Chapter 47 - Junko ShirogetsuHollow Night“Arthur!”

  I beat my fist against the half-closed metal shutters, the gap at the bottom now blocked by debris from the explosion on the other side. I screamed as loud as I could for him to find cover as soon as I realized what was happening, and I was praying I wasn’t too te.

  “Arthur! Are you in there?!” I cried. “Say something, damnit!”

  Please don’t be dead.

  Please don’t be dead.

  Please don’t –

  “I-I’m fine!” A familiar voice on the other side of the shutters called out. My legs almost gave way from the pure relief at hearing his voice. But the fear still present in Arthur’s tone brought me back to my senses.

  “There’s something in here with me,” Arthur spoke carefully, confirming my suspicions.

  “W-What? What do you mean?”

  “I think it’s some kind of Noise. It’s... quite rge. Heavily armoured with some kind of bludgeon, but it isn’t making any moves.”

  “Shit!” I muttered under my breath, heart sinking.

  Arthur was strong, but not invincible. Plus, we didn’t know if that sniper Noise from earlier or even other enemies we hadn’t encountered yet were making their way – no doubt the explosion caused by this new Noise could’ve been seen and definitely heard from a mile away. Not the kind of attention we wanted right now.

  “We need to leave!” I commanded, kicking the rubble piled beneath the shutters to no avail. “Can you get out through the hole it made in the roof?”

  There was a pause. After a few seconds, Arthur replied, but he spoke words that made my hairs stand on end.

  “Junko, it’s not alone!”

  I felt another one of those tingles in my spine.

  Now, for some context; ever since childhood, I’ve had pretty good senses.

  Tracking small flying insects - especially the fast, annoying ones - was a breeze.

  I could tell when it was about to rain simply by feeling the subtle change in humidity, a talent that the weather-report-ignorant like Emiko had endless amounts of approbation for.

  These days, I was even able to tell who was walking around the house based solely on the tempo, weight, and drag of their footsteps. Then again, I only had Mizuko and my step-father to test it out on regurly, so the jury was still out on that.

  But perhaps the one facet of my gift that had proved most useful, time and time again, was that I could tell when I was being watched.

  It often started as a dull pulse in the back of my head, meandering down my neck and finally reaching my spine as a sharp tingle. By then, I’d know who the culprit was. I’d make a few acted out, seemingly innocent gnces around, not making it obvious I was scanning a completely different direction via my peripherals.

  Normally it wasn’t of any real concern. Maybe some dreamy-eyed boy or another letting their gaze linger for a bit too long, often on parts of my body they had no business with.

  Occasionally, they’d even be with their girlfriends, which made the unrequested attention even more unwelcome.

  This gaze, however, was of lethal intent, and when I immediately span round to see a sharp silver edge flying right toward me, I mentally added another use case for this peculiar gift of mine.

  An involuntary gasp and a side-step ter, a sushi knife had narrowly made its way past my head, sinking right into the metal shutters.

  “Uhh, Arthur…?!” I began to murmur as I took a look at my newest opponent. “I have company!”

  For a monster, this Noise was unsettlingly humanoid, standing tall and lean. Its form was almost seeming to flicker and shift with every movement, as if the very air around it was in a constant state of flux.

  It had hair of a silvery white, flowing like a mane caught in an eternal breeze, each strand dancing with a life of its own. Sharp, piercing eyes of stormy gray darted about, vigint, and filled with a relentless intensity that suggested an acute awareness of his surroundings.

  The creature was even wearing some kind of garment reminiscent of a kannushi - it was both practical and regal, a blend of tight-fitting armor and flowing garments that likely allowed for maximum mobility without sacrificing protection.

  The armor, gleamed with a metallic sheen, reflecting the ambient light in a dazzling dispy. It covered his chest, shoulders, and limbs, intricately etched with swirling patterns that mimicked the currents of what looked like a mighty gale.

  “Curses!” Cunningham yelled. By his volume, it sounded like he’d moved closer to the shutter than before. “I’m on my way!”

  This was bad. Yes, they were after Arthur, but it looked like these creatures were smart enough to realize that they could get to him through me. Even so, they had him dead to rights in that room. Why didn’t they just –

  As if to answer my question, there was a slow but loud movement in Shibu Department Store. From the way the ground beneath began to rumble, and debris from the crash began to shift and shake, I knew what was happening.

  “Wait! It’s making a move!” Arthur cried.

  They were trying to separate us. Together, we were stronger and more tenacious, but alone, just picking off one of us would take care of the other.

  As far as they were concerned, Arthur and I were both the targets.

  “Keep that Noise at a distance, and try to survive!” I advised, not taking my eyes off of my new adversary. It was giving me an off-puttingly studied look.

  “I’ll take care of this new one quickly and join you in there, okay?!”

  There was a tense silence as the graveness of the situation became clear to us both. I think that, deep down, we both knew that without the others’ help, this might’ve been it for us.

  Even so, Arthur replied with a stoic “Very well. I believe in you, Junko!” before I heard his paws sprint off deeper into the department store. At least that made one of us.

  Drawing my odachi and appraising my new foe, I offered a silent prayer for strength.

  I had a bad feeling I would soon need as much of it as I could get.

  There was one thing that had been bugging me. No doubt, this Noise looked a bit more sophisticated than most of the others we’d come across so far, dressed to the frills in the finest Hogwarts cospy, but things weren’t adding up.

  How did something so slender manage to throw that knife hard enough to piece an entire steel shutter?

  I intended to find out.

  With a deft spin, I reached for the knife’s handle, yanking it with force out of the shutters. Once I’d rotated back to my starting direction, I surged the tool with a slight jolt and sent it right back to its sender.

  To be honest, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Maybe a martial arts move or two? The summoning of some kind of spirit or familiar?

  Instead, what I got was a formidable gust of wind that almost swept me off my feet – literally. Struggling to regain bance, I allowed myself to drop to the ground right as the knife was sent back - straight over my head, returning into its new home.

  “Just perfect,” I muttered under my breath as I rose to my feet. “Wind.”

  Already, my winning vision was being thrown into the gutter. Given my skillset, I needed to get in reasonably close to do any damage to someone, either with my odachi or with some lightning. Preferably both.

  I met eyes with the creature, who I’d decided would be called Zephyr, as it crossed its arms condescendingly. It was still strange to see these monsters perform movements that felt so…human. If anything, the gesture reminded me slightly of that Noise from st night – Inja, was the name it gave?

  Though it was likely a ruse, it was a shame it was killed instantly by our joint attack. It may have been useful to us if we’d interrogated, or more likely, dissected it to see what was making it tick.

  Luckily, I’d have the opportunity to do that today with Zephyr here – but I’d need to earn that right first, and that’s exactly what I’d pnned to do.

  “Very well!” I spoke with more passion than intended, feeling a competitive spark begin to light in my stomach. “Let’s see if you can – “

  I ceased my speech completely when I noticed Zephyr’s left arm raised and extended behind it, winding up as if about to sp something. Or someone.

  Reflexively, I jumped just as it swung the arm back around. I heard it much sooner than I saw it, but out from the arc of its swing came a sharp ark of startlingly high pressure air that sliced through the now empty space beneath me, leaving a deep gash in the wall.

  My heart sank as my feet made contact with the ground.

  With my odachi in hand, and a seemingly bottomless anxiety having ripped into my heart, I started to run.