Once again an explosion was heard from the impact of Ishigaki's punch. A huge crater a few meters deep was made after Yamato's wooden dome was destroyed. Ishigaki then landed on the north side of where the dome was before, with Yamato standing on the far south side, same with before.

The two breathed heavily waiting for their vision to glimpse anything in the epicentrum of the explosion. After all the smoke settled, they were finally able to see the crater... but Karito was not there. A large and deep hole was found on the spot Karito was standing. He successfully escaped by digging into the earth.

Ishigaki then was on his knees after pouring a lot of energy into that fight. His aurics were starting to break down because of the immense temperature from its user. "I think... I'll have to take a nap..."Ishigaki then fainted right then and there.

Yamato ran towards him, but before he arrived, Ishigaki suddenly woke up again, seemingly canceling his nap. Then when he turned his head to him, he asked, "Yamato? Is that really you?" in a different tone than before, and he started to tear up. "I'm sorry about everything..."

Listening to Ishigaki's change in tone, Yamato knew that he was no longer talking to him, but someone he knew a long time ago. Yamato suddenly felt a little disgusted by the memory of their past, he looked away from Natsuki as he said, "Long time no see, Natsuki. How can you share a body like that?" he then sat in a crushed car.

"You were right... we should've never done this! This is all my fault... for not telling him," Natsuki then started to blame herself. "If we give ourselves up---" she started to tear up.

"Stop it, now it's too late. Nothing's gonna change if you keep blaming yourself. I also had my mistakes, for not stopping him advancing the plan. He was my childhood friend, I should've tried harder..." Yamato looked at his fist, "but now I understand. We have to find out who Ishimaru really is, and why he does all of this..."

"I think I already figured it out," Natsuki proclaimed, "I realized a pattern, Yamato. Everytime someone experiences a major emotional spike, they will act seemingly out of their own control. And they will always say the same thing, 'this is how your story will end'," she explained her observation from before. She then recounted the story of when Yato fought Akira on the island, he had the same occurrence. "Before he attacked him, he saw himself, or a copy of himself,"

Yamato got reminded of Akira and his chase for revenge, but it all failed because Kurouzu vanished at the beach. Listening further into Natsuki's explanation, Yamato concluded that some ancient souls were pulled back with inequality. Some just override their vessel, while some must struggle or take turns for control. There was no clue as to why that happened.

And regarding Yato meeting himself before going berserk, might have something to do with what Yamato experienced earlier. When he listened to Ishimaru's whispers, he suddenly felt like he had to do what he was told, without much consideration. "It's him, undoubtedly. But I don't know who Ishimaru actually is---"

"It's Anrui," Natsuki cut his sentence first, "he's able to transform into anything, right? Ishimaru was part of Kentarou's team, but what if he's dead already, but Anrui mimics him all along?"

After discussing back and forth and trading theories with each other, Natsuki suggested one final thing. "Ishimaru must be stopped, Yamato. I think it would be better if you side with us and find the solution together. We'll have a better chance to fight Karito because we're the ones that knew him most!"

Yamato was conflicted as his ideology was directly opposite that of Hikiri's. In the end, he said, "I think it's better for us to keep being separated. There will be more information to be combined from both sides, and I will keep my safety until we meet again," Yamato finally smiled after so long, he finally felt like his thoughts were heard by his friends, but he must not take too much risk at once.

----

The dawn then came, Natsuki went back to the Ookami residence with a lot of bruises on Ishigaki's body. Kyuuto was already awake and quickly helped her inside, meanwhile Ishigaki was still fast asleep in his subconscious.

As she could not lie down, Natsuki stayed in the living room, talking about what went down that night, while Rin tried to heal her back. In order to reach the wounds much more effectively, she had to undress, she even covered her chest with her hands as a reflex. But then Rin said, "Relax, this isn't your body, remember? Also... Ishigaki is a guy, you don't have to worry,"

"Sorry---" Natsuki quickly repositioned her arms.

Something that had not been considered before, finally came into the surface of everyone's minds. How did Natsuki manage to enter Ishigaki's soul even though they are different in gender? Shouldn't there be a female Akayama that is more compatible to be her vessel?

But before anyone could utter that, they have much more important information to digest first.