Volume 1, Chapter 12: Since When Was Changing Back This Much Trouble?
The wind on the roof was strong.
Yet the sakura-pink flowing fire was barely affected.
It went on burning quietly along the white dragon horns and down both sides of the high-heeled boots, now and then shedding a few tiny flecks of light from the long silver-white hair, which the wind carried a long way before they slowly went out.
Shuichi braced a hand on the concrete railing.
He didn't release the transformation right away.
Not that he didn't want to; the pain in his chest just now hadn't fully passed yet.
Forcing his body to switch over in this state would only make things worse.
She kept her head down, and only once her breathing had steadied a little did she slowly straighten up.
The three pure-white energy rings behind her had stopped turning, and the white dragon tail lay quietly on the ground.
In the distance, the enormous Hive Domain that had covered Old Town was collapsing on every side.
Without the mother, the dark-red tissue seemed to have suddenly been drained of all its moisture, rapidly blackening, shriveling, and peeling off buildings and roads in huge sheets. Sunlight fell into the streets again, and rescue helicopters and sirens could already be heard far off.
People would be here soon.
Shuichi pulled his gaze back.
"Release."
His voice was very soft.
Nothing around him changed.
"..."
She stood there for a while.
And looked down.
The pure-white high-heeled boots were still there.
The dragon claw was still there.
The tail behind her even gave a small, very unhelpful swish.
Shuichi closed his eyes for a moment.
He wasn't surprised.
Just annoyed.
She focused again.
Slowly, bit by bit, she caught hold of sensations she hadn't actively used in years.
It hadn't always been like this.
In the beginning, changing back hadn't even required any particular thought.
The fight ended.
The power was released.
The body naturally returned to normal.
Later, it started taking a few seconds.
Later still, it took deliberate focus.
After that...
Shuichi didn't much want to keep count.
That was also one of the reasons she had finally stopped.
Only one of them, of course.
She closed her eyes again.
"Release."
This time, something finally happened.
The energy rings at her back were the first to fade.
Then the sakura fire on her dragon horns began to go out.
Shuichi's shoulders relaxed a little.
The next second.
Her chest suddenly seized.
"Ugh..."
The left hand braced on the railing clenched hard.
The sharp white dragon claws raked several cracks into the concrete.
The sakura fire, already half out, flared up again.
The energy rings solidified once more.
The change stopped.
Shuichi lowered her head and took two ragged breaths.
Long hair fell over her forehead.
"..."
The body was resisting.
The feeling wasn't unfamiliar.
It was just more pronounced than she remembered.
As if this female body were the complete structure, already fitted together without a single gap, and so-called changing back was simply forcing it apart again.
Before, it had only been hard work.
Now it was starting to not want to let her go.
"It's been a few years."
Shuichi drew a slow breath.
"You've picked up some new tricks."
No one answered her.
In the distance, two helicopters had already swept over the buildings.
She couldn't keep dragging this out.
She stood up straight, raised her right hand to press against her chest, and steadied her breathing again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Until her heartbeat gradually slowed.
Then she closed her eyes once more.
This time she didn't say anything.
The sakura fire began, bit by bit, to draw back into her body.
As if it were being forcibly dragged back.
The white dragon tail turned into tiny motes of light, starting from the tip.
The huge dragon horns slowly shortened.
The pure-white hair finally began to shed that layer of silver too.
The change was slow.
So slow it was maddening.
At the same time, pain spread from the joints of all four limbs deep into the body.
Shuichi gritted her teeth.
She didn't stop.
The pure-white high-heeled boots were the last to begin dissolving.
The two streams of sakura-pink flowing fire along the sides of the boots gathered upward along the calves, and the long lines of a woman's legs changed along with them.
The shoulders broadened.
The waistline returned.
The curve of the chest disappeared bit by bit.
The height stretched back out.
Until the very last thread of sakura firelight sank completely into the skin.
The roof went quiet again.
Messy black hair hung over the forehead.
The loose clothes returned to how they had been.
Shuichi stood where he was.
His whole body swayed forward.
This time he really couldn't hold himself up.
His knees hit the ground.
"..."
He didn't get up right away.
With one hand braced on the concrete and the other pressed to his chest, he kept his head down and breathed slowly.
Sweat dripped from his chin.
And hit the ground.
It was a good while before he sat down against the railing.
He raised his hand.
A man's hand.
Long fingers, pale, knuckles clearly defined.
No dragon scales.
No flowing fire.
Shuichi stared at it for two seconds.
And finally let out a soft breath.
"Not bad."
At least he was back.
It was just harder than last time...
When had last time been?
A few years ago?
Shuichi couldn't really remember.
He only remembered that it had been a hassle back then too.
But definitely not as much of a hassle as today.
What would happen if he did it a few more times?
The question surfaced in his head.
Shuichi simply refused to keep thinking about it.
Thinking wouldn't help.
He just wouldn't transform, that was all.
This time had been an accident anyway.
He held on to the railing and got to his feet.
His legs were still a little weak.
So he stood there for a while.
Only once he looked like he hadn't just escaped from a hospital did he slowly shuffle toward the stairwell.
Before heading down, he looked back into the distance once more.
The sky over Old Town was bright again.
It was over.
Those two probably wouldn't die.
Good.
***
After the Hive Domain completely collapsed, the first to arrive weren't ordinary rescue workers.
They were two other transformers.
A crimson figure dropped down from between the high-rises, while the other rode some kind of silver light board straight over the ruins; the two of them reached the central area at almost the same time.
But by the time they arrived, the battle was already over.
All that remained of the Cocoon Princess was a floor of grayish-white remains scorched by sakura fire.
The nearby roads were wrecked beyond recognition.
Asakawa Mio sat at the edge of some broken concrete steps.
The bleeding from the wound in her abdomen had been stopped for now, and her shoulder had been roughly treated too, but her face still looked terrible.
Yusei stood beside her.
He'd been a little distracted this whole time.
"You know her?"
Mio asked for the third time.
Yusei came back to himself.
"I really don't know."
"Then why do you keep looking over there?"
"..."
Yusei looked toward the spot where the white-haired woman had vanished.
There was nothing there now.
Not even a single fleck of sakura firelight had been left behind.
But he couldn't push down that glance she'd given when she looked back.
It was too familiar.
Not her face.
He didn't remember that face.
That memory from his childhood had gone so blurry he couldn't even recall what had actually happened, leaving only a few broken fragments.
Rain.
Pain.
Cold ground.
Fire in the distance.
Then someone looking back.
Yusei had even wondered before whether it was just a dream he'd had as a kid.
But in that instant just now.
The memory had suddenly come alive.
"When I was a kid..."
He stopped halfway.
Mio waited a moment.
"And?"
"I think she saved me."
Mio looked at him.
"You think?"
"I was really little back then."
Yusei rubbed his forehead. "And I'm not even sure it was her."
Mio didn't press any further.
She looked down at her hands.
More than Yusei, the image replaying in her mind was a different one.
That woman walking onto the battlefield.
One stroke.
Just one stroke of the sword.
The thing that she and Yusei couldn't truly overpower even giving it everything they had put up no real resistance at all in that woman's hands.
Mio didn't consider herself someone who blindly worshipped others.
She had seen stronger heroes.
She also knew she wasn't among the very top tier.
But the gap today...
Was something else entirely.
The Cocoon Princess had completely mastered her fighting style.
Yet it hadn't managed to learn even that woman's first move.
No.
It hadn't even had the chance to learn.
"Who is she..."
Mio said it quietly.
Yusei immediately turned his head.
"You don't know either?"
"Why would I know?"
"Aren't you all in the same circle?"
Mio looked up.
"You think everyone who can transform is in one group chat?"
Yusei thought about it.
"No?"
"No."
"Sounds pretty loosely run."
"..."
Mio had a wound in her abdomen right now.
Not convenient for hitting people.
Otherwise she already would have.
The two heroes who had arrived soon noticed them, and one of them walked over and took a look at Mio's injuries.
"Did you kill the mother?"
Mio was silent for a moment.
"Not entirely."
"There was someone else?"
Yusei and Mio exchanged a look.
A few seconds later.
Mio only answered.
"Someone helped us."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
The other woman was clearly surprised.
"You've never seen her?"
Mio shook her head.
Strictly speaking, that wasn't a lie.
She really hadn't seen her.
At least, not before today.
The other hero crouched by the Cocoon Princess's remains and examined them for a while, and soon frowned.
"There's an extremely high-intensity residual reading here, but it's almost completely dissipated."
She looked up.
"What about combat records?"
"The outside signal was cut off."
Yusei said.
"There weren't any devices inside either."
The hero stood up.
In the end, all they could do was let it go for now.
No one knew what had really happened.
And that "no one knew" was soon magnified countless times over by the internet outside.
***
4:26 p.m.
The Girl Hero Observatory came back online.
The site had barely returned before its servers nearly crashed again.
A huge special feature had already appeared at the very top of the front page.
【Linjiang City East District Mother Hive Disaster Incident】
【Calamity Beast "Cocoon Princess" Confirmed Dead】
【Blue Lance Survives】
【Approx. 8 min 37 sec of Footage Missing from the Core Battle Zone】
The discussion below had gone completely out of control.
【So how did it actually die?!】
【Before the stream went dark, Blue Lance was clearly getting pinned down, right?】
【Not just pinned down, she almost lost.】
【Then eight minutes of black, and when it comes back the BOSS is gone?】
【Blue Lance broke through mid-fight?】
【Strongman Bro unlocked a hidden power-up?】
【The two of them fused?】
【Poster above, you'd better explain what kind of fusion.】
【Keep it clean.】
【People at the scene are saying the two heroes who showed up later weren't in the core battle.】
【So Blue Lance really did take care of it?】
【But she was badly hurt when she came out.】
【Is it possible someone else was in there?】
That reply was quickly bumped to the top.
Someone below immediately asked.
【Proof?】
【None.】
【Then quit talking out of your ass.】
【But don't you all think an eight-minute blank is weird?】
【What's weird about a calamity beast cutting the signal.】
【I'm leaning more toward Blue Lance and that guy using some kind of hidden trick.】
【Is Strongman Bro finally getting a codename?】
【Suggest "Blue Lance Accessory."】
【Suggest you say it to his face.】
***
It was nearly five by the time Shuichi got back to the shelter.
He came in through the restroom on the other side.
And stayed in there for a few minutes.
First he washed his face.
Then wet his hair a little.
Finally he checked in the mirror that, apart from looking rather pale, there was nothing obviously wrong with him, and only then pushed the door open and went out.
The moment Tanaka Makoto saw him, he frowned.
"You were in the bathroom for forty minutes?"
Shuichi stopped.
"Stomachache."
"Did you fall in?"
"Almost."
Tanaka Makoto looked at his pale face.
The scolding he'd been about to deliver went back down his throat.
"You're really not feeling well?"
"I'm okay."
"Want to go to the hospital?"
"No."
"Every last one of you has some kind of grudge against hospitals."
Shuichi didn't make a sound.
Tanaka Makoto couldn't be bothered to keep trying.
"Go sit over there, and don't wander off."
"Okay."
Shuichi obediently went over.
The whole thing couldn't have been more natural.
Several of his co-workers nearby didn't even give him a second glance.
The disaster had only just ended; everyone was busy contacting their families, watching the news, and checking when the roads outside would reopen. No one had time to care about a co-worker who'd spent a little long in the bathroom.
Shuichi sat down against the wall.
Only then did he truly relax.
His back ached a little.
His chest felt tight.
Most noticeable of all was a fatigue like he'd just gotten over a serious illness.
But it was bearable.
He grabbed a bottle of the free water being handed out nearby.
Twisted it open.
Took two sips.
His phone buzzed just then.
Yusei.
【You still at the shelter?】
Shuichi looked at the message.
And replied.
【Where else.】
The answer came almost instantly.
【You're not hurt, right?】
【No.】
【Wait for us.】
Shuichi's finger paused.
【Us?】
【Me and Asakawa.】
Shuichi looked at the message.
For some reason, it grated on him a little.
So he replied.
【No need.】
Yusei:
【Shut up.】
Shuichi:
【?】
【Stay put.】
Shuichi stared at the screen.
"Why is this guy getting ruder and ruder."
That was what he said.
But he didn't leave either.
Mostly because the roads outside were still closed.
Not because he was waiting for them.
***
Half an hour later.
The shelter began letting people leave in batches.
Tanaka Makoto and a few employees had to stay behind to help, so Shuichi walked out to the gymnasium entrance alone first.
It was already close to evening.
Rescue vehicles filled the roads outside, smoke and dust could still be seen rising from the heart of East District in the distance, and news helicopters circled the cordoned-off area.
Shuichi stood by the roadside.
He didn't wait long.
He saw Yusei first.
Then Asakawa Mio beside him.
Both of them were back to normal.
Mio's abdomen had been bandaged again, and she wore a baggy track jacket she'd gotten from who knew where. Her face was a little pale, but she was walking fine.
Yusei was in worse shape.
His clothes were covered in dust.
His right sleeve was torn.
There was a scrape on his face.
But he himself was ridiculously energetic.
When he spotted Shuichi from a distance, he visibly relaxed.
The first thing he said when he got close was:
"Why's your face so white?"
"The AC in the shelter was cold."
Yusei looked up at the sky.
It was almost August.
"Are you serious?"
"Mm."
Mio glanced at Shuichi too.
But she wasn't in much better shape herself right now, so it didn't occur to her to think anything of it.
"As long as you're not hurt."
Shuichi looked at her abdomen.
"That's not very convincing coming from you."
Mio glanced down.
"It's not serious."
"That's what you said last time too."
"..."
Mio suddenly realized this guy remembered every line she'd ever used.
Yusei waved a hand.
"Forget that for now."
He clearly couldn't contain himself.
Shuichi already had a bit of a bad feeling.
Sure enough.
The next second.
Yusei walked right up to him.
"You guys outside really didn't see anything?"
"See what?"
"That one who showed up later—"
He stopped for a moment.
As if he suddenly didn't know how to describe it.
"The woman."
Shuichi: "..."
Mio frowned beside him.
"Can you phrase it differently?"
"Then how do I say it? The white-haired one? The one with horns?"
"That sounds even weirder."
Shuichi asked calmly.
"What white-haired one?"
Yusei looked at him.
"You really couldn't see from outside?"
"Didn't the stream cut out?"
"Right."
Yusei suddenly remembered.
Then, as if he had finally found someone to unload on, he perked right up.
"Let me tell you, someone showed up inside later."
"Oh."
"A woman."
"You said that."
"No, the point isn't that it was a woman."
Shuichi looked at him.
"Then what's the point?"
Yusei was silent for two seconds.
"She was really beautiful."
Mio turned to look at him, expressionless.
Yusei immediately added.
"And really strong."
Mio: "Which one did you say first?"
"Does that matter?"
"It matters a lot."
"..."
Shuichi stood to one side.
He suddenly regretted not leaving on his own first.
Yusei didn't notice his silence at all and kept going.
"She had these huge white dragon horns on her head, and her hair was white too, but the ends were kind of pink... or more like cherry-blossom colored? Anyway, it was really long."
Shuichi: "Oh."
"And a tail."
"Oh."
"A sword."
"Oh."
"With one stroke she took that thing—"
"Can you say literally anything else?"
Yusei finally couldn't take it anymore.
"All you've said this whole time is 'oh.'"
Shuichi thought about it.
"Impressive."
"..."
Still completely perfunctory.
But Mio didn't mind.
Because she had been thinking about that person the whole time too.
"She wasn't just strong."
Mio suddenly spoke up.
Shuichi looked over.
Mio's expression was very serious.
"I've never seen a fight like that."
"Mm."
"The Cocoon Princess had completely mastered my attack habits, but once she went in, that thing couldn't form a single effective counterattack. The gap between their understanding of power was too big."
Mio stopped for a moment after saying it.
Then added quietly.
"I want to see her again."
Shuichi: "..."
One of them wanted to find her.
And so did the other.
Double the trouble.
Yusei immediately nodded.
"Me too."
Shuichi looked at him.
"What's your reason?"
"What do you mean, reason?"
"You want to see her because she's strong?"
Yusei opened his mouth.
The excitement on his face quieted down a little.
"Partly."
"And?"
Yusei didn't answer right away.
The setting sun was falling right between the buildings.
He looked down at his hands.
After a while, he spoke.
"When she looked back at me at the end, I remembered something from a long time ago."
Something flickered faintly in Shuichi's eyes.
"What?"
"I can't remember clearly."
Yusei frowned.
"I think I met her when I was a kid."
This time Shuichi said nothing.
Of course he knew.
Far better than Yusei did.
That had been a very long time ago.
So long that he'd assumed this guy had forgotten it completely.
Yet a little of it had actually stuck.
Mio looked at Yusei.
"Didn't you say earlier you weren't sure?"
"That's why I want to find her."
"And once you find her?"
Yusei was taken aback.
"What?"
"What do you want to do once you find her?"
The question seemed to genuinely stump him.
Thank her?
Ask what happened back then?
Confirm whether it was the same person?
Or simply see her once more?
Yusei thought for a long time.
"I don't know."
Mio glanced at him.
"Then figure that out first."
Shuichi said flatly from the side.
"Maybe she doesn't want to see you."
Yusei immediately turned his head.
"Why?"
"She just saved someone. She's probably forgotten already."
"..."
That one line shut Yusei right up.
Shuichi looked at the expression on his face.
For some reason, his mood improved slightly.
He turned.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"Home."
Yusei caught up.
"You're not curious?"
"Not curious."
"Not even when she's that beautiful?"
"No."
"You're hopeless."
"Thanks."
Mio walked behind them.
Listening to the two of them bicker.
She couldn't help smiling.
The three of them walked toward the apartment along the temporarily opened pedestrian passage.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long.
Nobody noticed.
That Shuichi was walking a little slower than usual.
The female body was holding more stably now.
He hated that feeling.
So.
He couldn't transform again.
Absolutely not.
Shuichi slowly slid his hands into his pockets.
Up ahead, Yusei was still going over, or rather arguing with Mio about, what had happened inside the dome.
Shuichi listened for a long while.
And finally couldn't stand it anymore.
"You two."
"Hm?"
"Can you be quiet for five minutes?"
Yusei looked back.
"Why are you so grumpy today?"
Shuichi's face was blank.
"Because you're loud."
Yusei wanted to say something else.
But Mio suddenly nodded.
"He is a little loud."
"No, Asakawa, why are you on his side again?"
"It's a fact."
"..."
The corner of Shuichi's mouth moved slightly.
He walked half a step faster.
Still being able to walk home like this.
That was enough.