Chapter 18: A different self

Mei has fallen.

The news hit the team hard. When they carried Mei back, they were surprised to see she was still herself. The last time her relic was destroyed, she had transformed into a man, but that wasn't the case this time.

This was especially troubling because Fine, primarily a researcher, was now acting as the doctor. Though she had lived for over a thousand years and possessed medical knowledge, she still didn't know why Mei's relic wasn't repairing itself as it used to.

Upon hearing the news, Tsubasa became angry with herself. Kanade noticed and took her to an empty room to confront her.

"So, Tsubasa, what's got you so hot-headed?"

"It just reminds me how lacking I am and how I haven't changed at all."

"From what I've seen, you've changed so much and become a much more dependable senpai. So, what is it?"

"Mei... she got hurt again because of me."

"Explain."

"You know Mei's relic is Aegis, right, Kanade?"

Hearing that, Kanade slowly nodded, crossing her arms.

"She's basically been using it to take damage for us the entire time."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I noticed something was off with your gear previously, but it was her shield, huh? You probably wouldn't notice it if you didn't look carefully. Now that I remember, she attached one to me as well that time when I woke up."

"Yeah, she diverts any damage from others to herself. In the past, she's done it a lot. In fact, that's why her relic was destroyed when she carried you two from the Treasury of Babylon."

"Wait, you said her relic was destroyed, right? How come she can still transform?"

"Her relic is special. From what I hear, it was two relics made into one. So when Aegis got destroyed, the other one would repair it on its own."

"Do you know the name of the other relic?"

"No idea. Uncle and Fine never told me anything about it besides that it was a dangerous relic that could trigger a world war if it were to leak out."

"That's dangerous? Well, damn, that explains why she's so strong. But Tsubasa, if it's that powerful, then the synchronization level must be high, right?"

"Yes, in fact, she's apparently a complete fusion case. And before you ask what that is, it's basically a human-relic fusion."

"Wait, wasn't that dangerous?"

"Yes, and apparently that's another reason why Mei is still alive in the first place, because of the relic inside her."

As Kanade was about to ask further questions, the door to the waiting room opened and Maria entered, staring first at Kanade, then at Tsubasa.

"Mei has woken up."

"That's good news, then let's go, Tsubasa."

"Wait a minute, Kanade. Something's not right. Why are you making that face, Maria? Did something go wrong?"

"Yes, while Mei did wake up, I'm not sure you can call her Mei."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask questions later Tsubasa, let's just go. Seeing it will make the answer clear."

Just like that, they ran toward the medical room where Fine was taking care of Mei, but they met Genjuro blocking the door. Serena was waiting as well, except for Hibiki, Kirika, Shirabe, Miku, and Chris, as they needed to attend school.

"Why are you blocking the way, Genjuro-san?"

"Oh, Tsubasa, Maria, and Kanade, you're here as well. Let's just say Fine has something important to discuss with her."

"So what exactly happened, Genjuro?"

"Mei has woken up indeed, Kanade, but she's not the Mei we know. She's the original owner of the other relic."

"Can you please explain in detail, Commander? I know she's not the Mei we know, but that doesn't really explain anything."

"I don't know the exact details either Maria, since she's in the middle of discussing something with Fine. We'll wait until they're done."

Then the door opened and Fine walked outside. Seeing the whole group, she slowly let out a sigh.

"Well, for now, I'll go and meet our guest. It was the alchemy girl, was it? I'm interested in alchemy, so I'll leave her to you guys."

Fine started to walk away before stopping and turning to them again.

"Oh, and as a warning, she's a hotheaded girl, so be careful, okay?"

"Wait, Fine, what were you talking about with her?"

"Oh, Genjuro, it was a talk between women, you know? Though, for the serious answer, she was talking about the reason for the creation of that twin relic. Hmmm... I wonder if I should come up with a name for it."

Fine walked away, ignoring Genjuro's attempts to question her. He sighed, glancing at the rest of the team.

"So, do you guys want to enter as well? It seems the only way to get answers is to ask her directly."

"Yes," they replied in unison.

As they entered the room, they noticed Mei sitting on the bed with her eyes closed. Tsubasa sensed something different about her, but couldn't quite place it.

"So, you've come, Genjuro, was it? What do you want to know? And you've brought quite the entourage. Friends of Mei, I presume? Well, ask away, whatever you want to know."

"Then allow me to ask the first question: what should I call you?"

Hearing Genjuro's question, she slowly opened her eyes in shock before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Well, I see you're that kind of guy. Sure, as for my name, let's see... just call me Morgan. That's perfect for this case, I think. So, what else do you want to know?"

"Morgan, what happened to Mei?"

"Hmm...? I see, what a passionate gaze I sense from the two of you. Looks like Mei's finally achieved that 'popular phase' she talked about. But let's see... she was sleeping inside the relic I already gave to Fine to repair."

"Wait, you can take out your relic?"

"Of course. I'm a complete fusion, you know? I can basically separate the relic from my body, though if I do that, I can barely do anything, since that relic is basically the core of our being."

"Then what are you? Why are you inside Mei?"

"Oh, the pink-haired girl has a good question. Sure, but if it's going to be a long story, mind you. First, what should I tell you first..."

While Morgan was pondering, the door finally opened and Shirabe, Kirika, Chris, Miku, and finally Hibiki entered the room.

"Is it true that Mei has woken up?"

"Hibiki, it's a medical room, you're too loud."

"Indeed, what Miku said, you idiot."

"Ahahaha, they're getting excited, aren't they, desu."

"Kirika, please be silent as well."

"Wait, you are Hibiki? No... I see, you're this world's Hibiki."

Hearing that question from Morgan confused the five who had just entered the room. Tsubasa, however, ignored the question and simply gazed at Morgan's red eyes.

"Well, all of you just sit down and let me tell you the origin of me and Mei."

The five of them were even more confused, but Maria gestured for them to take a seat. They finally sat down and gazed at Morgan, realizing that while she looked like Mei, except for the red eyes, how she carried herself was different from Mei's usual demeanor.

"For now, let's just start from the very beginning. For your information, Mei, or rather Mamoru, is the son of Fine in that world."

Hearing that made the rest of them gasp, but Tsubasa remained silent. She could see the hints that Fine treated Mei more specially than others, so she wasn't surprised by the fact.

"Well, I could tell you all the details, but it would take too long, so let's just shorten it. Basically, Hibiki in that world is the user of Aegis and one of the two last Symphogear users in that world, including me, of course."

Morgan was making a proud expression but, noticing there was barely any reaction, she continued.

"In that world, we were being invaded by another world—basically, we were being invaded by Karma-Noise, as they tend to feed off Phonic Gain, which is why they invaded our world. In that crisis, Fine made an all-out move: she created the most dangerous Symphogear user, which is me. And can you guess what relic I have?"

Looking at the others, who weren't trying to come up with an answer, Morgan slowly pouted.

"You guys are boring, but my relic is the Holy Grail."

That answer made Kanade and Maria gasp. While Kanade wasn't really a researcher, she often followed her family, as they were a relic excavation team. As for Maria, she had once heard that relic being talked about in legends and how powerful it was.

"Looks like two of you know what kind of relic the Holy Grail is, but just like most relics, it has two properties: Absolute Healing, and Wish."

"Wait, Morgan, I can understand what Absolute Healing does, but what is Wish?"

"Well, it's named Wish, but from what I've seen and used it for many times, it's basically copying other relic Armed Gears."

Hearing Morgan's answer made the team gasp again, although Hibiki was confused, as she didn't understand relics that well.

"Then that means—"

"Yup, blue-haired girl. I can basically create any kind of Armed Gear as long as I know it. But well, let's just skip over how awesome I am and continue the story. Because of this relic creation, Fine was targeted by the whole world and went into hiding because of it, though she forgot one thing: her son."

Morgan slowly took a deep breath as Tsubasa noticed her right hand was trembling. Then she noticed Morgan was looking at her as she slowly smiled.

"Ironically, Hibiki in that world is Mamoru's girlfriend, and the idol of that world is, of course, me."

Morgan puffed out her chest, a proud expression on her face. Hibiki slowly turned to her.

"Can you please explain that in more detail?" Hibiki asked.

"About what? Well, don't worry, even though you look like that Hibiki, your attitude is so different that I'm glad you're the way you are. Though, if it feels simple to you, answer me this: have you found your father yet? Oh, Hibiki of this world."

"I..."

"So, you haven't even made an effort to find him? Are you scared because he ran away? Well, for your information, the Hibiki in our world is way colder than you think. She will do anything to save people. And when I say anything, I mean anything, even if it makes her look like a villain."

Morgan pointed at Hibiki, her expression serious.

"It's ironic, really. She has the relic that protects people, but her attitude pushes people away. As for what she did, let's just say that when she managed to become a Symphogear user, the first thing she did was find her father and make him reconcile with her mother and grandmother, acting like a villain, of course. Because of that, she doesn't have a house anymore, and guess who she met at that point? Mamoru."

Morgan slowly looked at the group and then sighed deeply before continuing.

"What's more, while she's cold, her heart is so warm, which is the reason that Mamoru fell in love with her in the first place. Then, the Karma Noise attacks intensified, which led to Fine making the crystal of the Holy Grail, which I'm using until that incident happened."

Mamoru glanced at Genjuro.

"The enemies had already infiltrated most of the countries left in that world and were pushing Fine by taking Mamoru hostage, with the interference of Enki, who is Fine's husband, and Hibiki. They managed to rescue Mamoru, but with a heavy toll. Enki and Hibiki died protecting Mamoru, but the difference is a shard of Hibiki's relic managed to hit Mamoru."

She slowly rubbed her back, feeling the scar, and let out a small smile.

"Though the wounds were too much, a piece of the Aegis relic was keeping Mamoru alive, though barely. Fine asked for my help. I tried to heal Mamoru, but because of the Karma Noise attack, we then had to come up with a heavy measure, which is Fusion Case."

Morgan clenched her hand so hard that they started to see red stains on the blanket.

"But for it to work, we needed a full relic crystal, but Mamoru only had a shard of Hibiki's crystal. So, in the end, they used my crystal. Basically, we were using all we had to save him."

"Why did you go so far for him?"

"Oh, blue-haired woman, you're poking me hard, but to answer your silly question, I love him as well. While we managed to save him, we knew it was only a matter of time before we got attacked as well. So, in the end, we sent Mamoru to another world, and that is everything. Anything else you want to ask?"

After Morgan finished speaking, Maria, Tsubasa, Kanade, and Genjuro raised their hands. Morgan pointed at Maria.

"You said you managed to save Mamoru, so why are you here?"

"Well, you see, while we managed to combine the Aegis and Holy Grail relic crystals into one, Mamoru lacked the synchronization needed for two relics at once. So, I sacrificed myself to make it happen. I'm part of Mamoru now, and the reason he can still use healing, even though it's a brute force method since he doesn't meet the criteria for the Holy Grail relic."

"How long had Hibiki and Mamoru been a couple before she died?"

"Well, Red Hair, your question is more direct. Let's see... it was about a month after he took Hibiki in, so around six and a half months, I guess."

"Morgan, was it? My question is this: why hasn't Mei woken up, and why are you here instead?"

"Well, I don't know if you all know this, but some of you probably do, so I'll explain. The Holy Grail can't be destroyed; it's the most powerful relic back in that world. But somehow, Aegis was wounded in a special way that the Holy Grail can't heal back to normal. So, unless Aegis is fully restored using an external factor, Mei will remain sleeping. That's a failsafe we created, after all."

"Can you explain why?"

"Geez, you're much bigger than me and a man, but you really like asking questions, don't you? It's because of the fusion. Mei's body is super unstable since he was originally a man. But because he became one with the relic, he became a she. Though we later managed to make him male again, this created some complicated matters within the relic itself."

"Besides, you don't need to worry, since what I took out is only the Aegis relic. And while the Holy Grail isn't complete, at least I can fight easily. In fact, why don't I demonstrate? You guys should have a simulation over here, right?"

Hearing that question, Genjuro slowly nodded, which made Morgan smile.

"Good. It's been ages since I last fought, so I need to see if I've become rusty or not. Oh, and after some light exercise, if you want to fight me, I'll welcome it, you know?"