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Chapter Eighteen
Recovery
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“Did you have to give me the double eye pads?”
Race didn’t respond, happy that she could smile to herself without being observed for the slight amusement she had at her superior’s expense. “Turn coming up in a couple seconds. You gonna be okay to walk in there?”
“Maybe you’d better go in and talk to her first.” Ren sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know what could’ve happened to make her leave such a panicked voice message, but knowing how my eyes are right now might spook her further.”
“I’ll be sure to keep you posted.” Race felt about for the umbrella on the back seat. “Awful nice of Oisim to replace this old thing, even if he is working on the other side and all. Maybe you’ll be able to get an answer out of him after tomorrow in regards to what he’s up to.”
Ren didn’t answer. His sightless gaze was staring directly through the eye pads and into the floor. He stayed in this position even as Race exited the vehicle and strolled to the door of the building.
“I’m sorry it took such a time,” She began, lightly touching Kohaku on the shoulder, startling her from the cradled position she had entered on the cushioned seat. Before Race could complete her sentence, she jumped up and nearly crushed her to death in a hug.
“Oh, you don’t know what this means to me.” She gulped. “I’ve been through so much today, I-I thought it couldn’t get much worse… I had almost lost hope that Ren would actually arrive. He is here, isn’t he?”
“…Ribs…” Race gasped, leaning on the back of the chair and breathing heavily after Kohaku released her grip. “Uhh… Yeah, he’s in the car at the moment, he isn’t doing too well. Nothing that won’t be better in a day or two, though. What exactly happened?”
“Are you BLIND??” Kohaku gasped, her jaw nearly hitting the floor. “THERE’S A-”
The other denizens of the cafe turned away from the wall-mounted television with dismissive glares at the interruption, slowly returning to the steady stream of footage which detailed the destruction caused by the monstrous rampage. “Well, that. It completely destroyed my apartment, absolutely ruined the view from that side of the building, which was the whole reason why I got it in the first place, and-”
“Uh.” She glanced at Race, who had turned towards the window. “Is… Ren’s okay, isn’t he? I mean, he didn’t get hurt by that thing, did- Oh.”
Her eyes caught Race’s reflection in the glass. The tears streaming down her face matched the raindrops on the window, both framing the fatigued form of Ren inside the vehicle. “Did… did he…”
Race’s forehead softly rested against the pane. The leader of the Wild Masks lifted his covered eyes towards the building, surrounded by the soft sounds of rain colliding with the vehicle. He could not see Kohaku’s as they welled up with tears of their own.
—
“Yeah?”
“This matter is becoming most indelicate.” The voice crackled. “I expect you have noticed these most recent events. We’re becoming less capable of countering these absurd maneuvers.”
“I noticed.” The assassin mumbled.
“We cannot allow this to be tolerated. You will visit the news station that girl works at and eliminate the assigned name. I will inform Odgu of the hit.”
“Understood, Makuei.” Another spiraling trail of smoke crept out from under the wide brim. “Master Odgu was locked pretty thoroughly in conflict with that thing… Where is he now?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “He is nearing Mt. Fuji, it seems. Whether that is of his own accord or the machinations of this foul beast is unclear.”
“Sir,” Pakka nervously interjected as Oisim hung up the phone. “He- Odgu, said something about you maybe having information on this creature. That it can summon lightning and rain, and shoot water from its mouth.”
“His way of telling me where to look.” Oisim scowled even further than normal. “He already knew I was familiar with the creature. It is ancient, almost as old as the mask you now wear, and is said to have ripped itself from the bottom of the sea along the South American coast.”
His fingertips tapped together as his face darkened further. “It makes deals with those who have lost all hope. I suspect this Ren character managed some kind of swindle to utilize its power, although his actions have caused the death of countless innocent people.”
“But… What is it?” Pakka leaned forwards, his eyes nervously reading Oisim’s features for any indicator of offense. “What is this awful thing, that’s done so much damage in such a short amount of time?”
“Chubasco.” Oisim’s eyes rotated towards Pakka with a venomous stare. “The Devil fish. It cannot be stopped until the cause for which it was summoned is fulfilled… And it could only be after one thing.”
—
“Ren.”
“It’s my fault.” The leader of the Wild Masks continued, hardly paying attention to Kohaku’s protests as the rain soaked into his already tear-drenched eye pads. “There’s two, maybe three hundred people dead, Kohaku. And it’s my fault. I let Chubasco free, I gave him his orders. There isn’t any point in trying to excuse myself from the consequences of this.”
“Ren, please.” Kohaku hiccoughed, trying desperately to choke down her own tears. “You didn’t do this. You didn’t know what this monster would do, it’s not your fault.”
“Am I to be excused from all responsibility?” Ren’s jaw locked as he stared upwards at the blackened clouds. “How many Coreys were there among the dead who would still be alive if I hadn’t done this? How many Tones, or Freds, or even You would there be, if I hadn’t let this monster loose?” He ran a hand delicately through his soggy hair. “I repaid a toll of six deaths with a number of innocents so high I should receive the death penalty. This untold destruction, the tens of thousands of lives I put in danger through my stupidity, it’s unforgivable.”
“Ren!” Kohaku blubbered, gripping his shoulder in retaliation against his self-condemnation. “You’ve got to stop it! I can’t take it anymore, you- you’ve got to keep going and- and-”
“AND WHAT??” Ren roared, turning and grabbing both of Kohaku’s shoulders as she recoiled in terror. “TWO HUNDRED LIVES, KOHAKU!! That’s how many people I HAD KILLED for some, some GAME! Some JOKE!! Some twisted little back-and-forth concocted by Oisim or some other madman until the stakes become impossible to contend with! And all to honor the memory of a dead man who would turn EVERYONE against me if he knew what I had done!”
“So WHAT, then?!” His face flushed almost as red as Kohaku’s skin, Race having moved closer to the pair in case she needed to physically intervene. “WHAT else is LEFT FOR ME?? I’ve betrayed everyone I know, put the WHOLE of Japan in danger, killed HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE for NOTHING and almost killed YOU, too - Who’s even LEFT to forgive me? HUH??”
“I forgive you.” Kohaku trembled.
“You-” Ren’s breathing dropped to a ragged rhythm, although the rage present in his voice would not give up so easily. “NO!! You can’t, I- I almost KILLED YOU!! There are TWO HUNDRED people who never made it to a GRAVE tonight, Kohaku - Do you think THEY will be as willing to forgive me?!”
“I forgive you.” She swallowed, her hands touching Ren’s triceps — which was about the only part of his arms she could touch with her shoulders pinned. “I forgive you, Ren.”
“No,” His teeth felt like they were about to rattle out of his skull. “That doesn’t make it right. There’s so many families that just lost their loved ones, their sweethearts, their- their pets, livelihoods, their futures. The damage will take years to repair. I can’t-”
“I f-forgive you, Ren.” Kohaku shook, the reverberations of her ribcage making it out of her throat and into the words she spoke.
The leader of the Wild Masks felt his grip slipping off of her shoulders, as more and more mental effort was put into trying to stop his trembling lip. But as if to thwart any effort of composure on his part, the thoroughly sopping hand of his junior coworker laid itself against his cheek. “I know this is awful, I know what happened almost killed me. But I forgive you. I know you’re blaming yourself, for something outside of your control, because you were in some way involved. But no matter what, I forgive you. For all of it.”
Ren winced as his knees impacted the loose stones in the parking lot, Kohaku kneeling down beside him. “I forgive you, Ren.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her eyes shutting as her body trembled right alongside his. “It’s gonna be okay, please… Please don’t cry anymore, I c-can’t take seeing you like this.”
“I’m sorry.” Ren gasped, the water under his eye pads finally soaking through enough of the material to slip out from underneath. “I’m so, so sorry.” He gasped again as Kohaku hugged him tighter.
Race stood a pace away, her hands cold from the rain, unsure what to do. It was painful to watch; more painful to feel the emotion in her fingers, as if she was trying to somehow embrace the pair from a distance. Her saddened brow continued its angle towards the emotional fit until, with as much of a start as could be produced from the stoic Race, she broke from the scene, reaching out towards the rain with one tentative hand.
The drop had frozen in midair. The surface tension broke as her fingers brushed along it, traveling across her hand and dripping off the base of her palm.
“Ren.” She looked upwards, watching as the entire sky remained motionless. “He’s here.”
Kohaku looked up last, following the purposeless gaze of the blind Ren and gasping at the sight. Twisted about in the sky was the evil form of Chubasco, stopped in the middle of what appeared to be a violent struggle, with a small black dot on the front of its face.
“…Ren?” Kohaku murmured, her eyes flicking across different parts of the creature. “Do you… Hear that?”
It wasn’t a sound that reached his ears, but a hum which seemed to reverberate through his mind, like a cello played on the other side of the world was somehow being fed through the ground itself and emanating out of every atom in existence. It was soft at first, but it seemed to dominate his senses until the only thing that he could consider was the message the noise carried.
And that message was a calm so refined, so purified, it was as if the whole of the slain by this ferocious beast had assembled to show their support for his cause, to forgive him in person. Suddenly the guilt he felt at the hundreds of casualties was resolved, and as his mind cleared from the incident it became evident this sound, this noiseless noise was coming from the creature itself.
The presence suddenly faded, trickling off like a dried-up stream, but not before one final, unmistakably clear message came through. As the rain slowly began to resume its fall, Ren’s fish-eyed gaze met Kohaku’s with clear purpose behind the motion. “We have to go to Mt. Fuji.”
“Right,” Kohaku nodded, then started suddenly. “Whuh?? Where did I- where did you-”
“I heard that, too,” Race stepped forwards, slipping one hand back into her pocket. “I don’t think it was meant for us, though. Look,” She pointed her free hand at the creature, which now casually weaved through the air in the direction of the ominous mountain.
“What… does this all mean?” Kohaku turned towards Ren. “Is it over?”
“It won’t be over til I can see again.” He struggled upwards, losing balance just long enough to require Kohaku to balance him. “Let’s get back to Corey. He’ll be able to tell us what’s going on.”
—
“What are you going to tell him?”
“That I let that horrible thing loose.” Ren replied, ruffling his hair and throwing water droplets in all directions. “It’s not going to be pleasant for him to know, but I have to take responsibility for this. It’s still my fault that this ever occurred, and I need to make right whatever I can.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Race sighed as the elevator doors opened. “Corey trusts you very much. This could really hurt him.”
“I know.” Ren stepped to the door and inserted the special key after Race helped guide his hand to it. “I didn’t want any of this, but now that it’s here I’m not running from it.”
“-which is more important than saving a report card!!” Tone angrily shoved his finger into Corey’s dejected face as the door opened. “Now this emergency signal was created by Wild a very long time ago, way before any of us were involved with his little group. That means it’s very special. And that means-”
“Corey?” Ren felt about for the wall to lean on. The youngest member of the Wild Masks leaned around Tone with curled lower lip and puppy dog eyes only to violently start at the sight of Ren with completely ruined eye pads over both eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Cataract surgery so early?” Tone crossed the room, pulling off the eye pads with no hesitation or warning, causing Ren to yelp in response. “Not done yet, huh? You think he’s going to be much longer?”
“What is going on?” Corey’s voice rattled. “Is he blind? Did… Did he go blind? Is he ever going to see again?”
“Yes, yes.” Tone waved him away with a flop of his hand. “Ren, look, there’s been a bit of a- oh wait, right, sorry. Lemme describe it to you instead.”
Ren scowled in the general direction of Tone’s smug grin as he continued. “We’ve currently got no idea what’s going on at the party tomorrow or even if it’s still on. This rampage has undoubtedly caused at least some of the guests to have seconds thoughts about appearing, which while that might help us out in the short term it’s going to cause serious problems regarding tracing our identities, if we’re some of the only people who attend. Roof entry or no, we’re going to need some kind of IDs or invitations to get us past security or we risk setting off all of security for the building.”
“Some of you will have that issue.” Rook’s voice was glum as he interjected. “Me I’ll be stuck waiting outside, because I’m so tall and stick out like a sore thumb… But I haven’t felt the sensation of any digits in so long…”
“…Rampage?” Corey looked around Tone again after allowing ample glaring at Rook time for the whole room to participate in. “What rampage? What are you talking about?”
“Did you not hear me telling you about everything on the ride home?” Tone glanced quizzically at the golden mop of hair below him. “How I mentioned the devil fish, and the destruction it’s causing, and why it’s out there?”
“No?” Corey retorted. “I was, um… Thinking. About stuff.” He looked away with yet another reiteration of his previous guilty expression.
“Well anyway, tomorrow I want you to use your mask and formulate a plan for how to get inside. We’re going to be awfully busy in the morning getting ready, and we’ll need all the help we can get.” Tone turned his gaze back towards Ren and blinked in surprise. “Boss, your eyes…”
“Huh?” Ren looked at Tone as if he had suddenly appeared out of thin air. “Oh. I didn’t even notice it… Let’s get to bed then. Race, Kohaku, if you don’t mind I’ll be using the shower first. I still smell like pond water.”
“Pond water?” Kohaku raised an eyebrow in reply. “Hey, uh, I hate to break it to you, but isn’t there a giant fish monster terrorizing half of Tokyo right now? Namely residential areas?”
“No,” Ren paused, halfway to the restroom, one eye peering over his shoulder at the entire room. “The leader of the Pangolins is dead.”
—