement, always leading several steps ahead of the others. You follow at the rear, keeping your eyes trained on the Asako Koito and the two girls at her flanks. With a careful ear, you can hear their whispered conversation. "Do you think Mikuni's really going to fight Koito-chan?" "I dunno; this whole thing smells like a trap." "What are you thinking?" "I dunno, maybe something like she'll lure us up there and do to us what she did to Komaki."
If Mikuni Oriko could hear what Namekata Akira and Nagatsuki Miyuki were saying about her, she'd no doubt be brought to tears at the idea of ever being that person again; chances are, she probably can hear them, and is going to need a long therapy cuddling from Kure Kirika after the fact.
If she survives the night at all, that is.
You've gotten a glimpse at Asako Koito's weapon; mono-filament wires. Almost certainly to be magically-charged and able to move according to her will. You don't know if they'll be strong enough to pierce through Mikuni Oriko's barriers, but there shouldn't be anything stopping them from moving around her barriers. Combined with Asako Koito's ability to interfere with MIkuni Oriko's precognition - an ability that's been disturbingly common and equally as obnoxious - and the fact that you don't have a good read on her combat proficiency, you don't think you can call this fight one way or another.
And again, you find yourself hoping that MIkuni Oriko knows what she's doing.
Mikuni Oriko is the first one out the church doors, and you barely catch a glimpse of her rounding the corner to her left as she exits as you're coming up the stairs. The other girls are still several steps behind her. if she's planning an ambush, using the pistol you gave her to intimidate Asako Koito into surrendering, now would be her best chance while sight of her has been lost. But when you exit the church, you find that was not the case. Instead, you see Mikuni Oriko, standing transformed in her battle costume as she waits for Asako Koito to join her.
"Let's make this quick," Asako Koito says, clenching her fingers, causing her wires to twist and turn accordingly. "After I've sliced your arm off and torn your heart out through the wrong side of your chest, I think I'll go home and tell mom and dad how much I've missed them."
Mikuni Oriko shakes her head, saying back to Asako Koito "Murder is not as simple as you think it is. You might start out telling yourself that you're taking the lives you do as part of some nobler goal, but sooner or later the weight of your actions will come back to you." Surprisingly, Mikuni Oriko speaks with serenity in her voice, her eyes clear and staring straight ahead as she faces down the inevitable. "You are a good girl, Asako Koito. You are calm, and shy, and quiet; not at all like your older sister; and you have a good heart. Perhaps you think you have it in you to take the life of another, but I do not."
Asako Koito rolls her eyes, saying "God you're annoying."
"Don't take the Lord's name in vain, Koito-san."
Another roll of her eyes, and Asako Koito says "Will you just shut up already? I thought we came out here to fight, not for you to lecture me now that you've realized you're about to die."
But Mikuni Oriko shakes her head, saying "No, Asako Koito, I did not take you out here to fight." And this is when she produces the Beretta you gave her earlier, and she tosses it on the ground before Asako Koito's feet, saying "I took you out here to show you that you don't have the heart of a murderer. But if you think you do, then by all means, pick up that pistol and use it to take my life. You have my wholehearted permission."
"You'd better not touch that gun, you bitch!" Kure Kirika screams as Asako Koito reaches for the pistol; but Tomoe-san holds her back. "Hey! Let go of me! She's gonna kill Oriko if we don't stop her!"
Asako Koito's hands tremble as she struggles to hold the Beretta steady. You've had the time to get used to its feel, its weight, the bark of its recoil; Asako Koito has not. "You're really stupid, you know that?" she says, steadying her aim as she brings the sights up to eye level, Namekata Akira and Nagatsuki Miyuki looking on in silent horror as the reality of the situation unfolds before their eyes. "I thought you'd actually have the balls to, you know, face me in a fair fight. But it looks like you're too much of a coward to do even that. What, did you finally realize you deserve to die for what you've done?"
"You bitch! Take that back right now!"
But Mikuni Oriko pays no heed to her lover's anguished cries, instead pointing to her Soul Gem as she says "Make your shots count." Then, Mikuni Oriko closes her eyes, standing still, her body and breathing at peace.
Asako Koito fires, and her first shot misses. To be expected, but the recoil and the ejecting sim cartridge gives her no indication that the weapon she's firing is just a loud paperweight. She fires again, and the 'bullet' strikes Mikuni Oriko in the chin. This would have been disastrous and spoiled the illusion that there was weight and deadly force behind Asako Koito's shots, were the skin and muscle of Mikuni Oriko's chin not torn off in a spray of red as the round struck her. You have to keep yourself from smirking; now you see her plan. Asako Koito fires three more shots, into her chest, shoulder, and lung, each one taking its tole on Mikuni Oriko's body; until at last, her fifth shot strikes home, shattering the emerald Soul Gem at Mikuni Oriko's collar.
"No~oo!" Her body falls over, and Kure Kirika screams, Tomoe-san barely able to restrain her as she struggles against the blonde's stronger hold. "You bitch! I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you! You hear me? I'll kill your whole fucking family! Oriko~o!"
Asako Koito's breathing is heavy, and she looks down, her eyes torn between the gun in her hands and the body on the ground. She looks to her friends; you remember when they had been as enthused about killing Mikuni Oriko as she had been, but now that death stares them in the face, none of them are looking enthused in the slightest.
"Koito, you..."
"I... I did it..." Asako Koito says, as the pistol falls from her hands onto the ground. "I... I killed MIkuni. I avenged Komaki's death... So... Why don't I like the way it feels?"
"I told you, Asako Koito," Mikuni Oriko says, stepping out from around the corner of the church, as the body at Asako Koito's feet unravels in strips of white and crimson ribbons. "To take the life of another is a heavy burden on the heart. You must have a large heart, to love your sister as much as you do; murder would only weight a heart that large down more than it can bear."
"You... I... But I killed you..."
Mikuni Oriko shakes her head. "What you killed was one of Tomoe-san's expertly-crafted ribbon dummies." She turns to her lover as the two meet with teary-eyed smiles, and continues, saying "They can even fool the ones we love the most."
"So... This whole time, were you just lying to me? That... That wasn't really you apologising to Komaki, was it? That was just a dummy?"
Mikuni Oriko shakes her head. "No, Koito-san, every word of my apology was spoken by the real me. Tomoe-san only brought the dummy out once I left the church." She turns to you, and says "I believe we've proven our point quite adequately, wouldn't you agree Akemi-san? I see no further reason to keep these three confined now that they've learned their lesson."
Do you
[ ] Agree; let the girls go home
[ ] Hesitate; you want to hear it from them first
[ ] Refuse; Asako Koito stays locked up until she accepts your Geis
[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] What do you do afterwards? (write-in)
