Chapter Hundred and Ten

Fatal Truths

 

 

Nekohiko swallowed a hard knot.

He had to make a choice whom to listen to. He couldn't really engage with both of them, no?

Abihiko and his genuine, sweet-sounding promise -- or Chinatsu. And her dark, drunken ramblings about... Nekohiko? About the murder. And about the truth behind it?

A shiver passed through Nekohiko as he blinked dazedly at the waiter. The youth was approaching the table to take Chinatsu's order and stole all of Chinatsu's attention.

So Nekohiko had... a moment just to himself. To think what mattered to him more.

And why.

...

"Neko," Abihiko's soft voice called him.

And Nekohiko couldn't hold himself back anymore...

He flashed to where Abihiko was, without even checking to see what Chinatsu and the server boy were talking about. He didn't care whether Chinatsu remained there or not.

Let her go.

He didn't need or care for her.

Everything he needed was here, tucked in safe against Abihiko's neck, the subtle yet agitated heartbeat under his skin.

All his life.

"I am here," he said, still reeling from his meeting with Chinatsu.

The woman had looked horrible. And just to think of it, she had always been such a charming presence. Her duty in Nekohiko's bodyguard entourage had been social and political. She'd been very talented at spying, at stealth, at masquerading as someone she wasn't. An attractive face and exuberant personality had also helped.

But now... now she was such a wreck. Straw-like, dull hair under a dark hood, sunken cheeks, eyes so starved with some horrible emotions that Nekohiko had shuddered every time their gazes locked.

And that flask with strong alcohol inside...

What had happened to her? How had she come to such a miserable state?

He couldn't begin to ponder that through. Especially when Abihiko was so cheerfully expectant of something.

"Neko Neko Neko." 

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we are?"

The question was rhetorical. Of course Nekohiko knew where Abihiko and Mikawa were -- as soon as he properly glanced about their surroundings, he knew.

The scent of sea salt and cold, empty winds around them drew a picture that his eyes couldn't enfold at once. Nekohiko only saw glimpses of the harsh-looking sky outside the window Abihiko looked out of. The unsightly lichens-eaten rocks of the shoreline. Abihiko was in the high place -- the stony shore far below him, jutting out into the cold, Northern sea.

The crushing of waves against the cliffs was a roar, even so far above it.

Abihiko's hand lay on the stone window sill from which he was leaning out to show Nekohiko the desolate landscape, and the ancient drab quality of this window sill told Nekohiko everything.

This was the Shiriya Castle¹尻屋 (Shiriya) -- means "backside", lol. Well, it also means something more polite, but is likely a backformation to make it sound less funny. It is the northernmost point in the main island of Japan, Honshu, and the name itself was taken from this Cape Shiriyazaki which on its own means "Shiriya Lighthouse" due to there being a lighthouse ^^.. The ancient home of the Abi family -- at the Northernmost tip of the Utsuro land. The farthest spot of the Empire in that direction.

Nekohiko had been here once, long ago, when he and Abihiko had traveled for their Spirit Wayfaring quests. But... he shouldn't have. The place was depressing, just like Sakai's lighthouse home, but in a different way.

Abihiko's family castle was old, a bit dilapidated, and rather rough-looking. But it had been filled with the lively household puttering and matters, years ago. The servants had been quick and chatty, the apple orchards spread through their courtyards -- endless, the cold environment -- somehow warmed up by Abihiko's mom and dad being such welcoming, friendly people.

How fun and cozy those several days here had seemed to Nekohiko...

But later...

No, he didn't even want to recall it.

The hollowness of the castle nowadays spoke for itself. Nobody lived here anymore. Aomi had told this to Nekohiko, several times. Nobody came to the Abi castle.

Nobody wanted to see its ruins. It was depressing.

But Abihiko was here now, with Mikawa. And technically -- with Nekohiko. Something he wanted to show? Why here? This place was desolate and lifeless.

Nekohiko breathed in the salt-tinged air and eased his mind back from the grave thoughts of five years ago, whether because of what had happened to the Abi family or because of Chinatsu.

He chose to dwell in the present.

"I know where we are," he said. "No idea why, though."

Abihiko turned, and his clothes billowed in the wind gusts coming from the shore. The room he was in -- sat at the top of one of the towers of the castle -- also wrecked, but with most of its walls and roof intact. The tall, thin windows let the winds in freely on all sides of the room. While Abihiko stood at the seaside window -- then on the opposite side of the room, Nekohiko saw Mikawa's silhouette next to the window opening to the dead orchard. The boy wrapped himself tighter in his cloak against the northern chill. He was looking out as though rapt with what he was seeing but not in a way that told Nekohiko there was anything special outside.

Likely, just the general wasteland of this place.

Mikawa's presence wasn't the point of what Abihiko meant to show, anyway. Because at the center of the room, in the floor -- a partly-dug out chest lay. It was the chest that Nekohiko needed to see; he could feel it.

How did he know?

Because the center of the room hummed in the barely dissipated spell formations of the castle's owners. In all the Great Houses, there always existed secret techniques of spells meant to protect their family's most important objects from being taken away by intruders. Simply put, such spells masked the spot where the family's altar or treasury was. So that, even in case of the family home being destroyed, the enemies would not be able to access the hidden safe of the family's valuables.

It wasn't anything magically durable or powerful. Not a citadel of defense in any meaning of this word. It was a disguise, meant to be unnoticeable and unimportant. Only the descendants of the House bloodline could access it.

But, to be honest, there were many powerful Houses in the Empire by now. Only the Five Great ones possessed methods of Binding distinguishable enough from each other that such spells worked against intruders correctly. Yet, with them being the Houses of the Great Lords... what was the real point of casting such spells? Nekohiko didn't doubt all the Lords had such secret stashes in their castles, but they truly didn't need them.

They had their magical powers, unparalleled to anyone's, their Bizarre Beasts, their armies and countless servants, for heaven's sake. The secret stash spells would be a bit overdramatic by this point, no?

It still surprised Nekohiko that Abi family also had access to such a spell. It was very high-level. Then again, he had always been impressed with how powerful Abihiko and his mom were for being some Binding nobles from hell knew where. Before this day, though, he hadn't ever put his attention to this.

Indeed, why was Abi family so intensely powerful in magic but not in land or status power? Had it something to do with them being descendants of an exile? The great ancestor of the Abi family, Demonic King Abihiko, had been such a nuisance to Nekohiko's great ancestor, Emperor Jimmu. That, Nekohiko knew from history books and legends.

But could that alone be the reason why Abi family had been disempowered so greatly in the Empire's social circles? Really, only Lord Okinaga's grace had given Abihiko the boost he needed to be considered someone of importance all through their childhood and youth.

Without that, Nekohiko didn't know if anyone would have cared to maintain decency around Abihiko back then. He was, after all, a top-grade bully.

Maybe, in the eyes of others -- even a story-like villain.

"Mikawa, help me take it out," Abihiko called.

The boy unglued himself from the window and hurried to Abihiko's side. Together, they reached into the hole in the floor and hefted the chest up by the sides.

It... didn't seem to be very heavy. So the only reason why Abihiko had needed help was to lift it out as carefully as possible. Abihiko dispelled the last bits of the security formations around the chest and the hole it had been hidden in. Then, just as patient and cautious, he rubbed his hand against the top lid. A layer of dust swept off, and Abihiko brushed his sleeve over to clean all of it.

The chest was just about Mikawa's size if the boy folded down and hugged his knees. Made of dark wood, but rough, unpolished. Nobody would ever think some great treasure was kept inside.

Abihiko unlatched the bronze locks on its side and pushed the lid open and--

Even Mikawa craned his neck to peer inside.

...

But inside was only... ash?

Nekohiko stilled his thoughts, only fixated on the sight before him. A chest filled with small cubes of gelatinous aspects allowing for whatever was inside them to remain untouched and preserved, like within a freezing spell. Each small cube contained the pressed cluster of ash -- but not all of them.

Below, Nekohiko glimpsed... body parts, too, just as frozen in aspects as everything else.

This was a chest filled with the gathered body parts, whether in ash form or in the restored shape of fully-formed limbs. There, a hand, to its right -- a few toes from a leg, below those -- part of the jaw.

...

It wasn't pretty to look at, honestly, but its looks wasn't what stunned Nekohiko.

It was the truth. The realization.

This was Nekohiko's original body.

Whatever was left of it.

Abihiko hadn't been lying to him about this. He had, in fact, managed to gather many, many parts of it -- perhaps not all, as it would be impossible to gather everything under such circumstances. But the most important parts.  And in case they succeeded in retrieving those parts that Morokata, Iokirihime, and Sakai had --

-- well, then Nekohiko would be human again.

Fully human. Just as he'd been born.

That he might lack some vertebrae or a kneecap on one leg, or a few fingers -- wouldn't change that fact. All such body parts could be scavenged from anything else. Not a problem for the Binder.

But the majority of it...

It was here, under Abihiko's protective touch.

Proud, he grinned at Mikawa. "This thing isn't heavy, right? You can carry both me and this chest to Nara, yes?"

Mikawa looked genuinely stricken. "Yes, I think so."

Even so, he drew back from the chest as though unable to process what he was seeing inside.

"Body aspects. Just like that man's. Umino Arata," he said, blinking hard. With difficulty, he took a tremulous breath.

"Oh," Nekohiko finally made a noise.

Yeah, probably not a great idea to have shown Mikawa the contents of the chest. The boy had been so traumatized by Arata's fate that Nekohiko was afraid he would collapse or vomit, looking at his body now...

"Sorry, Mikawa."

Attentive, Abihiko lowered the lid again. "You cannot handle the First and Second-rate aspect manipulation?"

"No." Mikawa closed his eyes, ashen. "But it's all right. I just... hate everything related to First and Second-rate Aspects. I feel it's inhuman... straight out evil."

"Well, yes." Abihiko let out a sigh, slowly locking the chest back. "But so are many, many more things, Mikawa. Your sister came very close to 'straight-out evil' when she wanted to kill those Towa soldiers with Suzumegara, and so did your fathers. Many times over. As Lords of the Skies, they had to make many sacrifices ordinary humans would not be able to handle, and so did I. As the Emperor. Any Emperor would, too, I am certain of it--" Abihiko spoke softly.

Nekohiko waited.

His insides were cold and filled with dread. Abihiko was implying him,  yes? His actions during his Imperial Campaign five years ago.

What about them?

"Then I'm just fine remaining an ordinary human," Mikawa said, cringing.

"Except you aren't." The last latches on the chest clanged closed, and Abihiko lifted his eyes at Mikawa. "You do hold the half of the Lord of the Skies' power, do you not? It is the weaker half, but one that brings both the rights and responsibilities with it... Both of extremely potent kind."

Thy boy narrowed his eyes, shooting Abihiko a restrained glance. And Nekohiko once again noted how much Mikawa had grown in the past few weeks. How much of a strong core he actually possessed.

"I guess I don't want it, then," he said, getting to his feet.

"You guess?"

"I don't want it," Mikawa snapped and turned back to his window into the destroyed, long-past eroded orchards of the Abi family. "I only do it for Kasuga, not to leave her alone with her powers. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't give a damn about Nagare or... anything in this forsaken Empire. It's all about destruction and treachery, anyway. The Empire is... unjust and terrible."

...

That hurt. To hear his Empire being called that, Nekohiko couldn't help but cower inwardly in distress.

Abihiko let the silent winds roam the tower's open floor, but not for long. He was just too excited about something to let this go so quickly.

"Neko Neko Neko. Do you have any idea how close we are to recovering your body? The Trial is just in a few days. In a few days!"

Abihiko's glee was infectious, even if Nekohiko was too distraught to appreciate it, originally. Chinatsu, now Mikawa's concerns...

None of that mattered when Abihiko was so fast to spark up any of Nekohiko's diminished inspiration.

"I am just too shocked... seeing it all here. It feels oddly disorienting, seeing your own body from the side, you know," Nekohiko told him.

"You were so much more excited when I just told you about the body than after having actually seen it, huh," Abihiko grouched. "This is the last time I prepare any surprises for you."

"Hey, I am extremely excited," Nekohiko huffed. "What do you expect? This seashell starting to jump and dance along with you? I am only a seashell!"

"Not for much longer." Abihiko took out a small piece of paper on which something was scribbled. He waved it in the air to call Mikawa's attention to it, then passed to the boy. "This is the address of the place you have to carry me and the chest to. In Nara. Do you know that place?"

Now slightly more reluctant, Mikawa gave the paper a stern look. Slowly he cocked his head. "Wait, the West side, the District of the--"

"Shhh! That is another surprise for him later." Abihiko's palm suddenly covered the seashell, rendering Nekohiko speechless with the audacity of this action. "Just read it and tell me if you know where it is, roughly. But don't say it outloud."

It took Mikawa some time to gather his thoughts. Abihiko finally removed his hand from covering Nekohiko's view, and Nekohiko saw just how amused Mikawa was with the address.

"I know that place," he said. "Nekohiko had asked me once to search for any of the Emerald Firs in the Empire with my winds and... I found something..."

"Yeah," Abihiko stressed. "I know."

Mikawa's eyes widened when he lifted them at Abihiko. "You were the one who did that--? It was such a random thing, but so peculiar. Of course I noticed it with my winds. But why did you do it?" Abruptly, he nodded at the seashell lying against Abihiko's clavicle. "For him?"

...

All right, now this sounded too weird for Nekohiko's taste.

"What did? Who did? For me? What are you two talking about?"

But these two aggravating people ignored him, solely devoted to the mysterious address on the piece of paper. Abihiko's voice carried a smile in it. Mikawa's -- only confusion.

"I prefer not to tell," Abihiko answered. "Or his ego will get so overinflated, he will become too annoying for me to handle."

Are you talking about yourself, by chance, Abihiko?

"May I ask you, why?" Mikawa still went on. "You do... all this. For him. I do not understand. He wanted to kill you, right?" The boy's expressions were so lost between bafflement, irritation, and disbelief that it was hard to tell what he was thinking. "But also, from what he had told me about you... I think you murdered him first? I-- struggle to comprehend what is going on in all of this..."

Instead of answering, Abihiko only spread his arms.

Nekohiko took it over from him. "Do I need to leave for you two to speak about this? It seems like you both treat me like I'm not even here."

"It's fine," Mikawa stammered, shaking his head. "I constantly overhear people talking about me. It isn't something I am unused to, and I do want to ask about it. I just can't do it to your face, Nekohiko. That body of yours... it scares me. I feel more comfortable with this one right here."

Oh.

So, when I am nothing but a legless, armless, even headless seashell?

Great, thanks.

Abihiko strolled over to the seashore window, to peer out into the sage-blue spread of the tide before him. The cries of the seagulls rolled through the air, filling the silence with their saddened keen.

"A lot of people asked me and him about why we are even friends," Abihiko said. "What an odd question. Why are you and Kasuga even siblings? Why were Kazuragi and Yakabe even your parents?"

Mikawa seemed like a small animal caught in a corner.

As though he was expecting a tricky blow from Abihiko any moment now. Something about how he wasn't "really" related to Kasuga or wasn't truly Kazuragi's child...

But Abihiko would never imply something like that.

"Fate. And free choice. One day, I chose to be his friend even when it seemed hard to do. On some other day, he chose to be the same to me. At the time, it didn't feel like anything special but... it grew from there. If at first, it was always a free choice whether or not to spend time together and didn't feel like anything important, the more we did it -- the less freedom we had.

"At some point, you have no choice. You do not have hundreds of friends like you thought you would. You just have a few. You do not feel supported, or cherished, or even respected by dozens of people. You only gain this from a couple. You do not feel lonely or alone, but only when with one person. Not with anyone else.

"And then you just realize that this is it. You have grown into this one specific person, like a plant rooting itself in place. And he has grown into you. Then you nourish each other, then you grow together, then you bloom. After a while, there is no free choice at all.

"It's fate, in the end. Even if it only begins like an innocent free choice on your part. Sooner or later, you find yourself Bound to another person. Utterly unable to choose anyone but them. And... it feels right. Does it answer your question?"

...

Nekohiko resonated through his entire body with Abihiko's familiar, warm voice.

Every single word he said.

It had been taken as though from within Nekohiko himself, even if he was not aware he had always believed that. But it was just so odd. Abihiko was saying these things as though he had pondered about them before. More than once. As though he'd needed to justify his and Nekohiko's relationship to someone... like he did now for Mikawa.

Abihiko took a long breath, strolling to the young boy, his arms folded behind his back. "Even if you don't get it, can you just help us because it's the nice thing to do?"

Mikawa, who'd been distraught with his thoughts a moment ago, flinched. "Huh?"

"Listen, I am not very good with young children. I have only two modes of interacting with them. I try to impress you with deep-sounding, mature stuff simply because I know you won't be able to get it and will be too confused to argue. Or--" And Abihiko cleared his throat with a flourish. "--I bully you into submission. Which one do you prefer?"

"B-bully me--?"

He shouldn't have asked that.

Abihiko grinned ferally as he lunged for Mikawa to catch his head in the lock of his arm. "Just do what I say, or I will tell Kasuga on you."

...

Dirty tricks. As always, Abihiko.

Nobody must have played with Mikawa quite like that, and so the boy was miserably unprepared for headlocking and ruffling up of his hair in this mean and humiliating position. But after Abihiko released him, Mikawa didn't look so stunned or displeased with it.

Only unsure of how to react. But also... charmed.

"You remind me of my father," he said when he and Abihiko were readying the chest with Nekohiko's ashes to fly with it back across the Empire. "Lord Kazuragi."

"Pffff, what!" Abihiko spat on reflex. "Kazuragi was mean as hell to me. I am very nice to you."

"He was nice to me, too." Mikawa fidgeted, helping Abihiko to strap on the chest onto Mikawa's back. "So you two... do seem very similar."

"Tsk. I hope you know he would have loathed this comparison. That said, I do not. Makes me happy to imagine just how pissed he is in heaven, hearing his son say I remind you of him -- ha-ha-ha!"

The quick and meaningless conversation between these two went on long after Nekohiko had fled from them and back to his human doll body in Nagare.

Not because he wanted to check on it or was all that intrigued with Chinatsu's presence. In fact, he couldn't give less of a damn about the woman.

He'd fled solely because Abihiko had turned the seashell inverted, making Nekohiko's eyes stare at his skin instead of the world around. Because of the "surprise" the address in Nara supposedly held for him -- and how Abihiko didn't want him to peek.

Nekohiko didn't mind.

It was time he came back to his body and took care of it. Like, say, got it up and left the restaurant without so much as glancing back.

Too bad that while he hadn't been looking, an utter mess began happening there.

 

 

---

***

 

"...and I was like... 'No, I don't see anything that wrong with the guy. Sure, he is a total lunatic and his eyes glow and his voice sounds as though ten people are talking at once, but he's not like a bad guy, you know?' Just a weirdo," --

-- was the first thing Nekohiko heard upon coming to his senses in his human doll body.

He jolted, waking up and squinting about blearily. He was still in The Heartstring. And the annoying, chatty voice next to him was still Chinatsu.

Damn, was she so wasted, she'd been talking to him all this time while he had been unconscious?

He didn't know if he should take pity on her or summon constables so that they could guide this woman to a healer, or something.

Yet as the world grew into focus, he realized that he'd been fast to judge.

Chinatsu had long abandoned him and sat turned away, rambling on to several people and a constable, already!

The server boy from before stood behind the city constable looking worried as though he'd been the one to summon him. But both he and the constable only watched the scene before them in befuddlement. Because there had already grown a tiny crowd around Chinatsu.

Chinatsu swung her hand with the cup of wine, splashing all across Nekohiko with not a care in the world.

"I wasn't even into the idea of murdering him, all right?!" she blared, shaking her other hand in the air. "I didn't see anything wrong with him. So... if he's listening from the heavens or hells or wherever he's gone off to -- please don't kill me, ma guy. All right? I wasn't guilty. Hic. Those other people were. But hey... the first of us has been charred to death, the second torn through and thrown off this damn Moth Monster. The third had been blown up into smithereens. Ya know, I am not that hopeful about my chances..."

"That sounds like a Demonic Spirit haunting. You should tell a professional Binder exorcist," some old lady from the next table advised Chinatsu heartily.

"Yes, and you should go into a temple and sit in a circle of incantations to prevent that Demon from ever coming for you--" another person echoed. "That sounds horrible."

"She's just wasted," the constable told everyone. Then, as though he'd done this a few times already, reached to grab Chinatsu's elbow. "Now, come on, come on. It's time to leave. You are disturbing the other patrons--"

"She isn't," the same old lady from before retorted. "She said the Lords Hisome and Utsuro are plotting a revolution. I think that is very important news to share with everyone."

"Yep. Yep," Chinatsu said. She flashed a badge of the Utsuro House dignitary in her hand, and even those people further away who hadn't been listening at first, now seemed into it.

"Is she for real? That drunk woman is an Utsuro dignitary?"

"Naaah. Cannot be. All Utsuro people are very reserved and proper. She's just faking it for attention."

"Truth!" Chinatsu roared, raising her cup. "To truth and to my death, ha-ha-ha! I'm telling y'all -- I go everywhere, sharing my story. So that when I'm dead, you will know I was right all along. And everything... every liddle thing I told y'all is truth. Not a single speck of lie.

"I can sense it. The presence of the freak guy Spirit. I think he's right next to me, observing." She shuddered, then chased the shudder down with another gulp from her cup. "I am dying tonight, folks. Listen in while you still have a chance. I tell you everything as it happened -- so that you can tell others when I'm gone. Spread the knowledge. Hic. Let everyone know who we were, the unsung heroes of the peace five years ago..."

That was it.

Nekohiko had heard enough.

Part of him still rang with anticipation and itchy curiosity to hear what Chinatsu could tell, but she was rambling. And drunk. Doubtlessly, very few of her words actually made sense -- partly because of how panicked she was.

But these weren't the main reasons why he didn't care to listen on.

He didn't care because... he had promised Abihiko to wait.

To hear the truth come from him. Not from anyone else. And for him, to betray Abihiko like this now... felt wrong. Was truth, especially one so twisted with alcohol and terror, really worth ruining the gentle trust they'd established within these past few days?

It wasn't.

So he chose to wave to the waiter for the bill and to start gathering his things to leave. Not like Chinatsu would notice anyway, with how big her audience was.

"But then, that guy I was defending so much because he wasn't dangerous by that point... he had to go and do the whole Black Ship Forest mess," Chinatsu spoke into her cup, suddenly grim. Slow, she put her cup down on the table. "And you know what that entailed..."

The collective gasp of everyone around the table made Nekohiko flinch.

"What?! Wait, are you pulling my leg right now?"

"The guy you were scheming against was the one behind the Black Ship Forest???"

"What!"

"I thought the Black Ship Forest was the Spiritside's mark of the end of times," the old lady intoned mystically. "I thought the Spirits made that awful thing."

"Nope." Chinatsu shrugged as though proud. "One person did it. And it was a human person. Though once he did that, nobody called him human anymore."

"Brrrrr, do not talk about the Black Ship Forest in a polite society," some else whispered in terror. "You will call dark Spirits on us!"

"They started calling him Monster and Calamity afterward," Chinatsu went on, ignoring the others. "Though they still supported him. Because the Black Ship Forest benefitted everyone, you know? Hic. They both liked what he did and were scared that he could do it again. Only now... to them."

...

Nekohiko froze over, unable to gather his thoughts.

The Black Ship... Forest? What was that? He had never heard of that, yet everyone around acted as though they knew. As though everyone in the world would know. But would be too terrified to even speak of.

He frowned, blinking at his hands on his lap and finding it impossible for him to stand up and leave.

He wanted to.

But... but... what were these people saying?

He wanted to know. Were they really talking about him? About something he'd done? The mixture of awe in everyone's voices and abject terror fixed him in place, so petrified he was by the idea that something he might have done in the past evoked such strong emotions even from people who had been nowhere around him.

That everyone could fear and admire him just from a simple, small reference to something he'd done.

The Black Ship Forest.

"...and yep -- I've been right there when it had happened!" Chinatsu cried, making all the people around her stare, wide-eyed as she gestured to her own words. "Do you want to know the eldritch fear that sets inside you when you see a spell so powerful being cast?!"

"Spare us, spare us, spare us, Spirits," somebody was murmuring in the back as though praying.

"Hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of soldiers." Chinatsu lifted her index finger, pointing to the sky and shaking it for further dramatic effect. "A whole army, obliterated within seconds!"

...

Huh???

Nekohiko balked. He would never obliterate an army -- what was Chinatsu talking about? He wasn't a murderer. He hadn't killed anyone in the past; he knew that for sure.

In an instant, he felt annoyed. He shouldn't have listened to the ramblings of a drunk. Now he was more confused than ever before.

His mind flashed, wracked with anger, to the seashell. Just for a quick check-in.

"Abihiko, have I ever murdered anyone five years ago?" he blurted the moment he found himself back within the seashell.

He didn't care about this being sudden.

He needed to know.

Chinatsu was lying. Or too insane to even tell the truth from lies. But in case she wasn't... he had to ask someone else first.

"The Spiritside imprint tells me that I haven't," Nekohiko went on, agitated. "But some others think that is not so? That I, apparently, obliterated an army?"

...

...

...

The seashell had been turned inward to not let Nekohiko see where Abihiko and Mikawa had flown to. So he had no idea where they were and what they were doing.

But he could tell just how still Abihiko suddenly grew.

Abihiko's voice snapped, hoarse, "Nekohiko where are you? What are you doing?"

"This isn't the answer to my question," Nekohiko said. "Reply to what I asked."

"Neko. Who are you with, right now?!"

...

Damn it. Abihiko wasn't going to be very cooperative, huh.

"Nevermind," Nekohiko grumbled, and fled back to his human body beside Chinatsu.

He had never been more pissed or chaffed with so many things going astray around him. But at least he didn't have to deal with Abihiko's demands at the moment.

He was pissed at Abihiko, too.

How hard was it to answer a simple question?

"What is a Black Ship Forest?" Nekohiko asked the hushed group around Chinatsu just to get some answer -- from anyone -- about what the hell was going on.

He wasn't asking for much, was he?

But lo and behold! instead of replying to such a simple, naive question -- everyone around Chinatsu's table turned to stare at Nekohiko dramatically, with a hint of disbelief in their features.

"You don't know what the Black Ship Forest is?" somebody whispered, shocked.

"Are you a caveman?"

"It's east of the Hira Kingdom, in the Towa lands," someone else told him. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of it."

...

His annoyance only intensified.

"I'm not asking where it is or what your opinions about my knowledge are," he said, cold. "I am asking what it is. And what does the tens of thousands of people's army has to do with it. The one that some guy had, apparently, 'obliterated'."

Chinatsu watched him, too, albeit her face showed not so much surprise and disbelief as a daze.

She studied him up and down in his Hisome glamor disguise, slowly cocking her head to the side.

"Why does your voice sound so familiar?" Chinatsu whispered.

The old lady, at last, took pity on Nekohiko.

Out of all the people here, she was the only one who accepted the fact that he was asking in all seriousness. And that his questions had meaning.

"The army?" she told him, stricken. "The army has everything to do with the Black Ship Forest, dear. The army is the Black Ship Forest."

Yet, useful as she was, Nekohiko still couldn't understand what she meant.

He scowled, waiting for the elaboration, but then--

His senses twitched in sudden panic.

A spell -- a murderous, very fast Splitting spell was being cast somewhere near him. And in the distinct Binding aura that Nekohiko knew best out of all auras in the Empire.

Abihiko's.

 

 

---

***

 

 

The rush of the Splitting spell zoomed through the room from the window.

In an instant, Nekohiko glimpsed Abihiko's silhouette there, and he knew what was happening and why. He could predict where the spell would hit.

It was aimed at Chinatsu.

She felt it too. Being an Utsuro, of course she could sense the Utsuro Splitting technique roaring through the air toward her, But, drunk as she was, she had no time to dodge.

Good thing Nekohiko was next to her.

And that his reflexes were just as sharp as Abihiko's.

He struck a palm against the oncoming spell and deflected it easily. Into a wall, shattering the stone surface with a deafening crack.

Yet right after it, followed a searing shot of the Hira incineration spell -- and Nekohiko dithered.

Abihiko had flung two spells at once? In a room full of innocent people?! Was he mad?!

Deflecting such a powerful Hira magic wasn't advisable as it could harm someone in the vicinity. Nekohiko chose to dispel it, which was harder to do --

-- but he managed just in time.

Not that it helped.

Because once he flung the Utsuro spell aside and suppressed the fiery Hira spell within seconds -- it was already too late.

The hot spray of blood exhaled at his face and hands, dyeing the table and his clothes red. 

Nekohiko gasped, recoiling. And saw the shiny length of the Maple Apple sword, its tip buried in Chinatsu's shuddering throat right next to him.

And above it -- Abihiko's figure on the table. Looking fierce and wrathful and ever bit as Demonic as Chinatsu had implied Nekohiko had been, five years ago.

Cruel, scary. Murderous.

...

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

"Demonic attack! Someone save us!"

"It is the Demon! The Demon she has said would kill her! He is here! THE DEMON IS HERE!"

Everything had happened so fast within this small room -- that the first shrieks of horror only began coming from all the sides now.

Though Nekohiko found it hard to look anywhere else but at Abihiko's grim face above him.