01x08 - Nine Schools Competition Part I

[bunniefuu]

FEBRUARY 16, 2096

FEBRUARY 16, 2096
Early this morning...

the JMDF secured a small USNA Navy-affiliated
vessel in Japan's offshore territory.

SMALL USNA NAVY-AFFILIATED VESSEL
DRIFTING BECAUSE OF ENGINE TROUBLE

SMALL USNA NAVY-AFFILIATED VESSEL
DRIFTING BECAUSE OF ENGINE TROUBLE
Apparently, it had begun drifting
because of engine trouble...

SMALL USNA NAVY-AFFILIATED VESSEL
DRIFTING BECAUSE OF ENGINE TROUBLE

SMALL USNA NAVY-AFFILIATED VESSEL
DRIFTING BECAUSE OF ENGINE TROUBLE
but a high-ranking military attacho at
the USNA's Tokyo embassy was aboard the ship,

JMDF CURRENTLY VERIFYING THE FACTS
but a high-ranking military attacho at
the USNA's Tokyo embassy was aboard the ship,

JMDF CURRENTLY VERIFYING THE FACTS
so the JMDF is currently verifying
all the facts with the USNA military.

so the JMDF is currently verifying
all the facts with the USNA military.

It doesn't seem as though
it ran afoul of any poor weather.

Maybe the issue
was with their power source.

After all, with how far automation
has come in this day and age,

a simple human error wouldn't
have caused them to lose their steering.

I see. That makes sense.

It's a country's regular army.

This response was too fast...

even assuming
our aunt issued a direct order.

Which means...

their forces were already in position
by the time I contacted her.

Well, I'm going to change into my uniform.

Sure, go ahead.

Our aunt had already called me
earlier about that news.

And yet, I pretended
to be ignorant of the situation.

But I don't care if he thinks of me
as a useless sister...

if that's what it will take
for him to stay at my side.

If it's decided that I can do my job
independently as leader of the Yotsuba,

he might leave me.

And I'll eventually
have to get married soon enough, too.

They'll expect me to have children.

Those are the requirements of a candidate
for the next leader of the Yotsuba.

But...

I don't want that.

I don't want anyone
but my brother to touch me.

Because...

I belong to my brother, body and soul.

Pixie...

Cancel suspend mode.

What do you require?

I want to ask you
about the vampire incidents.

First, were the parasites responsible
for the victims' blood loss?

Yes.

Why did you need blood
from a living person?

Blood loss was not our intent.

It was a side effect of mistaken propagation.

Our propagation process starts
by cutting off a part of ourselves...

and sending it into a recipient.

The separate body spreads through blood vessels
while absorbing Psions and Pushions

in the bloodstream.

It permeates the recipient's physical body
by exchanging itself for their blood.

Wait.

You are bodies of information.
You don't have mass.

Where does the exchanged blood matter go?

It is used to modify their body
during assimilation.

Should assimilation fail, the separate body
is expelled from the recipient's body as vitality.

So, that's how it works.

Should permeation of the body succeed,

we can control its information body,
its ethereal body.

An interplay between physical bodies
and information bodies?

The same basic tenet as magic.

If we can access the recipient's mental body
through their ethereal body and merge with it,

our propagation succeeds.

Unfortunately, however,
we have had no successes.

Why not?

Unknown.

I wanted to know this, as well.

For some reason,
the idea alone remains within me.

Before you inhabited that body,

you all appeared to move as an organized group
with a common objective in mind.

Does one of you correspond
to a leadership position?

There exists no command structure among us.

Strictly speaking, each one of us
is not a perfectly autonomous individual.

We are both individuals and the whole.

We possess the ability to think individually,
but we share our consciousness.

Is that how you communicate
with each other?

Yes.

Where are the other parasites right now?

Current locations unknown.

However, I sense their thought waves
searching for me.

We have finally awoken.

Chinese necromancy is certainly something.

Then, even if our flesh is destroyed,
we can quickly resume activities.

Now, we just need to get back
the one who is missing.

Let us take back our missing comrade.

Let us search for our missing comrade.

Pixie, change into this.

At once, sir.

Brother!

How can you watch that so calmly?

Why? Miyuki, Pixie is a robot, you know.

She may be a robot,
but she's still a girl!

Well, she may be shaped
like a person, but-

It's not right!

Please turn around, Brother!

It's okay now, Tatsuya.

Pixie, come with us.

Yes, Master.

Brother, where are we headed to?

Aoyama Cemetery.

Aoyama Cemetery...

I'm sure we're not going there
for an off-season test of courage.

Is it just that ghosts
tend to crop up in places like that?

You're quick on the uptake. I'm sure
no one will be around to interfere with us.

Well, it was something
you thought of, Brother.

Um, Tatsuya, it's late,
so won't it be closed?

We probably can't get inside.

But if we get close,
they'll come out for us.

That's why we brought Pixie along.

And if anyone stops and questions us,

you'll be here
to do something about it, right?

Please leave it to me!

I guess I'll let Leo, Erika and Mikihiko know
where we're going.

THE DESTINATION
IS AOYAMA CEMETERY.

VISITOR ARC VIII

Aoyama Cemetery...

The mission begins now.

The destination is Aoyama Cemetery.

Let's get going.

Ye
S, malan'!

What a huge failure.

Excuse me, ma'am.

Enter.

There is someone who wishes
to meet with you, Colonel.

Who is it?

Her name is Ayako Kuroba, ma'am.

She says she's an agent of the Yotsuba Family.

Yotsuba?

The Yotsubas, known and feared
as "Untouchables."

What do they want with me?

It is an honor to make
your acquaintance, Ms. Balance.

My name is Ayako Kuroba.

Colonel Virginia Balance,
USNA military JCS.

I know how busy you must be,
so thank you for agreeing to see me.

I've come here today to make a request

as an agent of Maya Yotsuba, leader of
the Yotsuba Family, one of the Ten Master Clans.

Go on.

Very well, then.

Colonel, we would like you
to cease the interference

with our country's magicians
being carried out at your command.

Our leader, Maya Yotsuba, has concerns
over your excessive interference.

She said that since our nations
are allied with each other,

she did not want to make this affair
into a trigger for any sort of conflict.

Is that a warning? Will you light
the trigger if we don't withdraw?

Colonel...

Did you sleep well last night?

That was you?

What do you mean?

Respectfully, your face doesn't look well,
so I simply offered my concern.

Colonel, please allow your nerves to settle.

If at all possible, we would like to build
a friendly relationship with you.

A friendly relationship?

You are aware of the power of the Yotsuba.

And we are well aware of yours, Colonel.

Our leader has said that if you would arrange
to withdraw from this incident,

we will not forget
our gratitude to you personally.

And that, if there is an opportunity
in the future, we would be able to assist you.

Fine.

JGDF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
DEPARTMENT SECTION THREE

JGDF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
DEPARTMENT SECTION THREE
Observation target
currently moving toward the city.

Observation target
currently moving toward the city.

His sister and two others are with him.

Running video verification with their photos
before getting on the train.

A classmate.

Odd tastes, bringing his sister along
on a date like that. Who's the other one?

She's not a human.

It seems to be a type P94
Humanoid Home Helper.

Where could he be bringing it?

Chief, the train with the target on it
has changed course.

Akasaka... No, Aoyama?

Position operatives disguised
as police officers along Aoyama Road!

If the target group uses magic,
pretend to arrest and capture them!

What's wrong, Brother?

Someone is spying on us.

It feels like counterintelligence Section Three.

Wh-What am I picking up?

Tatsuya!

I put everyone
who was watching us to sleep!

Nice work.

Let's get away from here
before their friends come running.

What a troubling young lady.

But what splendid skill,
taking down four foes at once.

Her name is Honoka Mitsui, right?

That's right...

Grandfather.

Considering her name
and her specialty type of magic...

I wonder if she's part
of the Elements bloodline of light.

Master, three parasites are approaching.

So, they did come.

Tatsuya Shiba, we want to talk.

What should I call you?

Marte.

Then, Mr. Marte, what on earth do you want?

We demons have no further intent to engage in any
hostile actions toward you, the magicians of Japan.

In exchange for promising
to end hostilities against you...

we want you to hand that robot over to us.

Would you mind talking
a little more politely?

I don't have any way to answer unless
you explain why you want us to hand it over.

I hadn't thought explanation necessary.

In fact, you should have no reason
to protect that robot.

We're the ones who decide
if we have a reason or not.

We wish to release our comrade
who is imprisoned inside that robot.

Is your comrade not allowed
to have a robot for a host?

Our mutual connections
are much stronger than you humans'.

Is the fact that we want
to get our comrade, a living creature,

out of a lifeless vessel
so difficult for you to understand?

No, I understand it.

But how?

We will destroy the machine.

Should the current host be lost,
we can move to a new one.

I see.

That's his offer, Pixie.

Do you wish to be released from there?

No, I don't, Master!

I am me!

My wish is to belong to you, Master.
That is who I am!

I do not care any more
what sort of being I originally was

nor where I received
the wish constituting my core!

I do not want to stop being me!

That's what she says, Brother.

Yeah.

Anyway, I expect
you can guess our answer already,

but before I spell it out for you,
I want to ask two or three things.

It seems you are more foolish
than we thought, Tatsuya Shiba.

We are disappointed.

Fine, then.
Say what questions you have.

Before, you said
you didn't have any intention

of engaging in hostilities
against magicians, right?

Why wasn't it against people
instead of against magicians?

If we had accepted your request,

you demons wouldn't have acted hostile
toward magicians.

Then, how would you act
toward non-magician people?

After you destroy Pixie's body...

what would you have her inhabit next?

Answer me.

You possess only superficial cunning
that requires no real wit.

We're telling you we won't be your enemies
anymore. Why are you not satisfied with that?

We demons are not compatible with humans

in the same way that you magicians
are different from other people, right?

Really, nqw?

My host was a magician, as well.

That is why I understand
the way humans treat magicians.

To humans, magicians are tools and lab rats.

A magician's wishes are too trivial
for humans to take notice of.

Why do you do right by people
who think of nothing more than using you?

You have your own wishes
and your own hopes. Don't you?

This all sounds like by-the-book stuff.

For someone who just treated me like a fool...

you sure are stupid.

You won't harm magicians.

That's fine. It really is.

But you've already hurt
my magician friends.

Do I have any reason to believe

that you won't hurt them in the future
when you haven't given even a word of apology?

It's no different from the catchphrases
that proclaim to protect a magician's human rights.

Come to think of it,
I never gave you my answer.

Well, it's "no."

You impudent little...

So easy to understand. I'll make this
easy for you to understand, too.

Put down your weapons
and surrender peacefully.

If you do, we won't have to hurt you.

I promise you'll be happy lab rats.

You... human dog!

The signs of magic activation...

But...

What?

If I destroy his physical body,

the parasite will scatter
in search of a different host.

If Miyuki froze him with magic...

he'd self-destruct and escape.

The parasites don't possess
physical organs but a person's mind.

Therefore, there's no real reason
to strike one part of the body over another.

So, it's best to strike at the place
most deeply connected to the rest of the body.

Brother!

Honoka!

I'm all right!

After all...

I want to...

I want to be able to help Tatsuya, too!

That's...

VISITOR ARC IX