Ashes

Haruto was running through the streets of Taito City alone. He had called back Raiju. It was too taxing on a person’s body to keep a demon summoned for extended periods of time. But it should be fine regardless. He was almost at the cell tower. Once he was there, all he had to do was summon Raiju and activate the device.

As he ran past a store window, the glass suddenly shattered, hit by an invisible force.

Haruto dived behind a nearby car, stray shards of glass cutting his face. Even without being able to see, he knew what had happened. Chiaki had found him.

“Damn it!” She should’ve stayed paralyzed longer, and he wasn’t a slow runner, yet she’d managed to pin him down.

Another arrow soared through the air. It was dead-on and would’ve hit Haruto, but it got stuck halfway in the car.

At the very least, the car worked as a shield.

He got lucky once already, though, it wouldn’t happen again. If he left cover, even just to try and see where she was, he’d get sniped immediately.

Desperately, he looked around for anything he could use to get out of this. Finding nothing, he grunted and leaned back onto the car.

And that’s when it hit him.

He looked at the car more closely. It was an older model from the late 1980s.

Takeshi and Yosuke had taught him quite a lot about tinkering. He had helped put together the device, after all. And they taught him one trick that might just get him out of this situation…

***

Chiaki was perched on top of a nearby building. Gabriel’s ability, Aperire, allowed Chiaki to see people through objects, although its range was limited. However, it allowed her to track down Haruto quickly, leaving him helpless in Gabriel’s sights.

Once Haruto exposed himself, he’d be finished, Chiaki wouldn’t fall for the same trick again. And if he chose to just cower there then Naoki and Yoji would be here soon enough to provide backup.

But she still couldn’t believe that she’d let it come to this. Their mission was to stop these terrorists. Naoki ordered her to take care of any stragglers that tried to escape, but she wasn’t careful and got beaten. She wouldn’t, couldn’t let it happen again.

But Chiaki’s thoughts were interrupted by something truly unexpected.

It looked like Haruto had opened the car door and was doing…something inside…

She looked closer, but she couldn’t tell what. It just looked like a blur to her. She readied Gabriel’s bow for whatever he was planning.

After a few more moments, Chiaki heard the sound of an engine starting up.

Haruto had hotwired the car.

“Gabriel!” Chiaki called out, commanding her to attack.

An arrow pierced through the car as it started to drive off.

“Again!”

Gabriel fired two more arrows that tore through the back of the vehicle.

But it quickly exited Gabriel’s range after that.

***

Naoki and Yoji watched from a distance as Nishikiyama Apartments was engulfed in flames, the fire department only just arriving to put it out.

They had done what they could. Naoki thought they evacuated everybody, but Yosuke managed to get away.

At the very least, they had been able to capture the ringleader…

Takeshi coughed. He was lying down on his back. His phone had been confiscated. Not like it even mattered. He was far too weak now to summon his demon.

While Raphael’s ability, Concordia, was able to analyze other demons, it could also affect their attributes slightly. In this case, it was used to heal Takeshi’s injuries to the point where he’d survive long enough to get proper medical attention.

He would almost certainly face judgement for his actions now, but Naoki didn’t like leaving it like that…

“Why’d you do it?” Naoki asked.

“Why?” Takeshi smiled sadly. “I’m not entirely sure myself…”

“What do you mean?”

“I just wanted to do what was right… Even if I was comfortable, I didn’t want to keep being a slave…” Takeshi closed his eyes. It almost looked like he was sleeping. “But I guess that doesn’t really matter much anymore…”

“A slave? What are you talking about?”

“I certainly wasn’t free… Nobody is…”

Naoki didn’t understand what he was talking about, but…there had to be something there, right?

“H-hey… Can I ask you something…?” Takeshi opened his eyes and turned his head slowly toward Naoki. “Haruto, the kid… What happened to him…?”

Naoki looked away. “I haven’t heard anything yet…”

“I see…” He moved his head back. “Just so you know… I roped him into this…”

“I figured…”

“Yeah, so just easy on him, okay?” Takeshi closed his eyes again. “And one last thing… Can you tell Yuka something for me?”

Yoji was facing away, his arms crossed. “You mean your girlfriend?”

“Yeah… I won’t be seeing her for a while, so…” He opened his eyes slightly. ”Can you tell her I’m sorry?“

Yoji scoffed. “Fine.”

The three remained in silence for some time after that…

***

Blood dribbled down Haruto’s chin as he hacked and wheezed. One of Gabriel’s arrows had gone right through his stomach, and while he drove the car to the cell tower, he lost control afterwards and crashed it.

But it was fine. He had made it.

As he sputtered up more blood, he stumbled out of the car, clutching the device in his hand. His body was starting to go numb, and his legs could barely move, but he had to keep going.

He lifted his head up, squinting his eyes to focus on the blurry cell tower. “Takeshi, Yosuke, we’ve won…”

A tired, satisfied smile covered his face as he staggered forward. The plan might’ve fallen apart, but he still made it. They had proven what it really meant to live, that they were able to make a difference.

But he would be stopped in his tracks as a gunshot rang out from behind him.

He was dead instantly, the bullet having pierced his heart.

His body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

And standing behind him was Hamazaki holding a black service revolver, its metal glistening faintly in the moonlight.

“Sometimes you really do need to do things the old-fashioned way,” he said before putting his gun away.