Act 1, Scene 9
I peek out from behind the small Izakaya - no, this place is no good either. I duck back behind cover as a bolt of energy lances through the spot I had looked from. "Dammit, we'll never reach Kichijoji station… Inokashira-dori is too wide to cross. We'll have to try Inokashira-koen Station. How the heck did you even get to the park in the first place…?"
"If was like this, then I wouldn't have," Arima says. "...That tower wasn't there before."
"Of course, because when was a singularity ever simple?" I mutter as we turn and begin the trek to cut through the park. "I want to go back to Fuyuki, Arthur was nothing compared to the nonsense we keep being hit with lately."
There's a bit of silence, before my companion finally speaks.
"...So, to clarify" Arima says, a sort of skepticism hanging on to every word, "Tokyo tower has been replaced by a mysterious tower full of arbitrary trials that you had to face once before. There's someone there to oversee the trials, and to kill anyone approaching the tower and prevent them from taking those trials."
"Yeah," I nod. "But the Watchtower really isn't supposed to be… anywhere near here. And also Shaula should really know better than to shoot at me at this point, so… maybe she slipped, hit her head on a toilet bowl, and forgot everything, but probably she's being mind controlled or something."
"I suppose with how accurate those snipes have been, her being unable to recognize your face at this distance is right out?" She replies.
"Mmmm… Well, I don't think she's the best with faces," She somehow decided I was the real Flugel because we smelled the same, after all. "But either way - hang on, that clearing's no good, let's go through the bushes. -Either way, I'm probably gonna pull on her cheeks when we meet up again."
"...And you called her a scorpion?" Arima asks.
"Ah, if she's in scorpion form, we'll probably die," I say with a grimace. "There's no reasoning with her once she's gone full 'killing machine' mode."
"You're really cavalier about that," She says, frowning.
"I mean, we're both normal humans… probably," I say glancing at her.
"Like I said, I'm just a normal girl trying to enjoy my high school life," Arima retorts.
"No normal girl ever said something like that," I retort.
"Gh… look, Middle School was a failure, and that's all you need to know," She growls - ah.
"My bad, I understand completely," I give a pained grin. "You're one of my people, huh?" Chuunibyou, that is.
"I'll tear you to pieces."
"If you're trying to be normal, maybe lose that type of threat first!?"
***
Scene 10
"Ready… now!" Two casts of Emergency Reinforcement leave my Mystic Code as Arima and I dash from the nearby tree cover and under the shelter of Inokashira-koen Station's entrance. Sure enough, two [Hell's Snipe]s cut through the air behind us, but we make it safely, Arima well ahead of me. "...Oi, are you really a normal person?"
"I do a bit of martial arts - since you're a Time Wizard, you're probably the type who doesn't get much exercise, right?" She says, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. "So that's why I'm faster."
"Hey! That's not true! I do radio calisthenics every single day!" I protest.
She opens her mouth to respond with something, but then clamps it shut, her posture shifting back into that reserved facade I've been seeing so much of. "So, from here we can take the line to Shibuya… if the trains are running."
"Geh, I was trying not to think of that!" I complain. "If we have to walk all the way there… it's probably impossible, right?"
"To start with, the station is open-air - won't we be seen entering the train?" Arima asks. "With its thin frame, we'll be sitting ducks."
"Yeah, probably, but… Shaula's kinda dumb, so she'll probably give up once she loses sight of us. That's what's been happening this whole time, after all." I reply as we hip the turnstile to enter the station proper. "...There's something a little thrilling about this."
"Alright, then… what if there are zombies on this one too?" She asks.
"You can tear them to pieces, right?" I reply, earning a slightly embarrassed frown. "I mean, those ones from before were slow, and just Minya was enough… I could imagine worse trains to get on."
"...They're not that strong, but it's a bit-"
At that moment, the station intercom pops, and a voice echoes in the deserted lobby.
"A train will be coming soon. If you get on that train, you will have a scary experience."
…
""The monkey dream!?"" We both shout at the same time.
"Zombies and the watchtower weren't enough, we're just jumping straight into urban legends now!?" I shout.
"It doesn't even work in an open-air station like this, the tone is completely off!" Arima protests.
-But sure enough, I hear the sound of crashing cymbals approaching, and peeking around the corner, I see something like a roller coaster, with a wind-up cymbal monkey mounted on the front.
"Obviously we're not getting on that," Arima says. "...Right?"
"Of course not! Do I look like I want to become minced meat!?" I retort - and then I hear another noise. Clack. Drip. Clack. Drip. Clack. Drip. "...What-?"
"Geta," Arima mutters - wooden sandals, for any foreigners out there. "Did someone just get off?"
But then there's that noise. A telltale drip, drip, drip. Too slow to be water. I shouldn't look. I really shouldn't, but-!
"Now departing. The next stop is Ikezukuri, Ikezukuri," The intercom says, and finally curiosity takes over, and I take another peek at the platform.
The departing train is stained red, littered with corpses - some rotten like zombies, some human looking, some squat and dwarf-like. And standing on the platform, his hands stained red, dripping with blood-
"...A Tengu?" I mutter.
Myourenji Arou enters.
Long purple-white hair, mixed with feathers and stained with blood sways lazily behind him. His geta-clad feet rise into lean, tight-clad legs lined with the occasional armor plate. His chest is bare save for a purple yui-gesa with deep red bonten, and his face is hidden behind a three-faced mask - to each side, the scowling face of Fudou-Myouou can be seen, but in the center, the long red nose of a scowling Tengu takes prominence.
He takes one more step - and then he's standing between us.
Arima swings first. A punch meets a floating metal disc that interposes itself between the two, and then a follow-up elbow strike is caught as the tengu steps past his protection to meet her. Arima rotates into a shoulder tackle, but the blood-stained stranger kills its momentum with a leg sweep, bringing her to the ground.
"Minya!" I fire purple crystals at the tengu, but he takes another step and flickers out of the way of them, suddenly standing to my side. On the ground, I can see Arima try to stand, but that floating metal disc is pushing down on her chest with unnatural weight, and she's unable to rise. Hastily I turn to look at him, and lock eyes with a cold, red-irised gaze. "M-maybe we got off on the wrong foot?" I offer.
-A sudden pain in my neck, and I'm thrust into the air - no, that's not right. "Something" falls to the ground beneath me.
"Ah," Dull horror fills Arima's voice. I can't feel my body.
He coldly casts my torn off head to the side, and I tumble over and over through darkness.
-And through a foggy field into an empty white room.