Act 3, Scene 1
The stairway up from the storm drains is fairly long, and it gives me a little bit of time to think.
Recorder already told me, as far as contemplating the culprit beyond this incident goes, I have to leave it alone, or I'll conjure someone else to face. But as for the tower…
"Well, as for the tower I haven't been able to stop thinking about it," I sigh. "Whatever I talk about, it's probably already been conjured at this point, so I might as well tell you what to expect."
"Mmm… if you think that's best, but to be honest I don't see much of a point," Miyako responds. "I'm pretty much just going to be following Su-kun's lead anyway, and if there are any puzzles to solve, that's probably Recorder's job."
"Ah, because we're both stupid, huh…?" I mutter, stroking my chin.
"I wasn't going to say it…" She says frowning slightly.
Well, with that in mind, there's only one real catch here. "-The main thing to look out for is if we run into any kids with long hair and sharp teeth, you absolutely can't let them touch you with their left hand. Ah, for that matter, we'll probably have to stick to nicknames, since if they find out your full name-"
"Micchan is fine," She says, cutting me off.
"That was fast!"
"Well…" she starts to answer, then clams up, looking downwards.
"Did you… already want a nickname or something?" I ask, and watch as she slowly nods, her mouth closing even tighter. "-Come to think of it, you were the only one without a nickname of the Playground Kings, huh?"
"Mhm," She nods again.
"-Did you feel left out this whole time, because we didn't give you one…?" Another nod, as her cheeks start to puff out. No, really, what is this cute creature?
But since I can't resist, "-Alright, Miyako-chan it is."
"I'll tear yoo to peeshes!" She screams, lunging for me with tears in her eyes.
"-I won't oppose you getting along, but keep in mind the time and place." Naturally, Recorder's voice interrupts our bonding time. Or not, because Miyako is completely ignoring him
"Su-kun is bad! Su-kun is a meanie! Su-kun is stupid!" Miyako shouts as she-
"Ow! Ow, Micchan, I'm sorry! Micchan, stop punching me! I'll die! I'll die for real!" I cry, trying to shield my body from her blows. "Micchan, please! Recorder is watching, he's got a look in his eyes that says 'who the heck is this girl?' and he's watching everything!"
-In an instant, her glasses are back on and she's standing prim and proper again. Who does she think she's fooling at this point…? "I see, we're back in contact, then."
"...Indeed," He says with some small strain in his voice. "Leaving aside the question of what took you so long, the fact is that we are behind schedule. Fortunately, it seems that Romani's party took a detour to visit the Hokusai Museum for some bizarre reason, so you still have time to catch up with them if you move quickly."
"I mean, Gogh's with him, so I guess he wanted to make her happy…" I mutter. "All she'd really have to do is ask a couple of times and he'd cave, Dr. Roman is a bit of a pushover."
Miyako looks like she might have something to say, but she holds it back, and Recorder speaks instead. "-You're approaching the exit now. Looking at the map, you should have cover from the Watchtower, but remain alert."
And so, we exit onto the streets of Tokyo once more.
***
Scene 2
Our venture north through Koto City is pretty tense. In the distance, there's a nonstop string of snipe after snipe launching through the sky - it looks like Shaula is blasting away at something. It's still the middle of the night, and although there's the constant distant sounds of traffic, the cars themselves are nowhere to be seen. The noises always come from one or two streets away, and by the time we reach that street, it, like the rest of the city, is abandoned.
And of course, among all this peril, there's something else to consider - there, again, reflected in a storefront window.
As discreetly as possible I glance behind me to see Miyako swaying back and forth as she trudges behind me, absolutely dead on her feet. Yeah, she's not used to walking across an entire city on foot, and as far as I can tell she was already on her way home for the day when she got sucked in here, not to mention she's been doing all the fighting-
Actually, that's another question, isn't it? A big mystery that I've been trying to dodge - how is she even here right now?
But I can't think about it too much. If I get scared and conjure up a 'rumor' now, that could be disastrous. And so, I'll turn to the practical issues. "Micchan, can you handle ten minutes? Kinshicho station is pretty close, and if my memory's right there's a good number of decent hotels nearby."
"-Eh?" She starts. "N-no! I'm fine, so-"
"No, any way I look at it, we're both exhausted," I reply. "I don't like it, but it's suicide to apprach the tower unrested - if Romani's group hasn't also stopped for some reason, they'll already be inside anyway, there's no catching up with them at this point."
"B-but… you said earlier! You said we'd finish by sunrise-" She starts to say.
"Recorder, how close are we to sunrise?" I ask.
"...Within the singularity, it seems to be permanently around 3:00 AM," The Caster says. "In terms of Chaldea's timeline - it's nearing 2:00 AM here, so you have four hours until the artificial sunrise." He sighs and shakes his head. "-But, as for the authentic sunrise… that will be September 23rd, the Autumn Equinox, thirteen 'days' from now."
"...Huh?" Miyako freezes. "No, it's July, not September- wait, what was that about an artificial…?"
"Well, you heard him! We've got two weeks, Micchan!" I say with a laugh. "-But the Tower will probably take a little bit of time to handle, so we shouldn't dilly-dally too much."
"You're just smoothing over it, huh…? In that case…" She closes her eyes for a moment, and I'm worried she fell asleep standing up, but she opens them again. "-Alright, I trust Su-kun. We'll stop for the night."
We reach the Sobu Line, and take a right turn, heading a little more towards the station, where the hotels will be - and as we walk, the sound of a train passing by jars me back into fight-or-flight. We turn as one, seeing it- and catching the briefest glimpse as something dark, with spider-like movements darts out of the window.
"-Of course there's gotta be just one more!" I groan as Miyako takes a shaky stance. Alright then, dammit! Who is it now, Ley, Roy, the freaking Rail Tracer-!?
Emerging from the darkness, a familiar face freezes my blood.
"Yo, Miyako-chan, Subaru-kun," Says Nanaya Shiki, an easygoing smirk on his face, as dull red eyes trace over us. "How are you guys holding up?"
"Panda…Sensei…!" She mutters, terror and confusion obvious on her face.
He just grins, pulling a duffel bag off his shoulder and tossing it underhand towards her. Naturally, she dodges, eyeing it like a bomb.
"Relax, I already lost," He says. "I'm working a different job right now, can't really take any actions for a while."
"-You died!" I finally blurt out. "You died and disappeared, so how-!?"
He taps the side of his face, near his eyes. "I sold my eyes to that girl in the other place - well, not that that'll mean anything to you. Anyway, I've gotta use my… or rather Tohno Shiki's, familiar to see right now, and if I fight seriously I'll probably end up killing her on reflex - so that means I'm sitting out until I get a good chance."
"Onii-chan… what do you mean, use something of Onii-chan's!?" Miyako shouts.
"Mmm… I don't think you'd like the answer to that, so I'll pass for now," Nanaya says with a shrug.
"A chance… to do what?" I ask.
"Hm? Well, it's just… something like me shouldn't exist in this world, so it's only right that I kill the person who brought me into it, right?" He smirks. "I was used so conveniently to get rid of Francois Prelati, who could have sent this whole situation sideways - but that playwright figured I'd be an issue, so he powered up Miyako-chan so she could kill me. Unfortunately for him, I still had something valuable enough to buy a person's way out of hell- so here I am."
"Why!?" Miyako shouts. "If you can't fight, then why-!?"
"Why am I appearing before you?" He sighs. "It's nothing, really. I just grabbed some extra things while I was out in Souya picking up Len. Subaru-kun's Mystic Code seems to have some kind of self-cleaning functionality, but considering Miyako-chan's sloppiness…" He meaningfully eyes her scuffed-up school uniform, still damp with the dusty water from the reservoir. "-Well, you can leave the bag there if you want, but if I wanted to kill you I would have just done it."
And then, without another word, he melts into the shadows of the night again and is gone.
"What…" Miyako grimaces, and slowly, carefully, unzips the bag. "-Clothes?"
I still don't have a complete read on the guy, but… his affection towards her is probably-
"No, these are my clothes!" She shouts. "My workout clothes, daily wear, underwear, and a toothbrush!? He broke into my house!?"
-Never mind, he's just a freak.