Chapter 338
I awoke to incredible warmth pressing from all directions. Not my bed—it felt too hard for that. Water lapped against my skin, colored with a faint unsettling pink. “Ugh—“
”Hey, hey.” Hands pressed me gently back down into the bathtub before I could thrash around much. “Easy, Shiro. Don’t sit up. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
I blinked several time to try and bring my focus back around. My head swam with the worst head rush I’d ever experienced. The bathroom slowly cleared up. I shivered despite the warmth and threw my hands over my chest. “M-Mira?”
“I’m right here.” She thankfully didn’t comment on the momentary vulnerability that crept into my voice. She did, however, go back to rubbing at my scalp and hair.
Mira sat just beside the tub with her sleeves rolled up. She carefully combed through my hair and rinsed it clean, causing red water to stream away with each pass. Her movements were so gentle, like she was worried I’d break if she used even just a bit of force.
”Wha-what happened?” I laid back against the tub, letting her work away. Who was I to say no to a free massage?
“You collapsed… the interface, right? At first I thought—“ A brittle laugh slipped out of her. “I thought you were alright. That everything was fine.”
Her hands on my head filled with strength for a moment, and then she returned to working soap through my scalp. The motion was soothing enough that I might’ve fallen back asleep if I hadn’t heard the distress in her voice. ”And then?”
She stopped scrubbing. It was just for a second. “Then the bleeding wouldn’t stop. From—from everywhere.”
”S-sorry…”
”Why are you apologizing?" She flicked the side of my head in admonishment. “I—I didn’t know what to do. I’ve seen people injured before, of course. But I’ve never seen someone just—just void out of all of their blood.”
“Oh…” My throat felt thick. There were a thousand words I wanted to say, but none of them came out. Nothing felt right. Everything I could say would just be hollow.
”Don’t.” She exhaled sharply and pulled away. “Don’t oh me.”
”Mira—“
She rose from beside the tub and turned away before I could look too closely. “Your clothes are in the wash. I’ll go finish cleaning up the rest of your mess.”
The door clicked shut behind her. I bundled up my hair and moved to scrub flakes of blood off the rest of my body. So I got an all new set of blood instead of just mutating the old stuff? My bone marrow must’ve mutated too to keep up production for the new Universal Donor Perk. Glad I was out for that. I can’t even imagine how much that would’ve hurt.
It took me way longer than it should have to scrub myself down. I ended up switching to a shower halfway through. I couldn’t stand sitting there, stewing in red water, any longer. I thought Shiro Slurpies would be bad, but Shiro Stew quickly passed it.
By the time I came back out, towel around my shoulders, Mira was on her knees scrubbing at one of the few remaining red spots on the floor. I quickly changed into a Crusade t-shirt and pants, then moved to help her. Between the two of us, it only took a few more minutes to get the apartment clean again.
Silence settled between the two of us. I didn’t know what to say, and she wasn’t offering any words either. I wanted to talk about earlier, and about the whole spewing blood incident, but I didn’t even know where to begin. The scent of bleach just hung heavily in the air between us.
I summoned out Crow’s Canteen of Chaos and took a sip of water, hoping it’d clear my head. It made me realize just how dry my mouth was. “Mi—“
“Shiro.” She cut me off and slowly moved to the couch. “I’ve done some thinking.”
That made my stomach drop. There were so many things that could mean, and her Cues weren’t clear enough to figure out which one. Either that, or I was having a hard time reading them with my mind whirling.
She patted the seat in a not so subtle invitation. “You’re right.”
“Chek?” I paused. I was about to say the—well, not the same thing. I still didn’t agree with her fully, but I was willing to try her method. I moved to take a seat next to her.
“I was rushing.” The words looked like they physically pained her to get out. “I wanted to set down roots so badly that I didn’t even give you space to breathe.”
Wow, that made me feel super guilty. The guilt-tripping didn’t look like it was intentional though, so I didn’t comment on it. “It’s fine.”
”It’s really isn’t.” Mira sighed and shook her head. “After the whole Savant thing… I guess I just wanted solid footing once more. I, uh, I talked to Pa about it.”
And the guilt tripping intensified. Nova. Either she was just naturally talented and didn't mean it, or she’d somehow figured out a way to trick Cues. “You talked to him?”
”I—I still want to co-own the building. I want something real.” Her gaze lifted to mine. “But I can wait until you’re ready.”
”That might be a while.” Co-owning—that kind of thing still scared me. Even before she said something, though, I’d done some thinking of my own. She was right. At least, partially.
The realization really only hit me while I was staying with Iris and Luna. I stared at the redhead for a long time with my mind drifting freely. Sacrificing the present for a future that might not come was… it wasn’t exactly smart. Either one of us could die or go comatose the next day, and leave a lifetime of regrets behind.
I was still terrified of what might happen, of course. We could all die, a nuke could be set off in Raijin’s tower, or a global ice age might strike. All that just meant I needed to make bigger and better schemes to be fully prepared for come what may. My contingencies needed contingencies just in case.
The biggest issue was trusting people, really. That would have to change whether I wanted it to or not, though. I couldn’t run all of Cold Moon Solutions by myself, especially if the corp took off like I wanted it to. I’d inevitably have to hire and trust people. And people could potentially become the best contingency I had set in place. Such a thing was even more terrifying than the future.
I had some backup ideas in mind for the whole thing. Maybe I could make microscopic bugs or bombs as emergency insurance, but that might be a tad bit overkill. I’d be just another corpo if I went for things like that, wouldn’t I? Lifebinding Aether Contracts might be the best bet. CEO Shiro was officially about to join the Shiro Alliance alongside Past Shiro, Paranoid Shiro, and Future Shiro.
For now, though, I didn’t need to worry about it too much. I didn’t necessarily need anyone else yet. Aside from Luna taking care of all my coding needs, but I wasn’t too worried about her backstabbing me.
All that being said, I did want to live in the present. I hadn’t done such a thing in a long, long time. Not since I robbed that penthouse suite a while back. Hell, it’d been a long time since I robbed anything just for fun. Ever since Mother—no, even before that—I’d stopped doing stuff just for the fun of it. Even my calling card, which I’d been so proud of, hadn’t been used in months.
“I know.” A sad, small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Just don’t make me ‘later’. And definitely don’t make later mean never.”
I felt a tightness that’d settled in my chest since our initial argument loosen. It wasn’t gone all the way, but I felt so much lighter. “I—I don’t want to keep running forever. I’m just… I’m scared of what happens when I stop.”
She studied me for a moment and then hugged me tightly with a crushing grip. “Then we’ll be scared together.”
I pulled away, let out a shaky breath, and ran a hand through my hair. “A few months—maybe a year at most. I’ll get everything in order, and then we'll open the best bar and agency combo in Aythryn City.”
The halo atop her head pulsed. Light flickered like it usually did when she was running intense calculations. Even so, a brilliant smile sprung to her lips like we were back several years ago. “I trust you, Shiro.”
Those four words put an immense burden on me. I’d heard them before, of course. Maybe it was because I myself had a hard time trusting others? Those simple four words felt precious and terrifying all at once.
I glanced away toward my phone and grounded myself before I could let the feeling overwhelm me. “I’ve gotta head out. Mr. Bengoshi finished the contract and it's ready for pickup. Want to come?”
“Yeah… yeah, okay.” She stood up and moved to grab her gear. “Let’s hope this goes better than last time.”
I smirked and followed after her. “I’ve already lost enough blood for the week. We should be good.”
Mira didn’t miss a beat and moved to open the door for me. “If that’s a lie, I’m billing you for emotional damages.”
”Wow—no concern for my well-being?” I pressed a hand to my chest, though my offended expression fell horribly flat.
”Oh I’m concerned alright.” The grin on her face turned even more radiant like an angel had descended. “Concerned I’ll have to bust out the mop.”
——
Ichiban Street was as vibrant as ever—more so, even. There’d been a lot of stressful events around the city lately, and it seemed anyone and everyone wanted to relieve it through various vices. The Fang weren’t ones to miss out on such a business opportunity. Ads for discounted prices were everywhere across the Bukicho sub-district, enticing more and more people in.
We got in with a little fanfare at the dragon headed gate. I wasn’t in Jade Fang attire anymore—all of it burned up alongside my old apartment—but the guards asked around and eventually we were let in.
Ishimaru sat at his usual booth, though this time around it was completely barren of alcohol bottles. Instead, he lightly sipped from a cup of water while reading from a stack of documents.
The elder himself looked better than even the last time I saw him. Ever since he’d cut out the alcohol, he’d taken on a more and more refined elder look. He raised his robed arms in greeting at my approach. “Shiro. And… you are?”
“Mira. Bodyguard.” My mikata’s words came out short and clipped.
Although the two had never actually met, she’d made her dislike for him clear over the years. Something about sending me into danger on jobs? To be fair, yes, that was true. It was also the only reason I could stay alive for so long. If it hadn’t been for Ishimaru, then… well, I likely wouldn’t have even survived the first year after my parents died.
“Mira…. Mira…” The elder frowned and stared off into the distance. “Ezra’s kid?”
“You know Pa?” Though she asked that, Mira didn’t look particularly surprised. My family was heavily invested in the Fang, so uncle must’ve had several run-ins over the years my dad and him were close friends.
The elder nodded his head and stroked at a pure white beard. “We’ve met a few times… but you didn’t come to reminisce with this old man. Here for the contract?”
I slid into the booth’s seat opposite him. Mira didn’t follow suit, instead opting to lean against the mouth of the seat. “Mr. Bengoshi said it’d be with you.”
”It’s here somewhere.” He dug through the several files scattered around the booth’s table and eventually pulled out two. “Here you go. One from us to Cold Moon, and the other between you and your uncle over ownership.”
They were both super thick stacks of paper I’d have to read through. The one between my blood uncle and me was several times the thickness of the other. Mr. Bengoshi must’ve written all sorts of terms into it.
“Hey, Saint.” I called out through the pack link. I disguised the action with my phone, making it look like I was on a call.
I felt his connection from somewhere north of the city, out in the desert of all places. “Holy hell, Shiro. You scared the crap out of me.”
”Whatcha doin?”
”Scouting out a scoop on the Hawks… looks like they’re amassing for something.” Saint sighed. “What can I do for you?”
”Are you any good with contracts?” I probably should’ve asked before I went all the way to Mr. Bengoshi. It was fine though. I’d need a lawyer to take care of things anyway, and Saint couldn’t do everything.
”Decent enough. They used all sorts of nasty tricks in the music biz. Why? You got one?”
”Two. Mind looking through them?”
”No problem. I’ll check them out once I get back to the city.”
”Thanks.” I dropped the phone and nodded to Ishimaru. “How’ve you been?”
”Better.” The old man sighed and looked off toward the bar with longing. “In some ways worse. What about you?”
We talked for close to an hour, just catching up. Although he was an elder in the Fang, he was also someone who’d taken care of me ever since my parents died. I wouldn’t say he was like a father-figure, but he was definitely something more than just an acquaintance. ‘Sides, we had to wait for Saint anyway.
— - —
AN: Thanks for reading and all the review recently! It’s really blown me away seeing and reading all of them.
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