After the audience left, Katora and Potomuri, with Lalaya and Minel close by, approached them from the tunnel, undoubtedly to formally ask for their help in fighting against Ozrock and his team. She already knew what the team's answer would be, so she paid no mind to their conversation. Instead, she kept her eyes on her friend, who was standing by his team's goal.
With a small sigh, she walked over and placed a hand on his back. He barely reacted to it, earning a frown. "Hey, Kyou. Don't think for a second that this was your fault, alright?"
"I know." Though he said so with trembling lips. "I know in my head that Ozrock did it... But I..."
Seeing how genuinely white his knuckles were compared to his already pale skin tone, she leaned on his shoulder and twined her fingers around his. "You did all you could. Very recklessly and stupidly, might I add."
He let out a small, self-deprecating laugh at that before going silent. They stayed that way for a while, half-listening to the others talking on the edge of the pitch. Or at least, she was. He seemed to be thinking some more, so much that he probably didn't realize that the others were all talking about him.
"It's a stupid thing to think about, but..." He suddenly spoke again, and she hummed to let him know she was listening. "It kind of feels like I'm cursed. Kuro no Kishidan, El Dorado 01, and now Faram Dite... Whenever I become captain, bad things happen..."
"Kyou..."
"I've never won as captain either, so that's also a thing, I guess." He sighed. "Faram Dite were all looking forward to the finals, mostly as a way to get revenge on you guys for beating them in all the previous planets."
"You were with us in Sandorias, though."
"Heh, true. But Barga didn't remember me. Just Tenma, Tetsukado, Konoha, Ichikawa, and you." He looked down. "The only reason they agreed to let me be captain was because it was Lalaya's orders. None of them, aside Hilary, complained about it. I told them I'll lead Faram to victory, and yet..."
"Kyousuke..."
"Can you... try to use your powers? Like, you know... Scan the area for their minds or something? Like what you did with me when you first arrived here. If there's a chance at all, then..."
He wants to know if they're still alive. Though she hated to, she shook her head. "I can't normally sense the minds of aliens. I need ampules for it, but I don't have any with me right now. At least, not the ability enhancing ones. I think it has to do with the difference in brainwaves, but I'll need to talk to Saru and the others to know for sure."
"Oh..."
She pursed her lips. She absolutely hated the expression he had at the moment. Without thinking, her next words came out. "But there may be a chance they're alright."
"... What?"
"Do you remember the first time we went to the future? Training for Ragnarok everyday and all that?"
"Of course."
"Have you ever gone out at night and saw the moon while we were there?"
"Maybe? But what does that―"
"Kyou, the moon's been gone for months now, remember?"
"Wha... Then...?!"
"If it was there in the future, then something must've happened to save it before it could be swallowed by Ozrock's eraser ball. Or maybe, it doesn't actually erase anything and is actually a teleportation device. Something like the sphere devices El Dorado and Zanark have."
"So Argo, Barga, Hilary, Rodan, Ryugel, Gandales, Selen, Radon, Kiseno, Salfer, and Neol... They're― There's a chance that they're all okay? And that Ozrock is just imprisoning them somewhere to... keep them out of the way, maybe?"
"It's possible."
His gaze hardened to a glare that he directed towards the ground. After a moment, he gave a nod, eyes full of resolve. "Then we have to win tomorrow's match, no matter what."
She rolled her eyes playfully. "As if anything else was an option."
He finally gave her his usual (soft, kind) smile, and really, it was everything she needed after weeks of putting up with that fake. She couldn't help her own grin in return.
Then, she let go and moved a couple of steps back. "Right. Now with that cleared, we should take care of the danger in the sky."
He blinked. "The satellite, you mean? How?"
"I think, with both of our full powers combined, we can kick something hard enough to reach it."
"A soccer ball can't fight that much gravity as it ascends."
"Is soccer all you have in mind? Don't answer that." She immediately responded to herself when she saw him smirk. Then, she pulled out her gun. "I left the ability enhancers in my other jacket, but I've got the more destructive ones right here. I can set it into a timed explosive."
"... You want us to kick a bomb into orbit?"
"It won't explode on impact, if that's what you're worried about. These things are sturdier than you think." To make her point, she casually let it drop to the ground, and nothing happened.
His feet were rooted to the ground as he stared at the object with wide eyes. "... R-Right. Okay. Yeah... Don't ever do that again."
She just shrugged.
"Alright... Then, how do we do this? Relay kick, or a combo?"
"I think a relay would be better. I still have some juice from my outing earlier, so after teleporting further than however high you kick the ball, my Artemis' arrow could get it to reach further too."
"So to lessen the burden on you, I should just kick it as high as possible..."
"Pretty much. The higher you can get it, the higher I can go too."
"Okay..." He picked up the (apparently-not-wired-yet) bomb-gun and stared at it in thought. "Most of my shots can only be aimed horizontally... Death Drop is... Well, it's in the name. My Soul can only reach so high, and Devil Burst too..." He looked up. "... Yeah, Lancelot might be my only option too."
"Then, we have our roles." She turned to the group still in a seemingly heated discussion regarding the cannon. "Hey, Tenma! Your Majesties! Everyone!"
They all turned to them with questioning looks.
"We're going to destroy the satellite before it destroys us, okay?!"
"Huh?"
"That's destruction of property!"
"Ozrock's property, mind you."
"Well, yes, but still―"
"How?"
"We've got it covered! I'm just making sure no one minds! But honestly, even if any of you do, I won't care!"
"It's alright! I was thinking that the laser was going too far myself!" That was the response Lalaya gave.
"Okay, so the ruler of the planet gave her approval." She gave her friend a pat on his shoulder. "Let's go."
He gave a crooked smile. "Alright... Kensei Lancelot!" The giant knight came out of his back, towering over the field.
... Just looking at it felt nostalgic.
"W-W-WHAT THE FU―"
"I-Is that a knight?!"
"So big...!"
Ignoring their extra comments, Kimiko took a few more steps back. Tsurugi kicked off the ground as hard as he could, reaching about the average height for his usual hissatsus. He threw the device lightly before throwing his leg at it. Fog covered the ground below him, swirling into a dark aura that surrounded the gigantic sword.
"Lost Angel!"
The sword and the bomb merged as it pushed even further upwards. The only thing that could indicate its position was how a bit of light was reflected on the metal surface.
"Miko! Now!"
She followed his lead and jumped, grabbing onto the back of his shoulders and pushing herself on top of his keshin's shield. On cue, the knight lifted it up in one swift motion, throwing her towards the still-ascending device.
When she felt her body slowing down, and saw the bomb beginning to drop, she held out her hands to grab it. As soon as she did, she teleported herself as high as she could go and used her telekinesis to keep both her and the bomb steady in the air.
"Okay... Here we go! Acheri no Megami, Artemis!" Purple eyes glowed brightly as the archer appeared out of her back. She poured her focus on activating the ampule within the gun, her separated auras resonating. Once she could see its bright glow, she quickly programmed the device to explode within a minute, before aiming it in the trajectory of the satellite (she had already calculated its position from the first time it fired the beam. Even if it had moved, it couldn't have gotten far).
She did the exact same thing he did and threw the device slightly above her before mist seemed to surround it. Her archer pulled on her bow string while purple rings appeared as if to lock on to its target. She swung her leg just as the giant released her arrow.
"Destiny Nova!"
With all her remaining energy, the once-gun-now-bomb was sent straight towards the tournament's monitoring satellite. She couldn't tell if it actually even touched the orbiting thing, but the large explosion she saw as she fell through the sky made her at least sure that it was definitely destroyed. After all, a single one of those ampules could take down a building.
What she didn't account for was the shockwave afterwards. In the first place, she hadn't thought about how to stick her landing yet, but the push from the blast was definitely making her fall faster.
She tried to activate her telekinesis again, but while she did slow down, she was losing to gravity. She tried to spin her body around to get a glimpse of how far she was from the ground. She was about the height of the castle perhaps, so it wasn't too much farther.
She spotted everyone in the field covering their heads. The shockwave must've reached them.
Then, in the corner of her eye, something moved in a dark blur. As she reached about the highest tip of the stadium, the blur got closer, but before she could see what it was, something shrouded her entire field of vision. Then, she felt herself... spinning?
When she opened her eyes, she was being bridal-carried by her best friend, who had an unamused look on his face.
Ah... That must've been his Ookami. "Thanks, Kyou." She smiled as he placed her feet on the ground, then yelped when he whacked her on the head. "Ow!"
"You didn't fucking plan your landing, did you?" He growled.
"Well, sorry, but I was prioritizing the destruction of a death laser!"
"You could've done both!"
"Did you?"
"I didn't have to because I didn't jump that high! I just moved on instinct! You went further than the eye could see!"
"W-Well...!" Fuck, she had no argument. "At least, nothing happened!"
"Right, sure. But what the hell would you have done if I wasn't here?!"
"Does that even matter?! You are here! That's all that counts!"
"I―" He cut himself short, suddenly furrowing his brows. "You're... What are you doing?"
"Huh?" She blinked. What was she doing?
"Your entire body's glowing... kind of. It's a little different from when you're usually using your powers though? What is... What are you trying to do?"
Her eyes widened at that and she looked down on herself immediately. Just as she feared, his every word was right, and she was able to just barely see through her hands.
"Shit."
~~~~~
Tsurugi collapsed face-first on his bed. He felt like screaming, crying, kicking, and destroying something utterly and completely, but he didn't have the energy to. Not a single sound entered or exited his body. He was sure his friends had been calling his name and trying to comfort him the entire way, but none of that registered. His heart was a whirlwind while his mind was blank. All he could get himself to say was that he wanted to be alone for the rest of the day.
Maybe he'll skip dinner, maybe Lalaya would send someone to leave food by his door. Maybe someone will knock and ask for him. Maybe someone might even bust in and try to drag him out. Whatever it was, he knew that he didn't have the stomach for anything at the moment.
Nothing felt right anymore. Not him being here, not the silky soft sheets he was sinking into, not the deafening silence that he himself asked for, not the stillness of the atmosphere that made it feel like he could feel the planet itself on its rotation... and especially not the weight of her necklace in his hand right now.
"Shit."
Her cursing at anything other than him was never a good sign. "What's wrong?"
Her eyes met his and for a split second, he could see the panic, dread, and near total fear in them. An expression that she didn't have even as she was falling to her death mere moments before. He blinked in surprise, and at that exact second, she ran. Across the field, past the Earth team, and into the tunnel.
The group's muttering about the explosion was immediately cut short, and he ignored them as he also ran past them at full speed to chase after her. He could hear a great number of footsteps coming from behind him, so they had all probably decided to follow after them both. Not that that mattered.
"Miko!" She was the only thing on his mind. "Slow down! What the heck happened?!"
"I need a mirror! To check!" She yelled back from up ahead.
A what...? He shook his head and continued running, finally catching up to her as she opened the door to Earth Eleven's meeting room. Her glow was getting brighter.
She went to the opposite wall where the mirror, or rather, giant TV screen was. As it was off, they were able to see their somewhat blurry reflections on it.
As he approached her, he could hear the others just arriving, with Tenma being the first to speak up.
"Kimiko! Tsurugi! What happened?"
"That's what I want to know." He muttered as he got closer. However, her attention was only on herself. Soon enough, he could see why.
She wasn't just glowing. It was almost as if the light particles were floating out of her body before disappearing into the air.
"Kimiko, your... Your legs!" Aoi shrieked in horror.
His gaze followed her pointing finger and...
"What the actual fuck...?"
Her legs were gone.
"This is just like when we were in the alternate timeline with..." Shindou's voice died a little at the end, but he knew he heard him correctly. He mentioned his brother.
"No way... Kimiko is disappearing? But why?" Shinsuke's piped in. "We've gotten rid of all the alternate timelines. This shouldn't happen to anyone anymore!"
"Because the future isn't a certain thing." His friend finally spoke up for the first time since they came in. She turned to them all with a strained smile that he was all too familiar with. "I was able to maintain my... existence here because the amount of training and preparation we did for every match made sure we would win. But none of us here knows what Ixal Fleet has up their sleeves, so the odds of our win are even at best. Because of that, the continuation of the timeline became uncertain, so any and all existences in the future will be erased and rewritten based on the outcome of tomorrow's match."
"B-But...!" Tenma's voice was next. "What about what we did in Ragnarok? Fei, Saru, Alpha and all the others... Aren't they from the future? And they came to us in the past and we had that whole month's worth of adventure...!"
"History adjusts itself accordingly, remember? The easiest way to erase that entire conflict would be to just never have the soccer ban at all, which is exactly what happens since El Dorado wouldn't exist."
"But our memories―"
"They'll be adjusted over time as well. You'll forget little by little, and eventually, you'll only remember what the world has for you to remember."
"And what about you?" His own voice finally came out. He hated the question, and he knew he'd hate the answer more, but it had to be asked. "You grew up here, but you were born in the future too... Does that mean―"
"I'd never have existed. Yeah." Despite only having her torso and head left, as well as understanding such a morbid situation, she was still able to laugh. "Not how I ever expected I'll go out, but it's painless, so I guess I'll take it."
"Oh my fucking god, can you― Can you not joke like that?!" Really, the nerve of this girl to just up and leave when they've only just reunited the day before. "There is a way to fix this, right? We just have to win, right?"
Please, please, please let that be it.
"Judging from the timing of this phenomenon, yeah. Ozrock plans to control the galaxy if he wins. With the cannon in his hands, he could destroy any planet that resists, so stop him, and the timeline should go back to normal."
"Is it really that simple, though?" Minaho cut in. He seemed to be the only one inexperienced with time travel able to keep up with their conversation. "If you're from the future, then wouldn't your existence be threatened every time something endangers Earth?"
He hated to admit it, but he's got a point there. Who's to say that this kind of thing won't happen again even after they win?
"Well, lucky for us, from what I've seen in the records and with my own eyes, this is the first... Well, if we count Aliea Academy, it's the second, and last alien threat until my time. Our world is pretty crappy, but it's not so bad yet that it'll destroy itself, Minaho. As long as it'll continue existing past this point, I'll live."
"Hm... I suppose that makes sense."
"Then, we'll have to win no matter what!" Tenma rallied. "It's not just about the galaxy anymore! It's about its future too! Where there's life, there will always continue to be life, so we need to protect our homes with everything we've got and more!"
"Yeah!"
"I'll be counting on you." The process seemed to be speeding up now that she was only a neck and face left. She turned to him and winked. "Don't be too quick to forget about me, alright?"
"Wait―" His entire body moved. To do what, even he wasn't sure. To stop her? To hug her? Heck, to kiss her?
But in the end, all he could do was catch her necklace before it fell to the ground.
After that, he barely remembered much else. All he knew was that people called his name and pulled him by the arm, and then suddenly, he was in his room.
Turning on his back, he took several deep breaths, clearing his mind. He already knew the solution to this. They just have to win. If they don't, it wasn't just her, but the entire universe would be screwed.
(He thought the idea of losing the universe if they lost anyway would make him feel less bitter about losing her. It did not, because that wasn't what he wanted. His feelings weren't so shallow that he would be okay with simply dying with her. He wanted, more than anything now, for her to live happily by his side for the rest of their lives. And for that to happen...)
They'll win no matter what.