Ikebukuro Christmas Concerto Episode 3 Part 2

Things pick up mid fight while Gabriel continues singing, which is met with cheers from the angels. The way their spirits rapidly rise start pressing in against all of the racers.

Arslan is fighting with Ikutoshi, having a good time and saying sparring with the young is quite a thing. The game describes his movements as broadly delicate and graceful. Ikutoshi is surprised by how good Arslan is, saying that while he seems full of openings, going for any of them seems likely to get him caught.

Arslan compliments Ikutoshi’s skills and challenging nature, and says that the size difference would make it hard to grab him. Snow compliments Arslan and takes a stab at him himself, though Arslan manages to avoid his multidirectional attack. As he laughs about this, Ikutoshi sneaks behind him and tries to use his CS, even if he doesn’t like using back attacks.

Ikutoshi in his adult form manages to kick Arslan in the stomach. He thinks he’s managed a good hit, only to start slip on oil and be pushed back in a hold. Arslan laughs at him dropping his guard after getting an attack in, then says kings are covered in oil.

He asks if they’re giving up, and Snow says he won’t. He also asks what they’ll do next, and Zabaniya reminds people that he’s also in this fight, charging at Snow with his fists on fire. You either call out to Snow or challenge Arslan to get him to let go of Ikutoshi.

Going with A, Zabaniya asks if you’re stepping up to face him instead of Snow. He unleashes a flurry of punches at Snow, which has some edges hidden in the flames. Arslan says Zabaniya is having fun and asks to switch places. Arslan also says that having so many weapons around is unfitting for the holiday, so he uses his NP to blast everyone with his oil.

Zabaniya interprets this to be Aoyama’s style and deactivates his fire fist enhancement to fight barehanded. You got hit with oil too, so you can’t keep a grip on your sword. Arslan talks about how the rest of this fight will be based on martial training alone, and how as a monarch he’s trained to not hurt others and not be hurt.

Zabaniya is impressed by Arslan’s speech, and Arslan taunts you all to come at him. You decide to meet him head on and toss your sword. Elsewhere Pollux is watching and is surprised, then start remembering his time with Castor. Narration describes him as always reaching for the starts he can’t reach, born to his fate. It also compares his way of living as like a shooting star shining for a moment.

Back in the concert hall, Arslan compliments your persistence. You desperately attack him, but he slips away each time and knocks you off your feet. The oil is taking away your grip, your foothold, and your body temperature, but you still won’t give up and say you have to end it fast.

Arslan’s eyes narrow as he watches you get up again. He says every time he sees you, you grow and change. He compares you to a kaleidoscope at first before changing his mind and saying a starry night sky instead. He thinks about his sword and all the battles he went through with it, and how he hopes for an age where no one is hurt or hurts others.

It’s for that wish that he keeps fighting, even though he doesn’t know how far away the dream is. After a little bit, Arslan switches places with Zabaniya in a flash since he figured Zabaniya is itching to fight you.

Zabaniya moves some of his oiled up hair to the side and bows to you as he asks to spar with you. He won’t be using his fire, but he’s still kept up with his martial arts training and wants to show you. Since meeting with you, he’s swore himself to you and retrained himself for your sake for days. You can either tell him to come at you, ask him to go easy on you, or not say anything.

You and Zabaniya start swinging at each other, shaving away at each other’s stamina. You get the choice of going for a Buster approach, Quick approach, or an Arts approach, though I doubt it matters. As Zabaniya strings his fierce attacks, you manage to fend them off, prompting him to compliment your skills improving.

Ikutoshi also notices your skills have gotten better and wonders when it happened, expressing some frustration. Zabaniya says you’re stronger than he imagined and is about to say what you are to him, but he backs off at the last second to ask if his bravery impressed you.

Zabaniya also whispers something about being a special tool to you before trailing off and thinking about what was said between you two from that one day. He then says words would be unavoidable, and you can respond by either smiling intensely, smiling kindly, or bury your face in his nape.

Zabaniya goes on to say you’re the one who polishes him as a spear, polishing his soul and clearing his eyes. He thinks he’s fortunate he’s met you and considers the meeting a treasure to him. He gives you his thanks, then continues the fight.

As Melusine watches, Zabaniya’s talk about being a tool strikes a chord with her, so she doesn’t try to shoot and just grips her gun. Ikutoshi eventually speaks up and says he won’t let you be the only one to fight and challenges both Arslan and Zabaniya.

Since Ikutoshi refers to Zabaniya as an older uncle type, Zabaniya is shocked by the term being used and admits to being older than the monastery students. Snow says he’s upset at being underestimated and faces off against Arslan. Arslan tells him to come at him.

Krampus calls out to you and says he’ll help with wrestling moves. He, Ikutoshi, and Snow take down some angels and come to help you as the battle continues. Gabriel is off to the side saying Arslan and Zabaniya look like they’re having fun. She goes to get some water and offers some to Claude, who is sitting down and having a break.

Claude accepts the offer and talks about Gabriel’s singing. Gabriel says Claude’s voice is nice and loud too and invites him to go karaoke. He says he’ll think about it.

Gabriel then starts talking about how things will go down now since she thinks the Missionaries have held up the racers long enough. Azazel shows up and asks if it’s about time to end the fight. Gabriel asks him if it’s okay to stop the battle, and he answers there are other ways. For example, repenting.

Gabriel is shocked by what he said, and Maria shows up yelling for her loud enough that everyone stops moving. Maria then puts down the mic she just used and power walks to Gabriel, scolding her for her actions.

When Gabriel asks why she’s there and not at the arena, Maria says she got a call from Tanngrisnir and Azazel led her over. Azazel apologizes and says Ded called him for the details. Nyarlathotep (who gave the idea to begin with) is in the middle of arrangements.

The dark angel chief shows up and orders all angels to go catch Nyarlathotep, who multiples himself as he escapes. Everyone else just stops to watch this all go down. Ikutoshi thinks it’s a bit disappointing for an end of battle. Snow says that no one really has the will to get back to fighting now. Krampus is sad the moment slipped by when he was getting into it.

Yule asks what’s happening, and Tanngrisnir asks if he’s okay since Yule has been falling over himself. Yule says he’s only hit his head a little. Garm asks if he can take a bath because licking off the oil hasn’t really worked.

Arslan asks Zabaniya about him holding back and says he never thought he’d try to show off when he’s quiet and unsociable. Zabaniya responds by pointing out that Arslan was playing around rather than really fighting himself.

Maria apologizes to everyone, though Arslan waves it off and says they had fun. Zabaniya apologizes too for getting worked up. Maria tells the racers that the shower rooms and the laundry room in the school will be opened up for them. She also tells them the prep for the next half of the race is going on and tells everyone to relax.

After that Maria asks Gabriel where everyone’s teammates are. Gabriel teases her for not noticing, so Maria tells her she needs to repent more for causing everyone problems. Gabriel quickly points to a monitor of the audience area, so you ask in shock if you’ve all been on camera this whole time. The crowd outside is going wild.

Gabriel says she wanted to try broadcasting her concert’s first act during the marathon. She turns to the fans and asks if they enjoyed it. Managarm is fanboying over her as usual, so much that his voice is going a little hoarse. You still notice him among the cheering crowd, and he comes over to talk. He saw your fight and says you guys were so good in there (but not as good as Gabriel) that he waved his glow sticks for you guys. He also points out Pollux for you.

Pollux turns out to be part of the crowd control, telling people not to get closer to the stage. But for all his experience in fighting, he’s stuck playing defense against the crazy fans. He turns to Nomad and asks if he has to do this all the time. Nomad laughs and then sighs long-suffering.

Maria rounds on Gabriel again in shock she made them act as part of her staff. Gabriel says they told her they didn’t want to just wait around. Bathym walks up and speaks up for her. Ikutoshi asks in surprise about Bathym’s clothes, thinking they’re a stage outfit. They’re actually casual clothes according to Bathym.

You get a choice to talk to either Pollux and call him over, pity Nomad over his work, or gush over Bathym’s fashion. Going with B, snaps up in surprise and tells you to not stare at him and to say everything you were going to say.

In any case Pollux will come over, breathing hard and saying you’re late. You can either ask if he’s okay, cheerfully say you came to meet him, or say he looks good in his Santa outfit. Going with A he says he was reminded of the time he was almost crushed by a giant.

Pollux then says that he thought idol concerts was where dullards came together, but he admits he underestimated them and says they compare to the underground arena battles in terms of mayhem. Managarm calls it a place to test your love with your life at stake. The fans come to wring our their love to cheer for Gabriel and help her shine as she does.

Pollux seems to agree and calls it their gymnasium. He also says he sees the same look in their eyes as Castor did presumably. He and Managarm seem able to communicate by eyes alone. Managarm then introduces himself and says they’re friends now by virtue of coming to Gabriel’s concert. Pollux introduces himself next and thinks they’ll get along well, and both shake hands. You either comment on their friendship forming or ask what’s happening.

Going with A if it matters, Tanngrisnir says it’s nice and says he’s weak to it. Melusine doesn’t quite understand but says it’s moving, then asks Tanngrisnir to wipe his eyes.

Nomad tells Gabriel to get back on stage since he’s nearly unable to hold back the fans anymore. They push him over as he goes down yelling. Gabriel starts (fake?) crying over Nomad and Managarm on the monitor and what she did, causing all her fans to yell for her to not cry. You can either say Maria seems to be self reflecting, comment about Gabriel becoming self aware, or say Nomad isn’t dead.

Going with A if it matters, Maria tells Gabriel to go on and not make people wait. Gabriel asks if it’s okay, and Maria says that the racers are getting fixed up, so Gabriel should cheer them up with her songs. Gabriel apologizes and heads off.

Gabriel goes to sing, and narration says her voice can’t be heard because she’s singing to everyone. But narration also says that maybe her thanks to the racers may be in her expression. Managarm begs her to smile his way, and Gabriel apologizes to everyone present. She also cheers for everyone moving forward in the race.

Some time later the prep work is done and everyone is getting ready for the race to restart. Arslan wishes you luck, and Zabaniya tells you not to push yourself. You can either thank them and say you’re going, say you had fun, or tell them you’ll see them later.

Tanngrisnir suggests you guys get going for your own preparations. Zabaniya talks about getting back to cleaning, and Arslan asks to talk to him. Zabaniya thinks this is some post mortem about the battle, which Arslan says it sort of is. He asks why he didn’t use “that.”

Zabaniya doesn’t understand what he means, so Arslan throws into his face that one line about taking hearts. Zabaniya falls over in shock while Arslan says if he used it not even you would have stood up to it. Zabaniya then desperately tries to get him to stop talking about it. Arslan laughs saying a warrior shouldn’t know shame and that Zabaniya still has a ways to go.

Scene shifts to the arena as Andvari commentates that the race will be restarting without issues soon. Teams Claude and Krampus are off as they came in earlier, then says you guys are going soon. As he refers to you guys as Team Tanngrisnir, Pollux asks about that since he thought it’d be Team MC. Tanngrisnir tells him he’s riding as Santa for now and that he was originally supposed to be a reindeer. He doesn’t mind if you guys go by Team MC. Melusine says she doesn’t mind either.

Pollux accepts that and calls you Chief. You find it strange and ask about the term of address, questioningly say you’ll take care of things, or say he fusses over weird things. Going with A, Pollux says if he’s carrying things with someone or riding horseback, he wants it to be with someone he likes. Then he says you guys should go.

Tanngrisnir says you seem to be blessed with many friends and says he feels like he can see the path you’ve taken up to this point. You can either say they’re all important to you, say people attach themselves to you for some reason, or say you want to get closer to him. Going with A, he thinks that’s great and says you should treasure them.

He also says the time you have with them might just stop short one day and that you should keep that in mind. You can either say you’re glad you’re with everyone tonight, say you’ll keep them close, or just quietly nod. Going with A, Melusine and Pollux are happy you say so.

Andvari announces that its time for your team to go, and you all talk about going your best. Solomon pops up after to recap that you’re still in third and says you won’t take first at this rate. He cheers you on and hypes about whether you can turn it around, then ends the episode.