Chapter 8: Acquired Reading
BGM: Angst by Myuu
Miya continued onto the next page numbly after reading the first…
I should start at the beginning of this mess.
I gave my life for Minaka, Takami, Karasuba, and several Sekirei still in incubation. Shortly after, I woke up in a medical facility a few hundred years behind modern times. I was in an extremely lethargic state, I couldn't tell where I was, moving was an awkward endeavor.
An old man in a wheelchair approached, he said something I didn't understand at the time, but now I know he talked about something called "Pale Blood". He gave me a quill and a sheet of paper, a contract. I don't know why, but I signed it. Something… compelled me to do so, and in my current state, I could not resist it. He stuck an IV needle in my arm and began a blood transfusion. I passed out.
After a brief night terror involving a large wolf-like creature emerging from a pool of blood then catching on fire the moment it made contact with me, followed by being embraced by creatures I now know to be The Messengers, I woke up.
I was in a clinic of sorts. It was old, mostly, everything made of wood, few but incredibly old electrical appliances could be seen. My cellphone was still with me, but I couldn't get a signal. I made my way down to the first floor… only to get my neck ripped out by a wolf-like creature eerily similar to the one in my nightmare.
It's odd how accustomed to my own deaths I've become. In the beginning, I'd either break down in tears or go into shock for a while, but now they're more like an annoyance. Pain doesn't matter, death doesn't matter, my life doesn't matter.
The next few sections were scratched out, and Miya finally took notice of the dark spots on the page. Her fingers traced the spots on the page.
Tears…
Her eyes widened as she felt despair. It was a sense of despair so intense yet so faint, but it wasn't from Takehito she felt it from, it was the book. As if it itself was an extension of her Ashikabi's being… an extension of their link...
"That's… impossible..." Miya whispered in shock.
She kept reading.
I woke up in a different place this time. The Hunter's Dream.
The place is not of this world. In fact, it might just be a completely different plane of reality altogether. It's a small piece of land that looks like it was scooped out of the world like ice cream. Cobblestone paths, lush greenery, and white, glowing flowers I've never seen before. There's a cabin, a doll that came to life after my first harrowing -not to mention fatal- encounter with the Cleric Beast on the bridge.
"Ah!" She exclaimed as a sharp pain rang through her head.
Suddenly she wasn't in the inn anymore.
A stone bridge, a sunset...
An enormous creature with disfigured horns. Its ribs were showing, it's left arm massive and covered in long twisted fur. Its appearance screamed brutality and viciousness, yet at the same time, sickness, and disease. It was hideous, and disgusting. Just looking at it felt wrong on a visceral level. It let out a shrill cry, it was a sound no earthly creature should be able to make.
She felt fear, a primal fear, unlike anything she'd ever felt in her life. A scream nearly ripped its way out of her mouth.
She dropped the book. The thud breaking her out of her trance.
Miya shook her head rapidly, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face, she was gasping for breath. She looked at the book warily, the pillar had no illusions about what happened. The book was affecting her mind.
That sense of pure terror… it wasn't hers.
It was then that she came to a realization. Something her husband said that seemed strange made a lot more sense in the current context.
"Yeah, I've been noticing a lot of odd things about myself ever since I woke up. Weird mannerisms that I know I never do. I got the worst migraine of my life when I first got up, the horrible images and voice that accompanied it didn't make it any better."
His new mannerisms weren't new.
He could speak English fluently, he even had the same accent as the double. She and Homura tested his strength two days ago… he could punch through trees and concrete with ease, but the surprising part was his form; it was simple, effective, deadly, absolutely perfect as if he'd done it his whole life.
The grace he walked with was on a near-supernatural level, his steps were so silent that he was able to sneak up on all of them… without even noticing he was doing it. Unless he was in what he thought to be a place of complete safety, his eye would dart everywhere as if scanning for danger.
Takehito learned and honed these skills for over sixteen years. They so ingrained into him that even if he lost his memory, his body would remember them for him.
And this book wasn't just showing her Takehito's journal entries.
It was showing her his memories. Making her feel the emotions he felt at the time.
A sense of potent despair radiated off of the book now.
He felt like he was in Hell...
[-]
"Tsukiumi, I need your help," Homura pleaded quickly as they stood atop a rooftop. "I... found my Ashikabi."
It was midday, the sun was bright, the sky was clear and it had finally stopped snowing. Still pretty cold though.
The water Sekirei blinked, then grinned widely. "That's great dear! Who's the lucky girl?"
He chuckled nervously. "That's… that's the thing… it's Takehito."
Tsukiumi turned to Homura caught completely flatfooted. "Eh?"
Homura's face turned red as he groaned. " I followed your advice. You know, asking him how to better use my powers… then all of a sudden I started reacting to him."
"You did wing yourself to him, right?"
Homura nearly did a spit-take. "Huh!? Of course not."
Tsukiumi looked at him seriously. "You do realize that you will actually die if you don't get yourself an Ashikabi?"
"I..." Homura let out a long sigh. "I know… It's just that..."
Her eyes softened. "You didn't expect your Ashikabi to be male?"
He gave a weak nod. "Yeah..."
She rubbed his shoulder. "I suppose it's understandable. You always did have this romanticized idea of Winging."
"Most Sekirei do, Tsukiumi."
Homura looked out at the city below. He watched as cars busted through the street and countless people went on their way, most of them ignorant of his species' existence. Ignorante of their plight… for now. Soon, they'd all be victims in Minaka's twisted game. The fact that they'd all be suffering brought a small but morbid comfort to him.
"There's nothing wrong with that, you know." Tsukiumi spoke up suddenly.
"Having an Ashikabi of the same sex or romanticizing Winging?"
"Both." She said cooly. "I've seen cases of Sekirei having an Ashikabi of the same sex before, and much of our kind is quite naive."
Homura's brows furrowed. "You've seen same sex Sekirei/Ashikabi pairs before…?"
Tsukiumi raised her eyebrow. "I'm surprised you haven't known yourself. One example is living right under your roof."
"What are you…?" His eyes widened. "E-Eh!? You don't mean..."
The look on her was a mix between smug and an expression that could only be described as 'about goddamn time'. "Correct, dear. It's Uzume, her Ashikabi is terminally ill and is being held hostage by The Ashikabi of the East, Higa Izumi."
Homura froze, he stared at Tsukiumi for nearly a minute without saying a word. "Why… Why didn't she tell us? Why didn't you tell us!?"
She crossed her arms. "Truthfully, I thought she already had. But common sense seems to be a rarity among us Sekirei. Knowing her, she thinks she's protecting everyone by not getting us involved in it."
"That… That idiot!" He threw his arms up out of frustration. "Dammit, I'm heading back to the inn. First, I'm giving her a good scolding for doing something so stupid, then we're going to take her Ashikabi back-"
Tsukiumi's hand clamped down on his shoulder. "No."
All sound seemed to stop at that moment.
Homura slowly turned his head to look his fellow single number in the eyes. "What?"
"You're going to charge right in and make the situation worse, dear." She explained. "Higa's been picking up Sekirei left and right. If not for our involvement, he'd have a small army. Honestly, he already does. He's blackmailing weaker Ashikabi into working for him. You'd be walking right into a death trap."
He let out an almost childish huff. "I'd… win… probably..."
She deadpanned. "It's okay to dream, dear; but being delusional isn't exactly healthy."
"Oi..."
"Though now, with Takehito awake, and Matsu as one of his Sekirei, this entire problem can be solved easily without a single shot fired. And before someone rushes in while the mastermind has the win button he needs to make Uzume stab you in the back for fear of her Ashikabi's safety."
Homura's eyes widened in shock. "Oh..."
"You didn't think of that, did you?"
He hung his head. "No..."
"Mhmm." Tsukiumi nodded to herself. "Your only safety net is the fact that you can't be winged by anyone you don't react to. And as we both know, Takehito is the only person you've ever had any kind of reaction to… isn't that right, Mr. Kagari."
Homura felt his blood run cold. "O-Oh… you know about that."
"Miya told me."
"That goddamn traitor!"
"Really Homura?" Tsukiumi gave her friend a look similar to that of an older sister that caught her little brother doing something stupid. "Being a host is fine and everything, but sleeping around with a bunch of college girls in a desperate attempt to find your Ashikabi sounds like a recipe for disaster."
He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, you're right."
She had that near-smug expression again. "I usually am."
"Well, I'm keeping the host job, it does put food on the table."
She shrugged. "Fair enough. Now, what about Takehito?"
The fire Sekirei let out a long sigh. "Can we please talk about something else?"
Tsukiumi shook her head. "You're as childish as ever."
Homura rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. 'Your irrational hatred of Minaka is just playing into his hands'... 'You're as hot headed as your own element' I've heard it before- Owowowowowow!"
Tsukiumi began pulling his ear, and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile that terrified him far more than Miya's Hannya Mask. "And a smartass mouth to match." she let go of his now abused ear, much to Homura's relief. "But fine," she was silent for a few seconds, "Miyajima might have made some progress in finding out why your core works so differently compared to other Sekirei."
Homura was very reluctant to trust any adjuster of MBI. Sure, he trusted Takami, but that was because she hated Minaka too. He couldn't really read Miyajima's loyalties. He especially didn't want anything to do with her once he found out that Minaka would be getting involved; but after some blunt force trauma to the head from both Takami and Tsukiumi due to 'being an idiot for disregarding his own life out of petty spite' he wisely silenced his complaints… and went to Miyajima to get his concussion checked out.
"Lovely..." Homura said blandly.
[-]
Dusk OST - Embrace the Darkness
Takehito stared at himself in a mirror. He didn't know why he was doing it, he just was. An odd draw to his own reflection. Not in a narcissistic sense, but out of curiosity and irritation. He didn't understand why his reflection agitated him so much, and his natural curiosity wanted to figure it out, which made him stare at himself more, making him increasingly upset as time went on.
It had been a while since he'd had any hallucinations, the poker game was the last time anything happened; that was around two weeks ago. He wouldn't mind if nothing happened at all from now on, but he was never that naive.
"Do you remember the day we unleashed the Sekirei onto the world?" His reflection's lips began to move, and he heard his own voice, but it spoke in English.
"What about it?" Takehito stubbornly stuck to Japanese.
"That day… when the world itself turned on us and sent their armies to Kamikura Island." The reflection smiled. "We didn't even hesitate to pull the trigger and sic the Sekirei on them."
Takehito felt an odd numbness at his reflection words.
"And when we walked through the bloody carnage, when we sent our future wife into battle… do you remember what we felt?"
He didn't respond, just kept staring.
"Nothing… complete apathy. We wanted to make something above humankind and snuffed out so many lives to accomplish it… all for nothing."
He didn't respond.
"We should've seen it coming really. Even the short-lived marital bliss shouldn't have pulled that much wool over our eyes… because we did it. All. Over. Again." The reflection grinned ear to ear, human teeth replaced with fangs. "But this time? We did it with our very own hands."
He didn't respond.
"And we felt so many things when we did. Our hands were covered in so much blood..." The reflection's eyes glazed over. "So… much… sweet… blood."
He didn't respond.
The reflection recovered from its dazed state. "But the funny thing was that… he was… that he was right. We were the same… both sick and twisted to our core. There was never enough blood for us..." its eyes glazed over again. "Never… enough..."
He didn't respond.
The reflection reached out its hand for Takehito. "Never… enough..." his arm breached the surface of the mirror, but instead of the same tracksuit Takehito wore, the arm was covered in blood stained bandages; fingertips dripping with fresh blood. "Never… enough..."
Just as the arm was about to touch his face…
He grabbed it.
"O-Ow, Asama-kun!" Came a familiar voice.
BGM: Moonlight Menschen by Myuu
Takehito blinked. Before him was no mirror, nor a twisted version of himself, it was just Minaka.
He let go of Minaka's wrist. "S-Sorry. I… zoned out and you startled me."
The mad scientist rubbed his hand. "I can tell. Your grip strength might be on par with some fist-type Sekirei, Asama-kun."
That's right… he came back to MBI to talk with Minaka. Miya was acting a bit oddly this morning and he was curious as to whether or not his former colleague found anything new from the last tests. She was being unusually adamant about him staying home, but after a few dozen kisses and some sweet talk, she relented.
He took a deep breath. "If you say so..."
They were doing another blood test, and…
Takehito looked at where the needle had pierced his arm. No bandage, no even a mark or a hint of bleeding. Not even a mark.
"Your arm healed itself almost immediately." Minaka stated, smiling as he did. "You always healed incredibly fast, even after extensive surgeries that would've taken months for your body to fully repair."
He nodded, numb to whatever new amazing feats his body could do. "I see."
Minaka blinked. "Eh? Aren't you even the slightest bit excited?"
Takehito thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging. "Not really."
The madman shook his head hopelessly. "The man closest to the gods and you can't even appreciate your gifts."
"Sure, they were odd and felt new at first. Even this sudden ability to speak English, but..."
"But…?"
"It's like having opposable thumbs. Why would you be wowed and amazed by something you feel you've always had?"
"Hmph, I suppose."
"Besides, I thought you'd be the most apprehensive about my… changes."
"Yes, I indeed was," Minaka's glasses shined before grinning. "But that was before you awakened!" His arms spread out dramatically. "And you came back as yourself, Asama Takehito!" He laughed loudly. "I should've known better than to doubt the man I declared my equal!"
"Equals?" The thought brought some slight amusement to Takehito, as if he just heard a child say he was just as smart as him.
"Indeed!" the former colleague posed, facing towards the ceiling, his arm resting on his forehead, an invisible wind rustling his coat… no that was just Takami opening the door.
She took one look at her former husband posing hard enough that a spot light being on him might actually be appropriate… and wisely closed the door wanting no part in it.
"You, Asama-kun! You are the only one fit to do a battle of wits with on the Stage of the Gods!"
Takehito sighed and got out of his seat, all of the tests were finished anyway; there was no reason to stick around and hear him ramble about irritating things. They didn't find any extra eyes in his brain apart from the sixteen latest, his blood was as fucked as ever, and they still couldn't figure out why his bone marrow was producing mercury. Same shit different day.
Just as he was about to open the door to leave. He stopped and turned to Minaka, his mouth ran before his mind could catch up with it.
"An age of gods, a story of gods, a game of gods… hell even a stage of gods," his eyes gained a steeliness to them that put his old mask trick to shame. "Hold tightly to those childish fantasies about the heavens, Minaka-kun. Pray you never meet those so-called gods."
Minaka's eyes widened, and Takehito left the room.
The gray-haired man only got halfway down the hall before he stopped dead in his tracks, his mind finally catching up with him.
"Why..." His brows furrowed. "Why did I say that?"
He took out the MBI card Minaka gave him out of his pocket; something about it being his very much delayed unemployment check.
He shrugged. "Guess me and Seo can use the money to finally get the inn sound proofed."
[-]
Higa Izumi looked out onto the city below from his office, taking a sip of his coffee.
He was a handsome young man of average height with dark eyes and dark-brown hair; he wore a white suit with a magenta tie.
He had an eerie smile on his face, it was a slight look of arrogance and superiority that he allowed to surface on his mask of stoicism. This city he loathed it, but he hated the company that owned it even more. But petty hatred didn't matter right now, especially when that loon Minaka all but handed him not one but two ways to take over his company.
The Sekirei Plan was nothing if not an interesting distraction. His… 'flock' had been steadily growing since the first batch had been released. His secretary, Kakizaki, had winged an incredibly useful brain-type Sekirei named Kochō. With Kochō's help Hiyamakai Enterprises was earning five times its original revenue.
But…
This was just the beginning.
BGM: For the Damaged Coda by Blonde Redhead
Higa took a seat at his lavish desk, and opened up a hidden side compartment. A hissing sound echoed throughout the office as cold mist escaped the desk. He pulled out one of three vials in the compartment. He held as gently as he could, the dark-red liquid inside swishing between cold glass and his fingers.
To the ignorante, it was just a vial of blood. Nothing special.
To Higa Izumi, this vial might as well have held the answers to the universe itself.
Three years ago, MBI went through a mysterious shut-down of all their systems; and Higa's double agents took full advantage of the chaos it caused. They brought back many things, but most importantly… a dozen vials of a substance that could cure any disease. And those idiots at MBI were just sitting on such a miracle. He did the world a favor by… appropriating such a thing from right under Minaka's nose.
He threw his company's best scientists at it, because if they could reproduce this substance he could crush MBI under his heel. It didn't matter what petty morals or ethics they had to break to get it done, all that mattered was results.
This city would be his. The world would be his.
Soon enough, Higa Izumi would shake the very foundations of the world.
Chapter End.
See you fuckers in another year or so!