Engage Link -Forever and Ever- (エンゲージ・リンク-どこまでも、いつまでも- Engēji Rinku -Dokomademo, Itsumademo-) is the fourth track and second audio drama of the Shakugan no Shana II Splendide Shana Vol. III album. It is set during Second episode 14 and adapts excerpts from volumes XI and XII of the light novel series.
While at the Seishū Festival, Pheles reminisced about the time she spent with Georgius, how she raised and eventually fell in love with Johann, and how she made the Reiji Maigo with Johann.
Summary[]
Among the buzzing of the last day of the Seishū Festival, students noticed a beautiful woman walking with the girl who had won the Best Costume Prize the previous day and the girl who had dressed as Juliet.
As they walked through the festival, Yoshida asked Pheles whether she had been to a school festival before. Pheles noticed the costumes the school students were wearing and likened the scene to carnivals in Nice and Venice, which she had went to many times with Johann. Yoshida remembered Shana telling her about Johann. Pheles talked about how Johann had always gone to the carnivals reluctantly wearing a white dress and a noblewoman mask while she had always worn a black overcoat and a devil mask. At their 22nd carnival, they had met seven children dressed as fairies and had flown them to the top of a bell tower. The group had then danced with the old chimney sweep and sang as they took the children home. As they parted with the children, Pheles had shown off her Unrestricted Spell Inverna and flown, with the old man having thought the two were spirits of the shooting stars. Pheles and Johann had both waved farewell while holding hands. Pheles had started crying while telling the story, deeply wanting to see Johann again.
Pheles had wandered alone around the Human World endlessly like the wind. She devoured humans and acquired Power of Existence, living only to fulfill momentary desires. She killed anyone who got in her way and searched for new desires. It all began on a whim several hundred years ago, when she met the big-talking human Georgius. The time they spent together was nonsensically thrilling, with Pheles making all of Georgius' big talk come true and playing with him. She moved the stars during fortunetelling, created Rinne to be used as servants, and carried him into the sky to show him the Earth's shape. Their time together flashed by, gaining treasure, playing in unexplored lands, and intimidating knights and clergymen. Eventually, a life was born between Georgius and a woman Pheles had given him. Georgius grew old, his dreams withered, his desires turning to only practical things, and his big talk becoming meaningless small talk. The fun times with Georgius were over. In what he called an experiment to revive his weakened body, Georgius put a blade to his baby's neck. At that moment, Pheles felt anger for the first time in her life. She killed Georgius without hesitation and left, taking the baby, Johann, with her.
Pheles raised Johann by having him accompany her rampaging, stimulating his imagination and desires and giving him everything, though it was a long process due to humans' slow rate of growth. Raising the baby was not fun or easy, but she couldn't help doing it, so she thought it was her desire to do so. Johann was a strange boy, always taking a step into the phenomena around him to try and ascertain them. By the time he was old enough to understand what was going on around him, Johann had a keen sense for the flow of Power of Existence. He was always thinking about something regarding The Truth of This World. Everything Pheles gave Johann, such as knowledge, objects, and words, changed into something different. She felt a feeling of satisfaction from giving things to the child, but thought doing so was her own desire. She ignored the greater happiness she felt from what Johann was doing, until that day.
By the time he was 17, Johann was actively trying to obtain his own desires along with Pheles. One day, Johann said that he had a dream, which was far away. Pheles offered to help him, but he cryptically confessed that his dream was unachievable without her cooperation. Pheles didn't understand, as she had always helped him. Johann's dream had always been in front of him, despite him just saying it was far away. Johann kissed Pheles, who panicked and fled, scared that his desire was her. She was scared that he was not satisfied with everything she had already given him, to which she thought she had nothing more to give, leading to him being disappointed in her. When Pheles returned several hours later, Johann smiled and voiced aspects of Pheles that he liked and stated that she was behind a wall of her own making. Pheles was scared of his words and didn't know what the feeling she harbored was, a feeling different from desire. After Johann said he loved her and wanted to be with her forever, Pheles recognized her own feeling as love. This was no longer a journey where one person took the other, it was now a journey for two.
Johann and Pheles were watching the end of a carnival, where Johann talked of all things having ends, even themselves. He had thought it strange that though Treasure Tools were created through the wishes of humans and Denizens, he and Pheles had been unable to create any despite there being no one whose hearts and wishes overlapped more than theirs. Johann figured out that this was because they had only one wish, to be together forever, and any others didn't matter. Pheles agreed that she loved Johann and couldn't live without him. Johann had seen many Mystes together with Pheles and realized that the strength of a Mystes, a being created through a different process from Rinne, is determined by the size of the former human's Vessel Known as Destiny. Johann believed that he could become a Mystes strong enough to support and be with Pheles because he felt that he had a lot of Power of Existence. His Vessel was large, and he was convinced that this was due to Pheles, who had given him everything. They went off to fulfill their wish for Johann to be with Pheles forever.
At almost midnight, the two flew to a clock tower, which Johann wanted to use as material for their Treasure Tool. Johann wanted to be like a clock, which always returns to midnight and heralds something new. He wanted to prank time, making the time that had passed a lost child at midnight. Together, Johann and Pheles wished to be together forever, creating the Treasure Tool that will stop Johann's time and turn him into a Mystes that can be with Pheles.
Pheles was still crying at the Seishū Festival when Yoshida offered a handkerchief. Pheles said she was fine and asked when the festival would end. That day was the last day of the festival, but the group would look through its many stalls. The festival would end, but the time between Pheles and Johann would not, for Pheles wouldn't allow it. She vowed that she would see Johann soon.
Characters[]
- Kazumi Yoshida
- Pheles
- Shana
- Georgius (mentioned)
- Johann's mother (mentioned)
- Johann (flashback)
Powers and Abilities Used[]
Unrestricted Spells[]
- Inverna - Pheles (flashback)
Locations[]
Quotes[]
- Pheles: "Johann and I both waved with one hand, and with our other... yes, our hands... I want to hold hands, once more... Johann...!!"
- Johann: "I have a dream too. An exceptional dream. But that dream is something far, far away."
Pheles: "What's far away? Let's go right now. I'll take you there. I'll bring you closer. We can do it together." - Johann (to Pheles): "Unwavering and unmoving, strong and scary, fun and kind, irresponsible and cute, and always cold despite getting lonely easily ...That person is on the other side of a wall they created. I've always watched you. And I've always had my heart set on you. I love you. I will go to the ends of the earth with you."
- Johann (to Pheles): "You love me. And I love you. We want to be together, and we don't want to be separated, no matter what. We both have that same wish. I am certain of that."
- Johann (to Pheles): "I'm confident in my Vessel, you know? I've always felt and measured my Power of Existence... my Vessel is large. I wonder who influenced that. My father for giving me my inquisitive mind? My mother for giving me this smile which attracted you? No... it was you, for giving me everything."
- Johann (to Pheles): "Let's go. Let's grant our real wish. I will become eternal with you. I'll be eternal, supporting you, and walking with you. If you only wish for it, it will come true."
- Johann: "Now wish, Pheles. To be with me forever. With that, I will become a Mystes to be with you ──for eternity. ──Now, let my time stop. So that I can be with you and your beauty──"
Trivia[]
- Among the attractions at the Seishū Festival were a Japanese-style café held by Class 2-2 and a bazaar on the school's fourth floor which featured stalls from shops in the Misaki Shopping District.