Sakuya Nijou/Route

Chapter 1
Picking up from what happened at the Prologue, Mikoto is protecting the ship with her barrier from the ship attacker, Natsuhiko. He points his gun at Mikoto and she creates a barrier which barely protected her from his gunshot. Natsuhiko states that abilities are dependent on the user’s mental strength and murmurs that he should’ve kept the barrier ability user (Mikoto) by his side. He then offers her to come with him but she rejects. He corrects his words, saying that it’s not an offer but an order and threatens her that he’ll shoot down the ship if she doesn’t come with him. The ship is attacked again and Natsuhiko warns her that the next shot will be fatal because it’ll be aiming for the core of the ship.

Just then, Sorata arrives and tells Mikoto to run away for safety. Natsuhiko glances at Sorata and questions why a kid is boarding the ship. Mikoto tells Sorata to come to her side and asks him to fill her in with what happened just now. Sorata replies that the second floor is most probably damaged but the others are safe at the first floor. Sorata notices Natsuhiko holding a gun and mentions that the other ship which attacked them is armed with missile-like weapon. Mikoto shoves Sorata behind her and taunts Natsuhiko to fire his missiles if he dares to because she’ll put up a very strong barrier to protect the ship. Before leaving, Natsuhiko states that Mikoto is a pitiful girl who doesn’t even know that she is a disaster. Hearing this, Mikoto rages at Natsuhiko and says that she won’t forgive him. Unfortunately, Natsuhiko’s motive for attacking them out of the blue two weeks ago is unknown. Mikoto asks Sorata for information about the gadgets Natsuhiko owns. Sorata points out his hand, like a gun at Mikoto and says: ‘Bam!’, and explains that the target will die if he/she gets shot by a real gun that shoots bullets.

Mikoto suggests to return to the first floor. At the canteen, Mikoto questions Sakuya why he sent Sorata to her side because she forbade them to follow her earlier. Itsuki says that Sorata shouldn’t have caused any troubles while Sakuya apologizes to Mikoto. Masamune asks Mikoto about the assaulter and she replies that it’s the same person. Kakeru then divides the three teams into two groups, Kakeru’s team and Mikoto’s team to repair the ship and Heishi’s team to check the ship if there’s other damaged places. Mikoto and company arrive at the second floor and they head to the damaged area. Kakeru repairs the damaged area by closing the hole with vines using his ability. After that, Kakeru dismisses the team.

Mikoto’s team remains at the second floor to clean up the remaining mess. Itsuki is ranting for doing hard work but Sakuya tells him to do his part or the place won’t return to its former state. Itsuki says that Mikoto should also be ranting about it, but she’s doing it seriously. Itsuki suggests Mikoto not to overwork herself because he prefers gentle, weak girls. He tells her to leave the big rocks to the men but she says that she can carry those too. Sakuya is worried about Mikoto and suggests her to wear gloves to prevent her hand from getting bruises. Mikoto declines but Sakuya walks closer and grabs her hand. Itsuki jumps into the ‘fun’ and slips his hand around her waist, which of course surprised Mikoto. He starts to tickle Mikoto to have her put down the rock she’s carrying. Itsuki mentions that he prefers Mikoto to have some fat at her tummy rather than some manly muscles which gains him a glare from Sakuya. Mikoto finally budges and accepts Sakuya’s suggestion to wear gloves.

When Mikoto is walking down the stairs, she notices Kakeru’s team harvesting some peaches. She recalls what her grandfather told her: to put her ability into good use for the countries and the peoples’ sake. Suddenly, she hears a loud scream and water splashing noises. She sees Kakeru and Masamune falling into the pond along with the strange girl and Senri jumping in shortly. Mikoto rushes over to check them but she meets with Nanami and her teammates instead. Mikoto asks Nanami to do something about it and Nanami tells her teammates to go ahead and finish their task first. Before going to stop Kakeru and company, Nanami asks Mikoto if she’s suspicious about anything regarding the damaged second floor.

Mikoto returns to the second floor. The two guys had finished cleaning up the mess. Mikoto is surprised to see that there’s no pieces of the damaged wall and asks the two guys for their opinions. Itsuki reconfirmed with Mikoto about the strengh of her barriers which should be able to withstand external attacks. Mikoto recalls her hand feeling numb when Natsuhiko shoots her with his gun earlier, but hesitates to spill the truth that she might’ve not protect the ship properly as she’s afraid that it’ll make others worry. Itsuki says that it was probably destroyed from the inside which Mikoto agrees with. Mikoto suggests to discuss it with everyone at the meeting room but Itsuki is against the suggestion. Surprisingly, Sakuya agrees with Itsuki. Itsuki then asks about Kakeru’s opinion, who has been eavesdropping. Kakeru then fills them in with the strange girl’s name – Koharu and decides to tell everyone about the betrayer even though he’s also against it. They then head to the meeting room where the others are waiting.

After explaining all the stuffs to the crew, Mikoto concludes that the betrayer is most probably an offensive-type ability user. Everyone is having doubts but Kakeru says that they should devise a plan to solve the problem. His first plan is to have everyone spit out their personal information, including their abilities. Unfortunately, it’s rejected. So Kakeru proposes his other plan which is to divide everyone into pairs while maintaining their original team. Most of them agreed and Kakeru says that the girls get to choose first. Reasons are:

1) When anything happened, the boys can protect the girls.

2) Chances of the culprit being a man is high.

3) The culprit might be more than one so they need the girls to look after their guys 24/7

Mikoto is against the plan because her team is short of one person since they won’t count in Sorata. Sakuya decides to have Mikoto choose but Mikoto clearly knows that he’s not the betrayer because his ability does not fall in the offensive category. Mikoto isn’t sure about Itsuki but she thinks that he isn’t the betrayer either. She recalls the recent happenings and ponders about the best way to resolve the problems they face, whether to choose and pair up with either of the two guys or devise a better plan.

Chapter 2
Early in the chapter, it was revealed that Mikoto and Sakuya shared a childhood promise. Pairings this time round are Koharu & Kakeru, Senri & Masamune, Nanami & Heishi, Akito & Ron and lastly, Mikoto & Sakuya, so Itsuki is left out. The next morning, Mikoto and Sakuya are browsing the shelves in the library for information about the gadgets Natsuhiko owns and they bump into Sorata. Sorata came to search for information on the current era but all the books in the library were useless. They continue their search and Mikoto spots an old book up on the shelf. She tries to reach out her hand to get the book but she couldn’t, so Sakuya comes over and helps her with the book.

One day, after lunch, Mikoto and Sakuya are going to the rooftop to salvage for wreckage from Natsuhiko’s last assault. At the rooftop, Sakuya asks Mikoto if she remembers one of their childhood memories where they nursed an injured birdie back to health. Mikoto denies it although she remembers and Sakuya traps her into confessing that she does indeed remember. They split up to search for clues and Mikoto finds a big hole at the wall. She walks closer, only to get stopped by Sakuya. He drags her away but she slaps off his hands. Sakuya apologizes and tells her that he keeps their promise properly. The promise that was mentioned earlier in the chapter turns out to be ‘not to fall in love with anyone.' They didn’t find anything and decide to call it a day. Itsuki appears, mentioning that they look uneasy together and offers Mikoto to replace Sakuya as her partner. He inches closer and reaches out his hand but Sakuya stops Mikoto from replying to Itsuki. Sakuya says that he won’t give Mikoto to anyone else, not even Itsuki. Surprised, Mikoto slaps off Sakuya’s hand and runs away. He chases after Mikoto and apologizes for his actions. After he left, Koharu passes by and invites Mikoto to eat some peach pies tomorrow.

The next day, the three girls are having tea time at the canteen. Koharu and Nanami mentions that Sakuya feels kind and gentle when he’s around Mikoto and Koharu states that Sakuya and Mikoto are very close. Mikoto denies it and offers to exchange partners if they want to partner up with Sakuya. Heishi charges in, pleading Nanami not to do it and Kakeru enters, saying that he’s okay with his current partner. Sakuya walks in and Kakeru whispers to Mikoto that nobody would want to pair up with one who doesn’t care about how the others feel. The two girls left with their respective partners while Mikoto stays back to clean up. Mikoto asks him if he’s fine with not being able to fall in love and Sakuya says that it’s because she won’t let him love her, so he’s fine with the current situation. Mikoto thought that she could protect him with her ability but everything changed when Sakuya got his ability. Just then, Mikoto faints, probably due to excessive intake of sweets, namely, peach pies.

Chapter 3
Mikoto wakes up and sees Sakuya by her side. He tells her that the reason she fainted might be due to food poisoning. She gets worried about the girls and Sakuya scolds her for worrying about the others even though she’s the one who fainted earlier. Mikoto apologizes and Sakuya stares in disbelief at Mikoto because he doesn’t believe that Mikoto would apologize honestly. Just then, the two girls come to check up on her. Mikoto assures them that she is fine and tells them not to worry about her. Before leaving, Koharu gives Mikoto some confeito. Mikoto then apologizes for letting Sakuya worry about her and he says that he is getting goosebumps from Mikoto being honest all of a sudden. Sakuya takes the confeito from her as an apology instead. Mikoto demands him to return them but he says that he needs some sugar and exits her room.

The next morning, she spots Sakuya and asks him to return the confeito. He avoids the topic and tells her to return to her room to eat the breakfast he is bringing for her. Back at her room, Sakuya is trying to feed her but she doesn’t want to. He sends the spoonful of porridge into his own mouth and assures her that it’s safe to eat. He promises her that he’ll return the confeito if she finishes it. She starts to eat the porridge herself and tells him to keep his promise. He stares at her and says that he actually brought another spoon with him. Embarrassed, she drops her spoon and shouts at him for not telling her earlier. Mikoto snatches the spoon from him and asks him why is he teasing her. Instead of answering her, Sakuya questions her if she realizes the reason behind his actions. She looks at him blankly and he brushes it off as a secret. Mikoto gets angry and sulks while continuing to eat her breakfast.

After finishing her breakfast, Mikoto decides to continue their culprit search and asks him to return the confeito. He ignores her and heads to the rooftop. She then asks him for the reason behind not returning the confeito. Sakuya stays silent for a moment and asks her if she remembers the three statues of the monkeys at a shrine they went to in the past. He decides not to ask any further because one of the monkeys represents 'hear no evil.' At the rooftop, Sakuya explains that the future is linked by numerous cogwheels. Small cogwheels link together to move a big cogwheel. He says that the confeito is one of the small cogwheels and reminds her that he can see the future with his ability. Sakuya takes out the confeito and scatters them. He then confesses that he had always wished for one thing to come true but Mikoto says that she won’t wish nor pray, instead she’ll work hard even if his future doesn’t change. Sakuya knows that she hasn’t given up on the future and murmurs that his wish might get harder to come true. Mikoto then suggests to patrol the third floor together.

They are patrolling the third floor when suddenly, they hear a gunshot and a tree falls down. Mikoto tries to put up a barrier but she fails to do so. Sakuya rushes over to protect her, injuring himself in the process. Heishi, Masamune, Akito and Kakeru rush over to check and spot both of them, injured. Mikoto looks at the bleeding Sakuya. Thinking that it’s her fault he got injured, she runs away even though Sakuya tries to stop her. As she runs, she recalls her past with Sakuya. She trips down and got knocked unconscious by a man.

Chapter 4
Mikoto wakes up and finds herself tied up in a dark place. Suddenly, she hears Sakuya calling out for her and he managed to find her. Sakuya apologizes for not coming to her immediately and unties her. Mikoto decides to be honest with her feelings and apologizes for causing his injuries. She confesses that she was really scared, thinking that he might be dead. Later, as everyone assembles at the meeting room, Kakeru asks Mikoto to fill in the details about the incident where she got attacked. Ron is curious about the reason why Sakuya knew where Mikoto was. Kakeru is also bugged by it but Mikoto forbids Sakuya from confessing his ability. Sakuya thanks Mikoto for covering him but he decides to tell everyone about it. Itsuki jokes that the reason Sakuya was able to know where she is might be due to the power of love. Sakuya admits it and says that his ability is to see the future.

Kakeru tries to dig more information but Koharu glared at him and Nanami suggests Mikoto to leave the meeting room with them. Later, Heishi brings them some ohagi and asks the girls to forgive the guys. Mikoto tries to help ease the situation but Nanami and Koharu are way too mad at their partners and apologize for not helping Mikoto during the meeting. Mikoto recalls her conversation with Sakuya earlier: Mikoto asks Sakuya not to say things like ‘the power of love’ in front of everyone again but Sakuya doesn’t want to, which surprised her. Back to the present, Itsuki stops by and offers to help them. He takes out a paper, an Amidakuji and tells them to make their choices. After they finished choosing, Itsuki tells them to look forward to the results which will be announced tonight.

That night, the girls wake up in the dream world, all dressed up. Neko Itsuki stops by and Mikoto tries to beat the crap out of him but Koharu stops her. Nanami managed to tame him and have him spit out the way for the girls to return to the real world. He tells them to search for the person most important to them and runs away. Since Nanami (Red Riding Hood) and Mikoto (Cinderella) doesn’t know about their story, Koharu (Snow White) tries to explain it to them. Unfortunately, they comprehend it wrongly, but before Koharu can correct them, the girls has already depart into their dream world. In Cinderella’s world, Mikoto spots Itsuki and he says that he’ll get her to become more honest with her feelings. A white light flashes and she sees Sakuya, dressed up like a prince, standing in front of her. Sakuya carries her ‘Princess Style’ and tells her to only think of him, not anybody else. Mikoto gets all flustered and asks him to stop it because Sakuya will keep his childhood promise. Sakuya wants her to stop the promise crap and confesses that she is his happiness. He won’t let any other guy touch her because she is his. Mikoto pleads him to stop but he doesn’t want to and tries to kiss her. Mikoto closes her eyes. She recalls the future Sakuya told her during the past, that he’ll die to protect the girl he loves. She pushes him away and runs away from him, dropping her glass slippers. She asks herself if she loves Sakuya and recalls the past again, she then screams out ‘N… NOOOOOO!!!!!!!’ in pain.

Chapter 5
The chapter starts with a flashback of their past. They were nursing an injured bird and Mikoto told Sakuya that the bird will return to the sky once it recovers but he thinks that the world outside is dangerous. Sakuya was poor in health and he couldn’t go outdoors. Mikoto was forbidden from visiting him either, but she still sneaked in anyways. Every time she went to visit him, he’d smile happily, which makes her happy too. Unfortunately, everything changed when the bird they nursed died as it returned to the sky. Sakuya cried and got emotionally unstable. He pleaded Mikoto to stay with him in the room forever so that she’ll be safe. His maid found out and asked Mikoto not to come here again because Sakuya cried every time she returned. Realizing that she brought him sadness instead of happiness, she had been avoiding him. One day, he told her that he got an ability to see the future. At first, she thought that he was lying but everything he told her came true and she finally believed him. Without knowing how serious the problem is, he told her that he’ll die protecting the girl he loves in the future. This is why she made him promise her that he will not ever fall in love with anyone.

Back at the dream world, Mikoto stops at the middle of the woods. Itsuki walks towards her and she mistakes him as Sakuya. Mikoto hugs him and confesses that she really loves Sakuya. Just then, the real Sakuya arrives with her glass slippers and he is heartbroken seeing Itsuki embracing Mikoto. The next moment, Mikoto wakes up without any memories of the dream. Later, the girls come to her room to invite her for breakfast. Mikoto persuades them to reconcile with their partners. Speaking of the devil, the guys are walking towards them. Nanami and Koharu listen to Mikoto and reconcile with their respective partners. Sakuya seems to be giving Mikoto the cold shoulder the whole morning and she is feeling uneasy about it.

After finishing their meals, Masamune informs them that they’ll be arriving at their destination shortly. Mikoto finally realizes that she’s going to get separated from Sakuya. Sakuya comes over and asks her if she’s going to continue their search for the culprit but she doesn’t want to. She wants to spend time with him and Sakuya agrees because he was thinking of the same thing. Masamune comes over saying that it’s time for Sakuya to change his bandages. Sakuya says that he wants Mikoto to help him and she follows him back to his room. Back at his room, Sakuya starts to strip off his top and Mikoto gets embarrassed. She decides to ask someone else to change Sakuya’s bandages but he stops her, saying that he only wants her to change his bandages. Sakuya asks her if she’s happy with what happened in the dream world yesterday, is she in love with Itsuki and yearning for him? Mikoto finally remembers what happened in the dream world. Sakuya says that he doesn’t want to see her getting embraced by Itsuki and pushes her down. He says that he shouldn’t tell her about the future in the first place, because if he didn’t, he can die for her sake and she won’t push him away. Sakuya asks her to become his possession and starts to rip her clothes. He regained his senses shortly and apologizes for his doings. He wants to go out and cool his head but Mikoto asks him not to go. Without a word, he gives her his coat and exits the room. After awhile, Mikoto gets out of the room and sees Nanami with Heishi. She runs towards Nanami and hugs her, crying her heart out. At night, the girls are over at Mikoto’s room with Koharu putting Mikoto to sleep. After Mikoto fell asleep, she finds herself waking up in the dream world with Itsuki welcoming her.

Chapter 6
Other than Itsuki, Mikoto also meets Heishi. She demands them to let her return but Itsuki refuses because they have something to talk to her about. Heishi mentions about the future that Sakuya is going to die and asks Mikoto whether the future will change as long as Sakuya doesn’t fall in love with anybody. Mikoto says that the statement was given by Sakuya. It was him who made the promise because he saw her crying for his future. Mikoto feels that it’s her who made Sakuya felt miserable and blames herself. Heishi then tells Mikoto that they’ll figure out a plan to save Sakuya from dying and she finally agrees with Heishi.

Mikoto wakes up and heads downstairs. She apologizes to Nanami and Koharu for making them worried and asks them to help her. Later, Mikoto rushes to find Sakuya. She finally finds him at the rooftop, drenched by the rain. She grabs his hand and tells him to get going before catching a cold but he doesn’t want to. Sakuya says that he wants to clear his thoughts and he’ll apologize to her for his actions earlier at his room. Mikoto doesn’t mind it and hugs Sakuya, surprising him. Mikoto confesses that she cannot accept his death in the future because she wants to live with him. Sakuya hugs her and says that he might have second thoughts: He wants to continue to live.

Later, Heishi gathered the three girls and their respective partners at the dream world to devise a plan to alter Sakuya’s future. Kakeru asks Sakuya to show them the future he saw (because anything can be done in the dream world). The future he saw isn’t suitable for the girls so Itsuki takes Nanami and Koharu away, leaving Mikoto who insists to see it. Sakuya shows them the future he saw. A lot of words surfaced and a gunshot was heard. They figured out that Natsuhiko might be the one who will kill Sakuya with a gun. Sakuya mentions that they’ve heard the gunshot before and Mikoto recalls that they’ve heard it at the third floor, when the tree fell on them. Mikoto then vows that she’ll destroy every guns that exist. Later, as they are exiting the dream world, Sakuya says that he wants to hear the confession from her that was meant for him, not for Itsuki. Mikoto gets flustered and says that she’ll only confess when his future changes.

After that, Mikoto heads to Sakuya’s room. On her way there, she saw Itsuki and Ron suspiciously doing something but she didn’t care much and walked away. At Sakuya’s room, he asks her what she is thinking about. Mikoto is actually thinking about Sakuya but she blushes saying that it has nothing to do with him. Sakuya knows that she was thinking of him and he vows that he won’t die because he wants to live with her. The next morning, they bump into Senri who couldn’t open his luggage because it was locked. Mikoto breaks the padlock by putting up a barrier in it. Mikoto can break off something by expanding her barrier in it as long as she knows its structure. Senri states that if she knew the structure of a human’s body, won’t she explode someone with her barrier? Senri then says that he won’t be her lab rat and Mikoto seems to have a brainstorm alert. Later, they are arriving at their destination. Nanami asks Mikoto to have a look at their destination and she finds it covered with greens.

Chapter 7
After landing, the crew are heading towards the ruined destination. Inside the building, Aion appears. Masamune explains that she is ‘The World’ and informs Aion that someone without an ability has boarded the ship. Although part of Aion’s hard disk’s data had been destroyed by Natsuhiko, Aion can still detect who isn’t an ability user. She points at Itsuki, saying that he doesn’t have an ability, which shocked everyone. Itsuki admits it and decides to wait outside. Back to the main point, Aion tells them the truth.

Aion reveals that she is a cyborg created in 2080. In 2000, the world became a chaos and World War IV happened in 2060. A lot of people were injured, and to protect themselves, even children were armed with guns. To solve the problem, the government devised a plan to ‘Reset’ the world. In year 2080, the world was reset once. It is now year 8075 because the world had been reset thrice. Now, the decision to reset the world is in the crew’s hands. This will be the last reset because Aion is at her limit. To reset the world, all 9 abilities are needed by Aion. Barrier (Mikoto) to protect lives, Fire (Koharu) to destroy everything, Greens(Kakeru) and Water(Senri & Akito) to revive the earth, and lastly, erasing memories (Nanami). When the abilities are returned to Aion, she will do all the hard work to reset the world.

Suddenly, Natsuhiko appears and says that he’ll finish off the ability users to prevent them from resetting the world. Mikoto jumps in and creates a barrier to protect the crew. Sakuya tells Mikoto to wait for a perfect timing to counterattack. Natsuhiko finally runs out of bullets and Mikoto’s barrier dissolves. Mikoto recalls breaking Senri’s luggage padlock with her barrier and decides to do the same on Natsuhiko’s gun. Sakuya supports her and she focuses on exploding the gun with a barrier. Mikoto succeeds and the gun explodes, injuring Natsuhiko in the process. Natsuhiko shouts at Ron, telling him to kill the crew. Ron pulls out two guns but Koharu uses her ability to burn Ron’s guns into a crisp. Ron doesn’t seem to mind and uses the ability he got from Itsuki to put Natsuhiko to sleep. Before Ron leaves, Mikoto asks Ron to return the ability to Aion so that she can reset the world. Ron rejects because he doesn’t want Natsuhiko to wake up. Itsuki then walks in, promising Ron that it won’t happen and Ron returned the ability to Itsuki. In the end, every ability users returned their abilities to Aion and she will reset the world.

Happy End
7 days will be needed for Aion to reset the world. Sakuya asks Mikoto for her plans after everything was settled. He suggests to travel around the world but she rejects. Mikoto only wants Sakuya, she wants to stay by his side. Sakuya smiles from the bottom of his heart and confesses his love for her. Mikoto gets flustered and tells him to stop it but doesn’t want to because he has been holding back all the time. He is happy to live the future with her from now onwards. Tears start to flow out from Mikoto’s eyes and she says that she isn’t used to Sakuya saying ‘I love you.’ Sakuya says that he will confess his love for her frequently and asks her if she wants to stay with him forever. She wants to stay by his side and Sakuya says that he can finally stop holding back. Sakuya asks her if he can go to her room tonight  and Mikoto gets embarrassed. Sakuya mentions that the place feels like a church, a perfect place to confess and they kiss. Mikoto says that she loves Sakuya and Sakuya is really happy to finally hear her confession.

Tragic Love End
In the Bad End, Mikoto fails to protect Sakuya and he was shot. Sakuya recalls his memories with Mikoto, the time with her at the ship and when they were small. Sakuya is happy to be able to protect her. Even though Mikoto will get upset and cry for him, but he knows that Mikoto is strong enough to get over his death. Sakuya thinks that he will be alright, even if he died, he will still smile someday. It’s fine even if she forgets him, because she has precious friends around her. Mikoto is crying while hugging his injured body. Sakuya asks her not to cry because he loves her smile. He wants her to smile and loses his consciousness. Sakuya prays for her happiness. He questions himself why is he unable to give her happiness and dies.