Hinako Shimizu lowered her eyes to look at her own hands, the silver giant's palm slowly clenching shut, and the sheer reality of that sensation left her unable to believe it.
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"I... turned into Ultraseven?"
Her voice echoed within the giant's body, tinged with a daze of disbelief.
"No. The will of light answered you."
A steady voice rose from deep within her — Amamiya Rin's thought, like the toll of an ancient temple bell, piercing straight through consciousness into the depths of her soul.
"Everyone carries a light within them. Most people simply give up in the darkness. But you, Hinako — even at your most hopeless, you still believed in the light. You never gave up. That's why the light chose you."
Though he said this, the real reason Hinako Shimizu had been able to transform into Ultraseven was still Amamiya Rin's own choice.
Back in the Fog World — after realizing that the region they were in was Silent Hill's Fog World, and that the master of this Fog World/Otherworld was very likely Hinako Shimizu — Amamiya Rin had come up with an idea.
Earlier, when Igarashi Sakuko had died, he'd failed to save her through Oneness of Mind and Body, because he had assumed this world was an ordinary spiritual world, one where every being present existed only as consciousness and soul. Sakuko, having died there, had never had a chance at Oneness of Mind and Body.
But if this was in fact a Fog World/Otherworld... then as master of this Fog World/Otherworld, Hinako Shimizu — who had fallen unconscious and seemingly slipped into the otherworld — could undoubtedly serve as his human host. Once bonded with her through Oneness of Mind and Body, he could use that connection to enter the otherworld himself.
Still, even if Amamiya Rin wanted to make Hinako Shimizu his human host, it wouldn't come easily — her consciousness wasn't in the Fog World at all, but in the otherworld.
Fortunately, Hinako Shimizu had pulled through on her own. From beginning to end, she had believed in the light.
Courage, resolve, perseverance — she lacked none of them. And so, in the final moment, the power of light became a bridge, letting Amamiya Rin cross into her otherworld.
"I believe in the light, so... the light chose me..."
Hinako Shimizu murmured to herself. She could feel her heart pounding, but it wasn't panic — it was some kind of surging feeling leaping inside her.
"Ultraseven, what should I do?"
Hinako Shimizu raised her eyes toward Shrine Maiden Sakuko. That ghastly figure still stood there — the monster, having lost all reason, showed no fear at the sudden appearance of the Giant of Light. Instead it raised the thorned ritual implement again, its whole body radiating a golden malevolent glow.
But compared to before, that golden malevolent light could no longer press down on Hinako Shimizu at all. Before the Giant of Light, that thing was simply too insignificant.
"Believe in yourself."
Amamiya Rin answered.
"What?"
Hinako Shimizu looked a little lost.
"What to do is for you to decide. Trust your own judgment."
Amamiya Rin said calmly.
Hinako Shimizu froze.
Believe in yourself. Decide for yourself.
From childhood on, no one had ever said such words to her.
Her father only ever said, "Do as you're told." Her mother only ever said, "A woman must be obedient." Her teachers only ever said, "You must work hard." Believe in yourself, decide for yourself — words like these were as foreign to her as another language entirely.
Now, Ultraseven was telling her that she should believe in herself, that she should make her own decisions.
In that single instant, it all vanished.
All the crushing weight that had left her breathless, all the pain she'd only ever numbed with headache pills, all the confusion of being pushed around by her parents with no idea what to do — in this moment, every bit of it disappeared.
Hinako Shimizu gazed at Shrine Maiden Sakuko.
Those golden eyes stared at her former friend.
"Traitor—! Traitor—! Traitor—!"
Shrine Maiden Sakuko screamed hysterically, raising the thorned ritual implement and slamming it down hard against the giant's shin!
"Clang—!"
The implement struck the silver armor, sparks flying, but it didn't leave so much as a scratch.
A tangle of conflicting emotion welled up in Hinako Shimizu's chest.
Just as she'd thought...
"I don't want... I don't want to kill Sakuko."
Hinako Shimizu murmured, the silver giant's palm clenching slightly.
That was Sakuko. No matter what she had become, no matter what she'd done to her, that was still Sakuko.
So she already understood what she had to do.
She slowly raised her right arm, the beam lamp on her forehead lighting up with a soft yet resolute blue-white glow.
"Emerium..."
Particles of light without a trace of hostility swirled forth — because this wasn't the Emerium Ray meant to destroy an enemy, but rather...
"Emerium Restoration Ray!"
The next instant, a slender green beam shot from the lamp on her forehead — no roar, no impact, just a gentle envelope of light settling over Shrine Maiden Sakuko.
The violent golden malevolence collided with that beam, and like ice meeting warm sunlight, it let out a soft sound as it slowly melted away; the eerie blood-mist and savage malice peeled off in layers under the light's gentle soaking.
Her ferocious face began to tremble, her twisted limbs gradually relaxing. From those eyes, once stained crimson by resentment and control, clear tears slowly welled up, and from somewhere deep within, the gentle, soft look that belonged to the true Igarashi Sakuko began to surface.
Crack after crack spread across her ghastly mask of a face, and as the malevolent aura gushing from her dissolved in the light, her true appearance emerged beneath the peeling skin.
The shrine maiden's robe, once soaked through with blood, turned clean and new again, its white hem swaying gently in the windless jingū. The thorned ritual implement in her hand shed its hideous shell, revealing what it truly was — a kagura suzu, fifteen small bells strung along it, ringing with a clear, pure sound at the slightest shake.
The barbed chain at its end had become a set of five-colored ribbons — green, yellow, red, white, and blue — tied to the base of the kagura suzu, fluttering faintly in the light. Not a trace of the chain remained.
Shrine Maiden Sakuko slowly raised her head.
Her face had returned to its true form — fair skin, familiar eyes, lips pressed slightly together. She looked up at the silver giant before her, her lips moving.
"Hinako."
"I'm here."
Hinako Shimizu nodded firmly. The silver giant crouched down, kneeling halfway before Igarashi Sakuko, gazing at her with those golden eyes, an excited feeling flowing through her thoughts toward the dearest friend before her.
"I'm here, Sakuko. You've finally come back."
Igarashi Sakuko's eyes reddened. Her lips parted, and she finally managed to force out a single sentence.
"That five hundred yen... I don't have to pay it back, right?"
Hinako Shimizu froze completely, the silver giant's motion coming to an abrupt halt. The redemption and excitement that had filled her just moments before were smashed to pieces by that sudden remark, leaving nothing but bewildered confusion on her face.
The faint glow of the Emerium Restoration Ray still drifted gently between the two of them, but that tender, warm atmosphere had been utterly shattered by Igarashi Sakuko's indignant yet aggrieved little complaint.
____
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