Hearing the mad laughter, Tsubaki wasn't even in a position to sweat in fear. Instead, she watched the greatest regret of her life flash before her eyes.
"Daughter, a true samurai must never bow down to anyone, even if it means death! If you see me surrendering to anyone, then you are free to take my own life! That is my pledge as the head of the only samurai clan in the village!"
Ten years later, that same voice said, "Daughter, you must understand, with the incoming Shojo, Lila, we will be wiped out if we stand alone. We, the Ryujin clan, have decided to go under the Katsuragi clan until this new Shojo appointed by the great continents goes back to where she came from."
That very night, Tsubaki poisoned her family's drinking water, making them fall asleep for more than usual, as she took out their lives with her blade. One couldn't blame her; she was just keeping her promise to her mother.
But now, she couldn't help but regret her actions back then, muttering, "I'm really pathetic..."
She shook off the thoughts and remembered her time in prison.
"I should have said that back then, not now. I need to focus on my mission. I will die a free woman."
Her weak gaze focused on the navy-haired woman walking towards her, and she started counting the number of steps it would take her to reach her direction.
When Mikino was just a few steps away, Tsubaki attempted to yell, "Ki-!"
A hand in black gloves closed her mouth, stopping her from exploding herself.
A cold, sweet voice muttered, "Truly pathetic."
Tsubaki's eyes shrank to pin size as the corner of her eyes turned to look at the girl beside her, hearing Mikino's mutter, "Tsukino! Are you here to save her? Don't you forget that we're not allowed to save a life until the coffin is full."
Tsukino increased her grip on Tsubaki's face, suffocating her until she passed out. Her cold gaze landed on the woman in the same clothes as her.
"I'm here to complete the task I was given and take care of my responsibility."
Mikino furrowed her brows underneath her blindfold, dissatisfied with the girl's manner of speech.
"Just because Lucy put that stupid rule of one person under the other, it doesn't mean I will follow you. In fact, I'm done being a member of Yurei."
Tsukino sighed as she walked slowly towards Mikino.
"As I said before, you're my responsibility. I won't let you do something stupid."
Mikino clicked her tongue in frustration:
"You're ten years too young to be ordering me around. Even though Lucien praises you as the strong one among us, I will beat that arrogance out of you."
Nanato.
A hut-shaped Tama started absorbing Mikino's Rei, as water spread around the whole floor, leaving Tsukino room to escape. Mikino immediately used Mizuzaki, turning all the water into ice, and Kainoe to recover her lost Rei.
She laughed heartily at the sight of Tsukino, whose feet were half-buried in ice, yelling, "Who is strong now?! Just because Sora calls you and your stupid boyfriend the undead couple, doesn't mean I don't have methods to deal with both of you!"
She spat, "Die!"
Ice shards started raining down on Tsukino, their sharp ends dripping with malice.
Tsukino, meanwhile, just coldly looked at this pitiful sight, as she snapped her fingers. The whole ice prison Mikino had made shattered in an instant, leaving her jaw dropping in shock.
"What just happened!"
Mikino shook her head in denial of reality, "No! This can't be happening!"
She repeated the same trick again and again, but the result never changed, and she yelled in question, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Just why won't I hurt you!"
Tsukino's demeanor remained unchanged. "Fine, I will let you hurt me!"
Mikino's shards pierced through the black-haired girl, narrowly avoiding her vitals, and the navy-haired woman let out a maniacal laughter.
"You see that! Who is strong now!"
Tsukino muttered indifferently, "Lucy-kun was right; these coats have the ability to mess with our minds. One wrong move, and we could become bloodthirsty monsters."
She sighed, fixing her gaze on Mikino, and yelled, "Take a closer look at yourself first! Then look at the world! But I'm not expecting you to see anything with closed eyes!"
Before Mikino could understand what was happening, she felt a surge of pain all over her body and groaned loudly. However, her other senses couldn't detect the source of the pain, and she was forced to remove her blindfold.
Her blue eyes gazed over at Tsukino, and indeed, Tsukino was pierced with her ice shards, but the one bleeding and feeling the pain was Mikino.
The woman's expression was filled with disbelief as she muttered, "Just what is going on?"
Tsukino broke all the shards piercing her with only a slight movement, relieving Mikino from her pain. However, Tsukino then took one of the ice shards and pierced herself, letting Mikino experience a world of pain.
For minutes, Mikino screamed, and when it seemed like the pain was going to stop, it became worse. Mikino pleaded for help, but Tsukino paid no attention.
Mikino remembered something Sora had told her a few months ago, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"The reason Tsukino isn't going to look for her brother is obvious: she is in love with Shoji now, and that's making her view the world in a less twisted way. She took responsibility for her brother by making sure he never repeated the same mistake again. Back at the camp, she didn't take responsibility for anyone because she felt threatened by Shinji."
Mikino cried out, her mouth wide open. "Don't tell me that she used to hurt her brother to this extent... no! She injured herself to make her brother feel guilty about his own actions..."
A piece of memory from when the girls were bathing together at the camp played in her mind, and she recalled when the other girls talked about the scars Tsukino had, even though she was barely wounded.
Piecing together why Tsukino feel for Shoji, she arrived at a conclusion.
'This girl is a masochist!'
Mikino's thoughts froze, as she felt a mountain load of pain for the next good minutes.
Tsukino finally stopped, coldly glaring at Mikino, who was sleeping on the ground from pain.
"Now, as your master, I have made you feel responsible for your actions. It's time to use my power as the one responsible for internal security to punish you for defying orders and embezzlement of funds."
Mikino wanted to open her mouth and refute, but the pain in her body was too intense to even let her think. She just watched with tear-filled eyes as Tsukino walked towards her, pulled her by the hair, and slapped her viciously.
In the next second, Mikino found all the pain washed away, and she was sleeping in the same pit she had woken up in the previous day, with the same chains binding her to the ground.
However, instead of Lucy standing at the top of the pit, it was Shoji standing next to her with a pair of silver scissors.
The white-haired man smiled, testing the scissors, "As a gentleman, I'll give you a light-hearted punishment for your crimes... that is to trim off all your hair."
Shoji released an evil laughter, getting his hands busy, and by the time Mikino pulled herself out of her reverie, he was already done, saying, "Get a good rest... Sora-sama told me you have a mission tomorrow."
The moment his words faded, Shoji jumped out of the pit, leaving Mikino in tears, her eyes fixed on the full pink moon above her.
"Lucien-kun... thank you for not letting me fall to the Dark Side... Now, I'm sure of what I want, boss."
- more about Tsukino's ability in the next chapter, lolo: