Editing BlazBlue:Calamity Trigger Part 2 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 1===

'''December 31, 2199 - 20:57'''

Night.

The sun was setting, the moon was waxing, the sky was completely repainted, and Kagutsuchi was preparing for a special night that would mark the end of another year in just a few hours.

The moon hanging in the deep-colored night sky was a full moon. Like a hole poked in the sky, the perfectly round light looked down on the ground.

Looking up at that moon, Ragna was very close to the Novus Orbis Librarium's Kagutsuchi branch. 

Beneath his white bangs, he narrowed his green and red eyes, glaring at the moon. He glared at the NOL's branch, which floated fantastically in the moonlight.

The branch stood there with a magnificent presence, befitting its role in ruling over the upper city streets. Illuminated by lights from below, it resembled three swords raised towards the heavens, with the central one towering particularly high, its tip pointing towards the moonlit night.

This was the place. That NOL branch, with its clean face looking down on the city with a composed expression. In its deepest part, hidden deep underground, was the "'cauldron" that Ragna should aim for, that he should destroy.

As it had been until now, Ragna didn't devise strategies to infiltrate the branch. He always entered from the front entrance. He went in proudly, as if it was natural, was inevitably stopped, and then began beating down its reckless soldiers.

Unlike when entering the city, only NOL personnel were in the branch at night. He could rampage to his heart's content, without any reservations.

The NOL. A hateful, unbearably hateful name. The one that stole everything from him. This time he would steal everything from them.

Ragna, who had unknowingly clenched his fist, unclenched it and started walking.

The cool night air touched his cheeks. The upper levels were quite far from the ground, so the wind that occasionally blew was strong and unceremonious.

While his hair was sometimes roughly ruffled by the wind, Ragna frowned at the growing sensation as he advanced. It was sticky, like it was clinging to the inside of his head or chest. He felt like it had been gradually getting worse since last night.

Haven't I done the same thing before?

If this was what they called déjà vu, then the déjà vu that Ragna had felt until now was truly insignificant. It was as if unknown memories were stored somewhere in his brain, and only fragments of them were being shown to him.

Of course, the act of aiming for the branch and destroying the cauldron itself was something that Ragna had repeated many times already. So perhaps it was just his tired mind making a mistake.

But even if he tried to dismiss it like that, there was still a feeling that he couldn't easily wipe away.

"Tch… annoying." Even though he was just walking, he wanted to silence his head, which immediately said, "This happened before," and so on.

He had never come to Kagutsuchi, and walking through the upper levels aiming for the branch was something he always did. What was strange about that?

Standing amidst the hazy feeling, Ragna scratched his hair in a frenzy. He hated things that were unclear like this. It irritated him. 

Suddenly, another wind blew. But that wind was different from the ones he had felt so far in the upper levels. It smelled like roses.

"Rabbit?" 

Along with the wind that blew from behind him to the front and danced around Ragna's destination, a girl in a black dress appeared. Despite her usual sudden appearance, Ragna was strangely not surprised at all. Somehow, he had a feeling that she would appear soon.

"Good evening." As always, holding her Nago umbrella and accompanied by her red rubber ball, Gii, Rachel gave Ragna a graceful smile that was uncharacteristic of a girl.

"What is it? Got some business with me?" Ragna stopped walking and spoke curtly, putting his hand behind his neck.

Somehow, Rachel's appearance seemed as if it had been planned in advance. If that was the case, then him going to the branch like this, even his coming to Kagutsuchi itself, seemed to be according to plan, and he felt inexplicably dissatisfied.

Perhaps surprised by Ragna's reaction, Rachel blinked her large, doll-like eyes several times.

"Oh, you're quite cold despite the big job ahead of you. You were more aggressive before."

When was "before"? Ragna couldn't immediately grasp it. Was it before Kagutsuchi, when he destroyed the branch? Or was it when they met near Orient Town yesterday afternoon? 

Or was it a different "before" altogether?

"It's none of your business. I've got my own problems." Ragna wondered if Rachel had seen through everything about this strange, inexplicable feeling he had been harboring. He ignored his own thoughts and spat the words towards the ground.

The black umbrella left Rachel's hand and wriggled, and Nago transformed into its original form, a large cat, and grinned.

"Being all delicate. It doesn't suit you at all." As Nago laughed, Gii, hiding behind Rachel, also chuckled mockingly.

"He's probably just hungry again. He hasn't eaten anything decent since then, has he~?"

Normally, he would get irritated by the familiars' lighthearted remarks and either yell at them or hit them. But right now, the sticky feeling of déjà vu was more concerning, and he wasn't really in the mood.

"Tch. Still as annoying as ever." Even his curses didn't have much bite.

Nago laid down on the ground in a cat-like posture, looking at Ragna with his huge eyes.

"Oh my, you're really not energetic. No fun at all~"

"It's not like that. It's just… what do you call it?" He couldn't find the right words to connect and convey what he was feeling.

Rachel often belittled him, calling him dull, but Ragna, as if scolding himself for his truly dull thought process, ruffled his hair messily.

"Ah, damn it, never mind me! More importantly, what do you want? If you don't have any business, go home already!" He didn't want to be any more irritated than this when he was about to infiltrate enemy territory.

But there was no way that Rachel would listen to such a request from Ragna. While twirling her long hair with her fingertips, her intelligent and arrogant crimson eyes made a look of exasperation.

"I thought you were unusually calm, but it seems you're just distracted. If you're like that, you'll get stabbed again by that child you're about to meet."

"That child I'm about to meet?" 

Rachel once again spoke in a meaningful way. Disliking that, Ragna frowned and asked, but immediately sensed something.

"Could it be… Jin?" 

He had heard that Jin fought in the Ikaruga Civil War as a soldier of the NOL and became a hero. The Hero of Ikaruga, and the wielder of the Nox Nyctores, Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

As if amused that Ragna had guessed correctly, Rachel, with a hint of something lingering in her large eyes, neither nodded nor shook her head, but opened her mouth.

"What I want is… I have something I want to ask you."

"...Why are you being so formal?"

"Ragna." As if silencing the howling wind, Rachel's wind scattered the scent of roses, swallowing the surrounding wind sounds. Rachel's flowing golden hair danced like ribbons, eventually falling onto her shoulders. "Why do you aim for the Cauldron?"

The question had a strange resonance. Ragna grimaced suspiciously. He had just been asked a similar question yesterday.

While directing a searching gaze towards Rachel's eyes, which were much lower than his own, Ragna repeated the same answer.

"Because I don't like it. That's why I'll destroy it... What else do you want me to answer?"

Rachel's way of asking questions seemed like a mean-spirited trick, as if she wouldn't stop asking until she got a specific answer.

Rachel put her index finger to her red lips, like rose petals, and let out a chuckle.

"That's a secret." She didn't deny that she had such an intention.

Ragna was surprised, which was rare. Usually, at this point, he'd receive a barrage of insults that would make him think he shouldn't have pried any further, and in the end, it would be glossed over without him really understanding.

Rachel waved her white fingers in the air, as if brushing something away.

"My business is finished. You can go, Ragna."

Saying that, she beckoned to Nago, turning the cat back into an umbrella and holding it. In the shadow of the umbrella that blocked the dazzling moonlight, Rachel seemed to show a fleetingly lonely expression... or so it seemed. At least, that's how it appeared to Ragna's eyes, if only for an instant.

"Rachel." Thinking such a thing, her name involuntarily spilled from his mouth.

"What is it?" Raising the angle of the umbrella just a little, Rachel responded with her usual leisurely smile.

Ragna hesitated for a few seconds, wondering what to ask. But he quickly gave up on finding the right words and asked as he thought.

"That question you just asked, have you asked me before?"

"Are you stupid? I asked you yesterday afternoon."

"I know that. I'm not talking about then... what I'm trying to say is, before that."

"Are you talking about when you were little?"

"No."

That's not it. What he wanted to say was too abstract.

Rachel, with a capricious air, waited for him on the spot while Ragna restlessly scratched his head, busily moving his hands up and down, and struggled with his lips.

"I can't put it into words well, but... I feel like something similar happened before. When I was on my way to the Kagutsuchi branch, you asked me that question... Did something like that happen?"

Ragna was aware that he was asking something strange. He was certain that this was the first time he had come to Kagutsuchi, and therefore, even stepping into the upper levels of Kagutsuchi was a first for him last night. Even so, he was asking if she had asked him the same question here before.

He wondered if she would tease him, saying he had a dream or something. Or perhaps he would get her usual insults.

But to Ragna, who was prepared to be thoroughly told off, Rachel showed an expression as if her eyes had widened in surprise. Then, with a gentle smile, as if releasing the strength from her shoulders, she softly smiled.

"Well, I wonder. If you think it happened, then it happened... and if you don't think it happened, then it didn't happen, right?" 

Although her attitude was softer than usual, the words that came back were like a riddle, typical of Rachel.

"Huh? What do you mean? Did it happen? Or didn't it?" He had asked the question himself without really understanding it, and with Rachel's answer, he understood even less. As the heat between Ragna's eyebrows deepened, Rachel chuckled as if amused by it.

"That's something you can decide, Ragna."

"I don't understand..."

At the very least, he wanted her to say yes or no. Since Rachel had never shown such kindness before, perhaps it was wrong to expect it.

Ragna let out an impatient sigh and bared his fangs. Looking at that, Rachel lightly kicked the ground. Carrying an overwhelmingly dense scent of roses, Rachel's body floated into the air.

Rachel, standing in a composed pose with her umbrella held high above Ragna, moved her gaze as if urging him to the bridge-like passage leading to the branch.

"Come on, go now. If you dawdle around here like this, you'll accidentally miss the change of day."

In this situation, even if he persisted, Rachel probably wouldn't answer his question. Sensing this from his past experiences, Ragna let out a sigh of resignation, dropped his shoulders, and started walking listlessly.

"I know that without you telling me. See ya."

"Yes, goodbye, Ragna. And... don't forget." 

"Forget what? ...Ah, no." Ragna, who had already started walking, looked up at Rachel over his shoulder, stuck his finger in his ear as if annoyed, and said,"That thing, right? 'Never think that the Azure Grimoire is your own power'..."

At Ragna's words, Rachel smiled. Like a red rose blooming from a bud.

Realizing there would be no further reply, Ragna crossed the bridge, adjusting the sword hanging at his waist so that it would be easy to draw.

If he went through the bridge-shaped passage, the front entrance of the NOL's Kagutsuchi branch would be ahead. During the day, many soldiers and residents with business at the branch come and go.

But at this hour, there was no one there. Or rather, there were too few people.

It was strange that not a single soldier could be seen. There was no sign of the barrier magic that should have been stretched out across the road for crime prevention. It was different from the branch he knew. Ragna quickened his pace, feeling a tingling unease and abnormality.




Rachel, high above in the sky, watched him with the moon behind her.

What lit up in her chest was not despair this time. Nor was it resignation. It was... a small…

"...To think you'd make me have even a sliver of expectation. You've come up with an interesting scheme, Ragna."

Narrowing her crimson eyes, raising her red rose lips in a good mood, Rachel saw off the red jacket figure hurrying along the passage far below.

"God keeps repeating endless dreams... hundreds, thousands of times the same dream," Rachel said, as if singing.

Yes, she had repeated it over and over again. She had spent countless nights. The end of the year with the full moon in Kagutsuchi.

Now, the final chapter was about to begin.

This time, the curtain might fall with a slightly different production than usual. Even if it had the same ending, if there was even one thing that caught her eye, she couldn't miss it.

Rachel deployed a teleportation magic in the sky, scattered the fragrance of roses, and disappeared from the spot.