Kasai sighs as she crests dune number three hundred and five. They're about five hours into their trek. The gate should be visible any second now. Any second now…
"Um, big sis Batter?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm really tired, can we sit down for a while?" The ten year old says, despite having been carried all this way.
"I think we can afford a little break. I'm also…" The Batter yawns. "Kind of tired."
"Yeah… me too." Kasai yawns. All the blood loss from overusing her jutsu is setting in and the adrenaline in her system is starting to fade. "I'm just going to… sit down… over here." The last thing Kasai sees is an unclear horizon as she tumbles down a sand dune.
"U-ugh…" Kasai opens her eyes to a blank, night sky. "How long was I out?"
No answer. Lifting her head, she sees that both Shosuko and Yuki are asleep as well. But no Batter. Instead, she sees a house on top of a sand dune. It's a quaint little thing that almost seems to blend in with its surroundings. She feels repelled by it, almost like it's rejecting her. But that's all the more reason for her to find out what it's hiding. She reaches out to the door but she's interrupted by a voice.
"Now this is an old memory." The Batter stands a few feet from Kasai though, her eyes make her look like she's somewhere much farther away.
"What is this place?"
"A memory best left forgotten. For both my sake and hers." The Batter nudges her bat at Shosuko.
"Are you alright? Should we leave?"
"No. I want you to see this. You showed me the darkest side of yourself. It's time I returned the favor." The Batter stares at the floor, hiding her eyes from Kasai. Almost on cue, a car pulls up beside the house. Three girls step out. One tall. One in a red cloak. One with blue hair. None of them are older than the age of thirteen. All gazes downcast, as if mourning the soon-to-be-dead. They all tote Thompson submachine guns.
"Take the upstairs. Daisuko and I will take the bottom floor." The tall girl whispers an order to her two partners who simply nod. The trio step through the doorway and into the living room. A light, ethereal rain begins to fall outside the house. Blue breaks away from the group and walks up the stairs leading to the second floor. As she does, the ground floor turns hazy and begins to fade away.
"What's happening?" Kasai whispers to The Batter as they climb up the stairs.
"I didn't see what happened on the first floor. If I had to guess, that's why it's disappearing."
"So these are–"
"–My memories."
"So that..." Kasai tilts her head in the direction of the blue-haired girl. "That's you?"
"In the flesh." The Batter almost seems ashamed to admit it. "I was weak. I did what my foster mother told me to. Like a good little girl."
Downstairs, there's the familiar trill of suppressed gunfire, then a solid thud. The Batter winces, knowing full well that that was the sound of her blood father being killed.
"..." Kasai says nothing as they step onto the landing. The sound of hushed footsteps and the vague sound of shuffling clothes echo through the narrow hallway. There's only one door. The blue-haired girl posts herself up against it. She's sweating. Her breathing is labored. Her hands won't stop trembling. Sucking in a deep breath, she opens the door.
"Nakasuko?" The Batter from the present flinches. How long has it been since anyone's called her by that name?
"Mama?"
"What did Kiara do to you?"
"She raised me. As her own daughter. A-and she did a better job than you ever could!" She isn't sure if she's talking to her mom or to herself.
"I see…"
"Did you come for Shosuko?"
"Yes." Nakasuko tightens her grip on her gun. "The law of succession states that the right to the throne belongs to the eldest child first, then the eldest daughter of the eldest child. Your new daughter is a threat to Kiara's rule."
"But under those laws, that would be–"
"No. I'm Kiara's youngest adopted child now." Nakasuko's tone turns cruel. "You are not my mother."
"..." Slowly, gently, Shouko takes the sleeping Shosuko in her hands and pulls her close to her body.
"Put her down! I don't want to do this. Just give her up and we can go."
"..."
"I said put her down!" She can't even find it in herself to fire a warning shot so she just yells louder. "I… I don't want to do this! I don't want to have to kill you, mama!"
"Tut-tut." A grim voice comes from behind. Suddenly to Nakasuko's right is the girl in the red cloak. "Always the softie aren't you, Nakasuko?"
"Why must we always have to be the one to clean up your mess?" And to her left, the girl whose head touches the sky. She turns her gaze from Nakasuko to Shouko. "It's been a long time, auntie."
"Wait." Her voice comes out as a tiny squeak.
"Don't worry, auntie." The two level their submachine guns at the sleeping child. "We're just here to do a little cleanup."
"I said wait!"
"I'm sorry, Nakasuko." Her mother suddenly has a wistful smile on her face. "I'm sorry that I couldn't see you grow up."
"W-we can talk this out–"
"Goodbye, my daughter."
"WAIT!"
With completely neutral expressions, the two girls squeeze the trigger. Shouko closes her eyes and makes the ultimate choice to throw herself in front of her daughter. It's over in an instant. Shouko's blood spills out onto the bed. The sleeping child is motionless.
"Tsk. This is the worst possible positive outcome." The tall girl saunters over to the bed, picks up Shouko's corpse and drops it to the side. "What do we do about the girl?"
"I say we get rid of her. No loose ends." The girl in the red cloak pokes at Shouko's body with her feet before turning her attention to the now slowly waking child.
"No more." Nakasuko's clenching her fists.
"Hm?"
"No more! I'll– I'll kill you! I'll kill you both!" She brandishes her own fully loaded submachine gun. "I'll put you down like pigs!"
"Why are you so pressed about this?" Little Red folds her arms behind her head. "Kiara wanted Shouko, Shosuko, or both dead. You should have expected this outcome."
"Even then! None of this would have happened if we just stopped and talked!"
"Our mother's word is law." The tall girl glowers over Nakasuko. "If it's for the family, we need to be willing to do anything. Anything."
"But–"
"Enough."
Nakasuko flinches away from her like she was just burned. She turns her head to stare at the little girl in the bed.
"No."
"Nakasuko–"
"No! This girl is my only real sister. She's the only family I have left. Please… don't take her away from me too."
"...Fine." Both of them promptly leave the room. "We'll wait for you in the car."
"..." Nakasuko ignores them both and walks over to where Shosuko's lying. She's terrified, her eyes transfixed on her mother's corpse.
"Hey." Nakasuko waves her hand in front of the girl's face. That gets her attention.
"...Why… Why is mommy sleeping?"
"Your parents were killed in a yokai attack. That's what the monsters– the yokai do. They tear families apart." Nakasuko places her hand on a young Shosuko's shoulder. "Go to the ICMG, they'll give you education and magical girl training, it's the only way for you to survive in this world."
"M-my chest hurts."
"Let me see." Nakasuko lifts up the covers to reveal that one of the bullets made it through Shouko's body, wounding Shosuko. A bullet sticks out of her chest, a crater of flesh around it.
"Am I going to die?"
"It's only a flesh wound. You'll be just fine." Nakasuko kisses Shosuko on the head. "Take care. I hope you live a long and happy life." And with that, the Nakasuko of the past disappears out the door, and so does the rest of the memory, leaving them back in the dust wastes.
"I had forgotten just how weak I was back then. I couldn't save my parents' lives so I had to beg for my sister's life. The strong survive. The weak beg. That's the world of the yakuza." The batter leans on her bat.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." The Batter– no, Nakasuko shakes her head. "That was the day I came face-to-face with the harsh reality of the yakuza. No matter how much they pretend to be the good guys, they trample on other people's lives. That's not something that can ever be forgiven. But even worse is the person who did nothing to stop them."
"It's not your fault." Kasai places her hand on Nakasuko's shoulder.
But she shrugs it off. "I've heard that one before. Even now, I'm still the same weak girl I was back then. Even after acquiring power of my own, I haven't grown at all."
"So what if you haven't grown? You're fighting to save your sister's life, isn't that proof enough of your strength?"
"You don't understand! I've tried to save Shosuko so many times but it just gets worse and worse. I thought she'd be safe in the ICMG but she ended up a yakuza anyway. I almost ended up killing her when I didn't recognize her. Then after that, she almost died at Tami's hands. Everything I do just backfires. I'm a failure of a sister."
Kasai slaps Nakasuko across the face. Maybe a little too hard. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that."
"Then who else am I supposed to blame?"
"I don't know, maybe the people who actually killed your parents?! Blame Oka! Blame Daisuko! Someone, anyone!"
"...I guess so." Nakasuko wipes the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry for showing this to you. I just… I just couldn't bear the burden by myself anymore."
"Whether you listen to me or not, I'll at least help you carry this burden in whatever little way I can."
"...Thank you, Kasai." Unprompted, Nakasuko wraps Kasai in a tremendous hug.
"Anytime." Kasai hugs back. "Does this… make us friends?"
"Yeah… I think so."
"Nice." Kasai nods. But this fleeting moment only lasts a second longer. Nakasuko suddenly sweeps Kasai's legs from under her feet and points her bat at her head.
The Batter leers at her. "How do you know those names?"
"...What?"
"How do you know Oka and Daisuko?"
A pit forms in Kasai's stomach. "Listen, I–"
"You're with the Kuze Clan, aren't you?"
"Wait–"
"Aren't you?!"
"No! I'm not!"
"I trusted you!" The Batter tries to shove Kasai back but Kasai catches her by her wrists.
"Calm down and let me explain." Kasai averts The Batter's gaze on instinct. She forces their eyes to lock. "Who do you think it was that bailed us out of being killed by the ICMG? Who do you think it is that's fighting them off right now so that we can retrieve Shosuko's soul from this place? I understand why you hate them so much but they're our allies right now."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"They told me not to."
"And you listened?!"
"Because they said you wouldn't trust me otherwise."
"...You did the right thing, keeping it a secret from me." She wrenches her arms from Kasai's grip. "They were right. I don't trust you. Not anymore."
"Nakasuko–"
"Don't call me by that name!" The Batter shakes her head as she backs away from Kasai. "We're done."
"Awww, is someone having a little falling out?" The sound of approaching footsteps. They both turn to face it and are met by two familiar faces. One framed by blue hair and the other framed by raspberry-red hair.
"How sad." Ryukko tuts. "It'll be even easier to crush the both of you now–"
Kasai backs away on instinct. Every single neuron inside her head tells her there's no way she can win against Isaka alone. She needs Nakasuko. And Nakasuko needs her. "I messed up, alright? I messed up real bad. I should have told you but I didn't. But right now, I need you to trust me. We don't stand a chance otherwise."
"..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know."
The Batter heaves a gigantic sigh. "Fine! Just this once, I'll let this slide. You owe me one for this."
"Yes, thank you, anything."
"Two I-C's ganging up on two magical girls? Now that's just plain unfair." A familiar voice comes from the top of a nearby dust dune. A familiar bob cut of silver hair framing a pair of golden eyes. "What say you we even the playing field?"
"What's the meaning of this, Jet?" Ryukko's gaze is distrustful of her ally. Or well, former ally.
Calamity Jet smirks as she leans down. "I've decided I'm hitching a ride back to the real world with these fools."
"You mean you're going to betray the ICMG?"
"It's even funnier the second time!" She lets out a bloodthirsty cackle into the night sky before suddenly pointing at The Batter and Kasai. "You two, deal with the sword girl. I'll take care of the spear girl."
"You bastard–!" Isaka and Ryukko conjure their weapons. Confused but determined to survive, so do Kasai and The Batter.
"Go for their gems."
"What?" Kasai glances at Jet.
"If you don't want to kill them, just cut them to bits, they'll survive so long as their gems remain intact."
"Got it."