“Humanity’s greatest weapon: communication.” Keijin announced after receiving the transmission, “We’re going to have to thank Oluka for the heads up later. The deciding factor in historical battles is always where one side better makes use of their units. Of course, that’s not possible unless you have an effective means of communication.”

“Is that so?” Kaori said, reloading the steam gun with a single .40mm bullet. That was the first time she had shot with the guns given to her by Kirk, and she didn’t expect how natural the feeling felt. Thanking him later would also be on the list.

“Trust me, it’s the first step people get to learn in a course on tactics. The next influential factor is the technological advancements of weaponry.”

“Makes sense.”

The snow fell inside the observatory from where the two stood. From the time Keijin announced the operation’s initiation, the two remained right where they came in. His true goal was to have Team 1 contend with Mary while leaving Team 2 with Takeshi, and it seemed that everything went according to plan. With all of the pieces in place, only their confrontation is left.

“You say that, but these guns really do feel inefficient. *Sigh* So much for technological advancements.” Kaori said. In spite of how natural it felt, the feeling of shooting a steam gun is vastly different from any other weapon; not that she has any experience with shooting guns or anything.

“Efficiency is great, but it isn’t everything. There’s something to be said for putting one’s heart into each and every shot fired.”

“Surely you jest.”

His words were well-intentioned, he didn’t want to criticize Chordian design, far from it. He always appreciated the level of complexity that people can achieve with a simple set of tools and materials. After all, it’s the careers of many to practice civil and mechanical engineering. Respectable people. Tarnishing that by destroying the wall to the observatory, though, was a weight he had to carry. He’d accept any punishment for such disregard, even at this very moment—

“—Or you could say the same from properly making use of every shot.”

“...!”

A dread came over the two. The sudden voice was not their own; it was the voice of a man across the floor. No doubt was he the man whom they dragged out. One of their enemies in the operation, a man who had an unknown amount of operations of his own under his belt.

“Azure. It’s been a while.” Takeshi said, revealing himself into the light. It was the first time Keijin and Kaori had seen him in the flesh with their own eyes. Their first impression was a man in his late 20s, black hair, and wearing a black suit. If it weren’t for him announcing his presence, the two wouldn’t have been able to notice him and could’ve easily suffered from it.

“So he has arrived.” Keijin looked him in the eyes and saw little light reflecting off of them. They say the eyes are a window to the soul, but what the two saw was a soul devoid of proper humanity.

Kaori steeled herself, knowing that the diversion had worked. Because he was here, Tamaki, Riki, and Katou should be on the second floor continuing the infiltration by now. Good luck, chief. You’re gonna need it. Though, she had to say the same thing to herself. Takeshi’s calm stance alongside his hands in his pockets sent an unnatural shiver down her spine.

“I could say this was a surprise. A surprise to act as a test to stand against their lowly past. To test if they’re truly capable of changing themselves. But I’m sure you’d rather think of this as just another mission?”

“Correct.” Keijin responded, “But I’d rather not be so rude to dismiss your idea.”

Not expecting friendly hospitality, the man chuckled. What an interesting individual he had found himself speaking to.

“I appreciate your presence, Takeshi. But must you involve an innocent civilian in this evening?”

“I could say the same for the damage done to the building. A hole in the wall. That was how you entered the observatory? Don’t you think that was a little bit much?”

“Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. And that means property damage is a viable option.” What luck. Keijin had wished they could resolve this peacefully but those that choose to dodge questions are ones most adamant of their cause. Conflict was inevitable.

“For me though, I cannot begin to understand why you would put the lives of many at risk for your own personal gain. Why is that?”

“People are more capable of defending themselves than you think, good sir. Don’t underestimate humanity. We didn’t survive those hunter-gatherer days without a reason.” Takeshi said, “And I wouldn’t consider this to be just for my personal gain. I don’t consider myself as a selfish person. Six others would greatly benefit from the life of one. Or should I say five?”

His words confused Keijin. What is he talking about? Wasn’t there only one more person involved: Mary, correct? Where did these extra few numbers come from?

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t caught your names yet. You know mine, so I should at the minimum have the privilege of knowing yours.”

“Names, huh?”

“Not important now. You will know our names, later.” Kaori said.

“Well put.” Keijin stepped forward, seeing that she too, understood he was drawing out the conversation to buy out time, “Now, what will you do Takeshi? Now that we stand here knowing our mission?”

“...This is a world of lies. A world of expectations, of responsibilities, of uncertainty. This is simply the way of the world; it is as natural as footprints on morning snow. If we must, then we fight against what those attempt to encase us. To be able to rid of that cage, that’s what true humanity is.”

Keeping their distance… Long range weapons… No cover… There are no pillars in this area. They lured me in this area knowing that I would be disadvantaged. And yet…

There’s no possible way they would just have this few people pulling the stops. They’ve definitely encountered Mary, knowing how powerful her Aoi is. But how?

But now wasn’t the time to think. The two had exchanged a quick glance and it seemed that there would be no more conversation as Kaori aimed the gun at his head. Perhaps that little speech was a little too philosophical. Mary was right to bash him on that.

Deep down, Kaori feared for her identity — her identity of memories she formed through the years that could just disappear at any second. She thought she had learned to surprise every emotion, but this was different from simple laughter or sadness: this was true fear. She shook her head, remembering Tamaki’s ‘presence’ technique.

I can do this. This is my first test to see if I have what it takes to be a stargazer. I have to think of myself as the chief right now.

“Initiate the mission.” Keijin ordered.

“Understood.”

It was her and the ability to stasis objects. As the tank bubbled to its maximum capacity, Kaori pulled the trigger and the pang vibrated the air. Immediately afterwards, the two lost sight of the man — Takeshi disappeared, or rather, he had activated his Aoi. There he was: standing a foot to the left, as if he teleported.

“As expected, his Aoi is a force to be reckoned with.”

Keijin thought, incessantly, combining many elements and came to the next course of action. From that shot, he had learned a little bit more of his Aoi, Although it was ideal to finish him off, another bullet was needed.

“Proceed to the next step.” he said to Kaori, alerting Takeshi.

Too bad my complete memory erasure ability has such a short range. I can’t approach recklessly or they’ll easily kill me. I’ll need to play the waiting game to work around that gun. But it seems that’s the extent to what they can do. This should be quick work.

With another pull of the trigger, steam blasted out, and the metal bullet sprang out of its chamber. To Takeshi, he was disappointed they were attempting the same basic strategy to bring him down. What was the use of firing if they were aware of what he will do? Was that really the best they could do? Was that the limit of their—

No, he should’ve heard the sound of a collision behind him by now. The glint of light was still there, reflecting from the light of the outside. The bullet stopped?! This was bad, he had already used his ability. If what he thought would happen next would come true, then he needed to duck his head as soon as possible or else he wouldn’t see the light of day. Takeshi strained all of his effort into his body to force himself out of the way. That was when the bullet unpaused, completely grazing Takeshi’s cheek.

A feint?! Takeshi’s eyes darted from the steam coming from the gun, to Keijin, who had a smirk across his face. Their feint messed up my timing with my Aoi…! No… that was their plan to bypass my Aoi from the start!

“I see. An Aoi that can pause objects, and you managed to incorporate that into your strategy. Interesting.” he said as he wiped the blood from his face. Takeshi experienced surprise for the first time in such a few short seconds.

“I thought we had enough talk by now.” Keijin responded.

“It’s never too late for a good one-on-one.”

“Then our next demand shouldn’t be an issue for you. It doesn’t really matter if you answer me or not, but I’m going to ask you one very important question. If you don’t answer within five seconds of me asking the question, we’ll shoot a bullet right between your eyes.” Lowering his gaze to meet Takeshi’s, he said in a cold voice, “Will you surrender this facade and give up the Sword of Tsurugi and the girl?”

For a second, the two were met with silence before he responded, “...Diseased.”

“...?”

Diseased? At this moment, it was undeniable that Takeshi was not going to comply with the demands. His eyes gleamed of far too much deviltry, as if they were able to peer into the outer world. Keijin made the call to Kaori once more.

“Many people…”

Kaori shot the bullet, freezing in midair. But this time, Takeshi waited, unmoving.

“One… Two…”

“...are in need of a reminder—”

“Three… Four”

“Of the past.”

“Five.”

The bullet resumed, and Takeshi once again disappeared right from their eyes to teleport himself to the left. Now completely out of the path of the round, he could rest easy knowing he had easily countered their poor strategy to his Aoi.

However, at last, the light that shot out for the third time finally proved Azure’s chance of victory. Takeshi felt the sudden blowback of his head and the sharp pain accompanying it. His upper left ear had been pierced, gushing blood down the side of his neck. Confusion. Perplexment. In spite of him being out of the path of the bullet, the projectile still shot him as if it had a grudge on him.

“What?!”

Even Kaori was bewildered at what just played out. The bullet had changed its course of flight in the air while it was frozen without her doing.

“Thank you, third member of our team.”

-Fou! Fo Fou!

Licking its own paw, was Cavall who revealed itself from a gray blanket that Keijin had concealed itself with. Kaori had seen him ordered the Akita to lie behind the sheet in the center of the floor, but didn’t understand the reasoning for it.

“Projectiles won’t work on you because every time, you make us forget your position, correct? If we delay the bullet, we can change the bullet’s trajectory to where you are once we remember again. Cavall’s Aoi is metal manipulation through magnetism, a proper ability for such an occasion.”

“...What the heck, Cavall? That’s quite honestly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Kaori said, watching the Akita take note of Takeshi’s appearance. He could recognize that it was keeping track of himself, awaiting for the next bullet to be frozen.

A dog having an Aoi. I’ve never seen such a thing before in my life. He thought. How could this be?

“...Of course, I was hoping to finish you off with that one bullet to your heart.” Keijin explained, “Even with all of my planning beforehand, you still managed to barely escape it.”

It was true that Takeshi had been caught off guard twice now and he understood that if he were to let it happen one more time, it would cost him his life. That second time was merely a fluke that he let his body move in such a way to dodge the bullet to his heart. Counting on miracles was not an option.

Alright. If I can make sense of this, the girl shoots the gun and immediately uses her Aoi to freeze the bullet in midair. Afterwards, the dog uses its own to change the trajectory of the bullet to hit me after it unfreezes. A perfect counter to my ability. There’s no way I could possibly retaliate back with the way it is now.

“Well, then. This has taken an interesting turn. I must commend the highly trained dog.”

Their tactics are good. The only thing I can do is to make them forget my location… How do I attack all three? If only I had the ability to skip and erase time which would be a more complete version of my application of my Aoi… But I do not have the Sword. Takeshi took a deep breath. There’s only one thing I can do left.

“If this Akita were to form razor blades inside my throat, I would long be dead by now. But since it didn’t, I’m able to do this!” Takeshi brought his leg out, a signal of what he’s about to do that Keijin recognized.

“Shoot now, Kaori!”

And so she did, freezing the bullet as Takeshi broke into a run, immediately shifted his direction as soon as he came close to Cavall.

-Woof…?!

Cavall tossed and turned, confused as if it was plopped into the battlefield for the first time. The bullet proceeded to launch in a direction completely out of the direction where Takeshi dashed.

“—Dammit! He caused Cavall to forget where to aim the bullet!”

Taking advantage of the Akita’s confusion and the time after Kaori had just fired, Takeshi made a straight dash towards the two.

If I can increase the effect of my memory erasure just a little more, then I will be able to slip out of here. I’d like to use it to the fullest extent, but I don’t see that happening with this distance. This is the smartest choice I have…!

Their failure and defeat would be inevitable if they didn’t do anything to stop his advancement. It was that realization that made Kaori take a gamble with her life. In that instant, she activated her ability again — not on any bullet, but the piston on her back. As the influx of more vapor concentrated inside the tank, this time, she took aim with both guns.

You won’t have time to dodge this one.

“...Eat it.”

Pang — The recoil instantly inflicted a sharp pain in both shoulders, but she didn’t let it distract her. She needed to be absolutely sure there was a slight delay in both shots in order to beat his invincible ability; and so she did. The next thing he knew, blood splattered as he felt the intense pain near his upper right chest. And yet… that didn’t stop him.

He’s still rushing towards us! And I can’t reload in time!

“Keijin, get back—!” Kaori shouted, realizing her detrimental mistake. Now within three meters, there was little left to do than to pray that they’ll still retain their memories.

I’ve easily won this.

“It’s been a good while meeting you two, but I’m afraid your time here has ended. Hasta la vista, Azure—” As soon as he announced his victory, Takeshi felt immediate pressure coming from his arm. He looked to find Keijin’s grip on his sleeve and his unrelenting stare eyeing him back. Wha— What is this man doing?!

“I was aware of this tactic of yours from the start, but I didn’t think you would choose to do it this fast.” Keijin said, “There is a specific reason why I made that huge hole through the observatory, not to disrespect the people who designed it.”

“Excuse me—?”

“I was also prepared to get caught in your crossfire. I will complete this mission. I will also protect my crew. One of the hardest parts of being a commanding officer is the fact that I have to do both. Now, are you prepared, Takeshi? I am. Tell me, what would happen to the human body if it impacts hard ground at terminal velocity?”

“...!”

We’re that close to the— The…!

“Bastard! You wouldn’t!”

“Even if you fully erase my memories, that doesn’t matter if we’re both falling down the summit of the mountain.” Keijin looked over his shoulder, “Sorry Kaori, I understand we just met, but I’d like you to carry out and continue the operation without me.”

She wasn’t informed of this. First, she wasn’t informed of Cavall’s Aoi and now she wasn’t informed of his plan to drag Takeshi out of the observatory. Did he not trust her or something? Kaori couldn’t even ponder the reason why she was left in the dark. Was all of this time and effort just so Keijin could sacrifice himself? Why? Why do it?

“Wha… Keijin, you can’t be serious! Sto—”

But it was too late. With one push of his foot, Keijin pulled Takeshi out through the wall and into the open air. In that one second, Keijin felt the coldness of the air sweep through every part of himself as he fell down into the void.

“BASTARD!!” Tried as he might, the ledge slipped out of Takeshi’s fingers as he watched the walls of the observatory dwindle smaller and smaller. They had passed the point of no return. Damn. Dammit. So what was the point of using his ability now to erase the man’s memories? No matter what, nothing will save him from death awaiting them. There was no choice but to accept death; which the man must’ve had done a long time ago. Oh, right. His name is Keijin, apparently. At least he let him have the luxury of keeping his memories before his demise. Takeshi chuckled.

Seeing the enemy laugh to himself before their death was unnerving to say the least. Now that Keijin thought about it, this could also make for a good experience for Kaori. Perhaps, a lesson to teach her that anyone could die at any time; something that would help her grow a little bit more, and yet...

“KEIJIN!”

The role of any individual in society is to help out the lives of their superiors, right? There was only one thing Kaori could do: she threw the steam gun with all her might down the side of the mountain. Whizzing past the two, she stasised the gun.

I’m not gonna let anyone die on my behalf like that.

“Grab on!”

・・・・・

Kaori, please be alright.

The first thing the three took note of was the stiflingly hot air as they made their way up. Tamaki, Riki, and Katou emerged from the staircase to find themselves not needing Riki’s Aoi to light their way any longer. Instead, there was a perfect shade of blue spread evenly throughout the second floor.

“Oh, and now I need to worry about my haori again. Perfect.” Katou growled after peering over and seeing what the next floor had to offer. To their own surprise, what they saw with their own eyes was a scene in legends.

There were what can be seen as a dozen fire spirits roaming around the floor. Every flame seemed solemn and unearthly, and more so of apparitions as they float across without contact with the floor. The core of each was a blinding white followed by a scorching blue; their arms being the embodiment of flame wings.

These were the fire spirits that Riki would have preferred not to see ever again after such a distressing experience. Knowing that he was chased by them before, he wondered whether or not they were sentient or mindless robots following a specific set of instructions.

It would also explain the encompassing melody of the pipa which filled the whole space. Riki hated to admit it, but the music really was nice albeit depressing. But he couldn’t pinpoint where it is originating from, making the scene all the more sinister.

In spite of all of that, because of the well-lit floor, the three had a somewhat clear view of the next staircase down the open hall.

What kinda architect built this damn place?

“If we’re gonna have ta deal with this two more times,” Katou muttered under his breath, “I’m actually going to cut someone’s head off.”

“Please don’t. If anything please cut their heads off.” Tamaki said, fanning herself, “How powerful are these things?”

“They’re no joke. It took all I had just to extinguish a single one.” Riki said.

“I hate to admit it, but Mr. Amnesia is right. Our only hope is to sneak by without alerting a single one. And even if we do succeed, we’d have to come back the same way after we take the Sword and the girl. That’s not even accounting for a potential brawl with the pipa player. To be frank, our situation is far from preferred.” Katou paused. He reulctantly swallowed his pride , “Oi, take this.”

He tossed his back-up blade towards Tamaki, herself scrambling to catch it.

“Eh? A sword?!”

“The least you can do to defend yourself. You're the only one without a direct means of attack.”

“But I have absolute zero training with weaponry...” She said before catching herself. No. That’s right… a sword is an object.

Seeing her realization, Katou began analysis on the situation. These spirits were obviously implemented to slow down them to buy time for whatever was about to happen on the last floor. “Dance in the night, sneak in the shadows.” It was a phrase hammered into him since birth. And that would mean seeing all possible outcomes in a given situation. At this point, it was as natural for him as breathing.

You’re making this too easy, instrumentalist. There, he saw it: a way forward. He found the flaw to the spirits’ movements that he can easily take full advantage of. With just the right combination of treading, sneaking by would be a cinch. It should also be easy enough for these two amateurs as well, luckily enough. The only thing he needed to worry about now, was keeping his haori from being burned. Katou moved his leg forward.

That was when every single flame spirit turned their heads towards the three.

“What?!”

In just a single moment, pure chills shot through their spines as they stared back at the flames’ hollowed faces. Too distracted by the shock, Katou, Riki, and Tamaki didn’t hear the footsteps coming from the distance until a voice called out.

“Conceit. Overconfidence. Arrogance. Pride. That’s what a lot of folks told us about us. And at this point, I pretty much agree~.” Emerging into the blue light, was Mary wielding her pipa in hand, “Lacrimosa encompasses all of the emotion in one melody. It’s perfect for such an occasion ♪. Third time’s the charm, wouldn’t you say?”