Mei: Yo, uh… Master? You seein’ this shit?

Yui: Don’t call me that. And yeah. She’s there, inside The Bends.  

Mei: She just ran inside like she meant to go here from the start. Y-You think…?

Hotaru: … She’s going to see a band?

Yui: I wish, Hotaru. No, Mei’s right. This is a trap. I figured that out as soon as the clown took off.

Mei: Y-You knew?! And you still brought Hotaru here?!

Yui: I’m going in alone. Mei, you’re backup. Hotaru, stay with Mei. If shit gets too real, run back to the Gym. If you somehow confirm I’m dead, teleport Mei back to the Gym with you.

Hotaru: D-Dead…?

Yui: Yep. This is about as “lion’s den” as it gets.

Mei: N… No! No way you’re doing this alone! What if that crazy fire lady’s in there still?!

Yui: Who, Shiori? Oh, no way she’s not in there. Why d’ya think I’m going in alone?

Mei: What the hell is your plan, even?! That crazy girl nearly took us all out! You think you can take on her AND some firestarting lady on your own?!

Yui: Mei… I need you to just trust me, okay? I don’t have time to explain what’s goin’ on in my head right now. Just, I know in my soul that I gotta go it alone from here. Keep Hotaru safe, and be ready to back my ass up if shit goes south. Got it?

Mei: …Alright. But I’m not waiting more than five minutes.

Yui: Yeah… that was always about as good as it was gonna get with this plan.

Hotaru: Things… always end well when someone goes in alone, don’t they?

Yui: (she flashes a confident smile) Every time! Well… (Yui waves behind her without looking back, walking slowly and cautiously into The Bends)

Once Yui opens the door to what was once a place where she’d be greeted by loud music and excited voices, it is as if she steps into another world. The first thing she notices is an overwhelming, oppressive darkness, darker than even an unlit, windowless space could realistically be. A pungent smell of smoke and sweat digs itself into her nostrils. A clammy musk clings to her skin, enticing her towards the floor like an anchor tied around her neck. This place smells like many things, and none of them good.

A blood red strobe harshly flickers as it cuts Yui’s slow approach into a series of still, scarlet frames. Above her head, the horrendous flashes carve out several dozen haunting silhouettes, their hands tied with barbed wire and hung from chains and meat hooks on the ceiling. They seem to still be alive, or at least some semblance of it, their eyes vacant and their mouths drooling as they gaze down upon the intruder.

Yui: (Yui takes in what she can of the sights, muttering with a sigh) …God damn, Shiori. (Yui then raises her voice and calls out into the encroaching darkness) <Yo! Clown lady!> Shiori, I know you’re in here too! Someone wanna roll out the carpet? Preferably not red, all things considered, but…

Before Yui can finish her sentence, a sudden, mucid hand grasps at her leg, followed by another and another and another, until eventually countless hands are clinging onto Yui’s lower body, trying to drag her to the floor, while a chorus of moaning grows ever and ever louder.

Yui: (Yui sighs, her legs trembling but otherwise, she remains standing) C’mon, y’all. You can do better than this. 

Yet as she looks down at her feet, she realizes this is no mere illusion. Strewn all across the floor are countless writhing young bodies, entangled and entwined with one another, their faces alight with ecstasy as they continue to claw at and climb their way up Yui’s body, inviting her to join their squirming, pulsating unity.

Yui: (Thunder rolls outside, and soon after, a bolt of violet lightning crashes through the roof, avoiding the hostages hung from the ceiling and hitting Yui in the forehead. She drops to a single knee, but the sparks roll through her body, down through every hand and body attached to her) Ggh. C’mon, Sugartits. You’re used to people on their knees, but you can gimme a little bit of nepotism and talk to me face to face, yeah?

Shiori: (a whisper resounds into Yui’s ear) I was wondering when you’d show up, girl scout. 

From the darkness, several arms grab onto Yui’s shoulders and pull her down in a chair. Slouched in a larger sofa opposite, within arm’s reach, is Shiori, wearing little more than a pair of leather trousers and flanked on either side by scantily clad figures cuddling up to her as they giggle in joy, leering at Yui with a lustful gaze. 

Shiori: … Care to join us? 

Yui: (Yui looks around, slightly disoriented from the pull into her chair. Finally, she stares straight into Shiori’s smug face) …Don’t suppose I can say ‘no’ at this point, huh. So… this is your answer for doing ‘whatever the fuck you want’ huh?

Shiori: Today it is. Though some things never get old.

Yui: (Yui closes her eyes for a brief moment and sighs, speaking in an almost sorrowful tone) …Neither of us will, ever again. God damn, Sugartits, what didja wish for, exactly?

Shiori: What I wanna know is what you wished for. Either there’s a memo I didn’t fucking get, or you really did waste the opportunity of a lifetime. You could have had it all. And what did you choose instead? A king-sized pot of lube to shove that stick even further up your ass?

Yui: I’m still me, Shiori. I wouldn’t be, if I drove myself into an eternal life of combat just for like a big ass cake or something. Y’know, you still gotta do the job, right? Unless that’s your grand plan, suicide bomb yourself into some big-ass Witch for us to fight. …Somehow, I don’t think that’s your style though.

Shiori: I ain’t gotta do shit. Fuck if I die when this thing runs outta juice. Let me. At least I’ll have lived. Why do you insist on putting off the inevitable? Day after day after day? You waiting for that reward at the finish line? You’re waiting for the pit girls to give you a kiss and tell you you’ve done well? No one’s gonna thank you for your sacrifice, Arashi. Cause in the end, they’ll all be dead. Fuck eternal life. Why the fuck would anything matter if you’ve got nothing to lose? I gave up my life for my desires. You? You’re giving up your desires for your life. What life, though?

Yui: Man, you’re makin’ a lotta assumptions about me. You really think me or anyone else that damn genie cat ever came across ever thought that far ahead? ‘Cause if they did, not a chance in hell it’d let us make a wish in the first place. I’m a punk, Sugartits. And dyin’ is a rule. Hey, speaking of, y’know how hard you made it in this town for an honest-to-god punk like me? When anarchy is the law and there’s no restrictions, how the fuck am I supposed to rebel? Or does that fall under the umbrella of “not planning that far ahead” and livin’ day by day, or whatever? I was molded into a fighter ‘fore I knew what the world even was. ‘Fore I knew who or what I was. Didn’t have a say in it, but if I didn’t roll with the punches, I wouldn’t be here now. Someday I’ll end up alone. I’m fine with that. Right now, I got shit worth protectin’. Beyond that, I’m ridin’ this life ‘til the wheels fall off. (Yui leans forward just a bit) How’s that? That answer enough for ya?

Shiori: Don’t try to be cute. I’m the cute one in this relationship. And you’re much hotter when you shut the fuck up.

Yui: (She smirks, resting her chin on her fist) Is that a rule, babe? ‘Cause while I’m fine with this foreplay, you an’ I both know that I can’t talk you outta whatever it is you’re doin’ here, and you can’t sell me on this death cult of yours. Man… to think that last time we saw each other, you had a way out. Clean. What happened to that, anyway?

Shiori: It was taken away from me. Like always. Don’t pretend to care. You only used me for your own ends. Just like everyone else. No more. I know what you’re trying to do. (she holds up her hair in bunches, like Yui, and drops her voice an octave to imitate her) “Oh, but Sugartits, you said no rules. Isn’t “no rules” also a rule? Mwa ha ha, owned. My boobs are very intelligent, la-dee-dah.” (she hisses) Fuck you. I’m done explaining myself. This “death cult of mine”? There is no mine. Mine would imply there’s a yours. An alternative. There is no alternative. The alternative is nothing.

Yui: Huh. Can’t say I’m surprised it turned out like this. Disappointing, but not surprising. Kinda a shitty reason for us to fight. Still, don’t suppose I can talk you into doin’ the band thing now that your dad went all Lion King on you and you have enough power that no one’d stop you from makin’ your music, right? Like, it has to be the death cult?

Shiori: (she suddenly jumps out of her chair, causing the companions on her side to recoil in shock) You do ɴᴏᴛ fucking tell me what to do! You do not even fucking so much as sᴜɢɢᴇsᴛ what I do. If this is the fucking hand you’re reaching out to help me, you can shove it in your mouth and choke on it! Stop acting as if I don’t make you sick. You will choke. Yᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ. Cʜᴏᴋᴇ.

All around Yui, the writhing figures begin to gasp, clawing at their throats and contorting their bodies in despair, suffocating on Shiori’s command.

Yui: O… Oi! Is this your doing? C… Cut it out, what’d these people do to you?! Aren’t they yours?!

Shiori: I don’t need them when I’ve got you.

Shiori raises her arm, caressing Yui’s cheek. As the air returns to their throats, the ecstatic faces of her followers turn ravenous. Dozens of their faces gaze at Yui before their bodies hurl themselves at her like a ferocious horde, every fibre of their being screaming out the irrevocable urge to destroy.

Yui falls back, staggering from the force and falling onto her back completely. After a moment of struggle, thunder rolls around the venue, and a bolt of violet lightning strikes the ground right beside the pile, sending sparks rippling through the crowd. Halted in their tracks, the followers recoil and fall over, collapsing to the floor like crumbling buildings.

Shiori: Get up.

Shaking and groaning as the electricity courses through their bodies, the followers nevertheless wobble back to their feet, sluggishly continuing their trudge towards their target.

Yui: (Rolling back to her feet, she summons a golden staff in her right hand) Man… this isn’t how I thought this’d go at all. Oi! Shiori! …Or is it Satomi for real now, after all? Any case, why involve these guys? Just fight me yourself already! No need to break these guys over some shit you have with me!

Shiori: See if I care, Amaya! No one fucking cares! Don’t act as if you do!

???: <Alors, pourquoi tu ne bats pas avec moi?> (from the darkness of the ceiling, the raggedy girl with the artificial legs drops down, landing right in front of Yui and immediately lashing out with a leg sweep)

Yui: What the fu— (Caught completely off guard, Yui tries to block low, only to fall back, stumbling and taking the chair tumbling back with her) God damn it! This fucking harlequin’s one of yours after all, isn’t she? The fuck is your gameplan here, Satomi?!

Shiori: <I told you to stay put, poutine.>

???: <Ah, ma petite poutine, what a lovely nickname!> (the girl chuckles, placing one of her “feet” on Yui’s stomach as she addresses her) <What should I call her, then, Yui Arashi?> Sushi-chan?

Yui: <I don’t give a fuck what you call her. Sort that out after I’ve turned both your souls off.> (Yui’s left hand digs into the mechanical limb on her stomach, appearing more like a dragon’s claw as sparks start to emanate from the tips of her fingers)

???: Eh? (the girl quickly undoes her transformation in a bright flash. All of a sudden, Yui doesn’t feel anything in her claw anymore. Instead, the girl’s legless body drops on top of her, quickly rolling away before transforming again, a fresh pair of mechanical legs now out of Yui’s reach) <I prefer watching the sparkles for a safe distance, eh ben.>

Yui: Heh… <There is no safe distance from me.> (In a flash, Yui pulls a revolver out into her right hand, pointing at the girl’s throat before pulling the trigger. Violet sparks fly off the bullet, as it races towards its target.) Five.

???: … glgh! (the girl falls back as the bullet pierces her throat, blood spurting from her wound. Unfortunately, Yui barely has time to get back up before half a dozen of Shiori’s followers jump her, trying to pin her back to the ground)

Shiori: The fuck’re you doing waving a gun around? Finally found your calling and become a fucking pig?

Yui: Oh come off it! Like a gunshot to the neck’s enough to kill any of us! I said I don’t kill people anymore, didn’t say shit about hurtin’ people! (Violet sparks mix with the blood pouring from the girl’s neck as Yui struggles in vain against the horde) I gave myself six shots for emergencies like this.

Shiori: You’re gonna need a helluva lot more bullets if you wanna hurt her. But don’t worry… (she gazes grimly at Yui as more of her followers swarm their prey) … you’ve fucking hurt me plenty already. Some people just aren’t that easily satisfied. Now… (she ascends the stairs leading up to the stage) I hope you don’t mind our little Moonlover’s company as she beats you into paste. Me? (she holds out her fist and opens it, revealing two familiar-looking Soul Gems) I gotta go feed my pets.

Yui: (Yui struggles more ferociously against the group) No… Mei, Hotaru! God DAMN you, Satomi!

Yui keeps clawing through the crowd, desperate to free herself, but to no avail. Her frustrated screams are eventually drowned out as the crowd swallows her, washing over her like the high tide — until the strobe lights flash red for the last time.