“Red is the color of blood,” Touya said.
“Why would I be a Dark Linked?” Tatsuo demanded. “If I was one of them, don’t you think I wouldn’t’ve saved Arisawa?”
“It could have been a trick,” Asagi suggested. “You know, to make her trust you.”
Touya nodded in agreement. “I’m sure he has enough pawns to trick her like that.”
Momoka and Pocahontas watched the exchange like a tennis match, fear shimmering in their eyes. Aoi caught Momoka’s gaze, and Aoi realized her dear friend didn’t know who to believe. That crushed Aoi.
Tatsuo’s entire body was tense from the verbal assault. His hands balled up at his sides, fingers digging into the palms. It was a matter of time before the ticking time bomb went off.
And then he snapped.
“I’m sick of being treated like some kinda criminal just ’cause I don’t it your perfect norm. I’m out.”
He stormed out of the room without another word, going until Aoi could no longer hear even the faintest trace of his stomps. She stood.
“I’m going after him.”
Aoi rushed out into the warm, windy day, her blond hair streaming behind her. She didn’t have time to enjoy the warm summer day. She had to find Tatsuo.
A gardener was bent over a white rose bush.
“Excuse me,” Aoi asked him. “Did you see which way my friend went?”
The gardener looked up with a smile. “Yes, ma’am. He went that way, towards the koi ponds.” He pointed.
“Thank you!” With that, she took off down the gravel path.
“Senpai!” she called. But there was no answer. She ran through the winding path, over sturdy wooden bridges and past well-kept hedges, calling for him all the while.
Finally, a gruff voice huffed out a sigh. Aoi paused, then turned off the path. Tatsuo sat at the edge of the koi pond, glaring at a large black-and-white fish nibbling on a plant close to him.
He stood and turned towards her slowly, hands shoved in his pants pockets. For a moment, he said nothing. Maroon hues watched her carefully before, finally, he spoke. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Just dandy.” Sarcasm dripped form his words. His shoulders slumped and he looked away. “They treat me like I’m some kinda criminal just ’cause I ain’t a model student.”
She didn’t blame him for being angry. She was a little angry at her friends, too. “But I believe you.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “You wouldn’t lie to me.”
“No, never,” he agreed.
Carefully, she picked her way through the landscaping to his side. She took his calloused hands in her soft ones. “I don’t know who the liar is, but I know it can’t be you. I trust you more than anyone else.”
He gave a crooked grin. “Arisawa . . .”
She looked up at him and returned his smile. “Yeah, senpai?”
He looked away. “There’s something I gotta tell ya,” he mumbled. “And I know now ain’t the best time, but I gotta get it off my chest.”
She squeezed his hand. “Then tell me.”
“Arisawa, I—”
A loud cough interrupted him. Aoi looked up, startled. A boy and girl stood on the bridge across the pond, staring at them. The girl had deep black hair, a designer jacket, and too much makeup. She looked like the beautiful love child of a prep and a goth.
Aoi recognized the girl from the beginning of the last semester. Ai Murasaki. She was the one who wouldn’t let Aoi sit with them.
“I know you,” Tatsuo said, staring at the boy.
He looked very plain, with brunette hair and dark circles under his eyes. He wore the school uniform, but the strong shade of black looked a dull grey on his slight frame.
“Yes. We were in the same class last semester. The name’s Ren Satou. Friends call me ‘Chai’ if you care to have the pleasure.”
“I don’t.” Tatsuo’s voice was flat. “What do you want?”
“To give a proper introduction,” Ai said. “I find it’s always better to be the hunter, instead of the hunted.”
Ren lifted his shirt, showing the gem on his stomach and grinned. “We’re Dark Linked.”
“Linked?” Aoi said nervously. “What’s a Linked?”
She didn’t want to fight. She just wanted everyone to get along.
Ai laughed. Together, she and Ren summoned their weapons. Ai rested one hand on her hip. The other held a whip with a heart-shaped tip. Ren simply held an oval-shaped brown mirror with the glass facing him.
So they were Dark Linked. She hoped it might have been a joke at first, but they really were here to fight. But why? Why now?
Tatsuo moved Aoi behind him, up the dry pond bank into the bushes.
Mulan appeared, standing just over the water’s surface. Her voice was filled with worry as she spoke directly to Aoi’s mind. “How did they know to find us here, Aoi-san?” She glanced at Tatsuo.
Aoi shook her head. No, Tatsuo wasn’t the Dark Linked. She didn’t believe that.
“Introducing yourselves was a stupid idea,” Tatsuo growled, gripping his bokken tight in both hands. “Takes too much time to get to the part where we kick your asses.”
“We’re not Linked though!” Aoi tried again.
“Honey, just stop,” Ai said, almost gently but not kindly. She looked like a predator toying with her prey. “We know you’re Linked.”
Ren added, “We questioned Yamamoto-san about you two months ago, before we killed him.”
Aoi was shocked. “You . . . you killed your teacher? Why?”
“He found us poking around his student files. We would’ve let it slide, but then he started following us around. Couldn’t have that.”
The pair was leisurely crossing the bridge towards them, their weapons held loosely by their sides.
Ai shrugged as she walked. “We couldn’t have him warning you, now could we?”
“Not to mention we’ve been keeping an eye on you as well, Tatsuo-san,” Ren added. “We thought perhaps you’d like to join the winning team.”
“Hell no!” Tatsuo snarled, before glancing over his shoulder at Aoi. “Get your weapon, Arisawa.”
In moments, his bokken was replaced by his Linked weapon: an elegant sword made of black steel. Aoi had never seen it before. She was so used to seeing him practice with his bokken.
That meant things were serious. There was no more reason to deny being Linked.
“Be careful,” Mulan warned Aoi.
I will be.
Aoi summoned her rings of light and followed Tatsuo up the bank to the gravel path. Ai and Ren were only yards away.
Ai lunged at Aoi and flicked her wrist, causing her whip to snap at the blonde. Aoi raised one of her rings to block it. Metal clanged against light.
But then Ai snapped her wrist again, and the whip righted itself, cutting into the skin beneath Aoi’s jacket sleeve. She hissed in pain.
“Arisawa! You okay?” Tatsuo yelled, glancing over at her.
“Just fine! You?”
There was no time to answer. Another Tatsuo—a duplicate—charged into the one who spoke only moments before. Both Tatsuos crashed into the garden’s wilderness, disappearing behind the bushes.
“Eyes on me, brat!” Ai ordered.
Aoi looked back in time to see the whip rushing at her face. It was too late to dodge completely. She could only turn her head and yelp as the tip sliced her cheek. Blood dripped down off her jaw.
But then Aoi had an idea.
Ai raised her whip to strike again. The whip clanged against Aoi’s ring, but Aoi wouldn’t let Ai snap the whip back. She grabbed hard onto the leather and refused to let it go. It dug into her hand and burned, but it didn’t matter. Ai had to be stopped.
The distance between them was closed. The older girl snarled her dark lips, hate filling her eyes.
“Sorry about this,” Aoi breathed, and raised the hand that held her ring and brought it d
own hard with a single thought. Don’t kill her.
She struck Ai across the head, the electricity fizzling at the contact. Ai’s legs went numb and she fell to the ground. Hair standing on end, eyes closed, Ai lay motionless. Her whip disappeared.
Aoi had won.
She drew in a deep, shaking breath. Is she dead?
Mulan popped from the water to Ai’s side. She checked Ai’s pulse. “No. She’s alive. I’m proud of you, Aoi-san.”
With that, the spirit disappeared back into the gem. Aoi nodded, exhaustion flooding her limbs. But she couldn’t relax yet. Metal against metal clanged in the garden, the sword strikes almost deafening.
Aoi rushed into the bushes, searching for Tatsuo and his duplicate. He needed her help.
“Senpai!” Aoi called. If she was lucky, just one would answer.
But nothing was ever that easy. They looked at her at the same time. “What is it now, Arisawa?” they chorused.
She grimaced. This was bad. She couldn’t tell the difference.
One of the Tatsuos swung his sword, and the blade bounced off the other’s glimmering red gem, cracking it slightly. That Tatsuo growled and lunged, striking the first attacker in the opposite arm. One of them was bleeding, but Aoi didn’t know if it was her Tatsuo or not.
She racked her brain for some kind of plan or solution, but nothing came to mind. All she could do was quietly watch them fight. They were destroying the plants covering the ground. One of them—the one not bleeding on the arm—was pushed back into a thicket of rose bushes. The other lunged towards him, sword held high. But the first got free of the thorny bush just in time, though not without some scratches on his face.
They had the same looks, same movements, same voice, same sword. They were identical in every way except the growing wounds on their bodies. How was she supposed to find a difference between the two?
And then she had an idea. Mulan?
“Yes?”
Do you think those two have the same mind?
“Of course not.” She didn’t even hesitate. “Though this Satou boy may look like Akabori-san, he isn’t him. He’s only acting.”
That’s what she thought. And that gave her all the information she needed to come up with her next plan.
“Senpai, I have a question!”
“Does it have to be now?” They groaned in unison.
“It does. I want to know what you were going to say earlier.”
They paused, then exchanged a look. They both seemed awkward and nervous. All Aoi could do was wait to see which Tatsuo spoke first.
Finally, one moved. He lowered his gaze and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, this ain’t the best time, but what I wanted to say was . . . well, I love you, Arisawa.” His face went scarlet as he finished his confession.
The words shocked her, but Aoi wasn’t convinced quite yet. It could be a lie, meant to throw her off.
“Is that true, Senpai?” She looked at the other Tatsuo.
He winced like she’d struck him. “That’s not something I want a fake me saying,” he grumbled. But he didn’t deny it.
“Arisawa, ignore him. Help me take him down. We could do it together.” The other Tatsuo looked at her hopefully.
“You can’t tell me you believe him!” Tatsuo snapped, swinging his sword. The other Tatsuo parried it easily. He wasn’t angry. He was scared. “Arisawa, I need you to have my back.”
“I know you got my back,” the other interrupted. “You’re my best friend.”
“You’re the only one who’s really got my back, Arisawa.” The swords clanged together. “You were the only one who knew for a fact I’d never lie to you. You were right at the festival; I take my anger out on others.” He ducked, then swung a counter strike. “But I’d never betray you or my friends.”
Finally. Aoi knew if she kept them talking, Tatsuo would say something only he knew in due time.
She rushed the fake Tatsuo, dodged under his arm, and raised her ring to strike the back of his neck.
Fake Tatsuo leapt back and turned on her. “Don’t think so.”
But Tatsuo—the real Tatsuo—stopped him. He used the brief distraction to kick fake Tatsuo in the back, forcing him on his belly. He rolled over, only to find Tatsuo’s sword pointed directly at his throat.
“Drop it,” Tatsuo growled.
Ren dropped his sword, which immediately turned back into the original mirror.
“How . . .?” Ren asked as he took on his true form once more. The mirror disappeared altogether. “How did you know?”
“You may look like Senpai, but you could never be him.”
She walked up to him, ring buzzing at her side. Tatsuo smiled at her, his arm bleeding from the sword cut. “Do you want the honors?”
Aoi nodded. She raised her electric ring at Ren. “I’m sorry if this hurts.”
She brought her ring down on his head. He was out like a light.
Tatsuo pulled Aoi into a tight hug. Aoi’s reflexes made her first stiffen at the touch, but for only a split second. She returned the hug, her head nestled in his chest.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he murmured into her hair.
Aoi pulled away first. “We need to find the others,” she said. “They need our help.”
Tatsuo nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get going.”
“But what about these two?”
Tatsuo shrugged. “They can rot for all I care.”
“Senpai, we can’t do that!”
“They tried to kill us!”
“So we kill them instead? That would make us no better than them!”
Her words made him pause. “Arisawa . . .” He tried to protest, but his words failed him. He couldn’t prove her wrong. “Fine. I’ll drop ’em off somewhere. Let’s go.”
He grabbed Ai and Ren’s limp wrists and dragged them to the shrine—it was much closer than the estate’s house. An older couple knelt on the barren floor, but they stood when the teenagers approached.
Before they could question him, Tatsuo spoke. “Found them unconscious. Dunno what happened to them. They need help.”
The woman nodded and pulled out her phone. The man wasn’t as compliant.
“What happened? Are you two responsible? Why are you bleeding? Hey! Get back here!”
Tatsuo ignored the man’s questions as he took Aoi’s hand and led her out.
“We have to find everyone. If the other Dark Linked are nearby, they’re in real trouble,” Aoi said.
Tatsuo nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“I hope they’re okay.”
“I’m sure they are.”
Aoi wasn’t so sure. One of them lied. One of them could stab a Light Linked in the back at any time. Everyone was in danger. “And if they aren’t?”
“They’ll be okay. We’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter 29
As the sun fell over the Shiroyama estate, the summer heat began to cool off, but the tense heat of battle still hung heavy over Aoi. Night would come soon. Aoi and Tatsuo walked in silence back to the main house, searching the empty garden paths as they went for signs of more Dark Linked. So far, they’d found none of the others. Were they still in Kiyoko’s bedroom, or had they fled themselves? A frightening silence fell between Aoi and Tatsuo. Something could have happened to their friends. Something could be happening that moment.
They exited the main garden and found themselves on the wide gravel drive leading to the shrine. In the distance, two silhouettes were coming their way, the sun glare hiding their identity. Tatsuo moved Aoi behind him. They couldn’t know who it was until they got closer.
But then the rooftops hid the sun, and the tension eased.
“Shiroyama-san! Midorikawa-san!” Aoi ran towards them.
They looked as beat up as Aoi and Tatsuo did. Kiyoko had dirt smeared across her face and her pretty white dress was now torn in multiple places. She had a slight limp, but Aoi didn’t think anything was broken. Touya, on the other hand, sported a black eye a
nd a bloody lip, his clothes seemingly untouched. But they were alive, safe, and smiling wearily.
“You okay?” Tatsuo asked. He stopped beside Aoi and grabbed her hand. She gripped it back. Their friends were safe.
“As okay as we can be,” Touya replied.
“We went after you two to make sure everything was okay, in case Akabori-san really was the traitor.” Kiyoko glanced at Tatsuo and Aoi’s entwined hands, then shrugged. “On our way, we ran into some trouble. Kuro and Muzumi Ishikawa, from the other Linked founding family.”
Aoi winced. She couldn’t say she understood what that meant but, if they were from a founding family, they were probably strong. As if her friends’ injuries didn’t already tell her that.
Tatsuo’s voice was gruff. “Did you beat ’em?”
“It’s hard to win when the enemy’s every wound is healed.” Touya shook her head in frustration.
“If Ishikawa-chan hadn’t collapsed when she had, Ishikawa-san probably wouldn’t have backed down,” Kiyoko added.
“It was almost funny,” Touya said. “For the leader of the Dark Linked, I didn’t expect him to show that much kindness”
Tatsuo interrupted their banter with a more important question. “Where are the girls?”
“Don’t worry. We left them in the house.” Kiyoko gave a tired smile.
Aoi’s shoulders eased for just a moment, and then realization struck. Only two remaining people could be the traitor. And she was alone with a Light Linked.
“We need to go. Now.” Aoi said.
“What? Why?”
“One of them is Dark Linked.”
They should have never split up in pairs. Everyone was in danger the way things were now. No matter how things were sliced, one of them would have ultimately been left alone with the traitor without even knowing it. And someone was in big trouble because of their mistake. She felt so stupid. Just because Touya and Kiyoko were safe, she’d let her guard down. They should’ve kept looking for the others immediately.
Aoi didn’t dare think on who the traitor might be. She’d figure that out soon enough. But where would they be? The traitor wouldn’t attack in Kiyoko’s house, where there could be so many witnesses. So where?
Linked: The War of the Gems - Book 1 Page 27