Author's response
to AJR3333: I'll take that bet.
to everyone else: For the duration of this chapter, the role of Hametsu will instead be played by the Lucky Charms mascot. Bon appetit!
Chasing the Dragon
I was sixteen goin' no-owherrre.
Homura huffed, glaring at the glass and concrete jungle around him. "Join the club," he said, rolling his eyes.
Will I see seventeen a-liiiive?
"Matsu," he said, cupping a hand to his earpiece. Unfortunately, the sidewalk traffic continued to annoy, even with Sekirei hearing. "Did you locate the signal source?"
And I was running from the ni-ightmaaare
"No signal," Matsu replied. "It must be wired."
I staaand at the promised land, with a fire in my eyyye.
Behind him, her arm looped under Minato's, Tsukiumi massaged her temples. "The Americans were right to call this the Devil's music; 'tis hell on one's hearing."
"Oh, it's not so bad," Chiho said, her head subtly bobbing with the guitar solo. "I actually find it quite relaxing."
"You relax to this?" Musubi asked, coiled around Minato's other arm as her idle gaze wandered into the restaurant window next to them. Homura realized he was staring and quickly tore his eyes away, lest someone get the wrong idea.
Uzume chuckled. "Since when do you," she teased, jostling her Ashikabi, "listen to shock rock?"
"Since I woke up," Chiho replied. "I guess I dreamed about it."
"Focus," Homura said over his shoulder. He made sure not to look at Minato. "We need another way to find Kagedansu."
"You mean Hametsu," Musubi said.
"Whoever."
"Maybe we can use geometry," Minato suggested, his gaze wandering off into space.
Homura frowned. Of all things, geometry?
"Yeah…" Minato murmured. "Yeah."
Minato touched the earpiece of his own. "Matsu, can you ping our phones with your computer?"
"Sure, but why?"
Homura and Uzume cocked their heads, listening in.
"If the sound is all around us, then it has to have multiple sources," Minato explained. "If it's wired, then the wires all have to be connected to the same source, since they're synced up so well. We find the source, we find the next clue, maybe."
"So, you want everyone to split up."
Minato didn't seem to like that tone of hers. "Something wrong with that? We did it before."
"Yeah, but..." Matsu went silent for a moment. "That was a surprise attack. We knew exactly where everyone was going to be. We don't even know where we're going. Who knows who might be waiting?"
"It'll be fine," Minato assured her. "We'll split into tiny teams, three people at most. There's plenty of Ashikabi with two Sekirei. No one will look twice. The only one who'd be able to track us is Higa, and he's not likely to try anything soon."
"I don't know..."
"Look," Minato said, "do you want to settle this or not?"
Over the earpiece, he heard Matsu sigh. "If it means getting things back on track..."
Minato's voice dropped. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"...Forget it. How do you want to do this?"
Minato looked around at the group. "Split up by who has a cell phone: me, Homura, and..."
Credit to Uzume, she didn't hesitate to step up, even to a fool's errand like this. "Me. Where to?"
Minato nodded. "In a second." He scanned the remaining, phone-less Sekirei, plus Chiho. "Here's how we'll do it: Homura, you go with Tsukiumi."
"Husband, thou dost-"
Minato held up a hand, and for once she didn't argue further.
"If Homura sets fire to something he shouldn't, you're the only one who can put it out."
"You can't be serious," Homura deadpanned.
Tsukiumi huffed and looked away. "Thou speakest… Compellingly..."
Minato cupped a hand around her ear and whispered something. Between that and the sidewalk noise, Homura didn't catch it. Probably telling Tsukiumi something she wanted to hear, so she'd stay wrapped around his finger.
Next, Minato regarded Uzume. "Think you can-" He was cut off as a bus rounded the corner, its roaring engine drowning out even his own voice. "Think you can still fly solo? The way I see it, you've got the best balance at range, close-up, or on defense."
Uzume smiled, hugging Chiho to her side. "And that was without my Chiho."
"Then that leaves Kazehana and Musubi with me." He held up his phone. "All right, everyone, pick a direction and go. Hopefully there aren't too many speakers."
They left as 'Arena of Pleasure' was replaced by a new song, haunting and ominous with its acoustic guitar melody.
They are poison snakes with double-tongues…
Horny hedgehogs who do their wrongs…
Deaf men and blind worms, they'll be not seen…
They are pawns and rooks for a crimson king…
They are a government, with a parliament of whores…
Can you hear the screams, for the fame machine…
Down in Chainsaw Charlie's moooorgue...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
We'll sell your flesh, by the pound you'll go!
A WHORE OF WRATH, JUST LIKE ME!
Tsukiumi was about to wretch. "The Devil's siren sings a revolting song."
We'll sell ya wholesale, sell your soul!
STRAP ON YOUR SIX-STRING AND FEED OUR MACHINE!
"Never mind the lyrics," Homura said. "Let's find that speaker and put an end to this farce."
Cocking her pretty blonde head and brushing her hair aside, Tsukiumi listened for a moment. The sound remained around them, but there was one direction in which it was just a bit louder.
Aahh, will it feed my hunger,
If I swallow lies right down my throat?
Or will it choke me till I'm raw?
"To the west," she stated, letting her hair drop. "Sanada Nishi's territory. Could Hametsu's reach be so wide?"
Homura shook his head, an act which didn't go unnoticed.
"If thou hast doubt, Homura," Tsukiumi said as she kicked off the ground and sailed up to a two-story concrete ledge, "then speak it."
Homura looked at her as he joined her. "I just don't get how you, you, of all people would be taking his side. Even if he's not playing us, he still knew about Hametsu being part of him and said nothing."
"Once canst hardly blame him for his silence," Tsukiumi replied, leaping at a leisurely jog alongside her rival. "Had he revealed his plight, one might have accused him of selling his soul."
"You think that's why he's 'possessed'?" Homura asked.
"I speak not in literal terms," said Tsukiumi. "Likely this possession compelled a bargain, some price to pay in exchange for Hametsu exorcising himself. The fiend likely expects mercy from us, using Kagedansu as a shield.."
"If that were true," Homura countered, "why didn't he show himself to start? You don't use a hostage by hiding the fact you have one."
Tsukiumi pondered the most interesting thought. 'Twas quite the chore, as the insufferable music grew harder to suffer with each passing moment.
Murders, murders in the new morgue.
Murders, murders in the new morgue.
"Perhaps, despite the advantage possession brings, Kagedansu remains expendable," she suggested.
See ol' Charlie and the platinum armies
Makin' meee theirrr boy!
"Or," Homura suggested, "Hametsu's not real, Kagedansu's using his powers to create hallucinations, and he hopes we'll all go easy on him next time."
Tsukiumi harrumphed as she somersaulted over a roof railing. "For one of fire, thy heart is cold. Wouldst thou condemn a man to die before ascertaining his guilt?"
He'll make ya scream for the cash machine
Down in Chainsaaaaw Charlie's morgue.
"I seem to recall you doing that, Tsukiumi," Homura said, "when you first met Minato."
"And I was a fool for doing so," Tsukiumi snapped.
WELCOME TO THE MORGUE, BOY!
"The best I may be," she said, "but perfection I am not."
WHERE THE MUSIC COMES TO DIE!
She smiled. "Not yet."
WELCOME TO THE MORGUE, SON!
I'LL CUT YOUR THROAT, JUST TO STAY ALIVE!
Homura was clearly agitated but didn't broach the subject further. Instead, he asked a rather peculiar question.
"What do you trust more: your brain or your core?"
"What dost thou mean, 'trust'? Thou art sound of mind, yes?"
They'd just about reached the speaker, as the song clearly now had a direction. It was before them, but it was also upward slightly.
"I mean, if you felt one pulling one way, and the other pulling you another, where would you go?"
COOOOME TOUCH ME, BOY!
"There!" Tsukiumi said, pointing at a small water tower atop a commercial office block.
I WON'T STEER YOU WRONG!
YOU CAN TOUCH ME, SON!
"You sure?" Homura said, squinting at it.
AAH, BUT YOU WON'T LAST… VERY LONG!
Tsukiumi covered her ears and nodded. "I'd wager my spot at the table for it!"
With a half-hearted shrug, Homura followed as Tsukiumi led him over. A quick once-over revealed no speakers, electronics or anything that would give itself away as the culprit. All the while, that cursed music continued to wail and whine like a half-dozen police cars chasing an out-of-control ice cream van.
Tsukiumi groaned and rubbed her temple. "400 years after Bach's masterful Prelude in C major and music hath regressed to this."
"Then why don't you do something about it?" Homura shouted
"I shall!" Tsukiumi bellowed back, hurling a water sphere at the side of the tower that screamed the song. Instantly the noise dropped as the metal crumpled from the meteoric strike, small sprays of water bursting from the ruptured seems between the metal.
Tsukiumi folded her arms, a proud but scornful smile on her fierce lips. "So ends one cacophany. Whomever penned this drivel should think to defecate on Bach's grave, imitating his subtle changes to his sixteenth-note harpsichord apotheosis! Hmph, the way an orangutan might imitate its zookeeper. Where is the thrice-cursed bullhorn bellowing this abomination?!"
Homura was already on his phone. "Matsu, ping my location."
A moment passed. "Alright. We'll find the next one." Flipping it closed, he gazed out of the side of his eye at Tsukiumi. "So, your core or your brain? Which is a better guide?"
Tsukiumi pivoted on her heel and faced south, planning to continue on. "Well-"
She froze.
I'm the President of Showbiz, my name is Charlie!
I'm a cock-sucking asshooole, that's what they call me!
There he was, standing on the catwalk in front of a distant billboard...
Here in my Hol-ly-wood Tower I rule!
I'm a LYIN' mother-fucker!
The chainsaw's my tool!
...punctuating the last word with a crotch chop and pelvic thrust. Even beneath the gaudy red robes he wore, casting himself as some self-aggrandized hierophant, no doubt in the worship of himself, there was no mistaking that body language. He mocked them with the arrogance of a preemptive victor.
"COME, CHILDREN!" His voice thundered all around, adding to the white-hot bedlam pounding on their Sekirei eardrums. He beckoned with his ring and middle fingers, making devil horns with his hands. "Dance the Mephisto-"
Tsukiumi was on him before he could finish, screaming bloody, incoherent murder. Even with the approaching cloud cover, her watery blade shimmered from the refracted sunlight passing through it. The figure before her backpedaled as she hacked and slashed at him, catching only his crimson robes as he fluttered away like a startled butterfly, singing,
"The new morgue's our fact'ry to grease our lies.
Our machine is hungry, it needs your lives.
Don't mind the faggots, and the ruthless scuuum.
Before we're done, son, we'll ma-ake you one."
Tsukiumi chased him off the billboard and onto the building below, practically frothing at the mouth for nearly parting her from her husband. What her blade couldn't slice it flowed around, leaving half-split metal beams and gouged concrete in her furious wake. She swung and nearly caught Homura, after which her rival kept his distance. She hadn't the time to apologize.
Hametsu's flight ended at the edge of the roof when a section Tsukiumi had sliced gave way under his foot. He stumbled forward and recovered, but Tsukiumi and Homura were upon him. Now he needed to face them, lest the tendrils of Tsukiumi's sword-turned-whip flay him alive.
Flanking him and leaping up, Tsukiumi brought her blade down like the executioner's axe, centered right on the exposed curve of whatever head lay beneath that hood. However, in a sobering moment of clarity, it seemed Hametsu had studied a bit of swordplay himself. He bent at the knees and spread his feet, much like a fencer, so Tsukiumi saw his swordless thrust coming before he even lowered his arm. As he'd slipped inside her guard, she bent into a back handspring to dodge the punch. She felt a tug on her skirt, and realized he'd tried to grab her clothes.
His forward knee remained bent, evoking the style of Capo Ferro. Definitely a student of swordplay, the filthy lecher.
Homura threw a fireball as soon as Tsukiumi was clear, and while it didn't strike Hametsu, the loose cuffs of his sleeves caught fire. The fiend seemed not to notice.
Tsukiumi channeled some Capo Ferro of her own and lunged, already seeing Hametsu's gloved hand rising to turn away her blade. With a twirl of her wrist, she spiraled her blade around Hametsu's arm and sent it lancing into the dark shadows of his hood. The blade met nothing, for Hametsu tipped back and fell off the roof, trailing smoke from his cuffs as the fire was snuffed.
"Thou art no Sekirei!" Tsukiumi said, and dove off after him.
Not to be denied, she pushed off towards the ground, striking like a thunderbolt. He spun in mid-air and elbowed her in the back, sending her down past him. She landed and stabbed up at his falling form. This time, her blade struck home and burst through the back of his hood.
However, there was no weight to it. What Tsukiumi had stabbed was nothing more than an empty robe, devoid of an occupant. The hood itself was still shadowed, for a thin layer of black cloth covered the face, ensuring no one, even a Sekirei, would see the face beneath.
Tsukiumi screamed and thrust her blade at the sky. "RRAAAGH! THOU ART A SNAIL, HAMETSU! I'LL SEE THY SHELL CRUMBLE YET!"
The music screamed at her, forcing Tsukiumi to cover her ears. It was as if it were throwing a tantrum in reply, albeit one from a fully-grown baritone singer.
"You know," echoed a voice, as the noise of a crowd, a guitar, and a chainsaw permeated the air, "Blackie Lawless has to be the only mortal I know of to use the word 'faggot' in a tasteful, artistic, meaningful manner."
Tsukiumi nearly wretched. That such filthy language came from her normally eloquent foe was bad enough. Leaping into the air, she hurled another water sphere at the billboard, blasting through the metal and dampening the noise once again.
When she returned, Homura had landed to inspect the clothing, holding the hood in his hand and drawing his fingers beneath it. Now, her fury ebbing for a moment, Tsukiumi could see it. Attached to the hood was a small piece of wire, so thin that only a chance glint of sunlight, with no fight to distract him, allowed him to spot it.
"Meaning..." He paused, and looked up. "Tsukiumi, do you see that?"
Up above, glinting in a light breeze, was another strand of twine. Cast against the blue sky, it was much easier for a Sekirei to spot. Its path led to the roof opposite the one Hametsu had occupied. A third strand hung from his chosen staging site.
Tsukiumi looked again at the dampened robe in her hand, then tossed it away in disgust. "A scarecrow."
Homura nodded. "This one was, at least."
"Led astray as we were, to what end?" Tsukiumi was ready to spit, her fingers curling as her water blade fell away. "Just to hold Hametsu's beating heart in my hand, that he had one to pull free… Even so, I feel 'twould not satiate me."
Homura gave her a look. "Why would Hametsu need to fake a disappearing act?"
"Why would Kagedansu use props he knew Sekirei would see?" Tsukiumi countered.
Homura rolled his eyes. Tsukiumi felt her ire turn to him, but she reigned it in. Homura wore his heart on his sleeve (she remembered the night of his winging all too well). His was a heart made of stone, for once set, 'twas as hard to shift as granite.
Ah, Tsukiumi thought as she followed her rival westward, but once more, the lessons of his winging ring true.
"All this because Minato ran off for a lay," Homura muttered.
It was then Tsukiumi remembered Homura's question.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Uzume hesitated before uncovering her ears. Sure, the music was good, but it was way too loud to enjoy. Being down on a street crowded with foot traffic didn't help.
Chiho rubbed a finger in her ear, gently massaging the hard tissue. "We should stop at a music store and buy some earplugs."
Uzume nodded. "Once we finish around here. Hopefully Mikogami won't recognize me."
"And that's why we're on the ground now?"
Uzume whirled around with her fist raised. Immediately, the creep who'd copped a feel on her jeans lowered his head and skulked off, just in time for 'The Gypsy Meets The Boy' to start.
'The tarot is faaaaate,'
Said the gy-ypsy queeeeeeeen.
"Aaaah," Uzume sighed. "Much better." She quickly forgot about the creeper. "And she beckoned meeeeeee, to glimpse my future she'd see-eeeeeeeen… She said, 'Do you see what I see? Be careful to choose. Be careful what you wish for, 'cause it may come true.'"
"You know," Chiho said, sliding her body between Uzume's and a street sign, "how are you supposed to listen for the direction when you're singing along?"
Uzume pursed her lips, then chuckled. "Sorry, it's just… really catchy."
IIII'm the lost boy.
Caaan you help me-eeeeeee?
A thought entered Uzume's head. Given who'd put on this music, and the predicament he'd found/placed himself in...
Yeah, IIII'm the lost boy.
Caaan you help me-eeeeee?
That guitar sting gave Uzume a clue where to go. She clasped Chiho to herself and ducked between buildings before scaling the sides in a single bound.
Jonathan...
Jonathan...
The breeze made it seem like the whisper was carried on it. She knew that name: the self-styled Crimson Idol, who'd sold his soul to Chainsaw Charlie in exchange for fame and fortune.
Jonathan…
Jonathan...
It hadn't ended well for him.
Minato...
Minato...
Uzume's eyes widened and she let Chiho go. Jonathan's name was still chanted, but there was no mistaking what that second, deeper voice was saying. Nor did she mistake the direction it came from.
Chiho followed her gaze northward and hugged her again. "I heard it, too."
Uzume took off, skipping buildings like an athlete skipped stairs. Now she was certain as to what was going on. Kagedansu wasn't just trying to lead them somewhere. His second voice joined The Lawless One's, and in harmony, no less.
The illusion is reeeeal.
A crimson idol I saaaaww.
The deeper voice got louder, the further they flew. Oh, she hoped she could catch up to him in time. Whatever he'd done, she forgave him for it.
But the higher he'd flyyyyyy,
Then the further he'd fa-aaaaaaaaall.
The Gypsy Queen's reprisal of warning followed, repeating to Jonathan what was in store for him if he continued down the path of glitz and arena lights.
IIII'm the lost boy.
Caaan ya help meeeeeee?
Cymbals rang. Kettle drums thundered. In the distance, between the beams of light peeking through the clouds, Uzume thought she spotted a large, familiar silhouette, spinning and gyrating on a rooftop ledge.
"Uzume," Chiho asked, "do you see- Woah!"
All else became a blur as Uzume's Sekirei vision zeroed in on that swaying little pillar on the horizon. As if she needed proof he was messed in the head, being in the south with a Jinki on hand was terrible decision-making.
Bounding over the rooftops, Chiho hugged to herself like a sack of grain, Uzume's eyes stayed honed on her beloved boy toy. Nothing else mattered, not the railings, not the buildings, not the errant paper garbage winding through the air. She had to reach him, to save him. Every moment that passed, she thought she would be too late.
And she was. Just as the detail in his face became coherent, one whirl took him over the edge and he fell, vanishing into thin air.
"NO!" Uzume screamed. Her veils instinctively whipped out from under her shirt, as if they could cross the great distance and catch him.
"Relax, Uzume," Chiho said, her fingers digging into Uzume's waist. "He's a Sekirei."
"I know, but..."
That moment yesterday flashed before her eyes: Kagedansu standing over Sai, snapping her knife even while she slowly deactivated from the shanking that Kag- Homura gave her, his toe spearing her shoulder for good measure. Uzume hadn't been Sai's biggest fan, but looking back, the wanton brutality on display should've raised a red flag. What seemed like a long time ago, when Kagedansu beat Yahan, he'd hit her exactly once to do it, just enough punishment to take her out of the Plan without being cruel. Yesterday, he'd literally kicked someone when they were down, and that wasn't like him.
As if to torment her further, Uzume found herself standing before the MBI building. The chase had led her back to where it all started.
She felt Chiho tug on her belly top. "You don't like it here, do you, Uzume?"
"It's..." Uzume looked down at her Ashikabi. "Not here, it's just this place led to so much. For me."
Chiho nodded. "I understand," she said, looking over at Minaka's looming monolith. What she was about to say next died on her lips, just in time for Jonathan's doomed proclamation.
"I just wanna be…
I just wanna be…!
I JUST WANNA BE… THE CRIMSON IIIIIIDOL of a million
I just wanna be…"
"Kagedansu?"
Uzume's gaze snapped to attention. There, mega-sized and translucently cast on the building like a movie projection, was Kagedansu's profile.
"I just wanna be…!"
Twisted in anguish, his eyes were screwed shut as he sang,
"I JUST WANNA BE… THE CRIMSON IIIIIIDOL of a million eyes..."
He plastered his hands across his face as the projection began to fade, sobbing quietly as he disappeared. Just before he did, however, a pair of eyes opened over his hands.
They were yellow, they were evil, and they were staring right down at her.
"Please..." she heard him whisper from the tower. "Stay safe, Uzume."
Never in her life had Uzume remembered wanting to kick in a door so badly. To think, behind two panes of bulletproof glass encased in two frames of metal, her big beefy teddy bear was being held prisoner. The only thing that stopped her was that behind that door was probably The Discipline Squad, not to mention Hametsu himself.
"Not a chance," Uzume uttered defiantly. "Not until I get you back, too."
"Correction," Chiho said, laying a hand on Uzume's belly, "not until he puts a baby in you."
Uzume chortled. "That, too." She leaned down and chastely kissed Chiho on the lips. "You along for the ride?"
Chiho nodded. "Always. And I do mean 'always'."
For a brief instant, lightning struck her brain and Uzume got a flash of what Chiho was implying. The scandal of it, from her precious sweetheart Chiho, turned Uzume's face a deeper pink than the shirt she wore.
To the south, the music had stopped. Now it mostly came from the west.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Wooooah,
He's the king of sting, Mister Mo-orphine, my friend.
Uncle Slam, meduh-cine maaaaaan.
Somewhere around here… Close enough to need to cover her ears.
"See anything, Musubi?" Minato called from atop his fire escape. Musubi shook her head, then waved to him. He smiled at her and waved back as her hands jumped back to her ears.
And I'm a junky with a big King Kong-sized monkey
CRAWLIN' UP AND DOWN MY BAA-aaaack.
One more hole in somebody's wall, one less invisible noise maker. Musubi still didn't know how Hametsu was doing it. She had drilled through more rock and steel than a mine shaft in the last half-hour and there was still no sign of the secret machine that made all this work. Those wires he was using must've been tiny.
"Oooo, I'll help you, son, to rearrange your miiind."
Wait a sec...
"Oooooooh, I'll help you, son, but you gotta buy this tiiime. I'm your-"
DOC-TERRRR!
There! Just in time, too, because as soon as she spotted him, the red man ducked behind a stairwell box and stopped singing.
"I see him!" Musubi shouted and immediately launched herself from the roof.
"MUSUBI."
The brunette stopped. First Tsukiumi, then her, and she didn't really see anything wrong with what he'd said earlier but Homura had. Was Minato being meaner lately? The chance to ask him arrived with Kazehana. Because she brought him.
"Alright," said Minato, giving her a quick kiss on the lips that made her squeak with delight. "Now go get him."
Musubi squeaked again and took off full speed, completely ignoring that worried look Kazehana had. What was there to worry about? With Minato's love inside of her, she couldn't possibly lose!
Docter ROCKTERRRR!
You know I need-you-too.
Musubi checked high and low, but he wasn't hiding there. No, he was on a short apartment building, falling off a fire escape after tangling himself up in somebody's clothesline.
"I see you!" she called, pointing. He didn't hear her, which meant he couldn't be a Sekirei, therefore couldn't be Kagedansu in disguise. Kagedansu would've heard her enough to signal he couldn't hear her.
Docter, please, my MD.
Fix me in my time of need, oh.
Can you see the fire that's in my-y eyyyye?
Kicking off the top of the roof like a swimmer starting a lap, Musubi rocketed towards the ground. She'd aimed ahead of him, hoping he'd keep running and meet her at the end of her dive so-
She forgot about the clotheslines.
"Ack! Grrph!" Musubi had tried to reign in her dive but she merely took the line at her waist instead of her face. Flipping over the line with a pair of shorts in her mouth, she followed gravity to figure which way was down and landed feet first on the pavement. Looking up, she spotted an old woman opening a window near the line she'd just tackled. A quick hop closed the three stories she'd fallen and handed back the shorts.
"Sorry!" she said, giving a bow as she started to drop again. "Your laundry's done, by the way!"
"Hurry up, Musubi!" Minato called from the next roof. What was… Oh, right!
"I'm coming!" she hollered back.
Woooh,
It's the mirror from the WALL! It's on the ta-able,
Feeding me little white liiiiies.
Their chase took them further west, following the red cloak. Kazehana stayed ahead the whole time, with Minato held tight. Maybe that was a good thing, because when Hametsu tripped over his cloak and stumbled against a stairwell block, Minato broke free and tackled him to the ground.
And I'm wasted in a wasteland, I'm a junk man.
I got tombstones in my eyyyyye!
"Gotcha, you bastard!" Minato said triumphantly. As he pulled Hametsu to his feet, though, the red cloak suddenly lost all solidness and went limp in Minato's hands.
"What?!" he cried, pulling at the clothes. "No!"
Gritting his teeth, he turned around and showed them to everyone. "I had him! I felt him! He was right here!"
"Yes," said Kazehana, carefully taking away the cloak and handing it to Musubi. "And we're lucky he didn't fight back."
"I dunno," Musubi said, admiring how the red sparkled and flashed. "If Minato wants to fight him, what's the harm? It's not like Hametsu would hurt him."
"Musubi," Kazehana said skeptically. One hand was on her hip, the other was stroking Minato's hair. Surprisingly, she wasn't holding his face against her bust. "He doesn't need to hurt him to hurt us. The sleepy thing, remember?"
Oooo, I'll help you, son, to rearrange your miiind.
"I know," Musubi said, pacing before the stairwell door. "But I don't think he'd mind. Kagedansu and Tsukiumi had to really annoy him before he got serious. Minato wouldn't do that!"
Minato rolled his eyes for some reason. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Musubi."
I'll help you, son, but you gotta buy this tiiime.
"You're welcome!" she chirped, before the door popped open and slammed into her.
"DOC-TERRRR." A black hand looped around the door and snatched the cloak. Musubi was too busy stumbling and wondering what, for goodness sake, was going on to keep a hold on it.
"Hey!" The door closed and she grasped the handle and wrenched it… out of the door. "Whoops. I think the door's open!"
"After him!" Minato ordered. Musubi obeyed. She heard another door slam open as she skipped the steps and landed down in the dark. Following his footsteps, Musubi chased Hametsu around the floor. She lost him in the wash room when he flicked the lights off, and flicking them back on didn't help.
"Hello?" She opened the doors to the three washers, then the dryers. No sign of him. "Hametsu, are you in here?"
No response. Maybe he wanted to play hide-and-seek?
"He's out here, Musubi!" Kazehana called from outside, just as Musubi turned the lights off again. She waited, just to make sure Kazehana wasn't wrong, and was about to make her way out when two feet hit the floor behind her and shove her from behind.
"Tag," he said.
Oh, so he wanted to play tag. Wait, then why'd he turn the lights off?
Regardless, Musubi shouted back, "I'm it, Kazehana!"
She chased him round the floor some more then straight down the stairwell, neither of them using the stairs, instead just jumping over the railing and falling past them.
OOOOO, HELP MEEE, UNCLE SLAM!
THE BEAST CLAAAIMED ANOTHER MAN!
Hametsu bolted out the metal door as soon as he got there, but Kazehana was waiting up on the roof and immediately blasted him with a wind stream. Musubi whiffed a tag-back but only because Hametsu was flying, tucking his cloak under his curled-up legs as he blew over the street. Was he not wearing pants under that robe?
"Musubi, get inside!" Kazehana shouted. Musubi did, leaping back through the metal door before it closed on her. A dim pink glow peeked under the crack before fading. Musubi, wondering if she was still "it," cracked the door open to see what it was.
It wasn't Hametsu, that was for sure. He was standing on the sidewalk, an invisible bubble around himself as people tried to avoid him. He held a big, red, metal toy gun in his hand, pointing it up. No, the glow came from what he pointed at: a big pink ball of light in the afternoon sky. Not as pretty as the pink balls Yume used to make, but still nice.
The pink ball exploded above the city, bathing the neighborhood in pretty pink light. There was no way that every Sekirei in the west hadn't seen it. Goody!
"COME AND FIGHT ME, SEKIREI!" Hametsu shouted, stuffing the toy down his front.
"But I just tried to!" Musubi called back.
"TRY AGAIN, THEN! HA!" Then he turned and started running again.
Kazehana pointed at the sky, where the pink ball began to fall. "That," she said, "is a signal flare."
"I know, but we can't give up now!" Minato said, hugging Kazehana. Once more, onee-sama didn't mush his face in her business, just wrapped her arms around and jumped.
This time, though, Musubi stayed ahead… for about eight seconds before she came face-to-scythe with a different opponent.
"HHHi," slurred the girl as she retracted her scythe. Musubi's first impression was that she needed to eat more; Musubi could count her rib bones, she was so skinny. Her black gloves would've covered more skin than her tiny black bikini top, if she tied them around her boney chest. The black pants (what was it with other Sekirei and black colors? Musubi would have to ask Tsukiumi about it) only had one leg. The left sleeve was little more than a thong, and would've left her pale skin bare down to her boot if not for the skull-pattern stocking.
Fashion choices aside, Musubi bowed respectfully. "I'm Sekirei Number 88, Musubi."
Grinning her best Hametsu impression, the girl bowed her head slightly. "Number 14, Chiyo." She cocked her head to one side, still grinning. "There wouldn't be any baggy red pajamas stuffed down your front, would there?"
"Um, these?" Musubi asked, fondling her breasts. "That's my bust. It's bigger than Tsukiumi's, but not as big as Kazehana's. Minato still likes it, though."
"Darn," said Chiyo, brandishing her scythe. "I was hoping to skip the marathon crap and cut to the action. Guess I'll cut you, instead."
