Reiyouki Sentai Seitenger

5.3 24 Hours

Heaving a heavy sigh wasn't enough to calm down the Vessels, especially if the situation hadn't been settled completely. Not to mention that there were petrified victims who they all needed to save before the Triske Monster's given time limit. Though at some parts, Itsuki couldn't help doubting the Triske Monster's words.

"Well, I think the damage that Erika and Eichirou-san did is enough to shut him up for the time being," Misae stated after placing all the victims in one room for the meantime for protection's sake.

"Yeah, and that means we need to do all that we can to bring them all back to normal."

"The only question is, how we'll be able to do that. It's not like we can drag that monster out of the Tareus Dimension and send him to the spot. That would mean suicide for all of us," Eichirou said, speaking for the first time.

But the other Vessels noticed something weird about the photographer. Only at that point, they chose not to say anything at the moment as they knew how pissed off Eichirou was. Or at least it looked that way.

"Yes, it does mean suicide. But we're not that crazy to die immediately when we still have a job to finish here," Shuichi said after a few moments of silence. "And I think right now, you better finish that other job you wanted to deal with for some time now, Eichirou."

Of course, that only made the photographer face the biker placidly looking at him. It didn't take him long to understand Shuichi's words. Eichirou soon turned to one area of that building after disintegrating his armor and saw Kanako and the woman Haruna talking quite heatedly to each other for some reason. The sight made him frown, though.

'I wonder what they're talking about.' Nevertheless, he had issues to deal with at the moment. His friends gave him the chance to do it without worrying about Macera for a while. He might as well take it.

Right after taking a deep breath since he needed it, Eichirou started walking to approach the two women. But he hadn't even walked halfway when suddenly, Haruna turned sharply in his direction which made him halt to a stop. Debating for a short while whether or not he would smile, he just looked at the said woman.

"Don't include me in any of your plans, Mizuhashi. Especially if it has something to do with your mother," Haruna started rather icily which made Eichirou frown.

After that, she left him there a little speechless and at the same time, confused because of Haruna's actions and attitude. A few moments after recovering, he sought an answer from Kanako who just sighed quite disappointingly and shook her head. Eichirou could only watch Haruna walk away from that place.

What happened to her to become like that?

"Are you alright, Eichirou-san?" Itsuki ventured when none of the group could approach the photographer.

Eichirou sighed without tearing his gaze from Haruna. "I don't know."

xxxxxx

Minus Eichirou, the rest of the Vessels returned to the mansion to figure out what to do to save the victims within the 24-hour limit that Macera gave. Though if one would be honest, having to deal with time limits that a Triske Monster gave was even more frustrating than dealing with due dates for their projects related to their fields.

"24 hours? I wanted to say it's a joke, but--"

"No, it's not. Macera always does that, even in ancient times."

That voice made them turn to the source, only to see Akira and Hideoki entering the living room, with the former holding two scrolls in his hands.

"What are those scrolls for?" Itsuki couldn't help asking with a frown.

Akira sat on the sofa first and placed the said scrolls on the center table before facing the Vessels. "These scrolls contain information about Macera. It was the first Vessel of the Heavenly Water Spirit Guardian's Powers who first encountered this Triske Monster 5,000 years ago. And believe it or not, the time limit that Macera gave at that time for someone to save his victims was shorter than 24 hours."

"You're joking?" Misae asked with wide eyes.

But Akira remained stoic as he shook his head. "No, I'm not. For some reason, with the way he lengthened his time limit now could mean that the Tarean's imprisonment in the Tareus Dimension had weakened them considerably."

"Well, 5,000 years is no joke," Erika commented.

"You could say that," Hideoki smiled at Erika's comment. "By the way, how come Eichirou didn't come home with you?"

The Vessels looked at each other for a few moments before facing the head of the Mizuhashi household with a sigh. Shuichi decided to speak for the group. "Well, he has his issues to deal with and I said to him that he should settle it first before we deal with Macera again."

"Own issues? Are you talking about Odagawa Haruna?"

"The famous fashion designer?"

"Yes, it's about her," Shuichi replied placidly. "It seems that Eichirou wouldn't want to rest until he gets to the bottom of the problem regarding her."

"I don't think that boy would easily convince Haruna to help him with his project because she hates Mariko to a degree."

"Hideoki-san, I think 'hate' could be a really heavy word to use for that," Misae commented with a wince.

The historian just gave a small smile. "But that's the truth, my dear. At least, Haruna stated it that way."

"Why does she act like that towards Mariko-san, anyway?" Itsuki asked.

For a few moments, Hideoki peered at Mariko's picture placed in a picture frame on top of the fireplace. "That's because Odagawa Haruna had been Mariko's apprentice until my wife died. And yet, even if she'd been dead for a long time now, it appears that my wife's shadow continues to cloud Haruna's real identity in the fashion world. People would associate Haruna with Mariko most of the time no matter how hard she tried to stay away from it."

"But... isn't that the same as us? Our parents' achievements in their respective fields that people would always associate with our achievements," Erika couldn't help commenting that only made the others nod in agreement.

They could understand where Haruna's hatred would stem from. But they could also see that they appeared to have handled it differently from Haruna.

"Anyway, we'll just leave it to Eichirou for now. I think he'll be able to figure something out," Shuichi soon stated with a determined voice that disrupted the temporary silence surrounding them. "What we need to worry about right now should be Macera's time limit to the victims."

Itsuki nodded before speaking once again. "The only way for us to counter that would be to deal with his flashing light attack. The camera-like hand of that monster is the key."

"The problem is we need to destroy that hand without getting petrified by the light coming from there. Doing it one by one would be suicide. The same goes for doing it together," Misae reminded. "Now I can finally understand why Eichirou-san said that earlier."

"Speaking of Eichirou-san..." Erika paused and faced the others with a confused expression. "Did any of you see the blue light that suddenly flashed from his helmet a while back?"

"Blue light? The only color of light I saw at the time was white and that was coming from you, Erika," Itsuki stated. "Remember? You suddenly used your light powers to reflect with Eichirou-san's ice spell earlier." The composer's eyes soon widened right after saying that. "Wait a minute! Of course. Why didn't we think of that?"

It didn't take too long for the other Vessels to realize something from there. But Shuichi had another matter to think of besides the plan to destroy Macera. Erika said about the blue light flashing from Eichirou's helmet...

'Is it possible?' If it was, then the Vessels could have another advantage in the next battle besides Erika's powers. The biker couldn't help smirking at that.