Kite's Bracelet

"Oh wow, strange things are sure happening around Shugo and Rena again..."

- Mireille

Kite's Bracelet (カイトの腕輪) is the second episode of .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Story
Spring has finally arrived in The World and Balmung is busy preparing the annual flower viewing event. While he manages the construction of the event he is interrupted by Reki who arrives with his report on the monster Balmung fought a few days ago. According to the system logs an Armored Super Shogun never appeared in Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field, leaving Balmung to wonder just what he fought. Balmung orders Reki to continue his investigation and returns to his work, stating that this will be his best event yet. The two of them fail to notice that the data behind them is slowly being corrupted. Back in the real world Shugo briefly meets with his Father, who tells him that he'll be spending another late night at the office. Shugo decides to log into The World, where he meets with Rena. Rena yells at him for being late, and while he apologizes he notices that Mireille is with Rena as well. She demands to know what their plans are for the day, which causes Rena to grab Shugo and escape by using a Speed Charm. They begin exploring Mac Anu and eventually arrive in the event square, where Rena sees a notice for the flower viewing event located at Δ Voluptuous Cherry Maze. They decide to try it out, but realize that they'll need a Wavemaster to help clear it. Fortunately for them Mireille appears, and offers her services to them.

Warping to the field they find themselves faced by a forest of flowerless cherry blossoms. Rena states that in order to clear the event, they have to make the flowers bloom. Mireille tries multiple healing and water spells on the trees, but nothing works. She wonders if some sort of item is needed and goes off to search for one, leaving Shugo and Rena behind.

On a hill overlooking the event, Balmung rests against a tree drinking sake. Reki appears and asks why he'd bother making a sake item in the first place. Balmung responds that it's refinement, then begins questioning him about his report. Reki answers that considering the nature of what he's investigating, it will take him awhile to get any sort of information. He notices that nobody has managed to clear the event yet, and asks Balmung if it was made too difficult. Balmung says the only thing needed to solve it is common sense. Looking back at the event Balmung notices Shugo and Rena in the crowd. Watching them he returns to his sake. Down in the forest, Shugo reminisces about going to see cherry blossoms with Rena and his parents. His thoughts are interrupted when he notices a white dog. He immediately begins playing with the dog, who seems to have taken a liking to him. Rena remembers that Shugo had always loved dogs, but because of their Mom's allergies he'd never been able to own one. But she tells him she never heard that The World had a dog raising event. They are interrupted by Balmung, who approaches, though he initially mistakes them for Kite and BlackRose.

Meanwhile Mireille remembers a legend about corpses being buried underneath cherry trees. She begins to dig, sure that she'll find rare items underneath the trees. She succeeds in finding some bones, which begin to glow with energy. On the other side of the forest, Rena explains to Balmung that they're not actually Kite and BlackRose, they just look like them. Balmung is surprised, having never heard about a .hackers character contest. Balmung notices Shugo's bracelet, and when he asks about it Shugo tells him that he got it from a mysterious girl in white. Balmung realizes that the bracelet was a gift from Aura. Rena tries to thank him for rescuing her the other day but is interrupted by a scream from Mireille, who is being chased by a Fighting Bones monster. Balmung jumps to the rescue by hitting the monster with a powerful sword skill, but it simply recovers the damage. Realizing it's a bugged monster Balmung orders Reki to evacuate the players in the field. Shugo and Rena begin to run, but the monster follows them and knocks Rena to the ground. Wanting to save her Shugo uses his bracelet, but it malfunctions, creating a Drain Arc that hits everybody in the immediate area. Mireille tries casting several fire spells but finds her magic has been sealed, and Balmung finds that his sword has been made unusable. As the monster regenerates Shugo notices that Rena was also effected, being hit with a charm spell. Trying to bring Rena back to normal Shugo suddenly hears a female voice telling him to watch out, turning he sees the Fighting Bones readying an attack, and manages to dodge it in time.

Looking for the voice he sees that it came from the dog he was playing with earlier. As he watches the dog transforms into a powerful looking woman, who Mireille recognizes as Ouka of the Divine Fist, a legendary Knuckle Master. Ouka gets ready to fight the monster, but before she does so she corrects Shugo; she's not a dog, but a wolf! Ouka easily defeats the Fighting Bones.

The effects of Shugo's Drain Arc wear off shortly afterwards. Unfortunately this causes all of the fire spells Mireille cast earlier to go off at once, destroying several trees. Looking at the ashes of the tree Shugo figures out how to solve the event. Throwing the ashes at one of the trees, he causes it to burst into blossom. Mireille creates a wind spell to spread the ashes, and soon the entire forest is in bloom. Back on his hill Balmung resumes drinking sake. He tells Reki that he has a lot to worry about, but that he intends to relax and enjoy the cherry blossoms first.

As a reward for clearing the event Shugo gets a rare item, a dog collar. Not knowing what to do with it he gives it to Ouka in exchange for her Member Address. Shugo and Rena both log off, and Shugo goes to eat dinner in the real world.

Trivia

 * The key to solving the cherry blossom event lay in an old Japanese legend. According to the legend, an old man had a magical dog that could sniff out treasure. After the dog died the man used its ashes to fertilize a grove of cherry trees, causing them to magically bloom.
 * In this episode, Shugo loses a tooth after he trips and falls down a flight of stone steps.