Corpse March

Chapter 36 Aftermath

“I see now the tune you wish to play, Tsumugi.”

Gleam 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.”

“Calm down, Gleam. Your soldiers can’t enter the Curia, you can’t lay a finger on me here.”

“Yeah, back off, bitch.” Haru sounds so brave but she’s saying this as she hides behind her wife.

“Hmph.”

Gleam draws her blade. A black katana with a gleam like a wolf’s fang. It’s as long as she is tall. “My soldiers can’t, I still can.”

“Let’s not do this, Gleam.”

Tsumugi slings her staff over her shoulder. As she does, a huge scythe blade extends itself from her shoulder to her knee. It’s like an invisible cloth was pulled off of it. Just looking at it makes Haru shudder. 

She blinks. There’s a resounding CLANG. The sound of metal clashing against metal. Somehow, in the tiny fraction of a millisecond Haru closed her eyes, Gleam managed to close the gap between her and Tsumugi. They both stand at odds, their blades crossed between them, separating their faces by mere inches. 

“I’m growing predictable, it seems.”

“I have no interest in fighting you, Gleam. You’ve lost this one. You can arrest the ones you did catch but–”

“How dare you mock the lives you threw away!”

“...what do you mean?”

Gleam pushes Tsumugi back while completing her swing. With a flourish, she sheathes her blade. “You know as well as I do what I’m talking about.” 

She looks down on the ground. The more she pieces together that her worst fear has come to pass, the harder Tsumugi’s fist clenches. As she does, a kind of black flame begins to envelop it. Dancing, burning, eating away. 

“What… What did you do?”

Now it’s Tsumugi on the offensive. The black flame sheathes her whole arm now. As she levels it against Gleam, black tendrils begin to form from the flame tips. They dance wildly, hungering for prey, halted only by Tsumugi’s sheer force of will. 

“That’s enough.” Tomoe’s voice suddenly cuts through the conflict. Her usual lightness is all but gone from her voice. “From both of you.”

Tsumugi turns to face her, her expression contorted in a mixture of disbelief, desperation and grief. “But–”

“What happened was nothing more than an unfortunate accident. Both of you are equally at fault. Gleam, I understand that your desire to protect Takakumo is what drove you to give that order, but please take this as a lesson as to why mercy is sometimes necessary. And Tsumugi, I understand that this was a mistake you made largely due to your own naivete, so please take this as a lesson that the world is not as kind as you are and sometimes accidents like this can happen.”

“...”

“...”

Like children being scolded, the two hang their heads and put away their weapons. Gleam retreats over to a nearby piece of rubble and sits down while Tsumugi retreats to Haru’s side. I still think Gleam’s at fault. Haru wants to say, but she decides against it.

“And don’t think I don’t know your involvement in all this, Tsuki.”

Tsuki makes a big show of looking around as though there’s someone else named Tsuki. “Who? Me?”

“This whole operation was your idea to begin with. Please take this a lesson in–”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? Casualties aside, our goal was achieved, was it not?”

“...” Tomoe bites down on her tongue. Haru gets the impression that they’ve done this song and dance millions of times before. And the penultimate lesson that Tomoe’s learned is that there’s just no reasoning with Tsuki. 

Gleam takes a bold step towards Tsuki. “How dare–”

“Anywho, it seems like we’ve got a bigger problem.”

As if on cue, Nui barges into the Curia, outrage written all over her face. 

“Guards! Guards! Someone! Arrest this woman.”

“It’s no use, Nui. Soldiers can’t enter the Curia.” Gleam doesn’t even bother looking at her. 

“I move to temporarily suspend that law!”

“I move to veto.” Tsumugi counters.

“I move to veto the veto.” Gleam counters.

“I move to veto the veto vetoing the veto.” Tomoe counters. 

“I second the veto vetoing the veto vetoing the veto.” Tsuki counters. 

“Dammit, where’s Florence?”

“It’s no use, Nui.” Tomoe speaks without derision, Haru even detects the smallest shred of pity in her voice. “Even if Florence were here, Jessica would just veto that too.”

“Hmph.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Nui, I’m willing to submit myself to questioning now.” Tsumugi says something outrageous, at least, it is to Haru. Her surprise must show on her face because Tsumugi seems to read her mind. 

“Calm down, Haru. I’m not finished.” She clears her throat. “Under the condition that I remain within the Curia and both the Deathless as well as the Disciplinary Committee remain outside of it.”

Ah, that makes a lot more sense. 

Nui sighs. “I tire of these legal games you love to play so much. Very well.”

“Thank you, Lady Nui.” Tsumugi bows as deeply as she can. Whether it’s a genuine bow or just a very convincing mocking one, Haru can’t tell. 

“Incidentally, has anyone seen KANNIBAL anywhere? It’s the big metal guitar-looking thing that I’ve been lugging around.” She spreads her arms to emphasize its size.

“I-is this it?” Two of the Elites digging through the rubble lift up a huge metal hunk with strings attached to it in a guitar-like fashion. There are visible dents in the metal that weren’t there before and there used to be four strings, not three but still, Haru feels like she’s reuniting with a long lost friend. Even though it’s only been a few hours at best. 

“Yes, thank you.” Haru promptly snatches with one hand what took two people using all their strength to lift up. She’ll have to smoothen out the dents and reattach the strings but she supposes that’ll have to be for later. For now, she takes a few practice swings before plunging it into the floor. 

“Tsk.” Nui suddenly appears next to Haru. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t make my job any harder.”

She raises her arms and begins to conduct. As she does, the blocks of rubble begin to raise themselves up, acted on by an unseen force. They organize themselves into currents, then the currents organize themselves into a storm, then the storm flows from the ground to the hole in the wall. Piece by piece, the concrete begins to puzzle themselves into the damage. It’s a wonder that Nui’s body hasn’t collapsed under the sheer strain magic that powerful must be causing. But she chalks it up to one of Takakumo’s many secrets and moves on. Still… some kind of reversal magic, how interesting.

“There. It should be finished within the hour.”

“Sorry about that.” Gleam hangs her already hung head. 

“We’ll write it up as a maintenance expense.”

“You mean, I'll write it up as a maintenance expense.” Jessica walks through the double-doors. 

"Hello, Auntie." Tsumugi smiles at her through her exhaustion. 

"Oh! Hello, Tsumugi, how have you been?" Jessica's expression flips on a dime as she turns from Nui to Tsumugi– from mild irritation to doting. "Have you been eating enough?"

"No, but I've had my plate full."

"Oh that's too bad! I actually came up with a new recipe the other day so I can have the maids cook you some of the most delicious mushroom soup you've had if you want."

"I'm quite alright, Auntie." Tsumugi laughs. "Though, I have missed you quite a bit."

Jessica makes a noise like a kettle letting out steam before wrapping Tsumugi in an enormous bear hug "I missed you so much too!"

"How sweet." Tsuki almost seems like an intruder as she walks away from Jessica and Tsumugi. 

"Um, Tsuki?" Haru snags Tsuki's sleeve and drifts alongside her to the other side of the room. Behind them, Jessica and Tsumugi continue their endless back and forth of small talk. 

"Yeah?" 

"Is… um, Jessica my aunt-in-law? Or is this just more Takakumo weirdness?"

"I dunno what you mean by 'Takakumo Weirdness', but no, Jessica isn't your aunt-in-law." So, more Takakumo weirdness. Why can’t this city just be normal for once?  "And she isn't my aunt either, before you ask."

"Huh… how does that work?"

"Jessica's older than she looks. I dunno how she does it but she is. She was around when Tsumugi was born and she helped take care of her whenever Lady Tsubame was busy."

"Ahhhh, gotcha. So, Jessica isn't Tsumugi's real aunt either?"

"Nope. Just a close family friend."

Haru sighs in relief. So far, so good. In-law baggage is precisely the last thing Haru wants to have to worry about. 

"Kinda makes you wish you had a family like that, huh?"

"Yeah. Sorta." 

Haru's perfectly content being raised by a single mother with no other family to speak of. But looking at those two and the bond that's just shy of physically connecting them, she almost feels jealous. 

"Do you ever get lonely… Tsuki? Tsuki?!"

Haru turns her head just in time to see Tsuki's body crumple, her hair flowing behind her as she falls to the ground. Even with Haru’s enhancements, the best she can do is catch her after her head hits the ground. Instead of the dull sound of bone knocking against carpet, there’s an eerie clinking sound, like something very ornate and very fragile just broke. 

“Did it happen again?”

“Is Tsuki alright?”

“What happened?!”

Voices all rush at Haru but she can’t hear any of them.

“Tsuki? Tsuki? Jerk around uncontrollably if you’re having a seizure.”

“Huh? What? I’m up!”

Tsuki opens her eyes with a jolt. Like electricity was just injected into her heart.  

“Ah, shit. Did it happen again?” She sits up, as she does, her cloak falls off to the side. She quickly covers herself back up, but Haru sees a glimpse of her legs. Pistons and gears where muscles should be. They turn endlessly even when she’s sitting still. 

“Don’t overexert yourself, Tsuki.” Tsumugi pushes through the crowd and extends a hand towards her.

But Tsuki waves it away. “Yeah yeah, whatever. I’m fine, really, I am.”

She staggers back onto her feet. Her eyes have a glassy sheen to them. “I’ll be in my room resting if anyone needs me.” With an almost drunken gait, she stumbles towards the door. “See y’all.”

The room is dead quiet. Everyone stays frozen, like they’re all afraid of breaking the silence. Jessica is the first to say something. “Could someone please escort lady Tsuki to her room?”

“At once, Lady Jessica.” A pair of well-dressed, well-kept servants, invisible until their presence is required, quickly follow along behind Tsuki.

 Haru pulls Tsumugi in close and whispers into her ear. “What was that?”

“We… Don’t know. But it’s been happening more and more frequently.” Tsumugi wipes her forehead. As she does, the worry seems to disappear, but not without leaving stains behind. 

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?”

“Hope is all we can do right now.”

That clockwork girl and the flaw in her system. Interesting. Haru tilts her head. How very interesting.