Under the Rain [Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]

S2-35✩ AIs, Too, Have Desire to Protect

The very next day, as planned, Mirai and Earth went into LINK VRAINS after Mirai had come home from school. This time, Earth made a thick glass-like box barrier around her avatar to conceal their presence from any potential pursuers. It was a heavy program, but that didn't stop her from flapping her tiny wings while carrying Earth on her back as she flew to the place where she came across her brother's alternate avatar. She actually liked being in her sparrow form more than her human form, because with it, she could fly everywhere without relying on a D-Board, which she found was difficult to control.

They soon arrived at their destination and thankfully, no one was there, unlike last time. "Here we are," she remarked once she had landed and morphed into her human form. She glanced at Earth, who now stood on her shoulder, to ask him, "Are you ready, Earth-chan?"

Earth nodded firmly in response. "I'm ready. Please, reveal the lock!"

"As you wish!" she complied with a confident smile and nodded. The coordinate of the hidden lock was just before them and now all that was left was uncovering it using another ability that she got from Earth. She plucked one strand of her long silver hair and held it between her thumb and index finger. It shone and when the light dimmed, it had transformed into an arrow with a silver fletching feather that reflected the colors of a rainbow. With a sway of hand, she materialized a bow out of thin air and got ready to shoot, aiming at a certain spot in the sky. As soon as she released the tense bowstring and shot the arrow, it struck an invisible wall and some weird letters started to appear on its surface. They formed a problem that could only be decoded by a skilled programmer of the level of an Ignis, but this time it was different from the previous ones, as it actually was a riddle from the human world: what belongs to you but mostly used by others?

After Earth read that riddle aloud for them, he turned to see Mirai. His cheeks were tinted in light pink now as he shyly rubbed the back of his head. "Erm... I'm bad at riddles. What do you think the answer is?"

Mirai let out a small chuckle at his gesture before looking at the floating words and thinking for a moment. It just happened that she had heard that riddle from Hitomi before and thankfully still remembered the answer. "It's your name."

"Really?" Earth pondered. "...ah, I get it. You own a name so others can address you, therefore, they're using something that belongs to you more often than you yourself... but it won't work if you don't use the same language. When we Ignis first came into contact with the human world, we had to use an alternate name here to address ourselves, because our true name is in the language of the Ignis and therefore cannot be said easily by you humans."

"Well, if you taught us then we might be able to pronounce your true name." she remarked with an enthusiastic smile.

Once again, Earth was dumbfounded by her words. As he stared at her innocent grin, he wondered how she could always make something complex sound so easily doable like that. Was it just her nature? "I've never thought about that... yes, perhaps one day, when we Ignis had rebuilt our home, you could come visit my territory and I would teach you how to pronounce my name."

Upon hearing that, Mirai's eyes quickly sparkled in joy. "It's a promise, then!" she beamed, receiving a simple nod from him that made her smile grow wider. Being simple yet meaningful had always been his strong point, after all, even if he didn't realize it.

He turned away and submitted their answer. The letters beautifully glowed golden-yellow before quickly vanishing, then a four-pointed star appeared in front of them and tore a wormhole in the sky. Her Link Perception could feel it; the WATER Ignis was just beyond that hole.

Mirai let Earth cling to her shoulder as she leapt into that wormhole. A long, puddled path awaited them inside and at the end of it was Aqua, sitting inside a cage. Earth's eyes gleamed in joy as soon as he saw her. "It's Aqua!"