Vol 9 Chapter 1.1 (2/2)

Screech, screech, chit-chit!

Cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep. Squeak!

Suddenly, the mice began to cause a commotion. They raised their voices again, but much higher this time, and dashed around on top of the mattresses.

Inukas.h.i.+ held his breath.

A small object came tumbling out of the chute. It was not trash. It was a small black mouse.

”Tsukiyo.” Inukas.h.i.+ tried calling it. The black mouse flew through the air; it leapt straight for Inukas.h.i.+. It latched onto Inukas.h.i.+'s hastily extended arm, and squeaked insistently.

Cheep cheep cheep cheep! Cheep cheep cheep cheep!

It was Tsukiyo; there was no doubt about it. It was the same little mouse that Inukas.h.i.+ himself had commanded to go to Nezumi. His blood stirred. His body grew hot.

”Wake up, old man.”

”Eh?”

Rikiga blinked feebly, still squatted on the ground. His eyes were bleary and red. His face was sooty, his hair was mussed, and he looked like he had aged a good decade.

”They're coming back.”

”Eh?”

”Coming back. Hold onto the mattresses.”

”R-Right.” Rikiga got to his feet in a surprisingly swift move.

The wind was howling.

As Inukas.h.i.+ and Rikiga held the mattresses down, they felt a heavy impact almost simultaneously. The mattress sank, almost sending Inukas.h.i.+'s slender frame flying. He summoned all the strength in his body to cling onto the mattress.

He had instinctively closed his eyes, but now he opened them carefully. He saw two bodies lying in a heap.

”s.h.i.+on, Eve!” Rikiga yelled before Inukas.h.i.+ could speak. ”You alright? Hey! You alright?”

”Gh...” s.h.i.+on's arm jerked. A part of his white hair was dyed with his blood. Blood was streaming from his shoulder and his leg. His clothes were torn, ripped, and hanging in places. Inukas.h.i.+ couldn't tell if the dark flecks all over his clothes were from blood or the trash in the chute.

Horrible. Inukas.h.i.+ kept his eyes wide open as he swallowed his spit, which smelled like smoke. You guys are a mess. I think even the undead would look a bit better crawling out of their graves.

”...Inukas.h.i.+.” s.h.i.+on lifted himself up and turned his face to Inukas.h.i.+. His cheeks were streaked―whether it was with sweat or tears, he didn't know, but they engraved prominent marks on his skin.

”s.h.i.+on, you're alive.” You made it back alive.

”Inukas.h.i.+, save Nezumi...”

”Nezumi? What about him? What―” Inukas.h.i.+ was barely able to hold in the scream that threatened to burst from his throat.

Nezumi was lying on the mattress, totally still and unmoving. His clothes were soiled reddish-black from his shoulder to his chest, and he gave off the smell of blood.

”Nezumi, hey, what's wrong?” Inukas.h.i.+ asked tentatively, but there was no answer. On his pale, bloodless face, only his lips were vividly red. To Inukas.h.i.+, they did not look human at all. Nezumi had always had a face that was somewhat otherworldly, but the face in front of him was one of a doll. A skillfully and meticulously crafted piece.

But dolls don't bleed.

”To the hospital―hurry,” s.h.i.+on screamed, as if wringing the voice from his throat. Explosions rocked the foundations of the building. The whole room shook with its impact. A draft was coming in from somewhere, and the smoke wavered and thinned slightly. The shaking did not stop.

”We need to get out of here! This place is coming down!” Rikiga yelled as he wrenched Nezumi away from s.h.i.+on's arms. He slung the boy over his shoulder.

”s.h.i.+on, can you run on your own?”

”I can.”

”Right, then run. Get outside.”

One more sound, more violent than before, rang out, and the door to the Correctional Facility was blasted away.

”Run, run! This place won't hold much longer!”

Rikiga broke into a run, bearing Nezumi. Tsukiyo dove into s.h.i.+on's pocket, and the two mice, Hamlet and Cravat, leapt onto a dog's back.

”Get out, G.o.dd.a.m.nit! Get out of here!” Rikiga's bellows slammed into him.

His back was blistering hot. Inukas.h.i.+ turned around to the flames filling his vision. Beyond the blown-open door, the Correctional Facility was burning.

The door blew apart? Wasn't the door between the Correctional Facility and the Hygiene Management Room supposed to be made of some special alloy that even a small missile couldn't penetrate? And it's been blown apart like it's nothing?

For less than half a second, he stood stupefied. Flames slithered. A fire-coloured monster was writhing on the floor. It writhed and twisted towards the corpse of the black dog and swallowed it whole. It was the same dog that had been shot to death protecting Inukas.h.i.+, but Inukas.h.i.+ was unable to give it a proper burial.

Sorry.

”Inukas.h.i.+, hurry!” s.h.i.+on grabbed his arm.

”Get out, get out! We have to get out of here!” Rikiga continued to bellow. He seemed to be turning his yelling into energy to move forward. Inukas.h.i.+ was pushed along by the heat and the hot air from behind, and quite literally stumbled into the outdoors. Fresh air flowed into his body.

Oh, I can finally breathe.

”Not yet. We can't stop yet. Keep running.” s.h.i.+on's grip tightened. Inukas.h.i.+ was dragged along by his arm. The gravel crunched under his feet.

”Ow! s.h.i.+on, that hurts! Stop―” Inukas.h.i.+ abruptly closed his mouth. His eyes had met with s.h.i.+on's.

His eyes, dark with a wash of purple, were the same as always. They were completely unchanged. They were bloodshot, and the eyelids were swollen, but they were s.h.i.+on's eyes.

Yet Inukas.h.i.+ closed his mouth and felt his body stiffen. He did not know why. The boy in front of him telling him to run seemed a complete stranger. He was someone Inukas.h.i.+ did not know.

No. Those aren't s.h.i.+on's eyes. s.h.i.+on, what's gotten into you?

But the confusion and foreboding vanished in an instant. s.h.i.+on was right―he could not fall to his knees just yet. His instincts sounded the alarm. This physical sensation was much more reliable than any cutting-edge security device.

Get out of here, run. Get out of here.

Inukas.h.i.+ leapt to his feet, and ran as fast as he could. From behind, he could hear the roar of a beast. Yes, those were not just explosions. A monster was baying. It was raving madly.

Get out of here, run. Get out of here.

Run and survive.

Tsukiyo had crawled out of s.h.i.+on's pocket and was clinging onto his neck. It had opened its tiny round eyes as wide as it could, and was staring over at Inukas.h.i.+.

You're kinda cute.

Dogs' eyes and mice's eyes were alike, and all such innocent beings were loveable. Inukas.h.i.+ thought of s.h.i.+onn. He had not forgotten about him for a moment. He had only pushed the infant to a corner of his heart so as not to remember him when he was not supposed to.

s.h.i.+onn was innocence itself. He was so small, yet he had so much inside him.

The dogs are probably managing alright. I left him with a dog that's birthed and raised a ton of her own puppies. Apart from her, there are a few other caring females in waiting. He's probably sleeping right now, protected by his loving nurse.

”s.h.i.+onn, my baby,” he murmured. Just then, Rikiga, who had been running in front of him, disappeared. He heard a shout, and the sound of a body falling over.

”Whoa!” s.h.i.+on tripped over Rikiga's fallen body. In turn, Inukas.h.i.+'s feet were swept from under him by s.h.i.+on, and he was slammed to the ground. The pain racked him to his very core.

He could not speak. Lying on his stomach on the ground, he could only draw strained breaths. He could feel the frozen ground on his cheek. It was soothing. It had not the iciness of winter, but a cold that harboured a faint hint of warmth and softness.

Spring was coming. A late spring was starting to arrive in the West Block.

No. 6 was probably fully furnished with flowering parks and streets lined with cherry blossom trees, but one would be hard-pressed to find even a single flowering tree in the West Block. But the weeds growing on the shoulders of the road faithfully opened their petals year after year. Flowers usually sparked no interest or intrigue in Inukas.h.i.+ since they were not edible, but once in a while they pulled at his heartstrings.

Oh, I've lived through another winter, he would think. Then, for a fleeting instant, in the back of his mind he saw faces of those who had frozen to death that winter―the old beggar lady he had been familiar with; the man who had hung around the ruins for a good while; the woman who was so emaciated, it was hard to tell her age―but they disappeared as quickly as they had come.

Spring was coming. Would those flowers bloom again on the side of the road?

”Nezumi,” s.h.i.+on gasped. He lifted himself up, and crawled over to Nezumi's side. ”Nezumi, Nezumi. Can you hear me? Nezumi―”

Inukas.h.i.+ also lifted himself up. They were lying in the shadow of some shrubbery. When was it that he had hidden himself here, witnessing Getsuyaku being shot to death?

It felt like it had happened only minutes ago, but at the same time a thousand years back.

”Nezumi, open your eyes. We're out. We were able to get out.”

s.h.i.+on's voice sounded like the wind that whistled through the ruins. It was mournful. It froze the hearts and ears of those who listened.

Inukas.h.i.+ peered over s.h.i.+on's shoulder at Nezumi's face, and compressed his lips into a hard line.

Is he dead? The statement pushed his lip up and threatened to spill out. s.h.i.+on, is Nezumi dead? Or is he just acting? Who's he playing? Macbeth, Hamlet, or some other weird name that you guys used to mention?

Hey, s.h.i.+on. Don't tell me Nezumi is really―

”Gh―” Nezumi's eyelashes trembled very slightly.

”He's alive,” s.h.i.+on shouted as he lifted Nezumi in his arms. ”He's alive! Hurry, to the hospital!”

Yeah, you're sure alive. You can't trick me, Nezumi. There's no way you would be wiped out that easily.

”Old man.” Inukas.h.i.+ called to Rikiga, who was squatting on the ground. His car was parked beyond the shrubs. It was a piece of junk, a step away from sc.r.a.p metal, but it could still chug along with a couple pa.s.sengers. They had taken this gasoline-fuelled car to get here, after all.

”Old man, hurry up.”

”―I know, but―”

Rikiga held a hand to his mouth, and stuck his head into the bushes. The sound of retching reached them.

”Dumba.s.s! This is no time to be puking! Hurry the h.e.l.l up, come on!”

Inukas.h.i.+ grabbed the man by the belt of his trousers and dragged him out of the bushes. Almost as if in answer, an even larger flame burst out of the window of the Correctional Facility. It threw a bright light on the surroundings. Black smoke formed a thick stream as it rose into the sky. It engulfed and blacked out the stars.

Can you see these flames from No. 6, too? What would West Block residents be thinking right now as they watch the flames burning the night up?

Look at it, it's falling. A place that used to mean h.e.l.l for us is collapsing. It's gonna be wiped out, just like that, even quicker than our marketplace.

Rikiga got to his feet unsteadily. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and wiped the sweat on his brow while he was at it.

”Why do I... have to go through this? Besides, you know, I―”

”Enough c.r.a.p,” Inukas.h.i.+ interrupted. ”No one's listening. If you've got time to b.i.t.c.h and moan, get the car moving.”

”Moving where?” Rikiga snarled. ”Eh? Answer me this, Inukas.h.i.+. Where are we going to take someone who's hurt so badly he's as good as dead? Answer me, I'd like to see you try! If you can give me an answer, boy, I'll take you wherever the h.e.l.l you want.”

Inukas.h.i.+ drew his chin back and fell silent. He could not answer.

He was not intimidated by Rikiga's angry outburst. He genuinely did not know. 'To the hospital,' s.h.i.+on had said, but there were no medical facilities in the West Block. There were seedy witch doctors and questionable medicine shops, to be sure, but they had all been blown clean off their foundations during the Hunt. But even if they were still around, they would probably not have been of much use.

Rikiga continued his furious tirade.

”Someone who's bled this much is going to need a decent amount of medical equipment. Where do you suggest we find that, huh? Nowhere here, for sure. You can scour the whole West Block and you won't find a single d.a.m.n syringe. You should know that best, Inukas.h.i.+.”

Inukas.h.i.+ looked down at Nezumi. His lips were parted slightly. He was breathing. But―

This is the end, huh? The strength withered in his legs, and he felt like he would collapse. This is it, Nezumi. There's nothing more we can do.

Notes

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