As the glittering shower of after sparks faded from where Masane had given her all, one of those sparks landed in Rihoko’s hands. This spark coalesced into a glowing sea shell, and though Takayama saw this, he barely noticed. All he saw the final remnants of the woman he loved. With a sigh somewhere between resignation and pain, he motioned for Rihoko to follow him back to the armored van that had brought them there.
As he turned to leave, not bothering to see if Rihoko had followed, he heard her gasp in shock. Turning, he saw the sea shell in her hands float into the air, glowing like one of stars now visible in the night sky.
And then it exploded.
Takayama felt a rush of air like a medium gale suddenly buffet him, as the bright flash from the shell forced his eyes shut. This didn’t last long as he feared something had happened to Rihoko, so he put an arm over his eyes and ran forward into the light, surprised to find Rihoko was just fine, doing the same as he was, but looking into the light as if something was emerging from it. As the light faded from their eyes, shapes did appear in the light. And suddenly, the light vanished as if someone flipped a light switch. As it did, Rihoko gasped, and it wasn’t hard to see why.
Several women in Witch Blade armor were standing before them, but the ones at the front immediately commandeered his attention, especially the one with red hair and black arm-
“MOMMY!!!!!!!”
“RIHOKO!!!” the woman called back, and as she ran forward to meet the little girl running for her, Takayama’s eyes and brain agreed on the impossible.
Somehow, Masane was back.
Meanwhile, in a squad car not too far away, a certain overworked and much frazzled cop saw something that reawakened his flagging interest in the chaos Tokyo had become.
From the inception of the “ExCon containment” Akira Nakata had been charged with making sure the civilians had gotten the hell out of there, while Douji (the fuckups) had gotten the situation under control. Nakata had heavy reason not to trust this, but the fact the city was under attack had forced him to do his duty, and his first clue Douji’s story about a rogue ExCon was bullshit was his thorn, Yuusuke Tozawa’s, words.
“She’s not a monster!”
Despite the fact Nakata thought Tozawa was an irreverent little bastard, it did make him think. He did a hell of a lot more than think as the news on the radio suddenly spewed forth crap he was still trying to figure out. Neogenes, Witch Blades, and a lot of other inscrutable information that made no sense, but somehow made him think more. However, it was Tozawa’s own words on one of the broadcasts that finally made it all click.
“She’s a mother.”
Nakata knew it could only be one person. Yuusuke’s “assistant”, the woman calling herself Masane Amaha. He wasn’t sure how the hell it all fit, but he just knew it was her. And, if the bits and pieces of the reports he had picked up were true, she had taken on an army of Douji’s fucked up weapons and some crazy knockoffs of herself, by herself.
Basically, as much as he hated to admit it, he probably owed her a thank you for saving the entire goddamned town.
That, however, could wait, as he had seen a massive surge of light emanate from Tokyo Tower like everyone else, then it had disappeared. With it, according to the news, had every last one of Douji’s “I Weapons”. However, on a much smaller and much more immediate scale was a secondary flash that had appeared a few blocks away, and now he and another squad car trailing behind were going to investigate it.
Masane had never thought her resurrection would bring her back to her daughter this quick, but she wasn’t one to deny the happiness of Providence as they almost cracked each other’s ribs in jubilation.
As they let go, Masane was fighting tears as she told Rihoko, “I told you I would always be by your side.”
This prompted another set of hugs, which had the watching Takayama still in shock, Reina looking on wistfully, almost unconsciously holding her other daughter close as she watched the two reconnect. Shiori, Asagi, Maria and Aoi, by unspoken consent, decided to back away and not interfere, actually feeling a little awkward at the mass amount of PDAing, though Maria actually felt a pang of regret she had never shown her own blood the kindness Masane showed Rihoko, and had instead hated her. In fact, as she watched the happy reunion, she realized the massive amounts of jerkassery she had a chance to make up for, and decided to make that foremost in her resurrected to-do list. Aoi was merely content her first memories of her second life were happy ones, and Asagi watched neutrally, hoping her second go round she could fade into the stonework and just live life like she did last time. Still wanting to be normal, minus all the crazy shit (or most of it, at any rate). As for Shiori, she was a tad upset her and Reina never got such a happy moment the first time round, but swore to herself this time, she was definitely making up for that.
As Rihoko and Masane finished for the second time, she turned to Reina, and told Rihoko, “I promised your birth mother I’d let her get to know you some more.” To Masane’s surprise, Rihoko actually leapt out of her arms and into Reina’s, who looked like she was barely able to resist tears as Rihoko embraced her armored form.
Meanwhile, Takayama still stared on. In fact, had a telepath attempted to read his mind at that point, they would have gotten a test message and some static, for the image in front of his eyes still seemed unbelievable. He barely registered a reaction as Masane stepped in front of him, and her planned “Missed me?” was tossed out the window as she waved a gauntleted hand in front of his face, and he didn’t move. Figuring more drastic measures were needed, she pulled him forward by the shirt collar and gave him a searing kiss.
This seemed to finally clear out the cobwebs, for barely 0.03 seconds after she did this, he kissed her back with such passion, the other ladies, Rihoko included, felt a little embarrassed to merely be present. They finally came up for air, and Takayama managed to sputter out, still in shock, “Masane……you’re alive!”
“Not just me, Reiji-sama.” she cooed as she gestured behind herself, “Recognize anyone back there?”
Takayama, who had up to this point only barely acknowledged the others presence, now looked shocked to see the perfectly alive Reina, Shiori and Maria, with the first looking especially shocked to see him, and the second slightly intimidated. He didn’t recognize the other two, but now his eyes were purely on Reina, who by now had put down Rihoko and approached her former lover with a smile and her familiar solemn monotone, “Never thought we’d meet again, Reiji.”
Her familiar monotone triggered his face to finally relax from its bug eyed look, and all he could think to ask was “How………?”
Masane piped, “You can thank the creators of the Witch Blade for that.”
Takayama, now way less shocked and way more curious, “What do you-“, and didn’t get much farther as he and the other Witch Blades saw some police cars approach their current position.” On instinct, Shiori and Maria tensed and unsheathed their blades, and that’s when Masane immediately turned and ordered them to disarm. They complied. She then put her arms at her sides, palms up, so the approaching officers could see she was unarmed. The others, taking the hint, did the same, as did Takayama, while Rihoko hid behind Reina. As a favor to her, the Witchblade unconsciously dialed back on the glowing eyes, nixed the tongue stud, and surreptitiously softened the spikes and sharp edges on the armor, just to heighten the non aggressive look. In fact, the former knockoff blades, courtesy of being remote controlled by the real McCoy, did likewise to their bearers.
“FREEZE!!!” yelled one of the officers in the first car, while Nakata stepped out of the passenger side, gun drawn, as did his compatriots in the second car. He saw Takayama, who he recognized, and some Clone Blades, and he wasn’t taking any chances, despite the fact he could obviously see they weren’t aggressive.
“We’re unarmed! Don’t shoot!” Masane ordered, more confidently than she really felt, especially knowing Nakata’s “act first, questions later” temperament. To that end, she could see Nakata clearly understood her voice, and recognized it, as his gun lowered slightly and his eyes widened with recognition. He didn’t have long enough to let this sink in as Rihoko ran forward and yelled,
“Don’t hurt my mommy!”
Seeing Rihoko, he immediately dropped his gun to his side, as did the other cops, just in case the kid got hurt by mistake. Nakata even raised his hand to indicate the other cops shouldn’t move, and with more balls than he felt he should be showing at this point, walked up to Masane, gun holstered now, and asked, wondering if he was crazy, “Aren’t you the woman who was helping out Tozawa?”
“Not only that, but I’m mother to that little girl who just yelled at you, Nakata.” was her blunt response. She realized Nakata had recognized her, thus if she adopted the “take no crap” approach she had assumed while in ordinary human form, he might not get the urge to pop a cap in something. This apparently clinched it, as Nakata not only visibly relaxed, but he actually held his hand out to her. Her gauntleted hand met his own in a handshake, to the shock of his colleagues (as well as the other Witch Blades and Takayama), and he looked like he scarcely believed what he was currently doing as he told her,
“I don’t know what the hell you are or what your reason for fighting all those monsters was, but you just did my job tonight. I guess I should thank you.” She nodded her head in Takayama’s direction and said, “He helped, you know.”
To that, Nakata took one look at Takayama, currently standing at ease, then looked back at Masane, actually exhaling, “I’m still not sure what the hell is going on, but somehow you guys ended it.”
“Tell you what. If you can escort me and my friends to Marry’s, I’ll explain everything.” As she said this, Masane found she realized that this encounter had gone way easier than it had looked, not knowing that Nakata’s weirdness censor had just broke, which was why he was being way more cooperative than usual.
“Fine.”
“He’ll be taking the others with him.” Masane said, pointing to Reiji, who was now ushering the nervous Witch Blades and Rihoko to his armored van, “and I’ll ride with you and explain everything, provided you promise not to give us any grief.”
Nakata was about to snappily retort just how stupid that would be, but thought better of it as turned to his car, ordering his men they’d be escorting these people to Marry’s, and the other officers complied, wondering just how crazy their night was gonna get.
Meanwhile, as Masane was heading to Nakata’s cruiser, the Witch Blade informed her, “Better not de transform. You aren’t wearing anything underneath.”
“Thanks for the tip.” she said out loud, causing Nakata to look at her curiously.
“Sorry, just talking to the Witch Blade.” she said nonchalantly, holding up her arm for emphasis. Nakata, for his part, merely acted as if she’d just told him the temperature as he climbed into the driver’s side of the police cruiser, telling the officer in the passenger side to give up his seat and sit in the back. The cop in question did, mouth shut as Masane climbed in. As Nakata started the car, he flipped the car radio off, turned on the police CB, and told the other car to escort the people in the van to Marry’s, and that he’d explain later. A few very stunned “Yes, sirs!” later, he started driving and Masane started talking.
Meanwhile, in the van, Takayama’s mouth was shut, eyes fixed on the road, mind still in a state of shock as he merely looked onward and kept driving, still trying to make Masane’s survival compute. In the back, Rihoko sat with the other Witch Blades, who all were just as shell shocked, and were sitting quietly, not knowing what would happen next. Meanwhile, Rihoko, finally having had the night’s excitement bleed off, curled up on her seat and lay against her nearest pillow, who just happened to be Maria. Maria was a little shocked by this (as was Aoi next to her), but decided to leave her be, and simply looked at her, feeling more than a little guilty she once had such hatred for her (chronologically) big sister. Behind them, Shiori held Reina, still trying to assure herself this wonderful dream wasn’t going to end, while Reina sat like a rock, totally taciturn as the full implications of her second chance at life would be, and finding she regretted not having the familiar comfort of a tape recorder.
Meanwhile, Asagi, arguably the least shell shocked of them all, decided to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
At one point, the uber nervous Shiori even looked over at her, silently envying her relaxedness.
In Nakata’s case, he too was shocked (as was the timid officer in the back seat, who kept staring at the totally surreal image of Masane in her Witch Blade armor, his brain BSODing at the surreal weirdness of the situation), but in an entirely different way.
He had just learned that the crazy stripper armor Masane and her friends wore came from some ancient artifact worn by women, said artifact was invented by two super beings who represented Order and Chaos, that everything he had suspected (and more) about Douji was true, all the murders he had been investigating now added up, and he nearly had to pull over and retch as he heard about that old guy Furumizu and what he had really been doing with all the kids he had supposedly “helped”. She didn’t go into all the specifics, but when she informed him that she had been revived as had a bunch of former Clone Blades and they were planning to make sure the remaining ExCons were dealt with, a little part of him cheered as he realized that the remnants of Douji’s mess wouldn’t be his alone to clean up.
For her part, Masane thought it best not to reveal certain details but more or less gave Nakata a summary of what really had gone down in the last 24 hours, and made sure he knew Takayama had been a good guy all along. As she was about to tell Nakata what her plans were from then on, Marry’s came into view.
“Well, it looks like we’re here.” was Nakata’s first words, and surprisingly quiet ones at that. “Now what?”
“Well, if you don’t mind, we’re tired. We just want to relax, because it’s been a really hard night.” was her response, almost deliberately deadpan, knowing it would probably get a reaction. To her surprise, Nakata looked like he was on Prozac as he told her, “You don’t know the half of it.”, as they proceeded to step out of the car.
By this time, Takayama, Rihoko and the other Witch Blades were waiting in front of the building, and Nakata asked, “Look, I’ll honor my end and leave you guys alone, but I don’t want to have to deal with any more trouble tonight, okay?”
“Deal.”
“I do want to talk to you some more, so-“
“I’ll be here. Could you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“The NSWF building is currently devoid of people, but all the Neogene and Clone Blade research is still there, and I’d rather not have some nutcase get their hands on it, so could you have your people seal it off till we get a chance to sift through the place? Also, those Child Welfare assholes were all in Furumizu’s pocket, so I’d like your word those bastards don’t get near my child or any of the Witch Blades under my command.”
Nakata had already gotten back in his car as she was saying this, but he turned her way and said, “Done.”, then narrowed his gaze at her, realizing the implications of her last five words, asked, “Your command?”
“Exactly. Not only do I have the power to negate theirs at will, I’ll take responsibility for their actions.”
As he started the engine, he looked at her approvingly, feeling a little sanity enter his chaotic world,
“I’ll hold you to that, Amaha-san.”
And with that he and his colleagues drove off.
Back at the secret staging point Takayama had used to make his stand against the I Weapons, Hiroki Segawa paid no attention to the gibbering idiot he formerly worked for (who was now totally and utterly cracked) and made his way into an empty room, away from the other Takayama loyalists who were now watching the news.
Making sure the door was locked, he dialed a number he had committed to memory since last year and after a few moments, the firm yet not unkind voice of his controller answered,
“Douji is finished now, correct?”
“Yes, sir. Not only do I have the entire relevant datum you requested, but per your request, I have managed to arrange for Takayama to be given a pass on the judgment he would have gotten with the other former higher ups.
“Excellent work, Segawa-san. We still have a few things to verify on our end, but until then, make sure you convey the relevant information to your former superior, will you?”
“By all means, Lord Migura.”
As the news helicopter he’d been riding in dropped him off, Tozawa headed for the ersatz little “holding area” for the Tokyo refugees, looking for Marry and crew, feeling mentally and emotionally drained.
He had just told the world that two mega corporations were evil bastards, made damn sure that Masane’s effort on behalf of the people of Tokyo got the correct spin and poured his heart out on live TV about how a single mother with superpowers had given her all to stop a bunch of monsters from hurting everyone, most of all her own child, and he really wanted to cry.
Masane and he hadn’t started off as friends, but they grew to respect each other and work together, and now that he thought about it, he would have been willing to go to the wall for her. She had done the same for everybody in the whole town, sure, but it was more than that. He was a journalist by nature, seeking the truth, and she had helped him do just that, at risk to her own life, and the truth she had helped him uncover cost her everything but she did it anyway, which was why he was now fighting tears. She hadn’t much of a past, but she fought for everyone’s future and died in glory for the life of child.
He hoped that he might approach that level of courage one day.
As he made it where his fellow boarders sat, he wordlessly sat behind them, not wanting to be bothered. Unfortunately for him, Cho noticed someone behind him, and seeing it was Tozawa, stuck his hand out and cried, “Good job telling ‘em the truth about Mellony, kid!”, though upon noticing the depressed look on Tozawa’s face, he immediately rescinded his hand, muttering a faint, “Sorry………”
For Marry, Michael, and Naomi’s parts, they just decided to surround Tozawa and each laid a hand on his shoulders, as if to say without words, “We’re here for you.” He appreciated the gesture, and figuring they might as well know said in a low voice, “I turned over to Kyoko all the info I collected on Douji and the NSWF. By tomorrow, what’s left of those bastards won’t be pretty.”, and immediately shut right back up. Taking the hint, they left him alone, each of them consumed by the pleasant thoughts they had of Masane, wistfully going back to happier times.
Back at Marry’s the Witch Blade nakama headed inside, and by unspoken assent, they all picked the nearest convenient chair and plopped down. As they unwound, Masane sat back and looked at her troops (plus her daughter and lover).
Reina and Shiori were currently sitting between Rihoko, both of them just enjoying the respite from all the activity. Reiji sat next to them, Rihoko looking like she was fighting off severe fatigue, and Reiji was occasionally glancing at everyone, as if assuring himself this was all real. Aoi and Maria were sitting at Naomi’s usual table, heads in their hands, looking like ex-POW’s. Asagi was currently sitting behind the bar; her legs propped up over the bar table, and aside from a few yawns looked merely content to enjoy the quiet.
Suddenly, Asagi sat up, as if she’d noticed something, but no one seemed to notice. That not getting anyone’s attention, she raised her hand and muttered, “Um, Masane, could I ask you something?”
Masane, feeling like dropping her head to the table and passing out till morning mumbled, “What?”
Pointing to herself, Asagi opined, “No offense, but I don’t think we blend in with a lot of crowds this way.” As she said this, the Witch Blades actually took a good look at themselves, and Masane’s brain had a light bulb moment.
“Crap. We all need clothes, right?”
As one, the other Blades nodded.
Getting up, she jerked her thumb to the stairs and yawned, “Okay troops, my room, on the double.”
That said the troops shuffled forward slowly, as if they were reanimated corpses instead of magically enhanced Amazonian asskickers. Takayama seemed barely aware as he held his now gently snoring daughter, though his eyes did follow them as they went upstairs, and though no one noticed, they were getting rather moist around the edges.
Once they arrived at Masane’s room, she realized she didn’t have too many outfits, but after realizing everyone was indeed naked after watching them all de transform, she hoped she had enough. She picked out the same string topped shirt and white sweatpants she wore the morning of the day Reiji had pimped her out for the Douji awards ceremony. She immediately went back downstairs, where she saw Reiji had gently laid Rihoko against the wall, and had covered her with his coat, and she lay there, looking like an innocent little angel. Masane looked on for a second, admiring the image of normalcy, then she turned to ask Reiji how she looked, and she noticed he was sitting bent over, shaking. Concerned, she went over to him, tapping his shoulder, asking, “You okay.”
What happened next she had never seen coming. With seeming unnatural force, he pulled her into his arms as he stood, drawing so close her head was hanging over his shoulder, his doing the same. As they made contact, she heard something out of the normally stoic man she had never heard before.
Sobbing. Pained, weary, almost terrified sobbing.
For a second, Masane froze, caught totally off guard. This was so unlike the rock she knew as Reiji Takayama. Her firm, unyielding image of him was further dashed as he fell back in the chair, pulling her with him, and holding her like she’d disappear any minute. As he continued shaking like a Parkinson’s victim, crying uncontrollably and unashamedly, she realized that the stoic he played was merely a façade hiding feeling more potent that she had ever realized, and as she clenched her arms around him, reassuring him with her presence, she realized that his love for her was even more fierce than she realized, and the very power it radiated caused her to burst into tears.
For a long time, the two of them sat there, wrapped in each other’s embrace, letting going of the feelings that adrenaline and shock had held at bay, and as they both felt the intense buffet of emotions subside, Masane felt the presence of others, as had Reiji, for she had noticed he had suddenly frozen in position, eyes focused over her shoulder.
Taking that as her cue, she turned around in his arms, and saw Reina standing at the base of the stairs, wearing Masane’s business suit and a shocked expression, eyes wide with guilty surprise as she realized what she had stumbled into.
“I’m afraid you caught me at a bad time, Reina.” were Takayama’s first words, and to Masane’s surprise, most of the stoic she was familiar with had already reentered his tone. In fact, aside from the wetness on his face, you could barely tell he had been crying.
“Well, I guess this is a side of you I’ve never seen before, Reiji.” she said after a moment, looking a little overwhelmed.
As Masane worked her way out of Takayama’s arms, he got up, and the stoic hardass in him seemed to fully revive as he went and leaned over where Rihoko was, muttering something about hoping they hadn’t woken her. Meanwhile, his old and new lover looked at each other, the unspoken thought about Reiji fully held in common.
“Never saw that coming.”
Just then, an oblivious Aoi, wearing a long pullover and pair of shorts, appeared on the stairway and meekly pointed upstairs as she said, “Um, Maria-sama wanted me to tell you she just saw something on the TV you guys might want to see.
She immediately headed back to Masane’s room, leaving the now curious Masane and Reina to head upstairs, while Takayama, having a good idea what they were about to see, muttered something about watching over Rihoko, and as the ladies disappeared upstairs, he knelt beside where she was still sleeping soundly, looked into her face, but this time letting his façade slip once more, and it would’ve been obvious to Rihoko had her eyes been open what emotion tinged Takayama’s face.
Regret.
As he gathered his soundly sleeping child in his arms, he felt a more subdued version of his sobs of earlier come on, and to ward them off, he held Rihoko like one would hold an infant, and as he looked down at her with feelings he once thought he’d never feel, he swore to himself that he would atone for his absence in her life, and from now on, he would be her father, be the one who was there to hold her when things got scary, be the great shadow in which she could find refuge, but most of all, he would just be there for her, and cherish her like he should have done oh so long ago.
As his own words started solidifying in their conviction, his eyes regained their old hardness as he thought about all the harm the innocent life in his arms had been in the crossfire of, and promised himself that while her mother was Scythe of Harpe, putting to the Death Blade’s edge all that might attempt their daughter harm, he would support Masane as the Shield of Aegis, ensuring that the happiness they could now enjoy as a proper family would never be taken again.
Upstairs, Masane and Reina followed Aoi, wondering what was so ominous; they both realized how stupid that thought was, given the events of the past 24 hours. As they entered Masane’s room, they saw Shiori, Maria, and Asagi plopped in front of the currently off TV. Asagi was wearing the upper half of her bikini top and the tightest pair of pants Masane owned, whose ankles were slightly rolled upwards. Shiori had apparently borrowed her party dress, which not only looked surprisingly good on her, also made Reina (who was more than a little aware of Shiori’s non platonic devotion to her) wonder if the fact that Shiori didn’t appear to be wearing undergarments was the younger woman’s idea of subtle flirtation. Maria was the most daring, wearing little more than a long white button shirt (looking suspiciously like her after-sex attire from when she and Takayama rolled around in the sheets), and Masane’s bikini bottom, and as Aoi sat beside Maria, Masane realized Maria DEFINITELY wasn’t wearing a bra and that Aoi was checking Maria out like she was……………well, it wasn’t hard to guess, and Masane wasn’t one to judge. Hell, in a way, compared to how axe crazy Maria had been the first time round, Aoi’s rather “transparent” affections for Maria were actually rather endearing.
At any rate, Maria, who was holding the remote, clicked it on and Masane’s eyes widened with shock as she saw a clip of herself killing the I Weapons. Her surprise didn’t end when she heard the female newscaster excitedly prattling on about how Douji had been BSing everyone, Furumizu and the real purpose of the NSWF were unmasked, and a near heart attack occurred when Masane heard a newscaster refer to her by name, just as a close up of her atop Tokyo Tower was shown.
As the news described with disturbing accuracy that she was a single mother who was the latest bearer of the artifact known as the Witch Blade, and that she had been fighting a shadow war against Douji’s rogue abominations with the tacit support of Douji Director Reiji Takayama, who had actually retained her services to clean up the ExCon threat without scaring the crap out of the civilian populace. The news even replayed all the clips of the disposal guys Wadou had dumbassedly leaked to the media, actually retracting their own assumptions and identifying them as Douji employees under Takayama’s direction (true), who were actually helping Masane dispose of the ExCons (also true), even apologizing for their earlier demonization. The rest of the news clip basically continued on in this vein, capping off with the fact that Takayama was currently AWOL, though confirmed through “reliable sources” to have been aiding Masane in what the newsies were calling, “The Battle of Tokyo”.
Masane reached for the remote and clicked the TV off, unable to handle any more shock for the night. As she did, she finally felt the gentle but insistent tugs of fatigue on her eyes. She told everyone she was going to sleep, and without further ado, stumbled forward and plopped forward into sheets she’d once thought she never use again. In seconds, the rest of the Witch Blades mentally sweat dropped as their badass leader sounded more like a poorly oiled and maintained sawmill.
Reina, unofficially regarded as the second in command due to the virtues of age and experience, told the others it might be a good idea if they got some sleep as well, which prompted them to split off for the other bedrooms, and by now their adrenaline had bled off to the point they didn’t exactly care they were more or less squatting in other people’s rooms.
That said, Asagi plopped on Marry’s bed, and immediately waged war for the title of Most Audacious Snorer with Masane. Aoi and Maria plopped on Tozawa’s bed, with Aoi totally geeked out of her meek little mind to be in Maria’s arms for the rest of the night, and stayed that way for the rest of the night, wearing such a happy smile Hannibal Lecter would’ve been creeped out. Shiori and Reina flopped on Michael’s surprisingly neat bed, and as Shiori more or less glued herself to Reina, even falling asleep half draped over the older woman’s body, Reina merely stared at the ceiling, once again missing her chance to record this new facet of her existence, but starting to realize that was a part of her old life.
As her eyes closed, she realized she literally had a second chance, and like the logically oriented person she was, decided she do in this life what she’d been denied by Furumizu and her own instabilities in the first.
This life was one she was going to enjoy. Hopefully with some more friends than before, and before she died once, she had realized how beautiful simply loving someone could be. It was why she had died, if not happy, at least content.
This time, that same feeling of love was one she wanted to live for.
A few hours later…………… not long until dawn actually………………
Unlike the others, Takayama couldn’t simply sleep. In fact, as a harried business executive who lived by the “time is money” rule, all nighters became the rule, rather than exception. Thus, considering most of his night was already shot, he decided to stay up, wait for Marry and Co. to get back, and make a discreet phone call, if possible.
First, though, he brought the sleeping Rihoko to be with Masane. No sooner had he placed her next to Masane, then Rihoko rolled over, right into the crook of her arm, where she promptly nestled her head. Takayama watched for a second, his machismo shot to hell for a moment while he simply admired how adorable they looked, and then he went around, made sure everyone else was asleep, then went downstairs, and brewed a pot of coffee. Black, no sugar, strong.
That done, he tried to call Segawa, who he couldn’t reach for some reason. That plan being a bust, he simply elected to wait until the others returned. Courtesy of the downstairs TV, he learned the evacuation had been rescinded, and people could now return to their homes. That said, Takayama realized the epic surprise that awaited them, and despite himself, actually started grinning as he imagined their shocked surprise.
For the rest of the night, though he mostly thanked God for Masane’s return (Angelus and Darkness heard him in the Other Realm, and muttered it was the least they could do), and tried valiantly to fight sleep, but the coffee was losing the battle with his exhaustion, and it had been a really…long…………ni…………zzzzzz……………
As morning arrived, anyone looking on from a distance would see people, some in cars, some on foot, making way for their homes and businesses, their pilgrimages occasionally interspersed by the occasional cop car, making sure none of the now destroyed I Weapons were sentient and pissed, but mostly, the cops were just like the pilgrims, dazed and confused and hoping the hell was really as over as it looked.
Meanwhile, on a more personal level, Marry, Michael, Naomi, Tozawa and Cho were silently walking back to Marry’s, looking around at the occasional shredded husk of an I weapon, again realizing quietly that the woman they had nicknamed Mellony had really kicked some ass, but no one was able to take pleasure in that, especially considering what it had cost her, and as they approached the block Marry’s sat on, the proprietor in question realized that even though they’d all have to leave eventually, she was going to have a hard time cleaning out Masane’s room. Confusion hit them as they saw an armored van sitting in front of the place, but Tozawa’s brain had a few neurons spark, and he ran ahead, just to see if his suspicions were correct.
Sure enough, it was Takayama, who was half dozing in a chair, facing the street as if waiting for their arrival, and Tozawa, his brain having another light bulb moment, shook the half asleep man awake. To Takayama’s credit, he snapped out of his doze rather adroitly, focused his eyes on Tozawa, and said in his normal stoic monotone,
“Welcome back.”
Stunned at the normality Takayama was showing (as Tozawa had expected him to be grief stricken), he asked, somewhat impolitely,
“Rihoko’s okay, isn’t she?”
Takayama gave him his patented confident smirk, “She’s fine and sleeping upstairs. By the way, we have a few houseguests besides you. They were a little exhausted from the craziness of last night, so they kind of commandeered your bedrooms.”
Instead simply asking the man who, Tozawa tried to quickly deduce their identities. Kyoko was at her office, feverishly making copies of all the crap he handed her, as were her interns, so…………
By this time, the others had caught up, and Marry looked down at Takayama, not too thrilled to have squatters, and asked sternly, “Who?!” Someone could be heard walking downstairs, and they all turned to see who it was, and Takayama had to fight to hide the grin on his face as Masane stumbled sleepily into view and asked, “What’s going on?”
Time seemed to stopped as the other tenants of Marry’s (plus the landlady) looked at Masane, which Masane looking back, her lethargy seeming to disappear, and as the shock hit critical, Takayama surreptitiously plugged his ears for the inevitable,
“MELLONY!!!!!!!!”
Next thing Masane knew, she was surrounded by Cho, Naomi, Marry, and Michael, all of which were hugging her, which she accepted. In fact, given how strong their grips were, it was almost like Thomas was making sure the Messiah’s nail holes were really real. Aside from Tozawa, whose brain seemed to have broke, as he was staring at Masane like logic had just gotten kicked in the pills, Cho looked like he was about to have an orgasm on the spot, Naomi was saying something about how Fortune had truly turned in Masane’s favor, while Marry simply contented herself with a half-heartedly cross, “I’m still expecting my rent every month.”, though the tears forming in her eyes told Masane she was feeling WAY different. As for Michael, the beaming grin on his face seemed to be trying to escape the confines of his skull.
Finally, this happiness was broken, by Tozawa, who finally managed to stammer, “H-How?”
One look at the guy made Takayama feel an immense amount of sympathy. Like him, Yuusuke had been truly convinced she was dead, so this was a pretty shocking twist. Masane, realizing that Tozawa needed a little convincing he wasn’t dreaming, actually walked over and pinched his arm until he drew back in pain. Which actually seemed to work, because Tozawa lurched forward, hugging her like the Jaws of Life, crying in happily ironic fashion, “I guess Kyoko’s gonna have to postpone your obituary for awhile!”
“No kidding!” agreed Masane as he let go, “I believe I have a long story for you all, so-“
But she didn’t get to finish as the other Witch Blades, who had heard the commotion, had headed downstairs, noticing the happy reunion. Tozawa and Cho’s eyes locked on women who they seen via computer records (and in Reina’s case, real life), and both guys shared a “Holy shit!” look as they realized they were looking at some bona fide Neogenes, half of which both were positive should be dead.
As both parties looked at each other in stunned disbelief, Takayama broke the silence with gleeful albeit pleasant snarkiness, unable to hide an amused smirk,
“Like she said, it’s a long story.”
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