Tomorrow
by Autumn Win-dow
I would like to thank Authors of Gakuen Alice and the House Cup as serving for the inspiration for this story, and for Team B, the victors of the Wolf Game, for helping me understand what exactly happened during the final moments and to create hopefully a satisfactory adaptation.
Not all of these events have occurred during the Wolf Game, and has appropriated for the medium of Gakuen Alice fanfiction.
This is the whole story.
-Autumn Win-dow
In the middle of the night, a thin silhouette sped through the eerie forest. Her hurried footsteps crushed the dry leaves and thin twigs on the hill's slope, and the sound of her hyperventilating – accompanied by the wind whistling through the bare branches – bounced off the rough trunks of the forest trees. The girl's skin was covered with scratches and scars from the sharp branches she passed as she ran up, and the paleness of her face was now stained with the deep crimson of her own blood.
Despite her growing fatigue, she could clearly hear the footsteps following her in her trail. No matter how hard she pushed her legs off the ground and pushed herself forward with the help of the very branches which scratched her skin, the footsteps behind her became louder, and she felt even more panicked.
As she sprinted between the tree trunks, her foot suddenly contacted one of the over-ground roots, and she felt herself tumble down the hill, into the dead leaves. The girl was too afraid to cry, as the looming silhouette approached her slowly.
Her hair was a disarray of leaves, twigs and cold sweat. She clenched the dirt underneath her hands, as she stared forward. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break her gaze away from the deep, black stare of the menacing wolf.
As the wolf leaped forward, teeth bared and jaw wide, the girl let out a chilling scream – the sound which informed the four villages that the war had begun.
The power of the seer and the guidance of a wolf was what linked the four small villages together. Each village was guarded by a monstrous wolf with a heightened knowledge – similar to a human's. However, even though these wolves could not disobey their siblings from the different districts, they were bound to obey the people of their village with their utmost dedication. Because of this, the power of the seer was created by the four wolves – the ability to communicate with a wolf when no ordinary human could. Each wolf created a staff for their respective seer, and the position of the seer was passed down from their chosen people by the presenting of this staff. Holding the staff was the only way which a seer can communicate with their village's wolf, as well as the other wolves. Upon the introduction of the four seers – one for each district – they lived in harmony.
Until the doors of one of the wolves' huts was left ajar one night, and havoc ensued.
Yura was awoken by the sound of an enraged argument outside. She hastily slipped on her shoes and fixed her hair into a low ponytail before exiting her cabin and hurrying towards the location of the argument – the point where the four villages met.
She noticed that the ones who had started the argument were the citizens of the fourth village, and even from where she stood she could notice the rage on their expressions and gestures.
They were involved in a heated argument with the citizens of the first and third villages – she couldn't see a single person from her own village involved. As the only one awake at the time, she decided to place it upon herself to be the voice for her village.
"Now, which one of your wolves killed her?!"
She halted in her step at the shocking revelation – it was only then when she noticed the blood on their shirts and the grime on their hands, as well as the despair evident in their wide, enraged eyes.
Yura knew what to expect – it was highly likely that the killer was from one of the villages. The owners of the wolf obviously had the intentions to start a war between the villages, and to destroy the current peace which they had all strived to maintain. But no matter where they lived, or if they killed the fourth village's mayor or not, Yura knew it would turn into an all-out war.
A war was an excuse to exert their pent-up hatred for each other – something which they all had tried to control for years.
Yura ran.
She could predict what was going to happen - she could see the haunting emotion in the eyes of the other villagers.
They were to go to war.
She hastily rapped on the all-too-familiar door, and she was - although not immediately - greeted by the face of her villager's seer.
"...What's the rush?" He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes open with his knuckle.
"Koko!" Yura huffed as she looked back and forth between him and the direction of the chaos. "A wolf was let loose last night, and killed one of the fourth village's citizens! And now they're going to war!"
"What?" He asked her the question which she expected, but instead of screaming in shock, he only muttered his response.
In annoyance, Yura flicked his forehead.
"Ow!"
"I'm serious, Koko. I can see it. A war is approaching. Fast." She groaned, as she pointed to her forehead in reference to her occasional ability to see the oncoming future.
Koko, now finally awake, pressed his lips into a line before rushing back into his house.
"Koko!" Yura exclaimed, "What are you doing-"
She was immediately silenced when she realised that he had only returned to retrieve his staff.
"Oh."
"Let's go, Yura." He spoke in a more serious tone as he exited his home, passing by her.
"Where are we going?" She confusedly questioned as she followed him.
"I'm going to summon a town meeting."
Yura stared at his back in disbelief as she replied,"What?! But Koko, you know we can't fight! Tsubasa is-"
"I know that." The seer interrupted the girl, as his footsteps led to one place - the bell tower.
"But why are you calling a meeting?!"
"We're not going to survive this war, Yura." Koko grimly admitted as he grasped the bell's handle in his hand. "That's why we're going to escape before it happens."
"Anna, you stay here and take care of Tsubasa." Misaki ordered before he left the small hut, closing the door behind him.
She couldn't help but smile at where he once stood. The young nurse had always been attracted to her mentor - of whom was also one of her father's best friends - and ever since she had become his assistant as the village's nurse, she looked forward to work everyday.
Anna internally scolded herself for not concentrating on her actual work - and at that point in time, it was to take care of the sick Tsubasa.
She twisted the soaked cloth and squeezed the remaining water out before wiping away the sweat on his forehead.
"Are you feeling any better?" She murmured when she noticed his eyelids flitter.
"...I'm feeling fantastic." He sarcastically replied before huffing in amusement. "So why did that guy suddenly call for a town gathering?"
Anna shook her head as she pulled the cloth away and placed it on her lap. "I don't really know. But since it's this early in the morning, in guessing its important."
Tsubasa clicked his tongue. "Damn it. If it's important, then I should be the one dealing with it."
"You can't, Tsubasa!" Anna sighed, as she planned a reassuring hand on his bare shoulder. "You're too ill to do that. The best thing for you to do is to stay put in the meantime."
Even though Anna had refused him of his wish, she understood exactly why he felt that way. He was the town's protector - the one who was able to keep the four villages in a peaceful treaty - but his illness had temporarily deprived him of his ability.
"Believe in Koko." She murmured, a reassuring smile appearing on her face at the thought of her good friend. "He'll know what to do at times like these."
All the residents minus Anna and Tsubasa crowded around the bell tower, where Koko and Yura stood. Many were rubbing their eyes and yawning, irritated by the fact that they had woken up so early in the morning by the bell. Nevertheless, they knew that Koko wouldn't summon the whole village's presence for an unimportant reason, so they paid attention to him nonetheless.
As the crowd became larger, Koko looked down and met a familiar pair of green eyes. His lover, Sumire, was staring straight up at him in worry.
'What's going on?' He saw her mouth, and he only replied with a grim smile.
"Koko," Yura said his name as she nudged his arm, "The whole village is waiting."
He looked up, and as she had said, all the citizens were awaiting his announcement. His grip around his staff tightened, and he swallowed hard before speaking in a resonant voice.
"Everyone, I'm afraid that this announcement is not for a celebration." Koko exhaled deeply, before delivering the news. "Last night, a citizen from the fourth village was killed by a wolf."
The citizens all gasped in unison as they started to murmur and look at each other in fear.
"Of course, the wolf who did this isn't ours. But to the other villages, that doesn't matter. Therefore, I am now, at this moment, forced to announce something which I had hoped not to all these years I've been a Seer."
Koko glanced back down at Sumire – who stared up at him in fear for the worst.
And unfortunately, it was the worst which was approaching.
"…The villages are at war. And tonight, at twenty one hours, we will evacuate the town before any one of our citizens is harmed."
It was an absolute frenzy.
After the announcement, Koko urged all the citizens to start packing their important belongings in preparation for the late night escape. As he stepped down from the bell tower, he felt an arm grab him tightly.
"Koko," Sumire muttered, her jaw tense, "What the hell? We're going to war?!"
"We're going to escape the war." He corrected grimly.
"But it wasn't even our wolf!" She growled in despair. "Why are we involved in all this future bloodshed?!"
"It's because the other villages have all been waiting for this moment. While we've been living here as if the four villages are in peace, the others have been at each other's throats for a long time. This wolf issue is just an excuse to go to war."
Sumire hissed through her teeth, before she gripped Koko's shirt harder. "…So we're really leaving the village?"
He reached over and pulled her into his chest, and he could feel her trembling.
Or perhaps, it was he who was trembling.
"…Yeah."
As he held his lover in his arms, he wondered if their plan would fail – if one of the villages discovered their attempted escape, and with the confidence that they were stronger than the second village, would exterminate them all.
As the Seer and the leader of the village, all he wanted was to prevent it from happening.
Will one of them kill the whole village? Over my dead body.
While everyone was storing supplies, Hotaru simply stared out of the window – leaning her elbow on the sill.
Somehow, she had predicted that this would happen. The conflict between the villages was something which she considered as a cold war, and it was about time that it would finally start to burn up into one of violence.
"Hotaru, do you want some tea?"
She turned to face Shuichi, her brother's best friend. The woman stared at the cup with a questioning expression.
"What did you put in it this time?" Hotaru accused, as she raised her eyebrow.
Shuichi chuckled, as he placed the teacup on the sill, near her elbow. "I promise, it's nothing. It's just regular jasmine tea."
Hotaru sighed, before reluctantly picking up the teacup and drinking the tea all in one go. She unceremoniously banged the cup on the sill and repeated her question.
"What did you put in it this time?"
Shuichi grinned in amusement as he held his hands up in surrender. "It was just some honey. Apparently it has positive effects against stress."
"Do I look stressed to you?" Hotaru breathed as she stared at Shuichi with an annoyed expression.
The blonde grinned, and patted her on her shoulder reassuringly. "A little."
The weaponry enthusiast exhaled before looking out of the window again, as she considered the possible precautions needed while escaping the city.
"Shuichi, are you prepared?"
Immediately understand what she was talking about, he nodded once. "Physically, I am ready. Mentally, well, I guess we'll have to find out when the time comes. What about you?"
Hotaru remained silent for a brief moment, before answering. "Yes. I'm ready for anything."
While the innocent citizens flocked to their homes in order to prepare for evacuation, Hotaru and Shuichi sat still in the small home. They had almost nothing left to lose, and they knew that they only needed to pack a small collection of certain things.
Material things were unimportant to them.
Besides Koko, they were the only available defence left, ever since the downfall of their own wolf. And if something were to happen to the Seer, Shuichi was the only one who could kill a wolf.
"…Anna." She heard her name being breathed by the sick man lying down next to her.
The pink haired woman turned her head and scanned him for any sort of abnormality before asking him, "What's the matter?"
"…Before we leave…" Tsubasa murmured, and swallowed once. "…Could you take me to the top of the hill? I want to see the village one last time."
Anna glanced out of the sole window in the nursing hut – she assumed that it was three hours after midday, and that there was just less than eight hours till their departure. The young nurse knew that out of all of the villagers, it was most painful for Tsubasa to leave the place which they had called home – and it wasn't just because of how long he had dedicated himself to it.
She sighed, before nodding once. "Alright. But are you well enough to walk up?"
Tsubasa smiled, bittersweet. "If we're really leaving the village, then it's the last memory I want to have of this place."
Anna struggled, but remained firm as she helped Tsubasa walk up the hill, with his arm draped along her shoulders. Eventually, after a straight hour of climbing the hill with a much heavier person depending on her, she finally managed to reach the top, where all the four villages could be seen from a higher angle.
"You… are you alright?" She panted from underneath his muscled arm.
However, she heard no reply.
Anna turned her head to watch Tsubasa as he observed the view with a dreamy expression. It was the world in which he had roamed for many years - he could clearly recall the times when he sprinted up the hills and around the trees, while he was still healthy and active. Ever since his sickness appeared, he had been restricted from doing so - he wasn't able to run, laugh, or do his duty, for the sake of his town.
The duo noticed the glow which the sun reflected on the four villages illuminate the roofs of huts and the slopes of hills.
And the both admitted, though bitterly, that they would be the last people to see it in such a peaceful state.
It was how the four villages appeared from the highest hill before the blazing of the monstrous fire.
"Thanks for taking me up here, Anna."
"It's alright. If you ever need anything, I'll be here."
Over the time which she had taken care of him in the place of Dr. Misaki, they had developed a close friendship, which also eventually led to the fact that they would turn to each other first when one of them was involved in a serious problem.
But at that moment, they had simultaneously encountered a problem - the same one.
They began to hurry down the hill as soon as they saw a bloodied, ripped-apart corpse leaning against a tree.
"Koko! Sumire!"
The couple turned their heads to the sound and saw Anna and Tsubasa hurrying towards them.
Immediately noticing Anna's growing fatigue, they rushed forward and replaced the pink haired girl's position in holding up Tsubasa.
"Anna, Tsubasa, what's going on?" Koko asked in an urgent tone.
"We just saw a dead body in the forest. Our side of the forest." Anna whimpered, as she placed her hands on her knees while attempting to catch her breath.
Koko's jaw clenched, before he looked around and called the name of a familiar grey haired boy. "Yoichi!"
The teenager, upon hearing his name being called, turned around and jogged towards them.
"Help Sumire carry Tsubasa back into the hut. Anna and I have to do something important." Koko hastily ordered, and the younger boy obliged despite his usual attitude.
Anna had no clue as to what was in Koko's mind - even though it was as if he himself could read minds, no one would predict his actions at all. "Koko, what are we doing? What's the plan?"
"We're in danger, Anna. The wolf is waiting for nightfall, and we're the first on its' list. We have to leave before the sun sets."
As Koko returned to the bell tower and rung the bell with all his might, Anna turned her head to look at the sun.
"But there's only an hour left."
The village was now truly in chaos.
People sped out of their homes with their bags of necessities as they were guided in their escape by the brave local fieldworkers.
Anna and Yoichi were hastily but carefully guiding Tsubasa out of the village, and both could feel the weak man's breaths quicken with every step.
Hotaru and Shuichi were at the front of the line for precautionary purposes, as they were partially mobilised for any possible fights.
The village's seer, his lover, and his most trusted assistant were making sure that everyone was prepared to leave the village for good.
However, it all happened in a flash.
A flaming ball of fire crash landed right in the middle of the line of people, only to be followed by many more. The people who survived the first ball of flames screamed and ran for their lives, before eventually falling victim to the missiles.
Homes were burnt down, the fertile ground was pierced with holes...
...and to Koko's terror, people died.
All but eight people were killed in the devastating fire, as soon as the sun set.
The seer felt his staff slip out of his fingers as he fell to his knees, while helplessly watching his village being destroyed by fire. He clenched the dirt underneath his hands, as he wept.
He wept for his village, he wept for his failure of duty, and he wept for the people of whom he found the most loyal, kind citizens of the second village he had ever encountered.
Koko felt a small hand on his shoulder. Thinking it was Sumire, he looked up in dismay, but to his surprise, it was Hotaru.
He had never recalled a time when he had seen the woman so enraged.
The seer looked around him to find the others who survived with him. Along with him and Hotaru, six others survived the fire - Yura, Anna, Yoichi, Sumire, Shuichi...
...and Tsubasa.
Koko could not imagine the suffering the sick man was feeling in his nightmares, upon realising that his village was gone. Tsubasa had lived in the village for much longer than he, because of one vital reason.
He crawled over to the ebony haired male, and shook his shoulder gently. Tsubasa started to slightly stir.
"Tsubasa... are you o-"
Koko was interrupted in his speech, at the sight of Tsubasa's glowing blue eyes - the eyes of a wolf.
The eight survivors managed to escape the unprecedented crossfire, and had taken refuge in a small, abandoned hut in the forest, near the lake.
During their stay, not many words were exchanged. All they did was move around the hut silently, in order to retrieve tools or sit with someone else. Anna was the one moving around the hut the most, as she mixed herbs and solutions together in order to create a substance able to heal cut skin. She quietly attended to the injuries of Koko, Sumire, Yura and Tsubasa – of whom were also indifferent to their surroundings. Yoichi, the youngest of the bunch, was also in a glum mood, as he twisted his favourite straw ball in his hand – without any intention of playing or tossing it in the air.
Shuichi, the only one who was able to escape from his horrific reveries even for a short while, glanced up and noticed that someone was missing.
"…Where's Hotaru?"
They all replied, but like before, no words were muttered. Koko shrugged, Sumire and Anna shook their heads, and the others – besides the unconscious Tsubasa, who had almost been depleted of his energy – made expressions telling him that they too had no idea.
Shuichi sighed, and was about to stand up from his spot on the ground. "Well then, I'll go look-"
"I'll find Hotaru," Sumire interrupted him, as she lightly pushed the blonde back down on the floor, "Hotaru's gone, so you're the only other person who can protect everyone else."
Sumire's words were immediately brought to Koko's attention – he was evidently bewildered at her words, and he immediately prepared to argue against her. His lover, however, predicted this, and interrupted the seer before he could even speak.
"Koko, you can't stop me. Anyway," Sumire exhaled, before continuing, "I have something to discuss with her."
Everyone could only watch on as the female exited the hut, out into the wilderness, prepared for the dangers.
"…We're going to have to find supplies, if we want to survive out here."
It was Anna's quiet murmur which alerted the rest of the hut's inhabitants as to what was needed.
Yoichi and Anna were to go together to find some food close to the area in which they resided. Shuichi went to search for some firewood, and Koko to find fresh water.
"Wait, Koko!" Yura exclaimed, and her yell made Tsubasaslightly stir.
The seer turned and stared at her questioningly. "What is it?"
The gray haired female grabbed an object from the ground and before tossing it to him, reminded him, "You almost forgot your staff."
In the spur of the moment, his hand reached up and enclosed the hilt of the glowing red stick, before he huffed in amusement. "To think that I'm still its owner after all that's happened…" He looked back at Yura, thanked her, and left the hut to search for the lake.
Yura let out a deep exhale. He's still feeling traumatized by it all…
"Unngh…"
It was that small sound which reminded her that she was not alone.
She rushed towards the side of the straw mat where Tsubasalay, and with a finger, felt his temperature.
"Oh my god," She exclaimed as she compared his temperature to her own, "You're scalding hot!"
To Yura's surprise, Tsubasa started to stir awake from her words. As he opened his eyes, a part of her was expecting the demonic glow which they had given off during the night of the fire.
But all she saw in his dark eyes was the bitter fusion of regret and agony, followed by small trails of tears.
With his thin but strong limbs, Shuichi tore the bark off the trees around him and collected some discarded sticks and logs. It had been a while since he had had any sort of exercise- including direct combat with the enemy- so he was feeling more tired than usual while working.
'I hope Hotaru and Sumire are okay out there,' he sighed to himself as he gathered his logs and sticks into one messy pile.
However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crunching leaves. Shuichi's head snapped up at the sudden sound, as his fingers started to loosen- letting the sticks in his hands clatter onto the ground. Instinctively, like the old days, his hand crawled towards the dagger hanging from his hip.
The sorcerer nervously glanced around his surroundings- there was no movement which he could sense from where he stood, but this only made him grip the hilt of his dagger even tighter.
He could only hear the sound of the dry leaves brushing the ground.
...It was an autumn day.
Shuichi heard a menacing growl before he spun on his heel and met face to face with a panting wolf- of which was leaping right at him.
He groaned as his body violently made contact with a tree, from the wolf's throw. As the wolf made more angry noises, a bell-like laughter could be heard nearby.
"How pitiful. From having to escape your burning town to being attacked by a wolf with no defence." The strawberry blonde woman sneered, but in the corner of his eyes, he could easily see her amusement.
Shuichi closed his eyes tightly- waiting for the final blow- but all he felt was a finger trailing down his face.
"It'll be a shame if I kill such a handsome person this early," The woman sighed- she was evidently relaxed due to his vulnerability as he leaned on the tree as his sole support, "So this is just a warning..." She leaned over until her lips were mere inches from his ear, "Because you're not the person of whom I was planning to kill today."
They were the last haunting words she murmured before she made a motion for her wolf to back away, and they both vanished into the forest without a single trace.
"Hotaru?" Sumire called as she roamed the side of the hill in search for the weapon master. "I need to talk to you!"
Suddenly, the sound of a female's scream resonated from her right- echoing throughout the forest.
Sumire flinched- she was cautious whether if it was a better idea that she went to check what was going on, rather than running in the opposite direction to save herself.
However, she was always the type of person with an impeccable intuition, and her feet moved forward, bringing her towards the source of the sound. Eventually, the green haired woman broke into a run, and as she heaved herself to the top of the smaller hill, she didn't expect to see what she saw.
It was Hotaru, planting her sword in the ground- a few centimetres from the leg of another woman. The unknown female was trembling as she stared up at the violet eyes weapon specialist.
"And if you do tell them about this, I will know, and I will come and make you regret that choice. Capiche?" Hotaru sneered, as her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it back out and stab something which wasn't the ground.
"Okay! I won't tell! Please let me live!" The girl sputtered, as tears spilled from her squinted eyes.
Sumire could not comprehend what she was seeing. As Hotaru withdrew the sword out of the ground and pulled it away from the girl, the younger female hastily stood up and ran away with trembling knees.
As soon as the girl was out of sight, Hotaru swiftly turned her head towards Sumire with a nonchalant expression.
Hotaru had known she was there.
"H-Hotaru!" Sumire gasped as she stepped down the hill's peak. "Who was she?!"
"Just some kid from the fourth village trying to attack me." Hotaru muttered in reply as she slid her sword back in its sheath.
The green haired village sighed before confidently standing three feet in front of the woman who had just threatened a powerless person with a sword.
"I know that it's been hard for you, but I need to ask you something." Sumire said as she crossed her arms.
Hotaru, on the other hand, had her arms hanging by her sides as she stared at the taller woman, waiting for the question.
"...What exactly is your plan in this war? I know well enough that you're not planning on staying idle as we are."
"...I believe that it isn't any of your business."
"It is my business! We're on the same side, right?!"
"But this is my business, if it's in regards to my selfish wants. So in this context, I don't have to tell you."
Hotaru walked around Sumire with smooth strides, in order to return to the hut, but then the green haired female called out to her.
"What are you going to do, kill everyone?!"
The angry question made Hotaru stop in her tracks. After a brief moment of pending, Hotaru looked over her shoulder and replied.
"If it wasn't so early, then I would."
Koko set down his staff carefully on the dirt before he crouched down in front of a trickling stream. In his other hand, he held a set of wooden bowls which he started to use in order to collect some of the water.
"You're a seer."
His hand paused in the air, as he looked over his shoulder to see a woman in men's clothes scowling at him.
Koko became wary of this person, oh whom he didn't recognise at all. But the simple fact that she was in the area told him that she was from one if the other villages.
He immediately stood- cautious- and spoke.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Koko asked as politely as he could, while brushing his fingers dry with the fabric of his pants.
However, he didn't need an answer as he recognised the traditional bracelet of the first village.
Koko didn't need to guess that the first village's wolf was the killer that night- during the momentary life in Tsubasa during the fire, Koko knew.
The first village were the catalysts to the chaos.
"You should learn how to control your wolf." Koko spat, as his fists clenched.
The boyish girl grinned sadistically, as she crossed her arms. "It was inevitable, wasn't it? This war. So why not just start it early and get it over with?"
"There are some people who never wanted to get into war in the first place!" The seer roared, pointing a finger at her face. "So you didn't have to burn out whole village down!"
The smile was immediately wiped off the girl's face. "...Burn the village down? We never did such a thing!" She explained, with a hint of terror in her eyes- which Koko presumed was a fear of being next.
"Of course it wasn't them. It was us." A velvety voice giggled from behind them.
Koko spun on his heel to meet the grey eyes of a tall, blonde woman- of whom held one of Shuichi's healing vials in her hand.
He suddenly saw red.
"So you were the one who burnt down our village!" He growled, as he kept himself firm in his position on the ground. In the corner of his eye, he could see the boyish girl starting to back away slowly.
The blonde woman chuckled as she analysed her nails casually. "Well, all we really needed was to drop a match at the base of one of your puny huts," She sighed, "And then voila! I would have recommended that you got more militia to protect your lousy village, but it worked out our way in the end. So, why bother?"
The seer clicked his tongue at her words. "Why bother? How could you have the heart to dismiss a hundred lives with the words 'why bother'?!"
"Hmph," The woman scoffed smugly, "Who said I was a nice person? Besides, you don't get anywhere by being nice."
Before she could say anything else, she caught a glimpse of the other woman a few metres away. At the sight of the scared younger woman, she let out a sharp whistle before spitting out three words which determined the poor woman's fate.
"Kill her, Persona."
Before Koko could expect a thing, a wolf dove from the forest into the wide lakeside and immediately started to leap towards the girl. Despite all struggle to get away from the beast, she was instantly squashed within the sharp canines of the gray wolf, as the animal shook his head violently in order to render her completely dead.
Koko was quick to react- his eyes immediately scanned the lakeside for his staff, but he realised that the boyish girl had inconspicuously kicked it away without him noticing. It was now merely a few metres away, and he sped forward to grab it and kill the wolf as a last resort.
However, to his despair, the blonde woman was quicker.
"...My name is Luna, little seer. And my voice will be the last you ever hear."
It was a tragic, bloody scene. A split second before Koko could grab onto the brightly glowing staff, she had already drawn her sword and pierced him straight in the heart. Koko's grip on his tool slackened, and eventually it tumbled out of his hands. The prominent red glow it was emitting around the third village's wolf dulled significantly, before completely disappearing.
After all, the aura which kept the staff alight was the life of the seer- of whom was now dead.
...Damn it. You'll have to survive without me.
And with a last desperate movement, he swung his leg- sending the staff into the water- before his life force completely vanished.
Tsubasa suddenly jolted awake- he was immediately pulled out of his pre-wake drowsiness, and now he couldn't relax his own body. He clenched the surface of the ground with his fingertips, and his upper body felt taped in place. He started to pant as small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Hearing his heavy breathing from the other corner of the room, Yura immediately dropped her spoon and rushed over to the side of the bed.
"Tsubasa! What's going on?!"
However, she soon discovered that she didn't need to hear an answer.
Yura used to read a lot about the spiritual link between a wolf and its designated seer. When one of the two died, the surviving one had symptoms which in turn endangered their own health.
The sign of one's immediate murder would result in the appearance of black tears.
So when a single drop of black emerged from his eye as he started to sob, she knew all too well what had happened.
'...Koko's dead?!'
She clasped her hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her own sobs- to no avail. She- while comforting Tsubasa with her hand in his- let the tears fall as she realized that one of her closest friends was now gone.
Hotaru swung around her sword as she sliced the branches in her way, as she followed the trail. Her movements were urgent and unstable, as she angrily made her way through the forest, with Anna following her.
She didn't want to believe the sad news which Yura had told her as soon as she arrived back at the hut. The idea of Koko being dead was something which she refused to accept- he had been there all her life, and she didn't want the news to be true.
All calm sense was thrown out of the window as she stormed through the forest, with desperation etched on her features and an overpowering urge to destroy something.
"Shuichi!" She heard Anna call in bewilderment from behind her. Hotaru immediately paused in her steps as she turned to the direction where Anna was directing her voice to, as to her horror saw Shuichi nearing unconsciousness as he sat on the ground, leaning his back on the tree.
Anna immediately rushed towards him and checked his wounds as she asked, "Shuichi! Who did this?!"
Instead, Shuichi directed his gaze towards Hotaru- of whom was still standing in her place with a bitter expression. "Hotaru... Hurry. Find Koko now."
His grave voice was the trigger for Hotaru to leave them, as she roamed the forest for her childhood friend.
Eventually, she did find him- but in the last state she wanted to see him in.
Koko was limp on the ground- with blood soaking in his shirt and splattered over his face. There was absolutely no sign of life in his body. His staff was missing, and his eyes stared off into the distance.
Her sword fell from her fingers as she staggered forward - her fatigue catching up to her in contribution to the dread she felt. Hotaru fell to her knees, beside his dead body, and in desperation grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"What the hell are you doing, Koko?! Wake up!" She growled at him as she held his shirt with trembling hands. "God damn it..."
Hotaru was never one to cry. But she didn't care about how she looked as she leaned her head on his bloody chest and screamed in despair.
The door slammed open, and everyone in the hut looked up to see Hotaru—tired, panting, and bloody.
"Hotaru!" Anna gasped at the lashes of blood on Hotaru's clothes which she hadn't seen when they found Shuichi in the forest. "Why are you—"
The black haired female didn't answer as she stalked into the hut, and stopped at the side of the mat, where Tsubasa weakly looked up at her.
His pale lips parted as he murmured the heartbreaking question. "…He's dead?"
Hotaru bitterly scoffed, blinking away the single tear about to spill from her eye. "You should be more sure than I am, Tsubasa."
"…Damn it, Koko. I trusted you with this role…" He muttered bitterly, although it was evident that he was internally an emotional wreck. He made a feeble attempt to push himself up from the mat, but Yura and Anna were quick to keep him restrained.
"Tsubasa, no!"
"Tsubasa! You're unwell enough! Don't force yourself!" Yura screamed desperately as she kept her hands on his shoulders, keeping him down.
"But I haven't done a single freaking thing! I'm the town wolf, aren't I?!"
Shuichi watched from the corner of the hut helplessly, Yoichi stood up hurriedly to get a cloth, and Sumire paid no attention to it all, as she leaned her forehead on the wall.
Among all that was happening around her, Hotaru was still fuming—her hand was tight around the hilt of her sword, and her breathing was quick.
"Tsubasa." She hissed out the struggling werewolf's name as she kept her eyes glued to the wall. What's the point of a wolf if he can't even fight?"
Tsubasa opened his mouth to speak as he panted, but no words came out of his mouth.
Hotaru scoffed at his silence. "Exactly. That's why you're not the one going to fight for this troublesome village."
This comment perked Sumire's attention. "Wait, Hotaru! Don't tell me you're going to—"
However, before she could finish her statement, Hotaru had already left the hut without another word.
Hotaru hoped that the others wouldn't be able to find her, let alone follow her.
As she ran through the forest without a glance back, she could see the vividness of the red blood on her shirt in her peripherals.
She had always wondered how it would feel if the blood had belonged to a wolf—but of course, it didn't. And unfortunately, it wasn't the blood of Koko's killer, either.
The only one alive in her village of whom could kill a wolf was Shuichi, but he was obviously helpless due to his injury—which she was sure one of the wolves had inflicted upon him.
Hotaru simply planned to let the wolves kill each other, before she attacked everyone else.
She didn't care which village was innocent or guilty—she had long been overcome with bloodlust, and she had set herself to kill every single soul she laid eyes upon.
It was the only way for the terror to end.
Hotaru Imai.
You have suffered greatly throughout this war, and we formally apologise for not being able to stop it sooner. In fact, even if we had known about this, it would have been out of our power to fight it off ourselves.
But because of the death of your Seer, we will tell you what we have foreshadowed.
There is no way this war can be halted, while two people from different villages are alive at the same time.
The only way to stop this war is to have three villages exterminated, and one standing.
This is no longer the matter of the wolves—everyone with a weapon will come forward to kill any enemy in their path, so you must take caution. Especially with your own village's wolf, as he cannot defend himself with the absence of your Seer.
You have our sympathies.
And we shall watch fate play as it does, as we are the three beings which created the four villages and the four wolves.
The blood on her clothes was the blood of a mere citizen.
She had killed an innocent person, caught up in the middle of the bloodshed.
But because of the words of the creators, she couldn't see them as anything other than the enemy. It was impossible for Hotaru to see them as people who didn't want to be involved in the first place.
However, she couldn't help but look away when she drew her sword and pierced the innocent person through the chest—and that person wasn't even her only kill that day.
Her sword had been driven through the bodies of many—having found the owner of the wolf of which had started it all, she had secretly located their seer. Realising that they were the very people responsible for the war due to their carelessness and blood lust, the seer was the second person she had killed on the day, followed by an unsuspecting group of villagers from the third village.
After losing all sanity, Hotaru had decided that she wasn't going to go back to the hut.
She was intent on saving the rest of her village, and she swore to herself that she was not going to back down.
"Damn it, Hotaru." Shuichi groaned as he ran a hand through his golden hair. "She's run off on her own again. I should've gone with her."
"Shuichi…" Yura sighed, as she sat herself next to him on the hard floor. "You're not in the best state to protect Hotaru. You would crumble immediately."
"It's not because of that," He sighed, "I promised his brother that I'd protect her with all my capability. And I've just broken my promise because I didn't watch out for myself. I'm pathetic."
Sumire, upon reaching the door of the hut while she held a basket of berries, paused in her step—choosing to overhear the conversation between the two.
"…Even in this state, I should've kept my promise." She heard Shuichi exasperate with a tone tinged with annoyance at himself.
"Shuichi, stop it." Yura assertively warned. "Hotaru chose to leave, and Subaru probably wouldn't have wanted you to brood over this like you are now. You need to calm down… because I'm sure that Hotaru can defend herself out there. She isn't like other women her age."
"But it isn't just because of Subaru!" He suddenly burst out, causing Sumire to flinch.
She heard a soft and regretful sigh, before explaining why.
"…I may have had more feelings for her than I'd thought I did."
"That's it," Anna sighed as she stood up from where she sat on the ground, exasperated, "I'm going to look for Hotaru. And don't try and stop me."
Unfortunately, no one intended to help her grant her wish.
"It's too dangerous, Anna," Yura was the one who held out an arm to stop the rosette from leaving the hut. "We can't afford any more… casualties, and we don't know where Hotaru even is. We can't risk it."
"But if I don't go out there, who's going to find her?" Anna retorted unexpectedly—her sudden strength of voice surprising the others greatly. "What if she gets hurt… or worse? I can't just sit here, doing nothing—and you already know how to nurse people, so you'll all be fine!"
Anna made an attempt to swerve around Yura's arm, but she was quickly restrained by another.
She turned around in a brief fit of defiance, only to widen her eyes at the sight of a standing Tsubasa.
"T-Tsubasa! You shouldn't be standing—"
"Neither should you, Anna." He immediately interrupted, as he panted. "I'm only allowing you to leave the hut and search for Hotaru on one condition—that you come with me."
"But you're not in a healthy state to eve walk—"
"Exactly. That's why you're going to stay here, and let Hotaru make her own decisions. Because… I trust her enough to let her do what she thinks is right."
Yoichi woke to the sound of the river nearby the hut. He could feel the light of the sun seeping through the space between his eyelids, and warming up his bare skin through the window. As he was the youngest of the remaining survivors, he opted to sleep closest to the door—thus, the first thing he saw every morning was the door.
However, something that morning was different. He always made sure that the door was securely closed before going to sleep every night, but this time, the door was slightly ajar.
Yoichi immediately sprung up, scratching his head. He carefully opened the door further, checking if someone was simply taking a breath outside.
All he saw was a pair of footsteps, headed into the forest.
"Oh no…" He muttered underneath his breath, as he turned towards the interior of the hut and saw an empty place where Anna should have been sleeping.
"Damn it, Anna! After I specifically told her it was a bad idea…" Yura muttered under her breath as she held her fingers in her hair, exasperated. "I never knew she was so gutsy."
"She's always had that determined spirit of hers." Tsubasa sighed as he leaned on the wall—for a reason unexplainable to anyone, even Anna prior to her escape; his health had suddenly improved since Koko's death. He could breathe properly, and the perspiration from his forehead had lessened.
The black tears had ceased, as well.
"Oh yeah, you and Anna were best friends, weren't you?" Shuichi grunted from the corner of the room, with an absent smile on his face.
Tsubasa nodded in confirmation as he leaned his head on the wall, and took a sharp breath.
"I'm going out." He suddenly declared as he pushed himself off the floor and made his way towards the door, only to be stopped by an annoyed Yura.
"I was already stupid enough to let Anna out, and I'm not planning to make the same mistake, Tsubasa."
"But look at me, I'm well off!" Tsubasa gestured to himself and the fact that he could stand without trembling. "I can walk now! I can go save both Hotaru and Anna!"
Suddenly, he felt a cold hand on his forehead. A momentary shock followed, only to result in Tsubasa falling limp—into the arms of Yura.
The rest of the villagers widened their eyes at the one who had knocked their wolf unconscious—Shuichi.
"I guess I learnt that move from a mage when I was younger." Shuichi admitted, as he massaged his shoulder.
"...You guess." Sumire emphasized skeptically, as she stared down at him with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.
Shuichi huffed in amusement as he glanced at Tsubasa, who was being laid on the ground by Yoichi and Yura.
"He was my teacher. He taught me everything I know about being a sorcerer."
"And you didn't tell us before because?"
"...He's the mage of the first village. I came to the second village when I was fifteen because I disagreed with his values."
"Hotaru? Hotaru?" The pink haired nurse called out as she trudged through the dark forest, ignoring the small scratches on her exposed legs. Her rough skirt barely managed to cover the skin up to her knees, thus her lower legs were exposed to the damage which protruding branches and small mosquitoes could inflict on her.
It had only been twelve hours since she had escaped the hut, and luckily none of her fellow villagers had appeared to drag her back. She was determined to be the one pulling the fellow villager back to the hut, rather than the other way around.
However, she hadn't been able to make much progress in her goal, as there was still no sign of Hotaru where she searched.
Time continued to pass like water in a creek, and Anna continued to roam the lands, alone, without any helpful discovery of where Hotaru had run off to. The pink haired woman started to sway in her steps, with blood smeared on her legs and a throat as rough as sand paper. She hadn't been able to eat or drink ever since she left the hut, and she internally scolded herself for not thinking beforehand.
Eventually, her legs were no longer able to take it anymore. Anna felt herself fall forward, and as soon as her bare knees contacted the sticks scattered on the ground, she hissed while the rest of her body followed in its descent.
She grunted as her head hit the ground without mercy, and the trees in her vision began to distort in strange patterns-she knew that it was her vision that was starting to blur, just before she lost consciousness in the middle of the woods.
The last thing she saw was the brief glimmer of gold, and only half of her hoped that it was Shuichi.
In the middle of the night, a woman with hair as dark as night trudged into the small town.
Her face was smudged with the fluid of life mingled with the matter of the Earth. Her tattered clothes were stained with the same matter, and at her hip hung a sword-equally as bloodstained as the rest of her body, if not more. With every step she made, came a rough, shaky gasp-the gash on her lower waist was evidently affecting her ability to move, and her jaw was set in an attempt to withstand the stinging of the fatal injury.
Luckily for her, there was no one watching. She was sure that her injury wouldn't kill her any time soon, and with the town completely empty, she wouldn't be caught by any of the rival villages after her. Hotaru was certain that there was a bounty on her head, after all.
She had deprived towns of their villagers, and it was probable that they may have sent their wolves after her as a desperate measure.
Hotaru knew that at some point, she was going to die.
That was why her goal was to make as much damage in her retribution as she could, for her people, until she eventually fell.
Her energy depleting fast, she staggered forward, and she placed her hands on the walls of a towering building. With droopy eyes, she looked up to see that she was leaning on the walls of an abandoned church, in all its stone-and-glass glory. Immediately, she chose to seek refuge in the abandoned building for the night-assuming that no one else was occupying it for the night. As she was in the territory of the first village, Hotaru chose to take caution while entering the church.
She huddled in the corner of the marble building, huffing from the increasing pain emanating from her hip. Her hand reached over and gripped the white cloth of the nearby table, staining the clean fabric with red liquid as she continued to gasp for air.
But unfortunately for her, her hip would be the least of concerns that night, as the large window above the podium shattered into a million pieces, as a black wolf emerged from the hole with teeth bared and claws stretched.
Hotaru reached for her knife, but the sudden movement tore at her wound, forcing her to growl and pant under her breath.
The wolf turned its head left and right, scanning the church, and she took the opportunity to use her remaining strength and nudge herself behind the table, edging closer to the knife. With her eyes completely glued to the wolf's enormous body, she continued to shuffle back, but she hadn't been watching what was behind her-her back accidentally hit the table, causing a metal goblet to lose its balance and fall to the ground with a metal clang.
She froze. The wolf twitched.
Had she ever feared for her life so immensely? At that moment, she could never recall feeling the tremors shoot through her arms, nor her blood running cold.
The wolf turned its head, and her eyes met vicious, amber orbs.
It snarled, pounced, and with its tremendously large claws, swiped away the table covering her.
The last thing Hotaru saw was the wolf's paw above her, about to claw through her body like butter.
Hotaru woke up to something—or rather, someone—she felt like she hadn't seen in ages.
"T-Thank goodness!" The voice sputtered in relief, and Hotaru felt a pair of hands clutch her own.
She parted her lips and whispered, "Anna, what are you doing here?"
"Doing here? What am I doing here?!" The pink haired nurse scoffed, a rather uncharacteristic moment on her part, "Hotaru, you left the cabin, knowing the dangers, knowing Koko was killed—"
"Quiet—"
"No, Hotaru!" Anna refused to comply. "You put yourself in danger for no reason! We've already lost Koko…" Her voice mellowed into a sad whisper, "we definitely can't afford to lose you, as well. I had to come."
"…By yourself?"
"I had to. The others wouldn't have let me go, or alone, at least."
Hotaru wasn't sure how to reply, so she turned her head away—it was then when she could feel something tight around her neck and torso. Her violet eyes flickered down to see the fresh bandages wrapped around countless parts of her body.
It finally came to dawn upon her that the wolf was nowhere in sight, and that she was alive. Barely.
"…What happened?" She managed to ask the emotionally conflicted Anna kneeled beside her.
Anna shook her head as she replied, "The wolf managed to land a hit on you, and I think it thought that it was sufficient to kill you. I barely managed to close off all of your open wounds before it was too late."
Hotaru glanced down again. Anna had saved her life. She could have died if Anna had not been so defiant—the polar opposite of her nature. She had lost her one love, and her family, yet Hotaru suddenly felt completely inferior to the pink haired woman in front of her.
"Thank you." She brought herself to mutter. "For saving me."
Anna simply smiled as tears crept out of her eyes. "I would do it again if the time ever comes. But please come home, because I don't want that time to be tomorrow."
Tomorrow. They did not expect it all to end so soon, but in fact, their fates would be finalized in twenty four hours.
The whole village (which at this time, was merely five people) stood up in unison as soon as the door opened to reveal the two runaways.
"Hotaru, Anna, you're back!" Shuichi gasped, bewilderment etched on his delicate features.
"What happened?! You're all bandaged!" Yura followed.
Everyone, including Tsubasa who the two women were confused to as why he seemed completely well, approached them and gave hugs, asked countless questions in regards to their state, and made sure that they weren't hungry. But one person stood at the corner of the room, pressing her lips together at the sight.
She spoke up. "Hotaru and Anna, you have a lot to explaining to do!"
The rest turned silent and turned their heads to Sumire, who didn't seem nearly as pleased. Her arms were crossed, and although she was trying to look completely angry, the sides of her mouth twitched.
"Sumi, we—"
"You could have died, Anna!" Sumire shouted, losing her calm, "The rest of us are trying to survive in this war, but you two are just throwing yourselves out there, not thinking of the coincidences in doing so! We don't need you guys dead like how—"
She hesitated, and everyone knew why. It dawned on Hotaru that Sumire was the most grieving after Koko's death—he was a friend, a leader to them, but to her he was her love. It was completely logical that while everyone else was relieved, she was the most worried about them.
"Sumire, I apologise."
Hotaru never apologized to people, so it brought a shock even to Sumire.
"I was being reckless, but I had reason," she continued gravely, "There was no choice on my part."
Sumire's eyebrows creased as she sighed, "Then why didn't you tell us? Was it so crucial that you had to keep it silent from those who you know were and still are your friends and allies to the end?!"
Her increasing outbursts were becoming more panicked, as tears prickled at her eyes. "If you had told us, you wouldn't have had to carry the burden alone."
Hotaru knew she was right, in fact it hadn't dawned on her. Why hadn't she told anyone?
Since I haven't told them, and they now know, now's the time.
Tsubasa was mortified. "Only one village…"
"…can survive?!" Yura finished his question, equally in shock.
Hotaru nodded once, grim about their reactions. In the corner of her eye, she saw Sumire's expression morph into one of horror mixed with remorse.
"Hotaru, I—"
"You don't need to say anything." Hotaru immediately silenced her, and thankfully, she remained silent.
She turned to look at the one which she knew would feel most concerned about the matter—Tsubasa. He had long sat down, holding his head in his hands in despair.
"This is outrageous," He mutters, shaking his head, "If only I wasn't sick back then, I could've—"
"I don't want to offend you Tsubasa," Hotaru interrupted, strangely amused, "but as miraculous as it sounds, this doesn't have relevance to you."
The wolf looked up, none the wiser as to five minutes prior.
"Hotaru," Yura approached the black haired female cautiously, "How many did you… kill?"
"I… lost count. But I did kill many." Hotaru replied anxiously, hoping that her friends wouldn't fear her. But when she looked up, they all seemed concerned for her.
She sighed in relief, and continued, "But what I do know is that while I roamed the other villages, the first is close to extinction, while the other villages have lost their wolves. Actually, I believe all of the villages have lost their fighters in war, already."
"The first village's wolf is dead." Tsubasa spoke up, interrupting the conversation which had long eased into much lighter topics.
"What?"
"I could sense it. Like something just broke away… I'm the only one left, now." He whispered in realization.
Anna started to pace the room in thought, as she pondered something which she later then went to tell her village. "Tsubasa's case of sudden improvement… could it be because the other wolves have died?"
Upon saying that, Hotaru rapidly stood from her seat and made her way to the door, similarly like the last time she had done so and had almost gotten herself killed.
But this time, she was stopped. She turned to see that Shuichi had grabbed her hand in desperation.
"Don't try and stop me, Shuichi," she sighed, "I'm going to finish this off. This is the perfect opportunity."
He raised an eyebrow at her words. "Aren't you afraid that something bad's going to happen?"
Hotaru responded with a bitter laugh. "I've survived everything the world's got to offer me. This'll be a piece of cake."
Shuichi wasn't planning to step down. "Aren't you guilty about killing innocent people?"
A brief silence ensued, before she spoke again, more cautiously than before, "If they weren't the bidding of the people who declared this bloody war in the first place, I would! I can't bring myself to care. So like I said earlier, don't try and stop me."
Hotaru tried to pull away, but his hold was still tight around her wrist. She gave him a questioning stare, to which he did what she had least expected—smiled.
"I'm not trying to stop you, Hotaru," He admitted through curved lips, "I'm not letting you go alone this time."
Yura had made it adamant that Tsubasa was not to go, no matter how much he himself complained about remaining in the hut while healthy. She hadn't wanted to risk letting him do so, in case a seer was in fact alive.
The night Hotaru and Shuichi had left, she prayed next to a candle as the others slept.
When they arrived at the first and third villages, Hotaru and Shuichi had realized that they had both been entirely massacred—there were no survivors, except one.
He was blonde, wearing tattered clothes, blood spilling everywhere. As soon as they saw each other, Shuichi tensed up.
"…Narumi?"
The dying man smiled, his violet eyes twinkling in the fire. "It's nice to see you again, Shuichi."
Hotaru easily realized that Shuichi wouldn't be able to leave without being granted proper solace. After a small argument, and an easy victory for the weaponry enthusiast, she left for the fourth village, as Shuichi talked to his former mentor during his dying moments.
With the one who was assigned to keep her under control gone, nothing could restrain Hotaru.
She stabbed, she sliced, all she could do to exterminate the already scarce population of the fourth village. A part of her had heeded the words of her village, that these people were innocent, so she did all she could to kill them swiftly and quickly.
They didn't deserve the prolonging pain.
But what she was certain about that the people she was killing were lucky—they wouldn't have to live the rest of their lives knowing they had massacred entire towns full of innocents.
It was over.
Hotaru was catching her breath as she dug out a lighter—one of her very first industrial inventions—and without a second thought, tossed it into the grass. The ground erupted in flames, as it caught onto buildings, towers, trees. As the smell of smoke crept into her nose, she found herself slowly losing strength.
She slowly turned and walked back, her steps crooked and clumsy, something very uncharacteristic of the precise Hotaru.
…Game over. I killed them all. We won. Did you enjoy the show?
"…Hotaru?"
She froze in her steps as her blood ran cold. Hotaru spun on her heel to face the owner of the voice, and her fears were confirmed.
It was something which she had never precedented.
Blonde hair, but the owner wasn't Shuichi nor Narumi.
The citizens of the second village had always wondered why Hotaru Imai had such a cold, indifferent demeanor.
She was blunt in speech, ruthless wither weapons, ignorant to confessions.
Emotions were rarely evident on her face.
She talked to only a handful of people—her brother, his best friend, the Seer.
Hotaru had moved to the village three years prior to live with her brother—no one knew where exactly she had come from, nor why she had come to live there. She was a walking mystery of whom was never solved.
No one realized that Hotaru was born in the fourth village, and against all likelihoods, had fallen in love with someone.
"Ruka." She murmured his name through parted, trembling lips.
The blonde man smiled sadly. "I moved back."
Hotaru put the pieces together in her mind. Both she and Ruka had lived in the fourth village, she had transferred her allegiance, while he moved to a town far from the four villages.
His allegiance, therefore, remained with the fourth village. They were enemies now, and while Hotaru clutched the blade in her hand, he was weaponless.
I have to kill him.
She took one slow step forward, and Ruka did not budge an inch. He only sustained his smile as he later held his hands out for an embrace.
Hotaru could easily read the man who she once loved.
He knows.
Her speed increased as her self-control disintegrated—she could feel the emotions bubbling up as tears streaked down her cheeks, because she had completely realized the horrible truth, and had predicted exactly what was going to happen within the final minute of the war.
Hotaru jumped into his arms, clutching his shirt, feeling his warmth, inhaling his scent mingled with smoke and dirt. She felt an overwhelming sense of calmness when she felt his hands hold her tightly, stroking her frail back.
"Hotaru," Ruka pulled back as soon as she wanted to keep on holding him, and whispered, "Do it."
Her shaky hand, which gripped the blade, had already positioned itself behind his back.
Hotaru allowed herself to say the words which she had never emerged from her lips for years.
"I love you."
Everything is deadly still.
It's over. It's over.
The remaining group stands on a cliff overlooking the tangled bodies and chaos, eyes reflecting the flickering fires. The weapons they hold feels heavy in their grip, and their mouths are dry. They are happy; they /are/, but guilt creeps down their backs like a cold, slithering snake.
The gamekeepers watch on.
They pick up their fallen seer along the way - saddened by their friend's death.
"We commend you for your courage and heart, young seer."
"Your loss will always be remembered."
Without further ado, the people who live return to their town and silently place candles in the middle of the plaza, watching as the smoke trails up to the bloody sky. This is their offering to the lives they had finished, and they only hope that it would be enough.
As the last wick burns out, they pull their hoods over their heads and turn away.
The victory of this battle is theirs, they know...
..but the war isn't over." –Team B