Yokohama Bay Bridge’s Battle

Magic is a curse in fairy’s disguise. From the moment the government turned its eyes to its potential, they wanted to make a weapon out of it. The optimal way would have been for actual military and policemen to awaken to magic on demand, but no one knew if there was even a trigger. Thus, the laboratory was founded, and I was named as the research coordinator along with Professor Tamaki.

    Our goal was to study magic and decipher its secrets so that anyone would be able to develop it. In the beginning, we fumbled a lot. There were too many possibilities, not enough hints. We spent months studying magic holders before discovering a common point: they all experienced an important trauma.

    This… That was the point of no return. We needed to experiment on people. The first volunteers were sent by the army. Experiments were conducted on them, gradually increasing the intensity of physical pain and simulated mental one. By the time we managed to awaken the first magic holders among them, the experiments had grown deeply inhuman. If Akana Tamaki was fascinated by the fact the government closed their eyes to it, it terrified me.

    Nonetheless, the subjects multiplied as we continued the experiments. That, until an unexpected event occurred. One of the subjects had drastically changed after showing signs of a lack of mana. He killed one of the researchers. Bestiality, cannibalism, inability to communicate…

    It wasn’t before the laboratory was crowded with similar creatures that the government decided to declare magic illegal and to close the laboratory.

    Their intent was simple. Kill all of the humans who had become a danger to society. That wasn’t something Dr. Tamaki and I could accept. Why should they get killed after all the pain we had already inflicted on them? Hence, we helped them escape the laboratory.

⋆༺♱༻⋆

    Her hair is curly and crimson, her expression annoyed as hell when she slams the pick-up’s door. The bluish glow of the bridge’s towers reflects off her rectangular glasses. She’s prolly in her late forties.

    As much as I’m reluctant to admit it, her posture gives her a kind of queen’s aura.

“Always throwing some sand into our wheels, huhh?” She grimaces. “Get out of my way, and I may let you live.”

    Standing next to me, Rubeus takes a step forward.

“Try me, bitch!” Poltergeist exclaims, pointing a paw at her.

“If you think we’ll let you leave with the director, you’re making a huge mistake.” I add. “Why are you even trying to kidnap him, Professor Tamaki?”

    Ohh, the way she smiles when I utter her name.

“I see that Izawa told you about me.” She claps her fingers, and the Jikininkis jump off the back of the pick-up, forcing Mr. Izawa to step closer. “Well, I’m simply taking him back. He should be by my side instead of leading this stupid troop.”

    Turning away from us, her high heels tap the asphalt as she approaches the director, pressing her fingers against his chin.

“What do you say about it, Ishida Izawa? Time for you to stop killing my poor Jikininkis, huum?”

“Izawa?..” The director trails off, wide-eyed. “Is that my name… Funny that it wasn’t in my notes. But regardless, I can’t agree with you. Poor, you say? Taking lives isn’t an innocent act. We simply can’t let them kill civilians without acting.”

    As they speak, a pack of Jikininkis slowly gather all around us.

“What’s with your voice?” She leans towards him with a frown. “Ohh, you’re using that little trick again. Magic is convenient, isn’t it?” She releases his chin, turning her back to him. “Your answer disappoints me. I told you, you can’t eternally be on both sides.”

“I’m sorry to tell you that your face is unfamiliar to me.” The director replies.

    For a while, Dr. Tamaki remains silent. I see her eyes open wide as she tries to conceal her surprise. But it doesn’t take her long before dismissing it. Uncrossing her arms, she turns her yellow eyes at us. Her smile almost makes me shiver.

    She chuckles.

“Do you know that Jikininkis are crazy about magic? That makes them feel alive. I already share mine with them, but they’re always hungry.” she mid-closes her eyes before extending her arm in a brisk move towards us. “My dear monsters, it’s meal time. Behead them!!!”

    At her command, the monsters hurl themselves at us… only to bump into the mana wall Rubeus has just summoned. The rabbit paw stamps on the car, crushing it before fading away.

“Megumi!” Poltergeist exclaims. “We’re gonna hold them back, handle this madwoman.”

    But before entirely focusing on the monsters, I can see Rubeus undo a shawl. An accessory that he’s used to keep knotted to his pants. Reaching his arms towards me, he ties my hair with it.

“What the fuck are you-” I begin, frowning.

“Just keep it.” Rubeus interrupts me. “Let’s say… it’s a lucky charm.”

    With a nod, I run towards Dr. Tamaki, a foil of mana soon wrapping my fists. She doesn’t even step aside the moment I throw a punch at her face. The moment my fist embraces her face, the mana bursts, and her upper body arches back in an unnatural way.

    That’s when I realise that a bluish glow wraps her own body.

    I take a step back as she slowly straightens up, a sharp smile over her face.

“How rude to hit a woman in her face.”

“Tssk.”

    Returning to the attack, I chain explosive blow after explosive blow at her, but as much as it makes her take a few steps back, she doesn’t seem to take any physical damage.

“I see. So you’re the kind of magic holder to use pure mana to attack. And I am the kind to channel it inside me to reinforce my own body.”

    Another blow, one that she catches this time with her own hand. The glow around it intensifies before my mana unleashes its energy, expelling my hand instead of hers.

“We could play this little game for longer, but…” She suddenly grabs me by the collar, throwing me back. “I have other plans.”

    Two of the Jikininkis who’ve been standing next to Mr. Izawa catch me by my arms. I jerk away before they have the time to bite me, promptly reaching out my hands to press them against their chests. They barely shape a groan before my mana sends them flying straight to Rubeus’s mana wall.

    Not wasting any sec, I turn back to Dr. Tamaki. My breath falters when I see her holding a gun.

⋆༺♱༻⋆

    I decided to leave Japan to travel throughout the world. If I continue my research in other places, I’m sure I’ll end up finding a way to invert the process, to free the corrupted magic holders from magic’s sway.

    I tried to convince Akana Tamaki to come along, but she refused. She wants to stay in Yokohama and keep helping the Jikininkis (that’s the way people call them now, as some sort of superstition come true). Dr. Tamaki’s devotion to these creatures begins to worry me. As much as I understand her, I feel guilty for the people who are victims of them. How many are part of the ones we freed from the laboratory? Maybe I should as well find a way to protect the civilians…

⋆༺♱༻⋆

    If the director’s notes have taught me anything, it’s that this woman will stick at nothing.

    Bang.

    I barely dodge the bullet, feeling a burn along my cheek.

“I can’t hold back against her.”

    She became a magic holder herself after her own husband betrayed her, obeying the police. It only heightened her disdain for government.

    A second gunshot follows but I manage to summon a star-shaped shield which blocks the gunshot.

“I have to be more inventive, like Rubeus.”

    The star made out of mana hurls itself at Dr. Tamaki, spinning like a shuriken.

    Even if she reinforces her body, it doesn’t help one of the star’s branches from sinking into her chest, only halted by the grip of her hands against it, blood pearling from her fingertips.

“Truly pretty,” she growls through gritted teeth, “but you’ll need more than this to defeat me.”

“You just needed to say the word.”

    Around her float seven mana balls the size of oranges. Dr. Tamaki barely has time to widen her eyes before, one after the other, the mana balls explode at her.

    The Jikininkis outside the magic wall agglutinate so much so that some of them pass over the wall. As long as they aren’t too numerous, Rubeus manages to greet them with a small bluish trampoline, sending them bouncing in the air and straight over the bridge.

    But the Jikininkis crossing the wall keep growing more numerous…

“Send this bitch to Jesus, Megumi!” Poltergeist yells at me.

    Part of her clothes are now torn. Dr. Tamaki is leant against the ground when she raises back to her feet.

“You’ve ruined my favourite pair.” She notes, a crack over her lenses.

    A glow over her feet.

    That’s all I have time to see before she pops right in front of me, as if out of nowhere. I don’t have time to step back before she begins to chain blows at me. If not for the reflex granted by years spent by the side of my progenitors, I wouldn’t have managed to cross my forearms before me in defence.

    Should I thank them if I join them in hell after my death? I won’t.

“Ghhh…”

    My trainers grate against the asphalt.

    Is it me, or is she chaining blows faster and faster? If I wasn’t protecting my arms with my magic, my bones would’ve already shattered into pieces.

“How much do I have left?”

    Her pace finally slows down, only long enough for her to prepare a final blow. Her fist sends me straight to the weakening mana wall. The cracks widen, the wall bursts. My back hits the railing with such passion it leaves me breathless, air forced out of my lungs.

    I feel dizzy…

    Below, the unbothered lapping of the waves feels almost inviting. Underwater… Ah, underwater it must be so peaceful. No city noise, no battle noise, just the cold and silent water. I wish I could stop and keep listening to it.

“But you know, Megumi, what is true is that, unlike them, we can’t breathe underwater. Even if we sometimes want to, we’re not like fish. We need both silence and noise.”

    Mr. Izawa’s words echo in my mind as Dr. Tamaki approaches me step by step.

“Ara ara, have you fallen in love with the railing? Come on, stand up. Show some decency.”

    Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap.

    When the sound of her footsteps stops, I straighten up in a brisk move, my hand on her chest.

“Burn.”

    Mana flows out of my fingers, engulfing her whole body in blue flames.

    Taken aback, Dr. Tamaki takes a few steps back but she quickly recovers.

“What are you hoping to accomplish? I’ve already told you, my magic strengthens my body, your fire is but warmi-”

    But she doesn’t finish her sentence, grimacing instead. Incredulous, she gazes at her trembling hands.

    The moment I bypass her, I glance at her writhing figure.

“What happens? Don’t you enjoy my warm embrace? It’s made specially for you. A fire consuming mana to keep burning.”

“Nghhh…”

    As long as she keeps using her magic to reinforce her body, the flames will continue to consume her.

“Hehh. ‘Guess it’s always gonna be unrequited love between us.” I conclude as I step, run toward the director.

    Dodging the Jikininkis on my way, I hurry to join the director. Luckily for me, they seem unsettled by the screams of Dr. Tamaki. Unless they are attracted by the emanation of mana.

    A side kick at one’s neck, gripping two heads which burst the next moment. The three monsters who remained by the director’s side are distracted enough to let me defeat them in record time.

    Blood over my cheeks, I feel it soak my bandages when I finally face the director.

“Mr. Izawa…” I find myself unable to continue.

    He’s alive. He’s truly alive. It’s no more a lie, no more one of these lies I have to keep telling myself to keep living.

    Against my consent, my vision becomes blurry. I’m silly. We don’t have time for this. Even if Dr. Tamaki can’t control and coordinate the monsters’ move, we remain three humans in the middle of a horde of Jikininkis whose first instinct is to devour our heads.

    There are but remnants of Rubeus’s barrier.

“I’m sorry but… who are you?” The director utters.

    The tears end up rolling down my face, colouring in pink as my breath falters.

“A member of the troop…” He whispers, glancing at my back.

    Rubeus warned me. This was predictable. But not only did he forget the time spent under the bridge, he ended up forgetting my time with them at the circus.

    We have to leave, now. But… why do I feel unable to make a single move? Why does it feel as if everything hurts? I knew it, I am not important enough to anyone to be remembered. Magic only made it quicker for me to fade away from his memories.

“Look out!!”

    I still feel numb the moment the director’s voice reaches my ears. It feels distant, like a voice trying to awake you from a nightmare. But how do you awake from reality?

    A warm embrace. A hand lightly pressed against my back despite the director’s brisk move towards me.

    A glance back allows me to see the figure of Dr. Tamaki, her void eyes and her jaws opened more widely than it should be possible.

    Bluish sparkles flow from the director’s extended hand, filling Dr. Tamaki’s mouth as she pounces on us. She lets out a muffled groan as she’s forced to step back. Reaching out to her throat, she barely has the time to realise what’s happening before she bursts from the inside.

    Bits of flesh splatter the bridge with sucking noises.

    Before I can thank the director, he steps away from me, falling to the ground.

“Mr. Izawa?!”

“Don’t… approach…” He protests as I kneel near him.

    His breath grows laborious as he lets out plaintive growls.

“Kill… me…”