Chapter 23

Outside in the hall, I was standing with Marie as we had both just left Tsuki’s room after cheering her up. Well, I was only there for the end of it as Marie handled the entirety of it. I was still confused on how the entire scenario ended up with Tsuki burying her face into Marie’s chest but I assumed it was just one of her usual quirks at play.

“Tsuki’s quite the character, isn’t she?” I said, trying to poke a little fun at Marie. “You two are a lot ‘closer’ now, aren’t you?”

“That wasn’t- We aren’t- No I-” Marie’s eyes were again swirling, and her hands were doing awkward gestures.

“I’m just teasing. I know it was just Tsuki being Tsuki.” I rested my back against the wall and slid down it, sitting on the floor. “I believe that’s unique to her, and not something from her past lives. I hope she does, too.”

Marie swallowed hard and let out a deep breath, catching her composure before sitting down next to me. She rested her head on my shoulder and let out a sigh. “I hope so, too.” She then placed her hand on my arm and squeezed it lightly.

“Marie?” I asked, concerned that something was wrong with her from the unusual action.

“I should have been better. Smarter. Less confronting and more understanding.” She said in a quiet voice.

“Nothing is your fault. Your concern and caution were completely warranted.”

“But it resulted in tension and unrest in a powerful comrade. A friend.” Her grip tightened. “I knew the agency would have said to keep her with us and I should have trusted your judgement. Your decisions are always the right ones. I should have trusted you better.”

“Marie...” I placed my hand on her thigh. “I wasn’t always right in my decisions. And I don’t think I always will be. You’re always there to be my safety net. I do these things because I know you have my back and can correct or fix it. Or give me a scolding when I mess up.”

“Ryu... I...”

“You were there from the moment I lost everything. You brought me from nothing and guided me along to where I am now. You always say it was the agency doing it, but you stuck with me. There were countless times in these past two years I thought you would ask to be reassigned to another country because of how often I screwed something up or failed to accomplish goals.”

“I would never have abandoned you. And I never will. You were stubborn in your desire for revenge that you stayed in Japan, and that has led us to both Ichiro and Tsuki and uncovering that this branch of the Secular is using forbidden magics.” Marie sat up, stared into my eyes, and placed a hand on my cheek. “I see your strength beyond the magical talent, Ryu.”

“And I see your strength beyond your skill. I’m glad you’ve stayed with me.”

I looked into her pale blue eyes. They were the same beautiful eyes that I saw when I woke up on that bench in Poland, all alone, two years ago. The same eyes that instilled confidence in me when I thought I was a failure. Those same eyes that I love to see watching me every day.

“Marie, I...”

Her face was inching closer to mine, and I could feel the warmth of her hand pulling me closer. Her lips were parted slightly, as if they were inviting me in. I leaned in close, my heart beating faster and my grip on her thigh tightening. I could feel her breath on my lips. Our faces crept closer and closer, until...

“Ryuki, Marie, problem. No, emergency, a really big one, we need to move, now!”

Ichiro had burst out of his room, the door slamming against the wall and his breathing heavy. His usual unenthusiastic and emotionless way of talking was completely gone as he spoke in an erratic panic. I pulled away from Marie and stood up. This was completely unlike Ichiro; something was definitely wrong.

“Ichiro, what’s going on?”

“Something really powerful is coming. Directly to us, too. We need to leave, now.” Ichiro said, panic consuming his voice. He had several beads of sweat on his face as he spoke. He then ran over to Tsuki’s door, banged his fist on it several times before shouting at her to leave.

“What’s coming? We can use this place to defend ourselves. It has defensive systems in place.” Marie said, standing next to me.

“You don’t understand, this bunker will be a kill box for you guys. You won’t survive.” Ichiro then continued to bang on Tsuki’s door.

“Just for us? What do you mean? What aren’t you telling us, Ichiro?!” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, turning him to face me. His eyes were wide and quivering. His body was shaking. He was well and truly scared. “Ichiro, who are you sensing?”

He swallowed hard. His teeth clattered together as he tried to spit out the words caught in his throat. “It’s just, I never thought that they would actually go through with it, especially not on those two. They usually save it for a whole promotion thing, not on wounded people. Not to say they weren’t strong, but they weren’t even Apostles, just Officers. And it worked so well, I can’t fathom what it would have done to their mental-”

I slapped Ichiro across the face to end his mindless rambling. I let go of his shirt and placed both my hands on his shoulders, steadying him. “Ichiro, who is coming?”

He stared at me; his wide eyes were hollow and cold to look at. He then gulped loudly and clenched his teeth, before breathing deeply and finally speaking. “Akito Kyosuke. A former Magi Officer that you briefly fought at the compound.”

“You said two, who’s the other?”

“Yukino Kurosawa. You know her well.”

“What’s the issue? They aren’t that strong.” Marie said, her eyes narrowing and head tilting in confusion.

“They aren’t how you remember them. They’ve been augmented. Their mana, it’s overwhelming.”

“Ichiro, what are you saying?” I said, my hands squeezing his shoulders.

“They have the same magical talent as a Bishop now. Maybe greater. And they’re heading toward us, right now. We’re compromised.”

Tsuki finally opened her door, her expression a mixture of annoyance and exhaustion. Her face was red, and her breathing was heavy. She was also dressed in her usual nightwear. “What the hell do you want Ichir- Oh, hi Ryuki.” She then took a second to parse the situation. “What’s going on- WAH!”

At that moment, a loud bang echoed out, shaking the entire bunker. Tsuki fell to the ground, landing on her knees and Ichiro lost all feeling in his legs, nearly collapsing on the spot. I held him up and steadied his stance, but he was shaking and mumbling to himself nonsensically. The bunker shook again, dust and lights falling from the ceiling. Cracks started to form all over as the shaking continued over and over, getting louder and more dangerous each time.

“They’re here. You’re dead. Oh no. I killed my friends.” Ichiro said with his eyes quivering.

“Marie, take Ichiro out the back escape route. Get out of here as soon as you can and get to the safe house in Tokyo.” Marie hesitated but silently nodded at me. “Tsuki, you’re with me. Sorry, but you don’t have time to get dressed. I hope you’re ready.”

“No, you don’t understand. You will die. Their mana; it isn’t stable.” Ichiro said, fighting back against Marie who was trying to pull him with her.

“We can manage. I promise you that. We’ll meet up-”

“You can barely handle Apostles! How are you going to fight two Bishops? Ones without their sanity?!” Ichiro yelled, straining his voice hoarse. “I don’t want to see you die!”

“You do care about me, that’s good to know. But we won’t be fighting.”

Ichiro stared blankly at me with his mouth agape. Marie grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the storage closet that sat next to their rooms. Tsuki made confused noises as she watched, but then Marie pressed in a section of the wall, and it flipped open to reveal a numpad. She entered a code into it and the wall opened with a hiss, revealing a long corridor. Marie turned back to look at me and nodded, before lifting Ichiro onto his feet and bringing him with her. Then, another loud bang rang out, and the entire bunker went dark. I made a small flame in the palm of my hand, bright enough to illuminate Tsuki and myself.

“Alright, Tsuki. Time to show me what you can do.”

She said nothing but flashed me her usual toothy grin.