A journal that belong to Nagato was put down on the coffee table while Minami , Katashi and Varmoth are gathered at the living room area.
Minami: "Who would have thought that this incident happened 40 years ago."
Varmoth: "Yeah. The owner of this book tried to tell the outside world about the massacre happen in Tenko but couldn't make it. As a result , the neighboring city of Imari wasn't aware of it at the time and Tenko was long forgotten as the years goes on."
Katashi: "Though , it's still bother me why Tsubaki Imperial Army killed the city's entire population."
Minami: "That , we're still haven't figure it out yet. But that girl in yukata know the answer we're looking for."
As they continue discussing , Sayaka who sit on the dining chair enjoying her morning tea. Then , Cupid come out from Mizuki's room and take a seat opposite from Sayaka.
Sayaka: "How is she (Mizuki) ?"
Cupid: "She's doing fine. She just need some rest for now."
Sayaka: "That's good to hear."
She continue to sip her tea then Cupid notice that something on her upper left arm is sticking out from her sleeve. So she point it out;
Cupid: "Is that...a scar ?"
Sayaka: "Yeah. I thought I it was a birth mark at first but turned out to be my very first scar."
Cupid: "So , you were borned with that scar ?"
Sayaka: "Not really , I just...don't remember how I got it. It's a long story."
Cupid: "Sure , I don't mind listening."
Sayaka: "Ok then."
She take a deep breath then begin to talk about her past.
Sayaka: "When I was still a baby , I was brought to the orphanage by an unknown man. As I grew older , that was where I discover a birth mark on my arm but my caretaker said that it's not a birth mark. Instead , it's a scar , so I asked her how I got these scar and she said that she doesn't know because the scar was already there when that unknown man gave me to her."
Sayaka: "To these day , I still don't know who that man is."
Cupid: "I see , I hope you can find him someday."
Sayaka: "Thank you. But I do vividly remember an old memory somewhere..."
Cupid: "What do you mean ?"
Sayaka: "Oh it's nothing. I'm just mumbling myself."
Soon after , Mizuki come out from her room. Cupid walk to her in worry.
Cupid: "Mizuki-chan , you shouldn't get out from your room. Please take a rest just a little more."
Mizuki: "I'm fine , Cupid-chan. I just need to discuss with you all before I'll go back to rest."
Mizuki proceed to take a seat on one of the sofa Minami begin to ask;
Minami: "This yukata girl , does she have a name ?"
Mizuki: "Her name is Tsubaki Hana. I want all of you to believe me that she's not a bad person as you might think."
Katashi: "Are you certain that you're not under a spell or something ?"
Mizuki: "I'm not. I understand that everyone are searching for Hana-chan , so I want you guys to bring me with you. I want to talk with her again. Will you guys could lend me a hand for my sake ?"
She bow her head;
Mizuki: "I know I'm selfish. Please , I need your help."
Varmoth gently put her hand to Mizuki's shoulder and reassure her;
Varmoth: "We'll help you. So don't worry about it."
Everyone agreed to Varmoth.
Mizuki: "Thank you..."
Minami: "By the way , did you recall anything during your stay in Tenko ?"
Mizuki: "Well , I did remember spending my time with Hana throughout the city. But then all of a sudden , everything goes dark and next thing I know is that I happen to be waking up from my sleep in my own room."
Varmoth: "So , something must've happened between losing your conscious and wake up from your sleep soon after you regain it."
Minami: "Then , do you remember last time Hana told you before you fall unconscious ?"
Mizuki: "I remember something about..."
She pause;
(Hana: "Very well then...how about we can [talk] about this tomorrow ?") [Chapter 1]
(Hana: "Yes. Would you like to go for a [tea] party with me at my mansion ?") [Chapter 2]
Mizuki: "...."
Varmoth: "Mizuki-chan ?"
Mizuki: "I remember she said to me about stuff to talk about then the next day , she said about having a tea party together. Those are the words she said before I passed out."
Minami: "Then you really were hypnotized by her."
Mizuki: "I believe so but I will forgive her regardless. She has her reasons for doing it."
Minami: "Well , if you say so."
Thus , everyone dismiss the gathering.
2 days later , everyone are getting on a local rented van. Once all of them are on the passenger seats , Varmoth hear a voice from afar before getting on the driver seat. She look base on where the voice is coming from. Then , she see Sayaka in hiking outfit and gears running to catch up to her.
Varmoth: "Sayaka-san !? , what are you doing here ?"
She catch a breath from running , then;
Sayaka: "I want to go there...to Tenko city."
Varmoth: "Huh !? Why ?"
Sayaka: "I don't know how to put it into words , but I have an intuition that there's something I have to find out and see it for myself in that city."
Mizuki: "Be that as it may , it's too dangerous. We can't guarantee your safety if anything happens."
Cupid: "Don't worry , I'll guard her. If things got worse , I'll fly her away from the area."
Varmoth just scratch her head with this turn of event.
Varmoth: "Fine , just get in there already."
Sayaka: "Thank you so much."
After Sayaka join with them , they proceed their journey to the abandoned city.
When they're arrive , they are surprise that the entrance to the city are now blocked with wodden logs and boulders.
Mizuki: "The entrance...."
Varmoth: "It's okay Mizuki-chan. I'm pretty sure that there's another way to get inside."
Katashi: "Varmoth-san"
Varmoth: "Hmm ?"
Katashi: "I think we found a path that lead somewhere."
Varmoth: "Is that so ?"
She proceed to go to the discovered path. Then , she look at the path and it lead to the forest in the same direction to Tenko city. She look back at all of them;
Varmoth: "We can get inside through here."
She lead the way and follow the path to the forest. Minutes later , they goes through the dense grasses and big trees then Sayaka stop and catch a breath for a moment. Cupid goes and check up on her;
Cupid: "You okay ?"
Sayaka: "I'm fine."
Varmoth , Mizuki and Katashi are already went ahead. Minami try to catch up to them while Cupid and Sayaka were behind him. He then stop and look around as if something is off about the forest. As he view to his surrounding , he notice a light reflection coming from the hill and immediately duck down.
[TOKEW!!!]
Everyone startled by the sound so Cupid hug Sayaka and hide behind one of big trees.
Sayaka: "W-What was that ?"
Cupid: "There's a sniper somewhere in this forest."
Sayaka: "Eh...!?"
Varmoth try to go back to them but Minami shout;
Minami: "Don't worry , we'll handle this. Just go with Mizuki and Katashi."
Varmoth who look at him from the other side of the forest is nodding then continue to move on with Mizuki and Katashi and leaving Minami and the rest behind.
Now that half of the group left them , Minami get up and run to the direction toward the hill where the sniper is spotted. He change his running pattern into zigzag hoping that he'll reach to the hill but somehow the sniper is waiting to shoot something. As he drawing closer , the sniper shoot the ground near Minami and a sudden flash coming out from it.
[BOOOOOM!!!]
The wave of explosion blown Minami away then roll across the ground.
Minami: "What the- there's landmines here too...!!"
He get up in a hurry and take a few steps then without a warning;
[Klak!!]
Minami: "!?"
Despite that he can't see his feets due to long grasses , he knew he accidently step on one of the landmines. He try his best not to make a single movement then he see a brief light reflection which indicate that the sniper is aiming to his head. As the sniper pull the trigger , Minami suddenly grab by Cupid who fly toward him. The shoot missed and they blown away by another explosion. Both of them get up and hide behind nearby tree.
Minami: "Where's Sayaka ?"
Cupid: "She's fine , I told her to stay hidden."
Minami: "Now what's next ? Think you could fly to that sniper."
Cupid took a peek and see that they are close to the hill so she look back at him;
Cupid: "Good idea."
She summon her wings and begin to fly up then toward the sniper. She take out her bow and ready up her arrow but the sniper also take out a big weapon that could handle someone like her. As the sniper pull the trigger , blaze of fire are coming out toward Cupid.
Minami: "A flamethrower..!?"
Cupid: "Gah!! , It's hot."
She fly away from the sniper and retreat back to Minami. Once she landed , she immediately dispel her wings because bits of fire still burning parts of her wings.
Minami: "Didn't expect that person has big weapon like that."
Cupid: "Then , what should we do ?"
Minami: "Keep distracting him. I'll go find a way to that hill and sneak him from behind."
Cupid: "Ok."
She summon back her wings then continue fly toward the hill and distract the sniper while Minami carefully bypass the landmines to get to the side of the hill. As Cupid keep shooting her arrows blindly toward the sniper , he shoot the flamethrower around which making the forest set ablaze. Sayaka who watch the conflict away from them is not aware that the fire are spreading to nearby big tree and soon falling down on its way toward her. Cupid notice the falling tree then immediately change her flying maneuver to Sayaka and manage to push her away at the last seconds. As a result , Cupid barely escape from the falling tree but her left ankle is stuck in a tiny space between the tree and the ground. Sayaka reach to her and help her by digging the ground with both hands to give more space for Cupid to free herself but she won't make it in time as the sniper aim his rifle to Cupid. Sayaka stand up in front of Cupid and spread her arms to use herself as a shield. The sniper that look through the scope see the visible scar on Sayaka's left upper arm then he unexpectedly lower his sniper and stand up to reveal himself.
Ibara: "....."
Both Sayaka and Cupid stay silently as they look at him then Ibara suddenly get ambush by Minami from behind. Minami push him to the edge of the hill then they both fall down and rolling along the ground below. Both Ibara and Minami get up next to each other then Ibara grab his flamethrower while Minami pull out his handgun that was given by Varmoth. Ibara aim it at him but notice that Minami aim his gun to the ground beside him. He look at the ground beside him and see the exposed landmine close to him then soon know Minami's plan. Without hesitation , Minami shoot the exposed landmine then it explode as well as Ibara's gas tank that he carried on his back. Luckily , Ibara survived from the explosion then Minami and Cupid walk closer to him with their weapon aiming at him so he lift up his hands showing that he is surrender.
Cupid: "Is it over ?"
Minami: "By the look of it , I don't think he's capable to fight anymore."
So , they lower their weapon. Sayaka soon catch up to them then Ibara start to speak;
Ibara: "Your scar....I know you."
Sayaka: "You know who I am ? mister ?"
Ibara: "Yes....40 years ago..."
Ibara begin to tell his story from the past.
[21 August 1982]
At that same forest , the young 24 years old Ibara is shooting the refugees who attempt to escape from the city with his sniper rifle. Few minutes after he shot the last refugee , he hear a faint weeping voice somewhere along the dense grasses so he walk down from the hill and follow where the voice is coming from. Once he reach to the location , he discover that the weeping voice is coming from under a woman's lifeless body. He gently move the corpse to the side and see a baby girl crying. He lift the baby up then look back at the dead woman.
Ibara: "That must've been her mother...."
He look at the baby and notice that there's a scratch on the baby's left upper arm.
Ibara: "It seems that the bullet penetrate through the mother's back and manage to scratch the baby's arm."
As the baby's crying ring in the silent forest. He's thinking on what to do with the baby until he comes to his conclusion. Despite he is worst than a human being for taking countless life including the baby's mother , he still have his shred of humanity left in him so he secretly taking the baby out of the city until he reach to the orphanage in Imari city.
Caretaker: "What ? , you want to surrender the baby ?"
Ibara: "Yes. The parent of this baby passed away in a car crash recently and I couldn't afford to take care of this child. I'm really sorry if it's too much of a burden."
The caretaker give some thoughts for few seconds then she decide to gently carry the baby off of his arms and reassure him;
Caretaker: "It's fine , we have more than enough staffs here. I'll promise to fully taking care of her until she's grown independently."
Ibara: "Thank you very much."
After he waves his goodbye to the caretaker , he walk back to the Tenko city and finally catch up with some guards who didn't know that he was left the city for a while.
Now his hope for the baby that was once left behind , finally coming back to him , he somehow feel relief then Sayaka come to him and ask;
Sayaka: "May I know your name ?"
Ibara: "It's Ibara...Tsubaki Ibara."
She then firmly grasp his hands;
Sayaka: "Thank you.....thank you for giving me another chance to experience life."
Ibara couldn't say anything but giving her a slightly nod. Minami let out sigh then give Sayaka a hand to help Ibara up. Cupid take the lead for them to follow her and they soon made it to the other side of the forest to meet up with the rest of the group.
(End of Chapter 6)