Mayonaka no X Giten 22

(Technically not late [again {sorry}])

Midnight Cross Method 22

p1: ======================================
Chapter 22: A Stage of Madness and Bloodthirst

There!
Capture him! Quickly!

…No.

He can handle himself.

Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art / BAREISHO
[sidebar]: Danger comes Mikuni’s way?!

p2: ======================================
[sfx]: PUNCH!

…Ugh.

He’s not out cold?!

Ahh!
[sfx]: Grab!
?!

p3: ======================================
[sfx]: Snag!

Hah!
[sfx]: Bam!

[sfx]: Thump

Seize him!

p4: ======================================
[sfx]: Crush!

What a shame.
/ Do you honestly believe we the police would place common civilians in this dangerous a situation?

Other than the six individuals who answered the question correctly…
Everyone here is a detective.
[sfx]: Nervous

p5: ======================================
Furthermore, both people standing on-stage…
are skilled at self-defense.

It’s time to pay the piper, X.
Ugh…
/ Ugh.

…No.
Culprit—

p6-7: ======================================
Perhaps you will be the ones paying the piper, not I.

Schlafe, shlafe (Sleep, sleep,)
holder süßer Knabe (my dear sweet child,)
Leise wiegt dich deiner Mutter Hand (Softly rocked by your mother’s hand)
Th-This song, it’s…

p8: ======================================
Wh…
Why?
[sfx]: Slump

“Why”?
/ The better question would be: What possessed you to expect me to waltz unprepared…
into what was such an obvious trap?

p9: ======================================
I believe I told you before how exemplary a Cross Power this body boasts.
A lullaby that puts its listeners to sleep is not the half of it.

While my victims are asleep, paralyzed,
/ I can lay on them hypnotic suggestions.

Sh-She used hypnosis?!

…Ugh.
Is that why it took so much work to knock him out?

The individuals are paralyzed, of course. That does severely limit the breadth of the orders I can give.
Two hours from now, go up onto the stage and attack.

Nevertheless, I must commend you on having scrounged together such an interesting plan.
Using the loud volume to prevent me from singing? Ingenious.

However, allowing me myself to purloin the microphone?

p10: ======================================
A dreadful mistake that has rendered me invincible.

Schlafe, shlafe, holder süßer Knabe (Sleep, sleep, my dear sweet child,)
Leise wiegt dich deiner Mutter Hand (Softly rocked by your mother’s hand)

Good night…

p11: ======================================
So then. What shall I do now?
/ Sachi is still yet to make his arrival, it would seem.
I could wait. I am confident he would not fail to join us.

After all, he considers my sins…
to be something he must handle himself.

…That said, simply waiting here sounds so terribly dull.

Oh, yes. ♡

I am sure the good detective brought one of those with him.

p12: ======================================
[sfx]: Dash!

You are rather late, Sachi.
[sfx]: Swing

p13: ======================================
I grew sick of waiting.

Do relax. None of the souls here have yet been plucked from their bodies.
…

Your presence here would suggest…
that you must have realized the identity of my true body.

…Yeah. Of course I’ve figured it out.
/ You…

p14: ======================================
Are my other half.

p15: ======================================
Through my arrest, through meeting you, through all the information I’ve learned,
I ran into one major problem:

There were too many gaps in my memories.

What happened on the day of the crime?
Why didn’t I know about the scar on Ai’s body? Those two were no surprise.
But why was there so much about the Kirishima family that I heard from the police and lawyers that I didn’t know?

Our house wasn’t that large. How could I have been blind to so much of what went on within it?
At first, I was shocked by my own insensitivity.
/ But that wasn’t it.

p16: ======================================
I had known…
the awful things that had taken place in the Kirishima house.

I’m sorry, Ai.
/ I should’ve saved you.

It is fine, Sachi.
I kept her safe.

p17: ======================================
…
[sfx]: Rustle

Let’s put an end to this.
/ I can’t let you stain my sister’s hands with any more blood.
[sfx]: Pull

…A card folded in half.
/ Someone must have taught you that method.

[sfx]: Dash!

[sfx]: Slam!

[sfx]: Stuff!
This’ll stop you from singing.

Now…
[sfx]: Press
You’re coming back, X.

p18: ======================================
[sfx]: Bang!

p19: ======================================
…You still want to keep going?
…Haven’t you… had enough?

No, not nearly.
For you see…

Through all the innumerable bodies I have taken,
I have touched upon innumerable spirits, and their innumerable suppressed desires.
And so I realized…

…Humans restrain themselves far too much.

p20: ======================================
And that my raison d'être…
was to free them in ways they themselves could not.

Y-You think that’s your purpose?

Intriguingly,
/ even beings such as I, once born into this world, long for a reason to exist.

And that reason’s to hurt people?
…You’re nuts.

p21: ======================================
What else would I be?
[sfx]: Yank
I’m your raw insanity, given life!

With you gone, I will obtain freedom in the truest sense.
[sfx]: Roll

Do not worry.
[sfx]: Smile
I will make sure to keep this body safe.

With that, Sachi, I bid you adieu.
[sfx]: Press

[sfx]: Click
Farewell, my other half.

p22: ======================================
[sfx]: Bang!

Y-
/ You’re…

[sfx]: Huff x2

p23: ======================================
[sfx]: Yank

Right… My Love Lullaby proved ineffective against that body.

Up until the very end, we debated who would stand upon the stage…

But once we realized this body would be our trump card, I had Mikuni-san enter my body.
/ A true idol, she quickly picked up self-defense. Thank goodness for that.
Lower your body and pull my arm towards you.
This isn’t much different from dancing.

And then I entered this body!

All so that I could keep my promise to Grandpa.

On suspicion of the murder of the Kirishima Family, along with the murder of An’no Shin’ichirou,
/ X… No.

Kirishima Sachi, you are under arrest!
[insert]: Finally, X has been arrested!