"These things just keep coming! Why did we listen to Taichi?!"
Yamato threw a grenade at one of the human-turned-troll and ducked behind a wall before it blew up. Kouji looked at him from the other side of the street, quickly reloading his gun.
"What I wanna know is why Jyou hasn't set off the trap yet! How are we supposed to be able to get into the library without any distraction? Do you think something happened?"
He loaded a couple of bullets into the approaching dogbeast before ducking back behind the building.
"We need to get to higher ground! Can you spot Taichi and Kouichi somewhere?!"
Yamato shook his head and motioned towards a ladder a block down the street.
"Think that will do?"
He took another of the grenades, threw it towards the approaching giant, and then he and Kouji darted down the street. Yamato reached the ladder first and quickly climbed to the roof of the building, while Kouji unloaded yet another magazine of bullets into the trolls and beasts hunting them. When the gun clicked he pulled himself up on the ladder, but sharp canines caught his foot. He kicked, felt the teeth rip his boot and his skin, but managed to crush the beast's mouth and hurried after Yamato.
Yamato stretched down a hand and Kouji accepted it, let the other pull him up. Both of them settled down on the roof for a second, both breathed heavily, but then Yamato got back up and slowly approached the edge of the roof, looking for Taichi and Kouichi. He shook his head and turned back to the younger boy.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm used to dog bites. We got one at home. Still, those canines hurt like..."
Kouji took off the shoe, poked his finger through one of the holes and forced a smile.
"I guess you can imagine."
"You're bleeding a little there."
"I know..."
Kouji pulled off his bandana, folded it and tied it around the ankle where the dogbeast had bitten him. Then he put the boot on again and got up to join Yamato by the edge. He limped a little, but neither said anything.
"Think they know we're here?"
Yamato nodded.
"They're not exactly stupid. And I think they've gotten smarter during recent years. But if we stay still long enough they'll lose interest."
He thought for a moment.
"Especially if Jyou manages to pull that large explosion off. Maybe we should have put Taichi on the task instead?"
"He would have blown the whole block to smithereens, it's safer this way."
Yamato looked at Kouji, worry visible in his eyes.
"Speaking of Taichi, can you spot them? Your eyesight is better than mine."
Kouji slowly let his eyes trace around the block. The four of them had been together in the beginning, but once the first beasts arrived they had gotten seperated. Kouji was certain they couldn't have gotten that far, but hopefully Kouichi had managed to drag Taichi away somewhere and forced the other to lay low. Yamato groaned.
"Can't you just magic our way out of this?"
"It doesn't work like that, and you know our magic is mostly for battle anyway. Kouichi's magic is a bit more stealthy than mine though, hopefully it'll be enough to keep them safe."
"How come you're the scout and not him if his magic are more stealthy?"
"Didn't we have this discussion like three nights ago?"
Yamato shrugged and Kouji let out a sigh.
"Well, at least both of us are trained, eventhough he's a skald. I'm still not sure what you are doing here. I mean, I know you're a cleanser by profession, but you just don't feel like one."
Yamato looked out over the block again, not really sure how he should answer Kouji. He knew perfectly well he wasn't exactly cleanser material, he had wanted to pursue a more academic route, but somehow he had ended up in the military anyway.
"It was because of Taichi."
Kouji looked at Yamato, wanted to ask more about it, but realized the other didn't want to talk about it. Instead he looked out again.
"There, I think I see them. It looks like they're safe."
Yamato let out a sigh of relief and suddenly there was a loud boom ringing over the block and they saw how a building collapsed a couple hundred meters away. Below them the trolls and beasts stopped for a moment, before turning around to inspect what had caused the ruckus. After a while the giant turned as well, a bit slower than the others but still quick for its size. Yamato got up and offered a hand to Kouji.
"Ready to head down?"
Kouji nodded, and accepted the help the other offered. They carefully climbed down the ladder again, Yamato first and then Kouji. They waited for a while to see if there was any beast or troll still around, but nothing.
"You alright?"
Both jumped at the voice and turned around. The shadows disappeared and revealed Kouichi and Taichi. Kouji hit Kouichi's shoulder and smiled towards the older twin.
"Glad you two made it."
"Would have been a lot harder without Kouichi's magic, that's for sure! Your brother is awesome."
"I know."
Kouichi blushed and the other three laughed quietly, before Yamato ushered them back up the street. They knew that time was running out, it would only be daylight for a couple more hours and they needed to grab as many books as possible before nightfall. Kouji reloaded the gun while they walked, just incase they'd stumble upon any more beasts. Guns was always the last resort, but he prefered to have it loaded just in case. He glanced at Kouichi, noticed the sweat on the other's forehead.
"Magic took a lot out of you?"
Kouichi nodded. They both had strong magic, but it took a lot of their energy to use it which was why they only used it in emergencies. Kouji took out a small cookie from his pocket and handed it to his brother and Kouichi smiled, unwrapped it and nibbled on it while they walked.
"So here we are."
Yamato turned to Kouji.
"We'll wait here. Be quick about it."
Kouji nodded and carefully slipped into the building to scout it for any nests that might exist.
"All clear."
"What took you so long? We've wasted like half an hour here!"
Kouji rolled his eyes at Taichi's words.
"There was a nest in the cellar. Didn't spot any trolls except for one gnome though."
"Let me at it and I'll show you how it's done."
"Already taken care of and disposed, Taichi. Now come on."
Kouji went back into the building and the other three quietly followed him. Kouji's steps were the lightest, but Yamato and Kouichi also tried their best to move silently. Taichi didn't care, especially since Kouji had told them there were no trolls or anything in the building. He was still ready to grab the knife or the flamethrower at any second should he need it. He didn't became a captain because of his great looks, even though they probably helped.
"Kouji, relax, it's not like anything can happen."
"You've been a captain for how long and you still don't understand just how horrible these beasts are?"
"Hey, hey."
Yamato interrupted the fight before it could begin.
"We should just hurry in there, grab the stuff and get out again. No blowing buildings up this time, Taichi."
Taichi muttered something that sounded very much like 'that comes from the right person', but didn't actually argue and they continued further into the building. They passed a room that looked like it might have been a dining room before the rash struck, passed by a room with a couple of bookshelves and then reached the library. Kouji turned to tell his brother to get to it, but swore under his breath when he noticed that the other wasn't there.
"You two go ahead, he's probably just in the other room."
Yamato and Taichi nodded and entered the room. Taichi was about to rush to the closest bookcase, but stopped abruptly when Yamato grabbed his collar.
"You're not allowed to touch anything. Just read what it says on the spine and tell me if there's anything interesting."
"That's just waste of time."
"Perhaps, but remember what happened in the last place? Or the one before that?"
Yamato started walking down the rows of bookcases, while he carefully examined the books to see if there was any worth taking. He could hear Taichi shuffeling around before settling down on the floor.
"I'll go stand guard instead, Yamato."
"Sure, you do that..."
Yamato took out one of the books, carefully flipped some pages in it and put it down on a table. Kouichi came up to him and Yamato motioned for him to start at the other end of the room. He could hear Taichi and Kouji's voices as the two exchanged a few words before Kouji came in to help them look through the books. He stopped not very far into the room and Yamato curiously looked at him.
"What is it, Kouji?"
"I'm... not sure."
"Mage-sense tingeling?"
Kouji glared at the older man but Kouichi came up to him.
"I felt it too. It was stronger in the other room, but something have happened here. Something... important."
"You get back to looking for books, I'll check it out."
Kouji left the room again, but came back after only a couple of minutes. He walked along the rows of bookcases a couple times, causing the other three to stop what they were doing so they could look at him. Then he nodded and stopped infront of one of the bookcases.
"Help me move this. Taichi, be ready with the knife. Kouichi, if you could..."
Kouichi nodded, made a couple hand gestures and shadows surrounded the bookcase. Yamato and Kouji grabbed the case and slowly dragged it out of its place. Taichi hunched down, ready to leap at anything that escaped from behind it. Everyone held their breath, but nothing came out.
Kouji breathed a sigh of relief and handed another cookie to Kouichi.
"Thank you, my turn."
He made some small gestures with his hand and a tiny glowing orb appeared above it to lit up whatever was behind the bookcase. He nodded to himself before disappearing behind it. Kouichi let his own magic disappear and the shadows that was surrounding the bookcase scattered. He leaned over Taichi to check behind the case.
"A secret passage, of course."
Kouji growled a bit from inside the passage.
"Just get back to what you were doing. Taichi, you're still on guard duty, make sure our skalds are safe."
"Hey, who's the captain here? You or me?"
There wasn't any immediate answer but after a while Taichi heard Kouji let out a sigh.
"You. But you should still listen to what the scout says, Taichi."
Taichi shrugged, before he got up and got back out to the hallway again. Yamato looked at Kouichi and raised an eyebrow, his unasked question answered with a shrug from Kouichi before the skalds got back to looking through the books, sorting out the ones they figured would be wanted.
From time to time they could hear noises from the secret passage, but most of the time everyone worked in silence, except for the occasional word Kouichi and Yamato had to exchange about the books. After about an hour Kouji emerged from the passage again, the glowing orb disappeared and the long-haired twin sank down on the floor. Kouichi came up to him and tilted his head.
"Tired?"
Kouji nodded, carefully laid down a couple books beside him and took one of the cookies he had in his pocket. Yamato put down one more book on the table and came up to the twins, along with Taichi.
"We're finished here, so we're ready to leave whenever you've gathered your strenght."
"Five minutes."
Yamato nodded and went away to look if there was any more books they could take with them. They couldn't take too many, he knew as much, in case the trolls came back for them, but he still wanted them to bring as many as possible so they would only have to come back a couple times. After exactly five minutes Kouji got back up again. Kouichi looked at his brother and bit his lip, but didn't say anything.
"Let's head out."
Kouji took the two books he had found in the secret passage, Yamato and Kouichi loaded the books they had found into their arms and Taichi drew his knife, making sure to be ready if the trolls and beasts came back after them.
"Take these!"
Kouichi didn't have time to protest before Kouji put his two books onto the pile Kouichi was already carrying. Yamato saw how Kouji grabbed his gun, unloading the magazine into the approaching beasts.
"There must have been a gnome somewhere!"
Taichi was about to grab his flamethrower, but Kouji grabbed his wrist and forced the other to rethink.
"I'll take care of them, you'll be able to move faster without me!"
Kouji stopped abruptly and turned around, pain shortly visible in his face before he started mumbling and making complicated gestures with his hands. Yamato almost stopped as well, curious about what the younger one was up to, but Taichi pulled at his sleeve and he turned his attention forward again. Light erupted from where Kouji stood, but the others couldn't stop, they had to continue. Taichi grabbed Kouichi's gun and shot a couple bullets into a beast monkey that was approaching.
"Yama, this happens when you don't look where you step!"
Yamato blushed at Taichi's words, but didn't answer, his focus stuck on the books to make sure he didn't drop them. Kouichi answered for him though.
"At least he didn't blow a whole block up. Taichi, could you...?"
The youngest of the three stopped and offered the books to Taichi. Yamato wanted to protest, but Taichi took them, way more carefully than the other two thought possible. Kouichi whispered soft words into the air, while doing a sweeping gesture with his hands. Shadows broke free from buildings and surrounded them and they continued running.
Kouichi didn't let go of the shadows until they were safetly back at the truck. He sank down next to it, breathing heavily, while Yamato proceeded to kick the door. Jyou peeked out and opened the door wide when he noticed that it was his companions. Yamato put the books down on a table Jyou had prepared outside the truck as Jyou got out.
"...where's Kouji?"
"Hopefully coming soon. Get a magecookie for Kouichi, will you? Taichi, we're not going back in, put those grenades down."
Jyou came back out, handing the cookie to Kouichi before turning to Taichi, who was putting the weapons back down.
"So what happened?"
"Yamato managed to run into a small shack, making it fall down. The noice attracted the trolls and Kouji stayed behind to distract them using magic stuff."
Yamato started undressing, shivering slightly in the winter breeze and Jyou got back inside again, preparing to decontaminate the crew. Taichi put Kouichi's books down next to Yamato's, looking curiously at the top two. Yamato leaned over his shoulder to get a better look.
"Those look like diaries."
"We'll look at those later, now come on, decontamination-time!"
Taichi whined little.
"Is that really necessary? We're all immune after all!"
"Yes, Taichi. It's a good way to not get any mud into the truck as well."
Taichi made another attempt to whine, but Jyou sent him a stern look and he shut his mouth again, accepting the treatment.
It was almost midnight when Kouji returned. He tapped lightly at the door, and tried to press himself into the truck when it opened. Jyou stopped him, ordered him to prepare for a bath first and Kouji nodded, went back outside and settled down in their improvised bathtub. Jyou came out, filled the tub with water and looked at Kouji. The boy looked like he could fall asleep standing and Jyou knelt infront of him.
"You got enough energy to scrub yourself?"
It took a few seconds before Kouji nodded and Jyou handed him the soap and sponge. Kouji accepted them and closed his eyes, as if he was falling asleep, and Jyou poked him.
"Want to tell me what happened?"
Kouji slowly opened his eyes again, shook his head and went to work with washing mud and stuff off himself. Jyou stayed a little while to make sure the other was doing okay. Sometimes a small sign of pain was visible on the twin's face but it disappeared just as quickly and was replaced with the tiredness. Jyou let out a sigh and went back in again. Once alone Kouji leaned back, closing his eyes again, before removing the bandana from his ankle. He grimaced slightly when it pulled at the wounds from the dogbeast. He did his best to clean both the bandana and the wounds as well as scrubbing himself clean from any trollresidues he carried.
The water had gotten cold when Kouji finally got up from it. He swayed a while, shivered slightly. He just wanted to sleep. Instead he grabbed the tiny improvised bathtub and emptied it before he tied the still damp bandana around his foot again. With every step his foot throbbed and he barely had enough energy to ignore it. He limped inside, put on some clothes that Jyou had left by the door and snuck into his bed before anyone could ask him any questions. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
"His fever hasn't gone down... I should have known there was something wrong when he came back, but I just assumed it was because he had used his mage-powers. This is my fault."
Yamato put a bowl with some stew infront of Jyou to get the older man to quiet down. Jyou let out a sigh and stirred the stew while he turned towards Kouichi. Kouichi noticed it and blushed.
"I... I haven't managed to reach him... It's... I don't think he's there."
"How can he not be there? You explained how both of you get there whenever you sleep whether you want it or not!"
Kouichi flinched a bit at Taichi's raised voice and Yamato hit the table with a spoon to get everyone's attention.
"It's only been two days, I'm sure it'll be fine. We need to do another raid today, so get your minds set on it. Jyou, are you coming with us today?"
Jyou shook his head.
"I'll stay here, in case he wakes up. Do you think it's still safe out there?"
"It was yesterday, and I haven't heard anything from the town so most likely yes. I'm not sure what he did to them, but whatever it was seems to have scared all the infected mammals away from town."
He hit Taichi lightly in the head with a spoon.
"You need to step up your game, Captain-sama, it's not I who's supposed to distribute the orders."
Taichi stuck his tongue out towards Yamato but smiled. They continued discussing the raid while eating, and once they were done Jyou took the dishes outside to clean them up while the others got ready to leave. Kouichi went into the tiny bedroom and settled down on Kouji's bed, pulling his fingers through his younger brother's hair.
"We're going out again. Yamato think we only need two more stops at that place to get all the books. If we're quick about it we'll be finished here today."
Kouji shivered and Kouichi laid an extra blanket over him before getting up from the bed.
"You just take it easy. Jyou is here if you wake up."
Yamato's voice cut through the door and shortly after he and Jyou entered. Yamato pulled the covers of Kouji, which caused the boy to start shivering again. Yamato ignored it, his focus entirely on the other's feet.
"Here. I just remembered."
Jyou settled on the bed, pulling the bandana off Kouji's foot and flinching slightly at the sight. Kouichi tried to see what they were talking about, but Yamato stood perfectly in the way, and somehow managed to push him out of the room without turning around to face him. Kouichi blinked as the door closed infront of him.
"What... just happened?"
"I dunno, I just heard something about Yamato being stupid and then he was off to grab Jyou and now you're out here instead."
Taichi's words didn't calm Kouichi down and he put his ear to the door in an attempt to hear what was being discussed inside. Only muffled noises came out, nothing he could make out and then the door opened again. Yamato smiled towards him.
"Ready to head out?"
"Wh... what's wrong with Kouji? What aren't you letting me know?"
Yamato closed the door again and let out a sigh.
"He got bitten by a dog beast, and it's gotten infected. Not the Rash, no worries, just a regular infection, but it's quite nasty. But Jyou's aware of it now so he'll probably be up and running in just a couple of days."
"He's sick?"
Yamato nodded towards the older twin, who turned slightly pale.
"That doesn't explain why I haven't seen him in the Dreamworld though... We go there even when we're sick..."
Taichi shrugged and handad Kouichi one of the guns before strapping one onto himself.
"You can ask him when he wake up, we need to hurry now. We have to take advantage of whatever it was he did out there."
Kouichi looked the captain straight into the eyes.
"He transformed."
Kouji peeked through the leaves. He wasn't strong enough to maintain the barrier so he remained hidden, even when Kouichi had showed up. It was the best choice. He hadn't anticipated that he'd lose this much energy, but there was a reason they rarely used their transformation magic.
He closed his eyes and let the leaves slip back into place. He didn't remember much from the battle, and he knew there wasn't any use trying to remember it. Still, it disturbed him when he couldn't recall what he had done. It could mean trouble for the others. But no, he was pretty certain he had gotten all of the beasts.
He crawled further back into the bush, making sure there was no signs that he was there. The Dreamworld was not a safe place and without being able to maintain his barriers he couldn't relax. He needed to relax, he knew it. He wouldn't wake up until he had rested enough but being alert on his surroundings didn't allow him any chance to do it.
A black shadow slithered past the bush and Kouji held his breath. The shadow seemed to sense him, because it stopped for a few seconds before continuing. Kouji let out his breath. Normally the shadows of beasts and trolls couldn't enter the safe place because the barriers kept them out. Kouji tried to cower himself up with leaves and dirt but that wasn't enough to take his scent away. If a beast spirit past by it would be hard to remain undetected. He didn't want to run again.
Slowly he closed his eyes, tried to allow himself to relax. Every noice caused him to tense up and he groaned quietly. Then a familiar sound rang through the dreamworld.
"Kouji!"
Kouji tensed up even more. Should he alert the other of his presence? Kouichi wasn't as good at defending himself in the dreamworld as Kouji was.
"Kouji, where are you?"
Did Kouichi believe this place was safe? Even though he must have easily disrupted the barriers that was supposed to keep everyone out? But this was the first time Kouichi had called out for him, meaning he was getting really worried. Kouji let out a sigh and carefully crawled towards the voice.
"'niisan, in here."
Kouichi knelt infront of the bush and looked at his younger brother.
"What are you doing in there?"
"Is not... safe..."
Kouji yawned and Kouich offered him a hand, pulling him out of the bushes.
"'Niisan...?"
"Sch, no need to talk. I'm just happy I finally found you."
Kouichi wrapped his arm around Kouji's waist, forcing the other to use him for support. Kouji tried to get away, but for the moment Kouichi was the stronger one of the two.
"Just follow me."
Kouichi led the way, out of Kouji's safe place. They carefully threaded the water, staying away from the deepest parts. Kouji gasped as they walked through Kouichi's barrier. It felt like spiderweb was sticking onto him when they walked through it and immediately disappeared once they had gone the whole way through. He had never before been to Kouichi's safe place, he respected the other's privacy too much to invade it.
Now he found himself on a field with the most beautiful flowers and a warm sun shining above them. Kouichi slowly helped him settle down, before getting down himself, and Kouji's hands carefully touched the flower. The rays from the sun was reflected in the petals and rainbowcolored spots danced over the twins. Kouichi smiled at Kouji and carefully laid the other down.
"You can rest here, Kouji, I'll keep you safe."
Kouji wanted to say something, wanted to stay awake and watch the flowers, but he fell asleep the moment his head landed in Kouichi's knee.
Kouji quietly ate his cookie. He had finally waken up after four days of sleeping and now he felt the rest of the crew staring at him, but he tried to ignore it. They had probably asked him something. He swallowed the cookie and glared at their captain.
"What?"
"You feel well enough for a mission?"
"Yeah, sure."
Kouichi tried to protest, but Taichi shushed him.
"That's great! Because our mission is very important and we're the only ones brave enough to travel out into the Silent World. We chose to do this, not for ourselves, but for our society, for our family and friends. We are out here to gather what remains from ancient civilisations and clues about..."
Kouji stopped listening to Taichi's voice, he had heard the speech too many times already. Kouichi gave him another cookie and he unwrapped it, nibbled on it. With each bite he felt more energy returning but he was still not really in shape for this. He looked through the front window of the car, at the ruins on the other side of the field. There wouldn't be any beasts or trolls, he knew that much, so the mission would be simple, but he still hesitated. Not that he'd let his captain know that.
He was drawn back to the table when Yamato got up from his seat.
"Taichi, let's take the day off. We've worked harder than ever these last few days, we all need a break. I found instructions in one of the books for a game they used to play during the ancient times, let's try it."
"A game? What game?"
"They called it baseball. We have a large field and that's all that's required. Oh, and a bat and a ball, but there's sticks out there and I know you brought a ball from home, so we're all set!"
Taichi looked to the roof, as if considering it, then looked towards Jyou. Jyou shrugged and Taichi nodded.
"Okay, sure, we'll play your game. The books can wait for one day."
Kouji wasn't sure how much longer the beasts would stay away, but he wouldn't object to one more day off. He smiled towards Yamato and gave a slight nod. As Taichi got up and rushed out of the car the older man turned towards Kouji, smiling slightly.
"You're welcome. Now, let's see if we can figure out these rules!"