Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 4 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 2===

A scattering of bonfires lit up the village in the night. Crudely constructed metal cages containing burning logs held the bright red fire in an embrace while shadows danced across the trees of the forest surrounding the village.

Last time, a party of seven had barged into this place unannounced, but this time, they had brought an incomparably bigger army for their return visit. Nevertheless, the women of the village were astoundingly unperturbed, and when they were asked if they would lend them the village and the forest as an encampment for ambushing the Black Beast from, they agreed on the spot.

This was a small village in a forest thick with seithr, the village of the Kaka Clan. It was the night of the second day since the army's arrival.

The voices of no small number of Kaka clansmen among the crowd proved that they had already forgotten what little wariness they had had and were now helping with the preparations like any other military unit.

The Kakas were an innocent and kind people. They were created solely to fight the Black Beast, but none of them dwelled on that fact, simply living in the moment. If they could, they would have been happy to just lead quiet, peaceful lives forever.

As Trinity was leaving the meeting she had to attend every night, even when they were traveling, she was thinking about the Kakas. She held a staff roughly as long as she was tall in her hand while she walked toward the tents for female soldiers in the forest. Arma Reboare: Muchourin. She never let go of this precious item Nine had entrusted her with for even a moment.

The year was going to come to an end in two more days. She wondered if Nine and Celica, who departed on ships that set out later than hers, would be reaching their respective positions soon. Perhaps it was because she spent every moment of every day thinking about battle, but her head was spinning with incoherent thoughts whenever she was alone at night.

Going past the huts that made up the Kaka village, she set foot on the game trail leading into the encampment in the forest. In that moment, a tall silhouette suddenly appeared from out of the woods.

She only had to wonder who it was for a moment before the nearby bonfire revealed their identity. It was Terumi.

The firelight seemed to be casting an even deeper shadow than normal over his face, which he always kept hidden beneath his hood.

"Is something the matter, Terumi-san?"

Tilting her head slightly, Trinity softly called out to him.

Terumi usually had his hands shoved in his pockets, but this time they were hanging by his sides as he walked steadily towards Trinity. His mirthless face looked uncharacteristically sincere, and Trinity found herself a little taken aback.

"Umm...? "

Thinking it strange that he hadn't responded, Trinity tried to speak up again, and in place of a response, Terumi just kept on walking right past her.

In the instant when their bodies were side-by-side, she heard a low whisper in her ear.

"...We need to talk."

With that, Terumi proceeded deeper into the forest, in the opposite direction of where the tents were. His thin back seemed to be telling her to follow him as he pressed on into the deeper shadows.

Trinity hesitated. Terumi was acting strange. But that was all the more reason to not leave him alone, and so she quickly ran off after him.

Terumi took one look back to make sure Trinity was following him into the woods, and after that he simply walked on in silence.

They left the village and got clear of the forest. Once they got all the way to a rubble-scattered plain that Trinity had once gone to with Celica and Nine, Terumi stopped. A nearly-full moon hung in the sky, and its pale light so different from that of the bonfires crisply illuminated the surrounding area. Now, it was also illuminating Trinity, standing there slightly out of breath, and Terumi, with his back turned to her.

A little embarrassed by her labored breathing, Trinity put a hand on her gently rising and falling chest and caught her breath. Once she had done that, she spoke quietly, like she was whispering into the wind.

"What did... you want to talk about, Terumi-san?"

He was acting very strangely tonight. Normally he would look Trinity in the eyes and throw some sarcastic comments her way, but he didn't do that now. Even now his arms were dangling limply at his sides and he was hanging his head, like he was struggling to endure something as he stood there silently with his back turned. Trinity felt an indescribable anxiety as she watched this disquieting display from behind and waited for him to break his silence and end the suffocating atmosphere between them.

The moon took a breath. In that space of time, Trinity grew uncharacteristically impatient and heaved a little sigh, but Terumi cut it short by suddenly turning around.

"...You've got it wrong, actually."

The way he turned to face her and the voice he spoke to her with were nothing like the Terumi she was used to. Trinity couldn't breathe for a moment.

She was getting dizzy, experiencing déjà vu that made her feel like she was struggling to keep her head above water. She shook her head weakly, denying the images that were rushing to her mind one after another. There was no way that was possible. They just had similar builds. It would be unthinkably rude to just stack the memory of someone else... of that person on top of Terumi.

Her inner thoughts desperately tried to talk her out of it in a ridiculous sort of self-deception. Stirring up Trinity's heart even further, Terumi placed a hand on the hood hiding his face.

He pulled it back like he was slipping out of it, baring his face before Trinity in the pale moonlight. His real, unconcealed face, which he had kept hidden all this time.

"Ah- ah..."

Sounds unwittingly spilled from Trinity's pink lips, her voice trembling. Her green eyes slowly went wide.

"I'm not Terumi-san."

The person who said that to her... had green hair. He had distinctive bangs, long enough to hide the upper part of his face, and the upturned eyes beneath them stared at her while his face showed an unambitious expression.

"Kazuma...san...? "

Trinity's mouth felt like the teeth didn't fit inside it anymore, but she managed to get it moving again and called that name.

It was the name of someone she had once spent her school life in Ishana with, the name of a friend. But something had happened to him, something had happened to him that Trinity didn't know about, and he had left the school.

It was him. He was wearing the same clothes as Terumi, was the same height as Terumi, and had the same voice as Terumi.

"So you remembered me... I'm glad. Thank you, Trinity Glassfille-san."

That nostalgic voice cut the last thread inside of Trinity.

Big tear drops overflowed from her wide-open eyes, running down her cheeks in rapid succession. Forgetting to wipe them, Trinity placed a hand that was trembling all the way down to the fingertips over her mouth that seemed to be on the verge of breaking down into sobs.

Kazuma was clearly bewildered, raising his arms ineffectually halfway up his body and watching Trinity with concern.

"Tri- Trinity-san? What's wrong? Um, please don't cry."

His flustered voice fanned the flames of nostalgia once more, making Trinity cry even harder. Kazuma messed up his own hair as he rubbed his head, either at a loss for what to do or just feeling discouraged.

"I'm sorry. I've made you sad once again."

"No... no, you haven't. I was just, so surprised. I mean, I can't... I can't believe this."

She had been holding out hope that she might get to see him again, but it wasn't like the conviction that Celica held on so tightly to. It was more of a fleeting, pale fantasy of a thing. Somewhere inside her, she had been sure that they would never meet again. That's why she had really never expected something like this... Something like this…

Trinity took off her glasses and wiped the tears off. She had managed to cry a river without even realizing it, so much so that even her chest was stained with tears. Wiping the last teardrops from her eyes with a fingertip, she put her glasses firmly back on and earnestly raised her head.

"Are you really Kazuma-san?"

"Yes, I am. I never thought I would get to talk to you in this form, though."

Kazuma scratched his cheek with his index finger and gave a strained smile.

His unassuming face was just like how it had been when they went to school together, stimulating Trinity's déjà vu.

The fact that his appearance and the way he talked were just like her classmate Kazuma Kval, but he was wearing Terumi's clothes, was extremely bizarre.

"But, why are you here? You were Terumi-san this whole time... but now you're Kazuma-san～... Ah, excuse me～ I'm a little confused. I don't know what to think..."

"That's no surprise. Here I am standing right in front of you, but... I don't know where to start explaining, or even what I should explain."

His thin shoulders, so much higher up than Trinity's, sagged helplessly. Gathering his thoughts a little, Kazuma's lips tightened.

"I just wanted to talk to you so badly... so I decided to show myself, prepared for you to despise me."

"I would never despise you."

Trinity was about to shake her head from side to side, but a sudden thought came to mind that stopped her.

Kazuma shook his head in her place, his face heavy with strong conviction and intense grief.

"There's no way you've forgotten, right? Not after what I said to you, and what I did to you..."

"That..."

Trinity unconsciously cast her eyes to the ground at his self-accusatory tone. Of course there was no way she could have forgotten. It was the moment her peaceful school life was flipped on its head: the moment of her not at all peaceful parting from him.

"I remember it very clearly, and I've regretted it all this time."

Kazuma forced the words out, blaming himself.

"Something was wrong with me back then. It was all just like you said it would be... before I realized it, Terumi had completely taken control of me, in both mind and body."

Spreading his powerless arms wide, he looked down at his own body.

Feeling led to do the same, Trinity looked him up and down. She had had a feeling ever since she had first met Terumi. His stature, body type, and voice had all reminded her of Kazuma, and it was no wonder that it did. Under the name of 'Terumi,' she had walked with and talked to that same body, and occasionally she had been supported by those same thin but firm arms as well. She had often caught herself remembering Kazuma when she looked at him, but little did she know that that really was the Kazuma Kval she knew.

"What do you mean, he took control of you? Just who is Terumi-san...? "

Confusion was written on her face as she desperately tried to cool her faltering brain down before it gave up on thinking entirely. She felt like she was going to stop breathing. It seemed like everything that she had accepted as fact had just completely changed in the space of a blink.

Kazuma puzzled over how he should answer for a few seconds before eventually giving a hesitant answer.

"I don't know all the details myself, but apparently he's actually someone who exists only in a spiritual sense. He wanted a body so he could do things for himself, so he approached me. Right now his consciousness happens to be drifting off, which is why I'm able to act freely, but usually it's quite the opposite. I've just been watching you all, Trinity-san..."

Sounding like he was searching for words as he was saying them, Kazuma's tone gradually grew weaker and weaker until he finally bit back his words and shut his mouth before he became unable to hide the quiver in his voice anymore.

He tried to gloss it over with a sigh, messing up his hair by grabbing at it again.

"It seems like Terumi doesn't do too well in this general area, for some reason."

Roaming about with his eyes, he glanced toward his feet and then off in the opposite direction of Trinity.

"You were... really..."

Trinity suffered a dull, stabbing shock to her chest and felt like she needed to sit down. She clasped her hands together like she was praying, desperately trying to rouse herself, but she couldn't feel her fingers.

"Of course, I was still in control of my consciousness when I was in the Mage's Guild. I remember eating lunch and drinking tea in the dining hall with you, Nine-san, and Celica-san. I couldn't find the words to say it at the time, but... that was a lot of fun."

Kazuma smiled slowly, thinking back to how things were back then, but his smile was tinged with pain because he knew that he could never return to those days.

Trinity's chest ached like it was creaking under a heavy weight.

"You thought, it was fun?"

The question came out before she even realized she was speaking, and a look of surprise came over Kazuma's face. That was when Trinity finally realized what she had just asked him, and her eyes widened far later than they should have as she touched her lips with her fingertips like she was pointing at herself.

"Oh, I- I'm sorry for saying something so weird～. I just always thought that I was bothering you."

"Yes... it was fun. I never felt like I deserved it, but I really enjoyed myself. I wanted life to be like that forever."

Hanging his head listlessly, Kazuma let his words trail off. He was only standing here right now because those days came to an end. It felt like there was a deep ditch dug in the space between Kazuma and Trinity.

Kazuma's shoulders dropped as he sighed, this time without a hint of a smile.

"My daily life changed the moment Terumi told me he could give me my memories back. I felt like I had some sort of purpose to fulfill. Thinking back on it, I guess Terumi already had me under his control right then and there."

What Kazuma was saying was exactly what Trinity had been worried about back then. She had watched Kazuma slowly but surely change into a different person, as if he was a man possessed.

Even now, she wasn't sure if it would be more appropriate to call this body that was supposed to be Kazuma Kval 'Kazuma' or 'Terumi.' Trinity had only just now learned of the connection between Kazuma and Terumi, so there was no way she could answer that question.

Checking the sensation in his hands, Kazuma lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.

"I suppose talking about it is really just complaining at this point, but I just had to apologize to you. You were very important to me, and I hurt you. This all happened because of my own weakness. I'm truly sorry for what I've done... I'm so pathetic."

His last few words were so loaded with self-loathing that you could almost taste it.

What could she possibly say to that? What words could she conjure up in her heart that would soothe Kazuma's?

She had no idea. Trinity reflexively grabbed one of Kazuma's hands, still dangling weakly at his sides. Holding her staff with her chest, she wrapped his hand in both of hers and squeezed it softly.

"Please, don't say things like that. It makes me sad hearing my precious friend talk that way... Please, don't hate yourself."

"You're so kind, Trinity Glassfille-san. To think you would still call someone like me your friend."

Looking down at the hand she was holding, the corners of Kazuma's lips turned up in a faint smile. There was no happiness there though, only sorrow.

Trinity furrowed her brow and frowned like she was trying to keep herself together when she heard the word 'kind' come from that face of his.

"I'm not kind. I just..."

It was just like with Nine. She just didn't want him to get hurt, neither from his own words nor from her actions. She just didn't want to be thought of as cruel.

As her feelings of self-reproach threatened to overflow, Trinity felt a faint brush of body heat. Kazuma had put his other hand on top of Trinity's. He squeezed her hands hard enough for his knuckles to turn white, but not hard enough to hurt her.

"How did it come to this? I just wanted everything to stay how it was. I was so happy before I met Terumi... why did I lose sight of that?"

His voice was shaking slightly, heavy with lament.

"I want to be free of Terumi's control. I want to... go back to being your friend."

"Kazuma-san..."

"Please help me, Trinity-san! I know I'm in no position to be saying this, but please... save me."

Clasping his fingers together within the knot of their hands like he was praying, Kazuma appealed to her from the bottom of his heart.

His voice pressed in on Trinity's heart and she lost the words to respond with. Pure confusion danced across her green eyes, open as wide as they could go, and she couldn't read the expression of her lanky friend as he looked down at her. She thought she saw a deep, deep sorrow, however, and it felt like it was blocking her throat.

"But... But, what can I do...? I..."

Can't do anything. The sense of powerlessness that Trinity had pushed down time and time again was steadily building up in her heart.

"I... can't believe that Terumi-san is as bad a person as you say he is."

How could such a half-hearted person like her do anything?

Fragments of countless memories awakened in Trinity's mind, leaving her perplexed. Nine treated Terumi with extreme hostility, and Jubei and Valkenhayn were always incredibly cautious around him. Hakumen certainly didn't seem to like him either.

Even still, he had helped her countless times with his incomprehensible form of kindness.

"Don't be fooled, Trinity-san."

As if he was trying to snap Trinity out of it as he saw her drop her eyes in bewilderment, Kazuma blurted out a warning. Kazuma's grip on her hands got a little bit tighter, like he was clinging on to her.

"Trinity-san, I of all people know very well just how kind of a person you are. Even still, you can't take mercy on Terumi. That's exactly how I ended up losing everything I cared about. If you keep on trusting him, you're going to lose what you care about too..."

Kazuma stopped speaking mid-way, the words refusing to come out anymore. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to continue. Realizing what he was thinking, Trinity took a breath.

"Do you know what he's planning to do?"

She asked on a reflex.

Knowing that he had said too much, Kazuma lightly bit his lip and shrank back. It wasn't long before he resigned himself to the situation, however, and opened his mouth to speak.

"He's... planning to kill Nine-san."

His answer carried a serious weight.

It didn't sound like an assumption or a guess in the slightest, and so Trinity knew that Kazuma's words were fact.

"But how could he... he's still under the effects of Nine's Mind Eater."

Terumi couldn't disobey Nine. He was compelled to obey all of her orders, and he couldn't tell her lies either.

However, he might have known of a way that he could kill her anyway, and that's why he was planning something so dreadful.

Kazuma put the anxiety in Trinity's heart into words.

"That's right, which is why Terumi is planning on using me, who isn't under Nine-san's control. Of course, I don't want to do it, but Terumi has already figured out how the Mind Eater she cast on him works. He's going to cast it on me and take Nine-san by surprise... and I think he can really pull it off, too."

Nine probably never ordered Terumi to 'never learn Mind Eater' or 'never use Mind Eater.' The more open-ended an order was, the more leeway to work around it there would be.

Trinity's eyes clouded as her anxiety grew deeper. She didn't even want to think about the possibility of Nine being killed. The idea that Kazuma would be forced to kill her was just as frightening.

"The way things are going, you and Celica-san may be in just as much danger as Nine-san. If you... were to get hurt because of Terumi... I don't think I could handle it."

Kazuma shook his head hard, his long bangs swaying.

He trembled with fear, remembering something even worse.

"If Terumi were to gain Nine-san's power, capable of creating something so fearsome, by killing her, then..."

You could practically hear the thrill of fear running through his body in his words, making Trinity look at him a little quizzically. She was trying to make sure she understood what he was getting at.

"Umm... what do you mean by 'something so fearsome,' exactly?"

"Hm? Take-Mikazuchi, of course. Surely you know what that thing's core is made out of, and what Take-Mikazuchi really is, right?"

Looking surprised and hardly believing the question he was asked, Kazuma answered with a question of his own, sending Trinity's heart into an uproar.

What Take-Mikazuchi really is. Trinity had asked Nine that, but in the end, she never got the answer.

"Um, I..."

Resisting the urge to let her head hang bitterly, Trinity couldn't say any more than that.

Picking up on what words were supposed to come next, Kazuma drew back slightly in dismay.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard!?"

Kazuma's excessive outburst of astonishment stabbed into Trinity's heart like a thorn.

Noticing the slight tremble in her green eyes, Kazuma hesitated with an apologetic look on his face, but eventually decided to tell her the truth.

"Take-Mikazuchi's core is composed of the souls of the millions of people who have died in this war. Take-Mikazuchi's titanic black form comes from a massive amount of seithr gathering around that core. It's... essentially the same thing as the Black Beast."

She had no doubt that he was telling the truth. Trinity's train of thought came to a screeching halt for a moment. Feeling like she was paralyzed, she tried to make herself move again.

"The Black... Beast? "

The words didn't feel real on her tongue. She felt like she would faint as countless emotions drifted through her.

"So that means that Nine created an artificial Black Beast?"

She gingerly gave voice to her thoughts.

Kazuma didn't shake his head, but he didn't nod it either. He didn't say anything, but his apologetic body language was a far clearer answer than any words ever could have been.

Trinity's hands slipped right out of Kazuma's, all their strength disappearing. She put her ice cold fingertips over her mouth like she was trying to hide it.

"Could a..."

Could a human really do something like that? Trinity already had the answer to that question: Nine could do it. She was a truly, truly incredible person.

She didn't know what she had done to deserve having that incredible person as her one and only best friend. She flattered herself by thinking that Nine was willing to talk to her about anything and everything so she was genuinely shocked that she wouldn't tell her about something so important.

Perhaps Nine was worried that Trinity wouldn't be able to look at her the same way again after learning the truth. It's not like Trinity couldn't understand her concern, but it still pained her. It wasn't just about Take-Mikazuchi, either; Nine hadn't told her about Terumi and Kazuma as well.

"Um... please don't get too upset. Nine-san might not have told you because Terumi convinced her not to."

"Terumi-san...? "

In response to Kazuma's conciliatory words, Trinity urged him to continue.

The unassuming young man with hair covering his eyes tried his best to cheer her up, putting both hands on Trinity's shoulders.

"We won't let him do as he pleases anymore. Please, lend me your strength. Let's take back everything that man has ruined together."

It was a very enticing invitation.

Kazuma probably hadn't meant it as an 'invitation,' per se, but nonetheless Trinity half-closed her eyes like she was in a dream. It wasn't a second chance at all the mistakes they had made and the regrets they had, but rather a new start with a blank slate. What a wonderful thing that would be.

Trinity nodded her head, her beautiful platinum blond hair shining brightly in the pale moonlight.

"...Alright. I'll do anything I can to help you."

"Thank you very much, Trinity Glassfille-san."

Kazuma's shoulders sagged with relief. Trinity felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as well, a small, weak smile gracing her lips. Kazuma's expression hardened and he scanned their surroundings. Feeling sure that no one else was around, he whispered so quietly that even the moon wouldn't be able to hear him.

"I already know what we have to do, but you need to not tell anyone... not even Nine-san. If by some chance Terumi catches on to us, we're finished."

With a hint of fear in his voice, Kazuma looked at Trinity with a grave expression.

Firmly returning his gaze, Trinity cautiously nodded her assent... and then Kazuma whispered his secret plan into her ear.