Description: For a while, the Empress of Ezo thought she had it all figured out: an orchestrated trap to lure out a ninja assassin, turn her opponents into allies, and legitimize her government. In the end... she got what she bargained for. And her earlier attempt at salvation seems to have set the stage for the complete destruction of Southtown.
The Taiyo Dome... a large, cavernous sports stadium the likes of which aren't seen anywhere else in the world. It's much too big to hold the students of any one school in particular -- indeed, this was because this Taiyo Dome was (a) intended to be the site of all the inter-scholastic tournaments, and (b) built by Howard Enterprises as a charitable gift. As such, it's big. Plenty of places for people to sit.
And yet, most of the stadium's seats are empty, and most of the people here seem to be reporters. Who goes and puts 'Attend impromptu press conference from the self-proclaimed Empress of a newly-formed nation' on their to-do list, really? Reporters, that's who. Hence... press conference.
The former ringmaster of the Bright Sun Circus had a bit of a dilemma. He hadn't been able to talk to a crowd for almost three weeks, until the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ezo Freedom Monument yesterday, and when he =did= talk, there were only maybe a hundred people, and his former performer chewed him out for it. Now... there's lots more people, and the Empress still has a short temper. Lots on her mind, she'd said.
The well-dressed ex-ringmaster strides up to the podium, with a very muted expression. He has one sheet of paper in his hand. "Lllllladies and gentlemen... " Silence, for the one moment he'd paused. Crickets chirp.
"May I introduce Her Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign." Bowing his head, he steps back.
A spotlight shines as the Empress walks onto stage. It's ... not a sports stage, really, it's raised a bit higher -- clearly, they were expecting a bigger crowd, from the indication of how much of the portable fold-out seating is going empty. Striding out in her newly-commissioned Ainu 'attush' robes, the Empress seems... a little quieter than yesterday. Stepping up to the mic, she looks down at her feet for a moment. Taps her heel nervously upon the floor behind the podium. Then, looking out onto the crowd, she finally speaks.
"Ladies and gentlemen... I greet you, as sovereign of the Republic of Ezo. I thank you all for... coming out tonight..." She blinks for a moment, looking out onto the crowd, and frowning somewhat.
The arena is big. And on the Empress' raised platform are two large banners, covering the majority of the stage. Clear line of sight behind her, and clear line of sight in a wide, 120-degree arc in front of her. Armed guards are on point, and from the sound of radio chatter, they're checking in with each other often. It seems they've learned a little from their experiences earlier this week, and not taking any chances -- but neither are they letting themselves be terribly conspicuous to the reporters below.
"I have some announcements to make. For one... as was made clear in the auditorium just down the walk from here... Hinata Wakaba has announced herself as a very vocal opponent of the a-actions that we have taken in recent days, a-and I would like to address these."
Perhaps part of why the stadium is so empty is that the Southtown Resistance still doesn't quite trust everything that's going on with the supposed arrangement with Empress. Some meetings had to be rushed, and the press conference was thrown together as quickly as possible to try to keep Honoka from coasting on any perceived goodness. It was also decided that, for the time being, most members of the Resistance should try to keep their heads down.
One of the few members not doing that is Hinata, who'd long since painted a target on herself as the primary driving force of the Resistance. Certainly Batsu was a tougher, more imposing fighting, and Kyosuke was a more intelligent sort... but Hinata had quite a bit more control than Batsu, more enthusiastic charisma than Kyosuke, and an unrelenting enthusiasm. Throwing a younger teenage girl against the teenage Empress also helped prevent it look like they were the aggressors.
Regardless of the reasons, Hinata was one of the few to actually show up to event, just in case someone needed to speak up again. She sat in the midst of reporters and those few who decided to show up just to hear the Empress speak, quietly watching for the time being.
Kazuki Kirigana looks incredibly out of place for the setting, despite the fact that he's sitting there politely. He's not even wearing the large headphones he prefers, keeping the music player off and the phones draped around his neck. He's quiet, unobtrusive, and almost formal in his bearing.
In his Gedo High uniform.
The Southtown Resistance may be focused on keeping their heads down, and that's an understandable thing, but Yuri is not about to keep her head down right now. She's angry at what Honoka is doing, and is not going to miss out on a chance to confront her whenever possible. Even if that means just sitting there and watching, only speaking when the time is necessary to do so. She won't let her hometown be overtaken by Honoka that easily, and that's a point she intends to make however she has to!
Yuri was off to the side, though still close to her classmate all the same. She simply sat there scowling and staring at Honoka, spewing her propaganda and lies as Yuri viewed them. Her arms were folded and her fists were clenched, indicating that Yuri was definitely not in her better mood today.
The sheer size of this stadium is something that Ibuki has never quite gotten used to. Though she lives further west near Kyoto, she's made many trips to this place over the course of various school-related activities and ninja assignments. Every time she has visited in the past, however, the seats were filled to the brim with rowdy students and cheering fans, practically a living carpet of colors and raw noise. It made it easy to get swept up in the spirit of the events held here as if the life-energy of those that had come to participate bolstered it to new heights.
Today she is glad for the silence. The self-proclaimed Empress' words echo throughout the vast emptiness, falling only on the ears of those who are more interested in the business that they will generate by recording them than what is being said. The reverberating tinny sound of her voice makes it seem rather pitiful in comparison to the grand structure that she sought to debase for her twisted propaganda and that alone puts a faint smile on the young ninja's face as she works her way through the shadows.
There is a soft muffled cry as her hands snap out, simultaneously closing over the gruff mercenary's mouth and neck to cut off any noise that he might make as she strangles the air out of his lungs. The man struggles but this is not a contest of strength. Within moments her artful mastery of ninjistu and pressure points leaves yet another unconscious figure on the floor, bound and gagged, stripped of all weaponry and radio devices.
That's about half a dozen down now but there are plenty more to go. Carefully taking out the guards one by one when the others are not looking is slow work but already a hole is opening in the defenses. Just a little more and she'll have her chance to end this.
The guard goes down, out of sight from everyone. However, to the ears of Kazuki Kirigana, the whole room is like a concert. The chi flow created by the building and the people in it mingle into a single song to the Aikidoka. It's... not the best song in the world in this case, what with the turmoil and strife inherent in the situation.
But he /does/ notice as instruments simply drop from the song, too abruptly for them to be easily explained to him. He frowns slightly, looking away from the stage for the first time, as if trying to track down something.
The resistance was supposed to keep their heads down, sure. That's...tougher though when you're literally a head taller than many of the members. So Brett, as he sits in the stadium not too far from Hinata, is kind of forced to...well, make more of an effort not to stand out. This means trying to find the tallest people he could find to sit next to, as well as wearing the most non-descript clothing he could possibly to stand out as little as possible.
The effect isn't terribly effective, considering the sparse turnout, unfortunately. The blank clothing almost looks just as suspect, but...you know, it's about the best he can really do.
Slowly scanning the crowd, the Empress finally spots the person she was trying to find: Hinata. She begins to smile, a bit too giddily... but looks off to the side, a bit skittishly, narrowing her eyes as she looks to a far away spot in the surrounding bleachers. Coughing lightly into a balled fist, she continues...
"I understand that recent actions may have painted the new government of Ezo in a harsh light, but I did want to reassure y-you, the people, th-that I have your best intentions in mind. I had asked Miss Wakaba to act as my conscience, and she has risen to the challenge, stood on my shoulder, and told me what to do. And for this, I thank her."
She takes a deep breath before continuing. All this public speaking must be getting to her!
Glancing at a sheet of paper on the podium, she reads, "Request one... arrest the terrorist mercenary Rolento Schugerg and his associates for their actions against the Japanese government." Looking up, she offers a smile. "I am pleased to announce that a task force has been deployed to find Mr Schugerg and his associates, and bring him to justice. For the safety of the people of Ezo, and the vindication of the of Japanese."
Resounding applause rises from the crowd.
"Request two... force the nuclear submarine to leave Japanese water," She raises her finger at this one, and notes, "A request has been made, but as one can l-likely surmise, the arrest of Rolento Schugerg should come h-hand-in-hand with the nuclear submarine. Once it is under our control, naturally we will commence disarmament protocols in full concordance with pre-existing treaties, as we intend to honor treaties held by the Republic of Japan."
And a third... point I would like to make..." The figure at the podium looks down to Hinata, beckoning the diminutive Taiyo student on stage. "If you could come to the stage, Miss Wakaba? I would like to present you with a f-few tokens of my appreciation?"
This isn't quite what Hinata was expecting... All of the demands are, at least on the surface, being agreed upon. There are no words to try to work out it, no attempts to weasel out of it. And then her name is called and she's only left more at odds with the situation, tensing up in her seat for a moment... But there's no way can she refuse, not is the Resistance wants to keep its position, and there's little chance of her actually being attacked on stage for everyone to see; if Honoka dared to harm her in public, the entire country would most likely rise up against the violent Empress.
It takes a bit of effort to get out of her seat, out of her row. It takes some time before she manages to make her way up to the stage at the center of the stadium, moving much slower than those familiar with the energetic girl would expect. Once there, she takes one cautious glance around before crossing the open space between her and Honoka, eyes locked on her the entire time.
As Hinata rises to accept the award, Yuri's staring at Honoka with a look of suspicion. She is about to stop Hinata from getting up, but then thinks better of it for some reason. Instead, she simply stands up and moves to the side, watching carefully to see what Honoka might be doing. There's something definitely off about this whole thing, and Yuri doesn't like it one bit. Yet, at the same time, Yuri's showing extra restraint compared to how she normally might be acting.
Everything about this scenario stinks. For a small press conference, there was no need to use such a massive stadium. Even if the Empress' ego had caused her to expect three times this turn out, a smaller facility would have been much easier to lock-down and guard. The rather small crowd is also worrisome. Fewer witnesses means fewer loose ends to tie up if she has decided to try something extreme, which would make it very easy for her to 'miraculously survive' an attempt on her life where sadly no one else made it out. And then there are the guards. For people who are supposed to be professional soldiers, they don't seem to be putting a great deal of effort into effectively arranging themselves in defensive positions. If they'd been set up in squads at the chokepoint entryhalls this would have been much harder.
Ibuki shakes her head and exhales. She's been reading too many of Sarai's comic books. It's much more likely that this woman simply has no grasp of such things. She's a circus performer, not a military strategist. Another guard falls prey to her shadowy ambush and she tucks him behind one of the small concrete walls once his gear has been disposed of.
Honoka's announcement causes her head to snap up again in short order, eyes narrowing on the small figure making her way to the podium. There are students here?! Ugh, that is going to make her job much harder.
As Honoka continues her address, Brett finds himself a little worried, just the way that she stutters. It's not nervousness he can hear, though he's not near enough to get a sense of just what it is. And while he's near where Hinata is sitting, he's not THAT near. You know, trying not to stand out, after all.
So when the Empress calls HInata out specifically, Brett finds himself fidgeting. That really doesn't bode well. There's just too much fishy about this entire scenario. But to get up and move know would be exposing himself a bit more than he's sure is safe right now. he glances around, trying to see who else might be in the crowd. If things get really bad...well, he may have to move regardless....
Hanging from the back of the podium is a garment bag. It looks just about big enough to hold a uniform or two -- and as the Empress unzips it, it becomes obvious exactly what it is: A proper Taiyo High uniform. The reporters laugh -- they likely watched the press conference earlier, where Hinata had a garishly -wrong- uniform on.
"I... think my courier got the wrong information, Miss Wakaba. Please forgive me." If the Empress didn't have so darn much makeup on, her cheeks would be blazing red, if her sheepish smile is any indication.
As the Empress hands the garment bag to the ringmaster -- who then hands it to Hinata -- the shorter girl might find that there's actually two uniforms in the bag. One's a bit more official-looking. "I would further like to nominate you as Acting Secretary of the Interior until proper democratic election processes can be established. Your attentiveness to... detail, your steadfast beliefs in right versus wrong, and y-your..." She hestiates, glancing over to the stadium seats again. Did she see Ibuki? No... unlikely as she's not looking anywhere -close- to the ninja. Her delay lasts only a heartbeat, though: "your outspoken nature makes you a perfect candidate for the role." The Empress herself, however, seems to be keeping her distance from Hinata. "Congratulations, Miss Wakaba, I look forward to working with you."
Kazuki leans forward, intent on... something. He looks around in short, furtive glances. Something... is /off/. There's more 'sound' coming from the stage than there should be. Either that, or Honoka is a walking font of chi energy. The young Aikidoka slides to another chair. He knows there's a game afoot, but he doesn't know what the game is, let alone the rules for such a thing.
He looks around. The American looks... down, somehow. And then there's Yuri Sakazaki. Definitely not the right person to approach about this. He is still looking for some answer, but having trouble nailing down the question to begin with.
The new uniform doesn't get much of a reaction from Hinata; she's actually wearing appropriate Taiyo colors, having picked up one of her own spare uniforms to properly represent her school... after all, she hadn't really expected to be called up on stage like this. Regardless, she gives a quick look through the bag and her brow knits as she notices the second uniform.
Whatever distraction the uniform had for her, it's gone the instant that Honoka makes her next announcement, and for a moment she's left in completely stunned silence. This certainly isn't what she was expecting, and it takes a few moments for her to process it all.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Hinata finally speaks up, her voice loud and clear, not threatening, not aggressive; merely matter of fact. "I'm still a minor, and I'm currently attending school. It would be reckless of me to ignore my responsibilities to my community by failing to keep up with my studies."
Yuri feels like something is definitely wrong as Hinata accepts the uniform, but when she politely declines, Yuri grins. She knew that Hinata would know better than to take up Honoka's offer on something like that. Then her glare returns as she stares at Honoka.
This is clearly not what Brett expected at all. But then again, he's kind of getting the idea behind it. It might be assuming bad faith first and foremost, sure, but the thing Brett sees is trying to put their 'spokesperson' under the thumb and blunt off any chance that things might take off past the school group. And that definitely worries Bret.
Unable to keep still at this point, he starts to move...not so much run up to the stage, of course. Just try to slowly inch closer and closer, seat by seat, while everyone's focused on the tense exchange.
Ibuki almost has to stiffle a laugh at the absurdity of such an offer. A highschool student acting as a government official? This woman really does have no idea what she is doing. If there was any doubt in her mind that Honoka might be an unfit leader, which there wasn't, it would have vanished right at this moment. No doubt anyone who sees this broadcast will likely be feeling similar sentiments. Just what exactly did she hope to accomplish with such an obviously ridiculous move?
No matter, this changes nothing. In the span of time that it takes for Hinata to reach the stage and receive her gift three more guards fall to her silent predations, and with their removal a path to her ultimate goal finally becomes available. It is here that Ibuki demonstrates why ninja have been so feared throughout history and also why it is so difficult to stop them.
Reaching into her uniform, she withdraws two handful of small pellets, each no more than the size of a marble. Ibuki stands up, no longer worried about being spotted. Every guard along the left-hand side of the auditorium has been incapacitated by her actions until now and the towering announcer's box blocks her from the view of the others to her right. Drawing her hand back, she flings the orbs through the air and they rain down upon the stage. With a sharp flash and a loud crack, the pellet detonate one by one upon impact, filling the center of the stadium with blinding light and thick clouds of white smoke that billow outwards to engulf the entire podium within the span of a few moments.
Ibuki is not far behind. A single step forward plants her foot on the back of one of the many chairs that line the stadium and she uses it for a springboard to launch herself bodily into the empty air from the very top row of the balcony. Almost as if she were unbound by the concept of gravity, Ibuki floats gentle as a leaf towards her objective, crossing an impossible amount of distance in that single leap. A loud ripping sound can be heard as her kunai digs into the heavy fabric of the leftmost banner. The ninja clings to the hilt of the short knife, riding it down as the propaganda splits asunder underneath her weight until she drops onto the back side of the podium in a light crouch.
Despite the smoke, she knows exactly where to go, her intense concentration laying out the podium's surface in her mind's eye. Ibuki slips through the obscuring fog as quick as an arrow, darting to where Honoka and Hinata were standing only moments before. She sees silhouettes in the mist and as she draws closer they resolve into familiar shapes. Ibuki's hand reaches out from behind, attempting to encircle the Empress' waist as she brings the kunai up towards her neck, appearing with no more noise or warning than a ghost.
Kazuki is on his feet almost as soon as the smoke pellets hit the floor. "LOOK OUT!" he yells without thinking, moving to step over chairs. He's not even sure who he is trying to warn, but he knows for certain that this does not end well for anyone involved. However, a quick gust of wind, coupled with the ventilation in the building should clear the smoke out fairly quickly.
So uncertain of his place in this situation, of what he should be doing, that his normally intuitive ability to work chi... falters. Nothing happens. Kazuki blinks in confusion at the outstrecthed arm.
"So... you decline." The Empress's eyes widen, and she nods slowly. "... Okay, okay... I'm a bit saddened by that, but I -do- hope you'll continue to h-hold my feet to the fire, you know! This... " She cuts herself off in the midst of her hesitant reply, composes herself, then continues in a smoother pace. "... This country cannot proceed without your continued vigilance, and while I am sad, and I'm sure the country is sad as well, your school studies should indeed come first." She glances down pointedly in the direction of wherever Hinata was seated, glancing around at the people there. They seem to be... making faces at her. Such a marked difference from the previous night, where they seemed so willing to listen to reason.
And then there's a rather loud distraction. The ringmaster -- he's still on stage, used to standing for long periods of time without moving much -- and the sound of motion to his side causes him to shrink and cower.
And then, in the flash of an eye, Ibuki is onstage, with a kunai drawn to the Empress's neck.
"I'm afraid... Miss Ninja Assassin... that our Empress is in another castle." The person with the knife to her neck can be so cocky? Well... the reason for keeping her distance from Hinata now becomes perfectly clear.
Makeup can hide a whole lot. It can't hide height, figure, or form -- and that's why Honoka made sure to pick someone about as close to her in all of the above as possible. And it can't hide the face -- Reika's lips are a little less full, her eyes a little narrower, and her mannerisms... different.
And it can't hide her speech. That's why Honoka's almost-doppleganger had to be someone who's been exposed to the latent effects of her psychic energy for nearly eight years, and one of her closest friends, leaving her perfectly open to suggestion... and control, when need be.
"So you want to kill me now?" speaks Reika. Or not-Reika, as the case may be.
"The lengths to which you'll go to make a point." Honoka's voice continues over the PA system, even though Reika's been pulled away from the mic. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Reika is a dear friend of mine, but you should have seen how nervous you've made her. I'm so glad you haven't decided to kill her. That would make you... murderers."
The flash of smoke, the sudden confusion it brings as she's left unable to see, Hinata is a bit thrown off by it all for a moment... which isn't to say that she has no understanding of what's going on. There have been a lot of strange ninja shennanigans going on around the Southtown schools while Hinata was attending. The moment she figures out what's happening, she begins to rush over toward the presumed Honoka in a defensive stance and yells, "Look out!"
As the situation starts to come into view, it gets even more strange... A body double. Hinata also knows a lot about both body doubles and mind control. Southtown has some strange activity in its schools.
Regardless, Hinata has a rather strong sense of ideals, and in a situation like this its not too difficult to figure out what her priority is: keep people from being killed, whoever they are. "What do you think you're doing?! Drop your weapon right now! Going around killing people isn't going to solve anything, it's just going to make things worse! Murder is what caused all these problems to begin with!" If anyone tried to sell it as if Hinata was involved in an assassination plot, they'd also have to sell the fact that she's a world class actor, because the determination in her tone and posture is undeniable. "If you don't put your weapons away... you'll have to go through me."
Oh dear. Things just kind of got all the more complicated it seems like. The smokebomb worried him, even if the smoke was quickly blown away by someone who he couldn't place. But that's the least of Brett's worries, as he pushes himself up from his seat, and makes his move toward the stage as well. "Wait!!" he shouts.
But he's not exactly the fastest of foot without his skates, so by the time he even gets close, Honoka is already at kunai point. Or...well, someone posing as her.
"Oh no..." Looking around, and hearing the PA come alive without 'Honoka' speaking, Brett starts to sweat a little. "...she's played us," he says to himself, muttering to himself. And now things look just plain awful. He can't really do anything right now but let Hinata talk Ibuki down, instead using himself to guard the stage in case someone else decides to be stupid and rush it to make things worse...you know, besides him, anyhow.
Ibuki presses herself up against the Empress, pulling the woman into a tight grip as she feels her arm make contact with the soft fabric of her robes. However, before she can even issue a demand to surrender the hostage begins to speak and that sinking feeling in her gut becomes disturbingly clear.
This /was/ a trap - just not the kind that she had suspected. The ninja's eyes narrow dangerously at this revelation but she doesn't release her grip on 'Honoka'. The blade at her throat remains firmly in place and it isn't difficult to tell that it is sharp enough to do the job if she tries to fidget too much. Nevertheless, Ibuki has no intention of killing anyone, but this situation just got a whole lot messier.
"Don't make this worse than it already is," she mutters at Hinata. Turning to face the crowd, Reika still firmly under her control, Ibuki casts her gaze out over the stadium. The real Honoka could be anywhere; hell, she might not even be in the stadium. Even so, she can obviously see what is going on.
"With friends like you, lady, I don't think anyone would need any enemies. You seem quite willing to sacrifice your 'dear friend' to try and paint your opponents as mindless killers. The lengths you'll go to make a point, huh?"
Kazuki makes his way towards Hinata, carefully, putting the problem with his apparent chi issues aside for the moment. He stands behind Hinata and to her left. "Excuse me," he says in the most polite language he can manage, in a low, almost whisper. Yes, he is in fact using Keigo. "I think that there may be something you are unaware of."
He points under the stage, "They aren't alone up there."
"Fine, fine. I'll grant you that, Miss Ninja Assassin. However..." Honoka, the true Empress of the Republic of Ezo, appears from below the stage as well as six of her blue-coated guards, on the side opposite from Kazuki and Brett, and a fair distance away from the reporters who are still trying to figure out what the heck is going on here. Her voice carries -- and besides, she's still got a live line to the PA system, evidenced by the headset she wears as she strides towards the audience, alleviating their confusion somewhat. "You want real talk? Let's have some real talk. You've got a hostage. -You- played the violence card. Even though... Miss Wakaba shows that my selection of her was indeed correct, even though she has declined my offer. -That- does not affect my choices."
She points up at the stage, at Reika. "What does... is what you do with Reika. Is she a bartering chip now? I'm already fully preparing to stand down. I'm fully prepared to =legitimately invite members of your resistance movement= into my Cabinet. And this is how you treat us -- with attempted assassination of a sitting head of state and =continued= holding of a hostage. Let's face it, sweetie, any chance you held of holding higher ground just went right out the window."
Honoka leaps up to the stage level, flinging her arms wide. "So. What. Do. You. Want? If I step away, who will replace me? Everyone's =dead=."
Okay, nothing is getting any simpler now, and Hinata's sort of trapped in the middle between two situations that aren't going very well in her favor. Regardless of anything happening with Honoka, her primary goal is to get the hostage out of play.
"Please... just, let her go, it's only going to make matters worse."
She turns to look back toward Honoka as well, fully trying to defuse the situation from both angles as best she can. "And does playing around with people's lives really make any of this better? If all of this is a big show, a farce to draw out an assassin, how can we trust you to fulfill any of your other promises here? They weren't even said by you, but an imposter."
Ibuki's brow furrows deeply; even behind mask of cloth it is impossible not to see the anger in her face. However, she does not scream or shout, despite the urge to do so. She is calm, collected, and in control of herself, even if that is the only thing that she has control over right at this moment. Her carefully executed plan to capture the Empress has failed. Now, she just needs to figure out where to go with this new scenario that has presented itself.
Fortunately, Honoka is making it pretty easy to argue against her. She must not have taken any debate classes in school. "And who do you think is responsible for that?" Ibuki shakes her head. "Your argument seems to be entirely centered around trying to deflect the fact that you were the one who murdered hundreds of people to get what you wanted. You are the one filling the street with foreign soldiers, mercenaries with barely more discipline than rowdy gangsters."
Ibuki meaningfully casts her gaze at Honoka's guards. If they had any pride as soldiers they'd be embarrassed by how easily she took down their comrades. Her attention doesn't wander for long though, her gaze returning to lock with Honoka's. "You also seem to be forgetting that your position of authority is a sham. You have no Cabinet to invite anyone into, nor the authority to delegate positions of power. You were not elected, no one asked for your so-called aid. You are an imposter, a usurper, and a mass-murderer. Nothing you have to offer beyond unconditional surrender is worthy to grace the honor of the Japan."
Honoka does find herself ill-equipped to debate with someone she can't just... force into doing whatever she wants. Deflection... kind of her thing. Every one of Ibuki's points cuts straight to the heart of the matter... and it actually shows upon Honoka's painted face.
"You... would say that," she states, never once letting her eyes drop from Ibuki. Silence hangs in the air, as she considers her next words carefully. "You're... absolutely right, even."
She draws in her breath, folding her arms before her, hands never really sticking into her voluminous sleeves. "I made a deal, though. A mistake." Thinking pensively for a moment, she brushes her left side. "Several mistakes. I let people down." She glances over to Hinata, at this point. "It was my voice on the PA. I made promises I couldn't keep. I want this land clear. But I don't have any power over what he decides now." She turns back to Ibuki. "I should probably surrender. But I'm not Japanese. I'm Ainu. And your people took my future away a hundred and fifty years ago. I've =done= what I wanted to do."
She looks to Reika. "I'm sorry for putting you through this."
And she walks downstage, looking down to Brett and Kazuki -- and whichever else of the resistance had been seated nearby. "I'm even more sorry for the people I've hurt... trying to make things right." She looks right at Brett. And looks to Kazuki, a bit confused as to why he's here, but she lets that go. "You were all trying to save people, and that's to be commended."
She turns slowly, back to Ibuki. "But I'm not done here yet. The world? It's still ending. Do you really want Japan to be headless as devastation rages in the heart of our country? Do you really think my stepping away will make this transition -easier?-"
Kazuki is following the wind, as it were. He's not really sure what he's doing here at this point. He shoves his hands into his pockets, leaning towards the stage in the closest thing to a beligerent stance as one is likely to see from the Aikidoka. Perhaps the Gedo High surroundings are starting to rub off on him. He doesn't say anything, waiting to see how this plays before he makes his move.
The entire situation has rather suddenly changed, but it's actually quite a bit easier to deal with now that there's a lot less obfuscation on the matter. Hinata waits, watches as things begin to change and come into a new perspective. For some people, this would be quite a lot of work to determine their new position on the matter, but, luckily for Hinata, nothing really changes. She knows where she stands.
"You decided, on your own, that the best decision was to murder innocent people. You decided the best option was to lie to people. You attempted to stop any resistance against you with armed thugs. All of these things were mistakes."
Hinata steps forward on the stage, crossing a few steps closer to Honoka. "You have yet to do anything that suggests you're a competent leader; just someone who knows how to talk to people and confuse them. Someone who acts without thinking things through... removing you from office might make matters more chaotic, but..." She plants her hands on her hips, "Is that really any worse than having an incompetent leader at the helm? Having a leader too self-centered to realize that working with a well known terrorist to achieve her goals..."
Hinata waves a hand out at Honoka as she continues. "If you know that there's a threat to the world, then why didn't you try to pull together trustworthy people to fight against it?! If you'd come to us with a warning that the world was in danger, then we wouldn't have been here fighting you, we would be working WITH you!"
There's a pause as Hinata takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a disappointed sigh. "All you've proven is that you're short-sighted and so focused on the crimes of the past that you don't have any hope of leading us into a dangerous future."
...well, that happened. Brett looked tense, almost expecting guards to come pouring out or something to try and take them down. And when Honoka and the guards emerged from the other side of the stage, he found himself even more worried. And then....then...
The 'Empress' conceded? That definitely wasn't expected. "Um...." He looks over toward Honoka as she finally seems to be resigned to what she has to admit. Looking back to HInata, he lets her speak her peace first. He then looks back to the 'Empress' herself. "...um....about that end of the world thing. I might be able to give you guys something on that. But on a condition?" He untenses, turning himself fully toward Honoka. "You help reign in that Rolento guy. Then you guys can talk about figuring out how to run things if any of us survive this all, because honestly, I still don't even know the ins and outs of how things work here to help there at all."
The fact that her words hit home isn't surprising to the ninja; she's actually pretty good at debate. That Honoka admits the truth behind her accusations, however, is. Most people who have something to lose or to hide resist the truth because that is the one thing that can unequivocally bring their delusions crashing down around them.
It could just be another ruse though. Ibuki's scowl doesn't let up as the 'Empress' paces about. She's already proven to be manipulative and deceitful; the kind of person who would kill dozens with a cowardly attack while hiding behind the excuse that it was justice.
Hinata speaks up now, voicing the thoughts of those who have had to deal with the aftermath of the ill-fated coup. There is no leadership here. Nothing has changed for the better since this woman forced herself into a position of power. Audacity, hatred, and delusions of grandeur combined into a singular mission of revenge; that is the legacy that she has pushed onto the country of Japan. Whatever crimes may have been committed against her people in the past, nothing justifies what she has done.
Even now, she tries to soothe and placate, to swing people to her side through careful praise and weak appeals to a collective sense of fear that the future might hold something worse than her. Despite her words, she does not appear remorseful. All that comes to Ibuki's ears are pitiful attempts to justify the actions of a sociopath.
Ibuki slowly closes her eyes. A scene from her past plays out in her mind, the words of her masters floating across her consciousness as if reaching out from the past to deliver their wisdom.
'There will be a time when you must make a decision that you will not want to make. That your actions as a ninja will be responsible for more than your own fate. When that time comes, you must not hesistate to do what must be done.'
A sudden sense of overwhelming sadness grips the girl as she recalls those words. Their meaning had been elusive and ephemeral to her until now. Always, she had been presented with a way out, a path that allowed her to cling to her ideals. No such path exists here. If she moved to capture Honoka then she would call upon her guards to intervene. People would be hurt, perhaps killed. She would be responsible for that. Unacceptable.
Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Ibuki slowly opens her eyes and looks at Honoka. Even now she refuses to step down, refuses to admit that this chaos which she claims to be a shield against is a beast of her own making. The question lingers in the air: 'would it be easier if I were out of the way?'
"Yes."
The blade at Reika's throat pulls away and for a moment it looks as if the ninja intends to let her go. However, instead of stepping back, Ibuki's hand lifts into the air. There is a sharp whistle as she flicks her wrist and the kunai disappears. A flash of dull metal darts through the air, blitzing through the space between the two women in the blink of an eye. A dull thud as it strikes its target with unerring accuracy.
Honoka looks down to the kunai embedded perfectly in her chest. For all the colors she could have put on her royal robe... she'd never thought to put red there. She sinks to her knees, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She raises one solitary finger. "No one listened to me, Hinata. Not a one."
Reika breathes suddenly, released from Ibuki's hold. She knew she had to remain still... she knew she had to keep her poise for any measure. But now... seeing her closest friend -- even that was only partially due her own volition -- sink to the stage, it's something she feels it necessary to do as well. To say nothing of any sort of mental control.
Honoka's blue-suited guards stumble around for a moment, as if lost in a daze. Americans, from US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
The ineffectual guards... members of the circus. The ringmaster... a partially willing pawn.
All of them, under some sort of spell... and even with the residual effect of Honoka's subtle psychic manipulation, they too, mourn.
The Second Republic of Ezo managed to have even less life than the first.
When the weapon is thrown and hits its mark, Hinata is only left in shock for a moment before the innate drive to be involved, to not be the one standing around while things go bad, kicks in. The school girl rushes to the now fallen Empress without thought.
"Get a doctor!" The cry fills the silence of a crowd too stunned by events to react yet; insistent, demanding.
All the while Hinata moves to check to see whether or not the only slightly older girl is even alive. She doesn't dare touch the kunai still sticking out of her chest, knowing at least from her time in various fights that pulling the blade out now might well just make the blood flow even more.
"You were wrong, that doesn't mean you need to let yourself die... more people dying doesn't help save the world."
Kazuki hops onto the stage to face down Ibuki, staring into the kunoichi's eyes with a frown. Planting his feet firmly to face Ibuki down. "What now," he asks levelly. "You don't wash blood away with more blood."
Brett Neuer is not the fastest skater on the ice. That was never his forte after all. But even if he was, he's not sure he would've been prepared for that, one moment talking to Honoka and trying to lay down a condition of some sort, and then suddenly seeing her fall to the ground with a knife in her chest. Eyes widen as what happened finally hits him.
Turning to Ibuki, he shouts, rather hysterically, "What did you do that for?!" before running off to find a phone. "Phone, please! Someone has to have a phone, a radio, something!" he shouts as he tries to dress the guards down and see who might have SOMETHING that'd let them communicate to a a doctor.
Ibuki stares at the ground, unmoving from her spot on the stage. The reaction is much as she'd expected. She can't blame them. In their place, she would probably be doing the same thing. But the time for talk was over. They weren't getting anywhere.
"I... I did what had to be done."
The tone of her voice does not carry much confidence in the words she speaks. Even now, she wonders if they are true. No, regret will change nothing at this point. The ninja lifts her gaze and inhales, arms crossing over her chest. She still looks upset but the moment of self-doubt is gone.
"There was little choice. This woman had no intention of giving up. I understand that a peaceful solution would have been ideal but... that wasn't going to happen. If I had attempted to subdue her then there would have been bloodshed. If I had allowed her to escape then there would have been more pointless fighting for control. More soldiers would have died."
She shakes her head, voice growing sterner. "No, this was the best option."
Kazuki turns away from Ibuki, closing his eyes with grief. He walks over to Honoka, crouching by her head. He looks upon the girl sadly before looking at Hinata, shaking his head slowly as if to say it's too late.
"Her song is fading," he murmurs before he turns to face Honoka, "Do you have any last words?"
Sakura and Blanka did change Honoka's mind, in the Osaka Convention Center. She never really thought about the death toll at that point, the true ramifications of her actions. Hundreds had died in the Kyoto fire -- she'd thought that to be negligence on -their- parts for not getting out of the way of a fire. But once the Emperor's throat was slit by El Gado's knife... there was no turning back.
Honoka tried. Even before the fires started, she'd made an impassioned plea to the Diet to push through the measures which ultimately got pushed through -after- the Emperor's death. Under duress. Forced... in ways Honoka never wanted to use.
None of that matters now, though. Honoka made the choices, as Hinata and Ibuki both stated.
Honoka looks up. Bites back tears. Sees Hinata fighting for her, yelling at Ibuki. Hears Brett shouting, then running off. These same people she'd been fighting... against? And hears Ibuki... stating the cold, analytical tone of someone who correctly saw the true threat to the nation, and acted on it.
She shakes her head to the stranger. Forging a slight smile. The one who knows what's happening, and knows there's no turning back for her now.
She can't speak. But she does look towards Reika, who's currently bawling her eyes out.
"S-she said goodbye. And wishes things... could have worked out... better."
The ringmaster kneels down beside Reika, holding her tight. No more words will come.
This isn't what the Resistance was about... An assassination is the cause of so much of this, and it just ends the same way. Tears start to form in Hinata's eyes as the inevitable comes to pass. There was another way, deep inside she's positive of that, but now there's no way to prove it. Death is final...
But she has her ideals, and she knows what needs to be done. The Taiyo girl rises up from her position next to the fallen empress, not bothering to clean her cheeks as she aims one accusing finger directly at Ibuki, her eyebrows knitting into a furious frown.
"Surrender... right now. We got into this whole fight because someone thought they could get away with murder, and I won't turn my back and just let you run off without justice being done!" She begins to step closer to the ninja, barely blinking, new tears continuing to fall. "You understood that what she did was wrong... now just let this end and don't try to run away or fight."
Meanwhile, Brett finally managed to get a phone from one of the shocked guards, hurriedly dialing the emergency number (after remembering it's 119 in Japan, not 911). "Just...don't remove the blade! Someone put pressure on the wound!" he immediately says to see if he can get in contact with SOMEONE. He knows enough basic first aid to say that, but past that...he has no idea how bad it is, outside of how bad it looks at first glance.
Still, he has to have some kind of optimsim here...right? It's a quickly fading hope, but....
Kazuki gently reaches forward and closes Honoka's eyes before standing up and walking over to Brett. He stands in front of the larger man, looking him directly in the eyes. "She's dead," he says with uncharacteristic bluntness. He heard Americans go in for that kind of language somewhere before. "Her so-... there isn't... I can't hear her chi flow anymore. She's gone."
He turns away from Brett to regard Ibuki and Hinata. He wasn't Resistance. He didn't really have a stake in this confrontation, but he wasn't about to allow it to escalate too far.
Ibuki's hard gaze softens in the face of the accusatory glares aimed her way. She knew this would happen. These kids with their ideals still intact can't understand why things had to end like this. All they can see is another death, another crime. She can't pretend like they're completely wrong; but nor can she allow herself to submit to their justice. Japan is still in peril. The -world- is still in peril. She has obligations to her clan, duties to fulfill.
"I'm sorry, Wakaba-san," Ibuki says, shaking her head. "There was no other choice. One day, you might understand why I did what I did. I hope you'll be able to forgive me then. But I can't afford to turn myself in. There is too much left to do. I have promises to keep."
Ibuki's hand darts towards the ground and another of the small marble-like spheres explodes with a flash and a burst of smoke. The cloud created by the single smoke bomb dissipates within a few seconds but that is all the time a ninja needs.
As soon as Hinata sees Ibuki about to move, she goes charging forward, nearly reaching the ninja before the smoke bomb hits the ground. It certainly helps that some of Hinata's best friends are ninjas, and after the entrance, a smoke bomb is a lot more predictable.
Despite all the smoke, Hinata's surprisingly quick to plow through to the other side, knowing full well that immediately leaping up would make the ninja a target. The schoolgirl takes quick glances while moving until she locks eyes on the ninja girl and keeps on after her.
"I'm not going to just give up!"
Being told that Honoka's already dead quickly deflates Brett, not that the eternal dialtone helps at all. Considering all that's going on, how much is on the plate everywhere, it's no surprise. Beeping the phone off and handing it back to the guard, Brett sighs and slumps down, looking quite boneless at this point. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he finds himself speechless.
At least until HInata's in motion, making a move after Ibuki. "Wait! HInata!!" he shouts, trying to call the girl back to no avail. SLumping back down, he simply holds his head in one hand. "How did this all go wrong?"
Kazuki is moving as soon as Ibuki's hand moves. The smoke cloud obscures vision pretty well, but it's pretty obvious that Kazuki's not relying on his eyes. The Aikidoka's eyes are closed as he comes out of the smoke cloud, listening for Ibuki's song. But like the girl, it's a quiet song. Kazuki might have some advantages in some situations, but the ninja was ready, and far faster than the Gedo student.
He looks around, trying to listen, to no avail. He scowls, biting back a curse before sliding his headphones. Music can be heard faintly from them as the Aikidoka simply starts to stalk towards the door. There's nothing much here for him anymore unless someone stops him.
Ibuki turns to run the moment the pellet hits the ground, waiting until the bright flash of its explosion obscures her body before picking her path. Hinata plows through the smoke but the ninja is already a good ways ahead of her by the time she gets clear of the fog; the speed of a ninja is nothing to be trifled with. It won't be long before she reaches the bottom row of seats, at which point she'll have a clear advantage in acrobatics and manuevering.
Hearing the voice behind her, Ibuki turns and frowns, pausing only long enough to shake her head at the pursuing schoolgirl. "Sorry, Hinata."
She reaches for the interior pockets of her dogi out of habit but hesistates. Throwing out a bunch of caltrops might injure the girl and that's the last thing she wants right now. She'll just have to outrun her the old fashioned way. Ibuki turns and takes off at a run again, practically flying across the stadium astroturf.
Hinata isn't a ninja. It's not really a controversial fact to let that be known. She is, however, a seemingly boundless source of energy and one of the quickest people in all of Taiyo High. What's more, in her current, furious state, she's got that extra push that keeps her moving at a surprising blur.
The ninja has a headstart, but Hinata has a clear line of sight to her for the time being, and despite the gap between them, at the pace they're running it's only going it would only take a stumble or two to throw the chase in either girl's favor.
It's around the time after Hinata and Ibuki have disappeared on a great chase that there's some commotion from the stands, having partially cleared out after the initlal craziness surrounding the stage, leaving only the journalists press ganged (no pun intended) into covering the speech. It starts with one, but soon enough, there's a cacophany of reporters shouting into phones, scrambling about like chickens with their heads cut off.
It could easily be interpreted as trying to break the story about Honoka's death, so early into the Republic of Ezo's brief life. But soon enough, there seems to be some kind of genuine panic. Finally, one of the reporters rushes the stage. "Rolento just set off a timer for the nukes aimed at Japan!"
Eyes widening, Brett jumps up to his feet. "Wait, what?!" he shouts, quickly getting the reporter to repeat himself. "HOw long?!" "It was 24 hours from the start of the video and that was hours ago."
A sinking feeling in Brett's gut solidifies. "...HINATA! HINATA!!" he shouts, trying to get the Taiyo girl to come back, even though he knows it's fruitless. Slumping back down, Brett puts a hand to his head. "...what the hell do we do now?"
If it were merely a race across an open stretch then Hinata might have a chance. Even now, Ibuki can feel the girl's emotions washing over her, granting her speed. All it would take is a moment of slowness, a mis-timed step and the girl would be on her. But a ninja does not stumble, nor do they play fair.
Planting her foot on the ground, Ibuki launches herself into a monumental arc through the air. Several more smoke pellets hit the ground behind her as she flies, light as bird, her body twisting completely upside-down. The ninja lifts her head to look down towards the schoolgirl, completely at ease with the unnatural position as she sails backwards, her arms flicking outwards to barrage Hinata with a seemingly endless supply of the small orbs.
More shouts come from behind her, but Hinata's mind is locked in the chase now. On more natural terrain, there's every good chance she could slip and fall, but every thrust of her feet catches firm on the astroturf, launching her forward on the hunt.
As soon as she sees Ibuki launch into the air, the younger girl is already making plans to follow. At a time like this the smoke bomb doesn't do anything, as the girl suddenly comes flying up after Ibuki, there's suddenly a change. The next smoke bomb hits, and a glow fills the cloud, soon quite obvious as Hinata propels herself further into the air with legs sheathed in flaiming chi, spinning around in wide, rising kicks, her arc still aimed right at the ninja girl. "YAAAAAAAAAA!"
Just as she expected, Hinata leaps after her, so intent on catching up that she doesn't stop to think about the person she is chasing. Ibuki's mask shifts slightly as she smiles, a faint glimmer of amusement twinkling in her eyes. If this were a normal contest or a friendly sparring match she might say something witty or clever but with circumstances such as they are she just apologizes again.
"Sorry, Hinata, not this time."
Snapping her legs apart, Ibuki twists like a cat as the last moment as the flaming spin-kicks propel the schoolgirl into range. Her cloth-wrapped feet plant firmly against Hinata's head and she uses the small girl as a springboard, leaping even higher into the air.
With that little bit extra height, Ibuki clears the lowest of the balconies and alights upon the metal railing. She turns long enough to glance down one final time but then she is gone, vanishing into the shadows and hallways that fill the stadium's interior.
And with the close up view of Ibuki's foot, Hinata is suddenly chaning direction... and very quickly at that. There isn't even time to realize what's happening before the girl goes slamming down into the stadium's field with enough force to leave a small crater, tearing up some of the artificial turf.
When she's finally able to pull herself up onto her knees, Taiyo High sunshine girl lets out a furious, broken scream at the sky. "This isn't what we were fighting for!"
Little does she know that this night will only get worse when she returns to her friends...
Log created on 21:05:58 09/27/2014 by Honoka, and last modified on 07:09:05 09/28/2014.