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Sayuki: ...
By herself, Sayuki visits the school grounds which is on holiday with a broken heart.
She unconsciously made her way here, and there's no need to ask why---she's looking for her older brother.
Sayuki: ...Nii-san...
She will not feel the warmth of the one she loves, or hear his voice call her name any longer.
Sayuki: ......
Sayuki's fist closes strongly on the brooch in her hand.
It is what Ichigo entrusted to her before she lost consciousness.
Fainting after giving it to her, Ichigo has still not woken up.
Since she isn't a magi, Ichigo's wound will take some time to heal, and it's proof that she is nothing more than human.
While she still doesn't know the relationship between Odin and Ichigo, Sayuki is at a complete loss right now.
Sayuki: ...
As she grasps the brooch she was given, Sayuki curses her own powerlessness.
As if seeking to comfort Sayuki during her heartbreak, the brooch shines with a gentle light, glowing from an unknown magic.
In this situation, it seems that her guess about this brooch that Ichigo entrusted her with as not being just a brooch is correct.
Strangely, she understands that with it......Odin will surely appear before her.
Sayuki: ......
However, Sayuki doesn't care about that right now.
She doesn't hate Odin or seeks revenge against him......She is only full of sadness because she lost her beloved older brother...
Last night, after that, Ichigo and Sayuki were somehow able to make it back home,
even though she wanted to rush out and help her older brother.
But the moment she was ready to leave, Eyespace was released.
While it could have meant that this ritual was over......It was more likely that someone else had been killed in this war.
Holding onto what little hope she had, Sayuki came to the place where she last saw her older brother.
However------The only thing Sayuki finds here is "Despair".
Yes...
Sayuki: Nii...san...
The cruel outcome is that Yoshino Reiji is "Dead".
Sayuki: ...
There are no traces of his death here.
But because the remains of the battle would be in Eyespace, of course there wouldn't be any sign here.
However, Sayuki has certainly "Understood" that.
---That day when she and Reiji made love, he left part of himself inside her.
Some of Reiji's magic was unconsciously transferred to Sayuki when they joined together.
It can be said that the magic of her older brother...Informed her of Reiji's death.
Never again...He will never return.
Sayuki: Nii-san.........Nii...san...
------She failed to protect him.
The one person she wanted to protect the most...
The one wish that she wanted to protect the most...
And, the person she loved that she wanted to protect the most...
Sayuki: ......
Realizing that fact, Sayuki sinks into the depths of despair.
------This war no longer holds any meaning for her.
That man has to be defeated if she wants to survive......And she no longer has any hope that it is possible.
To begin with, though they fought hard, there is no one who can defeat an opponent such as he.
Than, why should she keep fighting?
Than, perhaps disappearing like this might be just as good.
Yes...An ending like this wouldn't be so bad either.
Sayuki: I'm so sorry.........Nii-san......
Sayuki: I'm...already......
While quietly shutting her eyes as they begin to overflow with tears, Sayuki can only mutter words of apology.
Her words ask for redemption.
For him to risk his life to protect her, she continues to confess, to apologize for standing in Reiji's shadow for so long.
After having lost all hope, Sayuki asks for this one last, final comfort.
???: I won't forgive you so easily, Kurobane Sayuki...!
------However.
Her pleas for release are denied by a woman's voice.
Sayuki: Satomura Momiji......
Momiji: You had better be screwing around...!
Momiji: Reiji gave his life for you, and if you waste it......I will never, EVER forgive you...!
Sayuki: ...I am not asking for your forgiveness.
Momiji: Whether you've lost the will to fight or not, I don't care. Normally I'd just let you disappear.
Momiji: However. I won't forgive you if you just throw your life away. I won't let you just curl up around the heater to die.
Momiji: Somehow, someway, I'm going to take Odin down...!
Sayuki: ......
Momiji: Well, I already knew that...But now I'm truly frustrated. Now that I've seen you.
Momiji: What's with that look? Do you really think you're the only tragic heroine here?
Momiji: Don't you think that since I lost the one I loved most, the friend I loved most, and so many others that I'm deeply hurt as well?!
Sayuki: ! Such a thing...!
Momiji: I'm...the same as you...No, we're different. I'm an even bigger...victim than you...!!
Sayuki: ...!
Momiji: I wasn't able to protect either of them...I couldn't help them at all!!
Momiji: I only wanted to protect my best friend and the one I loved...Nevertheless...
Momiji: Nevertheless I couldn't protect them...! The people I loved are not...here anymore...
Momiji: I couldn't even put up a fight...I couldn't do anything...!
Momiji: I was so helpless, everyone else had to help me...I couldn't protect anybody...!!
Sayuki: ...
Momiji: ...But I won't run away.
Momiji: I will never run away from my "Crime".
Momiji: That's why I'll fight. I'll carry my crimes...Because that's what the two of them would have done!!
Momiji has strengthened her resolve, and...made promises.
To accomplish the promise she made with her best friend...Momiji strongly grasps a keepsake of her friend.
On this ribbon, they promised to see the world outside the island, to travel to many different places together...
And, another promise...The vow that she made to Reiji the other day.
To protect this island together with Sayuki...Because that was the last promise she made to him.
Momiji: Reiji might have already been ready for it...In case he died, he wanted me to-
Momiji: But now that he's really dead, he can't protect you anymore...You really were an idiot, Reiji......
Sayuki: ...
Momiji: In order to keep my promises, I will defeat Odin. I'll find him wherever he is...without fail.
Momiji: I only wanted to tell you today. Kurobane Sayuki...I'll never forgive you for getting Reiji killed.
But.....I will protect the same life that Reiji tried to protect with his.
Having said her peace, Momiji turns away from Sayuki and walks away.
She carries a certain resolve on her back, and her "Feelings" are unwavering.
To keep the promises she made to the one she loves and her best friend...Satomura Momiji is "Resolved" to fight against despair.
Sayuki: ------
Indeed, if this ritual continues, than Odin will obtain more and more magic.
But above all else, Odin seems driven to possess the vast amount of "Magic" that will be gathered by the end of this ritual.
That's why even if the chance of winning is only one in a million...Than now is the only time.
If there is any chance for Sayuki to win, it is now with Odin still handicapped.
Sayuki: ...Nii-san...
Saying his name softly, Sayuki recalls the one she wanted to protect most.
Sayuki's heart thumps loudly in her chest, because he trusted her with his desires.
Sayuki: I...
Her life that Reiji gave to protect her......There is still some of his magic inside her...So, part of him still lives.
He...And, the one "Feeling" he held most important.
Yes.
To protect.
The island they loved...They wanted to protect everyone who lived on this island they loved.
That is what Sayuki has fought for until now.
Sayuki: I...
This cruel ritual still continues to threaten the peace this island basks in.
The opponent that defeated her older brother would kill them without a second thought if he wanted to.
And threaten to destroy the rest of her precious family...
Than, there is only one choice for Sayuki to make.
Sayuki: I...For this island that Nii-san loved...For everyone on this island that I love, I will protect it...!
At last Sayuki has reached the "Answer" she always knew...And her fierce fighting spirit burns brightly in her eyes once again.
If Reiji were still alive, she is convinced that he would walk the same path as she, to choose the "way of war" in the end.
Sayuki: In Nii-san's place, I will...protect everyone...! This island...and, my precious family...!
With the image of her older brother in her heart, it thumps as she strongly grasps the brooch in her hand.
She is no longer ruled by fear or hesitation.
Sayuki: Watch me, Nii-san...! I will bring an end to everything......!
She says so to express her determination, and dedicates her words of offering to her older brother...