The Wind Sees Daisy – Chapter 23

This is a fanfiction by Doughnut Gunso.

Everyone at the Sanzen’in Mansion was still enjoying the party. Mario Kart never resumed, but they were all having another ball. “Let’s all dance together,” suggested Maria, and almost everybody agreed instantly. Nagi was a bit reluctant, but Ayumu finally persuaded her to join. “I guess I have to show you how to dance properly, idiot Hamster,” she said.
Hayate wasn’t moving. He checked his watch: 21:39, so it was quite some time since Hinagiku had gone to save her parents. “Is Hinagiku-san all right?” he thought to himself. “She said that Fukada-san wanted to meet her alone, but I guess I can sneak into the campus without getting caught. I probably should go and check out on her.”
He looked around and saw that he was the only one in the TV room. Nobody was there to see him leaving the Mansion.
Hayate headed towards the main gate at top speed. He looked around again and he saw that he was not followed. He began rushing out of the Mansion…

“Wait a minute, Ayasaki-kun,” said a voice from behind.
“What is it? I didn’t see that I was followed!” The alarm bell inside Hayate’s head was ringing. He knew that he was in a bad situation: either he was being totally negligent of there being a follower, or that he was followed by someone who couldn’t be noticed.
He turned around to look at his followers, and his eyes widened. They were SP0004, SP0007, SP… whatsoever. In simpler terms, these were the four people who had attacked him in the school campus last week.
“What do you want?” he demanded, and moved into a fighting stance. The only thing he remembered about these people was that they meant trouble for him.
“We want you to return to milady, Ayasaki-kun,” said one of the SPs – Hayate did not even know his number. “As the butler of milady, you shouldn’t leave her alone in the Mansion.”
“Milady is with Maria-san and her friends,” said Hayate, angry at the SP’s suggestion that he was being irresponsible. “She will be very safe. I have some personal business to attend, so please leave me alone!”
“Unfortunately, our assignment tonight is to stop you from attending any of your personal businesses,” said another SP with a grin – could they have a name of their own? “Even if we have to do it by force.”
“You – ”
“It is unwise to fight us, Ayasaki-kun,” said a third SP. “We don’t want to make a mess of things in front of milady, do we?”
Hayate stared at them, his eyes burning with fury. He knew that he was no match against them without Wooden Masamune, and he could not summon it tonight – he knew that Hinagiku might have to use it.
“Fine,” he said through gritting teeth. “I am going back.”
And he returned to the Mansion in silence. “I am sorry, Hinagiku-san,” he thought to himself. “It looks like I can’t come and help you. I can only wish you good luck.”

*

“I got it, I got it!” cheered Machina in joy as he successfully unlocked the tunnel.
“Well done, Machina,” said Athena. “Although it took you over 30 minutes to do it,” she added in her own head.
They walked along the tunnel and found the cells. One of them had already gone empty, and Athena assumed that it was where the Kazamis were trapped. She could see three prisoners remained there, but they didn’t even move upon seeing Athena. They looked like they were already… dead.
Athena frowned. “This is disgusting,” she said. “The readers all say that I am the Queen of Evil, but even I couldn’t think of such inhuman ways to treat a person. How evil could I be, in such a case?”
“Not all readers say you are evil, Athena,” said Machina. “You have a lot of fans, especially in China. They actually worship you, Athena. They call you A-Goddess.”
“Thank you, Machina. Let’s stop breaking the fourth wall and get back to business.”
“Yes, Athena.”

Machina grabbed the bars, and started to pull them apart. The magnetic barriers were activated, but unlike the human Hinagiku, Machina was not afraid of them. He continued to force the bars apart, and finally he broke the bars and barriers altogether with a loud cry.
“Well done, Machina,” said Athena again, this time with no additional phrases in her head. “You stay with them here, and I will get the police. There is more than enough evidence in this place to sue the Fukadas.”
“Yes, Athena.”
Athena was on her way back to the stairs when she suddenly stopped.
“What is it, Athena?” asked Machina.
“Now I know why there are not enough guards here.”
“Why?”
“It is Sanzen’in Mikado’s plan to waste our time,” said Athena coldly. “In order to keep us busy in this place for a long time, a lot of guards would be needed. However, if they were all here guarding the basement since the beginning, we might have decided that the rescue mission was too difficult so we aborted it. Now we have used much time to get to the prisoners, we have no choice but to waste more time getting rid of all the guards above us.”
“What’s the point of wasting our time?”
“This is to make sure that I cannot go and help Hinagiku quickly enough,” snapped Athena.
“So – so, what do we do, Athena?”
“Pray for Hinagiku,” replied Athena, “and get out of this place as soon as possible.”
“How?”
Athena pulled out her own sword. “This,” she said simply.

*

“Shirosakura and Wooden Masamune…” hissed Kyosuke. “You are dual wielding, Kazami.”
“Yes, I am,” replied Hinagiku. “And for your information, I am watching your every move with my inner-eye. Take me lightly and you will lose for certain.”
She was saying these words, but Hinagiku was not entirely sure about herself. The combination of Shirosakura and Wooden Masamune could be very powerful in theory, but during her Kendo career, Hinagiku had never been a dual wielder. Her Master had told her that single-wielding and dual-wielding were two completely different styles of swordplay, which required different training and fighting methods. Switching from single-wielding to dual-wielding without any training at all was risky at the least.
It was also the first ever time Hinagiku had to rely solely on her inner-eye in a fight. The “myth” about inner-eye was true, and with the enhancements provided by Wooden Masamune, Hinagiku was able to “see” everything without using her eyes. But then, she was not entirely sure if her “sight” could remain as effective in the heat of battle. The loss of eyesight could not be easily made up, after all.
Yet, Hinagiku could feel that her body was strong and agile, despite the injuries she had received. Wooden Masamune had pushed her physical abilities over her own limits, and she was a swordsman at a completely different level. She grabbed Shirosakura a little tighter. The warmth delivered from the sword to her hand brought her comfort and strength, and Hinagiku almost felt like she was held by Hayate’s hand. She could sense that light and power were emitting from Shirosakura. It was roaring to go.
“Let’s go, my partners,” she whispered. “Let us destroy that Sword of Chaos!”

She dashed towards Kyouske and swung Shirosakura at him. Just as Kyosuke blocked Shirosakura, Hinagiku swung Wooden Masamune. Kyosuke bowed down to dodge the strike, and he aimed his next strike at Masamune. Hinagiku blocked his blow with Shirosakura, and struck forward with Wooden Masamune. Kyosuke stepped aside to dodge it.
Hinagiku kept meeting Black Camellia with Shirosakura, while kept attacking Kyosuke with Wooden Masamune. She knew that Black Camellia was too powerful for Wooden Masamune, and she was not going to lose her sword through a reckless mismatch.
Kyosuke knew exactly what Hinagiku was doing, so he focused his attacks on destroying Wooden Masamune. Yet, he had to handle Shirosakura with Black Camellia, and he did not really have time to counter-attack, because once he blocked a Shirosakura strike, a Wooden Masamune strike would always follow, so he had to keep dodging.
It was clear that Hinagiku had gained the upper-hand. She was once again forcing Kyosuke to step back and back, but this time he was able to stay on his feet. It seemed that Black Camellia had given him the courage to face Hinagiku’s onslaughts. Suddenly, something strange happened: Kyosuke did not dodge a Wooden Masamune attack, and took it very hard on his left shoulder.
“Fukada-kun, what are you – “ began Hinagiku, but she had no time to finish her question, as she felt a huge energy wave rushing towards Wooden Masamune. Hinagiku retrieved her wooden sword very quickly, and struck back with Shirosakura. Kyosuke blocked it, and Hinagiku attacked again with Wooden Masamune. Kyosuke yet again did not dodge, and took the hit on his right shoulder.
“What is happening?” demanded Hinagiku. It was very unwise not to respond to an attack even if it was weak, let alone the powerful attacks from Hinagiku. Yet Kyosuke seemed not worried by Hinagiku’s strikes, and he kept striking at Wooden Masamune after he was hit, which in turn forced Hinagiku to retreat.
After two more exchanges of strikes, Hinagiku finally understood what Kyosuke was doing. “He is taking Wooden Masamune on purpose, so that he does not have to waste time on dodging it, and instead could have a chance to strike at it! This is crazy!” She had no idea just how determined Kyosuke was to destroy Wooden Masamune.
Hinagiku slowed down her attacks on Kyosuke as he fought less and less like a swordsman, while more and more like a barbarian. “He has gone mad!” she thought to herself. “It is useless to reason with him anymore. I must stop him from this madness!”

Kyosuke, upon realizing that Hinagiku had gone easy on him, let out a war cry and advanced again. Black Camellia emitted even more dark aura then before, and it was clear to Hinagiku that the Sword of Chaos wanted to take this chance to destroy her and her swords.
Hinagiku dodged two of the oncoming strikes, and threw herself to the ground to buy herself some space and time to think. “That sword is at fault,” she thought to herself. “I have to destroy that sword, but…”
She remembered that Mikado had said that Kyosuke’s soul had been “completely engulfed” by Black Camellia, so what if the sword was destroyed…? With that in mind, Hinagiku hesitated. She was not ready to do permanent harm to Kyosuke, no matter how twisted his mind might be.
Suddenly, Hinagiku felt a warm pulse from Shirosakura. “Shirosakura?” she asked, as if talking to a human friend. Shirosakura sent her another warm pulse, and this time Hinagiku could hear the sword: “Do it. Trust me.”
“Okay, I am leaving it to you, partner!” she cried as she raised Shirosakura to her chest level, and the sword began to glow. She focused her mind on the black aura from Black Camellia, trying to figure out where she should aim her attacks at. “There!” she cried as she sent four strikes – up, down, right, left – almost simultaneously. Kyosuke was overpowered by these four strikes, and Black Camellia was sent into the air. Hinagiku threw Wooden Masamune at Kyosuke, pinning him onto a tree by his sleeves. She then jumped upwards into the air.
“ULTIMATE: SHIROSAKURA…” Hinagiku cried as she delivered an almighty strike at Black Camellia, slicing a huge curve with Shirosakura across the sky.
“CRESCENT!!!!!!!!!!!!” She finished as Black Camellia exploded into tiny pieces and were blown everywhere by the night wind like falling sakura.
Hinagiku landed onto the ground. “My Shirosakura blooms everywhere,” she said as she stood up and swung the sword around.