Chapter 19. Valiant Heart

I use the brush to turn into Sayuri. Makima starts singing.

"In the quiet night, I trembled alone..."

I begin dancing, but even if I do so, nothing happens.

"You need to try better than that"

Houraiji comes right to me and punches me in the gut, I drop to the ground, barely holding on.

She grabs the phone and smashes it under her feet, I back out just enough, so she doesn't get my brush.

Using the brush, I change into Uzuki. I try to fling the dice, but again, no luck. She dodges immediately, holding each dice in her hand and countering again. She hits my right arm, and I hold it by instinct, right before receiving a hit on the leg.

I turn into Katsuya and try to disappear, but she sees right through me. She takes a speaker out and yells. The sound is impossible to bear, getting me on my knees right before she tumbles me over a nearby window. The glass shatters above me. I hardly manage to get the brush back into my hands. And I see it. I just stare at it.

I have no more masks to wear.

Each time I turn into anyone, she just grabs the items and destroys them or humiliates me in the worst way possible. Like if she managed to know all the outcomes, to know what I was going to do, or each one of my friends was.

"Well, would you look at that... No other options for you then, huh?"

I try to desperately find anything I can use. Among all sorts of debris, glass shards and dirt, all I can see is a single item, worthless, dumb.

A hairpin on the floor.

She looks at me and laughs.

"Hibana... that's just a pin. A stupid, normal pin."

She extends her arms.

"Come on, try it"

The most normal, most usual, most common thing I could grab, something that doesn't even function as a regular weapon. I reached out with the little energy I had and tried to click it, bend it. It doesn't do anything.

"Thought so."

Hikari smiles and kicks me, she retrieves the rest of the items from me, puts them back around her. Now everything glows, she starts to float. On the horizon, the moon rises. Summoned by the items, most likely.

Well... I guess this is it. Defeated by my own ineptitude, my null ability to make something, my... hope for making things better, all down the drain.

The brush wasn't even special. It was just some dumb thing that made me look like others and that's it. No power copy, no nothing. Just remembering things.

Remembering... things...

Houraiji put this hairclip here, didn't she?

"Well, all and all, this was a good fight. Can't say the same for you but don't worry, there's lots and lots of love I can give you when all of this finishes."

I grab a stone and throw it at her, glass. Anything I can find. She doesn't even flinch and descend slowly.

She walks towards me, little by little.

"I'll try to make this as slow and harsh as possible, so you know just how much I care for you"

I try to crouch, prepare for the hit. I close my eyes and as soon as she's about to reach me...

*Click*

She stays frozen solid. I turn around, and the real Hikari stands there, in the hallway.

"H-Hikari! Where have you-?"

"There's no time! Seal it before it's too late! I can't hold it for too long!"

"But how do I-"

"The pin! Wear the pin!"

I put the pin on my hair and... nothing happens.

Again.

"Hikari, This is n-"

"Don't! Just do something!"

The clone starts cracking, revealing darkness in its interior.

I can't do anything with this.

I don't feel special.

I don't feel like I have achieved anything thus far.

"But here you are!"

I turn to Hikari again.

"We've come this far because of you and you only! Now go and do your thing!"

The clone cracks open revealing a tall, dark figure. The same one I saw back then.

"Too late"

The clone attacks, and I do my best to dodge. Surprisingly, I manage to dodge all its attacks.

"Why can't I hit you?!"

Maybe it's the item.

"It's because of you, now save the world!"

Hikari yells at me.

Well, if that's so... I start getting close to the figure. Each step, the figure becomes desperate. Swinging items, trying to do something. I just keep moving.

Just like Makima said in her song.

I stand directly in front of the figure and extend my palm.

"It's over"

The figure bursts with light and a loud bang sounds. It starts to rain.

She... is gone.

I turn around to see Hikari and the others.

"Hey, I did it!"

They all look...odd. There's something wrong.

From my stomach, I feel an intense pain

Then I notice a single flower, sprouting out of it.

"Oh... I..."

I fall to the ground, and I feel my consciousness falling, like if I was drowning on the sea.

Everything is dark. And as I keep losing conscience, I lose myself.