Shock.
That was the only thing the Stars felt. Everyone stopped. Everything stopped. All eyes were on the grey-eyed, midnight blue-haired girl giving them a cold — almost emotionless — smile.
Seeing one of your teammates smiling at you so menacingly was already creepy. But knowing that that teammate was supposed to be standing right beside you at that same moment was nothing short of something that can qualify for the Twilight Zone.
What the hell?!
Kaji looked from the black-haired, brown-eyed Aiko he came to the palace with, to the blue-haired, grey-eyed girl who could pass off as her twin. Aiko was looking absolutely stupefied. Frozen. Unbelieving. Well, Kaji thought, if I saw someone looking exactly like me, I’d be freaked out, too.
But nothing could have prepared him for what the black-haired girl said next.
“A–… AIKO…?”
Kamui blinked. No, no, that can’t be right. Why was Aiko calling this other girl by her own name? There can’t be two Aikos, now, can there? Aiko didn’t have any sisters, and it’s not likely that she had been cloned. Aside from a crazy mad scientist’s theory that this Aiko was from another dimension, the only possibility that Kamui could think of was that there existed a perfect stranger who, coincidentally, looked exactly like his best friend. But even that seemed crazy.
Although there was Mai, and she looked like Aiko, but with brown eyes—
Again, Kamui blinked. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. The hair dye and contact lenses. The personality-altering speech. The slight ki change that Kaji noticed. The occassional times when Aiko would forget things she was supposed to know. The talk she had with him earlier that night.
“Kazetenshi Aiko never uses ‘Hi’, but this isn’t the first time I used it.”
“Don’t worry. After tonight, I don’t think it’s going to be so confusing anymore.”
So what did that mean? Was the black-haired, brown-eyed Aiko actually Mai? But that can’t be right, either. Mai wasn’t a Star. She was just a normal girl Kamui met in the carnival.
A girl who coincidentally knew someone named Maya who, like the Rose, looked too young for her age.
A girl who had said that the wind was her element.
A girl whose mysterious chocolate brown eyes always made him want to gaze at her forever.
Unconsciously, Kamui shook his head.
How could I have been so STUPID?!
As for Mai, the shock on her face melted, replaced with a smile of pure joy. Suddenly, she didn’t care that Aiko was wearing a black cloak, that the air around her was nothing but sinister, that she had just attempted to attack them, and that Mai had just dreamt of Aiko successfully killing everyone. Suddenly, nothing else mattered.
To everyone’s surprise, bewilderment and horror, Mai ran towards Aiko with open arms.
“AI-CHAN!!!” she exclaimed as she hugged Aiko happily. “You’re all right! You’re alive!” Mai was so wrapped up in relief that she didn’t notice that Aiko remained stiff in her arms. “I thought—… Oh my goodness, when I saw you yesterday, I thought Youko-san had killed you! I thought I was never going to see you again! I’m so glad you’re all right! I’m so glad you’re all right!!!”
It took a moment for Mai to finally realize that Aiko wasn’t responding. Looking up at her twin, she saw the grey eyes that were looking at her with utter disgust. Mai didn’t even have the chance to ask what was wrong. She gasped when Aiko put her hand on her shoulder, her grip a little bit too tight for Mai’s liking, before she roughly pushed the black-haired girl away.
“Don’t… you… touch me.”
Mai could do nothing but stare at Aiko, even as she stumbled backwards. In one fluid motion, Aiko whipped out her lightning sword and charged at Mai, her stance clearly saying that the blue-haired girl was ready to kill.
“AIKO!” Mai exclaimed desperately as she dodged the swift strokes of Aiko’s sword. “What’re you doing?!”
“I’m trying to get rid of you, you filthy witch!!!” Aiko yelled as an answer. “You killed her!!!”
“What?!”
“You killed my mother!”
Mai nearly tripped, stunned, and she could only mentally thank Youko for training her. If he hadn’t, Mai would’ve been dead by now under Aiko’s sword.
“Wait a second! I didn’t—”
“If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have given up being a Star!” Aiko yelled at her, her ki flaring madly as she continued to attack Mai. “If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have been killed! YOU killed her!!!
Aiko raised her sword to violently slice Mai in half, but, suddenly, Mai’s hands sped towards her wrists, stopping her before any damage was done.
“Aiko, listen to me—!”
Mai’s plea fell on deaf ears. With a great heave and a growl, Aiko successfully wrenched her wrists free, making Mai stumble backwards again to finally land on the ground.
“I said, don’t touch me!!!”
In the next second, Mai looked up to see Aiko’s blazing sword descending on her. Mai knew she couldn’t roll away. It was too late. In the last fraction of a second, Mai threw her arms in front of her in a desperate attempt to shield herself.
Flames burst from beneath her, and Mai could only pray that Aiko wasn’t seriously injured.
“Yuki.”
“Yeah?”
“Freeze her.”
“What?”
“Freeze Aiko. Right now.”
“Which one?”
“The evil one, the one who tried to kills us; which do you think?!”
Although Yuki wanted to punch Kaji for yelling at her so harshly, she instantly obeyed. The blue-haired Aiko gave a start when ice shot up from under her. She tried to jump up to avoid the growing wall of ice encircling her, but she wasn’t fast enough: the ice closed up in a dome above her. Yuki fortified the ice walls, and, soon, it was so thick that it became white, totally hiding Aiko from view. Before Yuki could ask Kaji what to do next, he was already marching towards the sphere of fire. With a wave of his hand, the flames disappeared, revealing the black-haired girl.
“HEY!” Mai prostested when Kaji grabbed her roughly by her arm and pulled her to stand up.
“You! Explain!” he commanded none-too-friendly.
“Now is not the time for explanations, Kaji!” Mai exclaimed, trying to wrench her arm free. But Kaji’s grip was strong.
“EXPLAIN!”
It was then that all the other Stars joined them at the center of the throne room. Mai looked around. Everyone was looking at her, and, even though their facial expressions had varied degrees of surprise, wariness and suspicion, it was obvious that everyone was waiting — demanding — for her to speak up. Everyone, even Kamui, whom Mai didn’t even glance at, fearing what she would see in his cobalt blue eyes.
“OK,” she finally said. “I’m not Aiko.”
“Mai?”
Hikaru’s hesitant voice made the owner of the name look at him in surprise. He was still looking at her disbelievingly, but the joy, concern, and excitement in his eyes was undeniable.
So I was right, after all, she thought, He already knows about me.
“Hi, Oniichan,” Mai said, allowing herself to smile for her brother. She turned back to Kaji, who was impatiently waiting for her explanation. “I’m not Aiko. She is Aiko, I’m Mai. We’re sisters. We’re twins—”
“Twins?!”
“Yes, —only nobody knew about it because I was raised as a Rose, and I thought the Stars were the bad people, which was disproved when Aiko and I met by accident, and we decided to unearth the truth about how our mother died, so we switched places two weeks ago so that I could investigate Ran—”
“Investigate?!”
“Yes, —but I couldn’t bring myself to, and Aiko stayed here at the palace as she was investigating Youko, but he found her out, so he tortured her and now I think he brainwashed her—”
“Brainwashed?!”
“Yes! Kaji, must you repeat everything I say?!”
“I ain’t repeating everything you say!”
“Yes, you are!”
“No, I’m NOT!”
“All right, you guys, STOP IT!” Kamui finally yelled, getting impatient, himself.
“We better hurry up,” Yuki pitched in, glancing at the ice dome, “Aiko might break free out of that soon.”
“Right,” Kamui said, “Mai. So Aiko’s brainwashed, what do we do?”
“Well,” Mai started, ignoring that sinking feeling she had in her stomach caused by the stern look Kamui was giving her, “what happens when someone is brainwashed is: parts of the person’s memories are tweaked or magnified, therefore leading — forcing, rather — the person to think a certain way. In Aiko’s case, Youko made her angry at me using what happened to our mother, then magnified it. And, since I think Youko has led her to believe that Ran killed our mother, then I suppose she’s angry at everyone connected to Blue Star.”
“So…she’s still our Aiko, but her perspective has changed?” Hikaru clarified.
“In a way, yes, but we are only seeing part of her, the brainwashed part of her. As you probably already noticed, her ki is slightly different. That’s because the brainwasher’s ki is mixed with hers. But still, her original life force and Seed are still there, so it follows that the real Aiko is still there; the rest of Aiko’s persona is confined at the back of her brain.
“Initially, the real Aiko could still see and feel what is happening outside her body, and, even though she cannot control it, a small part of her still appears in the brainwashed person. After a certain period of time — depending on the person’s willpower — she receeds lower, until it comes to a point that she does not know what’s happening at all. It is like she falls asleep. I think, by now, that’s what’s happening, judging from the deviation of her ki. If we do not wake her up soon, the brainwasher’s ki will swallow her entirely, and the rest of Aiko’s personality totally disappears.”
A tense silence ruled the group, only to be broken by a muffled crashing sound as Aiko tried to break Yuki’s ice with her sword.
“Hikaru, disorient her for a sec, will you?” Kaji asked, jerking his head towards the ice dome. “I think lights-on-lights-off should be fine.”
Hikaru nodded, and the crashing promptly stopped.
“How do we snap her out of it?”
“We need to get a reaction from the confined Aiko. But not just a slight reaction, like surprise that can fade after a few seconds. It has to be something major. Youko-san told me that the death of a loved one never fails to awaken brainwashed people — but of course that is not included in our options.”
“Can’t we fake death?”
“I don’t think so,” Yuki said.”This angry Aiko means business. We can’t gamble that.”
“Well, what else is there?!” Kamui exclaimed. “Ai-chan’s mostly just cheerful; I can’t think of anything that we can do that can make her majorly happy right now. I don’t think chocolate’ll be enough.”
“This is way harder than picking out the perfect birthday gift,” Sara muttered.
“I can’t believe this.” Hikaru himself looked frustrated. “We’re her family and friends, for goodness’ sake — I’m her brother, for goodness’ sake — and we can’t think of anything that’ll get a reaction from her!”
“I suppose we can resort to making her angry,” Mai said. “Anger is one of the most powerful emotions.”
“But she’s already angry,” Sara pointed out.
“Yes, but, at the moment, she’s angry at us — at me — for a specific reason. We can make the real Aiko angry because of something else. Can you remember any major fights you had with her recently?”
There was a pause.
Then, as if they were choreographed to do so, everyone turned to look at the one person who could hold the key.
“W…What?” Kaji asked, blinking.
“If it’s about making Ai-chan angry, you’re the pro,” Sara simply said.
“HEY! I—”
“Uh…guys?” Yuki said, “The ice is breaking. I think Hikaru’s light tricks aren’t working anymore…”
“She does have lightning at her disposal,” Hikaru defended.
“So do I fortify the ice?”
“YES!”
“NO!”
Kaji turned sharply to look at Mai. “Why not?! We haven’t thought of anythin’ yet!”
“The sooner we wake her, the better, Kaji!” she said. “Besides, since you have such a quick brain of a genius, I’m sure you can think of something.”
“Touchdown in about T minus 15 seconds,” Yuki warned them again as the ice started to crack.
“Guys, let’s stay around her and Hino for support,” Kamui said. “Be ready with your Elements—”
“OEI!” Kaji exclaimed. “I‘m the strategist, Tori—!”
“10 seconds!” Yuki yelled, preparing her sword.
“Well, you were, but since you’re the frontman right now, and you’re supposed to be thinking of something that’ll get Aiko’s reaction, I thought I should take the initiative.”
“3 seconds!”
“But I haven’t thought of anythin’ yet!”
“Well, THINK, then!!!”
If Kaji was planning to counter Kamui again, he didn’t have a chance to do it. The roof of the ice dome burst to pieces and a strong wind howled in the throne room. When Aiko emerged from inside the ice walls, she was still holding her lightning sword, her grey eyes were burning, and her midnight blue hair flowed around her face. Kaji couldn’t help but be amazed at how magnificently beautiful she was. If he thought she glowed at the Tokyo Skating Open with the snowfakes falling around her, that was nothing compared to how she looked like a goddess right now.
Kaji’s train of thought suddenly stopped.
Skating…
“Any time you’re ready, Hino,” he heard Hikaru’s voice behind him as Aiko’s eyes wandered around the room, looking at each Star one by one. “I won’t accept that you haven’t come up with anything yet.”
Kaji inwardly winced. “She’s gonna wanna kill me if I do what I’ve thought.”
“That’s the whole point, man.”
Aiko’s eyes turned to Kaji, and, for a reason Kaji was sure he won’t be happy about, she smirked.
“So… You want to die first, eh, fire-boy?” she said as she jumped down to the floor.
“The thing is…” Kaji whispered, “you’re gonna wanna kill me, too.”
Hikaru’s eyebrows furrowed, but he didn’t ask anything else as Kaji finally summoned his fire sword. In response, Aiko took her cloak and whipped it off to reveal an all-white suit that made her look regal but deadly.
“Ready, fire-boy?”
“Ready when you are, Rookie.”
Lightning clashed against fire. Watching them, Yuki couldn’t help but be worried for Kaji. His movements, although they were as swift as ever, were obviously restrained. Judging by the look on his face, he seemed waiting for something. It can’t be an opening to strike her because Yuki had seen many openings that Kaji could not have missed seeing, but didn’t take. She watched his every movement, waiting for the slightest hand signal, or the quickest glance, that could be her cue to jump into the fray. But there came none.
Yuki’s eyes widened when Aiko’s lightning sword grazed Kaji’s arm, finally drawing blood.
“KAJI!” she yelled in alarm. But her intention of finally helping out died when Kaji just raised a hand, signalling her — as well as everybody else — to stay in their positions.
“I’m fine,” he said. Yuki thought he was just being stubborn. But, even though he was already breathing quite heavily — this, Yuki thought strange: Kaji had always had strong stamina — his maroon eyes were focused, and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
You BETTER know what you’re doing, Hino.
But then, Kaji suddenly decided to increase Yuki’s worry: his fire sword disappeared from his hand.
“What the heck are you doing?!” she heard Kamui hiss from where he stood.
As for Aiko, she seemed to be having a ball. She laughed out loud, totally amused with Kaji’s move.
“OK… You got wounded even though you were weilding your ever-mighty fire sword,” she said, “so you decide that you’ll do better without it.”
“Yep,” was Kaji’s simple answer. Yuki just wanted to go on over to him and literally knock some sense into his head.
“Fine,” Aiko said, shrugging. To everyone’s surprise, Aiko’s lightning sword disappeared. “Seeing that I still have the honor of a warrior, I’m going to fight without a weapon, as well,” she said. “That is, IF it’s all right with you…”
“Suit yourself.”
Aiko was the first to strike. Punch after kick after punch came. Although Yuki saw that Aiko’s hand-to-hand fighting skill had undoubtedly improved, Kaji was still too fast for her. But the question remained: Why did Kaji keep dodging her when he already had several chances of taking her down?!
The answer came in the next 5 seconds.
Aiko threw a punch, which Kaji dodged by changing his footing, allowing him to catch her wrist and whirl her around, making her lose her balance. With a gasp, she stumbled forward and collided into Kaji.
“Gotcha.”
Looking up, Aiko seethed. “Why, you—!!!”
Silence.
Sara blinked, making sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.
Mai’s eyes widened, her belief in Kaji being a genius strengthened.
Yuki’s eyebrow rose a few millimeters as she almost dropped her sword.
Kamui didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt like laughing.
Hikaru’s jaw dropped. Suddenly, he wanted to kill a certain maroon-haired sister-stealer; never mind that they had been friends.
Kaji opened his eyes as he gently pulled away. His heart thudded in his ribcage so loudly, he thought it could burst any second.
It was nothing Kaji expected. There was the excited rush of blood from his feet up to his head because he finally got to do something he’d been dying to do for months. But then there was that uncomfortable sensation of gravity violently pulling at his stomach because he knew he did it against Aiko’s will. Sure, he knew that may well be the solution to their problem, but… Kaji just wanted to pull his hair out just thinking about it.
And, just to make things even harder for him, Aiko’s lips were right there, a mere inch from his, and Kaji had the most irresistible urge to lean in and kiss her again.
Aiko’s eyes finally opened. Slowly, as if from sleep, her eyelids lifted to reveal her grey eyes that were still slightly out of focus. She blinked, and, since he was gazing at her eyes so closely, Kaji knew the situation was starting to sink in. Suddenly, he didn’t know whether to step away or to stay there or to be prepared to fight.
“Ka… Kaji…?” she asked in an almost inaudible whisper.
A small “Yeah…” was all he could manage. He felt her breath on his skin, and Kaji thought he had better move away from her before he lost self-control. But, of course, his body chose that time to be paralyzed.
Kaji watched in wonder as Aiko blinked several times, her eyes widening with each blink. Her jaw went slack, and then she suddenly gasped a split-second before a strong force hit his chest and literally flung him to the opposite end of the room. Airborne, he vaguely heard Yuki yell his name in alarm again, and the only thing Kaji thought of was: Aw, man, this is gonna hurt.
But, instead of hitting the painfully solid stone wall, Kaji’s back hit something rough, like several layers of something. It wasn’t soft as a pillow (the impact still hurt bad) but it was definitely an effective shock absorber. When he opened his eyes to see what he landed on, he saw layers and layers — “Aha! I was right!” — of vines and leaves and plants that formerly weren’t there. He looked up to see Kamui smirking at him. And, what else to give back to a smirk like that but a smirk?
“What— What— WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Aiko’s voice echoed through the four corners of the huge throne room.
Mai examined her twin. Everything about the blue-haired girl spelled anger: her shoulders were slightly slouched because of the intensity of the wind, she was panting — whether it was because of her outburst or something else, Mai wasn’t sure — and her eyes were fiercely narrowed at Kaji. There was, however, a betraying tinge of pink on her cheeks that was visible for everyone to see.
“Ai-chan…?” Sara asked tentatively.
As if Sara hadn’t spoken at all, Aiko pointed an accusing finger at Kaji. “Who gave that— that—… him permission to— to— I mean—”
Everyone suddenly jumped when Sara let out a cry of joy, and practically tackled Aiko to the ground.
“Ai-chan! It’s you! It’s really you!!! I was a little doubtful about Kaji’s plan, but, look, it worked! It really worked! I’m so glad you’re back to your old self!”
“Plan?” Aiko dumbly echoed as she finally turned to the Stars who, although smiling, looked exhausted. “What…Why is everyone—”
Mai smiled when Aiko’s eyes stopped on her. “Hi, sis,” she said.
“Mai…”
“You were brainwashed,” Mai promptly explained. “To make a long explanation short, Kaji had to kiss you to turn you back to normal.”
Her cheeks turning pink again, Aiko looked around. Kaji, by this time, had almost joined them where they stood, except, he was too busy being strangled by Hikaru, whom, in turn, Yuki tried to pry away from the maroon-haired Star.
“The two of you still have a LOT more explaining to do, do you know that?” came Kamui’s voice behind the girls.
Mai and Aiko glanced at each other.
“Yes, we realize that, Kamui,” the twins said, smiling at him at the same time.
“Uh…” Yuki’s voice came, “I’m really relieved that this problem is solved and all — Hikaru, stop it already! — but I have to remind you that we still have Ran and Youko to worry about.”
“Youko-san left, and Ran-sensei went after him,” Mai told Aiko. “With their history and all I think they’d be—” Mai suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, noticing that her sister suddenly seemed to look pale. “Aiko, are you all right?”
“Yeah… I’m fine.” Aiko said. But, the moment she said it, her hand that flew up to clutch her forehead, and her knees gave away from under her.
“Aiko!” Kamui exclaimed, catching her. “Ai-chan, what’s wrong?”
“I dunno… I… feel tired… suddenly…”
“Is this a side-effect of the brainwashing?” Kaji asked, finally free from Hikaru’s grasp.
“I don’t think so, no,” Mai said, trying to think. “Aiko, did Youko-san give you ki roses?”
“Wha?”
“Ki roses, Aiko. They’re black roses. Youko-san keeps them in a vase in his office.”
“Black…Yeah, I… think so… I can’t remember anymore,” Aiko said drowsily, her eyes starting to droop.
“Youko-san might have used those when he brainwashed her,” Mai muttered, almost to herself. “Ai-chan, listen—”
“Mai, I feel really tired…”
“Ai-chan, you must listen to me! The effect of the ki roses must be diminishing; it’s like you’ll be going to the border between your old self and being controlled by Youko-san. Things are going to look strange, but you have to remember — Aiko, listen! You have to rememember how things really are, do you understand?”
“How they really are…” Aiko echoed as she leaned her head on Kamui’s shoulder, her eyes finally closing.
“Ai-chan, wait!” Mai exclaimed, taking hold of Aiko’s shoulders. But her twin was already asleep. “Drat.”
“She’ll be fine, right?” Yuki asked Mai.
“Yes, she will. It just depends on how strong she clings on to the truth, how long she’ll be out of it. It took me a while to wake up because I wasn’t so sure of my past. But since Aiko’s sure of hers, she should be fine. And, even if it takes her a long time, her memories won’t be damaged. She’ll have to be treated with the ki roses for years before she can be permanently convinced of something unreal. Even then, she can still be convinced otherwise if you have concrete proof, like being faced with a person that she was led to believe to be non-existent.”
Mai suddenly stopped, realizing how much she had said. She had continued talking without thinking, she practically laid out her life before them.
“You experienced this before?” Kamui asked quietly.
For a moment, Mai hesistated. But then, not knowing what else to answer but the truth, she tried her best to smile and shrug as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Why do you think I believed I was an orphan and that the Stars were the ones who killed my parents?”
Kamui said nothing else, but there was something in the way he looked at her that Mai didn’t want to read into. Whether it was pity, compassion, anger at Youko, or whatever, she didn’t want to think anymore.
“We should get going,” she said, turning to the others.
“Right,” Hikaru agreed. “Here, Kamui, I’ll carry my sister.”
“No, you’re still weak, you shouldn’t exert yourself too much.”
“But you should save your strength. It’d be better if I carried her.”
“But you’re injured!”
“She’s my sister.”
“She’s my best friend.”
“Y’know what, I‘ll carry her,” Kaji said. “And, no, Hikaru, I’m not gonna get ‘ny ideas. You can stop glaring at me now.”
“All right, Kaji carries Aiko,” Yuki said with finality. “OK. Now, where do we go?”
“Can ya sense where they are, Toriyama?”
“No, I can’t feel anybody’s ki aside from ours.”
“Me neither,” Yuki said.
“That shouldn’t be,” Mai said, “they should be fighting right now. And even if they were done, we should be able to sense where they are.”
“So, what, we’re gonna do old-school divide and conquer?” Hikaru asked.
“That may be the only choice we have,” Kaji agreed. “Unless you have other ideas of finding them, Mai. You seem to know a lot more than we do.”
Mai thought for a moment, trying to remember anything Youko might have taught her on how to look for people. But, seeing that she wasn’t supposed to be outside the palace looking for people, Mai was sure that Youko won’t teach her anything like that. Mai bit her lip, and, as if pulled by some unknown force, her eyes found Yuuji’s body where he lay on the floor.
What would YOU do, Yuuji-kun?
As if answering her, Yuuji’s laughing voice suddenly ehoed in her ears.
“No, I don’t think I’d like to play hide and seek with Youko-san, Mai-sama,” he had once said when they were still little kids, “he always knows where everyone is all the time! He must have some tracking device in his office or something! I think we can play hide and seek on our own…”
Mai’s mind rocketed from that memory to another one of her looking up with curiosity at Youko’s desk. It was seemingly disconnected with everything; she couldn’t remember when it was, and what happened before and after that. It was an ambiguous memory, but it was clear, nonetheless. And it was exactly what she needed.
It was then that Mai realized that Kaji was right. She did know a lot more than the Stars…but that wasn’t really important. What was important was that she knew a LOT, period. She knew so much, but she never used her knowledge to help the Stars before. For two weeks, she was with them, getting to know them, but never mustering up her courage to take a step. If she had investigated Ran, she would have found out the truth earlier. If she had taken action, Aiko wouldn’t have been caught, Hikaru wouldn’t have been kidnapped, and the Roses… They would still be alive.
“It ain’t your fault, y’know,” Kaji said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“What?”
“The Roses,” Kaji said, glancing at Yuuji. “It ain’t yer fault.”
Mai’s jaw involuntarily clenched. “Isn’t it?”
“Look—”
“I could have done something earlier, but I didn’t,” she said in a suppressed voice. “Brainwashed or not, I should have done something.”
Now is not the time to get emotional, Mai told herself. What on earth was Kaji thinking, bringing this up?!
“Well, you can do something now, right?”
Kaji had spoken so calmly, his face showing no sign of anger, pride or cockiness, but Mai felt as if he had just slapped her. Not the bad kind that would make Mai want to slap him back; instead, it was the kind that felt nice, that Mai wanted to thank him for doing it.
“The Roses died, an’ that’s really too bad,” Kaji continued when Mai didn’t say anything,”but you can’t punish yourself and mourn about it for the rest of your life, when you can go and prevent the same thing from happening to other people. If we don’t stop Youko now, who knows what he’s gonna do?”
Yuki smiled. Despite the incredibly eventful night — from seeing the Roses die, finally meeting Youko, finding out about Mai’s true identity, to almost having to fight Aiko to the death — Kaji still managed to think straight and speak to Mai so wisely. There was nothing to do but be proud of him.
For a moment, Mai just looked at Kaji. Then, she smiled.
“Didn’t you say something like that to Ai-chan before?”
Kaji blinked. “She…told you about that?”
“Oh, yeah, she told me a lot of things,” Mai said, grinning.
“Oh.”
“Youko-san’s office,” Mai finally said, getting back on track. “We can find them using Youko-san’s office.”
Kaji nodded, and, for the first time that night, he smiled at her.
“Well, then, Mai, lead the way.”
After one last look at the Roses, Mai kicked the ground to fly out the room.
————–
“Whoa.”
Aiko blinked at the white expanse around her. Everything looked strange but familiar at the same time. She stood there, trying to place where she was, when something hit her head HARD.
“HEY!!!” she exclaimed, whirling around to see a brown-haired boy practically rolling in the snow in laughter. “What—!!! ONIICHAN!” she automatically yelled.
“Hey, Ai-chan! Did you know you look like a fish when you’re angry?”
“I do NOT!”
“Yes, you do!” he said before pressing his palms on his cheeks and exclaiming ‘Oniichan!’ in his most shrill voice.
Aiko crossed her arms, pouting.
Suddenly, Aiko froze, her eyes widening in realization.
Was that… Was that MY voice?
Since when did her voice sound so small?
“Oei, Ai-chan…” came another small voice, the one that had been teasing her only a few seconds ago. “Are you all right?”
Aiko blinked at her brother.
Since when is Oniichan so small?!
Aiko opened her mouth to answer, but the only thing she managed was a small squeak. She looked down at her hands and, after a moment, reluctantly took one glove off. An unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. The size seemed normal, but her hands were that of a small child’s. Her fingers were short and fat, and the fold lines were faint. Her hands looked so cute, it was unnerving.
“Aiko, are you all right?”
She looked up to see gentle brown eyes looking worriedly at her.
Gentle brown eyes she would do anything to see again.
“Okaachan…”
Only then did she realize just how familiar everything was. Everything was as it was on their last winter with her mother. Rieka smiled, crouching in front of her.
“It’s all right, Aiko… I’ll always be here for you… OK?”
Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed. No matter how much she wanted to hear those words, she couldn’t help but be bewildered. What a weird thing for her mother to say at the moment…
Not knowing what to do, she glanced back at her hands again.
“Tell me…” another voice came, causing Aiko to look up. As she figured, Rieka wasn’t there anymore. Instead of her mother, Mai was there, staring at her with a disbelieving face.
“Does the name ‘Blue Star’ mean anything to you?”
“Wha…What?”
Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed even more, she thought she wouldn’t wonder at all if she found frown lines on her face soon.
“Because if it does, then that means you’re a Blue Star, doesn’t it?” Mai asked, her voice suddenly sarcastic. Whatever Aiko was planning to say got stuck in her throat as flames erupted from Mai’s hand.
“If you’re a Star,” Mai said, her raven hair flowing, “then that means I must kill you.”
Before Aiko could retort, Mai had already lunged at her, her flames blazing almost uncontrollably.
“MAI!” Aiko yelled. “Mai, stop!!!”
“I’m going to kill you as I did your mother!!!” Mai yelled, violently pushing at Aiko, making her lose her balance and land on the snow. Aiko gritted her teeth, willing her hands not to lose their grip on Mai’s wrists; the smallest fraction of a second of weakness can burn Aiko badly. She didn’t understand what was happening exactly, but she did know that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.
“No, you didn’t!!!” Aiko countered. “You didn’t kill Okaachan!”
“Shut up!!!” Mai yelled, the flames on her hands disappearing. Staring up at the rage in Mai’s brown eyes, Aiko didn’t have time to resist screaming in pain when a raging fire suddenly engulfed them both. But, despite the almost unbearable pain crawling through her skin, Aiko didn’t let her sister go.
“I DID!!!” Mai repeated, “I did, and now I’m going to kill you, too!!!”
“NO!!!” Aiko exclaimed again, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It wasn’t your fault she died! It wasn’t your fault! It was beyond your control, and beyond mine! Youko killed her, not you!!! NOT YOU!!! “
Then, as sudden as it started, everything suddenly disappeared, leaving Aiko cold, on her knees, and gasping for breath in the dark.
“You didn’t…” she faintly repeated as tears continued to fall. She gulped, trying to steady her breathing, and shut her eyes tight, readying herself for anything she was to be faced with next.
After a moment, she finally lifted her head, and opened her eyes.
Staring at the scene before her, Aiko could not construct a single coherent thought.
————–
Next on Blue Star
As they always say, all things must come to an end. But every ending is the beginning to something new…
“I’m letting her go…”
Episode 26: Blue Star (Part 2)
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From the Author
Nyar… I tried. I really did. But I simply could NOT finish Episode 26. I’ve been trying to write it for two months already, but argh! The fighting scenes just get harder and harder to write! And the episode was way too long. But, since I’m oh-so-stubborn, I still insist that this episode and the next is really one episode.
I’ll list review topics when I officially finish this episode. But if you have reactions, questions, rants and raves, don’t hesistate to click on the little review button at the end of the page… Actually, I’d REALLY rather if you drop me a line to get me going 
