Disclaimer: I own neither series.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway and I felt an immense fear overtake my body. I kept my mouth shut; if I made a single sound I would be dead in an instant.
She wasn't good enough. She would never sense me. Even after retreating from the True Ancestor princess, I had more than enough power left to hide my presence from her.
She stopped, right in front of the classroom. Had I made a mistake?
...No. The footsteps softly moved moved away. She had left.
I grinned. I took my knife in my hand and stalked out of the classroom. I was the superior fighter. It didn't matter what kind of Inversion Impulse she had.
For through my eyes, there was nothing.
Her presence was too loud, too inviting. I could sense the massive amount of heat radiating from her body. It was intoxicating. I wanted her.
God, I wanted her.
But she was trying to kill me now. Above all, my priority is living.
...There!
She had her back to me in the hallway, red hair flaring out like a beacon. My palms were sweating. My mouth was dry.
To taste her blood...
There would be no greater pleasure. I felt myself begin to spasm, and stopped my body with but a thought. This useless flesh was a hindrance to me. The only thing that I needed from it were these eyes.
These eyes, that can see death.
A white line was drawn invitingly over her slender neck. I was salivating now. It wouldn't do to give away my position, would it? I had to act quickly. Time was of the essence if I was to continue living.
She continued walking away. Her footsteps further obscured my presence, and I ghosted down the hall after her.
She didn't notice me...
I was close...
I could smell her hair...
My legs moved faster than they ever had in my life and I closed the distance between my knife and her neck in less than a second. She had turned around somewhat; I could see the shock written all over her face. Her neck had given way, and her head dropped to the ground, its eyes never leaving mine.
I snatched it up by the hair and stared Akiha's blank eyes down with as much intensity as I could. Would she never blink? I laughed and caught her bloody lips with mine.
Saccharine sweet.
I tore the flesh from her skull and feasted hungrily. I had never felt such-- such passion!
She was mine now. That pretender would never have her.
"Oh dear sister..." I cooed to her headless body, undoing the buttons on her shirt. "You've finally returned to me..."
"Auuu...AUUUUUGHH!!"
I awoke with a scream, clutching at my head in agony. What was wrong with me? Who was that?! I would never--
What sort of joke was my mind playing on me?
I recalled the taste of human flesh on my lips and retched onto my bedroom floor. It didn't seem to stop. I was shaky all over. Something was wrong with me.
I could feel heat suddenly engulf my body, burning me from the inside out. My actions in the dream-- no, not mine, couldn't be mine-- stop, no!
Then it was over. My mind seemed to shut itself off and I went limp. I bonelessly collapsed to the ground. In the distance, I could hear my aunt and Miyako call out to me. Arms wrapped softly around me and I fell back into the dark abyss of dreams.
Energy. Energy flowed through me like it had over five years ago. I couldn't remember ever feeling this good; the sensation was enough to make me want to scream in ecstasy.
Akiha. Akiha. Akiha.
I had never felt such a sense of fulfillment.
The feel of her warm flesh against mine, the blood resting at the bottom of my stomach...
"Hahaha...haha..." My fingers spasmed violently as I stared at the lines crisscrossing my digits. They were so clear, as if I was seeing them for the first time. This was entirely new.
I had been reborn.
That thought in mind, I jumped from a third story window, feeling no pain at all as my feet impacted the ground. This new energy...was this what Akiha had left me? When she had departed this world, did her life force flow into me?
Dear sister, even in death you are so radiantly perfect--
Ba-dum.
I felt a sudden pulling at my heartstrings as the power left my body, flowing from me into some strange connection. Everything seemed to darken...
Sights, sounds, color. Nothing was as brilliant anymore. The pull loosened and I was left in poor condition.
Who had dared to do this? I screamed and tore at my chest, the pain of flayed flesh dulling the agony of what I had lost.
It was still there. Some of Akiha was still inside me, a constant reminder of what I had done tonight.
But the rest--
HIM.
I snarled and narrowed my eyes. Did Akiha favor him, even now?
...Then, I know what I must do. I will find him.
I will find him, and take back what is rightfully mine.
"Do you hear that, you fake?" I whispered. "I'm going to find you. I'm going to find you and kill you."
Akiha is mine and mine alone.
The soft sounds of a heart rate monitor roused me from my slumber. My head was pounding, but I felt oddly good. Shaky, but good.
...What had happened that night? Was that just a dream, or had I awoken and really done that? Was I capable of doing that?
No.
I had woken up in bed. That was just a dream.
But what if that was memory? What if I had been recalling something?
...Impossible. I didn't recognize my surroundings in the dream. I had never been to the school that had occurred in. Macabre thoughts made their way to the forefront of my mind and I shook them away forcefully. It was just a dream. I would forget about it, and everything would be alright.
Glasses. Where were my glasses?
I saw something shining out of the corner of my eye and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the familiar item lying on a bedside table. I slipped them on and relaxed as the world came back to normal. Perfectly clear vision, untainted by the touch of hell.
It was almost too clear, actually. I couldn't ever remember my eyesight being this good. I experimentally flexed a hand. I felt an ease controlling my body that was unfamiliar to me. I figured I had just passed out from mental exhaustion, but my body shouldn't be in such good condition after lying in a hospital bed for so long. My anemia had probably played a factor in the ordeal.
The door opened and my aunt and Miyako came in, worrying over me as they held onto my arm. I smiled and patted Miyako on the head, assuring both of them that I was fine. They didn't have to worry.
"But Kyon, you threw up on the ground and passed out, I was--"
"It's fine, Miyako. Probably just an anemia attack."
My aunt bit her lip. "But in the middle of the night, Shiki?"
"Ha ha, I didn't have a very good dream. My heart probably raced a bit too fast, that's all."
They were silent. I was trying to make them feel better, but I wasn't doing a very good job. Waking up from a dream only to fall unconscious wasn't exactly a common occurrence. Even I could tell that. I sat up against the bedpost and tried to look casual. "So, what's the deal? Can I leave the hospital now?"
"Shiki, the doctor wants to examine you before you're discharged."
My face soured. I was used to the constant medical attention but it wasn't as if I liked it. "Alright. When can they start?"
"Right now." A doctor swept his way into the room, carrying with him a clipboard and some medical instruments. He placed them down and took a seat at my bedside. "How are you feeling, Shiki?
"Pretty good, actually." It wasn't a lie. I was feeling better than I had in years.
"Good, good." He mumbled and then scribbled something down into the clipboard. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn't believe me.
The examination lasted almost an entire hour. They practically put me through a gauntlet of assorted tests, some familiar others not. I had no trouble performing any of them. My body went through the motions with an almost practiced ease.
The doctor looked down at the results recorded on his clipboard, his eyes slightly wide in surprise. "I must say Mr. Tohno, this is unprecedented. You are aware of the accident that you were in, giving you your anemia?"
"Yeah." I fingered the scar visible on my chest.
"We hadn't thought it possible, but you seem to be recovering from the trauma your body had experienced then. I can't guarantee the disappearance of the phantom pains, but your body is much stronger than it was last time you had a checkup." He took a breath. "The extent of your injuries back then were such that it is remarkable that you are still alive today, Mr. Tohno. The fact that you are getting stronger is a testament to human will."
I stared back at him, dumbfounded. What could have done this? Were my eyes of death beginning to weaken?
Never in my life had I ever thought that this would happen. Possibilities, worries, excitement-- I experienced it all in the blink of an eye. I signed a few forms and left with my aunt and Miyako.
Was this connected to the dream? I prayed that it wasn't so.
"Shiki, are you sure you want to go to school today?"
"Yeah, auntie. Don't worry about me. You know what the doctor said."
"Yes, I know, it's just..." She suddenly came up and embraced me. I awkwardly returned the hug, not quite feeling comfortable with the contact. What had brought this on? "I've been so worried for years, dear, then suddenly hearing that you were getting better, I just--"
I grinned and pulled away, patting her on the shoulder. "This is a good thing, auntie."
"Yes, you're right Shiki." She wiped a few tears away. "Have fun at school."
"I will, auntie!"
I rushed out of the door with my bag in hand. A new feeling of life surged within me and I felt as if I had found something missing for years. Everything was so much clearer. My senses had been increased to the point where it was hard to associate today with yesterday. My body was exceedingly comfortable. It felt as though a weight had been taken off my shoulders.
I noticed disappointedly that Nagato hadn't come over to walk with me to school today. I let out a sigh and shrugged. I guess she had her own things to do.
The trip to school was uneventful and I yawned as I sat myself in the seat in front of Suzumiya. She was pretty quiet. I supposed that she didn't want to talk about the dream. However, I needed to confirm something. "Suzumiya, are you alright?"
"Mm?" She raised her head to look at me. "Of course I am! What made you think otherwise?"
I stared at her. I think my gaze made her feel uncomfortable because she turned away. Confusion was the word of the day. I didn't think she would back down to me. "Um, you just seemed a little down. That's all."
"Well I'm not, okay!"
I grinned sheepishly and backed off. So she had interpreted it as a bad dream. That's fine. I could think of about four or five worse scenarios than that.
I sat alone at lunch in the Literary Club clubroom, wondering where in the world Nagato was. She didn't live with anyone so I doubted that she had plans. Was she sick? I would need to go visit after school.
The door swung open. I turned my head up.
Who was this? A refined young girl with a head of green hair strode into the room with a regal air about her. She was perfectly calm. "Is this the SOS Brigade clubroom?"
"Um, I guess." This was still technically the Literary Club, but whatever.
"Please come with me."
She turned around and started walking. What did she want? I followed her for a good two minutes before we came to a halt before a classroom door. She opened it and came in.
I followed her inside. It was perfectly empty. "Hey, what--"
I was blown back into a wall by the force of a hand crashing into my face. I grunted as my spine throbbed in agony from the impact. I hunched over and raised my eyes.
No. Not again.
My blood ran hot as I stared into the eyes of the young girl who had assaulted me. My breath hitched and I knew that it was happening all over again.
Kill.
I reached into my pocket for my knife, pausing briefly when I realized that it wasn't in there. Where had it gone? "Crap."
My pulse was out of control and I knew it would be difficult to keep a steady hand. I reached up to pull my glasses from my face.
Wait.
I pulled again, harder. The glasses.
They wouldn't come off.
"What have you done?" A low growl came from the depths of my throat and I knew that I was losing myself. I was at a terrible disadvantage. I could die.
She gazed at me impassively, reminding me of the old Nagato. It only served to make me angrier. "The Data Integration Thought Entity is not aware of the concept of your ability to delete data, but it is aware of your methods. We have judged that the factor that allows you to perform your deletions is entirely dependent on two conditions.
"One: Your glasses must be removed in order to realize your power.
"Two: You require physical contact with the subject of your choosing.
"A simple change in data has bonded your glasses to you, making the fulfillment of condition one impossible. The Data Integration Thought Entity is currently internally debating over theories regarding your glasses. The prevalent theory is that your ability is dependent on your eyes, and that the glasses act as a neutralizer for your power. Nothing in the data for your eyeglasses supports this theory, but then nothing in your data makes reference to your ability. We are acting based completely on conjecture and subjective evidence, but chances are high that we are correct.
"We have also observed that you have made use of a certain physical weapon in all of your battles with our Interfaces. By all means, such a weapon should not be able to permanently harm an Interface, let alone completely separate an Interface from the main body. However, I have taken the liberty of confiscating such a weapon in the event that it is indeed crucial to triggering your ability. It is currently on my person and I plan to make use of it if it indeed bestows upon the user such an ability.
"The odds are stacked in favor of my victory, Tohno Shiki. Do you yield?"
I looked up at her in disbelief. Of course. Actively taking on Nagato and Asakura like that... the rest of the Data Integration Thought Entity wouldn't leave me alone. I was to be executed. A man on death row.
...But then, I've always known that. What makes now any different?
Even with my glasses framed firmly on my face, my blood screamed at me to kill this nonhuman.
This aberration.
"B-back off, Kimidori." I took a step forward, holding out a hand in warning. It was shaking uncontrollably. "I-I don't want to kill you."
"That is irrelevant." She got within my striking distance, clearly unafraid of whatever I could do to her. Without the eyes I was an unarmed, scrawny fourteen year old boy. I could see why she wasn't frightened. "The Data Integration Thought Entity desires your destruction. Therefore, it will be so."
I tried again in vain to remove my glasses. They hadn't changed at all, but it was simply impossible to move them from their spot on my face.
She was on me in a flash. The Nanatsu-yoru was clutched in her hand. Nearly faster than I could follow, she thrust her arm forward.
Drip.
Blood spilled forth from the stab wound in my stomach. I stared down disbelievingly. I didn't think that it would hurt so much. I screamed in agony as the knife was withdrawn, aggravating my flesh further. My heart was beating rapidly, further wasting blood.
Being stabbed by the Nanatsu-yoru was some kind of irony, I suppose.
She made for a follow up attack at my head. I tried to dodge but screamed in agony as the fruit knife went through my shoulder, bone and all. She twisted her hand.
Fragments. That grinding noise I heard was the sound of bone fragments being wrested forth from their proper place. It was so grating that it nearly drowned out my cries of pain.
It didn't. Not quite.
"Ah...argh..." She had relented. I laid prostrate before her, trying to concentrate on her features through the haze. My body protested loudly as I scrambled onto my feet. Just standing was taking its toll on me. "You...aren't you afraid someone will come?"
"I have separated this classroom from the main data plane. We are currently in a closed space, beyond the conventional reach of nearly all other known entities." She motioned at the space around her. It was a mess of random imagery. I hadn't even noticed the change. "There is almost no risk of intrusion. You are free to make all the noise you wish."
Was that sadism I detected? No. I was imagining it.
I lost control of my legs and stumbled onto my bottom. The disturbance served to heighten the severity of my wounds and I felt my consciousness slipping faster.
The flow of my blood against my body.
Hot.
So hot. It burns.
Stop the pain.
Do not die.
Kill her.
I furrowed my brow and closed my eyes in reaction to my own thoughts.
But.
...It was right.
To end this, I had to kill Kimidori. That was the solution that was the least likely to end in my death.
My eyes shot open and I stared up at her eyes. Unnatural eyes. They gave the outward impression of innocent humanity, but I had enough experience to look deeper. To see further.
Beyond that beautiful screen there lay nothing.
I blocked out the pain. My body became detached from my mind.
My left arm had been disabled, with no chance of recovering use due to skeletal injuries. That didn't really matter as long as I still retained the use of my right arm, as my left arm wouldn't have been accurate enough in combat to fight someone like Kimidori. At the worst, I had lost some balance and mobility.
Both wounds I had sustained were rapidly leaking blood and the overall state of my body was deteriorating with each moment I waited.
My legs weren't receiving enough oxygen due to lack of blood flow. That was okay because my agility mattered little. Kimidori was much faster than me regardless of my health.
So, only one option remained. There was only one thing I could do that would end this fight in my favor.
I glanced coolly up at Kimidori, who seemed to be thinking about something. "Strange. Your heart rate has just slowed immensely. Isn't it a natural biological response for human beings to go into shock after sustaining such injuries?"
I didn't say anything. Words weren't necessary. Her head was cocked to one side in a parody of human mannerisms. "I suppose it matters little. Very well then." She raised my knife above her head. "Farewell, Tohno Shiki."
Her arm fell at an inhuman rate, the knife plunging deep into my chest. I felt it pierce through muscle, bone, and tissue before finally embedding itself in my heart.
Blood dripped down the edges of my mouth as I gave my assailant a sickly smile.
My hand was embedded in her stomach, where her point of 'existence' was. The two lenses of my glasses fell to the ground with an audible 'click.'
She gave me a single dumbfounded stare before fading into oblivion.
I collected the lenses from the ground and shoved them into my pocket. Immediately after the movement, the world went out of focus and I toppled to the ground with a thud. Blood pooled around me and I smiled even as I passed away.
The sun nearly blinded me when I had seen fit to open my eyes.
I was lying on a hospital bed for the second time in two days, except that there were far more instruments hooked up to me. I risked a glance at my heart rate monitor. The reading was quite low. With a sigh, I sunk back into the bed and grinned up at the ceiling.
It had worked just as planned.
By letting Kimidori have a lethal strike, I had trapped her while I went cross eyed and pierced the point of 'existence' on my glasses frame. They had subsequently ceased to exist and I was free to plunge my hand into her point of 'existence.'
The only flaw with my plan was the inevitability of dying immediately afterwards. Back then, I had put my faith in Suzumiya wanting my company enough to manipulate death into leaving me be. It was stupid. It was reckless. It was utterly convoluted.
It had worked.
I gave a hoarse laugh, startling the nurse who had come in to check on me. I blushed and smiled at her. She returned the smile uneasily and left the room, probably to go tell the doctor that I was awake.
A jovial and neatly groomed North High freshman entered instead and I had to do a double take.
Koizumi?
"Hello, Kyon." He went over to my bedside and placed a hand on my sheets. "It's good to see that you're alive. You gave us all quite the scare."
"Wait, where am I?"
He gave a light laugh and gestured to the room we were in. "This is a hospital managed by the Agency I work for. I guessed that your family wouldn't be able to afford the intensive care that you needed in order to stay alive. The Agency was able to provide state-of-the-art equipment, unavailable to the general public, in order to keep you living."
"...Why?"
"God's in her heaven Kyon." He nodded towards the door. "Actually, she's in the waiting room. But as long as you're alive I think she'll be satisfied. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't made it. In fact, I'm almost entirely certain that it was Miss Suzumiya's powers that stabilized you during surgery."
"What about my glasses?"
"My, Kyon. You are full of questions today." He shrugged exaggeratedly and took a pair of lenses out of his pocket. "Here you are. I don't know what happened to the frame, but these are in pristine condition."
I noticed with a start that I had been staring at the lines with no discomfort for nearly five minutes. The soft sound of an IV drip made me groan. Painkillers. "Hey, Koizumi. Do you think you could go and get another frame for those? I'll pay you back."
"These?" He looked curiously at the little pieces of glass lying in his hand. "Are these not just for show, Kyon?"
"They are, but they're kind of important to me. A friend of mine gave them to me as a present."
He nodded. "I see. I'll go drop by a shop and see what I can do." He sat down in a nearby chair and crossed his legs and arms, looking intently at me. "Now, if you would like to explain exactly what happened?"
"It wasn't--"
"Wasn't much?" He gave a sardonic grin. "Kyon, you were stabbed in the heart. Even ignoring the other two stab wounds-- one of which nearly shattered all the bones in your shoulder-- that is quite a big deal."
"Well, okay then." I took a breath. Now, what was the proper way to explain this? "Well, someone told me to go and follow them somewhere."
"And you complied? You didn't ask what they wanted?"
"They mentioned the SOS Brigade. That was all I needed to know."
"Ah, I see." Koizumi's chuckle sounded rather bitter. I laid back down and closed my eyes, waiting for him to continue. "Go on."
"Anyway, they assaulted me with a knife the moment I followed them into the class."
"Did you see their face?"
"Yeah. It was a girl with green hair." Green hair was a distinguishing feature, but I had never seen Kimidori before in my life. Chances were that she had appeared at the school on that one occasion just to take me out. "She was dressed in a uniform, but I don't think she was really a student."
"If she was, we would have caught her already Kyon." He drooped his head and sighed, an action that was decidedly out of character with his chosen persona. "As it is, we couldn't find any evidence aside from the knife that was buried in your chest."
--The knife.
"Where's the knife now?"
He looked at me strangely. Thinking back, it was an extremely odd thing for a victim to ask about the whereabouts of the weapon used to assault him. "It's currently being used in the investigation. I don't know exactly where it is, but I would guess the Agency has it stored in an evidence vault."
"I see." I felt a pang of disappointment at losing the Nanatsu-yoru, though I couldn't guess why.
"Is there anything else Kyon?"
"Not really. I was stabbed three times and then it was over."
"Alright then." His smile turned warm. Or lukewarm, depending on how you interpreted it. "Then, there's someone who's been waiting a long time to see you Kyon."
He stood up and disappeared out the door. After a few seconds, I heard the distant sound of something crashing, followed by heavy footfalls.
Crash.
The door swung open, slamming against the wall. The staff I could see out in the hallway didn't look pleased.
"Suzumiya. Yo."
"Yo? Yo?"
"Yo."
She marched up to me and grabbed the front of my hospital gown, raising me up a few centimeters. I pointed solemnly at the various instruments keeping me stable and she blushed and let me go. She sank down into the same seat Koizumi had been using, a scowl placed firmly on her face. "You're not taking this seriously enough Kyon. You almost died."
Oh, believe me. I knew exactly what it meant to take death seriously. "Well, it's not too bad."
"What, dying?"
"No, idiot." She clocked me on the head. The heart rate monitor seemed to fluctuate and she muttered a curt apology. "Being here. I'm pretty high right now."
"Wha-what? Are you serious?"
"No, no. I was just joking." Was I? I didn't know exactly what they were giving me and how much. Enough morphine could easily put me in a strange mindset. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about Suzumiya?"
"About you getting stabbed, of course!" She rolled her eyes. "No Kyon, I want to talk about the weather."
"I can't really tell. All these meds are making me numb."
She seemed to seethe for a moment before her eyes softened. "Kyon...please--"
"Alright, so basically someone called me out and stabbed me when I wasn't looking. They asked about the SOS Brigade so I thought maybe she was one of your friends Suzumiya."
She looked down. She seemed to be thinking.
The movement of the lines surrounding her were making me nervous. Several had jutted out through the wall in the direction of the school.
"How dare they."
"How dare they what?"
"How dare they assault a member of the SOS Brigade! Kyon, we need to get them back for this."
I gaped. I couldn't help it. It was fine when this girl wanted to go search for aliens, time travelers, and espers. Those were fine childhood fantasies and I suppose to a point she had succeeded. But now, she wanted to go search for a killer.
"Suzumiya. That's the police's job."
"No Kyon. It's our responsibility to catch whoever attacked you."
"Look, I'm glad you're concerned about me, but--"
"Concerned about you?" She huffed and turned her nose towards the ceiling. I think there was a term for this sort of behavior but it escaped me. "I'm not concerned about you. I just want people to know what happens when you mess with the SOS Brigade!"
I turned a critical eye in her direction. She visibly stiffened for some reason. "What are you going to do to her if you find her Suzumiya?"
"I--"
"Are you going to kill her?"
"Kyon-- what--"
I relaxed and closed my eyes. I needed some rest. "Never mind. Just...just think this through, okay? Don't do anything rash."
"Whatever." She got up and made to leave. As she stepped into the door frame she turned around and we made brief eye contact. Again, she seemed to shiver before righting herself and slamming the door shut.
Curious, I glanced at the window.
It was just my reflection. Only, its eyes were glowing a rather eerie shade of blue. The painkillers were probably doing more harm than good at this point.
I closed my eyes and laid back down. Even if I couldn't feel it, I had probably been frying my brain that entire time.
I awakened to find Koizumi standing over my bed, a pair of unfamiliar glasses gripped loosely in his hands. "Here. There's no need to pay me; think of this as a 'welcome back to the living' present, if you will."
I grinned against my will and accepted the glasses. The frames he had picked out were the same basic style as my old ones, but with the advantage of being lighter and thinner. It was wiry, and didn't look too durable. Not very practical, but it did look a lot nicer then when Sensei had given it to me.
"Thanks."
"It was a pleasure."
I slipped them on and relaxed as the world returned to perfect clarity. Finally assured that the lines were no longer killing me, I turned my attentions to Koizumi, not hesitating to look him in the eye. "So, anything new happen?"
"Well, we did find out something interesting about the knife."
"Really?"
"Yes. It had an inscription on it." He took a photo out of his wallet and handed it to me. It was a closeup of the 'Nanatsu-yoru' kanji. "It reads--"
"Seven nights."
"Haha, I suppose that's one way of looking at it. But interpret it a different way. Do you see it now? It reads 'Nanaya.'"
The word rang true in my mind and I knew that Koizumi was right. I tilted the picture a little, trying to get a different perspective.
--There.
I could see it now. Read it like that, and it's Nanatsu-yoru, the seven nights. But read it like that...
"Koizumi, what does 'Nanaya' mean?"
He shrugged. "No one at the Agency is sure. We think that it's a family name, but we can't find any records of a house of 'Nanaya.'"
If it was a family name, why had Tohno Makihisa been in possession of it? Why had he given it to me?
I looked outside. It was nighttime.
Tonight-- the moon looked so beautiful.
"Do you what Nagato's up to?"
"Miss Nagato?" He swiveled his head to glance at me. "I haven't seen her all day, to tell you the truth."
"What, no one's told her what happened to me yet?"
"Miss Suzumiya is very kind. She didn't want Miss Nagato to worry about you, so she instructed us not to inform her."
I reached for my cellphone before remembering that I was in a hospital gown."Koizumi, let me use your cellphone."
"Certainly." He handed over a sleek looking tablet thing that was a far cry from the blocky flip phone that I had been using for the past three years. I hurriedly dialed Nagato's number.
Pick up, pick up.
"Hello?"
"Nagato, it's Shiki."
"Shiki! I haven't seen you in three days."
I shot a look at Koizumi. Three days? We'd have a talk about this later. "Well, I'm a bit preoccupied Nagato. Sorry I couldn't visit."
"It's okay..."
"Hey, cheer up. We'll go get lunch or coffee or whatever you want after I'm discharged."
"D-discharged?" Oh crap. I had forgotten to tell her.
"Well, I'm in the hospital--"
"Where?"
"Hold on, Koizumi'll tell you."
I handed the phone to him. There was something sour about his smile as he spoke in a comparatively amiable tone to Nagato. "Hello Miss Nagato. Yes. No. Ah, at the corner of Sakura and Matou. Sure. Good day."
He handed the phone back to me. "Shiki, what happened?" Her voice was trembling.
"I'll tell you when you get here, okay? Maybe you should come tomorrow, it's a little dark--"
"No Shiki. I-I'm worried about you."
"Fine then. Take care."
"Bye."
"...Thanks."
The line went dead and I returned Koizumi's phone. Explaining all of this to Suzumiya and Koizumi had been simple because they weren't as fragile as Nagato was. Even after all these weeks, I knew she was still confused about things. At all the little inconsistencies that surrounded her, made her scratch her head and wonder 'when did that happen?'
For one of her only friends to get stabbed three times and land in a hospital...
Maybe Suzumiya had been right. I didn't want her to see me like this.
The door to my room slowly swung inwards and I caught a glimpse of lavender out of the corner of my eye. Nagato walked carefully over to my bedside, trying not to make a sound.
She stood there for quite some time, not moving or talking.
Without warning, she sank to her knees and took a hold of my hand, crying softly into the bedsheets. She unsteadily lifted herself onto the bed and lightly grasped at my gown. My body was too numb to reach around and hold her. I felt so helpless.
"Sh-shiki..."
"Er..." What did one do in this situation when they couldn't really move? Actually, that was incorrect. I could move to hug her, but then my IV drip would be forcibly ripped out of my vein. That was a sight neither of us wanted to see.
"Ma'am, visiting hours are over now--" The nurse from earlier had come in. She froze, startled by the sight in front of her. I shot her a pleading glance. With a sad smile, she nodded and turned out of the room.
Eventually, Nagato fell asleep.
I yawned. That was a good idea.
I woke up the next morning with something heavy weighing down on my chest.
I opened my eyes. Nagato was lying there, curled up against me. Oh, that's right. She had fallen asleep there last night. I wouldn't have minded normally, but it was kind of painful right after open heart surgery.
"Nagato." I nudged her with the joint of my index finger. They must have lowered my dosage of the painkillers. I could move freely, and I was beginning to get a headache. Now, if I could only reach my glasses on the bedside table...
"Mmmm?" She yawned cutely and stretched, evoking images of cats in my mind. I couldn't help it. Pain be damned, I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled her hair. "Ah!"
"Morning, Nagato."
She blushed and removed herself from me. Flustered, she looked back and forth from me to the door. "G-good morning, Shiki. Do you want breakfast? I-I can go and--"
"Nah." I flexed an arm. I was a lot weaker than when I had fought Kimidori. The doctor had said it would be alright to exercise after my last examination, but I wasn't so sure after this. "Can you hand me my glasses?"
She moved over to the nightstand and plucked the glasses up, expertly perching them on my face. I breathed a sigh of relief. That constant, nagging pressure had finally relented. My mind clear, I sank back into the bed, trying to get some natural, mostly-drug-free rest.
Suzumiya burst into the room, a large smile on her face. Said smile quickly disappeared when she caught sight of Nagato. "What is she doing here?"
I opened my mouth to answer but Nagato beat me to it. "I'm here to see Shiki."
"Hm." The other girl seemed to ponder this. She turned to me, confusion evident on her somewhat tired features. Exactly how early was it? "Wait, visitor hours just started!"
Oh boy.
"I stayed the night, Miss Suzumiya." I voicelessly begged them to stop with my eyes. They either didn't notice or just didn't care about the poor guy in the hospital bed.
"What?!" Suzumiya rounded upon the smaller girl and I felt my blood run cold. Her considerable athleticism would give her an edge if the two started to fight. "How--- why did they let you do that?"
Nagato blushed and answered softly. "I don't know."
"Kyon! Did she honestly stay up here the entire night?"
"She uh..."
"She what?!"
"Nothing, nothing." The less she knew, the better.
"Shiki--"
"Shiki, Shiki, Shiki." Suzumiya spat out my name with disgust. Was she going to start calling me that?
No. I could only be so lucky.
"Yuki, why don't you just call him Kyon? Everyone else does."
"His...his name is Shiki." She stared Suzumiya squarely in the eye. To see the meek girl stand up to someone who could strike her down with a thought was utterly astounding for me. "That's...that's the name he likes. That he wants to be called by. I...don't want him to be unhappy."
"You talk about him like he's your boyfriend or something." Suzumiya's little smirk faded as she seemed to realize something. "Unless...he is your boyfriend?"
"Suzumiya, it's nothing like that!"
"Quiet Kyon!" She turned back to Nagato. "Well? Is he?"
"I...don't know."
Slap.
That was the last--
"AUUUUGH!" I tried to stop the fountain of blood coming from where the IV had ripped out in vain. It splattered all over my sheets, and I could see Suzumiya run out calling for a nurse while I bit back the searing pain.
Ba-bump.
I was feeling lightheaded. I was losing so much blood.
Ba-bump.
My heart was pounding twice as fast to compensate for the lack of blood, but that only served to hasten the flow of blood out of my wound. I was quickly losing consciousness.
A nurse came and hastily bandaged my wound, taking great care not to aggravate it further. I breathed heavily and hunched over in the bed, seeing the world through the curtain of my bangs. My left hand cradled my right wrist tenderly. I stared downwards.
Nagato laid there on the ground, a hand to her reddened cheek, little lines of blood running from where Suzumiya's nails had made contact.
"Why-- why did she--"
If she had still been in the room after that I had no doubt I would have made to attack again. When I saw Nagato hurt, something inside me had instinctively tried to hurt Suzumiya, consequences be damned.
After all, turnabout is fair play...
Neither Nagato or I had moved from our spots. Eventually, I got up since my IV was no longer in place. It was hard to walk straight, but I made it far enough to reach a hand out to help her up. She stared at it blankly for a few moments before gratitude flooded her face and she accepted.
I went crashing to the ground. I had forgotten how weak I was.
"So, that didn't go well."
I didn't get a response.
Suzumiya and Nagato hadn't come back after that. It didn't matter since I was being discharged.
After the usual forms I was handed a bundle of street clothes that Sempai and Koizumi had apparently picked out for me as a present while I was sleeping. I went back to my room and slipped them on.
Perfect fit. Should I be worried about that?
I glanced at myself in the mirror. It didn't look bad at all.
In fact, I thought with some resentment, this is much nicer than what I usually wear.
I stepped out into the sun for the first time in a week. I took a deep breath.
Wow. Nothing like it.
I decided to head home as my first destination. Koizumi had told me as far as my relatives were concerned I was on a trip with the rest of the SOS Brigade. Apparently we had gone to China for a week. Koizumi later admitted to me that it had been a completely arbitrary location.
"But I don't know anything about China." I remembered that conversation we had two days ago after he explained why my family hadn't shown up to visit.
He handed me a small brochure and I had killed about an hour reading it. Hello in Chinese was nihao or something. That was something.
Well, I never was very attentive during trips.
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door. I stepped in, slipping out of the overly expensive new shoes I had been given. My old pair was ruined by bloodstains, apparently. Personally, I thought that Koizumi had just gone completely overboard. If he wanted to give me a present, a knife like the one I had lost would have done. Something a bit more manly than new clothes.
A voice from behind me nearly made me jump. "Yo, Tohno!"
I turned around to find the ever-mischievous face of Arihiko staring down at me. A scowl of irritation played across his lips. "Hey, Arihiko."
"Man, I haven't seen you in a week." He put an arm around my shoulder. I noticed bemusedly that he was probably the only person I knew that could do things like that and still act macho. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Around, doing stuff."
"What stuff?"
"Went to China for a bit."
"China?" His eyes lit up. "Tohno...hey man...is it true?"
"True?" I gave him a confused look. "What's true?"
"C'mon, you know what they say about--"
I saw where this was going and I cut him off. "Never mind that."
"You're such a killjoy, Tohno. I was just joking." He puffed his chest out proudly. "You know that I'm a good old fashioned man of integrity!"
"Arihiko, you skip school and gamble half the week away."
"Well, school sucks." He sat down on my porch and glared out at no one. "That's that."
"Say, have you had any luck playing the pachinko parlors lately?"
"What?" A grin returned to his stoic features. His eyes were wild with excitement. "Oh like you wouldn't believe Tohno. I made a killing at this one place downtown last night. You should totally come with me man. You've always got the best luck."
I glanced down at my bound left arm. I still had enough movement left in it to keep it sort of natural, but it was a constant reminder of the feeling of bones being ground up by tempered metal. "I've got luck alright, but I wouldn't call it good."
"Oh, I know. Your anemia is a standing testament to that." He clapped a hand down on my shoulder and I winced. Thank god he hadn't gone a little farther left. "But you always score with the chicks and stuff so I figured you might be good at stuff like gambling."
His nonsensical logic astounded me yet again. I shook my head. "Do you want to come in Arihiko?"
"Nah." Suddenly, he gripped my right forearm. "C'mon man, let's go hit the town. You never do anything fun."
I was about to just tell him off again when I remembered what I had promised to Nagato a few days ago. I bent down to put my shoes back on. "Sorry Arihiko. I've got a date to make."
"Really?" He pondered my words for a while before making a gesture of understanding. His level of animation made me crack a small grin. "Oh, I know. It's with the lovely Miss Nagato, is it not?"
"Actually, yeah." I got up and started to walk. Let him think what he wants.
"So you and her really hit it off, huh? I guess that explains the clothes."
I was still wearing the overly dressy outfit that Sempai and Koizumi had gotten for me. I would have been happy just wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Nagato wouldn't have minded. We'd gone out dozens of times in casual clothing. "She isn't my girlfriend or anything. I'm just treating her to lunch."
"Whatever you say man, whatever you say." He winked at me. I felt perturbed. "Just don't be indecisive, Tohno."
"Indecisive?" What did he mean by that?
"Do you remember Sacchin?"
I didn't.
"Yumizuka Satsuki?"
"Ah, her." Her smiling face surfaced from my memories. She really was a sweet girl. The nickname was a perfect fit. "Everyone called Yumizuka Sacchin because she was so sweet."
"Except you, Tohno." He let out an exaggerated sigh and gestured frantically with his hands. "Anyway, you couldn't decide between her and that one girl, remember?"
"Um, Yumizuka was interested in me?"
"What? You mean you didn't know?" His entire body seemed to droop down in defeat. "I swear you are the absolute most dense person I've ever met Tohno. Yes, Sacchin was interested in you. No, she never told you. But it was obvious enough.
"Now, I don't even remember the other girl's name. But she told you flat out that she wanted to go out with you. And do you remember what you did?"
I groaned. Yes, I remembered that all too well. "I screamed." It was her fault for not listening to me when I told her not to take off my glasses. She had to have been in astoundingly poor health to have death that easily visible in her future. I let my mind wander in concern for her before Arihiko interrupted me with a bold exclamation.
"Like a goddamn pansy!" He shook his fist for emphasis. What was with this guy and his interest in my personal life? "It was then that I decided that you had some sort of magical gland that attracted beautiful women to you or something. There was no other explanation to how a sissy like you could catch the eye of beauties like that. It was ridiculous. You didn't even choose, Tohno! The entire year went by and you didn't give either of them the time of day."
"Yumizuka never even talked to me." I crossed my arms defiantly. How was I supposed to know if she never told me?
"Tohno, it's called body language. You even came close and she would light up like a red Christmas ornament!" This time his words made me think of Koizumi for some reason.
I shuddered.
"So I worried for a while that you were gay or something." I shot him a dirty look. "Hey, I ain't homophobic or anything and I know you like chicks. Well, I think."
I punched him in the shoulder with my good arm. He stared down pityingly where I had hit him. "Man, Tohno. You hit like a girl now."
"I haven't had the chance to get much exercise."
"I can tell." He sucked in air through his teeth. "You're pale as a ghost."
"I never could get a very good tan." I stopped walking. We had made it to Nagato's apartment complex. "Well, later Arihiko."
"Later, Tohno." I watched him walk away before he suddenly turned around and looked me gravely in the eye. "Tohno?"
"Yeah?"
"Take care of yourself man. You're looking terrible." And with that he departed.
Well, I was grateful for the clothes now. At the least they would distract Nagato from my current state of health. I ran a hand through my hair self-consciously. I hadn't shampooed in a week...
As the elevator ascended my thoughts drifted back to the knife that had been taking by Koizumi's Agency. I unconsciously clenched my fists until the knuckles were white. The absence of the knife's weight in my pocket was actually throwing me off balance. I felt as if a light breeze could topple me over. A ding.
I hobbled out of the elevator and sat against the wall. I needed a break.
"Shit..." I spoke softly aloud to myself. I put my hand onto my aching chest. Every beat was a veritable pang of extreme discomfort.
Pain.
It was just pain.
Enduring it was simple.
Rising to my feet was difficult, but I manged. I stumbled my way over to Nagato's apartment, giving a yelp as I tripped. Their new frame was enough to send my glasses flying over to the other wall from the impact.
"Ugh..."
Suddenly, a flash of gray overtook my vision. I looked up. Nagato had opened the door, walking towards me to lend me a helping hand. I smiled and reached up to grasp her palm.
--Only to meet nothing.
I stared at my empty hand and murmured under my breath. "What the hell?"
Seconds later, Nagato had opened the door again, walking towards me in a similar fashion. She reached out her hand again. I stared at it in a daze. Déjà vu.
"Shiki?"
"Huh?" I took her hand absentmindedly and got to my feet. I retrieved my glasses and took her hand again. "Sorry about that. Just wasn't paying attention."
"It's okay." She gave me a hesitant smile and leaned forward for a hug. Surprised but happy, I wrapped my good arm around her.
"What's this about?"
"You're back Shiki." She nuzzled my face affectionately with her cheek. I felt both our faces flush from the contact. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Alright then." I pulled away and grinned. "Where do you want to go first?"
"Nagato. I can't go on this ride. I had heart surgery like a week ago."
How had she even convinced me to come to a carnival with her? What in the world was a carnival doing in the middle of a small prefecture like ours?
"Oh." She stared down disappointedly. I couldn't bear the expression.
"Are you hungry? We haven't eaten lunch yet."
"Yes."
"Where do you want to eat?" I gestured out towards the various stands littering the fairground. Hot dogs, pizza, chicken wings-- it was a very Western affair. I didn't really have a taste for any of it.
She pointed towards the pizza stand. Pizza it was then.
My poor, aching heart.
I paid for a few slices and returned to the table. The look of hunger on her face was so uncharacteristic of her that I felt the irresistible need to make fun of her. "If you eat too much you'll get fat."
"Wha-?" Her eyes widened and she blushed and pushed the food away. I laughed heartily and picked up a slice. "Here, here. I was just kidding."
I maneuvered the pizza to her mouth, my eyes softening as I watched her take a nibbling bite at the end of the slice. She ate slowly and demurely. No mess, no waste. Those were the idle thoughts that preoccupied my mind watching her eat so daintily.
"Shiki?" She looked up from her slice and motioned towards the food that I had left untouched on my plate.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Got a bit caught up in the moment." I feasted down hungrily on the fatty food. My doctor had recommended against such things, but he didn't explicitly say no. On dates like this, it was okay to live a little wasn't it?
"Um." Oh no. Had I disgusted her? A week of hospital food wasn't the best thing for my table manners.
"N-nagato, I'm sorry. I'll eat a little slower--"
"No, that's not it." She pointed over my shoulder.
The remainder of the SOS Brigade came strolling towards us, the leader placed firmly at the head of the group. Her arms were crossed in that classic female display of disease. She unceremoniously planted herself in a chair at our table. Sempai and Koizumi had a few more manners and remained standing. "Hello, Kyon."
"Hey, Koizumi." I nodded towards Sempai. "Sempai."
"Hi Kyon." Her voice was quiet. Something was troubling her.
"So what are you doing here Kyon, dressed so nicely?" Suzumiya had claimed the space directly proceeding greetings for her own. The conversation was hers now. "Why didn't you invite the rest of us?"
"I thought the SOS Brigade wasn't concerned with such things." I gave a cocky grin and leaned back a little in my seat. "After all, you didn't want to be mixed in with something so normal--"
--Oh GOD, my chest.
Suzumiya took me by the collar and was roughly shaking my form up and down, causing my unstable heart to go utterly crazy. My glasses went flying off my face, landing on the table somewhere near Nagato. My head began to pound in time with my heart.
Ba-dum.
The lines around Suzumiya were manipulating the world around us and I could easily see myself throwing up. She probably wouldn't like that.
"Sto-stop."
"Kyon, I am the Brigade Chief and I will decide what is and is not pertinent to our interests!" She shook me harder. I didn't think I could take much more. "The next time you decide to do something like this, I demand that you give me a call and--"
Her words stopped short. That unfamiliar flash of gray overtook my vision again and I saw Nagato walk up to Suzumiya, say something, then get slapped. She fell to the ground, the blood painting an arc through the open air. I cried out.
"Why did you hit her?!"
"What?" Suzumiya looked utterly confused and I noticed Nagato rise out of her seat in the corner of my eye. I grasped Suzumiya's wrists firmly and pushed off of her, jumping back to avoid further entanglement. I slouched over and inhaled sharply, trying to catch my breath and stem the pain. My glasses were pushed into my hand by someone. I looked up to find Koizumi smiling at me.
"Those were a present, you know. Take care of them."
"Ha..."
A single breath escaped me, trying by itself to form into a laugh. Impossible, when the rest of my voice didn't follow. I fell to my knees, gray flashes and black lines punctuating scenes I had never seen before.
Suzumiya standing over a lifeless world.
Someone surrounded by dozens of people, all with a gun trained on him.
A white-haired man, his bare hands tearing the hearts out of both men and women.
A solitary figure holding a knife, his eyes completely obscured by a strip of white cloth.
I laid there panting in the dirt. Several other carnival goers had gathered around me to see what had happened. A middle aged man was being pestered by his daughter to call an ambulance. I caught her eye and shook my head. My smile seemed to pacify her and she backed off. I rose to my feet, consciously tracking my balance.
"What...what in the world."
My lips formed delirious words that even I couldn't understand. Formless, useless babble. A string of unrelated thoughts that held neither logic or context.
A stream of consciousness, unbound by rhyme or reason.
True thoughts, bubbling forth from the personality of the mind.
Player is prayer, yes, dance romanesque--
"Ugh..." I shambled forward and collapsed back into my seat. Flashes of gray. Memories that I didn't experience.
--Or were they memories?
A whiff of something pleasantly aromatic.
Ah.
Nagato's hair.
...Oh crap, Suzumiya. Please don't--
"Get off of him!" The comforting presence was suddenly jerked away and I saw myself in the pools of Suzumiya's brown eyes. The clarity was astounding. "Kyon, what the hell happened to you?"
"Ah..." I put my glasses back on and frowned. The frame was a little off, presumably because of all the abuse. Normalcy took root in my mind again and I felt as if I could maybe play this entire incident off. "Well, I did just have heart surgery. I'm honestly not too surprised."
"What were you thinking, coming out here to play with Yuki when you should have been at home resting?!" She grabbed my collar, probably not even listening to her own words about rest. Incidents like these were far more jarring than anything Nagato could possibly come up with. "March your ass back home right now!"
"I was going to do that anyway." I straightened my jacket. She probably wasn't going to let me go without a fight. Guess I'd save her the trouble. "Any of you want to come with me?"
Everyone accepted pretty quickly. It had slipped my mind that none of them had ever come to visit before, save Nagato. She was a special case, after all. Suzumiya put up a bit of resistance though.
"I-I don't have time to play games with--"
"No games. Well, maybe some video games. I figure you aren't the Twister type."
And then she had shut up and we made the long walk back to my house. Coming into my small bedroom made me realize just how many people there were.
Nagato, Suzumiya, Koizumi, Sempai, and me. Five people. There wasn't all that much space.
"Er...let's just go down to the living room."
So we did, and here we were taking turns playing video games with Suzumiya, who was unsurprisingly unbeatable. "Ha!"
The forty-seven hit combo made my head spin. Seriously, how?
It was Nagato's turn. I saw her position her thumbs over the buttons with smooth precision. Had she done this before?
The announcer's voiced cried out and the two characters on the screen burst into action. Special attacks flew through the air and I wasn't really sure who was winning.
Suzumiya's character was largely melee orientated, preferring to get up close and personal with a small dagger. There was a small smirk set on his face as his arms exploded into a flurry of stabs and slashes. Despite being the perfect match for her personality, I felt an uncomfortable affinity with him.
Nagato's character was somewhat different, though the same in a lot of respects. The physical appearance was nearly identical to the character Suzumiya had chosen, though I noticed that the color palette used on him was a lot less severe. So perhaps the other one was the evil twin?
--Never mind.
Either way, the character also fought with a dagger though he had a longer reach. His animations were noticeably slower and less flashy, though I could see that Nagato wasn't having a problem working around that. Suzumiya was trying to keep a constant pressure on her, but it didn't work with her character. That fantastic speed was made for stinging then falling back.
She had neglected to do that, and was losing.
Nagato's special bar had filled up all the way. She did a dash backwards then time slowed down. Afterimages trailed behind her character as he crossed the air, his knife poised to kill.
Contact. Lines filled the screen and I reached up to make sure my glasses were still on.
Crash. Glass shattered and Suzumiya's character fell to the ground, dead.
"What?" She chucked her controller furiously down. Luckily, we were sitting on a sofa. "How did I lose?"
"Miss Suzumiya, you--"
"Save it. I don't want to hear it Yuki." She began walking out. Common courtesy told me to call after her.
"Suzumiya, are you leaving?"
"Yeah." She turned her nose up. "This was a total waste of my time."
The door closed. I turned towards everyone else.
"So...anyone want to order takeout?"
"Kyon, I thought we had gone over this."
Nagato had gone to the bathroom and the pair had taken the opportunity to confront me with something that I didn't even really want to acknowledge. "Eh, what's the harm in--"
"The harm is possible destruction of the known universe." His eyes turned cold, creating a disturbing inconsistency with his smile. That expression wasn't remotely natural. "Why do you continue to do these things, Kyon? Miss Nagato is a Humanoid Interface. If you happen to be romantically interested in her, she can never reciprocate."
"T-that's not it!" I bit my tongue. Had to keep my voice down. Nagato was just in the other room. "She just looked so lonely. I think she really needed a friend, Koizumi."
"We're her friends, Kyon." Sempai made a perfectly genuine statement that was at the same time utterly incorrect.
"Sorry Sempai. But she needed someone who could spend time with her outside the club." I sighed. "Look...I know you think she's not human. But I know her. I've seen her happy, hurt, sad---"
"No, Kyon. You see what the Data Integration Thought Entity wishes for you to see." A chortle escaped his mouth. Even his control had to slip once in a while. "I'm surprised we waited until she left to discuss this. Undoubtedly she is recording this even now."
"...Maybe." I knew it was impossible. Maybe the Data Entities were keeping tabs on me, but--
Hold on, what?
My chest constricted. I hadn't even thought about that until now. Such a being had the power to easily spy on my friends and family. A being of pure data, constantly tracking us, analyzing and storing our movements in memory until the time it decided that it had a perfect chance of victory. An omnipresent, omnipotent foe with no limits to its power. Endless numbers, to the extent that casualties weren't even a consideration.
A being that happened to be inhuman.
"Kyon?"
"Huh?" I looked up. They were looking at me strangely. "Nothing, keep going."
Nagato came in, sitting down beside me. She reached a hand out to grab at the popcorn we had made. "I'm back Shiki."
She didn't understand the glares that Sempai and Koizumi had sent at me.
"How fantastic."
Yet another stream of blood. Probably the thirtieth time that night.
"Yes, this is utterly perfect."
Four more fell to the blade known as 'Nanatsu-yoru.' I span on my heel to catch a fleeing child in the stomach. She screamed in pain before falling unconscious, bleeding to death. I spared her some mercy with an easy jab of my blade.
I waded through the sea of bodies, watching amusedly as several police officers trained their guns on me. A hail of bullets.
All the ones that hadn't missed fell uselessly to the ground, their momentum having been redirected by the flat of my blade. I flicked my knife at the nearest officer, noting the squad's surprised look at the metal bar that had suddenly appeared in his chest.
I was above him then, retrieving the Nanatsu-yoru while tearing his head off for good measure. A single flip landed me lightly onto the balls of my feet, ready to react to anything the officers could send at me.
They trembled at the sight of their dead comrade's head rolling around on the floor and I couldn't help but ham it up a little. I placed a hand in my pocket, practically daring them to try and shoot me.
They hesitated for a long time before opening fire. That was fine.
There. My eyes could easily follow all the shots. I ducked and weaved through the deadly maelstrom to get in range for my attack. Sliding onto my knees put me in the perfect position to cut their hands off.
So, I did.
Along with their hands went their firearms, the only real defense they had against me. One of the ones I hadn't gotten pulled out a baton. Was it his intention to fight me like that?
I smiled. What a novel idea.
A clumsy attempt to step into my guard. Whoever this was obviously hadn't trained enough at the police academy. It was a sickening display and I only had to move a few times in order to dodge the blows.
What foolishness, what--
A bullet tore through the back of my skull and out my forehead, killing me nigh instantaneously.
My last thoughts were pleasant ones.
Your turn.
A/N- To the reviewer who told me that Nanaya Shiki isn't a separate personality: thank you, but I knew that. I understand that he's not an alternate personality, and that he doesn't act like a murderous Dante, but I'm loosely basing him on some of the manga too, where Shiki clearly goes out of control during his Nanaya moments. I can't really claim that he becomes an entirely different person, per se, but if the manic grin and wild eyes are anything to go by then he's definitely not acting normal. Besides, anyone who played the game can probably spot a single instance of Nanaya as he should be in this chapter.