Blue Archive story · Volume 5, Chapter 1, Episode 18
Vol. 5 Ch. 1 Ep. 18: Rumors of the Streets 2
1 scenes, 124 lines
1. Part 1
124 lines
Lying to protect someone is still lying...
What did they say again? ...All I did was hurt her?
We wave the flag of justifications, insisting it was for her sake.
But our protection was a poison dagger...
Nagusa...
Why... Why did you...
Who is that?
How long has it been, Kikyou?
N-Nagusa?!
After all this time, you...
Never mind. Excuse me. Welcome back.
Yours and Ayame's disappearance was the catalyst for an exodus of members from the Hyakkaryouran.
We are on the verge of losing everything. If you spoke to them...
I cannot. I only came to give you this, Kikyou.
This has been passed down from president to president... What is your intention?
It's simple. Your work as the Hyakkaryouran's operations officer has garnered you both power and respect.
Not just from the regular members, but from me as well.
They will follow your leadership in earnest. And you will guide them with a steady hand.
So, this is my intention. For Kiryuu Kikyou to fill the role of president of the Hyakkaryouran.
Take it, please.
Two seasons have passed...and this is the solution you return with?
I see no other way.
You... Why?!
When you left...my resentment...the anger and bitterness...
Not for failing to fulfill your role as president... No...
We believed you hung the moon and the stars themselves in the sky.
The Hyakkaryouran stood at the ready. Your path was our path.
And then you vanished.
Ayame? Who spoke of Ayame?
To treat our admiration of you so lightly...
We were not looking towards Ayame's empty spot. We sought you and only you, Nagusa.
Was I wrong? Were we all...wrong?
What was the correct path then? Could I have miscalculated?
...Chaos is descending upon Hyakkiyako.
The world was on fire, with straggling festival-goers fleeing to safety.
Waaaaaah!
There's so many monsters! H-Help!
Are you injured?
"Everyone is evacuating in the direction we came from! You'll be safe there!"
Th-Thank you so much!
It's relentless.
"There might be more people trapped. Let's go."
You suggest we run towards the burning buildings?
Perhaps you're joking again...
I hardly need to explain to you how dire this situation is.
Why do you insist on running towards unknown dangers?
"Not everyone has gotten out yet."
Do the lives of unnamed citizens weigh on your conscience? They aren't your responsibility.
Self-preservation is human nature.
How do you so deliberately defy your own instincts?
"Every student's safety is my responsibility."
"I've gotten to know a lot of good people here at Hyakkiyako."
"It doesn't matter who it is."
"I can't ignore someone who needs help."
Those idealistic answers...
"That being said, you're running straight into the fire too, Nagusa."
"You can't abandon them. You and I are the same in that way."
"Nagusa, everyone needs your help."
"You know who caused this and what those are, right?"
...So that's your answer.
...Fine.
They are...Artifact Spirits.
Artifact Spirits are everyday, utilitarian objects possessed by evil and come to life. The process takes over a hundred years. The Hyakkaryouran bested them once before, but they never truly die.
The evil spirits are born from rumors and ghost stories, crossing over from the spirit realm into ours to inflict terror and pain.
"...Ghost stories?"
They're gossip, hearsay, speculation. To describe them with even more sensational words...
They're the authors of the Hundred Ghost Stories passed down from generation to generation.
Some call them a wicked club that rebelled against the Hyakkiyako alliance, while others say they're monsters who bewitch people with strange tomes...
That is the extent of my knowledge.
Their presence here defies all logic.
Them being here isn't simply unusual. It should be an impossibility.
"...Could this be Nature's Beauty's doing?"
Wah! Cease fire! Please! We're friends! Friends!
Isn't that...
Sensei! We found you!
Are you injured anywhere?
"Don't worry about me. Is everyone all right?!"
Sensei!
What's happening?! We were fighting this big scary thing and then I fell over and then...
WAAAH! This is so scary!
What matters is we're together and we're safe, Kaede! I won't let anything happen to you.
*sniff* Mimori... You're the best.
"I'm glad no one from the Inner Discipline Club was injured."
Fancy meeting you here, Nagusa.
Renge, I...
Nope. I'm the one who's angry. You're the one who has to hear me out.
...Later, at least. Right now, I need you.
There are monsters disrupting the peace in Hyakkiyako!
Protecting our home comes first. Right, Nagusa?!
(Everything is aflame, as far as the eye can see.)
(This ghostly screech echoes from the streets.)
If Nature's Beauty has a hand in this...
This will not end with the Artifact Spirits.
Run. Run and make haste.
"Renge, calm down for just a second."
Calm down? CALM DOWN?!
Renge, listen. The Artifact Spirits are not my concern.
They're mere fragments of the Hundred Ghost Stories. They have no true power on their own.
But there's a beast of an entirely different nature...
This story can only end with a rumor transcending into a Phantom Fable... The being that will soon arise...
What the hell is that?
...A cat?
No way! That's the biggest cat I've ever seen.
It's here...
A Phantom Fable has manifested.
A ghost story evolved into a real nightmare... There is no fighting it.
Ayame could have...
"Get out of the way! It's coming!"