Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

...This is a dream.

Kazuma was aware of it as he was in a scene he had never seen before.

The scene took place in some kind of a laboratory.

The metallic walls and floors were illuminated by cold, white light. There were a great number of flickering green and red lamps attached to some kind of gauges lined up inside the room. Windows were fitted to the walls in every direction. One could see the other side of the walls without obstruction.

When he came to, Kazuma was there.

Being aware that he was seeing a dream itself was a strange feeling. The stage was different, but this might be the continuation of yesterday's dream.

Just as his blurred self wondered about that, his vision moved. The Kazuma inside the dream looked over his shoulder.

From here he could see the figure of young man sitting on a chair, crossing his legs.

"We really going to make use of that guy?"

With an arrogant sound, the Kazuma in the dream spoke.

Just as he thought, this dream was similar to that dream. Although Kazuma had awareness of it, he wasn't allowed to speak as the character inside the dream. It was a dream where he borrowed someone's point of view just to watch the scene.

But the person who was with him wasn't a white-haired young man. It was a blonde man wearing white gown with attire that made him looked like a scientist.

"I'm making use of him since he's useful. He possesses a field of study different from mine. His knowledge and skills are rather interesting. ...Then again, I have already seen those techniques plenty enough."

"The assistant possessing that excellent knowledge and skills seems like a very hardworking person. He secretly went to the hidden room, secluded himself, and ended up engrossed with whatever his work is, y'know."

"I see... If it doesn't turn out to be a hindrance to my work, then it doesn't matter. In any case, it is not something of importance."

The tone of the blonde man when he said that was terribly frank. Neither sarcasm nor joke, he regarded the assistant who had been raised as the topic simply just as a 'tool'. There wasn't any human-like enthusiasm in his way of speaking at all.

"Ha!" said Kazuma... rather, the Kazuma in the dream as he laughed.

"Indeed. Well, you did bring along Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Do whatever you want, Professor Relius."

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Relius. Both of them were names that Kazuma had heard. Especially Relius.

What he was reminded of was that Relius Clover was his guardian whose appearance and background were unknown to him.

Could it be that this blonde man was Relius Clover? Kazuma considered examining the face. But before that, the vision inside the dream moved.

The 'someone' who had become Kazuma's point of view once again faced the huge window. From there, a spacious lower floor could be seen.

Inorganic floors and walls. Inside of them, a bizarre object had its mouth open.

Figuratively speaking, it looked like the crater of a volcano.

As if a ring's prong for holding jewelry, there was some squirming stuff like boiling red lava in the place of diamond at the other side of the device.

Staring it, the Kazuma inside the dream bore a weird uplifting feeling as if it was his missed hometown.

"Is that OK?"

"At present, there is no hindrance."

A frank voice answered from behind.

The Kazuma inside the dream placed both of his hands on the gauges which purpose weren't clear and showed a fearless smile.

"Good work, good work. Then I suppose you can afford taking one more request."

"...What is it this time?"

"It's on your field of expertise. ...It also got something to do with the ''Azure''."

"Oh?"

There was a slight hint of interest from the blonde man's voice.

As if something had been let slip, 'he' averted his gaze and smiled.

"My next..."

The sound was no longer heard.

Then the scenery blurred.

Everything became incomprehensible.

Eventually, it got darker and turned black.

The dream came to an end abruptly.







Hearing himself let out a small groan, Kazuma woke up.

Opening his thin eyes, there was scenery of room he used to see beyond the troublesome bangs. It was a room of the Mages' Guild's school dormitory, his own room.

The room was dark with only the faint orange light of the bedside lamp to illuminate it. He didn't know the exact time, but it seemed to be night.

It seemed his had lost consciousness while on the bed. It looked like he had been sleeping all this time. The clothes of his uniform got a bit wrinkled.

He saw a dream.

Just like last night's dream, the dream was in an unknown place and had men he didn't recognize. The details were blur as if they had been rubbed roughly with an eraser. He couldn't remember it well.

Since then... Just how long had passed after he was accompanied by the three girls, Trinity, Celica, Nine, and came back here? Placing his hand on his dazed head as he was still half asleep, Kazuma abruptly raised his body.

The horrible condition of his body was already completely healed.

The wound on his left arm was fully recovered without leaving any trace.

"Aah... Again."

In the room which made it hard to breathe, Kazuma removed his gaze from the torn tunic and dropped his shoulders.

He realized this around two months after he entered the academy. While in class, he cut his finger with notebook paper. In the brief time he was grimacing as the stinging pain ran through, the shallow cut on his skin quickly closed. The small wound disappeared as if it was absorbed.

When he had already forgotten about it, Kazuma got burned in the middle of alchemy experiment. He went to the infirmary as instructed by the lecturer. But as most of it was already healed when he arrived, the doctor laughed while saying he was exaggerating it.

In short, even if he got hurt, it would get immediately healed if he left it alone.

At first he thought that everyone else was like that too. But he found out soon that that wasn't the case.

Unlike the memory loss, no one knew about this strange constitution. If possible, he wanted to keep it hidden and unknown to anyone else. The memory loss might stir sympathies, but this just felt creepy.

"I'm glad... that I declined that girl's healing magic."

If the healing which wasn't related to magic had begun to take place, he wouldn't be able to dodge the issue no matter what his excuse was.

As his drowsiness gradually cleared away, his brain slowly started to function.

When he thought about it, a series of odd things had happened today. Waking up from a strange dream. Setting Trinity aside, having Celica and Nine kept an eye on him had opposing significances to it. Having his physical condition deteriorate without understanding the cause. Being attacked by an assailant without knowing the reason.

Moreover, as if it finally returned, he had seen a weird dream again.

"Just what is really happening?"

After the complaint spontaneously came out, the fatigue spread.

It looked like he saw those dreams as the result of his brain adjusting his memories. Might it have something to do with the memories he lost? Is it okay if he assumed that he was remembering something?

As his mind became clearer, he recalled words from the details of the dream he had mostly forgotten.

Shuuichirou Ayatsuki. Relius. And...

"Azure..."

"You interested in ''Azure''?"

Someone suddenly replied to the muttering he let out.

His drowsiness disappeared at once. Kazuma turned around with force as if electrocuted.

The dormitory's room was a room for one person. There was no one else in the room and no friends visiting here. Besides, he had been fast asleep until a while ago.

There shouldn't be anyone else with the exception of Kazuma. Within the room that should have been empty... was an unknown person.

The chair that should have been in front of the desk was moved close to the room's wall. ...Someone was sat in it. The unreliable light from the side lamp made their appearance unclear. Naturally, Kazuma gazed at the staring figure of a person.

It was a thin man. It wasn't clear as he was sitting, but his height seemed about the same as Kazuma's.

Regardless of the darkness, Kazuma couldn't get a look at his face since he was wearing hood low over his eyes. But when he saw the shown splitting mouth that was like a crescent moon, Kazuma became aware of the eerie smile.

"Wh... who? Who... might you... be?"

While still petrified sat on his bed, Kazuma asked awkwardly.

He got a feeling that he had asked this question just a few hours ago. Unpleasant premonition chilled up his spine.

It couldn't be that he would get suddenly slashed again, could it?

Kazuma reflexively put himself on guard, but this proved unnecessary, the man only shrugged his shoulders while still sitting and didn't show even pretense to stand up.

"Hey, hey. Really, Kazuma-chan? You seriously said that? What a cold greeting. You don't recognize me?"

"No, uh, sorry. I don't remember that we've met..."

The man spoke like he met an old friend, but Kazuma didn't have any idea about this man.

Within the darkness, the man shook his head in disappointment.

"And I helped to save you from danger back then, too. So you forget about the person who saved your life? Is Kazuma-chan perhaps an idiot? Maybe stupid?"

As he said it, Kazuma suddenly remembered. Now that he mentioned it, back when the beastkin attacked, there was a voice instructing him on the verge of it.

It wasn't Trinity, Celica, or Nine's voice, but a young man's. If the voice weren't there, Kazuma would have swiftly died from the first stroke of sword.

"From... from back then?"

"Finally remembered? Then again, you still don't know about the important part. Aah, how annoying."

The man grinned, but he quickly sighed in dejection.

Kazuma was at loss since he didn't understand the meaning of what the man said. For some reason, he corrected his posture while sitting on top of bed.

Stretching his long legs forward while still sitting, the man looked at Kazuma with snake-like eyes from his hood.

"Since you passed out on the floor, I purposely came here, y'know? After that, I've been here all this time. Weeell, since you didn't wake up, I got lot of free time. And because this room isn't that decent, I wonder why your mind hasn't gone mad living in here."

"Haa. Well, I've been here for seven years."

Just who is this person? Even while he still had questions, Kazuma moved his mouth while still being dumbfounded by the unexpected development.

"So, umm, and you are...?"

"Yuuki Terumi."

"Eh?"

"T-E-R-U-M-I. That's my name."

Kazuma felt like there was a strange air about the name. As if there was a special meaning about it...

"So you have it. Say, Kazuma-chan."

Even though he wasn't being pressed in intimidation, Kazuma gulped. For some reason, he suddenly got captivated by this man's words.

The crescent moon mouth smiled.

"So hear me about this again. ...You want the ''Azure''?"

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