Boss Rush

XXXV: Mirror of Oaths

"They're here," Nakamura stoically answered as a terrified Kiyomi entered the office.

Setsuka gave a wide smile as Kiyomi shivered. "Natashi Kiyomi. I have a mind to have a private chat with you."

Kiyomi swallowed. "Er, I'm not sure I'm free."

Her smile remained, though some bright spark would perhaps describe it as brittle. "Sad. Do you recognise this game?"

Kiyomi stared at the board and the twenty figures or so set in packing foam. "That's... Raijinhai?"

"Quite," Setsuka blinked. "And the entire family and the fiancée decided to follow you here, shame on you. Did you enjoy my hounds?"

"You mean, considering that they tried to kill and eat me, you're asking me if I enjoy them?"

"Well, you're still here, obviously you didn't," Setsuka murmured, turning to the other man. "This game, Raijinhai," Setsuka pointed to the board. "When you play it and lose, you lose something important. Lives and deaths have been placed upon this game for over two thousand years. The victims of this game are numerous; your father would only be one of many. Even if you play it... things that are lost are not so easily returned."

Kiyomi swallowed as her eyes bored at him. "Then... then, what are you going to do to me? I- I can't do anything for you."

"Then I shall not."

"I see-" Kiyomi paused. "Wait, I don't see. You tried to kill me and now you're letting me live?"

"There are worse things I can do," she archly answered, and from their expressions, they knew it. "Shall I tell you about angels, Natashi-san? Or should I assume that your taste in literature extends to Pratchett?"

"...wait, I know this one," Kiyomi stared at her. "This is... where Vetinari offers von Lipwig a job, right? The one about the postmaster general. What, exactly, are you proposing?"

"You give me the name of who's in charge of this little operation," Setsuka slowly pronounced. "In exchange, I leave you alone, and you may even take the Raijinhai game. May I just add that behind you there is a door, and that if at any time in this interview you feel you wish to leave, you have only to step through it and you will never hear from me again."

"Deeply suspicious," Kiyomi muttered.

"To continue: you give me the name of the one in charge, a list of members, and the objective of your... quest," Setsuka murmured. "In exchange, I grant you freedom."

"Erm, I- I don't think I might say..."

"Natashi Kiyomi. Need I remind you of the second thing about angels?"

Kiyomi gulped. "Fumizuki Hakuro."

Setsuka smiled. It was one that promised pain. "Of course. And the others?"

"Cheryl Madison, Liliana Arden, Satonaka Ryuuga, Kevin Dunames," Kiyomi babbled. "Madison and Arden died. Dunames disappeared when he faced you. I don't know about Satonaka."

"Cu Sith," Setsuka sounded amused. "You gave him the 'seed' your father stole from the Movement. It turned him into a loupe-garou. Not a very graceful monster, the Lycanthrope. He died rather tragically, as a monster."

"I..." Kiyomi stiffened. "You... you made it... that one..."

"It was a prize gotten from a monster," Setsuka dismissed. "A monster of Summer. Marguerite thought she made it bloom, but no. Back to the deal. The objective was to do more than steal this game, was it not? To break between worlds as you do..."

"Why are we afraid of the dark?" Kiyomi burst out, as if he was so afraid that he would rather be dead. "Left at mercy to the changes of time and forces beyond our control. Why? Why can't we gain control of it? You are everything. Everything that symbolises oppression and pain for those who don't obey the status quo. Even before you, your mother had power, she hoarded power like some dragon hoarding treasure. You and your family, you ruined the lives of so many people, my father and Fumizuki being only a few of many. It's enough. We've had enough of being the playthings of you and those like you. How many have died or been tormented into madness? We were doing what must be done. Become evil, to destroy evil... Fumizuki-san had good intentions."

He took a shuddering, angry breath, his eyes gleaming with something akin to banked rage. "I want to know... and then, it must end. And I will destroy it for good."

"Hearts," the girl sounded bored. "Good. Evil. You turned a man into an indiscriminate killing machine for good. You would have brainwashed the Summer monarch to fight a supposed evil. You recruited the ghost of a woman known to be the most sadistic recruiter for the Underground when she was still alive for the force of good."

"What?" Kiyomi hunched, his hands gripping the edges of the table.

"Good, evil, those things you natter about," Setsuka waved a hand lazily, her eyes half-lidded. "I am no longer interested in your nattering. Take the box. Leave."

Kiyomi stared as she got back to scribbling on her documents, rage supplanted by confusion. "I... I don't get it."

Setsuka glanced at him. "I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are good and bad people." The voice was gentle, as if belonging to a parent telling a recalcitrant child that Santa Claus did not exist. "You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides. The door is that way."

Kiyomi took the heavy teak container under one arm as he stood, turning to leave. He paused with his hand resting on the doorknob. "Why are you letting me leave?" His voice was small now.

"I keep my promises," Setsuka replied, never once looking up.

Kiyomi sighed, opening the door to see a woman with long silver hair and plain clothes.

"Natashi Kiyomi? I'm Kaname Yuuko, Captain of the First Investigative Brigade of Neo Domino Police Department. We'd like you to come with us for the investigation of the murder of Liliana Arden."

Kiyomi abruptly stared at her, before slowly turning back to the Oblong Office, where Setsuka was leaning against the door frame with a casual smile. "You bitch."

"No practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences," Setsuka murmured as Kiyomi was led away by two uniformed officers and past the gaping trio of the Ishihara. "Goodbye, Natashi Kiyomi."

The three remained stoic as she walked out of the Oblong Office.

"Ishihara Takeshi. Should I enquire why you have followed him? Or why you have brought along your entire family?" Setsuka was pleasant even to him.

"That's petty cruelty, even for you." Takeshi muttered.

"He did me wrong," Setsuka murmured. "And it was amusing. What will you do, then?"

Takeshi's hands had balled into fists. "Amusing?"

"Neither here nor there," Setsuka brushed aside. "Kaname-san, Alexianna, a pleasure to meet you once more. I see that you are well."

"Yes, Boss," Kaname greeted.

Alexianna squeaked, shifting behind Takeshi away from her. "... did you have to get him arrested?"

"One must always consider the psychology of the individual," Setsuka mused. Somehow, the cold look on her face seemed more inhumane than ever before she turned to Nakamura Iemitsu, who had just arrived. "Nakamura-san? Is the next appointment here?"

There were things about Fudo Ryuusei that were categorically impossible without the relatively simple but paradoxically incomprehensible process of genetic inheritance having a hand somewhere. His psychic powers – and approximately ninety percent of all members of the Movement worldwide – could be regarded as a maternal inheritance, as could his red fringe, combed in two long bangs that framed his face, and Black Rose Dragon. On the other hand, most acknowledged that his paternal inheritance came in a general sense of goodwill to the world, some other quaint morality that made him out as an otherwise model citizen, and a killer poker face.

This last characteristic was being tested to the limit with the presence of Rowena Cortez.

"Koyomi!" Rowena was barking at a waiting brown-haired girl with large assets, who was being stared at by Rex. "Why did we not get the slot?"

"I'm sorry!" the girl complained. "But Erika forgot to book early because- well, you know."

Rowena groaned. "Great. Now I feel bad. We've only got about two months more to the Stygian Dirge!"

She turned on Ryuusei. "This is all your fault! Now pay with your presence!"

"...I'm sorry?" Ryuusei hazarded.

"Rowena, we can't," Koyomi imparted. "That's Team Black Knights of DA Kings."

"Does it look like I care?" Rowena turned on her. "Dammit, we've already lost one member, and now we have to find another as well..."

"Rowena Cortez, third wheeler and leader of Team Illusion," Chase was reading out from the laptop. "Members, inclusive of leader, include Yoshisawa Koyomi, Satonaka Erika. Reserve, Satonaka Ryuuga, recently deceased."

Ryuusei swallowed. "I'm... sorry for your loss."

She rubbed the furrow on her brow, brushing aside caramel locks. "Well, you're really good... if you'd ever like to leave, we can take you-"

"Sorry, you're taking the leader," Rex intervened.

"Stingy," Rowena sighed. "Koyomi, let's go. It looks like we aren't getting any practice to ourselves today."

"Erm, well..." Ryuusei swallowed. "There's a lot of ground, are you sure-?"

"Ryuusei!" the two others grabbed him.

"What if they're spies?" Chase hissed.

"The only reason they haven't figured out Night Rose is because you haven't shown it!" Rex added. "Chase is right! They're competition!"

"It's not that bad, right?" Ryuusei protested.

Both of them exchanged looks before sighing, obviously at something Ryuusei had failed to catch. "Maybe he'd land them all in some horrible accident," Rex grumbled but let him go anyway.

"Rex, that's horrible," Ryuusei said.

A bit further away, Tsugare was laughing. So was Koichi. "I can't believe them..."

"Neither can I," Koichi chuckled. "I've never pegged you as the type to play professionally."

Tsugare's expression stilled, as if immortalised in glass.

"Did I say something wrong?" Koichi asked as Tsugare turned pensive.

"Have you wondered, what lies beyond the now?" Tsugare suddenly asked. "What happens if I do something?"

"Er..."

"No, I'm saying it wrong. How did Boss put it... have you ever wonder what is on the other side of that hill, and become excited?" Tsugare drew a deep breath. "It's... exhilarating. How is it like, to step out of the Arcadia Movement once you've been inside?"

Koichi opened his mouth to say that most people in the Movement did belong in the human world. He then recalled that members usually carried some emotional baggage, and several abandonment issues as well. He forbore to keep his mouth shut. "Free."

"I miss London," Tsugare sighed. "There's... a history there."

"You're beginning to sound like one of those old people who wear tweed," Koichi muttered. "Then why not just stay there?"

Tsugare shifted. "I did. For a while. Not forever, Boss is always looming in the shadow. Maybe, I can find it, you know. What I want to do here, while I'm still working for the Movement."

Koichi swallowed. "And your team-mates?"

"They're doing it for the Movement," Tsugare shook his head. "Yukio... well, he got it bad because of his parents. I can't say anything more. Kasai got the short end too, it's... something he can't remember. For himself. I don't want to owe Boss forever, but I don't know where to go."

"You can come with me," He didn't know why, but Koichi was already babbling. "I mean, I run a detective agency. I don't take many cases, and sometimes months get a bit lean, but it's pretty simple. You get a work permit, find a place to stay, and... maybe an apprenticeship to the agency. I think you can employ some skills you learned in the Movement here."

He was racking his brains, everything babbled by a drunk effeminate man already in his mind. "I'll get you out of the fog. Then you can decide what to do next."

Tsugare stared at him. "I... Why? I don't know you."

"I know you," Koichi plainly explained as he stood, extracting a card. "I don't need another reason, do I? My number."

Tsugare gingerly accepted the card, still wary as he studied the cardboard. "You're... serious."

"I can tell Setsuka if you like," Koichi offered. "I'm staying for the Stygian Dirge anyway, so I can wait. But not forever, okay?"

"U- Uh."

Koichi smirked, gave the boys a wave, and left Tsugare staring at his back as he walked away.

Tsugare stared at the neat test on the card. "You... you... I don't believe it! Bastard!"

All parties in question had stopped to stare at his outburst, and Tsugare swallowed before beating a hasty retreat.

"What's up with him?" Rowena muttered as he left.

"Who knows," was the vague reply from Youkai. "Anyway, shouldn't you leave now?"

Koichi could honestly say that he was rarely ever mugged in connection with any case of his. Or stabbed, or shot, or otherwise endangered. Of course, maybe the occasional thug came his way, and during that one case involving both Kaido and Setsuka, parts of his extremities frozen and his personal history read out in a frankly creepy way. Honestly, rarely ever endangered. Even spirits were hardly of a mind to hurt him ever so often, though the occasional broken thing was common.

This case was rapidly turning more hazardous than expected.

"You again?" He glanced up as the Cloudians gathered in agitation around him.

Eria was perched above him, sitting side-saddle on her staff like a broom like he had seen Marguerite do. Her wrists glimmered with silver, and around her neck hung a familiar mirror symbol.

"You know, I knew that the Gishki had to be involved somewhere," Koichi scowled as he crossed his arms. "I mean, after that last case with the Levianima, I was expecting you guys to strike faster. I just didn't expect you guys to strike here."

"The Queen's orders supersede any petty feuds we may have with mortal-kind," Eria answered, her voice hauntingly eerie. Both of them faced each other, her familiar already in its large, hulking form by her side. "Luckily, where Winter goes we shall follow. Doubtless, before those of Summer come, you will face many enemies come the Winter."

"Well, I got no problem with the Great Phantom Thief or the White Magical Hat, so trying to sacrifice them was kind of mean," Koichi retaliated. "Is this about your Winter Queen again?"

"No, it is for another reason," Eria looked distant. "Lady Noellia does not think of you seriously. Were it for me to answer, you would be dead."

"So why am I not dead?" Koichi countered.

"The Queen has not allowed it."

"... say what?" Koichi stared at her.

She sighed, as if wondering why the infant in front of her did not grasp that water was wet. "Sooth. The Queen has not allowed any servitor of Winter to make good of your life, nor of the other one you seem so worried about. For what reason I cannot imagine; it would have been a firm conclusion of this gamble we take."

Koichi gaped at her. "Hold it, get back to where she's not allowing you to kill me. I'm holding back power for her? Excuse me? You're the ones granting people powers that kill other people willy-nilly!"

Eria did not look amused. "That is not the business of the hour. But you will be, soon enough."

"Excuse me?" Koichi persisted. "Why?"

"Because, when your little guardians warned you of danger, they were not referring to me."

Winds swept the alleyway Koichi had sequestered himself to talk to her, as the sounds of howling echoed distantly.

"Huh?" Koichi quickly dived as what resembled a giant centipede attacked, its gleaming exoskeleton spattered with actual shrapnel and debris from the pavement. A dark-haired humanoid creature in purple armour dismounted, carrying a short staff in her elegant hands. Her pointed ears were readily apparent, that she was definitely not human.

"Ancient Elf, an elf said to not only have lived for thousands of years, but also leads an army of spirits into battle," Eria tonelessly identified. "One of the old court of Summer."

"Ariel of the Gishki," the identified elf murmured.

Koichi scrambled to his feet. "You're not supposed to hurt me, right?"

"We are not supposed to kill you," Eria clarified helpfully. "We can certainly hurt you. And the orders of the Winter Queen are not binding upon those of Summer."

"...Oh crap," Koichi quietly swore, glancing aside. "Why?"

Eria's eyes bored at him. "There are many reasons, each as complex and interconnected as the last. And you need not know any of them."

Koichi did the smart thing. He ran. Down the alleyway, and debating he finally fished out the phone and dialled quickly enough, ducking into a side alley as the Ancient Elf riding what he could now guess was a Doom Dozer approached.

His call was picked up. "Fudo Ryuu-"

"I'm being targeted by assassins again, come get me, I can't fight off this many," Koichi babbled as, very slowly, the Doom Dozer turned to him.

The next few seconds could only very charitably be described as a chase. Koichi ducked behind a few dumpsters, the Cloudians immediately scattering about to form a cloudy protective barriers from which blasts and the Doom Dozer's mandibles kept eating out of. Fishing the pocket DuelDisk from his coat and strapping it on was done with predictable efficiency, even if he was breathing hard.

"Summon Cloud."

The Ancient Elf snorted as lightning struck through the skies, very near to their place in the maze of alleys scattered across Neo Domino. "A mere storm cannot handle us."

"Y- You're solid," Koichi coughed as he touched his side, where the Elf's blast had barely scratched but clipped his hipbone. "T- That's not possible."

Almost negligently, the Ancient Elf brushed at her now-solid hands. "It took me aeons to gather enough power to manifest. How remiss of me. I suppose Oberon must now repay me in kind. No matter, after I finish you, I'll be right where I am."

"You know the biggest flaw you guys have?" Koichi snickered as a giant green cloud began to envelop the field. "You talk too much."

The Elf snarled as greenish fog seem to cloud the whole alley, obscuring sight and hiding Koichi from view. "You cannot hide. Not forever."

Koichi's voice reverberated from about the mist- covered way. "Tag, you're it."

The Elf quickly backed against a nearby wall, her monster growling as it snapped its jaws at the green fog. Wings blew on her skin, and yet the mists did not disperse. "Green mists..."

"Green mists were once the herald of a door between worlds," the words eerily echoed down the alley, its source concealed by the fog. "Or they were opened by fairies. Your pick."

"I am admittedly unfamiliar with human lore," the Elf admitted. "However, I know you have the Cloudians allied to you."

Murmurs, growing slightly louder as the fog permeated the place. Memories, some lost and confused and helpless, growing in power given time, merciless as a natural disaster about to break out.

The Elf murmured a series of words, culminating in "Windstorm of Etaqua."

Enormous wintry gales blew, the spirits of the clouds screaming in pain and defiance.

"Raging Cloudian, activate," the Elf heard.

Her eyes widened before she was hit by the sucker punch in a burst of green fog once more. Her monster screamed as it was shattered quickly. A giant eye blinked, slow and pensive, before it floated to one side and towards the panting Koichi, standing as the detective was. "If you're solid, and you can hurt me, I can hurt back."

The Ancient Elf grimaced as she slowly got up. "You..."

"Why?" Koichi demanded. "Why kill me?"

"You mean you don't know?" the Elf laughed. "How sad. It is not for you personally that we must slay you. It is because of the threat you pose."

"The threat I pose?" Koichi stated, with emphasis on the personal pronoun. "Excuse me? You're the one flinging a monster at me!"

The Ancient Elf looked ready to kill. "Do not worry. I will endeavour to make your demise painless."

"I don't find that promising at all!"

Jewels clacked as another pair of ragged boots landed, and chains shot from the ground to bind the Doom Dozer. The jewel on the end of the staff glittered as Aussa swung it, her ragged robes billowing and her eyes sharp behind her glasses.

"Cerise?" Aussa blinked as she held up her staff to protect Koichi.

"Aussa, fellow Summer-bound," the Elf acknowledged. "Why are you protecting him?"

"Well, I was called by..." Aussa paused. "Why are you here, assaulting someone under the protection of the Night Rose Knight?"

"The liege of fae commands that the truth-seeker be removed before he can intervene in the great battle to come in the Stygian Dirge."

Both Duel spirits stared at each other for a moment.

"...the Night Rose Knight's protection?" the Elf, Cerise, finally echoed.

"You haven't heard?" Aussa looked stupefied. "I did my best heralding and everything."

"I cannot say I have. The forests are relatively silent concerning the lord of Summer."

"Can we please stop?" Koichi finally broke out as a warm breeze spread. Dark petals scattered in the midst as he spoke.

"What's this about being targeted by assassins again?" the newcomer finally said.

Koichi sighed. "Finally. Now get here and ask them to explain what the hell is going on."

Ryuusei could feel the onset of a pounding headache. Barely had anything been settled between the two teams when Koichi's call had come in, and Ryuusei actually had to ask Black Rose Dragon to find the detective, who was midway through being savaged by an Ancient Elf accompanied by a Doom Dozer. What took a lot of hurt from Koichi was warded off by the advent of the black dragon, and soon the Ancient Elf had condensed her orders in a few very short sentences.

Ryuusei sighed, rubbing his brow again. "So, this is about the Naturia Forest."

"Yes, Your Majesty." the Elf was kneeling on both legs, her head bowed despite every attempt of Ryuusei to dissuade her.

"Somehow, a collective of leaders from both sides decided that it would be a great idea that whoever can control Tsugare-san to get the Forest as well."

"There are more complexities regarding the agreement between this mortal and the Forest, but Your Majesty has hit upon the simplest explanation that may be expected."

"Simplest explanation," Ryuusei shrugged. "Either way, whoever can control Tsugare-san gets the Forest. And from your explanation, Yamamoto-san is involved because someone tried to get him in it."

"The antics of the truth-seeker regarding the centre of power within the Old World has indeed troubled many on both sides. Hence the leaders of Summer and Winter do indeed believe that he should die in the crossfire for his arrogance in involving himself in these affairs."

Koichi gulped at the casual way the Elf had been discussing his death.

"And this was decided when the war ended?" Ryuusei clarified.

"The agreed medium of competition between the Courts was luck and wits as the armistices of the Luminous Spark do state. King Oberon was merely trying to even the rifts of power that continue to exist between the Silver and Ivory Thrones, and perhaps with a side advantage."

"But Shimotsuki intervened," Ryuusei guessed.

"We were indeed unable to gain a foothold upon the vessel, since the Winter Queen had removed all knowledge, and therefore any aegis, for Misawa Tsugare to be involved in the affairs of spirits," the Ancient Elf demurred.

"She did it to protect him?" Koichi mouthed. "I thought-"

"Yamamoto-san," Ryuusei severely looked at him, before turning back to the Ancient Elf once the detective fell silent. "And then, what did Oberon decide?"

"He decided that even without the named target he would have satisfaction from the truth-seeker, and sent me to make good on the truth-seeker's life."

Ryuusei shook his head. "That's... twisted."

"I did not know that the truth-seeker was under Your Majesty's protection, or I would have withdrawn my retainer forthwith," the Elf kept her head bowed. "This servitor of the Ivory Throne begs pardon from the merciful one who is Night Rose Knight."

"You're forgiven, go back and tell... anyone else that I'm going to be angry if Yamamoto-san is targeted again," Ryuusei sighed. The Elf kept her face professionally blank. "Aussa, when did you get here?"

"Huh?" Aussa mouthed. "I was called here by-" she glanced up. Ryuusei followed her line of sight to bright blue hair, a staff, ragged robes and an accompanying familiar that proceeded to disappear once spotted.

"... Eria called you," Koichi frowned. "Why?"

"Because Shimotsuki is playing a game," Ryuusei whispered as realisation dawned on his normally quiet features. "We were so distracted, that we never paid attention. We never thought that Shimotsuki might have more than one motive."

"What?"

"Why are you still alive?" Ryuusei was pacing, muttering now. "That's an important question. If you were the only pawn on the board that anyone can manipulate, say, what do you think Shimotsuki would do?"

"Erm, make sure no one else can use it?"

"Yes. That would be simple with the Arcadia Movement's backing," Ryuusei muttered. "For one thing, I know that Shimotsuki is quite capable of manipulating Tsugare-san, and without anyone knowing. But, what is the one thing that she was banking on?"

"Me figuring it out," Koichi muttered. "She wanted me to confront her, something I haven't been usually doing. Damn, what kind of idiot am I?"

Ryuusei nodded grimly. "Seconded. I've been so distracted, I never thought about Shimotsuki that way. Not like in the past. She hasn't changed, Yamamoto-san. She's the Winter Queen now, but she's still the magnificently manipulative Shimotsuki Setsuka who plays us all until it's too late."

"What are you talking about?" Koichi looked lost.

Ryuusei was staring off with something akin to amazement. "Shimotsuki, you wonderfully deceitful clever girl."

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