Not Today

THE AIR TWISTED INSIDE THE TEMPLE, and with a crashing noise, three people manifested in the room. All of them were badly injured, not only from the ambush, but also from the rushed teleportation spell.

Ryuuji’s body was riddled with bullets, most of them in his limbs, and his left arm was horribly mangled. He bled profusely, with dark streaks of cursed energy spreading from the gunshot wounds.

As for Hotaru, her feet were in shambles, missing several toes and even a chunk of her right ankle. But the worst off among them was indisputably Akari.

She’d taken the brunt of the attack with barely any defenses, and the emergency teleportation didn’t help. She lay motionless in a pool of blood, her eyes staring vacantly to the ceiling.

“Hotaru!”

“Akari!”

The two voices overlapped, coming from Miyuki and Ren. They rushed to them desperately, their voices gripped with despair as they took their loved ones in their arms.

“Regenerate,” said Hotaru, grimacing as she commanded her feet to recover. Then, she turned to Ryuuji and Akari to check on them.

“I’ll live. Tend to Akari immediately,” said Ryuuji, still on his feet as he stemmed the bleeding with his magic. These were by far the worst injuries he’d ever suffered, but there was no chance in hell he’d accept dying from them.

“Stabilize,” Hotaru ordered the dying girl, forbidding her from death. It was only a stopgap measure, but it would buy her precious time.

“These bullets were cursed,” said Miyuki, seeing the corruption spreading out from the wounds like foul spiderwebs. “I’ll purify the injuries; you handle the healing.”

“Please do,” Hotaru replied, before focusing entirely on her friend.

Then…

“Extract,” she ordered, summoning the bullets from Akari’s body. It would be the start of the long and difficult treatment to save her.

“Ryuuji…” Ren addressed him, reluctantly leaving Akari’s life in Hotaru’s hands. “What the hell happened? Who the fuck did this to her!?”

He walked over to him, his voice dripping with rage… and when he met gazes with Ryuuji, he found his eyes burning with the cold fire of revenge.

“We were ambushed,” he eked out, his voice labored and raspy. His lungs were bleeding, by the sound of it.

“Who was it? I want names. Faces.”

“I don’t… know. Possibly… the Hands...”

The man was in a much more dire state than he let on. Realizing this, Ren supported him and issued a telepathic call for help.

Moments later, a woman teleported into the room, wearing samurai tactical armor with the same color scheme and insignia as Ren’s.

“What’s up, Ren? Is anyone— Holy shit, they’re hurt!” she blurted out before rushing to Ryuuji’s side, briefly eyeing Akari on the way to him.

“Yo, what the hell happened?” she asked, helping Ryuuji lie down. “Did the yōkai learn to shoot now? These are cursed bullets, for fuck’s sake!”

“Just treat him, Itsuki,” Ren replied, struggling to collect himself. His sister was still fighting for her life, and he hadn’t been there for her when it mattered.

“Alright, I’ve got him,” said Itsuki before turning to Ryuuji. “You’re Hasegawa, aren’t you? I’m Kuroda Itsuki, from the Amaterasu Unit. Man, Maki never stopped hating on you, but she never told me you were a looker. Don’t you worry though, I’ll get you and your pretty face patched up.”

The girl was surprisingly relaxed despite the medical emergency. Ryuuji couldn’t help but wonder how many injuries she had treated before.

“Are you sisters with… Kuroda Maki?” he forced out the question.

“Yup, I’m the younger one,” she replied. “Lucky for you, I’m not the one with a stick up the ass. Might be why they disowned me, but hey. Details.”

Ryuuji exhaled wearily, letting his head rest against the wooden floor. He was in no mood for laughing, despite Itsuki’s efforts.

“Mend. Regenerate. Purify,” Hotaru continued giving commands to Akari’s body, with Miyuki next to her for support. With them as the medics, Akari’s recovery was only a matter of time.

But as for the scars and trauma they had suffered… those were a different, humiliating matter that Ryuuji and the girls were yet to repay with all due interest.