Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 1 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

Haruka handed Naoto a memo, asking him to do some grocery shopping, and Naoto and Raquel headed out before noon.

It was a fine day with a bright sun shining down from a slightly cloudy sky. The air was pleasantly cool, and it seemed like it would be a nice day to spend outdoors.
On a weekday morning, the streets were full of people. As they walked along the bustling street, Naoto looked at Raquel…

They were walking towards their destination, taking a detour through the bustling city. Raquel, wearing Haruka's black boots, was leading the way. Despite probably not being familiar with Shinkawahama, she was walking forward without hesitation.

As he watched the golden ponytail swaying from side to side behind her, Naoto called out to the small figure in front of him.

"Hey, Raquel." There was no answer. Her pace didn't falter. Naoto frowned. There was no way she couldn't hear him. He had called out to her many times already.

"Raquel? Hey, Raquel!" He called out persistently, annoyed. Finally, on about the twelfth call, the golden ponytail flipped.

"It's 'Lady' Raquel. Mind your manners, servant."

"What are you talking about..." Naoto glared at Raquel, who was giving orders in a dissatisfied tone, just as dissatisfied. He walked beside her, sighing in exasperation. This was probably the reason for her long silence.

"I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" She finally replied. It seemed she had given up on correcting his way of speaking.

"What did you do to Haruka?" Naoto's question was accusatory. It was about what had happened earlier. When they had bumped into each other in Naoto's living room, Haruka had believed Raquel's story. It was too easy. Sure, Haruka wasn't the most thoughtful person. She wasn't good at doubting people, and she tended to believe people easily. But she had good intuition and wasn't stupid. She wasn't so careless that she would accept such a ridiculous story and wave her off.

Raquel shrugged nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Nothing much. She just believed my story. ...Although, I don't suppose you'll believe me."

"Of course not."

"I thought so." Her attitude, as if she already knew, was infuriating. Naoto scowled, but Raquel looked up at him with innocent eyes, as if she had done nothing wrong. "It’s a magic called ‘Slave Red,’ which forcibly alters perception. It manipulates the facts the target recognizes. Though, it can only be used once per person. There are no side effects or harm, so you can relax."

"I hope that’s true." Magic was a word as unbelievable as vampires. Naoto's tone was sharp with suspicion, and Raquel seemed a little puzzled as to why he was so suspicious.

“Really. Do you think there's any point in telling such a ridiculous lie?” 

“You can't just expect me to believe that easily. ...Hey, so was that because of your magic?” 

“What are you talking about?” Naoto had been feeling off about this girl since she arrived, almost as much as he had about Haruka. 

“You’ve been awfully quiet since Haruka came, haven’t you? You put on those clothes without a fuss.”  When Naoto had told her to get dressed, she had been quite defiant. But with Haruka, it was as if she’d done a complete 180. Raquel hesitated for a moment. She avoided Naoto's gaze and nervously smoothed out her skirt. 

“Oh, that was… just an unexpected turn of events.” 

“What do you mean, unexpected?” 

"Haruka... I have a hard time with girls." Raquel looked down, her face flushed with embarrassment as she fumbled with her words. The haughty girl who had just looked down on Naoto and called him a servant was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a timid and bashful figure. It was as if he were looking at a completely different person. It was unfair; it felt like a fraud. But at the same time, Naoto realized something. This wasn't just shyness or embarrassment. It was more like fear. Raquel wasn't so much stammering as she was trembling.

"Raquel... are you perhaps socially awkward?" And to think it was limited to women. Naoto's teasing comment was cut short by a dull shock to his stomach.

"Uh... well..." Raquel's roundhouse kick, delivered with the speed of lightning, had embedded itself in Naoto's side. When she pulled her foot back with a look of disgust, Naoto stumbled, clutching his aching side.

"What are you doing?!" 

"Disciplining you." With a huff of indignation, Raquel flicked her long hair dramatically and quickened her pace. She turned around a short distance away and gave him a contemptuous look, as if urging him to hurry up. 

"You..." She was acting as if she had him completely under her control. It was infuriating. But if he turned back and went home alone, he didn't know what Haruka would say, and he still had a mountain of questions for Raquel. Grudgingly, he caught up and walked beside her, rubbing his bruised side.

As he glanced sideways, he noticed a large ribbon bouncing up and down in time with her steps. And on it was that number.

(One, ten, hundred... ten thousand... eight million again?)

The number he saw was '86510752'. She had a monstrous amount of vitality, as always. Or perhaps, since she was a vampire, he could say she was a monster in the truest sense of the word.

Raquel turned a corner and entered a certain street. That’s when Naoto was sure of where she was headed.  This was the same road Naoto had chased her down yesterday. There was only one place she could be going to beyond this point.

An abandoned housing complex.

But... something was off.

(This road... was much worse yesterday.)

The electric poles had been snapped, the guardrails twisted and mangled. Everything seemed to have been deliberately destroyed. Yet, now, just a night later, as he walked through the same place, the damage that had been there yesterday seemed to have been completely repaired. He could understand if they had removed scattered debris or collected discarded bicycles. But for the broken electric poles and torn-up asphalt to be restored as well, it was as if some incredibly fast construction crew had been at work.

Even if it was a road near a busy station, could they really have responded so quickly?

Despite his doubts, Naoto continued along the path with Raquel, which was gradually becoming less populated.

"What are we doing here?"  Surely, this wasn’t a crime scene investigation. Naoto asked, imagining a detective from a drama.

Raquel didn't turn around, but kept her gaze fixed forward, her hair swaying behind her.

"We're going to check for remnants of Azure."

"Remnants of Azure?" Another incomprehensible term. Naoto rubbed his temples.

"In other words, we're going to look for clues about the Azure. Just be quiet and follow me."

"Alright, alright. Then what about that monster, the Bugman?" He still hadn't learned anything about what that creature was. Expecting to be brushed off like the 'remnants of Azure', Raquel actually made an effort to explain to Naoto. 

"He's a follower of Spinner Superior."

"Spinner... what is that?"

"Since it relates to you, I’ll explain. Spinner Superior is a highly regarded magician whom even the magical city of Ishana respects. He's rumored to be closer to the Azure than anyone else."

"...Ishana?" Naoto raised his hand to his chin as if asking a teacher a question. Since she mentioned it as a city, it must be a place’s name, but Naoto had never heard of it.
Raquel glanced at Naoto and then shook her head slightly.

"It's the center of magic in this world. It's where magic is managed. But that's not so important right now. What matters is the part about being 'the closest person to the 'Azure'."
Azure.

"The Azure is the source of power. Spinner desires it as well. However, while the Azure is known among magicians, no one actually knows what it is, where it is located, or what form it takes. There is simply too little information. Yet, despite this situation, Spinner is certainly seeking the Azure and getting closer. And now, to draw closer to it, he is targeting me."

"You? Why?"

"Because I can sense the Azure more strongly than anyone else." Saying this, Raquel placed a white hand on her chest. Naoto couldn't understand how her body sensed the Azure, but it was clear from Raquel's profile that it was not a pleasant sensation.

Unconsciously, Raquel spoke of the Azure with a hint of sadness, as if her heart ached for it.

“So... you mean he’s trying to use you as a radar to find the Azure?" Naoto muttered to himself, and Raquel nodded slightly.

"That's right. That's why I was attacked by Spinner's follower yesterday. But it was actually convenient for me. I'm looking for Spinner too."

"Looking for him? Why? Aren't you being hunted?"

"I told you. There is almost no information about the Azure." Stopping her previously steady footsteps, Raquel turned to face Naoto. The trees lining the street cast long shadows, creating a dark wall. In that shadow, her golden eyes gleamed. "It's the same for me. Even though I can sense the Azure, I don't know much about it. So I want to contact Spinner and get the information he has."

"So that means..." It meant that both Spinner and Raquel were searching for information about the mysterious treasure called the Azure, and they were searching for each other to gain the information they lacked. Naoto frowned, struggling to understand.

"It's not like you can just find Spinner and ask him politely to exchange information, is it?" It was clear, from yesterday's attack by the Bugman, that this wasn't a world where information could be exchanged through polite conversation. And if Spinner wasn't going to use peaceful means, it would be difficult for Raquel to approach him non-violently.

"Of course not. If he was going to tell me if I just asked, it wouldn't be so difficult."

"Then how are you going to get the information?"

"How foolish. You fight Spinner, defeat him, and extract the information." Her large eyes seemed to say, "How obvious." For a moment, no, for a few seconds, Naoto couldn't understand what she was saying. He didn't want to understand.

A dry laugh twisted Naoto's mouth.

"Wait... what are you saying? Are you kidding me? You've got to be joking! You want me to fight the boss of those monsters from yesterday? I can't do that! I'm a high school student, you know! A completely ordinary, harmless high school student!" Naoto pounded his chest, insisting with all his might. Although he questioned whether he was truly ordinary since he could see the opponent's life force as a number, this wasn’t the time to nitpick.

“It’s okay. You’re already dead.”

“That’s not the point! I’m saying it’s impossible! By the way, what kind of guy is this Spinner? He’s strong, right? He’s some crazy dangerous guy, isn’t he?!”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?!”

“I told you, I don’t know. I’ve never met him, and apparently, very few magicians have met him directly. I don’t know what he looks like, what magic he uses, or how he managed to tame that monster from yesterday.” Raquel spoke in a remarkably casual tone, tucking her hair behind her ear. That made sense for her; Spinner had long been a target for her, and the lack of information about him was a familiar situation.

But Naoto was different. He was hearing about Spinner’s existence and Raquel’s insistence to fight him for the first time. His eyes widened in shock, and his hands trembled in disbelief.

“Wait... so you don’t understand anything about Spinner or the Azure, do you?!”

“Shut up, I can hear you without you shouting.” Raquel grimaced at Naoto's outburst, covering her ears with both hands in annoyance.

“And you came to investigate because you don’t know anything, right?”

With a reproachful tone, Raquel looked up. The trees lining the street rose like walls, and beyond them was the abandoned housing complex, shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere even during the day.