Lover's Farewell
He couldn't believe it; it all seemed too unreal. But it has happened. He had won. He managed to defeat her. But at what price? Ooishi coughed up blood and looked around. The room was a mess. Ooishi started to remember what exactly has happened.
Ooishi stared in shock at Rika who just smiled. "Problem solved."
She noticed Ooishi's blank stare. "Oh, what's wrong? Cannot stomach a little blood?" Rika taunted him. He heard her giggle darkly.
"I'm going to enjoy this. Oh yes, I'm going to so very enjoy this. Now, Ooishi! Come; give me your 'best shot'!"
Ooishi quickly came back to his senses and gripped his shotgun.
"You! You're no kid! You're a demon! The villagers said that you are the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. I didn't believe it until now. I see your true nature. You don't deserve to live! You monster!"
Rika's smile faded.
"What did you call me? You dare to tell me that I don't deserve to live? You dare to call ME a monster? You, who would investigate a little girl just because a piece of her clothing was found on the crime scene? You, who wants to arrest my Hanyuu for something she didn't do? It was me who killed those lowlifes. You should be thankful! They are the ones who don't deserve to live. They are the real monsters! You, the one who could even think that a cute little girl like Hanyuu could kill somebody so violently; you don't deserve to live either. That's why I'm going to kill you."
"I won't let you!" Ooishi readied his shotgun, pulling the trigger without hesitance. Amazingly enough, the shells from the gun didn't hit Rika. They stopped before her as if they had hit an invisible wall.
"Useless." Rika said coldly. "Such a weapon cannot kill me." Rika waved her hand in Ooishi's direction.
"What the-"Ooishi only barely managed to dodge behind a nearby sofa. The wall behind him exploded with the impact of the shells.
How can she stop the shells, much less fling them back with such a force? This can't be possible... But I know what I have seen. The smashed heads of the hooligans; it now makes sense. I don't know how, but she possesses some kind of strange power. I need to think up something. Ooishi thought frantically.
"Ooishi, how long are you going to stay hidden behind that sofa? Get out before I get bored. I'm willing to give you a few more minutes to live if you amuse me enough."
She made it clear that she's just playing with him. Darn, this doesn't look good.
Ooishi carefully raised his shotgun above the sofa and fired blindly before quickly rolling to the side. Just as he expected, the place where he was kneeling seconds ago was now destroyed by the shells Rika returned.
"This is not going to work." Ooishi said to himself, sweat dripping down his face.
"What are you mumbling about? It's not polite to whisper behind a lady's back."
"Too bad I don't see any lady!" Ooishi heaved a chair at Rika, blasting his shotgun as he did so.
However, it was all useless as Rika once again stopped both in the air, sending them back to the place where she last saw Ooishi. To her sick amusement, he had already rolled out of the way.
"Still hiding, little policeman? Come out and play!" Rika seemed to laugh at Ooishi's petty attempts to escape.
"Okay, I give up! I'll come out. You can do whatever you wish with me! But please, spare my life,"
Ooishi came out with his hand above his head, slowly making his way to Rika. His shotgun was lying on the ground behind him.
"Give up so soon? That's a pity. I wanted this to last longer. Oh well, I'll have fun torturing you before I kill you."
"Like hell you will!" Ooishi spat, lunging at her. Rika could see a silver knife clenched tightly between his fingers.
"What are you-" Rika gasped, gagging at the taste of her blood as it reached her tongue. The knife had punctured the flesh on her abdomen. "Heh, how's this?" Ooishi grinned in triumph, pushed the blade further. Rika coughed up more blood.
"You BASTARD! You tricked me!" Ooishi's eyes widened as he realized the ground underneath him was slowly slipping out of reach. He felt an inhuman grip crush his body against the wall, and his vision blackened.
No! Don't lose consciousness here, right now! You have to make sure that you managed to beat her! Ooishi saw Rika fall to her knees, vomiting blood. The blade was in her to the hilt. She slowly removed the knife while moaning in pain, but that only produced more blood from her abdomen.
"I'll kill you... I'll kill you for sure. You will not take Hanyuu from me. You will not…" Rika's voice trailed off, as the vile red liquid rushed out of her mouth. She fell to the floor, her body twitching.
Ooishi held his breath. Finally, the movement stopped. Is this it? Is she finally dead? He couldn't believe it; it all seemed too unreal. He had won. He managed to defeat her. But at what price? Ooishi coughed up blood, looking around. The room was a mess. Ooishi knew that the impact the wall injury had on him was immense. His crushed organs ached as he sensed his life gently slip away from him. So, this is it. At least he managed to stop her. Ooishi laughed.
"Heh, in the end, it's my win. Even if I die, there are others who will investigate my death and make sure that 'your Hanyuu' is punished properly."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Ooishi stared in disbelief as Rika weakly raised herself from the floor, holding her bleeding wound. "I won't let anyone touch Hanyuu. Never..."
"T-This is not possible... How can you get up after I stabbed you! You should be long dead! Nobody can survive such an injury..!" Ooishi's heart rate quickened, as he began to hyperventilate.
Rika looked up at Ooishi while breathing heavily. "Don't underestimate me. You will die right now. I'll make sure you will." She picked up the knife that Ooishi had used to stab her and began walking towards him.
"G-Go away! Get away from me! You monster! Go away!" Ooishi desperately crawled back, but he knew there was no use. As he backed up, his fingers closed around a cold object. His shotgun! He remembered that there is only one shot remaining. He has to make it count. Ooishi exhaled deeply. If he waits until she's close enough, he would most likely be able to shoot her.
"Any last words?" Rika's bloodied head suddenly appeared next to his ear. "Say farewell to the world, Ooishi." In one swift motion, Rika slashed the blade down. He won't be able to raise the shotgun in time! If something distracted her, just for a fraction of second… anything.
"Rika!" An unknown voice called to her from the destroyed doorway. Rika and Ooishi looked at the source of the voice, and spotted Hanyuu.
"Rika, stop! Don't do this!"
"Hanyuu! What are you doing here? I told you to stay in Hinamizawa, didn't I?"
Ooishi knew this was his chance. He jumped for the shotgun and raised it at Rika, pulling at the trigger. Nothing happened. He glanced back at the shotgun in bewilderment, and noticed that it was jammed. Rika immediately turned her attention to Ooishi, scowling with disgust.
"It seems like your plan backfired. Luck is on my side. Now die!" She lunged at the man, but something caught her sleeve. She heard Hanyuu call out to her in a pleading voice.
"Don't kill him Rika! You don't have to do this! Don't make yet another evil!"
"Shut up!" Rika spun around and slapped Hanyuu in the face. The impact sent her flying across the room, landing her on a wooden table nearby.
"Now nothing is keeping me from killing you!" Rika glared at Ooishi, her lips curling into a smirk.
"No!" Hanyuu yelled, jumping off the table and throwing her arms around Rika.
"Rika, if you truly love me, you will not kill him." she whispered.
Rika's smile faded, replaced by a look of confusion, "Hanyuu... I...I..."
Ooishi knew he had to act quickly. He secretly reached into his pocket and picked up a grenade. It was his last chance; he had to make sure it counted. He removed the pin and began counting.
"Hanyuu, I love you. I would do anything for you." Rika muttered, her words sincere.
"Rika… Thank you."
Rika looked over her shoulder, her deep mauve eyes bore into Hanyuu's purple ones. Their lips nearly touched when Ooishi jumped forward.
Rika whipped her head around, staring at Ooishi with shock etched upon her face. "What-"
A sickening explosion echoed throughout the building.
Rika opened her eyes, noticing shards of what seemed to be mirror floating around in blackness. She was back to the space between worlds.
"I… have died. I have died. I…" Rika's eyes grew large. "Hanyuu! Where are you? Answer me Hanyuu! Are you alright?"
Suddenly, the world shook itself.
"What-What is happening? Hanyuu!" Rika screamed desperately.
"I'm here, Rika." Hanyuu appeared beside her.
"You're alright!" Rika sighed in relief. "Okay, let's find a new world." Rika's smile wavered when she saw Hanyuu's grim expression.
The world shook itself again.
"This is strange. This shouldn't be happening. Something doesn't seem right. Hanyuu? Why are you looking so gloomy?" Rika asked, feigning obliviousness to the surrounding problem.
"Rika… The place between worlds is slowly fading,"
"What? But… how?" Another shake, more violent than those before.
"It's my doing Rika. Little by little, ever since the time when you absorbed the artifact, I worked to destroy this place between worlds. That way, you won't be able to reincarnate into a new world when you die and the evil of all those worlds will finally die out with you."
"H-How could you? I thought you love me! How can you do this to me? How can you condemn me to death so calmly? Didn't you use your power to help me reincarnate into those new worlds?" Rika felt her vision blur with tears. The world shook yet again.
"At that time, when you confessed your feelings to me, I was very happy. I never would have thought you could love me the way I've loved you. I felt the darkness in your heart weaken. I felt that the real Rika, the one unfazed by evil is still down there in your heart, and there may yet be hope to get rid of the evil. You didn't even insist on me calling you mistress anymore. I was really happy. But then, before you tried to kill Ooishi, when I stopped you, I felt evil pour into your heart again and realized that there is no other way to destroy it. It pains me to do so but you must stay here and perish along with me and this world."
Rika stared at Hanyuu in disbelief. This all was too much.
"No, no, no… this isn't happening. This can't be happening. I won't perish here. I refuse to perish here!" Rika sobbed, letting out an inhuman scream.
Hanyuu frowned in concern. "Rika, are you alright?" She reached to her but a black flame suddenly engulfed Rika.
"Rika! Don't let the evil control you! Fight it!"
"Hanyuu..." Rika's high-pitched voice came from the flame. "I'm sorry. I… can't…"
Rika let out another scream, and a huge force dispersed from the flame.
Hanyuu stumbled as the force slammed into her, but managed to regain her footing. She heard sinister laughter echo through the space.
"Yes! Yes! This power! More, more! Give me more!" Rika's voice was much deeper than before, and Hanyuu could hear that she is not speaking for herself. She heard two voices. The voice of Rika and the voice of evil. "Yes! This is the best!"
"Rika! What are you doing? By taking power from the place between worlds you only speed up its destruction!"
"Like I do care! This is great!"
"I'm sorry Rika." Hanyuu gathered all the power she could and aimed it at her. It hit Rika unexpectedly and Hanyuu saw her fly out from the flame. She watched it die out once Rika had left it. To Hanyuu's surprise, Rika didn't seem to be fazed by this and landed smoothly. She could feel the evil aura Rika radiated, and began to fear for the worst.
Rika laughed mockingly.
"THIS is all your power? How puny! You're nothing!"
The world suddenly started to shake itself so violently that Hanyuu fell down. Rika stood still, not moving the slightest by the impact. Hanyuu slowly got to her feet. The shaking didn't stop.
"You see now Rika? You sucked up so much power from all the worlds that this place between worlds won't last even 10 minutes."
"Why should I care? With this power, I will easily be able to reincarnate into any world after I kill you and then, nobody will be have the power to stop me! I will not need to reincarnate anymore!"
"Rika, this is not you. It's the evil that has taken control of you. But I'm glad for it somehow. This way, I won't need to feel any remorse for stopping you." Hanyuu gathered all the power she could and concentrated it on herself. Even so, Rika's power was way above her own, but she knew she should try, "I will stop you Rika. Right here, right now."
"Oh, will you? Let's see you try!" Rika channeled her power and formed it into dark sharp blades.
"Take this!" Rika shouted, flinging the blades at Hanyuu. The violet haired girl created an invisible wall, which stopped the blades in their tracks. She watched as they disappeared in puffs of black smoke.
"It seems your power is greater in here than in any world, Hanyuu. That's good. It wouldn't be fun otherwise!" Rika sent another set of blades but the result was the same.
Hanyuu concentrated on maintaining a field of defense while she tried to think up a strategy. What can she do? Rika was not only stronger than ever before, she was also completely consumed by evil. It's hopeless. There's no way she could possibly beat her. Her only hope is to stall her enough for the place between worlds to perish.
Hanyuu lost her concentration for a second and got hit by a blow of dark force. She flew through the air but managed to recover. Just as another blow was about to hit her, she felt a surge of energy and deflected it.
"What is this?" Rika shouted angrily. "That blow was three times stronger than all your force! There's no way you could deflect it!" Rika sent another blow, this one even greater than the before, but it was easily deflected by Hanyuu again.
"Why? Why? Why can't I hit you?" Rika screamed while she pummeled Hanyuu with mighty blows. None of them hit her desired target. Rika concentrated and then she saw it. Hanyuu was enclosed by spirits of Keiichi, Mion, Shion, Satoko, Akasaka and Ooishi. Even Satoshi was there. Rika could see more people appear every second and with each new person, she could feel Hanyuu's power grow.
"I see. This is not your power only. People from the other worlds are joining you and lending you their power. However, not even that is going to help you! I'm still much stronger!" Rika released all the power she held within. The crystals around them started to crumble and holes appeared in some places. She started surging her power on Hanyuu but there was no use.
"Rika, this world is being destroyed. It will be gone in a few minutes. Stop this madness and try to fight the evil. Don't die with evil controlling your actions. Die as yourself. Please, do it for me... I love you, Rika."
"What are you saying? I-" Rika's eyes widened, and she clutched her head in agony. A strangled scream escaped her lips, "No, no! I won't let you control me! I will fight you!" Rika fell on her knees and screamed again. Tears started to flow from her eyes.
Hanyuu could see two columns of light shoot out from Rika, one white, the other black. The columns intertwined and smashed into each other in furious attempt to gain control.
"Rika…" Hanyuu knelt beside Rika and embraced her. "I know you can do it. You can defeat evil."
"Hanyuu… I… I don't know how long can I hold up like this. I fear the evil will consume me. Will you do me a favor? Please, kill me now, while I'm still myself. I beg you." Rika cried in anguish.
"I understand Rika. I will fulfill your wish. But before that, the others want to tell you something." Hanyuu smiled sadly, standing up.
Keiichi appeared beside Rika. "Rika-chan. I'm sorry it has to end like this. You're a good girl."
"It was great spending time with you, Rika." Mion appeared next to Keiichi.
"I hope you will be able to find peace." Shion tried to smile encouragingly.
"You were always the best!" Satoko cried while embracing Rika.
"Rika-chan. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you." Akasaka put his hand on Rika's shoulder in quiet apology.
"Everyone…" Rika couldn't believe how kind they all can be after all she has done. "Thank you."
Keiichi looked at Hanyuu. "Do it, while there's still time."
Hanyuu slowly looked at Rika and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry it had come to this." She started to build up power, hopefully being able to kill Rika in the most painless way possible.
Rika raised her head and smiled back at Hanyuu. "I'm glad I can die by my lover's hand. Farewell, my love. I love you forever."
"Rika…" Hanyuu's eyes became watery. She released the power.
Rika expected the impact, until the very last moment, she looked at Hanyuu. She wanted to see her face before perishing. Rika prepared for death but it didn't come. Instead, the force lifted her into the air and carried her away into the last crystal that remained.
"What are you doing Hanyuu?"
"I cannot kill you Rika. I'm sorry. I just can't. I hope you will be able to find a new world where you can live. We will try and hold the evil here. It will perish with us."
"What? No! Don't do that! Hanyuu!" Rika desperately tried to free herself but the force was too strong. She couldn't do anything as the force carried her into the crystal. The last thing she saw was Hanyuu's smile on her crying face. She opened her mouth, and uttered words that sent tears to her eyes, "I love you... Rika."
The crystal shattered.
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