Chapter 11

I walked out of the bedroom after having made sure Marie had actually gone to rest after fully patching up her wounds. I hadn’t realized it until mending her how much she got harmed during the fight at the compound. Her arms were both covered in a multitude of scratches, cuts, and gashes, with one of her arms possibly broken. Her legs were in similar shape; her right thigh especially beat up and bleeding heavily. She wouldn’t let me tend to, or even check, the wounds on her back. She insisted she’d do them herself when she woke up. Either way, I was just glad to see her rest finally, especially after the wild card that is Tsuki being thrown into our lap. I came into the main room and flopped onto the couch, taking in a deep breath before letting out an exhausted moan.

“What’d you two do in there that made you let out that kind of moan?” Tsuki quipped.

“You are constantly energetic. I don’t get it. If that’s your way of asking if she’s okay, then yea, she is. Just needs some rest. Her arm might be broken, though, which worries me because I’m not particularly good in that area of magical healing.” I said sitting up onto the couch.

“Oh? Seeing how much mana you output, I would believe you to be proficient in any school, even the rare ones like healing.”

I turned my head, perplexed at her words. “How much mana I output? What do you mean by that?”

“Like, I can see a wicked fiery aura around you. I see it on everyone, yours is just like, whom!” She gestured with her hands, mimicking an explosion. “You don’t see that on people?”

“No, I don’t. And this is the first time I’ve heard of it, too. That’s clearly not magic that lets you do that since you still have the rhenium chain around your neck. Interesting.” I placed a hand on my chin.

“So, you’re saying I’m extra, extra special?” She said, her voice lifting in tone even higher than normal and with a smile of pure joy.

“You’re special alright. But, did you see the same aura around Marie?”

“I do, but it’s like most ordinary people. Very small and unimposing. Like a flat chested woman.”

“Didn’t need to say that. Plus, some people like those.” I responded, shaking my head.

“Do you?” She said, her eyes narrowing as if this was more serious than anything we had previously talked about.

“No comment at this time.” I got up out of my seat and headed over to the kitchen area to grab a drink.

“I’m taking that as a yes!” She paused and looked down at her non-flat self. “Dammit!”

“It’s not a yes or a no. Now let's get off that subject, please? Want something to drink?”

“Got any tea?”

“We do. If only Marie was awake. She loves tea and can make a really good brew.”

“She loves tea, too!?” She squealed and her eyes lit up.

“You two, if you’d stop antagonizing her, would probably get along if you both love tea. But, I suck at making it. And I don’t trust you enough to not mess up her leaves. So, let’s just have a soda. Here.”

I tossed the can to Tsuki, she eagerly caught it, cracked the drink open and guzzled down the entire thing. She let out a satisfied sigh as she finished it, then smiled again with her usual toothy grin.

“Delicious! I was so thirsty. Can I get another?”

“You should have said if you were.” I tossed her the can I was holding. Again, she cracked it open and drank almost the entire thing. I rolled my eyes and let out a small laugh.

***

Later that evening, Tsuki and I were in another room together. This one was across from the main room and lined with sound proofed walls. We were shouting at each other, antagonizing the other with vulgar language. The reason, of course, was because of what was on the large TV in front of us. We were playing a game that required us to cooperate inside a kitchen, but we kept failing the simplest missions.

“You have to stop dropping all the cut foods in the trash!” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air.

“You keep cutting up foods we don’t need! I’m making it so we’re not constantly running over them!”

“It doesn’t matter if we hit them they just bounce over the floor! You’re wasting time! You’re why we keep failing!”

Then, she threw an empty can at my head. It bounced off my head with a hollow ‘ploink’ sound. I looked over at her, mouth agape at the transgression. Then, she readied another, threw it, and reached behind her to the side table filled with a case-worth of empty soda cans. I threw my hands up to shield myself from the onslaught.

“Okay, okay! I give! Stop throwing your trash at me. Clearly we can’t play co-op games like I do with Marie.”

Tsuki puffed her cheeks out while pouting her lips and crossed her arms under her chest, glaring at me. She looked like she was about to say something, but then turned her head to the door, as if she had heard something. Then she turned back to me, pointed her thumb toward the door and nudged her head in the direction of it.

“Expecting company?”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone’s knocking on the door. Like, the big oil-rig looking door.”

I just narrowed my eyes and tilted my head at her statement. I got up off the couch and exited the room. I hadn’t heard anything while in the entertainment room, but as I stepped back into the main room, I heard a faint banging. I muttered out disbelief before heading toward the door. In a quiet voice I told Tsuki to not make any noise. I walked up the narrow stairway and to the landing where the valve-sealed door was. There definitely was someone banging on the door, but it wasn’t furious like someone angry or someone wishing harm. It was oddly... weak? Like it was taking all their strength to just hit the door hard enough to make it echo out. I put my hand on the door, feeding my mana into it, and for my eyes it became see-through, giving a faded outline of everything behind it.

“There’s no way...” I muttered out unintentionally.

What I saw standing on the other side, banging on the door, was the outline of a man, hunched over with messy hair, his free hand resting in his pocket with a weird position of his index and little finger on the outside. I conjured my manifestation, undid the valve on the door, swung it open and pointed the gun at the man on the other side.

“Ichiro, how the hell did you find us?”

He put his hands up in defense, but his tired eyes, pale face, and emotionless gaze betrayed no sign of fear.

“Hey, Ryuki, how’s it going?”