Author's Note: I saw the English dub for the Tenjho Tenge anime
recently, I have to admit, it's not all that bad. My only real gripe
about it is that every character mispronounces "Takayanagi" and
"Mitsuomi" and they translated "Enforcers" as "Executioners." Other
than that, most of the voices fit well for the characters (though I
don't really like Souichiro's too much to be honest). Anyways, in the
last chapter we saw a big change in Isuzu's character in terms of
strength and personality. We get to see even more of that in her
character, along with how she found out about what happened between
Maya and Mitsuomi on the evening of his death, at least part of it.
Not sure what else to say, but let's get back to the story.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Justice?
(Aya's POV)
For the first time in my entire life, I see a change in my sister. I
see her legs trembling and the weight of her weapon dragging her body
to the floor; she can barely even keep the nodachi off the ground. Her
breathing is slow and deep, her eyes covered by the bangs of her silver
hair. Nearly every time she exhales, a spittle of blood escapes her
mouth, creating a small puddle of crimson on the floor. I scream her
name as I see her like this, my body trying to run toward her, only to
find my body bound onto something. My wrists and ankles burn as they
try to break away from the restraints that bind me, but the pain in my
limbs amounts to nothing compared to the pain in my heart right now.
"MAYA!!!!!!!!!!" I scream her name.
"It's sad, isn't it, Natsume-san?" the new president of the Enforcers
taunts. "Before this fight even began, you said you were going to kill
me. You told me that you would do everything in your power to free
your sister, but is this all you can do? You disappoint me. Is this
the power Mitsuomi-san saw in you two years ago, the power he so
greatly admired? You are weak, Natsume-san; you were unable to save
anyone dear to you in the past and that holds true even now in the
present."
"Isuzu...!" her name seethes through the teeth of my sister. "I swore
to myself after my brother died that I would never allow my sister to
follow the same fate. I swore that I would never let down the only one
left in the world that matters to me. I may be weak, just as you said,
but with what little strength there is in my body, I swear I'll use
every last ounce of it to defeat you and free Aya!"
"Show me."
The Choktou Reiki begins to rise from the ground at this point, the tip
of the blade parallel with the antennae hair of my sister. Her body
begins to calm at this point, but her breaths are as deep and heavy as
ever. Scarlet rivers flow freely with every gasp of air she takes, the
lakes of crimson at her feet growing larger and larger by the second.
Isuzu-san simply stands still with her right arm arched into her side,
her left simply at her side with two annki in her hand. My sister's
right eye narrows as she glares into the pupils of her foe, her left
eye shut as a river of ruby escapes her eye lid. The two of them stare
at each other, I can feel perspiration quickly flowing down my brow and
onto my chin, the cool rivers doing nothing to calm my nerves. The
entire stadium grows quiet at this point, the only sound that can be
heard throughout the entire arena is the sound of Maya's breathing.
Slower and slower her breaths become, the spots of blood that flow from
her wounds have traveled to her feet, painting her socks and uniform
the same color.
My sister moves now, charging forward faster than I have ever seen her
in my entire life. She screams as she runs, the edge of her sword
skidding across the floor, creating large sparks which emit from the
blade and stone surface. Closer and closer the steel curve edges
toward the President of the Enforcers, the battle cry from my sister
growing louder with every inch the katana cuts against. The edge
begins to leave the ground now, the weapon whistling as it cuts across
the air and toward the flesh of her opponent. The Choktou Reiki stops,
the blade of the cursed sword digging inward, but not embedding itself
into its intended target. Somehow, the nodachi has been blocked by the
two annki in Isuzu-san's hand.
'Why, why did she stop?' I ask myself. 'The Choktou Reiki can easily
cut through kunai with ease, so why...?'
My eyes find the reason before I can ponder further. To my own shock,
the edge of our family sword is running with a web of cracks. My
sister must have already noticed this, knowing that even if she were to
break through the annki, she would most likely break the sword if she
were to do so. The lines that begin to separate the blade don't just
run along a single section either, the entire edge of the sword has
succumb to the web. It's obvious that another strike will break the
katana, Oneechan can't...
"Die!"
The fabric on Isuzu-san's body begins to move outward suddenly, her
entire being beginning to swell. The cloth on her shirt and skirt
begin to tear; her arms, abdomen, and legs all grow at an alarming
rate. My sister immediately notices this, beginning to back away as
quickly as possible. Several pointed devices begin to protrude through
the folds of her large skin at this point, the number of annki inside
her increases at an alarming rate as her body grows in size. The
blades begin to fire forward, my sister readying her nearly broken
sword in an attempt to block the barrage of projectiles. The rain of
kunai falls almost simultaneously, each of them fired into the same
direction. A geyser of crimson erupts from my sister's leg suddenly,
then a chip of the Choktou Reiki escapes from the sword's edge. More
chips and fountains follow, the number quickly increasing as more time
passes. Maya tries to hold her ground as best as she can, her arms
barely swinging her weapon fast enough to dodge some of the
projectiles. With every annki she evades, another one embeds itself
into her body.
I can do nothing but watch in horror as Oneechan tries to fight for her
life, her entire body now drenched in her own blood. More of the
blades embed themselves into her arms and legs, two have already found
themselves into her side. Her arms can barely even lift her sword
anymore, but despite that, she still tries to swing. One more remains
at this point, this one charging forward as swift as the others. Maya
readies the nearly-shattered blade once again, her weapon making
contact with the projectile, but to everyone's shock, the kunai still
finds its mark. The final annki has broken through the edge of the
Choktou Reiki, the weapon lodging into the chest of my sister.
My sister staggers after the impact of the throwing blade, her eyes
wide open and her mouth drawn to the floor. Her vision is locked on
the weapon embedded into her chest, her eyes growing wider as a new
stream of blood leaks onto her already bloodied uniform. Her left hand
releases its grasp from her blade now, slowly wrapping itself around
the newest projectile inside her, extracting it a second later. The
rivers of blood flow more rapidly now, spraying almost like a fountain
for a small moment before settling into a rapid stream. Her feet
suddenly fall at this point, her knees catching her fall for a moment,
her left hand still lifted as if it were still carrying the kunai in
her hand.
"Maya...?" my voice chokes. "Maya...!"
Her head begins to turn, her eyes as wide as ever and her mouth still
open. Her face turns to my own, tears have begun to roll down her
cheeks, cleansing some of the red splashed on her face. My own eyes
begin to melt as I see her like this, the expression on her face
forcing me to whimper. Her arm begins to drop to her side, the wrap
her fingers have around her blade beginning to loosen. The Choktou
Reiki clatters to the floor soon after, her hand also drooping like its
twin. Her body begins to arch forward, my legs instinctively trying to
rush forward as she falls, but the device that binds me keeps me still.
My sister's nose is the first thing to hit the stone floor, the rest of
her body following after, bending in an arch.
"This can't be happening!" I exclaim. "It just can't! Maya, she would
never fall this easily, not to someone like you, Isuzu-san! Stand,
Oneechan! Get up! Please, get up...! Don't leave me alone, Maya,
you're all that I have left. Mother, Father, Oniichan, please, don't
go to them, not yet...! Get up, Maya! Get up! Get up...! Get up...!
MAYA!!!!!!!!!!!"
I find my entire body lurching forward now, my entire body drenched in
sweat and my heart beating as rapid as a jackhammer. I begin to take
in a deep breath now, my nerves and pulse slowly beginning to calm
down.
'A dream, it was just a dream,' I try to assure myself. 'That's all it
was, a dream, a really bad dream.'
"Are you all right, Aya?" I turn to my side to find my lover lying next
to me.
"...Yeah, I just had a nightmare, that's all," I tell her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, as she pulls herself to my
level.
"No, it's nothing," I assure her.
It wasn't nothing. That dream, it felt so real. The pain of the
bindings on my limbs, the scratching of my throat when I screamed her
name, my heart slowly tearing with every drop that flowed from her
wounds, all of it, clear as the sky, just like that day when
Oniichan...
A warm brush begins to enter through my mouth now, my lips being
pressed against by another. The taste of ambrosia floods the crevice
of my mouth, my body sinking as I indulge more and more in the
succulent flavor. The device within begins to tickle me, painting the
walls of my mouth with the honey that marinates it. Her delicate
fingers begin to run down my shoulders, slowly gliding downward, the
nail of her index finger circling around my collarbone for two seconds.
Her hand begins to travel further after that, its destination causing
me to break the kiss.
"Maya?!" I exclaim.
"What?"
"It's too early for that!" I explain.
"But you seem ready," she says in a husky voice, her tongue beginning
to glide toward the peak of the globe.
"No, not now," I tell her, trying to force her away from my breast.
"Sc...school!" I stutter as she begins to suckle. "We have school
in...!"
"Hm?" she suddenly stops. "Damn it, we're going to be late!" she
exclaims, taking a hold of the alarm clock behind me.
My sister quickly begins to rummage through her dresser after, taking
the first thing she pulls out. She gets her school uniform, which she
hardly wears, her legs quickly slipping into the plaid skirt and
buttoning the top halfway. She hurries to her mirror after, taking the
tie hanging off it and wrapping it around her neck. Maya struggles
with the piece of clothing though, unable to tie it properly around her
shirt's collar.
"Aya, you should get ready too," she orders me. "Go get changed, I'll
meet you out front."
"All right."
I exit Oneechan's room now and make my way toward mine. I find a smile
stretched across my lips as I walk down the hallway; everything just
feels so different now, as if a veil has been lifted over me. I
don't...feel restricted, I can't exactly describe this feeling, but I
do know this, I can't remember the last time I was this happy.
"You are weak, Natsume-san," Isuzu-san's voice begins to echo through
my ears once again, "you were unable to save anyone dear to you in the
past and that holds true even now in the present."
The sky blue sky I thought I saw now begins to darken. I feel an
uneasy wind beginning to blow now, as if it were wrapping itself around
me. I wrap my arms around my body in an attempt to cover myself from
the freezing gusts, but it does very little. That dream, why am I
already reminded of it? This feeling, this emptiness, why is it...?
"Aya, what are you doing?" I find my lover's hand falling on my
shoulder, the cold winds and black sky suddenly disappearing. "I
thought you were going to get ready for school."
"Oh right, sorry," I apologize.
Maya, is it your turn to leave me? Is it your turn to leave a hole in
my heart?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Souichiro's POV)
Bzzt! Bzzt!
"Uh...?" my hand begins to drift toward the annoying clock device.
"It's only 8:15, what the hell?" I read.
I begin to lie back into my futon once again and begin to drift back to
sleep, but then I remember the last incident when I tried to do so.
The moment I open my eyes again, I find different colors of green in
front of me. I quickly jump out of bed at this point, jumping out of
the path of the falling melon.
"Mom!" I exclaim to the one who tried to drop the giant fruit on me.
"I guess you learned your lesson from last time," my mother smiles.
"Now that you're up, would you like some breakfast?"
"No thanks, I'm okay," I tell her. "Go ahead and rest, I'll just pick
something up at the cafeteria later."
I find my uniform on the floor right next to my futon. I pick it off
the ground, finding crumbs from last night's dinner all over it. I pat
the material several times in an effort to shake it off, getting a
majority of it off. I slip it on in seconds, grabbing my school bag
off the wall afterwards. I begin to make my way out of my room, but to
my surprise, my mom still stands in the doorway.
"By the way, Souichiro, are you feeling all right?" my mother suddenly
asks.
"Yeah, why?" I answer.
"It seems like your mind has been elsewhere these past few days," she
points out. "During your training, you're normally very focused and
always concentrate on the task at hand, but lately you haven't had much
inclination to learn or train. It's because of what you said to
Natsume Aya-chan, isn't it?"
"...yeah," I admit. "That was pretty low, even for someone like me."
"A girl's heart is a very delicate thing, Souichiro," Mom begins to
lecture. "Even the smallest misinterpretations can leave scars on them
forever. At the same time however, a girl's heart can also be very
forgiving, regardless of what happened in the past," she says, the palm
of her hand beginning to glide against the patch on her face.
"...I see. I'm gonna go now."
I exit the apartment now, making my way to the school afterward. Ever
since that weekend I couldn't help but not stop thinking about what I
said to Aya. I told her how much I hated her, how I wanted break off
her engagement to me so badly, but I don't hate her. She's been a
really good friend I'll admit, always trying to cheer me on and give me
support whenever I was feeling down. I was... ashamed for what I said,
so much that I skipped school for about a week so that I wouldn't have
to see her frowning face and tears. I couldn't stop by her house
either to apologize for the same reason, as well as the fact that Maya
would still be angry with me as well. I did apologize to her
yesterday, but for some reason, it didn't feel like it was enough.
Man, what is wrong with me?! When did I start thinking like this?
It's almost like...
I look to the side to find strands of cinnamon brown beginning to drift
away from me. My eyes begin to follow the long locks of hair, watching
as they bob with the steps of their owner. I see her walking in front
of me now, her lips stretching as laughter escapes her mouth. I pull
my hand out of my pocket and begin to wave at her, my voice ready to
call her name. My voice never escapes though, as I see her in the arms
of another. Short silver hair with antennae-like strands in the front,
a long sword in her right hand, and pale white skin, it's none other
than her own sister, Maya. Though it is only her older sibling, my
body stops me from calling. The way the two of them smile at each
other, the way they cling onto each other arm-in-arm, something feels
so different between the two of them. That smile on both of their
faces, it looks the same as the ones they wore in the past, but the
emotion behind it, it feels so...different.
My legs become paralyzed at this point, my arm falling back to my side.
The people and scenery around me begin to disappear at this point, the
only thing in my vision are those two smiling happily. I find my
fingers beginning to curl at this point, my thumb locking them into
place and crushing their bones. My eyes start to narrow, my teeth
grinding, and my breath seething. Angry, why am I starting to feel
angry all of a sudden? Just the image of her in the arms of another
smiling is making me feel this way, but why?
"Hey, Souichiro, what're you standing around for?" a deep voice with an
accent catches my attention.
"I dunno, Bob," I answer. "I dunno."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Maya's POV)
It's strange walking arm-in-arm with my sister to school, awkward, yet
very comfortable having her cling onto me like this. Just having her
by my side like this brings a smile to my lips, something I never
came to school with for the longest time. Her head rests on my
shoulder, her body leaning into mine as she grasps my arm tightly. I
can see the eyes of other students leering at us; some are disgusted by
the way we present ourselves, others simply give us a strange look,
while some males whistle and holler much like they do whenever they see
me fight.
"Will you look at those two?" I overhear some of my fellow classmates
whispering.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"Can you believe Natsume? I heard about her relationship with her
brother two years ago, and now..."
I ignore what the other students say; the relationship between my
sister and I is nobody's business but our own. For the first time in
two years, I truly do feel happy. As I told Aya last night, my time
with her has yet to begin and my time with Mitsuomi is forever frozen.
After walking several more inches, the crowds begin to slowly
disappear. The ones farthest from us are the first to leave, but
within seconds, all of them begin to turn away as if they are drawn by
something else. The smell of smoke begins to blow into my nostrils at
this point, along with the faint sound of crackling. What the hell,
why didn't I notice this sooner, something is burning, and it's coming
from close by, but what could...? No, it can't be!
"Oneechan...?" I quickly free myself from my sister's arm.
Without wasting another second, I rush over to where the crowds of
students now stand, the smell and crackling of fire growing more
apparent as hurry over. I push through many students as I head toward
the source of the flames, finding myself standing outside a bigger
crowd the moment I find the cause of all the commotion.
"No...," is the only word I can say after finding the origin.
The smell of burning tinder, the feel of the immense heat, the sight of
embers sailing with the wind, all of these things lie before me, not
only in front of my eyes, but in my heart as well. Tears begin to
trail down the sides of my face, my knees falling to the ground, and my
voice beginning to whimper. My hand begins to twitch, the twitching
growing more and more erratic as my breath grows shorter. My fingers
curl suddenly, my fist striking against the dirt of the ground with all
of my might. My brother's legacy, one of the last remnants of my
memory from two years ago, it's...
"Maya...," I quickly turn around to find my sister in the same
position, "the Jyuken Club... Our club room is..."
"This is part of your punishment, Natsume-san," a cold voice begins to
speak over the reactions of the assembly of students.
"Isuzu Emi!" I quickly recognize the voice.
I find the president of the Enforcers standing in front of me now, her
arms cross and her eyes as narrow as ever. I find myself rising to my
feet once again, my right hand tightening the grasp around the sheath
of the Choktou Reiki as my molars crunch against one another. My eyes
constrict, limiting by vision so that I can only see the ice blue eyes
of my enemy. The expression on her face doesn't change as I glare at
her, but the satisfaction of her actions is barely apparent on her
lips.
"Why did you do it, Isuzu?" I ask, my words seething between my teeth.
"Why have you done this?!"
"As a punishment for your crimes, Natsume-san," she answers, "in order
to discipline you for the crime you committed two weeks ago."
"What?!"
"You were responsible for the death of the Enforcers' president,
Takayanagi Mitsuomi-san!" she retorts. "I know what you did.
Everything was outlined in Mitsuomi-san's journal entry on the night of
his death. It was a last resort to go through such a sacred parchment,
but the need for justice was far greater, I'm sure that's what he would
have wanted. Shall I read what he said about that evening?" she asks,
removing a small notebook from her pocket.
"You wouldn't!"
"'Earlier this evening I asked Maya to meet me at the school,'" she
reads. "'To be honest, I didn't think she would show up.'"
"Stop it!"
"'We met under the tree close to the Jyuken Club's practice hall, and
to my surprise, Maya was already there when I got there. She was as
beautiful as ever as she sat there, staring directly into the source of
the moonlight, her sapphire blue eyes reflecting the gaze of the stars
perfectly. I sat next to her, but for the longest time, I didn't know
what to say. She began to grow impatient, saying that if I didn't have
anything to say, she was going to leave. That's when I asked her,
asked her to...'"
"Come back to me," his words from that evening echo in my ears once
more.
His words had frozen me in place after he said that. I looked at him
for a moment after, only to find him once again staring upward. I
thought his words were only a part of my imagination, so I began to
move again, but that's when his voice repeated what he had just said.
"Maya, please, come back to me."
I turned back to see his gaze fixated on me once again. I felt my face
burning when his eyes met with mine, my jaw being pulled to the floor,
and my heart repeatedly striking against my ribs. The cold night air
did little to quench the fires that were burning within me at that
moment, but my legs were still frozen. He approached me after, his
right hand gliding across my cheek as he his left arm pulled me to his
chest. I could feel his breath traveling down my neck and his heart
beating against mine. My lips began to curl as he held me, my own arms
beginning to travel up his body, but regardless of what he said to me
and how I felt, there was another side me that made me say what I said
next.
"Mitsuomi, I...," I began to speak.
"Enough!" my fingers quickly wrap around the hilt of my sword, quickly
swinging the blade toward the teller's direction.
The Enforcer quickly sees this, jumping away from the strike's swing at
the last moment, the edge not even slicing a piece of her clothing.
She opens the journal once again, continuing where she left off.
"'I asked her to come back to me, but the next thing I knew...'"
"Let go of me!" I remember my reaction to his confession. "I said let
me go! You disgust me, you know that! I gave you everything two years
ago; my heart, my soul, my virginity... Everything! But that wasn't
enough, was it? I trusted you, I can't believe...!"
"Maya...I..."
"Don't touch me! I said don't touch me! I never want to see you
again! You are nothing to me, Takayanagi Mitsuomi, so you can die for
all I care!"
"I never meant anything I said that evening," I admit in the present.
"I... never wished anything to be ill of him, I just...," I find my
voice breaking once again.
"Those were the last words he ever wrote," the Enforcer's president
finally stops her narration, "those words left incomplete because of
what you did to him! You murdered Mitsuomi-san, Natsume-san, you
murdered our beloved president! But that's not the worst crime you've
committed, no, it was far from it. Your actions from last night, they
go beyond what the school, no, what society considers moral. You have
committed a great sin, Natsume-san!"
"Maya...? Isuzu-san...?" I find my lover's hand falling on my
shoulder.
"You think I don't know what's going on between you and your sister?!"
her words send another jolt through my entire body. "You claimed that
your love for her goes deeper than the shackles in your blood, that
every fiber of your being belonged to her. Your actions are a disgrace
to this school, country, and the world in general."
"Just what do you know?!" Aya begins to stand up for us. "You assume
that burning our club room is right because of the relationship my
sister and I share and for what happened between Maya and Mitsuomi-san
that evening, but let me say this: you know nothing about Oneechan and
me! Yes we love each other as more than just sisters, yes our
relationship goes beyond that between family, but that doesn't matter!
What matters is that we're happy together, and what you and anyone else
thinks doesn't mean anything! As for what happened between the two of
them that evening, it's nobody else's business except for Maya and
Mitsuomi-san. You have no right to go around accusing people of
immorality or anything like that without getting a full grasp of the
situation, even if you are the President of the Enforcers!"
"How dare you speak to me like that!" the bread-haired girl retorts.
"You dare defend a murderer?! I don't care if you're in love with her
or not, what's most important is that she was the one responsible for
Mitsuomi-san's death!"
"Impossible, Oneechan is one of the strongest people I know, and she
would never use that power to kill anybody! Right, Maya?"
My right hand has begun to twitch again, my thumb especially shivering.
My fingers begin to loosen, straightening enough so that the Choktou
Reiki drops out of my hand. More images that occurred that evening
begin to replay before my eyes in the present.
The sound of flesh replays in my head, my body paralyzed by the faint
noise. The feel of a warm fluid running down my thumb followed soon
after, the flow very slow at first but gradually picking a faster pace.
Blood was running down the crater where my thumb had rested, the rivers
practically burning the skin of my hand. Slowly I extracted the
appendage from the wound, the elixir of life flooding more rapidly the
more I freed it. When I finally removed my hand away from his body,
his knees began to collapse and his stomach lurched inward. Blood
began to cough up from his throat, his hand quickly pushing itself into
the source of the streams of crimson. My legs began to back away
afterward, my eyes locked on the wound I had inflicted. His other hand
began to reach for me after, but I could do nothing but stare.
"Maya...?" Aya's voice returns me to the present.
"You see, she says nothing!" Isuzu continues. "That proves that she
was responsible for Mitsuomi-san's death!"
"Maya, you didn't...?" my sister weakly asks.
"...no...," the word barely escapes lips, my eyes staring directly into
the floor. "...I... I didn't mean..."
"Oh yes, did I forget to mention?" Isuzu begins to interrupt once
again. "Today is the first day of the 107th Toudo Majesty-Attended
Martial Arts Tournament, your first opponents are ready to go."
Five men begin to push through the crowd at this point, each of them
dressed in a gi and hakama. Each brandishes a katana on their belt and
quickly I recognize the individuals; they are none other than the First
Kendo Club. Each of the five members begin to circle Aya and I, slowly
drawing their blades from their sheaths simultaneously. Aya begins to
line her back against mine, readying her stance. I do nothing however,
the images of that evening still playing in my head.
"Maya...!" I remember his bloody hand reaching for mine.
"I didn't mean...," I try to assure myself once again. "I never meant
him any harm!" I scream.
A loud screech interrupts my words, the cry only growing louder with
every passing second. A flash of metal begins to pass through my eye,
my arm reacting automatically before the edge of the katana could
strike. The fingers of my hand quickly wrap around the wrist of my
attacker, my knee suddenly lifting upward after, my leg meeting with
his abdomen. His sword begins to loosen from the grip of his hand
after the impact of the attack, my left hand quickly grasping around
the hilt of the weapon, my arm swinging upward immediately upon
grabbing it. The blunt edge of the sword strikes the base of his chin,
my arm instinctively swinging downward after, the inner curve striking
his shoulder and sending him to the floor.
"On that evening two week ago, I did meet with Mitsuomi," I begin to
explain, "it's true that he did ask me to go back to him. I was still
in love with him, I still am in love with him, but... I couldn't go
back, I couldn't go after something he had said, something he
admitted... Things got out of hand, and then I... I didn't mean to
hurt him, I had not intention of harming him, I just...!"
Two more try to lunge at me at this point, their attempts only
narrowing my glare. Again my body reacts without my input, the dull
edge of the sword catching the chest of the first attacker in a single
swing and then catching the neck of the next one with the same side of
the blade. My fingers lose their grip from the weapon after the second
swing, but my sister manages to catch the sword from the hilt and
immediately swings it at the remaining two Kendo Club members,
shattering each of their blades and knocking them out in a single
swing.
"Not bad, Natsume-san," Isuzu begins to applaud. "Your club has moved
to the next round. ...or at least that's what I would say if we were
still following the old tournament system," she simpers.
I begin to look up now and find the entire crowd in front of me
beginning to draw similar blades. The flashes of steel seem endless in
my eyes, each of the school uniforms tearing from the bodies of the
students to reveal the same gi and hakama our previous opponents wore.
My sister quickly notices this, running to my side and readying her
sword once again.
"This year's tournament is very special, Natsume-san," Isuzu informs
us. "In the past, each club would only have five members participate,
but this year we're doing something very different; an entire club
itself must participate in the tournament this year if they wish to get
the opportunity to become the new Enforcers of the school. Everyone
must earn their place in the Enforcers' office, do they not?"
"That's going too far, even for you, Isuzu-san!" a lone voice echoes
from the sidelines. "No, this is going too far for any member of the
Enforcers, my brother would turn in his grave if he knew what you were
doing!" Takayanagi yells.
"You take my words too seriously, you damn bitch," the kid says as he
walks in from the back. "I did say anything goes in a fight, but this
is no longer a fight, you've turned this into an onslaught!"
"You've sunk to a level lower than Souichiro," the foreigner begins to
speak next, appearing next to Takayanagi. "Now that's just sad, don't
you think?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Bob?!" the kid retorts.
"Isuzu Emi...," I begin to speak. "When I fought you not too long ago
in the bowling alley, you were a different person. Though you had not
fought with honor, you were full of pride, you had an amazing spirit,
and most of all, you were a worthy opponent, but now look at you. You
have become a travesty of the woman you once were! You threw away your
pride, you lost your spirit, everything that made you a worthy opponent
has been lost with the death of Mitsuomi! Why Isuzu, why have you
thrown everything away so easily? The Isuzu I fought back then would
never have sunk down to this level, she would have continued on with
her life, she would have continued living the way she did so that she
could to please her beloved president!"
"Just what do you know?!" the President scoffs. "You were once in the
arms of Mitsuomi-san, but two years ago, you threw it all away! The
opportunity to become the vice president of the Enforcers, the ability
to serve the students of this prestigious school, and most of all, you
threw away the love he had for you! I had all of these things except
his love, and you stole that chance away from me during that evening
two weeks ago! The wound near his heart when I found his body, I
should've known that that was the true cause of his death! Who else
could have given him that wound? His brother, Masataka? A member of
one of the Red or White Feather families? No, it was you, Natsume-san!
You! You, you, you, you, you, you, YOU!!!!!!!! You stole my chance to
finally obtain his heart, after he finally accepted my proposal to join
me for dinner that evening. You robbed me of my chance to finally get
to be with him, and for that you must die!"
The entire Kendo team begins to charge at this point, each of their
blades raised upward. My sister and the kid begin to step forward in
an attempt to push back the mob, but I stop the two, pulling them back
before they can attack. I move in front of them at this point,
allowing the enemy to rush toward me with my entire body unmoving.
"Maya, what are you doing?!" Aya asks, her voice showing frustration.
"Let Souichiro-sama and I..."
"I can handle this," I assure her.
I let them charge in closer and closer, my entire body remaining calm
as the shimmer of their blades grows brighter. My two comrades try to
step in front of me again, but I push them back once more. The
illumination that reflects from each of their swords begins to blind me
at this point, the feel of the wind plummeting toward me follows after.
It is now that I act; the tip of my shoe on my right foot kicks upward,
bringing the Choktou Reiki off the ground and into the air. I quickly
catch the nodachi into my hands after, immediately swinging the long
weapon downward like a hammer.
The force behind the strike knocks half of the mob to the ground,
breaking their swords into halves in the process. A large dome buries
inward into the earth after my blade is swung, each of my opponents
stopping the moment they notice the result of my last action. I pull
the katana upward once again, flipping the blade of the sword so that
its dull side can rest on my shoulder. Several of them begin to quake
in their shoes, other start to back away, and a select few begin to
run.
"You caught me at a bad time at the park yesterday, Isuzu," I turn my
attention to the Enforcer's President once more. "I had a lot on my
mind then, and you just had to waltz in and ruin it all. I could have
easily forgiven that, but then you got Aya involved in our battle. Not
many would go any further after that, but you dared to commit an even
more heinous act by burning down my brother's club! You're the lowest
of the low, Isuzu Emi. I swear, in the name of my brother, Mitsuomi,
Aya, and everyone else who I cared about and loved, I will defeat you!
Come, the blade of my sword has your name on it. If the rest of you
piss ants want to try and stop me, go ahead, you'll only act as another
stepping stone to the head of your beloved Enforcers' President."
The men with swords begin to back away this point, all of their weapons
clattering to the ground. My foot starts to move forward, my action
causing each of them to jump a little. I take another step, this one
causing their arms to raise and place their hands in front of them. A
third causes them to back away further, a fourth even more. I stand
there after my final step, my eyes still open in tiny slits and my face
straight, my expression paralyzing the mob with fear. My lips begin to
stretch now, opening slightly so that they may bare my teeth. My grin
causes them to panic, each of them beginning to run into one another as
they try to escape in the opposite direction. I can't help but smile
in amusement as I watch them in disarray, my smile quickly turning into
a fit of laughter. In a manner of seconds the mob disappears, leaving
all of their weapons behind, along with the President of the Enforcers.
"Don't you want to start running too?" I ask.
"As much as I would like to settle things with you now, I'm afraid that
will have to wait until the finals for the tournament," she answers.
"A majority of the rules may have changed, but the fact remains that
you cannot engage the Enforcers in combat until the finals. If we are
to fight, it will be then. That is, assuming your club survives that
long," she begins to walk away. "Hm hm hm hm hm, ha ha ha ha
hahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She disappears with the rest of the Kendo Team afterwards, but my anger
for her has not. Isuzu, you truly have become lost without Mitsuomi,
and for that, I pity you. However, after the actions you have incurred
these last few days, I can't bring myself to pity you. I thought the
two of us were the same when we first fought, the same in the manner
that we would both fight with all our strength for our own beliefs,
but... You have thrown away your own beliefs, you claim that you are
doing all of this in the name of "justice," but the truth is, I can see
the sadness in your eyes, I can see the pain in your heart, I can see
them because I too feel the same way. Maybe in that respect we are
still the same, but in everything else, we are different. I will
defeat you, Isuzu Emi, for the sake of Aya, the memory of my brother,
Mitsuomi, and most of all, for your sake as well, to remind you of the
proud woman you once were...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Aya's POV)
It's gone, our club room, it's all gone. The entire interior, all of
it has been burned to ash, the only thing that remains is the frame of
the building, but even that isn't perfect. The smooth grain finish of
the walls and beams is no longer there, all that's left are splintered
boards with black edges. The roof caved in during the blaze, the tiles
have completely blocked off what used to be the entrance. It took the
fire department three hours to put it out; fortunately the fire didn't
spread to any other part of the school, but...
"Oniichan...!" I find the tears streaming down my cheeks once again.
After seeing that Isuzu-san was responsible for the fire, I felt the
heat of the flames burning in my heart and in my eyes. My muscles
ached with anticipation, I just felt the urge to literally tear
somebody apart, more so then the time I fought with Ryuzaki. I wanted
to run up to her with my sword in my hands, I wanted to slice her into
pieces, cut apart her limbs and slash every fiber of her being! She
has to die, she just has to...!
"Are you all right?" my sister asks as she stands next to me.
"...this club room," I begin to speak, "...this club room was one of
the very few things our brother had left me. When I was growing up, I
always felt left out when it came to Oniichan and you. All three of us
never really spent time together. Our brother never really liked to
take pictures, and there were very few that the three of us had
together. I thought that if I joined the Jyuken Club, I could grow
closer to our dead brother, but now...!"
"It's okay, Aya," my sister tries to comfort me. "This... isn't easy
for me either."
"Isuzu-san, she'll pay...!" I find my frustration now reaching my
voice. "That monster of a woman, she'll pay dearly for what she's
done...! I swear, I'll...!"
"That's enough, Aya!" Maya quickly interrupts.
"I'll kill her!" I yell, ignoring my sister's words. "I swear on
behalf of Oniichan's grave, I will kill her, even if it's the last
thing I...!"
"Don't you dare say those words, Natsume Aya!" I find my body suddenly
being forced back, my shoulders being scrunched inward by her hands.
"Look at me, Aya! Look at me!" my sister demands. "Our brother did
everything in his power to make sure you and I would never sink down to
his level, to never become like him. What would he say if he saw you
like this right now?! Brother would never approve of your words or
your attitude at this moment, don't you understand that?"
"I don't understand, Oneechan!" I glare. "You said Oniichan didn't
want either of us to become like him, and yet the words you used on
Isuzu-san were...!"
"I know what I said!" my sister interrupts with the same temper. "I
just... I just lost it, that's all...," she says, her voice beginning
to cool.
"Maya?" I find my anger beginning to subside.
"Two years ago when Brother died, I swore that I would never become
like him," she admits. "I swore to myself that I would never have the
same outlook in life, that I would never have his lust for blood.
Before he died, he looked straight into my eyes, but he said nothing.
I could tell what he wanted to say while he looked at me though, he
wanted to say, 'Maya, don't you or Aya ever become like me.' I've
tried so hard to abide by that wish ever since, but with everything
that's been happening lately... Aya, promise me!" my sister quickly
changes the subject. "Promise me you'll never become like our brother.
Promise that you'll never even think about cutting anyone down with a
sword. Please, promise me, Aya!" she cries.
"Maya..."
I begin to see my own immaturity now. My anger toward Isuzu-san, if I
hadn't let Oneechan stop me earlier then... Even if I did manage to
get into striking distance from her, I'm sure that I wouldn't have been
able to defeat her. My entire mind was in chaos at the point, blinded
by the rage that was swirling inside me as I watched the flames dance
around Oniichan's club room. Even if I did have a clear head, I don't
know if I would even be able to defeat her. I already know what she's
capable of after Oneechan and I fought with her in the park yesterday,
so if I were to fight her alone, then...
"...I promise, Maya," I assure my sister with a hug.
"Thank you, Aya," she returns the embrace.
'I'm sorry, Maya,' I think to myself, 'but for the first time in my
life, I must lie to you. I will kill Isuzu-san on my own, I have to,
otherwise you will be the one who will be killed.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Not exactly sure what to say. Well I guess I can say
that within the next two or three chapters, we'll finally learn all the
details on Mitsuomi's death. Don't think that Isuzu is just going to
let the events in this chapter pass quietly, she still has more tricks
up her sleeve for the Jyuken Club. In the next chapter, we'll have the
return of Kuzuo, and Souichiro will have a small talk with Aya. Hope
you'll be looking out for it.
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