OST: Blue archive - animation ED Full or 真昼の空の月
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Ordinarily, losing focus in the middle of a fight is a fatal mistake.
But when I called out to Hoshino, I noticed something strange as Antonis's attacks began to slow down. He was deliberately holding back, giving me breathing room, as if to allow me time to talk to her. Truly, a model villain.
He's really making me want to cry.
Anyway, if I was going to turn this battle around, my only hope now rested on Hoshino.
Here and now, I had to win her over.
"…Why?"
I was still dodging constantly, barely catching Hoshino's voice through the chaos. I couldn't make out her words clearly, so I shouted back, "What did you say?"
"I said!" Hoshino screamed, "Why did you come here!"
Before I could form a proper reply, she went on, her voice shaking with fury:
"Isn't it enough already?! Even if you wanted to lie to everyone say, 'you did your best, but came too late, that I was already missing.'
Wouldn't that have been fine?! What value do I even have left that's worth you pretending to be some kind of hero in front of me?!"
Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.
My chest tightened, then flared with burning anger.
"I should be the one asking why!"
I dove to the side, narrowly dodging Antonis's thunderous hook as the blow's trajectory twisting unnaturally from some hidden force.
"Takanashi Hoshino! Can't you see it? I'm risking my life, fighting with everything I have... for you, for the Foreclosure Task Force! After all this, why are you still doubting me?!"
My voice cracked with rage as I shouted, nearly screaming myself hoarse:
"You idiot! How long are you going to keep trampling on my feelings?!"
But Hoshino's answer came back even louder, almost breaking apart in her throat:
"I should be the one asking that! How can you shamelessly say something like that to me?!
When it was you...
You were the one who betrayed my feelings first!!!"
For a moment, my thoughts froze. A punch from the Kaiser PMC's machine forced me back to my senses, just in time to hear Hoshino's voice, now thick with tears.
"I… I really tried to believe in you… even though there were still so many things that didn't add up about you!
But what did you do? Why... tell me why! You hid the truth from us about the Kaiser Corporation taking Abydos's land?!
"Even when I messaged you on momotalk, you pretended you didn't know anything! How am I supposed to convince myself to trust someone like that... someone who lied to me?!
"I have a duty I have to fulfill. I have to protect… I have to protect my juniors and the school… I… I can't break my promise to Yume-senpai…
"I can't… I can't betray that promise just for my own happiness… I have to protect everyone… even if no one understands me…"
Her voice cracked into sobs. She coughed violently, but even then, she kept talking through tears.
"I just couldn't… I really couldn't trust you anymore… so I… I had no choice but to hate you… because if I didn't, if I didn't hate you, I honestly don't know what would happen to me…
I did everything I could… I really did…
But… why? Why did things end up like this? Why did you risk your life to save me again? Why are you still pretending to be some good guy now?! When you do that…
How am I supposed to keep hating you...
Tell me, Sensei… please… what is it that you want from me? I… I really don't know what to do anymore…"
By now, Hoshino was sobbing uncontrollably. Her small body trembled helplessly, head bowed, tears dripping down her cheeks one after another.
—
In the beginning, when they first met, Hoshino had thought the Sensei of Schale was just another smooth-talking adult.
Sure, he looked decent enough, but that smug grin whenever he was praised was infuriating. He didn't seem trustworthy at all.
Later, during the incident with the Kaiser Industries supply helicopter, they discovered it was actually carrying a squad of Helmet Gang grunts. Pathetically weak ones, easily dealt with but that only deepened her suspicion of him.
Worried that her naïve, innocent juniors might be tricked, Hoshino brought Sensei back to her house to keep an eye on him.
When he fell asleep on the sofa... well, that was unexpectedly considerate. Her impression of him improved slightly.
Putting aside the… nonexistent events that supposedly happened after her patrol that night, when Sensei heard about the Foreclosure Task Force's difficulties, he didn't look troubled at all. Instead, he offered a brand-new perspective they'd never even considered before.
Gradually, Hoshino started thinking this adult might be… different from the others she'd met.
At least he cared about their struggles. He was confident, resourceful maybe he wasn't as unreliable as she thought.
But then, the second attack came, reigniting her doubts.
The Helmet Gang goons had never used such heavy firepower before. If it had happened before Sensei's "supply delivery," they'd have had to retreat and rethink their strategy.
Suspicion flickered in her mind, but she dismissed it, scolding herself for being paranoid.
Still, she sought him out to discuss it...
And that idiot had the nerve to wipe a girl's face with his handkerchief!
Flirty jerk! She thought he might actually be decent, but he clearly had no understanding of a girl's heart!
Hoshino cursed him inwardly, though her cheeks burned and her heart pounded. She pretended to sleep on the table to hide her flushed face.
That evening, for some reason, she decided to try cooking dinner for the first time in ages.
Unfortunately, every attempt failed miserably, despite her effort. The results were fit only for the trash.
Thankfully, there were still boxed lunches in the fridge.
That night, as she prepared to go on patrol as usual, Sensei unexpectedly asked to come along.
Hoshino blushed at the idea, it felt like baring her private world to someone else. She was going to refuse, but when she saw his sincere expression, she found herself saying yes without thinking.
To be honest, it felt nostalgic patrolling with someone again.
But it also made her uneasy.
Unlikely as it seemed… what if this adult had ulterior motives toward her cute juniors?
Naturally, as their senior, she'd have to keep an eye on him first.
So, embarrassed, she gently asked Sensei not to get too close to the other girls.
He agreed without hesitation, and her suspicion softened a little more.
Even when Serika was kidnapped and she noticed something odd about the bullet marks, Hoshino just thought.... ah, so adults have their own secrets too, and didn't question it further.
But in the days Sensei was gone afterward, when she realized she actually felt lonely, she became painfully aware....
When had she started to like him?
Maybe, deep down, she'd always been hoping for someone who would help her.
She had to protect her juniors, to be the dependable senpai everyone could rely on… but sometimes, she wanted someone dependable to lean on, too.
For someone as self-aware of her own unreliability as Hoshino, that excuse felt just right.
Then she realized something else, everyone in the Foreclosure Task Force seemed to like Sensei quite a bit.
And really, who could blame them?
Tall, handsome, gentle, mature, reliable and someone who cared for them when no one else did. It would have been stranger NOT to like him.
Including Hoshino herself.
Even though she understood it, Hoshino's feelings were still complicated.
Those feelings reached their peak the moment she accidentally saw Nonomi secretly letting Sensei rest on her lap.
Right then, Hoshino suddenly thought Sensei really was suspicious. He even seemed to have strange ties with that new group, Problem Solver 68.
Her doubts wouldn't leave her mind. When she used a listening device, her heart sank even deeper, Sensei actually knew the identity of the one behind the attacks on Abydos?
No… maybe he was just guessing. Maybe he only wanted to trick the truth out of the members.
Hoshino's thoughts were a tangled mess. That night's patrol was a blur, done purely on willpower.
Maybe she was wrong to ever expect anything from Sensei.
Mocking herself, she dragged her tired body home. Only to find Sensei asleep on her sofa again, and on the table beside him, there were gifts.
A whale plush. And a book of ocean creatures.
So he actually knew what she liked… heh.
Maybe, just maybe, she had misunderstood him after all.
Sure enough, the next morning, after managing to resolve part of Abydos's debt issue, Sensei revealed everything to the team during the meeting.
Hoshino let out a breath of relief, but she couldn't help feeling a little irritated by what had happened along the way.
Flirt. How could he hug her cute juniors like that? Didn't he know how to say no?
By then, Hoshino had realized it, she probably did like Sensei.
That didn't mean she'd stopped being cautious, though.
Maybe she was being influenced, but she still couldn't fully let go of her doubts. She knew this was her own problem. She couldn't bring herself to believe in kindness that asked for nothing in return. Yet still…
No matter what she told herself, Hoshino was just a girl who should have been able to enjoy a carefree school life.
She tried to reason with herself. Sure, there had been coincidences, but hadn't Sensei explained them all?
He had never truly hidden anything from them.
So…
Maybe she could try trusting him.
Even if her responsibilities meant she could never easily hand over her trust to an outsider, Sensei had been helping to ease Abydos's burdens. Maybe she didn't have to keep her guard up so tightly anymore.
That's what Hoshino once thought.
Until the moment she discovered that Sensei had known all along, he had known that the Kaiser Corporation had already taken almost all of Abydos's land. The fragile hope she'd clung to shattered instantly.
So he had been hiding something.
So maybe he did have ulterior motives.
So… she really couldn't trust him after all.
After seeing the land registry, she made an excuse about forgetting something at home, sprinted back as fast as she could, and curled up under her blanket, hugging her whale plush. Staring at the glowing messages on her phone, she cried in silence.
Her vision blurred with tears. On the last page of the ocean creature book, she wrote a single line of words.
Then she closed the book and wiped her tears away.
Hoshino knew she couldn't lie to herself anymore.
Those hazy feelings of a girl's first love... she'd never been meant to have such luxuries. The dream had ended long ago.
For the sake of her promise, she could change her own nature, wear a mask until it fused with her face, and give up everything else if she had to.
She had to protect everyone.
That was why Takanashi Hoshino was no longer someone who deserved happiness.
—
"I can't… I can't like you. Because if I liked you, I wouldn't be able to stop believing in you… so I can only hate you. Hate you more than anyone else."
Hoshino looked up at my battered form. "Why? I already told you, I hate you most of all! Why won't you give up on me?! What, do you want Horus too? You could get everything you wanted by accepting the Kaiser PMC Director's offer! Please… just stop caring about me…"
"I don't even know what Horus is!"
I shouted through ragged breaths. "Hoshino! You really are a hopeless idiot!
"If you insist on believing I have some secret motive, fine, I'll admit it. I am after something! But what I've wanted from the very start was never Horus!
"Others may want Horus, but all I've ever wanted is Takanashi Hoshino!"
"…Eh?"
"I want to make your heart ache every time you see me. I want you to feel that mix of sweetness and pain whenever you remember me, and to never forget what I've done for you, what you've done for me..."
"What you want… is me?"
Fueled by anger and determination, I forced my body to move one last time. As Antonis lunged forward, I unleashed [Lion's Dignity].
He lost his balance. I kicked him hard, sending him crashing to the floor. Aiming the shotgun at his head, I fired again and again, all while meeting Hoshino's bewildered eyes.
"So, Takanashi Hoshino! Look at me! Give me all your love!
"This is the vow I make to you, unchanging for eternity!
"Your life, your dreams, your trust, your feelings... entrust them all to me! And I will carry them for you!
"So don't say something stupid like you don't deserve happiness!
"Because I'm here! And I will save you! I will make you happy!"
Hoshino stared at me blankly, tears streaming down her face again.
"Ah… I… I really can?"
"Of course. So believe in me."
"You're really, really unfair… saying something so unfair at a time like this… Now I don't… I don't have any other choice left…"
Still crying, Hoshino smiled through her tears. Her dirty face looked radiant.
"I get it now. Even if you really are lying to me… if it's you, then maybe that wouldn't be so bad. So you'd better take responsibility for me, okay?"
Hearing that, warmth surged in my chest.
Finally… finally…
"Finally, I've got you."
Antonis, lying on the ground, spoke coldly as his hand shot out, gripping my ankle tight.