Chapter 10

“Whoa! This place is amazing! Did you guys build this?! All underground, too?!”

We were back at our hideout, and the pink-haired girl was inspecting every corner, amazed with every minor thing. The countertop in the kitchen area, the chairs with cushions on them, the toaster. Everything seemed to amaze her. To most people in this situation, you’d think that this girl was parodying someone trying to be nice in someone’s house, but here it genuinely seemed like this was all a first for her.

“So, we never did get your name. What do we call you? I’m Ryuki, this is Marie.” I said to the girl who was now staring wide-eyed at the computer on my desk.

Then, she perked up, turned around and stared at me, placing a finger on her chin. She then looked up toward the ceiling as if she was deep in thought.

“Are you coming up with an alias? It will matter not; we can easily find out your real name.” Marie spoke up as she was dressing her wounds with disinfectants.

“Oh, no it’s not that. It’s just, I don’t know my name? I mean, the mean men at the compound just called me ‘Tsukumo’ but I don’t know why. Maybe that’s my name?”

“That usually means ninety-nine, in terms of years or age. But I have a hard time believing you’re that old. So, it was probably just a designation they gave you. Do you want us to call you that?” I asked her, giving her the choice to name herself now.

“Hmm, nah, that sounds gross. I don’t want to sound old, I’m only 18! I think. Oh! How about Tsuki? Ryuki and Tsuki killing mages!” She said, making a peace sign sideways over her eye and winking.

“If that’s what you’d like, sure.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marie glare daggers into Tsuki as she continued to clean her wounds, stitching up the deeper cuts. Tsuki went back to looking around the place, pulling open drawers, swinging open cupboards, and touching everything she found.

“Uh, Tsuki, just how long were you in that cell chained up?” I asked, confused by how curious she was about everything around her.

“In that cell? Dunno. Maybe... Twelve years? More? I don’t really know. But, I’m still technically chained up.” She said, pointing to the metal collar around her neck.

“That is a precautionary measure. We don’t know you, your aptitude for magic, or how you’ll react to us if you are free to use spells.” Marie said in a quick, assertive tone.

“Whoa, scary.” Tsuki then threw her hands up in defeat. “I understand, I’m the scary new girl that is intruding on your personal time with Ryuki boy here. I’m the competition now.”

“I- Wh- You-” Marie stammered before clearing her throat and fixing her posture. “I have no idea what you mean by that.”

“Oh please! On the way back, your eyes were basically knives stabbing me in the back. You were so jealous that I was sitting between you two on Ryuki’s bike.” She leaned in next to Marie, attempting to whisper but still spoke loudly enough for me to hear. “Jealous that I got to wrap my arms around him! But, I also didn’t mind you pressing into my back.” She stuck her tongue out to Marie playfully.

Marie tried to skitter away as Marie’s normally stoic face blushed slightly, and her eyes quivered ever so slightly before narrowing. I grabbed Tsuki by the shoulder and pulled her to sit down on the couch across from Marie.

“Alright, alright, we’re getting distracted. Enough talk about... whatever that is.” I pinched the bridge of my nose before taking a deep breath and sighing after. “Okay, Tsuki, so do you know why you were locked up for basically your entire life? And does that also mean that you never really saw the world?”

Tsuki was bouncing on the couch, entertained by the plushy cushions. I snapped my fingers, and she looked over at me, snapping her head like a cat being called. She then sat up properly and again took the exaggerated thinking pose she did before, staring up at the ceiling.

“That room was basically all I knew, I think they took me to a few different rooms on occasion, but it's all fuzzy in my head. Like, I can remember that happening, but no actual details.”

“Perhaps her mind has been wiped?” Marie suggested.

“I was thinking the same. She might be like me, though, and it failed on her. Just not to the same degree as me.”

“Memory wiping?! They can do that?! That’s messed up! And they tried it on you?”

I nodded. “Yea, and they relocated me to Poland, set up a fake identity and new life for me, but I remembered everything. That’s where I met Marie.”

“Boo, what a head start she has on me...” Tsuki muttered. “Oh, wait, so if it didn’t work on you and it also didn’t work on me, we’re totally similar in power! Points for Tsuki!”

“Uh... sure. We can assume that. And seeing the lengths The Secular went to keep you locked up and unable to use magic, it adds to that assumption.”

“Speaking of which, I like chokers, but can you take this thing off?” Tsuki asked, pulling on the chain around her neck comically.

“Eventually we will-”

“How do you know you like chokers? How did you know that the vehicle we rode on was a bike? Everything you pointed at here; you were exclaiming the name of it as if you knew what they were; how do you know all of this if you were locked up for your entire life?”

Marie reached under the table, pulled out a secret drawer, grabbed a large combat knife out of it, leapt over the table, held her in place with one hand and pressed the blade tip to Tsuki’s chest, all in the blink of an eye. Tsuki’s eyes widened in fear as she started to tremble. Marie stared directly into her golden eyes, unblinking and asking her questions again.

“How do you know these things? Are you lying to us? I won’t hesitate to kill you, mage.” Marie said with a violent tone in her voice, pressing the knife against her chest, cutting it slightly.

“Marie!” I yelled, but she didn't relent.

“Ow, ow, that hurts! P-please stop, I’m not lying! You said it yourself, my mind was wiped! I probably learned about all this stuff before, but don’t fully remember! Ow, stop pressing that knife into me!”

Tsuki was crying, tears pouring from her eyes. Marie did not care, convinced that she wasn’t telling the truth. Or maybe she convinced herself she was lying as an excuse. Marie’s grip tightened on the knife as she pressed it forward some more, blood leaking down Tsuki's chest from the wound.

“Marie!” I threw my hand toward her and a blast of wind came out of it, knocking Marie off Tsuki and onto the floor, the knife flying into the air. She landed with a thud, and her stitches broke open; her wounds starting to bleed again. She stared at me; her eyes filled with a mix of anger and regret. My eyes, too, were filled with regret. I walked over to her and helped her up and sat her on a chair. I grabbed the medical box and pulled out the suture needle and started to patch her up again.

“Sorry Marie. I didn’t mean to use magic that strong.” I said in a quiet voice.

“No, I was in the wrong. I let my emotions take over.” Marie said, her head turned away from me.

I patched her up in silence. It was quiet, deafeningly so. Until an energetic voice broke into the muted room. “Well, I forgive you, Marie! I understand you. I totally do. ‘Cause, I want to kill all mages, too.” She smiled with a toothy grin. “Oh, except for this cutie Ryuki here of course. He’s my saviour!”