Act 2, Scene 10
-Let's start by saying that the entrance of a Childhood Friend heroine is the absolute last thing I need right now. The Rem fiasco was left unresolved before I was pulled into this singularity, and let me tell you I am not looking forward to finding a way to deal with it!
But with that said… this might be fine? I mean, when Dad told me that making a childhood marriage promise was a good idea and I ran off to try to make one with every single girl I knew, Miyako-chan was one of the ones who turned me down! She never liked me that way, she was more into…
"Ah, by the way, Arima…" I start to say as she gets off of me and rises to her feet, only to receive an intense frown. "-Miyako-san?" -Her cheeks puff out as she shifts into an all-out pout. No, wait, what is this cute creature? "-Miyako-chan?" -A satisfied smile lights up her face. Arima's been replaced!? She was suddenly switched out with a completely different character!? "-Um, I'm totally coming up blank here - the Heavenly Playground King of the South, what was his name again?"
"Mmmm… It's a total blank for me. West-chan too, to be honest," She admits, stroking her chin.
"Uwaaa…" I mumble. "Why'd we end up with the two dumb ones?" She just gives me a shrug and shaken head in response.
"-Well, all of that aside - I'm ready now!" Miyako says, pointing at Iori-san. "Prepare yourself, Onii-"
She freezes, and her outstretched hand slowly lowers to her side. I watch in real time as Miyako-chan exits the battlefield and Arima-san returns. "-I'm ready now. Prepare yourself, Iori-san."
She's pretending it never happened!?
"I've got a little sister myself, so you don't have to worry about it. I understand that kind of thing happens every now and then," He says, and with every word, Miyako-chan shrinks further and further into herself - she's pulled out the glasses! They've gone back on!
"-Flugel, since you're the one who has experience, I'll leave the fighting to you," She says, and, woodenly, she turns around and tries to return back the way she came.
"H-hey, Miyako-chan!?"
"I'll tear you to pieces."
"She regressed back to the state before we entered this room!?" I shout. Miyako-chan vanished! Arima replaced her again - no, I can't allow that! I grab her by the shoulders, heedless of the violence building in her eyes. "Look, Miyako-chan, it's me! Su-kun, your childhood friend! The one you kicked off of a slide no fewer than four times, that Su-kun!"
"A-ah…" She mumbles, glancing away from me. "Su-kun… I had a dream that something super embarrassing happened… I mistook a total stranger for my onii-chan for a moment. It was like calling a teacher or a passing nun 'Mama', but a million times worse." A teacher is one thing, but a nun-? No, let's not focus on that.
"It's fine, Miyako-chan! You can share all of your embarrassing secrets with me, since we're childhood friends! Besides, when you think about it, isn't it that total stranger's fault for reminding you of your brother?" I say, giving my best smile.
"It's not…" Iori-san mumbles.
"-Okay!" Miyako says. "I'll just stop thinking and trust Su-kun!" That's not what I said, though? "You villainous brother-impersonator! Prepare yourself, because here I come!"
And then, she explodes into motion without giving Iori-san another chance to speak.
Miyako's fist slams into Iori's guard with devastating force, but he withstands it - and then, her foot drives into the ground with supernatural strength, cracking the concrete once more and shaking the swordsman's footing.
-And then, her fist slips in and sends him airborne. Alright, she likes to follow up on this type of thing so-! "[Murak]!" I cancel gravity on both Miyako and Iori, burning through two of my Mystic Code's charges - and then she meets him in the air in a flying kick, sending both of them hurtling towards one of the pillars supporting the ceiling.
Somehow Iori shifts his position in the air, ready to meet the pillar with his feet- "Wind style-!" Yeah, no. "-Tch." Murak ends on both him and Miyako as he connects with the pillar, and she hits him with an elbow drop that grinds his body against the stone wall, landing on her feet as he hits the ground. She raises a leg for her super stomp move, but-
"-Fire style," In a shocking burst of strength, Iori leaps to his feet amidst a tornado of flame. "...Alright, let's finish this."
"-Yeah," Miyako says, taking a stance with raised fists, her hair - which must have come undone at some point - fluttering behind her as she lunges once more.
"[Hiken-" Iori says.
"[Gandr]!" The last charge of my mystic code forces him to block the oncoming projectile, and then-
With a sound like thunder, Miyako's palm lands square on his chest and smashes him into the support pillar with a resounding crack.
There's a few moments of silence, where the only noise is a light rain of dust, and the steady dripping of water somewhere deeper in the sewer system. Then, with a slight groan, Iori rises to his feet again."Ahhh…. yeah, that's good enough. I think we could go a little further, but someone would probably die at that point, and you guys both still have room to grow. Flugel, can you give me a few of those gems back? I need to heal my wounds."
"Uh, sure," I say, and for a moment I almost toss them - then, thinking better of it, I walk over to him and hand the bag back.
"I just need four or so," Iori says, pulling them out and crushing them in his hand, a silver glow enveloping his body. "You can keep the rest."
"...Does that mean you're not coming with us?" I ask.
"Hm?" He looks a little confused that I'm even asking. "To start with, I'm a rumor of a powerful dual-wielder guarding the sewers, right? I can't appear anywhere else, probably. I'll give you guys what support I can, but I can't go with you or anything."
That's true… It's true, but-!
"We can't just… do nothing to pay you back…" I mumble.
"Don't worry about it. I just helped hone your skills a bit because I wanted to. Now you need to keep moving if you want to keep growing," He says with a small smile. "If you want to pay me back… alright, if you meet some other version of me, tell him that you learned a bit about fighting from Miyamoto Iori. It'll make him happy."
"U-um… thank you, Iori-onii-" Miyako starts to make a martial artist's bow, then chokes and flushes red again. "Thank you, Iori-sensei!"
And so, with a final wave, we begin to make our way towards the exit.
"Yeah. Good luck out there," He says, then pauses for a moment. "...Don't slow down. I've got some kind of connection to my Servant, so I'm going to use a command spell to summon him once you guys are out of here. If he's sane I'll send him to help, but… probably we're just going to be killing each other, and Saber will probably bring the roof down if I last long enough."
I freeze, turning back. "Wait, what the hell!? You can't do that, you'll die-!"
"If I'm going to disappear, it might as well be after testing my sword," He says simply. "By my command spell-"
He's doing it right now!?
Miyako grabs me and starts sprinting while dragging me along-
"-come to my side, Saber."
Pure power floods the underground cathedral, and I catch a glimpse of an androgynous youth with… wait, that face looks a little like Arthur, doesn't it!?
-True to Iori's word, it's not long before I begin to hear the sound of falling stone behind us.
***
Incredibly Non-Canon Omake:
"Miyako-chan, wait, don't just- we can't just leave him-!" I protest as we exit into another open tunnel.
"...We have to," She says. "He looked like he was pretty much at his limit. Iori-san said at the start, remember? He was suppressing his hostility. When you handed him those gemstones - he was looking at you like he was about to cut you down. He was still one of the hostile rumor's this place produces, it's just…"
"He was a good enough guy that even in that state he could control it, huh…?" I mumble.
"Yeah. So I don't think we have good odds of running into any other neutral parties like him," She says, frowning.
-And then, exploding from a smaller storm drain into the main tunnel, a small form suddenly bursts into the scene.
"Nyahaha! Speak of the cat, and she shall appear!" A small, blonde-haired cat creature shouts - and already I feel something ready to burst in my brain.
"What?" I mutter.
"What?" Miyako mutters.
"What?" The Narrator mutters.
"Jan-ja-jan~ Did you think you could have an MB plot without me~?" The abomination says, waving back and forth in place like a piece of paper. "Too bad! Fear me, feed me, I arrive nonetheless! Neco-Arc returns!"
"No, seriously, what the hell is…" I start to say, glancing at- why does Miyako-chan look the most traumatized I've ever seen her!?
"China, china!~ You promising former China-loli, you're already halfway through the arcade plot - did you think you wouldn't be seeing me at some point, hmmmm?" La criatura baila en el lugar. What? I mean, the creature dances in place as it delivers bizarre, incomprehensible dialogue.
"UwaaaaAAAGH! " Miyako shouts. "I remember you! The bad cats! You're the leader of those bad cats who kept going around leaving empty cat food cans around my house!"
"Yes! That is so! My rival!" The bad cat says, its body bursting into flames as it gives a mocking laugh! "But not just that! China, China~... Poor, naive former China-loli… don't you remember… you wet the bed, when you were eleven years old, the day your brother left!"
"NOOOOOO!" She screams. "It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it wasn't-!"
"That's right!" The cat creature says. "It was me, China! I snuck into your room and wet your bed! Now, come - [Turn your Magic Circ-]!"
"Bleed from all orifices and die!" Miyako-chan screams, and her fist crashes into the abomination, slamming it against the tunnel wall, where its body pops like a balloon, splattering cat food across the concrete.
"...This didn't happen," Miyako says as she slowly lowers her fist.
"...I agree."
"...I agree."
But as we make our way a bit further, to the exit from the storm drain, I hear an incomprehensible voice behind me. It sounds like it's saying…
"Nya… That didn't count… round two, [Burn Your Magic Circuit]. I'll get you… with my Last Arc!"