Mimi’s gaze cuts quickly to me, then returns to her work. “Worried?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“I’d be more surprised if you weren’t.” Mimi’s mouth parts as if she’s going to add to that statement, but her lips only squish together as she concentrates harder.
“Can I ask you something?”
A beat of silence. “Shoot.”
“Why did you come tonight? Did Mai do something for you?”
“No.” The chi-guard blinks, bathing her pale face in blue. “I just couldn’t believe how many people would rather stand by and complain in the shadows while their fate is being decided in their faces. What happens to Mai tonight affects all of us, and if can change the outcome even the little bit with my own power, then I will.”
As she finishes speaking, my chest warms. And I find myself wishing that I had spoken to Mimi more instead of passing her in the halls of PoleControl and at all of the Hound meetings. If there have to be any casualties tonight, I hope that she’s not one of them.
The jazz music cuts off abruptly. At the same moment, a cacophony of voices rise from inside. The chi-guard cracks and the door opens. I hand Mimi back her pistol and activate my own gunblade. “This is it.”
“I just hope there aren’t anymore 220s,” Mimi mutters. There’s no time to laugh. We skirt along the walls in the dark. My heart’s thudding gets louder and louder.
There’s the chuff of a door. A thin man stumbles walks in, groping along the wall.
“Damn lights.” He grumbles.
Mimi and I hold our positions like wall friezes. Once he’s directly across from us, I spring at him and seize him by the back of his shirt and hold the blade tip to his throat.
He jerks, but then stills.
“Don’t move unless you want to die,” I warn.
Twiggy Sticks body trembles against my grip, so much that it seems he’ll cut his own damn self from all the shaking. “W-what do you want? I’m not with any of them! Honest!”
Mimi stands all the way up. “With who?”
“Those Antonym folks or those red-eyed weirdos. I’m just—”
Antonym? I haven’t heard of that. “Have you seen a short woman running around any of these halls? White jacket, light brown eyes, neck-length hair, possibly holding a gun?”
He’s quiet for a bit. “She was…”
I press the blade harder against his skin. “What do you mean was?”
His breath catches. “D-don’t h-hurt me please!”
“Easy.” Mimi warns.
“There was shooting and I think one of those red-eyed weirdos got hurt. I think they fired on her too. I didn’t stick around to see if she lived.”
My grip loosens. No… No. She—she can’t be.
“When was this?”
“Not long ago—”
I don’t stay to hear anymore. I run into the next hall. The sounds of distant gunshots burst into my ears. Another door chuffs open and a stream of blue fire blows out.
Adrenaline kicks through my blood. I hold my gunblade at the ready.
“Go check out in the halls and take the stairs, Daisuke… I’ll take the fire escape,” a female voice says. “She’ll have to run into one of us. Get her at the second floor.”
The second floor. That’s got to be Mai. I just need to get there before—
A thick-set man with long noodle-like whiskers steps out, bathed blue by a wisp of flame. Immediately his crimson eyes bore into me. Then his mouth curves into a scimitar grin. “The second floor won’t be needed, Uriko.” His mouth opens and a jet of blue fire spills from his mouth.
I jump out the way. The heat grazes my back. I squeeze the trigger. A wind bullet snuffs out his flames and pushes him back. I run down the hall. Come on stairs, stairs, stairs.
Daisuke’s footsteps pound after me.
And I start to regret not bringing the fire gene gem necklace with me. I round the corner at the end of the hall and bound up the steps. Daisuke breathes another jet of flames.
I dodge by swerving on the next flight of steps.
Above me, a body tumbles down the steps. I press against the wall to avoid it. Daisuke on the other hand gets bowled right over. I hurry up to the next floor and run down the next hall.
Without warning, a door opens. A hand grips my weapon hand and jerks me inside.
The door closes.
I try to scream. But a hand clamps over my mouth.
“Shh! Do you want the dragons to get us?”
I freeze. That voice. I turn around.
It’s Mai. Unable to speak, I hug her, burying my face in her shoulder. “Oh gods, I thought something happened to you.”
Mai returns the embrace, her fingers stroking my hair. I feel her draw in a deep sigh, “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Neither should you,” I fire back. “Tamotsu ordered a blackout raid for you because of this.”
Mai looks away. “Jun, I have to do this for your mother.”
“Get yourself killed?”
Even in the darkness, I can see her gaze hardening. “You don’t know what it’s like to live with someone else’s death on your hands. This is the only thing that will make it right.”
I stare back right in her eyes. “Then I’m coming with you.”
“Jun—”
“No. No more sending me away. No more keeping me in the dark. If you want to want your revenge that badly, then I’m not leaving you until you get it.”
The quiet that follows makes my limbs go shaky again. Mai stares at me without blinking. Then finally, she says, “There’s a meeting on the second floor. The dragon that killed your mother should still be in it as we speak.”
“Even with the lights out?” I ask.
Mai nods. “They can’t leave it. They’re using magic to channel their leader tonight. If they break it, it could kill some of their magicians. If you’ve got any electric devices, that you love dearly on you, then I suggest you turn them off right now.”
I hurry and turn off my phone. “What about my Gene Watch? It’s my only weapon.”
“Gene Watch won’t be affected,” Mai says. “They’re chi-based.” Mai moves toward the door. “Now follow me. And if I give you an order, you follow it no questions asked, “Got it?”
“Got it.”
Mai draws her gun. She pushes out into the hall way and we dodge the bodies on the ground to get to the next flight of steps. More gunshots ring out from the floors below and an awful scream grinds against my ears.
But Mai doesn’t falter and neither do I.
Up on the next floor, Mai shoots down a dragon and runs to a wide pair of double doors. She starts punching numbers into the keypad.
“You’re sure this is the right door?” I ask, looking over my shoulder.
“I know this the right door.” There’s sharp edge to her voice.
The doors spread open. Mai springs in without a second thought. I jump in after her.
To find the circular meeting room one hundred percent empty.
“They’re gone?” I ask.
Mai’s fist slams down on the table. “Fucking hell! They’ve been here.”
“We must’ve just missed them,” I say. “Maybe they took the fire escape.”
“That they did.” A female voice sneers. “But I guarantee that I won’t miss you.”
Alarm flares through me. I whip around.
But I only get to see a smear of red before—
BANG!
My ears ring. A loud thud sounds behind me. I smell blood.
“Mai!”
A female dragon stands in the doorway. “Dear, do you know how long we’ve been looking for you both? Ten years of looking and we finally get to go home with honors.”
Adrenaline jolts through my blood. How dare she? I swing my gunblade. The dragon woman jumps back with a growl before roaring flames at me.
I shoot at wind bullet, pushing her and the flames back into the wall. She shakes it off, opening her jaws
again as if preparing another attack but without warning, she thrusts a palm out.
At first, I don’t feel anything, but then my right leg comes forward against my will. Then my left. My fingers open and the gunblade drops! The next thing I know, I’m walking toward her.
No!
“Ha! Now you’ll make a nice present for—”
BANG!
The dragon woman slumps to the ground.
“Akiyama!”
I regain control of my body, albeit feeling a lot like jelly. I look in the direction of the voice. Mimi. “Mai’s been shot!”
Mimi halts in front of me. “Again?”
“Never mind that!” I say, irritably. “We need to hurry up and get her out of here!”
Secret Room 5-6 (Heaven) 'Ah'
“I am done.”
Those are the first words that meet your ears as you walk into your dark condo. You put a hand on the banister, craning your neck to peer at the two shadows of Flame and Bastet stark against the harsh rectangle of light on the stairwell walls. What on earth?
“Flame, I understand that you’re upset, but this is excessive.”
Flame’s ungentlemanly snort follows. “Easy for an outside goddess to say.”
At this, you drop your bag and immediately head up the steps. “Flame? Bastet? What’s going on?”
At the top of the steps you find the door of the guest room wide open. Bastet’s slender frame stands against the doorway while Flame stuffs a frock coat into red suitcase on the bed. He glares at you over his shoulder; the sex god may as well have thrown a dagger at you, at least a weapon can’t judge you. “When were you going to tell me that Amaterasu was in intensive care? Or better yet, when were you going to tell me that those creatures put her there?”
The question freezes you in place. Instinctively, you glance at Bastet, but her pinched expression and tense posture gives you the feeling that reasoning failed before your arrival. “Flame, a lot has been going on. And you’ve both hardly been here.”
“Hmph. Is that it?”
“Flame please—”
“I told you what the Vermilion Bird would do.” He stuffs a dress shirt into the suitcase. “I told you that her nature would never change. It doesn’t matter if you split her into one or a thousand, My—” He clears his throat and says, “Heaven. And yet you kept making excuses for her.”
Your fingers itch at the statement. You ball them up tight. “Flame, they’re children. Did you have any idea how to behave when you were small?”
“I was not an experiment,” Flame closes the suitcase with a loud zip. “And don’t try to play the baby card now. I’ve seen Masah solve puzzles and read books that would surpass even your reading level. And Mura…” He sets the suitcase down. “She stalks better than this one here.” He jerks his head toward Bastet, making her hiss.
“Stalk?” Your group goes slack. “What do you mean?”
He reaches into his black jacket pocket and produces four folded piece of paper. “Here.”
You take each and unfold them one by one.
They’re all time table with a list of days of the week, activities, and time ranges, all in Mura’s curlicue handwriting. At first you are not certain what’s special about them. But then you note the names on them: Taro, Bastet, Flame, and you. As you finish, you become strongly aware of Flame’s green gaze boring into you. “What’s this?”
“Mura’s been keeping track of our every move. And made a table of averages.” He raises an eyebrow. “Now, why do you suppose a goddess would need such a thing if she’s just a child that doesn’t know any better?”
You swallow slowly, gaze looking over your timetable. Flame’s and Bastet have more flexible ranges, but your numbers are calculated down to the exact minute. The times you finish work, the times you leave, the times you sleep. Ice threads through you as you take it in. You try to think of a reason, any innocent reason why the twins would have it, but all you can think of is the night they snuck out to kill Megumi and the night they snuck out to attack Amaterasu.
A long uncomfortable silence chokes the air of the room. Flame breaks it by setting his suitcase on the floor.
“Where are you going, Flame?” You ask.
“Back to where I came from.”
“You’re withdrawing your help then?” Bastet snaps. “Just like that? What about the King of Dragons?”
“My help?” He scoffs. “You ignore my warnings and you still claim to want my help?” He pulls out the handle. “Make no mistake. I don’t want harm to come to this world. But my first loyalty is to Amaterasu. Just like yours is to your wishful thinking.”
The accusation takes your breath. But by the time you get it back, Flame has already pushed between you both and is already on his way out.
The front door chuffs shut.
For a moment that seems like an eternity, Bastet does not move as if she’s a cave-painting glyphed to the wall. Then her green eyes find you and she says, “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” You fold the papers in your hand. “I was the one who brought them to grow up like normal kids.”
“For not paying enough attention,” Bastet says. “I feel like I should’ve noticed something.”
So do I. But in the end would it even matter? Mura may have been the one that wrote all of those things, but that doesn’t change the fact that Masah was the one who carried out the murder.
And even then, something nags at you. The day you spoke to Masah alone in their room and looked into her eyes, you didn’t see a killer there. Mura’s overly attached behaviors at the very least were a hint.
But perhaps motherhood blinded you so.
You lean against the door jamb and say, “We still have to move forward. The simulation chamber works now.”
Bastet’s eyes widen. “Then we can attack Dragon Palace.”
You fold your arms. “It’s about time we paid Ryuu back for interfering with the simulator. All of the mechs should be enough to take the island.”
The cat goddess closes her eyes. “That will start the war.”
War.
Never in your life would you have ever dreamed that you would have the power to start one. But if you don’t, Ryuu will, and he certainly won’t stop to consider the consequences the way you are now.
But you give a firm resolute nod and say, “I know.”
5-7 'Ah'
2 am.
It’s raining again.
Lightning snaps against the sky, lighting the dark brown carpet under my feet. Thunder growls shortly after: an inconsolable beast.
Whispers flit from upstairs. Too low to hear even with my fox senses. Things have been like this since the raid team brought Mai to her house for “under the table” care since a hospital is out of the question. My heartbeat is a nauseating flutter that won’t calm down. Sitting on Mai’s couch hunched like a gargoyle is the only way I can stomach the wait, but with how my body keeps quivering to stay in control I don’t know how long I can keep it up.
I wring my hands together. Gods, please don’t take her. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve muttered that prayer over and over again. I don’t care if I’m part-god or she’s part-god. I don’t care if anyone really hears or if gods like me have no power to grant prayers at all; that prayer is the only shred of comfort I have right now.
“Jun.”
I lift my head out of my hands.
Another flash of lightning carves Tamotsu’s figure from the darkness around him. He’s holding a bowl of what smells like clam chowder. “Here.”
My stomach recoils at the thought of food. Eating feels like a betrayal. “I can’t.”
He sets the bowl on the coffee table and sits down beside me. “I was going to ask why you were down here in the dark, but then I remembered you Hounds don’t need it.” His tone is light and jokey.
I don’t laugh. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Well…” He makes a steeple with his hands. “Her Akuma cells are work
ing to their limits right now. It’s amazing that she’s alive right now.” He puts a hand on my shoulder. “Your mentor is strong, especially when this is the best that we can do right now.”
That doesn’t answer the question. “But she’ll live?”
Thunder peals in response. “It won’t be much of a life she’d be living.”
My eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
He looks down at his hands. “Her spinal cord was damaged from the gunshot. She’ll likely be paralyzed from the waist down.”
I do a double-take. “Paralyzed? Paralyzed like wheelchair paralyzed?”
Tamotsu nods grimly. “But don’t worry. She won’t die anytime soon.”
Don’t worry? Don’t worry? How can anyone not worry? The dragons can come back and finish the job now if they wanted. And with Mai back at home of all places? The most obvious place she could be!
“Also,” Tamotsu continues. “There’s still the fact that Mai needs a successor.”
I stiffen. “Mai isn’t dead.”
“I know, but she told me that you were her initial choice to replace her,” Tamotsu says. “And Showguns does need another leader of the Silent Seven. I could do it for a while, but I’ll be retiring soon too and so will the others. We need someone that will be here for a long time. You’re young and it’s the tradition for pupils to take after their mentors. But…” He taps his feet on the ground. “Don’t feel that you have to do it. You can stay retired if you’d like, but I just want to let you know that it’s on the table. We won’t make you go through that bullshit re-admittance junk.”
My eyes sting with wetness. The thought of replacing Mai just sounds so wrong! How can he sit here and think about that now when Mai is still breathing? Doesn’t he love her at all? Is this what Mai’s life is worth to them? Just sweep her into the trash like a dead cockroach? Like she never existed? “I’ll think about it.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “Are you going home tonight?”
I shake my head. Driving home in the rain on a motorcycle is the last thing I feel like doing. Besides, I’ve already let Regi know what happened. I won’t be missed too much at home. “I want to stay with Mai.”
Vicissitude Yang Side Page 48