FINALE: ARE YOU WAITING TO WAKE UP? (EPISODE END)

She lets out a loud, bellowing roar. I've r-really pissed her off now, haven't I?

But, it's progress. It d-doesn't feel like positive progress, but I'm confident I can still turn things around. I have to be confident I can turn things around. For everyone's sakes.

With a slow, hefty wind-up, she moves to bring her hand down onto me, attempting to crush me like a bug. G-god, her hand's like twice the size of me, now...!!

But that won't stop me, will it?

I raise my arm into the air to block-- legs buckling as, against all odds, I'm able to resist her attack. She keeps trying to press down onto me, but even with her newfound size she's got far less momentum now that she doesn't have the weight of a swing against me.

I strain, throwing her hand off of me, before quickly using the opportunity to throw myself back into the air. It'll be harder for someone of that size to hit an airborne target, I think. T-thank god for these wings...!

I think she realizes this, however... since she's instead holding her hands out, sigils forming as she's charging something up.

...?

Green sigils? What is she-

!!!

Quickly, I beat my wings faster and faster, attempting to fight against the hurricane of wind she's throwing at me. N-not fair...!! Using Fue-chan's powers against me...?!

The harsh winds threaten to blow me away... yet I manage to hold on.

But what do I do now...? Even with this advantage, I-I won't be able to keep dodging her forever. I don't want to resort to violence-- really, I don't. But will I have to...?

S-shit, she's channeling another attack! Blue sigils, this time. Mizu-chan's magic, then? I can't dodge that...!!

I reach down into the air behind me, using my magic to pull up entire swaths of the earth like uprooted grass in order to form a shield. The chunks of park I've ripped narrowly manage to block the pressure cutter Sonora uses against me.

H...heheh... just like... Perfect Cha-

No, d-don't get distracted, Chisaki. She's probably going to use Asa-chan's powers on me next-- and if they're as souped up as the others were, I'm in trouble. I need to act fast.

?

Huh, wait a minute. Was that...?

I charge, divebombing for the glimmer I see... The glimmer in her chest, where her heart would be.

"OH NO YOU DON'T...!!!"

Sonora sees this, and stops charging up another attack in order to intercept, g-grabbing me in both of her hands...!!

S-she's... crushing m-me...!!

"WHY DO YOU DO THIS... CHISAKI?"

"Wh-what do you mean...?"

"DESPITE ALL THAT YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH, ALL THE PAIN THAT HAS BEEN INFLICTED UPON YOU, YOU CLING ONTO HOPE... NO MATTER HOW FOOLISH. WHY?"

"I, eheheh... I mean..." I sit on her words, nervously laughing as I think through my answer. Then... it clicks.

Of course. It's been in the back of my mind, this entire time.

I'd just been too embarrassed to admit it.

"It's my mission. To give others hope."

Renewed in my spirit, I break free from her grasp, as though I were being restrained by a child. She growls, unnerved by my answer. Unnerved by my resolve.

"I don't have to go through it alone, either. I've got my friends to watch over me, to protect me." I grin. "They help me when I'm going through hard times, I help them when they're going through hard times. That's what friends do."

"F-F... SHUT... SHUT UP...!!!"

Sonora screams out, charging up another blast. This time, it's a mixture of sigils. Fue-chan's magic, Mizu-chan's magic, Asa-chan's magic. She throws a cascading apocalypse of magic at me, attempting to take me down with the force of all of my friends at once.

Yet, I find myself unphased. ...Hmm. Instinctively, I get another idea.

"T-that doesn't mean I'm not hurting too, though...!" I channel my pain, my trauma. I'm free, freer than I've ever been, but I'm not without my own scars. My hands swell up, returning to the size they were when I was an Anxi. Then... channeling the pain of those I've encountered up to this point, I ready myself for a counter-attack.

I throw my hands forward, shooting my arms out like rockets as they launch right for her heart...! Eheheh... I'll make you proud, L██-kun!!

Sonora gasps, caught off-guard as I'd hoped. My hands finally make contact with her chest, plunging deep into her heart as they make contact with... of course.

"All this to say... y-you're not alone... Sono-chaaaaaan!!"

I pull my hands back, revealing... Sonora, kicking and screaming as she struggles to break free.

But... I won't let her. Even if she won't admit it... she needs someone right now. And... if the others can't be there for her right now...

Then I will.

The Anxi form that was once her begins collapsing, melting down like white chocolate left in the sun for too long. Then... it dissipates into nothing. As though the monster she once was... doesn't exist anymore.

I descend to the ground gently, holding her in my arms. Though resisting at first, she starts to tire herself out, her breath eventually staggering as she starts... to choke on her tears.

...

"P-p-please..."

"?"

"P-please... Don't... let go..." She whimpers out, beginning to hyperventilate.

"I won't... I won't." I rub her back, smiling.

In my periphery, I can see the others. Fue-chan, Mizu-chan, Asa-chan. Unconscious, but alive. No longer turning into Anxi. Good. I'm... glad.

Sonora whines, pushing herself closer into me. "I-I-I've... hurt so many people... I... I'm such a terrible, awful person... b-b-but... p-please don't kill me... I don't wanna die... I don't... I don't... I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die..." Frenetically, she keeps repeating herself, as she starts having a full-blown panic attack.

I delicately shush her, kneeling down to the ground with her as I keep her close to my side. "It's okay, Sono-chan... it's okay... Don't worry. I'm here for you."

We sit there in delicate silence. One by one, the others start to come to, as well.

"C-Chii-chan?" Asa-chan is the first to speak up. "What's... happened...?"

I nervously smile, unsure of how to approach the topic.

"Are you... holding Sonora...?"

"Y-yeah... She's... we aren't fighting anymore."

"Are we... killin' her...?" Mizu-chan grunts, struggling to sit up.

Sonora looks at me... terrified, miserable.

...

"No... I don't think we are."

"W-what...? B-but she-she's hurt so many people! Ruined so many lives...!!" Asa-chan's getting riled up. "She killed your fucking mom! D-don't tell me you're going to just forgive her for that!!"

I close my eyes, lowering my head. "I-I... well, of course I don't forgive her. Not yet, at least. I don't know if I ever will." I open my eyes again, looking at Asa-chan. At Mizu-chan. At Fue-chan. "But... she also brought me closer to you all. I wouldn't've met you guys had it not been for her. Does that justify what she did? O-of course not. Fucking, of course not. But I want to give her a second chance. We're all broken people. We all hurt ourselves, hurt others. But we do that because we feel alone. Because we feel like there's nobody to turn to. ...I want to be there for her."

Asa-chan stops, thinking on my words. Her fists clench, tighter and tighter... before she sinks back down to the ground. "You're... right. I fucking wish you werent, but you're right."

Fue-chan steps in. "If... you think it's for the best, then I'll trust you, Chisaki. You've... grown so much since we first met." She smiles a bit, before clutching her head.

"Y-you alright...?"

"Yeah... yeah. Just exhausted."

"Same."

"Yea, same."

"W-we should probably... head home, then. Especially before any cops arrive."

The others nod.

Honestly I'm just glad to have, for once, solved a situation without resorting to violence. It gets a bit tiring having to clean up entrails and blood after every encounter. But, uh...

I look to Sonora. "Do you, uh. Do you know how to drive?"

She shakes her head. Not that I would want to make the woman who just had a panic attack drive, anyway.

W-well, there's a first time for everything! I help everyone to the car, placing Sonora in the passenger side and the others in the back, given the touchy situation between the group. Then, uh... I place the key in the keyhole, turning it like I've always seen Fue-chan do it.

...mmm? Why isn't it...

"Y-you're supposed to... turn it the other way, I think." Sonora whispers.

"Ah, right." I turn the engine on.

"I-I can still drive, Chisaki." Fue-chan speaks up.

Looking at her in the rear-view mirror, it genuinely looks like she's about ready to fall over. I squint at her.

"...D-drive slow." She relents.

I turn on the radio, not wanting to drive in complete silence. I'm not going to try making small talk while everyone's so tired.

"-ut wow, did anyone get footage of that? It was like seeing G█zilla in real life! That Anxi was so huge!"

...Great, we've even got radio DJ's reporting on us, now? We can never escape the news.

I reach over to turn it off-

"And when that hot demon-looking chick took it out effortlessly, I was in absolute awe...! Demon chick, wherever you are, this song goes out to you!!"

...

.....

Happy New Year, I guess.