Chapter Text
Chapter 32: Summer Storm (Finale)
Billowing towers of steam filled the air as the churning pool hardened into slow viscous rock. The oppressive heat of Black Hole Sun that had drenched Chika in sweat began to dissipate, the cool rain mixing in with the perspiration clinging to Chika’s skin. Her blank expression remained fixed on the hysteric Maki, who tore her right foot out of the sticky goop as it hardened and solidified beneath her.
“H-How is this happening? I destroyed the arrow. I melted it down to nothing! How can I fail due to something as simple as rain!?”
Looking up and around, Maki’s focus was drawn to the buildings around her.
“All that debris and rubble…it’s dissolving into the air! And-” Maki spun her head in shock to see the skyscraper she’d previously collapsed into the pit slowly reform out of thin air in its original location. “W-What is this ability!? Nothing should be able to stop Black Hole Sun , nothing!!!”
In Ruby’s arms, Dia groaned and puckered her eyelids as consciousness abruptly returned to her.
“S-Sis!” Ruby’s eyes shone in relief. “Y-You’re alive!”
Dia opened her eyes and lifted her head up, the raindrops cleaning her bloodied clothes. To Ruby’s surprise, Dia lifted up one of her shattered arms to touch her own chest, functioning perfectly as if nothing had even happened.
“My injuries…” Dia gasped in amazement, “...they’ve been healed. Could it be…?”
Tears of joy ran down Ruby’s already dampened cheeks. “Sis, the rain is healing us! If it’s pouring over all of Akihabara, that means the others are saved! Kanan, Mari, Honoka…they’re all going to make it!”
Down in the crater, Maki strained and shook in fury, trying to amplify Black Hole Sun ’s power to boil away the rain, but to no avail.
“Why!? Why is this happening to me!? Is this a cruel trick, giving me Black Hole Sun only to have it repressed by this…this…”
“You’re wrong,” Chika stated flatly, “the arrow simply reacted to your will and acted accordingly. Perhaps the same was true of Honoka. There was never anything individually special about Black Hole Sun . It’s simply a manifestation of your tortured soul.”
Chika casually walked down a path of rubble into the pit. Maki tugged her other foot from the hardened ground below. The crater had fully cooled into a solid igneous rock shield, a last few plumes softly expelling trapped gasses from below. Even Maki’s own body was steaming, firming up on the outside and making movement harder and slower.
“M-My body…my body is getting stiff! What the hell did you do, Chika!?”
Maki emitted a pained gurgling noise from her throat as her cooling body worked against her.
“The arrow’s remnants responded to my will and absorbed themselves into Tangerine Dream .” Chika slowly approached Maki with a saddened look in her eyes. “I’m not sure if the Origin Arrow chose me or if I simply absorbed its remnants. All I know is that it won’t let you bring further harm to me. Please, give it up.”
Maki spat at her own feet. “I’d sooner die than bow to you!”
“Then die.”
Maki glared at her with grit teeth, forcing labored breath between them with a sharp faint whistle.
“I’ll give you two options,” Chika stopped upon the igneous plane, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket that miraculously survived, “accept your failure and never use your stand again, or Tangerine Dream Requiem will annihilate the twisted monster you have become.”
Maki curved her spine and leaned her head back, howling to the sky and letting her aura run wild as a show of intimidation. Chika didn’t react.
“I’ll…kill you!”
Maki tried to make a mad dash towards Chika, but her body prevented her from using such ample speed, causing her to trip. Persistently, she got back up and settled for a shuffle, panting and gurgling furiously.
“I’ll…kill you…Chika Takami!!!”
Without a word, Chika allowed Maki to inch closer and closer, one agonizing step at a time. 6 meters. 5 meters. 4 meters. 3 meters. Maki’s bright orange hair was now but a dull glimmer.
“I will…kill…y-you…”
2 meters. As she neared Chika, her body began to firm up and slow to a snail’s pace. Almost in touching distance, Maki reached out a hand for Chika’s head.
“I…I…”
Chika did not move. She forced herself to watch as Maki’s expression drained of madness and gave way to fearful anguish. Maki’s eyes bulged, her outreached hand shaking weakly.
“I…don’t…want to…die…”
The color drained from Maki as her body solidified. Her last moments were now preserved as a statue, staring lifelessly into Chika’s grieving eyes.
“Maki…”
Chika stepped forward, hugging Maki’s body in a tight embrace. Chika allowed her tears to dampen the statue where they fell. It was cold. At their feet, plant life began to grow. Grass, poppies, tulips, dandelions, and all sorts of greenery emerged. They spread out and transformed the crater into a grassy impression amidst the empty urban center. Slowly, Chika stepped backwards, careful not to step on any of the flowers.
“ Tangerine Dream … Requiem !”
The stand rose before her, reflecting a bright white light off the cascading raindrops as they fell. With one last gaze upon the hardened body of Maki Nishikino, Chika shut her eyes and took a deep breath in. When they opened, her determined gaze met the eyes of the statue.
“GAOOOOOOO!!!”
With one powerful and swift motion, her stand’s fist collided with Maki’s chest. The force of the hit was so powerful, Maki’s chest crumbled upon impact. With the upwards angle of the punch, the statue was sent flying skywards. Like the chest, the legs too crumbled as they collided with each other mid-air. Maki’s face gazed upwards at the clouds with its frozen look of horror, her head being the last part to crumble to dust and dissolve into the atmosphere. Chika tilted her head upwards, watching the last of Maki vanish into nothingness.
“I hope you find peace wherever you are, Maki.”
Gazing up at the rainclouds that poured down around her, Chika shut her eyes. Water dripped down over her face and mixed with her tears as she took in the moment.
“Somehow, I can feel it in my heart…it’s finally over.”
The harsh orange light cast upon Maki’s face awoke her. She grunted and raised a hand to block its intense rays as her eyes got a chance to adjust.
“Where…where am I?”
She was sitting on a red leather bench trimmed at the edges with a white stripe. Before her sat a simple cream-colored table with a more natural wooden color at the edges. The afternoon sun bathed the room with warm orange light…or so Maki thought. Upon gazing out the rounded rectangular window to her right, Maki could see the source of the bright sunlight shone from impossibly far away. It filled the surrounding endlessly empty white void in a rich orange hue like the sun setting over the horizon. Wherever she was, it certainly wasn’t Earth.
“That’s right…I’m dead.” Maki sank into her seat, folding her arms. “This must be the afterlife then, but…”
Maki stood up and checked out her surroundings. Like the seat she had been sleeping upon, the room was filled with many more rows of red benches, all facing each other with cream tables with naturally wood-colored edges in between. A fine carpet with a rosy hue ran down the middle of the room, which naturally led Maki to notice the rumbling of wheels upon tracks beneath her feet.
“I’m on…a train?”
With little else to observe in the room, Maki sat back down in her seat and hugged her legs.
“What if the others are on the train somewhere? How would they ever forgive me? I killed Rin. I almost killed Honoka. What is wrong with me?”
Maki squeezed harder and groaned as she buried her face in her knees. She sat wordlessly for a few moments until she heard the steel door of the train car part gently. Maki looked up to see Tangerine Dream Requiem push open the door from the other side. It entered and shut the door without a word, then calmly walked over the bench across from Maki and sat down. It interlocked its fingers as it rested its elbows on the table and waited patiently on Maki. Maki put her legs down and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
“What do you want?”
“To help you.” it responded.
“As if I’d ever believe that. I killed your friends, don’t you want revenge?”
“I have no friends and I have no true wants. It is Chika’s friends you have killed.”
Maki almost wanted to say the stand sounded like Chika, but the emphasis behind the voice was too monotone and passionless. It felt like she was talking to an entirely different person.
“Are you…here to take me to hell?”
“No, neither are you in hell by any stretch of your imagination. Rest assured, I will help you towards a peaceful afterlife.”
Maki remained skeptical, averting her eyes and shuffling uncomfortably in her seat.
“What are you talking about? You’re not making sense. Even if you have no will of your own, Chika should hate me.”
“Chika may hold some resentments towards you for killing her friends, but she also feels guilty about killing the members of μ's. That includes you, Maki. I am here because Chika instructed me to.”
“...why? I get wanting to send a prayer or something, but why all…” Maki gestured with a hand loosely towards the aisle. “...this?”
“It was a subconscious wish. I act completely free of Chika’s understanding or comprehension, but simply off of a base instinct of response to will. It is will and desire, no matter how good or twisted, that makes stands. Your Black Hole Sun was born out of your despair, augmented by my power. Honoka’s Genesis was similar, but the reason it was only Chika who received a Requiem stand was because Honoka was not able to properly handle the arrow’s full strength. Were circumstances different, perhaps Genesis Requiem could’ve come to be. Chika was only able to handle the strength of Requiem because of the intense desire and resolve that she possessed at the moment of contact.”
“So my Black Hole Sun …”
“The strength of Requiem comes from resolve, never from madness.”
“...”
“Perhaps it was fated for Chika to awaken the power of Requiem. She will never know this, but Tangerine Dream Requiem’s power grants her the ability to make just about whatever she wills come to pass, save for reviving the dead. It is that ability, as we speak, that is bringing the calamity to an end. When that wave of lava crashed down onto her, I shielded her so she could see through her vision of putting a stop to your rampage and healing Akihabara. That is how the downpour came to pass…her first sub-ability, Summer Storm.”
“And this train…”
“This is her second sub-ability. Chika wanted to get through to you, and so she unconsciously created this sort of momentary purgatory to soothe your soul before you depart for the afterlife. This is…Love On a Real Train.”
“ Love On a Real Train , huh? So she…she really did care about me…”
“Love On a Real Train suppresses anger and other such emotions that would block proper communication. Your madness has been suppressed, hence why you have ended up in a depressive state for the time being.”
“Will…” Maki’s voice shook. “...will it come back?”
“Do you want it to?”
“No. Never again. I can’t believe I actually acted like that…”
Maki buried her head in her knees once more and wept softly.
“Please don’t let the madness return. Please, I beg of you.”
“Rest assured, it will not. Let your worries subside.”
“How can I? The people I called my friends…I’ve hurt them. How can I ever ask Rin to forgive me? How can I ask any of them to forgive me?”
“They will forgive you.”
Maki sniffled. “You don’t know that.”
“I do know. I know because they are waiting for you. Waiting for you to come home to them.”
“They’d…really just forgive me like that? After all the harm that I…”
“You clearly feel remorse for your actions. I cannot say how they each will react to what you’ve done, but eternity is plenty of time for wounds to heal.”
“I…I hope so.”
Tangerine Dream Requiem stood up and returned to the steel door it had entered from. Maki looked up at the stand in confusion.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere. We simply have arrived.”
The stand gently pulled the door ajar, revealing a bright light shining from beyond the doorway.
“The path to the afterlife awaits through here. Are you ready, or shall I assist you further in any way?”
“No, I…I think I’m ready.”
The stand nodded with its usual inexpressive disposition, but Maki felt a bit of warmth exude from it all the same. She stood up and slowly made her way to the door, taking a moment to breathe and ready herself.
“Thank you, I really needed that. I know you probably can’t tell her, but I hope you can express my gratitude to Chika as well.” Maki let a smile cross her face. “Oh, and Ms. stand?”
“Hm?”
“Whatever future she ends up making, make sure you help her create a good one.”
Maki strolled through the doorway and into the blinding light before her, vanishing as eternal peace finally allowed her its embrace. The last thing she heard of the train was the fading sound of its whistle sounding across the sunset-painted void.
Stand User: Chika Takami
Stand Name:
Tangerine Dream Requiem
Stand Stats:
Stats: Strength - S | Speed - S | Range - S | Durability - S | Precision - S | Potential - S
Ability:
An absurdly powerful stand brought into being by
Tangerine Dream
absorbing the Origin Arrow. Allows Chika to make virtually any wish she desires a reality, save for a few exceptions like bringing back the dead. This allows her to disable other stand effects. The effect only occurs subconsciously, but there is an infinite amount of ways that TDR can perform to best suit the desire, and it will create sub-abilities to accommodate these wishes. Chika is not aware of this stand’s true function and has no way of ever knowing even if she desired it.
Sub-Ability 1: Summer Storm | A collection of storm clouds that bring torrential rain with powerful healing properties. Any human who comes into contact will be healed of their injuries. Unlike normal rain, water created by Summer Storm does not evaporate by conventional means. Born out of necessity to combat Black Hole Sun .
Sub-Ability 2: Love On a Real Train | A train existing in a space between death and the afterlife. Suppresses intense emotions to allow for TDR to convey Chika’s feelings to a recently departed being. Born out of a wish for Maki’s soul to find peace.
After a few hours, the rain dissipated. The air retained a thick cool dew, a much-desired relief from the heat of Black Hole Sun . The remaining girls of Aqours sat against the wall of a building on the outskirts of Akihabara. Honoka laid with them, passed out with her head resting on Chika’s lap as she slept. Chika caressed her head with the palm of her hand, ensuring her a peaceful rest. Ruby sat beside Dia, resting her head on her older sister’s shoulder with a distant expression. Mari and Kanan, revitalized by the rain, sat to Ruby’s right. Kanan continuously tapped one of her feet absentmindedly. They sat in silent contemplation until Ruby chose to speak up.
“Hey…Chika?”
“Yeah?”
“If you don’t mind me asking…how…how did Hanamaru die?”
Chika did not move, taking a few seconds to formulate a good response.
“She…saved my life. Gave me the encouragement I needed to stop Umi. I owe her for that.”
“...I see.”
Awkward silence persisted for a short while until Ruby found the right words herself.
“I just…can’t believe she’s gone. Can’t believe all of them are gone, including μ’s. It…doesn’t feel the same. Doesn’t feel real. To think we were all capable of such carnage and evil…”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Kanan cut in, “I don’t see any of us as inherently evil, and yet we also were so capable of killing with our stands. Not to sound all doom and gloom, but sometimes certain situations push people to do terrible things. The calamity itself was more than enough to act as that catalist.”
“Speak for yourself, I didn’t kill anybody.” Mari responded, pretending to be offended.
“You still collaborated with us to do so, like with Nico.” Kanan shot back.
“O-Oh. Right, I forgot I did that, tehe~.” Mari playfully bopped her own head with a fist and stuck out her tongue.
“I can’t believe you’re able to joke around at a time like this.”
Mari grew silent for a moment. Kanan gave her a worried look.
“Mari?”
“It just feels so unreal that…it hasn’t registered.”
Kanan wrapped an arm around Mari’s shoulder and held her close.
“Me too, Mari, me too…”
“We did the best we could.” Dia consoled them. “I’m just happy that…I didn’t have to live in a world without Ruby.”
Ruby turned and pressed her face into Dia’s shoulder. “I’m glad I don’t live in a world without you either, sis.”
Dia gently pet Ruby’s head to comfort her, laying her head on Ruby’s to comfort herself in turn.
“I wonder…where do we go from here?” Chika thought aloud.
“Wherever you go, Chika.” Dia said. “So long as you have that stand by your side, I’ve got a feeling we’ll be alright.”
“Yeah. I think you’re right, Dia.”
Chika gazed up at the sky to zone out once more, but was surprised to see something in the sky far away.
“Dia, do you see that?” Chika stood up and pointed at the object. “Up there in the distance?”
Dia let the lens of Smooth Criminal manifest over her eyes with a chorus of soft clicking. Dia stood up abruptly.
“What is it, sis? What do you see?”
“It’s a helicopter. On the side, it reads…” The instruments shifted a bit. “Speedwagon Foundation! That’s the same people who owned that boat we fought Eli upon!”
A gasp rose from the girls as they stood up to witness its approach. Chika picked Honoka up and carried her in her arms, using an arm of her stand underneath to help lift her. The helicopter descended, and after a few minutes it parked itself down a number of meters away. The swirling propellor blades slowed until they eventually halted altogether. It was long, sleek and gray, the name of the foundation printed in bold yellow letters upon the side. The door of the helicopter swung open, and an adult woman they didn’t recognize leapt out. She turned to them and fixed her hat, bearing the same logo as the machine that’d brought her there.
“You girls alright? Stay calm, we’re only here to help.”
Chika was first to step forwards.
“How did you find us?”
“Complete luck if I’ll be honest,” the woman admitted, “our foundation has had an eye on Akihabara for a while, seeing as we discovered it was the epicenter of the calamity. A few powerful stand users had prevented us from entering the city, but we recorded a bunch of unnatural phenomena earlier today, and they sent me as a dispatch to manage the situation and find refugees. I thought the idea was silly, but it seems they were right to be prepared. Come with us, we’ll get you fed and help you as best we can.”
“That seems awfully generous, but…” Dia drew the sentence out. “Why help us? We’re stand users, all of us.”
“The Speedwagon Foundation specializes and researches stand users, and even has a few among their members. If anyone’s fit to help you folks, it’s our foundation.”
The group stood still in contemplation for a moment. Ruby stepped forward, walking casually up to the woman.
“Ok, I’ll choose to trust you.”
Chika smiled, following after her, encouraging the rest of Aqours to board the helicopter. It was a little cramped inside, but there was enough room for the 6 of them, Honoka included. Seeing the unconscious Honoka, the woman grabbed a pillow for her.
“Thank you.”
Chika placed Honoka in the seat behind her. The lady positioned the pillow against the wall of the aircraft to give Honoka something to rest her head against. Kanan and Mari sat in the front two seats behind the pilot, Ruby and Dia sitting in the seats across from Honoka and herself. The woman moved towards the front of the aircraft, but paused instead of getting herself seated.
“Oh, right. You’re probably all hungry, aren’t you?”
Chika hadn’t even realized how starving she was. They’d scarcely had anything to eat, their minds too focused on the chaos of the events at Akihabara. The woman walked to the back of the vehicle and kneeled down by a crate.
“I was talking with some of my other team members over the radio. They said a bunch of storm clouds like the ones here earlier have been pouring rain down all over Japan. Since the first storm clouds originated here above Akihabara, I have to ask…did any of you play some part in this?”
“I’ll explain everything later.” Chika smiled and scratched the back of her head bashfully. “This might not be the best time and place for me to explain.”
“Fair enough,” the lady responded and she dug through the crate, “I was just curious is all. I can imagine you’d appreciate a little time to relax first.”
Chika laughed awkwardly in agreement. The woman picked some food up out of the crate and started to distribute it around. As she brought it over to Chika, Chika’s eyes widened with a slight gasp. She was holding a bunch of mikans.
“I apologize, this is all we have onboard at the moment. It’s not really local, but it should still be fairly fresh. It’ll help give you some much needed energy back.”
The lady placed one down in Chika’s waiting cupped hands. Chika gazed down at the little round fruit for a moment before letting a wide smile stretch across her face.
“No, this is perfect! Thank you.”
The woman returned a small little smile of her own before moving on to deliver the snack to the rest of the passengers. Of course, seeing as Honoka was passed out, hers would be saved for later. With mikans gifted to each of them, the foundation member grabbed a mikan for herself and headed for the cockpit to take off. The others dug right in, but Chika instead ran her thumb along the bumpy ripe skin of her orange delicacy. It looked just like the Numazu variety. Memories suddenly washed back over Chika. Memories of Uranohoshi, of her friends having fun together, of Aqours. The little green leaf on top reminded Chika of the moment she named her stand.
“ Tangerine Dream …”
This time, the stand would not appear by her side at the call of its name, as Chika saw no reason to. She peeled open the skin and exposed the juicy soft slices contained within. Across the aisle, the Kurosawa sisters chatted about the sweetness of their mikans. Mari attempted to feed a slice to Kanan, which Kanan protested until Mari’s urging made her give in, opening wide with a blush on her cheeks. Using familiar methods of precision, Chika carefully removed an orange slice and popped it into her mouth. It tasted like Numazu. Tears broke from the corners of her eyes as she became overpowered by a sense of joyful nostalgia. She hardly processed the helicopter taking off as it ascended high into the air and left Akihabara behind. For the first time since the start of the calamity, Chika cried tears not of anguish, but of joy.
THE END
Musical References (Chronological):
Tangerine Dream | Tangerine Dream (Electronic Band)
Obscured By Clouds | Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds (Album/Title Track)
Bed Of Roses | Bon Jovi - Bed Of Roses (Song)
Telegraph Road | Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (Song)
Love Over Gold | Dire Straits - Love Over Gold (Album/Title Track)
Catch The Wind | Donovan - Catch The Wind (Song)
Octopus’s Garden | The Beatles - Octopus’s Garden (Song)
The Unforgiven (Act I) | Metallica - The Unforgiven (Song)
Raising Sand | Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (Album)
Smooth Criminal | Micheal Jackson - Smooth Criminal (Song)
Maneater | Daryl Hall & John Oates - Maneater (Song)
Dr. Feelgood | Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood (Album/Title Track)
Def Leppard | DEF LEPPARD (Rock Band)
The Unforgiven (Act II) | Metallica - The Unforgiven II (Song)
Good Vibrations | The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Song)
Night Of Fire | Maurizio De Jorio & Niko - Night Of Fire (Song)
Hyperborea | Tangerine Dream - Hyperborea (Album/Title Track)
Julia Dream | Pink Floyd - Julia Dream (Song)
Seven Nation Army | The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (Song)
Tarot Woman | Rainbow - Tarot Woman (Song)
Mega NRG Woman | Mega NRG Man (Eurobeat Artist)
Childhood’s End | Pink Floyd - Childhood’s End (Song)
On An Island | David Gilmour - On An Island (Album/Title Track)
Dream Theater | Dream Theater (Prog Metal Band)
Larks’ Tongues In Aspic | King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (Album/Title Tracks)
Ramble On | Led Zeppelin - Ramble On (Song)
Couldn’t Stand The Weather | Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Couldn’t Stand The Weather (Album/Title Track)
Sabaton | Sabaton (Heavy Metal Band)
Inside The Winter Storm | Dragonforce - Inside The Winter Storm (Song)
Anemone Heart | μ's - Anemone Heart (Song)
Genesis | Genesis (Rock Band)
Black Hole Sun | Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun (Song)
The Unforgiven (Act III) | Metallica - The Unforgiven III (Song)
Death Magnetic | Metallica - Death Magnetic (Album)
Summer Storm | Tangerine Dream - Summer Storm (Song)
Love On a Real Train | Tangerine Dream - Love On a Real Train (Song)
Author’s Note:
Chika’s Bizarre Adventure to me is my greatest writing achievement to date. This work has taken me essentially 3 years to the day to complete, and I’m glad that the love and care I put into this story has paid off so well in the end. I want to thank everyone who’s taken the time to read this, especially the commenters (I have seen your comments, I just don’t feel like I have the right words to respond to them haha). Unfortunately, this likely will be the one and only fanfiction I will post here on AO3. I intend to start publishing my own books, and I’d like to put my writing time into that going forward as I have no other ideas or urges to write other Love Live fanfiction for the foreseeable future. Still, I hope you all enjoyed Chika’s Bizarre Adventure and I can’t thank you enough for supporting this passion project of mine. We finally made it.
-Ghost