Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Miyabi counted the number of ethereals between her squad and the crevice ahead. That should be the exit, or at least, take them towards the outer layers of this Hollow.

She could hear something more coming this way, its footsteps heavy, its roars deep. Risk was increasingly outweighing the benefits of staying. Even a sharp blade dulls after too much cutting, and Section 6 has already left a long string of ethereal bodies behind them today.

“Asaba, lead a spearpoint formation.” The Void Hunter ordered. “Break their ranks and open the split. I’ll take the rear.”

A nimble, golden sliver hopped down from a half-collapsed roof nearby.

“Roger that, chief.” Harumasa switched his weapon into dual swords as Soukaku and Yanagi joined behind him into a triangle. “There’s a Dullahan coming this way. Ionization in progress.”

Miyabi answered with her sword light.

Harumasa led the charge into the mob of ethereals before the crevice. With Yanagi and Soukaku by his side, this was practically a skip in the park. The swords and blades of Section 6 are trained enough to make them fit to each other’s fighting styles like puzzle pieces. Every strike was a hot knife on butter, and they made quick progress despite the number of enemies.

Soukaku swiped forward with her banner, clearing a side of the crevice. Harumasa jumped forward and thrust his blade to the left: half of a blast crawler slides off his sword as he gets in front of the Hollow crevice and reach in to pull it wider.

His hand found something supple, like a rope or a coil. The screech of an ethereal too close to his left is cut short with the sound of Yanagi’s polearm breaking the wind.

No time to lose. Harumasa grabbed onto it and pulled it aside: mirroring motions on both sides of the split widens the space-time tunnel.

“Soukaku, behind you!” The archer called as he dragged it open, “Chief? We’re ready for extraction.”

Something clicked as the oni-girl spun around to dodge and hit another ethereal.

Miyabi was already dashing towards them. Yanagi turned as well, facing the crevice, about to jump through.

“Back off! It’s a trigger!” Harumasa’s hands froze. The nylon scratched the side of his hand. “Tripwire!”

The moment’s pause was too much. Ether pressure, heavy enough to be palpable, rushed out of the crevice.

Miyabi reached for the closer target, pushing Yanagi into a roll.

Harumasa let go of the wire and fell back, his left arm reaching for Soukaku as a futile cover. Hopefully the distance will be enough for her to make it.

The ether bomb detonates through the crevice, blowing it wide open.

Miyabi was the first up, Yanagi immediately after her. They immediately stood back-to-back, one watching the flattened ethereals around them for motion, the other searching for their companions.

There, across the open split, far too close to the path of fire, surrounded by shimmering ethereal dust.

Harumasa felt Soukaku’s arms grabbing onto his shoulder before the ringing in his ears take over the rest of him.

Seth Lowell clocked into work today six minutes late. He logged into his desktop, reorganized the seven forms he had to fill out by the end of the day in two different ways—filling out none of them—before checking his phone under his desk. Paperwork always calls for some procrastination.

And someone he never expected appeared at the top of his messages.

[Asaba Harumasa, sent at 8:02 am]

To Seth Lowell:

This is Tsukishiro Yanagi, deputy chief of HSO Section 6. I saw that you are a frequent contact of Asaba and think that you should be notified of the following.

As you might have learned, a recent explosion at the Pursenas Hollow has resulted in critical loss from Section 6. All our members experienced varying levels of harm.

Unfortunately, this morning, we have lost our friend and officer Asaba Harumasa to his previous ailments and recent injuries.

I ask that you keep this information to a need-to-know basis. We in Section 6 are still processing this news and will release it for public knowledge when ready.

Some in our team suspect sabotage and trickery was involved. This recent mission’s failure is not an effect of chance. While all officers of HSOS6 are aware and willing to give their lives for the safety of New Eridu, we cannot rest knowing that there remain mysteries to the cause of Asaba-san’s sacrifice.

I also ask, in his honor, that you and NEPD by extension, would do the small favor of monitoring information regarding this recent mission, and taking care when dealing with misinformation or exposed confidential materials.

HSOS6 will remain the sharpest arrow against the destruction of Hollows. Thank you again.

Jane’s tail flickered between Seth’s face and his phone screen.

“Cat got your tongue?” The specialist consultant smiled. “Did you stand up to get something?”

Seth sat back down. He didn’t notice he stood up.

“I—" He didn’t quite know where to begin. “Someone I know just died.”

Jane leaned closer. “Oh?”

“Yeah, uh—” Seth closed his phone by reflex, then clicked it back open. “Someone I knew from school. He’s a few classes higher.”

“Was. He was a few classes higher.” Jane reached over to scroll for the rest of the message, then whistled.

Qingyi poured some extra hot water into Seth's cup.

“Captain Zhu, you might want to see this.” Jane called out. “Someone in Section 6 is either pulling a really bad prank, or they just died.”

“Miyabi’s section?” That was enough to pull the attention of their leader.

Seth surrendered his phone as Zhu Yuan came closer.

“Call them back.” Qingyi shrugged, sipping her newly-made tea. “If it’s a prank, they’ll let you know soon enough. This isn’t something to joke about.”

The number rang up to an automated voicemail. Seth called again, and the second time wasn’t picked up at all. Qingyi made a face in the silence.

“What do I do now?” The young officer asked. “What do I do with this?”

“No documentation, no investigation.” Zhu Yuan returned the phone to Seth’s desk. “We can’t open a case unless they send us the forms.”

Jane twirled a knife around her fingers. “Well, Miss Tsukishiro here isn’t asking us to give her anything. Just to…keep an eye out.”

Seth scrolled through his short messaging history.

“I didn’t—we weren’t even work friends. See? It’s all just, acquaintance stuff.” His tail swished nervously. Back down the texting history, to the long message. “And I’m a ‘frequent contact’? Oh my god.”

“Isn’t antisocial the new social…or something?” Qingyi patted him on the back. “Tracking inter-knot misinformation and leaks isn’t our duty. If anything gets out, someone else will be tracking it: we wouldn’t have grounds to interfere.”

“No, it’s—I—He—When we first met, Harumasa told me he had a handful of years left, I just didn’t know it would come this fast.” Seth was still a mixing pot of shock and trembling fingers. “This can’t be real.”

“Hollow-related affairs might come back to our tables.” Zhu Yuan replied to Qingyi’s comment. “…if Section 6 opens a case, that is.”

“If all of this is real, that is.” Jane tossed her knife onto her tail. “Doesn’t hurt to look: if HAND has a mole that can kill a Section 6 officer, then we’ve got a nest of explosives above our heads.”

Zhu Yuan sighed. “I’ll text Miyabi. See what she says. Meanwhile…Seth Lowell.”

“Yes, ma’am?” The cat-eared policeman stood up, his muscle memory reacting before his brain caught on.

Jane had to lean back to avoid a collision with his head.

“You can do a…passive monitoring of inter-knot communication regarding this.” Zhu Yuan commanded. “Qingyi will supervise and provide any assistance you need. Don’t let it take over actual work.”

“I’ll provide my inter-knot monitoring credentials,” Qingyi supplied, “and leave the rest to the younger and more-online generation.”

“Yes, captain.” Seth nodded.

He picked up his cup, as if about to go grab water from a fountain, only to find cold water filled to the brim.

Seth sat down and got to work.

“Wise. Wise Wise Wise!”

Belle rolled over from the other end of the couch, throwing a few pillows aside.

“What is it?” Wise reached for the remote to turn down the volume.

“Turn that off.” Belle’s eyes were glued to her phone. “Actually, turn on the news right now?”

Wise paused the documentary. “What is it?” He asked again.

Belle showed him the phone, logged into their newest Proxy account.

[Asaba Harumasa, sent at 8:03 am]

To Phaethon:

This is Tsukishiro Yanagi, deputy chief of HSO Section 6.

As you might have learned, a recent explosion at the Pursenas Hollow has resulted in critical loss from Section 6. All our members experienced varying levels of harm.

Unfortunately, this morning, we have lost our friend and officer Asaba Harumasa to his previous ailments and recent injuries.

I ask that you keep this information a secret for now. We in Section 6 are still processing this news and will release it for public knowledge when ready.

Some in our team suspect sabotage and trickery was involved. This recent mission’s failure is not an effect of chance. While all officers of HSOS6 are aware and willing to give their lives for the safety of New Eridu, we cannot rest knowing that there remain mysteries to the cause of Asaba-san’s sacrifice.

I also ask, in his honor, that you will do the small favor of monitoring information in your circles regarding this recent mission and provide your service should Miyabi or I seek to develop an investigation of our own.

HSOS6 will remain the sharpest arrow against the destruction of Hollows. Thank you again.

Wise grabbed the phone from Belle’s hand and called back.

30 seconds of ringing later, an automated Bangboo told them to “leave a message at the beep for Asaba Harumasa”.

Wise pulled out his own phone to check the news. Recent explosion in Pursenas Hollow. HSO cancelling their press conference scheduled for next week.

Belle dialed back again to Harumasa’s number. This time, there was no pickup at all. The line simply dropped into an eerie silence.

“This isn’t funny.” Wise laughed nervously. “Yanagi wouldn’t do this to us.”

“They are all offline from inter-knot.” Belle typed quickly into her phone. “FAIRY, is this real?”

“Would you like me pull up the public record for: HSO Section 6, Agent Asaba Harumasa, and check his status tag?” The AI managed the sarcastic tone without a sarcastic voice. “Master, I am not a magic mirror to answer every question.”

Wise rolled out of his corner of the couch. “Do a shallow layer crawl for any reports of injured personnel from Section 6, official and unofficial, since the latest news report on Pursenas.”

FAIRY pulled up several screen’s worth of social media posts. The various “scoops” ranged from a short notice out of the official account for HSOS6 to several megabytes of anxious fans theorizing the catastrophic destruction of their favorites and posting them everywhere. A few thousand words of fanfiction, three music videos, and about a dozen new artwork were mixed in between.

Belle turned off the documentary and ejected the disk.

“What do we now?” She asked, pulling up another chair before the HDD.

“I don’t know.” Wise replied, yet his hand was already reaching for the keyboard.

“I guess we watch.” Belle answered her own question. “We ‘monitor’? And wait for Yanagi to say ‘surprise, you’ve been pranked’?”

The siblings had an old web scraper laying in a folder somewhere. It only needs a quick touch up, and FAIRY can embed it into the inter-knot system, sniffing for the right information.

“Or we wait for Yanagi to come one day and ask for our special collection disks in the staff storage room.” Wise whispered as he typed in an expression to filter posting dates. “Then, we do what we do.”

Yanagi did not like the lights in the Intensive Care. There were too many of them, and all so bright that it burned her retina as she stayed. Her mask fogged up her glasses, which served to diffract some of the aggressiveness.

“I talked to the chief, and she allowed it to proceed.” The woman said, her voice floating past the sound of machines. “The messages were sent this morning.”

There was no silence in a room like this, in the same way that there was no darkness in a room like this. Every space was lit with the same pale white light. Every second was filled with beeping, with whooshing, with a buzzing drone.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Yanagi shifted: she can feel sweat beading against the bandages on her shoulder. “I’ll have to talk to Miyabi more and maybe Soukaku to keep the story tight.”

She took off her glasses and wiped them on the scrubs that she had to wear, outside of the loose hospital-issued gown.

After putting them back on, she leaned in to read, before pulling the entire paper aside.

“That’s enough. I’ll think about and work out the details.” The woman frowned. “You focus on—”

A thin, pale hand reached for her sleeves. Long fingers, once strong enough to draw heavy bowstring, tugged at the light blue scrubs. The motion was barely perceptible through cotton and bandages underneath. A few cords knock against each other, making dull plastic sounds.

Yanagi slipped the paper back. And the pen.

For Soukaku. The hand wrote. Then, 4 little cats took shape beneath the words. The lines were wobbly, the whiskers barely drawn in, and the last cat was turned at an awkward angle.

Yanagi didn’t know whether to laugh or sniffle. She opted for a huff. This time, she took the pad of paper and pen without any resistance.

“I’ll handle Soukaku,” she said, “you know what will make her feel better, and it isn’t badly drawn cats.”

Someone tapped on the window nearby. One of the nurses, probably. Yanagi gave the shape a nod and turned to leave, not before stowing her stool under the bed.

A pair of golden eyes followed her as she left. Then they turned slowly, as if fighting the murk of anesthesia, before closing again.

A nurse comes in to document the vitals, muttering as they looked for the right record.

“Patient name: Asaba Harumasa. Blood oxygen under support: 90%; blood pressure……”

Chapter Text

“Good work, everyone!” Zhu Yuan declared, throwing a pile of papers onto a side table. “The robbery-disappearance case is now officially closed. Seth, you’re in charge of disposal and…”

Jane tapped Seth on the shoulder. “She’s talking to you.”

“Huh—Oh, yes ma’am!” Seth’s tail and eyes perked up at once.

“Something on your mind?” Zhu Yuan asked as she double checked the file names.

Seth scratched his own ears. “Nothing work-related.”

“So, something.” Jane seemed to slide across the room to the stack. “Not like our Seth to be distracted.”

“The news says HSO’s press conference is delayed until next week. There are conspiracy theories flying in every social media.” Seth sat back down. “If…if Miss Tsukishiro was telling the truth……”

“…thinking about your friend still?” Jane flipped through a stack of testimonial transcript. “You can light a candle or something if that makes you feel better. Not that it’ll make the dead feel anything.”

“I just don’t feel good about this. It’s been a week. It’ll be more than a week before he’s actually mourned.” Seth shook his head. “I’m a terrible friend.”

Qingyi checked her opponent in online chess and put her phone down. “There is little room for friendship under the scales of law.” She flicked her one of her braids back. “If the wandering ghosts weigh upon your mind, burn him some paper money and send the poor boy on his way.”

“Paper…money?” Seth’s tail curled into a question mark while his face scrunched in confusion.

Jane tossed an origami crane over. “Here you go. Useless testimony to crane for Asaba-san.”

Seth caught it with both hands. “Oh. Thank you.”

“That is nothing,” Qingyi took another piece from the stack. “I’ll show you proper paper money.”

Within minutes she conjured a paper ingot. Then another. She gave Seth and Jane a quick tutorial.

Zhu Yuan, back from a water break, stared at two bags full of origami. Seth was working on a bouquet of printed secret Hollow data.

“Are you guys…” She shook her head. “What is even going on?”

“Confidential information disposal.” Qingyi said without skipping a beat. She tossed another ingot into the bag by her food. “We’re burning these tonight.”

Jane was already halfway across the room, feigning nonchalance. Her fingernails still had ink stuck in them.

“As much as I respect the idea,” Zhu Yuan started, “how do you think the public would react to NEPD officers…burning sacrificial paper money?”

The resulting silence was answer enough. Even Qingyi stopped her hands.

Seth set down his crumpled handiwork immediately.

“Sorry, captain.” The tall junior officer seemed to scrunch into the wall. “We—I—”

“—don’t get caught.” Zhu Yuan intercepted his apology. “I’m cancelling the daily meeting this afternoon. All of you—Jane, come back here—are in charge of complete and total destruction of secret material.”

Qingyi was the first to react.

“Yes, ma’am.” She saluted. “I’ll make sure the younglings here proceed according to protocol.”

Seth joined in the salute as Jane wandered back into the group.

“Yes, ma’am.” He added, ears sticking straight up.

Zhu Yuan gave them a small smile. “Back to work, officers.”

She took Seth’s pen as she walked by, making a quick note in her schedule.

Text Miyabi.

Off to the side, Qingyi was asking Seth for a photo.

“You got anything where he looks bright and happy?” She tsked. “We print it out in black and white and put it up. The image of a man doth remind the soul of who he was.”

“Belle.” Wise tapped frantically on his phone. “Belle!”

A string of footsteps down the staircase.

“I’m here, I’m here.” The girl bounded into the room. “What?”

“Look.” Wise turned his phone over.

Belle grabbed it with both hands.

[AGreyBird] Hey, I’m a freelance journalist and I saw your message in the Section 6 tag on the inter-knot. Would you be willing to tell me more?

[Miyabi’sLittleTassel] Yeah ofc ask away! I was just on my way back from work when I saw them literally just jump out of a hole in the air.

“Hole in the air.” Belle gave the phone back. “They saw the hollow split?”

[AGreyBird] Was anyone else on the street?

[Miyabi’sLittleTassel] Oh yeah.

                  One minute I was making my way down the street and then these HAND vehicles started rushing in and blocking off the street.

                  Ambulances too.

                  They had all of us civilians stand to the side. I got pushed to the front that’s how I saw.

                  It was pretty chaotic. Sirens, walkie-talkies, the whole deal.

                  Like a movie set.

[AGreyBird] Sounds like HAND knew they were leaving the hollow.

                  Did you get a clear look? Was it really HSOS6?

[Miyabi’sLittleTassel] Oh yeah no joke.

                  I mean I knew by that point I was in the middle of something major.

                  We all thought we were going to die.

                  I thought I hallucinated seeing my fav before dying. I’d recognize Miss Miyabi’s ears anywhere.

                  She was like, maybe twenty feet away.

                  She was beautiful

                  She had bits of blood and gore in her hair, but it only made her hotter, you know?

[AGreyBird] Great thanks

                  Did the others also leave the hollow that way?

                  Sorry to interrupt though

[Miyabi’sLittleTassel] No you’re fine I can go for hours about her.

                  I’m pretty sure I saw Miss Yanagi and the little one climb out afterwards.

                  They were immediately surrounded by HAND’s people though

                  But it was like, major business

                  Someone was literally doing CPR on the ground right there. Blood and ether and lots of yelling.

                  I think it might’ve been Harumasa. Having the CPR done to him, that is.

                  Not 100% certain though I was busy observing Miss Miyabi’s hair dynamics.

                  She was so hot. So menacing. She was killing me with her looks.

Wise looked up from his phone. “Belle.”

“Yeah?” The girl was already pulling up a map on a monitor. “Hang on, I’m trying to trace the Hollow Activity to see if this was a real place they could phase out from Pursenas.”

“Can you come talk?” Wise was walking over. “I can’t handle fangirls.”

“Did you at least figure out something?” Belle relinquished her hold on the keyboard and took the phone. “Brother mine, you can barely handle woman. And you thought you could hold a conversation with a teenage fangirl?”

“Not a word of this beyond this room.” Wise pointed a finger threateningly. “And yes, she told me where she saw Section 6 left the Hollow.”

Belle was flipping through the conversation history to catch herself up.

“You think he was dead then?” She asked, typing quickly into the text box.

“I think—what?” Wise froze over the keyboard.

“I said, do you think Harumasa was dead when they made it out of Pursenas?” Belle repeated. This time she wasn’t typing.

FAIRY’s untimely voice distracted them both.

“Master, I’ve compiled the Hollow data that was accessible to us. Displaying the estimated path of HSO Section 6, with 80% probability of accuracy.”

Wise returned to the large monitor.

“Two jumps out from the unmapped area.” He traced a finger along the path. “They took something out of the center and into that northwest peripheral, then doubled back into this consistent split to land into a less populous civilian block.”

Belle joined him by the map.

“I would’ve taken that route.” She pointed up. “No need to head back south. They couldn’t just phase in two streets from the shopping mall and had to go further.

“I—We would’ve taken them eastward along this building and hop right out to HIA Club. Three minutes at the most, counting extra for injuries.”

Both siblings paused awkwardly. Seconds counted when you were submerged in the ether radiation of the Hollows. Any moment mattered in a high-scale mission like this.

Phaethon would have bought Section 6 precious minutes that they needed. 

Wise sat back in his chair and breathed. Belle rolled another chair over.

“No.” Wise said after a long pause. “No, I don’t think so.”

Belle turned to look at her brother.

“I think Harumasa made it out.” Wise said, his hands over his eyes. "He must've heard real wind past his ears.

“How are we ever going to walk away from this, if he ran out of time that we could've given him?”

“…he was the archery champion.” Seth tossed another piece of paper into the firepit. “And the maintainer of the longest sick leave streak.”

“Two very unique titles.” Jane said, mostly to fill the air.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. I’m pretty sure he would’ve been valedictorian or something if he didn’t miss entire months of school at once.” Seth laughed. “I got his number to copy off his algebra work. Then I paid him back with a full semester’s worth of history reports.”

“Smart kid. No wonder he went for HSO.” Qingyi prodded the fire with a long stick. “You mentioned he had a something?”

“Yeah. Ether Aptitude Regression Syndrome or something like that. He told me after I got into NEPD. Said that he’s in HSO for the thrill.” Seth shrugged now, looking down into his hands. “What was it, ‘I’m in it for a good time, not for a long time’?”

A bit of the flames licked upwards, towards the photo. Seth did not have any photos of Harumasa, and they had to screenshot from an official profile. The Section 6 officer stared ahead: golden eyes gleaming with a bit of mischief. It was exactly how Seth remembered him.

“He said the longest living case of his illness was just past 26.” Seth searched back in his memory for some conversation in a bar. “That’s why he graduated early: he was going to fly ahead of the sickness and do what he can do before it takes him.”

And fly ahead he did.

Seth thought of the sharpshooter competitions, back in their training years. He was always a fan of firearms. NEPD used guns as their standard issue weapon, and Seth has dreamed of using one since youth. The academy combined archery and pistol into one sharpshooter competition, and guns always dominated.

Except during Asaba Harumasa’s time. He would always stand at the first lane, with a bow as long as he is tall, and capture the breath of the entire arena one arrow at a time.

Even when Seth mastered his own skills enough to take up a lane at that final competition, he would turn from his lane,7^th, later 4^th, and look at Harumasa’s bow, arched nearly into a full circle, and wait for the release of the string, the stud of the arrow, the cheer of another ten-ring.

Do you hear the crackling of this fire now? Seth wondered. How does it sound, compared to the striking of your arrows that you so loved?

“I really should’ve been a better friend.” The cat-eared officer squatted to reach for another paper ingot from the shrinking pile. “He only had a handful of years left. We’re both in dangerous lines of work. We could’ve been more than just mutuals on the inter-knot.”

“What is gone, is gone.” Qingyi replied. She did a flourish with the stick in her hand, sending sparks flicking into the air.

“Any of us can die any day.” Seth sniffled. Why was he sniffling? “I don’t want to regret like this when anyone else dies.”

Jane tossed the rest of the bag into the flames. She looked at the printed photo long and hard, as if reading an entire life from the grey pixels. Then she tilted her head back and smiled.

“Laugh, Seth Lowell!” She commanded. “If I can read one thing from how you’ve described him, Asaba Harumasa would’ve wanted laughter on his funeral.”

Seth stared at her.

“He didn’t rot in a hospital bed, wasted away by something that was killing him for more than two decades.” Jane spun her blade around her fingers before pointing them at the photo. “I’d laugh. He died giving his life for the safety of New Eridu: for the same oath that we all took, H.A.N.D. and N.E.P.D.”

Then she leaned in, her hand so close to Seth’s face.

“What do you think, Officer Lowell?” She asked, her voice barely audible against the fire. “Do you think he’d smile in his final moments? Like that photo?”

Her fingers were too cold and Seth could not answer.

“Would you laugh?” Jane was too close. “Would you laugh, if you died by your oath, rather than whittled away by the pain of time?”

Seth stepped back.

“I would.” Jane answered her own question. “So I’m not going to weep this loss. Asaba-san wouldn’t have wanted it this way.”

Qingyi prodded the fire.

Twenty-something years is a short time. She’s lived so many twenty years that they all blended, one after another. Physical years, digital years, and all the seconds that ticked away in between. Twenty twenty-years would barely do anything against her logic board.

“Rest in peace, young man.” She muttered. “Machines like me live long lifetimes for those who are short-lived. Yours was just…particularly shortened.”

The fire did not answer.

Qingyi made sure they burned everything to a crisp, then took down the photo and burned that too.

“Here was the funeral for a brave soul.” She said, prodding the ashes one last time. “His name was writ on water.”

Just in time to clock out.

Chapter Text

Miyabi wandered into the Section 6 office late. If Yanagi is in the middle of something, she won’t be thinking about the meeting that Miyabi is planning to skip.

The Void Hunter did not find Yanagi in the office.

Soukaku drew circles at her desk as Miyabi approached. “Hey Chief!” Then she hushed her voice quickly. “I won’t tell Nagi you’re late.”

“Where is she?” Miyabi asked, looking around for the pink-haired figure.

“She left.” Soukaku put down her crayon. “She took a phone call earlier, told me to stay put, and left.”

The fox-eared swordswoman found her seat and sat down. Yanagi doesn’t skip work that often. All the more reason to skip that meeting: she needs to make time for Yanagi to explain herself.

The taller oni-blooded member of Section 6 returned shortly after Miyabi was supposed to leave for conference room 311.

“Chief. You’re still here?” Yanagi stowed her bag at her seat, fluttering around the office as she put papers to one side and brought up new stacks from another end of the room.

“Did something come up?” Miyabi asked without looking up from polishing her armor.

“Yes.” Yanagi did not elaborate further.

Soukaku peeled herself an orange.

Miyabi stopped polishing her armor and moved on to her sword.

“Miyabi…” Yanagi said, approaching the main desk. “You might want to go see him. At some point.”

The chief looked up at her deputy and nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Yanagi crossed the room and tapped to get Soukaku’s attention. She squatted to get on eye level with the child.

“Soukaku, can you get up early tomorrow morning?” She asked.

“For what?” The girl popped another slice of orange into her mouth.

“We’re going to take the first bus from the apartment to the hospital.” Yanagi answered smoothly. “I thought you wanted to visit Harumasa. Didn’t you ask when we went to take the cast off your arm?”

“But taking the first bus?” Soukaku frowned. “That’s like, before your morning workout.”

“It’s a special occasion. I can skip my morning workout.” Yanagi shook her head. She asked again, looking into the oni girl’s eyes. “Soukaku, can you come?”

The girl nodded. Slowly, then surely, as if aware of a sudden, strange urgency in the room.

“Of course, Nagi.” The next slice of orange nearly fell from Soukaku’s hand as she stuffed it into her mouth. “Of course.”

Miyabi sheathed her sword. The sound was enough to take them out of the mood. She walked to the scheduling board.

“I have night shift tomorrow.” The Void Hunter declared. “I can go after my shift is over.”

“As long as you’re free, Chief.” Yanagi said, sliding easily into her usual seat.

Their eyes meet. Miyabi glanced at the unusually empty spot beside the scheduling board.

Yanagi shook her head ever so minutely. The desks and papers blocked Soukaku’s view.

“I’ll make the time.” Miyabi said, putting a hand on her sword. “I’ll go see him.”

She glided in after the clock struck 2 o’clock in the morning. She had simple white clothing: so simple it could be mistaken for a hospital gown. Her face was as blank as her outfit.

The reception nurse did not recognize her.

“Emergency care is down the hall to the right.” They pointed. “Restrooms behind you to the left, over the metal chairs.”

“I’m here to see someone.”

“Sorry, visitations are closed until 9 in the morning.” The nurse shrugged. “Unless you have an appointment or called in earlier. Patient name?”

“Room 564A.” Miyabi said, slipping her HSO ID across the table.

“I’m going to need a patient name.” The nurse was looking down at their computer. “Room number is great but policy—”

“—confidential HSO mission. The name is classified information.” Miyabi cut them short.

An older nurse dashed down the hall. “Code 999, fifth floor, call the hematology lab stat. Oh, Miss Hoshimi.”

The reception nurse stepped to the side to make some calls.

“I’m here to see someone.” Miyabi repeated. “Room 564A.”

This second nurse gave her a look. “You…you should come up.”

Miyabi stood at the plexiglass window. She stood there, as anyone visiting would stand. More dumbfounded than distraught. Her eyes glued to the figure in the bed, like a friend, or a sister.

No one stopped her when she came up. No one had the time. Doctors and nurses rushed in and out of this same room, their hands sometimes covered in blood or wheeling the strangest equipment.

“Who are you to the patient?” Someone had asked, leaving the room and tearing the mask from their sweat-beaded face.

“I’m the person who brought him in.” Miyabi answered. That was good enough for them.

She watched and heard the numbers go down, then stop.

Then the cacophony as doctors rush to resuscitate their patient, to do whatever they can to force his heart back into motion.

Miyabi knows basic anatomy. She is well-trained in the art of making things more dead. She has fought tooth and nail to deal a killing blow before.

Rarely does she get to see a fight to bring someone back to life.

It is as great an amount of work. Someone was shouting. Someone was unwiring and rewiring things. Someone leaned over the bed and performed CPR, their sweat visible through the hair caps. Someone unhooked the respirator and blew their warm living breaths into dying lungs to kick them back into action.

Miyabi watched it all, unable to take her eye away.

The same residence nurse came and gave Miyabi more forms to fill out. Notices and claims of the sort. She signed them all, barely reading. 

The patient is in critical conditions. The patient is going through multiple organ failure. The patient needs special drugs that kill him while it saves him.

We need to put a tube in his veins. We need to cut open his windpipe to make him breathe. We will open his chest like an oyster to fish for the pearls of life.

“You might want to stay,” they said as Miyabi handed back the clipboard, “…we lose most of them when the night is darkest.”

Miyabi turned back, her ears flicking a little.

“Is he holding onto something?” She pointed at the glass.

Harumasa’s hands curled around the sheets in a tight grip, enough for his thin veins to pop from the back of the hand. Further up his arm, the IV needle dangled perilously over the bed.

“Probably not.” The nurse squinted. “He’s been comatose since yesterday. The last blood panel’s results are…not well.”

They looked at Miyabi, then looked back.

“If you want the truth of it…he might’ve come around just then, during the cardiac arrest.” The nurse pointed at the oxygen machine. “It would’ve felt like suffocation. All the sensations coming back to him for one final adrenaline rush.”

Miyabi didn’t say anything. She knew enough about near-death.

What is it like, near-life? The Void Hunter leaned closer to the glass. Her breath fogged up bits of her view. Instead of sinking down into an endless abyss, do you feel pulled up, like a fish leaving the water?

A sharp siren pierces Miyabi’s thoughts. The nurse beside her curses, then runs back into work. The monitor flatlines again.

Miyabi thought back to the forms she signed. The looks they gave when she first walked, dragging her IV behind her, to this window, hours after leaving the hollow.

“His lungs can give out any moment. All this running and fighting…his heart has been working overtime all these years to keep up and it’s not going to keep up for long.”

“Either the EAR Syndrome takes him out, or the ether radiation itself. Expecting them to balance out is like expecting wind to blow darts onto a board and hit three tens.”

“Asaba Harumasa.” Miyabi whispered, leaning into the glass. “I believe that you can draw your bow in the wind, and hit exactly where you want to hit.”

Then the Void Hunter turned to leave.

She doesn’t need to watch another death. She will not watch another death. She has seen enough death.

Yet as she walked away, Miyabi’s long fox ears picked up a new sound.

The heart rate monitor stopped screeching. It clicked a beat. Then another. Then another, to the same rhythm as her footsteps.

Miyabi did not stop. She kept walking, down the hall, down the stairs, past the doors, into the cold night wind.

She recalled walking down similar steps, in some collapsed building in a hollow, and Harumasa’s arrow flying past her ears.  It whistles, as if carrying forward the breath the archer let out as he fired until it became the last cries of their enemy.

The long-awaited HAND press conference took place in a larger hall this time.

Yanagi brought most of the documents. Reports and papers of all sorts were labeled by colored tags, from fiscal reports to mission statements. Usually, Miyabi only sits for the pictures and nods when reporters asked questions.

Today’s meeting is a little more special. The conference was delayed because of the untimely accident of Section 6, and half of the media isn’t here to learn about research budgets: they are here to ask the gossipy questions about New Eridu’s favorite armed personnel.

Yanagi has filled Soukaku’s hand with a snack bag: hopefully that will keep her mouth busy for most of the morning. Miyabi found a seat for the child in the front row, right in front of her seat at the long podium table.

Today, Hoshimi Miyabi is training in the art of “telling no truth while telling no lies”. Although, with any luck, she won’t have to say anything.

The HAND Director checked his microphone, quieting the entire room.

“Alright, thank you everyone for making it today to the Semi-Annual Hollow Affairs and Neutralization Department Open Press Event. Today’s…”

Miyabi zoned out by the fifth word. She watched Soukaku eat a granola bar. Looks like a blueberry one from this distance. Then a peppermint candy cane. Then a pack of dried banana pieces.

She turned the microphone towards Yanagi when it was their turn to report on their mission progress. Then nudged it further when Yanagi provided an overview of the new technologies used in the field.

All was smooth sailing, until Miyabi’s ears caught onto her own name.

“Hi, I’m from the Sundial Post.” The journalist struggled to stand among the cameras and colleagues. “I have a question for Chief Hoshimi Miyabi of HSO Section 6.

“Section 6 is one of the most beloved combat units of New Eridu, and the public is very concerned for the health and safety of its members. We are all very glad to see that three standing members are here with us today for the conference despite the set-back from a recent mission accident. However, I would like to ask if the chief can confirm or dispel some burning questions for our readers.

“Is there any reason officer Asaba Harumasa has not been seen since the emergency withdrawal from Hollow Pursenas?”

Ten cameras flashed at once. Someone was turning over a page hurriedly.

Yanagi, who had commanded the microphone so well the entire morning, froze.

Her mind could only play a single image over and over. Bleak lights over bleached sheets, and the dash of blue-black hair buried beneath the cords and wires.

The deputy chief’s fingers brushed the microphone. She made eye contact with Soukaku, staring from the front row.

A firm, armored hand reached over.

“Unfortunately, this is confidential information that we cannot disclose at this point.” Miyabi recited, then looked down, as if there were notes before them. “I cannot answer that question. We will let the public know as soon as any details have been cleared.”

When the Void Hunter counted ten camera shutters, she pushed the microphone aside.

The HAND director motioned for the next question.

Soukaku came to meet them at the back hallway. Yanagi was handing a section of the reports over while Miyabi ignored any reporters that chased out the conference hall.

The three walk until the crowds were a healthy distance and several turns behind them.

“Chief Miyabi, you still have another meeting upstairs in 10 minutes.” Yanagi dropped one last file into Miyabi’s arms. “Room 903, with the other Section chiefs.”

“Take Soukaku to the cafeteria.” Miyabi nodded. “We can reconvene at the office.”

“Of course.” Yanagi shifted her attention to the smallest member of their team. “What do you want for lunch?”

“Answers.” Soukaku bit her lips.

They stopped in the hall.

“What do you mean?” Yanagi frowned.

“Nagi. I’m not that little.” Soukaku’s tone remained flat. She looked up with her big, scarlet eyes. “Did Harumasa die?”

“Why—what makes you say that?” Yanagi squatted down.

“I don’t know. What makes you guys stay up at night and share looks all the time?” Soukaku replied in an instant. “You kept telling me all morning not to talk to anyone.”

“Well, the last time we saw him, he was fine, right? At the hospital?” Yanagi brushed her hair back.

 “But he wasn’t moving at all.” Soukaku shook her head. “Nagi, you have to tell me if he died.”

Every moment that Yanagi stayed silent burned into Soukaku’s heart.

The oni girl’s eyes widened slowly, as the weight of her question finally dawned on herself. The weight of even the possibility of a “yes” was far too terrifying.

She stepped back. One step, then another.

A sheathed katana pushed against the girl’s back, stopping her motions.

“We’re not lying to anyone.” Miyabi declared. “We’re keeping Harumasa a secret for a few days to try to catch anyone who might be digging around for secrets.”

Yanagi blinked, then nodded earnestly. “Yes. That’s the plan. Harumasa is also in on the plan: you know he’s very good at pretending to be sick.”

“We—really?” Soukaku grasped onto the answer like a life-saving straw. “We’re trying to catch the people who can find Harumasa? How?”

“That’s for me and the Chief to worry about.” Yanagi grabbed Soukaku’s hands. “You just do your best and act natural. That way, if someone shows that they know what’s going on, we expose them for nosing around Section 6’s secrets.”

Soukaku looked at Miyabi, who gave her a convincing nod back.

The Void Hunter’s phone ringed a few times.

“You’re probably late for that meeting.” Yanagi said quickly, standing back up. “Miyabi, you should go.”

The swordswoman gave Soukaku one more head pat before leaving.

In the elevator, Miyabi checked her phone. The event reminder: she dismissed that with a swipe. A message from Zhu Yuan: she can read that later, maybe during the meeting when Section 5 is speaking.

A message from the hospital. Miyabi’s hands unlocked the message before her eyes could fully read the preview.

[New Eridu Health Services: donotreply]

We’re pleased to let you know that an operation this morning on patient -NAME REDACTED- has gone well, and he is progressing towards a positive prognosis.

As of the time of this message, he is still under the effects of heavy anesthesia but shows signs of reawakening once those compounds exit circulation.

This is a notification-only channel. Please make your visitation appointments via the inter-knot portal or by calling the reception number.

Miyabi forwards the message to Yanagi while Section 5 did their reports. Her ears flicked, as if in high spirits, as she stood to make her summary statements on their Section’s work.

Chapter Text

[Zhu Yuan, sent at 2:30pm]

Hey Miyabi. I saw a clip of you in the press conference this morning.

I meant to write earlier. I really should’ve called you last week instead of letting other things take over in priority.

It must be a difficult time for you right now. I don’t know what the right words are to tell you, but I think I have to say something. Say anything, so that you’re not left to struggle in silence.

We’re both in a position where we can’t say too much about what we do. Words die before reaching the tongue and sink into the bottom of our hearts. Miyabi, you can take comfort in my friendship without having to tell me anything. Call me if you need me. Come visit if you need. My mom knows the tricks to get the sweetest melons.

He has fought the good fight. He has finished the race and kept the faith. Now there will be in store for him a crown of righteousness.

I know none of us are the religious type, and you’d much rather speak with the sword than any verse. I believe in you, Miyabi. All evil will be eradicated by your hand.

Hoshimi Miyabi stood in the changing room for far too long, considering a reply to the message. Every draft of a response dragged, like cutting a chunk of softened butter.

She decides in the end that Zhu Yuan was right. Her sword will speak for her.

The Void Hunter adjusts the collar on her white practice uniform and heads into the sparring room.

Was there anything she needs to do after practice tonight?

No, not tonight. Her mind is clear and her blade is sharp.

Her sword cuts through a practice doll, making a crisp sound, as if slicing the center of a ripe melon.

Miyabi adjusts her stance, then dives into the next strike.

Random Play rarely has customers during a working day. Right now, both store owners have ducked into the “employee only” storage room, leaving only a Bangboo at the front desk. 

Belle sat before the HDD, brows furrowed in concentration as she navigated towards a meeting place in a Hollow. She swerved hard right to avoid an ethereal, nearly knocking into a monitor.

Wise puts up a hand to pad her head against an impact. Crisis of concussion avoided.

The younger sibling turns her head left and right, mimicking the waddle of Eous as she guided the little creature around the wreck of a city park.

As the clearing comes into view, she froze and tapped the desk quickly. Pen and paper were passed into her hands.

We have contact. Text Nagi?

“Stick to the plan. I’ll text Yanagi.” Wise whispered to Belle, then turned to grab his phone.

“Well, you’re on time.” Belle gave her brother a thumbs-up before diving into the conversation. “As promised, it’s me, Phaethon.”

FAIRY passed audio from Eous through one of their speakers. It sizzled a bit before stabilizing.

“As promised indeed.” A masked figure spun a gun in their hand. Their voice buzzed, as if tuned by a modulator. “We thought that the high-and-mighty Section 6 might’ve gotten to you.”

“We?” Belle tilted her head.

“Hollow diving isn’t a one-man activity.” The plastic eyes on the mask seemed to squint. “There’s rumors of more than one of you as well.”

Belle did not answer. She smiled, and Eous’ digital eyes curved into little half-moons.

“She’s free right now.” Wise waved his phone near her ear. “I’m calling Yanagi. FAIRY, can you do some end-to-end encryption?”

Belle nodded slightly; her head motion too small for the Bangboo to pick up. “As much as I’d love to make friends, we’re in the business of information.”

In her peripherals she sees Wise placing his phone near their speakers.

“Tell me about your source.” Belle leaned back in her chair.

“Tell me about your source.”

Yanagi’s phone was also on speaker mode.

Good timing, she mouthed with a small smile.

Harumasa’s cheery grin was visible despite the oxygen mask that covered much of his face. His eyes twinkled. Archery is all about timing, he seemed to say.

“How about…personal messages from Section 6 to NEPD?” Audio quality across two speakers decreased beyond recognizability, not to count whatever cryptography the proxy siblings had to put this call through. “How’s that for reliability?”

Yanagi’s eyebrows shot up. Is this it?

“Really?” Eous’ mechanical voice carried Belle’s surprise. “Who? HAND doesn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with the city police.”

“You’d never guess.” The messenger’s voice was a gravelly drag. “It takes a special kind of defeat to get one of them to crack.”

Yanagi texted Wise. Get a name.

She made eye contact with Harumasa, who was giving her his best bed-ridden look of pride. It reminded her of the cat near her apartment that always strutted away after tricking the passerby for an extra snack.

“I’m not here to play a guessing game.” Eous’ voice popped up after a brief pause. “How about you save me the probability and I save you the trouble of waiting for me to get it right?”

The responding laugh was a little louder and closer.

“I wonder if you can imagine this, Phaethon.” They are definitely closer to the microphone. “Something happened in that Hollow. Something so horrible, the indomitable Hoshimi Miyabi had to run to her favorite classmate from her schoolgirl years, who, by the way, has made it quite well in the public security work.”

Yanagi’s hand was faster than her thoughts.

Wrong name, but they’re close. She messaged. Too close. They’re lying.

Eous did not say anything for a few seconds.

“The Void Hunter?” The little Bangboo finally replied. “You think I’d believe Hoshimi Miyabi told her classmate that Asaba Harumasa died last week? You’re joking.”

“You’re joking.” Belle shook her head in disbelief.

Their mysterious contact has closed the gap between them and Eous, looming over much of the monitor screen.

“Why would I be? You paid for this information.” The plastic, beady eyes seemed to stare through the screen. “Does this not bring you joy? Does this not fill your heart with the least bit of satisfaction? Have you not had enough of being labelled as criminals and evil by the high and mighty Void Hunter?”

 Belle pulled back a bit. “You’re saying Hoshimi Miyabi told her friends about classified information, and you somehow knew by…?”

“They texted. Easy network packet sniffing if you know what you’re looking for.” The messenger shrugged. “I would be pissed too, if I had to watch someone die in my arms, then get told that I’ve got to keep quiet for morale.”

“What?”

Both Belle and Wise froze before the screen.

“It was simple, really. The whole team got hit by an ether bomb. Explosion, radiation, any one of the two would be fatal at a close enough distance.” A smile was almost visible despite the mask. “That bright-eyed bushy-tailed archer took it face on. He's lucky his guts didn't get sprayed onto the ground. Then they all had to scramble and crawl out of Pursenas, turning and twisting through unfamiliar terrain.

“Times like that, you don’t know when you stopped carrying a friend and started carrying a corpse.”

No. Belle opened her mouth.

Wise’s hand covered her lips. Only the slight tremor of his fingertips told her, they shared the same horrible image in their minds.

“Really makes you wonder if those fox ears even heard his last breath.”

Eous made no motion.

Eous blinked.

“Your packet sniffer must be pretty strong to figure out all that.” Eous’ mechanical voice remained flat. “Was it your work that did this?”

Wise held up his phone next to the monitor screen so Belle can read it.

[Yanagi] They know too much. Keep talking.

“Perhaps.” The masked messenger shrugged again. “Although, whoever did this would be…interested, if the famed Phaethon is open for a little cooperation or two.”

The Bangboo seemed to consider. The HDD’s microphone was not sensitive enough to capture the deep breaths of the Proxies on the other side.

“You seem to already have a way around these Hollows.” Belle gestured with Eous’ little arms. “Plus, what’s in it for me?”

“It’s always good to have one of the best on your side.” The messenger squatted down to the Bangboo’s eye level. “Well? Divine charioteer, are you ready to stop playing mouse and start being the cat?”

“Oh, I see how this is.” Belle looked to the side, where Wise was prompting her with frantic Post-it notes. “You want me to get on Section 6’s bad side.”

“Are you not on their bad side already, Proxy?” The messenger laughed. “If you put your heart to it, there might not be a Section 6 to be on the bad side of.”

They extended a hand, as if to shake.

Eous stepped back. “I need time to consider this. The entirety of HAND will be down on us.”

“Cautious, aren’t you? Not quite like the mythical Phaethon.” The masked figure turned their head this way and that. “To be expected of a big-name Proxy. I’ll be here, same time next week. Be done considering then.

“Don’t say I didn’t invite you when you see that deputy’s face in the obituaries.”

The gun-swinging messenger fired before Belle could respond.

The screen glitched.

“Warning: EMP damage is cutting the signal.” FAIRY supplied in her monotone. “Reestablishing connection in ten seconds, nine…”

Wise slumped back in his chair.

Belle navigated the Bangboo out of the Hollow as quickly as she could, then put her head down on the desk.

There was only buzzing of the monitors in the room for a few moments.

“Did Yanagi hang up?” Belle asked, her voice muffled.

“Yeah. She texted though.” Wise sounded equally dismal. He reached blindly for his phone, then unlocked it, reading the messages aloud.

“‘Wise, thank you for the call. There is much to say, none of which should be said over text. I will visit in-person later today or tomorrow to speak on the details.’” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Then she said, two minutes later, ‘I ask that you maintain this line of contact at any cost necessary.’”

“What did you say?” Belle pulled herself up and closed the HDD menu.

“Of course I agreed.” Wise shook his head. “She said ‘at any cost necessary’. She heard that they’re on to her.”

Belle kicked her chair back, as if taking in the full view of their wall of screens.

“It wasn’t the ether radiation.” Belle’s voice was hoarse. “The Miyabi fangirl. She saw a body. They were doing resuscitation. He didn’t turn into an ethereal.”

“I guess we’re supposed find consolation in that?” Wise didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to gesture in the air. “How—I can’t—did you see the news clip for the press conference? Miyabi had to say that, after…after that. After whatever we just heard.”

“We have to talk to Yanagi.” Belle sat back up and sniffled. “We have to talk to her and Miyabi and Soukaku.”

“And we’re going to need a plan.” Wise put a hand over his eyes. “…we’re getting them. At any cost necessary.”

Yanagi excused herself after she hung up. She could feel Harumasa’s gaze following her towards the door. The eyes of a sharpshooter has the look of a hawk. Even when said hawk is currently on a lot of painkillers.

She should not be doing this. Where is your professionalism, Yanagi? Where are your years of experience in the war? Where is your calm analysis, your attention to detail in the most chaotic scenes?

Yet the buzz of the EMP explosion doubled with something else in her memory.

Her ears were ringing after that explosion. Miyabi pulled her up almost immediately after the shockwave had passed, and she needed to steady herself on her polearm. Soukaku was crying, her wails barely audible over the tinnitus.

Miyabi walked, no, she scrambled across the conic burst of the explosion. Yanagi only caught up as the Void Hunter put a hand to Harumasa’s nose, then to his neck.

She asked something. Miyabi didn’t say yes or no.

She grabbed the swords that were blown aside in the explosion. It took her several tries to put them back into a bow.

Soukaku came to clutch on her leg as they stumbled over the Hollow split. Their boots kicked up layers of ethereal dust. Harumasa’s green jacket dragged low in the air: Miyabi wasn’t tall enough to carry him fully. Blood dyed the cyan fabric into a gruesome brown, stretching like an upside-down tree. The ghastly branches dripped, crying crimson tears.

The Void Hunter would point in a direction, and Yanagi would pull Soukaku that way. One foot after another. One breath after another. Wait for the ringing to stop. Wait for the pain to dull. Wait for balance and sense to come back to her. Wait for the hollow to open before them and reveal the civilized world again.

How close were they to what that mysterious messenger described? Did Miyabi ever doubt? Did she count every thin whisper of breath by her neck, expecting it to be the last?

Miyabi picked every single member of Section 6 herself. They were the mavericks, the geniuses, the hidden gems. She demanded them and only them in her team.

If it were me, I’d have gone mad right there. Yanagi thought briefly.

Yanagi found herself leaning against the plexiglass window, her mask off and in her hands.

I should be thinking. She decided. I should be reflecting and evaluating what we did right and wrong. We were too close. How do we avoid being “close” again?

These are things I can do. I can take this off Miyabi’s mind, at least.

Another patient walked past her towards the stairs, dragging their IV behind them. Yanagi’s eyes turned to follow, then turned further towards Harumasa’s bed.

Miyabi stood here that night. Yanagi realized with a start.

She took Soukaku here early in the morning. A vague, handwavy visit after the doctors all shook their heads and told her that it might be those few days. She wanted Soukaku to get a look, in case it was the last look.

Miyabi came later at night. Did she worry? Here was the sharpshooter she fought and argued and waded through piles of paperwork to get, hanging onto life by a thread thinner than his own bowstring.

Enough. Yanagi took off her glasses and closed her eyes. She counted to ten, then put her glasses back on. Look on the bright side. Plan into the future.

Harumasa looked at her from his bed. Everything okay?

Yanagi sighed, but her lips did curl into a relieved smile.

If she has any say in it, everything will be okay.

Chapter Text

“Chief, I have something to report.” Soukaku’s head peaked out from behind the scrolls.

Miyabi put down her pen.

“I’d like to request half a day off to visit Harumasa.” The oni girl seemed to bounce in her place. “Nagi said I could if I did all my homework early, but she also said I need to ask you.”

“Did you finish your homework then?” Miyabi asked. “When did Yanagi say she will take you?”

“Friday afternoon after we go to Random Play.” Soukaku clambered onto the edge of the desk. “Please, chief? I already did 5 pages of writing and 3 pages of math! I even did the long division!”

“You still have to finish the other 2 pages.” Yanagi said from her seat. “And did you forget something?”

“Oh, that’s right.” Soukaku licked her lips in thought. “I promise I’ll behave and do exactly as Nagi says. I…uh, I promise not to be tempted into any trouble making.”

Miyabi gave her a smile. “As long as Yanagi says you can, you have my permission.”

“Woooh!” Soukaku dashed off towards her desk.

Yanagi cleared her throat. That stopped Soukaku right in her tracks.

“Right, sorry.” She giggled slightly and turn around. “Thank you Chief!”

“Bring my well-wishes to Harumasa.” Miyabi said, picking up her pen again.

“Of course.” Soukaku nodded, then turned to her guardian. “Nagi, what flavor is chief’s ‘well-wishes’? Is it like apricots? Can we bring Harumasa apricots?”

This time around, Yanagi and Soukaku took the subway. They emerged from a station a short block’s walk from the hospital.

Yanagi had a bouquet of flowers from Random Play. The Proxy siblings gave her plenty of game tokens and asked her to go play across the street corner while they spoke in the back of the store. Soukaku asked why they gave flowers. Soukaku asked why they looked so sad when they pressed the plastic coins into her hands, as if worried she will see them cry. Yanagi didn’t answer most of those questions.

Soukaku tried to catch a piece of falling petal in her mouth. She gagged a little at the taste.

They went up to a different floor and a different wing this time. Soukaku didn’t know if that was a good sign.

Nagi made her go back downstairs and wash her hands with soap. Nagi also gave her some Dennies and told her to buy some water from the vending machine in the lobby.

Soukaku knows that this is Section 6 codeword for “the adults need to talk”. It didn’t make her feel any better as she went on the elevator with the taste of ash in her mouth.

A trolley nearly ran her over as the paramedics pushed someone into a surgery room. Soukaku smelled blood from the stretcher. Too much blood. She knows from experience how much blood is too much. She has known since…she doesn’t remember when. She’s known since forever.

While Soukaku waited in line for the vending machine, someone in the ER died. She heard the doctors and nurses shout about blood pressure and heartbeats. She’s heard it before, recently even, when they came out of that hollow and Chief handed Harumasa over to the medics.

Soukaku punched in her options extra hard when it got to her turn. She didn’t spend the extra Dennies on a snack, even though Nagi wouldn’t mind. She clutched the bills in her hands and felt unwell. But it wasn’t hunger. It was something else that seemed to tunnel through her insides.

She climbed the stairs this time: waiting for the elevator made Soukaku want to stomp in place. Holding two bottles of water in her hand, she scaled the stairs two at a time. It’s a simple enough workout for someone in HSO. Soukaku just wanted to get there faster. Every step felt like too many steps. She needs to get there. She needs to have more than just Nagi and Chief sharing sad cryptic looks every once so often.

Nagi hasn’t told her anything about Harumasa since the press conference. Out of blue she said Soukaku could visit.

What if this was like last time? What if Nagi is going to make her stand outside a big window again? What if Nagi is going to hold her hand again and tell her to take a good look, to make sure she sees? What if Nagi just stands there, silent, as if waiting for something that she doesn’t want to come?

Soukaku never hated stairs so much until now. Why wasn’t she big enough to take them three at a time?

She nearly makes the wrong turn at the 6^th floor. She didn’t see Nagi out in the hallway. She runs towards the door, then stopped, checking the number. She can hear Nagi inside.

“…with a location and a time. But enough about the plan.” Nagi was saying. “You look tired. Are you getting enough sleep?”

Something quiet, muffled or soft or maybe just weak.

Nagi’s voice starts again, this time laced with her usual concern. “That doesn’t sound well. Have you told—”

Soukaku elbowed open the door. Her foot carried her in before she could figure out what to say.

Yanagi sat to the right of the bed. She had magicked a thin folder from her purse and was setting it aside on the table.

Harumasa was sitting up, leaned back against a haphazard cover of pillow, his golden eyes set aflame by the afternoon sun. He smiled his toothy grin at Soukaku.

The girl kicked the door closed behind her on reflex. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“You’re not like my sister,” Soukaku said, her mouth running faster than her brain and her tears faster than her words. “You’re not dead.”

“Not yet, little Soukaku.” Harumasa told her, his voice quieter than usual. “What are you crying for? Did I upset you again?”

“You didn’t die like she did.” Soukaku repeated. She wanted to wipe her face, then realized she was still holding two bottles of water and some 5-Denny bills. “It’s not like when I was little.”

Yanagi traded everything in her hands for a tissue. Soukaku wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming. Her foot carried her towards the bed, and Harumasa gestured for her to sit on his quilt. This close, she could see shadows under his eyes, and the oxygen cannula in his nose.

“See? I’m good now.” The archer whispered to her, tugging so that she is fully on the mattress. “Alive and in one piece.”

He nudged a few cords aside to make space for Soukaku, and Yanagi lent a helpful hand to avoid tangling everything into a too-expensive yarn ball.

That only seemed to make Soukaku cry harder. She clutched onto Harumasa’s fingers, her rounded nails barely scratching against a piece of tape that held an IV in place.

“Don’t die in secret.” She begged, sniffling every other word. “Everyone always tells me last when people die.”

“Well, we don’t want you to be so upset.” Harumasa told her. “You’re too young to be that sad. Except, I guess that didn’t work. You’re crying like a faucet now.”

“It’s always because I’m too little.” Soukaku blew her nose with her napkin. “No one told me when my sister died either.”

She could smell sanitizer in the air now. She could catch a whiff of Harumasa: he always smelled bitter, as if soaked into herbs and medicine. It mixed with the disinfectant scent and left Soukaku’s nose tingly. She wanted to pick at the tape on his hand.

“When…before she died, someone also told me to go look at her.” Soukaku said, looking down. “I forgot. I forgot until Nagi took me to see you and I remembered that they told me to ‘take a good look before she’s gone’.

“I didn’t know then. I just looked and left and afterwards, Nagi took me away, and Nagi is my new sister. I kept waiting for someone to tell me you died too.”

Yanagi handed the whole pack of tissues to Soukaku. “We never knew you remembered this much,” she said, trying to calm the child down. “I’m sorry, Soukaku.”

The oni girl shook her head. “Nagi is my sister too, but I don’t want someone to replace Harumasa. I wish I had two sisters.”

“Come on now, I’m pretty irreplaceable.” Harumasa patted the girl’s hair. “Chief won’t work with a subpar archer when I’m gone. You’ll just have to work without a ranged fighter.”

“I don’t want you to die!” Soukaku wailed, burying her face into her hands, inconsolable. “I just want us to stay all together in Section 6!”

Yanagi tried to take Soukaku off the bed, but the girl squirmed out and cried even harder.

Harumasa looked like he regretted his last sentence.

“Sou—Soukaku?” He reached for her. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I take that back. Just—Let me try that again, please. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“Promise me you won’t die in secret.” Soukaku said, still covering her face. “Promise me.”

“Sure, I’ll promise you.” Harumasa nodded. “I promise. Don’t cry, little Soukaku. You’re going to get hungry.”

“Promise me we’ll be in Section 6 together.” Soukaku picked at the tissue box in her lap.

“That’s really Chief Miyabi’s…” At the threatening red eyes of both Yanagi and Soukaku, Harumasa rephrased his sentence. “…sure. I promise.”

“For a really long time.” Soukaku added. “…like, a hundred years.”

“For… for as long as I can.” Harumasa edited the terms slightly.

The girl pouted. “You promised me last time you’re going to live to a hundred!”

Harumasa surrendered. She can demand the sun right now and he’ll agree. “Okay, Soukaku, for a hun—”

His sentence was cut short with a coughing fit. The archer turned, facing away from Soukaku, one hand covering his mouth, the other grasping for the bottle of water.

Harumasa struggled to unscrew the top, even with both hands. Soukaku snatched it from him and uncapped the water, but not before Yanagi took the bottle and poured a cup.

The deputy chief wiped a bit of bloody foam off the bottle with her thumb and set it out of view while Soukaku scrambled to hand Harumasa the cup without fully climbing onto him.

The girl wasn’t even sniffling anymore when Harumasa leaned back into his makeshift throne of cushions, no longer hacking his lungs out. She just stared at him, as if fixing her eyes upon him would fix his soul to his body.

He was still giving her that damned smile. Even as his hand lowered from his mouth to his chest, where a tinge of red was visible beneath the bandages.

Soukaku could smell the blood on him. On his lips, on his hands where the needle had moved from all this moving about, under the fabric where he was cut open to be brought back from whatever that was trying to take him.

“Does it hurt?” she asked Harumasa.

“No, not really.” He answered, almost on reflex. “Not anymore. I got used to it.”

He even looked at her straight in the eyes. Yet Soukaku felt like she could taste the lie, bitter and tangy in the air. She felt hot tears welling in her eyes from the biting flavor.

Yanagi fished the girl into her arms, holding her gently, then wrapping her in a tight embrace as she felt the girl tremble.

Nagi smelled like her sister. Soukaku knows it’s the blood. She is surrounded by her sister again, as if a warm stew is burying her.

Harumasa suddenly looked very cold. He doesn’t have his own hot soup. Soukaku wanted to pull him into her. Like a good bowl of miso. Like a hot plate of teriyaki. Like her sister. There is no warmer embrace than flesh and blood.

Before Soukaku could speak, her sister spoke for her.

“Asaba.” Yanagi said, her voice now as quiet as his was. “Are you alright? Does it hurt?”

Harumasa opened his mouth, about to let the same answer roll off his tongue, yet no words came.

He is suddenly shoved into the broken, weak, and mortal form of his own body. A light, pulsing migraine brewing at his temples. The drag of air across a freshly-healing trachea. Sharp pain arching across his ribs at every breath. His lungs are bleeding. His heart was too fast. His limbs tingled and burned, coming back online from days in a coma.

“Tsukishiro, you sound like my master.” Harumasa muttered, barely audible.

He closed his eyes and breathed, tilted his head back — stretching the tear on his neck but opening the airways a little further. He glanced at the PCA to the side of the bed: the painkillers should still be working. So why does everything still hurt?

“Yeah, it does.” The answer felt like a sigh. A sliver of relief from one threat after another. A bit of respite from fate’s constant attempt on his life. “Sometimes I wake up and feel like there’s knives everywhere inside of me.”

Yanagi let go of Soukaku, who immediately dived back onto her seat on the bed and pulled herself over Harumasa to hold him.

Soukaku wept quietly this time, her tears making hot blotches over his shoulder. Her fingers brush over where the spinal tap needles punctured his skin and bone. She left her hands there, as if willing her warmth to patch up the minuscule holes that drilled into his spine.

The pink-haired woman turned around to clean her glasses.

“We are going…” she stopped, then restarted after some consideration. “The Random Play siblings will make contact and infiltrate the enemy group. I’ve built a story with them and will follow-up in the coming weeks. Miyabi is going to pull some strings for NEPD to open a joint case.”

Harumasa nodded at the deputy chief. Soukaku was unwilling to get off him, and he wasn’t quite ready to peel her warm embrace away. Maybe she was healing something in him. Something that the machines and drugs couldn’t fix.

“We’ll set things in order according to plan. I’ve got a whole timetable.” Yanagi promised. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I’ve got all this time staring at the ceiling and some walls, Deputy Chief,” Harumasa answered, “let me have something to distract me.”

“Don’t lose any sleep over it.” Yanagi told him. Then she adjusted her glasses. “In fact, if you don’t want to tell your doctor about your insomnia, how about I talk to them?”

“Please don’t.” Harumasa would’ve ducked back if he wasn’t already leaning back. “They'll have to torture a pharmacist to come up with any sleeping aid that doesn’t interact with the seven other things in my circulation.”

Yanagi raised her eyebrows. “Would you rather Miyabi tells them about it?”

“Tsukishiro-san. You’re killing me.” Harumasa sighed. “Please don’t rope the chief into this. She has enough to worry about.”

“We are mostly worried about you.” Yanagi replied. “Let us do something for you, Asaba.”

Soukaku sat back. “Can we stay until dinner? I got the whole afternoon off, right? I'm very good at being distracting!”

She reached into her pocket and dug out lemon mints.

“I brought you snacks!” She presented to Harumasa, smiling as if she had no tear streaks on her face. “I asked Nagi, and she said you can have the sugar-free kind. I’ve tried them. Tastes just as sweet.”

Chapter Text

With one final document uploaded, Eous was ready for tomorrow’s mission.

Belle stretched on the sofa. “Big day tomorrow. I’m going to get some shut eye here and now.”

 “Can I run something by you?” Wise said.

“Yeah, what?” Belle leaned over to look at his phone. “Don’t we have a couple of smaller commissions lined up after tomorrow?”

“No, not about work. About tomorrow.” Wise scrolled down the messaging history. “Do you think we should tell him?”

His hand paused on a yellow emoticon profile, yet he couldn’t quite click it.

“What do we say?” Belle asked. “I’d write him tomorrow.”

“I think he’d want to be there.” Wise turned to look at his sister. “He’d want to know beforehand.”

“Sounds like you already decided.” Belle told him.

Wise sighed. He didn’t want to open the chat. He didn’t want to come face-to-face with Yanagi’s text again.

“Here.” Belle grabbed the phone from his hand. “Let’s get this over with so we can both sleep. You say, I type.”

“Belle…”

She shook her head. “Just…just say something. You’re the one who likes deep emotional films. Say it for me.”

Wise dug around on the sofa and found their mission synopsis.

“Tell him… tell him ‘Harumasa, the bow is drawn, the arrow nocked.’” Wise turned a page. “‘Tomorrow morning, when the winds pick up, at the ruins of the old Riverside terminal.’”

“Does he even know where that is?” Belle asked, typing. Then she laughed, shaking her head in the absurdity of the question.

Wise laughed with her. “Probably not. He doesn’t sound like someone who takes commuter rail.”

Their laughter falters into empty silence. 

Wise starts again, after a few breaths. “Tell him that ‘swords will be drawn, bullets will be fired, lines of code and penciled paths will come together in your name.’” He put the folder away. “‘May they rush in like tides, and lead your wayward spirit home.’”

“You definitely took that last line from somewhere.” Belle tossed a pillow at her brother. “Sent.”

“Give me my phone back, then.” Wise put the throw pillow aside. “Don’t stay up too late. Big day tomorrow.”

Harumasa knocked some pills off the bedside table as he reached for his phone.

Great. It’s three in the morning and he is wide awake. That last nightmare was too realistic, and the following long seconds of sleep paralysis left adrenaline rushing through his body.

Someone texted him. Section 6 rarely texts him on Knock Knock. Who the hell texts a dead guy?

He reads Wise’ message.

Great. It’s three in the morning and he needs to know where the Riverside terminal used to be.

He logged into Section 6’s shift schedule. Everyone else is on a mission starting from 7:30am. Yanagi blocked out an hour and a half for meeting with the NEPD folks – who are no doubt bringing the “bullets” – brings them to a planned attack time of 9 in the morning.

Even the devil works a nine-to-five, it seems.

Harumasa tapped on his metal bed frame. They’re specifically targeting the deputy chief this time, so Section 6 will be running a defensive strategy. Add a missing fighter to the equation… Miyabi will have to cover both sides of the battle and keep Eous from run-of-the-mill NEPD support. They won’t have any scouts following the Proxy, and most of the arrests will depend on what manpower the Public Sec people can bring. Section 6 is spread thin just to accomplish the main goal.

A list of tasks formed in Harumasa’s mind. Get out of this hospital before his doctor can tell him to get back in bed, go into HAND headquarters after the rest of the Section leaves, then catch up to the Proxy at the station ruins.

Sounds doable. He’ll clock it in as overtime.

The reception nurse started her early morning shift with a rather good-looking young man loitering by the front desk. She greeted him with a nod and pinned her name tag to her scrubs.

“Hey, Miss…Natalie.” He had little fangs that were only visible when he smiled. “I’d like to discharge someone from the hospital.”

The nurse checked the time. Just before sunrise.

“Bit early, isn’t it?” She said, opening the portal on her computer nonetheless. “Patient name, and your relation?”

The young man leaned over the desk and showed her the IV on his arm. “Room 607, and the relation is self.”

“Oh.” The nurse’s eyes trailed up the arm to the smiling face. “You'll need someone—”

The lighting on her face changed as her computer screen flashed a message regarding confidential information.

Harumasa glanced down at the HSOS6 symbol on the monitor. He missed that shade of green.

“Secret mission.” He said, giving the nurse a wink. “I need to meet with my teammates to eradicate some evil.”

Ten minutes and several signed forms later, Harumasa walked into the early morning fog. It was still dark outside as he caught the first bus towards Lumina Square. He yawned, curled in a plastic seat next to the heat vents, and made easy conversation with the early-rising elderly.

In the short bus ride, he convinced no less than two grandmothers that he was an asthmatic college student on his way to a morning lecture. One of them gave him a coupon for the ramen shop downtown. He missed ramen.

At quarter-past seven Harumasa was positioned across HAND headquarters, with a warm scarf over his hospital gown and hot tea in his hands. Both were rewards from his convincing tale of being a locked-out morning runner. He wasn’t lying about the locked-out part: Section 6’s office probably holds whatever’s left of his belongings that made it out of the hollow.

He saw Miyabi’s tall ears leave the side door. Then Yanagi’s signature pink hair. He can only assume Soukaku is also in that same car as they drive away.

Harumasa crossed the plaza towards the front entrance, deep in the shadows of the building itself. Hopefully, the face scanner recognizes him clocking in early.

Asaba Harumasa walked out of HAND at quarter-to-eight. He had his headband, his quiver, and his trusty weapon.

He sniffed his own collar and coughed at the scent of bleach. Someone did a lot of work to get the blood out of it.

Yanagi double-checked their plans with officer Qingyi, her laser pen dancing across their whiteboard. Cat-eared officer Seth Lowell was hauling in some supplies with Soukaku in tow. Two big pie-charts glowed on the head of the NEPD Bangboo, showing Hollow mapping progress. Miyabi stood to the side while Zhu Yuan tried to make some conversation. One polished her sword while the other loaded her rifle.

Eous should be making their way towards the meeting spot right now, independent of the New Eridu forces. They will provide enough distraction to keep the enemy in position, until the NEPD’s Special Ops crew surround the decrepit station and Section 6 hunt the main perpetrator.

The deputy chief’s contemplation is disrupted by a notification that was almost too quiet to be noticeable. Only Jane’s quick eyes turned towards her phone after the little “ding”.

[H.S.O.S.6 Timeclock] Good morning. Agent [Asaba Harumasa] has clocked in at [07:41].

[Harumasa] Hey deputy chief. Won’t be late to work. Meet you guys at the spot.

“What.” Yanagi said out loud.

Jane looked in her direction.

Yanagi crossed the room to interrupt Miyabi’s sword maintenance. “Chief, a moment?”

Zhu Yuan stepped aside and gave Jane a placating look, leaving the two Section 6 leaders in their corner.

Miyabi looked at the two messages and frowned.

“It might be ‘Eous’ that told him.” Yanagi supplied. “They have his number. Either way, we might need to—”

A third message pinged Yanagi.

[Wise] They’re catching on. Come ASAP.

“When will the Special Ops team be ready?” Yanagi turned, asking Zhu Yuan. “We’re having a situation here and the timetable needs to move up. Our infiltrator was just exposed.”

Miyabi did not wait for an answer. “I will head out right now.” She said, giving Yanagi a nod. “Rendezvous at the planned location.”

Then she’s off in a frosty breeze.

“Alright, team. Anyone that’s ready should move out.” Zhu Yuan scanned the room. “Everyone got the Hollow routing data?”

Eous waddled towards the old station. The northbound platforms have collapsed into a long pile of rubble. The other side of the rusted tracks were turned 90 degrees by the strange force of the Hollow, the faded green roof of the old station forming a tall wall. Bits of rebar and metal poked through the old roof, turning it into some kind of ethereal obstacle course.

Belle did not bounce her head this time. Every once so often, she bit her lips and breathed to steady herself. Even the sky seemed to match her solemn mood, draped in layers of thick clouds.

A broken H.A.N.D. Bangboo was tossed aside like a ragdoll near what used to be a ticket machine. Section 6 should be passing this way shortly, chasing the broken signal as part of their regular missions in these stabilized Hollows.

Eous gave it a long look, as if mourning a loss.

“Good work with the intel, Phaethon.” The same plastic mask slipped out of the shadows. No voice modulation this time: just a gravely man’s voice. “We found this little toddler right in the tracks.”

Belle laughed nervously. She looked beyond the legs of the man, and saw more people, several of whom wearing hoods and masks.

They rolled wooden crates into position, behind the ticketing gates. Someone ran a spool of wires among them, while another group was covering any holes in the fences with planks from the nearby ruins.

The movers were delicate with the boxes. They pried them off from the pickups and vans, setting them gently onto trolleys, then repeats the process near the gates. Every box landed with a poof of oily, slick rainbow color.

Enough ether explosives to bury someone under the old Riverside sign, that’s for certain.

Eous walked up towards the traps.

“Tripwire again?” Belle said, feigning nonchalance. “Don’t you think it’ll be a bit obvious?”

It was windy today, making Eous’ little scarf flutter every once so often.

“Not exactly. This is just linking them to set off at the same time.” Someone else answered. “You’re Phaethon? The big-name proxy who got us all this info?”

Belle winked and waved without answering.

Biker-helmet was done wiring the first row of the crates.

“Hey, you must be Phaethon.” They walked over and squatted down to shake with Eous. “Say, how did you do it, boss? I heard HSO’s communication is practically unhackable.”

“Well, not quite.” Belle laughed nervously and looked around. “No one makes it this far without a few tricks. I’m not asking about where any of this came from either. Gotta respect business secrets.”

“Of course. Of course.” Someone with a balaclava laughed. “Getting that demon-woman’s schedule is a walk in the park for legends like Phaethon.”

Belle shrugged, the motion making Eous’ arms flap. “Yanagi is a busy woman, she’s bound to be somewhere for certain at some point.”

“’Yanagi’?” Biker-helmet repeated.

Eous blinked quickly. “Well, look, I’ve spent some time working on her, alright? I’m all up and personal in her data.”

A foot came up to the Bangboo’s back. Belle turned her head to see the masked man from before looking at her.

“Close enough to see…tripwires?” The mask lowered. So did the barrel of a gun.

Belle heard Wise jumping out of his chair to her side. He started typing on his phone.

“What do you mean?” She tried to keep her voice flat.

“How did you know it was tripwires last time?” Black, beady eyes looking into her again. Looking through her. “Hollow data? Mission report? Or…did your dear Miss ‘Yanagi’ tell you herself?”

“I…I don’t know what you’re saying.” Belle leaned back carefully. Buy some time. Wise waved at her. I’m texting the others now. “I was just—just making an inference. An educated guess.”

“Really?” A hand was reaching towards the Bangboo, and Eous duck out of the way. “The HAND Bangboo that we found: it didn’t have Hollow data in it. It wasn’t doing any work before coming here and waiting at the station.

“Care to explain, Phaethon?”

“I—I have nothing to explain.” Belle said. She scrambled around someone’s leg, away from the ether bombs.

The winds picked up, speeding through the narrow area and blowing ether dust aside. She felt someone's gaze fixing onto her from above, then slide off.

“I don’t know what you’re suspecting of me,” Belle seemed to have found her voice again, “but this is bad business. We’re this close to getting them, and you’re suddenly pointing fingers at me?”

“Getting who?” Biker helmet picked up a crowbar. “You’re telling us a Bangboo goes missing, and suddenly Section 6 is going to send their intel officer to chase it down?”

“I told you in the message.” Eous’ ears bounced up and down. “It’s Section 6’s turn to monitor Hollow activity right now, and they don’t have their scouting ranger anymore! They’ve got to send someone and it’s too small of a job for the Void Hunter.”

The sound of car trunks closing rang across the empty station. All ether bombs loaded and ready. The thugs and busybodies wiped their hands, about to join the circle around the Bangboo.

Footsteps ring in the ruins to the right, high above the remains of the old platform.

Someone emerged from behind a tower of concrete. The wind kissed his yellow headband and brushed back his teal jacket.

Asaba Harumasa drew his bow.

“No one move.” He said, nocking an arrow. “This is HSO Section 6 Reconnaissance, and you all should drop your weapons and surrender.”

Belle screamed.

Wise scrambled over to hold her. “What is it? Belle! Are—”

The image on their screen was enough to cut him short.

“FAIRY! Refresh the camera.” Wise said, ducking as Belle pointed at the archer in her sight. “What in the—”

“Currently displaying the most recent transmission from Eous.” FAIRY responded. “Image processed in 0.1 milliseconds. Processing result: the individual recognized is most likely Asaba Harumasa, with 98% certainty.”

“It’s a ghost! It’s him!” Belle screeched, launching out of her chair and jumping up and down. “How do I help a ghost? Quick!”

FAIRY was the only one who could respond: “querying for: Ghost Assistance….”

Eous jumped up and down, making digital shrieks that varied in pitch.

A man in a mask was the first to shake out of the surprise. He raised his gun once again, aiming at the Bangboo.

Harumasa is faster.

He did not really need to aim, and his shoulders and back knew how to fire on reflex.

The arrow pieced wooden planks, burying deep into the crate.

Ether bombs go off before any trigger could be pulled. A cloud of fumes lifted everyone off their feet. The sloping "Riverside" sign and its supporting archway crashed into a mini-mushroom cloud. More ether dust swept across the cement, stimulated by the winds. Eous yelped again, more panic than pain.

In two easy hops Harumasa launched himself towards the smoking platform. He breaks the last drop with a roll, then shut his eyes as the impact knock through his body.

That shot was pure muscle memory: he can’t handle the full draw weight of Dormant Tide yet, and if the pain that burned across his chest and back was any indication, he won’t be able to hold a straight shot if he draws again.

The descent from his sniper position was not kind on his recently comatose balance system either. Not to mention this… makeshift smoke screen that could gag a regular person. Harumasa bit on the tip of his tongue, forcing back the coppery taste in his mouth. Not right now. He needs to be combat-ready.

He tossed a handful of Electro Quivers forward and unlocked his bow into short swords.

The timetables have moved up, and Harumasa needs to buy the rest of Section 6 enough time to catch up. 

He ran towards the first tall shape in the smoke and let his sword fall, detonating an Electro Quiver as the steel makes contact. Parry, roll, push, grapple. Basic hand-to-hand combat. The natural weight of the swords was enough to cut, and Harumasa only needs to drag the blade across and wait for the electric shock on the blades to incapacitate.

He took care not to block any blows. Any faltering, and his opponent will know that there’s little to no force behind the sword.

He migrated towards Eous’ signature shrieking. Neither of them can afford to be surrounded after the winds clear out all the smoke and ether dust.

The little Bangboo ran around, making as much noise as possible. It tripped several fighters and distracted more. Harumasa catches a glimpse of blue on its display screen before Eous leads one goon into shooting the foot of another. Must be that AI of theirs.

Harumasa ducked a blow with a last-minute spin, burying his sword into the attacker. The sudden 180-degree-turn throws the world around him into curving shapes and he lurched forward, bloody foam overcoming his pursed lips as he pulled Dormant Blossom out from under a biker helmet.

The blue on the sword flickered and stopped. The archer’s hand, halfway up to cover his mouth, lowered back down to trigger another Electro Quiver into action. He breathed, quickly and shallowly, willing his body into one more strike, one more dash.

The discomfort at the back of his throat burned down into a sharp pain in his chest. Something gripped his heart in a cold clutch as Harumasa ran towards the next flash of blue energy. His fingers were numb, his grip frozen in position: if he tried to spin the blade in another direction, he would probably drop it to the ground. He can hear his own heartbeat in his ears, fast and uneven, louder than the gunshots.

Harumasa counted his Electro Quivers. There’s two…no, maybe one more left. The smoke was clearing. He couldn’t see Eous anywhere, but he was seeing double and occasionally blacking out, so there’s no certainty if the Bangboo made it out.

Something white cuts across his vision and Harumasa thinks he’s going out. He leaned forward so that his spine won’t hit the ground when he collapses.

The white-blue flash comes again, this time in the other diagonal.

A firm hand pulled Harumasa back up as the sound of a katana sheathing strike his eardrums.

“2 o’clock direction, behind the ad panel.” Miyabi steadied his stance. “Rendezvous with the Proxy. Stay in cover.”

Harumasa did not need to be told twice. He ran, or rather, stumbled towards the steel billboard. The clouds themselves were blown aside by the gusts, and sunlight flashed on the metal.

The best way to support Hoshimi Miyabi if you’re not a combatant, is to stay out of her way when she unsheathed her sword.

A biting freeze followed Harumasa’s every step. Miyabi covered his retreat, then, turning her sword, regarded the gunmen around the station.

The Void Hunter did not offer them the option of surrender.

“Hands up! Drop your weapons!” Zhu Yuan yelled as she ran into the decrepit train station, gun in hand. “You’ve been surrounded!”

No one was really in a mood to listen. Most of the criminals were squirming on the ground, knocked out or unable to get up. Some of them were covered in a thin layer of frost. Several spasmed in place, shocked by electricity. Yanagi was pinning a man to the ground on one side, while Miyabi flicked his plastic mask aside with her blade.

Soukaku’s voice cut across the train station.

“Help! Someone come!” She plunged her banner into the ground as a flag, then dashed behind a bullet-ridden ad panel. “Harumasa!”

The swordswoman was across the tracks in an instant. Yanagi spared another second to tase their suspect with her polearm before rushing over as well.

Eous ducked out from under the concrete. It tried to speak but switched to gesturing as more NEPD filed in behind Zhu Yuan. The captain motioned for Eous to show her who to handcuff, leaving Section 6 with some privacy even as some questions begin to whirl in her head.

Miyabi pulled Harumasa into a sitting position as he came to, wheezing and hacking his lungs out.

“I’m—I’m all good.” He managed, leaning against a piece of broken fence.

Cold fingers reached for his pulse, then, after a few counts, went up to his forehead.

“Chief, is he…” Yanagi pulled Soukaku aside forcefully, then relented as Harumasa’s eyes flicker towards her weakly, chasing the sound of her voice.

“Heartbeat fast but present.” Miyabi said, pulling her hand back. “Light fever. What number am I holding up?”

Harumasa stared at her. A streak of blood from his mouth dripped onto his gloves.  “Four?”

“Conscious and aware.” Miyabi’s ears flicked. “I learned this from the paramedics that crushed your ribs the first time.”

“Told you... Although I might need a—” Harumasa coughed. “—a hand to stand up right now.”

“Nagi, I thought he was going to die right there!” Soukaku accused, “I saw him throw up blood and then nearly fell on top of me!”

Yanagi motioned for the girl to pipe down.

“Asaba Harumasa.” The deputy chief bit her lips. “Do you have any idea…"

She faltered. Where does she start?

Yanagi did not need to complete her sentence as Harumasa tried to cough again and made a strangled cry. More blood welled from his mouth. His eyes rolled backwards, lightless.

Everyone scrambled. All traces of fictitious anger were thrown aside.

“Stay with us.” Yanagi pulled his choker loose in an attempt to help him breath. “Asaba. Look at me. Stay with me.”

“Soukaku, tell the Proxy that we need an emergency exit.” Miyabi commanded quickly.

The oni girl dashed off, her hands still sticky with blood.

“Harumasa. Focus. You bought us two minutes of time to save the Proxy.” Yanagi mentally retraced their route so far. “Buy yourself five more minutes. We’ll get you out of here.”

Soukaku returned with Eous in her hands.

“Make that three minutes.” Belle’s voice was certain as she jumped out of Soukaku’s grasp. “Phaethon will take you out of this Hollow.”

Seth saluted as he approached the makeshift command station.

“Captain! All arrestees have been handed over to our team.” He scratched his ears nervously. “Section 6 already left. They took the Bangboo with them.”

“The Bangboo? Oh, the Proxy.” Qingyi nodded, looking around to make sure only their team was present. “They’re not taking the main culprit? I thought Tsukishiro-san was planning a variety of unkind things for that mister.”

“They, uhhh, they had their hands full.” Seth looked like he wanted to say something more.

“Out with it,” Zhu Yuan said, “I heard there was a medical emergency?”

“Yes ma'am.” Seth took a deep breath. “Section 6 left early. The entire Section 6, as in, including Asaba Harumasa.”

The entire room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Every member of the Special Ops team stared at Seth as if he just sprouted nonsense.

“I didn’t believe it either!” Seth put both his hands up in a surrender. “I saw Chief Hoshimi Miyabi carry him out of some ruins! I couldn’t believe my eyes!”

“What—what about the whole—Tsukishiro Yanagi was the one who told you he was dead, right?” Zhu Yuan shook her head. “I thought I just misheard Soukaku……”

“They’d only be in a hurry to leave if he needed a medic, not if he was past hope.” Jane pointed out. “Only sensible explanation: he’s alive, or at least, still alive when they left. Could explain the rush to get here beyond the fact that the Proxy was in danger.”

“I knew Jane could logic this.” Seth’s tail and ears all perked up. “It’s a miracle!”

“So, we’ve burnt offerings for nothing?” Qingyi concluded, then turned her head. “Wait, no, that young man might still need them soon.”

“Knock on wood, please.” Zhu Yuan sighed. “How about we think of it as a well-wishing instead? We’ll know eventually when they release the investigation documents.”

Qingyi tapped thrice on her baton. She was smiling though.

Someone else came in to report that the crime scene has been blocked off and all evidence gathered for. The team returned to their regular work, with only Seth’s tail wagging ever so often, betraying the unspoken joy of its master. 

“Deputy chief.” Harumasa lifted the oxygen mask from his face with a bit of effort. “Can you… can you not cite me for disciplinary… if I don’t try to file it as overtime?”

Yanagi pushed the mask back onto his face. Miyabi swept a lock of hair from his forehead. Soukaku took ahold of the offending hand and held it down in a warm grip.

“That depends on your behavior from now on,” Yanagi answered, her smile disparate from her stern voice. “If you make a good recovery, I’ll consider it.”

Chapter Text

Belle carried in a monitor screen that looked older than she is. She also had a disk reader and a connector cable as thick as her little finger. The jangling in her cargo bag turned out to be a collapsible tripod and many, many screws.

Harumasa watched as the petite girl did digital Legos at the foot of his bed. Belle even gave him a box of tapes to choose from, as if distracting a toddler child while she dealt with the big business of setting up technology.

“Do you need to do all of this for a nature documentary?” Harumasa held up a disk titled Planet Earth IV. “That looks like a whole movie theater set-up.”

“This is just an audio cord.” Belle said, not looking up as she screwed in the plug. “You’re Random Play’s first delivery service customer; I got to give you the whole show.”

She pulled out two speakers – does she have a portal in that bag? How does everything even fit? – and set them on the two bedside tables.

Harumasa handed her the disk box in his hand and Belle put it into the reader.

“These are all my brother’s recommendations,” she said, making a face, “I would’ve brought you a less boring selection, but both Wise and Yanagi says I shouldn’t give you any thriller options.”

“I wouldn’t mind thrillers,” Harumasa laughed, “although my doctor might have some choice words.”

Belle pulled a chair over and sat down after the copyright disclaimer popped up on screen. Harumasa turned down the volume, to not disturb any resting patients in the neighboring hospital rooms.

Halfway through the title card he heard shuffling beside him.

Belle took out a carton of ice cream from her bag. She shoved a spoonful of Double Chocolate into her mouth, big droplets rolling from her eyes.

“What are you…” Harumasa started hesitantly. “Belle?”

“I’m having a sad moment. Leave me alone.” She sniffled, then reaching into her pocket for a crumpled tissue.

Harumasa doubled checked the TV screen in front of them. Jellyfish. The narration hasn’t started yet.

“Do you…do you have any idea how we felt?” Belle accused over the violins. “We thought we lost you. We thought—if I was there, I would’ve brought you out!”

Harumasa pulled out a pack of tissues from under his pillow and offered it to the girl. Not that he's in a crying mood very often, but Soukaku has been consuming tissue paper at the speed she consumes most foods when she comes over, so he's always got some near the bed for any tearful occasions.

“You did bring me out that second time around." He pointed out. "Without your quick exit, I’d probably still be in the ICU right now.”

“Doesn’t matter! We were so angry at ourselves.” Belle went for another spoonful of ice cream instead. “Wise and I, when we talked to Yanagi, when she gave us the plan…I couldn’t even meet her eyes.”

“I…I’m sorry.” The lighting on Harumasa’s face turned as the scene shifts from the ocean to the forests.

“If you ever do this again,” Belle licked her spoon, “I’m going to do exactly the opposite of what you said you wanted for your funeral.”

She didn't specify what part of recent events qualified as "this".

The camera panned over white sandy beaches. A hawk glide across the screen, plunging towards its prey.

“I’ll convince Yanagi to bury you in some boring memorial cemetery.” Belle threatened, then blew her nose. “And then I'll program No.18 and No.6 to cry with me on your funeral so that everyone cries buckets and buckets. I'll make you a crying chorus of Bangboos.”

“Do…can Bangboos cry?” Harumasa was genuinely curious.

“I’ll make sure of it. I’m Phaethon.” Belle shook her head, then took another spoon out of a pocket. “Can you have ice cream yet?”

“Nah, at least, not according to my doctor.” Harumasa reached for his cup of water on the side. “Now, I'm not against breaking some rules....”

“It’s fine. More for me.” Belle dried her eyes with her sleeves. “I’m a little less sad now. Double Chocolate is fixing me.”

Harumasa watched her dig her way through the carton.

“Is Wise busy today?” He asked after a scene of a particularly impressive bird mating dance. “I know you only said you’re coming—”

“Wise is a coward.” Belle put her spoon down. “He says he’s going to give a ‘brotherly hug’ when you get discharged for real and that’ll be good enough for him. It’s actually because he knows he’ll cry more than me if he comes to see you.”

“I think you should make him come over.” Harumasa suggested with a devious toothy grin. “This is his recommended film, right? We can pause it and wait for him, and you’ll have someone to share your ice cream with.”

“I’ll call him.” Belle pulled out her phone. She was smiling a little, even as her eyes remained watery. “I’ll tell him you miss him. He needs to get his own ice cream though.”

Wise did not bring his own ice cream. He had a bouquet of sunflowers that he held a foot away from himself, his ears bright red. The tape rental owner explained how the front desk nurse tried to give him dating tips, while warning him that the patient has a lot of “lovely visitors”. Belle laughed so hard she smudged melted ice cream over her cardigan. She tried to get it off while whispering “rizz tips” under her breath with intermittent giggling.

There was already an abundance of flowers in the room. Neither Yanagi or Miyabi liked to visit empty-handed, and they are here quite often. Harumasa is almost certain they have a timed schedule going on so that he is rarely left alone in his room. He only has himself to blame for that.

Harumasa didn’t have an extra vase to put the flowers in, so he drank his cup of water and stuck the sunflowers in there. They tilted off to the side and needed to lean against the wall.

“Sorry, I should’ve known you already have too many flowers.” Wise played with his jacket, looking down. “…so, uh, Belle said you wanted to see me.”

“She said you wanted a brotherly hug.” Harumasa smiled. “Why wait? I’ve been cleared for hugging.”

Wise put his face into his hands again. “Belle……”

“What?” Belle gave him an innocent look. Her lips curled up. “I literally just said what you said.”

It doesn’t take Harumasa more than a few seconds to hop out of bed. He slipped smoothly into thin fabric slippers and stood up, one hand pushing off lightly on the bedside table.

He didn’t stand unsupported for long. Wise wrapped him into a hug. The zipper on his jacket pushed a line of cool sensation through the hospital gown.

Another pair of arms pull him to the right as Belle joined the embrace. She pressed her face first on her brother’s shoulder, then leaned to the other side, placing her cheek against Harumasa’s arm. The archer spot wet patches on Wise’s sleeves. He wondered for a moment if he would feel tears on his shoulder if he held on long enough.

“…I thought you were gone.” Wise muttered. “We thought you turned into the winds at Port Elpis.”

“I’m back.” Harumasa told them. “You, and Section 6, and the NEPD team. You guys brought me back.”

Wise let go first, claiming that Harumasa should get back under the blankets before he catches a cold.

“I still don’t understand.” Wise got another chair from a corner of the room after failing to steal Belle’s seat.  “Why did you…. why did the rest of Section 6 go along with the pretend-you're-dead plan?”

“I am at my most convincing when I’m dying.” Harumasa suggested. Wise glared at him. “What? I do have good ideas sometimes. We caught a big target this time.”

Belle slurped the last of her melted Double Chocolate and made a face at him.

“Was it…it was close to the truth, right?” Wise wasn’t really asking. “Yanagi and Miyabi and…you. All of you thought you were going to die and you wanted to get one last shot in.”

“You know me, I have never wished for death.” Harumasa answered cryptically. “I’m an archer. I saw a chance and took it.”

“They never gave up hope.” Wise told him, speaking faster and faster as the flurry of images floated from memory. “Miyabi knew what she said at that conference. She never believed that you would die. Yanagi planned—Yanagi covered all the logistics behind this. She was willing to risk everything to get to the end of it.”

“I know,” Harumasa replied, “it was like a regular recon mission. I went ahead of my teammates to get into the right positions. They’ll come right afterwards.”

Wise shook his head. “You risked your own life for us that day at Riverside. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Information, risks, myself, that's all ammunition.” Harumasa put a hand over his heart. “ I fired into the dark, and when the clouds parted and the light returned, I see that I have hit my mark.”

He doesn’t need to see where he is going.

He knows he aimed true when the arrow left his fingers.

He hears it strike and sees it land as he lets it go.

The essence of the shot is within him, in each time he pulls the string.

[Article cutout, from New Eridu Daily, several days later]

News from HAND’s recent public statement: a secret mission by the code name Operation Smokescreen has come to a successful close, thanks to the joint effort of HSO Section 6, NEPD Special Ops team, and civilian assistance. Nearly thirty individuals have been arrested for endangering public safety, with the main perpetrator facing multiple charges of smuggling, terrorism, and murder. Investigations are on the way for the source of their weaponry and mapping data.

In our first-hand interview with HSO Section 6, deputy chief Tsukishiro Yanagi reaffirms the dangers of Hollow-related activities and reiterates the Section’s goals of eradicating any evil within the bounds of New Eridu. When asked in more detail about this recent operation, the deputy chief highlights the contribution of officer Asaba Harumasa, commenting on his perseverance as he insisted on participating in the final arrests despite previous injuries. Chief Hoshimi Miyabi adds that while Section 6 promotes the independence of each member, they will make an effort to watch over each other more in the future.

At this point, all four members of HSO Section 6 have returned to their stations, and they assure the citizens of New Eridu that they will continue to put their best efforts forward regarding Hollow-related affairs and neutralization.

[Attached: photo taken at the front entrance staircase of HAND headquarters. First row from left to right, Tsukishiro Yanagi, Soukaku, Asaba Harumasa, and Hoshimi Miyabi. Second row: NEPD officers and public supporters.]