Something was bound to happen when only we were present.
"Wow!" An put one hand over her mouth and gasped. " Are you guys for real? Telling someone else to murder An and then orders Mara something else! Who does Kurokawa think she is? You people don't even think about An! Unlike C!"
"Firstly, it's Laura. Not Mara." I waved my index finger from left to right, knife readied in the other hand. "And yes, you don't belong here."
"You know An doesn't care about all of that." The little girl took a glance toward C. After a few seconds, she slowly pulled out two knives from her waist. "Where An belongs isn't a matter that a bitch like you can talk about."
Holding my weapon up to examine it before a battle, the aquamarine reflection looked back at me. That was the image of Rachel, someone he cared for, even when he did not remember all the time he spent with her. He would be sad if she did not return. If there were no more Rachel, who would protect him?
He was already hurt hearing Kurokawa's request for me.
"Before I begin butchering you to pieces, An, why don't we talk a little bit?" Hands lowering, I offered my opponent a moment of truce.
"An doesn't like talking to you, but sure. An has time to waste. Killing you will be worth it eventually."
"Heh. How long have you been following us?" Seeing her lowering her guard, I questioned. For An, who had always been fast on her feet, the distance between us was also kept at a manageable length. I did not want any surprise attacks, even with a truce in place.
"Since two days ago."
So it was the first day? She appeared in the world that early? How was something like that possible?
"And why..."
But An cut me off mid-sentence: "Hey! Rude Rachel! It's my turn to ask!"
"Ah... That makes sense. Go ahead."
"Hold on! I'll have to get my notes!"
Of course you did.
"Oh! Here it is!" The ginger took out a small, crumpled piece of paper from her left pocket. Apparently, she did not realize the expression on my face. After spreading it wide, she started reading. Word for word. "Why. Is. Laura. Alive. Why is Laura alive?"
Huh? Why was the class rep your first question? It was hard not to smile in this situation.
"Should she be dead?"
"Of course she should! Why wouldn't she be dead? She was dead even before I met C!"
"Well, I didn't kill her when she was facing the bully, if that's what you're talking about."
"Oh! Right, right! Let me write that down."
A knife went unsheathed. A pen appeared.
"It's okay. An can multitask."
"Do you..." The scene of our reality's destruction popped into my mind. I remembered the sakura tree, the sea of floating pink petals, the dust devils, and the thunderstorms. "Remember his last moment with you?"
"An does! It was a day like today, but much worse. C and An were sitting under the sakura tree, and An was putting her head on his thighs! It was beautiful."
So she was from the past, and she didn't need his kiss to fully recover?
The kiss was supposed to be the key. So why was An whole without it? This put a frown on my face.
The grip on my knife tightened. I did not like this eerie feeling in my heart one bit. If An remembered everything, why did she wait? She was the stalker type, but there was no sign of her anywhere, as if she wanted to observe from afar.
"An's turn. Can. You. Hear. It. Can you hear it? Yes! His inner voice!"
She heard his voice, too. The only thing that had not changed, no matter the heroines. Then she should know he hesitated between us. She knew how painful it could be for him.
"We can. Hey, An."
"Yeah?" The girl was still writing on her crumpled paper like a good student preparing for the next test. An's face was like a puppy's.
"If I kill you here, will your memories return in your next life?"
An's body disappeared immediately. I lowered mine.
There was no sound, no sign. It was as though the girl called An never existed in the first place.
"DIE! RACHEL!"
Sharp metal, pointing straight into my chest.
But I caught the two hands holding it just in time.
"Now, now. Why are you so hasty?" I strengthened the grip on my hand. This once broke the bully's neck, yet my opponent did not even flinch.
"An hates you! An hates you! AN HATES YOU!" The girl continued to scream. Her face contorted into nothing but rage.
With a swift twirl, I aimed the edge of my knife toward her liver and plunged, half expecting to see blood and entrails gushing. Yet, An's dexterity was nothing short of a miracle. Right before the blade could enter, she had already jumped, using my arm as a lever. Both of her legs drove into my lower stomach with a loud thud, pushing air out of my lungs in a single, humiliating gasp.
Taking one step backward after An's counter, a dull pain spread all over my lower stomach. The girl ahead was enraged as she took out her second knife, unharmed. It had been a long time since the last time I could feel adrenaline pouring into my bloodstream like right now. My eardrums were banging in excitement.
It was amazing.
"Good kick, Lil An."
"SHUT UP!" Her body disappeared for the second time.
"You know, I have always hated you." I leaned my head to the right. An's first blade cut a lock of my hair. There was another one coming straight into my chest, but a left-handed punch arrived in time to divert the angle.
"That makes two of us!" Using the momentum I created, An instantly changed into a reverse hand grip on both arms, intending to go for a cross slash across my face.
Sparks of metal fired from the blade in my hand. I could not let An destroy this face. How could I be beside Darling if that were to happen? In retaliation, a punch landed directly in her chest, pushing the ginger back. An had to do a few flips to negate a part of my strength. And when she stood straight up, there was... surprisingly, no blood.
"You're wearing body armor underneath," I said. "You never did in my time."
An puffed her chest up triumphantly: "Only you think of An as dumb. An is not dumb. An learns and improves herself!"
"Padded chest. Suits you, honestly." I looked at her and scoffed.
Only limbs and head attacks. No torso unless it was with my knife.
"I WILL FEED YOUR CORPSE TO THE DOGS!" An lunged at me, her tiny body was still hard to keep track of. By the time that ginger was visible, there was hardly any space left between us. Without waiting, I stepped on the ground and pushed myself backward. Her two frontal slashes only grazed a bit of my skin. That was quite close.
Trying not to waste any moment, I took the initiative, turned my heels, and kicked, but not with full strength. Even An wore a surprised expression at this move, as her body did not get pushed backward like my punch. It was a golden opportunity because I was aiming for a hammer blow to her front leg.
Hip twisting, thigh muscles contracting, my leg became a pistol, slamming down on An's, and a snap crack echoed across the streets.
"Guh!" The orange-haired girl groaned painfully. With one leg out of the way, she would not be able to perform any quick lunges like before.
Still, that was not enough to take her out of the game. An, while enduring the pain of her fractured bones, did a black flip with her other leg, and kept a great distance. It was more than what I anticipated before fighting her.
"Running away? You should. Without your speed, you're going to die."
"RACHEL, YOU DIRTY WHORE! YOU TRICKED ME!" An screamed.
"It's called tactics, An. You should learn that too." Hearing the deafening yelling, I could only laugh. An was such a simpleton if she thought I was just punch-and-kick only. "It's not just you who survived to the end, Little one."
"I'LL HANG YOUR NECK WITH YOUR INTESTINES!" An ran towards me. This time, her tiny body was within the field of view, though blurry. Hard to believe she could still move that fast with an injury to her leg.
One knife came straight at my face in a flash, which I had to block with my own weapon. It flew past my face, making a tiny cut. With the other hand, An almost stabbed me in my heart, but I was able to grab her wrist.
"Caught you." I looked down on her, only to meet a smile.
The ginger had the widest grin. Her knife, aiming for my heart, was still there, but there was something akin to a black, rectangular box in the other one. A taser, something only one person had.
I did not disarm that hand. She simply threw the knife when she moved forward.
"ELECTRIFY!"
As I flung An into a wall, the electrodes touched me.
"My, oh my." And then, I heard a soothing voice. It was so seductive, yet so caring and nurturing, like an older sister. "Lady Rachel. Lady An. Please, by all means, continue your fight to the death."
It was Adora's maid.
Vivian.