There is risk to every investment made. Situations rise and fall, and risk can correlate to that.
But when an investment goes stagnant and one gives more than received back, what does a wise man do in such a situation?
Isaac: "Ellen, what do you think of this?"
Ellen: "Pardon, sir?"
He can pull out of the investment-
Isaac: "Presumably, the plan involving Sister would be jeopardized if we slight Monarch, but there is nothing to suggest that she can do anything about it. Ellen, excluding Monarch, which Spirit has the highest threat factor to our plans?"
-or double down on it.
Despite what he has done, there have been little signs of growth. He conducted himself in a way of speculation, thinking about what factors are currently in play.
Ellen: "That... would be Nightmare."
Isaac: "Exactly. In that case, if I disregard the possibility of Monarch truly having leverage over us, where does that leave her?"
Ellen: "I don't understand where you are going, sir."
Isaac shakes his head in delight, fixing his hair before staring at his phone and the messages on it.
[---]
[You]
I believe it is time to repay my favors. If you wish to meet me, I can send a car. Just tell me where.
[Monarch]
Sorry. I can't right now. I'm busy.
[---]
Followed by a chain of messages similar, he scrolls through them all.
Isaac: "Even if we're unsure if Monarch gave us an empty threat, or her chosen alias was just coincidence, I believe it's time we take the risk... and we become more aggressive negotiators."
Ellen: "And what of Shido Itsuka and Princess?"
Isaac: "I don't see too much of how they're connected, especially to this conversation. Let's proceed as planned. Oh, and, Ellen."
Ellen: "Yes?"
Isaac: "How is the progress on prototype CR-Unit Guardian?"
---
It hasn't even been 5 minutes after leaving and Miku was still fawning over Laura. Miku, at this point, is spoiling her rotten. They stayed at a different, prim and proper cafe and Miku ensured that Laura was happy. And for a while, it worked.
Miku: "Do you know how much I cherish you, Laura-chan?"
She rhetorically strikes, looking innocent while trying to make advances on her.
Laura: "Hopefully more than your usual girls."
She jokes and takes it maturely, which elates Miku.
Miku: "I like how you're so mature, it's so cute! But I really wanna see a cuter side of youuu."
Laura scratches the back of her head, smiling as she drinks her brew.
Laura: "You know, I wasn't much of a fan of idol songs. I used to think that they were a little soulless. It doesn't feel nice to hear the words "I love you" when you're saying it to untold millions."
Miku: "Aww, so you don't like me?"
She pouted playfully.
Laura: "Hey, I didn't say that. But what I was going to say was that your music feels real to me, so it feels real to me that you care. And what I can feel from what you've done for me so far, you really do care..."
She holds her mug in both hands, looking at the half remaining. Miku looked touched by such a statement, softly alarmed as told by her expression.
Laura: "It feels nice, Miku..., to have someone care about you. 'It's true... I meant every single word. Miku's been nothing but nice and hasn't used her Angel on me. I should repay her in time. I'm not the me before where I took things for granted.' "
Elated, Miku gets off her chair and walks over to Laura, giving her a tight and powerful hug to the point where their cheeks touch.
Laura: "'Well, this isn't a bad feeling... I'm actually ha-'
Dreadful quakes rise her spine, instilling a reminder to her of what she has been told to do. She needs the Spirits for power. It was hers to desire, she thought, but it wasn't. How she will do that isn't clear, but she'll find a way, hopefully.
The next thing she knew, tears bleed from her eyes-tears of fear and hunger.
Miku looks back at her, seeing the pale look and tears on her face. She backs off, thinking she brought back a traumatizing memory for Laura, and in a sense she did.
This leaves both Spirits on an awkward note. Miku quietly sits down opposite Laura and discretely drinks her cup.
Miku: "L-Laura-chan, you're alright, right? 'I messed up...' "
Miku cringes her smile in slight confusion at the uncertainty of her actions.
Laura: "I- I need to-"
She suddenly stood up but was met by a daze in her head and a fog in her thoughts. She wavers and nears falling. Her hands cushion her fall, and Miku rushes over to her.
Miku: "Laura...!"
People's eyes drew themselves to what was happening. Miku was supporting and holding onto Laura.
Miku: "Laura, Laura, are you okay?"
Laura: "It's- I'm okay. I just-"
She gags as if something starts climbing her throat.
Laura: "B-Bathroom-!"
Laura became entombed in the bathroom with Miku inside to make sure she was okay. The girls in her troupe guard the entrance to the bathroom. For a while, Laura emptied her stomach contents.
Her stomach finally settled and she was able to breathe again.
Miku: "That's it, Laura-chan. Breathe... Breathe..."
Miku pats Laura's back in an attempt to comfort her.
Miku: "Did... Did I trigger something in you by hugging you?"
Laura: "Haaah... Haaah... N-No. Y-You've... haah... hugged me many times already."
Miku: "Yeah but- is it because I was rubbing my face against yours-"
Laura: "What-? No, no, no, that'd be just weird if it did."
She sounded dumbfounded because the thought of that would be just weird.
Miku: "Then why-"
Another cut-off.
Laura: "You don't get to know that! Shut the fuck up!"
Her stomach seemed to not be fully empty yet, so she continued to hurl into the toilet.
Shocked by Laura's shouting, Miku stands and steps backward and against the door.
Laura: "Please- just... quiet. I-I- I can't think. I-..."
Miku looks to the side, sorry for what she did but hurt by Laura's anger at her. Her face turned bitter and sad yet she couldn't feel any hate or anger for Laura. Human emotions are truly something.
Putting a hand on the handle of the bathroom door, Miku prepares herself to leave.
Miku: "Laura-chan..."
She mutters in a voice strained and stained by slight sadness. She can empathize with her because she too experienced trauma and reacted. It was on that day when she passed out, she fell to the trauma.
To think Laura might be going through something similar-it hurts her too.
Miku: "The Ten-oh Festival concert will begin soon. 'This is my mistake. I need to face it. I can't keep running away.' "
A momentary pause, and then she breathes.
Miku: "Cheer for me, Laura."
Her lips move to the corners to form a smile, riddled with bits of sadness and a distant hint of determination. Determination for what, exactly?
The click of the door means that Miku's left the bathroom.
Laura: "Fuck... What the fuck?... This isn't happening."
She thought back on what she felt in that hellish dreamscape, the blight of it all, all for something she wasn't even sure of.
Laura: "Cold... Blind... I can't. I won't... I don't. Hollow. Blind..."
She felt it, another climb from her stomach, until the feeling anomalously subsided with a faint light that surrounded her. She stares at her hand, finding the golden faintness. It eases her stomach and her unfelt hunger.
It'll be a while before she can do anything.
---
Miku walked to the front of the cafe with the rest of her girls with slanted brows and a look of determination.
"Onee-sama," one of her girls politely asked, "is it alright to leave her?"
Miku: "She's strong. I have faith that she'll be fine. And... I have to make this show great for her. 'It's the only way I can atone for reminding her of her trauma. I need to make this show the best. I need to be the best!' "
A shed of something interesting reaches her ear, the voice of the man who greeted them in the maid cafe.
"Kotori, Reine, everyone in Fraxinus, I am now in charge of this operation and I require these for the show." He was walking with a finger on his ear. "I need to get my hands on Laura again; we can't let this opportunity just pass by."
Miku: "He's after Laura-chan?"
She and her girls hide behind a wall.
"Get the other Spirits in on this as well. We need to throw everything we've got for this concert because the only way we're getting Laura is through that Miku," he said with a sly, villainous grin on his face.
Miku: "That man... 'He's trying to get his grubby hands on my Laura?! I won't let you. I can just-' "
Her train of thought gets interrupted by a forceful hand slamming beside her head, earning a small yelp from her throat.
"Well, this is some good timing."
It was that blue-haired man with a disgusting grin.
Miku quickly inhales to try and use her Angel's influence. The man holds her mouth shut with a forceful grip over her lips. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he muses irritably. The action prevents her girls from acting rashly; they all look at them in suspense.
Miku tried to escape but the hand formerly beside her head was now holding a horrendous green dagger against her throat.
"Hey, this dagger has a deadly poison in it. Even if you're a Spirit, you'll die," he says with an irritated look.
He puts a finger to his ear again as if bothered by someone else's voice, responding, "Shut the fuck up and trust me."
Miku was confused and honestly a little scared by the situation. She can't use her voice, and if she forces her Angel, she might get attacked by the AST if they respond quickly.
"I'm sorry that we had to meet like this but hear me out," he whispered apologetically, "but I need to help Laura."
Held at knifepoint, how is she supposed to trust someone threatening her?
"My name is Shido Itsuka, and I've been trying to find Laura to help her. She's lost her Angel and I have it with me."
Hearing this, she became infuriated and gained enough courage to push him away. The way he moved backward with a step already prepared might mean that he already predicted that he'd get pushed.
"I believe you and I both know she's a Spirit, so let me reason this out first."
Miku breathes and breathes, and the girls prepare to hold Shido but are halted by Miku's hand.
Miku replies harshly.
Miku: "You stupid man."
She feels the area around her lips to comfort the area.
Miku: "You're after Laura-chan?"
Her curious tone turned with a grin.
Miku: "Then-"
She clears her throat and activates her Angel's innate power.
Miku: "-you should go to the nearest bridge and kill yourself."
Her power radiates in waves of Reiryoku and reaches Shido's ears. His ears twitch and his eyes offer a small reaction.
"Would you look at that," he said with grim delight, "Keter Adom protects from mental attacks."
Miku becomes taken aback by the fact that he isn't controlled.
"I mean, I felt the Angel block it, so there's that, but I digress," he said with amusement.
"Please," he utters with confidence as he dissolves the dagger, "hear me out this time." He raises both hands at shoulder level. "It's in your best interest."
Miku: "Why should I trust a word that comes out of a man's mouth? I was even threatened by this one."
"Because if you want Laura to be happy, she needs to reunite with a piece of herself."
Miku: "A piece of herself?"
Extending a hand forward, he conjures the form of an unholy relic, a glorious black crown that radiates slight amounts of Reiryoku-one that felt similar, if not the same as Laura's.
[A/N: If you can't see it, it's because your device doesn't have enough color range.]
"From what I can tell, she's gone far too long without her Angel and it's probably not good, so I'm here to give it back to her. That's just the bloody problem, I never get the chance to get to her and give the damn thing back. It's like she doesn't even fucking want it...!"
He verbally berated someone who wasn't there.
After blowing off all that steam from the inconveniences he's had to face, he took a deep breath and continued to talk to the bewildered Miku.
"I know you ain't gonna leave her to me, so let's make this deal now, shall we?"
Miku: "What deal?"
Shido quashes and quenches the form by turning his hand into a fist.
"Simple, really." He walks away from her, turning his back on them with such arrogance. "Let's compete for her. If you win the concert, you can keep her. If I win, you let me borrow her."
Miku sweatdrops, thinking long and hard about it. She can't trust a filthy man. She can never trust them. But isn't she the impeccable Miku Izayoi, the mysterious superstar idol? She can't just lose to anybody, let alone a man who's below her!
She smiles, speaking confidently.
Miku: "Who do you think I am? Fine, I accept your trivial challenge, but I want to add another condition."
"Don't worry, if I lose, I'll cut my wrist." He was serious with his tone.
Miku: "Good. I would shake your hand, but I don't shake hands with beasts."
She mocked him.
"My, my, a deal isn't sealed until we shake hands," he whispered with a chuckle.
Miku: "You are insufferable!"
"So it's a deal~?" A red glow emanated from his hand, sparking alive with Laura's Reiryoku.
Hoping he'd go away quickly, she shook hands with him and pushed his hand away.
But when she pushed the hand away, she felt a cut on her hand.
Miku: "Ow-! What the-?"
Her blood tainted the hand of the man. She holds her palm in pain.
The man, as if realizing something, raised his hand to eye level for Miku to see a black-colored ring with a spike poking out of its main body.
"Ah, shit, I forgot I had this," he spoke with annoyance.
Miku: "You braindead moron! How could you have possibly forgotten about a ring with a spike?!"
He chuckles, "Whatever you say, Diva." He walks off, placing a hand on his ear again, "I'll make it up to her later. For now, we need to attend to the concert preparations."
Experiencing such humiliation and hearing such slight against Laura, she balls her fists and lowers her head. A shadow covers her face as her hair covers her eyes.
"O-Onee-sama, are you okay?" A girl approached her cautiously.
Miku: "Let's go."
"Onee-sama?"
Miku wraps her hand with the handkerchief she lent Laura.
Miku: "We need to prepare immediately! Get dressed and rehearse our choreography ten times!"
"Y-Yes, onee-sama," they all collectively respond in fear. They walk with her with great haste to the convention center.
For Laura's sake.
Away from prying eyes and ears, Shido entices himself with his wry smile.
Shido: "Not bad. So that Tarot can work like that. The Deal is done, the unseen contract signed, but at what cost, Miku Izayoi? Heh."
---
Laura watched the first few batches of performers. She can finally watch the show, though she wears a frown.
She enjoys the show and it serves as a distraction from the existential dread. Good enough, some could say.
The crowd cheers and the performers leave the stage. The speaker system introduces the next group of performers.
"Hello everybody! I want to thank our one of our sponsors, Colorful Pallete, by letting them take the stage! Coming all the way from Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy, introducing... More More Jump!... Featuring Hatsune Miku."
Laura: "Who?"
The lights die. They promptly turn alight.
[A/N: For English ver of the song and to know the context, here.]
She mysteriously found herself getting up and joining a group of otakus to do their Wotagei (Idol fan dance).
Laura: "Shit, this hits!"
"Yo- Whaaaat?! She's nasty with it!"
"She's going hard on those glowsticks!"
"Hory sheeeat!"
The song ends on a devilish note and the brief silence is interrupted.
Laura: "Fuck it, I'm sold."
Sundering applause echoed through the crowd in a blaze of glory.
It looks like that was an intermission. Next up was Miku.
The lights go out once again, giving some time for positioning. This enjoyment reminds her of a peculiar encounter just after vomiting.
---
Laura left the bathroom of the cafe. The staff asked if she was alright and if they should call an ambulance. She declined.
An unexpected person's voice reached her ears. "Is that-" she paused for a moment- "Laura-san?"
Laura: "Tamae-san?"
They greeted each other with the pleasant surprise of meeting a colleague.
Tamae: "L-Laura-san...! It's nice to see you're okay."
She was sweatdropping. Her smile was a little crooked.
Laura: "I am. Things have been going better lately."
Tamae: "That's nice to hear..."
She nervously breathed a sigh of relief.
Tamae: "Do you... want to have some coffee? Something to eat?"
Laura: "I could go for some food. I just emptied out my stomach earlier."
Laura decided to joke about her situation.
Laura: "But I need to go. Thanks for the offer, Tamae-san, but I need to find a seat before the concert begins. See you."
With a smile on her face, she walks away from Tamae. Unexpectedly, Tamae grabbed her hand, her wrist.
Tamae: "I-I insist, Laura-san...!"
Even now, they speak to each other professionally, as mature people should. She can respect that, but she's unsure how to feel about the grip on her wrist.
Laura: "Al... right?"
They promptly buy something. Tamae's treat, she-herself-insisted.
When they sat down, they began doing the usual pleasantries and small talk. It became a blank moment for Laura as she just focused on being polite enough while also eating.
In all honesty, she didn't feel too comfortable. That was because Tamae kept talking to her a little too much and a bit too personally.
She was knocked out of her blank-minded state by a question.
Tamae: "Are you having a good time, Laura-san?"
Laura: "Huh? Uhm, yeah, I suppose. It's- err- nice to eat with a friend. But..."
Tamae: "But?"
Laura: "I really need to go. I have a friend that I need to meet and they're in the concert venue."
Tamae: "O-Oh!... I-I see. It's okay if that's why. I-It's good to see you're hanging out with friends. G-Goodbye, Laura-san. B-But you had fun, right? You're doing really well, definitely good, right?"
Laura: "Uh,... Uh-huh? 'She's frantic, and... why does it feel like she's...' "
She sweatdropped as Laura left. Tamae looked nervous and off-put throughout their entire interaction. Laura wasn't sure how to feel about how zealously she tried to talk to the former crown-bearer.
---
Laura: "Now that I think about it, it's a little... weird... how she acted. She even recognized me with the new eyes."
Laura, looking forward to Miku's song and oblivious to her previous harshness to the siren, holds her glowsticks in suspense-glowsticks colored a vivid bad violet. It swerves her attention aside to more entertaining things-to excitement!
Laura: "This show better be good, 'cus those More More Jump girls just set the bar!"
She jokingly remarks as the show begins.
Lights, glowsticks, action!
-/-
I can't let this happen... I-I need to stop this while there's still time! What should I do?!
Is this... dread? This... pressure! This means that he's-
"Desperate... measures... We are... running out... of time..."
Y-Yes, it's his voice again!
"Draw... the sigils... Offer blood."
B-Blood? But I can't- I- I-
No, I must do this.
Images flow into my head, terrible and horrific idols and symbols and everything I can't! I just can't understand! But I need to! I- I need to stop-!
"Successful... summon. Vesta... arise."
His voice-it hurts to hear echo in my head so much. But I need to keep going.
From the blood pool I made above the sigil, I see a dark crimson figure. It was incorporeal and it was laughing at me! It's laughing!
It speaks and its voice scares me so! A woman's corrupted voice goes to my ears!
"The master beckons once mo- Ah, no, not the newborn but the one of old. Kukuku... VERY INTERESTING!"
I didn't expect this to happen, but it became more human-looking and it suddenly kneeled before me.
"I have served; I will be of service, my lord."
I tell her, "Ah- I see." I ask her, "S-So, can you help me?"
"I can, yet there is but one humble...thing... I require."
What does she need? "Y-Yes! Uhh- What do you need?"
"I̸͔̍ ̶͕̚Ń̷͙Ẹ̴̒Ḛ̸͒D̸̟̀ ̷̨͒Ý̵̹O̶̦͋U̸͎͌R̶̲̐ ̷̟͐B̶̡͗Ö̷͈D̵̬͆Y̵̞̽!̴̤̈"
"...!!"
...
"?!...!!"
...
"..."
I have no mouth, and I must scream.
---
Miku's song was filled with feeling, alive as if it were a part of your very being.
Laura cheered for them while they were performing with fervour, even shouting a nearly guttural "I LOVE YOU MIKU!"*
[*Reference to the 'I love you Ina' Hololive clip.]
Miku squealed in delightful ecstasy. Maybe she heard Laura say that. She thanked everyone before leaving the stage.
A pang of pain bleeds through her heart, forcing her to sit down.
Laura: "This is... What is this?"
She stares at her hand, trying to focus. Seconds passed and she was able to regain her composure and focus. She sighs in relief.
Laura: "Now that felt familiar."
The next batch of performers takes the stage.
Laura: "Alright, calm. Calm...... What the bloody hell is this?!"
---
Back at the Fraxinus, Kotori was getting anxious and irritated at Shido's attitude towards them. Taking control of the operation, making demands without explanation, it weighed on her mind and it made her so annoyed!
Kotori hits her console with a closed fist.
Kotori: "If only he wasn't so hot when he commanded us!"
Kannazuki: "Commander, about that conversation Shido-kun and Miku had, because of that I got curious."
Kotori: "What is it now, Kannazuki?"
Kannazuki: "Commander, do Spirits lose their Reiryoku if their Angel is removed?"
The topic sparks the eyes of Kotori and Reine.
Kannazuki: "Logically speaking, spirit waves increase when they summon their Angels, which is just a fancy way of saying more Reiryoku gets released. What do you think would happen if there was some way to remove an Angel from a Spirit?"
Kotori genuinely contemplated on this. She'd always assumed that Spirits either live or die with their Angels.
Reine: "I think the Spirit will die out..."
Reine answered instead of Kotori.
Reine: "Assuming that the source of their Angel is separated,... I think the Spirit will die because Reiryoku is what maintains them."
Kotori sees her point and somewhat agrees with it. If the Angel is like a Spirit's everlasting battery, removing that would be like removing homeostasis from the body and the Spirit will quickly deteriorate and die, hypothetically.
Kannazuki looked towards the screens, at Laura's screen.
Kannazuki: "So what's sustaining a Spirit without an Angel?..."
A thought for another day.
Red alerts reach the Fraxinus crew.
Kotori: "Tch! AST?"
The screens show the soon-to-be attackers. There were Bandershatches in their robotic form among the humans.
Kannazuki: "No... DEM Wizards."
Kotori: "Are they after the Spirits?"
Kannazuki: "Commander, should I take care of them?"
Before Kotori could answer, another alert came.
Kotori: "Wait, don't tell me...! What's White Licorice doing here?!"
---
A skyline firefight ensues. Missiles fly through the sky in constant volleys from the bulky frames of White Licorice.
Jessica: "It's an emergency! We need backup, now!"
Beams of false mana and advanced Territories contain and destroy most of the Bandersnatches while the contained human personnel only had their equipment destroyed.
"I'm sorry. This number is not in use. Captain Kusakabe isn't even allowed to fight due to orders from her superiors, so please hang up and stop contacting this definitely unused number. Bye-bye. Oh, and you should give up now," was all Jessica heard from her comms unit.
Jessica shouts in anger and threatens to report her after they are done with their fight.
Origami was able to stretch the battle for minutes without end. Missiles approach her in volleys from her enemies.
Origami: "I can't dodge them all."
She grits her teeth as the pressure from using White Licorice is taking a toll on her mind and body.
Her Territory activates but some missiles get through.
Her nose begins to bleed profusely. Her vision begins to blur and bleed red into her eyes.
Jessica: "Ahahaha! You're running out of time, oh-so masterful Wizard!
She revels at the thought of her victory as a squad of Bandersnatches show up from far away as backup. Soon enough, they'll arrive at the site of the battle and decimate the poor Wizard.
Several red glints sparkle from the ground like an array of stars.
Jessica: "It's over for you."
Suddenly, tens of arrows fly in a straight line across the sky, hitting their marks against all backup Bandersnatches in their heads. The destruction is followed by an explosion that Jessica and her remaining forces saw in the distance.
Jessica: "W-What?!"
Origami: "What...?"
Both sides looked down at the source of those arrows, pulling up screens that zoomed as close as they could to the ground, and what they saw shocked them.
Jessica: "No way, is that...? Damn it!"
Flowing white hair with red among the outfit, holding a black bow.
Jessica: "All forces! Monarch has appeared!"
Origami could tell something was different about Monarch, something that felt completely alien to belong to the Spirit.
After all, she was the one who fought her in close quarters and saw how she looked up close.
Origami: "Monarch... Laura Agana."