Side Story 2, Chapter 10: Prelude

[Side Story 2, Chapter 10: Prelude]

[Nobody's perspective]

Anger, fear, sadness, and frustration. 

She has all those feelings at the same time, and the feelings feel familiar to her.

Furiousness, horror, misery, and ultimate stress.

It's the new forms of feelings she hasn't experienced before, at least not when she watched her own mom be killed in front of her.

The Utoko Bank incident, 2 dead, 13 injured. It was a bank attack that tried to kill everyone in the bank, for some reason.

Her mother was viciously stabbed, in front of an innocent child's eyes. It left her trembling in fear, but she was given mercy.

Was she special? Why was she given mercy?

Other children were injured as well, no?

"Then, why?"

"Why am I spared from death?"

"Oh…"

Kasuri remembers.

She wasn't injured, but she was attacked.

Kasuri was protected by her mother's soul, because her mom was with Kasuri when she passed away.

After the attackers found out that she was immune to damage, they decided to retreat.

But now… Her mother isn't with her. She can't feel safe anymore.

Shrouded by those feelings, what can Kasuri do?

"I understand… I just have to protect myself."

Suddenly, Kasuri had thoughts of protecting herself. Surrounded by sadness, it slowly resonates in Kasuri's heart.

Do not sacrifice, just protect myself…

Thought Kasuri.

Mirages of new cards form in front of Kasuri, and finally transform into powerful cards. She is in awe… What miracle has she created?

"I'm… More powerful? But I already am."

But… Kasuri has felt like she was no match to anyone before.

She also wants people to always be alive, but the cards… Both oppose and support Kasuri's wish.

The blurred-out cards suddenly had a picture, and the card description.

"I'm more powerful!"

Suddenly, happiness comes into Kasuri's mind. She can now protect others. 

"He's already dead, but let's be grateful that I still have somebody to protect…!"

But, the sudden burst of happiness slowly disappears. 

She peeks out of the window, and then used her cards to float her towards the food truck.

Kasuri was pointed at by Inazuma's bow, but was recognized as an ally. Inazuma stops pointing at Kasuri, and asked her; "Where have you been?"

"I was at my apartment, crying."

"Why?"

A tear fell out of Kasuri's eyes. "Someone died…"

Inazuma picked up something from the food truck's storage. It was a badge with pure amethyst with it. "I believe this is what you were looking for."

"Thanks…" Kasuri took the badge, covered it in her hands, then looked at the exact direction of Chris' death. She whispered to the cold breeze, 

"Listen to my voice… Listen…"

and the breeze suddenly got faster.

"Remember all the good memories we have together? I wish we could relieve them once again, so I hope you come back to life…"

She then blew on the badge, making the mist's color slightly purple. Kasuri hallucinates an aura of her mother for a split second, then calms down.

"What are you doing?" asked Inazuma.

"I'm trying to make myself feel comforted."

"Does it… Really make you feel better?"

"Yes…"

"I should start doing that as well."

Inazuma picked up someone's syringe hairpin and did the same thing.

"Dear Ambroise, even though you were a spirit, I wished we could reunite as living humans."

Inazuma blew on the syringe, making the mist slightly gold.

"...I think I am feeling better now. It seems like Ambroise is still with me." and yet Inazuma doesn't have a smile. "How does doing this make you feel comfortable?"

"There's a lot of spirits in this world, you can make almost any belief, and most of the beliefs are actually real… I don't know how to explain it, it's just… It can mend our emotions."

“I see, is that why people are always happy?”

“...” Kasuri has no answer. She doesn’t know if it does make people happy.

“Then… Why are people happy?”

“I don’t know… How can you even be happy in this situation?”

"..." Inazuma just stays quiet. She doesn't know much about human emotions, but still wishes to learn about them.

Meanwhile, Luca and Sephine…

"We shouldn't have brung children to exploration… You said they're good for stealth. You are literally a dumbass for thinking this." argued Luca.

"I'm sorry…" cried Sephine.

"What are you gonna do now? Revive him?"

Sephine sobbed. "His life force is long gone… We can't resurrect him unless we take the life force from whoever killed him!"

"I see…" Luca hugged Sephine. "I'm sorry for being mad at you."

Sephine didn't bother hugging back, but just touched Luca a bit.

Meanwhile, Yuguwa and Meriku…

Yuguwa is crying behind the food truck, because he's just lost a friend. Meriku just sits next to Yuguwa, being sad because Yuguwa is crying. Meriku, though, is too shy to comfort him.

Meriku just looks around the place. So many people dead, and so much blood… Meriku is scared, and she wants to cry, but Meriku simply holds back most of her tears. She's surrounded by fear, but she ignores most of her fears.

Meriku thought it's not time to be scared. She might be the weakest in the team, but who knows?

Meriku picked up her phone and checked the news. Only Natoruyo's crystal has been retrieved, and Naiko crystal… It's gone! But… She can ask Naiko, so she walked to Naiko and did so.

"Nai… Naiko, uhhh… Where is… The crystal?"

"I think it's in a secret base in Naiko… We have to go looking for it."

"Thank you…" Meriku slightly smiled as a sign of appreciation.

Meriku walked to Luca and Sephine, and informed them about their secret base, but they didn't know about the location.

The only clue Naiko knew was the direction. Naiko subconsciously pointed to somewhere, which was northeast, and it's underground. Meriku also noticed, and informed them about it.

Luca walked to the back of the food truck, and said to Naiko, "If you think the crystal is nearby, tell us." Naiko nodded her head, and decided to go inside the car.

He cooked some food as a supper, since everyone was feeling bad, and everyone came to eat, except for Kasuri and Inazuma, but they went to the supper before the food got cold. 

They were steak and sausages, with carrots, broccolis and a potato on each of the dishes. Broccolis are vegetables, which are the food that children don't like, but it still tasted amazing, even Kang and Derie (a person who doesn't like vegetables, except cabbages) enjoyed them!

It's then served with sweet jasmine tea with a refill. They all have a conversation while eating.

"This person's really good at cooking!" Derie said.

"This reminds me of my mom's cooking!!! It's really good!" Kang said, while reminded of her mother's excellent cooking. Luca's food tastes better, but she doesn't want her mom to be angry for calling other people's food more delicious than her cooking.

"What a delicious dish." said Inazuma, after she finished the dish. Inazuma was one of the only people who had manners.

"Yooo!!! Thank you, Luca!" said Ariel, happily. (thischaracterisnotminebladeimsorryifthisisnotaccuratetocharacteritriedmybest)

"Mm! Not surprising, all your dishes are awesome!" Kasuri tasted the delicious taste of the food, along with the sweet jasmine tea. That's one of her favorite drinks!

"Uh… Thank you." said Meriku, being the shu introvert she is.

"I can cook better than this, but it's still good!" said Sephine, who actually can't cook better than Luca.

"This makes me happier now… Thanks." Yuguwa finally managed to cope with his best friend's death by Luca's food.

Later, everyone was full, and Luca announced that they were going to the secret base. They can stay in the food truck if they want, since it's enough for multiple people to stay inside.

Everyone agrees, and goes on with their adventure to find the Crystal of Naiko, and save the city.

In the food truck, strangely, there is now a similar mechanism to the one in Satora's limousine. It can fit a lot of people in there. You're already familiar with it, of course, unless you skipped the main story.

Kasuri is sitting next to Inazuma and Meriku, and they're talking to each other.

"So, Kasuri, what are your abilities?" Inazuma asked.

"I have a lot of spell cards! They can be used to defeat a lot of people! I have this thing called Soul Cards, which can summon people at will!"

"It seems like you would be a great tool to save this city. Could you convert me into your Soul Card?"

"Sure…" Kasuri touched Inazuma's body, and put a spell on her. "You can now turn into a card and back to your human form at will!"

"Excuse me… Am I a human?" Inazuma was confused.

"Wait… You're not a human?"

"I do not think I am human at all. I am more than human, but no one could explain who I am, just like Ambroise."

Meriku, confused about the person Inazuma speaks of, asked; "Who is Ambroise?"

"She is a spirit that resides in Bisukan Forest. We used to play hide and seek together, until she disappeared, and the only trace was her corpse from several years ago. It has been a corpse since the Victorian Era, yet it has not rotted by a single matter..." Inazuma sighed. "I want to meet her again, and if I could wish for something, I want to see her as a living individual. Her body is nice."

“I… I also have a spirit friend, she’s… Nice. She’s nice.”

“Good for you.” said Inazuma. “Spirit friends and humans usually get along well. You will get along the best with the spirit you find first.”

“Oh…”

“That is one of my beliefs.” she sighed. “It does not make me as happy as then, but after all, there are a lot of spirits that I believe in, like Kasuri said.”