Part Nine: Reunion

"Hang on," Rikka said, motioning towards the side door of the cabin the group was taking residence in, "I'm detecting some hostility coming from the other side of this door."

Calliope scoffed, taking out her scythe. "God, we just can't catch a break, can we?"

"I guess you're right," Izuru laughed, grabbing his guitar, "It keeps the muscles loose, though."

"You guys good to battle?" Calliope turned to the two girls from Generation 5.

"I am if you are," Botan turned to her friend.

"Ready!" Lamy nodded earnestly.

Smirking, Rikka opened the door and readied his gun, being greeted by a massive group of giant spider-like Malice. In the center of the group were two girls, one with light pink hair and a multicolored dress with white tights. Her hair was tied into twin pigtails, and she had a large bell around her neck. She was wielding a ray gun, attempting to keep the Malice at bay. The second was a girl with a large bushy tail and two big fennec fox ears. She also was wearing a getup even more multicolored than the other girl's, with a jester's hat covering her left ear alongside jester boots, as well as pink and blue thigh high tights. The group wasn't able to tell what she was using to do battle, but she appeared to be… juggling?

"Nene-chan! Polka-chan!" Lamy shouted, readying her hands and using ice magic to freeze a few Malice.

"Ehh?!" Polka gasped, "Botan-chan? Lamy-chan? What are you doing here?!"

"We're saving your ass!" Botan snarled, revealing her claws and pouncing at an enemy.

Izuru began playing a short song on his guitar, conjuring up a large amount of lightning. With one final strum, he took down a massive amount of creatures, although becoming tired in the process. As a Malice began making its way towards Izuru, Polka threw one of the balls she was juggling at the oncoming beast. She suddenly snapped as it touched the beast, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light, almost like a firework. With that, it appeared that all of the Malice was defeated.

"It's good to see you alive, Polka, Nene, it looks like we've got Fifth Gen back together," Botan smiled warmly, before pausing, "...Well, except for, you know…"

"Yeah," Nene recalled sadly, "Aloe-chan…"

Just as they attempted to remember their friend, rustling could be heard in the nearby bushes, circling around them.

"Rikka!" Calliope commanded, waiting for the robot's analysis.

"It's strong, but I can't get a clear reading!" Rikka shouted urgently, as the presence got closer and closer.

Suddenly, a man dressed in entirely red armor with an accompanying red helmet came barreling through the group, Holding twin sai, he made it clear who his target was. Striking at Calliope, she struggled to keep up with the man's onslaught of strikes, blocking all of them with her scythe. Backing her into a corner, the rest of the group began to panic. Polka threw a ball at the man, but before she could snap, he threw one of his sai at her hand, causing her to scream in pain. Doing a backflip, he jumped over to Polka, ripping the sai out of her hand and knocking her out with a swift punch to the head. He then threw a sai at Izuru's foot, running over and smashing the boy's guitar with his foot, which he was readying. To his surprise, though, Nene fired a laser at the man using her ray gun, revealing a naked portion in his armor. However, this didn't faze him, as he charged towards the girl and landed an incredibly powerful kick to her stomach, making her drop to the ground in pain. Rikka readied his guns, attempting to do battle with the man, but he raised his arms, revealing bulletproof cuffs around his forearms, blocking the robot's attack. The masked man ran towards Rikka, pinning him to the ground and punching into his chest, pulling out some of his wiring and causing him to briefly go inactive. Botan pounced at the monster of a man, possessed by her anger

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" she shouted, truly outraged by the man's carnage. Just as fast as she said this, though, he went to the side to evade her attack and used his knee to deal a devastating attack, causing her to fly at incredible speeds and eventually hit a tree, going unconscious. He noticed Lamy attempting to ready her ice magic, so he retrieved his other sai from Izuru and threw his twin sai at her hands, pinning her to a nearby tree. And just like that, there was no one left to defend the reaper. It was a one v. one, and, as far as he was concerned, he definitely had the upper hand. He took the ray gun from the now weak Nene, who struggled to retrieve it before passing out. Cocking it at the reaper's forehead, he chuckled.

"HYAGH!"

A large spear stuck out of the man's stomach, with the spear having what looked like a heart-shaped spearhead at its tip. It seemed the spear came out of the place Nene shot at. Looking to see the wielder, Calliope noticed a pink and blonde-haired girl wearing a purple dress and headphones around her neck. Looking at the reaper, she smirked wildly. Taking the spear out of the man's body, he dropped to the ground. Calliope grabbed the man's body, shaking it as she asked him questions.

"Who are you?! Why did you do that?! What do you want from us?!" Calliope interrogated furiously.

The man chuckled a bit, struggling to breathe.

"You're way in over your head…" he laughed, "Hypnos…"

These words would be his last, as he gave his final breath. She gasped, then scoffed, tossing his corpse aside and brushing herself off.

"Figured it'd be something like that…" she said, deep in thought, then motioning towards her mysterious savior.

"Calliope-chan, I don't think we ever formally met," the girl extended her hand, "I'm Mano Aloe, succubus-in-training. It's good to meet you."

...

"Nozomi, can I ask you a favor?" Tamashi questioned nonchalantly.

'Yeah, whatever,' Nozomi said, putting on his green kimono.

"Can you confess to Ayame-chan for me today?" Tamashi asked.

'Wai-wait, what?!' Nozomi recoiled in shock, 'She's literally never talked to you before!'

"Please, man, I'll be forever grateful," Tamashi pleaded.

'Ugh, I…' Nozomi groaned, 'You know what, fine. Since I'm a nice Echo.'

"You're not just a nice Echo, man," Tamashi faux-cried, "You're the best Echo a Tamashi like me could ask for…"

Nozomi rolled his eyes, grinning, as he donned his sheath and went out the door.

...

Entering the Cover Corporation offices, he noticed Mio, Ayame, and Rushia in the meeting room. Of course, YAGOO was there too, his smile ever so present.

"Come onnnnn…" Tamashi urged in anticipation.

'Alright, alright, I'll go…' Nozomi complied, motioning towards Ayame.

"Hm? Can I help you, Nozomi?" Ayame looked up, confused.

"ACK!" Tamashi recoiled from her reaction. As for Nozomi, he had eyes for someone else, but even he could admit Ayame was pretty cute.

"You know how I can talk with my Echo, right, Ayame?" Nozomi gulped.

"Yeah, I'm aware," Ayame nodded, "Why?"

"Well, you see," Nozomi stammered, "He's got a crush on you, Ayame. A massive one. He keeps pestering me about it."

"A-a what?!" Ayame stuttered, blushing, "A-are you serious?!"

"I wish I could say I was joking," Nozomi looked down, embarrassed, "But honestly, he really does seem to like you."

"I…" Ayame stammered, before returning to a normal composure, "Wait, is this just a roundabout way of confessing, Nozomi?"

"I… well…" Nozomi blushed, thinking of Roboco, "I've got feelings for another girl."

"I see…" Ayame thought for a moment, "Is there any way I can meet your Echo?"

'Is there?' Nozomi asked.

"I can briefly transfer her consciousness to your mindscape, if it's not an issue," Tamashi explained.

Nozomi nodded and relayed this information to Ayame.

"I'll tell you what, 'Tamashi'," Ayame smiled, "If we rescue someone from that other world today, I'll go on a date with you."

Nozomi could feel his Echo's smile.

"TELL HER YES!" Tamashi urged eagerly.

"He said he'll try his best," Nozomi smiled, rolling his eyes.

"It's a date then," Ayame winked, walking to another part of the room.

"Lets…" Tamashi started, clearly hyped from the interaction, "FUCKING GOOOOOOOO!"

Nozomi laughed audibly, unsheathing his sword and directing energy to its tip. Slashing it at the air, he created a rift to the mirror world, which Mio, Ayame, and Rushia entered. Nozomi followed, entering the odd world.

...

The group found themselves in the same forest they encountered Rushia and Ollie in.

'Directions, Casanova?' Nozomi teased.

"Just head north, there should be what used to be a city over there," Tamashi urged.

'What do you mean, "what used to be"?' Nozomi questioned.

"It was destroyed. Along with the residents…" Tamashi trailed off.

'Th-that's horrible…' Nozomi sadly mused.

"Hey, this is no time or place to be upset!" Tamashi snapped, "Ayame-chan just promised me a date! Don't ruin this moment for me! Let's get going!"

Nozomi nodded, walking along as his group followed him. The trek was long and arduous, and they got lost in the forest quite a number of times, but they eventually made it to their destination. And what a horrible sight it was. Crushed buildings, broken wires, and blood splatters covered the city.

"Wh-what the…?" Rushia said in disgust, looking at the wreckage.

Suddenly, the group came across an odd structure. Touching it, they found it was quite cold.

'An… igloo?' Nozomi thought. Shrugging, he looked inside. And, much to his surprise, a girl with red eyes, white hair, and a black and white dress looked back at him.

"Hi," she said bluntly.

"Uh, 'sup?" Nozomi managed to blurt.

"I'm Artia, of Hololive CN, or at least I used to be," the girl introduced, "Can you get me out of this weird place?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, we can get you out of here," Nozomi struggled to say, quite baffled by the odd girl.

"Yes, thank you," she said, getting out of her igloo.

"Artia-chan?! Is that you?!" Ayame gasped.

As the girls talked, Nozomi focused his energy into the tip of his blade, slashing and creating a vortex to the other side of the Mirror.

"Let's go, then," Artia said, going into the spiraling portal without any hint of hesitation.

'Jeez, that girl is way too calm…' Nozomi shook his head, as he went into the wormhole with the other three girls.

...

They found themselves in Hololive's offices. YAGOO went over to greet them, but when he noticed Artia, his smile faded.

"Artia-san! It's been so long!" YAGOO greeted, looking at the girl with a solemn expression on his face, "I'm really sorry about how Hololive CN turned out. I hope you can forgive us."

"It can't be helped," Artia said, shrugging and walking off.

"What an odd girl…" Rushia noted.

"Like you're any different, Rushia-chan," Mio teased, grinning.

"Why, you…" Rushia said, fuming with anger.

Nozomi chuckled, looking at Ayame. She winked at him.

"Dear lord…" Tamashi muttered.

Nozomi rolled his eyes, walking out the door and making his way to his house for some good night's rest.

...

"Hey, Suisei-chan?" Amelia knocked on the girl's apartment door, "You home?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Suisei answered, opening the door, "What do you want, detective?"

"If it wasn't obvious, Gura and I are getting married," Amelia started, "And I know maybe it wouldn't be the best time to ask, considering what's been happening, but…"

Amelia paused for a moment, looking down, before mustering up the courage to look at Suisei in the eye.

"I'd like you to be my maid of honor, Suisei-chan," Amelia said, determined.

Suisei was taken aback by such a statement.

"M-me?" Suisei questioned, "I almost killed you!"

"That may be true," Amelia explained, "But you also saved me…"

"Saved you?" Suisei said, quite bewildered, "From who?"

"From myself…" Amelia admitted, looking down again, "If it weren't for you and Gura, I'd still be thinking I was at fault this whole time… but now I know that isn't true."

Amelia began to smile, looking back up to face the idol.

"So, thank you, Suisei-chan!" Amelia smiled warmly.