Chapter Text
“This is stupid,” Mitsuba muttered, adjusting the weird bird-mask Tsukasa was forcing him to wear while looking in the mirror. Even if it was some kinda meeting between the most powerful ghouls in the city, there was no reason he had to look like a hideous freak while he was there. “Can I have a different mask?”
“Nope! Tradition.”
“This is a stupid tradition. The old guy’s dead, I don’t wanna have to wear his mask!.”
“It’s cool!”
“I look like a goddamned parrot!”
“You look fine, Mitsuba,” Sakura called from her corner of their hideout where she was not paying attention to the younger ghouls. She wasn’t even looking at them. That seemed sort of barbaric. If she was going to say Mitsuba looked ‘fine,’ which was obviously a lie because Mitsuba never looked just ‘fine,’ she should at least have been looking at him.
“Yeah,” Natsuhiko added, not very helpfully. “Like a real ghoul!”
At least he was actually looking at Mitsuba when he said that.
Mitsuba wasn’t sure if he wanted to look like a real ghoul, but it was the most practical option, given that he was going to a meeting of the Seven Mysteries, the most powerful ghouls in all of Tokyo. The ones who controlled each of the main seven wards. And technically Mitsuba was one of them.
He didn’t understand why Sakura couldn’t go. He didn’t even run Ward Three. Sakura did most of that, and what she couldn’t convince the ghouls to do, Tsukasa scared them into doing. Obviously neither of the guys could go meet with important people, but Sakura was perfectly capable. Probably more capable than Mitsuba, but he’d never say that out loud.
When he’d asked her about it, she’d given him some bullshit about him being the hand-picked successor of the last ghoul to be in charge and how it was important for him to be there.
He wouldn’t know. Mitsuba didn’t remember anything before meeting Tsukasa about four months ago. Apparently he’d been a part of the Broadcasters for a long time before that, which was a little weird because they knew absolutely nothing about him and any family he could have possibly had or even how he lost his memory, but whatever. It wasn’t like he’d had anywhere else to go.
Besides, Sakura had never given him a reason to mistrust her.
“What if they try to eat me?”
“That’s cannibalism. Ghouls aren’t supposed to commit cannibalism.”
Mitsuba was pretty sure he’d seen Tsukasa eating other ghouls at least once, but he didn’t want to say anything about that to the other boy.“Yeah, but what if-”
“You’re just as strong as they are. You can fight them off.”
“I don’t-”
Sighing, Sakura got up from the couch and walked over to him with her arms crossed. “You’re going to do fine,” she said, not smiling but that didn’t really mean anything with Sakura. She didn’t show many emotions. “Tsukasa and I will be waiting nearby. If things start to go badly, we’ll step in. You don’t even need to say anything. Just give the statistics we gave you, and remember, if they start talking about the Broadcasters…”
“I don’t know anything about them.”
“Right. That’s all you need. You’re going to do fine.”
Mitsuba was fairly sure that he was not going to do fine.
But it was ok. It was fine. Even if he messed up, the Broadcasters were his friends and they would help him. They wouldn’t let anything happen to him. Well, Tsukasa might, if he thought it was funny, but Sakura and Natsuhiko would look out for him. Everything would be absolutely fine.
“Alright,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m bravely going in to face the rampaging ghouls.”
“They don’t really rampage. They just kinda stand there and talk about boring stuff like food supply.”
“I’m going in to face the boring ghouls. If I do not return, remember my bravery and my cuteness. Make sure to put a picture of me up on the wall somewhere, and-”
“You’re going to be fine,” Natsuhiko said, ruffling Mitsuba’s hair, which was even more awkward than usual because of the bird mask. “My lady’ll make sure of it.”
Tsukasa started pushing MItsuba to the exit of their little hideout, with Sakura walking a few steps behind them. Mitsuba took off his mask, shoving it in the cute pink purse Sakura told him to wear, and looked back once, to see Natsuhiko still standing there, grinning and waving like a weirdo, and then they were in the dark, concrete staircase leading to the outside world that wanted Mitsuba dead.
Even though it was night, it was still bright outside from the skyscrapers and streetlights in the distance. At least in their part of Tokyo there weren’t many people. At least not many near the headquarters of the Broadcasters. It was a notoriously bad area for humans, both because of the ghouls and because of rumors of regular human gangs Sakura spread around. A few ghouls were standing around trying to look like they were guarding the small, mostly underground building, but they were probably just bored.
When they saw Tsukasa, they all straightened up and looked like they were hard at work guarding a deserted building. Or maybe it was Sakura they wanted to impress. It definitely was not Mitsuba.
Probably Tsukasa. Sakura was scary, but in a much more… restrained way than Tsukasa. As far as Mitsuba knew, she’d never threatened to eat her coworkers if they didn’t listen to her. She just slowly inspired the ghouls of the city to rise up in a rebellion against the government and destroy all of humanity.
The nearest subway station was about two miles away, which was utter hell and Mitsuba spent most of that time complaining about how unfair it was that their hideout was so far away from any civilization and how they couldn’t possibly expect someone as cute as him to walk all that way in less than hour, and Tsukasa and Sakura completely ignored him. They didn’t understand. They were probably used to walking everywhere. If Mitsuba was really the leader of the Third Ward, he deserved a little respect and to not have to walk all over the city.
That was, of course, ignored too.
They were on the subway for almost an hour until they reached the neutral space in the center of the city. It was a nicer area of Tokyo so, of course, there were a lot more people. People, running from building to building like it was the most important thing in the entire world. People talking to their friends, their partners, their children. People laughing and making noise, crowding around him. People, smelling like blood and sweat and something sweeter, the sweetest thing Mitsuba had ever smelled.
Mitsuba was pretty sure he wouldn’t have liked big crowds even if he hadn’t been a ghoul. But it was so, so much harder to stand in one trying desperately to fight the temptation to bite straight down into a tall young woman’s neck.
That was why he’d eaten before they’d left. So he wouldn’t lose control. Sakura had told him over and over again how important it was that he not lose control anywhere near the Seven. He wasn’t sure if she had any right to talk since she was friends with Tsukasa and Tsukasa had some bizarre eating habits, but she was right. He couldn’t eat humans. Not in plain view of everyone in the area. Not when they were so close to the Seven’s meeting place.
It was a whorehouse. The Seven met in a whorehouse.
“You’ll have to go in alone,” Sakura said, like it wasn’t a big deal that the most powerful ghouls in Tokyo met in a small whorehouse right next to a skyscraper of a casino. They weren’t even in the red light district. There definitely should not have been a whorehouse. Mitsuba had a lot of questions, but Sakura probably would consider them irrelevant. “We will be waiting nearby. If we sense trouble, we’ll come in.”
Mitsuba wasn’t sure how Sakura and Tsukasa would be able to sense trouble if they were in a whole other building, but he knew better than to argue with the green-haired person.
“You can do this, Mitsuba. Just stay calm.”
“And don’t try to eat them!” Tsukasa added helpfully.
Mitsuba took a deep breath and, without looking back at the other Broadcasters, started walking towards the building, slipping inside and, as soon as he was in the darkness, pulling on his mask.
Without really knowing where he was going, he started walking forward. Somewhere in the darkness he heard someone laughing, men and women talking and making other, weirder noises, and he winced, deciding to not think about any of that and to just keep walking. Just keep walking. Through the completely dark whorehouse. Why would they meet in a whorehouse? A place where apparently anyone could just walk in? What if he’d been an Exorcist?.
If it was an actual whorehouse with actual guests, why would they make it so goddamned dark? He almost tripped on nothing four times, and he had enhanced senses. A regular human would probably have died.
Maybe that was the goal. Maybe there was a buffet provided at the meetings that served nothing but humans who had fallen and broken their necks while trying to find their way through the building. Maybe they had a video camera up there that filmed them tripping and falling and dying. Dinner and a show.
Tsukasa was starting to rub off on Mitsuba.
Finally he ran into a door. Wincing, he rubbed at his nose and felt around for the handle. It was a little higher than most doorknobs, but the door still swung open and he was standing in a room filled with bright light.
“Shut the door, goddammit!” someone hissed. “Don’t just stand there staring!”
Mitsuba hurriedly shut the door, covering his eyes with his hands for a second before slowly looking out at the room.
The one who’d spoken was a woman standing a few meters away with her arms crossed. He couldn’t see her face because of the giant white fox mask covering everything, and she was wearing a white kimino with flowers at the bottom. And she was probably glaring at him.
“You’re not Number Three,” she said, crossing her arms.
“I’m-”
“Didn’t you hear, Two?” a man standing a few meters from the woman said. He had a giant mask in the shape of a spider over his face, which wasn’t exactly cute. At least the fox was pretty. Hell, even the bird mask was better than just a giant spider. “Number Three got killed by Exorcists. This is his replacement.”
“A tragic loss,” the old man with the weird owl mask standing closest to Mitsuba said. He bowed his head. “We were friends for a long time.”
“Uh… sorry?”
“This kid’s his replacement? He can’t be older than… what, fifteen?”
“Sixteen, you-”
“Oh, sixteen. That makes it so much better.”
“I was the same age as him when I joined,” a girl said. She was wearing a completely blank white mask that was spotted with red paint. Or at least Mitsuba hoped it was red paint. He really couldn’t tell from that far away. From under her mask, the end of a dirty-blonde braid peaked out. “I think I’ve done fairly well.”
Mitsuba knew that voice. He wasn’t sure where, but he knew it.
“My second is only eighteen,” added the old man. “And he is as dependable as I could have ever hoped for.”
“The third in command of the your ward is seven.”
The man ignored the fox-lady, instead turning back to Mitsuba. “ Go to your spot in the circle, Three.” He gestured to the open space between Two and Four, and Mitsuba sighed. He really did not want to deal with Two’s attitude. But he walked over and joined the circle because he followed instructions, especially when those instructions were given by scary ghouls.
“Why are we in a whorehouse?”
“Because Seven suggested it,” Four said, sounding really tired as the girl with the white mask giggled.
“And you all-”
“Yes, we went along with it.”
“Sometimes we get food,” Two added, and Mitsuba made a face without meaning to. He also decided that it’d probably be better if he didn’t ask anymore questions.
“Seven’s late,” One said after about two minutes of awkward silence.
“He typically is.”
“Can’t believe that’s who we have to take orders from,” Two muttered. “Some insolent little-”
The door swung open and, much quicker than Mitsuba had closed it, closed again. A short figure wearing a full-on cloak with a hood and a plain white mask with a weird seal on one cheek strode in.
“Hiiiiii!” they called in what was definitely a male voice. “Sorry I’m late, everyone. Is everyone else here?”
“Everyone except you, Seven,” Four said, sounding tired.
“Good!” Seven took a few steps to stand next to One and looked around the table, his head pausing when it got to Mitsuba. “Right! I forgot about the new Three. Welcome!”
“Uh… uh, thanks?”
After a few more seconds, Seven called out, “Right then! I bring this meeting of the Seven Mysteries of Tokyo to order! One, anything new to report in your ward?”
Mitsuba decided to turn the old guy out and look around the rest of the room. Two was a bitch. Four seemed old. The girl with the paint, probably Five because it looked like they were in numerical order, seemed nice. Maybe he should try to be friends with her.
The only member who hadn’t spoken yet was the weirdo with the mask in the shape of some kind of animal skull. There were even weird little horns coming up from it. They were just standing there, not moving or talking or reacting to whatever One was saying.
The rest of the group didn’t really creep Mitsuba out. He didn’t want to be there because they could probably kill him really quickly, but he probably wouldn’t have nightmares about them. The bone-mask-thing scared him.
“Three? Are you paying attention?”
Shit. Mitsuba tried to look confident and badass as he squeaked out, “Uh… what was the question?”
Two groaned. “Whether there’s anything new to report in Ward Three, dumbass.”
Yeah, she was definitely not as cute as him under the mask.
“He’s new,” Seven said, crossing his arms. “Give him a second.”
Maybe that guy was Mitsuba’s favorite.
“Right!” he said, trying to remember if there was anything new to report. “Uh… nothing has really happened in the last year. I mean… not since I took over. There was one mass killing, but they were quickly dealt with by some of my- I mean, the old Three’s people and the Exorcists were fought off with a lot of casualties, but we’re fine. Um… food supply is decent and… and that’s about it.”
“What about the Broadcasters?”
“Uh… we still haven’t found them.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Two muttered. When everyone in the room turned to look at her, except for the bone-mask who was still just standing creepily, she shrugged. “I told you what I thought about what happened to Three.”
“He was killed by Exorcists. They-”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard the story. Everyone heard the story. Wasn’t the story spread around by the Broadcasters?”
“I don’t- I haven’t-”
“They’re operating out of your territory. Shouldn’t you know where they are by now?”
Sakura had not told him what to do if the ghouls started pressing him about the Broadcasters. Apparently they were a bigger deal than Mitsuba had realized.
“This is his first meeting on the job, Two,” Seven said, leaning back slightly. “He probably hasn’t-”
“Two weeks ago, a large group of young ghouls in my ward rose up because of the broadcast and attacked a group of Exorcists. They won, but since then things in my ward have been hell. I’ve lost a lot of people in the past week, and I know it’s only going to get worse. If those brats keep broadcasting, then what’s happening in my ward will keep happening.”
Mitsuba was pretty sure that was the point of the broadcasts, but he didn’t say anything because showing that he worked with the Broadcasters would probably not be the best idea.
“Sorry ‘bout your ward,” Seven said, not sounding all that sorry, “but that’s not Three’s fault. Again, he just got the job. By next meeting, he will have had much more success with finding the Broadcasters, won’t you, Three?”
If he could see Seven’s eyes, Mitsuba was pretty sure that he would instantly run out of the building. Maybe that was the real reason the Seven wore masks.
“Uh… yeah, totally. Yeah, I’ll… I’ll find them. Definitely.”
“You’re too soft on the Broadcasters,” Two muttered. “You-”
And then Seven was right next to her and there was a knife- a regular human knife- in her face. Mitsuba gasped, falling backwards and onto the floor, which would have been embarrassing if anyone had been paying attention to him.
“I’m too soft?” Seven stroked the knife along Two’s throat. “Well, I wasn’t aware of that. Was anyone else aware of that?”
His voice was so childish. Even as he threatened someone, he still sounded like a kid.
When no one said anything, he lowered the knife. “I didn’t think so. Remember who is the leader of the Seven, Two. I will decide when the Broadcasters become a problem that all the wards need to be involved in, and right now, they’re not a problem. Three will deal with them. Won’t you, Three?”
And then everyone was looking at Mitsuba, who was still on the floor. He pushed himself to his feet and saluted awkwardly. “Uh… yes, sir, I will handle the Broadcasters!”
He also would make sure to tell them to be more careful with their broadcasts and also that they needed to give him more warning on how goddamned important the Broadcasters were..
“Good.” Before Mitsuba could even blink, Seven was back at the other side of the circle, smiling nicely. “Well, anything else to report, Three?”
“Nope! Absolutely not!”
“Alrighty then. On to Four.”
Mitsuba was absolutely, one hundred percent, fucked. He had no idea why Sakura thought he was remotely able to be a member of the Seven Mysteries, and he would make sure she knew how idiotic he thought that idea was as soon as he got back to their base. If he ever got back to the base. If the bloodlust he smelled radiating off of Two didn’t boil over and she didn’t attack and kill him. Mitsuba was pretty sure he would not be able to fight her off if that happened.
The girl with the red-spotted mask, Five, had just started talking when a woman wearing very, very little clothing ran into the room, out of breath. “Exorcists!” she shouted, panting. “Exorcists near the entrance!”
And then everyone was moving and Mitsuba had no idea where the hell he was supposed to be going because everyone was moving in different directions so he just kinda stood there before realizing that that was probably the worst thing he could do.
Six and Four were the only one moving towards the door everyone had come in from. Everyone else was sprinting to the back of the room, where there was a complete other door that Mitsuba just hadn’t noticed, apparently. Seven and One ran out that way, while Two jumped much higher than a human could normally jump and grabbed a ladder that had been tied to a trapdoor in the ceiling with rope, pulling the door open as she fell back down.
Someone tapped Mitsuba’s shoulder. Five, her red mask slightly askew. “Don’t just stand there,” she said, gesturing towards the ladder. “Two’s not gonna wait around forever.”
Mitsuba stumbled after her, reaching the ladder just as the lights went out. He thought about complaining about having to climb a ladder in the dark but there were probably more important things to worry about right then, like the Exorcists near the building.
“Do you do this every time there are Exorcists nearby?” he hissed up at Five as he climbed after her up the ladder, barely able to make out the silhouette of her legs above him.
“The fact that a guard came in to warn us means they’re not just nearby. They’re after us. They know we’re here.” Five reached the entrance and pulled herself out of sight before her hand appeared out of the dim light reaching for Mitsuba’s. He grabbed it and let her pull him up and decided not to say anything about the fact the ghoul whorehouse had guards, apparently.
Did it get regular customers? How did the Mysteries even have it? Why the hell would Seven think them meeting there would be a good idea?
“Honestly,” Two hissed, “Did the old Three tell you nothing about your emergency protocol?”
“No, he didn’t tell me that the supposedly safe meeting room of the Seven Mysteries wasn’t safe and could be invaded by Exorcists at any time! I mean- all the wards are s’posed to be keeping us safe, right? We’re really important and-”
“Nowhere’s safe when you’re a ghoul. I don’t know where the hell Three found you or why he decided to make you his successor, but-”
“We need to get going,” Five cut in, sounding annoyed. She’d apparently been balling up the ladder while they were talking and was standing up, letting the door slide shut behind her. “You can lecture him later. We need to get out of the area.”
Mitsuba hoped Sakura and Tsukasa were alright. They’d probably left as soon as the exorcists had shown up, though. They wouldn’t bother waiting around for him. Why would they? Sakura could just find another random ghoul with no memories to be the puppet leader of the Third Ward.
No, that wasn’t fair. They were his friends. They’d wait for him.
Probably.
He followed the other two Mysteries through what was probably some kind of attic, judging by all the random shit Mitsuba ran into.. After a few seconds, Two stopped and pulled a blanket off of the wall, revealing a window filled with the shining light of the world of humans. She then pulled the window up and gestured at Mitsuba to get out. He looked down at the ground of the dingy alleyway at least twenty feet below him.
“Uh… do you, like… have another ladder?”
“The hell is wrong with you?”
“Sorry I’m not willing to kill myself jumping out of a building!”
“It’ll take more than that to kill you! You’re a Mystery, act like it!”
Five sighed and pushed past Mitsuba to jump onto the ledge, falling forward and out. Mitsuba ran to the window and looked out to see her standing on the ground, perfectly fine. She looked up, nodded at him, and ran off.
Frantically stalling for time, Mitsuba looked at the buildings next to the alley. None of them had windows or doors on the sides, so there was no chance of anyone seeing them. And the building at the opposite end of the alleyway was shut down for remodeling. There weren’t even any druggies or homeless people in the alleyway, which was probably because the ghouls in the building had eaten all of them.Maybe the location was why they’d picked the whorehouse. It was a good setup.If Mitsuba ignored the part where he had to jump out of a window.
“You’re pathetic.” Two threw her hands in the air, shaking her head. “This is why the Broadcasters are still active on my territory. You’re too weak to fight them.”
“Bitch, you-”
Suddenly there was something sharp poking into Mitsuba’s skin at his throat. He could feel the blood tricking down the side of his throat, getting onto the top of his thick sweater and he flinched, backing away as fast as he could. Two laughed as she jumped onto the window ledge, perching there for a second like some kind of animal.
“Don’t you dare call me a bitch, you goddamned brat. Have fun with the Exorcists.”
And then she fell, landing on the ground in a neat lunge before running, faster than a human could run, and jumping onto one of the open windows on the fourth floor of the remodeled building, sliding inside gracefully.
Mitsuba could have died. She was so much stronger than him and she could’ve killed him. He raised one hand to touch the blood at his throat, feeling his eyes fill up with tears.
Quickly he wiped them away. He didn’t have time to cry.
So he climbed onto the window ledge, closed his eyes, and jumped.
Hitting the ground hurt. A lot. It was much harder than Five and Two had made it look, literally. His knees gave out and he fell onto his back, groaning. His right ankle was throbbing. Possibly twisted. But that didn’t really mean anything. Ghouls healed fast. He pushed himself to his feet, barely remembering to pull off his mask and sticking it back in his purse as he walked in the direction Five had gone.
“Excuse me.”
Mituba slowly turned and looked behind himself to see a blonde boy standing at the entrance to the alleyway facing the street he’d come in on. He was older than Mitsuba, maybe by three or four years. He was tall, handsome, smiling pleasantly at Mitsuba like they were just having a normal conversation.
And also he was holding a glowing sword.
And also there was something devastatingly familiar about him.
For a second, Mitsuba saw someone else. Not a memory, he didn’t have memories, but something sort of like one. A ghost of someone, someone hidden in the boy’s bangs, the shape of his blue eyes.
But Mitsuba didn’t really have time to think about that because it went away and also the boy with the giant fucking glowing sword was walking towards him.
“You seem to be lost,” he said, still smiling. “And you’re bleeding. That looks painful.”
“Uh… yep.”
“What happened?”
“I… uh…” MItsuba tried desperately to think of something to say that wouldn’t sound completely stupid. “I… tripped. And fell.”
“You fell. And cut your neck.”
Mitsuba had no choice but to keep going with it, so he nodded. “Yep. Totally.”
“Huh.” And then the boy changed. His slight smile contorted into something ugly- something angry and disgusted and completely terrifying. He raised his sword slightly higher, and all Mitsuba could think of for a few seconds was how utterly, completely wrong that expression looked on him even though he didn’t have any idea why. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that this building is suspected of being a ghoul hideout?”
“Uh… nope! Just out for a- a little stroll-” Mitsuba tried to back away towards the exit Five had run out of. Maybe she’d come back and save him. He would probably die otherwise. He’d never fought an exorcist before.
“That’s interesting. So you’re just a regular human then, right? A regular person.”
“Yes. I am. Completely-”
And then the boy was moving, moving almost as fast as a ghoul, faster than any normal human should have been able to go. His blade was at Mitsuba’s chest and the only reason it didn’t go straight through his body was because he fell onto his ass like some kind of idiot, pulling himself backwards as the boy stalked towards him.
“You’re not a Mystery. Too weak for that. Too bad.”
“I’m- I’m not-”
“You’re still filth.”
“I’m not a-”
And there it was. The familiar irritation in his right eye that meant it was turning black, the way it always did when he was stressed out.
Sometimes he really wished that the Broadcasters had spent a little more time focusing on re-teaching him to control his biology.
The boy nodded, looking slightly satisfied that Mitsuba’s body had decided to work against him. And maybe startled slightly. That was there too. “You’re a one-eye.”
“You don’t understand-”
“I’ve never understood your existence. How could the child of a human and a ghoul possibly survive childhood? If I had a child with a ghoul, I would kill it.”
“Killing babies kinda makes you the fucked-up one here!” Mitsuba squeaked out from the ground and instantly regretted it as the boy’s eyes went even colder. He should have just kept quiet. Maybe if he’d just kept quiet… well, the boy wasn’t going to let him live either way, but maybe he’d have been quick about it.
He did not want to die in some alleyway, killed by a too familiar boy.
The boy raised his sword again. Mitsuba backed away further, as far as he could before he hit one of the empty boxes scattered on the ground. The boy was moving towards him, raising his sword-
And then someone grabbed Mitsuba, pulling him out of the way and to his feet. Natsuhiko. Mitsuba had never been so glad to see the idiot and his creepy clown mask.
The two boys faced each other for a few seconds. The Exorcist stepped forward slightly as he looked over Natsuhiko.
And then Natsuhiko turned and, still pulling Mitsuba, sprinted to the remodeled building. He let go of Mitsuba to start climbing up the metal structures reinforcing the outside or… however they worked like a weirdly large monkey. Mitsuba blindly followed as the older boy quickly maneuvered towards the right side of the structure and jumped away from it, landing on the side of the building next door and using the windows to climb up like that American spider hero.
That was probably not gonna end well for Mitsuba.
But still he followed because he could hear the Exorcist following him, climbing up the metal things they’d just climbed, slower than a ghoul fueled by pure adrenaline but soon he’d reach them and Mitsuba would prefer for that not to happen, so he closed his eyes and jumped.
He barely grabbed onto the nearest window ledge. Pulling himself onto it, he panted for a second before he started up, following Natsuhiko, who was already at the top.
Below him, he smelled blood from the building. Ghoul and human. He could hear them screaming.
When he looked back, he saw the blonde boy, holding onto the side of the metal structure and glaring up at him. He looked pissed. Mitsuba was half-convinced he’d make the jump between the buildings, which really wasn’t that far, and climb after them. Instead, he just shook his head and climbed back down, running back into the whorehouse.
“Hurry up!” Natsuhiko called down to him, and Mitsuba quickly climbed the rest of the building to the top.
“How the hell did you get Minamoto Teru’s attention?”
“Who?”
“One of the top Exorcists in Tokyo. He’s crazy strong. His whole family’s crazy strong, but he’s something else.” Natsuhiko shook his head, pulling off his mask. “If I hadn’t been there, you woulda been killed quick.”
The adrenaline was starting to wear off. Mitsuba closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
He’d been so sure he was about to die. He could see it, see himself dead. Dead in some goddamned alleyway with no one around but some Exorcist.
Dead without knowing who he was.
“Airhead-”
“That’s Natsuhiko to you, brat.”
“-why did you wait so long, anyway? Don’t you know I could’ve been seriously hurt?”
“I wanted to see if you could handle it.” Natsuhiko grinned, striking a ridiculous pose. “I would have jumped in as soon as you were in danger, Mitsuba.”
Mitsuba sighed, trying to keep the annoyance going, but it was fading. Even if he was a little annoying, Natsuhiko had helped him. Had saved him.
Even though Mitsuba had failed the test. He had failed to do anything against his first Exorcist and had just cowered on the ground. He was useless. Useless, and soon the Broadcasters would realize how useless he was and he’d lose the only friends he could remember having.
“Thank you, Airhead!” he said, grabbing Natsuhiko in a hug. Maybe if he clung to him long enough, he wouldn’t make Mitsuba leave even though he'd failed. His utter cuteness would overwhelm him and he'd be forced to let Mitsuba stay. It'd worked before. The older boy just patted him on the head like a dog for a few seconds before pulling away.
“My Lady has told us we need to split up.”
“Is she ok?”
“She and the runt went back to the Third Ward when the Exorcists appeared. I was sent to keep you from dying. All of the citizens were evacuated about a kilometer away. We’ll go across the buildings ‘til we get there, and then we’ll split up and hang out with them until we can get back home.”
Mitsuba nodded. Home sounded nice. If he could skip all the other steps and just go home, that’d be even nicer.
“Oh! Also!” Natsuhiko made a face. “My Lady told us not to stop for a snack.”
“Oh. That’s… that’s too bad.”
The brown-haired boy nodded, grinning. “Well! Let’s get going!”
And then he ran to the opposite edge of the building and jumped, falling out of sight. Mitsuba followed him to see him land on a roof about three meters below and, closing his eyes, followed.
Why was everyone expecting him to just jump on and off buildings? It was stupid. Everyone needed to think of a plan that did not involve Mitsuba jumping off of buildings and falling and hoping for the best because that was starting to get ridiculous.
But it was going fine. Everything was going perfectly fine. When they were about three-quarters of a kilometer from the Exorcists, they got off the rooftops. Natsuhiko went one way, and Mitsuba went the other. He found a group of normal people- Refuge Station B, apparently, even though he didn’t see any kind of station- to blend in with who were all too busy shouting at the Exorcists about how they didn’t see any ghouls and they wanted to get back to gambling or sightseeing or whatever the hell humans did to notice Mitsuba entering the group and the cut on his throat. And his eye had gone back to normal. Everything was fine. He would just slowly make his way to the back of the cluster of people and then he would book it to the train station and go home and be lectured by Sakura. Everything would be completely fine.
And then there was a boy, materializing in front of him as Mitsuba pushed his way through the people, as if some god who really had it out for him had placed him in his path.
“Can’t you watch where you’re going?” he hissed, trying to push past the boy who’d bumped into him. Or who he’d bumped into. Whatever.
“Oh, sorry, I just-”
The boy gasped. Mitsuba looked up and had two entirely conflicting thoughts at the exact time.
One of them was rational. It was that he should run like hell because the guy looked exactly like the guy who'd tried to kill him a couple minutes ago.
The other, much less rational thought was that he was, finally, safe.
The boy’s jaw was basically on the concrete as he stared at Mitsuba, his blue eyes slowly lighting up with some emotion Mitsuba had no idea how to put into words. If it hadn’t been for the weird deja-vu feeling, Mitsuba would have made a joke about the boy being a creep. Slowly he whispered, as he reached out a hand to feel his sweater, “Mitsuba?”
Shit.
“Uh… hi. So-”
“Oh my god, you’re alive!” And then the boy was gripping his arm tightly, too tightly for Mitsuba to pull away from. “Oh my god! You’re- you survived- they told me you died, I just- I can’t- how are you alive?”
“Who are you?”
That was not what Mitsuba had meant to say. He had no idea what he’d meant to say.
The boy’s electrifying smile faded, leaving him looking confused. “Mitsuba, it’s- it’s only been a few months. You haven’t forgotten me, right?”
Even though it hurt to watch the light fade from the boy’s bright blue eyes, Mitsuba forced a laugh. “Yeah, I- I have no idea who the hell you are. Sorry, but, uh- could you let me go now?”
“You don’t- it’s Minamoto Kou! Don’t you remember, asshole?”
“Why the hell are you calling me an asshole? I don’t even know you? What did I do to you?”
“You forgot about me, that’s what!”
“How did you expect me to control that?”
“You could have-”
Someone screamed. Both boys whipped around to see the crowd of people moving backwards, scrambling, knocking into each other and falling to the ground and being stepped on. Someone was screaming, “Ghouls! Ghouls!” On either side of the group, Mitsuba could see Exorcists running forward.
“Shit!” the boy, Minamoto apparently, said. He pulled an umbrella off his back, which was kinda weird, because it wasn’t raining, and whipped the cover off to reveal a three-pronged golden staff. The kind used by Exorcists.
Right. The Minamotos were an Exorcist family.
Mitsuba had no idea why an Exorcist- one of the Minamotos even, which was apparently a big deal- knew him. Or had known him. Whatever. He had had a long night and wasn’t waiting around to find out.
Minamoto shoved Mitsuba backwards, pushing him with the crowd of people. “Go with them, go… find somewhere safe to hide. I’ll find you after. I promise.” He held Mitsuba’s gaze for a few extra seconds, his blue eyes seeming to burn straight through him. “Don’t you dare leave again, asshole!”
And then he was gone, pushing against the crowd to reach the front and kill more of Mitsuba’s species.
The pink-haired boy turned and ran, moving with the rest of the crowd of humans away from the ghouls, from the Exorcists, from the strange boy with the blonde hair who knew who Mitsuba was. Or who he had been, anyway.
Maybe he would know if there was a difference. Maybe he would know if Mitsuba was really who Tsukasa and Sakura and Natsuhiko told him he was.
But he was also an Exorcist and related somehow to a very, very scary boy and Mitsuba didn’t want to deal with that, so, like any person with even a bit of intelligence ever, he ran away.