Daishi's watch had found nothing, and the next morning, the four had breakfast with Ueno's students. Junpei had been missing, putting Daishi in a poor mood; even moreso when Junpei showed up with a few beers he had bought. Before he sat down, Daishi told him to put them back, and Junpei did so; he had seen Daishi angry and figured it was not worth the fuss. In some ways this treatment had caused Junpei, despite his age over Daishi, to view him as a grown man yet not himself.
"(You have a day of Revenants ahead of you -- Ueno can't afford to have you drunk on the job.)"
This generally fixed the tone of the breakfast, until the Ueno students' tablets vibrated and most were eager to offload the Revenant on to somebody else; particularly Yamato, who was a (literally) tornado-necked student who could often be seen hiding a grin like he had just told a dirty joke; most likely he had. As he stood up and accepted, he asked in (decent) English if any of the Americans wanted to come with him, and Mia agreed, as did Junpei to drink & teach Yamato some English.
The three arrived at the library's front doors, civilians already evacuated. A nod from Yamato, and Junpei disappeared, Mia with sword-drawn, tornado-necked man with tornado-neck ready.
A gust of wind blasted open the front doors -
- and the two winced as they saw inside, lines of shelves covered in spiders' eggs; the two stepped away, eyes to the third-floor roof above. Yamato nodded; a ladder of ice formed on the wall, and the two started to climb, Mia first-up.
"Already set up." murmured Mia, and he nodded below, passing by one window; and in the next instant -
- a hundred spiders burst out of the glass, skittering halfway between the two and sinking their fangs in the ladder -
- and tearing it clear off, Yamato with no way up left -
" - easy!" he laughed, aiming one hand below, swarm skittering towards him, and in the next instant -
- a gust of wind blasted him up in to the air, a second taking Mia with him as he passed by -
- and brought them up to the flat roof, hearing every last window bursting around, swarm fully aware of Swarm now; the two shot back-to-back.
"Need to - find what it does." murmured Yamato, and Mia nodded, seeing the spider cluster climbing, surrounding them quick. Scarabs readied, a new swarm flew to meet them -
- and exploded in a cloud of blue flames, disintegrating their insectile brethren, and as another cluster shot towards Yamato -
- a gust of wind blasted the arachnids off the roof, leaving him laughing as they flew -
" - abayo, kusottare!" he laughed; Mia glanced back -
" - no worries, no worries!" he laughed again. "Insulting. Shittalking."
"I - oh." laughed Mia. "Yes -"
- and she noted with perplexed eyes her fire from earlier still lingering, new cluster of spiders skittering and veering past it direct now -
- just in time for another gust of wind to blast them back.
"My - fire isn't going out on its own." frowned Mia. A single ice scarab flew in to the fire -
- and she sighed as it froze solid (but not that kind) just within the flame, knowing the Revenant then. Curiosity piqued, a single fire scarab burnt a hole through the roof -
- and she nodded as she saw the web on the ceiling below, covering the entire enclosure. A skittering began below, and in the next instant -
- the roof started to shatter, spiders feasting like termites and threatening to throw them on their web -
" - Taifū!" shouted Yamato; a gust of wind blasted the duo up, and as they hit their peak and started to fall -
- a platform of ice formed below, keeping them safe thirty feet above the rapidly growing cluster below, hundreds of hundreds of spiders covering the web below, single pillar of unmeltable ice keeping their platform steady -
" - gross ikiryō." winced Yamato. Mia nodded, sword readied, seeing new strands shooting to the pillar and trying to yank it off -
- but a swarm of ice scarabs kept it protected & stable; no option left, the cluster started to climb up directly.
"Here we go." winced Mia, and as she readied to step forward -
- she felt with aghast boot her feet stuck to the ice, Yamato panting as he realized a second later, new strands shooting to their legs and freezing them there -
- and the true immobile battle began then, two dodging as best as they could with stiff legs, hundreds and hundreds of spiders climbing up to meet them in the frozen arena -
" - sticks! Sticks you!" shouted Yamato, whirlwind of blows tearing through the spiders ahead -
" - my - scarabs - fuck." groaned Mia, feeling her ice scarabs starting to halt below; at her mental command, what few could escape disappeared, reappearing ahead of her as she hacked and smote. All around them were spiders screaming and dying, broken spinnerets nodding from abdomens that were stained crimson; but the cluster was endless.
Inch by inch, the stiffness travelled up their legs, reaching their knees as new strands shot to the ice platform. A cloud of fire scarabs shot towards the bridges -
- but were rendered immobile by new strands, tethering and tying them tight, unable to burst open; a platoon of ice scarabs flew in, paratroopers for their brethren as the spiders leaped upon them -
- and created new ice platforms, expanding the arena for the two immobile combatants. Mia grinned as she saw the supply of spiders starting to dwindle below, more strands bringing every last in the area to them directly -
" - bad, bad -" winced Yamato at her back -
" - I have it." laughed Mia, seeing every last spider attached by web to the platform of ice -
- and the next scene was instant. A final electrical scarab appeared in Mia's boot and burst open -
- and the electrical current charred the entire platform to ash, billions of volts entering the conductive webs -
- and every last spider&web, insects bursting in hundreds of crimson clouds, leaving the two to fall back-first on to the third floor, Mia still laughing as she stood again.
"Good - good." laughed Yamato, the room filled with rows of shelves like the previous. Fire scarabs flying below, Mia readied to bring them to the second floor -
" - no, no no - I have a plan -" said Yamato, starting to stomp the floor; Mia stopped -
- and heard footsteps below, Yamato running ahead through the shelves, gesturing for Mia to follow him as he veered right. The two rushed to the right wall, and as Yamato stomped again -
- they heard the dominos falling below, one shelf collapsing, another one following it -
- and continuing for dozens and dozens of shelves down, rushing footsteps and screams still audible from below, their foe fleeing to the other end of the room; with no time to waste, the duo followed him from above, speaking as they ran -
" - Taifū can - er - longer range wind?" said Mia, and Yamato nodded.
"He'll be easy to find, now." he laughed, stopping at the upper-left corner; a gesture to Mia, and a swarm of scarabs burnt their entrance below -
- to at last land feet-first on a collapsed shelf, only thirty feet separating them and their foe ahead -
- and new spiders behind. the two started their charge forward, and in the next instant -
- a dozen strands of web shot to Yamato's neck -
- leaving the tornado-necked man laughing, only a dozen feet separating him and his foe; no option left, a dozen spiders leaped to Yamato's arms, working with the speed of web to keep him trapped -
" - Taifū!" shouted Yamato, seemingly unfettered as he came in range -
- and a single tap knocked the man unconscious, Mia catching a glimpse of spiders caught in mid-air where Yamato had been for a second.
'Drops of water - he must have taken the oxygen out of the air and gotten them trapped.'
Yamato scooped up the unconscious cargo, turning to Mia. "Good-o, good-o. Safe."
"Good." laughed Mia. "How did you do that? Knocking him unconscious?"
"…ano…" He winced as she came up. "… don't know how to say it in English - but can show you. It will hurt..."
"I... suppose." shrugged Mia, letting Yamato's hand touch her neck -
- and she doubled over like she'd been struck, gasping as all the breath was sucked out her lungs -
" - I - I g-get i-it -" she panted, Yamato still wincing as she recovered. "It's w-worse than that, t-t-then?"
He nodded, Mia still wheezing as they walked.
"Feeling alright?" he said.
"O-One second." A tri-swarm raid filled her lungs anew, and she nodded. "V-Very effective. What, er… what was it you were saying? On the roof?"
Yamato paused. "Abayo, kusotarre?"
"Yes."
He waved, then pointed to his ass. "But what comes out."
"You mean 'shit'? Goodbye, shit?"
"Goodbye shit." he grinned and Mia laughed.
"D-Does Japan have similar swearing to, er, English?"
"…ano... Japanese has swears, but more... how we say it."
"Tone?"
"Yes."
"So, rudeness is swearing." (Yamato nodded and Mia grinned.) "Do you know English swears?"
"Only what Junpei says." Yamato inhaled. "FUCK!"
"Do you know 'fucking'?" (Yamato shook his head.) "Fucking can be used with any word." A pillar of flame erupted ahead. "Fucking fire."
"Fucking fire."
Mia showed two precariously close scarabs. "Fucking scarabs."
"Fucking- fucking scarabs." he laughed. "Then, I will call fucking police."