Tsukune listened to Gin's phone with one ear, and to people he handed out flyers to with the other.
"You're sure?" he growled into the phone, "Alright. Does she know?"
He handed out a couple more flyers, then diverted his attention fully to him, handing the rest to Haiji. "Better that she doesn't… Alright. I'll check in with the Huangs and see what they can dig up."
He hung up, pressing his palm to his headband. "Shit."
"News?"
"Yeah—Moka!" Gin shouted, calling her over, "Is the line open?"
"Give me a sec!"
"What's going on?" Tsukune asked.
"That was Ikko. They've found Fairy Tale propaganda on Haruhiko's laptop."
"You're kidding."
"Wish I was."
"God…" he crossed his arms, "They're here, too?"
"When they're not aiming for your throat, they're aiming for our roots. Every website we report is replaced by another three the day after."
Moka hurried to their side, holding out her phone. Gin snatched it up. "Who've I got?"
"Lingling here."
"Any news?"
"None. This city's pretty poorly connected, so it's hard to tell who's hunting where. Our little hubs are the exceptions to that rule."
"Good thing I've got news, then," Gin scowled, "Any news on FT activity in the area?"
"A question worth asking. Leave it with me."
He passed the phone back to a pale-faced Moka and a severely frowning Tsukune. "We don't know for sure they've got their fangs into him. Let's focus on finding Haruhiko for now; we can talk to them about FT later."
"What would they want with a human kid, anyway?" Moka asked.
"I don't think anyone wants the answer to that question."
"Should we make the call?" Tsukune asked, reaching for his phone.
Gin stopped him. "Let's not tip our hand just yet. They're not gonna like attention from on high. We don't wany anyone over-reacting."
Tsukune balled his fists, face contorting with a poisonous frustration. "Every time we think we're making gains…"
"We are making gains," Moka insisted, "Bit by bit, this is working. What they're doing isn't detracting from that."
Gin corrected her. "It will if we're not careful. C'mon, we've got a kid to find."
"You're kidding…"
A moan from behind them ended their conversation. Tsukune saw them first; a couple some feet away, looking and pointing skyward. "But the forecast said we were done!"
They all looked up. Dark clouds swirled and took shape overhead, the sign of another freak storm fast-arriving. The shadow of Fairy Tale loomed large over them, compelling the three to think as one.
"Better get one of our magical gals on finding the source of that, too." Gin groaned, putting voice to their worries by getting ready to send another text.
Watching the clouds from Haruhiko's window, Ikko chewed his thumb. He stood alone in the room as the rest tried to calm Miss Yashiki, who had been startled by the activity around her son's laptop, and finished the tracking spell.
Left to his own devices, he had trawled through more of the Fairy Tale pages, but had found little and less of use. From what he could gather, they were an organisation aiming for a goal antithetical to Tsukune's; where he and his wanted to bridge the gap separating humans and monsters, Fairy Tale aimed to cross the bridge and claim the human world for their own. Their proselytic posting didn't do much to convince, not that he could tell. They seemed more focussed on displaying the strength of monsters, and driving those who visited to claim their rightful place on the world stage.
Nausea rippled through him. Ikko crossed his arms over his stomach, blinking rapidly. He had seen more death on those pages than he had in his entire life. Bodies and blood underscoring the rage and the rhetoric.
So much blood…
Mizore called his name, dragging him back to reality. He tethered himself to her voice, relying on it to bring him back from that horrid place. "We're just about ready out here. You found anything else?"
"Not really," he sighed, "They're posting actively, but it's all nonsense about reclaiming their rightful place on the food chain. 'We will wash over the world, our roar the thunder heralding the end of falsehood'."
"Quite the slogan."
"It's bull, is what it is. And if Haruhiko is wrapped up in it…" He made to leave, only to stop short of crashing into Mizore, who took up the whole doorway. "What?"
She fixed him with a level, no-nonsense stare. "I need you to head back to the centre with Yukari. We need to figure out the source of the storm, and she needs an extra pair of hands."
Indignation sparked as his first response. Ikko's brow pinched. "I'm not helping with the search?"
"Not if they're involved," she said, glancing meaningfully at Haruhiko's laptop, "We've been dealing with Fairy Tale for years. They don't mess around."
"All the more reason to get out there and find him."
His protest fell on deaf ears. Mizore shook her head. "You've seen the photos, Ikko. You really want to find him like that?"
"We don't—"
"—Or end up as one of them?"
His words slipped from his feeble grasp. Ikko stammered. He tried to meet Mizore's eyes, but fear dragged his gaze down. "Get back to the centre," she soothed, "Help Yukari. Let us deal with Fairy Tale."
Something in him urged him to protest, to get out there and find Haruhiko. To be relegated at the last moment rankled him. "I—but I've been training. This is the reason I'm out here in the first place."
"Fairy Tale's our problem, Ikko," Mizore countered, "You're not here to fight them. Don't get it twisted."
Defeated, he folded his arms and nodded, once. She smiled, setting her hand on his shoulder. "Just—" he mumbled.
"Hm?"
"Just… don't you go ending up like the photos either, alright?"
Mizore pursed her lips. Her hand slipped to his back as she stepped forward, drawing him into a close embrace. "You're not supposed to be the one worrying."
He loosened his arms to reciprocate, wrapping them tightly around her waist. Ikko mumbled into her shoulder. "We both saw that website. You expect me not to worry if you're running headfirst into a group capable of doing that?"
"Believe it or not, this isn't my first life or death situation."
"That's not helping."
"Okay, okay." She squeezed him. "We'll be fine. I've got Ruby and Su at my back."
"That's better."
A quiet clearing of a throat broke them apart. Ruby smiled from the corridor. "If you two are done snuggling, we're ready."
They reconvened in Miss Yashiki's lounge. White sat ready; her eye fixated on something only she could see. Ruby explained the plan. "We're going to split up. Yukari, take Ikko and figure out what's causing that storm from the centre."
"Certainly," she confirmed, nodding Ikko's way. The brim of her hat made it easy to avoid her gaze and hide his disquiet.
"Miss Yashiki, please remain here. There's a chance Haruhiko may just return home, so it would be useful if you were ready to welcome him."
She bowed her head, staying in her seat. Su set a comforting hand on her knee. "At the very least, he'll be hungry when he comes home," she said.
"All set?" Ruby asked, looking to each in turn, "Alright, then. Keep a line open at all times."
She held out her hand for White to claim. She transformed into her bracelet and gripped tight, her eye unwavering in its focus.
Ikko watched her as they descended the steps. Her eye swivelled and struggled to align itself as they turned and turned. "The spell's working."
"Fortunately," Ruby answered, "We're not going to find his exact location with such sparse material, but a general idea of where to start searching is helpful."
"A couple of hairs counts as sparse material?"
"It's dead," Yukari noted, "A spell like this functions best when the materials are living, or contain some semblance of vital energy. Scraps of hair and dead skin don't carry much."
"Just as gross to think about, though," Su quipped.
They separated at the base of the apartment complex. Ikko watched them go, frown deepening with every step. "Alright, then." Yukari clapped her hands together. "Let's source ourselves a magical storm."
"What kind of monster has that power?"
Starting their return to the centre, Yukari answered. "Quite a few. Off the top of my head, we could be dealing with a fujin, a simurgh, a lamassu... Plenty of monsters are intimately bound with the elements that give them strength, and can affect each other."
"Like the jubokku and nature," Ikko offered, recalling Judo.
"Precisely," Yukari nodded, "The bond works both ways, though. Stick a water spirit in a desert and watch it shrivel, stick a witch in a big city and watch her panic."
"Cities are bad for witches?"
"Unprepared witches, yes. Surrounding oneself in towering monuments of cold, lifeless stone… They can be really disorienting."
Ikko looked around as they walked, hoping that by some miracle, he might spot the auburn hair of Haruhiko and put this whole thing to rest. The clouds continued to swarm overhead, threatening to pour down at any moment. "Are we thinking that the storm last night was caused by the same monster?"
"Most likely. Two freak storms in as many days? Once is weird; twice is planned."
"What can we do against something like that?"
"Incapacitating it is normally the best way to dispel the magic influencing the weather." Yukari mused. "Of course, we'd have to find them first."
He reached for his phone, opening the weather app. Sure enough, the weather had been picked up by the local forecast, no doubt confusing those newsreaders tasked with relaying the information to a bemused city. "That shouldn't be too hard." He announced, an idea forming.
"What?"
"Check this out." Ikko ushered her into the awning of a nearby building, where they could shelter and he could show her his idea. Swapping to a detailed view of the local map, Ikko pointed to the small mass of thunderheads gathering near their position. "Does the monster need to be nearby the place they're affecting?"
"Only the strongest could do it from a distance," Yukari confirmed, "So we could surmise that they'd be near where the storm gathers."
"Let's start there, then," Ikko said, getting ready to move.
"Hold it!" Yukari squeaked.
"What?" He span on his heel, confronting her. A heat at the seat of him compelled him to act. "We needed to find the source of the storm, and we have. If it's affiliated with Fairy Tale, wouldn't it stand to reason that they'd be using it as cover for whatever they were planning?"
"Yes, but—" she pulled at the hem of her hat, jumping to her feet, "We're supposed to be going back to the centre. Let's call the others and tell them what we've found."
"That's going to take too long," he snapped, ripping his phone from his pocket and jamming it into her hand. His frustration at being sidelined overrode his good sense. He knew this, and yet still—he had to do something. "You call them. I'm going to go take a look."
He sprinted off before Yukari could stop him, racing towards the stormclouds. Memories of the photos and Miss Yashiki's sobs deafened him to her shouting.
Thunder rumbled overhead. Kia watched the sky, lacing and unlacing her hands. "I don't like this."
"Me either," Kurumu said, joining her, "We're getting nowhere at the beach. Maybe we should head in and help the others."
San scribbled. "The beach is too busy. There's no way of telling if he's here or not."
Kia closed her eyes. In her mind, a thousand tiny voices pricked at the edge of her consciousness; the humans mobbing the beach, enjoying the summer sun before the storm inevitably ruined it again. Blissfully ignorant, as they should be. Their hurried joy sang a chorus of light against the swelling shadow. A few of them sputtered, more subdued than their fellows by doubts and worries; no doubt they were the ones organising the trips.
"Agh, I hate this!" Kurumu shook her head. "Stupid, stupid Fairy Tale ruining my vacation."
"How come I've never heard of them?" Kia asked, keeping her eyes closed. If she concentrated hard enough, maybe she could pluck the more fearful souls from the crowd. She knew that song all too well.
"News of them and their plans was covered up when they took their last big hit. Gin's not allowed to publish anything about them—we try and quash anything that they do before it spreads."
She tipped her head. Another song caught her attention. Joyful, but different from the rest. Excited. Anticipative. She opened her eyes, trying to locate the person attached to it. "There!"
Kia pointed at a young man, staring at the sky. A maddened snarl of a grin warped his face. "Eh?" Kurumu span. "No, that's not him. Haruhiko has auburn hair. But… what's he doing?"
"Whatever it is, he's excited by the storm." Kia explained. "He's the only one on this beach happy to see it."
"You're sure?"
"Definitely." She locked her gaze on him, unwilling to lose the man in the crowds. Thunder rumbled again.
"Fairy Tale?" Kurumu mused, looking back to San.
"It's worth checking out," she wrote.
"Yeah. Kia, stay here."
She nodded, lowering her hand as the pair advanced.
As they left, Marin arrived, her arms folded. "That's the last of the posters up. What are they doing?"
"Checking something," Kia replied, "Nothing, I hope."
She sighed. "It's never normal when you kids show up."
"For what it's worth, I was hoping for a pretty chill summer," she whispered.
"Lesson one when this lot gets together," Marin grinned, "Chill doesn't even come close to their dictionaries."
"Morioka!" Etsuko hissed, tugging on Gin's sleeve.
"I hear ya, I hear ya. Somethin' the matter?"
He turned to see her pointing at a woman standing in the middle of the street, staring off towards into the distance. Thunder rolled across the sky, spreading a twisted expression across her face. "The hell…?" he exhaled, scratching his head, "Get the others—quietly, Yanase. We don't want a scene."
She hurried off at a fast walk. Gin strolled towards the woman, hands in his pockets. He tried to look the part of a passerby until the very last second. She seemed normal, and smelled human, but her behaviour indicated everything but. Most curiously, she clutched something tight in her left hand.
He broke rank and stepped from the crowd, stopping in front of her. "What's a pretty gal like you doin' storm-chasing, huh?"
No response. He may as well have not been there, for all the attention she paid him. She watched the sky, unblinking, her smile a portrait of ecstasy.
"Hey." Gin called, sharpening his tone.
"Gin!" Moka arrived at his side. "What's going on?"
He shook his head, shrugging. "Ain't the damndest."
"Ma'am?" she urged, reaching out to touch the woman's shoulder, only to be shrugged off, "Is everything alright?"
Again the sky groaned. Gin followed her gaze, seeing the clouds now nearly black, developing far too quickly to be considered natural. More and more looked at the strange weather, but none with the reverence as the woman at his back.
She opened her mouth, mumbling something incoherent.
Moka laughed nervously. "I-I'm sorry? What was that?"
The slap of his footsteps on hard concrete drowned his hearing. Ikko sprinted full tilt towards the heart of the storm, dodging people as he went. His eyes flitted back and forth, searching for any sign of Haruhiko.
Crowds and cars quickly gave way to dirt and ring fences. Ikko pressed up against the wall of a construction site, the chains rattling as he clung to them. His lungs screamed, but a skyward glance told him all he needed to know. Whomever called the storm called it from here.
Struggling to catch his breath, Ikko surveyed the building site. He couldn't see anyone, not even anyone who didn't belong. No workers, no foremen, no intruders, nothing. "Was I wrong?" he gasped, "Is this not the place?"
"It is."
A young voice pricked the back of his neck. Ikko span, coming face-to-face with an auburn-haired boy. His eyes were wide and curious, staring openly at Ikko. "H-Haruhiko!?"
"How d'you know my name?" he asked, coolly.
"I…" He reached for his pocket—but remembered that he'd passed his phone to Yukari. His wrist, too, was bare.
He'd completely isolated himself.
"You're here," Haruhiko said, "So you must know, right? Have you got yours?"
Ikko's mind raced. Got his what?
"Oh… unless you're here to give them out?" Haruhiko tipped his head, "Weird. I guess monsters come in all shapes and sizes."
"No—no, I'm here to get one." He lied. His calmness told Ikko he hadn't gotten lost, nor had he been taken. He'd run away of his own volition, which meant that dropping a mention of his mother would only make this worse. He grasped for the facts of his disappearance as best he could.
He muttered, "They told us we'd be met alone."
"W-well," Ikko stammered, "You're pretty young, so maybe they wanted an adult with you."
Haruhiko scoffed, shrugging. "I'm old enough. Whatever, I guess. The more the merrier."
He sauntered away, leaning against the nearby wall. Ikko looked around again, hoping to catch sight of someone, anyone, but they were well and truly alone. "D'you know who we're supposed to be meeting?"
"Nope," he replied, taking out his phone, "Just got the place in a text."
"Aren't your parents worried?"
He stiffened. A reaction. Ikko focussed on it. "I'm here because of her."
"What's that mean?"
Haruhiko's glare could have frozen, were it not for his youth. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me, then."
Ikko startled. He fell back away from the fence to the great amusement of the stranger who'd spoken, who barely contained his laughter. "Oh, man, I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."
Every atom of his body told Ikko to run. The man stood tall over him, dressed immaculately in a black shirt, black trousers and a long, dark coat draped elegantly over his shoulders. Silver hair fell past his ears, stylishly unkempt.
It was his eyes that inspired such fear. One blood red, one deep green, with pupils like two knife-wounds, thin slits that cut in different directions. The right was normal, vertical like a cat's eye. The left, however, sat horizontally across the iris, a shape that Ikko had never seen before.
The stranger cleared the fence in a single bound, moving so quietly that he disturbed neither the wind nor the dust at their feet. His movements cut clear through the air, his every action an unnatural wound that left only silence in its wake. A tiny smirk possessed his lips as he looked Ikko and Haruhiko over. "Which one of you am I here to see?"
"Me!" Haruhiko yelled, ecstatic.
"No, it's me!" Ikko shouted, scrambling to his feet. "I'm the one you're looking for."
The stranger focussed on Ikko, appraising him. His smirk curled. "You?"
Ikko shifted, placing himself between Haruhiko and the stranger. For a mercy, Haruhiko seemed too confused to call Ikko out on the lie.
"Then," chuckled the stranger, "You'd better have the password ready."
