Not only did the monkeys hinder the warrior, they also threw her right into the club’s resident goody-two-shoes, causing both of them to tumble around. Even as Hotaru tried to find purchase on any surface, her claws kept either slicing things into ribbons or Haruna bumped into her to knock her aim off-course. Even worse, she could not find an angle to strike the annoyance she was being forced to endure, so the warrior grit her teeth and bore it. All the while the self-absorbed, prissy daughter-of-a-whore remained on stage, spewing nonsense about a sister or something, forcing everyone to go along with her whims.
Couldn't she just have told her story?!
Hotaru’s hypocrisy did not even register as they slowed down were slowed down when Oros got tangled up with them. Her tendrils helped to anchor them and with Hotaru also finding a groove to sink her claws into, they came to a halt.
”Thanks!” She shouted even as she tried to find her bearings before turning Haruna into minced meat for daring to-
”Sylvia.”Hotaru felt as though her lips had shattered when the word broke through them like a battering ram. Her veins turned into poisonous ice. Curved knives stabbed into her brain. Painful electricity arced between her muscles. Every iota of colour around her fell away, her sight shrinking until she could only see the point of a needle. Sylvia.
Long-forgotten remarks surfaced in the warrior’s consciousness.
“She can't even fight.””It would have been better if she stayed home.””Don't bother doing something like that again.””I’m sorry, but I can't be your friend.”Perhaps it was the way Michi talked. Or how Roche perceived the play, as though Michi had left her sister to fend by herself, throwing Norah to the wolves. Something about the scene reminded the warrior of the moment she first saw and heard, and the constant stream of vile lies that followed.
”You shouldn't hurt yourself like that!””Unfortunately, you are not suited to fighting.””I’m really sorry, I already have plans for the day.””I can't make it. Maybe next time.”No matter how many times Chiaki tried to reach out, the answer would remain the same. Rejection followed rejection, all of them following the same, tired format: a thin, miserly apology that heralded a promise never fulfilled. Or a sarcastic, biting comment voiced as though it were a legitimate concern. There was not an ounce of compassion to be found in the so-called light girls. They all hated Hotaru, Sylvia and Chiaki. And despite that, because Chiaki was such a kind girl, she kept reaching out. No matter how awkward she was or how she stuttered, or how many wounds appeared on her, everyone turned a blind eye to her circumstances.
Just one promise. One acquaintance. A small act of mercy just so Chiaki would not have to cook for herself or the heartless assholes. Yet none ever came.
Ah. Now she knew why she remembered.
With a keen not unlike that of an animal, Hotaru slammed into the apes, right by the side of Roche and Hizuki.
”What has she done to you?!” Strange. She should have been angry. The warrior should have been exploding like a volcano, then she should have unleashed hell on the apes brutalising innocent Sylvia. So why did her voice sound as though she were choking on tears? Why did it sound as though she were questioning someone who did not care to answer and would keep on abusing Sylvia?
Her gauntlets found little purchase on the apes. Hotaru had pulled Miseria apart by the seams, ripping them apart by pure strength, or had splattered them with a callous move of her hand. Even the more resilient ones could barely match her strength and yet these… Even Roche had trouble. The warrior, despite her
magic burning bright, could barely defeat a single one of her opponents. Sweat poured down her forehead, digging deep gorges into her skin.
Hotaru's voice choked. Her next words could barely be understood.
”Leave her alone!” The gorges glowed. Her body could not take much more of the strain she put it through. She still fought on valiantly.
She was not enough. She would never be enough.Punch after punch. Kick after kick. Hotaru could do nothing but watch through foggy lenses even as she tried her best. Just like when she tried to fight instead of Chiaki. She was a hair’s breadth away and unable to do anything.
She could not do anything!The bruises on Sylvia started to turn into cracks. Like lines on a damaged mirror. They leaked a wispy,
strange substance instead of blood. An ape or two had fallen, but even if she managed to open the way for Hizuki to grab Sylvia, would it even matter? The masses of apes would pounce on Hizuki as well. The protector would shatter, just as Chiaki had a long time ago.
It was inevitable.
She should have never turned against her grandparents.
When Sylvia had landed her blow, it had felt like a small weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It had not been the relief she had been expecting, but it helped. Even though Michi bled, a strange sense of grim satisfaction jolted through the protector’s spine, knowing that she did this for those she thought important. And herself. Most importantly, herself. She needed to be all right, because she said that to Hizuki.
But as soon as darkness crept into her vision and she could no longer feel the others by her side - even metaphorically - she knew she would not be all right.
It was always grandfather who started and as Michi read correctly, with a punch to Sylvia's stomach. It had been the rightful punishment for eating too much, for taking away money from the family that had fallen on hard times because of Sylvia's traitorous mother. Fortunately, she did not have anything to throw up this time, but that never stopped the deceitful gods.
Then of course, the knee between Sylvia's ribs. Grandfather told her it was because she should be grateful she still breathed. That she was allowed to make up for the sins her mother committed against the family. It was always just as righteous as the first punch.
Grandmother followed it up with a stinging slap. The wedding ring on her finger would leave behind a dent and Sylvia would have to cover it up at school. The ape’s rough knuckles served as an apt stand-in for the cold metal, which made the following beating all the more expected. Punches along with kicks blended into one another in a symphony of unending pain. And like the good girl she was, Sylvia had to endure it all.
Not a single sound escaped from her mouth, clamped shut as though it were a vice. Her gums would start to bleed sooner than she would dare to let herself utter any single thing or beg for mercy; she had tried those too many times already. Her only option was to take the punishment of the gods, because they were the righteous ones. And even if they were not, what could she possibly do against them?
It would be over as soon as their ire subsided. Then she could take her break - except, it was not coming. The anger seemed never-ending this time and the hits kept torturing her. Every single one of them was aimed at a spot roughed ten times over. A familiar impact blossomed into familiar, agonising pain. If it were not for her magic, Sylvia would have died.
If it were not for her magic, Chiaki would have died.
In spite of her magic, Sylvia felt her impending death. The gods had no mercy for her this time and they would go on until she ceased her wretched, worthless existence. Only then will she have repaid the transgressions of her mother.
The connection shattered like a whip striking across First Shuuko’s back. She winced and jumped back at the same time, putting more distance between her and the huge arm as she tried to look for her fellows again, but found herself grasping for straws. Fortunately, she still had her own reserve of power to call on, so she transformed in an explosion of
light blue shards.
What stepped out of the revelry, however, was not the Shatterscape everyone was familiar with. Firstly, rather than the orange and red of a purifying flame, her colours reflected the sky and a clear lake. Second, instead of the wicked, clawed fingers of her usual Devil Arm, she possessed well-articulated, dextrous fingers. The gauntlets seemed larger in exchange, with a row of holes above the magical girl’s wrist that implied the existence of hidden blades. And thirdly, there were no horns on her forehead, nor did her eyes burn with the crimson disdain that Shatteracape levied at her opponents.
They remained a clear, crystalline
blue instead. Not that anyone had much time to dwell on it, as First Shuuko immediately drove her gauntlets into the ground and collapsed the roof beneath her before she started her mad dash towards the cafeteria.
When Ember regained control of her body, she found herself in the middle of a black void, cut off from everyone else. And while she had plenty of experience with the former given how Sylvia, Hotaru and her had been interacting lately, being numb to the rest of their bodies should have been impossible.
”Shit.” Cold sweat coated Ember, forming icicles that reached all the way to her core. She felt as though she had been shoved into a dark, dirty and unpleasant ice cave hours ago, her strength having left her a long time ago. Her body along with her thoughts were sluggish, her mind seemingly unable to string two facts together. It instead filled up with the imagery of Michi doing whatever it pleased with Sylvia, Hotaru and even Chiaki.
The schemer’s spine turned into a frozen column at the thought. Her slow pondering turned towards the seemingly impossible power wielded by Michi, asking herself if this was the despair the club faced when they first encountered Ashbringer.
There seemed to be no way out. If she was correct and Michi influenced every student, then she had everything in the palm of her hands. Even worse, if she influenced them… She practically molded Sylvia, Hotaru and even Ember into their ideal selves. She cut off Ember’s magic. Was there nothing she could do?
No. She could not think that way. She still had Sylvia to take care of. She promised it to that girl, damn it!
And even if her magic broke, so what? They were still one. Their bodies might have split, but Ember knew better. She felt the strange ebb and flow of the threads. She studied them in detail. They were four halves of a greater whole.
They were never on their own.
So she had to be able to do something. Anything.
She forced herself to reach out to grasp whatever she could, willing her hands to hold still instead of trembling. A part of her screamed at her to leave this to Sylvia, because it was the protector’s duty to take on such burdens. Ember yelled back at that part, because she too, had something she wished to protect. Not just Chiaki or Sylvia. The Detention Club also counted and, as much as she loathed to admit, she wanted the best for Hotaru as well.
Then she felt it: the overwhelming pain of being slapped across the face.
Ember reeled from the blow. One of her teeth went flying, disappearing into the darkness as whoever assaulted her had no mercy. In fact, it felt almost as though it were one of the memories of Sylvia in the flesh. It meant she could do something.
”Sylvia?” She asked, reaching out despite the best efforts of her body to reel away from the pain.
”I don't even know if you can hear me, but…” The agony of being kicked in the shin blossomed in Ember’s foot. She screamed into the void.
”I will not yield in the face of consequences!”
It did not hurt as much now. The blows still landed on the protector, of course. But as they started to shatter her, less and less of the pain made it to her consciousness. If anything, they seemed to come more savagely than before, the apes seemingly intent on leaving her dead before anyone could reach Sylvia.
That was all right. No one could save her from the gods, after all.
A part of her wished she had spent more time with Roche. It even realised that perhaps, Roche would be sad about her being gone. Maybe Hizuki too. And come to think of it, Ember would definitely be sad.
That was all right. She had always been a bad child. She had no right to claim their friendship or their feelings. And yet if Sylvia could have one selfish wish of hers fulfilled…
It would be to say goodbye to them properly.
