Corpse March

Chapter 61 Killer Queen III

Kazuko wrenches her rapier free from Tsuki’s grip and immediately launches into a flurry of slashes. Tsuki raises her hands in an ‘X’ formation, forming an impervious metal shell that the rapier simply glances off of. Even what little scratches form are quickly covered up by Tsuki’s living metal. 

Tsuki doesn’t wait for Kazuko to reveal an opening or anything, she just drops her guard, tanks the damage, and delivers a solid punch to her chest.

“Hrk–!” Blood comes out of Kazuko’s mouth as she’s sent flying backwards. She skids along the ground until she hits the edge of the roof. It takes her a second to draw herself back up onto her feet. “Damn it.” 

“Heh. Still got it.” Tsuki tries to smirk but she breaks into a coughing fit and the effect is ruined. 

“Don’t force it.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” 

“OI!” Kazuko jabs her finger at Haru’s direction. “Don’t think we’re finished just yet!” She turns to Kikimi. “Give me your glove.” 

“But–” 

“God, you’re useless.” Without wasting another second, Kazuko slashes Kikimi’s arm off. It happens so quickly that it just looks like Kikimi’s forearm fell off completely spontaneously. 

“Aah– AAAAAAAAAGHHHH!” Kikimi screams as she looks at the stump. She tries to staunch the bleeding with her other hand but the blood just spurts out from between her fingers. Everyone, save for Kazuko, can only look on in shock. 

“Don’t be so overdramatic.” Kazuko picks up the gloved arm off the ground, quickly relieves it of the artifact, and slips it on. “Anything I touch will become a bomb, right?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Kikimi’s hunched over, trying to wrap as much of her body around the stump as possible in a desperate attempt to stop the blood from flowing. She keeps screaming. 

“Why do I always have to do everything?” Kazuko suddenly grabs Kikimi by the neck… “Sorry about this. But orders are orders.” …and shoves her towards Haru and Tsuki. 

It’s only as orange light begins to shine outwards from inside Kikimi that it suddenly clicks inside of Haru’s head what’s happening. Her hand freezes. She tries to raise it up so she can cast her guard spell but it doesn’t move. The world grinds to a halt. Then it tilts. Then it falls. 

She has just barely enough sense left in her to be able to turn her head to see what’s happening. Tsuki’s pushing her. Instead of using her steam to back away herself, she’s gently pushing her over the side of the roof. At first, Haru thinks that she’s winking at her, smug till the very end. But on closer inspection, she’s just closing her eyes. Her expression is peaceful, serene, a stark contrast to Kikimi’s anguished expression as she’s ripped apart from the inside out. 

Poor Kikimi. Ah, she’s going to miss her. As Haru falls from the roof, she thinks back to all the good times they had together. 

…

Okay, maybe she’s not going to miss her that much. Now that she thinks about it, she isn’t sure who will. 

‘Poor Kikimi indeed.’ That’s Haru’s last thought as she hits the ground. Her physical enhancements should keep her alive even from that impact, but her consciousness bleeds out from her head and her mind drifts off into sleep.

She dreams of cats, hands, and blond men.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“We heard the commotion and came as fast as I could, what happened–”

Tsumugi barely manages to finish her sentence when she sees what happened. Tsuki’s mangled body, limbs half-melted and joints twisted beyond recognition. The only thing that tells her it’s Tsuki’s body and isn’t just a pile of scrap metal is her face. One side still has a serene expression, but the other side has been completely burned off. 

Tsumugi resists the urge to vomit. She knew this was going to happen. One way or another, Tsuki was going to die, there’s just no avoiding it. But even then…  

“Why did it have to turn out like this?” Tsumugi leans against her staff for support. 

Following close behind, Gleam steps through the roof door. Her expression is dead serious, ready to face any enemy that dares show itself. But it immediately melts away the instant she sees Tsuki’s corpse. “Oh god.”

“I’m sorry…” Kuroko weakly calls out to them both. She’s slumped up against the edge of the roof. “Got… away.” 

“It’s alright, Kuroko, it’s okay.” Gleam rushes over to her side, rips off part of her nightgown and begins tying a makeshift bandage around her chest. “What happened?” 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“I see. Tsuki… She used what was left of her life to protect Haru.” Tsumugi nods slowly. 

‘Tsuki… if you can hear me… thank you.’ She offers a silent prayer in her mind.  It’s the least she can do for her little sister who always looked out for her. 

“Thank you, Kuroko. For letting me know that she didn’t die in vain.” 

Kuroko nods before letting her head loll backwards. It’s been a long night, and both Gleam and Tsumugi decide to stop bothering her and let her get some sleep at least. 

“Kikimi, huh?” Gleam looks at Tsumugi.

“Yeah…” The way the moonlight reflects off of her glasses makes her seem like she’s on the verge of losing her cool. The other thing that makes her seem like she’s on the verge of losing her cool is how hard she’s clenching her fist. “You know, it’s funny.”

“What is?”

“I was wondering why she never answered my letters even though we got along just fine before.” Tsumugi sits down cross-legged. “Weirdly enough, I’m kind of relieved that it’s because she was a traitor and not because I said something wrong.” 

“Are you really okay?”

“Yeah.” Tsumugi deliberately adjusts her glasses with both of her hands. “I can’t spend all my time grieving when the path forward is so clear to me now.” 

“What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll talk to Auntie first, and then I’ll talk to Tomoe.”

“Be careful.” 

“I am careful.” Tsumugi smiles, thinly veiling her boiling anger. 

“Are you sure you’re–”

“What do you think, Gleam?! What do you think?! Can you guess how I’m feeling? Can you?!”

“...”

“I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” Tsumugi shrinks as she leans even more onto her staff. “I’m just… I’m so sick of all this. All this fighting. All this killing. I just want it all to end.”

“Me too, Tsumugi. Me too.”

“What do you know? You’re the one who’s going to become queen now that Kikimi’s dead. I have nothing, Gleam. Nothing.” 

Gleam doesn’t know what to say, so she says nothing at all.

“I think… I think I get why Tsuki told me that Tomoe was the traitor. I think she wanted me to fight. Tsuki… She always believed in me. Now that I think about it, she always believed in me far more than I believed in myself. I never understood what she saw in me. I’m weak. I’m soft. I’m a coward.” Tsumugi turns to look Gleam in the eye. “But you know what? I think this might just be the push I needed. Cause now all of a sudden, I’m really really sick of people getting in my way.” 

“...maybe take a moment to calm down–”

“I am calm.” Tsumugi almost snarls. “I am calm.” 

“...”

“I think I get what Tsuki was trying to get me to do now…” Tsumugi wipes her face on her hands and begins to walk away. “Anyway, I think I’ve had enough for the night.”

“Where are you going?” 

“I’m going on a date.” 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Hey, Haru.”

Haru slowly rises back to consciousness. Her head’s resting on a surface that’s softer than the one she landed on. Opening her eyes, she comes face-to-face with Tsumugi. “Oh, hey, Tsumugi.” 

It takes her a moment to realize that her head’s resting on Tsumugi’s lap.

“Oh, um.” She blushes “Is this uncomfortable for you?” 

“Not at all.” Tsumugi begins running her hands through Haru’s hair. Neither of them really know why but it’s immensely relaxing so Haru lets it happen and Tsumugi keeps going. 

“Tsuki… by any chance… is she alive?”

“No. But it’s alright, she was at peace.” Tsumugi keeps stroking Haru’s hair. “Besides, why are you asking about my sister when you’re on a date with me?” 

“Ah, sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” Tsumugi leans down and plants a kiss on Haru’s forehead.

“How are you feeling?” 

“As expected, pretty badly.” Tsumugi grimaces. “It’s one thing to imagine Tsuki dying, it’s another to have it actually happen.” 

“Yeah, I get that…” She doesn’t really but that’s what you’re supposed to say in situations like this. “So… this is probably a really bad time to bring this up but Kikimi was one of the assassins.”

“Kuroko told me everything. I’m glad that Kikimi’s dead. Traitors can rot in he– heck… I was going to say ‘heck’.” Tsumugi shakes her head and waves away the thought. “Though, there’s still the problem of that other assassin.”

“Kazuko, huh?”

“Do you know each other?”

“We fought at Kagami’s funeral once. I assumed she was here just to kill me so I never brought it up. I’m surprised that even she’s gotten tangled up in all this.” 

“I get the feeling that your paths will cross again.” 

“Yeah. Probably.” A shiver travels up Haru’s back. “So, what will you do now?” 

“That’s… a surprise.” Tsumugi smiles. “But now that Tsuki’s entrusted me with a goal, it’ll be something loud.” 

“Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?”

“Bit of both. I might be making a huge mistake… but I think it’ll be fine. I’ll deal with the consequences afterwards. That’s what you said, right? Do and then deal with the consequences.” 

“You sure? You might be biting off more than you can chew.”

“No, not this time.” Tsumugi looks off into the distance. “ I think… I think I finally have the resolve to do what I was supposed to do from the very beginning.” 

“Nice. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.” Tsumugi smiles cheerfully. “At last, I’m free.”

Haru closes her eyes and buries herself deeper in Tsumugi’s lap. “Can we stay like this? Just for a bit longer?”

“Yeah… I think I’d like that as well.” 

They stay that way until the sun comes up.