Chapter 30: Digging Deeper

Asumi, Meguri, and Kodaka traversed the halls of the hospital quietly and quickly.

Doors lined the corridor in repeating intervals, each with a small window and a nameplate. Most were empty. The rooms they kicked into were the same: neatly made beds, unused gloves, turned off machinery, and no windows.

Kodaka kept up his illusion magic as they moved – subtle distortions that made them look like empty air in the corner of the eye.

“Kodaka Sensei,” Asumi whispered as Meguri kicked open another door to nothing, “do you have any idea why there are no alarms in this place? It feels less secure than it should be.”

“That would be our ally pulling her weight,” Kodaka said, glancing up at the security camera above them.

Its lens was dark.

“Yukimura Sensei’s aspect is lightning like Isshiki’s, but she isn’t suited for combat. So she honed control instead. We used that control to shut down the alarm systems and cameras,” Kodaka continued. “Anything electrical, she can manipulate.”

“Wouldn’t she need access beyond just the components?” Asumi asked, eyeing the dead camera.

“She has her ways,” Kodaka shrugged, booting open another door. “I don’t ask questions. If it works, it works.”

“Fair enough,” Meguri chuckled, kicking open another door, her eyes widening. “Kodaka Sensei…”

A woman sat upright on the hospital bed inside, a blanket pooled around her waist. Hair brushed. Hands resting neatly in her lap. Like someone had arranged her.

Kodaka’s breath caught.

“Shoko…” Kodaka whispered.

“Kodaka Sensei–” Asumi started, urgent, but Kodaka was already moving. The illusion around them dropped as he stepped into the room.

Shoko turned her head slowly.

Her eyes were blank.

“It’s his daughter, Asumi – of course he’s gonna be happy,” Meguri said.

“It’s not that,” Asumi said, sweat prickling at her neck. She stared at the way Shoko held herself. “After reading the logs… I’m not sure that’s still Tadokoro.”

A shimmer of light reflected behind Shoko’s shoulder, just out of Kodaka’s line of sight.

Kodaka didn’t notice.

Shoko stood, feet bare against the tile, and faced him.

“I don’t know who Shoko is,” she said.

Kodaka stopped like he’d been hit.

“What…?” Kodaka said softly. “Shoko… Tadokoro Shoko… my daughter – you!”

He took another step, hands lifting instinctively for a hug, defenses gone.

“Stop!” Asumi snapped.

He didn’t.

Shoko’s hand moved.

A knife slid into her palm as if it had been waiting there the whole time, hidden behind her body. The blade flashed once under the fluorescent light.

Meguri snapped into action.

She surged forward in a crackle of lightning, grabbing Shoko’s wrist mid-thrust and wrenching it aside.

But the blade didn’t fall.

Even as Shoko’s fingers loosened, the knife stayed suspended – held by nothing, hovering where it gravity should’ve made it fall.

Meguri’s blood ran cold.

“No…” Meguri muttered.

Asumi quickly knocked Shoko unconscious and turned to Kodaka, who was coughing violently.

Blood began falling to the floor, and the illusionary image created by Shoko slowly faded away, revealing the knife in Kodaka’s chest.

“Ah,” Kodaka chuckled weakly, coughing again. “That’s… a pretty crappy turn of events, huh?”

His grin stayed stupidly in place, but his fists were clenched so tight his knuckles had gone pale.

“Kodaka Sensei, how do we…?” Asumi trailed off.

“I’m gonna die without some proper medical attention,” Kodaka said simply, his breath catching in his throat. “I was an idiot – a part of me knew what you were trying to warn me of, but I interrupted you because I didn’t want to accept that reality.”

“We can’t do this without you,” Meguri snapped, voice breaking. “How are we supposed to save Taichi, beat the headmaster, restore your daughter?! You can’t just accept death right now! You have too much to do, damn it!”

“I have no intention of dying at this very moment, mind you…” Kodaka said, still smiling.

He grabbed the knife.

Asumi’s stomach dropped.

Kodaka pulled it out inch by inch, teeth clenched, leaking a visceral painful groan from his mouth. Blood spilled immediately, too much, too fast.

“Asumi,” he forced out.

“What do you need?” Asumi asked attentively.

“Cauterize the wound – it should at least extend my life by a little bit,” Kodaka said, coughing more blood as it continued pouring out of the wound.

Asumi clenched her fist and nodded, her mana flowing to her fingers as a severe heat made contact with Kodaka’s skin.

Meguri clamped a hand over his mouth, eyes squeezed shut as she held him steady. The smell of burnt flesh hit instantly, sharp and nauseating, but the bleeding slowed as the vessels sealed.

Asumi pulled away, trembling.

“Can you walk?” Asumi asked.

“I can,” Kodaka said, voice hollow. He tried to stand… but failed.

Meguri quickly jumped in and supported him.

“You can rely on us a little bit,” Meguri said.

Kodaka laughed faintly. “If I hadn’t dragged your group onto campus, you wouldn’t be here… I made stupid calls, and your group is facing the consequences of it.”

“We chose to be a part of this,” Asumi said, supporting him from the other side. “If it weren’t for you, we would’ve been in the dark for way too long. We would’ve pried into what was going on from the wrong angles, and we would’ve gotten our memories wiped. With or without you, Taichi would’ve been in this situation – it just would’ve happened earlier, and we wouldn’t remember that we needed to save him. With you, we have hope. We’re grateful to you, Kodaka Sensei.”

Kodaka was silent for a moment, staring at his feet.

“I only did this because I wanted to save my daughter,” he said quietly. “I was only being selfish, I assure you.”

“You saved my life, and you saved Taichi before that,” Meguri said. “Even if your end goal was always just saving Tadokoro, that’s the impact you’ve had on us. Not only that, but we are who we are – we are all here in this place… on a mission to save somebody important to us with a smile, because of you. We can be grateful for that.”

Kodaka’s smile softened.

“...Guess I wasn’t as bad a teacher as I thought I was.”

“Oh, you were awful,” Meguri said, voice shaky but trying to be herself. “You didn’t care about ‘classes’ and everyone knew it… but yeah, I guess in the end, you’re not so bad.”

Kodaka huffed a laugh. “Gee, thanks.”

The three of them slowly walked until they heard footsteps around the corner.

Kodaka’s expression sharpened immediately.

“You two should put me down. I can cast the illusion from here,” Kodaka said.

“Are you sure?” Asumi asked.

Kodaka quickly nodded.

“Those footsteps are Hayato,” Kodaka assessed. “Yuki, you and Isshiki need to engage him from a distance. Neither of you have weapons right now – going up close is too dangerous. After Isshiki gives a good enough distraction, you need to pull back. Once you give me some kind of signal, I’ll cast the illusion.”

“Got it!” the two of them said in unison, laying him against a wall.

“You two better stay safe.”

The two of them approach the sound of the footsteps.

“Asumi,” Meguri whispered as the footsteps grew louder. “When I fought him before, I realized that he was fighting completely differently. It's like the memory wipe essentially made him forget about his stamina drain issue for his nullification, so he’s just nullifying everything again with his body.”

“Got it… we can definitely take advantage of that,” Asumi nodded.

Suddenly a figure appeared before them in the bright white hospital hall.

“Taichi…” Asumi muttered.

“Quite a few people are calling me that, huh?” Taichi replied, looking at the two girls standing before him. “Interesting. So you’re subbing in for the guy that helped the lightning girl run away, huh?”

“I guess so,” Asumi replied, mana beginning to gather at her fingertips.

“Wait a moment,” Taichi said sharply.

He reached behind his back and tossed two sheathed swords across the floor. They slid on the tile and came to a stop at their feet with a soft scrape.

“I won’t fight an unarmed opponent,” he said, taking out his own sword. “Take them.”

Asumi and Meguri hesitantly approached the blades laying on the ground and unsheathed them.

“I see…” Meguri murmured, thumb sliding along the sheath. “Thank you, Taichi.”

“I’m not Taichi,” he replied. “And this is not a favor.”

Immediately after they unsheathed the blades, Taichi rushed forward.

Meguri barely raised her blade in time. Taichi’s first strike came down heavy, vibrating through her arms and rattling her teeth. The shock drove her back a step.

Lightning crawled across Meguri’s skin as she activated her aspect. The corridor filled with sharp electric snaps as she met his second strike, then his third, forced immediately into defense.

Trails of lightning spurred past Meguri’s body, attempting to make contact with Taichi, but being nullified on contact.

From behind her, Asumi fired.

Waves of flame blasted down the hall in fast succession, heat rolling against the walls. Taichi didn’t dodge. Each time a blast brushed him, it fizzled into nothing against his nullification.

Meguri was being heavily pushed back by Taichi’s blade, forced to play defense the whole time and barely streaming her small body past his sword on each contact. However, the horrible mismatch slowly became more bearable as Taichi began panting more heavily.

“Oh? Somebody getting tired?” Meguri asked teasingly, amping up the amount of mana in her self-enhancement, surging forward against Taichi.

Asumi backed off, running and shooting a ball of fire down the hall, serving as a signal to the injured Kodaka.

“Alright then…” Kodaka whispered, funneling his mana across the hall.

Taichi slowly started to regain his offensive edge, sparks flying on each blow between him and Meguri. In a flash, Meguri backed up slightly, and Taichi swung heavily down on where she used to be.

In that moment, the illusion of Asumi appeared in the spot where Taichi swung, a gaping wound appearing across her torso, bleeding over the floor.

Taichi clenched his fist looking at the sight.

“This is…” Taichi muttered. “No, this isn’t right…”

Meguri’s heart leapt.

“Taichi,” Meguri whispered, desperate. “Do you remember? Do you?”

Taichi looked down at the dead Asumi lying before her, and with a heavy heartbeat… he stepped on it.

The mana dissipated beneath his foot, dissolving the illusion.

“I remember that your little magician friend can’t keep tricking me,” Taichi responded.

“No…” Asumi whispered from where she hid, watching it fail.

Down the hall, Kodaka’s mana sputtered. He clenched his fist, pain and exhaustion flooding his face as the illusion collapsed.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I guess it’s game over.”