Don't flatter yourself.

“That’s… your brother?”

The tall girl in white came to a stop some five or so metres away. She had a broadsword sheathed on either hip, one inscribed with the kanji spelling of “judge,” the other with “jury.”

“Oh? Is my foolish sister watching through that eye of yours?” sneered the white cat on her shoulder. “That won’t do. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, we can’t have our little reunion happen through a proxy, can we?”

“What th- waaah!”

Time, who had moments before been speaking from the safety of Fujiko’s house, appeared in the air before me. She was so disoriented by the sudden shift that her righting reflex almost failed to kick in and she had to scramble to land on her feet.

“Time!” I knelt down next to her, but she turned her body towards Space and snarled.

“I’m okay. Just didn’t think this would be how I reunited with my brother.” She turned her attention towards the white cat. “I always knew you were ambitious, but taking over the whole damn country? You’ve gone too far, Space.”

“I always knew you lacked ambition, but lowering yourself to petty crime and terrorism? You’ve fallen farther than I could have ever expected, Time.”

The two cats leered at each other, but my attention was on the girl in white. Her angelic outfit and graceful motion contrasted sharply with the cruel smirk on her face and condescension in her tone. She hadn’t announced herself, but I had a gut feeling that I knew exactly who she was.

Moments later, Z confirmed my suspicions.

“Hey Aki, what’s the big idea, hon? Why the hell’d you freeze us too? We could kill them now!”

“Oh, my, don’t you think you’re taking my mercy for granted, my loyal servant?” Aki gently glided over the vast empty blackness that surrounded us, as if none of the forces of the world had any command over her. “From where I was standing, it looked as if our Ronin friends had you beat, fair and square. If it wasn’t for Space wanting to protect his darling daughter Graviton, I dare say you and your girlfriend would have met an early grave here tonight.” Aki put her finger under the frozen Z’s chin. Even without floating, she towered almost a full head over the girl.

“...I’ll get you back for this, y’know.”

“No. You won’t.”

Ignoring the threat from her subordinate, Aki glided gracefully back over towards me and Time, circling us like a predator toying with its prey.

My hand slowly came to rest on the hilt of my sword.

“Well, my dear Tokiko, these were not the conditions under which I hoped we would meet. But, well, for people like us life always finds a way, doesn’t it?” Aki chuckled to herself, as if the whole affair was a damned joke.

“...why am I the only one not frozen?” I asked, turning my head to watch her but maintaining my stance. She slowly drifted in front of me and her feet gently settled on the nothingness beneath her.

“Straight to business? You’ve no idea how to entertain a woman, my dear.” She sighed dramatically and shook her head. Her every move was aggravating, but I refused to let it show on my face. It was exactly what she wanted. “You are the darkness of my light. The yin of my yang, so to speak. Space without time is static. Time without space is empty. Thus, our powers are nullified by each other. Which is also why your plan of stopping time and running me through with that butterknife of yours will fail, so I would recommend against trying, my dear.”

I didn’t say anything in reply, but I shot a quick glance at Time, who nodded solemnly. Sighing, I stood at ease and let go of my sword. Killing this girl alone was likely impossible.

“Alright. Hit me with it. You could have killed all my friends, isolated me and left me for dead. Hell, you could have done that right from the beginning. But instead, you’re here taunting me like a damned jester. So what’s the deal, huh? Why not just kill us?” I asked, refusing to break eye contact for even a moment.

“Ah, actually, I am the one who should answer that,” said Space. He jumped down from Aki’s shoulder and confidently trotted across the vast emptiness towards us, stopping halfway between. “You see, my dear sister and I were once a single existence. The arbiter of all motion in the universe. Spacetime, you would call us.” He paced up and down in front of us, complete calm and confidence in his voice. “As much as I hate to admit it, without each other, Time and I are not at our full power. To achieve our true potential, reunification is the only option. And there are only two avenues to reunification. Since mutual agreement seems… unlikely… only the second option is viable.”

“Complete domination,” Time hissed. “So that’s why you influenced us to get here instead of just stopping us? So you and I could fight at full strength?”

“That is one part, of course, though not the whole picture.” Space stopped pacing and pointed a paw at me. “After all, it’s not just you, sister, that needed training.”

“...me?” I was taken aback. What part could I have to play in this game of gods?

“Don’t flatter yourself too much, darling,” said Aki, strutting forward a face paces and throwing her arms out wide. “All we needed of you was to make you a worthy challenger. Nothing more.”

“What? Stop talking like a cryptic asshole and say it straight, bastard.”

For all her bravado, Aki’s smile actually faltered slightly. Seemed she was hoping I’d just get swept up by her intimidation tactics.

“...If you will insist on making me say it plainly,” she sighed. “You are not just the magical girl representing Time, but the ‘freedom fighter’ representing revolution. A simple to the lessers of society that their lot in life may be changed by bloodshed. Now, if you were to be utterly crushed by that same system…”

“...It’d reinforce the authority you lord over them.”

“You do catch on quickly, don’t you, my darling?”

Bastards… they’d been raising us as lambs to the slaughter…

“I must say, you did a far greater job than I ever could have hoped,” sneered Space. “Killing easily replaceable pigs and stealing easily replaceable wealth made you quite popular, but declaring yourselves leaders of a revolution against the very establishment itself? I daresay you did half of the work for us. We hardly needed the media to stoke the flames of revolution when you were doing as much free of charge.”

“Rot in hell, bastards.”

“There’ll be time for that when our work is done.” Aki snapped her fingers, and the next moment she was at my side, her hand resting on my shoulder. “After all, you were kind enough to issue us a formal challenge. It would be rude not to return the favour.” She snapped her fingers again and reappeared in front of me, holding out a sealed envelope. “The details are inside. Come alone. Or with your little friends. It hardly matters when they can’t so much as approach me,” she said with a cackle.

“Oh? And why should I not just kill you here and now?” I asked

“You misunderstand, darling. We’re giving you a fighting chance.” She waved the envelope in front of my face slightly, and after some hesitation, I took it from her hand. “Take your last few days to recover your strength. You’ll need it.”

“Oh, I am gonna enjoy cutting you to bi-”

Before I could finish my sentence, she snapped her fingers again, and I fell to the floor of Fujiko’s house with a stumble. My allies similarly appeared on the floor of the house.

The damned bitch. She was messing with us. But this would be the last time. That much I knew for sure.