Night time was supposed to be the time for the Vessels to rest their immensely tired and injured bodies for them to have the energy to deal with Motross should that monster begin attacking again. But Shuichi wasn't in the mood to do something like that.
He might use the reason that his body was moving on its own, that was why he was currently heading to the garage where he was told that his motorcycle was placed there. He made it sure that the others were asleep by now so he had no worries about disturbing them at the moment.
Shuichi turned on the light as soon as he reached the garage. On one side was the car that Hideoki would usually use and even Eichirou. But the one occupying a larger part of the area was his damaged motorcycle. He heaved a sigh---albeit ragged---as he approached it. He couldn't help feeling weak at the sight of the damage that the vehicle had sustained.
He wanted to regret ever deciding to use his favorite motorcycle just to deal with Motross' challenge. But his comrades' lives were more important to him at the time. Besides, he said that he'd deal with the consequences later on.
But how was he supposed to deal with this now?
His teammates knew how precious that motorcycle was to him. It was one of the most important things he possessed that connected him to his dead father. And now...
'Dad... I'm sorry...' Shuichi wanted to utter those words but it seemed that it was blocked from his throat. Furthermore, he already lost the strength to even utter them.
Before he could even stop himself, Shuichi collapsed to his knees and cried in front of the damaged motorcycle.
"Dad... I'm sorry for not being careful. This shouldn't have happened to the last gift you gave me if I managed to think calmly at the time. I'm sorry," he uttered in between silent cries as his head was down, unable to look at the motorcycle.
He had always been careful about this particular vehicle ever since he got his license and Hideoki finally allowed him to ride it. But he wasn't able to stop himself at the time. He could've used another motorcycle to deal with Motross' challenge. However, he couldn't recall at the moment why he ended up using his motorcycle for that situation.
Shuichi looked up, tears still flowing.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to let everything that has happened to you be put in vain, Fang," he said after a few more moments of silence as he eyed his motorcycle. "Fang" was the name he gave to it as soon as he laid eyes on it 11 years ago. It was when he received it from his father. "I'll defeat Motross, just as Amuro was pointing out before. The Fire of the Fang will put an end to his senseless racing challenge."
As Shuichi gave that promise to the damaged vehicle, it appeared that it was the reason why he became unaware of the other people's presence around the garage. Erika, Itsuki, and Eichirou were leaning outside the first door of the garage. Using the Hoshiyama siblings' abilities in both earth and sound, the three of them were able to hear Shuichi's words. As for Misae, she used her powers over the wind to listen to Shuichi's monologue. She was together with Akira, Kanako, and Natsume.
"Now I could understand why Amuro-san doesn't even want to race with a pissed-off Shuichi," Misae commented with a sigh. Soon after, she faced the three Vessel Supports. "You think you guys can do something about this?"
The three just stared at each other for a few moments, before nodding determinedly. Kanako stepped in to say something.
"We're able to think of a way. But do you think Skylon can lend us a hand with what we're planning?"
Misae frowned as a response.
xxxxxx
The next day, the Vessels felt that the day would turn out good somehow if they were to base it on the news that Akira had brought to them.
"Really? They're all awake?" Erika asked just to make sure.
Akira nodded rather vigorously. "Yes, they are. Though Motross' attack drained their energies and had caused them to collapse that day, there's no other damage done to them."
The rest couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief upon hearing that.
"That's good to hear," Itsuki commented. "But I think we should focus on thinking of a way to deal with Motross and defeat it. We can't let that monster do something like that again."
"That's true," Eichirou responded. "There's a possibility that the racing stadium won't be the only stage that Motross would target."
"So you're saying that it could even include other motorists in the area?"
The photographer nodded grimly in response to Erika's question. "Before that could even happen, we have to stop it. But right now..."
"The only one among us who could up a fight to its senseless racing challenge will be Shuichi-san."
"But I doubt you could calm him down to do that, Itsuki," Misae said, speaking for the first time. "Unless we could do something to reason with him and let him accept Motross' challenge regardless of the consequences, I doubt we could let him fight for us."
No one was able to say anything about that. The archer had a point, though. It might be pitiful or frustrating for the others to see Shuichi fret over a damaged motorcycle. But they knew full well how much Shuichi had treasured that motorcycle. They didn't have any right to say something that would mock the biker's attachment to that vehicle.
It was when Eichirou finally noticed something that made him look around the room. "By the way, where is Shuichi?"
The others finally became aware of the biker's absence. Come to think of it, they didn't see him come out of his room so they assumed that he was still sleeping. But it seemed that it wasn't the case at all.
"Don't tell me he went out again without telling us anything," Eichirou speculated.
"Don't lump him with you, Eichirou-san," Itsuki nonchalantly pointed out.
Eichirou rashly faced the composer. "Hey! I don't always do that, Itsu-chan."
"We'll find him," Kanako volunteered, making the Vessels' attention fixate on her. "Only four Shifters are giving off a signal around the area of the mansion so it means that Shuichi-kun brought his Celestial Shifter with him."
"We can find out where he is using that," Natsume added before facing Akira. "You can start the preparation for that. Once we manage to convince him, we'll head straight to the lab so we can finally set it."
Akira smiled as he did a two-finger salute to his mechanic partner. "Leave it to me."
Soon after, the cousins went out of the mansion to track down the biker and talk things over with him. But before they could finally leave the area, they stopped when they heard their names being called. Upon looking around, they frowned when they saw Helen approaching them.
"Tennouji-san?"
Helen took a deep breath as soon as she managed to reach Kanako and Natsume before speaking. "Are you going to find Hiwara-san?"
Kanako nodded. "We still need his permission to proceed with the plan we're thinking of so he could defeat Motross. Is there something you need?"
The girl didn't say anything. Instead, she took out a brand new book still sealed in plastic. To their confusion, it was the one titled Phoenix Knight---Hanasaki Kikue's first novel that debuted four years ago.
Natsume was the one who decided to ask the question. "Why are you handing us this book?"
"I think it's something that Hiwara-san needed right now. Let's just hope he hasn't forgotten something important. Or else, it'll be impossible for him to deal with Motross, especially on his own," Helen replied gravely before smiling, which startled the teenage boy. "It's something that might remind him of that important thing in some ways."
Though confused, the cousins agreed to deliver the said book to Shuichi. Whatever it was that the book was holding, they could only hope that it could help them talk things out with the biker.
xxxxxx
If it was just a habit or the reason that he had nowhere else to go at the moment, Shuichi didn't want to talk about any of that for now. What mattered to him was that he needed a place where he could clear his mind before heading out for a fight. Motross wasn't defeated yet, so he was sure that the scale of the attack would be larger than the last time.
He went out again to the cliff that he would always go to whenever he wanted to unwind and clear his mind. Though he had made his resolve last night, it wasn't enough for him to think of a way to defeat the monster. Shuichi could've discussed this with the other Vessels, but he didn't want to vent out his frustrations on them.
So going out was probably the right thing to do for now.
But as soon as he got there, for some reason, several memories from his childhood suddenly flooded his mind. Though it wasn't the first time that it happened to him, something was still odd about that.
Using his Celestial Shifter, he decided to know the reason why it was like that. As it turned out, the area around the cliff was surrounded by mystical energy that was a little different from Hasureiki. Now that he recalled it, he had been able to sense something mysterious about the cliff ever since he first went there with his father when he was a kid. A few years before his mother died, she went there with him.
Come to think of it, this was the place where his mother Hiwara Mai told him about defeating "an enemy with two personas". At the time, he thought about people with multiple personalities. But at the time of the awakening, he recalled her pointing out that the enemy only had two personas.
'Does this mean she's been aware of the Tareans' existence since then? But how?'
Shuichi looked out to the open once more and focused on sensing his surroundings. But it seemed that his mind was still in disarray that he could only let out a frustrated sigh.
Could he still fight in this situation?
"Shuichi-kun..."
That voice snapped him out of his musings and also made him open his eyes. Shuichi must have been completely frustrated that he was unable to sense Kanako and Natsume approaching. He turned around to confirm that it was indeed the cousins who arrived and were now approaching him.
"How did you know I'm here?" he asked casually.
"You brought your Shifter with you, right? We tracked you using that," Kanako replied and had even shown him her laptop.
"I thought the satellite still needed to be repaired. So how come?"
"Most of the instruments that we use can track down Hasureiki-powered devices and some Hasureiki users even without the help of the satellite. Dad made sure that we can do that."
"So this is your favorite place, Shuichi-san?" Natsume asked as he looked around the area. The biker nodded. "It's peaceful up here."
"You think so, too?"
The boy nodded once again. But soon after, Natsume's expression turned thoughtful that both Shuichi and Kanako noticed.
"What's wrong?" the biker couldn't help but ask out of concern. This was the first time he had seen that kind of expression on Natsume.
"This place... Something's strange about this."
That was when Kanako decided to focus on sensing the mystical energy around the area. Just like Natsume, she also thought that something was strange about the place itself.
"Even though it's faint, I could tell that it came from a potent source. But the energy around the area was unlike that of the Hasureiki or even the Tarean energy."
"But where could it possibly come from? From the looks of it, this mysterious energy has been here for a long time now," Shuichi couldn't help saying since he was curious about that powerful sensation he was feeling every time he would go to that cliff.
"I'm not sure. But I'll try to research about it if that would make you feel at ease," Kanako declared that somehow making Shuichi smile. Soon after, she changed the topic of the conversation. "Still bummed about what happened to your motorcycle?"
The small smile on Shuichi's face immediately disappeared just like that as soon as he heard the question. "You're a blunt person, aren't you, Kanako? Can't you even take it easy when you ask a sensitive question?"
"You know I don't make things easy, Shuichi-kun. But let's get straight to the point, shall we? The reason I asked that was that we managed to think of a way to fix your motorcycle."
Of course, Shuichi was surprised to hear that. But almost immediately, it was replaced with gladness that one of the most important things in his life would still be fixed. At the same time, however, something told him that there was more to it.
"You think you can fix it before Motross would try attacking again?"
"Do you still want to use it to defeat Motross, Shuichi-san?" Natsume couldn't help asking this time.
The biker sighed and looked away. "I don't know why, but I really couldn't find myself using any other motorcycle to deal with that monster. Even though I know my motorcycle won't be able to keep up with the pressure of the combat with the Triske Monster, I still want to use it." Once again, he faced the cousins and smiled bitterly. "It was weird of me to think of it that way, huh?"
It took a while of silence before Natsume or Kanako decided to speak.
"If you're that determined to use your motorcycle to deal with Motross, then we can do an upgrade to it so it can endure the burden of an intense combat you'll be having against the Tareans," Natsume said not long after.
Shuichi's eyes widened upon hearing that. But before he could comment, Kanako spoke.
"But we still need your permission for us to do it. And if you do agree, we'll be borrowing the Heaven Lion Medallion from you since we need Firion to lend us his powers together with Skylon to proceed with the plan."
The biker remained silent even after that. Though a part of him was glad that the motorcycle would be fixed, the placing of an upgrade just for the vehicle to endure the tremendous combat stress was what made him hesitate. One thing was for sure, the bike would change its appearance.
But would he remain holding on to an old memory if a bigger duty was waiting for him? His father was long dead, but that doesn't mean the memories that go with that motorcycle would vanish just like that. He needed to set his priorities straight at this time, one that he knew would make his father proud no matter what.
Though before Shuichi could say anything (again), Kanako handed him a brand new copy of Hanasaki Kikue's debut novel "Phoenix Knight". Of course, it made him frown before facing Kanako.
"What's this for?"
"Tennouji-san wanted us to give this to you. She said that it might help you somehow if you're still hesitant and perhaps this would also remind you of something important that you might have forgotten. Or at least she said it that way," Kanako explained before placing the book in Shuichi's hand. "Open it. There could be something inside that might let you do just that."
Shuichi wasn't sure what was going on. Though he wanted to understand those words, perhaps it would be better if he did what he was told. As it was going on, he couldn't help feeling surprised that the book was indeed brand new.
How could Helen manage to obtain a brand new copy of Phoenix Knight with a cover design that was from four years ago? Most of the reprinted copies of the said book today were slightly altered.
The surprise he initially felt escalated as soon as he opened the book and saw what was on the first page.
"You're kidding... Is this Hanasaki-sensei's autograph?"
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