A short walk later, they arrived at a soccer pitch right by a similar field of flowers. As Banda was invited to join, Manuuba had decided to skip out on a quick game, pretending to still be sick, so Ichikawa joined his side to even out the numbers. Kimiko found a spot on the other side that seemed like a slope, so she decided to lay there as she took notes on the gravitational effects that are visible as they play.
Banda was fast and nimble. He made a lot of mistakes, ones that made her think he might've just started out on the game, but he always managed to bounce back afterwards. What's more, even when the others were getting tired after over an hour of playing, he could still continue moving, claiming that "There's no time to be feeling tired!" Seeing his plays gave her a rough idea of how the others in Ratoniik's team could play as well.
The ground is just the same grass as on Earth, but the gravity is a lot lighter here. The ball would probably be in the air a lot, so we'll need to work on aerial movements...
A sweet scent came from somewhere nearby. Looking towards its source, she found some familiar people standing in the flower field.
"Masato-nii... Shuuya-nii and... Kidou Yuuto-san...?"
What were they doing on this planet?
How were they even here in the first place?
Curious, she put her tablet away and began walking towards them. They didn't seem the least bit affected by her confusion. In fact, they seemed to ignore it entirely, only staring her down.
The last time she felt this nervous was when she had to face them all again after Holy Road.
The first to speak was the goggles wearing man. "Do you think creating menus like that can help them?"
She probably should be used to the cold treatment from him, but for some reason, that still surprised her. "Wha...?"
"Do you think you've done something by joining the previous match?"
"W-What are you talking about?"
"With the way you are now, do you really think you can save anyone? Do you really think you can protect anything?"
I thought we were over this... She bit her lip before turning to her two relatives. "M-Masato-nii... Shuuya-nii... Why are you two just keeping quiet? You don't agree with him... Do you?"
They gave her a blank stare, and in all honesty, that scared her more than what Kidou was saying. Suddenly, they turned around and disappeared.
"Hey, wait!" Her hand grabbed nothing but air. "Y-You've got to be kidding me..." She turned to Kidou again, who's expression was unreadable beneath those goggles. "Not again..."
"You are not allowed to leave. You will stay until the regiment is complete. As of right now, the power you've shown isn't enough."
?!
"If you want to be there on time, you better give it everything you've got and―"
"Not enough? You say everything I've done isn't enough?" She let out a self deprecating laugh, shaking her head and doing all she could to ignore the memories threatening to resurface. "Is that all you can ever say about me? That I'm not... enough...? No matter what, I'm not... I'm not...! Even after everything I've done to get here, I..."
"If you had ever been of any use, your precious Kyousuke wouldn't have to suffer, would he?"
!
"SHUT UP!!!" Just as she squeezed her eyes shut, something tugged around her neck. Opening her eyes again, she found her pendant hanging out of her shirt, swaying slightly.
"... Kyou..."
That was all she needed.
~~~~~
Ichikawa was forced out of his illusion by an ear-piercing scream. Though, even when he came to, he spotted a giant with a bow that made him wonder if he was still dreaming. Looking down, he saw that it was coming out of Kimiko's back and immediately recognized it.
Artemis...? This wasn't his first encounter with a keshin. In fact, she had fought his Lion with hers before, back when he was still being mentored by her.
But what threw him off this time was the lack of playfulness Artemis had from back then. Right now, she was dead serious. Perhaps even furious.
"Keshins aren't too different from those spirit animals. They both reflect the strength a person has within their hearts in their own unique ways." The only difference was that anyone could be a keshin user, while Souls are something only people with a certain DNA have.
None of them were able to see Kimiko's expression as it was covered by the large shadow, but one can only imagine from the intensity of the aura she was emitting.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
Another piercing screech came as the archer fired a shot from her bow. A flash of light sped through the plant in front of her before it seemed to explode. But the impact didn't stop there. The flat ground was carved as far as the arrow went, by extension meaning as far as the eye could see.
"K-Kimiko..." Among all others who were frozen in place (out of fear or astonishment or both), it was the captain that was first to try and approach her.
She seemed to turn around at the call, the keshin following her lead. It then took aim again.
"W-Wait! Kimiko! It's me, Tenma!"
She didn't seem to hear him. The only expression they were able to make out was the unamused one her keshin had as she kept her aim on them all.
"Captain!"
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"E-Eh?! You mean that's not something Earthlings have?!"
"Not as far as I know!"
"Everyone, calm down!"
"Shindou?!"
"Tenma, remember what we were taught! Don't do anything sudden!"
"R-Right!"
"What the heck were you guys taught?!"
Shindou ignored anyone else's complaint and looked towards the edge of the field. "Where is Tsurugi―"
Another part of the field exploded, cutting him off.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Arrows rained down everywhere, keeping them from getting close. Most of them seemed to be heading in Tsurugi's direction, making him jump further and further back to dodge it all.
He wouldn't be able to do anything from there...! Ichikawa looked down at his own hands. From the captain and Shindou's reactions, they seemed to have been in this sort of situation before, but had never successfully calmed her down. Or at least, not without Tsurugi's help.
On the other hand, he had fought Artemis plenty of times. Even if she seems to be going out of control, it should still be similar to that training, right?
With his mind made up, he called on his Soul and began to charge ahead.
"Zanakurou!"
"What are you doing?!"
"It's dangerous! Stay back!"
He responded by dodging every arrow and diving deeper into her territory. With how much energy she spent when they were training, he didn't think she ever held back on him, but seeing the speed she was currently using made him believe otherwise. Still, he was at least nimble enough to react before the attack reached him.
When the arrows hit the ground, it created a smokescreen. He took a deep breath and focused on using his other senses. He had done several plays using a fog machine before. This was similar to that.
He drowned out all other sounds and focused only on the ones Artemis was making. Namely, the sound of the bow string.
All he needed was to hear it once and he got back to charging, spotting her silhouette amidst the dust. Without hesitation, he jumped and clawed on the keshin, right across its torso. Caught off guard, it disappeared, Kimiko collapsing right after.
~~~~~
"How long do you think she'll be out?"
"It's hard to tell... None of us are experts on this."
"We're sorry about the mess, Banda."
"Oh, don't worry about it! I'm just glad that no one was hurt! More importantly, I think we should move her to somewhere she can rest properly. We may have gotten rid of the Deception Buds nearby, but there are still more within the forest."
"Alright. Then― Zanakurou?"
She felt herself getting lifted onto something.
"Allow me to take care of her. I am partially responsible for this outcome after all. It wouldn't sit well with me if I do not do at least this much."
"Well... What do you think, Tsurugi?"
"... Do as you like."
She felt something next to her head moving down and up again. "Please just continue your game. I will make sure nothing else happens."
"Alright... She's in your hands."
She listened to the voices getting farther and farther. Soon, she couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves and the whistling of the wind. But the silence didn't last.
"We are nearly at the Galaxy Nauts Gou. Would you like to walk from here?"
She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her. Opening her eyes, and blinking several times to get used to the light, she nodded as she hopped off his back. "Sorry about that, Ichikawa-san."
"Kimiko-san! Are you alright?!" In the cloud of dust, Ichikawa had managed to catch her before she could fall face-first to the ground.
She gave a small nod, but refused to get up. Before he could panic, she leaned on his shoulder and whispered, "Help me ditch. I need a place to relax."
He seemed to calm down at that before giving a hesitant nod.
"It's alright. It would be dangerous to everyone should you lose control again due to your unstable condition. However..."
"However?"
He had a complicated look on his face as he stopped to consider his words. She waited for him a few steps ahead. Then, he looked up and began speaking again. "That is not the only reason you wish to escape, is it?"
... Saw right through me once again, huh? She gave a faint smile. "Yup. I wanted to avoid getting questioned."
"... Pardon?"
"I'm not good at explaining things." She shrugged as she turned around and continued walking. When she could hear his footsteps following after her, she continued. "If it was just about keshins, then I wouldn't have minded as much, but with what I did even after the Deception Bud was eliminated, I'm sure everyone's going to have a lot more questions than that. And I don't know how to explain it all."
"I suppose what you really mean is that you do not want to explain it all."
"Haha! You got me! That's exactly it." Because not even Kyousuke could understand how this feels.
They soon found themselves in another, much smaller field. Unlike the previous one, this one had no goals or lines that make up a soccer pitch. It also had no flower fields or posts positioned for any red ropes. It was safe to assume that it was an area without any carnivorous plants nearby. There were, however, many tall trees casting a shadow over the place, making it slightly dark, but comfortably so.
"Let's hang around here for a little while." She went to the center and dropped her back onto the grass. He seemed to hesitate for a bit before walking over and sitting beside her. Watching him, she couldn't help a small chuckle from coming out. "You haven't changed a bit since we first met."
"Hm?"
"You know. Back at Shuuya-nii's inauguration party. When he first became Holy Emperor?"
His eyes widened. "You remember?!"
She blinked. "Have I been giving you the impression that I don't?"
"I-I mean..." He cleared his throat, looking away in embarrassment. "You've never said anything about that day since our second meeting, so I thought..."
"You could've mentioned it first and asked if you were unsure."
"I... I thought that would be rude of me... Especially, given the situation that Endou-san was presenting..."
"I didn't mean it had to be then. You could've asked at any given time during our training on Earth."
"That... is true..."
He looked down and remained quiet as he thought. She always knew Ichikawa was a very reserved person. Never speaking out of turn, incredibly polite, and highly obedient to those who are above him. She had always felt weird when she saw him being so... restrained. Especially when knowing what his descendant is like.
"Ichikawa-san." She found herself speaking before she knew it.
He jolted slightly, and turned to her. "Yes?"
"You said earlier that in the illusion, you saw 'a wild version' of yourself. What do you mean by that?" She pursed her lips slightly before continuing with, "I know it's unfair for me to refuse to talk about my illusion when you asked, so you can just not say anything if you don't want to either."
He gave a wry smile at that. "It isn't anything embarrassing. I do not mind sharing what I saw. And besides, you have the ability to connect to minds, so there isn't a point in hiding anything."
"I wouldn't intrude into anyone's heads like that without permission." She reminded, though that wasn't exactly true. There had been several instances where she accidentally heard other people's thoughts while she was trying to do other things with the same ability, but those had all been surface level thoughts, so they don't really count. So far, she had only been into her best friend's head to look at a certain memory, or showing other people someone else's memories with permission.
"I knew you would say that." He chuckled softly, once again showing just how different he is from his descendant. "As for my illusion, I saw myself speeding on a bike in a barren wasteland. It was... strange, I suppose. I am currently learning to drive, but I do not understand why I would break the rules of road travel like that."
It took everything in her not to make a face. She decided to ignore the universe's antics in making him seem more and more like her chaotic foster brother, and focused more on what that dream would represent in him.
... The answer to that was easy actually.
"Ichikawa-san, haven't you ever felt trapped in your current life?"
"Trapped?"
"You've always been uptight, and I get that it's because of your upbringing, but... Haven't you ever wished to do more? Specifically, when none of your family or business friends are around."
He blinked, tilting his head slightly. "I do not believe so. I am happy with my life right now, and I have always enjoyed each and every day of practice and performance."
"It's not just about enjoying your day." She sighed. "Maybe you don't realize this now, but I think you do desire for freedom. Or maybe you do realize it, but your surroundings have continuously taught you not to act on it."
"I... do not understand what it is you are saying."
She took one glance at him before letting out another sigh. "All I'll say is that soccer isn't a sport you can play while holding yourself back. It is the complete opposite of kabuki acting, where you need to portray the feelings of a character without your own biases. So when the time comes, I suggest you forget all about family status and do what you feel like doing."
"I... see." He still looked unsure, but he nodded anyway. "I will keep that in mind."
"That's all I'm asking for." She wasn't trying to tell him what to do, so it was a worry off her back to see him only taking it into consideration. Only he knows what's best for himself after all.
"If you don't mind, may I ask you one more thing?"
Oh, I should've seen this coming. She gave a wry smile. Well, it's only fair, I guess. "Sure. What is it?"
"What caused you to change so much?"
"... I'm sorry?"
"I've always thought this after our second meeting, but you seem to be a lot more... distant? Wary? ... I can not quite pin down the word I'm looking for, but... You do seem different from when we first met."
That sharpness is another thing they have in common. "Isn't it normal for people to change over two years?"
"Yes, but not quite as drastically as you had..." He looked genuinely concerned. It was weird to get it from that face. "I do not wish to pry if it is a private matter, but I also do not want to see my friend suffer alone. If you would―"
"Even if I told you, you can't help me. No one can." Her tone came out colder than she intended it to be. "Everything had already been done. All that's left is the scar, and a petty grudge that doesn't seem to mean anything to anybody..." A wry smile made its way to her face. "No. Rather, it's a grudge that shouldn't even exist anymore. Not when I know the significance of its purpose, and not when worse things had happened before and after it."
"Kimiko-san, what...?"
"Like I said, I can't explain things very well... so I'll just use an analogy." She turned in the direction of the path, where familiar voices, while still fairly distant, seem to be inching closer and closer. "You can say I'm similar to Matatagi. The only difference is, I've never bothered hiding my dislike for people nor my desires. People just like to think I'm one thing when I'm not even close."
"Is that why you are so... opposed to Coach Kidou Yuuto? Because he was the one who―"
She got up, ignoring his question. "We should head back to the train. The others seem to be on their way back as well."
Without letting him reply, she left.