Fiction (Update)
Hello there,
this chapter was the one I accidentally lost. And well, stylistically I'm not certain if this one turned out as I wanted it to, so please tell me what impression you got. Other than that, writing tense scenes at home where certain family members sneak up on you unannounced reveals interesting things about your reflexes (I tossed a pen half-way across my room).
Title: What Should Have Never Been Found
Part: 18/26 (?)
Genre: Suspense
Wordcount: ~3500
Warnings: Gore (in flashbacks), minor character death.
Characters: Tezuka, Fuji, and some others.
Summary: Due to circumstances, Tezuka is forced to make an after school trip to a house belonging to friends of his grandfather. Fuji accompanies him and encounters something unexpected.
Disclaimer: PoT is not mine (which is probably for the better)
Prior Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
Eighteen
For a moment his mind went blank. Then Fuji pulled himself together, raced over to his sister’s car and threw himself into the passenger seat. He barely felt the warm air closing in on him as the door shut, and Yumiko raised one eyebrow at his behaviour.
“Sis, I’ll explain on the way. Just take me to Tezuka’s. As fast as possible.” He had to catch his breath then, but his sister set the car in motion without question. A weight lifted from Fuji’s chest as the vehicle jerked forward - at least he’d be at Tezuka’s place fast.
Though if he was going to be in time…
The blood hadn’t dried yet, Fuji reminded himself, recalling the gruesome slaughter in the student council room. There might yet be a chance…
To find Tezuka alive? Fuji didn’t want to think about the possibilities, but his mind insisted on bringing up one nightmarish image after the other. Fates worse than death, irreversible damage -
“You look like hell warmed over,” Yumiko frowned at him from the corner of her eye, before she turned her attention back to the road. A glance to sideways told her that the road was free; and she pressed the gas pedal further down than usual.
Fuji sank back against the seat, closing his eyes for a second. He tried frantically to restore at least some sort of order to his mind; though right now his thoughts were in scattered. Flashes of memory mixed with nightmares, a part of his mind wanted to run away and hide in a corner until it all was over, but…
If he failed to act now, normality would never restore itself.
He’d wasted so many opportunities earlier, had allowed so many oversights… Why hadn’t he voiced his suspicions? Why had he been content to believe what everybody had told them, when he had seen the gaping holes?
How could he have allowed things to come to this?
“You owe me an explanation, Syusuke,” Yumiko reminded him. Her voice was flat - his actions had already told her something had happened.
Fuji pressed his lips together. He’d made far too many mistakes to lay all the blame with the other parties. But that realization wasn’t helping.
Least of all Tezuka.
The image of the student council office splattered with blood crossed his mind.
“Hasegawa is dead,” he told his sister, and his voice sounded frozen even to his own ears. He swallowed. “We just discovered his body in the student council office.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened.
Fuji tried to suppress all the feelings that came with the memories - the violent horror, shock and fear. There’d be a time - later, when everything was over - to deal with those emotions. Not now, not when he needed to stay calm and rational.
His sister kept her eyes on the road, her hands firm and stable. Instead of commenting, she nodded at Fuji to continue.
“It was that thing’s work. I … And now Tezuka disappeared,” Fuji kept his eyes on the landscape outside. Few cars were out on the snow-slick streets around this time, yet everything looked dead and lifeless. The clouds were low today; thick and filled with the promise of early nightfall.
He took a deep breath. “Somebody saw Tezuka leave with an old lady, though.”
Yumiko needed less than a second to piece the puzzle together. She floored the gas, and the car jolted forward. One turn of the wheel and they were flying past the other cars, trees turning into blurs and road signs passing too fast to be legible.
“Do you know what is going on?” she questioned evenly; calm as if she wasn’t driving at twice the speed limit. Fuji knew that tone - scarily similar to his own flat voice when he tried to cover up excitement or nervousness.
“Not really,” he replied honestly. Too much had happened, and right now there were more important things than figuring out the truth. Yet concentrating on the puzzle the demon’s actions presented was a better occupation for his mind than coming up with possibilities what might be happening to Tezuka right now.
“From its actions I infer this thing needs Tezuka for something,” Fuji frowned lightly. “And if I understood the significance of Hasegawa’s death correctly, the object of its interest is still at Tezuka’s house.”
“So we’ll probably find both Tezuka and that thing there,” Yumiko bit her lip, thoughtfully staring out at the muddy roads ahead, before passing a stop sign at full speed. “And we’re going to run in there completely unprepared. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She took the lull in their conversation to pull into a side street. Snow covered most of it, but for well-worn tire tracks, and Fuji realized they weren’t far away from Tezuka’s home anymore. A shudder ran down his spine.
“I might be wrong,” Fuji said. But in truth he was more afraid of finding a scene like that in the student council room at Tezuka’s home.
“We’ll find out when we arrive,” Yumiko replied, her lips pressed together in a firm line. Curves were sharper here, so she had to take out some speed.
Eventually she took a deep breath. “There is one more thing you ought to know, though.”
Fuji blinked and tilted his head. His fingers unconsciously clenched in the fabric of his trousers.
“I spoke to Hasegawa on the phone shortly after he left Tezuka-kun’s house. He agreed with me that the actions of that thing don’t fit - for a demon, a ghost or any sort of common supernatural creature,” she told her brother quietly, “As for its mark, all we know is of its ability to help shift locations.”
A thoughtful nod was all she received from Fuji - his eyes were glued to the windshield, searching the neighbourhood for any sign of unusual activity.
Yumiko grimly continued “But what if that stone wasn’t only good for shifting locations? What if it could help shifting states of being?”
Fuji’s eyebrows knitted, and Yumiko smiled darkly. “You remember that humans can turn into ghosts, don’t you? What about reversing that process? Or applying it other forms as well? How about a ghost becoming a demon? So what if that stone grants the power to shift into any form of being?”
A cold shudder ran down Fuji’s spine.
With wide eyes he added: “And make every place and object, no matter how well protected, available to them.”
+ + +
Tires screeched as Yumiko’s brought the car to a hard stop in front of the house’s main gate. Fuji was out of his seat before Yumiko had even turned the engine off, heedlessly rushing through the half-opened wooden gate toward the entrance.
Snowflakes had begun drifting down from above, cold and wet on Yumiko’s cheeks. She shivered, pulled her coat closer around herself and hurried after her brother. Part of her was wary of entering private grounds without prior announcement - yet another part knew they had no time.
It was hard to believe in a being that powerful as she’d never encountered it. Even more difficult to believe something was afoul in the quiet noon atmosphere surrounding them. The white blanket covering everything rested undisturbed, only bits of evergreen pine trees visible, trees and bushes black against their surroundings.
Barely any noise from the bustling city beyond this residential neighbourhood was audible; the air tranquil and clear. It felt surreal that all should look so normal, while something horrible was going on.
She shivered.
Snow crunched under the soles of her shoes, and the touch of something wet and icy against her ankles distantly reminded her that she hadn’t expected to walk outside today. She saw her brother reach the door, lifting a pale hand - where had his gloves disappeared to? - to knock against the dark wood.
+ + +
The door was open.
Fuji’s heart stopped. Blind with fear he stumbled inside; stopping only when he realized nothing in the quaint entrance room looked disturbed. The large china vase with its artfully arranged flowers glinted quietly in the corner, the little light from outside reflecting on its polished surface. Two pairs of shoes sat neatly next to the genkan, and the coat rack was empty bare for one jacket.
“Hello?” Fuji called out breathlessly, blinking to adjust his eyes.
Heavy silence was his only reply. The air around him was warm, almost stuffy compared to the freezing breeze outside. The snowflakes that had gotten caught in his hair were melting, and he heard his sister’s heels clicking along the pathway behind him, Fuji forced his racing heart to calm down -
“Hello? Tezuka?” He shouted once again, but there was no response.
In sheer desperation he forced himself to concentrate. Tried to pick up on something like remains of strong spiritual power, a disturbance in the air, anything. He wanted to find something, at least some little thing to give hope so badly but…
Logically he knew that sensing power of a spirit already gone was beyond his capacities.
A faint tingle down his back was all he got, and it felt like a black hole opening up inside of him, gravity pulling him towards it, trying to make him collapse in a mindless heap. Behind him Yumiko entered through the sliding door, bringing with her a gust of icy air.
Fuji tried to think, to figure out a solution, even though his mind was spinning with scattered ideas. What was happening to Tezuka, had he gotten it right this time, what was this demon after, how much had Hasegawa known, what if they were still missing a clue, and how, how, how could this ever end well?
Even if he managed to anticipate the monster’s actions this time - what could he do? What condition would Tezuka be in? Was there any way, any trick that would make it possible for him to hold his own against the spirit, just for a moment?
Meanwhile Yumiko studied the objects in the entrance room thoughtfully. A tingle had run down her spine when she had stepped on the grounds, another the moment she stepped through the door.
Those wards however, did not account for the undercurrent tension she sensed.
“Something was here,” she stated quietly.
Fuji pressed his lips together - his guess had been right. Without a glance toward his sister he turned and hurried down the hallway, heading for Kunikazu’s study.
He had barely taken three steps down the corridor, when he found several things out of place. The sliding door to the study was open wide, papers littered the floor in front of it and even from several metres away Fuji could feel an icy breeze drifting in from there. In the dim light he almost missed the dark lump opposite the open door -
Then he forgot to breathe.
Slumped against the wall was Tezuka Kunikazu. The man’s face was white and his eyes closed. No outer injury was visible, but he wasn’t moving.
The ground seemed to vanish from underneath Fuji’s feet. Unbidden the images of Hasegawa’s torn body rose again, Dizziness rose and his vision blurred -
This couldn’t be happening; this couldn’t be real; why would that thing kill everyone in sight so abruptly; why Tezuka’s grandfather; why had he even been there; how had it happened; what was happening to Tezuka - his mind was spinning, and only his sister’s hand on his shoulder brought it to a stop.
Silently Yumiko stepped past him and kneeled down. Before she even touched the man, she turned to her brother with a shadow of a smile on her lips.
“He’s only unconscious,” she announced, and Fuji felt like fainting from relief.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and panic no longer clouded his vision, he eventually realized that there were no outer injuries on Tezuka Kunikazu. The man’s chest rose and fell steadily, and his clothes were as unruffled as ever.
“Tezuka-san,” his sister called out, carefully checking for broken bones or hidden injuries. The man did not stir. It would have been careless under other circumstances, but Fuji couldn’t help stepping away, now that he knew his friend’s grandfather was alive.
And the study looked as if a hurricane had blown through it.
Boxes had been tossed onto the ground, books torn from the shelves and several cupboards stood wide open. Torn pages covered the ground, and snowflakes had started drifting in from outside. A splintered teacup, a smashed wooden case and fluttering pieces of paper created a chilling picture. Fuji stared at the mosaic, and had to remind himself to breathe.
Tezuka wasn’t in there, neither was the demon.
But the door leading to the backyard had been opened.
Fuji shuddered as another gust of wind passed him, carrying the smell of snow and numbing his already icy fingers further. Only a faint throbbing reminded him of his frozen toes. Even as adrenaline rushed through his body and his heart pounded as if it was about to burst from panic, his limbs remained cold.
His guess had been correct.
But too late.
The demon wasn’t there anymore. And neither was Tezuka.
He glanced sideways; watching his sister carefully make sure Tezuka’s grandfather was physically unharmed. This development at least was a pure stroke of luck - Fuji had feared the worst, after what had happened to Hasegawa.
The images his mind had come up with …
Fuji took a deep breath. If the demon hadn’t killed Tezuka’s grandfather and no blood could be found in the study - his heart shuddered - there was a good chance Tezuka was still alive.
And utterly alone with that creature.
“Syusuke, is there a blanket around here somewhere?” Yumiko’s question cut through the haze in his mind. It was freezing in the corridor, and the air grew colder with each passing minute. Fuji straightened up, glanced around - he remembered having seen some sort of a blanket in the study.
Wordlessly he entered the room, taking care not to step onto anything. The blanket sat on a lower shelf - one row above it, books had been torn from their places, tossed onto the ground and ripped into pieces.
He swallowed.
What now, he wondered, where could they have disappeared to? Something dark blossomed deep in his chest - threatening to swallow him should he fail now. Fuji pressed his lips together; there had to be some way.
Wordlessly he passed the blanket to Yumiko, who also cast a calculating look into the direction of the garden. They ought to close the door, Fuji thought; the freezing air couldn’t be doing any good to Tezuka’s grandfather.
And the snowflakes drifting inside were probably destroying invaluable documents already.
Fuji’s feet carried him to the door, and he gazed at the well-kept backyard. Winter had turned the normally colourful garden into a black and white picture. The snow in front of the door was disturbed - footprints, almost buried under the layer of fresh snow.
He blinked.
Those footprints lead away from the door.
And toward the pond.
Step onto the ice, he recalled Mori saying to Tezuka. It seemed like an eternity ago that he had been kneeling on the ice of the pond in the park near their school, trying frantically to convince his friend not to accept the deal the demon had offered.
If they’d known back then…
Fuji shook his head, as grim determination lit a spark in his eyes.
He might not know where the demon had dragged Tezuka. But he knew how to follow them.
+ + +
“Sis,” her brother called, a very odd tone to his voice.
Yumiko pressed her lips together and hurried outside - after Tezuka Kunikazu had been taken care of, she had found her brother had disappeared outside. She suppressed a shudder when freezing air hit her face. A myriad of snowflakes danced in the air around her, obscuring her vision and she had to blink before she finally located Fuji.
“What…?” her voice came out surprised.
Fuji stood on the edge of a small pond, close to a weeping willow that had been frozen stiff. Even underneath the dark grey sky those icy branches sparkled. The pond’s water was frozen, but near the edge the ice was thin, nearly translucent.
If he guessed correctly…
“It should be possible to follow them, shouldn’t it?” Fuji asked, not bothering to explain himself to his sister. Yumiko could guess, and that alone made her pale.
“Even if we don’t have enough power for an independent transfer, merely following them should work, no?” Fuji continued, his eyes studying the dark ice thoughtfully.
Yumiko felt her blood run cold. “What are you talking about?”
She brushed a couple of snowflakes from her face, but more kept falling and obscuring her vision. The pine trees seemed black, and she could barely make out her brother’s expression from where she stood.
“I need to follow them,” Fuji said in a voice that booked no argument, “That thing took Tezuka to some unknown place - and follow them there is all I can do.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened. She pressed her lips together and took a decisive step forward. “Even if that was possible, that’s insane.”
“Maybe”, a pale smile crossed Fuji’s face, “But there is no other way. Help me here, please.”
A gust of wind passed them, and the snow began falling harder, but neither noticed. The willow’s frozen branches creaked, unable to sway in the breeze.
Yumiko energetically shook her head. “Syusuke, do you even understand what you’re doing there? That thing is going to kill you the moment you show up wherever it is.”
“But it is feasible,” Fuji replied. Then he turned a beseeching look onto his sister. “Please, I know this appears insane, and I’m well aware of the risks - but I can’t just abandon Tezuka. I’d do it alone if I could, but you know I can’t.”
Something in her chest felt like breaking. “No, no, no. Please don’t ask this of me. Don’t.”
“Please. This …,” Fuji bit his lip, “I don’t think I could live with myself if I let Tezuka die.”
She needed to stop this idiocy. Stop it before she gave in. “Don’t ask me to send you to your death, Syusuke.”
Her voice was shaking.
Fuji’s voice was as soft as the fresh snow settling over the ground, and as cutting as the ice. A thin layer of white dust had started forming on his head.
“Please understand,” Fuji said, “If Tezuka dies, it’s because I failed to figure things out. I mean, I had an idea things weren’t as resolved as they seemed, but I ignored it. And now it’s Tezuka who is going to pay for my mistake.”
Yumiko wanted to stomp her feet. “So you figure it would be better if both of you die? Syusuke, I know how you feel, but try to understand me. Knowing what I do, I can’t do this.”
“I know,” Fuji whispered, and the wood underneath his feet creaked ominously, “But I don’t think I could live with myself if I don’t at least try to save him. I know the chances are against me, but if I don’t even try…”
“You can’t ask this of me!” She couldn’t help herself; her voice jumped an octave, though her brother barely seemed to notice.
“Try to see it from my perspective: I suspected they were using a decoy, yet I never mentioned it. Hasegawa is already dead. I don’t want Tezuka to die as well and…” Fuji’s voice faded.
He didn’t want Tezuka to be alone. No matter what happened, he didn’t want his friend to face that demon entirely on his own, without anybody to provide him with support. This entire mess was not even Tezuka’s concern, and it seemed beyond unfair should he come to harm due to it.
Most of all, Fuji didn’t want Tezuka to think he had abandoned him.
Even if it was just a short moment - he wanted Tezuka to know he wasn’t alone out there. That Fuji would never give up on him.
That he cared.
Though if he told Yumiko, she’d never let him go. He was asking her to send him to his death - Fuji dreaded to think how small his chances to survive were, how unlikely it was for him to see his sister ever again. He dared not to think on it.
“I’m sorry,” he told Yumiko with a note of finality, “If I don’t do this, I’ll be as good as dead.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened as Fuji took a step backwards. Snow crunched under the soles of his shoes. A snowflake tickled his nose; a sensation oddly removed from the gravity of the situation. Another half-step back would carry him over the edge of the small wooden baulk.
He could see his sisters horrified expression through the falling snowflakes; already parts of her red curled were dotted with white crystals.
“Syusuke…” she uttered, realizing abruptly what he was about to do.
Fuji smiled. And let himself fall backwards.
tbc
this chapter was the one I accidentally lost. And well, stylistically I'm not certain if this one turned out as I wanted it to, so please tell me what impression you got. Other than that, writing tense scenes at home where certain family members sneak up on you unannounced reveals interesting things about your reflexes (I tossed a pen half-way across my room).
Title: What Should Have Never Been Found
Part: 18/26 (?)
Genre: Suspense
Wordcount: ~3500
Warnings: Gore (in flashbacks), minor character death.
Characters: Tezuka, Fuji, and some others.
Summary: Due to circumstances, Tezuka is forced to make an after school trip to a house belonging to friends of his grandfather. Fuji accompanies him and encounters something unexpected.
Disclaimer: PoT is not mine (which is probably for the better)
Prior Parts: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
Eighteen
For a moment his mind went blank. Then Fuji pulled himself together, raced over to his sister’s car and threw himself into the passenger seat. He barely felt the warm air closing in on him as the door shut, and Yumiko raised one eyebrow at his behaviour.
“Sis, I’ll explain on the way. Just take me to Tezuka’s. As fast as possible.” He had to catch his breath then, but his sister set the car in motion without question. A weight lifted from Fuji’s chest as the vehicle jerked forward - at least he’d be at Tezuka’s place fast.
Though if he was going to be in time…
The blood hadn’t dried yet, Fuji reminded himself, recalling the gruesome slaughter in the student council room. There might yet be a chance…
To find Tezuka alive? Fuji didn’t want to think about the possibilities, but his mind insisted on bringing up one nightmarish image after the other. Fates worse than death, irreversible damage -
“You look like hell warmed over,” Yumiko frowned at him from the corner of her eye, before she turned her attention back to the road. A glance to sideways told her that the road was free; and she pressed the gas pedal further down than usual.
Fuji sank back against the seat, closing his eyes for a second. He tried frantically to restore at least some sort of order to his mind; though right now his thoughts were in scattered. Flashes of memory mixed with nightmares, a part of his mind wanted to run away and hide in a corner until it all was over, but…
If he failed to act now, normality would never restore itself.
He’d wasted so many opportunities earlier, had allowed so many oversights… Why hadn’t he voiced his suspicions? Why had he been content to believe what everybody had told them, when he had seen the gaping holes?
How could he have allowed things to come to this?
“You owe me an explanation, Syusuke,” Yumiko reminded him. Her voice was flat - his actions had already told her something had happened.
Fuji pressed his lips together. He’d made far too many mistakes to lay all the blame with the other parties. But that realization wasn’t helping.
Least of all Tezuka.
The image of the student council office splattered with blood crossed his mind.
“Hasegawa is dead,” he told his sister, and his voice sounded frozen even to his own ears. He swallowed. “We just discovered his body in the student council office.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened.
Fuji tried to suppress all the feelings that came with the memories - the violent horror, shock and fear. There’d be a time - later, when everything was over - to deal with those emotions. Not now, not when he needed to stay calm and rational.
His sister kept her eyes on the road, her hands firm and stable. Instead of commenting, she nodded at Fuji to continue.
“It was that thing’s work. I … And now Tezuka disappeared,” Fuji kept his eyes on the landscape outside. Few cars were out on the snow-slick streets around this time, yet everything looked dead and lifeless. The clouds were low today; thick and filled with the promise of early nightfall.
He took a deep breath. “Somebody saw Tezuka leave with an old lady, though.”
Yumiko needed less than a second to piece the puzzle together. She floored the gas, and the car jolted forward. One turn of the wheel and they were flying past the other cars, trees turning into blurs and road signs passing too fast to be legible.
“Do you know what is going on?” she questioned evenly; calm as if she wasn’t driving at twice the speed limit. Fuji knew that tone - scarily similar to his own flat voice when he tried to cover up excitement or nervousness.
“Not really,” he replied honestly. Too much had happened, and right now there were more important things than figuring out the truth. Yet concentrating on the puzzle the demon’s actions presented was a better occupation for his mind than coming up with possibilities what might be happening to Tezuka right now.
“From its actions I infer this thing needs Tezuka for something,” Fuji frowned lightly. “And if I understood the significance of Hasegawa’s death correctly, the object of its interest is still at Tezuka’s house.”
“So we’ll probably find both Tezuka and that thing there,” Yumiko bit her lip, thoughtfully staring out at the muddy roads ahead, before passing a stop sign at full speed. “And we’re going to run in there completely unprepared. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She took the lull in their conversation to pull into a side street. Snow covered most of it, but for well-worn tire tracks, and Fuji realized they weren’t far away from Tezuka’s home anymore. A shudder ran down his spine.
“I might be wrong,” Fuji said. But in truth he was more afraid of finding a scene like that in the student council room at Tezuka’s home.
“We’ll find out when we arrive,” Yumiko replied, her lips pressed together in a firm line. Curves were sharper here, so she had to take out some speed.
Eventually she took a deep breath. “There is one more thing you ought to know, though.”
Fuji blinked and tilted his head. His fingers unconsciously clenched in the fabric of his trousers.
“I spoke to Hasegawa on the phone shortly after he left Tezuka-kun’s house. He agreed with me that the actions of that thing don’t fit - for a demon, a ghost or any sort of common supernatural creature,” she told her brother quietly, “As for its mark, all we know is of its ability to help shift locations.”
A thoughtful nod was all she received from Fuji - his eyes were glued to the windshield, searching the neighbourhood for any sign of unusual activity.
Yumiko grimly continued “But what if that stone wasn’t only good for shifting locations? What if it could help shifting states of being?”
Fuji’s eyebrows knitted, and Yumiko smiled darkly. “You remember that humans can turn into ghosts, don’t you? What about reversing that process? Or applying it other forms as well? How about a ghost becoming a demon? So what if that stone grants the power to shift into any form of being?”
A cold shudder ran down Fuji’s spine.
With wide eyes he added: “And make every place and object, no matter how well protected, available to them.”
+ + +
Tires screeched as Yumiko’s brought the car to a hard stop in front of the house’s main gate. Fuji was out of his seat before Yumiko had even turned the engine off, heedlessly rushing through the half-opened wooden gate toward the entrance.
Snowflakes had begun drifting down from above, cold and wet on Yumiko’s cheeks. She shivered, pulled her coat closer around herself and hurried after her brother. Part of her was wary of entering private grounds without prior announcement - yet another part knew they had no time.
It was hard to believe in a being that powerful as she’d never encountered it. Even more difficult to believe something was afoul in the quiet noon atmosphere surrounding them. The white blanket covering everything rested undisturbed, only bits of evergreen pine trees visible, trees and bushes black against their surroundings.
Barely any noise from the bustling city beyond this residential neighbourhood was audible; the air tranquil and clear. It felt surreal that all should look so normal, while something horrible was going on.
She shivered.
Snow crunched under the soles of her shoes, and the touch of something wet and icy against her ankles distantly reminded her that she hadn’t expected to walk outside today. She saw her brother reach the door, lifting a pale hand - where had his gloves disappeared to? - to knock against the dark wood.
+ + +
The door was open.
Fuji’s heart stopped. Blind with fear he stumbled inside; stopping only when he realized nothing in the quaint entrance room looked disturbed. The large china vase with its artfully arranged flowers glinted quietly in the corner, the little light from outside reflecting on its polished surface. Two pairs of shoes sat neatly next to the genkan, and the coat rack was empty bare for one jacket.
“Hello?” Fuji called out breathlessly, blinking to adjust his eyes.
Heavy silence was his only reply. The air around him was warm, almost stuffy compared to the freezing breeze outside. The snowflakes that had gotten caught in his hair were melting, and he heard his sister’s heels clicking along the pathway behind him, Fuji forced his racing heart to calm down -
“Hello? Tezuka?” He shouted once again, but there was no response.
In sheer desperation he forced himself to concentrate. Tried to pick up on something like remains of strong spiritual power, a disturbance in the air, anything. He wanted to find something, at least some little thing to give hope so badly but…
Logically he knew that sensing power of a spirit already gone was beyond his capacities.
A faint tingle down his back was all he got, and it felt like a black hole opening up inside of him, gravity pulling him towards it, trying to make him collapse in a mindless heap. Behind him Yumiko entered through the sliding door, bringing with her a gust of icy air.
Fuji tried to think, to figure out a solution, even though his mind was spinning with scattered ideas. What was happening to Tezuka, had he gotten it right this time, what was this demon after, how much had Hasegawa known, what if they were still missing a clue, and how, how, how could this ever end well?
Even if he managed to anticipate the monster’s actions this time - what could he do? What condition would Tezuka be in? Was there any way, any trick that would make it possible for him to hold his own against the spirit, just for a moment?
Meanwhile Yumiko studied the objects in the entrance room thoughtfully. A tingle had run down her spine when she had stepped on the grounds, another the moment she stepped through the door.
Those wards however, did not account for the undercurrent tension she sensed.
“Something was here,” she stated quietly.
Fuji pressed his lips together - his guess had been right. Without a glance toward his sister he turned and hurried down the hallway, heading for Kunikazu’s study.
He had barely taken three steps down the corridor, when he found several things out of place. The sliding door to the study was open wide, papers littered the floor in front of it and even from several metres away Fuji could feel an icy breeze drifting in from there. In the dim light he almost missed the dark lump opposite the open door -
Then he forgot to breathe.
Slumped against the wall was Tezuka Kunikazu. The man’s face was white and his eyes closed. No outer injury was visible, but he wasn’t moving.
The ground seemed to vanish from underneath Fuji’s feet. Unbidden the images of Hasegawa’s torn body rose again, Dizziness rose and his vision blurred -
This couldn’t be happening; this couldn’t be real; why would that thing kill everyone in sight so abruptly; why Tezuka’s grandfather; why had he even been there; how had it happened; what was happening to Tezuka - his mind was spinning, and only his sister’s hand on his shoulder brought it to a stop.
Silently Yumiko stepped past him and kneeled down. Before she even touched the man, she turned to her brother with a shadow of a smile on her lips.
“He’s only unconscious,” she announced, and Fuji felt like fainting from relief.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and panic no longer clouded his vision, he eventually realized that there were no outer injuries on Tezuka Kunikazu. The man’s chest rose and fell steadily, and his clothes were as unruffled as ever.
“Tezuka-san,” his sister called out, carefully checking for broken bones or hidden injuries. The man did not stir. It would have been careless under other circumstances, but Fuji couldn’t help stepping away, now that he knew his friend’s grandfather was alive.
And the study looked as if a hurricane had blown through it.
Boxes had been tossed onto the ground, books torn from the shelves and several cupboards stood wide open. Torn pages covered the ground, and snowflakes had started drifting in from outside. A splintered teacup, a smashed wooden case and fluttering pieces of paper created a chilling picture. Fuji stared at the mosaic, and had to remind himself to breathe.
Tezuka wasn’t in there, neither was the demon.
But the door leading to the backyard had been opened.
Fuji shuddered as another gust of wind passed him, carrying the smell of snow and numbing his already icy fingers further. Only a faint throbbing reminded him of his frozen toes. Even as adrenaline rushed through his body and his heart pounded as if it was about to burst from panic, his limbs remained cold.
His guess had been correct.
But too late.
The demon wasn’t there anymore. And neither was Tezuka.
He glanced sideways; watching his sister carefully make sure Tezuka’s grandfather was physically unharmed. This development at least was a pure stroke of luck - Fuji had feared the worst, after what had happened to Hasegawa.
The images his mind had come up with …
Fuji took a deep breath. If the demon hadn’t killed Tezuka’s grandfather and no blood could be found in the study - his heart shuddered - there was a good chance Tezuka was still alive.
And utterly alone with that creature.
“Syusuke, is there a blanket around here somewhere?” Yumiko’s question cut through the haze in his mind. It was freezing in the corridor, and the air grew colder with each passing minute. Fuji straightened up, glanced around - he remembered having seen some sort of a blanket in the study.
Wordlessly he entered the room, taking care not to step onto anything. The blanket sat on a lower shelf - one row above it, books had been torn from their places, tossed onto the ground and ripped into pieces.
He swallowed.
What now, he wondered, where could they have disappeared to? Something dark blossomed deep in his chest - threatening to swallow him should he fail now. Fuji pressed his lips together; there had to be some way.
Wordlessly he passed the blanket to Yumiko, who also cast a calculating look into the direction of the garden. They ought to close the door, Fuji thought; the freezing air couldn’t be doing any good to Tezuka’s grandfather.
And the snowflakes drifting inside were probably destroying invaluable documents already.
Fuji’s feet carried him to the door, and he gazed at the well-kept backyard. Winter had turned the normally colourful garden into a black and white picture. The snow in front of the door was disturbed - footprints, almost buried under the layer of fresh snow.
He blinked.
Those footprints lead away from the door.
And toward the pond.
Step onto the ice, he recalled Mori saying to Tezuka. It seemed like an eternity ago that he had been kneeling on the ice of the pond in the park near their school, trying frantically to convince his friend not to accept the deal the demon had offered.
If they’d known back then…
Fuji shook his head, as grim determination lit a spark in his eyes.
He might not know where the demon had dragged Tezuka. But he knew how to follow them.
+ + +
“Sis,” her brother called, a very odd tone to his voice.
Yumiko pressed her lips together and hurried outside - after Tezuka Kunikazu had been taken care of, she had found her brother had disappeared outside. She suppressed a shudder when freezing air hit her face. A myriad of snowflakes danced in the air around her, obscuring her vision and she had to blink before she finally located Fuji.
“What…?” her voice came out surprised.
Fuji stood on the edge of a small pond, close to a weeping willow that had been frozen stiff. Even underneath the dark grey sky those icy branches sparkled. The pond’s water was frozen, but near the edge the ice was thin, nearly translucent.
If he guessed correctly…
“It should be possible to follow them, shouldn’t it?” Fuji asked, not bothering to explain himself to his sister. Yumiko could guess, and that alone made her pale.
“Even if we don’t have enough power for an independent transfer, merely following them should work, no?” Fuji continued, his eyes studying the dark ice thoughtfully.
Yumiko felt her blood run cold. “What are you talking about?”
She brushed a couple of snowflakes from her face, but more kept falling and obscuring her vision. The pine trees seemed black, and she could barely make out her brother’s expression from where she stood.
“I need to follow them,” Fuji said in a voice that booked no argument, “That thing took Tezuka to some unknown place - and follow them there is all I can do.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened. She pressed her lips together and took a decisive step forward. “Even if that was possible, that’s insane.”
“Maybe”, a pale smile crossed Fuji’s face, “But there is no other way. Help me here, please.”
A gust of wind passed them, and the snow began falling harder, but neither noticed. The willow’s frozen branches creaked, unable to sway in the breeze.
Yumiko energetically shook her head. “Syusuke, do you even understand what you’re doing there? That thing is going to kill you the moment you show up wherever it is.”
“But it is feasible,” Fuji replied. Then he turned a beseeching look onto his sister. “Please, I know this appears insane, and I’m well aware of the risks - but I can’t just abandon Tezuka. I’d do it alone if I could, but you know I can’t.”
Something in her chest felt like breaking. “No, no, no. Please don’t ask this of me. Don’t.”
“Please. This …,” Fuji bit his lip, “I don’t think I could live with myself if I let Tezuka die.”
She needed to stop this idiocy. Stop it before she gave in. “Don’t ask me to send you to your death, Syusuke.”
Her voice was shaking.
Fuji’s voice was as soft as the fresh snow settling over the ground, and as cutting as the ice. A thin layer of white dust had started forming on his head.
“Please understand,” Fuji said, “If Tezuka dies, it’s because I failed to figure things out. I mean, I had an idea things weren’t as resolved as they seemed, but I ignored it. And now it’s Tezuka who is going to pay for my mistake.”
Yumiko wanted to stomp her feet. “So you figure it would be better if both of you die? Syusuke, I know how you feel, but try to understand me. Knowing what I do, I can’t do this.”
“I know,” Fuji whispered, and the wood underneath his feet creaked ominously, “But I don’t think I could live with myself if I don’t at least try to save him. I know the chances are against me, but if I don’t even try…”
“You can’t ask this of me!” She couldn’t help herself; her voice jumped an octave, though her brother barely seemed to notice.
“Try to see it from my perspective: I suspected they were using a decoy, yet I never mentioned it. Hasegawa is already dead. I don’t want Tezuka to die as well and…” Fuji’s voice faded.
He didn’t want Tezuka to be alone. No matter what happened, he didn’t want his friend to face that demon entirely on his own, without anybody to provide him with support. This entire mess was not even Tezuka’s concern, and it seemed beyond unfair should he come to harm due to it.
Most of all, Fuji didn’t want Tezuka to think he had abandoned him.
Even if it was just a short moment - he wanted Tezuka to know he wasn’t alone out there. That Fuji would never give up on him.
That he cared.
Though if he told Yumiko, she’d never let him go. He was asking her to send him to his death - Fuji dreaded to think how small his chances to survive were, how unlikely it was for him to see his sister ever again. He dared not to think on it.
“I’m sorry,” he told Yumiko with a note of finality, “If I don’t do this, I’ll be as good as dead.”
Yumiko’s eyes widened as Fuji took a step backwards. Snow crunched under the soles of his shoes. A snowflake tickled his nose; a sensation oddly removed from the gravity of the situation. Another half-step back would carry him over the edge of the small wooden baulk.
He could see his sisters horrified expression through the falling snowflakes; already parts of her red curled were dotted with white crystals.
“Syusuke…” she uttered, realizing abruptly what he was about to do.
Fuji smiled. And let himself fall backwards.
tbc