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"Beginning testing of the new Anti-Shadow Suppression Unit, Codename: BUCKLER. Commencing operation."
"I trust you all with this. Your lives. I love you." A smile, a real one, this time, as feathers fall from her body all around them. Each one, a precious memory.
The machines whirred to life, misuse and age causing them to groan in protest to being used once more, but, doing their tasks dutifully. The Plume of Dusk was carefully inserted into the body's core operations unit as Mitsuru eyed it carefully.
"Haha! It's so cute that you do that! I've never seen anyone eat a burger like that! Let me try!" She was shoved aside and Shiomi made pleased noises, as if eating with utensils made it taste better, somehow.
Sweat began to form on Mitsuru's brow as the processing unit's doors closed shut and electricity began to feed into the body before her. With any luck...no need to worry about possibilities. This *would* work.
"WAAAAA!!! YOU WEREN'T KIDDING ABOUT THE WIND FEELING SO GOOD! COME ON, CRANK THAT THROTTLE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Their hair whipped from where it poked out from their helmets as they both sped down the freeway, laughing into the night.
The room filled with mechanical noise as she quickly monitored every reading she could. It was more difficult to do something like this on her own, but, if there was a chance, she would take it. There could be no doubt, no hesitation, no wasted time. She would not squander her chance.
After many hours, the machines finally ceased they electrical whirs, filling the room with silence again, tinged with the sound of runoff electricity filling the air.
"Senpai, you don't have to face this despair alone." They sat in the hall on the beach's shore, leaning into one another like they were all that was left of the world. "I'll shoulder it with you. Besides, partager la peine, c’est la diminuer, non?"
The air in the chamber where the body was kept tasted like iron and frizzed her hair, sticking her clothes to her body with static. Admittedly, she felt a bit like Victor Frankenstein, trying to create life as just a university student, but, the ethics could be decided later. Hopefully, by her.
"I know that I seem like nothing gets to me but...," our leader, crumbled on the floor of her room, hair unkempt, face stained with tears, "sometimes, I wish my brother had survived that car crash, instead of me..."
Mitsuru inches closer to the body on the table. She could scarcely breathe. It felt like if she did, something would break and it would have all been for nothing. A waste of time. She refused.
A slight, sudden movement. Just a bit. The slightest jolt of an arm. It was enough for her. She moved closer now, the closer she did, the more the body in front of her responded.
A rooftop sunset spent holding hands and talking about the future. "Oh, trust me, I'm not going anywhere without you, Senpai."
"Shiomi?"
More movement, now; an arm thrown over the face.
"Mmm...five more minutes, Senpai..."
Slurred speech, but, recognition. An all too familiar response, like a tender wake-up call after a long night's sleep before an exam. Perhaps that *was* what this was.
"Shiomi, if that's you, please, look at me."
The body before her shifted, rolled to one side facing her, looking up at her with those same red eyes. The model's eyes were not red before.
"...what's up, Mitsuru? You look scared."
"Let's just run, Mitsuru!" Cold breath hanging in the air, rage and desperation pouring from her short frame. "We can run anywhere, do anything, be anyone and never look back! We can always be together and make our own fate!"
Mitsuru finally released a breath she'd been holding so long she could feel her lungs burn. Breathing back in, she did her best to smile, though she could tell she was trembling. She took the other girl's hand, it wasn't as soft as she remembered, but, even if it was her imagination, it was just as warm.
"Good morning, Kotone. Welcome back."