BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Epilogue
| Illustrations |
| Prologue:Rebirth |
| Chapter 7: Siblings |
| Chapter 8: Thought and Felt |
| Chapter 9: Intervention |
| Chapter 10: Encounter |
| Chapter 11: Fusion |
| Epilogue |
| Extra Chapter: Fragments |
| Afterword |
There was the scent of flowers.
Unfortunately, Naoto wasn't knowledgeable about flowers. It’s not that he disliked them, but he wasn’t interested enough to make an effort to remember their names.
So he had no idea which flower the scent belonged to… but it smelled nice. He wondered where the flowers might be, and slowly opened his eyes to look around.
"...Huh? What’s this?"
What he saw was an unfamiliar sight, and Naoto began to turn his head, looking for what he assumed should be the familiar scene of his own room.
The first thing he saw was the ceiling. White, with long fluorescent lights that looked like the ones in school, looking down at him. It felt almost like a hospital. The sensation of the bed was also different from usual, and Naoto, with a foggy head, tilted his neck in confusion as he looked for his alarm clock.
Then, someone suddenly pressed down on his shoulder.
"Nao-kun!!!" The voice that pierced through his sleepy thoughts made Naoto snap awake, his mind suddenly clearing.
Haruka's face filled his vision. Had she been crying? Her eyes were red and swollen, and the healthy pink that usually colored her cheeks was slightly pale.
That’s right, Naoto understood his situation.
This was a hospital, not that it looked like one. It was only natural.
Naoto clearly remembered the moment when he lost consciousness on the rooftop of the construction building. He remembered the situation, how it had happened, and while not every detail was crystal clear, he could recall enough. If he had been left there, there was no doubt he would have died.
It was probably either Kiiro, Raquel, or the Mitsurugi Agency, or maybe even Clavis who had gotten him to the hospital.
Then, thinking about how Haruka and Yuki must have been contacted afterward, a wave of guilt hit Naoto, along with a sense of awkwardness and embarrassment that was almost unbearable.
"…G-Good morning." Not knowing what to say, Naoto said this to Haruka, who was looking up at him pleadingly. Suddenly, tears began to well up in Haruka's eyes. Before the first drop could fall on Naoto's stiff face, Haruka pressed her forehead against his chest and buried her face.
"It's not good morning, you idiot!" She said with a tearful voice, and then, unable to form any clear words, Haruka burst into tears like a child. Behind Haruka, by the side of the hospital room door, stood Raquel. Surprised by Haruka's sudden outburst, she took a step forward to try to calm her down, but unsure of what to do next, she looked to Naoto for help.
Seeing Raquel's lost, little animal-like eyes, Naoto couldn't help but burst out laughing. Raquel's eyebrows furrowed in disapproval. But then she soon slumped her shoulders and let out a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Naoto too let out a deep breath of relief.
For now, it seemed that both he and Raquel had managed to get through that full moon night safely.
On a small chest next to the bed, a delicate heart-shaped object was placed, surrounded by flowers—most likely Haruka's taste. Through the square window beyond, the clear blue sky of a crisp autumn day could be seen.
...That was about an hour ago.
After being soothed by Naoto and Raquel, who had been reluctantly dragged into the situation by Naoto’s summons, Haruka had eventually stopped crying after some time.
From what Naoto had heard, he had been involved in a massive land subsidence accident and was brought in unconscious, in critical condition. According to the doctor Haruka had called, he needed to be hospitalized for a few more days to observe his condition. Since he would need clothes and personal items, Haruka decided to go back to her apartment to fetch his things. She also arranged to contact Yuki, who had gone off to work, despite her worry.
Haruka said she would buy some cream puffs on her way back, and with a smile, she finally left the hospital room.
Afterwards, a female nurse came and explained the basics of hospital life, such as where the bathroom was, the hours of the shop, how to use the call button, and meal times. Once the basic procedures were done, Naoto sighed, trying to refocus his mind.
It was quiet outside the room, with barely a sound of footsteps passing by. Perhaps the room was located at the far end of the ward. After waiting about ten minutes to see if any doctors or other nurses would come in to replace the previous one, Naoto glanced back at Raquel, who was sitting in a metal chair by the bed.
"......Can I ask you something?" He remembered everything up until he lost consciousness, but after that, his memory was completely blank. He could make guesses, but they would only be guesses. Raquel gave a graceful nod, as if saying she understood. Naoto responded with a quiet "Alright."
"I don't know where to start... First of all, what about Saya?" He hadn't had the time to worry about Saya since he had rescued her from Spinner's insect. He felt ashamed of himself for fainting while leaving his unconscious sister behind.
Raquel shook her head, her golden hair swinging like a ribbon in its usual ponytail.
“I don’t know. By the time we carried you out, Saya was already gone. When you pulled me out of Spinner, she was still lying unconscious... I think she must have regained consciousness when either my father or Kiiro arrived and then left," Raquel explained.
"I see. Well, it's much better than finding her dead body," Naoto replied, seemingly unconcerned. Inwardly, he was grateful to Raquel for her broad, calm perspective when she had checked for Saya's presence right after being pulled from Spinner. He hadn’t even looked back to check himself.
The worst-case scenario would’ve been that Saya was unknowingly killed by Clavis in his pursuit of Soul Eater. At least that disaster had been avoided. He could count his blessings, even if it didn’t entirely put his mind at ease.
"And what about Spinner?"
"It’s gone. There wasn’t a body left, so there’s no physical evidence, but his soul and existence were drawn into the Boundary and consumed. It got sucked into the ‘Gate to the Boundary’ that it had opened..."
"The Boundary...?" Naoto began to ask, but he stopped mid-sentence. His intuition told him that it was a complicated subject he didn’t want to get into. He suddenly remembered Clavis's words, "You don't need to understand the rules of the outside world." This was exactly the kind of thing he meant.
Until he needed to understand, he would just think of it as something that Spinner was obsessed with. It didn’t matter if he didn’t understand it. It had no impact on his current situation.
There was one more urgent thing he wanted to ask.
"Then what about this?" Naoto asked, lifting his arm. His left arm. “Why... do I still have an arm and a leg?”
Under the white-covered blanket, his right leg was also casually thrown out.
He remembered the morning after he first met Raquel. Even then, the arm that had been taken by the insect was attached to Naoto's right shoulder as if nothing had happened.
However, there was a big difference this time.
The arm Raquel had created from her own blood had moved according to Naoto’s will from the start. It had been so perfectly functional that he almost wondered if the insect-gnawed arm had been a dream. But the left arm and right leg he had now, while they could be moved, didn’t respond as smoothly or naturally.
He glanced at Raquel, silently asking if she was the one responsible for this. She understood the unspoken question and shook her head.
“As for the arm and leg... you should ask her, not me. She should be here soon.” Raquel said, and then, she glanced toward the door behind her.
At that moment, there was a light knock on the hospital room door. It seemed Raquel had already noticed the approaching footsteps and the person who was coming.
"Yes?"
When Naoto called out, the door hesitated for a moment before slowly opening.
It was Kiiro who entered. She was wearing bright pink lipstick, had done her makeup subtly, and had tied her golden hair up in a high ponytail.
With her appearance, she looked like a very beautiful and somewhat dubious career woman. It was hard to believe that she was the same woman in the bodysuit on that moonlit night.
Instead of her usual sexy suit that showed off the lines of her body, Kiiro was wearing a thick long coat that covered her from head to toe.
Swinging the hem of her long coat heavily, Kiiro walked to the opposite side of the bed, avoiding Raquel, and looked down at Naoto with a wry smile.
"You're awake. That's good."
Naoto felt a sense of unease at her attitude and hesitated. This wasn’t like her. There was none of her usual, overwhelming self-assertion, the kind that paid no mind to others’ discomfort. The way she was speaking to him, almost as if she were apologetic, made Naoto suspicious.
"Did you... put these arms and legs on me?"
"I arranged for it, but I didn't actually prepare the limbs or perform the procedure. Even the current Mitsurugi Agency doesn't have the technology to create such precise human limbs."
"Then who did?"
It wasn’t Raquel or Kiiro. For a moment, Clavis came to mind, but Naoto quickly dismissed that thought. If Clavis had created the limbs, they would have been working smoothly without any issues, and Raquel’s reaction would be more dissatisfied.
The name Kiiro mentioned next took Naoto aback.
"I think you know, Naoto-kun. The one who created and attached your arms and legs was Relius Clover."
"Relius!?" Thinking that was absurd, Naoto looked at Raquel. Raquel nodded in affirmation.
"It may feel strange now, but in a few days, it should become integrated with your body and you'll be able to move it without any problems. It will be inconvenient until then, but please bear with it."
"Hey, who do you think you are, just doing whatever you want? Is this really okay?"
"It's fine. I haven't done anything strange. Don't worry."
“‘Don’t worry’... I don’t think I can do that.”
Staring intently at his left arm, Naoto couldn’t help but voice his inner thoughts. The man with the dark belt covering his eyes, the strange and calculating man, flashed into his mind. He didn’t know him well, but he had been saved by him in a dangerous situation once. Still, the thought of being at ease around that man didn’t sit well with him.
With a stiff expression, Naoto looked at Raquel. Raquel, who had unknowingly tensed up in the folding chair, noticed his gaze. Even so, she stubbornly avoided looking at Kiyo and opened her mouth.
"I don't feel anything strange. It's true that there's no tampering."
“Well, if you say so…”
If Raquel says so, it probably wasn’t some huge bomb implanted into him. Even if it was a small bomb that Raquel couldn’t detect, it would be nothing compared to the inconvenience of not having arms or legs.
The arm that Relius had made, while not as familiar as the one Raquel had given him, was a marvelous piece of work. The texture of the skin, the sensation of touch—it was no different from his original arm. There were no visible stitches, and he couldn't tell where his own arm ended just by looking at it.
Just who was that man? He wondered, gazing intently at his arm. Here was a normal arm, made of flesh and bone. It wasn't a prosthetic. How in the world could he have created something like this?
"There's one more thing I need to tell you today," Kiiro said in a formal tone, gently pushing Naoto's question aside. She sounded a little tense. Naoto looked up, wondering why she would be nervous.
Kiiro placed her hand gently over her chest, which was visibly full even through her coat, and took a deep breath. Then, with that same hand, she began to unbutton her coat. He immediately understood what she was about to do.
Naoto's eyes widened in surprise, and he turned his head away sharply.
Naked.
Kiiro was naked. She wasn't wearing anything under her coat.
"What are you doing? Put your clothes on..."
"Look, Naoto-kun," Kiiro invited softly. There was nothing but the usual seductive temptation in her voice. “…Look closely.”
Her voice, which would usually be seductive, was strangely serious. Naoto hesitated, still unsure, but awkwardly turned his head back toward her.
Kiiro had completely discarded her coat, and what was revealed was a body that was—at first glance—striking.
Her body was not unblemished. In fact, it was the opposite. Her body was covered in scars—huge, noticeable surgical scars that Naoto couldn’t help but stare at in disbelief. On her upper arms, shoulders, ankles, and thighs. There were diagonal scars running across her torso, as if her body had been severed and then put back together.
Along with the scars, Naoto’s gaze was drawn to something else. On Kiiro’s chest, just below her collarbone, was a strange mark. It looked like a brand that might be used to mark a product, and it was a number.
"Es No07" - that's what it said.
“I am the Dimensional Boundary Contact Prototype, EsNo07... a synthetic doll created by human hands.”
“Wh… what are you talking about? Dimensional… what?”
“Dimensional boundary contact body.”
Naoto didn’t understand. He asked, his voice filled with confusion. Kiiro smiled lightly and corrected him, pronouncing the words slowly this time.
Her usual red-purple eyes, which often held a provocative glint, now had a trace of loneliness, and Kiiro narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Actually, there were many other dolls like me. But they were all broken. Some of them were eaten by Spinner's bugs and torn apart.”
“Many.” Naoto swallowed his confusion at the way she counted inanimate objects.
It was an unbelievable story. Kiiro obviously looked human, and she was nothing like the department store mannequins Naoto instinctively thought of when he heard the word doll.
He had touched her skin directly. Her colorful skin was warm to the touch, and he could feel her heart beating beneath her ample breasts.
Kiiro lifted her breast slightly and traced the surgical scar that ran diagonally across the bottom of her chest with her fingers.
“I was made by piecing together the bodies of my broken, dismembered sisters. Remember when Spinner called me a ‘mosaic’? That’s what it meant.”
“I…”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t want to hear you say that, Naoto-kun. It would make me sad.” Naoto had almost blurted out a word of comfort, but Kiiro quickly, yet gently, stopped him from speaking. “This is my request.”
With that preface, Kiiro composed herself, her expression turning serious as she looked directly at Naoto.
“I… no, we were originally created to find and obtain the ‘Azure’. We were forced to suspend our search for various reasons, but with the gate that Spinner opened… using that as a new clue, the Mitsurugi Agency is once again in pursuit of the ‘Azure’.”
Naoto heard Raquel gasp as he looked back at Kiiro. That sound told him that her story was very serious and entirely possible.
At the same time, Naoto realized that, despite having mentioned the Mitsurugi Agency many times, he didn’t really understand what it was. What kind of organization was it, exactly? Who was in charge? Who gave the orders? He knew nothing.
Kiiro had said that the Mitsurugi Agency's purpose was to "uphold and manage the order of the human world." However, no one had ever said that this meant eliminating "threats" like Clavis.
“That’s not all. The Mitsurugi Agency is gathering Drive users as a military force. Eventually, they plan to monopolize the Drive users, and anyone who doesn’t comply with the Agency will be eliminated. Even you, Naoto-kun…”
“Blood Edge, right?” Naoto filled in the blank, referring to the name he had learned. Kiiro nodded slightly.
Naoto still didn’t fully understand how to control it or what kind of power it was, but he could at least grasp that it was the name of his Drive.
It was that power that allowed him to defeat the massive insect sent by Isa and Spinner. It let him rescue Raquel from within Spinner.
An unknown power dormant within him, yet a valuable weapon for Naoto... Blood Edge.
Kiiro pressed her hand against her chest, where the numbered mark was.
“Naoto-kun. Come with me. If you need the ‘Azure,’ let’s search for it together under the Mitsurugi Agency. If you stay like this, we’ll end up as enemies. I’ll have no choice but to eliminate you.”
As a dangerous individual who didn’t obey the institution and, at the same time, as an obstacle to obtaining the unique ‘Azure,’ his life would be in danger.
Kiiro didn’t sound like she was threatening him. There were no hints of any schemes or manipulations behind her words. She was simply worried about him. She was convinced that joining the Mitsurugi Agency would be the way to save him.
Even though Naoto could sense that, he shook his head firmly without hesitation.
“I appreciate your concern, and I’m grateful for arranging the hospital and the arm... but I’m going to decline your offer. I won’t join the Mitsurugi Agency.” It was already a firm decision in Naoto’s mind.
He found it a little strange himself. If he thought about it more calmly and objectively, it might be safer, easier, and more certain to join the Mitsurugi Agency. There was even the option to follow Clavis's lead, as he had suggested.
But no matter who offered him a different choice or in what words, Naoto didn’t find it appealing.
(Is it because of the promise... that I made?)
He had promised to obtain the ‘Azure’. It was the first promise he made to Raquel. It felt like a contract etched into his soul through the right arm that had been given to him.
He didn’t feel cramped or dissatisfied with that promise. He just wanted to find the Azure with Raquel. That was the only reason. But for Naoto, it was a reason more important than anything else.
Kiiro stared at Naoto as if she wanted to say something, then let out a sigh of disappointment and slumped her shoulders.
“Alright… I understand. If you’re going to say that, I’ll step back quietly today.” As if to prove her words, she fastened the front of her thick coat, hiding the countless stitching scars, her white skin, and the engraving on her chest. She adjusted the rim of her thin glasses with her fingertips, then flashed a seductive, almost playful smile.
"But I won’t give up. I feel like you and I are bound by fate, Naoto-kun." After saying that, Kiiro blew a small kiss and left the hospital room. The sound of her high heels clicking on the floor quickly faded away.
As soon as the hospital room was filled with silence and stillness, Naoto and Raquel both exhaled deeply. Naoto did so with a sense of weariness at the increasingly complicated situation around him. Raquel did so because she was relieved of the tense atmosphere that had been created by Kiiro's presence.
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, Naoto noticed that Raquel seemed visibly more tired now than she had been before Kiiro entered the room. He furrowed his brows and smiled wryly.
“You really don’t change, do you...?”
Even though she had been living with Naoto for quite some time and had plenty of opportunities to interact with women, Raquel still couldn't have a proper conversation with anyone but Haruka. Even with Yuki, it was a bit rough.
With a confident look that was completely different from before, Raquel used her finger to tuck a short strand of hair from her ponytail behind her ear.
“Don’t make it sound like such a big deal. It’s just... I’m not good at it, okay?” She insisted.
"You should try to accept reality a little." Naoto said it casually, but he knew that Raquel wasn’t the type to change her behavior, no matter what he said. He didn’t have the energy to try and force her to adjust either.
Letting out a small sigh, Naoto pushed his legs closer to his chest and bent his knee. Since his right leg couldn’t bend, it was only his left leg that moved. Come to think of it, out of all his limbs, only his left leg remained as his own. The rest—his arms and the other leg—were artificial.
"Hey, Raquel. Why..."
Naoto found himself gazing at his left leg through the blanket, lost in strange thoughts. He opened his mouth casually, then paused, realizing he wasn’t sure whether he should ask, but decided to continue anyway.
“Why did you choose me?”
Raquel didn’t seem particularly surprised by the question. She didn’t seem troubled or displeased either. Instead, she stared at Naoto with her translucent eyes, looking deeply into his, as though peering into his very core.
Keeping her gaze fixed on him, Raquel lifted herself from her chair and gently placed her hand on Naoto's stomach. She leaned forward smoothly.
The white hand that had been placed on his stomach moved up over the blanket and onto Naoto's chest. With her other hand, she touched Naoto's shoulder, and then... with a quiet, emotionless expression, Raquel gently pressed her cheek against Naoto's chest.
“Hey…”
Raquel moved her body over Naoto’s as he lay on the bed, and with a dreamy look in her eyes, she closed them.
“…I can hear the heartbeat of the Azure from you.” She said softly, as if whispering to the heartbeat beneath her pressed ear.
"Huh?" Not understanding what she meant, Naoto furrowed his brows. She hadn’t answered his earlier question either. But Raquel, with a playful, almost kitten-like gesture, gazed up at Naoto from his chest. She trapped his image in her large golden eyes and spoke in a soft, delicate voice.
“Naoto. Obtain the Azure. And then… take me…”
What Raquel said was neither an order nor a plea, but the promise they had made.
It was the promise made in the abandoned apartment complex under the moonlight. The collapsed buildings. The insects that had gnawed off his limbs, and the girl with golden eyes who looked down at Naoto, buried under debris.
The promise made between them, with her wearing nothing but a simple white dress and a black cloak, bathed in the moonlight.
Raquel continued weaving her words.
"Find me."
Naoto didn’t ask where.
He didn’t ask how.
Raquel spoke with a hint of uncertainty, and Naoto placed his hand gently on her head.
"I understand. Don’t worry."
It might have been Raquel's way of deflecting. Naoto’s question might have been something difficult for her to answer with words.
Or perhaps this was her answer. Knowing how awkward Raquel was, maybe this was all she could say.
In any case, Naoto thought, it’s fine.
Under his hand, Raquel laughed softly, as though feeling a bit ticklish.
For now, that smile was enough.
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