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“You said you wouldn’t let the truth destroy you.”
Those were the words I woke up to. Hiruko was sitting there by my bed as I finally stirred, the surge of memories from last night only barely letting me breathe long enough to do so. The tumult of emotions and images, the pain of so many failures and mistakes and twisted ends to everyone I’d grown to care about, still hurt; but the searing pain was starting to fade. It was like a singular terrible injury (which I’d become all too used to healing from)- the same pain was still there, but fading continuously as time marched on without me.
Hm. Time marching on without me… Once, I’d have thought that was impossible. I thought I had gotten one over on a force of the universe itself, just to start my real fight. I should have known better… but nothing would ever take back the pasts I’ve lost. I knew that now.
And it only strengthened my resolve.
“Is it… still Day 11?” I groaned, finally sitting upright.
Hiruko scoffed. “Yes. It is. And now that you’re up, I’m going to eat.”
“Wait-!” I barely had time to say, before she coldly stood up and walked out.
Hiruko. Every memory I had, every time I’d tried to guide us all to Day 100, she was always… I struggled to finish that sentence. She never did the same thing twice. For every time she’d show genuine concern for us all, she would berate me for stepping out of line. For every time she would take charge and guide the Special Defense Unit at its darkest hour, she would backhand me with her idea of “compliments” when I tried to do the same. She had our best interests at heart all along, but her inability to stop being Hiruko gave all of it a friction that no number of loops could ease. I wanted to take on that burden alongside her, to do my part and save everyone… but Hiruko simply wasn’t going to accept that the way she needed to. She never had, and probably never would. Something needed to give! It was so frustrating it made me want to-
I got out of bed. I had my plan.
I only vaguely caught a glimpse of Nozomi out of the corner of my eye as I stormed off to the War Room. Considering I didn’t hear her say anything, I don’t even know if she registered me being there. If she did, I could only pray I didn’t look too deranged- only… determined, or serious. I hoped, anyway; Sirei’s reaction as I finally reached the Infuser Rack didn’t bode well there. “Ah, Sumino!” chirped his gruff little voice. “What’s got our time-hopping wunderkind up and moving so bright and ear-?”
“Have you seen Hiruko today?”
Sirei was taken aback a bit. “H-huh? No… whaddya need her for?”
I took two Infusers off the rack without sparing him so much as a glance. “I just wanna talk to her.”
“Hey, hey, hey, now, son, what-”
“I just wanna talk.” I plunged the blade into my chest without slowing down.
“Sumino, this is ridiculous!”
“I just wanna talk to her!” I emerged from my blood cocoon.
“You are WEARING your Class Armor!”
“I just wanna stab her.” I took the steps two at a time to speed-walk to the Cafeteria.
“Wha-what are you doing?! It CANNOT be her fault!”
“I just wanna talk to her-” I immediately noticed her, and my vision narrowed. “HIRUKOOOOO!”
She had only half a second to dodge. I hit the ground and plunged my sword into it deep, creating a thin fissure that cracked and spread across the floor of the whole cafeteria. It was nowhere close to full strength- I usually held my sword in both hands, and I was still holding the second Infuser- but it was enough of a splashy entrance. Hiruko expertly spun to her feet after rolling away and glared daggers at me. “Have you lost your mind, Takumi?!”
I smirked. “Believe what you want, so long as you fight me.” I turned to shout behind me. “SIREI! Can you seal off the Gym behind us so that no one else can get in but the corpse drones can?”
Sirei hopped around in impotent fury. “Sumino, you have five seconds to explain yourself before I detonate you both!!!” he screamed.
“Relax,” I assured him. “It’s for team building! I can’t lead a team that doesn’t trust me, right?” I looked back and winked. “At worst, consider it… long-awaited therapy.”
I don’t know why I winked at him. It just… felt right in the moment. I couldn’t help but wonder if Sirei now thought we were in on some kind of secret together, or something like that.
“Ω…” Hiruko breathed heavily, “it seems I’ll have to tear you out of his brain MYSELF!!!” She leapt at me at speeds I could barely process, expertly kicking me in the gut with her heel. The Infuser clattered across the floor, which she picked up without skipping a beat. There was an anger in her eyes that eclipsed any I’d seen before. “Sirei! Leave him to me and prepare the Gym like he said. His ego’s clearly spun out of control.”
“I know you are, but what am I?” I sprang back into action, forcing her to parry my strike with the Infuser itself. I winced instinctively, though- that high-heel kick took a bit more out of me than I expected. I could always activate Special Redo, try again, but… no. If I couldn’t take a hit like that in full Class Armor, this plan would have no hope of success. And either way, I always meant to take that hit and drop the Infuser; I wanted a duel, not an assassination.
But I sure wouldn’t let her use it before we got to the Gym.
I kept leaping at her from every possible angle- off the walls, from a crouch, never giving her an inch. I had to force her all the way back into the Gym. I vaguely heard an announcement from Sirei ringing out across the halls, telling everyone to avoid the first floor, but I had no time for any of that. Not even Gaku’s incoherent screaming as he spotted us. No, everything had to be on getting Hiruko into the arena.
A glancing blow by the left shoulder. A swing towards the right. Multiple slashes to the midsection, never on the back foot. Even when fighting a monster like Hiruko, my Class Armor tipped the scales of the strength balance too greatly. I didn’t want to keep the advantage for too long, but I was going to use it!
WHAM! An overhead strike, telegraphed enough for her to block it, was the opening I needed to kick her square in the gut and send her tumbling to the center of the gym.
“Why?” Hiruko held the Infuser over her chest, but hesitated and instead asked me. “Ω, Takumi, whatever THING you are, why are you doing this?!”
I lowered my guard and relaxed my shoulders as a show of good faith. “That’s the thing,” I explained. “I’m the same, normal Takumi Sumino you talked to last night. Who made that cat figure, who made you that promise to change our destinies together. And while I slept, I dreamt of so many more loops. I’m the most Takumi Sumino you’ll ever get! It’s all come back to me… every memory of you has come back to me.”
Hiruko’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “E-every memory? What-?”
“Including every threat,” I spat. “Every back-handed compliment. All the distrust, the pride, the ego fueling it all! You never gave me an inch, then turned around and announced ‘let’s all laugh at the inchless loser!’ From the very start of our time here, you have driven all of us MAD with your might-makes-right-so-I’m-always-right attitude!”
She stared at me with equal parts contempt, disgust, betrayal… and utter bewilderment. “But-”
“But I promised to help you! I did! But I can’t have you dragging me around anymore! So, I figure I’ll beat you now and establish a more… equal power dynamic. Forcibly deflate your head a bit.”
Everything but the contempt faded from Hiruko’s steely stare. “I try everything I can… do everything in my power to save us all… for forty years… and all you have to say to me is I didn’t do it the right way?” Her breathing grew ragged with anger.
“You did everything!” I smiled warmly. “You did so much, and I will NEVER forget that! The girl who, in her own way, never stopped trying to put everything she had into saving us all. That is Hiruko Shizuhara. That’s the girl we know and love!”
Hiruko was taken slightly aback at that word.
“But,” I continued, “she’s stuck behind a wall. Or… maybe stuck way high up on a pedestal, that fits better. All I gotta do,” I heaved my sword for emphasis, “is cut it down and get her out.”
Hiruko did not respond. With an analytical look in her eyes, like she was still trying to get a feel for the situation, she wordlessly donned her Class Armor and summoned her enormous axe.
“Look, let’s fight. If I kill you, you don’t get to boss me around. Obviously, since that was all threats of violence. That simple enough for you?” I grinned.
“Simple?” Hiruko growled. Her palms dug into the spiked handle of her Class Weapon, drawing blood which dripped onto and merged with the axe itself.
“Or, maybe I should put it in terms meant for you.” I squeezed my hilt in kind, letting the pain of the spikes fuel me. “Mistress Hiruko, this naughty boy wants to be on top this time.”
Her rage finally broke. “I’m going to rip your tongue out with my bare hands and shove it up your ass.”
“You know, in my over 800 days, you never once followed up on your famous threats.”
“How about I make up for lost time?”
And we clashed.
I was unprepared for the clash itself. Hiruko deftly blocked my strike with the body of her axe, barely moving while I was slightly shaking from the effort I put into the clash.
I… might have made a mistake in planning this.
“You’re hesitating,” Hiruko noted.
“A guy can’t plan?” I huffed.
“You didn’t already?” she sneered, her ego being tested like never before. “Hit me once. Hit me once, I fucking dare you.”
Wordlessly, I accepted and moved in to strike once from the front. She parried with the axe body in one hand and back-handed me across the face with the other. I was stunned into absolute silence. “How-”
In a flash, Hiruko brought her axe down over my head. I vaguely started to feel the pain of the blade on my scalp…
“How about I make up for lost time?”
And we clashed.
I knew I would have to use Special Redo a few times, at least. Fighting an opponent other than the invaders and using it felt… a little unfair. The invaders were largely mindless in their tactics, like animals; they forced us into a battle where survival was the only priority, so fairness was the last thing on my mind. Here, though, I was finding a matched opponent. The purpose of this was to prove myself in front of Hiruko, to show her I was already a match for her. Taking my opportunity to rewind and try each strike over and over was practically cheating. If I got a hint after every question I got wrong on a test, free to change the answers I’d already put in, did that really prove my preparedness? Nevertheless, I took the opportunity I’d given myself by moving for the front like before, then feinting to the right.
She blocked it perfectly, and slapped me again.
“What-”
She ripped the axe across my stomach in an instant.
“How about I make up for lost time?”
And we clashed.
How. HOW?! I took no more time to hesitate. I rushed in as fast as I could, unleashing a flurry of blows on all sides. Hiruko barely moved half an inch to stand in a perfect spot to dodge all of it, and sliced a shallow gash across my face from chin to forehead.
“NGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!!!!!!” I fell to my knees, in too much pain to try and activate Special Redo. My thoughts were only consumed by bewilderment. “How…?” I managed to gasp. “HOW?!?!?!?!?!?!”
Hiruko walked towards my sad, slumped form. “Let me know when you’re ready to accept your death.” She sliced off my head.
Accept… death…?
“How about I make up for lost time?”
And we clashed.
I’d gotten smart enough to survive past three strikes by now. My thoughts were primarily on what Hiruko said, though. “Let me know when you’re ready to accept your death.” Why? Why had she said that? From her perspective, I would have died and lost the match in that one moment. Why did she say that like I’d died more times? It wouldn’t have made sense! Out of the corner of my mind, I got a flash of memory that we knew each others’ Specialist Skills, so perhaps she had just assumed I’d used it, but still… something didn’t seem right to me.
Wait. I got landed in this time loop by my Specialist Skill… And Hiruko’s also here…
…no, it can’t be…
But if it was, I had a plan.
“How about I make up for lost time?”
And we clashed.
In less than an instant, I’d backed off. Hiruko had no chance to approach. She was breathing heavily, in a way I hadn’t looked for before.
So I was completely correct.
“Come on, make up for it,” I taunted. She swung at me perfectly and precisely; I blocked with no less precision and perfection.
Hiruko said nothing, only steeled her gaze as she studied me.
I dashed in for a rising slash, then backstepped and sliced the very air between us. She parried both perfectly.
“...how many times?” she asked.
I smirked. “Enough. How many for you?”
She slashed wide, thrusted forward, and brought the axe down from above in the space of four seconds. I’d seen all of it before; I responded in kind and signed the post-script with a thrust two inches away from her cheek that went completely unblocked. All as planned. “You… you put it together?” she huffed.
“Ooh, best not rewind now! Don’t wanna go back to a Takumi that doesn’t know anything, huh?”
“Sh-SHUT UP! Stop pretending at intelligence!” Hiruko whined.
“Sure, sure, or you just don’t want to have to tell me yourself.”
“I SAID TO BE SILENT!”
Six more clashes followed. I slashed up, down, from the left, right, right, and down again. I vaguely noticed a trickle of blood by my midsection from the smallest and shallowest cut. I didn’t know when I got grazed, but it was within my margin of error. I decided to press on. “In a battle like this, you expect me to obey you?” I spat.
“Why…?” Hiruko heaved. “Why is this happening?! Why are you doing this?!?!”
“I TOLD YOU ALREADY!” I dashed in and leapt with all the strength my legs could muster, slashing over Hiruko’s head before landing with a close-range stab. Both deflected, neither truly consequential. “I’m establishing a more equal relationship.”
“But what does that MEAN?!” Hiruko yelled. “I have been pushing myself, living, dying, failing, over, and over, and OVER AGAIN for SO GODDAMN LONG NOW! Why are you trying to ruin this for me?!”
I didn’t even need to think or rehearse my answer. “Why did YOU always ruin it for ME?!” I screamed back with all the instinct and fervor that I did the first time I asked her.
“YOU THINK I DIDN’T KNOW?!”
And then I flinched. Hiruko had hit a new pitch, a new level of desperation I hadn’t seen before. Her eyes started to moisten.
“You think I didn’t understand how I came across?” she said, her breath starting to hitch. “You really think I didn’t see that, that I didn't try to fix that?”
I lowered my stance. “I… No, I saw it, just-”
“Just what?!” Hiruko snapped. “I don’t know how else to be, I know I can’t just turn this all off like it’s a conscious choice I’m making anymore!”
“Does that mean it was, once…?” I asked. “Maybe, back in the TRC?”
“Stupid…” she grumbled. “Always surrounded by these stupid classmates, stupid parents, stupid teachers, everyone was completely foolish! I put in so little effort for the best grades, everyone did nothing but praise me, and I believed it! I never thought anything of them, or any of you when I first came here!” Hiruko had to gasp for breath, a single tear finally rolling down her cheek. “And now… I’ve seen death. I’ve seen failure. I’ve seen deaths that mean no failure, and failures where death is too merciful. And I couldn’t do a thing about it. All I know is I’m the only one in a position to help everyone, only I can help everyone, and now after trying for so long to do that the only way I know how you come along and PROVE TO ME I’VE DONE NOTHING BUT MESS IT UP!!!”
I blinked back a tear of my own. Hiruko was shouting so badly I was almost worried for her voice. But… this was what I’d been waiting for. She finally dropped her guard and admitted it. After all this time shouldering everyone’s burdens alone, feeling like she was the only one qualified to take action due to the life she was raised in, she finally cracked. She doubted herself, realized she couldn’t ever truly be alone in her efforts, but not knowing how to let others take the reins from her. “I…” My voice refused to cooperate, but I forced it. “That’s what I thought it was.”
Hiruko refused to answer.
“I understand that,” I continued. “I get it. I saw all of that. And I know…” I had to compose myself. “I know how hard you’ve been trying. That’s why I’m here. I figured… with how much you frame things in terms of strength, if I could beat you, it would take the mental strain off of cooperating with me. That it would help you convince yourself you’re not so alone.”
She blinked at me a few times. “And you thought of that first.”
“Yes.”
“With no reason to believe the plan would work.”
“That’s right.”
“And zero thought to how it might backfire.”
“None.”
“...for my sake?”
“For you.”
Hiruko finally smiled in earnest, the fire relighting in her eyes. “Then let’s paint this gym red with your blood and viscera!” she cried.
“Only if we compare it against a couple swatches,” I quipped in kind. “I wanna see how yours looks first.” I winced a little at saying that. I had to show her I was on her wavelength, even if it was… still a little gross to me.
Whatever. We clashed one more time, both pushing back with equal power. Hiruko finally was pushing back with everything she had, and I found the strength within me to match her. The strength to carry her fears, her doubts, her insecurities, and show her a confidence she could lean on. As the clash finally broke and we both jumped backwards, I think she felt it too. We met eyes with a mutual understanding- We fight as equals. I immediately strafed to the left, slashing through the air itself to keep her at bay. Hiruko nevertheless found her moment, took an Air Slash right to the abdomen, and still powered through it to smack me with the blunt top of her axe before I had the chance to recover. I only barely managed to block her slicing follow-up and return to safety. Gathering everything I had, I thrust my blade deep into the floor… and took it out like nothing happened.
Hiruko must have sensed something was off and instantly dashed back towards me. I was ready this time and immediately stabbed her right in the gut as I removed my sword from the ground! “I… can’t believe you fell for that,” I chuckled. In my haste, I wasn’t able to aim anywhere too important, so Hiruko was doubtless about to pull herself off my sword and ignore the wound altogether, but it still counted for something.
“I can’t believe you let me get this CLOSE!” Sure enough, Hiruko swiped at me with the axe as she dashed backwards, escaping my blade and keeping me at bay. The gash across my shoulders wasn’t terribly deep, so my Class Armor could keep me going, but it still stung like hell. She got me, too- just as much as I’d gotten her. It was really time to stop messing around.
“You’re right! You’re absolutely right,” I called out, as I hopped backwards to regain distance. I casually swiped my sword along the ground as I made my escape, never taking my eyes off Hiruko. “No one can get too close to you. In a bunch of ways! But it’s almost poetic that at a distance it’s so much easier to see your flaws.”
“What are you babbling about now, you wretched servant?!” Hiruko’s threats felt more playful than ever now, less hints of the baggage that weighed them down before than ever. She closed in after me.
I kept her at bay, never stopping my retreat. “You never thought we’d notice, huh? In all our Defensive Battles, for as agile as you are in close range… you never thought we’d notice that you’re not super fast!”
“So that’s your plan?” she spat, running after me all the same. “Keep me out of range? One slip-up and it’s over, you could never do that so perfectly.”
On and on I retreated, until I made enough distance to plant my sword one more time. “You, and your rewinding, and your strategic mind, and your low speed… There's only one way to deal with someone like that.” I grinned devilishly. The trap was set.
Hiruko sped toward me one last time. I refused to pick up my sword again, committed to dodging her strikes barehanded until I found my opening. One swing, then two, then three, searching frantically for the moment, until finally-
“THERE!”
I pulled my sword out of the ground and gut-checked my opponent halfway across the room with all the blunt force I could muster. My sword was glowing and crackling with blue flames, almost ready to move on its own were I not holding it back. As Hiruko fell squarely on her butt, finally off-balance, she seemed to notice something on the floor. Something like… a glowing blue line. One that circled the gym, connected to the two opposite end points that I’d planted my sword. Her eyes went wide in less than a moment. “You didn’t-”
“Gotcha.”
I swung my blade down and the fires of the Azure Blitz erupted all around us. I always planted the energy to detonate with one last strike, so gathering it and laying the trap was a little new to me, but there was no better way to catch Hiruko. A slower opponent who nevertheless could predict or dodge most things would best be caught by something they weren’t given the time to dodge.
Satisfied, I- “URK!!!”
I could barely register what had happened. In the instant I’d dropped my guard, Hiruko had dashed up through my attack, stabbed me in the side with her axe, reeled me in close, and suplexed me into my own flames before losing the strength to keep holding on. We both tumbled through the dissipating trap, landing with my back on the floor and Hiruko collapsed on top of me. As the last flames of the Azure Blitz burned quietly around us, I took note of the situation. Hiruko was burned severely, small pieces of flesh torn from random parts of her body and other parts cut and bleeding. It was a grotesque and visceral sight, one I would have hated normally- and yet, somehow, I didn’t mind it. “I…” Hiruko wheezed. “How do I look…?”
My sides were bleeding out heavily from her strike; I wouldn’t live for too much longer after her. I would have liked to pretend that was the only reason I was so flustered, but… it really wasn’t. “I- I mean, uh-” I stammered.
“I see how I look…” came Hiruko’s voice, hoarse and unbothered. “I’ve never felt more beautiful…”
We both fell silent. For a single, solitary moment, the world was frozen around us.
And then she kissed me. She leaned in, and kissed me right on the mouth. It wasn’t terribly deep, but it was genuine. Hiruko held that kiss, that moment… until she finally stopped moving. Laying there on the floor, I became aware of a whirring noise getting louder and louder. Two corpse recovery drones had flown in at some point. One opened up, physically sucking up Hiruko into its grasp. Once it had her body, a secondary suction began which gathered up all of her blood- her cryptoglobin- and somehow, none of mine. Oh… so that’s how those things work, I never noticed… I was a little worried with how badly I’m bleeding, but now I guess-
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
I jolted at that sound- or, rather, with how close to death I was, it was little more than an errant twitch. It was the sound of someone crying, sobbing uncontrollably. With the last of my strength, I tilted my head in its direction… to see Yugamu doing the sobbing. “How…” I gasped. “How long have you been here…?”
“Whole time,” Yugamu sniffled. “Was already in here, saw what happened and hid and just- GOD, that’s murder with love! That was the most beautiful shit I’ve ever seen, Takumi! Encore, encore…!” He continued weeping, getting up to deliver a standing ovation for me like my scuffle with Hiruko was some tearjerker Oscar-bait film. His clapping was the last thing I heard before my senses finally blurred and faded to blackness.
Weirdo.