To Forgive is to Suffer
It was nice in the mountains, he thought, the air was brisk and refreshing, he liked waking up in the mornings to the call of birds beyond the guesthouse. They had been there for a month, and he could sense Geiz and Sumire growing anxious, but, for his own part, Tsukuyomi found the chance of pace to be pleasant to say the least; it wasn't that he wasn't concerned with the faded image of the Kuuga RideWatch, or what Spade would do next, but, as of the present moment, he simply was enjoying the quiet of the moment.
In the corner of the bar, the television flickered wordlessly, displaying images of confused police vehicles, panicked men in navy blue uniforms, a reel of text below the images. He paid it no mind, instead lifting his glass to his lips and allowing the bitter taste of the amber liquid within to wash into his mouth.
It was nice in the mountains, he thought once more; it was nice not being shot at all the time.
He flung himself forward, seizing hold of the other and lifting it from the ground, turning with the momentum and releasing it, watching as the creature flew backwards and slammed into the wall, dust and rubble shook free with the impact. Yet within moments, it was back on its feet, the light of the sirens washing over its tattered robes and shadowy flesh.
He grunted with displeasure, bracing himself as the creature threw itself forward again, a thing somewhere between a man and a bird, its beaked face, its black, feathered wings. He hated this, this feeling of looking weak in front of Ai.
It had been but a handful of months since he had first inherited the belt that allowed him to transform into Unidentified Life Form #4. In that time, at the behest of Ai and her superiors, he had fought roughly ten such creatures as the one with which he grappled now, never fully understanding what their reasoning was, never fully understanding what their motives were, only knowing that if he did not stand before them, more of Ai's comrades would be murdered. Already, there had been four deaths, four police women just like Ai, who had been targeted by these creatures, and still they had no clue as to who they were, or where they had come from.
Angrily, Onodera Yuusuke threw up his arm to block a blow from the bird-creature, launching his right hand forward and slamming his fist into the monster's stomach, sending it staggering backwards once more.
This one was stronger than the others, he reflected, flexing the fingers of his right hand, trying to shake out the pain of the impact. What if he couldn't beat it, a voice at the back of his mind whispered; what if he was unable to stop it, what if he was unable to protect Ai?
"Yuusuke!" a voice called out behind him, and he flinched, sensing her presence close behind him, ducking out of the way as she fired her revolver, once, twice, three times.
The bullets slammed into the creature's chest, yet still it came forward again, swiping at him as he ducked out of the way and snatched a rusty pole from the ground, thankful that such things had been left abandoned by the construction workers who had hastily evacuated the site, such things that would allow him to—
"Splash Dragon!"
Bright light issued forth from his armour, the deep red turning blue, the scaffold pole in his hands transformed into his Dragon Rod as he jabbed it into the creature's chest and hefted it helplessly up into the air. He tensed the muscles of his legs, his heels digging into the gravel, and then abruptly he heard Ai's voice again, calling his name in warning.
"Yuusuke!"
Something fast rushed past him, shoving him out of the way as it launched into the air, throwing itself against the Unidentified Life Form and bringing it crashing back to the ground, crouching over it, its face burrowed into the creature's chest, claws and teeth tearing at the flesh as the monstrous bird-beast writhed in helpless agony, black blood spattering against the gravel.
His throat felt suddenly dry as he lowered the staff, an uncertain step taken, and then regretted, as the new creature looked up, and he saw properly for the first time its bat-like ears, its permanently open maw dripping with salvia; a mooncalf, a calvaluna.
He swallowed hard.
"What are you?" he whispered.
The Unidentified Life Form trembling at its feet, slowly the new creature rose up. Across its chest were scrawled two words in faded white paint: No Rider.
"Hey, what's this?"
The bartender looked up at him, then towards the television set, and back, a wry smile on his face.
"Strange World? You never seem this show?"
Tsukuyomi shook his head and finished his drink, placing the empty glass down on the bar mat before him.
"No," he admitted, "guess they never showed it where I grow up."
The old man threw the towel he had previously been using to dry glasses over his shoulder.
"Oh, it was great. Pretty old now, this is just a re-run, but this girl here—" He gestured to the blonde woman on screen standing before a flock of sheep on the curve of a lonely Greek road. "—this girl would go out every week to somewhere new, sometimes Greece, sometimes China, sometimes even New York, and she'd report on strange goings on in the area."
He laughed to himself, shaking his head with amusement.
"Man, I wish this show was still going. I would have loved to have them talk about those Unidentified Life Forms we have here."
Reaching into the back pocket of his trowsers, Tsukuyomi drew out his wallet and gestured at a bottle over the bartender's shoulder.
"Unidentified Life Forms?" he asked.
The old man nodded, pouring out another drink, and placing it on the mat, as Tsukuyomi took out a crisp, 1,000 yen note and laid it on the small tray presented with the glass, waiting for a moment for the old man to gather up his change from the till, and then scooping the coins into wallet, and pocketing it again.
"Don't tell me you haven't heard of those guys either?"
He winced.
"Guess we didn't have them either where I grew up."
The bar tender leant forward, placing his elbows on the bar, and fixing Tsukuyomi with a hard stare.
"Listen, kid, you've been coming to this bar every day for a month, right?"
The younger man nodded his head, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
"That's right."
With a sigh, the bartender straightened up, turned, and snatched up the remote, changing the channel to the news. Instantly, Tsukuyomi straightened up, catching sight of the blurred footage of police vehicles, a man in armour, and the hunched, snivelling shape of No Rider.
"Oh no," he murmured.
"Now that's a new one," the bartender said. "Definitely haven't seen that one before."
He turned to look at Tsukuyomi, and caught sight of the door as it swung shut, the bell ringing above it. On the bar, the young man's glass of whiskey remained untouched.
She tried to suppress a yawn, turning away so as not to be seen, and yet regardless, Geiz was aware of her, nudging her sharply in the ribs, and pointedly keeping her own attention fixed ahead on the anxious police officer standing before the whiteboard, marker pen in hand. Suddenly feeling aware of herself, conscious of the displeasure that radiated from Geiz as she sat upright in the chair beside her, arms folded across her chest, Sumire redoubled her efforts, trying to focus again on the police officer, and, again, finding her attention wandering, drawn inexplicably to the man in the sunglasses sitting solemnly behind a table to the left of the board.
They had been here a month, long enough, she would have supposed, to get the gist of what was happening here, and yet, despite the signal from Tsukuyomi's stolen Time Mazine, they had not been able to recover the machine, nor had they been able to locate the Timejacker, Spade, and his Another Rider accomplice.
It had been Tsukuyomi's idea to try and blend in, to try and live quietly amongst every one and wait for an opportunity to present itself, a notion that Geiz had been resistant to, though Sumire wasn't certain if her reluctance to acquiesce was born out of the frustration of not immediately having the answers, though she somewhat expected it was.
'What suddenly makes you the leader?' she had demanded, bristling with antagonism.
To his credit, Tsukuyomi had not backed down.
'Because I'm the only one without armour,' he had replied, 'so I'm sure you can let me have this.'
At times like that, she found easy to believe the two of them had once been soldiers of a sort. Funny, she thought, that they had originally been brought together by the desire to kill her.
As with living undercover in the town, Sumire and Geiz's current predicament had also been Tsukuyomi's idea. Sitting at the back of a hall full of people in matching uniforms, listening to the officer at the whiteboard drone on and on, Sumire began to wonder if Tsukuyomi had known that signing up for the National Police Agency's new experimental armoured deterrent project, or whatever longwinded name it had been given, would entail such lengthy and boring meetings.
Again, her attention drifted back to the man in the chair to the left, and no sooner had she began to speculate what his deal was, than the police officer had gestured to him, and he had abruptly stood up, removing his sunglasses and glowering fiercely at the audience.
"Agent Kazuya of the FBI will now take the floor," the police offer murmured, retreating back and sinking defeated into his chair.
There was a moment in which nothing was said, the man's gaze fixed upon the crowd, and then he began to speak, his voice hard, his tone full of displeasure.
"We've seen things like this before," he announced, gesturing at the board behind him, "as recently as last year, and before that, in 1987 and 1984. On each occasion, tragedy was averted by only the faintest margin. We acted too slowly, something we cannot allow to happen again."
He looked over the room, and Sumire felt suddenly uncomfortable, resisting the urge to fidget in the hard plastic chair she had been resting in for the last half-an-hour. Glancing furtively towards Geiz, she noted the other woman wasn't fidgeting, and she wondered if this was because there weren't uncomfortable plastic chairs in the future and she hadn't spent most of her school years sitting in one.
Her attention returned to the present as the man before them slammed a photograph against the board, affixing it there with a strip of tape, and turning back again to address the room. Staring at the picture, she no longer felt an urge to fidget, yet looking at the familiar black and purple armour depicted, she certainly felt uncomfortable.
"In both 1999 and 1987, this figure was seen in the vicinity of attacks perpetuated by altered humans. Whoever it is in this armour, he's not like any other individual who has previously come forward and assisted in our efforts to suppress villainy. We think he might be the cause of all this."
Sumire swallowed hard. Not he, she thought, looking at the familiar picture, the clock dial on the mask, the familiar blade in hand; not he, but she.
"Whoever he is inside the armour, we have designated this figure Unidentified Life Form N." He paused, a faint smile touching his thin lips. "And he's the reason we built the G3 system; he's the reason why you're all here today."
He faltered, and too late he realised it had been a distraction.
"Yuusuke!" came Ai's voice once more, panicked and full of alarm. "Above you!"
He lifted his head, and above him he saw the shape of a man, a cloak billowing out behind him, a hand thrust forward. There was no time to move, no time to react, there was simply the pain blossoming in his chest as the man landed in a crouch before him, slowly rising up, a cruel smile decorating his face.
In panic, Yuusuke looked down at his chest, the breastplate of his armour shattered and broken, blood discolouring the fragments that fell to the ground—and there, embedded in his chest was a chunk of crystal and metal.
Slowly, he reached up, his gloved hands feeling the damage to his armour, fingertips stained with blood. The chunk of metal shuddered, burrowing deeper into the flesh, and he screamed out, doubling over, tearing frantically now as it pushed again, again, and again, and then completely sunk within the wound, absorbed into his body wholly.
A heartbeat, another heartbeat, and Onodera Yuusuke could no longer tell if he was screaming or not. Pain radiated through his body, swallowed him whole, and the flesh beneath the armour rippled, swelled, turning the hideous colour of stagnant death, of pained decay.
At his waist, the belt flickered in and out of existence, retreating back into his shifting flesh, almost as if in panic. The armour fell away, the shimmering red and blue that made him different, that had distinguished him from the Unidentified Life Forms he fought.
He stumbled forward, aware that someone was calling his name. From between his lips, his breath hung in the chill of the autumn air. He lifted his head. In the dulled glass of unfinished windows decorating walls weighted with scaffolding, he saw himself, swollen red eyes, sickening green flesh: a monster.
"Hwæt!" the man said, throwing back his cloak, his smile sadistically wide. "Bastard heir to all mankind's suffering! Another Agito!"
"That is what you are here for," he said, standing before them, his face devoid of expression, "that is what you volunteered for. The G3 system was designed in reaction to the increased shift towards transhumanist experiments by both new religions such as the now illegal Gorgom movement, and far right agitators such as the self-styled Badan Empire."
In her seat, Geiz visibly stiffened, her back rigid against the chair.
"Successful trials in the US have proved effective in conventional circumstances, yet, as unpleasant as this situation is, the emergence of these Unidentified Life Forms in Japan provides us with the first real effective test of the system's capabilities. This is why you have all gone through the rigorous testing required to be here. In time, we are proposing a joint initiative between the US and Japan to create a taskforce necessary to deal with such situations as this."
She was already more than familiar with the G3 System, she thought sourly, and perhaps, if she had known that this was what Tsukuyomi had had in mind when he made the suggestion, she never would have considered it.
Almost 70 years in the future, the G3's eventual successor, the GX System—pronounced 'gee cross' for some inexplicable reason—would be widely used by adherents of the tyrant king, Oma Zi-o. The men and women inside of that armour were the forefront of the king's shock-troopers, the dark shadows that had all but snuffed out the fragile flame of the weakened resistance movement.
Perhaps, she thought suddenly, if she could gain access to the G3 data, perhaps if she could sabotage it so that the GX System never came about—
A sharp, ringing sound cut through her thoughts, resounding loudly through the room, all eyes turning slowly towards Sumire, who, flushed with embarrassment, began to fumble in the pockets of her overalls for her phone, at last seizing hold of it and turning it off. She sighed with satisfaction, and then sensed the eyes of the room upon her.
"My, ah, pager," she lied apologetically.
Geiz smirked. What would these people make of such a device, 20 years before its conception? In order to get the phone working, to maintain a line of communication between the three of them, they had managed to sync Sumire's iPhone with the Time Mazine and use the more sophisticated technology of 2068 to enable the phone to piggyback off the weak 2G signals employed in this time.
She shook her head in exasperation, and then stopped abruptly as she saw Tsukuyomi's name on the display, a thrill of panic and excitement running through her. For Tsukuyomi to try phoning them whilst they were in the midst of this meant that he must have uncovered something, that something must be happening.
She stood up abruptly, yanking Sumire up with her.
"We, ah, have to go," she said.
Kazuya narrowed his eyes, the police officer that had introduced him rising from their chair to protest.
"Sorry," she said, "it's an emergency, my friend here is sick."
She turned, and shot a glare at Sumire, who looked back at her blankly, and then suddenly realising what was going on, clutched her stomach.
"Ohhh," she moaned with all the conviction of a child actor. "Ohhh, I'm so sick."
Hastily, Geiz began to drag her through the aisle, exciting murmurs of discontent from the other volunteers in their matching blue jumpsuits as they were forced to move their legs out of the way.
"You two," Kazuya snapped, "what are you names?"
Sumire smiled back.
"I'm Tokiwa S—"
"I'm One, and this is Two," Geiz snapped, yanking the other girl behind her towards the door.
"Nice to meet you, Mr FBI," Sumire waved as she was pulled into the hallway.
"What's the situation?" a voice demanded at her side.
Yashiro Ai turned, a look of distress upon her face, as she found a young man at her side, a heavy unfamiliar—and likely unregistered—gun in his hands.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help," he answered, his eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of the hideous new form Yuusuke had been granted, his head lifted to the sky, a howl of pain issuing from his mouth—and beyond, the stranger in his dark robes, the other Unidentified Life Form at his side, those two words scrawled across its chest.
"Another Agito," he murmured, training his weapon.
Hastily, Ai seized him and yanked him around until he had no choice but to face her.
"Who are you? What's happened to Yuusuke, how can we get him back?"
Gently, Tsukuyomi took hold of her hands and eased her grasp on his arms.
"Your friend is possessed by the spirit of Another Rider, if I don't do something—"
"Another Rider?" Ai echoed.
He nodded.
"The misplaced powers of a Kamen Rider, they're being co-opted by that man over there to change the follow of time."
"Change time?" Ai repeated.
She felt stupid, and then she felt angry, as if all this young man was doing was reciting the most impossible fantasies to her and expecting her to believe them at face value. She glanced over her shoulder at one of the officers behind her and gestured with her gun.
"Get this boy out of here," she instructed.
Too late, the young man had already leapt the barrier and was sprinting forward. Sensing movement, the thing that had been Yuusuke turned slowly, bulbous eyes shimmering with a sickening red glow. Before he could react, the young boy had leapt from the ground, pulled his arm back and slammed the butt of the gun forward.
Spade looked up at the sudden sound of footfalls, seeing Tsukuyomi's gun slam into the side of the boy's head, sending Another Agito's new host staggering backwards more from surprise than actual pain. He laughed, admiring the other man's guile.
"It's no good, Tsukuyomi, you've already lost, this boy's heart is the perfect breeding ground for the kind of power that Agito represents."
With his hands dug deep into the pockets of his trowsers, and his cloak pushed back over his shoulders, Spade stepped forward, a cruel smile on his thin lips. Tsukuyomi dropped into a fighting stance, his weighty blaster in one hand, his other balled in a fist, ready to brawl.
"Give it up, Spade, there's no way we're going to let you get away with this."
Spade arched a single eyebrow.
"We, Tsukuyomi?" He pulled one hand from his trowser pocket and gestured around him. "I don't see any of your friends around, and I know that this time you don't have access to the J power."
Dangerously, he took a step forward.
"You may have convinced Woz that your little runt is Oma Zi-o, but I'll never accept this," he spat with hateful determination, "and I shall keep raising up newer and stronger soldiers to fight in His Majesty's name, to strengthen his rule."
His Majesty, Tsukuyomi thought with confusion, a frown upon his brow, and then it dawned on him: the time stream had been changed, the collision with the alien craft in 1994 had altered their world, their history, maybe even their future. Whilst Spade obviously still seemed to recognise them, the future he recalled must have featured a Tokiwa Sumire who was a man—a man who had grown to become the tyrant, Oma Zi-o.
He shook his head in frustration, trying not to focus on the tiny, splintered details of what had happened, and instead trying to keep their sole goal in mind: to stop Oma Zi-o from ascending to the throne.
Ahead of him, the creature shuddered, an undulating groan escaping its mouth. Like No Rider, Tsukuyomi thought, he had once been human. Anxiously, he felt the weight of the Faizphone X in his hand, his palm slick with sweat.
The choice was a terrible one: fire on someone who they might have been able to rescue under normal circumstances, or allow Woz's former apprentice to continue with his damage to the past.
"I can't let you do this," he said.
From behind the shadow of the creature, Spade smiled with careless cruelty.
"I'm not asking for your permission."
With abrupt speed, the original creature launched forward, leaping over its younger brother, claws outstretched, a shrill cry of delight escaping its open maw. Tsukuyomi had moments to lift the blaster, and time to fire just one single shot.
The energy spattered against the creature's chest, burning the armour of its breastplate black, smearing the words formerly etched upon it, and sending the beast crashing out of the air and to the ground. Without time to adjust, he realised that it had been a distraction, and the long shadow of Another Agito was cast over him, the looming form of the beast towering above.
A shot rang out, and the creature's head was knocked backwards, an arc of black blood spurting into the air. Tsukuyomi stumbled backwards, turning to see Yashiro Ai, her gun held in her hands, her face pale, her legs trembling.
The creature righted itself, blood oozing out of its broken jaw.
He felt his heart tremble in his chest, felt the weight of sudden doom upon him—and then abruptly he heard the familiar sound of hammering footfalls working their way up the path towards the abandoned construction site, the mechanical voices of both Sumire and Geiz's Ziku-Drivers acknowledging their hasty input.
"Henshin!" both girls called out, sprinting past the bewildered police officer, their armour taking shape around them.
He felt Geiz's heavy, gloved hand on his shoulder shoving him backwards and out of the way.
'Fake!' the belt announced as Geiz jammed a second RideWatch into the open slot. 'Armour time! Mirror Monster! Fake Agito!'
Swollen, blood red plate armour overlaid Geiz's own, the shape of her helm turning similarly sickeningly red, the throbbing flesh of that other Agito spreading across her familiar armoured form, as, close by, Sumire's belt also called witness to the second of her transformations.
'Femme! Armour time! Graceful fencer! Femme!'
A shower of swan feathers flew from her as her armour turned immaculate white, the visor of a bascinet helm augmenting her own, a beauteous silk cloak extending from her shoulders.
"Don't be distracted!" Spade called out in panic to his two servants. "Finish them quickly!"
Hastily, Sumire pilled free a card from her belt, sliding it effortlessly into her buckle.
"Sword Vent! Blancvisor!" she called out, thrusting out her hand as a noble sword formed from light.
With ease, she spun about, slashing back against Another Agito, sending it stumbling two steps backwards, even as the shape of No Rider rose up behind. Geiz charged in before the other creature could right itself, slamming her elbow down into is open mouth, smashing its teeth in a shower of blood as it dropped to the ground.
"This ends now, Spade!" she commanded.
"I defy you!" the errant Timejacker cried out, gesturing wildly at Sumire. "That woman will never be Oma Zi-o!"
Beneath the mask and flesh of Fake Agito, Geiz smiled with wry amusement.
"That's what I'm counting on," she mumbled.
With confusion, Sumire pulled forth the Kuuga RideWatch from her right arm, its sharp crystal form throbbing with now with a dim red light, the faded portrait of Kuuga fluctuating. She lifted her head, returning the RideWatch to its resting place, and looked directly at Spade.
"I will be Queene," she announced, her voice firm with resolve. "I don't know what kind of a monarch you served under, but I will be a noble and just Queene, a woman deserving of the title."
About the hilt of Blancvisor, she tightened her gloved hand.
"And I will challenge anyone who harms those who I have chosen to serve!"
Spade's lips curled in disgust.
"Another Agito," he spat, "finish them."
With a howl, the creature launched forward, blood still spewing from its face, its fist pulled back. Deftly, Geiz moved to intercept, meeting the creature's blow with her own hand, engulfing the fist, tightening her fingers around it, and yanking the creature's arm sidewise, pulling it off balance.
"An Agito for an Agito!" she roared with triumph. "You can't win!"
"Sumire! Now!" Tsukuyomi shouted, opening fire with her Faizphone, blasts of energy spattering the ground, preventing Spade from advancing to aid his creations.
Sumire nodded, tearing free another card from her belt, sliding it into the hilt of the sword.
'Attack Vent!' the belt called in its familiar, mechanical voice. 'Misty Slash!'
"Rider Punch!" Geiz shouted, smashing her other fist forward, slamming into the chest of her opponent and sending Another Agito staggering breathlessly back.
The other girl sprinted forward, lashing out with her sword, slicing open the creature's chest, tearing free a final card from her belt with her other hand and sliding it into the sword.
'Attack Vent!' the belt cried again. 'Blancwing!'
From the ether, a massive, mechanical swan positioned itself between then, white wings spread wide.
'Final Time Break!' the belt called again, as Sumire leapt up upon the graceful creature's back, and sailed forward, cutting through both Another Agito and No Rider in a shower of explosive light.
The bird arced forward, upward, sailing off, and Sumire leapt down to the ground again, Another Agito behind her, staggering, falling forward to its knees, the armour rotting away, falling away in nauseous chunks of rotting flesh, revealing the gasping, pained young man beneath.
Ahead of her, No Rider howled in pain, cowering between the armoured girl and its master, his face contorted in rage.
"If I can't win here, I'll just go further back!" he cried out. "I'll simply make sure that there are no Riders for you to take up the mantle of!"
She sensed it before she saw it, leaping back at the giant fist of the stolen Time Mazine smashed into the ground where she had previously stood. Behind her, she heard the rattle of Tsukuyomi's blaster, bolts of energy smashing against the battered surface of the time machine.
Too late, she was able to catch a glimpse once more of Spade, standing with his familiar spirit in the open chest panel of the giant robot, and then, with a howl of machinery and an explosion of thunderous sound, they were gone, tearing away back further in time that either Geiz, Tsukuyomi, or Sumire had ever gone.
She turned, her hand at her belt, disengaging her armour, her expression full of seriousness, betraying nothing of the uncertain adolescent girl she had been when first she met with the visitors from the future.
"We have to go after them."
Tsukuyomi nodded, folding up the Faizphone in its more innocuous formation.
"The Time Mazine is in the forest. We'll be able to follow the residue of their energy signature if we leave now."
Geiz likewise disengaged her armour, her long braid of dark hair swinging at her waist as her lips twisted in displeasure.
"A whole month wasted," she growled, "we should have ended this as soon as we knew Spade was a Timejacker."
"You people," a voice came from behind, shaking, uncertain, "you people are under arrest."
Tsukuyomi turned to see Yashiro Ai crouched before the former host of Another Agito, her revolver raised, pointing directly at the three of them.
"You don't want to do that," Geiz growled threateningly.
Sumire nodded.
"She's right. We're the only one who can stop Spade before he destroys history."
"Destroys history?" Ai murmured.
"None of this was supposed to happen, we weren't supposed to be here." From her pocket, she drew forth the faded RideWatch again, the dim illustration of Kuuga etched into its surface. "Spade has altered history, and if we don't stop him we won't be able to restore things."
"Unidentified Life Form #4," Ai murmured, seeing the portrait on the watch Sumire held.
The girl tilted her head.
"Oh, you know him?"
There was a moment in which their eyes met, and then slowly, Ai lowered her gun, looking away, her attention suddenly focused on the unconscious boy once more.
"Go," she said softly, "do whatever it is you have to do to make things right."
She reached out, and smoothed the unconscious boy's hair back from his troubled face.
"Thank you, we won't forget this," Sumire said warmly.
Yashiro Ai looked down at the wounded boy on the gravel.
"Good," she said quietly, "because I won't either."
The motorcycle came to a skidding halt, its rider reaching up and pulling the helmet from his head, allowing his shoulder length hair to fall free. In his right ear, the light of the setting sun caught the diamond stud, filling it with bright radiance.
"They're not here," he said with displeasure, surveying the deserted construction site, the police tape cordoning it off from civilian access. "We missed them."
A large grasshopper alighted on the handlebars of the bike, its body shivering, its legs twitching.
"I can't sense them anywhere," the creature whining in a high-pitched, nasal voice.
"We were too late," King sighed with displeasure.
Sinking behind the shape of Mount Hitoki, the sunlight washed golden waves over the trees of the forest, casting long shadows out into the town.