Tokyo Demons Book 1: Chapter 7

The basement of Kiseki had been trashed beyond recognition. Close to a dozen people were sprawled across the floor; one or two had ski masks, but the rest were definitely Byakko. The gaming TV lay in a shattered mess next to broken chairs and a flipped couch, and bits of glass and wood were scattered with the occasional tooth.

Jo swallowed down bile. There were streaks of blood staining the floor and smeared across the wall. The police were on their way…they would bring paramedics, right? What the hell was taking them so long?

Someone on the floor moaned. Adam pushed past Jo and knealt by the twitching teenager. As Adam rolled the boy onto his back, Jo stared at the open hallway and tried to think.

The basement of Kiseki was big, but it wasn’t complicated–the hallway made a single sharp turn and connected four rooms. Based on the shouts and crashes from the hallway, the fighting had been pushed deeper inside. How many attackers were they going up against? Jo had seen maybe fifteen men swarm Kiseki on foot. And they had that car with them. There’d been a few more in the car–

Jo suddenly remembered Kado. Opening the car trunk. Letting one more person out of the car and into the fray.

But…nobody traveled in a trunk. People were dumped in a trunk. Whoever had been in there had probably been an earlier victim of the attack.

“How the hell did he get out?!”

Realization dawned on Jo. He stared at Adam as the man helped the groaning teenager sit up.

“It…it was you,” Jo breathed. “You were in that trunk.”

Adam glanced up. He pointed at the teenager and flashed a thumbs-up.

“Okay,” he assured Jo.

Jo gave up on the conversation.

Someone yelled from the hallway. A blunt object smashed into the wall, causing a loud, dull crack. Cursing drifted closer as footsteps pounded on the floor.

Fear jolted through Jo. He fumbled with his wooden stool leg to get a better grip.

Two men in ski masks ran into the room. One of them was limping, but they both had baseball bats. They noticed Jo immediately.

The uninjured one snarled and rushed Jo. He swung his bat; Jo barely managed to duck under it. Jo whipped his stake and clipped the man’s side with the leg’s jagged end. The man cried out angrily and grabbed the injury.

Jo stumbled backward and tripped on a body. He fell hard, landing on someone’s outstretched leg as his weapon clattered to the floor. Jo’s attacker loomed over him, winding up for another swing.

Adam suddenly rammed his shoulder into the man, sending him to slam against the wall. Adam flipped his wooden stake upward in a quick spin, hitting the man hard under the chin.

The limping partner had caught up; he took a desperate swing while Adam’s back was turned. Jo’s warning cry died in his throat when Adam twisted, parried the bat with a forearm, and slammed his fist into the man’s chest before the first guy even hit the floor. The limping man fell to his knees, clutching his chest and struggling to breathe.

Adam discarded his stool leg. He grabbed a dropped baseball bat in each hand, spun them in precise arcs, then gripped them with purpose as he glared at the wheezing attacker.

Jo blinked. Adam moved like a fighter in a video game–only much, much faster.

The man on his knees desperately drew a knife from his belt. Adam calmly jammed a bare foot against the man’s chest and pushed him to the floor. His kick was nothing more than a blur snapping the man’s head to the side. The man went limp, his knife falling from his hand.

Adam looked over his shoulder at Jo. He held out one of his bats and raised his eyebrows quizzically.

Jo swallowed and shook his head. “You keep it,” he murmured as he grabbed his wooden pole. He heard more yelling from the hallway as he scrambled to his feet.

Adam suddenly gestured for Jo to stop. Adam ran to the entrance of the hallway and stepped back one big pace. Someone shouted from the hall; Adam clenched his two bats and waited.

A man charged through the hallway with a knife. Adam spun forward, his bats gracefully arching through the air before slamming together into the man the second he stepped out of the hall. The man pitched headfirst to the floor, but Adam whammed the bats into him again, knocking him backward to crumple at the entrance of the hallway. Another man ran from behind him; Adam took one quick step back, then spun a roundhouse kick as soon as the new man jumped over his fallen comrade. The kick caught the man in mid-air and sent him sailing into a wall. Jo heard more shouting from inside, but no more impending footsteps.

Adam smiled at Jo. “Now okay,” he said.

Jo felt like he’d wandered into a badly translated kung fu film. His eyes fell on the unconscious thugs. But I’ll take it, he conceded.

“Motherfucking shit-licking horse cock fuckers!”

Jo jerked his head up. That was definitely Miki. Jo tried to think of more English as he gestured toward the screams, but Adam seemed to catch on. He jumped over the unconscious thug that blocked the hallway. Jo followed, gripping his stool leg with sweat-slick hands.

The hall was clogged with bodies and abandoned weapons. The door of one of the rooms had been torn off its hinges to reveal a brawl inside; a teenager and one of the masked men fell out of the room to struggle in the hall. Adam deftly kneed the man in the side as he ran past, giving the Byakko teen an opening to jump on the man. As Jo followed Adam, he heard Seiya’s triumphant laugh from inside the room.

Only one door was closed. Miki let out another blood-curdling scream from behind it; Jo shouted at Adam to stop and grabbed the knob. The door was locked–and from his memory, he knew it was a padlock.

“I can’t pick this,” he said aloud, knowing Adam couldn’t understand him. He glanced at Adam meaningfully before kicking the door. An unknown voice cursed from inside.

“We’re running out of time,” the voice hissed. “Do it!”

Adam nodded at Jo and rammed his shoulder against the door. It jostled loudly but didn’t budge; he gestured for Jo to join him. Jo counted down with his fingers so he and Adam could ram at the same time.

The lock ripped from the wall and the door flew open so fast that Jo stumbled into the room. A man in a ski mask punched Jo across the face before Jo could even look up.

Jo reeled back and swung his pole blindly. He felt the solid connection of wood against body as he regained his footing. His attacker snarled and grabbed at him, but Jo twisted out of the way. He kicked outward as hard as he could. The man took Jo’s shoe directly in the stomach; he reeled back, grabbing his stomach and gasping. Jo wiped blood off his chin and whipped around.

Miki was in a corner of the room, badly beaten and forced to his knees by a man who twisted his arm over his head. Miki clutched at his face with his free hand, panting as blood spilled through his fingers. Jo’s stomach lurched.

Another man stood over Miki, his eyes now locked on Jo and Adam. As Adam grappled with two guards, the man over Miki reached into his belt.

And pulled out a gun.

Jo froze.

The man jammed the gun against Miki’s head. “Stop!” he shouted. “Or I put a bullet in his fucking head!”

The last of Adam’s attackers fell to the floor. Adam stopped, a few drops of blood dripping from his bats, and panted. His body tensed in place as he stared at the gun.

The man gripping Miki scowled. “How the fuck did you get out?!” he shouted at Adam. “I thought you were half-dead!”

“We’ll deal with him later.” The man with the gun ground it into Miki’s temple. “This is your last chance,” the man warned him, “you girlie little shit.”

Miki spat blood onto the floor. “Not pretending to be Seiryuu anymore?” he asked darkly. “Or is that pea-shooter just a stand-in for your dick? Does it want a kiss?”

The man pistol-whipped Miki across the face. Miki sagged and coughed; the man grabbed him by the hair and rammed the gun against his head again.

“Tell me where Takeshi is,” the man hissed.

Miki wheezed out a gravely laugh. He looked up at the man, his one visible eye defiant.

“…I’d rather cum in your eye socket.”

The man kicked Miki in the stomach–hard. Miki doubled over as the man cocked the trigger on his pistol.

“Fuck this,” he murmured as he trained the gun on Miki.

Jo’s adrenaline kicked his brain. He opened his mouth.

“Takeshi’s here!” he shouted.

The man with the gun stopped. He turned wide eyes to Jo as the man holding Miki looked up in surprise.

“What did you just say?”

Jo swallowed. “I saw him upstairs,” he blurted. “Someone must’ve called him.”

Miki forced his head up, his visible eye heavy-lidded. He furrowed his eyebrows at Jo.

One of Adam’s baseball bats suddenly sailed across the room, spinning like a deadly pinwheel. The attacker with the gun shouted as the wood cracked into his shoulder; a deafening gunshot rang through the room.

Concrete dust blew up from the floor where the bullet lodged itself. Adam was already between the masked men, ramming fists and feet into them as the gun skidded across the floor. Miki crumpled as he was released, curling into a ball.

Jo ran over. He dropped to his knees beside Miki to the sound of Adam’s elbow cracking skulls.

“Miki,” Jo said quickly as he tried to unroll him. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

Jo pulled back. Miki cursed as he squirmed painfully out of his shirt. He rolled the fabric into a wad and pressed it hard against his face.

Large, blackening bruises and bleeding scrapes speckled his skin. Two of Miki’s fingers had swelled up to twice their size, but he barely even acknowledged them–he just flicked his uncovered eye up at Jo.

“You weren’t serious about Takeshi,” he said, his voice weirdly careful.

Jo shook his head. “I’ve never met Takeshi.”

Miki snorted a wet wheeze. “Right,” he said darkly. “Because that would mean that asshole came back to clean up his shit. Why the fuck would he do that when I could get cut up instead?!” Miki gritted his teeth and pushed the fabric into his face. “What the hell did that cocksucker do to piss off these people?!”

Jo stopped. “You…you don’t know?” he asked.

“Of course I don’t know! Takeshi disappeared two years ago and I haven’t seen his ass since!”

Muffled yells and thumps bled in from the down the hall. Adam quickly rifled through the clothing of the men he’d knocked out. He threw weapons and cell phones into a small pile beside them.

Jo’s mind raced. He called out to catch Adam’s attention; when the man looked up, Jo gestured to the men. “Who?” he asked in English.

Adam went back to the men’s pockets. “Core,” he muttered as he turned the pockets inside-out.

Core? But…Jo hadn’t seen the track marks on the men. He crawled over to Adam’s victims and rolled up their sleeves.

One of them had a generic tattoo, but they were otherwise clean. Jo pointed to their bare forearms.

“No Pitch,” he argued in English.

Adam shrugged. “No Pitch,” he agreed. “But Core.”

“What the fuck, Oda?”

Jo turned. Miki stared at him, his eye wide in uncharacteristic shock.

“When did…” Miki trailed off. He blinked and looked away, his mouth forming a tight line.

“What?” Jo asked.

Miki let out an angry breath. “If it wasn’t obvious that Bruce Lee’s on our side,” he muttered as he glanced at Adam, “you’ve would’ve just dug your own grave saying  shit like that.”

“What shit?”

The eye flicked back up. “Core and Pitch,” he hissed.

Then Miki knew about them. Jo was never good at gauging Miki’s knowledge, but it made the attack on Kiseki a little less random. And Jo’s self-preservation instinct released the last, lingering grip on his heart. They probably hadn’t come for him. The attackers were Core, but they hadn’t come for him.

Kenta wasn’t dead because Jo had been hiding here.

“And they wanted Takeshi,” Jo said, finishing his thoughts aloud. “You don’t know why?”

Miki spat a red wad onto the concrete. “No,” he snapped. “I don’t know where he is and I sure as fuck don’t know what he did. Two years ago he told me he had to skip town because the cops were after him.”

“For what?”

“What do you mean, ‘for what’? He ran a street gang that robbed people blind! There was a laundry list of shit they could throw him away for.” Miki grunted as he struggled to his feet. “And that fucker’s about as subtle as face herpes. If someone was after him, they’d find his crazy ass within the hour. So I believed him. His wanted poster was plastered everywhere for a while.”

Jo tried to process that. Miki stumbled over to one of the bodies littering the floor.

“Ban,” he called as he weakly leaned over. “Are you dead?”

Jo stopped. “Ban’s here?”

“They smashed his head in with a pipe.” Miki shook his head. “He was high as a kite. Stupid motherfucker.”

Ban’s body was twisted away from Jo, his limp arms spread in different directions. His bleached hair was soaked in blood.

A quiet, high-pitched wail cut through the muffled thumps in the basement. It was the first time in Jo’s life that his spirit lifted at the sound.

Sirens.

The muffled struggling cut off abruptly. As the sirens grew louder, men shouted and footsteps thudded on the floor.

Miki dropped to his knees beside Ban. “Go,” he ordered Jo. “And take the foreigner with you.”

Jo gestured to Adam. “You’re not coming?” he asked Miki.

Miki sighed. “I need a doctor,” he mumbled in defeat. “And I’ll stay with Ban. But Core made this look like a gang fight, so the cops’ll round everyone up. I need a man on the outside.”

Jo was a little surprised. Miki had never implied that he trusted Jo and he’d certainly never employed Jo with an important task. But as the slight teenager knelt there, staring at his fallen leader as blood seeped into the shirt against his face…Jo wasn’t about to argue. He ran out of the room without looking back.

Core was ahead of Jo in fleeing; by the time Jo got upstairs, he heard the tires of their car squealing. Sirens swallowed up the shouts of men down the street. Jo ran out the front of Kiseki to see one last man in a ski mask disappear around a corner.

Jo hesitated for a second. Where should I go? he thought. He had a few back-up hiding places, but none of them were very good. He was weighing the possibilities when Adam ran out from behind him.

Jo’s mind cleared.

The church.

“Nick,” Jo told Adam abruptly. “I’ll take you to Nick.”

Adam furrowed his eyebrows. “Police?” he asked in English.

Jo shook his head. “Church,” he said in English. “Okay?”

Adam frowned. He ran past Jo to the road, squeezing between two parked cars. Jo shouted at him to wait.

Adam reached the street and dropped to his knees. A moment later, he stood and turned, an unconscious body draped across his arms.

Kado.

Jo stopped. The memories of Core’s attack flooded him all at once. Kado poking around before Core arrived, freaking out in the alley. Kado had known Core’s car was coming before it arrived.

“Let go! I need to…!”

Letting Adam out of the trunk.

Jo hadn’t dwelled on it because there hadn’t been time–but he couldn’t avoid his suspicions anymore. As he ran up to Adam and the body in his arms, Jo tried to make a judgment call on whether or not Kado was an enemy. What the hell did that guy know? Whose side was he on?

And what the hell was Jo supposed to do with him?

Adam looked up at Jo. “Good boy,” he said in English, jostling Kado slightly. “To Church. Okay?”

Jo hesitated. “Do you know this guy?” he asked in Japanese.

Adam jostled Kado again. “To Church,” he said more firmly.

The sirens were deafening now. Jo gave up on deciding and just beckoned Adam to follow him. As Jo ran into an alley across the street, he ignored the cold distrust he felt snaking around his heart.

The church could deal with Kado. Jo just had to get there in one piece.

****************

Ayase froze. She could hear Nick calling to her, but she covered her ears to block him out. She threw every last shred of attention to Kiyoshi.

The gloved upperclassman gestured to the doorway on the roof. “Things are going badly at the club,” he explained. “We need all backup there immediately.”

The guard with the gun scowled. “What does that have to do with canceling the hit?”

“Nothing. I’m canceling the hit, and I’m sending you to the club.”

One of the other guards snarled. “But you were the one who–”

“Things have changed,” Touya said icily, cutting the man off. “If we assassinate Nakajima, things will go very badly for us. I’ll take responsibility for ending this.”

Someone was touching Ayase now, blanketing her human skin with fabric. Her attention was split between the roof and the aerial insect and her human body and her memory as she tried to piece together what was happening. She didn’t know the upperclassman’s name, but she remembered him. Those black leather gloves…

Kiyoshi had pulled back from his gun. He stared at the new arrival, his eyes wide.

The guards exchanged glances. The upperclassman approached and held out a hand.

“Go somewhere private and call Team Alpha for specific instructions,” he said. “I’ll watch over Honda while he dismantles the weapon. Is that the only gun you have?”

The guard with the gun hesitated. “You’ll really take responsibility for this?”

“Of course. Alpha will confirm it.”

The guard muttered something under his breath. He slapped his handgun in the upperclassman’s gloved palm and hurried to the roof exit. The other guards waited.

“Ayase?”

Ayase shook her head. “They’re calling off the hit,” she said quickly to whomever had spoken. “Give me a minute!”

She felt someone scoop up her naked body; it diverted her attention for a few seconds. When she refocused her insect eyes, the other two guards were jogging away, leaving Kiyoshi alone with the upperclassman. The door off the roof shut with a metallic ka-chak.

Kiyoshi sat on the flat concrete, his back facing the drop and his rifle abandoned by his side. The upperclassman trained the handgun on Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi trembled as the man slowly advanced.

“T-Touya-senpai,” Kiyoshi breathed.

Touya.

Touya.

Ayase burned the name deep into her brain.

Touya stopped a few steps short of Kiyoshi. Then, to Ayase’s surprise, he smiled sadly and lowered the weapon.

“It’s okay, Kiyoshi-kun,” he said quietly. “Don’t be afraid.”

Kiyoshi opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Touya calmly unattached the handgun’s magazine and sprinkled the bullets into his gloved hand. He pushed the empty magazine back into the gun and knocked it in place with practiced ease.

“Please dismantle the sniper rifle,” he told Kiyoshi. He raised an eyebrow. “Unless you plan to shoot me when I can’t defend myself?”

Kiyoshi cringed back. “Wh-what are you doing here, senpai?” he whispered.

Touya shook his head. “It’s an extremely long story. I know we’re only acquainted through the sports clubs, Kiyoshi-kun, but please believe me when I say I’m truly sorry that this happened to you.” He gestured to the rifle. “Dismantle it. If they return and you haven’t started, they’ll suspect something is wrong.”

Kiyoshi just stared. Touya sighed and held out his handful of bullets.

“Here,” he said. “These are for you.”

Kiyoshi blinked. He dumbly held out a hand; Touya dropped the bullets into Kiyoshi’s outstretched palm.

“Hide those. Overpower the guard who’s assigned to you and take his gun.”

Ayase felt scratchy concrete under her bare legs again. She grabbed at whoever was holding her.

“Wait,” she said quickly. “Wait!”

Ayase’s heart pounded in her human ears as Kiyoshi stared at the bullets. He slowly closed his fingers around them.

Touya smiled. “You’re a resourceful boy, Kiyoshi-kun,” he said gently. “I’m sure you’ll manage. And I’m sure the church in Ueno will take you in.”

Ayase froze.

Kiyoshi noticeably swallowed. He pushed the bullets into his pocket and slowly righted his gun. As he unscrewed the barrel, Touya glanced back to the roof’s door.

Ayase opened her human eyes. Nick was leaning over her in an alley, his arm clutched in her hand. He watched her expectantly. Ayase gripped the jacket someone had draped over her.

“I-I think they’re letting him escape,” she blurted.

Nick’s eyes widened. Zayd, sitting by her side and gripping his head, furrowed his eyebrows at her.

“What?”

Ayase shook her head quickly. “One of our…classmates showed up,” she said. She tried to explain what had happened on the roof while Nick and Zayd stared at her.

Nick pulled back and abruptly stood. “An upperclassman?” he snapped. “Named Touya? Who the hell is that?!”

“I barely know him. But it looks like Kiyoshi does.”

Nick cursed in English. “Core has teenage members now?” he hissed. “With rank? How the hell didn’t I know that?!”

Ayase suddenly noticed Sachi; he was still unconscious and laid out beside her. Her clothes sat in a messy pile at his side.

Worry sparked in her gut. “Is he okay?” she asked.

“He’s fine. But I forgot smelling salts, so we’re having trouble waking him up.” Nick stepped out from behind the dumpster they were crowded beside. He looked down the alley. “Zayd knocked him out with the Core operatives. I think we’ve taken out everyone who was chasing us, at least.”

Ayase frowned as she stared at Sachi. “Knocked him out?” she repeated.

“Zayd can project whatever his body’s going through onto other people. So he took a giant whiff of chloroform.” Nick snapped absently. “Bam–everyone around him goes unconscious.”

Ayase stopped. She tried to wrap her head around that.

Nick seemed to notice the look on her face. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said dismissively. “You’re sure the hit is off? And this…classmate of yours is trying to help Kiyoshi escape?”

Ayase closed her eyes and switched back to the roof. The guards had returned; Touya handed one of them the now-empty gun. Kiyoshi finished disassembling his weapon with shaking hands.

Touya gestured to the guard with the gun. “Can you watch over Honda alone?” he asked. “We need the car and it’s too risky to bring him along. We’ll send someone to pick you up as soon as we can spare a vehicle.”

The guard nodded. The other men collected the cases with Kiyoshi’s weapon and left the roof. Touya followed them, pausing to send one last look over his shoulder.

He smiled. He flipped a small salute with his fingers before disappearing through the door.

Kiyoshi slowly stood. The guard in front of him raised the gun.

“Don’t try anything funny,” the man warned. “You can still do your job with a blown-out knee.”

Kiyoshi licked his lips. He clenched and unclenched his hands.

Ayase wished the bug on Kiyoshi hadn’t been crushed. Wait! she wanted to scream. But Kiyoshi, thankfully, stood his ground. Like he was waiting for Touya and the others to drive away.

It was enough for Ayase. She snapped her eyes open.

“He’s only being watched by one guard with the empty gun,” she relayed. “The others should be gone in a minute.”

Guarded relief flitted across Nick’s face. He glanced down the alley again while pulling a small bottle from his pocket.

“We’ll move forward,” he muttered, “but we need a car again. Sachi’s deadweight and Zayd’s too disoriented from the chloroform.”

Zayd rubbed at his eyes. “Do you think we can drive out of Kabukichou now?”

“I don’t know, but I can hotwire one of the abandoned cars if I can’t. Gimme your keys.”

Ayase took the brief reprieve to grab her clothes. She shimmied into her shirt under the privacy of the draped jacket.

“I’m giving Zayd the stimulants,” Nick said as she struggled. “If Sachi comes around, put one under his tongue–it might get him moving faster.”

Ayase zipped her jeans and nodded.

“If Kiyoshi gets away from them, use your bugs to guide him here. Whatever you do, don’t leave this alley. I’ll come back for you.”

Ayase finished dressing and shed the jacket. Nick had already left, his boots pounding on the concrete as he disappeared around a corner.

Zayd swallowed hard and handed Ayase the pills. She accepted the bottle hesitantly. Upon closer inspection, Zayd looked very pale.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Zayd sighed. He averted his eyes.

Ayase glanced at the pills. “Did you take one of these?” she asked. “Did…did I take one of these?”

“Yes. There is no chloroform in your body–it is only being tricked. So chemicals in your body will overpower what I did to you.”

Ayase turned her attention back to Sachi. He breathed shallowly, but his color was okay. His glasses had been knocked askew on his face. Without thinking, she slid them back into place.

“He will be fine,” Zayd assured her quietly.

Ayase pulled back from Sachi, suddenly nervous. Something warm and terrifying swelled inside her. She pushed it down as hard as she could.

She had to focus on Kiyoshi. She closed her eyes.

He was still alone with the armed guard. The guard was telling him to sit down. Kiyoshi shifted nervously on his feet, his eyes darting around. He finally seemed to notice Ayase’s bobbing insect.

He furrowed his eyebrows at her. Ayase snapped to attention.

The guard scowled. “What are you looking at?” he asked sharply as he followed Kiyoshi’s gaze. Ayase zipped away, vacating her original spot. She circled the roof in a wide arc, giving herself a moment to lose the guard’s attention.

The man refocused on Kiyoshi. Ayase braced herself.

Go.

She zoomed for the guard, slicing through the air with her tiny body. She shot past his face once, making him cringe in surprise–then she whipped around and attacked, burying her face stinger in his cheek. He cried out and slapped her.

She lost her perception as his hand batted at her. Desperate for a better view, she dropped her aerial bug from its position far above the building. Her fuzzy compound eyes made out more details as she neared. When she could finally distinguish two figures, they were already grappling.

Ayase’s heart raced. She shot her aerial bug toward the guard, looking for more exposed skin. He and Kiyoshi were fighting for the gun. Ayase stung him on the neck, drawing out a scream, and quickly pulled free before he could crush her. She bobbed back as Kiyoshi rammed a fist into the guard’s stomach.

The guard curled but didn’t fall. He whipped the gun hard, clipping the edge of Kiyoshi’s face and slicing a shallow cut across Kiyoshi’s chin. Kiyoshi faltered slightly and the guard managed to jam his gun into Kiyoshi’s shoulder. He pulled the trigger.

Click went the empty chamber.

The guard froze.

Kiyoshi whipped his elbow around, slamming it into the guard’s face. The man swayed on his feet enough for Kiyoshi to grab his arm and dig his teeth into the man’s wrist. The man screamed as the gun dropped from his slack hand. Kiyoshi dropped to the concrete and grabbed the gun before diving for the man’s waist in a tackle. The man fell hard to the floor of the roof, Kiyoshi on top of him.

Ayase couldn’t dislodge herself from the man’s cheek. She barely registered pain; had he crushed her wings? Her other bug rushed in to sting him again, but Kiyoshi suddenly yelled at her.

“Stay back!” he shouted. “He’ll hurt you!”

Ayase stopped in mid-air. She pulled back, surprised, as Kiyoshi punched the toppled guard across the face. Kiyoshi shoved a knee against the man’s neck and pinned him to the ground as he fumbled for the bullets in his pocket.

The man struggled, jostling Kiyoshi. “You little fucker!” he hissed as he grabbed Kiyoshi’s knee. Kiyoshi dislodged the gun’s magazine, slipped in several bullets, then crammed it back in. The guard’s eyes narrowed as his fingers dug into Kiyoshi’s jeans.

“Where the fuck did you learn to use a pistol?!”

Kiyoshi twisted around and pointed the gun at the man’s thigh. He pulled the trigger.

BLAM

The sound vibrated Ayase’s attenae in a defeaning explosion. She reeled as the man screamed.

Kiyoshi jumped to his feet and stepped back. The man grabbed his bleeding leg.

Kiyoshi swallowed. “Your otaku rambles a lot,” he said as he leveled the gun on the guard. “Blame him.”

The man cursed fluidly. Kiyoshi used his foot to roll the man onto his stomach, then knealt and used his free hand to quickly empty the man’s pockets. Kiyoshi crammed the man’s cell phone into his own pocket before grabbing the insect lodged in the guard’s cheek. Ayase felt Kiyoshi’s fingers gently pull her free.

The guard gritted his teeth. “You can’t run,” he hissed as Kiyoshi stood again. “The withdrawl from Pitch will kill you! You know that!”

Kiyoshi ignored the guard and ran for the door. Ayase’s flying insect followed him, shooting through the doorway before he let the door close. He stumbled down the stairs and lifted the crushed insect in his palm.

“Are you okay?” he asked it quickly. “Can you hear me?”

Ayase buzzed in his hand, albeit crookedly. She sent the other bug flying behind him to buzz under his right ear. He jumped slightly, then threw his glance back at her as he leapt down the last few stairs.

I’m fine, she told him silently. Just focus on getting out!

Kiyoshi paused at the door to the abandoned store. He took a breath, then opened it a fraction so he could look inside. The place was empty. He crept in until he could peer through a window. Core’s car from earlier had disappeared from outside.

Ayase reached out with a human hand. “Zayd!” she called. “He got the gun and escaped! Where are we?!”

She heard the tiny beeps of a cell phone. Back in the abandoned store, Kiyoshi quickly loaded the rest of his bullets before pushing through the front door. A few people wandered down sidewalks nearby; he jammed the gun in the waist of his jeans and pulled his shirt down to cover it.

He lifted her crushed insect again. “Where do I go?” he asked her.

She sent her flying bug higher to get a better view. She knew from earlier that there was a major street nearby. She buzzed to the left in his palm, hoping he understood.

He ran to the left. Her aerial bug followed him, staying low enough that she could still distinguish his shaggy head from other pedestrians.

Something plastic was pushed into her human hand. She popped one eye open to see Zayd’s cellphone in her palm, a tiny map on its screen. He pointed to a flashing red dot.

“That is us,” he said. “We are still in Kabukichou.”

Ayase squinted at the dot. She barely knew this part of the city, and the tight maze of streets on the screen dizzied her. She asked Zayd to guide her as she broke another insect from her arm. She flew it high above the alley to get another aerial view.

Zayd took back the cellphone. “Nick said they were near Shinjuku Sanchome,” he said as he tapped keys. “That is east of here. Guide him west, toward the setting sun.”

Ayase sent her new bug east. In Kiyoshi’s palm, she buzzed toward the sun.

Kiyoshi bolted down the sidewalk. Surprised people jumped out of his way as he passed, one angry salaryman yelling at his retreating back. Kiyoshi just ran faster, leaving Shinjiku and its crowds behind.

Ayase tried to stay on bigger roads, desperate to connect Kiyoshi and her new insect. Zayd read out landmarks to her. She managed to lead Kiyoshi to Hanazono Shrine, but she still couldn’t–

There was shouting from somewhere. Ayase jumped in Kiyoshi’s palm, buzzing frantically to warn him. He furrowed his eyebrows as he ran.

“What? What’s wrong?!”

She strained the eyes of the insect sailing over him. As far as she could tell, there was no one following him.

Zayd suddenly breathed something. She heard him move.

Ayase snapped open her human eyes. Zayd struggled to his feet beside her, his head turned to the far end of the alley. He climbed onto the step of the dumpster and peered over the top.

Ayase’s heart seized in her chest. Someone was yelling here?!

For an agonizing second, Zayd just stared down the alley. Then he turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed.

“It’s…okay,” he murmured, clearly confused. “No one is coming.”

Ayase waited. Zayd brushed her off and jumped awkwardly to the ground.

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “Please guide Kiyoshi.”

Nerves burned along Ayase’s skin. Her heart pounding, she returned to her insects.

In the compound eyes of her new bug, she barely made out a pink blur. Familiar red gates sliced across the foliage.

Ayase’s heart leapt. The shrine! She zoomed her bug forward and tried to open her mind. From two different points, at different angles, she saw Kiyoshi’s head bobbing down the sidewalk.

There he is!

She turned her new insect around, retracing its path as she buzzed in Kiyoshi’s hands. He turned and her three insects all shot in the same direction. She finally began to recognize the buildings he ran past.

“He’s nearby!” Ayase cried, pushing herself up onto her legs. “I found him!”

She guided Kiyoshi to Kabukichou, cutting into side streets. After he darted into a back alley, she lost track of his exact location…but he was close enough. She dropped the two insects onto Kiyoshi’s shoulders and let go of her control. She opened her human eyes.

Ayase ran out from behind the dumpster. She noticed, in sudden shock, that there were men crumpled on the ground at the far end of the alley. She froze.

The men didn’t move. She looked back at Zayd, eyes wide.

Zayd frowned. “Someone reached them first,” he offered. When he said nothing more, Ayase swallowed hard.

It didn’t matter. She ran out of the alley.

Ayase couldn’t see very far–the empty lot nearby split into sidestreets, but at angles that blocked her view. She strained her ears. She heard the blurry pound of footsteps, faint through antennae. The footsteps slowly grew clearer as they filtered through her human ears.

Ayase turned, her heart in her throat. At the mouth of one of the side streets, a familiar figure burst into the lot.

Kiyoshi.

“KIYOSHI!”

His head snapped to her.

Ayase ran without thinking. Kiyoshi ran to meet her, closing the distance between them in long, quick strides.

“Kiyoshi!” Ayase reached out a hand. She refused to believe he was real until she touched him with her human fingers.

He sidestepped her hand and instead scooped her up in his arms. He spun her around, tightening his arms around her waist as he buried his face in her neck.

“Ayase!” he breathed desperately against her collarbone.

Ayase felt blood rush to her face. She went rigid in his arms, suddenly paralyzed by the contact.

Her mind fell out of time, landing back in that tiny locker in Blue Light. She’d been crammed against Kiyoshi before. It hadn’t felt like this.

His arms and chest were hard as rock.

He finally put her down, pulling back and blinking glassy eyes. He opened his palm.

“Here.”

Ayase snapped out of her daze. She pulled back her three insects, clutching the damaged one to reabsorb it properly. Relief snaked through her system once she was back in one piece.

Car tires screeched from nearby. She and Kiyoshi pulled apart, whipping toward the sound. Kiyoshi grabbed the gun from his waist.

Zayd’s car rumbled down a sidestreet, loudly smashing a trashcan aside as it sped into the lot. Ayase grabbed Kiyoshi’s arm as the car turned and screeched to a halt in front of them.

Nick threw open the driver’s side door. “Get in!” he ordered as he ducked out of the car. He ran toward the alley. “Kiyoshi, help me get Sachi!”

Kiyoshi followed without a word. Ayase threw open all the car doors, absently noticing the wide, deep scratches torn over the vehicle’s sides. She ran back to help Zayd, who dizzily made his way to the front seat.

She heard shouting from the alley. She snapped her head up to see Kiyoshi abandoning Sachi in Nick’s arms. He ran out from behind the dumpster, sliding the top of his gun back with an audible ka-chak. A gunshot rang through the air; Kiyoshi jerked back as brick exploded from the wall near him.

No!

Panic seized Ayase. She ran for Kiyoshi, the edges of her body fragmenting into a swarm. Kiyoshi faced the far end of the alley and coolly raised his weapon.

BLAM BLAM BLAM

Men screamed. Ayase skidded to a halt behind Kiyoshi, her insects melting back into her human body. She froze.

Three Core operatives writhed on the concrete. From what Ayase could tell at the sizable distance, they all grabbed at bleeding kneecaps. Kiyoshi shook the smoking weapon and tucked it back into his jeans, his tee-shirt serving as a layer between the weapon and his skin.

Ayase felt words die in her throat. Kiyoshi ran back to Nick; the older man stared at Kiyoshi as Kiyoshi lifted Sachi’s limp legs.

“Jesus,” Nick murmured. He shook his head as he heaved Sachi’s torso from the ground.

The Core operatives fired a few more shots, but the dumpster blocked their aim. Nick and Kiyoshi dragged Sachi to the car and crammed him into the back seat. Ayase and Kiyoshi crawled in from the other side as Nick slammed the front door shut.

The car squealed to a start, jumping across the lot as Kiyoshi scrambled to close the back door. Nick jerked the steering wheel and the car rammed hard to the left, throwing Ayase to squash against Sachi as Kiyoshi practically fell on top of her. For a terrible moment, she was crushed between them.

Nick straightened the car. It barreled down a sidestreet as Kiyoshi pushed himself back up, mercifully returning space between his body and Ayase’s.

She heard Zayd say something in a foreign tongue from the front seat. “Welcome back,” he said, twisting to look behind him.

The crease between Kiyoshi’s eyebrows disappeared. He closed his eyes, took a long breath, then opened them again. When he turned his gaze to Ayase, a smile lit up his features.

“Yeah,” he murmured.

Ayase’s chest clenched. Up close, in the calm, Kiyoshi looked…different. His arms were bigger than she remembered, and there was a new broadness to his shoulders and chest. She saw something unexpected in his eyes, something small and dark buried deep below the smile.

Nine days. It was like he’d aged a year. Ayase’s gaze dropped to the long sleeves Kiyoshi had pushed up at some point. Dark veins coursed along the underside of his arms.

Ayase swallowed and looked away.

To her surprise, Kiyoshi suddenly hugged her again. She froze as those older arms wrapped her against his chest.

“Thank you,” he breathed. “Thank you, Ayase.” He rocked her back and forth, burying his face in her hair.

Heat spread through Ayase. The smell of sweat and gunpowder leaked into her nose as he murmured words she couldn’t make out. Then, in a terrifying moment, Kiyoshi started planting kisses in her hair.

Ayase stopped breathing as warmth pooled below her waist.

Nick clicked his tongue against his teeth from the front seat. “Get a room,” he muttered as he twisted the steering wheel.

The car swayed to the right. Sachi’s unconscious body flopped against Ayase’s back.

No.

No no no no no.

Ayase jerked out of Kiyoshi’s arms. When he stared at her in surprise, she patted his shoulder, looking anywhere but his face.

“I…I’m glad you’re okay,” she stuttered. “We, um, all are.”

Kiyoshi relaxed and released her. He smiled and turned back to the front seat. “Is anyone hurt?” he asked.

Ayase shrunk back into the leather. Nick started explaining things to Kiyoshi and asked him a long barrage of questions, but Ayase barely heard any of it. As the minutes passed, the sound of their voices turned to white noise in her ears.

Ayase’s body finally settled, exhaustion seeping in the gaps formerly filled with adrenaline. She found her eyes wandering back to Sachi’s sleeping face. His head was propped against the window, his glasses once again askew. His breathing had finally settled into a more normal rhythm.

She paused. Slowly, hesitantly, she slid his glasses back up the ridge of his nose.

The car suddenly screeched to a halt. Ayase cried out as she was thrown against the front seat.

“What the hell?!”

Ayase fell back hard. She scrambled back up in her seat, grasping the back of Nick’s chair with white knuckles.

Someone flopped against the front of their car. He grabbed at his heart, slamming a fist against the hood and flipping his middle finger at the windshield.

“Fucking idiot!” Jo Oda shouted. “You almost ran me over!”

Kiyoshi blurted excitedly. “Jo!” he cried as he threw open the door. He ran to the front of the car, shocking Jo so badly that Jo stumbled back a few steps.

Ayase blinked. The car had stopped in a small lot; the back of Daniel’s church loomed before them. As Kiyoshi threw his arms around Jo, another stranger ran up. It looked like he was carrying…Kadoyuki in his arms?

“Adam,” Zayd whispered. Nick snapped his head to Zayd as the smaller man scrambled out of the car. Nick shouted to catch the stranger’s attention as he kicked open his door and slid out. From the back of the church, Daniel and Emi ran outside.

Ayase fell back in her seat.

The activity outside made her head spin–she shook her head to clear it. She glanced over at Sachi. He stirred, his head lolling gently to rest on Ayase’s shoulder.

Ayase let out a breath. In the strangely quiet cove of the back seat, she gave herself the first mental break she’d had in nine days. She swallowed, closed her eyes, and listened to the soft sounds of Sachi breathing.