Chapter 7 - Miharu Kozuki

  ???

  I was about to die for the ninth time.

  In the prelude to what would be my st performance, memories of my short tenure in this cruel world gradually began to reveal themselves to me.

  Honing in on one in particur, I found myself transported all the way back to middle school.

  This must’ve been around February time, when the excitement of the new year had just begun to expire, resolutions fading away into distant promises, as everyone began to settle back into their previous routines.

  I was milling about in the hallway, alone and crestfallen after having received a subpar grade in Chemistry, the sworn enemy of all (sane) students.

  The dull, unending pain I had experienced back then was still familiar, the fear of what Mother and Father would say – would do – still fresh in my heart.

  Now, to this day I couldn’t tell you why my eyes were drawn to this particur leaflet of the school’s annual production in particur. I had never even seen or read Hamlet. What I can tell you is that something within me yearned to be emancipated – to be unleashed.

  I only came to my senses the following Tuesday, discovering myself in the small passage outside the double-doored entrance to the school auditorium, alongside a cluster of nervous preteens.

  What had I done?

  By the time I had recalled the all-nighters reading over the script, blocking the most monumental scenes in my head, and jotting down character analysis, I heard the auditorium doors swing open.

  “Kozuki? Do we have Miharu Kozuki?” a bespectacled woman called. My heart sank, though I raised my hand in spite of myself.

  I was then ushered into the lion’s den, the closing of the doors behind sealing my fate. Plodding my way to centre-stage, I gave my name and desired role to the small panel of sat neatly on a rectangur table just in front of the bleachers.

  “Give it your best,” I was encouraged, and then…silence. At the realization that this was my cue, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let go.

  In that brief time on stage, I had lived another life - a life full of joy, hardship, love, agony, defeat, and victory all wrapped into one.

  From that day on, I wonder, how many lives had I lived? How many deaths had I experienced at the mercy of bdes? Heartbreak? Madness? Poison?

  And now, the Grim Reaper was calling once again; though which name would he beckon? Which of my masks would he take?

  My tale began as Ophelia,

  But how shall it be put to bed?

  I looked to the stars for an answer,

  They answered with the name Red.

  There it was again.As the Noise begin to approach the group, one by one, they flee in varying directions. [Exit Pyers Upstage Centre, Upstage Left, Upstage Right]

  Cowards!

  With renewed vigour, I leaped, reaching a height that surprised even myself, twirling in the air as graceful as a swan, before nding Upstage Centre.

  I felt the bewildered eyes of my fellow performers upon me – I would inspire them with courage!

  “Friends, companions, lend me your ears!” I began my address. “Why doth thou run? We stand at the precipice of peril, where the tempest of fear threatens to consume our spirits whole. Yet amidst this gloom, let not our hearts falter, nor our resolve weaken!”

  Reaching behind myself, I unsheathed my bde, a brilliant cymore that dazzled in the moonlight, before sinking it into the ground.

  “Like valiant knights, let us not retreat, but stand firm, steeling our souls against the encroaching shadows!” I commanded. “For ‘tis the indomitable spirit that resides within that defines us! E’en if the night be painted crimson with the hues of turmoil and strife, let our courage shine as a beacon in this stygian realm! With valour in our hearts and unity in our cause, we shall defy the odds and etch our names upon the annals of triumph! Let our hearts beat as one, each beat echoing a testament to our resilience, our dauntless resolve! Onward, to our saga's victory!!”

  This was the part where they were meant to cheer! Hurrah! Rush into battle! However, all I found were increasingly frightened and bemused expressions among my brethren.

  As I was preparing to head into the fray, on my lonesome if necessary, an impassioned battle cry arose from a single warrior among the fearful. I spun in their direction.

  “YOU WANT A FIGHT?!” Shouted the blonde-haired soldier, brandishing her bludgeon menacingly toward the incoming horde. “COME AT ME!!”

  Without warning, my world was enveloped by luminescence so bright, my hands shot up toward my eyes in defence.

  When my vision returned, my eyes fixed once more upon my valiant comrade, now stood as our vanguard, pummeling and swinging her mallet with the ferocity of a golden tiger!

  “FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU-“ She bellowed. It struck me as a truly marvelous sight.

  Instantly, the orange haired, robed individual she had saved previously dashed into the brawl, shouting away his apprehension and swinging a rather elegant staff into the bodies of any stragglers that somehow escaped the wrath of the demon.

  One by one, the previously affrighted band of brothers and sisters threw themselves into battle, until I was the only one that remained.

  Satisfied, I released one st cheer.

  “To victory!!”

  Our battle was legendary.

  As one, we breached the front lines of the enemy – one of the blue-haired maidens had provided cover fire, sending small shards of ice flying at their infantry.

  Next, myself, the Golden Tiger, and the remaining blue maiden reached their vanguard, the graceful, yet precise swings of the tter’s silver bde quite literally crackling with electrifying power.

  As our support, one soldier, to my astonishment, had experienced a profound growth in size, taking on the appearance of a fearsome, furious lycanthrope.

  Whilst he began to pounce from position to position, cws and fangs ripping through mass, another rather malicious-looking specialist had his arms inundated with pitch-bck fme, tearing through creature after creature, trails of a bck inferno in his wake.

  Finally – and perhaps the most harrowing of them all – was an individual cloaked in a bck and grey robe, their face obscured by the hood of their garment.

  By the time I had caught the distant glimmer of their scythe, sweeping through and harvesting the souls of their backline, it was much too te. We had already won.

  “Excellent,” The one known as Juno commended, voice booming through the emptied space as we basked in the glory of triumph, panting doggedly. “This will be your first conquest of many, young warriors – remember the sensation. Savour it. I will give you a moment now to recoup.”

  With our first battle a ndslide victory, I could sense the morale among us begin to climb. Whatever trials this nd had in store for us, we would overcome – so long as we remained united as one.

  “Everyone…hah…okay?” Spoke the brown-robed boy once more. Upon catching his breath, he stood up to assess the health of our company.

  As his eyes scanned our gaggle, they suddenly widened in shock, prompting him to rush over to the shorter of the blue maidens from earlier. She was kneeling, breath bated, clutching at her sides.

  “Shirogetsu!” the boy cried. “What’s wrong?”

  “I was careless…” the maiden, revealed to be Junko, admitted quietly, a glint of recognition in her eyes as she took a gnce toward her caller. Were they already acquainted? “It really hurts!”

  I wasn’t sure exactly when her taller counterpart had materialized to her side, though there she was, her once vacant eyes now overcome with worry.

  “Quick, let me see!” she commanded.

  Shaking her head knowingly, Junko grit her teeth, lifting her hand to reveal a red palm, and an even redder blotch under her vibrant purple kimono, likely crafted from silk.

  Her caretaker gasped in shock.

  “Wh-Whatever shall we…!?”

  “I’ll be fine, sis. We need to…” Junko’s words were painful, struggling. If not for the gravity of the situation, I would be taking pleasure in this, considering she was among my accusers previous.

  “Allow me,” Orange robes reassured, kneeling adjacent to Junko’s (assumed older) sister.

  Lifting his sceptre, his gentle brown eyes narrowed. With one point of his staff toward the wound, the redness began to fade away, and Junko’s expression gradually began to ease.

  “…There,” he exhaled, as if having finally dropped a heavy object he had been lifting onto the floor. “That should do it.”

  Junko blinked in surprise, before being lifted up by her equally intrigued sibling. She began tapping the previous location of the wound, verifying its departure, before turning towards her doctor with an incredulous expression.

  “I, um, well, thank you.” She managed. Furusawa, right? H-How did you…?”

  “I think that’s my power. Or EXS, whatever it’s called. It’s kinda me I didn’t get fire powers or super speed, but I guess I can heal you guys up whenever you get pushed too far.” He informed, jokingly. “It does get sort of draining though – so I guess I can’t do it too often.”

  “I know what you mean,” spoke the one with the tattered shirt, bright yellow eyes in reflection. “Of course, there’s the physical fatigue, but then there’s this other feeling, like you’re running low on gas and need a refill. Weird.”

  Various heads across the group nodded in assent, excluding mine. Aside from the physical tiredness of combat, as mentioned already, my body was absent of the second kind; I assumed due to the fact that, unlike my companions, my ability of foresight seemed to be wholly involuntary.

  “Speaking of physicality,” spoke the lycanthrope, who had now settled down into his previous appearance, “I felt great. Feel great. My muscles are strong, and my joints feel loose, as though I could, run, jump, and exercise for hours and hours on end.”

  “Happen to be hiding any ‘roids in that pocket square, big guy?” mocked the one in the scarecrow hat, my main accuser from previous. I would be keeping an eye on him.

  “No, he’s right.” Admitted Junko. “During that fight, my movements were so much faster, more powerful than in the real world – I can’t believe I’m saying that.”

  “Indeed,” I spoke up. “I reckon I still possess might enough to overturn ten kingdoms’ worth of armies!”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” cautioned the Golden Tiger. Had the short period of peacetime defanged the beast? “After all, we’ve been reminded that we’re not invincible.”

  At this, she gestured toward Junko, and the two shared a gre so intense, I thought they would initiate a duel here and now.

  “Oh my,” Junko jeered, eventually lifting up her palms in surrender. “After the amount of expletives you let loose, I’m thinking we leave the fighting to you entirely ~”

  Several among our group let out (presumedly good-natured) chuckles, much to the Tiger’s chagrin, recalling her boisterous entrance into battle as though it were a distant memory between friends.

  And for a moment, it felt as though we were exactly that – a group of friends with history, rivalries, and solidarity built over years of camaraderie.

  I was happy to remain under that illusion.

  Though, as I would soon discover, the Hollow Night had a talent for destroying even the most unbreakable of bonds.