Agito 4-5

“Shouichi! Get a hold of yourself, Shouichi! Stop sleeping and make my lunch! Clean my room! Do my laundry! I won’t get mad anymore when you wash my underwear! I’ll laugh at your lame puns! Today’s my birthday! Weren’t you going to make me a feast?! I want a present! I said I didn’t want anything when you asked me but I actually do want some new clothes! Wake up, Shouichi! Shouichi! Don’t do this to me, Shouichi!”

Mana, with her hands and knees pressed against the road, continued to scream at Shouichi who had his eyes closed. 

I don’t want to lose him! 

I want to stay by his side! 

I want him to always be there for me…  

For a long time now she hadn’t understood her own feelings towards Shouichi. 

Only now did she realize that it was love. 

I won’t let him die! 

Mana placed her hand on Shouichi’s red-seeped stomach. 

She then used her powers. She focused on sealing up the wound. 

But nothing happened. Her powers weren’t working. 

“Why?! Why?! Why is it not working now when I need it more than ever?! Why won’t it do what I tell it to do?!” 

Shouichi’s eyelids made a slight movement. 

“Shouichi…!” 

Mana’s face grew hopeful. 

Shouichi struggled to speak under the weight of his life-threatening wound. 

“T-That’s right… I remember… everything now…! I… I…!” 

Just as he was about to finish speaking, he pressed his hands against his head in pain. 

The blood vessels at his temple bulged as they began pumping blood. 

“Shouichi…? What’s wrong…?” 

Mana could do nothing but watch as Shouichi twisted and turned on the ground in agony. 

His face was now covered with the bulging blood vessels. 

After letting out a blood-curdling scream as his body heavily convulsed, he once again collapsed onto the ground. 

Suddenly Shouichi changed into Agito. 

Agito calmly stood up. 

“Shouichi…?” 

Mana called out to him in confusion. 

But Agito’s eyes were turned not to Mana but the Hedgehog Lord behind him. 

The Hedgehog Lord looked back and then lowered its head in a display of loyalty. 

Agito acknowledged the Hedgehog Lord and began walking towards Mana. 

“You’re not Shouichi…! Who are you?!” 

“Humans should stay as humans.” 

Agito lifted its hand to strike.  

Mana’s face filled with fear. 

The hand swung down. 

And then… 

Stoooop!! 

Shouichi’s angered voice rang out from within Agito. 

 

Why are you trying to kill Mana?! 

That girl holds the power to surpass humanity. 

The power to surpass humanity…? Mana has something like that? 

Such power does not belong to humans. We are beings who exist to cast judgment on those who dare surpass their humanity. Our role is to eradicate that evil power. 

Evil power? You’re wrong! Mana’s power can save people. Even Ashihara’s suffering from his power, but he’s doing everything he can to accept his fate… No one has the right to take away someone’s future! 

 

Suddenly Agito began acting strange. 

It scratched at its chest, grabbed onto its head, and shuffled back and forth as if it was trying to fight back against something. 

After crushing the asphalt with its fist, it knocked the Hedgehog Lord into the air and sent it crashing into a thick wall of an abandoned building. 

Shouichi’s and Agito’s consciousnesses were fighting each other within Agito. 

I won’t let you take anyone’s future away! 

That thought had persisted despite his lost memories. 

It was the thought that ran through his head whenever he rushed out to confront the Unknown. 

Shouichi didn’t understand why he was always fighting as Agito, but that strong desire to protect the people was always deep within his heart. 

As Mana watched Agito struggling with itself in a daze, her powers subconsciously activated and she was able to feel Shouichi’s consciousness. 

At the same time, his revived memories flowed into her the same way as they did when had touched him previously.

Mana witnessed the same scene Tetsuya did at Akatsuki Village. 

She then understood who the real culprit was behind the slaughtering of the villagers and her father. 

Tears formed in her eyes. 

“Geez… Why did this have to be so complicated… I’m such an idiot for getting the wrong idea… I made so many of those dumb boxes… 556 of them! A new record! I even got blisters on my fingers… Shouichi, you idiot… You moron… You jerk… I hope you die from getting your head smashed with tomatoes!” 

Suddenly Shouichi’s consciousness let out a cry of pain. 

“Shouichi!” 

Mana felt Shouichi’s consciousness getting consumed by Agito’s. 

Mana wanted to save Shouichi. 

As if responding to that desire, Shouichi’s powers activated. 

“…!” 

Mana turned into a ball of light. 

She flew into Agito’s body in an instant. 

The very next moment, Agito looked up at the sky and stopped moving. 

It then collapsed onto the ground like a puppet who had its strings cut. 

Silence filled the air as if time had stopped. 

“Mm…” 

Mana opened her eyes. 

She was back in her body despite having turned into a ball of light earlier. 

She was lying next to Agito. 

She felt that she had met up with Shouichi within Agito just earlier, but she couldn’t remember what happened afterwards at all. 

Mana got up and looked at Agito’s body, praying that it belonged to Shouichi. 

“You won, right, Shouichi…? Tell me you won…” 

Agito woke up and slowly stood up, its fists tightly clenched. 

Energy began gathering within its body. 

Its fist eventually became enveloped in flames. 

“Shouichi…?” 

The very next moment, it threw its fist of fire towards Mana. 

Mana clenched her eyes shut in shock. 

She heard the sound of the violent impact of the fist. 

Upon opening her eyes, she saw that the Hedgehog Lord was launched straight towards the wall of the abandoned building. 

She then could clearly sense Shouichi’s consciousness coming from within Agito. 

She knew that Shouichi protected her. 

The energy slammed into the Hedgehog Lord’s body then burst and exploded at five locations, setting its body on fire. 

Thanks to being able to temporarily borrow Mana’s powers, Shouichi was able to completely seal away Agito and control its power. 

Faint trails of smoke rose up from Agito’s fist from the impact. 

Upon drawing that fist back, Agito lost his strength and reverted back to his form as Shouichi, collapsing towards the ground. 

Mana caught his head and set it on top of her thighs. 

“Mana… I…” 

Shouichi’s voice squeaked out as he tried to form a sentence. 

Mana interrupted him so that he wouldn’t have to struggle to talk. 

“I know… I believed in you, Shouichi.” 

Hearing those words, a gentle smile returned to his face. 

It was the same smile that she always saw.  

Shouichi once again closed his eyes… 

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