Black★Zero

Chapter 3: Our Story That Wasn't Over

2 years ago when Mato was still in her junior year at middle school, that was the beginning of Saya's recount of their story. Yomi Takanashi didn't return home one day, and Mato learned she was missing once the police quickly got involved. It turned out to be that she had been possessed and taken to the otherworld, and Mato was somehow able to connect with her own other self and brought her back. Saya did not explain what this meant still, but muttered under her breath that it hadn't been as simple a thing for her to learn herself. Her original assumption was that she'd found Mato after gaining some ability like her clairvoyance, which allowed Saya to observe what's happening around her other self without connecting.

Yuu helped explain the next part, about how she herself disappeared the same way shortly afterwards, casually throwing in how it wasn't a big commotion like Yomi's was since her parents never reported her missing. Feeling as if she had just heard something heavy, as Rei hesitantly asked why she just laughed off how Saya adopted her because she was a victim of child neglect. Her stepfather even burned their house down with a cigarette around when she disappeared, so in the confusion the only ones searching for her were Mato and Saya, whom had become Yuu's childhood friend in primary school by chance back when she herself was still in high school. Saya became a counselor because she'd known about her abuse, but had been unable to help her.

She overheard Mato talking to herself at school and decided to pry, having had mixed feelings about her at first for being so close to Yuu but never noticing her problems. Because Yuu's other self was too strong for Black Rock Shooter to stop though, when Saya managed to corner her and found out about the otherworld, they both ended up working together and she learned how to connect. Without realizing the slightly eager look on her face now, Rei asked, "Black Rock Shooter?" Answering her with a knowing smile, Saya said, "Mato's other self. She was eager to know their names too, and her lock on ability made that much easy... While it's natural to be curious, she had a strange interest in that world. I still don't know how she learned so much about it, she'd always say Black Rock Shooter told her."

Wondering what they found so strange about that, Rei decided to ask later and allowed them to continue. Saya's other self was named Black Gold Saw, and hearing they had no idea why the two had such similar names she blurted out, "They're not names you made up yourself?!" As they just stared at her, Rei averted her gaze and grumbled at the injustice. Cutting through the awkward moment with her energy, Yuu told her how Saya's other self had the power to enslave other selves, although it only worked on other selves that were recently made. Since it seems the existence of other selves was somehow linked to people's mental stability, Saya now uses her profession to check her patients' mental states and other selves, Yuu adding, "With the nasty habit of pushing them to develop one to steal." Saya indignantly reminded her this would keep people from being possessed, but she just started to mock her with zombie noises, her guardian silently donning a mildly scary smile now.

Having a case of secondhand embarrassment, as Rei finally got them to continue Yuu explained that together the two overcame her other self and brought her back. In her words, her other self was, "Ganged up on, a strategy befitting The Demon Lord." Rei continued to see a smile across the table befitting the name. Drawing their story to a close, Saya recounted, "It almost seemed like a pattern when it continued with Kagari Izuriha, but after that it seemed random. We've left her in the dark since she never realized something unnatural happened, Yomi and Yuu had already shown that victims of possession weren't compatible with connecting either way."

Showing a rather sour expression now, Saya added, "From the start our battles were to protect the world and people around us, but it's still unsettling never having been able to find out the real purpose of that place. Mental scars or severe stress aren't as rare as possessions, the connection between them was strange to me. Mato and I could only continue to keep an eye open, but everything became almost too quiet recently until the plane crash happened." Eyeing Rei expectantly now, she pressed, "Then some interesting other selves went to the Sky Gates from Gold Saw's domain and I caught a glimpse of a scene I couldn't ignore..." With a blatantly sarcastic tone, she just replied, "Who could that be I wonder?" Then she did a double take and exclaimed, "Wait, you're the Empress?!"