-Chapter 14, Ambush!
If looks could kill, and with Tohka that was a significant possibility, then Yoshino would have died a thousand times by now with the searing hole Tohka burned into her small back. Nat had already tried three times and given up twice to get her to calm down.
"Look, Tohka, I know you don't like it, but let's just be patient with him, okay?" Nat tried to reason as they made their way down the road and toward the train station.
Tohka turned to him with a pout. "Why should I? It's not my fault she lost her stupid toy!"
"You say that, but how did you feel when you lost your toy back then?"
"That wasn't just a toy!"
"And maybe Yoshino feels the same way about her puppet?"
"...whatever."
Nat sighed and shook his head. Make that three times he had now given up.
Up ahead, Shido and Yoshino whispered to each other just as Tohka and Nat had been. "Try not to take it personally, Yoshino. She does mean well, she's just not used to all these new feelings."
Yoshino guiltily glanced back before nodding. "I know, but I still feel bad. I've been taking up so much of your time…" she mewled while playing with the hem of her coat as they turned right and down the hillside.
"Seriously, don't worry about it! We're all happy to help, even if some of us aren't so enthusiastic about it." Shido couldn't help but feel that searing stare on his own back after Tohka overheard him. It made him shiver and bunch his shoulders up. "M-most of us, at least."
The four of them made their way down to the station where the train carried them the rest of the way down to the city. By the time they stepped out into the city centre, the sun had begun its rapid march into dusk, and the air began to quickly fall in temperature. Winding their way through the maze of streets, Shido led the way with Yoshino close in tow, followed by Tohka and Nat a few short paces behind. Before long, they found themselves outside the department store once more. Even Tohka stopped glaring to gawk at the damage.
"I wonder how they explain away all the bullet holes and scorch marks," Nat mused.
Shido's eyes turned skyward as his face contorted in memory. "I think I read an article once that the bullet holes were caused by 'violently-flung rubble travelling at extremely high velocities', and that the scorch marks were 'as of yet unexplained phenomena caused by the vaporisation of air particles'."
"I can't believe I used to buy that crap."
"Tell me about it."
Interrupting their idle conversation, Yoshino tugged at Shido's jacket and pointed down the street. "Can we search over there next?"
Shido looked around. Despite the smattering of police tape, it seemed the interest in the wreckage had worn off as there were barely any pedestrians passing through this part of the city. He nodded and set off with Yoshino to rummage through the disturbed concrete. Tohka begrudgingly trailed after Nat as they picked their way through a nearby pile.
Atop one of the tallest buildings in the immediate vicinity, ten AST squad members lay prone against the flat roof, their grey armour helping them blend in against the grey brick backdrop. Commanding the squad, Captain Kusakabe, equipped with a heavy armour arrangement and long-range rotary cannon, looked through a squat, grey device with various lights and adjustable dials. To her side, equipped with a high-speed, light armour arrangement was her second-in-command, Origami Tobiichi.
"Well, there she is." Kusakabe drew the binoculars away from her face and handed them to Origami. "Princess, too."
Origami shuffled forward to the railings and peered through the two eye-holes. "Princess isn't wearing her Spirit Armour again and that girl's nowhere to be seen. If we're going to strike, now's our best chance."
Kusakabe pursed her lips. "I hate how brazen we've been recently; attacking in broad daylight like this."
"We could activate the Spacial Quake alarm," Tobiichi suggested.
"Yeah, but then we have to go out of our way to do some damage and simulate an actual quake. The higher-ups aren't particularly fond of that."
"By the looks of things, we don't have much of a choice."
Kusakabe blew out a long breath in consideration. "What's the average on evacuation times?"
At this, a female voice started to speak into her ear. It came over tinny and thin, albeit still legible. "Full evacuations usually take between seven and eight minutes, captain."
"So even if we do trip the alarm, we'll have to stall them for seven minutes. And if they get to a shelter, it's all over." Kusakabe worked her fingers over the wrinkles on her forehead. She could already visualise the paperwork coming. "Any other suggestions?"
Origami stayed quiet. The rest of the squad looked between each other, but no-one stepped forward.
Kusakabe sighed and turned. "Alright, ladies, listen up! I'm gonna radio for heavy jamming gear. I don't want a functional camera within a two mile radius of us when we flip that switch. Then, exactly three minutes after the alarm goes off, we engage."
Nine pairs of eyes stared back at Kusakabe as she spoke her plan.
"Tobiichi, Shizuka!"
Both girls perked up.
"You'll be in charge of capturing Princess and removing the civilians from the AO."
"Yes, ma'am!" they chanted in chorus. Their armour, for the most part, was arranged similarly. Designed for fast, close-range hit-and-runs and armed with a powerful beam sword which, with a bit of luck, could penetrate a Spirit's armour. Any similarity between the two of them ended there, however, as Shizuka was somewhat of the polar opposite of Tobiichi. Dark hair, pensive, reserved. A far cry from Tobiichi's explosive temper.
"The rest of you are with me. We're going after Hermit. Stay at range and burn her down. We've got plenty of ammo and I don't want to lug any of it back to base, so use as much as you can!"
That prompted some excited cheers.
"Stay fast, stay tricky, and stay tight. Stick to them like glue and I'll make sure every girl here gets a drink on me!"
Once again, a round of cheering from the AST squad before they double-checked their gear and prepared to head out.
"You're kidding?!" Shido's outburst drew a confused look from Yoshino, but her confusion was subdued with a quick shake of the head from Shido and a point toward a smaller pile of rubble beside an alleyway. By this time, the rain had begun to lash down again, mirroring Yoshino's quickly faltering hopes.
"Yeah, it sucks, I know. Trust me we're all feeling it up here as much as you are down there." Kotori sucked on the end of her lollipop as she studied the various displays. She rewound the security footage she managed to secure before the data was wiped. It clearly showed Origami picking up Yoshinon, then a moment later, nothing but static. "All you can do for now is play along with Yoshino. Keep her moving, keep her talking, keep her spirits up."
"Yeah I'm doing my best down here, but unlike Tohka, Yoshino catches on quick." Shido swore under his breath as he 'searched' behind a pile of black, plastic bags. The rain had revitalized whatever was stored in there and the putrid smell made him gag. "And unlike me, you're not getting soaked through to the bone. Again."
Kotori sighed. "Just do your best, big bro. We're doing our best too."
Kotori's sudden compassion took Shido off-guard for a moment. However, before he could thank her, Kotori's attention had been grabbed by one of the other bridge crew members. "Looks like I'm on my own again…"
"What's wrong, Shido?" Yoshino looked over at him after hearing his last mutterings. Shido could barely see her face under her hood held close. "Nothing, nothing, all good over here!" He flashed the girl a smile before grimacing down the offshoot. "As if this could get any worse-"
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THERE HAVE BEEN PRECURSORY SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING SPACIAL QUAKE IN THE VICINITY. PLEASE EVACUATE TO THE NEAREST SHELTER.
Shido screwed up his face. "Oh, find me in the Alps!"
It was hard to parse the time inside her own head. That was one of the first things Sam noticed. Before, she counted the days and weeks and months with steady predictability. Awake, asleep, awake, asleep, awake, asleep. However, that quickly fell apart when she stopped needing to sleep. In fact, she very desperately needed to wake up, a feeling amplified as the days inside her mind blurred and blended together as they went on. Who was to say time progressed at the same pace here as outside? That thought especially lived rent-free inside Sam's psyche. Sam's psyche inside her psyche…
"Psyche-ception?" Mio offered.
"Stop reading my mind!" Sam blurted, jabbing the latest polearm at the only other living thing for, quite literally, miles. That was another thing: if the days hadn't blended together enough, the training certainly had. Countless weapons, countless styles, countless scenarios. Sam struggled to remember what this weapon was even cal-
"It's called a glaive, Sam."
"I said, stop it!" With another interjection, Sam rushed Mio down, thrusting the glaive's pointed barb into Mio's sternum. In response, Mio span to the side and swung down with her own spear, catching Sam in the jaw. She staggered away, clutching her cheek and quietly groaning.
Mio frowned and yelled as Sam sauntered away, "You can't over-extend so much in a neutral state! You wanna commit that much; make sure your opponent is on the back foot! Come on, you know this."
Sighing, Sam planted her backside on the tarmac in a huff and stared up at the swarming buildings of Tenguu: business edition.
"Nice name," Mio commented.
Sam shot her a look before sighing and closing her eyes. Oh to feel even the simplest of things again. Like the warm breeze of summer or the cool rain of autumn. She had fond memories of hanging out on the Fraxinus' bridge just because she liked the sound of the rain on the ship's hull.
Funnily enough, Sam swore she just felt a splash of rain on her cheek. Then another. And another and another and- "Okay, very funny, Mio. But I did tell you to stop readin-"
"This isn't me, Sam," Mio objected. Her own gaze had turned skywards as clouds thickened and rain came down in lashings.
Sam opened her eyes. The rain formed a tunnel all the way up to the sombre sky. "What?"
Mio slowly stepped toward Sam and let her weapon fade into nothing. Still staring high into the sky, Mio rested her hands on Sam's shoulders. "What's going on?"
Then, another anomaly that caught their gaze: A warm glow of yellow and orange and red. Then it became intense. Then blinding!
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THERE HAVE BEEN PRECURSORY SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING SPACIAL QUAKE IN THE VICINITY. PLEASE EVACUATE TO THE NEAREST SHELTER.
Sam's mind struggled to processed what her mind itself conjured up. A spacial quake alarm? Why? A rush of wind careened into the two of them. Orange became purple. Yellow became black. Red became a taste like metal. Like blood in her mouth. Flashes. People's faces. Some she recognised, some she didn't. Shido's, Origami's, Hinata's, Kotori's. A girl with deep black hair and a girl with deep blue hair and a man with silver hair and a blonde woman and then Kotori's again. Kotori's face, Kotori's face, Kotori's face, Kotori's face, Kotori's face!
Save for a low hum, there was silence. Sam's ears twitched and strained to make out any noise above it. Was there a blowing breeze, perhaps? Maybe, but if so it was heavily dampened and muffled. Then, she heard talking, but it, too, was far off and so quiet as to preclude any notable words and phrases from meeting her. Slowly, she sat up. The rustling of sheets and the popping of springs penetrated her ears. Pulling her torso up, she registered the feeling of cotton surrounding her.
A bed. Sam placed her palms down and felt the mattress. It had sunken in from her body weight and remained deformed despite her half-upright posture. She pushed her hands around and down until they kissed cool metal. At that, her fingers recoiled and tiptoed back to her side.
Her taste returned next. A clammy, dry, uncomfortable feeling formed in her mouth. She tried to sate herself with her own saliva. Any drop of moisture to overcome the dry grip on her lips, but to no avail. Finally opening her mouth, she was struck by how heavy and stiff her jaw felt.
Then, her smell returned, although its entrance was far less dramatic and noticeable than her other senses so far. There was barely even the smell of dust hanging in the air. Sam's small nose fluttered and trembled, but made out nothing save for the dry smell of dust and the cold smell of wet metal.
Last, and in many ways least, her vision returned. Pushing on despite weighty eyelids, a blurry world of white and grey flooded into view. Sam sighed and squinted, sharpening the edges just enough. It could have been an infirmary like any other, were it not for the glass portal of endless sky and cloud to her left that barely peeked into her peripherals. She panned her head left, then right, then left again in some hopeful attempt to relax the tension in her neck. It came away all at once with a crackle-pop of cartilage, followed by a sigh of relief.
One last sigh. This time, spurred on by disappointment. Sam's fingers had subconsciously glided over her chest. There, just under her left breast, she could feel it. Ripples and bumps of scar tissue which would never fade. She traced the craggy line all the way from her breast to her side. She couldn't reach the rest of the way to her back.
"That must have missed my heart by millimetres…" Was the first thing Sam said. "Oh, good, I can still talk, then." Was the second.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed while internally wincing at the piercing squeaking it coaxed out of the springs, Sam placed her feet flat on the linoleum floor. It felt good when she flexed her toes. With a grunt, she pushed herself up onto the balls of her feet and stumbled over to the machine beside her bed. Once again, she squinted to make out the display, but the readout was still illegible to her. "Goddammit. I'm an engineer, not a doctor."
Frustrated, she pulled the various wires and pads and tubes off of her skin and let them droop beneath the machine, before shakily making her way to the door, pushing herself from bed to bed as her balance slowly – agonisingly slowly – returned. It was only once she reached the door did she realise her own nakedness and, sheepishly, reached for a hung-up hospital gown nearby. After quickly tying it around her waist, she opened the door and hobbled down the hallway. What was once a short jog became a short hike as Sam at last reached the door to the bridge. She pushed her palm against the scanner and shuffled through the newly-opened gap then leant against the doorway to catch her breath. Her legs had become jelly and her head spun with exhaustion and over-exertion. She clutched her chest and struggled to speak.
"Nnf… Kotori? I'm alive...mostly…" she whispered. Upon gathering enough strength to look up at the commander, she noticed her intense gaze. Sam followed it to the main screen where her breath became a lot more touch than go. She heaved herself back down the corridor, now spurred on by fear and adrenaline. What was Nat doing there? Why was the AST there? Was that the girl from outside the arcade? Was she a Spirit? What happened to Shido? Why was Origami there?!
With something between a limp and a lop-sided gallop, Sam made it to her workshop and quickly entered while stripping out of the gown. She absent-mindedly felt the scar again as she pushed past the strewn papers, errant prototypes, cluttered tables and flopped into a nearby side room. She smacked the wall with her fist and out slid her body suit. She wormed her way inside it, despite having to take deep, heaving breaths after each limb. Then, she stood up as straight as she could manage, held her arms out to her sides, and winced as she felt warmth cling to her body. Bright flashes and sparks of super-heated air preceded her armour zipping to her body. Finally, the floor opened up and she dropped into the sky, gliding through the grey clouds when a thunk sounded. Her visor lit up with greens and oranges and she shot off with a whoosh under the thrust of her wings. Contrails unfurled behind her as she descended into the dense black brush. Brilliant blues and reds lit up the choking blanket.
"Deja-frickin'-vu!"
The Spacial Quake alarm had thrust the Fraxinus and her crew into action, but they quickly came to the conclusion that they couldn't use the teleporter in lieu of Tohka and Yoshino. That left them alone to make it to a shelter. A trivial task, maybe, if it weren't for the time they had lost while the four of them regrouped. Then, minus the time it took for Kotori to make a decision regarding the teleporter and that left Shido exactly a minute before the AST moved out. They were stopped barely two hundred yards from where they had been searching. "Some contingency plan…" Shido muttered. He didn't care whether Kotori heard him or not.
Ten members of the Anti-Spirit Team hovered around them. Five in front and five behind, cutting off the only avenues of escape. To his right, Tohka looked about ready to take on all them by herself, regardless if she actually could. Standing parallel on his left, Nat cautiously put his body between Yoshino and the nearest of the AST: Captain Kusakabe.
Slightly further back, Yoshino crouched down and hid her face in her knees. Shido watched her clutch her hood for safety and that made him seethe. Before he could lash out, however, Kusakabe lowered her weapon and glided to the tarmac with a kind of grace which was not reflected in her incredulous expression. She stepped forward a few paces, stared at him, shook her head, and laughed.
"How come every time we get dragged out here, you're never that far behind?" She drove the barrels of her weapon into the ground and rested her weight on its grip. The thing must have been at least four feet long and wouldn't have looked out of place affixed to a tank. And was the casual stance an invitation to lower his guard? Or was she just planning on staying a while? Shido found himself hoping for that first one. His sister wasn't exactly in the best state to feed him answers.
"Go...ammi…!" Came her crackly voice. Then another garbled voice. That must have been Kannazuke. Then static. Silence. Shido cursed through his teeth and stared at the woman. In response, she just flexed her palms and raised her eyebrow as if to say, "Well?" He looked to Nat for support. He had his own problems on his hands with Yoshino. Tohka? Yeah, right!
No point playing dumb, just smooth over the specifics. "Look," he began with as much courage as he could muster. Do or die. "I'm trying to put an end to the Spacial Quakes, just like you!"
Kusakabe narrowed her gaze. "And how do you figure to do that?"
"By giving them a chance! The Spirits. I can talk to them, ask them things, show them the beauty of the world!"
"And have you ever thought of the danger you're putting yourself in? What about all the people you endanger by leaving those things alive?"
"Since sea-" Shido caught his tongue and corrected himself, "meeting Tohka, she hasn't even caused any Spacial Quakes! Why can't you see that I'm trying to help people just like you-"
"That's not good enough!" Kusakabe snapped back, barely giving Shido time to finish his sentence. "Not for them at least!"
"What are you talking about? Without being able to cause Spacial Quakes, Tohka's just like you and I! She's just an innocent girl!"
Kusakabe flared up. "No, it's not! Right now we're tracking several Spirits who've been on Earth much longer than Princess, and every one of them has the ability to cause a Spacial Quake at any moment. Nightmare. The Twins. Hell, world famous celebrity Miku Izayoi could kill us all in an instant if she wanted to!"
Shido involuntarily flinched. He trusted Tohka with his life, but if that was true, if she could still be such a threat… No! If that was true then even still he wouldn't blame Tohka. "But Tohka's different! She can't use her powers!"
"I'm sorry, Shido. I wish I could believe you, but I can't. Such a thing isn't possible." Kusakabe closed her eyes and hung her head. "And even if it was, they'd never accept it."
Shido shouted, "Who the hell are 'they'?" By now, Tohka had drawn near to Shido; still in her best attempt at a combat-ready stance. Nat had circled around Yoshino and stared down the five troopers on their flank. Yoshino had stood up but was now clinging to Nat's back.
Kusakabe sighed and opened her eyes. She stared right at him. "I don't know who you're with, but obviously this isn't a solo op. And I don't know who you're under or who you're funded by, but they're obviously a lot more generous than ours."
Shido looked back with confusion across his face.
"For me, there's always someone above. I do what they say. They do what the guy above them says. And when the guy at the top isn't happy that trillions of Yen is disappearing and the Spacial Quakes aren't, the guy second-from-the-top gets shouted at. Then the guy below him. Eventually that floods down to me." Kusakabe stopped to clear her throat. Her shoulders felt heavy. "So until the Quakes stop, we get sent in. Girls die. Sometimes Spirits die. Good people who've done nothing wrong die."
It took Shido a moment to collect his thoughts. "B-but I am stopping the Quakes!"
"And I'm supposed to tell them that? That a 16 year-old boy is doing what the JSDF's finest can't? I get laughed at. Maybe I get demoted. Maybe I get put on leave. And then we get sent in anyway!"
Shido's mouth hung open. His mind was playing catch up – trying and failing to form an argument.
"And if not us, then someone else. You think DEM would even bother talking to you? They'd sooner spill your blood than go into the red on a spreadsheet!" Kusakabe was faintly aware that she was crying now. Tears joined the raindrops rolling down her dust-stained cheeks.
"Enough!" Tohka shouted, holding her head high and placing her body in front of Shido's. She stamped her foot for emphasis. "We can take care of ourselves just fine! Whatever your world throws at us, we'll make it through!"
"That's right!" That was Hinata coming closer on Shido's left. His hands, balled into fists, trembled with rage. "Nothing we have to go through could compare to what these innocent Spirits have to, anyway!"
Yoshino remained silent, although she now hovered close to them. A curious glint shone in her eyes. Upon seeing this, a plan started to form in Shido's mind.
The world was now a swirling dust storm. Nine jet engines all burning at once had set of a confetti cannon full of brown and grey confetti. The ends of the street vanished behind a tan blur. Visibility couldn't have been more than a hundred metres in any direction. What wasn't shrouded in dust was hidden behind thick black clouds. Kusakabe took off her visor and rubbed the dirt away with her fingers, leaving unfortunate streaks to reside beside the various scratches and marks from past battles. She put it back up to her eyes and instructed her squad members to do the same, due to the poor visibility. An eerie silence descended. The soft scuffling noises subsided after nine chevron-shaped pieces of plexiglass attached to the troopers' communication units and covered their eyes. The heat from the engines. The humidity of the rain. The onslaught of ash and dust. Through Kusakabe's visor, the world had become saturated and sickly with colour. Nauseating firelight – bright oranges and reds – lit up her comrades with brilliant auras. Her sisters-in-arms. Her friends.
Kusakabe let out a long, long, long breath. Her body shuddered and her mouth opened. "Prove it to me, then." She slowly floated upwards, now clutching her weapon in a more aggressive manner.
Shido watched her rise as his brain whirled, putting the plan together piece by piece.
Her lips tasted the dust; tasted the rain; tasted her tears. With every single pair of eyes on her, Kusakabe shouted once more, "Troopers! We are green and very, very mean!"
The rest of her squad cheered.
All hell broke loose.