Chapter 30 - Mizuko ShirogetsuHollow NightI think I finally saw it, Mother.

  It was only for a second. If I’d had the presence left to blink, I’m sure I would have missed it completely. But I saw it.

  I hadn’t thought there existed anything so terrifying, so engulfing as knowing that in a few short seconds, your life thus far, and everything it could amount to, would be brought to an abrupt and violent end, like a story that ends on a cliffhanger that is never resolved.

  Today, Mother, I came face to face with death. Junko did too. Yesterday we did the same.

  I imagine tomorrow we’ll see it again, if It allows us to make it that far. Every night we’re brought here, It will be waiting for us. Its hollow eyes will drill into our souls, slender ivory fingers coiling around our hearts.

  How much longer until we can see what you saw in your st moments, Mother? How much longer until we can see you again, Mother?

  I can’t remember the st time I felt your arms around me.

  By the time we’d reached the Scramble Crossing, our journey thankfully free of any serious encounters, the unease amongst us was clear. Simply put, it was far too quiet.

  Under normal circumstances, quietness was perhaps something to be cherished. A momentary pause from the hustle and bustle of modern-day life, you could argue.

  Under normal circumstances, I may find myself agreeing with you.

  However, nothing about this realm was normal. Whatever we knew about the world, about ourselves – about each other – would have to be destroyed and rebuilt from scratch, if we wanted to survive. That much, at least, had been made abundantly clear to us.

  In other words, silence was not a symbol of a day’s well-earned rest, but rather, the calm before a storm.

  So we remained alert, eyes scanning and darting and surveying our surroundings with upmost diligence, keenly aware that said storm could come crashing down upon us at any moment.

  Numerous times, Cunningham ordered us to halt, our hearts suspended in mid-air as he sniffed around the environment. Sometimes he’d instruct us to find cover as a group of shadows would slink past in the distance. Other times, he would simply dismiss it as a false arm, and we would continue on our expedition with increasingly wary spirits.

  We were around the main intersection, close to the statue of Hachiko, when he issued a warning none of us had heard before.

  “Something’s wrong.” He decred after coming to an abrupt stop. My heart sank.

  “What do you mean?” Rusuban replied, though his eyes were distracted and fixed elsewhere, as if on some point far in the distance that only he could see.

  Cunningham took a deep breath, shaking his head. When he turned to face us, Junko’s tired face resting sleepily on his shoulder, his expression was the most serious I’d ever seen.

  “Up ahead. I’m sensing two fairly dense pools of EXS. They’re familiar – Katoru and Furusawa, I think.”

  “Isn’t that good news?” I inquired. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Rusuban almost jump at the mention of their names. “It means we can-“

  “Not quite.” He stated thoughtfully, though the intensity in his visage had not faded. “There’s something wrong with their EXS. The intensity of Furusawa’s is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Katoru’s is paling in comparison. But the strange thing…”

  He broke eye contact.

  “The strange thing is that Furusawa’s EXS is decreasing steadily, and Katoru’s is…well, increasing. If I’m not mistaken, it’s almost like…Katoru’s absorbing Furusawa’s EXS.” He confirmed. “But if this keeps up, Furusawa will…”

  Did Katoru betray us? Is that why Cunningham can’t sense the other two – Hoshino and Kozuki? Did he already…?

  “Rusuban.” I called. “You and I will go on ahead and investigate. Cunningham, follow behind but keep your distance. If it looks like danger, promise me you’ll run and take Junko with you.”

  “But-“

  “There’s no time!” I yelled, catching even myself by surprise. “…Please.”

  Cunningham whispered after a few beats of silence, “…Fine.”

  With that, I wasted no time. Naginata in hand, Rusuban and I began to sprint in the direction of the Center Street Entrance, where this entire nightmare had begun, eager, if not unprepared, for the sight we would soon witness.

  “Up ahead, Shirogetsu-san!” Rusuban wheezed over the rushed pitter-patter of our sprinting. “Do you…see that?”

  I didn’t need any crification to know what exactly he was referring to. As we closed the distance, a distinct golden glint shined over the horizon, almost the same shade as the mpposts we’d spent the entirety of st night lighting.

  Soon enough, its obelisk-like shape became clear, standing tall and regal as though belonging in a Pharoah’s pace. Neither Katoru nor Furusawa could be seen from where we were, though I had a distinct feeling that they were still at the centre of all this.

  At some point, we had arrived. Between our tired pants, we were able to take in the sight; smack-dab in the middle of the street, y a gleaming aureate tower with mysterious engravings etched onto the sides, and within, sat a single circur space shielded by a mysterious barrier.

  Within the space, his unconscious body curled up in a foetal position, was Katoru.

  Rusuban was the first to break our awe-struck silence.

  “…What on earth is this?”

  I don’t know how many minutes had passed when I begun to hear footsteps to my left.

  Had Cunningham grown impatient and decided to investigate for himself?

  It was when I realized that the footsteps were coming from the opposite direction, being that of Tipsy Tose Hall, as well as the fact that this was the sound of two people rather than one, that I reached for my naginata.

  “Whoa, whoa, easy!” Hoshino excimed after I leapt in their direction, a thrust readied. Beside her stood Kozuki, her hand having pulled Eiji back. She had likely already predicted what I was going to do.

  Evidently, the relief at seeing the both of them still alive was too much for my body to handle. Kozuki’s hands found my shoulders as my knees gave way.

  “Slowly, comrade.” She comforted, guiding me steadily onto the floor. An ethereal, glowing rapier was sheathed dutifully at her side. "It doth appear thou also hast endured manifold trials this shadowed eve."

  A nod was all I was able to manage. Eiji’s attention eventually drifted to Kinoko, and then the structure he was currently observing. Upon seeing Katoru tucked safely inside, her previously tired expression spyed into one of pure anxiety.

  “W-What is this? Where’s Furusawa? Why didn’t Reaper get them both?!” She began to scream.

  Eventually Cunningham had leaped in with Junko in tow, but even his expnations did little to ease Hoshino’s distress.

  Our hysteria was interrupted by the obelisk, our object of interest, beginning to pulse.

  Three or four times it did that, our attention fixed on it, until finally, the central shielded area burst open, Katoru’s limp body dropping onto the floor. With that, the pilr became increasingly translucent, until it finally faded away into gold dust, carried and scattered away into the night sky.

  “His limb…” Kozuki pointed. "It hath - It hath been made whole again!"

  At this point I no longer had the presence of mind to notice that this implied one of my allies had been amputated moments prior. That the same could happen to each and every one of us here, if not worse.

  Lethally tense moments passed as we stood there, scrutinizing Katoru’s dormant body.

  “Do you think he’s – “

  Without warning, his upper body burst to life with a desperate gasp, leaping into the air and onto his feet. His arms up to his shoulders were bzing with a bck fire, the fiery gaze in his eyes equally as scalding.

  When all he found was us, crowded around him, and equally as confused, he shook his head violently.

  “FUCK!” He shouted. “WHERE IS HE?!”

  “WE DON’T KNOW!” Hoshino matched. “Listen, we’re going to calm down and sort through what-

  “THERE’S NO TIME! WE NEED TO –“

  Click.

  “…Need to…”

  Click.

  “…to…”

  Click.

  “…”

  In the distance, a hooded figure was gradually walking in. Their cadence was slow, graceful, almost otherworldly. They would have captured my attention if not for what they were holding in their arms.

  At first, all I could make out was the dangling limbs. The cradled head. As the figure got closer, distinct features began to come into view, such as the body’s soft orange hair, and dark brown robes.

  Ah. I thought.

  Death had grown impatient.

  By the time Reaper had reached us, and id Furusawa’s bckened body on the floor, time had stopped. There was nary a sound, nary a movement – all that was left to do was for our eyes to drink in the fate that awaited us in this realm.

  There was no escaping from it. No running.

  This was the end that awaited us all.

  Nothing was going to change that.

  Not Cunningham’s silent tears.

  Not Junko’s gritted teeth and quiet sobs.

  Not Rusuban’s clenched fist, repeatedly pounding and beating against the ground.

  Not Kozuki’s ear piercing screams.

  Not Katoru’s anguished howls toward the sky, commanding it to bring his friend back.

  Not Hoshino’s lifeless, listless ruffling of his hair, her empty calling of his name for him to wake up and stop pying around.

  And definitely not my calling for you, Mother, to come back and hold me again.