49. Fraught Foundations
「Haruki」
The morning mist hangs low over the city in its waking hours, shrouding us from peering eyes. We sit in the shadow of a high residential building, the top not even viable in the murk. Sitting behind a low wall and bunch of vegetation. Cover for our stakeout of the construction site across the road. The close press of buildings encircle us, giving the already tight city a claustrophobic feel.
To the east, the sun has begun it's journey over the ocean. Once again, I start the timer in my head. It'll be about an hour before the mist is burned away, and then the cover to our ambush will be gone.
It's been several days now, and each one has been the same routine. Arrive early before sunrise, watch the construction site, leave when the morning mist fades. A simple plan, but one that has yet to bear fruit. The site is the flagship project of our demon's company. Sooner or later, he has to make an appearance. A cursory inspection at least. Then we can attack him while he’s away from his lair. A place where he definitely holds the advantage.
Chie actually suggested a direct attack, to my surprise. But that idea was straight-up dismissed. While we are good fighters, we're still only D-Ranks against a B-Class. Ambush is our only hope of victory, especially since we're back down to only four now.
Beside me, Mayumi sits against the wall, knees pulled high, eyes on her phone beside her. The screen is dark.
"Nothing?" I ask.
She shakes her head.
I press my lips firm, place my hand over hers. "What's done is done."
All she does is look away with a sour quirk to her mouth.
Ever since Katsumi had her breakdown and left the group, Mayumi has been uncharacteristically quiet. It's been unnerving. Made worse by the fact that she hasn't really told us what happened either. Chie has been beside herself with worry, practically glued to Mayumi’s side, while Hotaru has been shooting Mayumi frowns for days. The only thing that has gotten Mayumi out of the house has been these morning stakeouts. Events she only participates in by offering cold, murderous frowns.
“Are we sure about that?” Chie asks. She’s sitting next to Mayumi, close enough to reach out and touch. “What if we all go over there and-”
“No,” Mayumi says.
A beat of quiet passes.
“Why not?” I ask.
Her face twists, the most I’ve seen from her in days. Her reply is a hiss. “Because she doesn’t want us. She was very clear when she hit me-”
“Excuse me?” I say.
“-pushed me.” She waves a hand. “And shoved me out the door. It’s over. She’s gone.
“What happened?” Hotaru asks. She's been as quiet as Mayumi. Another strike to the sense of foreboding. “Katsumi wouldn’t do this if there wasn't a reason for it. What did you do?”
Mayumi scowls at her. “I told her to stop pretending. To just be a girl full time. This dance she’s been doing has been ridiculous. She freaked out on me.”
“You… you did what!?” Hotaru’s jaw is slack. “You can’t decide when she comes out! That’s not anywhere near your decision!”
“And what else was I supposed to do?” Mayumi retorts. “Let her keep up her self-harm show? Cause that’s what all of you were doing! Just… letting her keep hurting herself when she clearly needed to stop!”
“We were supporting her and letting her come at it at her own pace!” Hotaru shouts. Chie is cringing away, I shift next to her; place an arm over her shoulders. “You don’t try and force people to come out, because this is what happens!”
“For fucks sake, she didn’t even know she was trans!”
Silence falls, punctuated by Hotaru’s shocked expression. It’s broken by Chie’s, “Wait, what?”
Mayumi’s hateful glower turns on Chie, lessening in intensity immediately upon seeing her. “That girl is riddled with internalized transphobia. She knows about trans people, but is obsessed with ‘being a real girl’, so she didn't even make the connection.”
“What the fuck…” I mutter.
Hotaru looks similarly lost. “I thought… She… there’s the internet, and… its not like our parents or grandparent’s times. People know about this stuff now…”
“Apparently not,” I remark.
“Probably better she stayed off the internet anyway,” Chie mutters. “Lotta bad stuff on there when it comes to trans people. She might have come off it worse.”
Another moment of silence.
"Can we even do this without her?" I say to no one in particular.
We’ve been coming here mostly out of sheer inertia. This ambush of ours has been planned and researched extensively. To just give it up seems impossible at this point. But we haven’t really talked about what happens if out target actually shows up. Can we face a B-Class, just us four? Guild rankings aren’t inevitable truths, but… still.
“Yes,” Mayumi says. “Besides, even if she was here she’d be useless.”
"Katsumi is far from useless," Hotaru snaps.
"She is now," Mayumi says without any emotion. "She wants to play boy, so…"
Chie picks up the line of thought.
"She'll barely have any mana," she murmurs with a thoughtful frown. "Remember that demon outside her workplace? She barely lasted against that. As long as she keeps this… whatever up…"
"Tantrum?" Mayumi supplies.
Chie shrugs. "She can't fight. Not for long anyway."
"What are we going to do about this?" Hotaru sighs.
"What do you mean?" Mayumi says, exasperated. "There's nothing to do. Ya said it yourself. Nobody can force her to come out."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we should just let her cut herself off. Its not healthy."
Mayumi scoffs, throwing up her hands. "You make no sense either! Nothing about what that girl does is healthy! We've all been knowing that and still, we all just tiptoed around the big ass elephant in the room this entire time!"
"Darling," I say. Her gaze falls on me. "Remember what you told me at my parents house? When I was worried we'd fuck this up?"
Her lips twitch into a frown, but she answers with slow, halting words. "If… we hurt her, then we apologize."
Then her eyes fall to the ground, thoughtful.
"We know what she wants," I continue. "If we leave her alone, I think she might try and hunt in… what's the term?"
"Boymode," Chie supplies.
"Yeah, that. And without her mana she'll get herself killed." My breathing stutters, just a bit. "We can't let her, we gotta fix this."
Mayumi makes a contemplative noise, like a cross between a growl and a hum. "What do we even do?" she says. "Show up at her house? Her work? While she's out hunti-"
Hotaru cuts her off.
"Someone's here."
Across the street, a sleek, black car with dark windows rolls into the construction site, stopping before the metal and concrete skeleton that rises up from the dirt. After several minutes, a suit-wearing man steps out from the back seat, talking on the phone. Chie moves beside me, armed with a pair of binoculars.
"Its him," she says.
"Anyone else with him?" I ask. If he showed up with a bunch of suits, that wouldn't do well for our ambush. We don't want to put people in danger.
"Not that I can see, besides the driver maybe, but… there could be more."
We all watch as he makes his way towards the building, still talking on the phone. I eye the car again, frowning.
"What do we think?" I ask.
"I don't like it," Hotaru says immediately.
"Any reason behind that Sunshine, or is it just vibes?" Mayumi says. Hotaru scowls in her direction. Chie answers instead.
"Anyone in the car could call the police if they see us attacking."
"So? He's a demon," Mayumi says. "This is guild business."
I pick up Chie's lead. "Hmm… But the cops wouldn't know that. And who would they believe? The rich guy, or the gaggle of queer girls attacking him?"
That shuts Mayumi down quick. As she looks away I hear a mumbled, "Fuck, I hate B-classes.."
"We we do have the smoke bombs," Chie says. "If we strike fast, he wont know what hit him and no one on the outside will be the wiser."
"That's a pretty big If, darling. This is already too risky. Especially with us down Katsumi."
While all of us know the danger involved with this job, I'll fall on my sword before anyone is hurt. What happened to Katsumi was enough.
Mayumi stands up, brow furrowed. "Are you really thinkin about not doing this?"
I cross my arms. "Yeah. This has been real simple for us since the beginning. We do what we can, but we don't take risks. We can't kill demons if we're dead."
Mayumi glances over to the building then back at me. "Babe, this is our one shot. Its just him, alone and outside his lair. It could be weeks before we get another chance like this."
"So? Maybe then we'll have Katsumi."
"And what if we don't? Even then, has she really been that big of a deal? Like really? Cause besides the fear demon—which, yeah, was our fuckup—she's been just okay. You and Sunshine have been carrying the team, not her."
I disagree with that but don't comment. "The risk is still high."
"But so are the rewards! Three million yen, babe. We can do so much with that."
"We could finally get some good gear…" Chie mutters.
"Exactly! And that's just the beginning. There's more coming down the line if we get this done. You really wanna do A-Rank, this is how we do it."
My lips press together as I look to our strategist.
"Chie?"
She bites her lip, looking back towards the construction site. "It's the perfect battleground. Open, but with plenty of cover. We wont get trapped again, nor will we be exposed."
Like in the love hotel. Hmm.
"Hotaru?"
I receive a frown from our witch. "I vote no, but if its just him…" She glances at the car. "I believe we can do it."
My gaze returns to Mayumi. She returns it, resolute.
"We got this," she says.
A long sigh falls out of me. Something in my stomach tenses at this, but I trust my girls. "Okay, but we stick to the plan. Got it?"
I receive terse nods.
"Then lets go."
We move fast, crossing the street and ducking through the hole in the fence Chie made days ago. Dashing over the dirt and between machines and piles of construction materiel. As we get closer, I slow, making my steps quiet as we enter the building. The demon's voice echoes through the space, rough and carefree, carrying with it vague financial jargon. The inside of the building is mostly open, with solid concrete walls and metal pillars dividing what will eventually be rooms.
I stop us against a wall next to an empty archway. His voice is loudest here, so he's right around the corner. I nod to Chie and summon my sword.
She takes a bundle from her bag, a makeshift smoke bomb made of discounted fireworks, and lights it with a lighter.
She tosses it through the door.
"Go!" I bark quietly.
Mayumi and Hotaru go left, me and Chie go through the door. Multicolored smoke already fills the room, where in the center stands our target. We lock eyes in the brief second before all hell breaks loose. The whole world suspended like a painting. His face is a blank mask, broken of it's uniformity by a single raised eyebrow.
"Apologies," he says into the phone, "I have to go."
He clicks the power button twice, before dropping the phone in his pocket.
A slight shift of my sword is all that saves me. Claws chime off my weapon in a blur. Missable with only a blink.
Behind the glowing blade, a creature snarls at me. Rotting, yellow teeth are bared, and dull black eyes bore into me from a shrunken, grey head. Wispy, oily hair falls around his face. The transformation was instant.
Three arrows pierce his back.
A blur strikes my chest and I'm thrown wide with an inhuman roar. I catch myself with a roll, leaping to my feet, sword ready. Chie's pistol rings; arrows fly. They're keeping him on the back foot. Attacking from all sides. Not letting him gain his bearings. It gives me the opening to strike.
A scream pierces my ears as my blade slices through his back. Just a graze. Not deep. Fuck. He's too fast, that should have cut him in half!
Glowing yellow something oozes from the wound, dripping to the floor, sizzling. Adding to the acrid smoke that surrounds us. The demon hunches, and some strange sick noise is my only warning before he retches and vomits that same yellow substance at me.
Heat and light blaze through the rainbow smoke, striking the wall behind me as I dodge. It hisses and pops in an awful smell. Glowing almost like… Molten metal?
"Chie," I call, circling the demon. "The fuck did you say this thing eats again?"
He's moving slower as he adjusts to keep me in his vision. Staggering. The wound on his back must be slowing him.
"Gold!"
Two arrows out fly from nowhere, striking the demon center-mass. He screams and then retches again, vomiting molten gold in a spraying arc. Easily dodged…
A long shriek of pain through the haze. My heart stop cold.
It wasn't aiming for me.
Several chiming shots strike its side, sending it reeling. With a growl of rage I leap, sword raised to deliver the killing blow.
Chie's voice cuts through the smoke.
"Look right!"
A hulking blur of blue-mottled skin charges toward me, baring a mouthful of teeth and a metal club above it's head. I redirect my blade only at the last second, batting the club away.
"What the fuck?" I snarl.
Using the distraction, our target hobbles and crawls into the smoke. Leaving the newcomer growling in its place with an unmistakable troll-like visage. An oni.
I strike fast, exchanging blows with the demon, pressing in, unwilling to let it keep the advantage of surprise. The smoke is thick now, filling the room from floor to ceiling. Only instinct and training keep me from blocking the flurry of enraged blows that rain down, but I wont be able to keep this up much longer.
The club bears down on me again, and this time I don't block, I spin out of it's reach, letting the momentum carry me through a twisting swing right upon the demon's neck. A head goes flying.
I cast my gaze around for our target, baring my teeth. He couldn't have gotten away! We just had him! I start forward—just gotta get him before…
Something grips my arm.
I whirl, intent to strike—Chie is there.
"What are you-"
She puts a finger to her lips, taps her ears. I focus, and freeze. The sounds echoing off the concrete and metal around us are unmistakable: low, guttural grunts, and heavy, hulking footsteps. There are more. Many more.
Fuck.
I nod and dash over to where I know Mayumi and Hotaru to be, Chie behind. The pair materialize out of the smoke quick, but something is wrong. A shape is huddled on the ground, one above them.
I fall to their side, catching the horrible scent of burnt flesh. Out of the haze Mayumi grimaces at me, our faces only inches apart. My heartbeat roars in my ears, limbs go numb.
Oh no.
"Mayumi, are you okay?"
"Its just a graze," she speaks through her teeth, every word a hiss.
Hotaru is examining her arm, hidden from my view. "No it is not!" she franticly whispers. "You are so, so lucky, but this is bad! There is a hole burned clear through your arm!"
Fuck, fuck, fuck… she's hurt… she can't fight… We're going to be surrounded… This was a mistake, we shouldn't have gone in here…
"We need to go!" Hotaru says. "Help me get her up."
I nod, and scoop Mayumi up with a shoulder under her arm, wincing at her hisses of pain. But as I turn towards the way we came in, Chie stops me again, with a hushed, "No! This way."
She pulls me through the already dissipating smoke, around a corner to a flight of stairs.
"Where are we going?" Hotaru whispers.
Chie replies as she hurries up the stairs, the rest of us following. "There's a bunch all around us, I don't know where they came from, but up here we can hide or-"
A roar echoes up the stairs behind us.
At the bottom, another oni shouts in a voice like tumbling gravel, "HERE!"
"Shit…" Chie mumbles.
I pass off Mayumi to Hotaru as Chie fires down the stairs, then ready my sword.
"Darling," I call, watching two more demons gather at the base of the stairs. "What's the plan?!"
"Ah, fuck—shit, uhhh; hold them off! Hotaru, bring her over here!"
Four oni grin up at me now with their razor-sharp teeth. Their bodies are huge and muscled, wielding clubs like the first one. My breath comes in shallow gasps, my vision hazy, palms slick with sweat. My grip on my sword falters. Just me and versus all of them…
One starts up the stairs, brandishing it's club and chortling with something mocking in it's inhuman tone. I hear Chie and Hotaru behind me, barely audible now; hear Mayumi's whimpers of pain. Heat builds within me. These bastards will not touch my girls.
The stairs are too narrow for their hulking bodies. Only one can reach me at a time.
Not one will pass.
I bare my teeth, raise my sword, and roar.
"Come to mama, fuckers! I'll kill you all!"
The first charges up the steps, a mistake. All the momentum is sapped from it and I sidestep it's sluggish swing, lopping off it's arm at the elbow. Bestial screams assault my ears in the narrow space, intermingling with my own roar as I deliver a swift kick to it's chest, sending it tumbling down the steps to fall at the feet of the other three.
They growl, almost in unison.
The next one ascends slowly, near leisurely, sizing me up. I make my stance firm at the top of the stairs. Not one inch will be yielded. They'll have to kill me first. This time the other two follow their companion.
As soon as it's close I swipe, testing it's guard. Oni are known for being berserkers, not cool and collected fighters. This one seems to be the exception. It blocks my strike, replying with one of it's own in a calculated move. After a few more blows it becomes clear what it's plan is. Tire me out, then overwhelm me with their numbers.
I can't let it.
It's a gamble, but I feint, striking low. The demon takes the bait, swinging for my side. I crouch low, stabbing upwards into it's heart just as the club strikes my shoulder. It's weapon clatters to the ground, my sword pressing deep into its chest. I'm snarling through the pain, straight in its face as it disintegrates to ash.
The next one stands just out of reach of my sword, unmoving. Hesitant. I bare my teeth at it to hide just how much I waver as well. The pain in my shoulder is searing, radiating down my arm, while the fingers of my left hand are loose around the hilt.
Can I even raise my weapon?
It sniffs the air in a long inhale. Then, grins.
A shuddering breath falls out of me, my muscles burning from the exertion of the fight. I subtly shift my grip to my right hand. I can kill this one—I know I can—but the last one? A memory flashes before me, one of a familiar childhood place filled with darkness. The pain of being broken by an enemy I couldn't even see. Waiting in the dark to die…
The oni charges me.
So be it.
A bright flash blinks in front of me, and the oni slips, failing face first upon the stairs in a tangle of flailing limbs. The brightness grows across the stairs, turning the whole thing into a slide that takes the last two oni away. I turn, and Hotaru stands beside me. I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life.
Chie appears beside her, throwing a smoking package down.
"Come on!" Chie demands, "Move!"
My limbs obey, unlocking. She pulls me after Hotaru through the half-made rooms. Smoke billows behind us, spreading through the second floor. At a window at the edge of the building, Mayumi hobbles out and falls out of sight, followed by Hotaru. We reach it only a moment later. There's a shipping container, just below.
Me and Chie jump, hitting the top of the thing with a dull clung, before jumping off into to the dirt. Together, we run off into the fading mists of early morning.
■ ■ ■
「Chie」
We're quiet as Hotaru works. Haruki is pacing. I'm sitting with Mayumi. Her injury… it's bad. Terrible, actually. When I saw it my stomach flipped and my head felt fuzzy. A blackened fist-sized circle in her upper arm, surrounded in charred flesh. I can still smell it.
My stomach does another tumble.
Mayumi's hand tightens in my own as she hisses again. When the molten metal hit her in a grazing shot, the heat of it was so great it seared her nerve endings, making the wound seem less bad than it really was. As Hotaru heals the injury, the nerves are being restored, making the pain worse before it is removed.
And this was just from a near-miss. If she had just been a step to the left…
She would have died. Horribly.
A shiver runs through me, and my eyes burn.
Haruki passes by again, looking up and down the alley we've taken refuge in. Keeping watch. Never before have I seen her so agitated. She's usually so calm and collected, even in a fight. But now, she caries the demeanor of someone that looks ready to snap.
I shouldn't shy away. I love her. But I do. The image is all too familiar.
Mayumi glances at me out of the corner of her eye, then back to Haruki.
"Babe, chill. We're safe."
A quiet snarl comes out of our girlfriend's mouth. "You don't know that! Where the fuck did those oni even come from? He was alone and those monsters wouldn't fit in his car."
"They were probably around the—fuck…" She hisses. "…corner."
"Sorry," Hotaru mutters. "Still picking out gold flakes."
Something strange tickles my brain, and I ask, "Why would they even be with him?"
"Oooh, fuck—Bodyguards," Mayumi says offhandedly.
Haruki stops in her tracks.
"He wasn't supposed to have bodyguards," she says, voice suddenly level.
"He's a demon CEO, of course he might have bodyguards."
"Why didn't you mention this?"
Mayumi bristles under Haruki's harsh, low tone. "I didn't think I had too! We were hitting him outside his lair. I thought, yeah, sure. His lackeys might be with him but we'll just have to see!"
"Wait…" Haruki falters. "So you knew for certain…"
"Of course I knew! Izanami mentioned he keeps a few around for protection…"
Even Hotaru is looking at her now. I'm frozen, unsure. The two girls I love more than anything are staring at each other with steadily building anger in their movements.
"And you didn't think to mention this?" Haruki snaps with barely held back wrath. I can see it in the curl of her fists, the rise and fall of her chest. The wildness in her eyes.
"Again," Mayumi says through her teeth. "I didn't think we had to. There was no one else with him!" She huffs and sits back. "Even then I knew we could handle it. And look, we did! So just chill the fuck-"
I see it before it comes.
"YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!!"
A gasp reaches my ears—my own. I'm already pressed away. Haruki stands above us, anger radiating off her in waves. A long pause carries through the alley. She's never yelled at anyone like this. Not once. Not with so much anger.
That anger drains out of her, seen in the loosening of her fists and the slacking of her shoulders and the now-sad gleam in her eye. Looking all like a wrung out dishcloth, she speaks with sorrowful anger.
"Died, Mayumi. Not just you either." She points at me. "Chie could have died. Hotaru could have died. I… could have died…" Something breaks in her voice.
"Babe…"
Mayumi stands, reaching out, but Haruki steps away.
"But of course you didn't think about us…"
Mayumi flinches.
"…you only care about revenge, don't you? Only as much as what'll put the next demon in front of you." She steps back another step. Mayumi's hands are shaking, her eyes wide. "I thought that, maybe… This was a mistake… all of this was a mistake, I…" Haruki clenches her jaw. "This is over."
"W-what…?" Mayumi's voice is so small, the smallest I've ever heard it.
"We're done."
Haruki turns and walks out of the mouth of the alley, swallowed by the crowds of salarymen passing by on their way to work. Her absence makes my chest ache. Above me, Mayumi is frozen in place, but shaking all over. And… No… this is wrong. Haruki is wrong! I stand, touching Mayumi's shoulders. She recoils, and it hurts like a knife to my chest.
"Don't touch me!" Tears are in her eyes, her voice.
No, no, no… this is wrong, she is wrong about you…
"Mayumi! Please!" I reach for her, but Mayumi stumbles away.
I try and follow but am stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"Let her go," Hotaru murmurs.
"No! Haruki—she's wrong! Mayumi doesn't-
"I know." Hotaru's expression is like a mirror of the heartbreak within me. "Mayumi is too hurt to listen right now."
"But, but she'll…"
I know her, nothing she's about to do will be good.
I'm pulled into a tight hug. "We'll follow."
I nod against her shoulder, eyes looking to where Mayumi was sitting a moment ago. In her place, surrounded by the dirty grime of the alley, are a few flecks of gold.