02x08 - Visitor Arc VIII

[bunniefuu]

Early this morning...

the JMDF secured a small USNA Navy-affiliated
vessel in Japan's offshore territory.

Apparently, it had begun drifting
because of engine trouble...

but a high-ranking military attaché at the
USNA's Tokyo embassy was aboard the ship,

so the JMDF is currently verifying
all the facts with the USNA military.

It doesn't seem as though it
ran afoul of any poor weather.

Maybe the issue was with
their power source.

After all, with how far automation
has come in this day and age,

a simple human error wouldn't have
caused them to lose their steering.

I see. That makes sense.

It's a country's regular army.

This response was too fast...

even assuming our aunt
issued a direct order.

Which means...

their forces were already in position
by the time I contacted her.

Well, I'm going to change into my uniform.

Sure, go ahead.

Our aunt had already called
me earlier about that news.

And yet, I pretended to be
ignorant of the situation.

But I don't care if he thinks
of me as a useless sister...

if that's what it will take
for him to stay at my side.

If it's decided that I can do my job independently
as leader of the Yotsuba, he might leave me.

And I'll eventually have to
get married soon enough, too.

They'll expect me to have children.

Those are the requirements of a candidate
for the next leader of the Yotsuba.

But...

I don't want that.

I don't want anyone but
my brother to touch me.

Because...

I belong to my brother, body and soul...

Keep screaming!

No doubt, you'll lose your wishes,

it's fragile, but it's here.

I'll keep believing.

Being tested while exposed

to this reality full of uncertainty.

Don't hide your cowardice

by wearing a false veil.

Sorrow and suffering are always

like a magic that creates strength.

Even confusion and hesitation

must surely have meaning.

Keep screaming!

No doubt, you'll lose your wishes,

break them over and over again.

Woah, woah

You're not alone.

Even these scars and countless pains,

I'll embrace them, love them.

Woah, woah

I believe in you.

Keep going beyond your destiny.

Pixie... Cancel suspend mode.

What do you require?

I want to ask you about
the vampire incidents.

First, were the parasites responsible
for the victims' blood loss?

Yes.

Why did you need blood
from a living person?

Blood loss was not our intent.

It was a side effect of
mistaken propagation.

Our propagation process starts by
cutting off part of ourselves...

and sending it into a recipient.

The separate body spreads through blood vessels while
absorbing Psions and Pushions in the bloodstream.

It permeates the recipient's physical body
by exchanging itself for their blood.

Wait. You are bodies of information. You

don't have mass.

Where does the exchanged blood matter go?

It is used to modify their
body during assimilation.

Should assimilation fail, the separate body is
expelled from the recipient's body as vitality.

So, that's how it works.

Should permeation of the body succeed, we can
control its information body, its ethereal body.

An interplay between physical
bodies and information bodies?

The same basic tenet as magic.

If we can access the recipient's mental body through their
ethereal body and merge with it, our propagation succeeds.

Unfortunately, however,
we have had no successes.

Why not?

Unknown.

I wanted to know this, as well.

For some reason, the idea
alone remains within me.

Before you inhabited that body, you all appeared to move
as an organized group with a common objective in mind.

Does one of you correspond
to a leadership position?

There exists no command
structure among us.

Strictly speaking, each one of us is
not a perfectly autonomous individual.

We are both individuals and the whole.

We possess the ability to think
individually, but we share our consciousness.

Is that how you communicate
with each other?

Yes.

Where are the other parasites right now?

Current locations unknown.

However, I sense their thought
waves, searching for me.

We have finally awoken.

Chinese necromancy is certainly something.

Then, even if our flesh is destroyed,
we can quickly resume activities.

Now, we just need to get
back the one who is missing.

Let us take back our missing comrade.

Let us search for our missing comrade.

Pixie, change into this.

At once, sir.

Brother!

How can you watch that so calmly?

Why? Miyuki, Pixie is a robot, you know.

She may be a robot,
but she's still a girl!

Well, she may be shaped
like a person, but-

It's not right!

Please turn around, Brother!

It's okay now, Tatsuya.

Pixie, come with us.

Yes, Master.

Brother, where are we headed to?

Aoyama Cemetery.

Aoyama Cemetery...

I'm sure we're not going there
for an off-season test of courage.

Is it just that ghosts tend to
crop up in places like that?

You're quick on the uptake.

I'm sure no one will be
around to interfere with us.

Well, it was something
you thought of, Brother.

Um, Tatsuya, it's late,
so won't it be closed?

We probably can't get inside.

But if we get close,
they'll come out for us.

That's why we brought Pixie along.

And if anyone stops and questions us, you'll
be here to do something about it, right?

Please leave it to me!

I guess I'll let Leo, Erika and
Mikihiko know where we're going.

Aoyama Cemetery...

The mission begins now.

The destination is Aoyama Cemetery.

Let's get going.

Yes, ma'am!

What a huge failure.

Excuse me, ma'am.

Enter.

There is someone who wishes
to meet with you, Colonel.

Who is it?

Her name is Ayako Kuroba, ma'am.

She says she's an agent
of the Yotsuba Family.

Yotsuba?

The Yotsubas, known and
feared as "Untouchables."

What do they want with me?

It is an honor to make your
acquaintance, Ms. Balance.

My name is Ayako Kuroba.

Colonel Virginia Balance,
USNA military JCS.

I know how busy you must be, so
thank you for agreeing to see me.

I've come here today to make a
request as an agent of Maya Yotsuba,

leader of the Yotsuba Family,
one of the Ten Master Clans.

Go on.

Very well, then.

Colonel, we would like you to cease the interference with
our country's magicians being carried out at your command.

Our leader, Maya Yotsuba, has concerns
over your excessive interference.

She said that since our nations
are allied with each other,

she did not want to make this affair
into a trigger for any sort of conflict.

Is that a warning?

Will you light the trigger
if we don't withdraw?

Colonel...

Did you sleep well last night?

That was you?

What do you mean?

Respectfully, your face doesn't look
well, so I simply offered my concern.

Colonel, please allow
your nerves to settle.

If at all possible, we would like to
build a friendly relationship with you.

A friendly relationship?

You are aware of the power of the Yotsuba.

And we are well aware of yours, Colonel.

Our leader has said that if you would
arrange to withdraw from this incident,

we will not forget our
gratitude to you personally.

And that, if there is an opportunity in
the future, we would be able to assist you.

Fine.

Observation target currently
moving toward the city.

His sister and two others with him.

Running video verification with their
photos before getting on the train.

A classmate.

Odd tastes, bringing his sister
along on a date like that.

Who's the other one?

She's not a human.

It seems to be a type
P94 Humanoid Home Helper.

Where could he be bringing it?

Chief, the train with the target
on it has changed course.

Akasaka... No, Aoyama?

Position operatives disguised as
police officers along Aoyama Road!

If the target group uses magic,
pretend to arrest and capture them!

What's wrong, Brother?

Someone is spying on us.

It feels like Counterintelligence
Section Three.

Wh-What am I picking up?

Tatsuya!

I put everyone who was
watching us to sleep!

Nice work.

Let's get away from here before
their friends come running.

What a troubling young lady.

But what splendid skill,
taking down four foes at once.

Her name is Honoka Mitsui, right?

That's right...

Grandfather.

Considering her name and her
specialty type of magic...

I wonder if she's part of the
Elements bloodline of light.

Master, three parasites are approaching.

So, they did come.

Tatsuya Shiba, we want to talk.

What should I call you?

Marte.

Then, Mr. Marte, what
on earth do you want?

We demons have no further intent to engage in any
hostile actions toward you, the magicians of Japan.

In exchange for promising to
end hostilities against you...

we want you to hand that robot over to us.

Would you mind talking
a little more politely?

I don't have any way to answer unless you
explain why you want us to hand it over.

I hadn't thought explanation necessary.

In fact, you should have no
reason to take that robot's part.

We're the ones who decide
if we have a reason or not.

We wish to release our comrade who
is imprisoned inside that robot.

Is your comrade not allowed
to have a robot for a host?

Our mutual connections are much
stronger than you humans'.

Is the fact that we want to get our comrade, a living creature,
out of a lifeless vessel so difficult for you to understand?

No, I understand it.

But how?

We will destroy the machine.

Should the current host be
lost, we can move to a new one.

I see.

That's his offer, Pixie.

Do you wish to be released from there?

No, I don't, Master!

I am me!

My wish is to belong to you, Master.

That is who I am!

I do not care any more what sort of being I originally
was nor where I received the wish constituting my core!

I do not want to stop being me!

That's what she says, Brother.

Yeah.

Anyway, I expect you can
guess our answer already,

but before I spell it out for you, there
are two or three things I want to ask.

It seems you are more foolish
than we thought, Tatsuya Shiba.

We are disappointed.

Fine, then. Say what questions you have.

Before, you said you didn't have any intention of
engaging in hostilities against magicians, right?

Why wasn't it against people
instead of against magicians?

If we had accepted your request, you demons
wouldn't have acted hostile toward magicians.

Then, how would you act
toward non-magician people?

After you destroyed Pixie's body...

what would you have her inhabit next?

Answer me.

You possess only superficial
cunning that requires no real wit.

We're telling you we won't
be your enemies anymore.

Why are you not satisfied with that?

We demons are not compatible
with humans in the same way

that you magicians are different
from other people, am I wrong?

Really, now?

My host was a magician, as well.

That is why I understand the
way humans treat magicians.

To humans, magicians
are tools and lab rats.

A magician's wishes are too trivial
for humans to take notice of.

Why do you do right by people who
think of nothing more than using you?

You have your own wishes and
your own hopes. Don't you?

This all sounds like by-the-book stuff.

For someone who just
treated me like a fool...

you sure are stupid.

You won't harm magicians.

That's fine. It really is.

But you've already hurt
my magician friends.

Do I have any reason to believe that you won't hurt them in
the future when you haven't given even a word of apology?

It's no different from the catchphrases that
proclaim to protect a magician's human rights.

Come to think of it, I
never gave you my answer.

Well, it's "no."

You impudent little...

So easy to understand.

I'll make this easy for
you to understand, too.

Put down your weapons
and surrender peacefully.

If you do, we won't have to hurt you.

I promise you'll be happy lab rats.

You... human dog!

The signs of magic activation...

But...

What?

If I destroy his physical body, the parasite
will scatter in search of a different host.

If I had Miyuki freeze him with
magic, he'd self-destruct and escape.

The parasites don't possess physical
organs but a person's mind.

Therefore, there's no real reason to
strike one part of the body over another.

So, it's best to strike at the place most
deeply connected to the rest of the body.

Brother!

Honoka!

I'm all right!

After all... I want to...

I want to be able to help Tatsuya, too!

The clumsy palm that

- Gave me warmth gently

- That's...

Embrace in my heart

Any day

Any word is not enough

Let's walk in the direction
where the light is shining

Instead of saying thank you

Why do the things that you
think is the most important

disappear so fickly

disappear so fickly

When that nameless flower blooms

One drop of desire overflows

That falls before you could see it

The hope that certainly bloomed here