Boss Rush

XXVIII: Mystical Moon

As the ferry was still sailing, chaos reigned in the Central building. Brick crashed, metal bent, and people were screaming.

"What the hell is that?"

"Run away!"

"Monster!"

There was a barking of firearms, before glass shattered in a tinkle like falling crystals, and a form leapt out into the streets of Neo Domino.

In the backdrop, a howl echoed below the sphere of the moon.

In these cases, usually the appropriate authorities would be called. Yet, approximately six hours later, the NDPD were still debating while Setsuka was not happy. Before her, Nakamura Iemitsu knelt in seiza, pending an apology.

"We ran out of Earl Grey?" Her anger was simmering, that was certain. "There is no tea in the house...? Nakamura-san, I am very sure-"

The doorbell rang. "Setsuka!" Hazuki's voice rang. "I brought apple tea!"

Iemitsu was moving faster than should be possible as he opened the door to greet the other. "Himemiya-sama."

Hazuki having been roped into helping the old retainer appease the clearly irritated leader of the Arcadia Movement, the tea leaves were steeped in the teapot before long, Setsuka had been plied with toast and honey, and resembled less of a bear with every passing minute. Both older man and young woman were sighing with relief once the tea was deemed strong enough.

As the manservant set down the cup of the dark brown leaf, the telephone gave a quiet ring. The scene seemed to freeze into a tableau. An impending crisis was here. Doubtless, it must be one very urgent one, to actually interrupt the morning ritual and tea. He would have pitied the caller if it were not for the Missy's eyes narrowing in a way that promised a democratic spreading of pain as far as possible.

The empty cup set down, then the receiver was plucked from the cradle. "Arcadia Movement, Shimotsuki Setsuka." The reply was polite, cool and clearly dripping with malicious intent.

A moment of silence before Setsuka set the phone down. "Nakamura-san, my uniform. Hazuki, prepare for school, and collect my homework, please. It appears that we have been roped into a murder investigation."

Very few mortals kept track of the phases of the moon, Marguerite knew. Spirits, especially Spellcasters, were the opposite; timing and placement were important to the efficacy of many a spell. Especially with the old rituals, she recalled, the ones that celebrated the change of the seasons...

"You are awake," Marguerite noted once her charge awoke.

"Morning, Marguerite," Ryuusei acknowledged, rubbing his brow. "Say, are flowers supposed to bloom for so long after being plucked?"

"Normally, no," Marguerite motioned to the vases of blooming flowers. "However, you are in the presence of the Summer King and the Witch of the Time Flower. I merely froze the time of the flowers to keep them in bloom."

Ryuusei had a pensive expression. "I wonder how it is. To be frozen..."

"Nii-chan!" Seika's voice rang through. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Shit! My schedule!"

It was a slightly more weary Ryuusei that sat to breakfast later.

"There's always the next tournament," his father pointed out.

"Morning, Dad," Ryuusei answered. "Rex has seriously improved, I'm not bitter. It just means I have more reason to beat him next time."

"Hmm," his father nodded in approval. "Did you hear about the criminal breaking out of the Central?"

"Really?" Ryuusei mused as a weary Izayoi Aki sat down. "Morning, Mum."

"Coffee..."

"How horrible!" Seika agreed as she set down the mug in front of Aki. "A whole wall was blown up just like that!"

"Yes, quite horrible."

If Ryuusei was half-asleep beforehand, the sight of Setsuka at his breakfast table had jolted his brain to full wakefulness. "Why are you here!?"

"Satonaka Ryuuga was captured breaking into the Movement earlier this week," Setsuka answered. "He was remitted to Central despite our warnings and offerings to post guards. Last night, he escaped. We're being requested to investigate."

"Another psychic?" Ryuusei asked.

"No," Setsuka answered. "I'll take you to school. We'll talk then."

She would say no more until the black car was on the highway, giving Ryuusei the files to read. Two readings later, Ryuusei set down the file. "A werewolf."

"You've seen the reports."

"Really?"

"Are they so hard to believe true? You turned a vampire into stone, after all."

Ryuusei sighed. "Satonaka Ryuuga allegedly turned into a wolf, rampaged through Central, killing three officers before he escaped. So why am I involved?"

"Kaido told me that he is like us, a 'seed' holder," Setsuka replied. "Cu Sith, or the Hound of the Sidhe. Can you imagine such a rampaging beast let loose in the city?"

Ryuusei shifted. "And my role in this?"

"Wolves are traditionally the domain of Summer," Setsuka answered. "Though I too have wolves amongst those I call, the wolf-spirit that has taken control of Satonaka through the Hound of the Sidhe is not one of mine. You've been feeling it, haven't you? A headache, a predator in the vicinity?"

Ryuusei rubbed his creased brow in answer. "Uhm, yes, I've been having headaches."

"I cannot do anything without killing it," Setsuka replied. "You may be able to."

"I have school, you know," Ryuusei pointed out.

"Oh, I know," Setsuka answered. "All I ask is that you keep an eye out. It is highly possible that you will be his target, after all."

The door opened, leaving Ryuusei to climb out and stare as it peeled away towards Queens, leaving him with the vaguest feeling that he had just escaped with his life.

"Do you think it could be a spirit, Marguerite?" he murmured quietly later at lunch. Chase was more absorbed in his cell-phone, while Rex was sifting through lecture notes for a last-minute reading.

The shadow of the witch looked pensive. "I met someone with such a power that bloomed. It is highly possible. The Lycanthrope was the beast-warrior berserker under the rule of Titania. Under her command, it had laid waste to several villages and lives, before it was killed by Winter."

"You mean they're real?"

"Magic is real. Why not others? It is said that stories hold a kernel of truth in them. Why not everything else? Monsters of the night are true, after all. They are a truth that need not be spelt out. One of your mortal sages has even proclaimed so: The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination."

Ryuusei shook his head. "Then... why is it not public news?"

"Mortals," Marguerite scoffed. "They don't want to accept a frightening reality. Some of them open their eyes and get involved, like you did. Most of them don't want anything to do with the supernatural. So they leave it behind and don't talk about 't think about it. They don't want it to be real, and they work really hard to convince themselves that it isn't. Why lift the blinkers when it serves nothing? Time after time, history demonstrates that when people don't want to believe something, they have enormous skills of ignoring it altogether."

To that, he could not find an answer. So he changed the subject. "She said that I might be able to do something about it. Why?"

Marguerite tapped her staff. "It is a difficult explanation. There is no clear-cut way to decide if one aligns with Summer or Winter, save for their mindset. In a war, Duel Spirits will ally with one side or the other, depending on their actions."

Ryuusei was, to put it not too finely, lost at sea. "Huh?"

"For example, two Gemini Elves come across a destitute, and in a fit of benevolence, decide to help him," Marguerite decided. "One feeds him, bathes him, and clothes him. The other harangues him, forces him to clean himself up and stand on his own two feet while making his life hell. In this case, both have made an effort to help him, but the first one would be called to Summer in a time of war, while the other would be headed Winter-wards."

"Okay..." Ryuusei frowned. "So in the case of the Lycanthrope?"

"He was jovially violent," came the blunt answer.

"-.-|||" Ryuusei merely shook his head. Even if he was a king amongst spirits, there was no understanding them.

"E- Erm..."

All three boys turned to look at the girl. She was wearing the Ra Yellow uniform of Queens, and was clearly nervous, playing with her fingers. "I- I'm Ayaka Mutsuki, p- pleased to m- meet you, F- Fudo-sempai, Atlas-sempai, Princeton-sempai. M- My apologies for disturbing you, b- but..."

"Do you need something, Ayaka-san?" Ryuusei asked gently as he noted a gaggle of Queens' Obelisk girls nearby. The campus was free seating, hence perhaps it should not have been so unusual to see girls near Kings.

"E- Erm..." she turned to glance at the giggling girls before taking a deep breath. "I- I'm from the J- Journalism C- Club of Q- Queens... we're doing an article on Team Black Knights, and... w- would you like to add a few o- offhand comments?"

"Heh, really?" Chase considered. "Well, about the team?"

"A- And your feelings of being in it," Mutsuki clarified.

"Well, we weren't really thinking, we just sort of... clicked strategies together," Chase waved.

"Even before the team was formed, we already worked out how to work together," Rex answered. "In a very loose sense. Well, we still lost to Marufuji-sensei in the end, but it was a start. Look, did you see the number of participants for the GeneX recently? They've been dropping every year with the shifting focus to Team Duels."

"I think that, while Duelling is an admirable sport, that team Duelling takes more than just teamwork," Ryuusei diplomatically answered. "It also takes knowing your partners' decks right down to the last card, and then working something out together. That's why we know each other's team decks, and we have to work really hard to surprise our team-mates."

Mutsuki dutifully noted these details. "E- Erm, may I ask, who is the leader?"

Chase and Rex immediately pointed to Ryuusei.

"Thank you," Mutsuki coughed. "E- Erm, Fudo-sempai, I r- realise that this m- might be a private i- issue, but... d- do you h- have a girlfriend?"

A long silence descended as her cheeks pinked.

"No," Ryuusei shortly answered. "It'd be nice, though, but I'm not interested in dating right now, sorry."

"I- It's fine," Mutsuki quickly bowed and left.

Chase smirked. "It strikes again."

"Shut up," Ryuusei countered. "Rex?"

The tall blond was just about to open his mouth when a commotion began from far away.

"Someone stop her!" a voice yelled as Ryuusei got up.

"The je ne sais quoi strikes once more," was Setsuka's opening comment when Ryuusei came to the office of the Disciplinary Committee following the two girls who had fought. It had been a classroom, at least before the current chairperson had wielded her not-inconsiderable will to have it renovated into something more comfortable. Considering that most of Queens and the sister school, Duel Academia Kings, considered the current Queen of Queens a handful, the rapid renovation and comfortable room was understandable, the uncomfortably cold atmosphere of the room even more so.

"The what?" Ryuusei mouthed.

"Je ne sais quoi," Setsuka repeated. "An intangible quality that makes something distinctive or attractive. Literally 'I don't know what'."

"I- I suppose so."

"I suppose not. I think you have no idea. I think that is the tragedy of your life. But the tragedy is for other people,not for you."

"What?" Ryuusei asked.

Setsuka, who enjoyed making incomprehensible statements, merely smiled. "The Witch of the Time Flower will know. So, now we can add one unintended assault to the crime count."

"Er..." Ryuusei just shook his head. The unsettling smirk followed him out.

"Why do these things happen?" He admitted to himself once Rex and Chase had been seen home after school and he was driving.

Marguerite's amused chuckle appeared. "Your appeal is not limited to just spirits. You mortal-kind call this appeal a glamour, I suppose. You may find yourself slightly nondescript, but others will feel attracted to you, drawn to you, perhaps even love you before even you yourself know it."

"But why? I've never done anything," he sounded frustrated.

"'Why do these things happen', you said it quite lightly, not realising danger. Your mortal bard, or one of them had mentioned it, like the Venetian Desdemona might have said it. She, too, recognized jealousy, but she did not understand it, because she herself never had, and never could, experience jealousy. She was, I think, quite unaware of the force of acute physical passion. I think that because of her immunity to passion, she herself drove men mad. Am I making sense to you?"

There was a pause – and then his voice answered. Cool, sweet, a little bewildered:

"I don't- I don't really understand what you are saying."

Marguerite sighed. "If a man is too beautifully formed, I suppose his life would become truly miserable. As it is, the fact is readily apparent."

Ryuusei was about to demand a clearer answer when the first monster hit. He was too distracted after that.

"Koichi, desist immediately," came the order. "You are not covered to track Satonaka Ryuuga. Bring Tsugare back immediately. Koichi!"

Tsugare stared as Koichi hung up on Shimotsuki Setsuka. "She found out?"

"Yeah," Koichi mumbled. "Well, I'm not with the Movement officially. What's she going to do?"

Tsugare considered. "I don't think she would actually personally end your life, or hit you with Brionac. Maybe disappear you."

Koichi snorted, ignoring the agitation of the smoky translucent creatures about him that only he could see. "She's not a magician, Misawa."

"She might as well be," Tsugare shook her head. "Looks, it's like the comparisons between angels, demons and faeries. Eternally good, infernally wicked, and morally suspect. There's always a price to deal with her, I think."

Koichi shook his head in the car they were currently using to watch the suspect. So far, Satonaka had entered a building and resolved to stay. "You're thinking too much. Anyway, it's not like she can do anything to me, right?"

Overhead, the skies were darkening. Orange sunlight that streaked the skies were dying out, and the sphere of the moon could roughly be glimpsed.

A howl rang out.

Hearing that set off some primal, ancient fear, something programmed, a fear of being found in a hiding place, of being trapped in a tiny space from which there was no escape while something with killing teeth and crushing jaws came in to eat. That same primitive, naked part of the two screamed and gibbered and shouted to turn around right now, to turn around and run, fast and far.

There was a horrible, wrenching sound, a screech of protesting metal – then dissolved into a strangled mishmash of sounds, of tearing and snapping and popping, of gurgling and thudding.

Koichi's eyes widened as the sounds and agitation of the Cloudians. In his view, the large, steel garage door of the building was denting with every scuffle. Koichi opened the door, presumably to investigate.

"Are you insane?" Tsugare hissed.

"I can't leave it alone," Koichi replied warily. "Besides, the perp is behind that-"

The doorway exploded out, throwing the metal cover back like so much shrapnel. A dumpster crashed, the entire thing bending a street-light on impact. There was a snarl, and then the creature that had been Satonaka Ryuuga came through to the light.

The creature was a wolf, in the same way that a velociraptor is a bird – same basic design, vastly different result. It must have been about one and a half metres tall at the tip of its hunched shoulders. It was wider than a wolf, as though a wolf had been squashed down with about two hundred kilos of pure muscle, engorged, and then let loose. Its pelt was shaggy, jet-black and matte, except where fresh blood was making it glisten. Its ears were ragged, upright, focused forward like some canine predator's. It had a muzzle that was too wide to belong to anything natural, a mouthful of teeth, and blazing eyes done in monochrome grey, the whole stained with blood that looked black. Its limbs were disproportionate, though whether they looked too long or too short was uncertain, just wrong. Everything about it was wrong, screaming with malice and hate and anger, and it carried a cloak of supernatural power with it that made teeth hurt and hair stand on end. The beast pawed the ground with sharp claws, sniffing.

Koichi's face flooded with colour. "Oh, gods."

The beast oriented on him, then flung itself with unholy grace at Koichi.

The detective got lucky. Vines sprouted from the ground to lash about its legs as the door slammed shut. "Now!" Tsugare hissed as a chunk of vine hit the driver's window.

Koichi lost no time in starting the car, muttering prayers and invectives as the headlights flooded and he floored the accelerator. The beast was faster; there was a loud pop as one of the tyres crashed, and it shattered the reinforced glass to reach for the detective.

Misawa Tsugare might have been slender and rather less muscled than the others of his family, but he could still bench-press where needed. One arm managed to haul Koichi out by the collar of his coat while the other clicked the seatbelt. Both men threw themselves out of the car, scrabbling with urgency on the pavement as the beast raged. More vines sprouted from the ground as Tsugare clung onto Koichi's hand, both men running.

"Boss!" Tsugare was calling with increasing urgency. "Boss!"

"Dammit!" Koichi hollered. "She forgot to mention that Satonaka is a friggin' werewolf! How is this even real?"

Another howl of bestial rage as they turned a corner to be greeted with the sight of the Spiritual Forest Park. Having been the bright spark of some billionaire with too much money and not enough common sense, the park that was closest to the Cubic Area was essentially an empty place with loads of squirrels and... and no civilians this late.

Behind them, the beast broke free, rising to get upon Koichi.

"Come on!" Tsugare nodded as he ran to the city park, and Koichi followed.

He had no idea why, but the Meteor Stream took Ryuusei to one of Neo Domino's empty public parks. There, the sprites greeted him, some even dropping flower petals as they giggled about. It was calm, peaceful and empty despite the lateness of the hour, which was about an hour after dark. Ryuusei was fairly confident of not getting mugged, at least, and so he was about to spend an hour or so in contemplation.

The howl of something that caused his hair to stand on end broke any intentions of that as he ran from the pavilion, the Fairies giggling somewhat before they screamed and disappeared.

"Ryuusei!" Tsugare's voice was a weak scream as the plant life came to life. There was the purple-haired psychic, along with another man with ice-blue hair, and both of them were being pursued by the lupine creature that gave yet another howl as it oriented on him and leapt with terrifying grace to them.

"No, no, no, nonononononono!" It fell upon Koichi, claws and fangs slashing. It sank its jaws into the small of the man's back, releasing a spray of blood.

Ryuusei got lucky. He had convulsed instinctively at the sight of teeth, and therefore been thrown mere centimetres from its path. Scrambling back to his feet, he drew a card. "Black Rose Dragon!"

Thorned vines lashed out at the lupine beast as the red dragon appeared, screaming its vengeance in a diabolic cry of rage. Around him, the Fairies cried out in shock and disapproval, while mist seemed to gather around the bleeding Koichi.

"Naturia Beast!" the lion monster leapt with Black Rose to retaliate, baring its maw as the lupine creature confronted both draconic and leonine monsters.

"What's that?" Ryuusei pointed.

"S- Satonaka," Koichi coughed. A heartbeat later, a dark-haired form settled as Tsugare backed, vines sprouting around him and Koichi. "I- It's Satonaka," the eldest Misawa coughed in affirmation. "H- He's turned into an m- monster-"

Ryuusei could hardly fault the elder. It was a monster, after all.

"Mille Fleurs: Fragrance Storm!"

Petals surrounded the lupine monster, cutting where they touched as it cried out in pain.

"Indeed, this is the work of Cu Sith," Marguerite affirmed. "As I am bound to you, I shall require commands, Ryuusei."

"Attack," Ryuusei answered without hesitation.

Marguerite raised her staff. "Envoûtant de fleurs!"

There was a smell of rotting flowers as the beast was slashed and disoriented, shaking its head and snout.

"Clear day today," a voice murmured. "You know, tonight is a full moon."

"It's real," Koichi babbled, albeit weakly. "They're real."

"Of course they are," Setsuka lightly answered as she steadily stepped towards them, her footsteps without sound. "Loud noises will attract it. By the way, Black Rose Dragon and Lycanthrope are of the same attack strength, and Naturia Beast is weaker than it."

Faced with her sheer calm in the face of such a monster, Ryuusei could feel his own doubt fade. "Koichi's injured."

Setsuka's expression did not change. "I can tell. Go see to the monster."

Frustration and panic were deadened, giving way to hot anger as Ryuusei turned to the lupine beast still trying to get to them.

"Thorn of Malice!" Ryuusei called as sharpened, spiked thorns ran along the length of the dragon's vines and the Black Rose lashed anew, the beast bellowing in pain as the attacks connected.

"At the rate he is bleeding out, he will assuredly die before the paramedics get here," Setsuka's words drifted.

"You can do something, right?" Tsugare was pleading. "Boss?"

"I cannot save him," came the placid reply. "At least, not yet."

"Black Rose Dragon!" Ryuusei called as the Naturia Beast leapt to defend the three others and Black Rose advanced, one of its thorns striking in the heart.

It fell to earth. And changed. Muzzle melted back into human face. Fangs and claws faded. Warped muscles slithered away. Fur disappeared. Knotted limbs straightened into clean arms and legs – until the slightly overweight form of Satonaka Ryuuga lay on his side, clutching at his heart. Scarlet drips spilled out between his fingers and dangled down his chest. He stared down at the wound for a moment, and then he relaxed.

Ryuuga looked up, and in his face Ryuusei saw all the grief and agony and impotent rage, everything he had felt. And then it all flooded out of him. His eyes cleared and warmed as he looked, and the older man gave me a small, quiet smile. It was an expression of forgiveness. Something to show that he understood.

Then he laid down his head, and was gone.

Ryuusei's own blackout followed soon after.

By him, Setsuka sighed at the desperate Tsugare and the half-lucid Koichi, as if wondering why the infant in front of her didn't grasp that water was wet. "He is bound in a number of ways to one who owes me debts. A temporary one, yes, for there are a limited number of debts that he can repay. But while my debtor owes me, he and his are mine, and under my protection. Or so it was, until he behaved most treacherously without realizing what he was doing. Then was I bound by oath and honour to leave him to his own devices, to live or die on his own."

Tsugare still clutched at the bloody mangled form. "Please," he whispered. "I'm begging you, Boss. Please. Even... just, save him."

"There will be a price," Setsuka murmured. "When all is said and done, you are asking me to help a stranger to you."

Tsugare swallowed. His mouth hardened. He was silent for a moment, and then said, "How much?"

"Why," she whispered. "What do you offer?"

"I don't have much money," he began.

"Money. What is money." she shook her head. "No. Such things mean nothing to me. But let me see." She walked in a slow circle around them, frowning at him, looking him up and down. "Such pretty eyes, even though they are mismatched. They will do."

"My eyes?" Tsugare stammered.

"No?" Setsuka murmured. "Just one," she tapped the left one covered by a long bang with a slender finger.

Tsugare clutched at it. "No. I... I need it."

Setsuka thrust out her lip. "Very well, then. Let us ask of her a different price." Her eyes gleamed and she leaned toward him. "Your love," she murmured. "Give me that."

Tsugare arched his delicate brows. "You want me to love you, Boss? You've got a lot of surprises coming, if you think it works like that."

"I didn't ask you to love me," Setsuka dismissed, her tone offended. "I asked for your love. So, his eyes and his love are too precious to allow the beloved to escape the inevitable. But well enough, if that is also too steep a price, perhaps memory will do instead."

"My memory?"

"Not all of it," she said. She tilted her head to one side and purred, "Indeed. Only some. Perhaps the worth of two, no, three months. Yes, I think that would suffice."

Tsugare looked uncertain. "I don't know… and he's straight, by the way."

"Does it matter? He won't live the night. Such a loss." she murmured quietly.

"W- Wait," Tsugare hesitated. "I- I'll make the trade. I don't know why, but... three months. For his life."

"Memory for a chance at life. Done," she purred. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss upon his forehead, then shivered, drawing in her breath in a swift inhalation. "Forget."

The temperature dropped about forty degrees more as Tsugare dropped like a brick and she turned to the bleeding, unconscious detective. "When this is over, Yamamoto Koichi, you will know pain for your arrogance. But not this night. Indeed, this night you have suffered enough. Heal."

Slowly, under her ministering hands, the cut skin and bleeding wounds began to knit together.

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