Mikan's Little Twin

Chapter 116: The end of an Era

"Capture them!" A voice belts throughout the room.

All heads turn towards the elementary principal who was no longer surrounded by Natsume's flames. He glares at the children with indescribable hatred, "Don't let them escape!"

The Fuukitai don't waste any time and reach for the students. One grabs Akako by the hair and lifts her head up until they can grab her by the arms. Tsubasa reaches towards the floor, grabbing the man's shadow and halting him in his actions. He looks up at Akako, eyes widening at the sight of the girl.

Her eyes are clenched shut in pain from being held up by her hair, tears streaming down her face. His eyes wander down to her injured body that still tries to fight, eyes landing on the collar of her shirt. "Akako..." Tsubasa sees the poor state of the girl, a raging anger filling his being.

His teeth grind together as the boy's eyes zero in on the principal who is screaming like a maniac. "Even at this time... compared to the life of students, his desires even-!" Tsubasa's voice begins raising.

Akako is dropped by the man who held her, crashing to the floor while Tsubasa rushes to his feet to charge towards the principal.

Mikan's eyes slowly crack open as she groans, catching sight of her Senpai who is running towards Kuonji. "Tsubasa-Senpai!" Mikan calls out, not wanting him to get hurt.

Meanwhile, Kuonji takes the moment of distraction to issue new orders. "Attack them from behind!" He yells. Akako looks up from the ground, towards where Natsume is. She watches Fuukitai sneak up from the back. "Barrier users! Block any teleportation!" He screams, the boy who was taking care of Natsume no longer able to teleport.

Akako raises her shaking hand as quickly as possible, blowing the enemy away with a gust of wind and trapping them behind a stone wall.

Just as Tsubasa is about to reach the principal, the small man is enveloped in a pair of arms. He freezes, eyes widening as he smells her familiar scent. "Lu...." His words trail off as she speaks softly into his ear, begging the man.

"Please.... Stop, principal..."

He slowly looks up to the woman, wondering exactly what she was doing. "Luna...." His voice questions, not liking her actions.

Mikan watches the scene before turning around. Her heart worries for Natsume as well as Akako who has lowered her head to the ground. Mikan raises her torso, army crawling towards her sister. Her body wants to give out from the energy she has used, but her will to hold her sister was too great. She slowly reaches Akako, laying next to her sister. "Akako..."

Luna keeps the principal in her arms as she speaks. "Elementary school principal... you are continuously regressing. Do you understand? Not just your body but also your mind..." Luna ignores the shouts of the Fuukitai, using her Alice on them to render them immobile and unable to help the principal. She then focuses all of her energy on the man that she has loved for over a decade, "You have always been a pitiful person who only loved yourself! I realized that at some point but...I always pretended I didn't see it. I did that because of my weakness... I didn't have the courage to admit that because I am always waiting for the day when you will respond to me. I can't bear to give up on that hope."

Mikan and Akako turn their heads towards the woman as she bears her soul to the man who had taken hold of her heart. Both of their chests aching and feeling for the woman.

"But even when it has turned into this situation, you have not changed. Not just that but... compared to the past, you're becoming more and more like an old man who is blinded by his obsession. A pitiful child..." the principal's body shakes and he makes fists, disliking the words that were escaping Luna's mouth yet she keeps going. "The side effects of the Alice stone that Yuka inserted has caused you to regress to this immature path. I can't bear to continue looking at you now." It's hard for Luna to stop the tears that slowly build up in her eyes, finally coming to terms with the fact that Kuonji isn't the same man. He isn't who she always wanted to believe he was and seeing this image of him shatter... broke her own soul into tiny pieces. The glass breaking down into dust that was being blown away with the winds of reality. "Before knowing this, I had lost so many things over a long period of time." Luna sees Yuka calling out to her with her comforting smile, "Because of losing all those unrecoverable things, I finally realized. How stupid is that?" A small and forced breathy forced chuckle escapes the woman. "I have finally obtained it. The courage to take a new step."