Machi woke up, she was in heaven.
Angels were comforting her, checking if she was okay.
One of the angels was crying while hugging her, strange, she didn't know angels cried.
Another angel in the distance was fiercely punching a creature inside a steaming container.
What strange angels, there was something wrong in that scene.
Machi gradually awakened from her hallucinating numbness and the reality became clearer.
Sora cried while hugging her. Kaoru was checking her wrist and her wounds.
Yuka came from inside the arena, her hands were sore.
In the arena, Hiroshi was passed out hanging from the exoskeleton steaming cabin, now destroyed. She had given him a wild beating for what he had done.
Machi felt alive, she had almost died, but somehow was there, ready to continue her quest.
"Girls, she woke up," Kaoru said, "Machi how do you feel?"
"I'm alive, it's something," Machi said trying to smile despite having her whole body sore.
"Machi ... Machi ..." Sora soared.
"Sorry Sora, I must have given you heard, I should never have entered that place," Machi said kissing her sister on the forehead.
"Machi is amazing how you managed to get out of it with only minor injuries, you must have a guardian angel," Kaoru said.
"I got lucky, I guess," Machi replied.
"I already gave that mother fucker what he deserved," Yuka said when she got closer to Machi, "it felt good."
Machi smiled at Yuka, she wasn't sure if it was Hiroshi who had done that, either way, he always deserved a good corrective.
Machi tried to get up, but Kaoru opposed it, "Machi, you should rest some more."
"Please help me get to the wall," Machi asked, "I need to see the outdoors, I need to believe this is real."
A little reluctant, Yuka and Miss Kaoru helped Machi get up.
That part of the visitor's corridor could be used as a viewpoint, the sky was visible in all its splendor.
Machi touched a hand to the glass and looked at the sky.
"I survived, I can continue looking for my family, thanks," Machi thanked the heavens.
Yuka, Sora, and Kaoru looked at her with deep admiration. Machi was an amazing girl.
Machi's hand leaning against the glass began to get darker, first the tip of her fingers, then the hand, then the entire arm, suddenly all of her was darker. The darkness spread to the three friends behind her.
Suddenly the whole corridor got dark. Visitors who were still recovering from the previous fright began to get agitated.
The sun seemed to have grown, and it was moving, a huge flash ripped through the sky, absolutely monstrous, and a scary thunder was heard, it was hard to say how big it was, but it seemed to move slowly, so it was really big.
"Oh my God," Machi exclaimed horrified, "the ... the ... rumor ..."
The gigantic fireball hid almost the whole sky and was heading to the city's suburbs, when it would hit the ground, it would vaporize everything hundreds of kilometers around, the shock wave would sweep the entire planet, and humanity would stop existing from one moment to the next.
No one knew what to say, how could it happen, how was it possible that no one had been warned? And even if there was a warning, would there be anything that could have been done?
Machi hit the glass with frustration.
"It's not fair! I fought so much to survive! I can't die yet, I haven't found my family yet!" Machi said crying.
Yuka, Sora, and Kaoru hugged her.
Visitors from the exhibition center looked at the monstrous object that crossed the sky. They thought of all the things they had done in their lives, all the things they could have done, the important things to which they had not paid attention, and all the redundant things to which they had dedicated their lives. Now with death crossing the skies, they realized that they had lived in the wrong way, they had wasted precious time with futile things.
A rage boiled in Machi's mind, she opened her hand towards the giant asteroid as if she could grasp it, from her point of view her hand was bigger.
"If only I could stop it," Machi said with a grind of teeth.
Then something very strange happened, in the sky around the gigantic fireball, five black dots appeared, exactly in the direction where Machi's five fingers were pointing.
The steaming asteroid began to fragment, the fragments got sucked by the five black dots, and the gigantic rock began to gradually decrease in size, until after a few seconds it completely disappeared from the sky, leaving no trace of its existence.
Exhausted, Machi dropped her hand, and the five dots vanished from the sky. Was she dreaming, how had that happened, was it she who had caused it?
No one in the corridor of visitors believed in their eyes, the asteroid had disappeared from the sky?! Were they saved?
Everyone looked at the marvelous sky, in their eyes the most beautiful thing they had seen in their lives.
Machi leaned against the glass, suddenly she was feeling without strength. Her two arms hung, but she could not lift them, they seemed made of lead, and she was forced to support the head and chest against the glass. She could not even keep her eyes open, she had never felt so weak in her entire life.
Machi closed her eyes. Losing the strength in the rest of her body, she described a circle pressed against the glass and toppled to the floor laterally. She left a circular brand of blood on the glass from the wound on her shoulder.
Everyone was looking at the ecstatic sky, no one saw Machi fall.
Sora wanted to hug Machi, but she didn't see her, where was she?
She looked in all directions and didn't see her, Sora started to worry.
Suddenly Sora's foot hit something that was on the floor.
To her horror she saw Machi on the floor, her body was completely inert like a doll.
"M... a.. ch.. i?" Sora moaned.
"MACHI!!!!!"
~~ End of ARC I: "The sky exhibit" ~~
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