章 21: Coming Home

2 years later. Hearing the daughter of the hero and her friends gaining powers. The people started to become hostile towards the Prohorovkans. Most of the people said that the Prohorovkans have stayed long enough and they didn't want them to be living in their region. Of course, Despite their rising hostility, They still thought of the Prohorovkan's technologies. Some still fear them and some relies on the powers the trio gained to defeat them. Was their power alone is really enough to defeat the whole army of the PTRD?

The question lingers in Mariko's mind as they are heading back to the Saiju from the North with their R37. "That's bullshit..." Mariko tried to whisper to herself but spoke out loud. "Huh? What is it?" Chiho asked as they look at her. "Just because YOU and AYUMI were able to get the crazy powers, they started to be all arrogant and shit towards the Proho cunts" Mariko answered. "You really think we can defeat all of them with your powers? We don't even know if they have stronger powers hiding with them" Mariko complained. "If those Proho cunts knew about the people's thoughts about them, they might get angry or something..." She continued. "But didn't we get these powers to defeat them?" Ayumi asked. "Y-Yeah, but... Two against an army? I don't think that will work... especially, as I said, we don't know if they're hiding more powers with them" Mariko answered. "...You think too much, don't you? Mariko-san" Shu Fang smiled at Mariko, They were sitting on the back seat. "Well, this shit's serious. You don't just sit and watch. Plus they are relying on us! We will be the first one to face them!" Mariko shouted. "Yes, yes..." Shu Fang noticed her voice rising and just agreed on her.

Upon entering the borders of the Saiju, Chiho changed their direction. They quickly noticed it. "Huh? Chiho? Where are you..." Mariko asked but then realized. "Oh... The place, huh..." She smiled remembering the spot they used to first do their training. Once they reached the spot, they stopped near the tree stump. "It's been so long since our last training... Heh, It's not even training. We didn't last long" Mariko sat on the stump as soon as they disembarked. "They haven't even removed this thing and let a tree grow" Mariko slaps the stump. "I heard that it has a chance of growing back to a tree" Ayumi said. "Oh? Well, it's been so long. It didn't make any difference" Mariko looked at the stump. "Trees doesn't grow fast, you know" Chiho carried her long axe with her. Seeing her, Ayumi giggled and ran back to the R37 to take hers. "Are you plotting a duel? It's so obvious!" Ayumi lightly spun the sickle. Chiho giggled. "Yes. But visiting this place again was another one of my reason" She walked away from Ayumi. "It's so good to be able to spar with someone now!" Ayumi showed how excited she is. "Haa... I'm jealous, I wished I was able to drink one too" Mariko placed her elbow to her thigh and rests her chin on her palm. "If they touched Saiju, Everyone will join the fight. Maybe we can invade their place and let you drink their j...juices" Shu Fang blushed on her own words and Mariko's curious why. "Then, Let's start!" They heard Ayumi shout and they concentrated on their fight.

"Ha..!" Ayumi didn't spend time spinning the sickle and instantly throws the sickle as soon as it can be thrown. Chiho moves to her side to avoid the sickle. Though, upon moving to her side, Ayumi quickly jumped towards her with insane speed. "Ah...!" Chiho got surprised and quickly placed her axe in front of her. The sickle grinds together with the blade of the axe and Ayumi rolled to the ground and recovered quickly. She remained crouching. "What the hell..." Mariko was amazed at her speed. "S-She quickly reached Chiho that far...?" She continued. "It's amazing, right?" Shu Fang smiled at Mariko. Back on the two, Ayumi smiled mischievously at Chiho. "Eh...?" Chiho got curious. "Eii..!" A chain leading to Chiho's foot became visible. Ayumi quickly pulled her chains and Chiho got pulled by her foot, falling to the ground. "Haa....!" Ayumi jumped high with her sickle pink bright. "Oh no!" Chiho quickly rolled away and removed the chains around her foot. Ayumi landed, stabbing the ground. "Not bad, Onee-chan!" Ayumi relaxed. "T-That was good! I didn't even notice you had your chains around me..." Chiho said as she stands up. "I know right?! My chains can become invisible!" Ayumi grinned. "Then, my turn!" Chiho said as she stands up. "Try to survive until I'm finished..." Chiho prepares to attack. "...!" Chiho ran at high speed. "So fast!" Mariko shouted. With enough distance, Chiho jumped and spun in the air. "Ha...!" Chiho swings her axe down upon facing back Ayumi. "...!" Ayumi readies to block her until Chiho's appearance became an illusion and a real one appeared below, aiming at her legs. "Ah...!" Ayumi desperately jumped and narrowly avoided her attack. Then Chiho moved away. "Was it really that predictable? Were you able to respond to that easily?" Chiho asked. "No, I panicked and jumped... If you were aiming higher, you would have hit me" Ayumi answered. "I see..."

"You two are done? Let's go home" Mariko shouted at them. "Not yet!" Ayumi turned to look at her and shouted. "Oh, come on!" Mariko whined. Ayumi grinned at Chiho. "We're just getting started!" With that, She readies herself. "This time, Like a real duel!" She shouted. Chiho got surprised. "Oh... If that's what you want" Chiho readies herself. Ayumi waited for a second. "...Here I come!" She charged at a high speed and stopped mid-way. "...!" Ayumi throws the sickle pointed at Chiho's head. But Chiho evaded. "Ha...!" Ayumi quickly throws the spiked ball, but Chiho evaded it again. "Heh..." Upon Chiho's evasion, Ayumi started to spin and slowly moving forward. The sickle and the spiked ball dangerously whirls in front of Chiho. "Damn..." Chiho was backing slowly, waiting for a chance. The chains were long and Ayumi was far for Chiho to reach. Chiho was about to do something until Ayumi jumped on her last spin throws the sickle at Chiho. "Rah!" Chiho casts a spell to harden her sword, The blade of her axe turns yellow and swayed off the sickle. Then Ayumi quickly returned her sickle and throws the spiked ball instead, But Chiho did the same and sways off the ball. Ayumi landed and recovered her chained sickle. "Hehe..." Ayumi giggled and spun the whole chain up with both of her hands. "...!" Ayumi throws the sickle, Chiho repeats and blocked the sickle. Ayumi quickly recovered the sickle because of the continuous spin. Then She used her other hand to throw the spiked ball. This time, Chiho moved to the side to evade. "That can't be the only thing you know..." Chiho said. "I'm just feeling you" Ayumi answered. "Ha...!" She shouted and throws her sickle, it became invisible with the chains mid-flight. "Ah...!" Chiho remembered where it disappeared and blocks her axe. Something hits her axe, shaking her. Then She saw Ayumi pulling something, then a chain with the sickle became visible again. "It's too dangerous to pull that trick out when we are having a friendly duel. Though, I don't have any more to show you" Ayumi said as she relaxes.

"Then I'm going to show you one more before we head back" Chiho said as she holds the long axe with her right hand. She swings her axe to her left. "May the lightning shot and infuse my weapon to bring judgement on my enemy..." She speaks as she slowly moves back her arm to her side. The blade of the axe starts to leave a sparking mark behind as it moves. "H-Hey!" Mariko stood up as she watches Chiho cast. "W-Waah...!" Ayumi panicked. "W-Wait!" She shouted. "Hrm...!" Chiho suddenly swings the axe and the marks disappeared with the last spark then a loud thunder roars and the lightning hits the certain spot where Chiho was standing along with the clouds darkening. The lightning bolt left a bright crack on Chiho's ground. Her axe was sparkling with electricity and so herself. "Hey! You idiot! There's no way Ayumi can avoid that fucking attack!" Mariko shouted the best she can. "Eh?" Chiho looked at Mariko, losing her focus. The electricity running through her body disappeared with a spark and the clouds returned to normal. "Hurry! It's gonna rain!" A carriage went pass by them and they heard a man shouts. "You crazy or what? You know how ruthless that one is! You can't just go showing off that to your allies! Unless it's a real enemy you're facing!" Mariko shouted. "Right, right..." Chiho shrugged then she disappeared. "Ah...!" Ayumi got surprised. Black with blue outlines leaves replaced her position and they slowly fall to the ground. "Why is it not allowed though?" Ayumi heard Chiho's voice and looked at Mariko and Shu Fang's direction.

All of them was surprised at Chiho. Then Chiho smiled wryly. "H-Hey! Get that fucking smile off your face! You never told us about this!" Mariko became a little angry. "You were just too dumb to realize..." Chiho shrugged. "Yeah! We didn't believe it was power! There are many times where we will see you going into one place then you will just pop out from somewhere else!" Mariko shouted, wanting to hit Chiho's head. "Well? What is the name for that power?" Shu Fang asked. "A-Actually... I don't know... I just happened to run into a Prohorovkan and forced him to spit out some more power" Chiho answered. "And you drank his spit for the power?" Mariko asked with a silly look. "Go home you goddamn Northern. You're wasting our precious air with your useless questions..." Chiho got annoyed a little bit. "And you're also wasting them calling me a Northern when there's actually a proper way to call me like 'Northerner'!" Mariko fights back. "That's a Western term you goddamn Northern. We like our own" Chiho answers back as Ayumi walks near them. "Also when did you start whining about that? I don't remember... You became like that when we visited that school back from the Dives village" Chiho asked. "You idiot, that was a term for Northern people" Mariko tried to confuse them but didn't succeed. "Screw you, Let's just go" Chiho teleports again, replacing herself with the magical leaves. "Hey! The fuck you went?!" Mariko shouted. "Hurry up!" Chiho shouted and her voice came from their parked R37 and they hurried there.

After a few minutes, They reached the Saijun gate. "Chiho-san, everyone. It's been a while" A guard said and both of them salutes. "Yes, It's been a while" Chiho nodded. "How's the North?" The same guard asked as the gate slowly opens. "Even if they have accepted Southern visitors, They are still rough with us" Chiho answered. "Well, at least they are not hostile anymore" The guard said. "Yeah, that's right" Chiho smiled. "The North will be a huge help when we get to war with those Prohorovkans. It's not far now" The guard said before stepping back to let them proceed. After that, they immediately went for the Inn. Mariko said something about the Saiju on the way there. "This village still hasn't changed yet, after the years we were gone" and Ayumi responded with a "We've been only gone for two years!". Once they reached the place, Chiho parked their R37 to the usual spot and disembarked. "This Inn hasn't changed too!" Mariko looked at the walls of the Inn. "Well, Let's go" Chiho leads the group. As they opened the door, the familiar noises of conversations greet them. And of course, Suzuka's greetings. "Welco..." She didn't get to continue her words as she gets surprised to see the familiar faces. "We-Welcome back!" Suzuka hurriedly went out of her counter and ran to hug Chiho. "Hey there, Champ!" Haruki went out of the bar with her hands full of glasses of beer. She was looking at Mariko. "Hey, It's been a while" Mariko raised her right hand. "Hmm...!" Suzuka made some noise as she tightly hugs Chiho. "H-Hey, Suzuka-san.. It's...b-been..." Chiho was having difficulty speaking. "Ha..Haaa...." Chiho just stood there getting squeezed tight. While Ayumi and Shu Fang stared at each other. "Where's ours?" Ayumi cried. "D-Don't cry!" Shu Fang panicked.

After that, they had a conversation for a few minutes. While they are in the middle of their conversation, Alice went out of the kitchen with both of her hands occupied with plates of foods. Then she saw the girls. "A-Ah!" She ran towards them. "Hey there, Alice-chan" Chiho smiled at her. "Chiho-chan!" She called, then she looked at Mariko. "Mari-chan!" She called. "H-Hey..." Mariko got embarrassed by the name. Then Alice looked Ayumi. "Ayumi-chan!" She called, Then she looked at Shu Fang. "..." Her smile fades as she stares at Shu Fang. "H-Hey there..." Shu Fang lowered her hood and speaks. "D-Don't you remember me?" She asked. "Are you saying I have memory loss?" Alice asked back. "N-No..." Shu Fang lightly scratched her cheeks. "It's only been two years, and yet you asked like I'm amnesiac" Alice said with an expressionless look. "I-I told you, it's nothing like that..." Shu Fang started to get uncomfortable. "Ali-chan, Don't get all grumpy with our Chu-yuan friend..." Suzuka calmly scolded Alice. "Right, Sorry" Alice looked at Suzuka, then back to Shu Fang. "好久不见 (hǎojiǔ bujiàn)" Alice bowed. "A-Ah! You speak our language?!" Shu Fang got surprised and asked. "No. Just because I said something in your language, doesn't mean I can speak fluently" Alice answered. "R...Right..." Shu Fang nodded. Then, Alice went to a table to serve and gave the plate. "Where's father and mother?" Chiho asked. "Yagano-san is on the Center with Gentaro-sama, Katsuko-san is in her room upstairs. I think she's still sleeping" Suzuka answered. "I see, thank you. I think I want to meet with father for now" Chiho said. "Isn't it worth waking her up? It's been so long" Suzuka asked. "Hm... Okay..." Chiho thinks then agreed. After that, they went upstairs. "Didn't change too, huh" Mariko said. Chiho quickly knocked to the door when they reached her parents' room. "Huh? Honey?! Oh no, there is a-!" A faint voice came from the inside and sounded like panicking. The door quickly opens and Katsuko showed up. "Hon-! Ah!" She thought it was Yagano who was knocking and got surprised. "Chiho?!" Then she quickly became happy and embraces Chiho. "We're home" Chiho said as she wraps her arms to her mother. "B-By the way!" Katsuko moved her head back to look at Chiho. "There's a cockroach in our room!" Katsuko said.

"Oh, That's why..." Chiho swept the room. "Where?" She asked. "Under our bed, that's where I last saw it" Katsuko pointed under their bed. After a few moments, they were able to find the cockroach and Mariko used her axe to kill it and flicks it away outside from the window. "By the way, It's nice to see you in one piece. I thought you'll get in trouble in the North" Katsuko calmed down and talked to them. "Yes! The people there are scary, but at least they don't hate us anymore" Chiho answered. "The North's approval of foreign visitors surprised the world, It's the first time they ever welcomed outsiders" Katsuko said. "I know right? It was so sudden" Mariko said. "But we heard from Leader-san that it's because of those Proho fuckers saying something about them, right? They were as surprised as we are when they get to see their terrifying technologies" She continued. "So you're trying to say that they were frightened and decided to be open so when those Prohorovka messed with them, Everyone would be siding up with them?" Chiho asked. "Yeah, Your typical change side when things got fucked up" Mariko answered. "You will do everything to get more allies with you, that's what" She continued. "And I'm sure as hell Leader-san and the people as well are willing to help the North against them" She continued further. "Together! We will fight and drive them out of our world!" Ayumi raised her right fist. "They have completely driven everyone out of the village and took it as their own! I, myself, can't take it anymore! I want to go home!" She said as she clenched her fists harder while lowering it. "That's everyone was saying right now on the Center" Katsuko said. "Hmph... That's to be expected" Mariko crossed her arms. "Ever since they knew and proven that you had powers, they started to get angry and wants the war" Katsuko looked worried. "Just because we have powers..." Mariko sounded and looked annoyed.

"Do they think we can win against them with just the four of us?" Mariko furiously asked. "A War means it's a large conflict. They are going to risk their lives fighting too, with you four supporting them" Katsuko answered. "Hmph... That doesn't mean we can win, Where do they think we got the powers from?" Mariko continued to complain. "We got attacked and driven out of our village! We can't have it back without fighting them!" Ayumi suddenly shouted and everyone got surprised. "Now that we have powers, We can fight them now! What are you still complaining about?!" She continued. "Yeah... Why do you think Chiho-san and Ayumi-san got and mastered those powers for? Isn't it for taking back everything that was stolen from them?" Shu Fang asked. All of them were against Mariko. "Geez, Fine... I'm just pissed that they became arrogant just because CHIHO and AYUMI got the powers that can annihilate even their technologies" Mariko sighed. "That's something you don't have to be mad about. We were finally able to get powers to fight them, it's normal that people will be like that" Shu Fang answered. "Ah... Whatever" Mariko brushed off the topic. "By the way, How's father?" Chiho asked. "There are peoples gathered in the Center, asking Gentaro to declare war on them. Your father joined the soldiers to hold them back while Gentaro tries to calm down the crowd" Katsuko answered. "A riot?!" Mariko got surprised, so is everyone else. "I think it's a protest, no one's being violent" Katsuko said. "Damn, we have to go there!" Chiho ran to the door. "Wait! I don't think you should...!" Katsuko shouted and Chiho stopped by the door to turn and look at her. "..." Chiho didn't bother talking back and ran. "Go with her! Keep her safe!" Katsuko looked at the girls. "You got it!" Mariko answered and they ran outside.

As they got outside the Inn, there were some magical leaves on a certain spot. Mariko walked to take a leaf. She realized its silhouette was glowing blue instead of natural color. "Damn, Did she use that power again?!" Mariko throws the leaf away. "Then let's use the R37!" Ayumi ran to the R37. "Right!" They boarded the R37 and accelerates to the Center. On the way there, They realized Suzuka didn't mention about the gathering crowds. Upon reaching the back of the crowd, They stopped and disembarked. "Hey!" A voice lowly called for them. "Huh?!" Mariko looked behind them as well as Ayumi and Shu Fang. "Chi-Chiho?! Why are you-" "Shh!" Mariko's voice was loud and Chiho had to scold her. She was hiding to an alley just before the crowd, they went to her. "Geez, why did you run away like that? You had us all worried!" Mariko angrily asked. "I wanted to know what's going on, Listen..." Chiho pointed to the crowd and they tried to listen. "I know how you all feel! But we can't just throw a war to them with the other villages unprepared! We also have to know about the four girls' situation!" Gentaro shouted to the crowd. Then the people started to angrily respond. "Nonsense! Everyone's ready!" "Even the Kosun got their asses clenched waiting for you to take action!" "It's been so long! Everyone was prepared ever since they got Tsuchiya!" "You're just letting them grow! Gentaro-sama!" "We have to act now!" ... Their mixed responses clearly show how they wanted to fight so badly. "Then once we get to talk to the four girls, asked the countries' leaders for confirmation, We'll act quickly!" Gentaro shouted and the crowd happily shouted. "S-So loud..." Ayumi whined and covered her ears. "Look, Chiho-san. We can't go there now or the situation might grow out of control, Let's go for now" Shu Fang said. Chiho sighed on her. "Fine..." She gave up. "Let's just meet your father back in the Inn" Shu Fang walked to the R37. "I-I will just teleport or something" Chiho disappeared as she said that, magical leaves replaced her. "Teleportation, huh..." Mariko said and they got into their R37 to drive back to the Inn.

When they reached the Inn, they parked the R37 to the usual spot and went in. Then they saw everyone looking at girls' direction. Alice was using a mop and Suzuka was carefully picking up the broken shards on the floor. While Chiho stands there, looking guilty "Huh? What's going on?" Mariko asked as they approached them. "Oh, You're back" Suzuka looked up to them. "It seems Chiho-san used a teleportation power and happened to appear beside Ali-chan" She explained. "Oh? Then Alice got surprised?" Mariko guessed. "Yeah, She suddenly appeared out of nowhere" Alice looked at her and nodded. "S-Sorry, I'm still practicing the power" Chiho apologized. "Right..." Alice nodded and they became silent again. After that, they waited there until evening. Seven in the night. Yagano arrived and showed up from the door. He saw everyone on the bar. "I'm back... whew..." He looked so restless and painfully made his way to a seat in the bar. "Welcome back, Honey... How did it go?" Katsuko asked. "People are willing to sacrifice their lives. they don't care anymore, they just wanted to go all out instead of just staying here" Yagano answered through his fatigue. "They don't care about the technologies anymore, They are willing to fight with what we have. Especially when we have Chiho and her friends to obtain such a pow..." As he speaks, his eyes scanned the group and noticed Chiho. "Power?!" He got surprised. "H-Hey, Chiho! You're back, aha..haha.." Yagano lets his head fall to the desk, his cheek loudly slams against the wooden table. "I'm happy" Yagano lazily smiled. "You're happy?" Shu Fang asked. "Yes. Very happy" Yagano kept his smile as he responded. "Damn, you're acting weird" Mariko looked at him with a weirded-out look. "You also looked weird, but I'm not weird... I'm absolutely happy" Yagano's remained the same. "Ugh..." Mariko became uncomfortable. "Ahem... No worries, I'm just trying to break out of the situation" Yagano fixed himself.

"You want some stress reliever? I have bought here a shot" Alice went out of the kitchen with a syringe raised for them to see. Everyone was frightened. "God, No. Alice-chan" Yagano rejected her. "Is that so? You want something to eat, or drink?" Alice asked. "Just a snack or something, I don't know... Maybe that Yakitori?" Yagano pointed to a hand-drawn picture above the bar. There are pieces of brown thing that seems to be meat in a stick. "You consider that a snack? Yakitori, coming up" Alice asked but gave no chance to answer. "It doesn't make me full..." Yagano answered anyway. "Look, Chiho" Yagano looked at Chiho, he suddenly sounds serious. "The people wanted war, Everyone suddenly became aggressive ever since they knew you were training for those powers" His words worried the girls. "War can break out anytime, Chiho. And when that time comes, You're gonna fight them, we can't back out" He warned Chiho. "We have no full control of the people, some may get out of the village and provoke them right away. We can't prevent them from going out of the village too because that's absurd" He continued. "Can Leader-san just make a rule to never step to the enemy territories?" Mariko asked. "Gentaro doubts that they will follow that, considering that they wanted war so bad. It's a waste of time" Yagano gave her a reason. "Not going to forget to tell you that the people REALLY wanted a war. like, not just soldiers are going on the battlefield, but all of them exactly" Yagano gave a clarification. "Whoa... That's crazy..." Mariko thought of the idea. "Of course, Gentaro was worried about this but totally not going to allow them will be a bad idea, so Gentaro said he'll think of something" Yagano said. "How about allowing civilians. but like, limited or something" Mariko suggested. "And what's the limitation going to be?" Yagano and everyone got curious. "Um... Something like age or something. Their skills and such... If they are too young or don't know how to defend themselves even against sword fights, they are not qualified to go" Mariko answered. "Hm... Most of the civilians are untrained, so most of them are going to be denied if that's going to be the case" Yagano thinks of her idea. "Then how else are we going to make sure they can handle a fight? You said Leader-san was worried about them right? We can't just let them go there if so..." Mariko answered. "They have no choice. Leader-san worries about them" She continued.

"Hm... I will try to tell Gentaro about that, but I don't think the people will go with that rule" Yagano finally agreed but still had his doubt. "But when defending this village, they can go all out" Mariko added. "Hm..." Yagano nodded. After his response, They became quiet. "Hey, Haruki-san! Kurokawa will be paying for my drinks!" A man shouted. "He said you should pay your own!" Haruki shouted back but the man ignored her and went out of the Inn. He was the last customer. "These groups of friends! They keep throwing the payment to their friends!" Haruki was a little bit mad. "Then when that friend comes, he'll be surprised and take back the payment to his friend" She continued. The group had nothing to say but to show their sympathy. After a few minutes, Alice showed up with a plate with six sticks with chickens skewered in it. "Here's your Yagano, Yakitori-san" Alice placed the plate in front of Yagano, they all looked at her. "I'm sorry, I'm tired" Alice bowed and apologized. "U-Uh... This looks good compared to the drawing" Yagano said as he took a stick. Alice looked at the drawings. "Yeah, It looks very awful. This can be considered false advertising, a crime. It's very misleading. Every people will say it's a pork or beef when they see that awful drawing. But it's actually chicken. If a person hates chicken, that could lead us to trouble... If not that, then blackmailing" Alice said too much and Suzuka was dying in embarrassment in her own counter. "Well, Suzu dra-" "Huh?!" Haruki was about to say something but Suzuka shouted at her. Her face was blushing hard. "S-Someone had drawn it for us! Yes! Someone did it for us!" Suzuka lied. Alice turned to look at her. "But even then, The false image is still the-" "B-Be quiet, Ali-chan! You're betraying your own comrades here!" Suzuka interrupted Alice and buried her face on her desk while shouting. "...I'm just worried" "No! You're not!" Alice tried to calm her down but Suzuka still shouted. Alice just sighed. "Then... The drawing is actually good, basic enough. not to worry about since we are not that high class. Too bad it's not Suzu-chan's drawing..." Alice turned the topic, still looking at Suzuka's way to see how is she going to react. "Uuuuuuh....." Suzuka slowly raised her head, glaring at Alice. "Oh my god..." Alice spoke with her language. "Ah ma gahd! A horrible artist!" Haruki imitated Alice and pointed at Suzuka. She crouched to avoid the incoming book.

After that, they shared with the Yakitori and went to their room to call it a day. But in the girls' room, they had a little conversation. "...I actually don't know if I'm going to be excited about this war" Mariko said, lying down. "Ready to take back what's ours?" Ayumi smiled at her. "You stupid kid!" Mariko reached for her cheeks and pinched them. "Aaahh...!" Ayumi shouted. "Why are you... excited?" Chiho asked. "W-Well... You know me, Chiho. Actually, I wished for war so I can satisfy myself without being guilty and all. But this war that is about to happen is just... Unusual? I don't know... We are facing an enemy with more advanced technologies, Our swords and axes are useless against them... It's not fun... But at the same time, It's war, I can at least kill a person or more" Mariko gave an answer. "Hmph! So that's what your objective! To kill, not to take back what's ours!" Ayumi pouted. "Isn't it the same? You're going to have to steal lives to take back what's yours?" Mariko asked. "We're talking about your intentions, your reasons. not the action" Ayumi answered. "Well, It doesn't really matter if those two things are going to end up on a single result" Mariko smiled and closed her eyes. "Hmph..." Ayumi turns her back to Mariko. Then they had their sleep.