Act 2, Scene 9
Descending the ladder, we find ourselves in a spacious drain, assailed by the scent of cloudy, stagnant water. Arima doesn't speak as she drops to the ground before me, simply grimacing as she wrinkles her nose - the glasses have come off again, I notice.
"Are those prescription glasses, or…?" I ask, almost rhetorically, but she seems to take it seriously judging from the deep frown that appears on her face.
"-I need them," She answers - although she can clearly see without them. "It would be bad if they got broken."
"Ah, I guess not wearing them to fight makes sense for a martial artist," I mutter.
"I'm a normal High School Girl," She replies like clockwork.
"Yeah, and I'm a normal High School dropout," I deadpan. "Now let's trawl through this storm drain in a spooky copy of Japan to fight a swordsman from the memories of the ghost of Japan's first historian."
"...It's not my fault I got spirited away," She huffs. "You're the one who chose to be involved with this stuff."
"Are you kidding? There's no way I'd be involved with this if not for-!" I cut myself off. "-No, let's leave that alone for now."
"A-ah… sure," She says with an uncharacteristically apologetic tone - but if I was hoping for an actual 'sorry', it's not coming.
-Eventually, the storm drain exits into a vast concrete chamber, with its ceiling supported by lines of concrete pillars. "-Yup, it's like the underground temple," I mutter - the section of Tokyo's G-cans project given public access should only really be connected to the Edogawa river, but here we are.
And, sure enough, amidst the towering concrete pillars, a dark-haired man in a blue kimono is waiting. "Oh? Someone's here," He says, resting a hand on the two katana tied to his belt. One of his eyes is covered by his dark hair, but the other gives a dull stare like a man looking at insects. "-You probably won't answer me, but what is this place?"
-Still, if diplomacy is an option, that's really good! "Sir, you find yourself in the 'underground cathedral'! I shout with a thumbs up. "One of the great marvels of Japanese engineering, an enormous reservoir to divert flooding into the Edogawa river and protect the rest of Tokyo!"
"I don't know any place called Tokyo, but I'm familiar with the Edogawa, so I think I get the principle. That's pretty amazing… if it isn't one of Caster's tricks," He says, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "-You're his allies, right? Your reaction when I mentioned him gave off that kind of feeling."
"E-eh? Did we-?" Arima says.
"No, but you just confirmed it," He says, drawing his swords. "If you're here to fight me, I don't mind."
"No!" I shout immediately. "No, we're fine, we really just need to pass through here, is all. We can…uh, explain what's going on if you want?"
"...Sure, that's fine," He says, sheathing his swords. Oh thank goodness it's someone reasonable!
***
"I see, so I'm some kind of… rumor given flesh, huh?" The swordsman mutters, looking at his hand. "I don't notice any changes, but I haven't been able to leave this place no matter how hard I try. Alright, I'll believe you."
"Um, does that mean you'll just let us through?" I ask.
"If you're asking whether I'm hostile, the answer's no. I'm feeling some extra aggression now that I think about it, but it's nothing I can't suppress," He says. "-That said, letting you past is another matter. It sounds like it's dangerous, so… I wouldn't be a very good ally of justice if I just let you wander off and die. Let me test your skills a bit." He draws his swords again, reversing his grip this time to strike with the flat edge of the blade.
"-Alright, I got the feeling it would be something like this," Arima says as she stretches her arms. "Arima Miyako, ready to go. My bajiquan is invincible!"
"Bajiquan, huh…?" The man mutters. "-Miyamoto Iori. My Niten Ichiryu has faced that style before, so don't go easy on me."
-Wait, as in Musashi's son? I thought he was supposed to be a living human!?
"Void Stance, here I come," He mutters, and his form blurs into purple light. Arima readies herself to counter his technique, but-
"-Gwah!?" A beam of purple light strikes her before his blade even reaches her - and then, he's behind her for a moment, and leaps into the air, his blades becoming a tornado of purple light - except, he's already left that tornado behind to land nearby, readying the next blow as Arima is battered this way and that by his previous attack.
"[Hiken-," Miyamoto says, dashing forward.
"[Emergency Evade]!" I shout. It's dangerous for a human, but-
"-Tsubame Gaeshi]!" Six slashes blossom like a flower, trailing purple as they cut through the space where Arima had been.
-But she isn't there anymore. "Hah!" An elbow strike, into a karate chop, followed by two aerial kicks, and finally a big stomp that shakes the ground - but Miyamoto dodges the kick's shockwave, leaping into the air while also- blocking in front of him?
He jumps backwards for a moment, out of range. "-You don't combine that stomp with a punch?"
"-Eh?" Arima looks slightly surprised.
"You probably should. It's no good for your arms to be doing nothing," He continues the unsolicited advice. "Also, it's probably a bit tough to ask a living human to make the air explode with their movements like he did, but… you should at least be stomping that same way any time you're advancing. Well, unless you've got to close distance, I guess." Then, his gaze turns towards me. "-And what's with you? You're some kind of mage, why are you being so stingy with spells?"
G-geh… "Well, my circuits are a bit… Anyway, I've got to use this Mystic Code to cast anything, so I'm limited to three casts in any fight, unless things go longer than five minutes after the first cast." I explain with a grimace.
"Got it. You should try gemcraft, it's pretty easy even if you have bad circuits - if you already know the basics, anyway. I'll lend you these." He pulls a clinking pouch from his belt and tosses it to me, and I stumble to catch it - woah, that's a lot of mana radiating off of these!? "-Ah, careful with those, they'll explode if they get hit too hard."
"If they'll explode, why are you throwing them!?" I protest.
"-Also, it looks like you're at least a little physically fit, um - what was your name again?" Miyamoto asks.
"Flugel," I answer - man, I'm getting tired of using that name.
"Flugel, then - you look like you can at least fight a little, so why aren't you?" He asks.
"I didn't have my weapon with me when we transferred here," I say with a sigh. "I've been looking out for a replacement, but you don't exactly get many whip shops in downtown Tokyo."
"Why a whip…?" Arima asks.
"I see," He says, reaching to the corded belt that had been storing his katana and unfastening it. "Try using my obi. It's probably the wrong length and weight, but if it works then let's use that too."
Too baffled to really protest, I take the obi and give an experimental crack. "-Yeah, I probably can't do any fancy tricks or swing on this, but I could probably disarm an alleyway thug."
Arima blinks. "You can do Indiana Jones tricks!?"
"What kind of chuunibyou would I be if I didn't learn them?" I say with a bit of smugness.
"I don't really understand those words, but that's fine," Miyamoto says. "Alright, come at me, both of you this time."
He flickers again - but this time, Arima lunges to meet him, her foot smashing into the ground as her fist crashes into his onrushing form, launching him with a splash in the inch deep water.
"I've seen through that. You hit before you arrive, so I just need to move to meet you," She says, frowning as she bounces a bit on her stomping leg. "...Moving like this will take some getting used to."
"Alright, it's a fight, then," Miyamoto says as he rises to his feet. "-Water style."
This time, his dash is synchronized with his sword. Arima is sent sprawling, and a blunt strike to my gut doubles me over - and then we're knocked the opposite way by a similar dash, and then a spinning attack sends each of us crashing into the massive concrete pillars with some force - and then he's next to me, his two swords battering my bones as I try to rise to my feet, knocking me sideways again. Arima comes at him with a flying kick, but he evades, and sends her crashing into me.
I need… to slow him down…!
"-[Vita]!"
My gravity-increasing spell hits him straight on, and his knees buckle for a moment. He moves to sheath a sword, then glances at his missing belt. "-Oops." The swordsman tries to adjust his stance regardless, but already Arima has crashed into him, chaining her usual elbow opener into a shoulder slam as I hastily cancel the spell to allow her to stagger him again. "-Earth Style!" He shouts as his feet touch the ground for a moment, and he blocks the next attack while holding both swords together as if they were a single blade. "-Alright, it'll do."
Miyamoto follows up on his deflection with a simultaneous slash and a heavy stomp that shakes the ground - Arima's footing goes unsteady, and he charges towards her- "[Gandr]!" -and he pauses to block my spell. Alright, that's my Mystic Code depleted - let's see about these gems.
I pluck a deep red prism from the bag Miyamoto had thrown to me, and I can already feel the mana inside it - yeah, I can use this. My problem is just with expelling mana from my body; if I've got another source to pull from, it'll work.
Arima moves in with a punch followed by a palm strike, but Miyamoto blocks both and moves to deliver another stomping slash- there!
"[Murak]!" I separate him from gravity as his foot hits the ground, sending his now weightless form tumbling headfirst into the sky.
"Wind style!" Miyamoto shouts with undisguised excitement - and a burst of green flame from an open hand rights his momentum. "Using this while actually airborne was a pipe dream for a long time, so I'll thank you for that-" Naturally, I cancel the spell and he falls flat on his rear. "-Ah, it just wasn't meant to be…"
As he rises to his feet, Arima gets ready to resume, but-
"Let's pause again. This is pretty important," Miyamoto says, moving again to sheathe his katana, only to find his obi still missing. "-Ah, right. I'll just hold them, then."
"You can have it back," I offer. "I don't really feel like it's so useful against a monster like you, Miyamoto-san."
"Iori's fine, Flugel," Woah, such an effortless breach of etiquette from a guy of his period? "And you can keep it, this won't take too long. The gist of it is - Miyako-chan, why are you hesitating so much?"
***
Author's note:
Narrator: "Wait, why aren't you attacking them? I'm sure I afflicted you with the irrepressible urge to cut down anyone you see!"
Iori, feeling the same as always: "?"