For a Steamed Bun

The bird-like mask hits the ground on its thinnest side, bouncing over the ground with a thud.

    A crack.

    Fate has a twisted smile.

    All this time, Mr. Izawa was so close, yet I saw nothing. I was blind. Can I truly say that he’s important to me? Sure, he had a mask. His voice wasn’t even the same.

    But I should have… should have…

    Of all the possible moments, it has to happen when I have nothing to run after him but a useless ankle good to be chopped. One crutch isn’t enough to defeat a pack of Jikininkis.

    Releasing it, my legs fail me, letting me fall to the ground.

“Evren, go after them!” Longwei yells, infusing mana into the closest boxes around to crash them against the monsters.

“I’d love to.” Even replies. “But they won’t let me to.”

    Under attack, he dodges with easiness the blows aimed at him.

“Megumi. You can still go.”

    A feeling of warmth suddenly reaches my ankle, wrapping it fully. As I lower my gaze, I catch sight of Tatsuma, knelt beside me. His hands are extended near my wound, bluish dots of light beginning to float around my ankle.

    It takes me a few sec to understand what he’s doing. Using mana to heal me when he should keep it preciously…

“Stop, don’t waste your mana on me!”

    I lean forward to catch his wrist. But the gaze he directs then at me makes me widen my eyes.

    Locking eyes, Tatsuma observes me with a grateful smile.

“Thank you for the steamed buns.”

    He closes his eyes at me, and I can feel the numbness in my ankle fade away, quickly replaced by one in my chest. By now, it’s probably the only memory he has about me. A memory which soon vanishes in turn, along with the last particles of mana.

    Tatsuma’s eyes lose their last spark, letting him fall forward, only for my arms to wrap around his waist. My hand gently pressed against his back, I see his clockwork key beginning to crumble, falling into golden dust.

    Under my finger, no more warmth, no coldness either. Tatsuma is changed into a doll, unable to move or to feel.

“I promise I’ll bring him back.”

    Straightening up, I turn to face the detective, taken aback by the situation. One? He may have handled. But a whole pack of Jikininkis? Of course he isn’t stupid.

“Please, make sure he doesn’t get broken.” I ask him, handing him the marionette.

    I don’t even give him the time to react before I begin rushing out of the tent. Glancing frantically all around, I search for the direction they took.

“This way!” Poltergeist’s voice joins me, pointing in the direction a couple of figures are growing more distant.

    Instantly, we sprint in their direction.

“They won’t be able to run fast with them!” I exclaim. “We can still catch up to them.”

    Crossing the field, the distance between us and the Jikininkis grows less important by the minute. Only a handful of them followed, as if to make sure the others wouldn’t be free to follow them.

    But the moment they reach the side of the road, they slow down… and climb at the back of a pick-up. It grinds as soon as they’re in.

“You have other brilliant remarks like this?” Poltergeist snaps. “Refrain from saying them next time.”

    Coming to a stop, we turn to each other.

“What do we do? It’d be better to take the car.”

“Yeah.” The white rabbit pauses. “You know how to drive?”

“What. No, you’re supposed to!”

    A silence.

“Look. Rubeus and I have priorities in life.”

    I’m about to counteract, but at the same moment, an angry roar arises. Dust and pebbles are projected by the controlled skid, a car stopping right behind us.

    A window lowers.

“Hurry up! Get in.” Hans’s head leans over the window.

    Rushing to the car, Rubeus imitates me after a short while of hesitation. We sit inside the car, slamming the doors as soon as we’re settled.

“You should’ve stayed.” I cast him a side glance as the engine roars anew. “That’s too dangerous for someone unable to use magic.”

“Shut up.” He pushes the gear lever in a swift move and the car leaves in a flying start. “Don’t underestimate me.”

    I already miss Longwei’s safe driving. Cars are torture machines. A statement which gets proven right once more not long after we join the road. As Hans follows the pick-up, we get wildly tossed to one side, to the other.

“Hey! If you have a driving license, maybe Rubeus can try getting one.” Poltergeist scoffs at the detective as Rubeus leans forward and grips the edges of the front seats.

“They’re getting in the way. Jikininkis are surging onto the road.” Hans notes.

“In this case…” Rubeus trails off, lowering the window on his side.

    The wind swirls his already messy blond hair as Rubeus leans outside.

“What are you doing?” Hans inquires.

“Making sure you won’t kill us on the road, asshole.”

    Keeping an eye on Rubeus in the inside mirror, I can see him sitting on the edge of the window.

    At the same moment, a Jikininki surges in front of the car.

“Look out!” I yell at Rubeus just before I get arm-crushed against the door.

    The wheels grind enough against the asphalt to make me wince more than the pain in my shoulder already does.

    Hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, Hans keeps an unfazed expression. Simply frowning, he guides the car in a sharp turn.

    I feel like an unpaired sock in a washer…

    As we regain some semblance of stability, I glance back at Rubeus. But he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Rubeus?!”

    I barely have time to gesture, though, that a knock knock over my head allows me to let out a sigh of relief.

    The moment the next Jikininki shows up, a bluish lasso wraps around its waist, tossing it to the side.

“Mmm, not bad.” Hans comments.

    With Rubeus protecting us from the monsters on our trajectory, we might end up this chase with a mostly functioning brain.

    That aside… It’s impressive how determined the ‘Jikinidnappers’ are to keep their target. Or rather, how the person heading them is.

    It’s my turn to open the window at my side, writhing until I get to lean my foot against the edge of the window. Climbing on top of the car.

“What are you doing?” The white rabbit glances at me. “We don’t need to be two at this.”

    How does Rubeus even manage to seem so stably positioned? I try to adjust my position, but my fingers slip. My balance lost, I’m about to fall when Rubeus’s hand catches mine. He helps me to position myself better next to him.

“You never know. Besides…” I trail off.

    Rubeus sends another Jikininki flying to the background with a flick of his mana lasso.

“What? Ya bit your tongue?” Poltergeist asks in a mocking tone.

    Folds of fabric slap my skin angrily. I think it’s the very first and very last time that I climb on top of a rolling car. But, at least, I know that Rubeus would catch me if I slipped again. Or, so I hope.

    Beyond us, the pick-up is still on the road, the Jikininkis aboard hiding Mr. Izawa from our sight. My eyes keep glued on them.

“The director… He’s the person I’m looking for.” I say.

“Wait. What?”

“I saw his face. Mr. Izawa and he are one and the same. That makes no doubt.”

    As we reach the streets near to the centre, the coloured lights flash on both sides, almost shaping a tunnel of light.

“Do you know who might be behind the director’s kidnapping?”

    Silence follows.

“I’d say it’s someone super salty.” The white rabbit pauses. “Someone the director told me once to be wary of. Rubeus obtained her name from a Jikininki’s mouth when you were at the Marine Tower. The thing is, when we reported it to the director, the name wasn’t familiar to him any more.” He gazes back at the pick-up. “Akana Tamaki.”

    Tamaki… I read that name, I remember reading it in the Book of Memories. She is also mentioned more than once in the director’s entry.

    The car now has to avoid civilians’ ones. Horns ensue. As the turns Hans takes grow more savage, Rubeus reaches out his hand, placing it over my shoulder.

“Who’s that guy? Isn’t he the one we saw under the bridge?” The white rabbit finally adds.

“Yeah. A detective looking for Mr. Izawa, hired by his daughter. Arisu.”

    For a moment, Rubeus and Poltergeist remain thoughtful, focusing on the Jikininkis ahead.

“Megumi Hoshimori,” Rubeus begins, “the director has already forgotten an important part of his past. And I think he lost more than I assumed. The director wouldn’t have let you search for someone you couldn’t find. That would’ve been putting you into useless danger.” He pauses. “Besides, he wouldn’t have let himself get caught that easily if he weren’t short in magic. It might be too late to find the person you were looking for.”

    I clench my teeth, lowering my head. How can he say such a thing? Mr. Izawa is there, in this goddamn pick-up. And yet…

“A person is shaped out of memories. They’re erased along with them. In everyday life, that’s something you usually don’t notice. It can be details, places, faces… but the more your relatives forget, the more they are reshaped. In some cases, they lose too much. Some end up like corpses inhabited one by one by different persons.”

    Mana wraps around my fist as I turn towards Rubeus, leaning forward to throw a punch which barely misses his head. Instead, it lands into the face of a Jikininki who jumped towards the car. The blow send it rolling over the road with a muffled growl.

“I’m sorry. For what I’ve said earlier to you. You hid the truth about Jikininkis because you didn’t want to worry me, right? It doesn’t make you less of an asshole, but,.. I’m sorry.”

“I mostly thought that you already had enough things on your mind.”

“Huhh?” I raise an eyebrow.

    Turning his head at me, Rubeus points at my bandages.

“That’s to hide the wounds they made to you at the place you lived before, am I wrong?”

    Is this boy a stalker? There’s literally no way he knows about that. Wait…

“Did you hide under my bed?” I wince. “In my closet?”

“They’re too dusty for dat!” Poltergeist exclaims, popping right before my face.

“I had my suspicions,” Rubeus continues, “but that’s after you jerked away under the bridge that I was sure.”

    My boy is more of a detective than a circus artist.

“Wait. How do you know it’s dusty?” I mid-close my eyes.

    That’s the moment Rubeus chooses to tap against the car’s roof, Poltergeist leaning to the side of the car to peek at Hans.

“Pretty sure they’ll try to cross the bridge and block us there. But. That’s where we’re gonna catch them! Ready yourself and stay in this car.”

    With a glance at the seafront, I get that we’ve reached Tsurumi district. Beyond the warehouses, its towers glowing blue, the cable-stayed bridge stands out in the dark. Outstretching over the whole bay.

    The moment we get close enough to the bridge, I notice dozens of Jikininkis waiting at the entrance.

“Go for it!!” Poltergeist yells.

“For fuck’s sake…” I mumble.

    As soon as the pick-up crosses the entrance, the monsters invade the place, packing themselves on the road like worms on a corpse.

    I wince. Not only at that sight, but because I see Rubeus’s mana gather on the asphalt, right before the Jikininkis, in a huge rabbit head.

    Huge enough for our car to roll on it and bounce over it multiple times before the mass of mana propels it high over the monsters, high over the bridge.

“You wanted to know why I don’t have a key like the others.” Rubeus begins, standing up on the rooftop, helping me to stand up in turn as the car reaches its highest point.

“You have a fucked up sense of timing, don’t you?”

“Mmm? I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll need someone to remind me of that.” Rubeus argues. “…When I met the director, I agreed to join the troop only on the condition that I’d become the next director of the Clockwork Dolls Circus. He didn’t have a key, hence I refused to have one.”

“You still remember that day…” I note.

“I have a photographic memory.” Rubeus suddenly lifts me in his arms, readying himself to jump. “That’s also why the director let me be. I have way more memories to lose.”

    As the detective’s car begins to lose height, his feet leave the rooftop to propel us far beyond. I grip his shoulders as we bypass the pick-up underneath.

    We land metres before it, Rubeus putting me down before extending his hand with the marionette at the pick-up. A gigantic rabbit paw shapes a few metres ahead of us.

    Not having the time to adjust its trajectory, the pick-up hits the rabbit paw, the front sinking into the pads.

    Forced to a stop, growls arise from the back of the pick-up while the driver’s door opens. Red high heels stepping onto the bridge.