[A/N] Wow, so I guess it's been like…6 months since last post. So, to ameliorate, here is the conclusion to that arc! With an extra 1500 words more than usual as apologies. I actually had up to chapter 19 written but my laptop broke down and shortly after my phone broke, so I've lost all the material up to that point apart from a few excerpts I've sent around. Rewrites on the way! Now, last we left our heroines, Yuu had been suffering from odd dreams. Meanwhile, Nana Myounashi seems hellbent on getting her notebook.

08:31:12 JST

Nana Myounashi entered the clean hallways of the high school, smirking to herself. She looked smugly at her purse, her special trick up her sleeve almost singing to her deep within. It'd been a special gift from her reflection, but it was only now that she finally got to try it out on someone. That someone would be that no-good, lying, thieving bitch Yuu Koutari. Her footsteps made clacking sounds on the linoleum. She couldn't wait to retrieve her notebook. Come 3:15, Koutari would receive what she so richly deserved.

BLACK ROCK SHOOTER XVI: The noose.

73:42:324:78:B OST

Strength looked upon her captor with loathing as she struggled against the chains that bound her to the ground. Pale blood leaked out of lacerations cut deeply into her from the tight chains. Her dark-haired adversary revealed a faint smile of small and perfect teeth. The sky above, normally a light steel grey, seemed to be darkening, changing slowly but perceptibly to a rusty orange. Strength knew that Death Scythe's defeat was imperative, and that failure to do so could have catastrophic results. The chains rattled as she continued to struggle.

09:20:17 JST

Saya was busily scribbling notes in her English class. The class was reading some piece by some old American guy named Melville or something of the sort, and she frankly was not getting it. The somewhat antiquated English seemed far too difficult for her, and indeed most of the class seemed to be struggling as well. She vaguely knew the protagonist had embarked on a whaling journey with a captain with revenge on the brain (against an albino whale no less), but keeping the minor characters straight and sifting through all the nautical and cetological jargon was becoming quite a difficult task, having to look up several words per page and derailing any hopes of finding a decent reading pace.

Her phone buzzed quietly. Pushing her long, dark hair out of her face, she stealthily placed the device on her thigh and partially covered it with her skirt, glancing at the screen quickly.

Hey, do want to surprise Yuu and go to her team's practice? It'd be a great way to show our support for Yuu and her friends. Plus…we could maybe skip out on history to get there a little early.

That was enough motivation for Saya; she quickly texted back an emphatic yes, then effortlessly stowed her phone in her bag, resuming her frantic note taking on the bewildering array of nautical terms on the board.

65464:6465:087:096:ii:86 YST

The blonde warrior continued her search for answers. Roaming the desolate streets, past the burnt out structures of suburban homes, she racked her brains trying to remember who she was. After she passed the fifteenth sign for Yomi, she began to despair of all hope of finding any sort of clues. She turned the corner to see a dark haired young woman leaning against a cracked stone wall.

She had long dark hair, and a pair of green spectacles. She seemed to be wearing a dark coloured hoodie, but nothing else underneath it. A thin greenish cord protruded from her pocket, connecting to earbuds, one in her right ear and the other dangling uselessly from her pocket. Her eyes were a bright lime green. She had a bored expression on her face.

"Hello…?" she tried, doubting that she even spoke the same language.

"Oh, look, a new arrival," she sneered, looking the golden fighter up and down, "What do you want?"

"Who am I?" she asked, a worried and desperate look spreading across her face. She shrank back slightly as the other girl rolled her eyes.

"Don't know, don't care," she replied dismissively, "Next I bet you'll ask where you are."

She nodded, her blonde curls bouncing slightly.

"There's a question I can answer," the dark haired girl answered with a somewhat resentful tone. She pushed her glasses up with her hands and took out her earbud, frowning heavily as she stowed it in her pocket. "You're dead."

The blonde froze. "Wh-what?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"Oh yeah, whenever a warrior dies they get sent down here. This is the land of Yomi, you see. The yellow springs, the bottom country, the dark office, et cetera, et cetera. You can't remember anything unless you know your name, you see. I know mine. You can find records at the palace…" The girl gestured towards a blurry mass far in the distance, just visible in the sky, which was a yellowish orange colour. The entire town seemed to be bathed in the same colour. "…but not many come back." She laughed bitterly, "Enjoy your stay, blondie. You're going to be here for a long time."

10:34:13 JST

"Gosh, I hate math," Mato scribbled in the margins of her notebook. She squinted at the blackboard where there were three equations written, each of which had three variables. She groaned quietly. She knew she was going to need help with this later this week. Math was Yomi's best subj—

A piece of paper landed on her desk. The teacher whirled around to face the class. "Did I see someone throw something?" The room was silent. Mato quickly swept the crumpled ball into her lap. "No…? Okay then…" The lecture continued as she began to quickly write Xs and Ys all over the space below the equation set. She picked up the paper ball and quietly unrolled it.

"Hey…Yuu still has that notebook…do you think we should take it away from her for now? She looks sick…

Love, Yomi."

Mato looked up to see Yomi giving a very concerned look at Yuu, who sat one seat over and one seat up from her. Yomi glanced quickly at Mato. Mato gave her a nod and thumbs up, then watched what Yomi did next.

"Sensei, can I go to the bathroom please?" Yomi asked.

"Yes, yes, just go." She returned to lecturing. Yomi got up and as she passed Yuu's desk, knocked her textbook book off with her hip, along with her math notebook.

"Oh, sorry, Yuu! Let me get that!" Yomi bent down and grabbed the textbook. Mato squinted to see that she had slipped the notebook out of Yuu's bag and pushed it with her foot under Matagi's desk, just behind Yuu's. Smiling, Mato waited as for her to come back. A few minutes later, Yomi returned, knocking her own book off her desk. Cursing somewhat more audibly than she usually would, Yomi reached down, grabbed the notebook under Matagi's desk, and slipped it into the textbook, then dropped the notebook in her backpack.

Mato smiled broadly at her girlfriend's handiwork, then scribbled a note on the back of the previous note and tossed it over.

"I swear someone's throwing things…" the teacher muttered, glancing behind her.

Yomi blushed brightly as she read the note. Mato smirked.

"I love you.

PS Help me I'm lost."

76:89:678:35:B

Death Scythe looked at her captured prey struggling, glancing up at the darkening sky. It was almost time, yes. But not yet. She had to wait until the exact right time to put the blade of her scythe through the white haired girl's body.

Ping!

The chains around Strength burst. Angrily growling, Death Scythe immediately rushed to correct this, throwing chains around Strength. A giant iron fist collided with her stomach. Black blood spewing out of her mouth, Death Scythe skidded across the floor. Strength charged at her, grabbing her with her Ogre Arms and tossing her onto the ground hard enough to leave a crater. Struggling to stand, Death Scythe wiped the blood from her lips and spat at Strength, no longer smiling. Strength jumped in the air, bringing both fists down. Quickly rolling out of the way, Death Scythe dodged the attack and wrapped chains around Strength's legs.

Strength growled and sprung forward. Death Scythe calmly flicked her wrist to send chains towards Strength's most vulnerable spot. A gagging noise cut off Strength's furious battle cry. Chains slowly tightened around her neck. Death Scythe laughed and chained Strength's arms to the floor. Slowly but surely the chains began to tighten.

12:37:29 JST

"Mato! Yomi!" Yuu shouted, running out into the courtyard where the pair was having lunch. She looked close to tears. "The notebook…it's gone!" Her tired eyes looked desperately back and forth between the two of them. Yomi and Mato exchanged guilty looks.

"I'm…sure it will show up somewhere, Yuu. Besides, it's not like it was yours to keep in the first place. Maybe its owner took it back," Yomi shrugged at her.

Mato shifted uneasily and glanced at her own bag. She had put it there for safekeeping. Not to mention Black Rock Shooter might be able to make sense of it. The temptation to give it back was strong however, after seeing the desperation in Yuu's eyes. It really wasn't fair of her to keep knowledge of the Other World from her; the poor girl had just found out about it this morning and was likely still trying to make sense of it all. Mato's hand moved towards her bag.

No Mato!, BRS' voice sounded in her head, You are doing her a favour, I assure you. That notebook has some kind of curse or the like on it.

Frowning, Mato retracted her hand and rested it on Yomi's instead. Yuu stared at them, "That thing has some secret to it! I'm sure it has something to do with your Other World! I'm so close to figuring it out—"

"Look, Yuu, don't worry about it. Like Mato said, that notebook had something very bad in it. Look at yourself, Yuu, you look ill!" Yomi gestured to Yuu.

"But…! I…I have to find it, Yomi, I'm sorry!" she rushed off. Yomi shook her head, "I feel bad," she said, "…but…it's for her own good."

"I'm sure she'll get over it…" Mato replied, not sounding so sure.

14:47:28 JST

Haruka and Saya quickly snuck off campus and headed home to Haruka's home, speedily changing into more casual clothing. They couldn't be spotted in their uniforms during school hours, could they? They ran off to the train station and hopped a train.

"I wonder if Yuu's okay," Saya said, "She looked really tired yesterday."

Haruka shrugged and played with her skirt worriedly, "I'm honestly not sure…after you leave she goes upstairs and stays there. I thought she was really making progress with adjusting but…"

Saya sighed in irritation, "Look, if she doesn't want to adjust, that's her problem."

Haruka looked at her in shock, her mouth slightly open, "How could you say something like that! ? That's my sister you're talking about!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that she's been living with you and your dad for over a year now and except for that one week or so, she's been pretty much acting like a child. We get it, she misses her parents. But she doesn't have to take it out on you and your dad!" Saya retorted irritably. Haruka went quiet for a few minutes. Saya had a point.

"I still think we need to try," Haruka said finally.

"I'm telling you, it's a waste of time. Let her sort out her problems herself." Saya huffed and looked away. The rest of the train ride was silent.

78:35:589:21:B

The chains sharply tightened around Strength's neck, beginning a boa-constrictor like movement. Death Scythe smirked and glanced up at the sky, now deep rust brown. She raised her scythe and watched contently as Strength gagged and grunted as she clawed at the noose around her throat.

15:11:12 JST

Mato panted as she stepped off the court. Practice was difficult, as her old taskmaster pushed the team extra-hard today. The finals were next week, after all. She noticed that Yuu's sister and friend were cheering from the stands. What were they doing here? Mato mentally shrugged and wiped her brow with a towel. Kohata slapped her on the back, knocking what little breath she had left out of her.

"Good job, Ace! Keep up the good work!" She shot her a huge grin before proceeding to talk to Matagi about a few defensive errors she had made earlier. Sighing, she looked over at Yuu, who wasn't acting her usual self at all, not speaking to any of the players, only looking despondently through the management binder and making some notes. Mato needed to set her straight. Approaching the small girl, she confronted her.

"Yuu, give up on the notebook! It wasn't yours! We're practicing now and the team needs your input! Quit…moping…and get your head in the game!" Mato told her.

"You don't get it Mato…" Yuu replied morosely.

"No, Yuu, you don't get it! We need you and you're pouting over a dumb notebook!" Mato protested, anger rising slightly.

Yuu looked taken aback, "That isn't just some notebook, Mato! You just told me this morning about some whole other parallel dimension that Yomi and you have been keeping from me for years and now I have something that can help me learn about it…or had something rather…sorry that I was digging in on your little secret," she shot Mato a resentful look and stormed off towards the locker room. Shaking her head, the dark-haired girl pursued her.

99:58:879:23:B

Strength began to kick her legs as she gasped for oxygen. Death Scythe smirked and swung forward with her scythe, slashing open the white haired girl's abdomen. White blood ran down her front, spraying onto Death Scythe's blazer. She slashed again, creating an deep x-shaped gash on Strength's stomach. The noose tightened faster.

15:12:54 JST

"What's going on?" Haruka whispered to Saya, gesturing to the door that Yuu and Mato had disappeared behind. Saya shook her head and shrugged, "I'm sure they'll work it out. Mato is very caring and knows Yuu well.

"Still…" Haruka said uneasily, "Shouldn't we make sure they're okay?"

"No, Yuu can handle herself. You can't keep intervening on her behalf." Saya huffed, "Look, I want to see her improve too, but…we aren't getting anywhere. I'm out. You should join me." Saya gave Haruka a threatening glare.

Haruka stared at Saya. Had she really given up on Yuu. She had noticed a growing distance between the two since Yomi had been returned. Just yesterday the two had gotten in a fight over the usual cooking competition Saya and she did, with Yuu as judge. Yuu had simply come home that day and tried to head straight upstairs, but Saya tried to rope her into the game. Perhaps Saya was still upset…?

"I can't believe you're just quitting on her..." Haruka said.

"I'm not quitting, I—"

"Yes, you are! You always quit! This is why you always lose to me! You give up when you think it'd be too hard to win! And I'm—"

"EXCUSE ME! ?" Saya retorted, "I may be many things, Haru, but I'm no quitter! Yuu can't be pulled into being someone she isn't by us—"

"Oh, so you forcing her to participate yesterday was okay, though?"

The two girls continued to bicker with each other, neither of them noticing the dark haired girl with a small purse slip into the locker room.

15:13:14 JST

The door of the locker room opened, surprising the two arguing girls with the arrival of a dark-haired girl wearing a dark blazer and skirt. She smiled. "Give me my notebook back!" she called to them. Mato blanched. "Come on, Koutari-chan! I know you have it!" she told them in a singsong voice.

Yuu shook her head, "N-no…I…don't…I…"

The dark-haired girl rushed over to Yuu and grabbed her by her collar. "Don't you dare lie to me, you filth! Give it to me!" She shook the diminutive girl roughly.

"I…I…!" Tears ran down Yuu's face. Mato sprang into action and charged at the girl, grabbing her and pulling her away from Yuu. The girl stumbled backwards a bit, but regained her balance and smirked at Mato. She was at least a head taller than Mato, even taller than Yomi. She leaned over towards her.

"Cute. I see we're going to do this the hard way. Very well!" she reached into her small black purse and pulled out a brightly coloured gun, pointing it at Yuu's chest. Yuu gasped in fear. "I'm going to count to three! If I don't have my notebook in my hands at three, Koutari takes it in the chest!" She laughed.

Mato froze and moved towards her locker, pulling out her bag swiftly. She was interrupted by Black Rock Shooter. "Mato, you can't give that notebook to her. It's too dangerous as it is, and especially in the hands of the someone who created it. I will help you fight back!"

Mato ran at the girl, feeling the power of Black Rock Shooter flowing through her as their movements and thoughts synced up. She swung her fist at the girl and—

The girl caught her fist in midswing. "Ah…!" Mato gasped. The girl had an incredibly strong grip, making Mato tear up in pain. She struggled to free her fist. "Always going for the brute force technique…Black Rock Shooter…" she laughed and pointed the gun at Mato. Mato's eyes widened. How did this girl know…? Her thoughts were abruptly cut off by the pain of the girl twisting her wrist and throwing to the floor. "Good night!" There was a sharp crack and Mato felt a shooting pain in her chest. She writhed on the ground, her muscles contracting uncontrollably. It was a Taser of some sorts. Tears came to her eyes as she began to scream, the pain increasing. This was no ordinary Taser. Her vision blurred and there was a bluish tint to everything. She could barely make out Yuu charging at the dark haired girl.

The shocks decreased in frequency slowly. Still incapacitated, Mato looked up at the struggling pair, then noticed a flash of silver fly out of the girl's black bag. It was a knife. It landed on the floor in front of Mato. Yuu managed to get in a few good punches in the confusion, but the black haired girl slammed her against the lockers and mercilessly began punching her in the stomach. Mato grabbed the knife and began to crawl slowly towards them, planning to slice at the girl's ankles. Her blood rushed in her ears. The left side of her body was completely numb, and her pace was slow. Breathing heavily, she pulled herself slowly closer when the girl stepped on her hand. Whimpering, Mato involuntarily released the knife. The girl quickly snatched up the knife, abandoning the reeling Yuu for a moment.

Yuu kicked her from behind, knocking her to the floor, readying herself to tackle her. "Yuu…she has a—!" Mato called helplessly from the floor, but it was too late. Yuu tackled the taller girl, then shrieked in pain. The other girl rolled out from under her and held out a knife dripping with blood. A blossom of red appeared on Yuu's chest.

00:00:000:00:Y OST

Death Scythe tightened the noose in a whiplike motion, completely cutting off Strength's air supply and lifting her into the air. She kicked her legs, swinging back and forth and making choking sounds before falling silent. Blood leaked from her stomach. Death Scythe laughed gleefully and stabbed her all the way through with the point of her weapon, causing Strength to cough up blood. Strength stopped moving, going limp. She had expired at last. Her job done, Death Scythe lowered her to the ground, looking into her dead amber eyes before walking away from the scene, a large puddle of white blood forming underneath the corpse.

15:15:00 JST

The girl smirked and watched as Yuu collapsed onto the floor, quickly falling unconscious. Mato could only gaze in horror, gasping out Yuu's named over and over like a broken record. Her muscles were still mostly unresponsive and numb. The girl bent down on the ground and grabbed Mato's face between her fingers. "Nobody messes with Nana Myounashi," she spat on Mato's head, then walked towards Mato's bag and cut it open with the still-dripping knife. She sifted for a moment before drawing out the notebook. "Ah, yes…" She kissed it.

"Thanks, friends!" she called in a cheery voice, then turned to leave the room, putting the gun and the knife away, "Won't be seeing you." The locker room door slammed shut.