Chapter 26: The Coldest Sun

I am a cat. By nature, I worship the sun. I worship the way it warms the tatami mats on a lazy afternoon. I worship the way it turns dust motes into floating diamonds. I worship the heat that soaks into my fur and makes my bones feel like melted butter.

But today, as the dawn breaks over the ruins of Shiba Park, I hate it.

The light is too bright. It is too cheerful. It bleaches the color out of the world, exposing the grey ash, the twisted metal of the fallen tower, and the dried blood on Yoshi's face. It feels like an insult. The world is saved, the sky is blue, the birds are starting to chirp, and Haruka is cold in Yoshi's arms.

"Haruka", Yoshi whispers. His voice is a sound I have never heard before. It is not the tough-guy growl he uses to scare spirits. It is not the playful tone he uses to tease Muji. It is broken. It sounds like a pile of jagged glass shards scraping against each other. "Haruka. Wake up. That is an order".

She does not wake up.

She is limp. Her body, usually so full of vibrant, annoying energy, looks like a discarded doll. Her white dress is scorched at the edges, stained with soot. Her skin is translucent, pale as skim milk. The golden light that usually radiates from her is gone, extinguished like a candle in a hurricane.

"She is cold", Yoshi says, looking up at us. His green eyes are wide, dilated with panic. "Why is she cold? It is summer. It is August. Why is she shivering?"

Muji falls to his knees beside them. He reaches out a hand, then pulls it back, terrified to touch her. Muji, who punches demons for fun, is shaking.

"She... she used the Sunrise", Muji stammers. "She used everything. She emptied the tank. Is she...?"

"Check her", I say. My voice sounds hollow, like it is coming from someone else standing ten feet away. "Kenuji. Check her core".

Kenuji walks forward. He is limping heavily. His glasses are cracked, a spiderweb fracture over his left eye obscuring his vision. He kneels in the ash. He places a trembling hand on Haruka's forehead.

He closes his eyes. We wait. The silence stretches out, agonizing and thin. A siren wails in the distance, a lonely, mournful sound echoing through the recovering city.

Kenuji opens his eyes. He does not look at Yoshi. He looks at his own hand.

"It is silent", Kenuji says softly.

"What does that mean?" Yoshi demands, clutching Haruka tighter to his chest. "Silent means dead? Fix it. You are the Psychic. Jumpstart her. Give her some of your energy".

"I cannot", Kenuji whispers. Tears leak out from under his cracked glasses. "Her spiritual core... it is not just empty, Yoshi. It has gone dormant. It has locked down".

"Locked down?" I ask, stepping closer. "Like... hibernation?"

"Like a coma", Kenuji clarifies, his voice shaking. "She channeled the soul of an entire city through a vessel meant for a single spirit. To prevent her soul from shattering completely, her core initiated an emergency stasis. She is alive. But she is locked inside herself. And I do not know if she has the key to get out".

"She is alive", Yoshi breathes out. The tension in his shoulders drops slightly, but the fear remains. "That is what matters. She is alive".

"Barely", Kenuji warns. "Her vital signs are dangerously low. Her body temperature is dropping because she has no spiritual energy to sustain her metabolism. We have to get her warm".

"We have to get her home", I say. I am surprised by how steady I sound. Inside, I am screaming. Inside, I am tearing the world apart with my mind. But outside, I am the big sister. I have to be. "We cannot stay here. The police are coming. The fire trucks are coming. Look".

I point toward the street. Blue and red lights are flashing against the buildings. The barrier of confusion that usually protects us from human eyes is fading because we are too exhausted to maintain it.

"Home?" Yoshi looks at me blankly. "What good is home?"

"It is safe", I say. "It is her territory. It is where her bond is strongest. If there is any ambient energy left for her to absorb, it is there. In her bed. With her family".

Yoshi nods slowly. He stands up. He lifts Haruka effortlessly, cradling her against his chest as if she weighs nothing.

"Cover us", Yoshi says to Muji. His voice is dead flat. "If anyone tries to stop us... remove them. Gently. But remove them".

"Understood", Muji growls, extending his claws just an inch.

We begin the walk.

We do not run. We cannot run. We are battered, bruised, and drained. We walk through the streets of Tokyo like a procession of ghosts.

The city is waking up. The people who were hiding in subway stations and basements are emerging, blinking in the sunlight. They look around at the blue sky, confused. They remember the purple clouds, the monsters, the fear, but it is fading like a nightmare upon waking. The Eclipse's influence is washing away, leaving only a vague sense of unease.

They see us. Five teenagers-four walking, one carried-covered in dust and blood. They part for us. They do not ask questions. There is an aura around Yoshi, a wall of pure, protective intensity that pushes people away.

We walk past a convenience store. The news is playing on a TV in the window.

"...miraculous recovery... freak weather system dissipates... Tokyo Tower collapse being investigated as a structural failure... casualties surprisingly low..."

They will never know. They will never know that a girl in a white dress punched a god in the face to save them.

We reach the station. The trains are down. Of course they are.

"We walk", Yoshi says.

It takes us two hours. Two hours of silence. Two hours of listening to the shallow, ragged rhythm of Haruka's breathing. It gets slower every mile.

Hhh... hhh... hhh...

Every time she pauses between breaths, my heart stops until she starts again.

We reach our neighborhood. The barriers Kenuji reinforced are gone, burned out by the effort of holding back the shadow swarm. The street looks normal. Mrs. Tanaka is sweeping her porch. A dog barks.

We slip through the back gate of the Hoshi house. We enter the garden.

"We have to transform", Kenuji says, stopping by the back door. "Naomi... if she sees us like this... as humans..."

"She needs a doctor!" Yoshi yells, his composure cracking. "She needs a hospital! If we turn back into cats, we are just animals! We cannot help her!"

"If we take her to a human hospital", Kenuji argues, his voice rising, "they will see that her body temperature is eighty degrees. They will see that her internal organs are shutting down without a medical cause. They will put her on machines, Yoshi! We cannot explain magic to doctors! They will separate us from her!"

"So we just watch her fade away on the rug?" Muji shouts, shoving Kenuji. "Is that the plan?"

"Stop it!" I scream.

My voice lashes out, a psychic whip that snaps their heads around.

"Stop fighting", I say, tears finally spilling over my cheeks. "She hates it when you fight".

They fall silent.

"We transform", I say firmly. "We are cats. That is who we are. That is how she knows us. That is how she loves us. If she is going to heal... she needs her family. Not machines".

Yoshi looks down at Haruka's face. She looks so young. She looks like she is just sleeping, except for the grey tint to her lips.

"Okay", Yoshi whispers.

He lays her gently on the grass.

"On three", Kenuji says. "It will be hard. We are drained. It will hurt".

"One. Two. Three".

We focus. It hurts. It feels like tearing off a bandage stuck to a wound. It feels like breaking bones.

Poof.

The smoke is thin and wispy.

We are cats again.

I look at Haruka.

She is a small white cat now. She is lying on her side in the grass. Her fur is dull, matted with ash and soot. Her ribs are barely moving. She looks so small. Smaller than I remember.

Yoshi-a black cat now-nudges her head with his nose. She does not respond. She does not twitch an ear.

He lets out a low, mournful yowl. It is a sound of pure heartbreak.

The back door slides open.

"Kitties?" Naomi's voice. She sounds scared. "Where have you been? I woke up and the house was shaking and the sky was purple and..."

She steps out onto the porch. She sees us.

She sees the blood on Muji's orange fur. She sees Kenuji holding his paw up, unable to put weight on it. She sees Yoshi crouched over Haruka.

"Snowy?" Naomi gasps.

She drops the laundry basket she was holding. She runs to us. She falls to her knees in the dirt, not caring about her clean clothes.

"Snowy? Baby?"

She reaches out. She touches Haruka's side.

"She is freezing", Naomi whispers. Her face goes pale. "Dad! Dad! Come quick!"

Hajime runs out, still in his pajamas. "What is it? What happened?"

"Something is wrong with Snowy", Naomi is crying now, scooping Haruka's limp body into her arms. "She is barely breathing. And look at them... they are all hurt. Tiger is bleeding. Grey is limping".

Hajime checks Haruka. He lifts her eyelid. He feels her chest. He looks serious.

"Get the carrier", Hajime says. "We are going to the vet. Now. The emergency clinic is open".

"No", Kenuji projects to us. "The vet cannot help. They will just give her fluids and put her in a cage. She needs spiritual grounding. She needs the nexus of the house".

Yoshi moves. He jumps onto Naomi's lap. He puts his paws on her arm, right over where she is holding Haruka. He looks into Naomi's eyes. He meows. A soft, pleading sound. Stay. Please stay.

Naomi freezes. She looks at Yoshi. She looks at the desperation in his green eyes.

"Dad, wait", Naomi says.

"Naomi, she is critical!" Hajime says, grabbing his keys. "We don't have time!"

"I know!" Naomi sobs. "But... look at Blackie. Look at them. They are blocking the path. They don't want us to take her. They are protecting her".

"Naomi, they are cats", Hajime says gently. "They don't understand medicine".

"They understand family", Naomi says fiercely. She hugs Haruka closer to her chest, sharing her body heat. "She is cold, Dad. She needs warmth. If we put her in a cold metal cage at the vet... she will be scared. I want her here. I want to hold her".

Hajime hesitates. He looks at us. We are all gathered around Naomi, pressing against her legs, a solid wall of fur.

"Okay", Hajime sighs, dropping his keys. "Okay. Bring her inside. We will wrap her up. We will make her comfortable. But if she gets worse... we go".

"Okay", Naomi whispers.

They carry her into the living room. Naomi sits on the sofa-the beige sofa where we have spent so many lazy afternoons. She wraps Haruka in a thick, fluffy towel. She places a hot water bottle next to her.

We take our positions.

Yoshi curls up around Haruka's head, resting his chin on her paws. Muji curls up against her back, acting as a shield. Kenuji sits at her feet, watching the room like a sentinel. I climb onto Naomi's shoulder, purring as loud as I can, trying to vibrate the air with healing frequencies, even though I know my power is gone.

The hours pass.

The sun climbs higher in the sky. The light shifts across the floor.

Naomi does not move. She strokes Haruka's head with a rhythmic, hypnotic motion. She is humming a lullaby. It is a song she used to sing to us when we were kittens-well, when we pretended to be kittens.

“Sleep, little one, the moon is high... the stars are watching from the sky...”

It is agonizing.

I watch Haruka's aura. It is a flickering candle flame in a dark room. It dips. It flutters. But it does not go out.

"She is fighting", Kenuji projects. His mental voice is a whisper. "She is in a deep stasis. Her soul is curled up tightly around her core, repairing the cracks. It is a slow process".

"Grab her", Muji yells in our minds. "Don't let her go. Yoshi, bite her tail! Wake her up!"

"I cannot wake her", Yoshi replies. He is trembling against Haruka's fur. "She has to wake herself up. I can only keep her warm. I can only wait".

I close my eyes. I reach out with my mind, trying to find my sister in the darkness.

Haruka, I call. Haruka, come back. The pudding is on sale. Muji promises not to eat yours. Kenuji will let you watch the birds. Yoshi will let you win at wrestling. Just... come back.

Silence.

But not empty silence.

It is the silence of a seed waiting underground.

Naomi stops humming. She stiffens.

"Dad?" she whispers.

Hajime looks up from his chair. "What is it?"

"She moved", Naomi says. Her voice cracks with hope. "I felt it. Just a little twitch. In her paw".

We all freeze. We stare at Haruka.

There.

Her ear twitches. Just once. A microscopic movement.

Then, she takes a breath. It is deeper than the others. Her chest rises. Falls.

"She is stabilizing", Kenuji breathes. "Her core temperature is rising. The ambient energy of the house... she is absorbing it. She is feeding on our presence".

"She is not leaving", Muji sobs mentally. "She is staying".

Naomi buries her face in Haruka's fur. She begins to cry. Not the terrified sobbing from before, but the relief that floods out when the danger has passed.

"She is okay", Naomi whispers. "She is going to be okay".

Hajime comes over and puts his hand on Naomi's shoulder, tears running down his own face. "She is a tough little cat. Nine lives, remember?"

We sit there. Exhausted. Broken.

But alive. All five of us.

The hero of Tokyo is sleeping. The Savior of the Kanto Plain is drooling slightly on a towel.

I look at Yoshi.

He lifts his head. He looks at Haruka. He licks her ear once. A greeting.

Then he rests his head back on his paws. He closes his eyes. For the first time in twenty-four hours, the tension leaves his body.

"We held the line", Yoshi projects softly. "Good job, Siblings".

"We need a vacation", Muji mumbles, falling asleep instantly against Haruka's back.

"I second that", Kenuji says, closing his eyes.

The sun shines brightly outside, warming the room. The city is safe. The people are happy.

And in the Hoshi household, the winter has passed. It will be a long recovery. Haruka might not wake up today, or tomorrow. But she will wake up.

And we will be here when she does.