Blue Archive story · Act 2: Volume 2, Chapter 2, Episode 21
Act 2 Vol. 2 Ch. 2 Ep. 21: Unfading
1 scenes, 127 lines
1. Part 1
127 lines"Hina, you there?"
O-Oh... Sensei.
"Are you okay? You haven't taken any breaks, have you?"
There's too much to do right now.
"I realized I'm actually probably in deep trouble right now."
"I've been at Gehenna for a while now..."
Ah...
"I-I wasn't trying to make you feel bad! I'm sorry!"
Haha. You really never change, do you?
...
Sensei...
I messed up again.
I really am just the world's biggest fool.
I've been running from the past for so long. Trying to escape from the blackness of that hatred.
I can still feel the seething malice that built up inside of me.
But you know what really bothers me, Sensei?
When it was happening, in truth...
I...felt better than I thought I could.
Unleashing the full brunt of my power...
Justifying the violence with absurdities...
I liked all of it.
...
I'm disgusted with myself. I'm terrified to find out that this is who I really am.
...Me? Protector of our values?
What a joke.
I enjoyed it. I didn't want to stop.
What if they found out what I'm really like? Their Head Prefect, the one who holds the line...?
It has to be a bad joke.
I'm beyond redemption.
I'm weak, wicked, and utterly foolish.
"Despite all that, what did you choose to do, Hina?"
"You held the line. For Gehenna. I can prove that to you."
Sensei...
"And I'm just like you. I feel that way sometimes too."
"I have despicable weaknesses I have to overcome too."
You, Sensei...?
"I face them without letting them define me."
"So that I can become the version of myself I want to be."
"That's why I try so hard to do better."
You...worry about these things too, Sensei?
...Yes? These kinds of thoughts are completely natural?
...To you, it's more admirable when someone strives to overcome their weakness than just having none?
"And it just makes me like you more, learning about this side of you."
...?!
Wh-What are you saying to me right now, Sensei...?!
...You admire me for always acknowledging my weaknesses, picking myself up and moving forward?
...
...You're right.
I'm lacking in so many ways. I'm pathetic.
But...
I'll just keep moving.
I won't lose to anything or anyone: not the past, not myself, not my weaknesses. I'll only continue walking straight ahead.
So...
Will you always stay by my side, Sensei?
"Of course."
Things in Gehenna had more or less settled back to normal.
But not for everyone...
...
"Shouko."
Ah. Sensei. So our positions have reversed.
This is quite a fresh experience. Did you come all the way down here to indulge in a little schadenfreude?
Congratulations, Sensei. You've won.
"I didn't come here to settle scores, Shouko."
Of course you didn't. It's not in your nature. But I still must ask.
You really believe this is the correct answer? Gehenna just returning to what it was?
You think that the chaos of the current Gehenna, a school ruled by rowdiness and explosions, is the right answer for this school?
"There are those who are trying to protect the line."
"And then there's me, watching from the outside."
...I will never understand you.
If you came here hoping to inspire self-reflection and kowtowing on my part, I'm afraid you'll have to leave disappointed.
Though my plans ended in failure, I refuse to believe that my convictions were wrong.
"I just brought these because they popped into my head."
...Aren't these...the snacks I told you about...?
Are you trying to mock me right now?
"No. That isn't my intention, Shouko."
Then what is the meaning of this? I am a criminal and a failure who tried to overthrow Gehenna.
So, why... Why would you bring me such a thing?
"Because it's a teacher's responsibility..."
"...to make sure their students are eating well."
You're looking at me like that again...
If you don't call that pity... Then what could it be...?
Tell me, Sensei.
"It's called patience."
"Patience"? For what?
For me to rot away here?
"For you to break free from the shackles you've attached yourself to."
"For you to have the courage to live the life you deserve, Shouko."
Live...the life I deserve...?
I failed. Everything is over for me.
Don't tout luxuries like the future to me. I'll rot away here for the rest of time, just like I deserve.
...I can't pay for my sins by fading into nothingness, but by starting over?
"And wouldn't it be fine to have at least one person..."
"...be by your side during that process?"
"I'll be waiting for you."
...
Aah...
...Storm.
"Storm...?"
That's the name of the organization that found me, trained me, and assigned me this mission.
"What?!"
That's all I can say for now.
...So please be on your way, Sensei.
"I'll be back again, Shouko."
...
...
...It's sweet.
...It's too sweet... It's mixing me up.
*sniffle* *sob*
...
...As expected, the organization behind all this was indeed "Storm."
Those who seek to inherit the Tyrant Emperor's ideology and restore her legacy.
They used to be nothing more than rats obsessing over the Tyrant Emperor's old blueprints in a basement.
I didn't think they'd accrued the power and standing to pull off something like this.
...We let our guard down. This wasn't an isolated incident.
They committed this act to scare us. And to prove that they could harm us.
The monster we believed we put to sleep...
...seems to have reawakened with far more cunning this time. Kihehe.
...
At the very least, the Tyrant Emperor's legacy within this academy is no more after this incident.
Now that the internal threat is gone, all we need to do is to prepare ourselves against the outside...
...Not all of the Tyrant Emperor's legacy is completely erased.
...Ah.