a/n: haha….I always forget to post here…its been about a week oof. Also, no, this fic isn't discontinued (yey?
"Here, the heart of Shinjuku," Shinoa announced as they stepped out of the train. "Everyone, stay close. This place is swarming with vampires!"
As if on cue, one vampire jumped in front of them. Shiho unsheathed his twin daggers, killing the bloodsucker in one swift movement. They continued on their way.
They engaged a couple more vampires as they crossed the school grounds, but soon the battlefield came into view: dozens of squads held against the enemy, all in their white capes with the hoods pulled up, completely shading their faces.
"Take the pills!" Shinoa ordered before heading off to the field.
Shiho did as he was told, feeling an instant surge of power. At that moment, two vampires approached him. He sliced the first one with ease while the second blocked his attack. He struggled to keep up with his relentless onslaught, barely noticing when a third vampire appeared.
He didn't have the time to block, but instead of being hit, the vampire was sliced in half just as he killed the one he'd been fighting. "You shouldn't use this sword," Shiho found himself saying as he sheathed his daggers.
"I told you already," Yoichi retorted, annoyance clear in his voice. "The sword is empty."
He gestured toward the katana, which shone with an eerie green glow.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because"—Yoichi paused, lips stretching into a smirk that was just a bit too wild—"the demon is now bound to me."
Crimson flames burst from his body, crackling laughter consuming the cacophony surrounding them. Shiho covered his face to shield himself from the heat, stumbling as a powerful wave pushed him back.
He lowered his arm and craned his neck back to look at Yoichi. He had wings made of fire, obsidian horns, and completely black eyes. He opened his mouth, full of fangs, and spoke, voice echoing and distorted:
"And the sixth will bring his kind;
four demons will return, for their responsibility."
Tiny blue flames vanished. Shiho took the pan, filled with scrambled eggs.
Yoichi visibly snapped out of his thoughts as he approached, tearing his eyes away from the damned sword and watching as Shiho put half of the pan's contents in his bowl, already half filled with rice. "Thank you."
Shiho made a noncommittal grunt, dropping the rest into his own bowl before putting the pan in the sink. He miscalculated, letting go of the handle a bit too high up, and it clattered on the bottom.
He paid no mind to it, turning around and noticing from the corner of his eye as Yoichi stared at his bowl, chopsticks in his hand, completely still. It was only when Shiho slumped into his seat that he looked up, brows knitted together and eyes halfway between troubled and annoyed. "Are you still on that? I told you already—"
Words echoed through his mind before they could leave Yoichi's lips. Flashes of his dream rang louder than before. "It's not that." He quickly cut him off. The lack of poison was probably what made Yoichi freeze, eyes widening a fraction. "It's just—" Shiho heaved a sigh, feeling a headache starting to form. "Never mind."
His gaze fell to his food, which he promptly started digging up as he glared at it—as if the meal was to blame for his swirling thoughts. He noticed, with some relief, as Yoichi followed his lead, even though he only lightly nibbled at it.
It didn't take long until Yoichi finally broke their awkward silence. "You can tell me anything, you know?" Shiho only stuffed more egg in his mouth. Yoichi didn't give up. "Please...what is it?"
Shiho glanced up at him, at his pleading eyes, and put his chopsticks down with a sigh. "I...I had a dream—" he started saying after swallowing, but immediately had regrets. "It's seriously stupid and makes no sense."
Yoichi's lips widened into a soft smile, shoulders relaxing. "As dreams usually are."
Shiho furrowed his eyebrows, divided over whether he should clarify the severity of his dream but... Ah, hell, it's just a dream. "Fine."
Yoichi's face brightened up at that and Shiho couldn't help but momentarily look away, taking the brief moment to recollect his thoughts. "We were in Shinjuku." Flashes of the train and the school appeared in his mind for the hundredth time, but then something seemed to click. "Now that I think about it, it looked exactly like Shibuya...but in my dream it was Shinjuku, you know?"
Yoichi nodded, unfazed. "So you and Shinoa were in Shinjuku? In the battle?"
Since Shiho had gone with Shinoa, it made sense that Yoichi would assume that. And even though he wasn't wrong, the image he probably had wasn't entirely accurate. Shiho pursed his lips. "Yes. Me, Shinoa, and you."
"Oh? Me?" Yoichi furrowed his brows and Shiho nodded, struggling not to avert his eyes.
"You...you were carrying this katana."
Yoichi raised a single eyebrow and curved his lips. Shiho wasn't sure if he was amused or not. "You were using it instead of the bow." His immediate response was a snort, and Shiho could not contain his groan. "I told you it made no sense."
"I know, I know." Yoichi tried to appease him, but the giggles didn't soften the glare Shiho directed at him. "I just find the idea of me doing close combat kinda funny...you know, it really makes no sense." His laughter died down, but the smile still reached his eyes, even when his tone became slightly more serious, guarded. "I mean, if it's empty, why would I use it in the first place?"
Shihou stiffened. He had no doubt that Yoichi was attempting to lighten the mood, but even with his good intentions, the comment only backfired as it echoed with bloody flames and pitch-black eyes in his mind.
"What is it?" Yoichi leaned forward, concern dripping from his voice.
Shiho swallowed, trying to brush off the unease weighing on him. When he spoke, his words were strained. "Well...I...I don't remember what we said exactly but...when you said that the sword was empty—in the dream—you…" His words trailed off and Yoichi's brows only creased further. I shouldn't get this worked up because of a dream.
"You said it was because the demon was now bound to you," he blurted out at last.
"That's…" Yoichi started saying, a smile making its way back to his lips. But Shiho noticed how forced it was, how his eyes widened a fraction and how stiff he became. Yoichi cleared his throat, gaze trailing to the side. "...unsettling." He laughed half-heartedly.
Shiho mentally cursed himself, but what he ended up saying was, "I warned you."
His tone was more bitter than he felt. Somehow, it turned out to be the correct answer: Yoichi once more met his eyes, smile softening into something more genuine. "If you're concerned about me...I'm fine, really. You don't have to worry about me."
Shiho frowned. I don't think I can do that.
"So." Yoichi perked up, dissolving the heaviness in the air and sitting upright in his chair. "Is there something else?"
"You burst into flames." Yoichi cringed, but was still smiling, even though he was probably thinking about Ayumu— shit. "And...and you had these wings made of fire—"
That drew more snickers from him, though. Shiho tried to glare at him, but was struggling to keep the smile and relief from his face "—and also horns and black eyes."
"Black?" Yoichi echoed amidst giggles. "Did I have a tail too?"
"Funny," he reprimanded with the best deadpan face he could muster. It only prompted a new wave of giggles.
Shiho stared at him, lips curling up. He wondered why he was so uneasy before.
His gaze got lost as he tried to remember the rest. "And then...you said something. Something about a sixth and a job and...demons?" Yoichi only waited patiently for him to continue, but the words were gone. "No, I don't know. I can't quite remember."
He groaned, scratching the back of his scalp.
"If you forgot, it's probably nothing important." Yoichi tried reassuring him, but Shiho only shook his head.
"No. This...this kinda feels familiar." Yoichi perked up at that, quirking an eyebrow. "It's on the tip of my tongue, something about this, I know I've heard something important before...but I can't fucking remember ." He slammed his fist on the table, but not too strongly, trying to reign in his frustration. Yoichi still flinched.
He was still focused on the dream, so much so that he startled when he felt Yoichi's hand reaching out for his. His fist slackened. Shiho looked up to meet his gaze, taken aback by the peace in his eyes. "You're probably just stressed...we all are." He flashed him a smile, small but bright. "I think this is nothing you should worry about. But if there's really something important, I'm sure it will come back to you eventually."
Words escaped him, but Shiho found himself nodding.
Shiho wasn't feeling very hungry after that, but still forced himself to finish his breakfast, a more comfortable silence settling this time. It was only when they were organizing the small communal kitchen—empty now apart from them—that Yoichi spoke up again. "Are you going to visit Mirai today before your sigil class?"
"No…I went yesterday to the hospital and they told me Mirai was moved to another wing and can't take visits." Shiho turned off the faucet, handing the last plate to Yoichi, who stared at him weirdly.
Shiho's confused gaze seemed to prompt him into speaking: "Is she alright?"
"Right. Yeah, they said she was stable, just had to run a few tests in a controlled environment or something," he said, quick to reassure. "It might take a few days."
Yoichi nodded. "That's...I'm glad she's fine."
Shiho untied his green apron, the words "wooden spoon survivor" printed on the front. "I'll be going then. See you at lunch?"
"Yeah. Bye."
Shinoa knocked on the door, waiting for the few seconds it took Shinya to open it.
"Hello, brother!" Shinoa greeted in a singsong voice, entering before he could even say a word. "Oh, you're here too." She stretched her smile wider in an attempt to cover her honest surprise.
Guren, who was slouched on the couch with a pile of papers in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other, only grunted in acknowledgment. It's not that his presence in her brother's apartment was a rare occasion, but she did hope to get Shinya alone.
"Little sis, for what did you grace us with your presence this early in the morning?" Shinya asked, voice honey-sweet as he closed the door. "Is the base being invaded again or something?"
"Aha." Shinoa twirled around, meeting his gaze as he stepped in the living room. "Can't a girl just visit her dear big brother?"
"Not you, brat," came the deadpan comment from behind her.
"Brat, me?" Shinoa skipped, going to sit on the armchair with perfect posture. "Oh, no, I'm adorable and loved by everyone!" Guren didn't even glance away from the papers. Unfazed by the lack of reply, Shinoa spoke up about the second topic she wanted to talk about. "But seriously, I was just curious. I heard some rumors that Kureto has been quite angry...?"
"That's how he always is."
"So you heard that?" Shinya asked with a raised brow, taking the armchair beside her and ignoring Guren's comment—though even she had to admit it was kinda funny.
Shinoa hummed in acknowledgement. "Yes. I wonder what was bad enough to manage to tick him off...more than usual, that is."
Shinya snorted, but he looked tired as he raised one hand to rub the back of his neck. "Apparently, some top secret files were stolen." He sighed, gaze hardening as his hand dropped on his lap. "To be honest, I didn't even know this data existed."
Shinoa furrowed her brows. "Data was stolen?"
"Yes, from the lower-level offices."
The crease in her brows only worsened; memories of the battle that took place just three days before flooded her head. No vampire had made its way back above ground. The sole one closer to the exit had been the one fighting…
"But I thought"—her gaze moved toward Guren, who finally deviated his eyes from the sheets and discreetly pierced Shinoa with his stare—"they'd been stopped." He might have passed as mildly interested, even, if it weren't for the way he was gripping the paper.
Shinya didn't seem to notice her short pause or the exchange of glances with Guren, gaze lost to the side. "It seems the vampires' attack had only been a distraction all along, just so they could infiltrate without being noticed." Then a smile crossed his somber expression. "That was quite a good plan, once it worked and all," he said as a half-hearted joke.
A rustle of papers being tossed on the table dragged their attention to the couch.
"Are you done reading your reports?" Shinya asked as Guren stood up.
"Unfortunately, no." He finished his coffee, gaze falling between the two. "I'd love to chitchat with you—"
"Really?"
"—but I have stuff to do now," Guren finished as he glared at her. Shinoa only smirked.
She watched as he left the room, exchanging goodbyes with her brother and finally leaving. The moment the door closed, Shinya looked back at her. "Now. What did you want to talk about?"
Shinoa's smile stretched wider. "Was it that obvious?"
He snorted. "I know you're not much of a fan of him, so I wouldn't be surprised."
"Fair." And then her tone became more serious, if only slightly. "I know you weren't there when it happened, but did you hear about what happened with Shishido Ayumu?"
"Your squad member?" Shinoa nodded. "I did hear about it from Juujou."
"Thoughts?"
Shinya simply shook his head. "I have no idea what it was."
Shinoa pursed her lips. "You do know Guren was absent, right?" she pressed.
"He was leaving for Shinjuku when the alarms were set off," Shinya rationalized.
"How convenient."
"You think this is his fault?" Shinya asked, a single eyebrow raised.
Shinoa shrugged. "I'm just contemplating all the possibilities."
"Am I missing something?"
"Guren was giving Shishido pills. 'To help with the demon' or something." She went straight to the point, dropping all pretenses. "Don't you find it suspicious?"
Shinya sighed, sinking deeper into the cushions. "I do see your point, but don't you need a bit more proof before making such accusations?"
Shinoa stiffened. She was disappointed, but couldn't say she was surprised. Sighing, she stood up.
"Of course."
"I wanted your opinion on something...a hypothesis."
It didn't hit him immediately. The complex combination of symbols and the sheer size of the array was enough to halt his understanding of what he was looking at. Shiho managed to identify one or another sigil while isolated, but most of them relied on a pair to have any defined action—something he was still trying to get a grasp on.
"I'm not sure if you remember...I think I only mentioned it once."
It was only when Guren dropped a familiar thick tome on the table, flipping through yellowed pages and faded illustrations in search of the right section—all while distractedly summarizing its contents, transcribed in a foreign language—that the assortment at his hands started to make sense. Now some parts stood out to him, burning with a purpose of unification and transference.
"I'm not sure if it would actually be possible to reproduce such a thing artificially...or at all."
His breath caught in his throat and precise, intricate strokes danced before his eyes. Guren paused, gaze getting lost as he fell silent in thought. His fingers marked a page that he'd stared at for so long, until only moments ago.
Shiho didn't recall the words, only their meaning. So when he read it the first time, it didn't register. He had a sense of déjà vu , blinked at the text, read it again, glanced at the image, and repeated the process. And then he froze, the pieces clicking in his mind.
Right under an illustration of a six-winged angel, it read:
"And the sixth shall bring his equals;
the fallen will return, four of them, to fulfil their duty;
to bring upon the end."
"I need you to do one more thing," Ferid said distractedly as he retrieved a folder from his cabinet.
Crowley eyed the files handed to him, a single eyebrow raised. "Am I your delivery boy now?" Ferid smirked at the comment, waiting patiently as Crowley took the folder from his hand. "You already asked me to meet that human again in a couple of days, and now this?"
"But I have good reasons!" Ferid exclaimed innocently. Crowley was unimpressed. "You know how the queen is watching me—the moment dear Mika left here he went straight to her, demanding to find little Yuu, so that's no wonder." His stance was still at ease, but the playfulness in his tone was replaced by something more serious. "Nothing might have happened then, but it's only a matter of time until they are after me...which brings us to this."
Smirk back in place, Ferid skipped over to Crowley, slinging an arm over his shoulder and earning a questioning stare that he promptly ignored. "Whenever it is that our funny partner—"
"Your."
"—is done with his part, I want you to hand this"—he tapped the files, glancing up at Crowley as he did—"to Mika. Also, don't bother peeking, it's not going to work."
His lips stretched wider in an invitation for trouble. But as expected, Crowley didn't take the bait. He might be too familiar to fall for his teasing, but finding the little ways he got to him—a flicker of his stare, a split-second pause, a twitch or a barely contained smile—would never cease to entertain Ferid.
"Also, you might want to refrain from visiting me," Ferid warned as he slid his arm away from Crowley. "We don't want you to be questioned as well, after all."
"Should I be worried about the distance between your head and your body?" Crowley asked, a smile of his own playing on his lips.
"Aha, nothing that drastic"—Ferid leaned closer, bringing one hand up to cup Crowley's face, eyes gazing into his—"just try not to miss me too much."
Yoichi stumbled, falling to his knees with ragged breaths and debris digging into his hands. The ground was painted red.
He jumped to his feet, head swaying and nearly slumping back down. He dug his feet inches away from spilled guts. He averted his eyes, but wherever he looked there were severed limbs and gaping wounds.
Running, the sea of corpses was little more than a haunting blur. But soon blood gave way to ashes; the image burnt in his mind. He caught a glimpse of gold, luring him with a dreadful symphony. He heard the march, calling, calling—
The scabbard hid the blade and all he heard was deafening silence.
"This is your memento." There was no life in those red, desperate, bleeding eyes. The mouth did not move, but the words still echoed in his voice. "You'll never forget what you saw this day. You will never forget me."
The words settled, and something snapped. The fright clinging to Yoichi evaporated and he blinked, the haunting landscape becoming little more than distasteful. He frowned.
"Would it kill you to stop taunting me?"
"That depends." The lips of Ayumu's severed head curved into a smirk. "Would you kill for me?" the demon teased.
"I would have killed him. His blood would have been on my hands."
"But you didn't, and yet, you cried."
His eyes burned, but his fist closed tightly. Yoichi would not succumb to the fear being forced upon him, so he ignored the last part, throwing the insult right back at him. "And whose fault is that? I let go of the arrow, but it was still strong enough—"
The illusion disappeared and he was plunged into darkness, the air leaving his lungs as strong hands gripped his throat. "Who do you take me for?" The demon snarled, words sending a shiver down his spine, crimson eyes glaring at him. "Do you really think that was my best? That miserable demonstration with all those chains restraining me?"
Yoichi's eyes widened, and the hand released him. He fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for air, but was hardly fazed by the harsh treatment. "So that's not your full power?"
"Hardly." Gekkouin huffed.
"And how can we achieve that?" he wondered, looking up at the demon.
Gekkouin looked away, the glare losing its intensity. "To be fair, you already started weakening the curse accidentally."
"Really?" Yoichi blinked, taken aback by the knowledge that he did such a thing.
"Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't be able to communicate while you're conscious"—Gekkouin's eyes once more met his, sharply—"but even so, the chains are still too tight to let me materialize outside your mind."
"Materialize…" Is that a special technique? Then he added, "How do we weaken the curse?"
"First…" He paused, staring down at Yoichi with a glint in his eyes and a dangerous smile. "You give me your blood."
Yoichi's back crashed against a wall that didn't exist a second before; his wrists were held tightly against it, gripped strong enough to bruise. He looked up at Gekkouin's piercing gaze and gulped, heartbeat accelerating.
He leaned down, stopping inches from Yoichi's neck; chains held him back.
"I hope"—Yoichi's voice cracked. He swallowed thickly—"that the next step isn't you trying to possess me."
Gekkouin smirked; Yoichi frowned. "I mean it," he reprimanded, unwavering as he held the demon's gaze. He knew Gekkouin was looking for any sign of fear or weakness, and Yoichi wouldn't let him find it.
He watched as Gekkouin's eyes hardened for just a moment before completely letting go of him. "Fine." He didn't move, though; his head was only slightly above his, breath brushing at his skin. "I'll lend you my power, and allow you to keep your control…"
Gekkouin grabbed his chin, touch blistering. Yoichi was frozen still. "But I expect to collect all your treacherous feelings and feed off your revenge. You'll give me that, falling deeper and deeper...won't you?"
Yoichi nodded.
"So, seeing as we are...currently unable to be sent on any missions, this is a good opportunity to teach you more advanced techniques with your cursed gear."
Yoichi took the news with a hint of surprise, seeing as he'd already discussed that with Gekkouin. "Good to know you weren't tricking me after all," he murmured under his breath, receiving a chuckle from the demon and a questioning look from Shiho.
"Did you say something?" he asked, brows furrowed.
"Nope!" Yoichi answered easily enough, flashing him a smile.
...And that's why Yoichi was currently perched on top of a telephone pole outside the border, using the demon's keen eyesight to scan their surroundings.
"See anything?" Shinoa asked, several meters below him.
"Just a second!" He focused on the destroyed landscape, on each crevice and ruined building.
It didn't take long until he noticed a total of three massive creatures, flocking around in roughly the same area. "We will face three Horsemen if we continue," Yoichi warned, not diverting his attention from them.
He could faintly hear the girls talking, wondering if it was better to engage and risk drawing attention or not. He waited patiently for their decision—that was, until one of the creatures turned to him. "Oh, crap." The talk ceased. "One of them noticed us." One, two heads followed. "Oh? All of them noticed. They're coming towards us."
Yoichi kept watch, waiting for their verdict.
But you can deal with all of them.
Yoichi stilled. "Can I?"
Of course. Call to me, and I'll show you what I'm capable of.
Yoichi would be lying if he said the prospect didn't thrill him.
"If you let me," he called without a second thought, "I can kill all three of them."
He looked down at the trio; the girls glanced at each other before Shinoa nodded at him.
Shiho stared at him, eyes wide. "Can you really do that?"
"Yeah—probably." Yoichi flicked his attention back to the horsemen, taking a deep breath as he readied his arrow. When he spoke again, his tone was lower: "Attack the enemy, Gekkouin."
He felt a sudden surge of power, green fire crackling around him and spreading like wings. He breathed out and let go.
Six arrows flew like comets, showering down on the creatures and ending them instantly. His bangs fluttered with the breeze. "I did it," he said with a gasp, joy bubbling in his chest.
"Good job, Yoichi!" Mitsuba called, dragging his attention back to the moment. "Let's go."
"Coming!" The bow disappeared in a flurry of flames, and he jumped. The sensation of the wind brushing his face was exhilarating, remaining for the few seconds it took to land firmly on the ground. A several-meter fall as if it were nothing: demonic power was something he still wasn't entirely used to.
"Impressive. You learned to manifest your demon without us even teaching you," Shinoa commented as soon as he joined them. Yoichi couldn't help fidgeting.
"How did you do that?" Shiho inquired, brows furrowed; Yoichi couldn't quite pinpoint what he was feeling, though.
"Ah...it's really not that impressive, I just…" Snippets of the previous night's conversation flashed in his mind: piercing stares, snapping chains, and grazing fangs . Yoichi gulped. "I just talk a lot with my demon when I sleep." He averted his eyes, hoping that the burning of his cheeks wasn't as obvious as he felt it was.
Shiho didn't press the matter. They continued to walk in silence.
It was only a couple minutes later that Shinoa spoke up again, stopping. "Should we begin the training here?"
"Yeah, I think we're far enough," Mitsuba mused. "Their cursed gear is stupidly powerful. It will be troublesome if something goes wrong and the demon loses control."
Yoichi's eyes widened a fraction before flickering to Shiho. He looked stiff, gaze trained on the girls. "Lose control…?"
"Are you alright?" Yoichi asked, snapping Shiho's attention to him.
"I—yes, don't worry." But even so, he still looked agitated.
Without thinking, Yoichi reached out and grabbed Shiho's hand. His eyes widened; Yoichi flashed a smile. "It will be fine. I believe in you." Slowly, Shiho nodded.
"Alright...let's begin your lesson." Yoichi's gaze lingered on Shiho's for a second longer before both of them looked at Shinoa. "Usually, it would take a few months before you get used to the cursed weapons, but since you two seem to have a special affinity, Lieutenant Colonel Guren concluded you'll be fine...not to mention that Yoichi is an autodidact."
"Ha, it's really not quite like that…" Yoichi couldn't help saying, twirling his finger in a few strands of hair. He could feel Shiho's eyes on him, but Shinoa proceeded without distraction.
"Since your talent relies more on brute force, I'll bet that your demon is the possession type...which is more savage and won't listen to what you have to say. Those demons have the tendency to engage the user in a battle to test their power, and they will try to possess you."
"How encouraging," Shiho commented sarcastically.
"Aha, possession type weapons might be stronger, but they sure can be inconvenient." Shinoa teased him, but her tone quickly became serious again. "There's a high risk in controlling the demonic curse, so that's why we came so far from the city."
Silence stretched as the words sank in, but after glancing at Shiho, Yoichi noted that he didn't look as uneasy as before. A clap brought his eyes back to Shinoa.
"So. Let's begin!"
Yoichi exchanged a glance with Shiho, giving him an encouraging smile. He nodded, eyes narrowing with determination.
"First, draw your blade and call to your demon."
"Kiseki-o, lend me your power," Shiho murmured, doing as instructed.
"Yoichi," Mitsuba called, "it would be better if you stand here with us."
"Oh?" Yoichi arched an eyebrow, but moved without another word.
"Now, cut yourself and tell your demon to drink your blood," Shinoa said, proceeding when Yoichi stood beside them.
Shiho looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind and simply nodded. Then he pulled his sleeve and cut his arm, blood dripping on the blade. "Kiseki-o, drink my blood."
He stilled immediately. One, two, three seconds passed and then he hunched forward, breathing heavily and groaning. He snapped his head up, eyes black, and screamed.
"It started!" Mitsuba warned them. "He's going to go crazy—get ready to fight."
"Eh?" Yoichi started, eyes widening as he caught sight of Mitsuba and Shinoa's weapons materializing; it was all going too fast.
He extended his hand, feeling the familiar weight of his bow—even though he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He lingered in the back as Shinoa and Mitsuba lunged toward Shiho, who took a step forward—and collapsed.
Yoichi breathed in, watching, but Shiho didn't move at all. "Is that it? Will he go crazy again?"
"Who knows?" Shinoa said as her scythe disappeared. "Consider ourselves lucky that it didn't happen now, but it can happen again at any moment. It will take about twenty hours for him to connect with his demon."
"Twenty?" Yoichi repeated, eyes widening. To think this was such a complicated thing…
"Yes. And as his companions, we will protect him," Mitsuba remarked.
"It seems we'll have to keep watch for the whole night," Shinoa pointed out, her smile widening. "Why don't we go prepare our campfire?"
"Would you like to...give up?"
The words echoed in the endless white, condescending. Shiho groaned, gripping his daggers until his knuckles turned white, his palms burning. He stood up with shaky knees, each step sending a bolt of pain up his spine. He ran.
He jumped toward the demon's back—he turned around slowly, a smug look on his face, and jumped away from his blade. Shiho moved forward, limbs screaming, and attacked again. Their blades collided and he trembled. "Just die already, you filthy demon," he spat.
"Getting desperate, aren't we?" Kiseki-o's smile stretched wider, fangs showing, and he laughed. "Do you really want to defeat me?"
"Obey me!" He pushed forward, but the demon didn't budge, smile dropping and voice turning flat.
"I don't bend to the weak."
"I'm strong—"
"Really?" His dagger was thrown out of his hand.
Pain erupted from his stomach, his eyes widening—
The dagger clattered to the floor and he coughed blood.
"Your body is mine."
He swayed; his ears rang and his vision darkened.
"This is the end, human. Revive your past and look into your darkness..."
"...and allow yourself...to give up."
A breeze blew inside and the curtains fluttered; everything else was quiet and still.
The bed creaked. "Shiho…"
"Mirai"—his attention flickered to the girl in the bed, pale with half-lidded eyes—"you're awake. I'll get something for us to eat," he said, already turning away.
"Wait. Shiho, I'm sorry—" Her voice cracked and he stopped, eyes widening as he turned around. Her eyes glistened. "Only adults were supposed to get sick, but I got sick too…"
He froze, unsure of how to respond.
"If...if I'm a burden to you, it's okay if you abandon me."
"Shut up," he blurted out, finding his words with fervent indignation. "Don't be stupid. You're not a burden to me!"
But she only shook her head, tears trailing down her face. "No, I know I am. I hear you crying at night, because it's so hard...because you wish you could abandon me."
"What...how did you—"
Awareness flooded through him and the walls repressing his consciousness crumbled. "I'm an idiot," he cursed, closing his hands into fists. "This is another illusion."
A gentle voice carried harsh laughter. "No, Shiho. These are your memories. I'm only showing you the darkness you keep buried deep inside you."
"As if," he spat bitterly. The demon didn't look the least bit bothered.
"But it is. You wanted to leave your sister."
"Shut up! That isn't true!"
A flurry of bangs on the door made him flinch. His head whipped around toward it, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths from his outburst. Static resonated in the edges of his mind, and he felt compelled to answer it.
Almost in a trance, he made his way to the door, turning the handle and swinging it open. His breath caught in his throat.
"Shiho," Yoichi spoke, eyes serene and a smile on his lips. "You already have so much to worry about, and still"—he took a step inside and Shiho stumbled back, but Yoichi was upon him in a second—"you welcomed him into your heart."
He tapped his chest lightly, and Shiho fell to the ground.
"You worry about them; you worry too much." His gaze snapped to the left, where Mirai stood impossibly close. "And look at yourself—you can barely keep it together.
He saw the monster possessing your teammate, something not even your imagination can compete with," Yoichi said. He felt dizzy. "But even so, he is getting more powerful."
He took a sharp intake of air, anger growing and burning away his shock. "What is this?" he snapped. "Are you really provoking me with—"
"Don't act so high and mighty." His head smashed against the floor, the demon's hand planted firmly on his chest; he gasped. "Admit it, you're jealous!"
Shiho struggled to focus on the demon, to see his sick smile twisting Yoichi's features. "He looked so weak; you were doing him a favor by not helping him. And even though you caved in, you had regrets, worries... and now he is surpassing you, and quickly."
"As if I'd care about something as petty as that while he's obviously struggling—" Shiho aimed a punch at the demon, but before it could connect with his jaw, he simply caught his fist.
His smile became condescending. "So honorable...if you care about him that much, then why didn't you tell him about what you found, huh? About what Guren was researching?"
The demon twisted his wrist—there was a snap and Shiho screamed in pain.
The illustration of an angel came to mind, followed by the sheathed katana, held closed in Yoichi's hands—
He wheezed, otherwise frozen as Kiseki-o leaned closer and whispered sweetly, still veiling his poisoning words in Yoichi's voice: "If you really care about him, don't you think he deserves to know? Even if it's only a hunch?"
"Shut up." Shiho seethed. "It's not like that, this isn't such a big deal—"
"Maybe it really isn't." The demon laughed, pulling away, but still held him down. "Maybe you don't care enough to bother saying it; after all, Guren is helping you, isn't he?"
"That's—"
"Why rely on others? Why give them a piece of yourself and keep breaking, crumbling?"
"You don't need them." Mirai kneeled beside him, face amiable, neutral, empty— "Kill all these distractions, these burdens."
"Free yourself of the things—the people—holding you back!"
Shiho breathed in shakily. "...Are you really that dense?"
Both faces go blank.
Shiho laughed mirthlessly. "I don't care about being the strongest. All I want is to be strong enough to protect the ones important to me."
He grabbed the demon's hand and yanked. He ignored his aching body and the stabs of pain in his wrist, quickly switching their positions and staring down at Kiseki-o's wide eyes. "It would all be meaningless without them, and this...you're not taking away from me."
Shiho opened his eyes to find three concerned gazes staring down at him.
"How long have I been out?" he wondered with a groan—his whole body ached.
All three moved back, albeit slowly, to give him space to sit up. "...Over thirty hours," Shinoa informed him at last. He stiffened, eyes widening. That bad, huh?
A hand on his shoulder drew his attention. "Are you alright? You struggled a lot…" Yoichi asked, lips pursed. His brows were furrowed and eyes were so genuine….so worried.
Shiho sighed, his mouth curving into the smallest hint of a smile. "I'm fine."
"You sure gave us a scare." Shinoa perked up, drawing both his and Yoichi's attention—who pulled his hand away but still remained close to him. "For a moment, we thought we'd have to kill you!"
Shiho only squinted while Mitsuba punched her in the shoulder. He ignored the overly fake whaling, flashes of his confrontation with the demon intruding into his thoughts: all the times he was cut, stabbed, sliced...not to mention the illusions.
If you really care about him, don't you think he deserves to know?
"Don't say it like that!" Mitsuba yelled at Shinoa—who continued her exaggerated act by rubbing her shoulder with a pout—and huffed. "She does have a point, though. And you're looking a bit pale now."
"Huh?" Shiho snapped his attention back to them, feeling Yoichi's gaze upon him. "I'm fine, really. I just remembered something."
"Is this something the demon said?" Shinoa guessed with incredible precision, her serious tone a staggering difference from her previous display.
"Well…"
"You shouldn't think about that, not a word it says," Mitsuba cut in, promptly reprimanding him. Shiho just waved dismissively.
"I know that, don't worry..." But instead of ending it there, he trailed off, the words still echoing in his mind. He looked around, curious gazes meeting his, and sighed. "I think we need to talk. About Shinjuku...and also about Lieutenant Colonel Guren."
Shinoa's eyes widened and Mitsuba eyed her questioningly, brows furrowed. He looked away from them, noticing Yoichi's pursed lips and lost gaze for the second it took him to notice Shiho's staring and meet his eyes with a silent question.
"Well…" Shinoa called out, holding her palms against each other, "I suppose we could spare some more time here."
They rearranged themselves in a better circle, and Shiho wasn't sure if having a clearer view of Yoichi's face was good or bad. For now, he was staring at him expectantly just like the others, but Shiho had no idea how he would take the news. Well, only one way to find out.
"The other day, I had a dream—"
"Are we analyzing dreams now?" Mitsuba cut in. Shiho couldn't decide if it was a joke or a complaint.
"Shut up," he retorted, annoyed, but still taken aback by the interruption.
Shinoa snickered while Yoichi held his hands in an appeasing gesture.
"Anyway," he said, proceeding with a glare, "I had a dream about Shinjuku. It was…" He stopped, trying to think about what exactly he should say. All the nonsense was irrelevant, so he supposed he should get straight to the point. "...at the end, there was…"
He groaned internally, not feeling like explaining the entirely random insertion of Yoichi. "...something about Ayumu's sword and the demon being bound to him," he said finally, earning a single raised eyebrow from Yoichi and perturbed looks from the girls, but no comments. So he proceeded. "And there was this sort of angel...he said, 'And the sixth shall bring his equal; the fallen will return, four of them, to fulfil their duty.'" He quoted with ease, a closer translation of the words from the book now engraved in his mind.
Somehow, the silence between them became more prominent. Yoichi seemed more curious than bothered, probably because he'd already heard this and wondered why it was being brought up—except Shiho hadn't remembered the exact quote then.
Mitsuba and Shinoa, on the other hand, stiffened, once more exchanging apprehensive looks. "At first, I wasn't sure of what it meant, even though it definitely sounded familiar...and I was right."
Now that stirred a reaction from Yoichi, his eyes widening with curiosity—he was definitely thinking about that, then. Shiho looked at the girls. "At my last sigil class with Guren, he asked my opinion on a 'hypothesis'...you see, now that I think about it, he did mention that a month or so ago, but somehow I forgot." He groaned; he should have paid more attention to it before. "Point is, I looked at those sigils, and from what I could grasp, it looked like a binding spell—he told me as much. The book he had didn't mention this exactly, as far as I remember, but it looked like a sort of binding between a human—a vessel—and a demon." The reaction was immediate.
"That's—"
"Are you sure about that?"
While his attention was trained on the girls, he could see Yoichi's still figure from the corner of his eyes. Shiho swallowed dry, nodding. "He asked if I saw any mistakes, any combination that wasn't matching...but from what I saw, in theory, it was flawless. But that's not all. Mitsuba was fidgeting in place while Shinoa watched him with an unreadable expression. Yoichi finally met his eyes. "That book that I mentioned—he showed a page that had an illustration of a six-winged angel. Underneath it, there was almost the exact same quote from my dream—that's how it clicked."
"So you had a prophetic dream about Guren binding Ayumu with a demon?" Mitsuba inquired with rightful skepticism.
"What," Shiho said flatly, only then realizing his small adjustments to the dream made it look simultaneously more accurate and unbelievable—even though it was indeed what he was getting at. "Well—"
"These are actually some pretty solid arguments." Shinoa cut in before Shiho could respond, surprising them both. Her gaze—previously lost in no specific point—flickered between them. "You see, I had my suspicions as well already. I couldn't stop thinking about what Yoichi said about the pills. It was too much of a weird coincidence to just be that." Shiho nodded along with the others, their previous conversation still vivid in his mind. "But there's more. I talked to Shinya the other day, and apparently some research from the lower levels was stolen."
"What?" Shiho blurted out. "Didn't we stop all the vampires?"
Shinoa nodded. "That's what I thought too. No one reported a vampire reaching the surface level—the only one even close was the one we encountered when we arrived who was fighting Guren himself"—Shiho's breath hitched; he hadn't thought about that. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Yoichi's attentive gaze on her—"and when we talked about this, Guren—he was also present—looked quite shifty...more than usual, that is."
Her attempt at a joke fell flat, with silence stretching between them as the words sank in.
"But…" Yoichi started. "...why would he do that?"
They shared glances, but no one spoke up. Shinoa sighed. "That's something we'd have to find out...that is, if we decide to do it."
"I don't think we can just ignore it." Surprisingly, the first to answer was Yoichi. His brows were furrowed with concern, but his fists were tight and his gaze was sharp. "If it really was Guren, then we can't just ignore it. Someone else might get hurt too…"
The air between them became thick, but Shinoa cut through it seamlessly. "I agree. Since we're stuck in Shibuya indefinitely, I might as well go looking for him to see what I can find."
"What do you mean by looking for him?" Shiho asked, brows furrowed.
"He didn't even bother talking to us in person," Mitsuba answered. "He just passed Shinoa a letter saying that we should start your training."
"And disappeared?" Yoichi asked, baffled.
"Well, that wouldn't be the first time he disappeared," Shiho pointed out, thinking about the class he simply stopped teaching.
Shinoa nodded. "Another thing to add to the list of 'why Guren is hella suspicious,' which is starting to get long. Is that all?"
"Ah…" Shiho looked at Yoichi, but his stare was off to the side, his hands fidgeting with his sleeves. "Well, this has nothing to do with the subject, though...I was just wondering…"
He took a deep breath, looking at the girls. "...Shinoa, Mitsuba, since you two seem to know a lot—or at least a lot more than us...well, I was just wondering if you two knew anything about vampires that don't have red eyes…?"
"Not really, why?" Shinoa answered with furrowed brows. Mitsuba just shook her head.
Yoichi laughed awkwardly. "Nothing in particular."
"Really?" Krul's voice cut through the room, and even though her disapproval had an effect on Mika, he wouldn't show his unease. "This is the third time I was summoned because you were causing trouble for the guards—"
"If you didn't keep me trapped in here—"
"Don't interrupt me." Mika couldn't stop himself from flinching this time.
His gaze dropped even lower, trained on the red carpet. He remained frozen while he listened to the soft brushing of fabric as the queen stood up, walking with silent steps. "I said it when you stormed in here the first time, and I repeated it again and again." Her hand gripped his face and tilted his chin so he would look up at her from where he was kneeling. "I can't just let you leave as you please, and you can't throw a tantrum and run after him on a whim."
If possible, her stare became even colder. "How do you intend on invading their base, alone, to search for Yuuichirou while hoping he is still alive?"
Despite the fear demanding his submission, he couldn't contain the fire growing inside him. "Yuu-chan wouldn't be gone if it weren't for whatever you want with the seraphs!"
The words burst from his mouth, revealing just a taste of the inferno in his mind.
He braced himself for the backlash that was certain to come, but when Krul snarled "What?" her anger was dimmed with a hint of something else, just enough to keep him going.
"If it weren't for that stupid mission—"
"What mission?" This time he couldn't shake off the confusion in her tone and how her brows shifted with concern, and it was enough to make him apprehensive.
Mika went quiet, but a different kind of dread slowly crept up on him. Pitying looks and apologetic smiles flashed through his mind; they were nothing but gaslighting. To think that all his overthinking and distrust was justified after all—
"Mikaela, what mission?"
Mika flinched, the words were heavy on his tongue.
"To infiltrate Shibuya," he uttered at last. Krul froze, but his fists were shaking. "...Ferid called Yuu-chan."
Shinoa held back a sigh of relief when the guards finally opened the gate, allowing her to pass. This was one of the times she couldn't deny the perks of being a Hiiragi.
She entered the corridor, taking note of the cells along the walls, not unlike the layout of the main research and experimentation facilities. She supposed this building would have been used for the same goal, but for some reason was officially marked as unoccupied. This was one of the reasons why it had been so hard to find it in the first place: there was no information about it in the system, so it took her personally searching through the base until she finally encountered a lead after five days.
As she passed, she noticed a couple of vampires in the cells. The guards did say the facility was being used for vampire experimentation, though she wondered how it would connect with what they suspected Guren of doing—or what else he would be working on.
The shadowed corridor opened to a brightly lit area. It was equipped with several machines and cabinets, with a few scientists scattered around with clipboards and vials. Off to the side, there was a small office—probably a good place to start.
The room was cramped: it had one small table with a computer and several papers spread over it, multiple cabinets and shelves along the walls, and one clipboard completely filled with papers and diagrams. And it was empty.
She looked around—no one seemed to have noticed her yet. Her intentions were to question Guren, but if she were being honest, she doubted he would actually tell her anything. Biting her lip, she rushed inside, carefully avoiding the glass window taking up most of one wall. She glanced at the board, but there was a lot to unpack there without context—including, weirdly enough, a post-it with a mediocre drawing of a bunny in red marker—and moved to the table. The computer was turned off, and she wasn't about to risk turning it on, so she moved her attention to the papers.
There was a slightly uneven pile of files, all thin. She took the first one, flipping through it: the first page, named "vampire #74," contained what seemed to be general physical information; the second page seemed to be a control of experiments, though it made little sense to her; the third and last page had a few notes on reactions and behaviors.
She flipped through a couple more files to make sure there wasn't anything different before putting them back in the pile. Beside it, there was a pile of loose sheets. Taking a look at them, she noticed a clear difference: the information there was more detailed, and by the looks of it, fairly recent too. She scanned through the pages, noting how some seemed to report dead ends while others mentioned new hypotheses—then she finally saw another file under the sheets.
This one was visibly thicker than the others, and judging by how the sheets were left, they might well belong inside it. The first page was titled "S#06" and contained similar information to the other files, but one part stood out to her: the subject had green eyes.
Her mind immediately went to the mission in the lower levels: to that vampire. It was as if she found the missing pieces, but they were like the grass pieces in a puzzle: nearly impossible to connect.
She continued looking through the many pages, hoping to at least find information on the eyes, but no dice. She did notice, though, another difference from the other files: in many occasions she caught glimpses of the word 'activation' or 'triggering' being tossed around, while she hadn't noticed that in the other ones. Maybe these experiments had different purposes?
Said purpose was still a mystery. Shinoa was nearing the end of the file when a different page caught her attention: It was a scan of a book. It was text heavy and written in English, but while she knew the language, the formal and old-fashioned writing made it difficult to read. She only skimmed through it, hardly finding anything interesting, when her eyes caught "the sixth trumpet" and halted. She went back to the beginning of the paragraph, but it still wasn't enough context. Shinoa was in the process of rereading the whole page when a voice made her practically jump in place.
"Lieutenant Colonel!" She looked up, eyes wide, and watched through the window as a scientist approached the entrance where Guren now stood. Crap.
Shinoa put back the files and sheets the way she had found them as quickly and silently as possible. In her hurry, a sheet slipped from the table, and she cursed under her breath as she caught it in midair. She was about to put it back under the pile when she caught a glimpse of its contents, completely different from the rest: it was named S#04 and talked about bindings and chains and sacrifices .
She was halfway through reading a second paragraph in the middle of the page when she remembered her predicament and shoved the sheet back into the pile right before glimpsing out the window once more. Guren was still talking to the scientist, eyes trained on the clipboard—what should she do? There was a chance he would just scold her for entering without permission, but something told her being discovered would only make things more difficult.
There was no way she could leave the office without being spotted, and hiding behind the door didn't work even in movies. Her gaze fell on the cabinets, forgotten until then, and she moved to a large, metallic green one. It was agape, and she pulled it open without a hitch. There was one shelf on the top with a few books while some weird machine was pulled to the side, leaving the other bottom half empty.
With her heart beating fast, and trying not to think about how freaking stupid of an idea it was, she entered the cabinet, knees pulled up, and closed the door.
For a few very tense seconds, it was completely silent. She kept her ears attuned to any noise as she controlled her slightly labored breathing—and then footsteps approached. There was a deep sigh and some rustling of paper. "Did you see? They're getting close."
Shinoa stilled. She looked through the crack in the door, seeing only part of Guren's back. She heard only one pair of footsteps walking inside the room, and no one seemed to be standing there; could he possibly have noticed her?
"I bet they could do more. Once the gene is active, it shouldn't be hard to tri—" He continued, voice still low, but passionate, only to cut off abruptly. Something was off...but at the very least, he couldn't possibly be talking to her.
"We can bind him, it shouldn't be hard"—there was another pause, this time shorter, and when he spoke again his voice was strained, as if he was barely controlling his volume—"it failed. I revised that thing hundreds of times; it should have worked, or at the very least been less disastrous."
Shinoa stilled. It was clear to her that the first part referred to that single sheet—probably, most likely—while the last one was surely about Ayumu. How are they connected?
Another sigh, a screeching of a chair being pulled— "What am I supposed to do? Create a new body?" He slumped over the chair, remaining silent for longer before adding quietly, "Might as well be impossible to use common magic for breaking a ta—"
"Guren-sama!"
Shinoa flinched and her heart stopped for a second as her hand brushed the door, thankfully not moving it.
"Sayuri." Guren twirled around in his chair shortly before being obscured by Sayuri as she stepped in Shinoa's line of sight. "How did it go?"
"Well...he handed me this." Shinoa caught a glimpse of an envelope as Sayuri passed it to Guren, who immediately opened it. "Also...you know that I wouldn't ever question you—"
"Spit it out." Guren cut her off, voice neutral—if only a bit tired—as he looked up from the letter. "Is this about the informant?"
Shinoa raised an eyebrow, not having nearly enough information to start pondering about that.
"Well…" Sayuri fidgeted. "While this would be a matter of concern—possibly, ah—no." She paused, and Shinoa couldn't get a good view of Guren's face. "I was thinking about the boy. Were you…?"
There was a soft thud as Guren dropped the letter on the table. "Yes, but it doesn't matter now"—Sayuri took a step back as he stood up—"it didn't lead anywhere."
"And how does it relate to the vampire?" Shinoa's eyes widened; this could be the answer she was looking for—well, one of them at least.
"That depends…" he murmured, but shook his head right after. "It's not related."
Disappointing.
"...If you say so."
"Did you tell them the date?"
"Of course!" Sayuri promptly replied, straightening up her posture for just a moment. "Why? Did something happen?"
"No, everything is going as planned. The subject is currently being prepared for another wave of testing...which should happen in about half an hour," Guren said as he walked out of Shinoa's line of sight.
"Are you going to watch?" Sayuri followed, their voices growing fainter.
"Can't now. I have..." They got far enough that Shinoa couldn't distinguish the words.
She remained still for long after the voices completely disappeared. Whole minutes passed before she finally opened the door and crawled out of the cabinet.
Welp, that just happened .
Shinoa passed her hands over her skirt distractedly to dust it off, lips pressed together and head deep in thought. No one noticed her yet; she could just leave now, or...maybe press her luck. She peeked through the window; scientists still walked sparsely through the room. Well, she already did a lot of stupid decision-making in the span of a few minutes; why stop here, right?
He'd been apprehensive to return to the next sigil class, considering how the last one went. He spent all the way to the office wondering if that subject would once more be brought up or if they would continue with their regular schedule. His hand hovered over the door before knocking, having the irrational fear that somehow Guren found out Shiho was suspicious of him. He simply shook away the thought, reasoning that they would likely just go back to studying more sigil combinations.
"I'll stop teaching you."
He definitely did not see that coming.
"Sir, did something happen?" Shiho asked, eyes widening.
"Nothing that you should worry about," Guren replied dismissively.
"I understand—" —that it was none of his business.
"Good. You're dismissed then."
Shiho nodded. He got as far as two steps toward the door before stopping and turning around, a thought crossing his mind. "Actually...I wanted to ask you something."
"And what would that be?" Guren asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Shiho thought about Yoichi's question from almost a week ago—just as he'd been doing for the past few days. Shinoa and Mitsuba hadn't known the answer, but maybe Guren did. "I've been wondering...do you know anything about vampires that don't have red eyes?"
The moment Shiho finished the question, Guren stiffened, his eyes narrowing. "Why do you ask?" Although Shiho wasn't sure what exactly prompted this reaction, he couldn't help but worry that this wasn't a good idea after all.
"It's just—in the mission a week ago, you were fighting this vampire...I've been thinking about it since. And I didn't find any information, so…"
Guren's gaze softened slightly, but he still looked guarded. "I see. Well, they're extremely rare, so we don't have much information on them. There are some theories, but the general consensus is that they are incomplete vampires."
"Incomplete?" Shiho asked, amazed at actually being given an explanation.
Guren nodded. "Yes. Some researchers believe their eyes only turn red when they taste human blood."
"What?" Shiho found himself asking. That would be a logical theory, but if it were true, then— "But how could they survive for—I mean, don't they need blood to live?" Shiho lamely tried to cover his near slip, but he supposed that witnessing even a freshly turned vampire would have been suspicious.
"Yes, hence why they're so rare. The time they exist in that state is usually so short...but then again, nothing here is a fact."
Shiho was about to answer when a knock interrupted him. Guren looked past him and he followed his gaze to the door. "Yes?"
They waited for a moment too long before the door finally cracked open. "Shinoa?"
The girl stood by the door, still holding the handle, her expression hard to read as she darted her eyes between them. "Sorry to interrupt—"
"Shinoa, you must really need to talk to me today," Guren cut in. Shiho glanced at him, brows furrowed. He was staring straight ahead.
Shinoa went pale. It took a few seconds before she spoke, lips forcing a smile and eyes darting to the side. "Actually, I needed to talk to Kimizuki-san. But it can wait if you're busy—"
"Don't worry, he was already taking his leave, right?" Shiho whipped his head around, meeting Guren's gaze for the briefest moment before nodding.
"Right. And thank you, sir," Shiho awkwardly said before following Shinoa out the door.
The door clicked shut behind them, but instead of explaining what she wanted, Shinoa just grabbed his wrist and started walking without a word.
"How did you know I was there?" Shiho wondered, at last catching up with her pace.
"I didn't," Shinoa answered without even glancing as she let go of him. "It was just a convenient cover up."
"Cover up?" So she did want to talk to Guren...? "What were you planning to say?"
This time she didn't answer right away. "Truthfully, I was hoping Guren would have business elsewhere." Oh.
"You were going to invade his office," he flat-out said, finally earning Shinoa's attention.
"Shh, quiet…" She stopped in her tracks, looking around, but they were alone in the hallway. "But yes. I wanted to see for myself that book you mentioned."
The illustration of the angel immediately came to mind, but was soon replaced by another thought: "Did you find anything?"
From what he knew, Shinoa didn't have much luck in her research, so he wondered why she had a sudden interest in that book.
She nodded, brows furrowing. "Yes, some. Go call Yoichi while I fetch Mii-chan—she's training." She turned around, resuming her walk, and Shiho followed. "Then, meet us at her house."
"Will do."
Not for the first time, the four of them were all holed up in Mii-chan's house. This time, though, Shinoa, along with Mitsu, took their seats by the small round table while the boys were leaning side by side against the wall. Both Yoichi and Mitsu were still dressed in sticky training clothes—it seemed Yoichi had been practicing his aim—and while this wasn't a matter of urgency per se, they seemed to be anxious enough for the news that neither complained about it.
Without any preambles, Shinoa started: "It seems Guren has been deleting a few files from the system. While it did make things more of a pain at first, it was those seemingly incomplete files that gave me enough of a clue to start searching." She also looked up a few other things out of curiosity, and she couldn't say she was surprised to find Yoichi and Kimizuki's files empty.
"And did you find anything?" Mitsu inquired, leaning her arms on the table.
"Yes—I found Guren's evil secret hideout!" They might have ignored her joke, but her words did stir a reaction.
"So?" Kimizuki prompted, shuffling closer.
"The facility is officially unoccupied—that's clearly not the case. The guards told me it was being used for vampire experimentation, and that seems to be true, to some extent." Kimizuki remained standing, but Yoichi took a seat across from them. "Guren wasn't there when I entered, but I found his office and looked through his files. There were indeed experiments being conducted on vampires, but there was one main file—I'm not entirely sure what to make of it just yet.
"This test subject is a vampire, but his file seemed different from the rest. Not only that, it's that one vampire Guren was fighting during the invasion—the one with the green eyes, I mean." Yoichi's eyes widened at that, while Kimizuki seemed to stiffen, but neither made a move to speak. "How Guren captured him and how there were no reports, I don't know." I wonder how many people are in on this...how did he cover this up?
"That again?" Mitsu commented when Shinoa didn't continue. "What would Guren want with him, even?"
"I was wondering that too," Kimizuki added as he took a step closer, hands grabbing on the back of a chair as he leaned forward.
Shinoa opened her mouth to answer when Yoichi spoke for the first time. "Wait, how do you know it's that vampire?"
Shinoa blinked, three pairs of eyes waiting expectantly. "Well, the reports had a physical description—and while I don't doubt it could be another one, I talked to him—"
"Guren?" Mitsu inquired, so suddenly that it took Shinoa a second to comprehend.
"No, of course not." She furrowed her eyebrows, almost disappointed at the accusation.
"You talked to the vampire?" Yoichi asked, voice calm but with a hint of surprise.
"Yes—"
"What did you talk about?" Kimizuki cut her off and she noticed Mitsuba open her mouth from the corner of her eye.
"Everyone, calm down. I'll answer all your questions!" She raised her hands, finally getting them to quiet down. "Okay?"
They seemed more curious than before, but waited as she recollected her thoughts. "The vampire said they infiltrated the base to collect some files, and Guren took them and captured him."
Her short statement was met with shocked expressions.
"So he really took the data, huh…" Mitsu mumbled—Shinoa did talk to her about her conversation with Shinya in more detail, and this had been a possibility in their heads.
Kimizuki shuffled in place; Yoichi murmured under his breath.
"I have a hunch. Guren is working with a vampire." Shinoa flinched at the high-pitched sound of a chair scraping against the floor—which Kimizuki accidentally pushed.
"Are you sure?" came his question a second later. "I mean…" He trailed off, but she understood it nonetheless.
"Hear me out. The vampire said he was tricked—by one of his superiors or something, by the looks of it." She paused, making sure they were following. "And I caught Guren talking to Sayuri. Apparently, she met an informant for Guren, and she said it would usually be 'a matter of concern'—the informant, that is."
"Fuck" was all Kimizuki said as he leaned back, folding his arms.
"So Sayuri is also in on it? Is his whole squad in cahoots?" Mitsu wondered, sounding both tired and exasperated.
"I don't think so. I also don't think Sayuri knows much either." She thought back to the conversation; Sayuri questioned most things, but one in particular seemed most pertinent to mention. "She asked about 'the boy.'"
And just like that, everyone seemed to freeze.
The first to talk, albeit slowly, was Kimizuki. "You think that's Ayumu?"
He was glancing down at Yoichi before even finishing the sentence—Shinoa glanced over too: his face was neutral, but his gaze was lost in the distance.
Shinoa nodded. "I'm pretty sure, yeah." She paused, another detail of the exchange coming to mind. "He said it didn't lead to anything."
"Bastard," Kimizuki cursed under his breath.
It was then that Mitsu brought them back to the subject. "What does he want with the files?"
"I didn't see them—not everything, at least—but I think I found one page about it." Kimizuki stopped pacing and Yoichi leaned forward; she had their attention back. "The vampire refused to tell what the research was about, but it seems the experiment Kureto was working on is the same, or at least similar, to the one Guren is conducting—the vampire confirmed that."
Well, not in words, but his reactions were telling enough; she had filled in the blanks and read his expression like an open book. "Although, that one page I mentioned talked about some sort of binding; something that required sacrifices, apparently"—Mitsu furrowed her eyebrows and Yoichi seemed horrified for a second—and she was getting off track—"but the vampire didn't seem to know anything about it. I also caught Guren having a…" He must have been talking to his demon; that was the only logical explanation. "...conversation. Thinking back, I'm positive this binding wasn't part of his main experiment, but he was considering it. He also mentioned a failed experiment."
"Is this binding the same thing Guren showed me?"
Shinoa shook her head, eyes meeting Kimizuki's. "No."
"Maybe the sigils…" He went on. "Maybe this was the failed experiment, what he tried with Ayumu."
His eyes once more trailed down, and when hers followed, Yoichi was looking back at her.
"I think Shiho might be right," he said, voice even.
"Seems like it," Mitsu agreed.
"What does it have to do with the book, though?" Kimizuki finally asked, reminding her what prompted this reunion in the first place.
"Well, I found a copy of a page of the book in the vampire's file." Or at least she thought it was the same book; her attempt to confirm it was a clear failure. "It talked about the sixth trumpet of the apocalypse."
"What is it doing there?" Mitsu asked.
That was where things became a lot more uncertain.
"I'm not sure," Shinoa answered honestly. "But the vampire's file was named "S#06." He said the number six meant nothing to him, but I think this is more than just a coincidence."
"Anything else?" Kimizuki asked, but his words felt like he wanted to say something else. She didn't know what he wanted, so she said all she knew.
"Well, I did ask the vampire what would happen if Guren succeeded with his experiment."
"And?" he said, pressing her. Everyone seemed to hold their breath.
She still hadn't figured out if the answer was worth this reaction. "He said 'you humans will suffer the consequences.' And that's it—not a threat, but a warning ," she added, remembering how the vampire had corrected her in her assumption.
"Well, shit," Kimizuki punctuated.
"So what now?" Mitsu wondered. "Does it mean we gotta stop Guren?"
"How do we even do that?"
"We have to free him," Yoichi declared, all eyes falling on him.
"Just because a vampire 'warned' us doesn't mean we should trust him," Mitsu pointed out; it didn't sit right with Shinoa.
She had seen how tired he'd looked, broken even. They'd talked as well, and there was something odd about him, something sincere . But despite those impressions, she remained quiet.
"Do we really have to trust him? First and foremost, we are not trusting Guren right now," Kimizuki reasoned.
He did have a point, but Shinoa wondered why he would make it—they were talking about helping a vampire, after all.
"True," Mitsu said, but it didn't feel like an agreement. "So why don't we just kill the vampire?"
Shinoa opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off before she could say a word.
"No—" Yoichi blurted out, louder than the others, but his expression suddenly became uncertain as he gained the others' attention. "I...we gotta help him, if we can…"
Shinoa pursed her lips; no one else spoke. "Yoichi...what is it?"
There was clearly something he wasn't saying.
"Well…" His eyes met hers, and she could practically see him fighting a dilemma inside his head. "It's...I know this vampire."
Mitsu glanced at her, probably feeling just as confused. Kimizuki had his brows furrowed, but didn't look particularly surprised as he stared down at Yoichi.
He no longer seemed indecisive, though. "His name is Yuu."
Her eyes widened and she tripped over her memories, trying to recall if at any moment she mentioned the name—because he had given her his name, Yuu, in exchange for hers.
Yoichi noticed her surprise, eyes seeming to shine.
"You know I'm right. He told you his name, didn't he?"
Shinoa nodded.
"I know him, and the other one we saw in Shinjuku, Mika." He continued speaking; she felt like she could barely keep up. "I heard them calling each other on the day the vampires came and my sister died." His voice nearly didn't tremble, because she didn't die: she was killed. They all knew that, but Yoichi wasn't talking about that; he was telling something else—and he was focused. "But they helped me; they were the ones who told me how to find Shibuya. So for that…" His voice quieted down, words trailing off and gaze falling to his palms. "I owe them my life."
His words were followed by silence.
Shinoa neither believed nor doubted; her mind was little more than static upon the confession, the weight of his words hard to process. But as his head slowly lifted and all eyes somehow moved to her, expectant, she realized it was finally her turn to give her opinion.
"...Can we trust them?" was all she said, and it was enough. She wanted to, but could they?
Yoichi fidgeted, hands moving to his lap under the table. It wasn't him who answered, though.
"...There's more." Kimizuki spoke up, eyes still on Yoichi, and at that moment she realized he probably knew this story already. "I asked Guren about their eyes."
His gaze met hers. "I didn't know what you'd found yet, obviously, but I might have looked suspicious to him—ah, hell."
Shinoa cringed at their combined bad timing, but didn't comment on it. "What did he say?"
"He said it's not certain, but the most popular theory is that they're incomplete: that vampires' eyes only turn red when they drink human blood."
"What?" It was Yoichi who spoke up, eyes wide as he looked back at Kimizuki. "But…"
"If what Yoichi said is true, then they would have had to survive years without drinking blood." Mitsu voiced what they were all thinking, brows knitting together. "I'm not sure if that's even possible. Are you sure it's the same vampires?"
"Well, they looked younger back then, but I know it's them." He did sound certain.
"The names match as well," Shinoa added, even though more questions popped inside her head.
"So what? Are we going to free him, then?" Mitsu finally relented. "How?"
Yoichi leaned back on the chair, relaxing the slightest bit.
Shinoa cleared her throat. "I don't know if we can sneak in again."
Kimizuki met her eyes, paused, and sighed. "Guren knows you were down there." She nodded, recalling how he greeted her in the office; that stupid grin and sarcastic comment couldn't have meant anything else. The guards most likely mentioned something.
She repressed a sigh, plastering a smile on her face instead. "We've got a lot of planning to do then." She practically sang the words.
Mii-chan groaned. "Seems so." It was a lovely sound.
"Look at the bright side"—she leaned closer; Mitsu glared at her—"we have plenty of free time!"
"Shut up, Shinoa."
"Haha."
Despite all the uncertainty hanging over them, the tension in the room seemed to dissolve a bit. Kimizuki took a seat beside Yoichi, Mitsu complained some more, and Shinoa kept smiling, although her mind wandered.
It went underground, to dark hallways and white rooms, passing through vials, clipboards, sterilized instruments, and cold chains.
Something tells me you're not supposed to be here.
What gave me away?
I saw you sneaking around.
Very perceptive.
Why are you here?
Sunken eyes that didn't seem to see her even as they followed her every movement; they went through a lot.
Well...I'm suspecting my superior is working on some shady business, and it seems to be correct.
Shady? Isn't that just what you humans do?
What do you mean?
Forget it.
What do they want with you?
If you don't know, then I sure as hell ain't telling.
Then what can you tell?
I think I was tricked, just like you.
Murmured words trailed off, and their weight settled over them. If too long passed, she wouldn't be able to lift it.
You were in the lower levels. Why?
Getting files.
So I heard. What was it about?
Not telling.
Let me guess: same reason why you're here.
Hmpf.
What happened to the data?
Think. You already seem to get it, anyway.
...Guren—the man you were fighting, he was the one who captured you, right?
Yeah. He stands behind that glass sometimes, talking to those bastards and watching as they inject me with this and that, and it hurts.
He refused to give some information, but his words still rang true.
Do you know anything about binds?
What do you mean?
Nevermind. Does the number six mean anything to you?
No.
His voice, though; it was a dilemma. It struck her both as hopeless and hopeful.
What's your name?
What's your name?
Shinoa.
...Yuu.
Yuu. Tell me, if they succeed in whatever they're doing with you, what will happen?
…
C'mon, tell me. Pretty please?
You humans will suffer the consequences.
You're threatening me?
I'm warning you.
No, he was bitter, but a single word sounded like a delicacy on his tongue.
And if you don't say anything about me being here, I'd be happy.
And why would I do that?
Well, then I might help you later.
Ha...I don't need your help...Mika will come—he will.
A glimmer in his eyes caught her attention and she froze. She knew she should be leaving, but instead she watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek and splattered onto the floor.
"I lied," he said with a sob, voice low and choked up.
Amidst everything that was happening, she wondered what he had suffered through the years. Shinoa knew that appearances, when it came to vampires, mattered little, but the one in front of her looked like just a boy.
"I said I'd come back to him." He finally finished, his head raising slowly.
He looked up at her and she felt the pain in his eyes; they glistened with salty tears as he drowned in sorrow.
A comforting word didn't seem appropriate; either way, she didn't think he was listening anymore.
So she left, heart heavy, as he feared a lonely death.