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Chapter Twelve
Parallel
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“Man.”
“Little more effort, little less judgemental murmuring.” Tone grunted, hissing every so often at the pain from trying to flip a car on his own. “And try not to hurt this on the way down, alright? I don’t want to have to come up with an even more detailed explanation as to how this entire car got-”
The opposite tires came down with a CRUNCH, the suspension in the poor vehicle doing wonders as it absorbed the impact. Tone glared sharply at Rook, who had done the majority of the work, and now stared at the vehicle without paying any heed to the sharp stares of his compatriot.
“…Man.” Rook slowly shook his head, his eyes traveling to sadly stare at the disconnected driver’s side door, snapped off during the roll and crumpled into a deformed cylinder. “I don’t know how you’re going to live til tomorrow after he sees what you’ve done to his car.”
“That’s the fun thing, isn’t it?” Tone’s voice implied an extremely artificial smile, his eyes glowing with intimidation. “You didn’t see me do this, you saw that one strange masked fellow, the one we stole the mask from that Corey has. He’s the one who drove, skidded, flipped, smashed, crashed, scratched, dented, and otherwise de-beautified Ren’s dirt-cheap automobile. Got it?” He leaned in, his hands resting on the roof of the vehicle as he smiled with his eyes as much as he could. “That’s what happened, right???”
“We…” Corey murmured, immediately catching Tone’s attention as the burly fellow’s head snapped around at blinding speed to lock onto him. “We could… Maybe use the mask, to… See if he’d believe it?”
The silence seemed to buzz as Tone’s eyes grew very dangerous for a moment. So intimidating was his reaction that Rook, who could not see the vicious stare, backed away from the vehicle in response. Tone blinked out of it, however, and eyeing the ground awkwardly, he made his way over to where Corey stood, crouching down to look him in the eyes.
“That would be awfully duplicitous, wouldn’t it? And I know, I know, but hear me out.” Tone threw his palms forward in semi-sarcastic supplication. “Perhaps it’s not the wisest idea for me to shift blame onto somebody who just died for the property damage I deliberately caused. But it’s another level entirely to suggest we use your new mask to manipulate Ren by determining what answer he’d be most lenient towards.” His finger tapped the mask in Corey’s hands, prompting the youngest Wild Masks’s eyes to drift towards it.
“The greater the power, the likelier it is to be misused.” Tone softly lifted Corey’s chin to bring his eyes back in line with his own. “We can’t simply accept responsibility for our actions from the outset and let the arrows fall where they may; it’s a constant struggle between seeing the hurt and misfortune in the world, on all levels of existence, and having the capacity to alter it for the perceived better, yet never taking that irreversible step down into darkness. The moment you choose to use your power in any morally dubious manner,” Tone slowly pointed a finger at his chest, tailoring his body language as it seemed like Corey might start bawling at any given moment, “Be it a mask like that, or societal influence, money, property, or what have you, you crack open the door to any and all usage of your power, as long as a perceived justification can be found.”
“With the greatest power comes a burden ten times as threatening.” He slowly rose to his feet, looking down as kindly as he could as his hand drifted to rest atop Corey’s shoulder. “But I know you’re more than capable of wielding that power with the fullest moral discretion. As of right now, you may just be the most powerful Wild Mask there is.”
Corey’s eyes glumly returned to the mask in his fingers before the realization hit. “Wild Mask? So I’m actually-?”
“Let’s go home and find out, hm?” Tone winked, walking back around to the driver’s side of the vehicle and gesturing for Corey to get in.
“Nice deflection.” Rook mumbled.
Tone scowled, his features suddenly slipping into a sly and subtle grin. “Okay Rook, you’ll probably have to lie on the back seats to be able to fit, and Corey can sit in the front.”
With a roll of his eyes Rook relented, much to the amusement of Tone, as he clambered inside the rear seating and lounged uncomfortably in the cramped space really only adequately sized for Corey, while the smallest member of the Wild Masks got to ride shotgun. “I thought you couldn’t drive because of the, well…”
“I can’t.” Tone smiled down at Corey as he clambered inside, reaching to close the door before realizing it was still outside and stepping out to grab it. “It’s very painful, and I’m honestly hoping Kohaku will be willing to take my place once we pick her up. Here Rook hold this.” He opened Rook’s door and threw the crumpled driver’s door on top of him.
“How’s she gonna feel about all this?” Corey asked, watching Tone hit his head on the top of the car as he tried to get in once more and threaten it with an angry fist. “She’s, like, Ren’s coworker, right? How’d she even get involved?”
“The real question is,” Tone began, pausing from starting the vehicle to glare at Rook, who snickered at his deflecting the question once again. “How’s she going to get out?”
—
“Are you serious.”
“Yes,” Tone reiterated, his vision constantly darting away from Ren’s angry face and towards Corey, with his back to the group, silently tolerating Kohaku picking through his hair for glass like a chimpanzee looking for parasites. “He really did steal the car. But like I was saying, that mask can-”
“Not. That.” Ren’s finger dug into Tone’s shoulder, prompting him to back away sharply as he rubbed the place where he had been jabbed. “That car was still being PAID for! And you executed a roll to fling yourself out of the vehicle and onto the tracks on a gamble that it might not get you killed?!”
“I trusted Corey’s usage of the mask.” Tone swung a hand towards Corey, who looked back over his shoulder in mild acknowledgement. “He also convinced me to be completely honest about what happened, Ren. That’s part of the benefits of trusting others.” He ended the sentence with a snarl and a digging finger of his own thrust against Ren’s shoulder.
“Don’t give me that,” Ren snapped, smacking the hand away with a scowl. “You’re the one that-”
He instantly went silent, his face momentarily showing the hesitation in his mind. But his ego was a little too wounded to give up the fight entirely, and so he stood, silently scowling at Tone, who scowled back just as hard. In the middle of the overblown staring contest, which Kohaku was getting so tired of she had stood up to intervene in, Ren’s phone buzzed.
“What now.” He growled, his face instantly clearing the moment he looked at it. “Oh. Uh, Rook, would you be so kind as to go pick up Race from her work? I completely forgot that she needed a ride.”
“What??” Kohaku’s jaw dropped. “There’s someone else on your team? How long has she been waiting for a ride??”
“Uh,” Ren scratched the back of his head. “I dunno, like… Eight hours? Maybe?”
“Welp I better get going,” Rook adjusted his collar and stooped to walk out the door, having been prompted by the sight of Kohaku’s jaw falling so far it seemed like it was about to disconnect from her skull. "Try not to lose custody of the apartment in the divorce proceedings, okay? I’d hate to know what your standards would slip to as a bachelor.
“ROOK!!” Ren snapped as the artificial figure hurriedly jogged to the stairs, prompting a chuckle from Tone. The moment died just long enough for everyone to awkwardly look towards Kohaku as she stood in stunned silence, flabbergasted by both Ren’s memory and Race’s apparent patience. “So, uh, Kohaku! Would you like something to eat? We’ve got, um… Erm…”
“Ramen,” Corey interjected, finally taking the cue. "It’s in that wall panel over there.
“I don’t know about you geeks, but I’m starving.” Tone said despite not actually being hungry, tapping a key on Corey’s keyboard which popped the wall open to reveal more steaming containers of low-quality ramen. “If anybody else is hungry, lemme know, otherwise I might just eat them all myself.”
“EIGHT HOURS?!”
Ren instinctively ducked despite Kohaku not having anything in her hands to throw at him. “YOU’VE BEEN LEAVING HER AT WORK FOR EIGHT HOURS!! Ren, you just might be the most HORRIBLE person I-”
“Aw, c’mon.” Tone shrugged, walking past Kohaku with a capsule in his hand. “He’s not all bad. Once you really get to know him, uhh, yeah it won’t get any better BUT your standards will get lower, so he’ll look fine by comparison.”
“I think I hate all of you.” Kohaku wiped her forehead in disbelief while Ren sheepishly backpedaled away, eventually bumping into the computer table and sidling into the chair. “Well not you Corey, and certainly not the other one you’re picking up, she uh…”
“Race.” Tone replied, offering a second ramen ball to a reluctant Corey as he slid down the wall. “Why don’t you hate her too? I promise she’s just as insufferable as the rest of us.”
“No kidding.” Kohaku sighed, stalking over to the wall panel and removing a ramen ball for herself. “So, uh, how do you afford an apartment like this, with all this gadgetry and stuff?”
“I’ve got an uncle who works in the updog factory across town.” Ren replied, too distracted from interacting with the computer to focus too heavily on his reply.
“You’re doing that thing where you deflect with braindead jokes for as long as it takes for the topic to change.” Kohaku groaned. “Are there like, any chopsticks here? Or maybe a fork or something? I don’t know how you’re supposed to eat this without-”
“Oh great.” She glared flatly at Corey and Tone, the latter choosing a sizeable ramen noodle with his fingers and the former having balled most of the ramen up in his fingers and was midway through aligning all the hanging strands with his open mouth, looking back over his shoulder at Kohaku with child-like curiosity. “You really are all bachelors.”
Tone shrugged comically in reply while Corey kept staring at her, nibbling on the midair pieces of ramen that made contact with his lips. The sound of the metal key being inserted into the door was heard, and a moment later Rook stooped to re-enter the apartment, a rather rattled Race appearing by his side.
“You doing alright, Race?” Ren inquired, glancing at her suspiciously. “You look a little…”
Tone snorted hard in reply, snickering for several seconds under his breath as most of the Wild Masks glared at him in return. “Yes, although I only just got done talking with the police. They were very suspicious about my knowledge of the fake suicide and getting there ahead of them by a good half an hour. But I got this way from the trip back; Rook’s got something to relay.”
“The car’s gone.” Rook sighed.
“What??” Ren shot straight up, knocking the chair over as he did so. “What do you mean the car’s gone?”
“What I just said.” Rook shrugged. “Somebody came and took the entire thing. Even the meter’s empty, as if someone opened it up and took the money out, like we had never paid for the spot.”
“Oh good.” Ren dramatically exhaled, picking the chair back up and flopping into it. “I was worried for a moment somebody caught on to you guys’ shenanigans.”
“Why does that make it okay??” Kohaku breathed, throwing her hands towards Rook as she spoke. “And what do you mean fake suicide? Did somebody… No. You guys didn’t Kill anybody… Did you?”
The Wild Masks looked about evasively in reply, but their glances landed on Tone enough times for the hint to get across. Kohaku slowly and dramatically wheeled about to face Tone with clear disbelief plastered all over her face, who was in the middle of sliding a noodle down the inside of his mask, making obnoxious slurping noises the entire time until his craned neck froze in place as so many eyes landed on him.
“Huh.” Corey rubbed his chin as he spoke, his voice sounding very intellectual all of a sudden. “So that’s why the ugly fish costume was smeared with red stuff. Who made that hideous thing, anyhow?”
“You know what,” Kohaku grinned painfully, her brows crinkling in worry. “I think I’m going to have a nice hot shower here if that’s okay with you actual psychopaths, and then I’m going to get a taxi and go home, and potentially change my name and leave the country while I’m at it. Great seeing you all.” She fired off finger guns at the group while waltzing into the restroom and slamming the door behind her.
“One more marriage joke outta you and I’m throwing your mask in the pacific.” Ren hissed at Rook, who threw his palms up in response. “Alright, before anything else gets discussed, I need to share something with you all.”
“These folks who keep attacking us so repeatedly and so efficiently know where we live, as several of their goons were found here, in this apartment. I suspect Oisim is responsible for that, as well as the removal of my car.”
“The goons that attacked me said they were after the Demon.” Tone replied, his voice significantly more serious than it had been before. “But everyone knows the Demon was burned in the fire. So why do they think we have it?”
“I guess they can’t admit to themselves that all their goals and ambitions are impossible now.” Ren shrugged. “Regardless, we’re never going to be safe from these attacks until we take this group out for good. And guess what I’ve just figured out.”
Everyone in the room stared forwards as Ren turned the monitor, revealing a scan of an event flier. “The event I thought was a couple weeks from now is this saturday. And it’s being funded by the foundation of our old friend Rikuto Kumagai, the one who died alongside Wild.”
“So that means…” Rook held his chin as he leaned towards the monitor.
“They’re the likeliest suspects to be funding this rogue order. I’m going to do some checking around,” Ren stood up from his chair, folding his hands behind his back as he slowly paced. “Just to make sure we’re not on the wrong trail. But it’s time for us to prepare to hit them where it hurts, and cripple this fund so they’ll never recover.”
“Which leads to my second point.” He glanced at Corey. “We’ve had a very blatant reminder that Corey is not safe here anymore, or alone in any capacity. If they know where we live, they’ll be able to figure out just about anything, although I suspect losing that fancy mask will slow them down a good deal. A simple change-up in our schedule should eliminate most of the risk, but if Corey’s coming with us from now on I think it’s finally time.”
All the Wild Masks nodded in agreement, even the fairly impassioned Race. Corey’s eyes grew huge, trying his best to pretend he didn’t know what was going on.
“It’s unanimous, then.” Ren swiped a piece of paper off the computer table, rapidly folding it as he approached Corey before handing the newly-formed origami mask over to him. “We’ll figure out a codename later. For now, welcome to the Wild Masks, kiddo.”
—
“You’re late.”
“Had to catch the train.” The stranger replied, his shining teeth perpetually showing. “I suspect the news hasn’t caught up to the scrap I was involved in?”
“Almost instantaneously.” Another voice replied, its owner lounging rather improperly on a small armchair, glancing at his phone as he spoke. “Leaked security footage from the train station made its way to the news a little while ago, showcasing you, the Rook guy, that Tone guy, and the car that rolled, but cuts just after that. Reportedly the cameras just shut off.”
“Curious.” The stranger smiled even further. “Very curious.”
“You’re surprisingly lax about this.” Yet another voice sounded, this time coming from a contorted hunchback, his skin coal-black and unmoving, his head tipping at odd angles while his eyes almost glowed their crimson color around the room. “What if they figure out about that event in a few days?”
“It’s an obvious trap, you moron.” A figure standing in the shadow of the corner muttered, his finger tapping against his knee. “Your constant bickering is throwing me out of sync.”
“Are we going to get started already?” One more voice grumbled, his perfectly round black sunglasses appearing red under the glow of the hunchback’s blazing eyes. “Everyone’s here, so what are we waiting for?”
“Not everyone.” The stranger grinned. “Our old friend Know is absent.”
The figure seated in the large, ornately-curved chair behind the solitary desk grunted in response, his fingertips tapping together. “There is no reason to postpone this any longer. We lay low until the weekend.”
“What?!” The hunchback bellowed.
“You mean we’ve got them on the run, and we’re just going to back off?” The slouching figure frowned. “I thought you were a bit more competent than that, mister Makuei.”
Oisim slowly stood, his ominous scowl hushing the room. “We have overplayed our hand. They have survived everything thrown at them, and if those ominous remarks are to be believed,” He glared at the stranger, who did not acknowledge the annoyance. “The mask Know wore is lost as well.”
“Do you mean they managed to capture him?” The character in the shadows inquired.
The stranger’s smile grew. “I went to check on his fate after the conflict. Took me a minute or two to find him, and by then the police had arrived. Even if he had kept the mask, there’s no way he could wear it now.”
The stillness in the room began to sharpen into a fine point, which Oisim tactfully weaponized. “We must believe they have the mask. They will use it to predict our movements. Therefore, we will have no movements. They will grow confident in their safety, to make the trap all the more effective.”
“It’s all the same,” The hunchback snarled, waltzing up to the desk and slapping a limb down on it, pointing his two-fingered hand at Oisim. “We face ruin if we let them regroup! They could outwit Know despite his mask with just two members; how will we be able to realistically stand against them when they are together?”
“Hypocrite.” Oisim loomed, glaring at the reclusive figure. “What was that all-mighty organization of yours called again?”
The hunchback’s face seemed to fall into complacency as he readily lost ground in the argument, and he slunk away from the desk. “We must counteract the power of that mask.” He turned back suddenly. “You will devise a plan. Contact your master, have him concoct a strategy, and you as his mouthpiece will select three of our party to enact your plan. I will take whoever is left and enact a plan of my own. This way they will be confident in having discovered one approach of our operation but one will ultimately evade them.”
“So be it.” Oisim waved his hand and dispelled the group, which followed the hunchback out of the room, leaving Oisim alone with the stranger.
“Won’t that Ren boy flip out when he knows you’re responsible?”
Oisim glared in reply. The stranger grinned, and with a sweeping bow departed.
—