Part 1
Date: May 28th, 2009
Time: 9:35 p.m.
Matsumoto Residence Bronx, NEO New York City.
For her, it wasn’t a pleasant night.
At the moment, she was bored.
Alexis Matsumoto, the young witch in training—that was what Haruko called her.
“Oh, where are you?”
Her older brother, Haruko Matsumoto, had not returned.
She was over at a friend's house when her barrier spell surrounding her house was destroyed. When she came back home, her brother looked like a mess and ran off.
Outside in the yard of the two-story Matsumoto residence sat Alexis Matsumoto.
She sat there on the steps in the yard she had played in and walked in thousands of times, but now there was nothing to do.
Haruko had left her there by herself and ran off to God knows where. He told her that a god came down and someone was after her, and before she could comprehend anything, he ran off after her.
(That stupid brother of mine always runs off and gets himself into crazy situations.)
Alexis sighed.
She was waiting for him to return.
She glanced over to where the erupting geyser once was, but now at this moment there was nothing.
No water, nothing.
That is where she assumed he was after he ran off in that direction.
(Is he okay? He hasn’t called or texted; is he even alive?)
She sighed as she stood up from the steps.
(No, no don’t’ think like that; he is your brother. He always manages to pull through, but he looked terrible when he left. What if he is badly injured or, worse, dead?)
She gasped and shook her head rapidly to rid herself of those thoughts.
Alexis calmed herself down and began to look around the yard.
The yard was a mess.
Tiles were broken, dirt was all over the place, and several ornaments were scattered about on the ground.
“Reiko is going to have a fit about this when she gets off work.”
She walked to the broken door that was hanging on its broken hinges.
Alexis placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes.
“I should probably fix what I can.”
“Dusk to Twilight, Dawn to Sunset. Both heaven and earth offer the space between calm and serenity, the moment we find ourselves. At the moment we take our first breath, until the moment we take our last. We bare our emotions and this space to you."
She exhaled.
"Reject and rebuild what is here. I offer this area to you, and I hope that you find calm."
The door began to fix itself and reattach itself to the hinges on the wall.
The manipulation of reality, at its core, is what magic was.
“So that is the full and correct chant.”
Alexis jumped when she heard the voice.
“You are not going to believe what I said and thought that chant did.”
Alexis turned around with tears in her eyes to see Haruko opening the front metal gate. As he entered the yard, he walked under the yard lamp, causing Alexis to get a good look at him.
He was a mess.
“Uhmmm” Alexis did not know what to say. “What happened to you?”
Covered in blood and dirt, mostly blood. Haruko stood there without a care in the world, as if he didn’t almost die. He looked even worse than when he left.
Alexis just stared at him.
“You okay?” Haruko said as she blankly stared at her.
As she stared at him, something caught her attention.
The way he was standing, she could tell that he was carrying someone on his back.
The person had their arms wrapped around his neck down to his chest, holding her legs in his arms.
“Who is this girl?” Alexis said as she walked up to Haruko.
“This is the one I told you about; her name is Aoi.”
Alexis moved to get a look at the girl hanging off his back.
"Hello,” Aoi said weakly to Alexis.
Alex stared at the girl.
"Hi, um, hello,” Alexis nervously replied to Aoi.
“Hey, I’m going to put you down for a bit. Alexis, can you get a pair of your slippers that she can wear so that she isn’t stepping on the ground? Oh, and a few bandages if there are any left.”
"Alright,” Alexis said as she ran into the house.
Haruko sat Aoi down on a bench in the yard with her back against the gate wall. He crouched down in front of her and exhaled loudly.
“Holy shit” Haruko blurted out.
A feeling of relief washed over the teen.
For the moment, they were all clear. Now that the magician was defeated, they needed a new plan, and they could not stay here.
Haruko stared at Aoi with a worrying look on his face.
(What am I going to do now? I was barely able to defeat the last guy. I need to find a way to get her somewhere safe. More importantly, I need to get somewhere that can get her wounds looked at, but where? I can’t drag any more people into this.)
As Haruko was deep in thought, there was a soft, dripping sound that was picked up by his ears.
“What the….”
There was a soft, dripping noise coming from the girl sitting on the bench, more like under her.
Haruko peeked under the bench, and his eyes widen when he saw blood pooling on the ground under the girl.
(Shit,.)
Haruko quickly turned his head toward Aoi.
Aoi was slumped over with her eyes closed and was breathing heavily. She had her right hand over the side of her midsection. Haruko could see the blood pouring out between her fingers.
"Aoi!” Haruko shouted out, but she did not respond. Haruko moved her hand to check the bleeding and immediately paused. "Hey, stay with me!”
Her hands were cold to the touch.
The more Haruko looked at her, he could see that her skin was starting to lose its color.
She was losing blood.
Alexis ran up to him with slippers and bandages in her hands. She got a good look at the girl, and she could tell that she was not doing well.
"Haruko, is she okay?”
“I’m not sure; she was attacked before, but I am not sure how bad the injuries are now.”
Haruko grabbed the end of the shirt and slowly lifted it up to check on her wound. As he did, he paused.
“Eh.”
There was a long silence.
Slowly, a blush appeared across his face as he held the shirt up.
Aoi was wearing nothing under the shirt Haruko loaned her.
“….Ummm”
Haruko did not move.
As he remained there motionless, he heard a growling noise behind him.
“Huh”
“Would you stop looking at her and lower the shirt?" Alexis yelled at Haruko.
He didn’t have time to react as a slipper came down on his head.
"Oof,” Haruko blurted out.
"Yeah, I guess I deserved that,” Haruko said as he rubbed the back of his head.
(Fine, I guess I’ll try this way.)
He grabbed her wrist and gently placed it at her side.
Haruko stuck both of his index fingers into the hole in the shirt near her mid-section. With a near-quiet grunt, Haruko slowly ripped the shirt front and back open until he got a good look at her wound.
“Oh, this is really bad,” Haruko said in a deadpan tone.
On her midsection, there was a dollar-coin-sized hole with blood slowly pouring out of it.
Aoi slowly opened her eyes as she felt the shirt rip open.
“I’m guessing you don’t have a spell that can heal her injuries.”
Alexis looked at the girl's wound.
“Nothing that could heal puncture wounds like this.”
Haruko lowered his head and sighed.
“No, I figured not.”
He needed a miracle now.
Haruko turned his attention to Aoi as she rested on the bench. She had a tired look on her face. One thought that he couldn’t shake from the back of his head.
(How the hell is she still alive?)
It has been some time since she was stabbed with the spear in the hallway of his house. Her body was small. He didn’t want to have any negative thoughts now.
(Giving her body size, she should be bled out by now.)
But by some miracle, she was alive and breathing. If one could call what she was doing breathing, her breaths were shallow at best. He knew that she couldn’t stay like this. But still, she was still alive, and Haruko wasn’t going to waste this opportunity to save her.
He needed a way to stop the bleeding. Even if they had somehow stopped the bleeding, she still had a hole in her that needed attention.
(What am I going to do?)
“If…..if you can take me to some place where I won’t be attacked, I can probably heal myself using my abilities.”
Her voice sounded dry.
Haruko's face had lit up with hope but lowered when he realized.
There wasn’t anywhere he could take her.
That was the main problem.
There was nowhere that he could take her that would not get her attacked. There was no guarantee that one or more magicians would come to the house and attack again, so staying at the house was now out of the question.
“Haruko, we should take her to a hospital,” Alexis said as she watched Aoi.
That was Haruko's first thought; it was pretty much his only thought. There, they would have been able to help her more than he could.
But-
“She is not from here, so she has no papers.”
NEO New York City was a sovereign city-state that was closed off by walls. Travel in and out of the city was heavily monitored by two organizations. The hospital would treat Aoi to the best of their abilities without any questions, but then questions would arise.
“Plus, if we do bring her there, we don’t know if other magicians will come after her.
Alexis looked at Haruko.
"A magician, that who attacked you?”
“I think so. I have never been attacked by or fought a magician, so it is hard to tell. What does this have to do with anything right now?” Haruko turned back to Aoi.
“I was getting to that, if you would let me get to that.”
Alexis straightens herself.
“One of the magic laws within the city prohibits magic from being used within certain parts of the city; in simpler terms, they would be called safe zones.”
Haruko paused.
“Safe……. zones, safe zones." Haruko pondered that sentence, then quickly turned to Alexis. "Wait, you mean like in a fucking video game?”
Alexis held up her index finger.
“Yes, there are no conflict areas in the city where magic is forbidden to be used. If we take her to a hospital, there is a good chance that she will not be attacked, which is better than nothing."
Haruko turned to Aoi.
(Wait.)
It was a small idea.
(A hospital.)
There was a chance.
It’s worth a shot.
He couldn’t go to any hospital; they would start asking questions about the girl. Questions he was not prepared to answer.
(Reiko.)
Haruko quickly turned to Alexis, which startled her.
“Reiko works at a hospital, right?”
“Umm yeah” Alexis trailed on but stopped when she realized what Haruko was getting at. "Haruko, no, you can’t bring Reiko into this.”
“There is no other choice; Reiko is the only person I can trust with this. If I can explain the situation to her, I am pretty sure she can help us."
He was dead set now.
Haruko turned to Aoi.
“Hey Aoi, we're going to try to get you somewhere safe so you can try to heal yourself, but we can’t travel with you like this. You’re the god of water; you think you can stop your bleeding long enough and try to keep it inside of you. We can get you there.”
Aoi looked at Haruko and placed her fingers on her midsection. She closed her eyes, and soon the blood stopped pouring out of the wound.”
Alexis stared in amazement.
Haruko gently placed the gauze on the open wound, holding it in place. With his other hand, he was fumbling with the band-aids.
(Come on.)
Alexis placed her hands on the gauze, surprising Haruko.
“The band-aid.”
“Right.”
With both hands now free, Haruko unwrapped the bandages and began placing them on the edge of the gauze and her skin.
"That's the front.”
Haruko leaned Aoi forward on the bench.
(Now for the back.)
He repeated the same process with the gauze and bandages. After he was finished, he placed her back leaning against the bench.
“That should hold for a bit.”
Aoi looked at Haruko.
“This will only be half measure; my blood will only stay inside me as long as I physically and mentally control it. I have taken more damage than I would like to admit; if I lose consciousness, I won’t be able to keep my blood from pouring out.”
"That's not going to happen; I won’t let it.”
Haruko turned toward Alexis.
"Here, watch her for a bit. I’m going to get my jacket off the rack in the hallway,” Haruko said as he grunted to pick himself up. “Oh, if you are able to, can you have a cab pick us up? I don’t have money to pay for a ride.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have any money at the moment because I sort of spent it on breakfast this morning and tons of comic books.”
Alexis began scowling at Haruko.
"What? I did not expect her to literally drop out of the sky.
Alexis placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose and sighed.
“Just go get your jacket so we can leave.”
Haruko walked to the front door.
“I made up my mind that I’m going to stay with her for as long as I can. You should probably leave while you still can. I don’t want you to get caught in the crosshairs of this."
Alexis stood there as she heard that statement.
“Not a chance; just look at what you get into when no one has their eyes on you.”
"Heh, you’re still going on about that; if you were hoping to keep me out of trouble, you are a few years too late for that.”
Haruko unlocked and opened the front door. He slowly exhaled before going inside. The wooden floor creeks with every step.
He looked around.
The living room and hallway were a mess. The scene where Haruko fought a magician. There was blood and water on the floor, and the walls were punctured.
It was hard to believe that a fight took place here.
“Man, Reiko is going to kick my ass for this. I may be looking for a one- or two-week punishment at best.”
He grabbed his jacket hanging up and put it on. Haruko shuddered when he felt the sleeves rub over his open cuts on his arms.
As he was getting ready to leave the front door, he heard a buzzing noise coming from the floor. He looked over to see what it was.
A small black phone.
(Shit my phone. I almost forgot about this.)
Haruko walked over to the phone, lying in a small puddle of blood.
The phone started to vibrate again.
He picked up the phone off the floor and clicked on the notification on the screen that alerted him that his birthday was in a few hours.
“Oh, right, I’m going to be sixteen soon.”
As Haruko stood there, he rubbed his fingers on the holes in the wall from the spikes that pinned him against the wall.
(Not really how I thought I was going to usher in my sixteenth birthday.)
"Haruko, are you almost done? The cab is going to be here soon,” Alexis yelled out.
He placed his phone in the jacket pocket and began exiting the house. Haruko locked the house door and turned to see that Aoi was standing up, leaning on Alexis.
"Hey, how are you doing? Are you alright?" Haruko said, jogging up to them.
“I think I’m fine for the moment.”
As Aoi stood under the yard light, Haruko couldn’t help but notice that the entire right midsection of the shirt she was wearing was covered in blood.
There was no way they could travel like this and not raise any suspicion.
Without a second thought, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around Aoi. As he was zipping the jacket up, a white four-door SUV pulled up to the house outside the gate, catching his attention.
“That’s our ride?” Haruko asked.
“I believe so,” Alexis said, looking at the vehicle.
Haruko exhaled loudly.
“Alright mission: save Aoi now in full effect,” Haruko proclaimed as he slammed his fist into his palm.
There was a loud groan.
“Please don’t go around saying that,” Alexis said as she looked at Haruko with embarrassment on her face as they began walking toward the vehicle.
