[Rail IC] Academy City III: Abusive Physics Never End!

[Lord-Cao-Cao]

The man laughed, his booming voice causing the very rafters of the building to shake.

"I've...No, my boy's wanted me to meet you for a while now. Of course, I'm not really 'Nimori Harada'-Just a memory of him, but this is the closest it ge-"

Without warning, an ...Apparition? A strange figure composed out of many overlapping, translucent figures, shapes and forms appeared next to Nimori Harada. It looked vaguely familiar, and Moroe would be able to make out the shape of a child being overlaid more strongly over the others. When it spoke, however, its' voice left no doubt as to its' identity.

"Father, who is she? She looks ...Familiar..."

It was Nimori Shougo; and in contrast to the clearness of his fathers' image, Shougo did not appear to know who he really was. Still, it pressed two fingers to its' forehead as if deep in thought-A habit of his that Moroe might or might not have noticed.

"This is ....This is..."

'Nimori Harada' frowned momentarily, not knowing Moroes' name entirely either-How could he, being but a memory of Shougos'? Nevertheless, his wild, untamed grin shortly reappeared, and he clapped 'Shougo' forcefully on the shoulder.

"She's a very important friend of yours, Shougo-kun! Don't worry, her name will come to you eventually! She has important things she has to do here, though-You don't wanna hold her up too much, do you?"

"No-but father, I don't like other people walking around in here..."

'Nimori Harada' placed a hand on Shougos' shoulder to lead him to the center of the room.

"Don't worry, my boy! Just trust her. And if you don't trust her, trust me!"

"If you say so, father...I know her face, though!...I know her face..."

"I told you not to worry, my boy! Let's not bother her for now, shall we? Tell you what; let's spar for a bit. I'm sure her name'll come back to you if you put your heart and soul and back into it!"

"Okay."

He took a deep breath, settling into a fighting stance. Opposite him, his father also stepped into a fighting stance, albeit far more relaxedly than his son.

"Let's begin."

The two then began to spar-Shougo always getting the worse end of the deal although he did not appear to actually get hurt. Simply put, Nimori Harada, if Shougos' memories were anything to go by, was a truly formidable martial artist. Shougo was good, yes, but even he was totally unable to even land a single blow on his father, who moved with such speed and grace that it would not be too difficult to believe that he could, in fact, defeat cocky level three Espers who thought they were facing just another brawler.

This left Moroe the freedom to reorganise Shougos' memories-Full of memories of love, honor and duty for the most part, although they were usually tinged with powerful feelings of inadequacy. As she approached the 'current', it would be clear that Shougo never took his family for granted and his ties to them were incredibly strong. Likewise, his anger at Daisuke when he took that away from him was equally strong-Burning fiercely enough, perhaps, to nearly take Moroe off-guard with its' vehemence. If she had bothered to look at Shougo and his father as she did so, she might have been aware of Shougos' form-The form that most resembled his current, physical state, that is, growing clearer and clearer as more of his memories were set in their proper place.

As Moroe neared the end of the shelf, which presumably contained Shougos' most recent memories, however, she would most certainly be taken aback by the clarity of Shougos' memories of her-The scroll already sitting slightly ajar on the shelf would have produced a nearly overwhelmingly vivid image of her face and her voice, if not of her name-Nearly on the same level as the memories of his father. Similarly, the scattered scrolls on the ground recalled their time together with incredible intensity; she virtually stood out in technicolor amidst the normally muted colors of Shougos' perception. He adored and admired her greatly: that much was clear. And even through the agony of Daisukes' near-fatal beating, Shougos' thoughts at the time were focused almost entirely on one thing-her. Silently, he was praying for her safety, even as the bludgeoning he was taking shattered bones and ruptured organs, sending him spiraling in and out of consciousness. The sense of relief he had in hearing her voice at the end was overwhelming, even as he slipped into what he was sure was death, his greatest real regret being that he would leave his mother behind.

Which begs the question; with all these memories in her hands, so different from her own-What does Ishimaru Moroe do now?

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Mei froze in her seat when Ren reappeared behind them all, the words she had planned to say to him upon his return stuck in her throat. Despite the fact that she had rehearsed them again and again in her head, she simply couldn't force them out, and even though she castigated herself mentally, again and again, her rebellious vocal cords simply refused to obey.

A simple 'Thank you for saving Kouta-nii, Ren!', but she couldn't even say that.

She turned to Tobio for help with despairing eyes.