Regret (Kyouka Inai)

Regret (Kyouka Inai)
Date of Cutscene:	06 September 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy - Guidance
Synopsis:	Kyouka is angry she couldn't help Naru. Balance doesn't help.
Cast of Characters:	{{{Cast of Characters}}}

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(Just before scene 380)

Stellar paces in her office- Kyouka Inai's office- at Radiant Heart Academy. She's still in her henshin, long white-and-gold coat, black beneath. Her left arm is in a medical sling, held tight to her chest. A deep, resonant baritone voice speaks from behind her, even though no one is in the office with her. "Why do you anguish so? She is mundane. It is outside your purview." 

Kyouka whirls around, but there's no one there. Balance is choosing not to take a physical form, just speaking to her out of the air, a disembodied voice. "Because she asked me for help! She's one of my students, and I told her I would help her if she needed it, and she did need it, and I couldn't do shit!" She's shouting at the empty office.

"Your mandate is the training and protection of nascent magical fighters. Protecting mundanes is not how you should be spending your time. It is pointless and valueless to the Great Work."

"Fuck your great work!" Kyouka turns and rams her good fist into the wall of her office right next to the poster of the smiling sun, cracking and denting in the drywall in a small circle. Her knuckles are scraped as she pulls her hand back, but she doesn't seem to notice. "I'm supposed to be a guardian, a protector! Someone these kids can rely on! How am I supposed to do that when I can't even fight?"

She snarls. "Five years ago I could have taken that cocky bitch's head off in about thirty seconds. There wouldn't have been enough left of her to fill a thimble. All I can do now is try to buy time, and it wasn't enough!"

She rounds on the empty office again, as if she can see something there that doesn't appear physically. "I can feel my power inside me! Let it out! Take off these goddamn shackles and I'll be better at this job than I am now that you've crippled me!" There's pure frustration in her voice.

"Inai." The reply is neutral, unemotional. "If I restored your full power, the Fade would simply take it away, along with most of your memories of this life. The restrictions, the contract you have with me, is all that allows you to do as much as you can do now. I can bend the rules of this world, but not break them. Your choices are to play you part with these shackles intact, or to exit the stage."

For a moment she simply fumes in silence. Finally, when she speaks, her voice is low and full of menace. "I will find a way, Balance. I will find a way to fulfill my duties, my oaths, my promises. You think you've got me on a leash? Just you fucking wait. "

There is no reply. Behind her, Hematite and Usagi step into the room from nowhere. Under her breath, before she turns to greet them, Kyouka mutters, "Because I still have people I need to save."