Gakusen Toshi Asterisk - Volume 12 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 
REUNION 
As they made their way through the subterranean depths of Asterisk’s central district hospital, Julis, walking at Ayato’s right-hand side, patted him on the back. 
“What’s the matter?” she said as she looked up at his face, her lips curling impishly. “It’s not like you to be this nervous.” 
“R-really…?” he stammered in surprise. 
“She’s right. Your whole body has gone stiff.” This time, it was Saya, at his left, who suddenly gave him a reassuring pat—on the butt. 
“Wha—?! S-Saya?!” 
“You’re going to make Haru worry if you don’t calm down.” Despite her teasing, her voice and eyes radiated a smiling warmth. 
“Come now, you two,” Claudia chided. “Ayato hasn’t spoken to his sister in years. Anyone would feel uneasy in his situation.” 
“B-but is this really okay…?” Kirin muttered. “I mean, won’t we all just get in the way? After all, it’s such an important moment for you…” 
Ayato glanced over his shoulder at the two girls walking behind him. Their expressions were practically polar opposites: Claudia wore the same composed smile as ever, while Kirin’s uneasy frown was even more pronounced than usual. 
The hospital’s underground medical facilities were accessible only to those who had been granted express authorization, so Ayato had asked the institute’s director, Jan Korbel, to allow Julis and the others to accompany him. 
“It’s fine,” he responded. “I’ve been wanting to introduce you all properly for a while now.” 
Ahead of them, two young, uniformed Stjarnagarm officers stood at attention at either side of the door at the end of the corridor. As was to be expected of the two women who had been handpicked by Commander Helga Lindwall, their demeanor and diligence were impeccable. Not only that, but it took only one glimpse at their confident figures to see how strong they both were. 
“…Hmm, the security looks tight enough,” Julis said, evidently thinking the same thing. 
Ayato merely nodded in agreement. 
Five days had passed since Hilda Jane Rowlands, alias Magnum Opus, had used her mana accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland, to successfully dispel the seal that had imprisoned Haruka within her own body. Through a live video feed, both Ayato and Julis had seen Haruka briefly open her eyes, but she had soon slipped back into unconsciousness. According to Hilda’s medical staff, however, this time, she was merely suffering the effects of depleted prana. In other words, the procedure had gone smoothly. 
As such, they had decided to bring her back to Asterisk, but as soon as they arrived at the floating airport that served the city, Helga and an assignment of security personnel were already waiting for them. While Ayato was at first taken aback by the unexpected welcoming party, Helga quickly informed him that Haruka was an important witness in her investigation into the Eclipse, and so would be guarded with the utmost caution. 
Then, last night, Director Jan Korbel had contacted Ayato to let him know she had finally woken up. 
And that brought them to now: 
“Uhh, well,” Ayato began, “I’d like to see my sister…” 
“Please wait a moment.” One of the guards, her expression unchanging, opened an air-window that linked into the hospital room. “Go ahead,” she finally responded as she and her companion made room for them to enter. 
Ayato sucked in a breath before opening the door. 
The walls and floor were pure white in color. The room wasn’t particularly large, and apart from the bed lying next to the wall, there was little that might have grabbed one’s attention. 
Even if there was, however, Ayato would have been unlikely to notice it. 
His gaze was drawn immediately to his sister, sitting up in the bed—to that beaming smile that he hadn’t seen in almost seven years. 
“Nice to see you, Ayato.” 
Ayato’s mouth opened reflexively at the sound of that dear voice, but no words came out. His lips trembled for a brief moment before he took a deep breath and broke out into a weak smile. “Long time no see, sis.” 
Haruka, dressed in a pale blue hospital gown, really hadn’t changed at all from how he remembered her. 
“Oh? It doesn’t feel like it’s been all that long to me, though…?” 
Given that she had spent these last seven years asleep (or, more precisely, divorced from the flow of time), it made sense that the past wouldn’t feel so distant to her. 
“But even so, look how big you’ve gotten! I’m most surprised by that, to be honest.” 
“Ah, yeah…” 
Even though everything might have stopped for her during that time, including her own growth, Ayato had still continued to age. Indeed, if she were still essentially the same age she had been before sealing herself away, then it was now Ayato who was the older of the two. 
“But you still knew it was me, right?” 
“What? Of course I did. I’m your big sis, after all!” Haruka puffed out her cheeks at the very suggestion—and then, all of a sudden, began to step down from the bed. 
Ayato rushed to help her. “H-hold on, Haru! You’ve only just woken up…!” 
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Do I really look that weak to you?” 
Indeed, it turned out that her footing was solid. Normally, anyone who had been bedridden for as long as she had would wake to find their body frail beyond imagination. However, given that her sleep had been abnormal, her ability had frozen everything about herself, so that upon waking, she was just as she had been before. 
“Oh? So you’ve finally overtaken me, huh?” Haruka said, tilting her head slightly upward as she stood before him. 
This was, of course, a first for Ayato, too—never before had he been the taller of the two. 
“Ah, right…! Haru, these are yours…” He took a glasses case out of his pocket, handing it to her. The glasses inside were nondescript, with somewhat rounded lenses and a black frame. He had been holding onto them ever since Saya had found them at the abandoned site of the Eclipse. 
The lenses had been broken and the frame bent out of shape, but Ayato had them repaired so he could return them to their owner when the time came. 
“Wow, thanks! I can’t get used to a borrowed pair,” Haruka exclaimed, swapping the glasses she had been wearing until now with her own. “Yep, there’s no beating one’s own tried-and-true!” 
Indeed, her own glasses suited her the best. 
“Hey, Ayato. Come a bit closer.” She flashed him a gentle smile as she reached out to touch his cheek. 
“Haru…?” 
“…I’ve heard all about it. About what you’ve done for me, about how hard you’ve been fighting all this time. Thank you, Ayato.” 
Her words echoed in his ears, carving their way into his heart. 
At the same time, he came to a sudden realization: No matter how much taller he might grow, no matter what heights he might bring his swordsmanship to, he would never be a match for her. 
To him, Haruka was that great a person. 
“So…are you going to introduce your friends to me, or what?” 
“Ah!” Ayato turned around, only to see his four companions smiling at them somewhat nervously. 
The first to speak was Saya, standing to the left. “You look good, Haru,” she said, giving her a thumbs-up. 
“Thanks to you. Just look how beautiful you’ve become, Saya!” Haruka said with a wink as she, too, flashed her a thumbs-up in turn. “Yep, I knew you had a sharper eye than Ayato…” 
Saya nodded in satisfaction before turning toward him balefully. “When he saw me again for the first time in so long, all he said was that I hadn’t changed at all.” 
It seemed that she still held a grudge over his remarks from almost two years ago. 
“Ah, I’m—” 
“Julis, right? Ayato’s tag partner in the Phoenix, a princess of Lieseltania, and a beautiful, flame-wielding Strega, right? You must have such a pure heart. Thank you. I’m sure Ayato owes you a lot, too.” 
“Huh? N-no, I’m only…” Julis could only stare back at her, mouth agape, before lowering her head. 
“And you’re Claudia, the team’s representative in the Gryps, right? Plus, Seidoukan’s student council president, and the one who invited Ayato here on a special scholarship. And you’ve got the Pan-Dora, too, right? That’s a pretty terrifying Orga Lux…” 
“Oh dear, my fame precedes me,” Claudia replied, raising a hand to her cheek before giving Haruka a light bow. 
“And you’re the Toudou girl, Kirin. You look so young, but I’ve heard that you’re one of the best swordswomen in all of Asterisk. I know a thing or two myself about dueling. Won’t you have a little bout with me one day?” 
“Wh-wh-what…?! I—I’d be honored…!” Turning scarlet, Kirin made a deep, formal bow. 
“Ah, I shouldn’t keep you all standing, not when you’ve come to see me like this. Come here, sit, sit,” Haruka said, fiddling with an air-window by her bed, when a long sofa suddenly emerged from the floor. 
“…It looks like you already know everyone better than I could introduce them,” Ayato remarked as he took the closest position on the sofa. 
“Eh-heh, I told you, right? I’ve heard aaall about it. All kinds of things!” Haruka teased as she returned to her bed. “Anyway, is one of our guests your girlfriend, maybe? As your sister, I’d like to greet her properly.” 
“Wha—?!” 
Haruka had spoken lightly, but Ayato and the four guests all turned stiff in consternation. 
Haruka watched their reactions with puzzlement for a brief moment before raising a hand to her mouth, as if to take back her words. “Ah…! Sorry, I just thought… I guess I said too much, huh?” She looked at Ayato beseechingly, clearly wanting him to step in. 
“Ah, I mean, the thing about that is…” He trailed off, unable to find the right words. 
In the end, it was Claudia who came to his rescue: “We’re all presently fighting to be the one, you see.” 
“H-hold on, Claudia!” Julis stammered, her cheeks turning red. “You can’t just—” 
Claudia raised a hand to stop her. “Fighting to be the one to look out for Ayato, of course.” 
“Ah, I see, I see.” Haruka crossed her arms, nodding repeatedly as she gave him a meaningful gaze. “Way to go, Ayato. Who would have thought my little brother would be so popular? You’ve made me proud.” 
“…Come on, Haru, cut it out.” 
“Oh, is that a blush? But I guess you are right around that age now, huh?” 
“Haru!” Ayato cried out, practically on the verge of tears. 
“Hee-hee, sorry, sorry.” Haruka flashed him an amused smile as she patted him on the hand. 
“R-right.” Julis cleared her throat. “Ayato looks like such a kid, talking to his sister like this.” 
Ayato had wanted to find some way to change the subject, but not like this. “I-is that so? I didn’t notice…” 
“No, Julis hit the mark,” Saya interrupted. “You’ve always acted like a pampered kid in front of your sister.” 
“You did seem a bit more, um, emotional when we went to see your father…” Even Kirin was in agreement with the others. 
Not only that, but: 
“Don’t worry about it, Ayato,” Claudia said with a light chuckle. “That’s just part of your charm.” 
“C-come on, you don’t all need to…” Ayato was trying to find any way he could to shield himself from the spectacular linked attack, but Haruka, it seemed, could withstand it no further, bursting out into gales of laughter: 
“Pfft! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” 
“H-Haru…?” 
“Ah, sorry. I’m just so relieved. I was worried what you’d do without me, but seeing these wonderful friends of yours… I’d already heard about everyone, but it’s different meeting you all in person.” She wiped away the tears welling in the corners of her eyes, her voice truly joyful. 
“Right, about that. You said you’d already heard, but from whom…?” 
“That would be me.” 
“!” 
Ayato and his four companions all spun around as a voice rang out from behind them. Standing in the corner of the room, leaning against the far wall, was a tall woman. 
“Commander Lindwall…?!” 
“My apologies, I didn’t mean to surprise you. I didn’t want to barge in on your long-awaited reunion, you see.” Helga Lindwall, commander of the city guard and widely considered one of the strongest fighters in all of Asterisk’s history, gave the group an apologetic grin. She had probably been there from the very beginning. 
He might have been focusing his attention on Haruka, but Ayato could hardly believe that not only he, but also every single member of the team that had conquered the Gryps, had failed to detect her presence. 
Or rather, he was more embarrassed, perhaps, that she had witnessed their previous exchange. 
“I’ve had a lot of tests today, so Helga’s been accompanying me. She’s also been filling me in on everything that I missed. She even showed me the Festa.” 
“I see… Thank you.” 
“What’s this?” Helga said, raising a hand to quiet him. “There’s no need for thanks. What kind of guard would I be if I didn’t accompany her to her tests? And I thought it would be best to fill in some gaps in her information while I was at it.” 
“But…” A hint of suspicion infected Claudia’s voice. “If you’re inquiring about that, wouldn’t all this new information get in the way?” 
She had a point. Human memory could be an uncertain thing, and if Haruka was told what had happened during her long sleep, that new information could end up affecting her recollection of the past. 
“That would normally be the case, yes,” Helga responded. “But it doesn’t necessarily hold for this situation. Someone involved in the Eclipse may have the ability to manipulate another person’s thoughts, so there’s every possibility that her memories would be unreliable anyway.” 
“…” 
Ayato and Claudia exchanged brief glances. She was talking, of course, about the Varda-Vaos. 
The two of them, along with Sylvia Lyyneheym, had joined forces with the integrated enterprise foundation Galaxy in pursuit of the Varda-Vaos’s organization, the Golden Bough Alliance. This was, of course, highly confidential as far as Galaxy was concerned, and one of the conditions of their involvement was that they weren’t to utter a word to anyone. Including—no, especially—the city guard. 
Ayato certainly wanted to enlist the help of Stjarnagarm, considering it was one of the few organizations that seemed to legitimately want to get to the bottom of the Golden Bough Alliance, but there was no getting around his present situation. He, of course, had confidence in Helga’s abilities and trusted her on a personal level, so he couldn’t help but feel a touch of guilt at concealing what he knew. But even so, coming forward wasn’t something he could decide to do by himself. 
“Manipulating memories? You mean, someone capable of mental interference was involved in the Eclipse…?” Julis, a Strega herself, was quick to put the pieces together. 
“Indeed,” Helga stated. “We suspect they’re using an Orga Lux. They’re likely associated with the man who attacked Ayato the night before the championship match at the Gryps—this Lamina Mortis who was involved in the Eclipse.” 
“What?!” All at once, Julis, Saya, Kirin (and Claudia, too, for appearance’s sake) turned to Ayato in alarm. 

“You said you were attacked, but you never made it out to sound that dangerous!” Julis was clearly angry—so angry, in fact, that she looked almost threatening. 
“N-no, I mean, we had the match coming up, and I didn’t really have time to explain everything in detail…” 
Julis, Saya, and Kirin had nothing to do with this affair, and he had wanted to keep them from getting caught up in it unnecessarily. Indeed, if they knew too much, there was every possibility that their actions could draw an attempt on their lives just as Claudia’s had. 
“In fact, a number of the staff at this very hospital appear to have been attacked as well. And according to our investigations, the student in charge of the Gran Colosseo at the school fair is a victim, too. His memories, it seems, have been changed.” 
“But…I’ve never heard of an Orga Lux with that kind of power,” Saya murmured doubtfully. 
“Don’t the integrated enterprise foundations have to disclose everything they know about their urm-manadite stocks…?” Kirin added. 
Helga, however, shook her head. “There have always been exceptions. Although, in most cases, it’s more a question of timing, as it’s almost impossible to keep these things under wraps forever. They put an awful lot of effort into keeping tabs on one another, after all.” 
“So you’re saying this doesn’t have anything to do with the foundations at all?” 
“At the very least, it does look that way for now. The Eclipse was run by Danilo Bertoni and his associates, working individually—albeit with the tacit consent of the foundations. We’re likely dealing with the remnants of that group.” 
The commander was as sharp as ever. Even with no more than the limited information at her disposal, she was still managing to put the pieces together with frightening accuracy. 
“Ah, my apologies. We’ve gone a little bit off track. Anyway, I thought the easiest way to tell whether Haruka’s memories had been altered was to compare them against what we already know.” 
“Also, because I asked her to fill me in,” Haruka, until now listening to their exchange in silence, suddenly interjected. “I wanted to know what’s been happening over the past seven years… I mean, I could always look it up on the Net, but anything I find there is guaranteed to be one-sided, right? So I thought Helga could give me a more objective rundown.” 
“We’ve only got so much time, though, so it’s really no more than a rough summary.” 
That was enough for Ayato. “…All right.” 
“Well, I can always ask you all for more intimate details. We’ve got time, right?” 
At this, Ayato felt a strange warmth begin to spread through his chest. 
They had all the time in the world. 
That fact made him happier than he could possibly express. 
Still, first things first: 
“In that case…I’ve got some questions I want to ask you as well.” Ayato set a grave gaze upon her as he broached the topic. 
After all, there was something he needed to clarify before they could talk about anything else. 
Haruka, for her part, seemed to have guessed what he meant, giving him a slight nod. “Yeah, there’s some things I’d better tell you, too.” 
“…If it’s something private, we can clear the room,” Helga offered. 
“Ah, yeah…thanks.” 
But no sooner had everyone stood up than Haruka shook her head. “No, it’s related to your investigation, and I want the others to hear as well. If Ayato trusts them, then so do I.” 
Julis and the others exchanged glances before retaking their seats. 
“Well, first of all…,” Haruka continued as they sat, “Helga was right. It does look like my memories have been changed. There’s a lot that doesn’t seem to add up with what she told me.” 
“…Huh?” 
She had admitted it so readily that Ayato couldn’t help being taken aback, but this was more or less what he had expected. 
“There are other areas that are just a complete blank… I don’t know whether my memories have been erased or I just can’t access them. Although it’s probably more like they’ve been censored, I guess.” 
“So I was right…” Helga wrinkled her brow. 
“Well, I guess we’re lucky, in a way.” 
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ayato demanded. 
Haruka looked up at him with a smile. “I mean, the Ser Veresta has chosen you now, right? That by itself is a kind of miracle.” 
“Huh? Well, I guess so… It’s still letting me wield it. Although…” 
The Ser Veresta had been badly damaged during the championship match of the Gryps, and he had just gotten it back the other day after having it repaired. 
He had been worried that the experience might have soured the Orga Lux on him, but he felt nothing out of the ordinary when he tried it out, so at the very least, it didn’t seem to have given up on him yet. 
“Can I hold it? Just for a minute?” 
“The Ser Veresta?” Only after Ayato had already removed it from the holder at his waist and handed it to her did he remember that she had been its previous user. 
Which meant— 
“I don’t know whether Orga Luxes experience time the same way we do, but still…I suppose it’s been a while for you, too. For me, it feels like we last fought together only yesterday.” She spoke to it gently, before suddenly activating it. 

 

Orga Luxes didn’t even normally let anyone but their user lay a finger on them, yet this particularly difficult one accepted her so readily. 
Perhaps this was to be expected of a former user? Ayato wondered. 
A black pattern coiled around the pure-white blade. It was the same weapon he had grown so familiar with, and yet it was roughly half the size it normally took when he wielded it. 
“Hmm, it’s still a little big, maybe…,” Haruka murmured, when it suddenly shrank down before their eyes, until it was no longer than a dagger. 
“Well, that is something. Your force of will over it is splendid. But your control over your prana is even more impressive.” Helga stroked her chin in admiration. 
“We’re all counting on you to wield it that well, too, Ayato,” Claudia said with a sweet grin. 
“Uh…” He had no response to that. 
No matter how much he trained, he still hadn’t been able to adjust the Orga Lux to an optimal size. Fine control over his prana just wasn’t his strong suit. 
“I know you’re partnered with Ayato now, but won’t you lend me a little of your power for old times’ sake, Ser Veresta?” Haruka closed her eyes before spinning the dagger-sized blade across one hand, grasping it by the hilt with the other, and raising it in front of her forehead. 
That was all she did, but her movements were extraordinarily beautiful. 
“What perfect swordplay…” Kirin’s voice was filled with wonder. 
At that moment, a faint tremor passed through the Ser Veresta, and the room was bathed in crimson red. 
“—!” 
Ayato covered his face with his arms, but the energy wave wasn’t the burning heat he had been expecting. 
“…Phew.” Haruka let out a deep sigh as she deactivated the Orga Lux, returning it to its holder. “Thank you, Ser Veresta. I feel much better now.” And with that, she handed it back to Ayato. 
“Haru, don’t tell me you just…?” 
“Hmm? All I did was burn away the parts of my memory that had been tampered with. I did a pretty good job, I think.” 
She spoke so casually that Ayato didn’t know whether to be impressed or appalled. 
“What?!” Julis exclaimed in astonishment. It seemed she felt the same. 
“…Way to go, Haru. That’ll show them,” Saya added, nodding. 
Ayato, having wielded the Ser Veresta for close to two years now, knew just how extraordinarily difficult it could be to handle. True, it had the ability to burn through practically anything, even the abilities of Dantes and Stregas, and those of other Orga Luxes, too, for that matter—he himself had made use of that power countless times over by now—but it was bordering on insanity to turn it against oneself. 
At least, it should have been. 
But what she had done went far beyond his own level of skill—she had burned away only the ability that had been placed on her, leaving the rest untouched. Only someone with a true mastery of the Orga Lux’s power could hope to pull off such a feat. 
“Now that that’s done with, where should we begin…?” she asked in her usual calm manner. 
Indeed, she hadn’t changed at all from how Ayato remembered her. 
 
“…My manipulation has been broken,” Varda suddenly announced. 
Madiath and Dirk, until that moment debating with each other about how best to push forward with the plan, gazed at her. 
“How do you mean?” Madiath asked. 
They were in the Golden Bough Alliance’s regular meeting place, aboard their airship in the skies above Asterisk. 
The meeting was taking place earlier than usual, but as they had set a course away from the city, they were unlikely to attract any unwanted attention. 
“The adjustments I made to Haruka Amagiri’s recollections. I don’t know how she did it, but she has likely regained her original memories.” 
Dirk’s eyes snapped open in alarm. “How the hell is that power of yours so easily broken?” 
“It shouldn’t be possible by anyone of this world. However, I made the changes to her memory while she was in a sealed state, so it’s possible the effect was incomplete. On top of that, I didn’t exactly have a lot of time.” 
As far as Varda’s mental interference ability was concerned, whether it was brainwashing or the manipulation of memories, the more time she had to complete her work, the more effective—and more reliable—the result. 
Apparently, once she had taken over the body of professor Ladislav Bartošik, it had taken her almost a full year to brainwash his students sufficiently to turn them into Genestella supremacists and bring about the Jade Twilight Incident. The majority of them, though long since imprisoned, were still subject to that brainwashing and hadn’t even realized for themselves what had been done to them. 
“If it isn’t someone of this world, then it must have been an Orga Lux. In which case, it was probably the Ser Veresta. It is in the possession of her younger brother,” Madiath pointed out. “I doubt he’s reached the stage where he could cut through your powers himself, but in her hands, it wouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.” 
Dirk turned his hateful, disgusted gaze on Madiath. “Is this really the time to be so blithe? Or maybe you’re finally showing your true colors?” His voice was low and dark, as if welling up from the depths of hell. When truly angry, his usual rage and indignation subsided, a deadly calm taking their place. 
Madiath, however, merely leaned back in his chair, flashing him a purposefully provocative smile. “You mean to say I’ve been ignoring your warnings?” 
“…If we had disposed of her when I said so, this would never have happened. Am I wrong?” 
“Hmm.” Instead of responding to the accusation, Madiath merely reached for the holder at his waist and activated the Raksha-Nada. The gigantic, crimson blade burst forth, stopping just inches from the tip of Dirk’s nose. 
“What’s this supposed to be? Do you really think you can intimidate me?” 
“Ha-ha, no. I wouldn’t expect that of you.” 
If Dirk had been that easy to scare, he never would have been brought into the Golden Bough Alliance to begin with. 
“Perhaps showing will be more effective than telling, in this case.” 
“What?” Dirk’s dubious gaze ran down the length of the weapon—until his eyes suddenly flashed in surprise. “Tch… I see. So you made contingencies.” 
Still watching his colleague, Madiath continued: “Think of Varda’s adjustments to her memory as having been little more than insurance. I told you, didn’t I? We’ve taken all necessary precautions. Of course, we won’t be able to prevent at least some information from leaking out…but anything that she does remember would only relate to the old plan. Not the current one.” 
“…And what about your identity?” 
“My trust in her has never run that deep. What she knows isn’t enough to find her way back to me.” 
“You’re forgetting that Ayato Amagiri has that little vixen with him. If she were to use Galaxy’s database…” 
“There’s no need to worry about that,” Madiath answered. “Luckily for us, Varda has been establishing a number of associates on the inside for quite a few years now. Any hazardous information that they had has long since been taken care of.” 
Dirk glared back at him in silence for a long moment, as if to sound out his true intentions. Finally, he let out a brief sigh before reclining back in his sofa and putting his legs up on the table in front of them. “Fine. I’ll take your word for it. For now.” 
“I would say the commander of the city guard poses a greater risk. If she manages to dig something up—no matter how out-of-date it might be—there’s every likelihood that she might be able to find a connection leading back to me.” 
“I’ll take care of that. If the city guard’s got more work than they can handle, that old hag won’t have any time left for old investigations.” 
“In that case, it wouldn’t hurt to sacrifice a few pawns.” 
Madiath wasn’t unappreciative of his two colleagues’ suggestions, but he understood, even if they didn’t, that anything too conspicuous could backfire on them. 
“Well, if push comes to shove, we can always move the plan forward a little.” 
That was really the only sensible option available to them right now. 
And, of course, he had Haruka Amagiri to thank for that. 
Not only had she completely crushed the previous plan, she was beginning to cause them problems all over again. 
And yet— 
“Well then, perhaps it’s time we called it a day?” With that, he rose to his feet, returning the Raksha-Nada to its holder at his waist. As he left the cabin for the narrow deck outside, a powerful blast of wind suddenly bore down on him. 
Beneath him, the city of Rikka sparkled brilliantly amid the dark of night. 
From his place in the sky, the scenery looked to have barely changed at all since he had first stepped foot in this city more than twenty years ago. 
But, of course, changed it had. 
The passage of time washed over everything—cities, people, even memory and passions. 
“My apologies, Haruka, but this is the best I can do for you,” he murmured under his breath. “Even if you are Akari’s daughter… No, precisely because you’re Akari’s daughter, I suppose.” 
As Madiath Mesa reminisced, his eyes drifted shut, and he let the past slowly overtake him.