Chapter Fourteen: Rearguard Losing Reactive Heroic Actions

The moonless, sunless realm of the Kagehime Varjokuningatar awaited, deathly still. The balcony rested a little lower upon the indomitable tower on this day. The Kagehime continued to brood, her battle-thrall attendants conspicuously down by two.

Another specter wafted in through the closed door, then materialized.

“Hello, Balthazar.” The Kagehime glanced at her elongated, regal nails

“Your worshipfulness,” the shade began. “The twin oni gambit…”

“… resulted in failure?” the Kagehime asked.

“Y-yes, m’ladyness.”

“We already were made aware of this fact.” The princess turned her hands over to examine the other side of her nails.

“You… you have, your gloriousfullness?” Balthazar asked.

“Still, these conscripts of the Lifestream Regulators appear to be growing stronger.”

The ghostly attendant’s head bowed further. “Should we arrange for three monsters at once, my umbral goddess?”

The Kagehime betrayed the faintest of chuckles.

“Oh, that will not be necessary, dear Balthazar.”

“It won’t, my liege?” The spectral outline of Balthazar’s form shuddered in confusion.

“For you see, your glorious Kagehime has taken matters into her own hands,” said the princess. “Plans are already underway. Just let your darling and immaculate royal Kagehime plan and plot.”

“As you wish, your eminency.” Balthazar bowed again.

“Hehe. Wish, we do,” said the Kagehime. “And this way, we shan’t even risk more battle-thralls.”

+++

“Hey, Castellan-san. Got a question to run by you,” Ren asked, back in the Temporal Fortress.

“Aye, ask away, Kermes Ranger!” chirped the castellan helpfully.

They were alone outside the Power Infirmary, Ren’s injuries the only ones that required a stint in the healing pods. They’d had to lie low at his house overnight before returning to the old schoolhouse. The rest of the sentai squad was back in the command center, debriefing on the damage these oni had done to their city, both in fraying the leylines and in the viscous melee that had destroyed that abandoned neighborhood.

“Could there be any… other mahourangers out there?”

The castellan’s adorned helmet tilted to one side as the magical robot calculated this possibility.

“Negative, ranger. All five Power Coins have been distributed. There’s no way to deliver more in this worldline. At least, not simultaneously!”

Ren frowned. He could have sworn that he saw something, there in the abandoned neighborhood. But what could it have been?

“When will the leylines be repaired?” Ren asked.

If this Umbral Court sent many more monsters with that same increase in strength, they could be overwhelmed! Surely, there had to be an endgame to all this. A victory condition. That’s how it always worked in games.

“Ay. Follow me into the Power Command Center,” urged the castellan.

Ren followed. He’d nearly gotten the layout of this hidden fortress memorized. Still, he let the mahou-robot lead the way out of politeness. His four fellow classmates were waiting for him.

“Congratulations on your second victory, mahourangers!”

“I feel like waiting for the enemies to come to us is a losing proposition,” Yuto said, overflowing with confidence. “Why don’t we just go find the big bad behind all this and go beat them up right now? Won’t that put an end to all this?”

Overnight, the squad had gotten to talking about their dual lives as students as mahourangers. While their shared status in the go-home club left the group uniquely qualified to deal with threats after school, mahourangerism required a full-time commitment. What if a leyline crisis occurred while they were in class? It would be far easier to make a professional career out of this. A professional sentai squad could remain on call and search for threats 24/7.

Why, the squad was quite lucky that their families were all out of town indefinitely. Operating out of apartments and single-family homes would prove unwieldy if their parents were constantly looking over their shoulders. To say nothing of what was going to happen once exam season kicked in!

“That neighborhood… Sakura said, eyes darting around like she was remembering something.

Ren nodded. He knew what she was thinking. He’d traveled through that neighborhood plenty of times just since discovering his Power Coin. While it had been an old neighborhood with houses in somewhat poor repair, as was typical of Japan’s rural housing market, there had been people living there earlier in the week. It wasn’t a ruined ghost neighborhood.

The castellan bobbed its head. “Unfortunately, just the process of sending a living leyline anchor to this worldline can fray the historical tethers in a small local area.”

“Shouldn’t we be repairing the leylines?” Miyu asked. “I can’t help but think that our goal should be to restore Tenshigurobu to its past life.”

“Not possible, not possible,” the castellan bowed its head, almost solemnly. “Preventing further decay is the only way to prevent your reality from unraveling. Why, the very fact that you have power coins in your possession is the only thing allowing you even to notice these changes, Rangers.”

Ren let out a sharp tsk. He tried to imagine driving through that neighborhood and the numerous others between school and his house, as the environment grew more dilapidated day by day. How long had the city been unraveling itself back to tiny suburbs and empty fields? If he had not found that Power Coin, would this have gone on until Ren, himself, had blinked out of existence one day? He thought to his parents, out on a business trip to… wherever they were. What would happen to them?

The castellan seemed to sense the squad’s trepidations.

“Your status as Mahourangers arrests you in time and space!” said the ghostly armor. “Worry not, you yourselves will not blink out of existence. Why, even your dormitories should be sufficiently tied to your fates to prevent your dwellings from decaying around you.”

Ren nodded. He tried thinking of the last time he’d seen any of his neighbors, even with a front light on or a car on the street. He couldn’t remember when.

“Keep up the good work, rangers!” the castellan said, its tone warmer than their previous morose topic. “With the squad growing more efficient, surely further leyline decay can be prevented!”

Despite this pep talk, the way their magical mascot described all this made it sound like they would be fighting a losing battle forever on the defensive.

+++

Another school week came and gone without incident. The castellan promised to perform constant deep scans for any new leyline-destroying umbral beasts. None had been detected, and semi-regular night patrols by the various rangers found no change in the remaining districts of Tenshigurobu. The rangers planned and trained in the appropriate old schoolhouse every other evening and on weekends.

They could feel themselves gaining a better grip on their powers and on basic squad tactics. Synchronized strikes and a bevy of ‘team weapons’ the castellan had ready for them. Ren was always the centerpiece of these formations. As the closest ranger to a redish hue, he was the de facto leader, after all.

This routine lasted another two weeks. Ren was beginning to wonder when his parents were going to come back from that business trip. He even considered giving them a call despite the massive gulf in time zone differences leaving little time when both parties ought to be awake. This thought was on his mind even as he waited on the roof for the next class’s bell.

It was an unassuming Wednesday like any other when the door to the roof opened, and a certain blonde exchange student stepped out.

“Hello, Ren-san!” Becca said in her surprisingly good, if off-for-the-region, accent.

“Hey,” Ren said. “Isn’t your exchange term up soon?”

“Teehee. Just after exams, I believe.” Becca struck a suspiciously cutesy pose. “Before I leave this place, though…”

“Hmm?” Ren leaned in.

Mostly, Ren thought that all this coy talk was an American thing. Still, he couldn’t escape the feeling that their exchange student appeared to be fishing for something…

“… I really want to go explore an old, haunted schoolhouse.” Becca made a silly pouty face, lips puckered.

Ren raised an eyebrow.

“It’s just, I noticed you and your friends walking into that old schoolhouse all the time.”

The building in question was easily visible from this high perch. She didn’t even have to point it out.

“I keep trying to follow, but you all seem to give me the slip,” Becca said. “You must know all sorts of interesting hideout spots in there. I tried to get Yuto to give me a tour, but his silly cousin didn’t seem to want us to be alone. Maybe she’s jealous? Do you have some free time to give me a personal tour?”

Alright, either the exchange student was trying to mack on him, or she was onto their identity as mahourangers and was trying to blackmail them. The castellan had insisted that there were no other mahourangers to be recruited. Which was a pity; a team of six could split up into three equal units after all.

What, then, did Becca want with the old schoolhouse? A make-out spot was most likely. Regardless, Ren couldn’t really think of anything to rebuff her.

“The teachers patrol the grounds during classes,” he said. “Just… meet me outside the gate. We’ll sneak in separately, less likely to get caught.”

The Temporal Fortress would not appear so long as Becca walked in first, or they walked in together. And if Ren went in first, Becca would find herself whisked to the empty old schoolhouse alone. It shouldn’t be possible for her to sneak into their secret base. Whatever Becca was after, it couldn’t hurt to humor her…