Katawa Yandere - The Entire Lilly Route - Parts 13-16

Part 13
As Hanako's birthday party progresses into the 'party' portion as you all sample Akira's personal choice of wines.
As the evening unfolds, you realize it must be the same kind of spirits Alexander the Great was fucked up on the night he burned down Persepolis.
After the first bottle, your world is spinning and you're using your rapier-cane to cut up slices of cake. If anyone is sober enough to notice, they don't seem to care.
Hisao is slumped up against you with his tie around his ankle and wearing one of your porcelain sugar-bowls as a hat.
And based on conversation snippets, Hanako's somehow managed to turn her nightgown around backwards and is asking Akira to feel her scars.
You're not actually attentive enough to know if she accepts that offer.
"Ugh... Whair dihd you ghet thiiis shit, Akakiraaaa?" Hisao murmurs as he finishes his glass and tries to settle back into his seat, banging his head against your shoulder.
Your sister, of course, barely seems to have more than a light buzz. "Oh, I just have this little game going to collect all the beautiful things in this world." She giggles, then you hear the second bottle being lifted.
"So, who's ready for round two?"
"Me!" You pipe back with a crazed grin. Partly due to the wine and also because you sort of like having Hisao slouched on you. "Les' DOTTHIS."
"Aye, 'as mah sis 'eir." Akira muses happily in English.
"Wut the hell wassat?" Hisao asks.
"It means shut up and get ready for round 2." You translate loosely, putting your arms around Hisao and cuddling him as if he was a teddy bear.
The second bottle is uncorked and portioned out. You have at least a mild alcohol tolerance and Akira's in on the level where she could probably ingest battery acid with no ill effects, so you suppose it falls to you two to be their shepherd.
"Hey! Where's mai glasses?" Hisao asks.
"Dude, you don- you don't wear glasses." Hanako returns.
"I don't?" He lifts an arm off your lap and feels his face. "Fuck, that explains why they're missing."
"What I want to know is how Rin managed to get changed and everything in her crazy-studio if Emi wasn't there." Hanako drones.
"Wut.. the fuck are you talking about?" Hisao asks.
"Huh... I... don't know... What am I talking about?" Hanako says, hyperventilated slightly as if shutting out the signals from an alternate universe. She then takes another drink.
You giggle and follow suit, taking another sip, mentally surveying your companions.
You decide to nurse Hisao. After all, you're not best sure how well his meds will handle an interaction with alcohol.
There's also the fact that he's apparently trying to build himself a suit of armor out of your porcelain tea set.
"Hey Hisaooo." You remark, yanking him back down. "How're you doing?"
"Imma good." He replies. "I kinda wish I had a porcelain claymore to complete the set."
"We'll getcha one for next time." You say, snuggling into him.
Pressed against his chest, you hear his heart rhythm. It's erratic and off-tempo, but not too fast or too slow.
"So, you liek dolls, Hanako?" You can hear Akira saying. "Check this out!" She begins giggling madly as you start hearing a duffle bag opening and a thudding sound. "Akira's puppet show is in town!"
Judging by the sound, it must be a human-sized puppet. One that smells kind of like blood.
"Grr.. I r humanity's last hope!" Akira pantomimes. "Damn feminists."
Hanako bursts out laughing.
Realizing she might not actually be using a puppet, you reach up and yank Hisao's porcelain-hat over his eyes.
"Hey Lilly?" He asks, not losing a drop of the jolly mood. "Cha doing?"
"Oh, just want to try a little exercise." You reply sweetly, leaning against him.
"Hm..." You wonder what you might do now... With Hisao...
"Wait just a minute, Hisao." You say sweetly, touching the tip of his nose.
"Alright you guys." You say, turning to Akira and Hanako. "I think this party's about over with."
"Yeah... you're right." Akira says as you hear her tucking away whatever heretical marionette she was using. "Let's go crash in your room, Hanako."
"Um.. Um..." Hanako actually seems nervous. "O-Ok!"
Huh. You expected more resis-
WHAM.
Hanako's body collides with yours at full force and she nuzzles into you as if trying to start a fire.
"Thank you Lilly! Really! I really mean it! Thank you! THANK YOU!" She cries over and over as she cuddles you.
You smile broadly and kiss the top of her head, stroking her hair. "My pleasure. Happy birthday Hanako."
And with that, your sister and best friend depart, leaving just you in the room, alone with Hisao.
You breathe deeply and smile to yourself at this prospect.
"Um... Lilly... are yo- MMM?" He replies, but is swiftly silenced as you press your lips against his and snuggle into him.
You've kissed him before, of course. But unlike last time, he actually presses back. It feels like your own heart might be the one to explode from happiness this time.
"Lilly..." He gasps as you finally break apart, the strong scent of alcohol on both of your breaths. "What... are you...?" He asks as you feel him begin to try and remove the makeshift porcelain blindfold from his eyes.
You stop him with one hand and press a finger against his lips with the other.
"You're dreaming, Hisao." You tell him as you nuzzle back into him and plant another kiss on his neck.
Given how fucked up you both are, you really might as well be.
"Hehe." He laughs as he puts his arms around you. "Then may I never awaken."
[Meanwhile]
About the silent athletic field beneath a starry sky, two figures are walking together in utter silence, two pairs of eyes darting about: one blue and one gold.
[Shicchan… I’m sleepy… Can we just call it a night?]
[Don’t be such a baby. This is reconnaissance.]
Misha gives a confused eyebrow-cock.
[But I don’t even know what we’re reconaissing. Reconaissancing? Reconing?] She alternates between random gestures, trying to guess the verb form. [What we’re looking for.] She decides on.
[Places near the track that might hide explosives, vantage points, anything that could be used as an ambush-stage.]
[Shicchan…] Misha signs, possibly wanting to whine but realizing its futility.
[What is it?]
[Are you really even sure they’ll be doing anything at the track meet tomorrow?]
[Of course.] Shizune replies with hesitation, continuing to cast an analytical gaze across the topography.
[How could you know that?]
Those icy eyes cast a glare at Misha. [It’s what I would do.]
[End meanwhile]
The next morning, you awaken to the lovely aftereffects of dehydration and balance-issues.
"His-?" You ask, feeling where he was last you knew, but finding only a single origami figurine where he was.
You chuckle to yourself and carefully unfold the thing. You and Akira used to leave secret messages for each other like this when you were kids.
Unfolding it, you find the braille is crude, having apparently been made mostly by stabbing the paper with something blunt, but it's readable, at least.
'Hey Lilly. I checked up on you earlier this morning. Took Hisao back to his room so you'd have time to prepare. Also left you some of our family's hangover elixir. Drink it."
You shred the note and cast about, finding what appears to be a mug made out of a human skull on your nightstand.
You chug the bitter liquid and straighten, feeling your head clear.
All you and Hisao really did last night was make out, still though, it's a pleasant thought to ponder as you get ready.
Slightly less pleasant is the fact that your porcelain set is still missing. You hope Akira didn't decide to drunk-prank Hisao...
Finishing dressing, you arm yourself and wonder where to go first.
Emi's track meet isn't until later in the day, but Akira should probably be setting up now.
[Meanwhile]
Akira steps through the woods, a large black duffle bag at her side and a longer but thinner one slung over her back.
This was a mission that required a lot of gear, so she was way too overburdened to bring her briefcase.
It's a marginally uncomfortable feeling, but if all goes well, she wouldn’t need it.
‘This is the place’ she muses to herself as she reaches the hilltop she selected as her vantage point.
Kneeling down, she unzips the first bag and dumps out Kenji’s body onto the grassy knoll. She supposes it’s a fitting place for him to be found.
Next, she unravels the thinner bag and begins assembling her Intervention rifle.
[End meanwhile]
You decide you might as well tend to Hanako. After all, Akira's experience in caring for drunk friends easily surpasses yours. You trust that she tended to Hisao properly.
Exiting your room, you head over to her door and knock loudly.
"Hanako? It's Lilly."
You detect a series of thuds as the girl tries to rise too quickly and falls over. Then a patter of footsteps before the door comes open and she embraces you.
"Hey Lillyyy..." She mumbles into your chest. You smile and hand her the skull-mug. "Here, drink this."
"What is it?"
"An ancient Scottish alchemical secret. Passed down in our family for generations. Just drink it, trust me, you'll feel completely normal in about ten minutes."
That last bit seems to be all she needed to hear. "Thanks, Lilly." She takes the mug and downs the evil mixture.
"Ugh. Tastes like blood."
There's a reason for that... But Hanako doesn't need to know it.
Gently, you take her hand and lead her back to her bed, settling the two of you down.
You wonder what you should discuss with her as the slender girl clings to you, waiting for you to say something.
"So?" You ask. "Does Hisao meet your approval?"
"Y-Yeah!" She replies instantly. "I told you he did. And even drunk, he doesn't seem so bad."
She giggles to herself as she reminisces on last night. "I usually dislike the whole 'white knight' thing, but I don't think that applies to armor made from porcelain."
You laugh together. "Maybe he was planning to kill guybrush threepwood."
Hanako recovers quickly, thanks to your sister's evil powers.
"I wonder where Akira got that wine..." She wonders.
"She has a tendency for finding things... Of all varieties. Just roll with it."
She giggles and snuggles into you once again.
"Wanna play chess? I could help you work on your game, maybe?"
"Not now, Hanako. I should check on Hisao." You pick up the mug. "You know, I think he might need some of this just as badly as you did."
She giggles and releases your arm. "Y-Yeah. You're right, Lilly. I've got to go do something anyways."
You smile at her, happy that she seems more at peace, and take your leave.
Reaching Hisao's door, you give a knock.
"Ugh. Im sick. Goaway, please." He murmurs through the door.
You smile. "It's Lilly. And I've got some special medicine just for your condition."
It takes a moment, but he rises and opens the door.
"Come on in."
You hand him the mug. "Drink it, trust me, it'll make you feel better."
"Um... what's in it?"
He's really better off not knowing. You furrow your brow a little. "You don't trust me?" you say, giving a sad face.
Apparently that's not the case, since he chugs the mixture almost as soon as the last word is out.
You stay with him for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, mostly making small talk while you keep a hand on his wrist, discreetly checking his pulse in case there's some kind of adverse reaction between his pills and the alchemic mixture. Suddenly, he breaks the silence.
"Oh? What time is it?"
"Hm? About three in the afternoon. Why?"
"Oh. I've got to go to Emi's track meet today."
He sighs and begins to rise.
"My my." You say. "What a favorable coincidence. I was just going to head there myself."
You rise, wrapping your arm around his.
"May I accompany you?"
He doesn't hesitate or even ask why you, of all people, would be attending a track meet. He replies simply and quickly.
"I'd be delighted, Lilly."
Arm in arm, you leave Hisao's room and head down to the track field together.
[Meanwhile]
About the equipment shed at the far end of the track, Rin is wandering aimlessly, wondering if there’s a way to talk to butterflies.
Suddenly, a movement catches her eyes as Hanako comes tearing out of the building like a bat out of hell and makes for the woods.
Rin watches her impassively for a moment, then nonchalantly kicks off a sandal, picks up her ritual brush, and draws a circular pattern of purple runes around her, channeling the overwhelming power of her insanity.
Magormor Pargon Pargon Antorbok Pargon Pargon Mantorok.
A rushing sound about her as she feels the powers of madness flow into the weapon on her bag.
Satisfied, she starts after the retreating Hanako at a casual pace.
[Meanwhile]
“So, you think Hisao’ll come and watch me?” Emi chirps happily as the nurse finishes inspecting her prosthetics.
“Of course. You share a tight bond in the sport. To say nothing of your other ties. Don’t fret. He’ll come.” He replies with his foxlike smile.
“Hehehe!” Emi giggles with a flush.
The call goes out for the runners to head out and begin warming up.
“Yeah!” She remarks as the two walk out onto the field together. “I can feel it! This’ll be an exciting day!”
And with that, the clacks out onto the field, leaving the nurse standing there, watching proudly. After a moment, someone taps him on the shoulder.
He turns to see a silent, blue haired-girl standing there. She smiles, presses a note into his hand, and walks away.
With a slightly raised eyebrow, he reads the note. Upon finishing, his expression turns grave and he crushes the note dramatically in his hand.
But no one’s watching him. He gives a sad face.
[End meanwhile]
You reach the track and settle into the bleaches with Hisao, enjoying both his and the sun’s warmth. Though really, you’d be more than ok with just his.
“Huh?” You hear Hisao make a noise of confusion.
“Hm?” You ask. “What is it, Hisao?”
“Oh… Hm… I could have sworn I just saw Hanako running off into the woods way off in the distance. Huh.”
That’s odd… what would she be doing there, of all places?
"Hanako's here?" You say with earnest concern, rising. "Which way, Hisao?"
"Oh... way off in - to the south. I'm not even really sure it was her..."
South? That's the opposite direction from where Akira set up... Why would she be there?
"Thanks Hisao." You say softly to him before turning and starting off in that direction.
"Lilly?" He remarks. "You're gonna miss the race."
Indeed, you hear all the participants lining up, along with a distinctive hateful clacking sound.
You smile sweetly at Hisao. "Save me something good."
And with the bang of the starter's pistol, the runners are off on their first lap and while you head off to find Hanako.
Positioned on a wooded hilltop nearly a kilometer away from the track, Akira lays prone on the ground, surveying the race through a rifle scope. She’d let the first race go to get a feel for Emi’s running rythym and make the calculations for movement, wind, humidity, gravity, and the Coriolis Effect.
Everything was ready now. No matter what kind of tools or conditioning Emi Ibarazaki had, there is no defense against a depleted uranium CheyTac round to the chest. Fixing her crosshairs above and slightly to the right…
SWISH.
Akira’s reflexes were just barely good enough to hurl herself to the side as a razor-sharp pair of long knives came whizzing through the space she’d been laying in. Instantly recognizing this new threat, she registers a blue-haired man in a long coat barreling at her, withdrawing an identical set of knives from his coat into his hand.
She doesn’t hesitate and flicks her hidden derringer into her hand, unloading four .22 magnum bullets on his head in the blink of an eye. A move the nurse counters simply by raising his arms to shield his face, producing an audible series of thuds.
‘A bulletproof doctor’s coat?’ Akira deduces as he closes in. “Fuck.” She states in a bland tone of voice.
On the other side of the forest, Hanako slips through the trees, giggling.
“Lilly will be so happy! Lilly will be so happy!”
“Really?” A monotone voice calls out.
Before her stands a being radiating madness, staring directly at her with a pair of vapid, soulless eyes.
“Rin?”
The girl walks towards her into the clearing. “I come here a lot, you know. It’s nice and quiet.”
She stops and tilts her head slightly. “You like quiet places, right? Good. Then this’ll be a nice grave for you.”
And with that, a massive force tears through the clearing, ripping apart the space Hanako just barely managed to hurl herself out of.
Whirling in the direction of her opponent, she sees Rin standing on a tree branch, the bag over her shoulder now empty; she clutches a long crystal scimitar between her teeth.
It’s almost as long as she is, but has a short grip which Rin is biting down hard on. The blade is made of some kind of translucent crystal, resembling glass. Her eyes, of course, remain vacant.
ZOOSH. Kicking off with those powerful legs of her, Rin lunges from her perch, arcing her body in another nightmarish sword-slash, which Hanako hurls herself to the side to avoid.
“Ah!” She squeaks as a wound opens up on her arm. It only lasts a second though.
Gritting her teeth, she makes a flicking motion with either hand and a set of slanted knives shoot out of her elongated shirt cuffs and link onto her fingers, forming a pair of claws. Squaring off against her, Rin shows no emotion.
Back in the forest, the nurse silently closes on Akira and launches a vicious serious of strikes. Sensing that the sniping mission was bust anyways, Akira seizes the barrel of her rifle and swings it as a staff to deflect the attacks. With the screeching sound of cleaving metal, the rifle itself is sliced apart, but serves its purpose of breaking the enemy’s charge.
With only a split second before her opponent recovers, Akira pulls her FiveseveN-and-Sykes-knife CQC combo and sprays from the hip. The nurse lunges off to the side as the rounds whiz around him.
It was the correct tactical decision: the armor on his chest would be enough to stop those rounds, but they could still shred his less-protected limbs.
He hurls off a trio of knives in Akira’s direction as he ducks behind a tree.
The first, she ducked, the second, she managed to deflect with her own blade before it pierced her heart, and the third plunged through the lower left quadrant of her abdomen.
She simply yanks out the blade and slinks back into cover. ‘Nothing vital that was hit.’ She observes. ‘I can keep going.’
At the other end, Hanako is faring much worse, barely managing to defend against Rin’s savage onslaught. It’s the fighting style of a lunatic: crazed and chaotic.
Everything about it seems to emphasize optical illusions.
For starters, Rin’s insane flexibility, strange movements, and odd grip on the blade render her movement impossible to read.
Next is the sword itself: nearly translucent, it’s practically invisible in motion. How is one supposed to defend again attacks they can’t even see?
Another savage strike, just barely perceptible, almost tears off Hanako’s leg as she barely hurls herself away.
With a bestial quickness, she lashes out with her claws, but Rin bends away and snaps back with another slash which Hanako partially catches on her shoulder. She didn’t see the blade at all that time and misjudged its reach.
Rin lunges away, preparing for another attack run, gazing down on Hanako with those soulless eyes of hers.
Suddenly, a second wave of pain shoots throughout Hanako’s damaged body, radiating from her wounds as if she’d been slashed again.
But… Rin was all the way over there… How could she… what was this insanity?
“T-This isn’t good…”
Akira and the nurse were playing a lethal game of tag now, the nurse having to launch his attack from random angles and quickly retreat before he caught a bullet in the face.
Akira was having a hard time locking on with the blinding level of speed…
Crash. As he hurdles out of the bushes, Akira takes a gambit and instead of trying to evade, she deflects his attack with her knife.
It was a risky maneuver: she was severely outclassed in terms of knife-fighting and indeed, almost the moment their blades clash the nurse yanks up his knives in a nearly point-blank slash that tore up her left arm.
It was worth the pain, though; Akira’s gun-hand was free and his momentum was halted.
She had time to blast off four shots before- CRACK.
The nurse drives an elbow into her wrist, knocking the gun out of her hand.
Utilizing instincts honed by years of bar-fights, Akira reciprocates the invitation to brawl by smashing her skull into his face as hard as she can and dives for her gun before checking to see what kind of damage had been inflicted.
Rising, re-armed, she finds the Nurse gone again.
‘Damn.’ She muses, ripping off her sleeve and tying a makeshift tourniquet. ‘I’d hoped to finish him off with that trick.’
Hanako was now hunched over, heaving heavily, having taken at least half a dozen deep slashes.
Her insidious red-headed opponent had barely broken a sweat.
If only she hadn’t used up her trump card earlier… if only… she might have a chance…
ZWISH.
Another strike nearly rips her apart as she only partially sidesteps an attack.
Only partially, though. She takes a deep cut to the abdomen.
Bleeding and in a burning agony, Hanako crumples to the ground.
Her breath shaking, she tilts her head up and stares into those blank eyes. Such dark eyes… The devil’s eyes…
It was over for her. Rin kicks off , arcing a single executioner’s strike on her enemy.
“Lilly…” Hanako breathes with a small smile as that final slash approaches to end her life. “Be happy.”
CLANG.
Instead of flesh, Rin’s blade slams into a hurled nunchaku, shattering it, but her attack losing all momentum.
You barrel into the clearing, taking up your rapier in one hand and your needler in the other. “Hanako!”
“L-Lilly!” She squeaks, still crumpled over.
It takes you the merest instant to survey the situation. Hanako’s wounded. Bleeding and shivering in pain.
Inwardly, you feel a seething rage at the soulless monster impassively surveying you from the treetops.
Hearing Hanako shivering in pain, you focus all your hate on Rin.
"You think you can harm my subjects? My friends? ZASSHU."
And with that, you blast your hail of needles at Rin, who lunges out of the trees to avoid them - but takes at least two through one of her atrophied arm-stumps.
Now Rin's unpredictable attacks are being faced with your own. And unlike you, she's still reliant on sight.
Rin charges you, slinging her deadly blade directly at you. The blade, however, is clearly perceptible as far as you're concerned and you managed to sidestep it, before reversing to setting and firing a backside attack on Rin.
She has just enough time to turn her head and perceive it.
WHAM.
Rin slams herself facefirst into the ground as a rather clumsy, but efficient way of avoiding your attack. One clips her shoulder as she goes down, but the rest rip apart the trees in front of where she was standing.
Whipping up as if a coiled snake, she hurls her crystal blade at you.
It's a mighty attack that you don't have time to dodge, so instead you swing your rapier up and into it.
Charged with Rin's full muscle mass, it cleaves your rapier and deflects off to the side.
Not hesitating, Rin charges after it, her sleeves billowing after her, knowing she has to reclaim her weapon before you bring your own down on her.
Bringing your Needler to bear, you summon the needles to you as Rin's powerful leg muscles carry her ever closer to her blade.
Click. The needles ready for another attack, to reverse the setting and blast a hellish spiral of death upon Rin.
She lunges in a front roll, seizing the grip of her blade in her teeth as her inertia sends her tumbling.
This time, however, she catches an arm on that deadly spiral across her calf and gives a muffled scream into the grip of her blade.
Rising, she takes a lunge at you with blinding speed.
You raise the cleaved half of your rapier to defend and are blown back a good ten or so meters as you meager defense is pressed to its limit.
As you fall, you reverse the setting and send another hail at Rin.
This time, lacking the mobility to defend, she raises her blade and slinks into a low stance that minimizes frontal exposure.
You hear a flurry and packing sounds and clangs as some of your needles rip through her flesh whilst other ricochets off her blade.
She sacrificed a hell of pain to protect what mattered and managed to evade a critical hit.
Bloody and wounded, Rin surges back up and charges you.
Pressed to the ground as you are, you have to hope of either evasion or defense.
You raise your Needler, gritting your teeth.
Your only hope is to kill her before she kills you.
Channeling the full power of your noble phantasm, you blast the needles at Rin as a backside attack as she draws closer to you.
A lunging step carries her closer.
You can hear the hiss of your needles singing through the air.
Another step; you're close enough to smell the paint on her.
A final step as she draws into striking distance and launches an arc cleanly at your central mass.
FWFWFWFWFWFWFWFWFW.
Before the attack is completed, the mad girl is grilled from behind by your complete set of needles and blown to the ground, her scimitar flying off as her body goes limp.
Maintaining your composure, you straighten and stride towards the smell of blood: towards Rin.
You can just barely make out her breathing, faint and gurgling, but there.
If she gets immediate medical attention, she just might be able to survive.
Standing over your defeated enemy, you sense... nothing.
No fear, no sorrow, no joy: a lunatic facing the prospect of death with complete apathy.
Hanako, slumped into the ground, can just make out the scene: You standing over Rin's mangled body as she simply stares up at you with a vacant, soulless gaze.
Without changing your expression, you pull the trigger one finally time.
Thirty-three armored needles plunge directly through Rin's body and deep into the earth, staining the field with blood as she's shredded to death.
The sight of Rin's eyes is visible only to Hanako: they look exactly the same dead as alive.
Without lingering, you simply turn and calmly walk back to Hanako, helping her to her feet.
“Sorry Lilly… I’m really sorry…” Hanako mutters, weak from her wounds as you support her. “I’m sorry to make you worry… I used up my best trick already…”
“Your ‘best trick’? On what?” You ask, fighting down the flurry of questions that raises.
Hanako giggles weakly.
“Something… that’ll make you happy.”
Back in the forest, Akira had abandoned her knife. More accurately, she just let it fall to the ground.
Thankfully, she could still feel her arm – indicating no nerve damage; but less fortunately, the muscle-damage was great enough that she couldn’t move it. The limb was shredded.
The nurse, on the other hand, had ducked into cover, having received a compound fractured nose, two shots to the thigh, and two to the abdomen. She’d likely been trying to use her gun’s muzzle-jump to speed up his body to his head.
The attacks to his abdomen had been absorbed by his armor, but both shots to his leg had carried through the thinner fiber and worse, one was a solid hit to the femoral artery: his right leg was badly damaged now.
Now both combatants were looking at a time-limit before they succumbed to a severe set of injuries.
The Nurse made the first move, flicking three knives into each hand and hurling them out in in two dispersing arcs.
Akira dove through, allowing one to glance off her shoulder in exchange for avoiding the others.
As she evaded this attack, the Nurse made a lunge directly at her, pressing his body to the utmost limits of his speed and tearing apart his damaged leg as he exacerbated the gunshot wounds.
Rising and seeing the trio of claw-gripped knives, Akira managed to fling her body weight back and they tore through into the side of her gut rather than her heart, as originally intended. Pinning his enemy with one hand, the nurse brought forth his second clawed fist to finish her off.
Now that his agile but brittle opponent was trapped, unable to break away, he had her.
Back at the race track, Emi, unsurprisingly pulled up into first place with an astonishing burst of speed, hurdling towards the finish line.
Pulling ahead of everyone else with a crazed grin on her face, the girl catapulted through the finish line, the ribbon wrapping around her abdomen as the crowd roared with the thrill of her victory.
FWOOSH.
A split second later, that same ribbon burst into white-hot flames.
Too weak to talk as you carry her back, Hanako simply giggles and smiles to herself, musing over her plan in her mind.
Emi Ibarazaki always won, so it had been little conjecture as to who would touch the ceremonial finish line first.
In the storage shed, Hanako had smeared it with a thin coating of gel based on greek fire.
She smiled to herself.
Hurling herself into her runs with such passion, the girl had literally charged straight into a fire trap.
The naptha-fueled flames burning at several times the intensity of ordinary fire, Emi went down in an instant as her clothes disintegrated and she crashed into the ground, hurdling along with the inertia of her run as wrapped in flames.
It was like watching a shuttle crash.
Strangely, she didn’t seem to be in pain yet, her eyes simply widening in an expression of mild surprise.
The crowd erupted screaming and the racetrack quickly descended into pandemonium.
“Medic!” The announcer screamed. “Medic! To the track NOW! Emi Ibarazaki is down, I repeat Emi Ibarazaki is down!”
In the forest, the same impassioned cry echoed out.
“Medic! Emi Ibarazaki is down!” The announcer’s voice crackled from the race track.
This was the one thing that could have broken the nurse’s concentration.
Hearing Emi’s name, his instincts as a doctor overcame everything else and for the briefest instant his focus shifted from his opponent to Emi.
This moment of hesitation was all Akira needed.
The second his speed slowed gave her enough time to use a simple sleight-of-hand trick to flick out her .45-70 derringer and blow his heart out with a contact shot.

=========================================================================================================================

Part 14
Clutching a basket in one hand and a normal navigational cane in the other (definitely a change of pace) you make your way through the halls of the infirmary.
Your thoughts upon returning from the forest with Hanako could be best summarized with the phrase "What the fuck just happened?"
The school track field was in chaos, you smelled smoke, you had no idea what was happening with your sister, and Hanako was badly injured.
You were able to get Hanako to the medics in time and they took over on tending to her.
Then, while waiting anxiously on her treatment, your hearing picked up an admittance of someone with a 1.70 blood-alcohol content and learned that Akira had been admitted also, but was stable.
You have no idea what happened there.
Now you've had time to make a fast swing by your room and grab a pair of sequestered get-well presents.
Having little idea what happened in the forest past what you were present for yourself, you wonder whether to visit Hanako or Akira first...
Hanako's condition is stable and you know what caused it. Akira, on the other hand, is a mystery to you.
Makes sense to check on her first.
You find her room and enter.
"Akira?" You ask tentatively.
"Hey hey, sis!" She greets you, cheerful as ever.
“Hey there you two!” Akira greets you in your usual manner.
“Akira?” You ask, making your way to her before your cane strikes something hard. A wheel? She’s in a wheelchair?
“Akira? Wha? Ho? Are you?”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” She responds, not missing a beat. “Mostly just muscle-sheath damage. Would you shut the door please?”
In a haze, you comply and the portal emits a shifting sound as it’s closed and locked.
Satisfied, Akira chuckles to herself. "So, what would you like to know first?"
"What happened to you?" You ask one of several questions burning on your mind.
She gives a 'pomf' and begins to elaborate.
“I got into a tough fight that I wasn’t equipped for.” She summarizes. “Took a few nice slashes and puncture wounds.”
“Akira…” You begin, but she puts her hand on yours and gives a reassuring squeeze.
“Eh, don't worry about me. I thought it was just gonna be a simple sharpshooting gig, so I was armed for that instead of a CQC fight.”
You hear a light thumping as she pats her briefcase at her feet and for an instant her voice drops to a soft, threatening purr. “For a fight of this nature… I should have been carrying ‘that’.”
After a moment of ominous silence, she perks back up. "So yeah, the sniping gig was a bust, but from what I've been gathering in here, seems it wasn't really necessary."
"Who did you fight, Akira... and how did that happen?"
"Emi's doctor-friend. He was actually pretty good." She laughs softly. "Something worthwhile in this world. It's always nice to find those hidden treasures. You have any liquor on you, by the way? I've been running on fumes since Kenji was taking up most of my fridge space."
You giggle to yourself. Yeah, she's fine.
"Here." You reply, passing her a smuggled bottle of scotch, which she takes with a hearty "Thankye" and begins chugging.
"But Akira..." You continue. "How'd he know where you were?"
She finishes and makes a humming sound as she thinks. "Hm, now that I don't know. I wasn't followed. That's certain... Any chances you've been being spied on? Or that our communications were compromised?"
"Hm..." You muse as you think. "Do you think it's possible Shizune and Misha had something to do with it?"
Akira mulls this over for a minute, then responds. "It's possible, yes. I wouldn't put it past Shizune to simply figure it out if she had incentive."
She shifts about as if hoping for another bottle, which you have and give her. "It depends; how discreet have you been with Hisao? You done anything that might catch her eye?"
Come to think: too many to count, actually. You haven't been very discreet at all.
"Hm... yes... It's... erm... 'possible' I may have drawn a few eyes." You say, fidgeting slightly.
Akira hums for a minute, then takes another drink before replying. "Well, yeah, quite likely then. Did you notice anything at the track?"
With the absurdity of that question, you realize Akira doesn't actually know about your battle with Rin.
Or Hanako - who suddenly jumps back to the forefront of your mind.
Pausing a moment, think of how to summarize concisely, you say. "I... wasn't actually at the track, Akira... Hanako got into a spot of trouble."
"What kind?"
"The kind where a sword-wielding psychopath jumps you." You rise and release Akira's hand. "I'll go check on her now if it's ok with you. I'll bring her over when I'm done."
Your sister gives a wistful sigh. "Alright... I'll wait."
"Thanks, Akira." And you leave her behind you as you exit the room.
Locating Hanako's room after a few moments of search, you delicately ease the door open as you knock.
"Hanako?"
"Lillyyyy..." She purrs in a dreamy voice - possibly due to your presence or possibly a bit hazy on pain meds.
You enter and shut the door before crossing over and settling down on her bed. Even in her current state, she manages to slither up and hug you.
"Are you alright, Lilly?"
"My, my. I should be asking you that, Hanako. What did the doctors say?"
She continues clinging to you as she explains. "A bit of blood loss, muscle damage, two cracked ribs, with a lot of burn wounds..."
She seems as confused by that as you are. What kind of madness was Rin using?
"I-I'm definitely going to be adding to my scars... Y-You won't mind it thought, r-right?"
She seems to be nervous again for some reason.
You pat her head. "Of course not. Don't be silly, Hanako... I'm just happy you're alright. What were you doing out there?"
"Well, I t-t-thought that since Emi was in your way... I could do you a favor... Rin came out of nowhere..." She trails off.
After a moment, she suddenly becomes more animated. "I-I saw you lose two of your canes.. I'm really sorry about that, Lilly."
You stroke her hair, but decide to pick her mind a little more. "So... what exactly did you do?"
She nuzzles into you for a moment, then begins. "W-Well. It started last Sunday when Hisao left me that book on Byzantine alchemy. After you came to me later on, I started wondering how I could help you... and there was a recipe for Greek fire in there..."
'Wait, what?' You think to yourself.
"I dropped by Akira's to get the materials and make sure I wouldn't be in her way. I set up a fire trap for Emi."
'Sunday?'
She giggles and nuzzles into you. "I-I think it worked. Did it work? Are you happy, Lilly?"
You smile at her and put your arms around her. "Yes. I don't even know whether or not it worked but your devotion means a lot to me..."
Still...
"But Hanako?" You remark. "Sunday? Last Sunday... Hisao was in the city with me... the entire day."
You feel Hanako's head shoot straight up as she looks straight in the direction of the sky for no reason at all.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHH?!?!?!?!"
[Meanwhile]
In the student council room, Misha is building a card castle while Shizune monitors the casualty reports from the massacre earlier.
Kenji is officially being dubbed the ‘monster of Yamaku’ – responsible for two murders and several critical injuries. Checking the computer, she already finds /b/ mocking him for not killing enough people.
Giving a contented sigh, she leans back into her chair and stretches before signing to Misha.
[Well, that went off nicely, I think.]
[I hope it was worth-it] Misha replies, her eyes bearing the dark rings of sleep-deprivation. [So Shicchan… Does this have something to do with why you left that book for Hanako?]
She presses a finger against her glasses and smiles.
[Or course. It was just common sense that she’d accept it. I found that Lilly’d been leaving Hanako food while I was attempting to track down the doughnut box that disappeared from the council room.]
Misha perks up. [Does that mean you’re going to apologize for calling me fat?]
[No.]
She hangs her head dejectedly. “wahaha.”
Shizune doesn’t respond and continues. [I knew that’d she’d been growing more unstable and figured that the probability of her developing an unhealthy attachment to Lilly was high: if she had a chance to help Lilly, she’d do it. All I had to do was put the gun in her hand.]
Misha doesn’t answer, but gives a slight twitch at the mention of Hisao.
After a moment. [So did things turn out the way you wanted?]
[More or less. I was hoping Akira and the Nurse would kill each other, but one dying and one being injured wasn’t a bad consolation prize.]
She twirls a pencil with one hand and signs with the other. [Emi worked out about as well as I’d hoped. Rin’s death was an unexpected outcome, but not at all an unwelcome one.]
She smiles and rises.
[Now Lilly’s been considerably weakened and three very troublesome obstacles are removed. All without us having to dirty ourselves.] She crosses the room and gives a contented smile to Misha. [Swords can only defeat one enemy at a time. Tactics can defeat many.]
Misha gives a half-hearted smile and stares at her with those gold eyes.
[Alright Misha.] Shizune signs. [NOW it’s time to make our move.]
[End meanwhile]
Back in Hanako’s room, you simply allow the slightly inebriated girl to cuddle you for a moment.
“Oh, by the way, Hanako.” You say, reaching into your bag. “I got you a present.”
She perks up. “H-huh?”
From your bag, you withdraw an intricate porcelain doll and hand it to her.
“It used to be mine when I was little, but I think you’d be a better owner.” You tell her with a broad smile.
She takes it breathlessly. You seem to have timed it right.
To lighten the mood a bit, you scrunch your mouth in thought and monologue. “For some reason – my family’s always owned a lot of porcelain stuff… Our tea sets, the ceramic weapons Akira and I use… There’s even a family legend that one of our ancestors used a porcelain dagger to kill the mighty pirate Threepwood.”
You turn and kiss her forehead. “My former family, that is. The one I have now is so much better…”
“L-lilly…” She purrs.
You smile and hug her for a moment.
You’re glad her mood has improved. You’d feel alright with letting her rest now, seeing as how she’s half-asleep already.
You give Hanako a light goodnight kiss to the forehead and rise.
"Alright Hanako, just rest now. I'll be by again to check on you later."
As you rise, she loses her support and flops back to her bed, still clutching your doll to her chest. "A-Alright, Lilly..."
With a final smile, you exit the room and gently close the door behind you.
You meander back towards Akira's room at a slow pace, debating how to best summarize this new information and its implications...
In Hanako’s darkened room, the girl lays there in a daze, staring at the beautiful token of friendship you’ve given her.
“We really are a family… We really are…” Hanako mumbles, doting on your kindly smile.
Although she’s glad she could help, she feels a strong pang of remorse at the way things played out.
Battling Rin, you dodged death by a hair’s breadth. It’s exactly that kind of situation she wanted to avoid.
Furrowing her brow, she makes an oath to herself that she needs to become stronger for you. By any means necessary.
She closes her eyes.
Delving deep within herself, she feels her long-suppressed emotions. The sorrow of being alone, the rage she felt at being belittled. The anger, the longing.
With a smile, she brings all these emotions to the forefront of her consciousness – burying whatever sense of timidity or weakness that remained.
Hanako feels herself change and basks in the feeling.
Sitting there, alone in the dark, she breaks the stillness and emits a low, eerie giggle.
Back in Akira’s room, you finish relaying the situation as you understand it.
Your sister sighs. “Well then; sounds like you’ve made some good progress towards Hisao, although the cost was high, it’s nothing irreconcilable.”
True, Akira’s wounded but in no danger. Hanako should be discharged within a day or two. You’ve lost some combat strength, but managed to keep everyone alive, at least.
“I won’t be able to run around for a couple weeks while my muscle sheath regenerates.” She sighs. “Why couldn’t I have been in some shitty shounen series where mortal wounds heal in fifteen seconds?”
“Akira…” You say in a concerned tone.
She hushes you by reaching up and squeezing your hand. “So I’ve decided to stay at Yamaku while I heal up. I can at least offer advice.”
“Akira? Are you sure that’s safe?” You ask.
She actually laughs at your concern and once more pats her briefcase. “No worries at all. I was caught unprepared in that forest. Now though… I have ‘that’.”
It’s true and you know it. The ultimate prize of the person actively seeking out everything beautiful in the world… The perfect treasure…
Akira’s noble phantasm.
“So don’t worry about me.” She concludes, or seems to, but then makes a noise of hesitation before restarting her speech. “Although… I’d still like it if you could visit once in a while…”
You wrap your arms around your sister and hug her, smiling. “Of course I will.”
“Hehe! Great!”
You linger there for the rest of the night, making small talk, playing games, and pondering the tactical situation.
You’ve been weakened… but not defeated. Emi's been removed from the picture. All that remains between you and Hisao’s heart is your lifelong nemesis…
“Shizune.”

=========================================================================================================================

Part 15
You linger in Akira's room for a while, spending a bit of time with her.
Hanako's resting in her room and may be discharged soon, as her wounds aren't debilitating. As for her mental health... you're not really sure whether that's worse or better.
Passing a flask back and forth, Akira entertains you with some trivial stories of her exploits since you've moved to Yamaku.
"So then my buddy told us all not to speak Russian...."
Inwardly, your mind trails off and turns towards Hisao.
From what you overheard from the staff, it seems that he went to the ER with Emi...
There's no way she'd be receiving visitors, though, even if she isn't dead already.
He might just be skulking in the waiting room.
Your stomach churns at the thought.
Having made sure that your sister and best friend are in one piece, you might want to see how he's doing now.
Deciding that you should go check on Hisao, you rise once you feel Akira's at a decent stopping point.
"Pardon, Akira. But I think I should go check on Hisao... I'm rather worried."
"No problem. It's completely understandable."
"I'll be by to visit you again soon, ok?"
"Sure."
And with that exchange, you exit and head through the halls of the infirmary. It's nighttime now and the halls are mostly silent.
As you approach the ER, though, you hear a pacing rhythm of footfalls, back and forth, back and forth...
"Hello?" You call.
"Huh? Oh... Hey Lilly..." You hear Hisao's voice answer dryly before he resumes his pacing.
"Hisao?"
No response.
He seems only half-there... not unlike how Hanako was at her birthday last year... It stings your heart to think of him in that same way now.
Better trend delicately here...
"So Hisao?" You ask in a low but positive tone. "How are you doing?"
He stops pacing and silence permeates the room for a moment, then flatly replies. "I'm fine."
This is somewhat less than convincing.
"Hisao..." You say, walking up and taking his hand.
He sighs deeply, then states. "Emi didn't make it."
The flush of joy you feel at this news is offset by the impact it's seeming to have on your man.
He breaks away from your grasp and slumps into one of the waiting room chairs.
"Hisao?" You ask.
"Heh. I wonder... Could it have been this way for me?" He doesn't seem to be speaking to you. It's more like a monologue. "When I was first rushed into the ER... I came out... But it really could have gone this way, too, couldn't it?"
You have a seat next to him and gently put your arm over his shoulder.
"Hisao... it's alright. Really... It's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done."
He hesitates for a moment, then simply states. "Yeah. I know."
His mood doesn't seem to have improved.
You sit there in silence for a few minutes, then he adds. "Emi... made me feel strong."
After that, he quiets himself. You make a couple other attempts to make him talk, but none of them work.
Maybe you should have brought him a coffee or something... Anything to get a reaction. This catatonic state is crushing.
You sit there in silence with your arm around his limp frame until one of the nurses kicks you out.
You head back to your dorms in silence. Hisao blankly returns your 'goodnight' and vanishes, leaving you with a major factor to consider.
The next morning, your internal clock kicks you awake earlier than usual.
After all, you wanted it this way. There's oodles to do now.
Preparing yourself for the day, you twirl your needler absentmindedly as you debate who to attend to first.
Smiling, you make a fresh thermos of R'lyeh vanilla tea and head over to the infirmary to see Hanako.
"Lilly..." You hear her call as you ease the door open and smile to yourself.
You were trying not to wake her in the offhand chance she was sleeping. So much for that idea.
"Good morning, Hanako." You reply as you enter. "Feeling better today?"
She gives a low giggle as you draw closer. "Starting off my day like this... how could I not be?"
You tilt your head slightly, not comprehending her statement. Then you simply shrug it off and pour two screaming cups of tea.
Hanako holds your hand for a bit longer than usual as she takes it.
"Eheheh. So Lilly... How about you?"
"Hm?"
"How about you? Lilly..."
She sounds out your name slowly and softly before continuing. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing rather well, actually." You reply, giving your hand a reassuring squeeze. "Emi's no longer a factor, after all."
"Hm?" Hanako purrs.
"Oh, she succumbed to her injuries last night." You give her a smile. "Thank you ever so much for that, Hanako."
She remains speechless for a moment, then erupts into a fit of low giggles. "Ehehe! Ehehehe... Yay..."
She tugs your hand and pulls you over into a hug.
"I knew it'd be alright... I knew it... All I had to do... was kiiiii-iiillll heeer..." She actually sings that last part. "I'm happy that you're happy."
"My, my, Hanako. I'm glad to hear it." You reply as she releases you.
"They should be letting me out of here either today or tomorrow... What else is there? What else can I do for you?"
"Hm... Well, there may be something you could do later..."
"I'm all ears Lilly."
You smile. "When you get out... try to keep an eye on Shizune and Misha? They're my last obstacle before Hisao's all mine..." It's your turn to trail off dreamily with that last bit.
"Yeah... I'd be happy to do more..." She tells you before softly giggling again.
"Thank you, Hanako."
"Anytime. Ehehe."
As Hanako begins a humming an odd tune under her laugh, the bell rings. Bidding her farewell, you head off to class.
Normally it's useless and you know it, but Hisao's still attending class as far as you know. Better to put yourself closer to him.
Sadly, you don't manage to 'accidentally' bump into him in the hallway and head off to another hypnotic boredom-seminar.
After an uneventful morning session, you ready yourself for lunch. Still though; who to have it with?
Concerned as you are about Hisao, you decide you should go spend some time with Akira.
After all, she was injured fighting for you without the proper equipment.
Heading over to the infirmary with the bestial sound of WAHAHAs echoing through the hallway, you arrive to utter stillness.
You don't hear anyone speaking.
Your cane strikes a still body on the floor.
They're dead. Everyone's de-
One of the bodies suddenly lurches to life and vomits.
Oh, they're not dead. Just drunk.
You're glad to see Akira's settled in already.
Making your way through Akira's alcoholic temple, you open her door.
"Hey hey!" You hear her call to you from the direction of the window.
"Hello Akira." You greet your sister with a smile. "How are you?"
You hear a tapping sound begin coupled with footfalls. Akira must be using a cane for now.
"Oh, I'm ok. Been making myself at home, as you've probably noticed."
"Eheh." You giggle. "I may have noted something of the sort."
Akira flops down in her chair with an exhale. "So, what can I do for ya?"
"Oh nothing." You reply, settling yourself down next to her in the oversized easy chair and poking one of her hair-spikes. "I just came to visit you. No other occasion."
"Ehehe!" She laughs heartily. "Aw. Thanks. Much appreciated."
Leaning up against her, you realize that you can actually feel her ribs.
"Akira... Are you... alright?"
"Huh? Nothing's happened since you saw me yesterday."
You scrunch your face up a bit in disapproval. "I meant in general." You poke her side. "You've lost weight, haven't you?"
"Oh, that." You feel her shrug. "I just haven't been paying much attention to the Akira-channel lately, I guess." She puts her arm around you. "Not to worry, though. I took care of everything 'you' asked me to do with the utmost care."
She sighs. "That said, I kinda wish I'd had the time to fix my own Needler. You know, the original model I based yours off of... That would've been small enough to carry..."
She sighs and trails off, leaving you wondering exactly how much she really did neglect for your sake.
You shrug and snuggle again her. "Well, don't let that happen again, ok, sis?"
"Hehe. Roger that!"
She doesn't get it. You sigh, then lift your hand and feel Akira's face. "I mean it. About yourself. Seriously... don't let yourself go like that again."
"Lilly..." With your hand on her face, you can make out her expression as a pleased brand of startlement.
"Seriously, Akira. I didn't want you to run yourself down like this... Please... take better care of yourself."
She smiles. "...ok. I promise."
The rest of your lunch session is passed reminiscing about some of the times you spent together as children. Akira seems much happier when she talks about that...
After a bit of pleasant nostalgia, the bell rings and you head back to class.
It passes in a daze. Really... what the hell were you thinking? Treating someone so close to you as an exploitable resource... That's something Shizune would do.
And speaking of people close to you...
The ending bell rings and you wander out, turning your thoughts to Hisao. Your hope for a future to couple to the pleasant past you shared with Akira.
On that note, Hanako also factors in... for some reason, you have a feeling that she'll want to be a part of this future as well... Perhaps you should go visit her if it's necessary.
Or maybe you should just sit on everything for today. It seems to have worked out well enough.
Yes... Hisao's had some time to mull over his circumstances...
You may as well drop by and see him.
You head over to the his dorm room and knock.
"Hisao? It's Lilly."
No reply.
You cast your sharpened hearing into the room and detect nothing. No sign of life; no movement, no breathing rhythm.
Odd... where else would he be?
There's the library... That odd club he was starting with Mutou...
Normally you could just ask Hanako, but unfortunately she was sidelined today.
Shizune would definitely know, but there's no way in hell she'd tell you...
Hm? What about Misha?
You've helped her out a couple times so she may return the favor...
You decide that it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to ask Misha to help you and make your way to her room.
She's considerably easier to find. You simply head over to her dorm and knock.
"Hello?"
A shuffling sound instantly greets you, followed by a dragging sound. Then the door opens.
"Uhh...." You hear her yawn. That's right... she does usually go to bed early... "Oh, good morning Lilly... Or is it night? Wahaha."
You smile to yourself.
"Still early afternoon, Misha."
"Oh... ok then..." She seems to be lacking in her usual energy.
"I'm sorry to disturb your slumber, but would you happen to know where Hisao is?"
"Huh? Hicchan?" She replies, thinking. "Oh right... he wasn't in class today."
"What? Really? Why?"
"I dunno..." She yawns again. "I saw him coming back here though... he was running laps around the track field... Maybe he's still there?"
You smile and pat her shoulder. Oh, she's wrapped in a blanket... that's what the dragging sound was.
"Thanks Misha. I appreciate it."
"Don't mention it." She pauses and sighs. "Make him better, ok? Wahaha."
And with that, she heads back into hibernation and you make for the track at a brisk pace.
Sure enough, you detect a rhythmic set of footfalls once you arrive.
"Hisao?!" You call out.
They stop. "Oh. Hi Lilly." He dryly calls back before making his way over to you. "Need something?"
"Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure you were alright..." You answer. "I mean... you seemed a bit... perturbed yesterday."
He scoffs. "I'm ok." There it is again, that distant tone of voice reminiscent of Hanako's.
He turns to go, but you catch him by the hand. "Really, Hisao? This... isn't like you..."
You can catch the scent of his sweat on the breeze...
It's a heavy scent.
How long has he been running down here? Is this safe for his heart?
"Really... I'll be ok." He replies in that same flat voice. He might be in a state of runner's high right now.
You sigh inwardly. It's a bit agitating that he's distanced himself so much. You wish he'd talk to you...
"I'm fine." He repeats, tugging away slightly.
One thing you're certain of is that he's clearly not 'fine'.
"Hisao..."
“Hisao, please.” You reply. “You’re not ‘alright’. I can tell.”
He sighs and chuckles a bit. “Can you? Really? What gave me away?”
You dislike that morose tone. “Hisao… you’re not talking to anyone. You’re working yourself way harder than you should be. You skipped class. This thing’s eating you… Please…”
He’s silent for a moment, then. “How’d you know I skipped class?”
“Misha told me. She’s worried about you, too, Hisao.”
He breathes a sigh. “You asked Misha about me?”
“She’s worried about you. We all are.”
He tugs away again. “Just… let me be…”
“Hisao. Please… this isn’t healthy… Emi wouldn’t have wanted you to be this upset either.”
“… You don’t get it…”
“Hisao? What? Tell me. What don’t I get?”
“Just… leave me alone.” He replies quietly.
“Tell me. What is it, Hisao?"
Suddenly, with a violence you've never seen before, Hisao rips his arm out of your grasp.
“Yes. You’re right! I’m damaged, ok?! I'm broken! I'm really and truly fucked up! I’ve said it, are you happy?!” He’s shouting at you now, genuinely angry.
“I get reminded choking down pills every day when I wake up or try to fall asleep! When I lie awake because of the insomnia! When I try to climb a hill and find myself heaving! Everything I fucking DO reminds me of that!”
You’re speechless. You’ve never heard him even raise his voice.
“Emi was the only person who didn’t treat me like I was made out of fucking glass. I almost felt like I was a normal person again! And now that’s gone?! Now you think I need to be ‘fixed’?!”
He gives a dry, mocking laugh, completely devoid of actual joy.
“Just… Leave me alone. Seriously. Go.”
And with that, he turns and heads back to the track, leaving you standing there speechless.
The breeze blowing against you might as well be a tidal wave. You feel as if you’ve had something vital drained out of you.
Where… did you go wrong? Did you love him the wrong way? How… did you drive him to this?
You run over this loop a thousand times in your mind as you stand there, dumbstruck. Replaying these questions over and over. Even when you know it’s fruitless.
There’s nothing you can say now. Nothing you can do. There was a finality in his voice when he told you “Go.”
Realizing that, you crumple to your knees and begin to sob. Hisao is lost to you.
[BAD END]

=========================================================================================================================

Part 16
"Oh... Hey Lilly..." Hisao gets you dully as you move onto the track. "Did you need something?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing at all, Hisao." You reply with a calm smile. "I was just in the area and wondered you could be down here."
"Oh. Yeah... Just me." He responds.
"Do you mind if I stay for a bit?"
"Hm? No. I guess not." He replies in a puzzled tone, given that there's really nothing for you to do down here.
"Thank you." You say, sliding to a seat on one of the bleachers.
After a moment of silence, Hisao resumes his laps around the track. Mentally, you keep a close watch on his position - quite easy given that you two are the only people down here.
This continues for a time, then after another round, Hisao breaks from the tracks and slumps into the bleachers next to you, panting.
You're concerned for his heart... but he seems alright. You wait for him to talk... if he feels like it.
"Hehe." He begins a dry chuckle after catching his breath. "Beat my record..."
"Congratulations." You say, putting your hand on his - which is still a bit sweaty, not that you mind.
"Haa... Well... I guess I need to set the bar higher next time..." His voice takes on an airy quality, as if quoting someone. "Just set try for better next time..."
You're about to inquiry what he's getting at, but suddenly a rustling off in the direction of the path back to school catches your attention.
You stay silent and keep your hand on Hisao's for a little until he hears it too. Then you address them.
"Who's there?" You inquire.
...
No answer. That means it's that fucking deaf bitch.
A stiff pace of footfalls comes over towards you and Hisao frees up his hands so he can sign to her.
She doesn't linger though, just stuffs a note into his hand and retreats.
"Hm?" You make a noise of inquiry. "My, my. Was that Shizune?"
"Oh, yeah." Hisao replies as he slips the note into his pocket before giving a laugh.
"Hehe... She's calling in a favor I owe the Student Council. Apparently, now I have to go help them with some graduation paperwork."
He laughs again. "Seriously? Now, of all times, Shizune?"
It doesn't seem like that most tactful thing to you either, but it seems as if Hisao's taking it as a joke.
"Ha... Yeah..." He muses, half to you, half to himself. "She's right, actually... Life has to go on..."
You scrunch your mouth up a bit, but say nothing.
It's a simple message that you both understand. 'Events only have as much significance as you yourself place on them. Dwelling on an event only exacerbates its severity."
You smile to yourself... Perhaps you'll make Shizune's death a quick one.
My, my... What do you owe those two for?" You inquire.
"Oh... They kept covering for me whenever I'd miss class to be with Emi.”
He sighs and then continues. “After all, we don't all get Hanako's leniency there."
Before you can think of a good comment on that, he suddenly and sharply inhales as if remembering. "How IS Hanako, anyways? I mean, not to pry, but I heard she'd been admitted to the infirmary when I was there."
He quickly clarifies his outburst, then pauses for a moment and addends. "Um... Is she alright?"
It’s a sharp change of tone, as if he’d just been jolted awake.
As for what you should say about Hanako…
"Oh, Hanako?" You reply with a smile. "I saw her just earlier today, actually. She's doing quite well."
He sighs. "Well, that's good to hear."
Feeling that he'd be a bit more open to contact now, you nudge closer and squeeze his hand. "Would you like to come with me to see her tomorrow?"
"Huh? Me?"
"Of course. She'd like it, I think."
"Hm... ok, yeah. Yeah, we can do that."
You smile and let the silence of the evening breeze take hold for a moment, then-
"Lilly?"
"Hm?"
"Um... you're... ok, too... right?"
"Hisao?"
"After yesterday... I mean..."
You blush slightly at his concern. "I'm quite well, Hisao."
Actually, you missed being horribly murdered by Rin by about a tenth of a second, but he doesn't need to know that part.
Hm... actually... that gives you an idea. Rin's weapon... it still might be there...
The two of you sit together in silence for a little while, enjoying each other's company. You're quite glad Hisao seems to be coming out of his angst, though your sense of victory in that is very much soured by the fact that Shizune helped...
After a bit, you feel Hisao rise and stretch. "Uh... My, my, I'm tired." He stops dead. A freezing, all-consuming silence permeates the world around you both. "Holy shit. Did 'I' just say 'my, my'?!"
You unsuccessfully try to fight down a fit of giggles. "Ehehe... It's addicting, it's it?"
You both share a small laugh at this unholy anomaly.
"Well, I'm gonna be heading back in." Hisao finally says. "Would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?"
"Hm... I think I'll linger around just a while longer, Hisao." You reply with a small smile.
"Ok then." He replies. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He turns to leave and takes a few steps before stopping. "And Lilly... thanks."
With that closing statement, he departs, leaving you seated on the bleachers with a contented smile on your face.
You wait a bit, basking in daydreams 'involving' Hisao until the boy himself is well away.
You then pick yourself up and head to the forest where you fought Rin.
Night has fallen, but one of the benefits to being blind is that it doesn't really matter so much to you.
You easily locate the clearing and cast about with your perceptions.
The madness of Rin permeates the clearing, corrupting everything in the area.
Two squirrels are trying to strangle each other, you pass a stray cay drawing smiley faces in its own blood, more than once your cane strikes a tree-root that's begun to grow up. In the treetops over you, a family of owls is chipping the tune of 'crazy train' by Ozzy Osbourne.
Thunk. Your navigational cane strikes a hard substance.
There, embedded in the trunk of a tree which it struck when Rin released it, is the crystalline blade.
The sword in the tree.
Still charged with the full might of Rin's madness, insanity permeates the environment surrounding it.
The air feels heavy and tastes like paint.
Sounds register as if from underwater.
You feel the darkness in your mind flaring up as you face the evil weapon.
There's a powerful aura about it... A mighty weapon... but... charged with the most malevolent of auras...
You delve deep within and summon forth all your majesty and charisma.
Impassioned, you cast aside your useless cane and cry out.
"I, LILLY SATOU, HEIR TO THE LEGACY OF SIR ALASDAIR THE DEVASTATOR AND THE CHOSEN REGENT OF SAINT ANDREW HEREBY LAY CLAIM TO THEE AS THE RIGHTFUL LEIGE OF SCOTLAND!"
And with that, you thrust out your hand and seize the hilt of the malevolent blade.
A tempest erupts throughout your mind as the madness of Rin permeates your being.
Horrific images flood through your soul.
The scent of blood fills your nostrils.
The gritty feeling of pastel shavings covers your body.
Gnashing your teeth, you feel the soulless gaze of Rin creeping over your body and hurl every fiber of your being into resisting the unholy power.
Her emptiness attempts to dominate your being.
You hear voices telling you that this universe is a fictitious website creation.
You can feel butterflies landing on your skin.
You wonder what white tastes like.
The environment around dissolves in a cacophony of screams, you hear the sound of an axe being sharpened.
Rin’s soullessness attempts to consume you, shooting tidal waves of lunacy throughout your very being.
Your personality begins to wash away under the torrent of eternal darkness.
No.
Biting down, you contort your face into a mask of focus and stoke your inner radiance.
Even if the darkness shall crawl within you forever, you shall never relinquish yourself.
FWOOSH.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, the battle of wills ends.
Utter stillness.
You are left standing there, alone in the silent clearing, clutching the gleaming scimitar, pulsating with brilliant purple energy.
Wait… purple?
How do you know that?
You just… do. It feels… purple.
You reach a hand up and touch your hair… It’s blonde.
Drooping your eyelids to half-mast, you slowly leave the clearing, cradling the blade of insanity in your palm.
Your trophy from the clash between the madness of Rin Tezuka and the charisma of Lilly Satou.
It’s a strong weapon… Yes. Perfect for slicing apart Shizune and using her brain matter as a pigment vehicle.
As you walk, you become dimly aware of the butterflies encircling overhead.
You smile vacantly as you walk. “Mymythatwasaratherexhilaratingaffair.”
Having done all that you needed to, you head back to your dorm and crash for the night.
The next morning, you awaken reluctantly and stretch out before preparing yourself.
Feeling the texture of the cloth as you don your uniform, you wonder why exactly Yamaku uses Slytherin-colors.
You shrug.
Finishing preparing, you ponder who you should go to visit first.
It's actually a rather nice feeling to be popular...
You decide to go visit Akira, wondering if she can offer any insight as to how you can channel the power of your new weapon.
Also, you wonder if her hair is the same color as yours.
You walk to the infirmary at a casual pace, taking in your surroundings as you go.
Reaching Akira's section of the hospital, you find it largely unchanged since the last time you were there.
Everyone's either dead or drunk. Or dead-drunk. And several are groveling outside her door, offering prayers of praise to the true king.
"Heya!" She greets you cheerfully as you swing the portal to her room open. "Gooooood morning."
"Good morning, Akira." You say, giving her a smile.
"Oooooh." You hear her emote as she observes your insidious scimitar. "Shiny. That new?"
"Yes... It's new... Kind of..." You say, holding it up.
You launch into an explanation, delivered with a bit more rapidity than is typical for you, about Rin's fall and how you claimed the blade last night.
"Huh." She replies in an amused tone as you finish. "Cool."
Before you can stop her, she reaches her own hand out and takes the scimitar in her own hands.
A rush of wind permeates the room as the lunacy of the blade assails your sister's mind just as it did yours.
The horrors, the darkness, a burning hatred for whoever made acrylic paint so lumpy. All the terror, all the insanity of Rin permeates Akira. And...
She chuckles.
"All the madness in the world? Bring thrice that if you want to stain 'me'."
Unconcerned, she flops back down into her easy chair and begins to ponder the evil scimitar.
After twirling the sword around in her hands for a moment, she stabs it into the floor and leaves it there.
"I see. A cursed blade, huh? Kind of like that one with the eye I took from that dude with blue armor."
Akira having taken the blade, you feel a bit lightheaded and slink down next to your sister. "So... you're familiar with it, then?"
She giggles and puts her arm around you.
"Yup yup. It's in my wheelhouse. What do you want to know?"
"If you're familiar with it, then tell me..." You ask, snuggling up against her lean figure. "Is there a way to control it? To channel the madness?"
Akira doesn't say anything, but strokes your hair for a moment as she thinks.
"Not really 'control' per se - but there are ways to suppress it, yes..."
You sigh. There's always a catch.
"And how would that work?"
"Easy, I just build you a purifying sheath. I could even make it look like a cane... though obviously you won't be able to fold it."
Akira ruffles your hair and then takes a long swig of whiskey before continuing. "Would you like me to do that?"
You smile at Akira. "Would you Akira? Would you please? I'd be ever so grateful..."
"Hehe! No problem!" She replies and cuddles you. "It'll take me about a day. Maybe two. Drop by and see me later, ok?"
You nuzzle against your sister. "You're the best."
With that, the school bell rings and you shuffle off to class.
Class happens. You know how this shit goes. As far as high school is concerned, you could be smoking paint-thinner in the parking lot and get the same level of education.
When the lunch bell rings, you exit and...
"Hey Lilly." A voice you've sorely missed.
"Hisao." You reply with a sweet smile, taking his arm. "Ready to go?"
"Mhm!"
You walk there in silence, savoring the feeling of nuzzling against him again. He seems a bit tired, but otherwise back to normal.
"Oh by the way..." He breaks the stillness as you walk into the building. "I heard your sister was admitted... Akira?"
"Oh, don't worry about her... She's been through way worse. You should have seen her after Fuyuki."
"Well, if you say so..."
It's actually kind of touching that he'd be showing concern to someone her barely knows because of their connection with you.
You suppose you could have a small visit with Akira if you wanted... Let those two get to know each other a little better since they're both sober.
Or at least he is. Akira probably has extra organs for processing liquor by now.
On the other hand, you did originally come here to visit Hanako, although she doesn't know that...
You decide it's best to just stick with the original plan and go to see Hanako.
Opening her door, you're greeted by a 'Lilly... Oh... And Hisao? Hiiiii..." The sings softly in an airy voice.
"Hey there, Hanako." Hisao begins. "How are you feelings?"
"Gooood... Gooood... How about you, Hisao? Are you feeling good? 'Blessed' maybe?"
"Er..."
Intervening, you take one hand off Hisao's arm and take Hanako's hand. "We're both quite well Hanako."
She seems to accept this and giggles.
"We decided we'd drop by and have lunch with you." Hisao indicates.
"Aw... That's so sweet."
Hisao dolls out a trio of bentos and you all dig in.
What to talk about?
"So Hanako?" You ask as you finish up. "Do you know when you're expected to get out?"
"Oh." She piques up. "They said I should be released later tonight, actually."
"Really?" Hisao ask. "That soon?"
"Ehehe.. Yup, yup... I was able to fool them into thinking some of my injuries were scars I already had."
She giggles.
"Losing a leaf within a foooorest..." She hums to herself.
Hisao (justifiably) doesn't know how to respond to that and shifts to you to take over.
You gently squeeze her hand. "My, my. Just take care not to overdo it. Ok, Hanako?"
"Ehe! Aw..." She caresses your hand a bit. "Ok, Lilly. I'd hate to make either of you two sad..."
The rest of your lunch break is passed with idle chit-chat. Hanako informs you both that the quality of hospital food has gotten better since her last visit.
"Really? Holy shit, I'd hate to think what it was like before my turn..." Hisao shivers.
You move to make a comment, but the bell rings and you both bid farewell to Hanako and head back to your respective classes.
In afternoon period, your teacher has a seizure. A nice change of pace.
Getting out for the day, you wonder who you should spend your afternoon with...
You decide to go and escort Hanako back.
You're sure it would make her day... Of late, she's giving the impression that she literally 'needs' you.
Arriving at the infirmary, in the hallway, you're greeted by the soft sound of "Lilly..." and then a quick almost dancelike set of footfalls as Hanako skips over and embraces you.
'Her movements always used to be so stiff...' You muse to yourself as she snuggles into your chest. You smile down at her and stroke her hair.
"I came to walk you back. You don't mind that, do you?"
"Nope nope... Please... Let's waaaalk away." She replies without hesitation.
She releases you for the briefest of moments to finish filling out the paperwork and promptly re-attaches herself to you.
"Lilly..."
You can only smile at her as you both head back to the female dorms.
Walking back with her, you find Hanako oddly quiet. And always facing you, occasionally stopping to nuzzle against you.
“So Lilly…” She tells you as you both get back to her room and shut yourselves in. “Please… tell me… tell me… What’s happened while I’ve been bedridden?”
“Hanako…” You reply as you go about the process of setting up your normal tea set with a slight smile. “As I said, I’d rather you not exert yourself…”
She catches your arm.
“Please…” It’s a genuine tone of pleading. “I want to be helpful…”
You pause for a moment, then return a smile and nod. Evidently it’s the reaction she wanted, because she starts giggling softly as you both settle down onto her bed.
Where to start…
[Meanwhile]
In Hisao’s room, he holds a sobbing Misha, who snuggles against him.
“Really… I really tried… I tried so hard… to make her happy…”
Her head is buried into his chest, as if she’s speaking directly into his scar.
Those gold eyes, normally so bright, are flat and moist with tears. “It’s… like she won’t ever let me in… Like she can’t talk to me for anything past work…”
She shivers and clutches him, shivering, devoid her normal enthusiasm or cheer.
“Like I’m… a bad friend…”
“Misha…” He replies, holding her to him at a complete loss for words.
She raises her head and stares into his eyes for what seems like an eternity.
Finally, she speaks softly.
“Please comfort me, Hicchan. Just for today.”