Chapter 11: Minohara Part 4: The Dust Settles

            The heroes that had freed the humans from their imprisonment, and Hanmusume-hachi, sat on a staircase in the now abandoned school, flabbergasted. No one had spoken for a solid minute. Finally, Kosuke broke the silence. “I can’t believe it. To some of them, we were too violent, to others we weren’t violent enough? Some didn’t want to join us because we were too soft, others didn't want to be associated with us because the demons would target us now. That’s not to mention what they said about you, Hisakawa-sensei. What did they expect you to do? Teleport to Hell, and then whatever you would do to Barminuis would be criticized!”

“Unfortunately, that is humanity for you.” Hisakawa sighed as she bent over, resting her elbows on her knees.

“I just hope those imp children are alright.” Kotone murmured.

Shingo nervously ran his hands through this hair. “I tried to stop them, but they just jumped out the window like nothing! If only those people didn’t yell and threaten them.”

“Well, what’s been done is done.” Kanako declared as she stood up and crossed her arms. She turned to Hanmusume-hachi. “You better be worth all this trouble. So, what’s your name anyway?”

“I am called Hanmusume-hachi.” She answered as she stared at her hands that were bond together by duct tape.

“But that’s not your name, that’s what your called. Kana-kun, think about what she just said, remember that lady demon during the attack. Her whole life, her identity has been only half of her father’s child, not even worth a name, only a number. Am I correct?”

“You are correct.” Hanmusume-hachi responded. “My mother was an imp, she wasn’t considered a demon, not by full demons. Apparently, her mother, a human that had been kidnapped as a teenager, gave her a name in secret, but Hachi (eight) is the closest I came to a personal name. I’ve heard rumors of Hanmususmes and Hanmusukos being given names once they proved themselves to be ‘proper demons’. Something I could never do, not even my elder sister could do it, and she was the most favored of all my father’s half children.”

“I’m not sure how close you were with her, but I believe I may have killed your sister, during the initial invasion. I just thought you should know. You look like a woman demon I killed when I met some of the teens here.” Hisakawa admitted.

“Reganam was the right hand of Barminius?” Shingo asked. Hanmusume-hachi nodded. “Then yes, Hisakawa-sensei did kill her.”

Hanmusume-hachi’s lip twitched, she was sad but did not cry. “I see. So, you aim to become the slayer of house Fuzen-bocho.”

Kosuke then broke the awkward silence. “Han-“ He scowled. “No, you deserve a name. I won’t stoop to that level. Do you have a name you would like to be called?”

“No, no it’s fine. Call me whatever. I’ve even responded to ‘scum’ before.” Hanmusume-hachi shrugged off Kosuke’s suggestion.

Kosuke wasn’t having it. “I’ll call you Yasashii Minami, that is your name now as far as I’m concerned.”

“Yasashii? Gentle?” Yuzuru questioned. “Kosuke-kun, you sure are a strange one. At least you picked a normal personal name.”

“Alright, Minami-san, are there records kept of the humans that were sold?” Kosuke asked confidently.

“Yes. I’ll show you what room they are in.” Minami nodded.

Shingo helped her to her feet. “Do you remember a girl named Muto Emiko? Her parents were sold to a butcher shop, but I don’t know what happened to her.”

Minami shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t. I was taught not to learn their names. It made it easier.” She led them to what was the principle’s office. The group walked in and Minami pointed to a row of file cabinets that stretched across the entire wall they were against. “All the sales records are in there.”

Asahi clapped her hands together. “Well, everyone pick a cabinet and start looking.”

“Wait, what are we looking for?” Yuzuru raised an eyebrow as he headed towards a cabinet.

“The file on my sister.” Shingo answered.

“What about your parents?” Yuzuru asked unknowingly.

“They’re dead.” Shingo responded bluntly, on the verge of tears.

“Oh.” Yuzuru’s shoulders slumped hearing that.

The rest of the search was quiet, the only sound was of papers being rifled through. Minami sat on the floor watching, silently wishing her own brothers cared as much as Shingo did about his younger sister. Suddenly, Asahi stood up. “I think I found something! Oh wait, no. This isn’t your sister, but I think it’s your dad’s.” She set down the file next to her. Everyone else had stopped to see if Emiko’s was there. Asahi set down another file, Shingo’s mother’s. Then she carefully opened another. “Muto Emiko.” She uttered. “I found it!”

Shingo took the file from Asahi. He opened it and read every detail. When he was done, he placed it on his lap. “She was sold to a guy who has a residence in Ishidamu, as a pet.”

“Well, it could be worse. At least she is still alive.” Kotone tried her best to show some optimism.

Hisakawa was grim. “If this had been before the attack, I’d say let’s hop on a train tomorrow and go get her, but now… We can’t just abandon our city, not now.”

“You’re right.” Kosuke reluctantly agreed. “I doubt Emiko-chan is having a good time, but her life isn’t in immediate danger. She is strong-willed. She can take care of herself for a little while longer.”

“I sure hope you are right. She is all I have left, of my family, I know I will always have you all, but it’s not the same, she’s my baby sister.” Shingo fought hard to hold back his tears of disappointment.

“We will rescue her, just not yet. We need to keep the fight on familiar ground, we have an advantage here. I’m sorry, Shingo-kun.” Hisakawa told him, then touched his shoulder as he let the tears fall.

Kosuke then gave Shingo a hug until he had finished crying. He then took a step back. “We should get some supplies, then head back. Can’t leave anything useful if more demons show up!”

“He’s right. Let’s head back to the infirmary, maybe grab some masks in case someone actually gets sick.” Asahi almost laughed.

“I forgot one thing! I am never going to live that down!” Hisakawa playfully huffed. Everyone went to the infirmary and gathered medical supplies. Hisakawa took a cloth and tied it over Minami’s eyes. “I’m sorry, but we don’t know if you have any physic powers that you can give directions to demons. You don’t have any tracking devices on you do you?” She asked as she finished adjusting the blindfold.

Minami giggled. “They wouldn’t waste something like that on me. Well, I guess my father wouldn’t, I think I heard from some others Hanmusumes that some of their parents put trackers on them. Father believed that fear would keep us in line, he was also confident that I wouldn’t be able to escape my, uh, Reganam-sama, if I dared try.”

“She’s dead, you can call her whatever you like.” Hisakawa told her. “From what I understand, she doesn’t deserve that level of respect.” Minami tilted her head down as she thought about what Hisakawa said.

“We are already to go, got the prisoner secure?” Kanako asked.

“Yes.” Hisakawa nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

Once the group left the old school, they spun Minami around a few times so she couldn’t tell which direction she was heading. While still in the Minohara neighborhood, some demons had tried to recapture the freed humans. Yuzuru took the lead, drawing his sword, he took care of them with relative ease. The humans left, only uttering a thanks. The way back was mostly uneventful, occasionally small groups of humans would watch them from afar, whispering among themselves. When the group arrived home, Kotone and Kanako checked to make sure they weren’t followed by anything that wasn’t human. Hisakawa let the group in, she guided Minami over to a chair, gently letting her sit down before taking off the blindfold.

Shingo and Kosuke then began to head towards the stairs. “Where do you two think your going?” Hisakawa growled. As the boys turned around, Hisakawa pointed to the couch. The boys shuffled over and sat down. “What were you two thinking? Sneaking off like that. You could have got yourselves killed!” She scolded them with her hands on her hips. Her voice then softened. “You have exceptional acting skills, though, you even tricked Kanako-kun into thinking you were sick.” She sifted back to being angry. “We are not prepared for a full-on war! You were reckless, and for that you’re grounded.” She then put her hand on her chin. “Now, how to punish you?” She snapped her fingers. “You’re deep cleaning the whole base, and on all chore duties for a week. Since we had to go rescue you, we get to take the week off.” Hisakawa decided.