Many apologies for the long silence. I meant to post this chapter before I left a couple weeks ago for Taiwan, but was unable to finish it. Fortunately, I brought my laptop with me and managed to finish and now post it while in mainland China (the Great Firewall of China does not block FF, yay!)
Olivia: Hey, keeping people guessing's half the fun for me for writing this.
MH: The more the merrier.
ManiazAzn: "Poor Yukino"? She's been down a long time now...
Again, My-HiME is property of Sunrise.
10/20/2008
The Sister finished her prayers for the latest soul to depart from this world before she turned out the lights and closing the door to the uncomfortably rapidly filling "morgue". To call these troubling times would have been an understatement. Nearly half of those who had arrived on the island would not leave alive already, and more would follow if the murderer could not be found soon. This dream vacation had become a nightmare in a hurry, and it seemed that the person behind this had an idea of waking up that involved the permanent separation of body and spirit.
Leaving the "morgue", the Sister turned down the hall and reached the group left behind following the discovery of Haruka's fate and everyone helping her body to the "morgue", consisting of Natsuki, Midori, Mai, Yuichi, and Mikoto. "That's it?" Natsuki asked to Yuichi as the Sister approached earshot.
He nodded. "I'm pretty sure one of us would have said something if we saw something."
Natsuki released a sigh as she folded her arms and leaned against the wall. "It's like whoever's doing this is taunting us now."
"How so?" Mai asked.
"All these deaths, they're…neat. And clean. No effort at hiding the bodies. With the possible exception of Miyu, no attempts at making them look like accidents. The scenes are straight out of a movie." She let out another sigh as she closed her eyes. "Haruka especially."
"What about her?" Midori asked.
"Killed with the shower running, slicing knife wounds, blood tricking down the curtains – Psycho, anyone?" Natsuki said bitterly.
"Psycho?" Mikoto asked.
"Scary movie," Mai explained.
"Oh. Is it Labyrinth scary?"
"No, it's Alien scary."
A moment of silence reigned. "We must keep our spirits up," the sister said finally to break the oppressive quiet. "We ought not to let what has happened bring us down."
"How, Sister?" Mai asked. "So many of us have been killed, and one of us is doing it…"
"I know, Mai-san. But if we let whoever is doing this get in our heads, bring us down into despair…then we have already lost." She paused briefly, the howling wind of the nighttime storm the only ambience provided. "We cannot return life to the dead, yes. But we can keep their memory if we can escape." Yukariko approached Natsuki, the most visibly distraught one in the group and the one the sister's pep talk was largely directed towards. "I understand you are going through a lot, Kuga-san, but you are the best one among us in figuring these kinds of things out."
Natsuki looked up and nodded to acknowledge the sister's vote of confidence. "Right."
"Are you able to do this?"
The direct approach was not usual for the Sister, and the others were surprised that she would act this way, but nevertheless it seemed to work: Natsuki let out a another sigh, this time of determination, and placed her arms on her sides. "Yes, Sister." She got up from her leaning position on the wall and began walking down the hall.
"Where are you going, Natsuki?" Mikoto called after her.
"Getting to work," Natsuki replied as she walked towards the main stairs.
"Mai-san," Yukariko said. "Can you go with Kuga-san? She will need help."
"Yeah, of course."
"Can I help too?" Mikoto asked.
"Um, I don't think that's a good idea, Mikoto," Mai replied. "Natsuki's…having a hard time now. Yuichi, can you stay with Mikoto?"
"Sure, Mai." Mai ran off after Natsuki while Yuichi took Mikoto down the kitchen stairs to try to get their minds off of their predicament by way of food, leaving the two adults in the hallway. Midori took the opportunity to turn to the Sister. "Don't mean to demean you, but I didn't think you had that kind of thing in you."
"Eh?"
"The pep talk, I mean."
"Oh, that." The sister smiled a little bit. "I suppose it comes a little naturally when one deals with children."
"She's not a kid, though," Midori pointed out, a little confused.
"That is beside the point, Sensei. Kuga-san may know much about the world at large, but it is evident she is still as vulnerable as a child when it comes to her emotions. If I am not mistaken, she is dealing with her issues in regards to her feelings as she has dealt with them before: by running away from them."
"She's about the last person who would run away from a challenge."
"I think it would not be the first time. She has done this kind of thing before, has she not? The years before, when she sought revenge on her own?" Midori cocked her head to one side, trying to see what the Sister was talking about. "Against First District," Yukariko explained.
Midori took a moment to try to piece together what the sister was thinking. "You're saying that was a substitute for her not being able to deal with Shizuru?"
"In a way. This is just a theory of mine, but what I think is that once their friendship began to develop, there may have been hints about Fujino-san's true feelings, feelings Kuga-san might not have been comfortable with. Her vendetta against First District, which for much of her life had been her only life goal and prior to the Carnival would have still been her focus, would have provided a convenient reason for her to not think about it."
"But then once the Carnival got rolling…what Mai said about Natsuki is starting to make more sense now."
"Eh? What has she said?"
"I talked with Mai once about the events between the two of us getting KO'd and The Big Reset. She menti- GET DOWN!" Midori suddenly jumped on the sister and brought the two to the ground, knocking over a small table in the process. The high-pitched sound of breaking glass emitted from the window beyond the toppled table, followed by the sight of a rock flying at high speed at where Yukariko's head would have been had Midori not seen it coming. The rock bounced on to the floor behind them once before crashing into the far wall and coming to rest. Midori poked her head above the table to see who threw it. "You gotta be kidding me," Midori muttered.
"Who is it?" Yukariko asked.
"HEY!" Midori quickly got up and ran towards the broken window. Yukariko looked up and caught a glimpse of a figure before it fled from view. The figure looked familiar to her, and uncomfortably so. It couldn't be her…could it?
The commotion, naturally, drew everyone's attention, and the sounds of rapidly pounding feet soon echoed. Natsuki was the first on the scene. "What's going on?!"
"Miyu's alive!" Midori replied, confirming Yukariko's suspicions that she had hoped were false.
"What?!"
"You serious?" Nao asked.
"Yeah, she's the one!" Midori exclaimed to Natsuki and the quickly forming crowd as she pointed to the broken window. "She threw a rock at Sister's head. Probably would have killed her."
The group turned to the Sister, still lying on the floor behind the table. "Is this true?" Mai asked.
"Yes…" the Sister replied, obviously shaken up by the ordeal. She pointed towards the far wall where the would-be murder weapon rested near.
Natsuki glanced at the broken window. "Dammit. We need to move fast before she can kill another one of us." She looked around at the assembled group. "Midori, Nao, Tate, you guys come with me. We're going to hunt her down. Midori, get a couple of flashlights from the closet." The four rushed downstairs and soon mustered at the back door, Midori with a couple of flashlights in her hands. "What about us?" Mai asked as Natsuki opened the door to the night.
"Stay inside. Lock all the windows you can get to." The four hunters stepped out into the rain. "Turn on all the lights outside, and stay together." Natsuki slid the back door closed. "Someone lock the door!" she shouted from beyond the glass, to which Shiho complied.
"What's the plan?" Midori asked as the four descended the deck stairs.
"Pairs. Covers more ground, hopefully try to flush her out. Give me a light." Midori obliged. "Tate, you're with me."
"Where first?" he asked.
"Let's go…front first. You two, sweep the south first."
"And after that?" Midori asked.
"We sweep the north, you go check the west. Pincer move with the mansion as the fulcrum." Natsuki illustrated her plan in the air by curving her hands and having them make a claw-like motion.
"Got it."
"Stay alert." With that, Natsuki set off for the front of the mansion, Yuichi close behind.
"You think this'll work?" Yuichi asked Natsuki as the two rounded the corner to the front of the mansion.
"Honestly? I wouldn't bet on it." Natsuki slowed her pace as the mansion lights came on to help illuminate the area. "Right now, I'm just trying to buy time for everyone."
"Buy time?"
"If we're out here looking for her, Miyu's not likely to go for those inside because she'll have to dodge us first. Hopefully it'll give them time to bunker down."
"Defense by attack."
"Counterattack, really." Natsuki continued to sweep her flashlight into the dark to try to find any sign of Miyu. Yuichi, meanwhile, turned his attention to a basement window, through which he could see his girlfriend and Mikoto searching around. His eyes caught sight of the handle of the window, which was unlocked for some reason. He kicked on it with a foot, opening it inadvertently.
Mai looked up to the knocking to see Yuichi through the window, Natsuki's sweeping flashlight flashing in the background. "Mai! Get this window locked!" he shouted as he ran to catch up with a rapidly-moving Natsuki.
Mai gave an OK sign. "MIkoto, can you climb up there and lock it?"
"OK, Mai." Mai watched as Mikoto hopped on a couple of shelves and reach up to lock the window. "Which way do I turn it?"
"Left."
"OK, done, Mai."
"Alright, get down from there." When Mikoto descended to the floor and reached Mai, the two headed back to the stairs and up to the living room, the designated panic room that had been agreed upon. After Natsuki and company had left, Shizuru and Shiho went upstairs to secure and gather whatever they could (for there was no telling how long they would have to live on the run, in a manner of speaking), and the Sister and her little brother were responsible for the same for the ground-level rooms. She moved to the nearby intercom. "Shizuru? Shiho-chan? Where are you guys?"
A couple seconds of silence followed. "Mai?" Shiho's voice returned. "We're in Kaichou's room."
"OK. How much more do you have to do?"
"Just this room and the one down the hall."
"Alright. Make sure you get some blankets down as well."
"Already ta-" Shiho's voice was cut off by a blip that echoed throughout the mansion as the power went out. The rooms around the mansion all went dark in a hurry. Mai tried to buzz the intercom. "Shiho? Shiho? Hello?" She pressed it a couple more times before giving up.
"Onee-chan!" Mai turned to see Takumi in the doorway. By himself. "Where's Sister?" she asked.
Takumi turned around. He walked a few steps back into the hallway. "Sister!" he called. "I thought she was right behind me. I'll go look for her." He started to move back towards the kitchen.
"No, stay here," Mai ordered. "Watch over Mikoto. I'll look for her." Mai left for the kitchen, and soon her footsteps faded from earshot. A few minutes passed before Shizuru and Shiho entered the room from the other side, down the side staircase that connected the living room to the south wing bedrooms. The two of them were carrying blankets in case it turned out to be a long night. "Where is Mai-san?" Shizuru asked.
"Mai went to look for Sister," Mikoto replied.
"What happened to her?"
"I think she got lost."
Shiho blinked. "She got lost," she restated with more than an edge of disbelief.
"What about you two? Took you a rather long time to get back down here."
"Kaichou thought it would have been a better idea to secure all the rooms upstairs. We thought your sister would be here the whole time."
Outside by the power generators to the north, Natsuki stood over the fuse box at the base of the wind generator. Yuichi stood behind her, holding the flashlight so that she could see into the console as she worked to try to restore power. She sighed in frustration as another attempt to restore the system failed. "What an ass," she muttered.
"Huh?"
"Different set of switches got flipped. Can't figure out which- hey, I could use some light, please. Hello!" Natsuki turned to see why Yuichi pulled the flashlight away from the box and saw him looking at some nearby trees with it. "What? Did you see something?"
"Thought I heard something," Yuichi replied, swinging the light at several points in the trees. Fruitless results turned the flashlight back to the box, though Yuichi's eyes kept looking around into the darkness.
Natsuki, meanwhile, kept fiddling around with the panel to no avail before she saw the problem. "Ah, God damn it."
"What's wrong?"
"The capacitors are missing."
"What?"
"Down here at the bottom. See?" The light moved to the bottom of the fuse box, where the gaps in the circuitry were revealed.
"Can't we just find some wires to reconnect them?"
"And risk shorting everything out for good and possibly killing whoever's standing too close?"
"Oh, yeah."
"No wonder you got a C- in physics last semester."
"How do you know that?"
"Your girlfriend likes to talk."
"Right. Can anything else be done here?"
Natsuki shook her head. "Not without the capacitors. I just hope Miyu hasn't chucked them into the sea." Natsuki looked west towards the beach. "Nao and Midori should be doubling back right around now. We should head out."
Natsuki, however, wasn't quite correct. "OK, I'm no saint, but even I know this ain't a good time to get wasted," Nao said as she followed Midori to the wine cellar. Nao would have just left Midori alone with her alcohol if it weren't for the fact that she was feisty, not foolish. "We should at least see what's up with the power."
"Kuga's got that covered," Midori replied, opening the door to the cellar. "Soon as the lights went out, that's the first place she'd go. Besides, they're on the northern end of the island. If something's wrong, they'll take care of it before we get there."
"You sure?"
"What, you don't trust me? I'm crushed, Nao-chan."
Nao ignored the comment. "So what are we doing here anyway?"
"Preparing," Midori replied, picking out a couple of wine bottles and examining them. "Help me find a couple of rags, will you?"
The flashlight swept around the room as Nao looked. "Don't see any here," she replied.
"Didn't think you would."
"Then why the hell did you tell me to do that?"
"One, on the off chance I was wrong. Two, to keep you busy and make sure you don't kill me here."
"Uh, I think we've established already that Miyu's the one who's been killing us all," Nao pointed out. "Hell, you were the one who saw Miyu chuck a rock at Sister's head."
"Yeah I did. But who said there was only one killer among us? I mean, two people in on this would certainly make it easier to pull something like this off."
"It'd also be at least twice as difficult to keep secret."
"That's…true. Hmm…"
"What made you think there was someone else in on this?"
"I was walking by the master bedroom when I heard Mai-" The faint clanging of a cowbell could be heard in the midst of the pattering rain. "Quiet. Kill the light."
"What was that?" Nao asked quietly, her eyes looking around for any suspicious signs.
Midori was silent for a second. "The coming of the reaper," she replied finally. Quietly but quickly, she made her way to the cellar door and slowly peered around the corner. Nao gradually drew near. "Oh, shit," Midori whispered.
"What?"
"I see Miyu. And I think she has the Sister."
Nao peered her head underneath Midori's to see Miyu leading a blindfolded and gagged Yukariko with her hands tied up towards the north side of the island. Miyu appeared to be looking around as if in search of something. "What's she looking for?" Nao asked quietly.
"My alarm system, probably." Midori's left hand ushered Nao's head back inside as the two approached the cellar door. Nao could just make out Midori whispering to herself, "I shall not fear the reaper, I shall not fear the reaper…" A few silent but heart-pounding moments passed as Midori waited for the right moment before, with a war cry that surpassed even the rain, she suddenly jumped out and tackled Miyu, sending all three of them tumbling to the wet, muddy ground. Nao switched the flashlight back on to try to see what exactly was going on.
Midori had evidently planned out her attack. "Uh-uh," she went as she quickly seized Miyu's arm and slammed it as hard as her might would allow against a nearby tree. Midori managed a couple more blows before Miyu recovered from the shock and got away from Midori's grasp, but by then the damage had been done: Miyu moved her arm in an attempt to materialize one of her blades, but nothing happened. It wasn't clear what exactly had happened during the scuffle; maybe Fortune smiled on Midori's bold attack and a weak point in Miyu's construction had been found, maybe Miyu was faking it to give them a sporting chance. Whatever it was, Midori had managed to render Miyu mortal and with this unexpected development, Miyu retreated through the woods towards the north end of the island. Midori began to give chase. "Take care of the Sister!" she shouted to Nao as she faded into the night.
Nao got to the Sister and knelt down, who began to struggle as soon as she touched her arm. "Whoa, calm down, Sister. It's just me," she said, noting later how ironic that statement would normally sound. She removed the blindfolds and gag. "You alright?"
"I am all right. Thank you."
"What are you doing out here?"
"I don't know. Last I remember, I was inside helping Takumi-kun secure the lower floor, then I think I got jumped on from behind."
Natsuki and Yuichi had not taken ten steps away from the power generators when the two of them heard Midori's war cry. With a "Let's go," Natsuki led Yuichi towards the scream but were caught off guard when Miyu sped past them, actually knocking Yuichi over on the way. The flashlight he was carrying spun to the ground. "You OK?" Natsuki asked, picking up the flashlight and briefly trying to spot Miyu before swinging the light to Yuichi.
"Ow…Did someone get the number of that truck?"
Natsuki sighed. "Get up already," she said, pulling him up off the ground with her free hand. The two of them followed Miyu's last known direction to the edge of the woods, where they saw what appeared to be Miyu's silhouette standing near the cliff's edge. Before Natsuki could jump in to try to prevent Miyu from throwing the capacitors into the sea, a second figure appeared from the side and jumped on the first. The two tumbled the ground, rolled over once, and then, with Natsuki and Yuichi both unable to react in shock, flung themselves over the edge of the cliff.
"NO!! MIDORI-CHAN!" The two heard Mai scream from behind them as she ran to where the two figures had fallen over the edge, getting down on her knees and looking over it once she got there. Finally snapping out of their stupor at what they had just witnessed, Natsuki and Yuichi caught up to Mai, who was barely looking over the cliff because she was in hysterics. Yuichi pulled Mai back from the edge and into his arms as she continued to cry for Midori. It was painful for Yuichi to see Mai this devastated, and he took little comfort in the fact that Miyu would not harm another one of them again. He turned his head up to Natsuki, who was peering over the edge. "Any sign?" he asked.
Natsuki shook her head. "Midori!" she called out to the waves. She shined her flashlight into the sea, hoping to see some sign of life. When Nao and Yukariko caught up to them and Yuichi got them up to speed, they tried to help as well.
But Midori would not return to them that night.
Reviews are, again, welcome. I apologize in advance to any David Bowie fans out there.