Ayato trudged ahead. His legs sunk deep into the snow. The flurry bit his face. The chill air dried his eyes. He stopped and pulled his mask up, taking the opportunity for a quick check on his tracker. For a minute, he stared at the missing red dot on the screen, wondering if he'd gone too far.
He would be late. But he could make it back if he pulled out now.
He looked up and around, then made a full turn. Everywhere looked the same—mountains and hills covered in snow. Wherever the red dot was, it was probably buried deep under the snow.
Worse, the sun would set in less than two hours.
Bleep.
His brows raised as the grid on the screen expanded. The red dot returned, blinking in a steady rhythm. That canceled his second thought.
The storm hurled more snow against him. Ayato threw his arm up, bracing himself against the merciless wind while he pushed forward. Since it was nearly impossible to see what was ahead of him, he had to rely on his tracker to navigate his way.
Just one thing—he forgot to check the altitude.
After a step into some soft snow, he rolled along the steep hill. It was a long way down, and he had no way to make himself stop until he hit on something as hard as a rock on his back.
His groan echoed with the whistling wind. It took him a few minutes before he attempted to roll over. He was quickly distracted from the dullness on his back.
He heard a rumble, about four yards away from the icy road, where a tractor was cruising along. Tethered to it was a white trailer with patches of carbon black paint. The design was somewhat peculiar. As he stared at it longer, the head of the Holstein stood out from the map of Hokkaido.
Bleeppppppp…
Ayato pulled out his tracker. The red dot stayed stationary for seconds before it gradually receded to a slow blink. He looked up again. The tractor vanished into the fog and so the red dot.
Ayato's eyes narrowed. A train of conjectures ran through his head. Each more sinister than the other.
There was only one way to find out.
A row of skinned meats—four hundred pounds each—hooked on a high rail, the station in a single file. A man in a black cape walked in, passing by the slaughtering line. His face, dry and cringed to his skull, as if he had no muscles or fat tissues beneath it. His head slightly stooped, allowing the brim of his black boater to mask his eyes. The man walked farther. He did not stop until he reached the doors with black-and-yellow stripes. He looked at the sign that read 'Authorized personnel ONLY'. He then looked up to the surveillance camera, which hinged on the top right corner.
The door slid open and he stepped in. The room was just enough to fit him and him alone. There was another door with the same design as the one behind him except the signage. With the door closed, he was isolated from the bustling machinery outside the room.
The man faced forward with his arms high in the air and legs slightly apart. After seconds of delay, a blare pierced his ears. The dim room lit briefly in bright violet. Compressed white gas emitted from all corners. He made a full turn before the mist was forced out by vacuum.
The next door finally opened. His boots clumped on the metal mesh skywalk that spanned the walls about ten floors below. Above him was a huge shadow of darkness where light beneath could not penetrate. As he strolled to an elevator, he looked down to his right. The foundation of the hall was overlaid with matrices of white glowing tubes which sat vertically. Those were what illuminating the hall.
When the man had boarded the elevator, it descended quickly. His breath turned to steam. As soon as the elevator stopped, he set foot on the hard polyurethane-coated floor. He walked towards the matrices and peered into the translucent tube. "I see that you have learned your lesson."
Looming into his peripheral vision, a white mask of a Japanese demon—two sharp horns above the temples and bare teeth with fangs curling outward. "Can I see him?"
The man turned to face the masked man. "Sentimental, aren't you?" He withdrew his arms to his back, smiling.
"I did as you've told." The demon stepped forward.
"Sure." He went to a wired box that was attached to the wall and hatched it open. He then pressed a few buttons before storing the panel back into the box. "Friendly reminder… he might not recognize you."
The yellow beacon revolved. A six-inch thick metal barrier behind the demon cracked open and folded itself, revealing a glass chamber behind.
The demon drew closer, but as soon as the chamber lit up, he froze.
A blob of raw flesh trapped in a net. The boils and swelling popped through the gap. Amidst the flesh was an eye the size of a tennis ball. The eye rolled aimlessly until it locked on the demon.
"Interesting, isn't it?" The man in a cape approached the glass chamber. "We have tried all accelerators and yet the chimeric cells refused to enter into metastasis. Who would have known the CRc gas could do the job?"
"Why…" The creature groaned. "Shou… fri...end..."
The man in a cape scratched his chin. "So he still retains some cognitive rem—"
"You have what you want." The demon interrupted. "Where's mine?"
The man in cape took out a glass vial and flicked it to the demon.
The demon caught it in an instant. He unclenched his hand and stared at the colorless liquid.
"There will be more if you stay."
For a full minute, the demon peered at the creature's eye.
"Mi...Mido...ri…" A narrow stream flowed from the creature's eye and the fluid was collected into a steel mount set beneath.
"Goodbye, Nathan." The demon turned to his back.
The man in cape leered.
"No… Don't!" The light went off. "Pl...ease…" The metal barrier unfolded. "Shooouuu!"
The creature would stay hidden, but it wasn't the only one.
Lying prone just behind the lid of the ventilator, Ayato waited until he heard the door closed, before kicking the lid off. He leaped from the height of ten floors and touched down in a crouch.
He rose up. The still and freezing air made his breath steam. He glanced at the barrier which caged the creature, but he quickly turned his attention to what was closer to him.
The matrices of tubes glowed in white light. Each had a diameter of his arm span.
Ayato squinted at one of the tubes as he approached it slowly. There was a blotch on the top half of the tube, which was glazed with a layer of white powder. He could feel the air getting colder as he touched the powder with his gloved hand while he rubbed away the glaze.
Looking at his palm, where the glaze laid, Ayato crushed it in his palm. Out from his fist was colorless liquid dripping onto the floor.
The now half-cleared surface of the tube seemed to be translucent until Ayato noticed the pink angled-bob on the head and a face of a woman. Her eyes, widened and dull, were staring at him, but she remained inanimate.
She was as she should be inside the thick ice tube.
She seemed familiar, but Ayato couldn't be sure.
He moved on to the other tubes, rubbing off the white snow on each of them until the last one.
He stepped back. Mouth parted. He couldn't believe what he saw.
Ayato swirled to his back. His wings spread. Sharp crystals shot out at the flap of his wings. A bare arm came in the crystals' trajectory and brushed them away in a single swing.
"Look who's here!" The man with a pale face pulled down his boater. The demon who stood before him bolted in a blink.
Ayato began to choke. He clawed at the arm that held onto his neck. His legs were kicking the air.
The demon tightened his clench while raising his captive higher. "You belong here." He tilted his head.
Death was never as close as it was to Ayato while he stared into the pair of red-glowing eyes.
Urie looked at his soiled hands then at his crew. Like himself, they were smudged with soot and covered in white ash from top to toe.
Higemaru had been seized with a coughing fit since he got out from the ruins. Ching-Li crossed her arms. Her frown at Higemaru was just a prelude to her readiness to pound on the latter if he couldn't stop hacking.
It was their team leader's job to avert the upcoming catastrophe. To Urie's relief, he never had to, because the brunette somehow had turned her face away and opted for a shuteye.
Urie gladly received that miracle, as he was too tired to handle a rift, no matter how insignificant it was. Even if he yelled his lungs out, the high-pitched buzz from the rotor and roaring wind would muffle him anyway.
Speaking of a miracle…
The kagune shield deployed in split-second was a close call. Saiko was a natural when it came to kagune manipulation, although Urie didn't understand how she maintained its integrity against the CRc blast.
Sitting by the door with her legs dangling out of the Black Hawk's cabin, her back against the rest of her teammates, Saiko hadn't spoken since then. Instead, her eyes were glued to the soiled sock, which she refused to say where she had found it.
Urie began to regret that he had wished Saiko to keep her mouth shut. On the bright side, he didn't lose anyone today.
What worried him more though…
He glanced behind. The sticks, each at the center of both pilot seats, bent to the left in synchrony and recovered in the same manner.
All seemed well, but next time, he would be sure to check if the pilot seats were empty before he went on board.
"Matsuoka's mission and vision is to create a safe haven for humanity to thrive on." Johnson leaned over the podium. "This incident will not deter us. In fact, it is the very reason the Avalon System is created for, to prevent similar attacks from happening again."
A hand with a pen shot up from the midst of the audience. "The ghoul advocators deem the Avalon System the dawn of genocide." The man with white stubbles along his jawline stood up. "There are also rumors about you trying to eliminate your biggest competitor, the Tsukiyama group. How would you respond to these views?" His brows knitted.
"Shuu Tsukiyama with his leadership and peacekeeping work is a remarkable individual. But let's not forget, he was once the notorious Gourmet, who indulged his palate. Whether it is wise to depend on a ghoul to keep peace, you have to judge for yourself. From what I see, if he did his job, Akira Mado wouldn't be fighting for her life in the hospital right now."
The chanting took over, until Johnson raised his hand.
"Genocide?" Johnson frowned and then let out a chuckle. "They really need to get their facts checked." He clasped his hands over his lower abdomen. His legs stood apart. "We humans are not the ones who created the Dragon War."
The sound of an approaching helicopter and the turbulent wind distracted them. As it landed on the green lawn, the passengers aboard jumped out.
Johnson was already on his way to receive the guests. His arm fully stretched. Along with that warm smile, no one would refuse a poised hand that was ready for a firm handshake.
Not even the battle-ready veteran, Urie.
The Quinx stared at the clasp hands, then at their leader.
"Ladies and gentlemen…" Johnson turned to the crowd, still holding Urie's hand. "Our heroes who have been risking their lives and fighting on behalf of humanity." He finally let go of Urie and clapped his hands.
A thunderous applause ensued.
Johnson glanced at Urie, then faced the public. "After the Dragon War, over five thousands people were killed by ghouls each year and that number has tripled since the past two years. Peacekeepers and police officers were half of that number." He stared at the two columns of glass plates flanking the path to the main entrance. Each side of the plates was dilled with etching that was too small to be read from far. "Those glass monuments are there to remind us why Matsuoka worked so hard, so that no more, not even a single name will be put on that plate again."
The people cheered and clapped.
Johnson made a fist over his chest. "It's time to take control of our fate! There's no one to protect humanity, except us humans!"
Herds of drones swept over the field. The round disks soon scattered to each grid and hovered over the curious crowd.
"The Avalon system! The new guardian angel of Tokyo!" Johnson cried out.
Laser rays scanned the crowd. The beam was then reduced to dots. Watchful eyes followed the dots until they saw where the laser stopped.
The crowd receded, leaving a man with red spots targeted at his head.
Johnson smirked. "And this is how you find the wolf hidden among the sheep…"
Fujino rubbed his droopy eye. His thumb played with the dial on the panel. He blinked at the monitor before him, watching the monochrome recording played at four times the speed.
He glanced at the man sitting and yawning beside him, then on the piles of DVD.
"Where's Hayashi?"
"It's Saturday. What do you think?" Yoshida threw the question back at him.
"What about my Saturday?" Fujino pouted. "I could have spent it with my hot date! I'm not the one the Chief wants to punish!"
"Sorry, pal! You're in for a noble cause. You know Hayashi! He made a promise to his boy, and today's important."
"Really?" Fujino squinted at his coworker. His arms folded.
"Why would I lie?"
Fujino unfolded his arms and turned to the desktop. "I guess I have no choice. Here I thought I can show him what I've found from the surveillance—" he swirled abruptly, not by his choice.
"Why didn't you say so?" Yoshida lunged forward.
He thought he was going to die.
Hayashi watched the nurse barge into the room. The syringe and the glass vial clanked in the steel tray. His heart was about to explode just by watching the nurse take a full minute fumbling with the vial.
One mil. That one mil was enough to determine a boy's life and death.
His mind was on the verge to jump at the nurse and snatch the vial and syringe from her. He could have done it himself.
Hayashi wanted to scream, but the heart monitor stole that from him. The peacekeeper bit his knuckle, hoping in vain that it would calm himself. He stared at the red light, wishing he could just off the machine and everything would return to normal.
"Uh… P...pa...pa…"
Hayashi rushed to the bed and grabbed the small hand into his. "Kazue!" His boy was heaving in his bed. His bangs lied flat and damp across his forehead. "Just hang in there, buddy! It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay."
Please… God! He was just starting to get better.
Minutes later, Hayashi came out beaten. Grabbing his blazer in one hand, he slowly closed the door behind. He never wanted to go through that again.
Hayashi's knees plummeted onto the floor. He really couldn't do it anymore.
"Ahhh...! Noooo...!"
The cry drew Hayashi's eyes to the woman, in a hospital gown, trying to break away from the clutch of a man from behind. Hayashi then watched a team of medical staff push an incubator along the hallway.
"My baby!" The woman dropped onto the floor and wailed at the ceiling. The man who was holding her finally let go. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and sobbed quietly.
Another child couldn't make it. Third on that day.
Hayashi went limp. He wouldn't know if his son would be next.
He jolted at a chain of vibration sensing from his thigh. He dipped his hand into his pocket and took out his phone.
You have 53 messages
Hayashi scrolled through the messages.
Fujino 8:28 PM: You owe me lunch and dinner.
Hayashi then saw some pictures loaded onto his screen in a burst: a blonde in a black business suit walked into the residence; then at the fourth floor's hallway, where in a later timestamp someone in a ball cap and a hoodie appeared.
He replayed the footage. Again and again.
"Hayashi!"
Hayashi snapped his head to his left. Yoshida, still in the same yellow hoodie, ran to him.
"Is... Little-K good?" Yoshida suddenly slowed down his steps.
Suddenly realizing how he might have looked, Hayashi rubbed his face with both hands. "He's stable for now." He jumped up. "Why are you here?" He started to worry that Yoshida was going to ask.
Yoshida, on the other hand, seemed to get the clue. "You're not going to believe this. Akira Mado—"
"She went back home on her own?"
Yoshida frowned. "How did you know that?"
Hayashi showed his partner his phone. "Tip from Fujino. He sent it to me like five hours ago."
Yoshida gritted his teeth. "I'm going to break his neck!" He punched his palm. "But then… do you really believe that?"
"There's no evidence showing otherwise."
"There is no evidence showing she did."
"Seriously? There are some blind spots, but…" Hayashi checked his phone again, scrolling through the pictures of the scene. "You see how she had walked in."
"So it was just another breaking and entering?" Yoshida ruffled his hair. "Hell no! I'm not going to hand over my case to Metro! You saw how that punk treated us."
"Get over it, Yoshida. The man was just doing his job. And…" Hayashi raised his brow. "Is this about getting back…"
"What? Why are you making that face?"
"There is something else we can do…" Hayashi turned the phone to Yoshida. "Look at the timestamp. There are six to seven hours between when the fire started and when she returned—"
"We are out of luck. Most of the surveillance at the fire was either non-functioning or toasted." Yoshida sighed. "Fujino's trying to salvage whatever's left."
"We should go back there and see what we have missed."
"Oh yeah! Kajiwara got a tip on where our unsub might be hanging out."
"Good. Now we just need to get that tox screen done."
"You still haven't processed her?"
"I tried, okay?" Hayashi heaved a sigh. "The doctor doesn't even allow me near her."
"Well…" Yoshida arched his arm to his side, smirking. "Watch and learn, son! Master Yoshida will show you how to be persuasive."
With the baby in one arm and grabbing Ichika's hand in the other, Touka went to the door.
"Is this all that you have?" Nishio stood by the door, raising a brown backpack at her. It was nice of him to be her concierge of the day.
Touka smirked as Nishio opened the door for her. "That's more than enough. We aren't staying for a week, you know?" Besides, Yomo's place was practically a nursery after Ichika was born.
"Mama, where are we going?"
Touka looked at her daughter. "We'll be staying over at Uncle Renji's place."
"Is Ayato coming?"
"Sorry, honey." She frowned sadly. "Ayato is busy."
"No, he's not."
Touka blew through her nose. She had no clue how a child could come to that conclusion. "I know that you've missed him—"
A knock brought her eyes to the door.
"Sorry to interrupt," said Yusa. "Just so you know… I didn't mean to overstep."
"You've made your point. Now leave us." Touka pulled her daughter along, forcing Yusa to step aside as they marched out. Yusa tried to follow, but an arm lifted too close before him.
"Go any farther, and you'll bring a war to TSC." Nishio's glasses glared under the sun.
Yusa shot a glare at the bespectacled guy. "You think I'll bend to a threat?" From where he was raised, giving up wasn't an option. Besides, the Director of the TSC gave him one task, which he was determined to complete.
"If it's a threat, I wouldn't have used words."
"We can't leave, Mama. Ayato is looking for us." The little girl frowned as she was pulled along.
"Not now, Ichika."
"No!" Ichika wrung her arm out of her mother's grip and dashed off.
"Ichika!" Touka ran after her child. Had she not carried a baby, she could have caught the girl.
A gust came along when Nishio and Yusa sprint past her. She joined the pursuit last. At the same time, the ruckus had stirred the snoozing infant. His wail aggravated her anxiety.
Worse had yet to come.
Screams. Parents rushed to grab their children and fled the scene.
Touka finally realized where she was. The neighborhood playground was Ichika's favorite. Nishio and Yusa were right at the center. Their backs against her.
Touka's feet trudged forward. Her mind ceased any thought. "Ichika!" She shouted as she charged ahead. "Ichika!"
No! No! It couldn't be her baby…
"Mama!" The girl ran to her mother. "Mama!"
Touka dropped on her knees and yanked Ichika to herself. "Are you alright?" Her heart pounded as she turned her daughter around. "Are you hurt?"
Ichika stared at elsewhere. "Mama, look!" With her arm fully extended, she pointed her mother to the swings behind.
As the unoccupied swings swayed to a stop. Touka's eyes widened.
A man with a white parka scuffled towards them.
"Ayato!"
"Sorry. Did I... miss the party?" Ayato's voice dampened behind the black beak-like mask. His lush bangs couldn't cover the blood that streaked his forehead. "I tried to come back—" As his eyes shut, Ayato tilted to his side and yielded to gravity.
"Ayato!" Touka rushed to her brother, even though she wouldn't be able to catch him.
But Yomo did. Touka never expected his appearance, but he calmed her.
"I'll get Banjo." Nishio dashed off.
"Ayato! Ayato!" Touka shouted.
"Ayato…" Standing by her mother's side, Ichika murmured with her lips quivering.
"Ka...neki?" Ayato barely had his eyes opened. "Ka...ne...ki…"
"Touka, let's get him inside." Yomo urged. As he was about to stand up, Ayato grabbed onto Yomo's coat.
With every last energy he had, Ayato pulled himself up. "Reaper… the Reaper…"