Chapter 17 - Mizuko ShirogetsuHollow Night“Sis, I’m scared.”

  I had expected as much. The first few times were always the most difficult, coming to grips with a new way of breathing, walking, gliding that completely contradicted what you’d been practicing.

  My eyes turned to search for hers, finding them much closer to my own eye level than expected. When had she gotten so tall?

  “It’s okay,” I affirmed, reaching out my hand. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

  Her nervous gaze flickered between myself and the ice, hesitant. I waited.

  After a few beats, her small fingers found mine, and slowly, we crept onto the rink. Instantly, I felt her grip tighten as she tried to find her bance, unstable feet swinging to and fro.

  “Calm down.” I instructed upon seeing her frantic movements. “Make sure your back is straight, feet shoulder width apart. Control your breath-“

  Without warning, both her feet had left the ground. In the moment, she appeared suspended in mid-air for a few precious seconds, before eventually plummeting onto the slippery surface below.

  “Owww!” She excimed, rubbing her back. “Y-You said I wouldn’t fall! You lied!”

  I could no longer contain the sigh I’d been holding back. This wasn’t going to work. Luckily, I knew exactly what would.

  “I’m not responsible for your ck of bance.” I jeered, grinning in the way I knew she despised. At her sudden stillness I took the opportunity to intensify my assault. “I apologize for bringing you here – I should’ve known it was too much for you.”

  I turned my back to her.

  “Go sit by Mother while I-“

  At the sharp pain that had bit into my right oblique, I almost lost my bance myself.

  Backing away, I spun around only to see Junko there, standing erect and confident, her thumb and index finger close from presumably just having pinched me.

  “Gotcha!” She smiled mischievously. I felt my teeth begin to grind. I suppose even all those years ago, we knew how to step on each other’s toes better than anybody.

  “Oh, now you’re in trouble!” The words left my mouth before I had the chance to register them. She was the only person who could get me like this.

  We spent the rest of our hour at the ice rink pying cat and mouse.

  With every slip, tumble, and fall she kept getting better and better. Soon enough I was actually having to put in effort to catch up to her.

  “It seems the two of you really enjoyed yourselves out there, hm?” Mother remarked. Eyes fixed on the road ahead. “I may have to join you next time.”

  “Yes! Yes!” Excimed Junko, excited. “We can all skate together!”

  I said nothing, though my lips were curving into a smile, in spite of myself.

  Well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever, I remember thinking, and I would end up being absolutely correct.

  The worst thing ever, instead, had unwfully entered into the box junction we had been waiting at.

  We never went back to that ice rink again.

  Now I look at my sibling once more, her face an echo of my own, yet simultaneously, markedly different. When had the silver of her eyes lost their innocent glow?

  Beneath all of the designer clothes, makeup, and accessories, where had my little sister escaped to?

  The chill of nighttime had struck me once more.

  “Back here again.” She compined, looking around until her eyes met mine. “…is there something on my face?”

  I shook my head.

  “No.” I confirmed. And that was exactly my problem.

  This had all but confirmed it. Our lives truly were on the line, and if we wanted to survive, we’d have to py by our captor’s rules.

  “Fuck.” Katoru cursed. “Kinda hoped the entirety of yesterday was a dream within a dream, but I guess that scenario’s been used already, huh?”

  “We’ll make it through this.” Furusawa encouraged. “We just need to stick together.”

  I took some time to register our location. We had been pced in Center Street again. Would this be the location we started from every night?

  To look at it from the perspective of a ‘game’, it made sense, given its namely central and well-connected location to Shibuya’s other areas.

  As I turned to the group to share my findings, I found the atmosphere had become incredibly thick with tension. The eyes of my comrades were hardened and hostile.

  I decided to follow their hard gazes, and soon enough, I felt a rage of my own begin to bubble.

  “Kurogane,” Rusuban started, though the pure venom in his voice was hard to ignore. “I believe you have some expining to do.”

  A few beats of taut silence passed, before Daisuke replied with a grin.

  “I don’t owe you shit, rep. Same goes for the rest of you.”

  My chest was heating up. I opened my mouth to speak, though it was not my voice I heard.

  “Shut the fuck up.” Katoru spat. “You talk a lot of shit for someone who damn near died a few hours back. If it weren’t for robes over here-“

  “Nobody asked you to help me.” Kurogane jeered. “You were better off leaving me for dead. Now you’re gonna regret it.”

  Perhaps fbbergasted wouldn’t even begin to do justice to my bewilderment at his irrationality and ingratitude. Was this the real him?

  “The hell is wrong with you?” Hoshino spoke. “You think this is some kind of game? Not for us!”

  She shot an arm out, her hand gesturing to the rest of our party.

  “We’re fighting for our fucking lives here, idiot! You think going off and doing your ‘edgy loner’ act is gonna fly here? Well, be my guest. If you end up a statistic in the morning, that’s on you.”

  No more was said after that. Hoshino had gotten to the heart of the matter. His grin had now shifted into a grimace, and soon enough, his hands had found the bck kusarigama given to him.

  Nobody moved.

  While Daisuke was presumably stronger due to having stolen that Noise’s EXS, even he must’ve known that trying to engage us here was a hopeless endeavour.

  Realizing this, he shook his head angrily and pointed the sickle’s curved bde in our direction.

  “Stay out of my way.” He warned, though I noted a distinct reluctance in his voice that was not present before.

  He span the chain in a circle before throwing it, the bde hooking the rooftop railing of a nearby building. Yanking on the irons, he catapulted toward it, before unhooking the bde mid-air, and repeating the process.

  Before long, we were watching him as he weaved, zipped, and grappled his away across the rooftops, until he went completely out of sight. When had he learned to traverse like this?

  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, a shadow scaled the building Daisuke had swung over, arriving at its top in an instant.

  Their cloak swaying in the wind, the darkness underneath Reaper’s hood turned to meet us – meet me, I felt – briefly, before they too disappeared, heading in Kurogane’s direction.

  “Well, now I just feel boring.” Katoru jeered after a while.

  “Great. Now both of them are gone..” Hoshino compined. “I don’t get what their deal is, but we can forget about them. Let’s just focus on the mission.”

  On cue, the various monitors, billboards, and screens began to whizz to life. As Juno’s ghastly image filled the dispys once again, I had to question – could we truly forget about them?

  Or was this the beginning of something much bigger than we’d anticipated?

  “Welcome back to the Hollow Night, my children.” Juno greeted. “I imagine you are eager to begin, so I will keep my communication brief. As previously discussed, each night you are to complete a mission I give to you. I will award points to pairs based on the actions you take over the course of each night. You will be returned to the real world upon the mission’s completion.”

  Good, nothing had changed. As despicable as they were, it seemed we could rely on Juno for at least being fair. Or so I hoped, anyway.

  “I have some questions.” I spoke immediately. It was better to get the mechanics of this pce sorted before we went careening into any more life-or-death situations.

  I took Juno’s silence as approval.

  “Firstly, I noticed we’ve started in the same pce as yesterday – can we trust that this will be our starting point each night?”

  “Astute observation, Yuki no Yurei.” It congratuted. I’d almost forgotten about those codenames. “Yes, you can trust that your mission briefing will always occur here. Of couse, you’re free to leave, as some among your rank have already done, but you can be sure that you will always start here.”

  Very well – now, onto the bigger matter at hand.

  “Okay. Secondly, we’re still not entirely sure about the relevance of the things you called ‘Pacts’. What exactly are they? What do they mean for us?”

  As I figured, it must’ve been quite the topic, as some moments of silence had passed, presumably for Juno to gather their thoughts.

  “Simply put, Pacts are agreements made between pyers for mutual benefit.” Juno commenced. “If you recall, each of you formed a Pact with another pyer st night in order to survive the illness that had befallen you. This was due to the hostile climate of this dimension – especially for those such as yourselves, who were not aware of EXS prior to coming here.”

  Was that the feeling of death that had gripped us so? It was our bodies beginning to break down due to the oppressive aura of this realm?

  “Since forming that Pact, your EXS have become linked. You likely do not even realize it, but the two of you are constantly exchanging your EXS to each other in order to survive here. This has other implications I shall not expound upon here for the sake of simplicity, but simply know that you maintain a connection with your partner at all times.”

  “I’m connected to that douche?” Katoru inquired. “Yeah, fuck that. Is there a way to break off a Pact?”

  “…I suppose so.” Juno replied. Something didn’t feel right about their tone. “If someone involved in a Pact is killed, the bond is broken, and their surviving partner is free to form a new contract.”

  I was afraid they would say that. In other words, I was stuck with Reaper until one of us…

  “Aside from this, there is no other way to break a Pact. It is a vow. I believe betrothed repeat simir promises to each other?”

  “Til’ death do us part.” Cunnigham recited solemnly.

  “Precisely. Finally, there is a serious consideration to take into account with your Pacts. In the event that your partner does meet their demise, you will only have about 10 minutes to form a new Pact, or find other means of survival before the toxic atmosphere of this pce cims you as well.”

  “Will you tell us if someone… if someone has been killed?” Asked Furusawa tentatively. He was stealing gnces at Katoru, who was seemingly no longer in a joking mood.

  “I am afraid not.” They admitted apologetically, though provided no justification as to why.

  The air was heavy with words left unsaid. It was difficult enough to ensure our own individual survival – now it seemed we had to consider the wellbeing of our companions in equal measure.

  “If that is all for questions,” Juno announced after a pause. ”Allow me to brief you on your mission for tonight.”

  I clutched at my chest, finding it hard to breathe. A soft sensation nded on my shoulder.

  “We have nothing to fear.” Rusuban consoled. “Remember that.”

  Fshbacks of our conversation yesterday echoed in my mind, and before I knew it, my gaze had nded once more on my younger sibling, whose own eyes were fixed onto the massive billboard above.

  I hoped with every fibre of my being that Kinoko was incorrect. It was a horrible feeling – the need to examine and scrutinize your own flesh and blood for traces of disloyalty, but it needed to be done.

  The sooner I could clear her, the better I could protect her.

  I made a promise to Mother that I would take care of her, and care for her I would.

  Even if she would end up hating me for it.