FINALE: ARE YOU WAITING TO WAKE UP? (2)

Making our way further into the park, I find myself taken by how pretty everything is. The streetlights, having activated as we approach sundown, illuminate the falling snow in a way that I find rather pretty. I'm not really sure how to poeticize it, honestly. It's just nice. ...At least we'll have some gorgeous atmosphere, in this year's final moments.

...

There she is.

Mori Sonora.

She's just standing there, looking off in the distance. She's expecting us, so it's not like we're going to be getting the jump on her or anything.

!!

E-especially when a particularly big monster Anxi appears before us, as if to specifically waste our time. I can't make out any features unique to it... Was this originally a sapient, or has Sonora become powerful enough to create monster Anxi from nothing?

Regardless, they're blocking our progress. We'll have to get this out of the way quickly, before we waste too much energy. "R-Rifa-chan, fall back and be ready to fire. I'll weaken it for the others."

"Got it." Rifa-chan pushes herself away with a gust of wind as I summon my hammer, letting it hit the ground with a massive THUD.

You've been invaluable, Shiko... Thank you for everything.

I rush for the monster, attempting to provoke it into attacking me. It growls, letting out several roar as it takes a swing at me--

--only to be intercepted by my hammer crashing directly into its hand. They try again... only to be intercepted again. The beast jumps back, preparing to charge me. I stand strong, ready for its next move. The beast lunges... and I move to shout behind me.

"Now, Rifa-chan!!"

Rifa-chan takes the shot, tearing through the sky with the fire of her rifle. The sudden force knocks the beast off-balance, sending it tumbling to the ground. I go for an overhead swing, crushing its legs to a fine paste beneath my hammer. The creature howls in pain, struggling to kick back with what little remains of its feet. I call for Wantus-chan to come over and pin its arms to the ground with her claws, preventing it from fighting back with what comes next.

Seco-chan comes in, whispering an apology to the Anxi before grinding her chainsaw against its tree stump of a neck until the connection between head and body is severed.

Then... I sigh, before bringing my hammer down onto its head, just to make extra certain it won't come back. My hands tremble at the reverberation, as I'm overtaken with a strange sense of déjà vu.

I still feel bad killing Anxi. Honestly, I-I might feel worse now than I had before, given I know what it feels like to be one of them. To feel helpless and hopeless. All alone. To have given up and submitted to my anxiety, to my trauma. I'm sure Asa-chan can relate.

...It's like I'd said before, we're doing them a mercy.

I nod to the others, before we make our way to Sonora-- thankfully, without any further interruptions.

"You've made it." She quietly speaks, continuing to stare off into the void. "I was beginning to get nervous."

Having gotten closer, I can see she's got her mascot with her, not yet transformed into her weapon. A crow, resting on her shoulder, with black feathers and hollow, glassy eyes. I'd heard she used her familiar for experiments, but you'd hardly be able to tell that if you didn't already know. Guess that's why she started experimenting on her familiar, first and foremost. If they die, you can just bring them back good as new- feelings be damned.

She's also got the dagger with her before. Huh... I'd not realized the shovel was her mascot this entire time. Interesting choice of a weapon, even if I don't really understand it.

"I trust that you've all come to a decision."

"We have."

She finally turns to look at me. "Good. Your decision being...?"

Wantus-chan speaks up, answering before I can. "Like hell we're gonna side with you! You've lost yer' damn mind if you thought that!"

She looks at Wantus-chan, sighing, then looking back into the distance. "I figured as much. The life of a scientist is often a lonely one. Still, I'd just thought to ask in the low chance I was wrong."

"So what happens now?" Rifa-chan asks. "I don't suppose we could convince you to stop with the Anxi."

"Why would I? I'm trying to make the world a better place here."

Maybe it was just a dream version of her, the other night then. I couldn't imagine she would repeat herself like this, if we'd actually communicated with each other.

She stops, staring at me. After realizing I'm no longer an Anxi, she lightly smiles. "You... got better." She nods.

"And I got worse." Seco-chan steps forward, holding out her free hand to show its disfigurement.

Sonora looks at her, frowning. She moves to step further, to examine them, but stops as she sees Seco-chan step back. "You've advanced quickly. I take it that I'm to blame for this...?" She asks solemnly.

"What do you think?" She flips Sonora off before returning her hand to holding on to her chainsaw. "Are we going to fight, or something? What's going on now?'

....

Sonora closes her eyes, standing there in silence before she responds. "It's beautiful tonight, isn't it? I've always found snow to be very pretty at night."

"Get on with it already, Rara." Seco-chan groans, cringing to herself as she realizes she used her nickname for Sonora.

"I was just about to, Riri." She snaps her fingers, before a black void engulfs her mascot, reshaping them into the shovel we'd seen before. "As I was saying, it's a beautiful night."

Her frown changes, shifting to a snarling grimace.

"Shame, then, that it will be the last one you will ever see."