Chapter Ninety-Five

In Distress

 

Nekohiko couldn't even blink to save himself the pain of seeing the infernal flash of Abihiko's explosion roar through the room. All he could do was watch, in a stupor, as the fire breathed at everyone around him...

Damn it, Abihiko wasn't taking into account that his own brother was inside along with other people?!

Yet of course he was. Abihiko's spell seemed to be calibrated against harming humans, but with such vague parameters, he had to omit Hibiki as well.

And because he was also scared of hurting Nekohiko with his blast, his fire had also spared all the dolls in the room.

And gods, there were so many of those here.

Little Sakami cowered from the flames but didn't bother to put up spell shields to deflect it. She wasn't harmed, sure, but her reluctance to even try and defend herself astounded Nekohiko.

What had happened to her that she didn't even dare to fight anymore?

Who had broken her so completely?

..

Was it himself? Nekohiko?

Please no.

The stone and watery filaments and wood of the ceiling and the walls shattered. The furniture cracked and rumbled in splinters and rubble across the small space, and a roaring wall of fire and smoke rolled over the floor. Nekohiko's lungs choked full of acrid fumes yet he couldn't even cough, deep in Hibiki's restrictive paralysis. The smoke made his eyes sting, but no blinking the tears out of them...

How was Hibiki controlling him? He didn't know. But it wasn't like the Master Orders Kataji had given to him once. Nekohiko didn't feel the need to respond to Hibiki's commands or desires. This empty paralysis was simply as though he, Nekohiko, was a motionless object -- one of many dolls that Hibiki had. He couldn't even fathom moving because, as a doll, movement was naturally prohibited to him.

Hibiki had said that Nekohiko couldn't harm him... was that it? 

Argh, Nekohiko was so helplessly angry at being unable to move or scream at Sakami to help them that he could only reel inside, hoping that this terrible immobility would end once Hibiki was wounded or disposed of.

Crash.

Half of the opposite wall also came thundering down from Abihiko's assault, and the shrieks of the people far in the distance filled the roiled air.

The powerful heatwave from Abihiko's explosion slammed into Hibiki, pushing him off Kataji. Himself like a ragdoll, Hibiki flew into the wall, barely missing Mikawa on the floor with his boot. His back dashing into the stone, Hibiki coughed out a scream of pain, then crashed to his fours on the floor.

And Nekohiko's body still couldn't move an inch.

Still couldn't!

Panic wormed inside him at the idea that this was it -- that he would be motionless like this forever now...

“Nekohiko!” Abihiko's voice came to him through the veil of smoke filling the room.

A subtle touch of Abihiko's hand brushed against his shoulder from the side, and a brief beam of Abihiko's Binder's aura collided with Nekohiko's.

Like a caress, for Abihiko to know that Nekohiko was actually all right inside his dummy body, even if he couldn't respond yet.

But then, Kataji's stifled groan of agony tore through the room, and Abihiko's eyes flashed down to where his brother lay amidst the rubble.

“Kata!”

In pain, Nekohiko watched as Kataji spasmed on the floor, trying to stop the bleeding from his torn and broken right arm. Abihiko darted toward him but paused, not daring to fix him just yet.

...!

Sharp, Abihiko turned his head past whimpering Mikawa to the spot where Hibiki had landed.

Because out of the particle dust of the broken room -- Hibiki's hunched figure was slowly rising back to his feet.

With one hand on Kataji's broken arm, Abihiko cast a small spell to relieve most of the pain -- the quickest thing he could do now. It was apparent the fight was imminent.

Hibiki's eyes could burn holes, so haggard and wide and unblinking they were on his cadaverously-pale face. His lips were drawn back, revealing teeth -- in a half-grin, half-feral snarl.

“What did you just do to my Doll Palace, Tree-lover?” he asked Abihiko, deathly quiet.

The pain seemed to lift off Kataji -- at least the brunt of it. The young man stopped sobbing in empty tears, but he was still shaking on the floor and still looking up at Abihiko in the most broken, helpless way imaginable.

“Abihiko,” Kataji mouthed, reaching out to him. “Get Itsuki away! He's too powerful--”

Abihiko rose to his feet, eyes only on Hibiki.

Mikawa's and Sakami's frightened voices rang loud and clear in the gradually clearing room. Everyone who was here was either in terrible pain, or in some form of paralyzing fear. The panicked howls and screeches from beyond this room didn't even register in comparison.

Only Hibiki mattered.

“You sick fuck,” Abihiko told him, cold. “Leave them be.”

In an eerie, swift and rigid gesture, Hibiki's head tilted to the side like a bird's or a ball-jointed puppet's. His eyes still bore into Abihiko, without moving.

“And leave you all alone... where? In my own home? Are you guests, then? My, my, let us all have a welcoming tea party, if so! How inhospitable of me. Dear Morokata would be so disappointed...”

“Lift your spells off Sakami and Nekohiko!” Abihiko roared, snapping his arms wide in spell-forming motions.

“My spells?”

With a grin much too wide for any normal human, Hibiki spread his arms as if to show how unarmed he was. “Which ones, really? Am I holding them? Are they not doing exactly what they are meant to be doing? By their very natures? How am I to blame for that?”

…

So it was true.

Hibiki was referring to the fact that Nekohiko was, by nature, an immobile object. It was the Binder's will that had given him the ability to move. But the Binder could make him revert to what he had originally been.

A mere doll.

If Morokata's spells had given Nekohiko a smooth and authentic manner of human motion, if the Dark Sisterhood's spells had given him the will to move -- then Hibiki's spells were the most basic switch that allowed all those movements to be made, to begin with.

If he chose to turn that off, nobody could stop him.

Abihiko didn't care to dwell on those thoughts. He sparked up and attacked within seconds.

With a swift slash of his right hand, he dislodged the pile of dolls in which Mikawa lay and hurled it aside – to the bed behind Sakami. Once freed, Mikawa stopped his body crashing into the wall on his own and landed on the bed safely.

And with that out of the way, the path to Hibiki was free.

Abihiko lunged. His palms seared with a blinding white glow. He dragged them against each other, producing a single heated coil of a fire spear to strike with. Its end trailed off like flame licks but its main body was solid where Abihiko held it.

The spear sizzled in the air as he whipped it in a wide arc at Hibiki.

A deceptive maneuver.

Because when Hibiki moved to dodge it, Abihiko's boot kicked several parts of smoldering dolls from the floor, instantly blazing up with the merest flick of Abihiko's fingers. Like missiles, the fiery shots dashed at Hibiki and he was forced out of balance trying to jump out of their damage zone.

And right into the range of Abihiko's spear.

Hibiki hissed in pain and frustration at being nearly stabbed through, then caught on fire the next moment, then having to retreat from a flurry of Abihiko's masterful slashing arcs.

Abihiko was proficient with melee. He felt most comfortable within it and wouldn't even need to cast. But this time, he didn't let go of his spells. He used both, and Nekohiko could only guess why.

He wanted to get rid of Hibiki once and for all.

He would not underestimate Hibiki in this fight. Abihiko was fully ready to overdo it as long as he succeeded in the end.

Hacking, slashing -- bringing his spear down in a sizzling surge through the floor.

The floor cracked, and the entire room shook top to bottom. Part of the wall collapsed when Abihiko did a Hira earthquake spell to disorient Hibiki.

But it only gave Hibiki a way to flee.

Hibiki was obviously not a match for Abihiko – neither in martial arts, not in the swift, battle-mode casting. He had never been. He was the studious and calm type, specializing in complex spells rather than deadly ones.

He was losing strength and animation in this fight, and Abihiko's rampant destruction of the Doll Palace rooms did not aid with Hibiki's countenance.

“My fucking celadon vases! Hey, moron!” Hibiki rasped, mad and spitting in between his disjointed heaving. “This oak wardrobe is a damn masterpiece of furniture-crafting! Can you please chill the fuck down and stop ruining my home, you barbarian?!”

In response, Abihiko smashed another wall in the spot Hibiki had just been, spooking more people in the neighboring rooms into a screechy, panicked mess.

"Guards! GUARDS!"

"Constables! The terrorists are attacking the Empire!"

A few of the Hisome Binders already rushed here from the side corridors, broken as they were. Not that Abihiko cared -- because once he and Hibiki disappeared into the ruins of the main hallway -- another wall of fire scorched through the premises, and the pained yelps of several people followed.

...

"Out of my way," Abihiko's voice boomed across the hall out of Nekohiko's sight.

He was actually fighting several Binders now? All alone?

This was when Nekohiko finally felt the restraints over his body lift.

Or not the restraints, precisely. More like the switch that had turned him off previously was now switched back on.

But he wasn't alone whose “switch” had been flicked on. Every single doll in the rooms also started moving at the same time.

“Dollies! Rip this damn madman apart!” Hibiki squealed as another burst of fire and lightning as something else down the corridor exploded from Abihiko's relentless assault.

Nekohiko swung to peer that way, but couldn't see the two of them anymore – Hibiki was running too far away and Abihiko was chasing after him, step by step. But the dolls around him – the fake Abihiko, Sakami's parents, all those small toy dolls half-crashed and broken under his feet – every one of them twitched up, rickety and haggard, and hurried to move to where Hibiki was.

Except Nekohiko. He was still in full control of his motions and will, so of course he didn't need to listen to Hibiki's commands.

So the switching on and off for the dolls' motions is by area if Hibiki cannot see them? Nekohiko wondered at the back of his mind as he quickly hopped over to Kataji to help the young man up from the floor.

The dolls and puppets of Hibiki's were going to trample him otherwise, and Nekohiko needed to see if Kataji was safe before he rushed after Abihiko to help him combat the freak Dollmaker.

The two of them could definitely do that.

“You all right?” Nekohiko demanded from Kataji as he dragged him up and toward Sakami's bed. “Mikawa – take care of him!”

Nekohiko darted down the room and out the demolished doors after the trail of dolls that tried to come to their master's aid, but he almost tripped, bumping into Sakami.

At last, she seemed to have become more or less aware of what was going on around her – but she still didn't appear like herself.

She looked... driven. In anguish – in heavy distress, as her gaze roved through the ruined rooms and the throngs of the Doll Palace guests and guards shifting in the smoke-filled hallways.

“Hibiki...?” she asked, sounding pained.

As if in a reply, Hibiki's scream of rage rang from afar, and Sakami sprang to her feet.

“Hibiki!”

“Help us deal with him!” Nekohiko threw at her, then thundered his boots across the rooms, half-stumbling over all the rubble and grit on the floor.

Gods and heavens and Spirits!

The Doll Palace looked like a war zone, truly! Everything fuming, everything bubbling and melting from the heat. Most of the walls of this wing destroyed, letting the outside cold sunshine in among the curling smoke. As before, Abihiko's spells were calibrated to not harm humans. But it still looked horrible.

So much destruction...

Nekohiko turned the corners, flying into the Doll Palace guards and dummy servants who hurried to evacuate all the guests on the premises. Without much regard, Nekohiko shoved them aside with his Binding as he did to all the customers and patrons of the place who swarmed the hallways on his way.

“Move! Move right now!” he yelled at them, but Binding attacks against them were much more efficient, of course.

Yet as he regarded the battle-torn surroundings of this place, he couldn't help but... savor it all.

It was destruction, yes.

And Abihiko did act like an utter barbarian inside here.

But this was The Doll Palace. If there ever had been a place in the world that deserved to be destroyed, it was this building.

If anything, Nekohiko would help Abihiko destroy it further -- especially those wings that tortured and experimented on live people to make advancements in doll-making science.

The corridor ran past the arches and niches into the larger hallway where Abihiko and Hibiki were engaged in a very one-sided fight. Mainly, Abihiko was pummeling Hibiki with his arsenal of spells while all Hibiki could do was evade the razor-sharp wind whips and the singeing waves of fire.

But even that wasn't the worst. Abihiko didn't allow Hibiki to escape even a singe hit -- because Abihiko's martial arts moves were at every corner, waiting to catch Hibiki off guard in his evasion techniques.

"Raaaargh!"

Hibiki let out another pained groan when Abihiko's boot got him in the side. A clear sound of shattering ribs rang through the hall -- so deliciously satisfying when it came from someone as vile as Hibiki. Nekohiko jumped the half-crashed columns and swept a Nagare wind spell -- to push aside The Doll Palace guards who wanted to scurry to their master's aid.

Nobody was allowed to stop Abihiko in this fight. Nekohiko could make sure of that.

Yet even as he neared the two of them -- the beaten and miserable Hibiki and the victorious Abihiko, it hit Nekohiko. The stupefying recollection.

Abihiko couldn't really fight -- not to the extent he was fighting right now. He was dying of Binder's corruption, and every strain he put on his body with more magic than he could allow himself, would necessarily result in --

Gods, Abihiko looked awful now that Nekohiko could see him up close. He still could stand and fight, but it was obvious that Hibiki's response maneuvers had had a toll on him.

And Hibiki's feral grin only highlighted the fact that Abihiko was wasting too much of his powers to get him.

But... how?

How was Hibiki able to survive all the attacks if he couldn't dodge most of them anyway?

Hibiki didn't even seem that much disrupted by Abihiko's damage to his body. Hibiki's face was covered in welts and bruises and cuts. His hair was badly burned, and so were his clothes. His nose was broken and one of his eyes was swollen shut. His right arm hung loose and limp from its shoulder socket and one of his feet seemed twisted so much, he couldn't put his full weight onto it. Blood spattered the floor beneath him with each of his moves...

And yet -- Hibiki was still smiling, his one healthy eye wide and gleeful with fascination as he observed Abihiko's utter rampage over his own body.

Something wasn't right.

Another tide of dolls flooded the hallways from the side -- both human-sized dummies and smaller dolls advancing in droves. Nekohiko slammed his fists together, fanning his fingers in the enhanced Hira inferno, setting all the nearby corridors on fire. But even as he took care of any reinforcements that came close to Hibiki, Hibiki didn't lose his cool one bit.

Damn it, this person needed to be put down whatever the cost!

However... Nekohiko was a bit scared to face him.

The paralysis Hibiki could cast on him. He still didn't know how Hibiki could immobilize his body -- and this small doubt was enough for Nekohiko to pull back and be reluctant to join in on the fight.

Hibiki had too much power against him. Nekohiko didn't even know if he could fight Hibiki or not...

Was it wise for him to try and get in a strike?

But then--

Abihiko sprang at Hibiki, another flurry of blows at the ready -- but Nekohiko could see just how pained Abihiko's motions were. Down his nose, already a thin trickle of black corrupted blood was flowing.

He would push himself into full exhaustion if he continued like this!

"Abihiko," Nekohiko whispered.

Decisive, he hid behind one of the toppled columns in the hallway and prepared a spell to fling at Hibiki. Out of his sight, as far as possible for himself to aim properly but without getting shot back at. Too bad the deadliest and most precise spells required closer distance and sometimes even touch to work. All he could now was direct the blasting Nagare spells at him.

The very first one caught Hibiki off guard and shot right through his middle, burrowing a deep hole in his gut.

But, horrifyingly, Hibiki did not seem to mind it that much. And, now alert to Nekohiko's presence and attacks, Hibiki did not let any of the newer spells hit him.

"Sweet Emerald Fir," Hibiki called. "I unfroze you by accident, it seemed? How forgetful of me."

With horror, Nekohiko felt someone reach out to him from the back.

 

 

---

***

 

A hand.

But not a human hand. A porcelain, cool touch of a doll.

He knew this touch would result in his paralysis once again, like before – but couldn't do anything to stop it. The hand was too fast for him to react.

“Like hell you are!”

Abihiko crashed into him from the side – just to stop Hibiki from paralyzing Nekohiko. He'd had to cut through the column behind which Nekohiko had hidden. He used an Utsuro spell, slicing the column in half -- and the power needed to do that pushed him beyond his current capabilities.

Abihiko swayed, holding the wall with one hand. Struggling, he coughed, and a mouthful of black blood erupted through his lips.

Nekohiko's back smashed into the wall, but he avoided being touched by Hibiki's doll hand.

He could still move. He could still attack!

However, his mind reeled from what he had just discovered.

The reason why Hibiki was so perfectly calm while being demolished by Abihiko.

"Abihiko, he can shift his mind within the bodies of some of his dolls!" Nekohiko screamed at Abihiko as loudly as he could. "Do not attack him again! He cannot feel pain because he outsources both pain and some of the damage over to his dolls!"

Yes. He got that clear from that small, porcelain dolly hand behind him. It had nearly brushed its fingers against him. It had nearly touched him.

From so close to it, Nekohiko had felt that the doll's hand bore the traces of Hibiki's Binder's aura. As though it was part of Hibiki's body however far it was from him.

Nekohiko had never met a person who could transfer their mind in between many bodies, but... Wasn't he one, himself?

And instantly, Hibiki's laidback manner and the lack of fear about being hit or damaged made perfect sense.

This damned creep.

Of course he would try and use any advantage he had of being such a proficient doll-maker! An obsessed freak like Hibiki would not feel shy about experimenting even on himself.

“Got it.” Abihiko barely managed to speak, but Nekohiko understood more by the movements of his lips than actual words.

“If he touches me, he'll paralyze me,” Nekohiko whispered next, and Abihiko only nodded back.

Even without being asked, Abihiko shifted close to Nekohiko as though preparing to defend him from any of the other Hibiki's doll body parts. Their understanding was momentary and without doubt.

Feeling secure in that Abihiko would not let him be dis-empowered like that, Nekohiko prepared to cast the spells he was best with.

The Imperial Fusion spells that dealt with such abstract topics as Binding First-rate aspects.

Like Binding soul. Like someone's Binding. Like manipulating people's very Spirits.

Most Binders couldn't do these spells because they demanded a lot of focus and a lot of time to be properly cast. Such spells fancied calm environments and a lot of preparations. But Nekohiko did not intend to cast real First-rate aspect spells.

He only needed to disturb Hibiki with the possibility that he could, if he wanted.

He was the Emperor. The affinity for the Imperial Fusion spells was in his very blood.

The idea was what counted.

Panic shot through Hibiki's features -- much brighter than any of the physical attacks Abihiko had unleashed at him earlier.

Nekohiko didn't let go of his spell. Perhaps he couldn't hurt Hibiki with it, but he could keep messing up Hibiki's desire to switch his consciousness amidst many bodies – and that was when Abihiko struck him again.

Like one, Nekohiko and Abihiko rushed toward the sneaky bastard. Nekohiko didn't know who was moving first and who – second because they moved in perfect synchronicity. Abihiko was on guard for anything that would try to sneak a hit on Nekohiko and switch his mobility off, while Nekohiko was focused solely to not let Hibiki escape.

Of course he tried, but Nekohiko kicked a part of the collapsed wall at him, blocking his path.

And when Hibiki dithered in his corner – Abihiko smashed his boot right into Hibiki's abdomen from the side.

Pain reached Hibiki in that moment – all of it. He could not let his consciousness shift elsewhere and had to take it on fully.

The despicable little grin swept off his face, twisting into a grimace full of agony the next moment.

His breath exploded in a gasp out of his mouth – yet Nekohiko didn't let him recover from it.

Nekohiko's boot flew into his face before Hibiki could so much as blink.

A crack.

A crunch. A pained whelp right afterward.

And a delicious, exhilarating feeling of revenge. For everything that Hibiki had done to him.

“Wait-- stop!” Hibiki croaked, trying to curl inward to protect himself from being kicked to death.

Silently, Abihiko drove another kick into Hibiki again, crashing the heel of his foot onto his back. And Nekohiko echoed his motions, happy beyond himself.

Even though, deep inside, he felt icky about attacking someone defenseless before him... he still reveled in the idea.

Kicking vile people to half-death with boots was an oddly fun experience.

“You didn't wait and you didn't stop when you were hurting Kataji or Mikawa!” Nekohiko roared at him in response.

But his last strike didn't land.

From behind him, a powerful gust of blazing air whooshed.

A Hira spell? A Nagare spell?

Nekohiko didn't have time to decide and dashed aside. Abihiko did the same, on the ready to defend himself from the mysterious attacker from the back.

Yet just as Nekohiko jumped away, he felt that something wasn't right.

This wasn't a Hira or a Nagare spell. No. That was a Hisome spell.

An illusion of fire and heat...

And all Hisome spells were meant solely to distract.

“Sakami! What are you doing?!” Abihiko screamed at the girl several feet away. He had sensed her illusion much faster than Nekohiko because Abihiko naturally sensed all Hira spells better than him. But it still hadn't stopped Abihiko from being distracted just for a tiny single moment.

And that one moment had been enough.

Nekohiko heard the terrible crackle and squelchy noises from the spot where Hibiki had just been. But when he glanced over his shoulder to that spot – Hibiki was no longer there.

Instead, some ghastly creature had sprouted in the guise of Hibiki.

It was still that same young man Nekohiko had always known, but now Hibiki's body had split his limbs into two more sections each, resulting in something quite bizarre and abominable.

Like a spider made of a human body, eight-legged and just as fast.

“What in the hell--” Nekohiko gasped, shifting his hands to cast something destructive against the monster.

But he couldn't aim. When he tried, Hibiki's torso and chest dissected itself right under his gaze – into several segmented parts like an insect's middle.

Human flesh and bone gleamed wetly on the edges of the segmented body, but Hibiki didn't give a damn. He neither seemed in pain, nor in shame for doing this to his own body. Because all he wanted to do was escape using it.

And this body was built for escaping.

“Godsdamn!” Abihiko breathed, recoiling in disgust when the mutilated body of Hibiki dashed outward, almost splitting itself apart to squeeze himself through the broken cracks of the walls behind him.

Nekohiko himself wanted to curse and retch from the gruesome sight, but he forced his mind to stay calm. He tried another spell to prohibit Hibiki from fleeing, but again –

Sakami intervened.

She whipped a plethora of flying knives and blades at Nekohiko, and his honed martial arts reflexes reacted before he could remember this was merely another illusion of hers.

“Do not touch him!” Sakami cried at him, tears in her voice. “Do not you dare touch him!”

...touch... whom?

Hibiki? Nekohiko wanted to ask, numb with disbelief.

But as Sakami ran closer, he realized that yes – this girl was actually defending Hibiki from him and Abihiko. And judging by her hands being in the position for casting another spell, this time – a much more aggressive one – she would continue to defend Hibiki whatever it cost her.

“Run, Hibiki!” she screamed at the eldritch mess that was Hibiki, and regardless of what Nekohiko or Abihiko tried to do to stop him – Hibiki fled.

…

"Aaaaaaargh!" Nekohiko blasted the wall behind which Hibiki fled, to pieces. He sprang into the resulting gap, mad with the desire for Hibiki's blood. But the wall breaking unleashed another cloud of dust and plaster in the air, and it was hard to see.

Nekohiko whooshed a quick de-fogging spell only to realize just how many dolls and Hisome guards were rushing through the adjacent corridors toward where he was and how much they wanted to stop him from destroying the Doll Palace.

"Intruders!"

"Terrorists!"

"Monsters! Aaaaaaah!"

Searching for the endlessly-self-dissecting body of Hibiki among all this commotion was nigh impossible.

In empty frustration, Nekohiko assembled his hands to cast a spell at the ground beneath his feet -- wishing to reach the basement and the dungeons in which Hibiki's worst human experiments were hidden. Breaking the building in half would definitely stall whoever wanted to try and fight Nekohiko now.

Then, with a quick snap, he unleashed the spell.

The Doll Palace rumbled all through as the giant fissure cracked open across all the floors of the building, and well into its foundation. Walls and ceilings shook, and more screaming followed as the building kept cracking and shuddering from the damage it'd been caused.

...

Yet still not enough.

Because the building was not the issue.

Hibiki was.

And that spidery little bastard was gone.

Gone, damn it!

... 

Nekohiko felt like spitting curses. Or punching something.

 

 

---

***

 

Groaning, he dashed back into the gap in the wall where he'd left Abihiko in. Then rounded at Sakami, blind with fury.

“What the hell was that?! Did you just let him go? After all that he did to you – and to Mikawa and Kataji!” he growled.

Sakami did not reply.

She only stared at him back in some grim defiance, biting her lips and blinking rapidly as though keeping her tears at bay.

“Is this revenge for the wedding?” Nekohiko asked, only more riled up with her silence. “Is this the way to pay me back for what I did to you?”

“Hibiki is my friend and the friend of my family,” Sakami replied, paling. “Nothing more. The world does not revolve around you.”

Huh?!

Nekohiko stepped up to her, and Sakami almost cowered in fear before him but held her ground nonetheless.

“Some friends you have!” Nekohiko spat.

“Neko.” Abihiko caught him by the arm and pulled away from Sakami, which Nekohiko found extremely irritating.

He wasn't going to hit her or anything. Why make it seem like he was some kind of a jerk all of a sudden?

But Abihiko's fingers on his elbow trembled, and Nekohiko realized just how overwhelmed Abihiko was with their fight with Hibiki.

He and his powers were deteriorating, fast. Even a month ago, he hadn't been this easily weakened. But now Nekohiko could glimpse the edges of the black veins of Binder's corruption creeping all the way to Abihiko's jaw from beneath his collars.

His heart panging, Nekohiko held Abihiko by the waist from the back, afraid he might collapse. The motion did not escape Sakami, and neither did it escape Abihiko's notice.

Though his lips were bloodied and his color very gaunt, he still smirked at him, slowly pushing Nekohiko's hand away.

“It's all right. I don't need to be supported to stand. Just wanted to remind you who our enemies were.” Subtly, Abihiko nodded at Sakami, his eyebrows raised. “And she is not one of them.”

After what she just did?? Yeah right.

That said, Nekohiko backed off from him, stung. If Abihiko didn't need his support – whatever. Not like Nekohiko wanted to give it anyway. But the gall...

It took so much of Nekohiko's will to not lash out and smash his fist into Abihiko's ribs because their proximity, as always, made his Dark Sisterhood's curse act up. Nekohiko was trying to calm his heart and not attack Abihiko on sight, and him giving Abihiko a hand was so hard to do with all that in mind!

Could Abihiko not treat it as some sort of a throwaway gesture?

Aggravating.

“He held you imprisoned for days.” Nekohiko lashed out at Sakami instead, deadly quiet. “Hibiki tormented you with those dolls, including Abihiko's doll – and yet, somehow, he's still your friend. But we – people who came here voluntarily to rescue you from that monster are somehow far worse? Makes sense.”

Sakami trembled, watching the floor. She did not flinch from Nekohiko's verbal assault. She only raised her eyes once, to peer at Abihiko from beneath her tear-drenched eyelashes, and a trace of so much longing and lost hope coursed through her gaze that Nekohiko felt very uncomfortable to rage at her after what had happened between him and her a week ago.

But he just didn't get it...

Why she would just let Hibiki go like that.

“Hibiki is... misunderstood,” Sakami said meekly. “Please do not hurt him. He is... ill. His mind is broken and he is an ill person. What he does is hard to understand for others, but he has a good heart and he doesn't do anything bad to anyone--”

…

“He pulled Arata apart into all the First-rate aspects,” Nekohiko whispered in horror.

“No. No, he would not. I know him. He is a good boy,” Sakami said, stubborn, looking up at the ceiling as though wishing really hard Nekohiko did not exist and could not hurt her with whatever words or actions he did. “Hibiki and his dolls are... just the way he imagines the world to be a better place than it really is. It is his escape from the cruel reality... He just wants peace. Like we all do,” she added much lower.

Nekohiko was at a loss for words.

If someone here was trying to escape the cruel reality, it certainly wasn't Hibiki.

Then again, Sakami almost entirely based her magic in illusions. It was no wonder she was... a bit.. delusional about how things really were.

“Hibiki just didn't do a good job with trying to make me happy,” she said, smiling against her dejected tone. “But he tried... tried to do something nice for me. It was my fault that I didn't try to understand his way of doing it...”

“Sakami,” Abihiko began softly, and she immediately responded to him with a sad smile. “None of that was your fault. You are a good person and did not deserve an ounce of what had happened to you. And Hibiki... he tramples people, torments them, and imprisons them against their will--”

Quietly, Sakami raised her finger toward Nekohiko.

Her finger shook slightly, but her gaze directed at him was steady. “So? I do not see how me saving him because we are friends is any different from you two... standing up for each other even though you also trample people, torment them, and imprison them against their will.”

…

“But I guess it's only all right when you two do it,” she finished, the hurt so clear in her voice. “Thank you for... trying to rescue me but I would rather... you didn't.”

“Oh, you wish to go back to that room with the dolls?” Nekohiko gritted out, pissed beyond belief. “Please do. Sorry if we thought you were some damsel in distress and wanted to save you. You are obviously completely fine, instead."

“You came here to redeem yourself, not to save me.” Sakami shook her head, slowly hugging her shoulders with her hands. “And you, My Lord,” she added to Abihiko. How much gentler and sweeter she sounded when she talked to him than compared to Nekohiko. “You came here to save him. Not me. Right?”

"..."

As though in a goodbye, she turned to walk away. To her, this conversation was seemingly over.

“Sakami--” Abihiko made a step forward. But he swayed from the loss of strength his Binding corruption was causing in him.

Nekohiko grabbed him because another coughing fit shook Abihiko's body through. With his hand clamped against his mouth, Abihiko heaved, the black spatters of corrupted blood coloring his pale fingers.

“Hey, hey.” Nekohiko was holding onto him too tightly, and the Dark Sisterhood's sinister workings began gnawing at him from deep within.

Nekohiko knew that the marriage Bond would not allow him to harm Abihiko, but he still hated his own body for wanting to.

Especially now – when Abihiko was so weakened after having to come to his rescue...

“Sorry, Neko.”

Abihiko steadied himself upright and took his hand off his mouth. His features twisted in disgust when he glimpsed all the black blood on his fingers. “I'll be better in a moment. Don't worry--”

“Shut up,” Nekohiko spat, then slowly reached out his hand to Abihiko's chin.

With a gentle, fond touch, he brushed his fingers against Abihiko's bloodied chin and jaw and swept all the blood off.

The feel of Abihiko's blood on his skin surged with an electric charge through him, lighting up more Dark Sisterhood's resentment inside him. But Nekohiko knew how to dispel it quickly and painlessly.

He rose on his tiptoe and landed a small peck on Abihiko's cheek, just to pull his thoughts back from his resentment and into clarity.

He didn't care about Sakami being near. He was just too happy to have survived past Hibiki's horrible doll manipulation of his body and happy that Abihiko was here, and that everyone else was safe and unharmed...

He was no longer even mad at Abihiko for refusing to tell him the truth about five years ago.

He was just... glad to be near him again.

Abihiko closed his eyes and stilled for the brief second Nekohiko's kiss lasted. But when he opened his eyes again, misty with a dreamy expression – they suddenly widened.

In fear, or maybe in shock.

Mmm?

Nekohiko turned his head, vaguely aware that Sakami was still there next to them and probably saw them kiss. Not that he gave a damn about her reactions to it.

But then –

“Nekohiko!” a dumbfounded voice called out to him from the back, and Nekohiko whipped around to look at the voice's owner.

Mikawa, was his first thought.

After all, only Mikawa knew his real name apart from Abihiko...

Y-yes?

It took him an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that the voice that called him wasn't Mikawa's.

It was Kataji's.