2022-12-27 20:02:01“Haru?”
A voice in the distant dark.“Haru!”
What the hell? Just as the pain in her head was just starting to get comfortable. Slowly, she peels open her eyes to see Tsumugi’s warm face, wet with tears.“Oh, thank Lady Tsubame you’re okay.”
She wraps her arms around her in a giant hug. It doesn’t hurt. Not in the slightest. Tsumugi holds her like she’s nestling a baby. It’s sort of embarrassing but ah, who cares. She just lets herself melt in her warmth, in her comfort.“Where… where are we?”
“We’re in the Curia, we made it, Haru!”She claps her hands excitedly, like a small child.“What… what happened to the others?”
“We’re still digging them out of the rubble, but there shouldn’t be any casualties… save for the ones we lost in the attack.”There’s a visible pain in Tsumugi’s eyes that she hides well. Haru doesn’t dare pry.
“Oh, I see.”
Haru lifts her head off the bed of rocks she was using as a pillow. Looking all around her, the train seems trashed. The roof completely collapsed in on itself. There are small groups of what she assumes are improvised emergency response teams trying to move the rubble out of the way. Every so often, they pull a person out, dazed, confused, and only a little hurt.
“Where’s Kuroko? The, um, girl in a suit.”
“You mean her?”
Tsumugi points to a small crew carrying Kuroko out of the train in a stretcher.“Yeah… wait here. I have something to finish.”
“H-Haru?! What are you doing? It’s over. We made it to the Curia. There’s no need to fight anymore.”
“But if I just let her go, she’ll keep coming back!”“What are you saying? Are you going to… kill her?”Yes. Haru wants to say, but for some reason she doesn’t. It’s like she’s ashamed. Since when? She’s always killed without hesitation so why now? Is it because… Tsumugi’s here? Does she not want Tsumugi to see this side of her? Curious and curiouser. Her own heart, hiding things from her? How strange.“Alright… fine. At least help me get back on my feet, won’t you?”
“O-oh yeah. Of course.”
Tsumugi lifts Haru’s arm around her shoulder and stands up. Haru follows suit, the exhaustion weighs her down but all she has to do is lean on Tsumugi and it all just seems to evaporate into thin air. Outside the train, a familiar face is waiting for them. “Bravo! Bravo!”Tsuki claps her hands as she welcomes both Tsumugi and the still-dazed Haru.“See? I knew it would work.”
“We toed the line between illegal and legal but yes, I suppose your plan did work, Tsuki.”Tsumugi rolls her eyes.
“Did you take all of this into your calculations as well?”
She gestures at everything. At the collapsed wall and the Monarchian train running through it. This used to be such a nice place. Now, Haru can barely imagine any more meetings happening here.
“I just gave you the magic. The whole crashing-the-train-into-the-Curia thing, you made that up yourself.”“Oh please.”
“Regardless, you should be safe now. No soldier can enter the Curia willingly. So long as you stay in here, you should be safe from Gleam–”
The ground rumbles.“Speak of the devil…”
“Not good.”
“Not good? What do you mean not good? Like, oh god we’re going to die not good or mild inconvenience not good?”“Something like that.”The ground rumbles again, twice as hard this time. Outside, the sun glares brighter… wait, that’s not right. That shouldn’t be possible. And yet, it is. The light passing through the stained glass windows is nearly blinding.“I advise taking cover.”
Then, with a flash of blinding blue light, an entire section of the wall on the side of the Curia is blasted away. All the stained glass windows shatter with it. Haru instinctively moves in front of Tsumugi to protect her from the shards. None of them even reach her, but still, better safe than sorry.
Then, amidst dust, something with a fury that hell cannot ever hope to match emerges. It holds a wicked blade, with a sheen like a wolf’s snarl, like a hiking stick as it climbs through the rubble. Kuroko stirs in her stretcher as she turns to face the beast.
“Lady Gleam…”
“I’ll deal with you later.”There’s a frigid fury in her voice. Haru’s blood runs cold. So this is her. The one behind Kagami’s death. She feels her fist clench unconsciously. The desire to walk up to her and deck her across the face is strong, but not irrepressible. Gleam stands on top of the tallest piece of rubble, looking down on all creation. Her wicked blade by her side. Her soft eyes are a frigid burning. And her stance, in spite of her short stature, exudes an aura of imitation. It compels one to kneel. And yet, here Haru is, standing anyway in defiance.
“I see now the tune you wish to play, Tsumugi.”
She smirks a mirthless smirk filled only with venom. Her eyes do not realize anyone else is in the room. Right now, it’s just her and her mortal enemy, Tsumugi.“Then very well, let us make merry and dance.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You gangsters are all the same.”
“Wh-what?!”
Tohru looks at the flames sputtering out on her palm. She tries over and over to revive them, but to no avail. Eventually, all that remains is smoke. That famed Sorcery of hers is an issue no longer. Girls Won’t Cry’s chief is reduced no more to a terrified girl, backed into a corner. Kazuko drinks up schadenfreude pleasure as her ancient grudge is slowly paid in full.
“Your eyes. They’ve lost their focus. Too much time away from the front lines will do that to a person.”
They’re not like Kazuko’s eyes. Eyes always forward. Towards her prey. The eyes of a warrior.
“If you wanted to play house, you picked the wrong line of work, my friend.”
Kazuko levels her rapier between Tohru’s eyes. She tries to back away but the hungry wolf doesn’t let her. The distance between the bridge of her nose and the sword tip does not change in the slightest as the two move.
“We had a deal.”
“No. You had a deal with Barrakuda. This? This is personal. Does the name ‘Kazumi Kure’ ring a bell?”“...”A moment passes. Then two. All the while, the chief’s face remains blank in defiance. Yet, Kazuko does not find it in herself to pity her in the slightest. Rather the opposite, the rage she buried in her chest consumes her.
“The girl you had killed?!”“I regret to inform you that Girls Won’t Cry is that sort of establishment. I’ve had many girls killed in the past–”
“DON’T TEST ME!”She cleaves through one of the nearby desk tables in twain. Before Tohru can take advantage of that tiny opening, she returns to leveling her rapier at her chest.
“My patience is running thin.”
“Do it then.”
Tohru spreads her arms out.“Kill me.”“...”
Without breaking eye contact, Kazuko lowers her rapier, sighs, then gives Tohru a wry smile.
“...alright.”
Without flinching, Kazuko retracts her arm and viciously stabs Tohru directly in her heart. It’s clear by the surprised look in Tohru’s eyes that she didn’t quite expect that sort of response. A gurgling sound makes its way up her throat as the internal bleeding starts to take its toll.“Don’t get me wrong.”
She stabs even deeper, pinning Tohru to the wall behind her.“The only reason I didn’t go for the head is because I need you alive.”
Kazuko lifts up Tohru’s head by her hair and lowers herself down to her ear.
“With the pitiful speck of life you have left in your body, tell me where the girls who killed my friend are.”
“What are you… talking about?”
“TOT-THE-ROCKER! WHERE IS SHE?!”
She takes a breath to calm herself down.
“Where is Tot-The-Rocker?”
“Ha… and what… makes you think… I’ll tell you?”
“I have snipers trained on every single member of Girls Won’t Cry. Every. Single. One. Save only for Tot-The-Rocker, and Kuroko Shindou. Give me their location and you have my word, I’ll spare everyone else. I only want the heads of Tot-The-Rocker and Kuroko Shindou. Understand?”
“You… son of a… bitch.”She’s heard rumors that the once almighty chief of Girls Won’t Cry’s gone soft. She’s started to actually care for her subordinates, treating them as nonexpendable. Irreplaceable even. Sadly, a common first and last mistake anyone makes in this business. Kazuko looks Tohru in the eyes and knows that the rumors are true.“The Neo… Neo Magical Academy…”
“Pardon?”
“You… heard me… The Neo Magical… Academy… You’ll find Kuroko there…”“And Tot-the-Rocker?”
“Hell… if I know.”
“...”As unbelievable as it sounds, it seems like she isn’t lying. Kazuko pulls her rapier out of Tohru’s chest and lets her body fall to the floor. She lands with a distinct splash in a pool of her own blood.“Very well then. I thank you very much for your cooperation.”
She lowers herself in a mocking bow.
“...”“Hm?”
Oh, right, she’s dead. She bled out. Ah, c'est la vie. She had hoped that she would be alive to witness what comes next. She retrieves a walkie talkie and lifts it to her mouth.“All units, fire.”
Her chest fills with just a trickle of pride with that declaration. She remembers the olden days when she was just a newbie. Now look at her, a fully-fledged Barrakuda lieutenant. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, not all of it her own, but here she is. Finally ready to accomplish a longstanding dream of hers. To annihilate Girls Won’t Cry.
Birds scatter into the open sky as a series of ‘BANGS’ from all over the city ring out. They sound like a symphony to Kazuko’s ears. Each one signals the death of one of her mortal enemies. She almost wishes the sounds would never end. But alas, too fast, too soon, they do. A pity.
“The Neo Magical Academy…”
How interesting. Well, she knows where she’s going to be spending the rest of her vacation.
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Chapter 68 Stellar Stellar
A gargantuan scythe blade the size of a mountain manifests from the tip of Tsumugi’s staff while Gleam blazes pure white, light magic seeping out of her very being. With a ponderous sweep of her arm, Tsumugi brings the scythe down, its tip aimed right for the crowd. The Deathless start to disperse but there’s not enough time. Someone trips. She closes her eyes to brace for impact but the impact never comes. Instead, there’s a brutal grinding sound. Opening her eyes, instead of seeing the tip of the scythe bearing down on her, she sees Gleam’s back as she clashes against Tsumugi’s scythe. “RUN!” The girl scrambles to her feet and runs away. Now all Gleam has to worry about is the mountain of cursed energy bearing down on her. “GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!” Gleam lets out an unearthly cry as she wills herself to go faster, to break through Tsumugi’s attack, to turn the tides of this battle. “STELLAR!” The speed of light isn’t fast enough to move the scythe more than a few inches.
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They come bursting out from the trees. Large metal transports with segmented armor that makes them resemble pillbugs. A far cry from the train-like things the Monarchs used all those years ago. They speed across the landscape, skimming across the flora of these lands. One transport in particular rushes ahead of the others, setting an example that the other transports follow. Atop its roof, stands a green-haired girl shredding her guitar. Heavy rock music, amplified by her sound sorcery, blasts outwards. It’s so loud that the ground almost seems to vibrate as they approach. But they find nothing. No patrols. No Deathless anywhere. It reeks of a trap. Tsumugi sticks her head out of the transport she’s in to yell at Haru.“Stick to the plan!” Haru nods and swaps tracks to the one corresponding to the signal for ‘Stick to the Plan’. The transition is nearly seamless. One by one, the transports climb the walls protecting Takakumo like it’s nothing. In the distance, they see it, Takakumo
Chapter 66 Aloha
“It seems we’re not welcome here anymore. You’ve been exiled.” Haru relays Gleam’s speech to Tsumugi. “What do we do?” Florence asks. “Nothing has changed. Let’s keep moving.” Haru waves her hand out the car window at the other Elites to follow close behind. They comply, mostly out of fear. They know that their duty is to Lady Kentomi first, Takakumo second, and Haru third, but the thought of going against Haru is just too much. The streets are empty, nearly everyone’s attending Gleam’s speech. What few people are left behind smile and wave at them as they pass, blissfully unaware of what Tsumugi’s become. They know not what she knows. “Where are we going exactly?” “To the forest on the edge of Takakumo’s borders. I’ve arranged for a meeting there.” Ah, to where it all began. The memories of a month or two ago come flooding back to Haru. It felt like a lifetime ago they were on that train and came crashing into Takakumo, completely unwelcome. “This is nostalgic.” Haru rests he
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As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 63 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 62 Bad to Worse
“Kikimi faltered.” Kazuko takes a deep breath just to check if her lung is still punctured. Surprisingly enough, it seems that the damage Tsuki dealt her just a few hours ago has already healed. Usually, it takes a few more hours.“That’s fine. She’s more useful to us dead.” Florence stares out the window at the full moon hanging in the sky. “Now that she’s out of the picture, Gleam’s a legitimate threat to both Tsumugi and Tomoe. But now that they’ve already severed their alliance, it’s going to be that much more difficult to stop her.” “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Kazuko slowly lifts herself off the chair she was sitting in. “You’re on your own from now on.” “Wait, hold on, what happened to owing me your life?” “A life for a life. My debt has been paid in full.” Florence saved her, and she killed Kikimi. Fair’s fair.“How do I know you won’t just rat me out?” “You don’t. But you don’t have any other choice.” Florence looks on as Kazuko slings her cape
