Most good doctors would have cautioned against participating in a police operation while recovering from severe burns. They would also have recommended not letting a stranger into their house. Slowly forcing his eyes open, Yusei's rested brain started to come around to the more traditional way of thinking. Levering himself up, he grunted slightly at the pain still present. The burns were about halfway healed. Another day and they would be mostly done.
"Hmmm." Mumbling in her sleep, gentle fingers grasped at his hand as he tried to slip out of the bed. Not completely insane, he had kept himself on the side closer to the door. "Coffee?"
"Sure." Smiling as she huddled up in the warm duvet, he carefully slipped a thin shirt over the injuries on his back. It was a small discomfort but would hopefully help their guest be a bit more at ease than if he was walking around topless. "Milk, no sugar?" A wobbling thumb indicated that caffeine would be the primary motivation for getting out of bed that day.
Carefully opening the door, Yusei slipped out and closed it behind him as quietly as possible. Part of the reason that they had ditched Musume the night before had been because she might actually attack him if she knew they were sharing a room. That she was probably the only person who could deal with Phantom if she lashed out again. But when he saw the view from the hallway, part of that worry subsided.
Crouched in the middle of the room, the flat outline of the spectre was looking down with every inch focused on the floor. Sitting down and staring back up at her was the tiny ball of energy that was Hoshi. "Good morning." Noticing the slumbering figure on the couch, he hesitated in the doorway for a moment. Turning her head to look up at him, there was a small smile behind the mask. "I see you've met Hoshi. She stops by from time to time." A quiet mew drew Phantom's attention back to the impatient feline. "I'm going to make some coffee." Edging around behind the cat, he wondered if she was talking to the strange thing inside the armour. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in their world. "Would you like some?" Looking up from the cat for a moment, she carefully shook her head. "Okay." Flicking on the kettle, he silently watched the pair. Giving another quiet squeak, Hoshi flapped out with a paw into the air. Slowly reaching out a slim digit, Phantom let her bat it around a few times.
"Cat person?" Having checked the coast was clear before leaving the room, Akiza had been in time to watch the careful display of contact. Noting the sleeping face on the couch, she fervently hoped that the drooling came from Musume's father and not her.
"I hear all the smart people are." Spooning some power into a cup, he was more concerned with being delayed at making coffee than the supernatural creature currently being sniffed at by his cat. Hoshi was typically a good judge of character.
"Then explain why you have one." Giving her a pained look, Yusei poured some water into a mug and passed her the steaming brew.
"And I thought that the burns on my back hurt." Twisting her head to look at the pair, Phantom said watched the exchange. Despite the impossible hardships which should have broken them, the pair were quietly smiling and sharing jokes. "Did you want some breakfast? There's..." Unlike him, his brothers generally ate food instead of buying it. They had barely gone to the shops when they lived together but now Yusei found himself almost eaten out of house and home whenever they entered the city. "Eggs."
Eggs? Tilting her head, Phantom sounded excited by the suggestion. Exactly what an incorporeal being could require breakfast for was any guess but there was an edge to that smile Yusei hadn't expected. One that might have even seemed sinister.
It was difficult to put a name to the feeling when there hadn't been much of childhood for Musume to enjoy. She was tired but warm. Akiza was somewhere nearby, talking just too softly for Musume to clearly hear. Yusei was laughing at something she said. There was the smell of cooking food in the air and she was nestled beneath a thick blanket. It took a full minute for her to find the word and it was almost an alien concept. Comfortable. And that cynical part of her – it was a large part – knew that any time things started to go well, they were about to go to shit. Peeling back the warm cover, she instantly tried to find the clear and most obvious threat. It was fairly hard to miss.
Phantom looked – and there were few other words to describe it – ridiculous. That strange armour of hers made seeing anything more than an outline impossible. Even what equated to eyes could barely be distinguished as vague blobs in the middle of inky blackness. Only a genius or a mental patient could have come up with this plan to overcome that problem and it was the combined work of Yusei and Phantom. Go figure.
"A boilersuit?" Wrapped from top to bottom in faded orange, Phantom looked more like an escaped convict than a sinister force lurking in the shadows. Looking up from the table, that recent laugh had barely faded from his face. Twisting around in her chair, Akiza had a small plate of scrambled eggs in front of her to match the ones Yusei had been eating.
"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Dressed in a slightly baggy shirt and hair mildly tousled, she had clearly not had the chance to prepare for the day yet.
"Screaming headache." And not for the first time. No matter how hard she tried to block out the noise, it hadn't stopped since Paris. "Thanks for the blanket." When she had fallen asleep – and she was still kicking herself for letting her guard down like that – Musume had been noticeably blanket free.
"That wasn't me." An enquiring glance across the table had Yusei shaking his head. Suddenly very focused on the boiling kettle, Phantom was failing to fade into the background with her flamboyant outfit making her an easy target.
"And you're dressed like a convict because?" It had been one thing to thank her mother, another to let a charitable action by Yusei slide (only because Akiza was around) but she wouldn't be thanking Phantom while she knew nothing about her.
"It's the only thing we could agree on." Beside the boiler suit, the only alternatives that would have worked were Jack's sweeping coat (which he would have attacked anybody for wearing without his express permission) several short jackets (that had given the unsettling feeling Phantom was only half-dressed) and wrapping her up in several blankets until she looked like a puffy bundle of confusion. Akiza had dug the outfit out from under a workbench in the garage as a last resort option. "Well, she hasn't torn it off so far. That's about the best indication we have."
"That and she hasn't poisoned these eggs. I think." Yusei started prodding his dwindling portion with a look of slight suspicion. "They do taste a bit different though." In a good way. She had twiddled in a lot of different seasonings under a watchful eye. He had spent so much time occupied with bigger matters lately that he wasn't entirely sure what he had stocked in his kitchen but Phantom had slipped between the cupboards as the breakfast cooked and pulled out anything that she felt would be suitable.
A bit of thyme and effort makes all the difference. Speaking without words made it easy to distinguish between the chronological concept and the herb she had added to the dish. After a strange look at the pair already seated at the table, Musume lowered herself into the remaining chair and was instantly rewarded with a small dish of her own.
"No." Whisking away the plate with one hand, Phantom deftly placed one of Jack's less extravagant cafetières on the table instead, with a mug slipping from around her thumb to land perfectly in place for Musume. "You're being nice." Narrowing her eyes, she tried to find the reasons why anyone would be nice after getting stabbed in the chest. "Why are you being nice?" A confused smile flickered on the other side of the visor. She still wasn't used to being unable to see them directly but they were still clearly there.
There are three things in human life that are important. Clearing away the spare plates, she was making plain sense for the first time as they were stacked in the sink to soak. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind.
"And the third is to be kind." Looking up from his suspiciously good eggs, Yusei recognised the words. They weren't her own. "Henry James." An old American-British author whose works had been compared to being the literary equivalent of the impressionist paintings. He had been recommended a few of them by Dr Morton when the American had visited the SRC one time. "You're well-read." Both shoulders shrugged as she quietly began scrubbing out the pan she had used to make the meal.
The more you read, the more that you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go. Now that was a quote that he didn't recognise. But it was the slight smile from across the table that tipped him off that they were also not her own words.
Biting back on her lip, Akiza decided to let her them in on the joke. "Dr Seuss." Both well-respected authors in their own rights. Not the sort that you would expect to be partnered together for reading. "I used to volunteer some time to work with the paediatric unit. They had a few of his books."
"Did you put something in their eggs?" Staring at the silently scrubbing outline, Musume had the unusual feeling that she had succumbed to an unreal nightmare. "Sorry, the coffee hasn't started working." Rubbing both eyes, she tried to grapple with the world while half her brain continued to yearn for the comforting embrace of the couch. "Yesterday, she interrupted a Shadow Duel and attacked the police department. Today, she's making eggs and coffee." Twisting her head, Phantom seemed puzzled by Musume's confusion.
Yes. It came down to a tie. The fact that she wasn't confounded by the dichotomy or the fact that she had turned around and was continuing to clean the pan with her arms behind her without any sign of discomfort. One of the two facts had to be the weirdest part of the conversation because Phantom had nailed the actual breakfast. Musume was already draining her second cup of coffee and those eggs were starting to look appealing.
"Well, they're good eggs." Finishing off her portion, Akiza nodded gratefully to the bizarre chef. "Thank you." Everyone was being far too nice. There was probably a place in the universe for being nice but Musume knew with every fibre of her being that it wasn't in her vicinity. Nobody was ever nice when she was around.
"Okay, what's going on? You're being too nice." Reaching down, she carefully started to slide the sword from her boot. Noting the motion, Akiza made several frantic gestures to put away the weapon. "Is she threatening you?" While she was fine with Yusei being held hostage, she would take another – literal – stab at killing Phantom if she so much as looked at her mother funny.
"I was trying to be subtle." A faint flush appeared along Akiza's neck as her other patient also looked faintly betrayed at not being allowed to be the first one to pry. "I'm not sure but I think Phantom might be autistic." Silenced echoed outward in the room, marred only by the gentle sound of dishes being washed in one corner.
"What makes you think that?" Yusei was being very careful with his words right then. People with autism were generally delicate enough when in their own bodies. Nobody had done a study on if their soul was locked inside a suit of armour. Too small a sample pool.
"When I went to get the milk," Without prompting, Phantom reached out one hand and opened the fridge door to help Akiza's story along. Almost all the items inside had been rotated to face the labels outward. Vegetables in the drawer had been sorted neatly into groups and a loose bag of oranges had been neatly arranged into a small square on the front of one shelf. It was like the entire thing had been packed by a machine. "Then there was her extreme aversion to people," Meaning how she had attacked the entire police department. Yusei still had yet to figure out a way to deal with that problem but Trudge had promised to give him as much time as he could. "The way she reacted when Jack threatened to move her and how she's doing the dishes now." A 'normal' approach to washing dishes was just to scrub at the lumpier parts and wipe down everything else. Phantom was making it a personal mission to return everything to its original condition, even making a fair attempt to remove months of burns on the bottom of one pan. Everything she had already cleaned was neatly arranged on the sideboard as close as was physically possible without touching.
"Okay, and your point is?" It was a blunt question that earned Musume the sort of looks somebody got if the shouted objections at a wedding.
"Musume, autism is an extremely difficult condition to live with." Automatically speaking in hushed tones, Yusei knew all about it. Five of his best physicists were autistic. One of them also refused to work if somebody brought anything purple into his workspace. "Patients have to be handled extremely and,"
"Hey, Phantom." Whispered attempts to abort fell on deaf ears as Musume cut straight past the pandering stage. "Do you need any sort of help or are you good?" Entire books had been written on exactly why this was the wrong approach to conversing with an autist. It was clear that Musume had read none of them.
Good. She extended her word to encompass all three people at the table.
"Autism, that's the one where you're good with numbers?" Nobody in the whole of Phantom life – well, existence – had been as direct about her condition as Musume was being right then.
Logic. Patterns. Akiza was carefully taking notes to write up later as Yusei looked on in professional envy. Stevenson was never this interactive. Stevenson had cost the SRC several important contracts after being overly blunt with government officials. Higher-functioning autists could blend almost unnoticed into society and even excel in certain areas. Many people who were diagnosed were not as lucky and required constant supervision. Clearly, Phantom fell into the earlier category.
"Neat." That single word floored Phantom in ways she hadn't thought possible. People tended to ask a lot more intrusive questions when they found out she was autistic. Especially when it came with a speech impediment.
Nothing else? Musume just shrugged as she drained her cup of coffee and was quick to pour another. Realising that she was still holding the sword in order to kill Phantom, she carefully slid it back away as the liquid flowed into her mug. Just because she wasn't going to be nice to her didn't mean that she would be demeaning either.
"You tried helping my friends and you're smart. It doesn't bother me if you don't think the same way as the rest of the idiots." Something that not a lot of people knew – mainly because the average understanding of the condition was of the less fortunate sufferers – was that autism is a spectrum disorder. Everyone was technically autistic to some minor degree. Musume's stoic approach to the condition was the single most remarkable Phantom had ever come across. "And I'm guessing you don't need 'handling' after everything you've done." There was a moment as Phantom stood drying her hands that the group fell silent.
Thank you. Then she laughed in the most beautiful way.
"One thing I have to ask." She could tell Phantom was still smiling. There was no visible sign but Musume could still feel a happy grin coming from behind that mask. "Where did you get the sword? It's meant to be a myth." Carefully fetching the legendary weapon – sheath and all – from where she had hidden it in her boot, Musume placed the deadly blade on the table.
Indeed. Phantom made no move to approach the table or the weapon upon it. Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is. It was a fully coherent sentence. They were acquainted enough to recognise that it was probably not one of her own.
"Nietzsche? Marx? Lenin?" It was modern enough to recognise the futility of journalism but not so famous that Yusei could quickly pin it down. And since he had endured a lot more time to pursue the field than Akiza, it was a small chance that she knew the answer either.
Joseph Campbell. Putting aside the philosophical claptrap, Akiza tried to swing the conversation back to the more pressing physical question.
"What's so special about the sword?" As far as Dr Izinski was concerned, any item designed to hurt another person was just as distasteful as the next. Being mythical didn't lessen her hatred of it to any noticeable degree.
"It's known as the Yawarakai-Te – the Holy Hands." In his chair, Yusei started listening a lot more attentively. If more ancient history was about to start screwing with modern history, it would pay to know as much as possible. "According to legend, it cannot cut anything innocent or undeserving of being attacked. There isn't a tsuba handguard on it because it isn't meant to be used aggressively, only as a last resort." It had the added bonus of being thin enough to slip just about anywhere she needed it to without the round disc bulking it up. Any three-second internet search – and measuring it against one leg – could reveal as much. "But the stories say it was forged in an impossible competition between two smiths who lived decades apart." Masamune – who created the sword – reportedly died near the beginning of the 14th century but his opponent in the competition hadn't been born until the start of the 15th century.
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable. Looking down at once hand, Phantom curled the fingers into a fist. Must be the truth. Even Musume had heard of this one. Certain sayings had a way of ingraining themselves into global culture.
"Yeah, no shit." Waving a hand across her face, she highlighted the imprinted lines, glowing eyes and deeply set scowl. "So, how did you find it?"
You are never strong enough that you do not need help. Quoting a civil rights activist usually invoked either deep thoughts, a philosophical (or just a normal) argument or a combination thereof. When it was to a prickly personality holding a sword, it resulted in two shattered plates, Akiza trying to grapple Musume back from leaping over the table and Yusei making noises like a constipated rhino as he screamed through a clenched jaw after being knocked over, spilling coffee over his front and bursting several blisters on impact with the floor. It was an interesting noise.
"She's just quoting, she's just quoting!" In her haste to stop brutal murder, she had overlooked the fact that Musume had managed to pull out the sword. With trying to divert the outraged lunge that hadn't reached Phantom – who had instantly managed to fall over nothing at the sudden change of tone – Akiza had the uncanny sensation that it had slid straight through her arm at least once.
Letting out a lengthy pained groan as he rolled to one side, Yusei began the incredibly painful task of returning to upright. "Cesar Chavez." Carefully lifting his chair, he was trying to calculate how long it had been since he last took painkillers through the incredible pain of his recently-almost-healed back suddenly taking a sharp drop in progress. "Latino American civil rights." With the patient's view of knowing medicine better than the instructions on the box or the medical expert who had written them, he fumbled in the cupboards for the magical little bundles of science which would make the entire world feel like less of a steaming pile of agony.
"I don't expect you to ever do that again." Only that she didn't know what sort of tricks the sword could do was stopping Akiza from confiscating it. "I'm very disappointed in you."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child." Even as that screaming in her head turned to mocking laughter, she could feel the anger of Red Nova coiling through her gut. Picking herself up and dusting herself down, Phantom watched the exchange with a mix of confusion and interest.
"If you're going to act like one, I'm going to treat you like one." Straightening the ruined breakfast assortment on the table, she glared at her daughter. That she had never had. And was technically three different ages. Akiza hadn't been a child who dreamt of being a parent but it appeared no aspects of her life were either ordinary or under her control. "Now, apologise." Seeing those eyes flicker and glow, Phantom realised that she didn't need an apology.
To err is human. Waving aside the problem with another quote, the undervalued ability of hindsight left her hoping that Musume didn't know the end of the quote and think her conceited. That sword was still (literally) on the table.
"You're playing with fire." Swallowing his tablets with a mouthful of water, Yusei was smart enough not to clue the attacker in. Meeting his gaze, Phantom flickered one glowing circle in a wink with a slight edge to her smile. "I wish I could get a look inside your head to see what makes you this brave." Catching the words as she ignored a stern lecture, an idea started to blossom inside Musume's mind.
"What if we could?" Putting up a hand to block out a speech on ethical principles, she wondered if her crazy idea would even work. "All her jibber-jabber makes sense in Phantom's head. What if I just went in there to talk with her?"
"Sure, we'll just shrink down and go inside the brain she doesn't have to poke around." Pain and irritation were the only two things that could make Yusei snippy. "I meant physically." Suddenly very aware that he had just unintentionally insulted a creature who had held her own against dozens of police officers, he tried to rectify the mistake.
I know. But there was a definite tint to the glare. The eyes had darkened slightly. Turning to Musume again, they flared back up in curiosity. How?
Once the mess had been cleared to the side, Musume had directed Phantom to take Akiza's chair before seating herself back down. "Give me your hand." A trepidatious look went to where she was holding out a palm. "Remember last night?" Rain swirling on the platform at the top of the world, no way of knowing that Phantom wouldn't be hurt by the fall. "Still trust me?" A slight smile came and head tilt indicated the sword which had been hidden away again but the watching doctor recognised a more medical reason why she was pausing.
"People with autism usually struggle with... well, physical contact." Despite Phantom not currently having a physical body. "She might need a minute." More and more, Akiza was starting to put the pieces of clues together in her head. The resulting image was a strange one.
"Take all the time that you need." Waving away the offer, Phantom lifted her hands onto the table. Gripping her right wrist, she carefully twisted the gauntlet and pulled it free. Spiralling out in wisps of flowing light came a spectral hand. Twisting it this way and the other, she curled and unfurled her fingers with obvious fascination. "Phantom?" Coming back to the present, she leaned on one elbow as the flickering thing inched to where Musume could readily touch it.
Moving her own right hand to meet the trembling outline. A slight gasp came as she made contact. It was cold but not simply in temperature. It felt like every bad day that she had ever had. A flicker of concern pulsed through the waiting eyes and the chilled burn in her grip faded.
"This shouldn't hurt." Raising an eyebrow, Yusei moved the thick, heavy couch out a few inches from where he was watching on the other side of the room. Between the pair of them, it would be a minor miracle if his house was left standing if anything went wrong.
"Shouldn't?" Securing the sturdy piece of furniture away from the wall with two hefty pieces of lumber usually stored behind, he crouched behind it with eyes peeking over the top and coffee sending steam over his face. "How sure are you?" Scoffing, Akiza turned to the pair at the table.
"Nobody's done this in decades." Inside twelve seconds, she was crouched behind Yusei and keeping her balance by gripping his shoulder. What he had failed to consider was that a small explosion would easily burst through the faded fabrics but a muscular scientist would provide far better protection. "And that was with years of practice." Wisdom finally coming to the fore, Yusei made to leave the house but Akiza dug her fingernails into his brachial plexus and daintily suspended the issue of doing no harm for a second. She wasn't going to miss this for anything. "And a Millennium Item." It took another grip on his other shoulder before he stopped trying to squirm away and resigned himself to being a human shield.
"What exactly are you going to do?" Reaching over, one hand dragged over the thick blanket in the hopes it would provide spatter-proofing should anybody explode.
"Just relax." It became clear that Musume had moved on to her ill-conceived attempt at communication and both adults crouched a bit lower behind their protective shield. On the rare occasion she dared to converse with her 'house-guests', it was more a feeling of sinking into herself. It was an experiment that she had little idea of how to run and plenty of trepidation over undertaking.
Instead of falling into herself, she tried reaching out. Letting her gaze wander and she tried reaching out with her mind. Wandering eyes stared into the endless blue depths within the helmet. Despite her attempts to not let attention wonder, she couldn't help but notice how they weren't one shade of blue. Each one shifted and swirled with colour. Sometimes they would settle, falling into a deep hue that she could lose herself in and stare at for hours on end. A gentle rhythm seemed to soothe away any of her worries about anything going wrong.
"Hello." It took some time for her to realise that somebody was talking to her and more to move her gaze. It was then she realised she no longer in Poppo Time.
"This?" She had no practical frame of reference but for a few third-hand stories from her childhood. "This is what... who you are?" Their collective knowledge of Phantom was that she was possibly rich, possibly a killer, didn't speak very much and was on a practical suicide mission to either take down Yliaster or save the Signers (the vote the previous night came down to a tie). Musume had been expecting something dark, brooding and angry and an unmistakable presence of giant stalagmites (or did she mean stalactites?). Not this!
There was a slight chill in the air and waves crashed on the sand only inches away that seemed like miles. Standing beside her was the same black armour that kept throwing itself in front of her. Unlike in the outside world, no light shone from within. It just stood impassively beside her.
"Where are we?" Inside the twisted world, she could feel moss and grass under her feet just as easily as the sand and trees seemed all around as the sea spread in every direction.
Phantom looked around for a moment and seemed to relax the barest fraction. "Home." Everything slowly began to order itself into more realistic impressions. Land and liquid separated from one another and grew distinct. A tiny pebble beach surrounded them with overlapping forested hills backing them. Clouds parted overhead to reveal a moon in full serenity.
"Where exactly is that?" Wading out to a low wooden breakwater, Phantom hoisted herself onto it and began wiggling her feet through the water.
"Home." For some reason, Musume found herself pushing forward to sit upon the narrow wooden platform. Despite the chill in the air around them, the water was warm and soothing. Something about the serene beach felt like the most remote corner of the world. Even if they had been in the real world, Japan, Yliaster, and even Musume herself would have been hundreds of miles away. It was not entirely safe yet nowhere near as dangerous as being near to the Signers.
Time seemed to stand still and she was only aware of the soft lapping of waves beneath their knees for maybe minutes and possibly hours. From the stories she had learnt third-hand, the nature of a person's soul was a partial reflection of their state of mind as well as their true self. Right at that moment, she knew that Phantom was completely at ease.
"Where did you come from?" Swirling her legs in the water, Phantom rapidly garnered enough seaweed to turn her legs into a thick glutinous mass of fibres. In the dark of the night, they looked like her legs had simply merged into a thick stump.
"Home." It seemed the only word she knew.
"So home is... home?" It made sense from the slightly abstract position she had come to expect. To Yusei and Akiza, Poppo Time was 'home' and the SRC was 'work'. When Phantom meant said home, she literally meant 'home' and nodded happily as the mass around her legs continued to thicken.
"How did you find out about Yusei?" On the far horizon, clouds began appearing.
"I heard tales of the Signers. Stories of bravery and solitude." Hitting the mass of seaweed against the breakwater, Phantom began to shake her legs free again. "So I tried to find ways to help. Runners and rumours, rumours and Runners." Adjusting her thinking, Musume slowly started seeing events from the perspective of the other figure on the wall.
"Dilucesco? The trial?" Mysterious events started falling into place with an uneasy level of precision. "How did you even find out about me? Nobody except Yusei and Akiza even knew I woke up." For a long time, the sound of slow surf was the only thing to be heard.
"Nobody sees me unless I make them." Not 'let them' but 'make them' see her. Without warning, the weeds around both legs suddenly turned into shackles that bound her movements through the water. Black clouds started into the beach now, cutting off the fragile light of the moon. Recognising the change, Musume grasped one black hand before thunder could start to rumble.
"I saw you. On the rooftop, before you saved Luna." In an instant, the clouds stopped thickening. They didn't dissipate or lessen yet nor did they continue to increase. Looking down from the skies, she found her gaze lost in the endless depths of the ocean-blue eyes. "You were watching me. Why?" Phantom blinked first in a way that Musume recognised as flustered embarrassment and looked down at where Musume's hand still covered her own.
"Everyone else was safe. Yliaster might have tried to come after you." With a suitable reason now in hand, she was able to make a better conversation of it. "You were an easier target."
"Really?" Folding her arms, Musume noticed the figure beside her instantly become more relaxed. Gripping the icy covering had been no picnic for her either but at least Phantom could have tried to keep the conversation going a bit more than she had. "What made me the easy target?"
"Celebrity brings safety." Answers came faster now that they could talk on an even standing. No endless quotes as Phantom looked out over the sea. "Anonymity only works when nobody knows who you are."
"What about you?" Taking the answer, Musume flipped it into a question and sent it straight back. "Does anyone know about you?" Memories of a smart mind communicating over the internet bubbled up. One with an irritating knack of knowing who people were. "Like Arg0nought?"
"You met." Satisfaction resounded in her voice. "Good. I had hoped you would." In a flash, Musume remembered what Yusei had explained about screennames – anyone could be behind them. Para5yte could have been on the other side of the planet just as easily as she could have been across the square. It appeared that they had been closer than they originally thought. Not two people, just a very careful one working all sorts of angles.
Musume wasn't stupid. From the minute Jack had told them vantablack was a recent invention, she had known someone had to have been behind the armour. And a ghost couldn't use a keyboard. If Para5yte had been working with/for Phantom, that would have explained it. But if there had only been one person all along, then she couldn't have made the armour by herself. Couldn't have used a phone to send those messages.
"How long have you been like this?" Rapping a knuckle against the armour, it was obvious she didn't mean the representation of the armour. She meant inside the real armour, out there in the rest of the world. The last that they had heard from Para5yte was when she had sent Musume her new phone. And then she had seen a dark outline on a ship large enough for any number of people to hide out on. The first time that they had actually seen anything unusual had been the night before. Right when that sword had gone through Phantom's chest. "Since the roof?"
"Yes." For a moment, they sat and watched the waves as she adjusted to the news. Only two days ago, this had been a living, breathing person. Now, she was just a cold blue light in a suit of armour.
"Then it was me. I did this to you." Considering how easily the truth had come before, she couldn't have expected the reaction that came.
"No!" Lightning rained down and exploded a tree in the background, erupting the water into plumes of water which coated the sky. A dreadful wind sprang up, drawing up the largest wave that Musume had ever seen to come crashing down from above.
Gasping as if she was drowning, Musume threw herself back over the chair and rolled across the floor in blind panic Phantom suddenly tangled her limbs while she tried to understand exactly which part was meant to be which. In the midst of throwing herself towards the stairs, Yusei bashed his knee on one of the boards he had put up and felt the searing pain shoot through his leg as Akiza scrambled out from behind the sofa to help.
"What did she say to do when something went wrong?" Ignoring the reddening skin beneath his trousers, Yusei made a beeline for the armoured figure as Akiza dove for the thrashing one.
"To get a mop." Musume had a pounding headache and Phantom was struggling to figure out how to walk again but they had somehow managed to survive the insane method of communication. "How long were we under?"
"Maybe ten, fifteen?" A quick conference with Yusei solidified her number. "Fifteen seconds. Did you make any progress?" Brushing off his assistance, Musume limped over to where Phantom was struggling on the floor.
"We had a nice chat." Reaching down, she bodily lifted the dark outline so that legs dangled and the world seemed to right itself. "Phantom here is our very own guardian angel." Limbs drained into the right position and Phantom was able to stand upright on her own. "She's been keeping an eye out for us. Here," Holding out an object, she felt like it was the least she could do to make up for the irrevocable injury she had caused. "Looks like you could do with a hand." Looking down at the gauntlet, a flicker of a smile flashed inside the helmet.
Thank you. Taking the item in her left hand, she carefully reattached it. Sorry.
"Hey, to err is human." Four suspicious eyes turned to look at her. A few minutes ago, she would have sooner thrown a punch than lend a hand.
"You're being nice." Narrowing her eyes, Akiza looked back and forth between the pair. "You're never this nice. What did she tell you?" Having someone literally step inside her soul hadn't been as terrifying to Phantom as the warning look in those hazel eyes. "What did you do to her?!" Already edged into a corner, the armour started to sink down slightly as the figures kept looming in. Police officers by the hundreds had nothing on any mother protecting her child.
"Leave her alone." Surprised to see Musume's hand pulling her back, Akiza relented her glare. "It's my fault that she's like this. That's what I found out."
No. Rising to her feet, Phantom refuted the claim. My fault. She refused to back down this time, even when Musume's own eyes started to glow in response.
"What are you both talking about?" Spacing out while the pair argued over whose fault it was, both Yusei and Akiza were curious about what they were actually trying to claim responsibility for.
"Remember how I said she exploded?" Until a few minutes ago, her working hypothesis had been that she had just momentarily dispelled a supernatural creature until it could reappear elsewhere. "Turns out, that was me cutting her soul out. I made her like this." Jabbing into her foot was the very weapon that had killed the person just trying to help her. It was a painful reminder of what had happened
No. Regardless of who was to blame, the information had just joined the rest of the clues in Akiza's head. Me.
"Yusei, a word?" Indicating through her tone that there was no discussion to be had with her. Following his partner back across the room, he noticed how she made sure to keep one eye on the pair the whole time. "There's something off about Phantom." Over by the table, the dark armour was caught like a deer in headlights as Musume continued to stare her down in an attempt to claim responsibility for her death. Or near-death. They hadn't reached the part where they figured out what she was yet. "I mean, other than all the usual stuff." In the current situation, no ideas were mad but she had a sneaking suspicion that wouldn't last. "She knows the right things, she's only quoted British and American authors. I know it's mad but I think that she was actually a he. And I think he was Obake." It was mostly down to a gut feeling but they were right nine times out of ten. But three other people in the room were ready to throw problems in her idea.
Obake? Finally able to break from the power of Musume's glare, she looked over with a slight whimper.
"Wow, that's some great hearing." Realising the exact level of shit that he had just been dropped into, Yusei guessed that he probably wouldn't be getting any eggs to replaced the breakfast Musume had ruined in her mad lunge. "Yes, Obake." Turning on the spot, he noticed for the first time how Musume had managed to creep the handle of her sword out from one boot. "Do you know him?"
Bad man. Sad man. It was the first semi-coherent answer she had given that wasn't a quote. My fault. Like her invisible smile, they didn't need a face to recognise the guilt and stress that mentioning Obake had put her under. It was obvious from her demeanour, the waves of raw depression and because she had just shattered a mixing bowl with one hand.
"Okay, okay." Easing the situation before Phantom could spiral again – without the remaining half of the police department around as an outlet – Akiza found the perfect middle-ground. "It was just a thought. I'm sorry if I upset you." That Phantom had reverted into a traumatised silence didn't alleviate Akiza's instinctive guilt one bit. It actually made it slightly worse. "How about if I make sure that he's alright?" It was a spur of the moment idea which solved all their problems. If he wasn't anywhere to be found, it proved her crazy theory. If she did happen to find him, that was fine as well.
"I'm not letting you go by yourself after last night." Any possible authority he had in their strange relationship vanished as he noticed the third word. And the twin death beams currently skewering into his brain indicated that she might have heard it as well. "I mean, let me call you a taxi to save you time." Her glower lessened by the barest fraction.
"Good idea." Several exotic forms of punishment she was currently devising would be forever lost to the misty marshes of history. No matter what plans people made, time had a way of tearing them down.
Wait. Although radiating palpable levels of stress, Phantom dug through one of the drawers by the sink before drawing out a strange object. Tossing it through the air, she made sure that Akiza caught it. It was the most useful tool that she could offer under the circumstances. Ariadne. Exactly what use Phantom expected her to get from the item, she didn't know but Akiza pocketed it all the same.
For those wondering, the reason gut instinct is only right nine times out of ten is because the last one is just gas. Strange but true. Leave a review.