Chapter 32

Marie had come back from her recon mission, as she called it, with a phone in hand and some food. She went out to find a way to contact the agency as well as quiet Tsuki, who was complaining about her hunger. She handed me the phone and explained that while we won’t have to walk the entire way to Tokyo, we still had to make a journey to the other side of the town we were in and take the train to Toyosato. It was our best plan in theory, but we also had a major issue; we couldn’t walk around with Yukino chained up without drawing attention. As Marie and I were discussing possible plans to get around it, Tsuki spoke up, her face stuffed with onigiri and other foods.

“I know! I know! I got the perfect plan!” She exclaimed as she spat food everywhere.

Marie, Ichiro and I just looked at each other with unsure expressions as Tsuki explained her genius idea.

***

“I can’t believe we let her talk us into this.” Marie said, covering her face with one hand as we walked through the streets.

Ichiro was constantly trying to hold back his laughter. Even though I’ve only known him for a short while, seeing him nearly break his normally stoic and aloof visage was quite surprising. Granted, he did just show us he can panic when he sensed that Yukino and Kyosuke were attacking us, but I honestly never believed I’d see him hold back laughing. But to be fair, I can’t say I blame him. If I weren’t like Marie and essentially dying from secondhand embarrassment, I’d probably laugh along with him. The reason for all of this was because of Tsuki’s mastermind of a plan; to become a public pervert. No, she wasn’t an exhibitionist or anything like that, but she was currently holding the chain around Yukino’s neck like a leash and forcing her to walk on all fours like a dog, while also binding her mouth shut with a makeshift gag. She also found a hat that had dog ears at one of the local stores we passed by and made her wear it.

“I just can’t believe she thought of this.” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“I can’t believe... pfft... that Kurosawa would ever be dressed up like this...” Ichiro said through contained giggles.

Tsuki was skipping along next to her pet, not a care in the world for the eyes that were glaring at them. She almost welcomed the disgusted looks the way that she smiled with her usual toothy grin. Every time Yukino tried to get up or resist, Tsuki would twist her hand on the chain, causing it to reverberate and send a mild shock through it. Despite the collar stopping all magic of the person wearing it, it was possible to send magic through it from the outside. Tsuki must have learned that from being locked up for so long. I grimaced slightly when I realized she was probably tortured that way while being held captive. This was probably therapeutic for her.

“I understand we need to get across town, but I don’t think this is exactly giving us a low profile.” Marie said, looking over at me while still covering her face.

“If you’re worried about the Secular hunting us, I think they have their own issues right now.” I pulled up the phone Marie bought earlier to breaking news on social media about mysterious explosions near an old, abandoned train station, along with bright lights and fire. “People may have caught wind of magic. They’ll be dealing with that, first. Not some rogue Bishop gone missing.”

“I hope you’re right.” Marie then placed both her hands over her eyes as she saw Tsuki scratch under Yukino’s chin. She swore she saw the ears on the hat move in response.

“Let’s just keep moving. I don’t want to miss the last train out of here.”

***

“Well, we made it on time.” Marie said, her face a blank and expressionless, but clearly filled with exhaustion.

“And it was the last train.” I said as I rested my head on the window.

There was no one else on board with us. Tsuki had her arms wrapped around Yukino, forcing her to sit on her lap. She still held the chain-leash tightly. It was odd seeing the rather tall Yukino sit on the small Tsuki’s lap, but Tsuki was loving every minute of degrading this woman. Yukino was expressionless too, having given up trying to fight against Tsuki, resigning herself to be her true puppy. Tsuki went to scratch under her chin again, and she reactively lifted it up to give her a better angle. Tsuki just patted her on the head and called her a good girl. I think I saw the last piece of Yukino’s dignity leave her body. And then I said a silent thank you in my mind to Tsuki for giving me a sight better than Yukino’s dead body. Well, maybe not better, but it is definitely refreshing to see her like this.

I rolled my head to the side and looked over at Marie. I was expecting her to have dozed off or try to relax, but she was doing the exact same thing as me; head resting against the window and rolled to the side and looking at me. Our eyes met, and the slightest crease in her lips formed, giving her a small smile. I gave her a quick smile, but then my face reset to an exhausted, blank expression. Marie slid herself closer to me, her leg touching mine and resting her head on my shoulder. She then poked my thigh as she spoke in a low whisper.

“You’re upset.”

I was, but I doubt she would know why. You could assume I was upset that I didn’t get to kill Yukino. That I didn’t get to complete my multi-year-long goal of vengeance. I had the opportunity to- I still have the opportunity to- kill her and remove her from this existence, freeing me from the anguish of knowing she gets to live while my family doesn’t.

But you’d be wrong.

“I am.” I responded in an equally quiet whisper.

“I don’t think it’s because of the person sitting on Tsuki’s lap.”

I moved my head to look down at her, surprised at her astuteness. She looked up at me, her beautiful pale blue eyes drawing me in. Her quiet whispers and how she was looking at me now, even with her disheveled hair and greasy skin, I only thought of her as one thing.

Perfect.

My face blushed in response to my own thoughts. I had always thought Marie was pretty, and her quirky personality contrasted against her above expert skill in marksmanship was always cute to me. But now in this moment, I could only see her as exactly that: Perfect. I don’t know when I started thinking that way, but it was probably linked to the reason I was upset. I blamed Tsuki for it with her cryptic hints she was saying before. Marie sat up and cupped her hand around my ear as she whispered directly into it. My skin tingled and my hair stood on end from the sound of her delicate whispers.

“You’re upset because we didn’t get to finish what we were about to do back in the safehouse.”

Marie then quickly kissed my cheek before pulling away and looking at me. I stared wide eyed at her and swallowed hard. She read me like an open book. And despite having just whispered such a thing in my ear, her face was as stoic and expressionless as always.

And, as always, it was beautiful.

“You can read me like a book.”

“I do read a lot of manga.”

“And light novels.”

I jumped slightly as that wasn’t me who said that. It was Ichiro’s voice who stated that last part. Ichiro was crouched down in front of us, balancing on his toes while biting his thumb as he looked up at us.

“Are you two going to kiss now? I interrupted you last time.”

I said nothing, only giving him a silent gesture to say, ‘what the hell, dude?’ Marie, however, had a face as red as a tomato. She was still stone-faced, but she was clearly embarrassed by Ichiro’s question. She was probably thinking the same thing as me; how much did he hear? Ichiro just tilted his head, waiting for an answer.