Chapter 29 - Kinoko RusubanHollow NightThe ringing in my ears hadn’t quite died down when I came to. Clouds of dust and smoke arose from the site of the explosion, mere meters away from me, the fate of my allies left ambiguous by the smog.

  With the return of consciousness came the return of my memory, and piece by piece, I’d begun to recall the events that had lead up to this moment. Mizuko’s kidnapping at the hands of that bizarre Noise. Arthur’s failed gambit. Our joint gambit that, for all we knew, had also been unsuccessful.

  My train of thought was interrupted by a sharp tingling sensation in my head. It was a painless, yet remarkably involved feeling, as though my brain was trying to solve a difficult problem. If anything it felt akin to –

  Ah. I thought as the st of my recollections found their rightful pce.

  Muscles aching, I pulled myself onto my feet and surveyed the area. No sounds – no movement. I trusted that the other three were still unconscious. Or rather, I’d hoped that Cunningham was dead and the other two were unconscious. Still, there was no telling when my prisoner would break free of my control, so I hurried into a rather dark alleyway to my side, a person-sized peapod with a humanoid outline trapped inside coming into view.

  A click of my fingers was all it took to get my pet to spit out my kidnappee, who was as unsightly as I remembered, even for a Noise. Just ying my eyes upon such a hideous creature felt like an insult. Nonetheless, I reminded myself I would not have to suffer for long.

  “…What did you do to me?” It asked, as it y on the floor, voice strained and hoarse. My ability was the only thing keeping it in one pce, but even that was proving quite difficult. Still, to think that one of these beasts would actually be capable of speech…

  I shook my head.

  “You mean aside from having saved your life?” I responded. Some gratitude was definitely in order, though I managed to push the creature ck of manner’s aside for the sake of the greater goal. “I’m just keeping you in pce, that’s all. In return, all I ask is you provide me some information. “

  Taking their silence as assent, I decided to begin my investigation.

  “Mizuko called you ‘Inja.’ I take it, then, you’re not another one of these mindless demons we’ve been extinguishing. What – or who – exactly, are you?”

  There was a pause.

  “I’m exactly who you think I am,” It responded eventually, and vaguely at that. “A fellow prisoner who was brought here a long time ago, to suffer the same things you are.”

  Good. So long as that was set straight, my line of questioning could continue. It was when I opened my mouth to do just that, that I had realized ‘Inja’ wasn’t done.

  “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question.” It demanded.

  Wondering if she was as ungrateful in life as she was now, I conceded, “Very well. Ask away.”

  “…What are you doing with Yoshida’s EXS?”

  “…Who?”

  “Asahi Yoshida.” She began crifying. “He was a Pyer in my Hollow Night. Had the ability to control pnts, flora, the like. I’m asking why you have his ability.”

  I smiled.

  “Who’s to say we can’t have the same ability?”

  Somewhere in that sorry excuse for a face, I felt her eyes gring at me.

  “Don’t lie to me.” The venom in her voice almost caught me off guard. “I can sense his EXS spilling out of you.”

  How intriguing.

  “Well.” I began. “...Let’s just say I was given this as a reward for good judgement.”

  She stared at me for a few more beats, perhaps trying to read something printed on my expression or body nguage that I wasn’t aware of. When her head eventually dropped back down onto the concrete in resignation, I cleared my throat.

  “If you were a human being like us, why are you here now as one of them?”

  Her eldritch body stiffened up, and a tense silence plummeted down upon us.

  “…I don’t know. I can’t remember. The st thing I can recall was…we were all…”

  Her head shook desperately, as if the words were causing dark memories to resurface.

  “Do you recognize this item?”

  As I spoke the words, I threw the object I had been hiding behind my body in front of her. A spark of what seemed like recognition fred over her face, before her body shook with agony.

  “No…” The sudden weakness in her voice surprised me as she cradled the mysterious backpack.

  In response to her accusatory gre, I described, “We discovered this after defeating a Noise that used steam. Did it belong to one of your friends?”

  Inja stared longingly at the item before nodding.

  “Yes. Asuna was my partner. We’d gone through...a lot together.” She reminisced. It seemed they too were forced to py a game with a simir partner system. Intriguing. “Why did this have to happen? Why can’t I remember…?”

  I still had many questions, as, this would have to be enough - for now, anyway. It seemed the st Hollow Night did not end very favourably. At least, not for our friend here.

  The dark green glow of her eyes began to fade.

  “Well, perhaps we ought to bring this to a close, hm?” I offered.

  She looked up at me again.

  “One more question.” She demanded. When I opened my mouth to protest, she ftly spoke “You’re going to kill me anyway, right? Not like I’m going to tell anyone.”

  Clever girl.

  I gestured for her to speak, and she did – asking the question that had been eating away at my mind ever since Juno gave me this secondary ability to control pnt life.

  “How long do you think you’ll st?”

  A deafening silence haunted the space between us. I allowed her to continue.

  “I don’t mean in regards to the Noise or whatever.” She crified. “You must’ve realized it by now. The effects of harbouring someone else’s EXS inside your own. Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t crumbled yet. But it’s only a matter of time.”

  Silently, I turned my back to her and raised my hand. It looks like my time was up – or to be more specific, her time was up.

  “…My control over you is about to end.” I informed, dodging the question. “Soon, you’ll be free.”

  Her head lowered in what was either acceptance or gratitude. Perhaps both.

  “I’ll never be free.” She admitted. “Neither will you. Until this game ends, our lives – our souls – are their property.”

  There were only a few seconds left. I took a deep breath.

  “Did I stutter?” I jeered.

  There was no response.

  When I turned around, all that remained was a white orb and a curious pair of gsses.

  “Welcome back to the nd of the living.”

  Rising from my crouched position, Cunningham took my extended hand in a daze, his head shaking as he found his feet.

  “Thank you.” He exhaled. His eyes darted up and down the newly ravaged roads of 104, and suddenly became wide with anxiety. “The other two…! Where are they?!”

  Wordlessly, he dashed in the direction I pointed, like a dog pying fetch with its master. I followed behind closely.

  “…Remind me to never do that again.” Junko croaked. Her eyes half-lidded and speech slurred, her body covered in dirt. Mizuko was dotingly crouched over her younger sibling, cradling Junko in her arms.

  Arthur looked over the sisters from a distance.

  “Will she be alright?” He whispered.

  “…I think so.” Mizuko responded eventually without meeting his eyes. “But I doubt she’ll be able to move again. At any rate, we should get back to Center Street and rendezvous with Furusawa’s team.”

  As I once again took in the thick formations of dust careening through the air, the smell of smoke and metal pervading my senses, I found it remarkable that she was capable of so much destruction – simply by concentrating all her EXS into that one singur strike.

  This mysterious essence that we refer to so often – EXS – lulled to me seductively from the darkest recesses of my soul. I was soon engrossed with the desire to learn everything I could about this enigmatic energy.

  How had it come into existence?

  Why are we able to manipute such a resource so freely in this realm, yet are blissfully unaware of it in the waking world?

  …Could one become aware of it in the real world?

  So many questions, so little time.

  It was when I had returned to the present moment that I noticed all three of their eyes fixed onto me.

  “Rusuban.” Mizuko called. The slight tinge of annoyance in her voice hinted that this was not the first time she was doing so. “…What happened to Inja?”

  “Inja?” I echoed. “Oh, you mean that Noise?”

  I shook my head solemnly.

  “…I’m afraid it didn’t survive the attack.” I informed. “I don’t think so, anyway. When I came to, there was nothing – no trace of it left.”

  After a few moments, Arthur got to the heart of the matter.

  “Shirogetsu-san, why are you calling that Noise ‘Inja’? You called it that before too, when you…”

  He rubbed his right forearm with a grimace, and it was only then I’d noticed the fresh stab wound, red and round against his white skin.

  “Yes, Shirogetsu-san, what was the meaning of all that?” I followed up.

  She sighed deeply before removing her gsses momentarily, revealing her cool blue eyes that were washed with guilt.

  “…I still barely know myself.” She conceded. “When it – she – ‘kidnapped’ me, I heard her voice. She told me that she wasn’t an enemy. That she’d been trapped here, just like us. She said she…she wanted to help."

  My eyes stayed focused on her, though out of the corner of my eye I noticed Cunningham’s left hand ball up into a fist.

  “So when it brought me back here, and I saw that you…you were…”

  “It was a trick.” Cunningham interrupted bluntly. “A ruse meant to get you off your guard. I have no doubt in my mind it would have killed every single one of us, had it been given the opportunity.”

  He crept up to Mizuko and rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “The enemies we face are getting increasingly more intelligent and formidable. You mustn’t forget that.”

  She grew still for some moments, and I had the strangest suspicion she wasn’t buying it. In the end, she put back on her gsses and said no more.

  “Let’s go, shall we?” Cunningham finished.

  As he knelt down for Mizuko to pce Junko on his back, I felt that tingling again.

  I turned away briefly to check on the status of my underlings. As pnned, using the kerfuffle from earlier to disperse my spores through the sewers and into the water system was a good move. I’d sensed their ranks steadily growing, but this feeling was unlike the others – it was as though their number had abruptly exploded.

  I closed my eyes, trying my best to align my senses with the newest recruits. To hear what they heard, to feel what they felt, see what they saw.

  But I was far too te.

  Though the image was hazy and unfocused, it was abundantly clear what was being presented to me.

  In a restaurant I recognized from a group outing around Cadul City st week, Furusawa was standing, his figure abnormally bckish as though he’d been bathing in soot.

  I forced my minions to stay put, and together, we watched as my ally fell to the floor, his eyes empty and vacant, the moonlight shining down upon him providing a strange comfort to the otherwise harrowing scene.

  Just what on earth had happened here? Where were the other three? Had they all…?

  I couldn’t bear to look at the image any longer. What a waste of potential.

  “Okay, let’s…Rusuban?”

  Arthur’s voice caught my attention.

  “Are you okay?” He asked gently. “Your…on your face…”

  Both Mizuko and Junko turned to look at me, and their expressions took on a simir state of bewilderment.

  My right index finger came up to my cheek, and the wetness that arose as a result surprised me.

  I’d long since thought I was incapable of shedding tears.

  “Y-Yes.” I confirmed. “Sorry, I’m fine. Let’s get going.”