Tokyo Colony 1, Ikebukuro District.
November 11, 2018.
4:20 PM.
The theatre sat squat and half-collapsed at the edge of Ikebukuro District, marquee lights long dead, one corner of the roof caved in like something had taken a bite out of it. Remi's fingers found mine somewhere around the second block, and I only noticed because I glanced down and found our hands linked like we were headed to some kind of date.
"…Remi."
"Yes?"
"Why are you holding my hand?"
"As my knight," she said, entirely too pleased with herself, "it's your responsibility to take your lady's hand when you walk beside her."
???
"I'm sorry, my what now?"
"Your responsibility." She squeezed once, for emphasis. "It's basic chivalry."
"I know I was calling you princess, but don't you think a full-on roleplay is a bit much?"
"You saved me twice and fed me sandwiches. I've decided you're my knight now. You don't get a say in it."
I tried, gently, to extract my hand. She tightened her grip instantly, planting her feet with the immovable stubbornness of someone who'd clearly decided this hill was worth dying on.
"I'm not letting go until we get there, otherwise I won't go," she informed me primly.
"Now what sort of blackmail is this...?"
"Why do all the pages of your vocabulary end up with negative words? Try something positive for a change, like 'romantic'..."
I sighed and let it happen, mostly because arguing was clearly a losing battle and partly because—fine, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. A cute girl was fighting tooth and nail to hold my hand.
I certainly could use that ego boost before the fight, if I'd admit that out loud. However, only this time. I liked someone else. I hope she'll listen this time around.
"You know," she continued, entirely too casual, "I bet Maki never held your hand like this."
Where did that come from?
I did tell her about Maki, basically she blackmailed the intel out of me at the cost of my noodles.
I went along just so she would know I liked someone else… and it didn't work.
I thought she would get the cue, but instead she now used what I told her to jab at Maki now and then...
I sighed. Though my mind did conjure up an image of me and Maki holding hands. Now that was a nice image.
Not kissing or hugging or, for God's sake, training, just holding hands while walking around the streets or looking at a beautiful sunset.
Now, that's the kind of dream worth dying for. Peace...
"…Remi, can we not talk about Maki, please?"
"I'm just saying. Some girls play hard to get. Some girls don't answer confessions for weeks. Some girls—" she gestured grandly at herself with her free hand, "—know a good thing when it's standing right in front of them."
"Maki's complicated. It's not about—"
"Complicated is a nice word for 'left you hanging.'" She sniffed, chin lifting. "I would never leave my man hanging."
OH… it's 'my man' now. Isn't this girl a little too fast in declaring her sovereignty?
"If I recall right, you were trying to kill me a few hours ago."
"And if I recall right, you forgave me. Not to mention, you saw what others never saw in me...." She said while slightly leaning her head on my shoulder.
"That's why you're MY knight now... no going back, NEVER!"
I caught her eyes flicking, not for the first time, toward parts of me that had nothing to do with the conversation. Chest, arms, jawline, neck, sometimes my butt, and what was at the opposite of it... and when I raised an eyebrow at her, she didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed about it.
"What?" she said. "You do it too."
"I do not."
"You absolutely do." She slightly lifted her breast with her free hand, making them pop more, and before I knew it my eyes were glued to them. Just for a second, but that was enough...
"See… you've been checking me out. Don't deny it."
I decided, wisely, not to respond to that.
"Don't worry, I don't mind you looking." She giggled, which made me even more embarrassed. I really couldn't deny those allegations now, could I?
She slowly leaned her head toward my ear. "If you want, I might be open to showing you more in private... my knight."
A shiver ran down my spine.
'Damn it, she is playing unfair...'
When I just lowered my face out of embarrassment, she giggled even more. Thankfully, she didn't tease me after that, and we walked the rest of the way with significantly less bickering, mostly because I ran out of good comebacks and she seemed content just holding on. By the time the theatre's broken entrance came into view, though, her grip had gone from smug to something quieter.
"…Do you have to go in there?" she asked, her voice dropping, fingers curling tighter around my sleeve now instead of my hand. She looked into my eyes, and for the first time I felt genuine worry on her part...
"Yeah. Duty calls..."
She nodded slowly, chewing on that for a second, some of the earlier confidence draining out of her posture.
"Then make sure you come back." Her voice was small now, none of the earlier theatrics in it. "Don't you dare die in there, you hear me?"
"I'll do my best, princess... though no promises."
"Good." She let go, finally, stepping back and crossing her arms tight over her chest like she needed something to hold onto that wasn't me. "Because I still haven't finished telling you why Maki's wrong for you."
Sigh... I huffed out something like a laugh and pushed through the theatre doors.
'Crazy girl...' But I couldn't help but smile seeing that genuine concern on her face.
'She deserves a sincere answer from me if what she is telling me is her true feelings. I'd rather not leave her hanging...'
I took a deep breath, and then removed everything else from my mind... put my mean game face on and entered.
-x-
The inside was exactly as abandoned as I'd expected — rows of collapsed seating, a stage lit by whatever daylight still leaked through the broken roof, dust thick enough to taste.
And in the dead center of that stage, sitting in a full porcelain bathtub, fully clothed, suit and all, soaking in water that had clearly gone cold hours ago, was a man who did not look remotely surprised to see me.
"Have you ever tried bathing with your clothes on?" he asked, without so much as glancing my way.
"…No."
"You should. Surprisingly meditative." He finally turned his head, studying me with the calm, unhurried attention of someone reviewing evidence rather than sizing up a threat. That glance held no particular emotion. He was harder to get a read on...
"I've been trying new things lately. This is one of them." He pointed out.
I decided, given everything I'd already seen in this colony, that a man taking a bath fully dressed on an abandoned stage barely cracked my top ten weirdest encounters.
"I see... by the way, are you Higuruma?"
"I am." He said it simply, no posturing behind it.
"I see. I'm Yami Akindo..."
"And you're here for my points, I assume." He said with no emotion whatsoever on his face.
"More or less. Do many do...?" I kept my distance, hands loose.
"More or less..." He shrugged, without even looking.
For the first time I felt like I couldn't get a read on a guy, as if this man was completely disinterested in fighting, or not fighting.
"Would you mind if I asked how many points you have right now?" I asked, expecting that would draw some reaction from him...
"102 points."
I pursed my lips... that many!
And it can't be that easy, right? I ask and he simply tells me! What's going on?
I contemplated for a second or two before letting the matter go. Ultimately, it doesn't matter why he told me so easily. What matters is that I can use those points of his to make a rule.
And for that, I have to convince him to make a rule on my behalf using his points... sigh.
"How many points do you have...?" He asked, still laid back.
My points?
Well, he did tell me his, so I guess I don't mind, but...
'How many points do I have exactly?'
I didn't even check until now. Man! Those fights had me run ragged.
"Kogane..."
Pop.
"How may I help you?"
"How many points do I have right now?"
"One hundred and thirty-one."
"You heard him, it's one hundred and thirty— cough cough~"
"HOW MUCH!!!"
I snapped at Kogane like I heard an absurd amount.
"Your points are one hundred and thirty-one."
I paused... my mind lagging behind to process that number.
How?
"How many people did you kill to get that many points...?" Higuruma asked, now actually standing out of the tub, eyes locked onto me...
How many I killed... clearly not nearly enough to have this many, right!
My brain struggled to come up with an answer until it struck me.
'Winner Gets It All...'
'Don't tell me Death Trade also took their points as well.'
I've got enough now to petition a rule change. However, I still need more...
"I asked you how many people you killed to get that many points..." Higuruma once again asked, walking out of the tub and adjusting his hair.
"Four people... but I really never wished to kill any of them. I had to because if I hadn't, then they would have killed me instead, and more after me." I tried to justify myself, though it sounded weak.
"You're telling me you amassed 131 points by killing just four people?"
I froze... yeah, there was also that. Just my freaking luck... how am I supposed to convince him to use his points for me to make a rule now?
"Look, I know how it sounds, but I really didn't go on a killing spree. I never kill without reason... here too, I came in peace."
So I explained what I was up to, everything, and I have to give it to the man, at least he seemed like he was listening.
"So I'm asking. Add a rule. Something that could help the sorcerers stuck in here — hell, help everyone trapped in these colonies. You've got more than enough to spare."
He was quiet for a long moment, water dripping softly off his sleeve.
"I don't want the Culling Games to end," he said finally.
That stopped me cold. "…Pardon?"
"I don't want it to end." He said it plainly, like discussing the weather. "I was a lawyer before all this. Do you know what that's like? Building a case airtight enough to convict a man who everyone in the room knows is guilty, and watching him walk anyway because of a technicality, a bought judge, or a jury that simply didn't want to be inconvenienced with the truth."
'???' That went above my head. How's that related?
"The Culling Games don't have that problem." His eyes held something distant, almost reverent. "There's no appeal here. No bribed official making an inconvenient case disappear. Strength decides guilt and innocence with perfect, immediate clarity. I find that fascinating. I want to see how far it develops."
I stared at him for a long moment, genuinely trying to process that this was, without question, the single most unhinged thing I'd heard since arriving in this colony — and I'd fought a guy who threw his own eyeballs as grenades.
"People are dying," I said slowly. "Not just criminals. Innocent people too. That's not justice, that's just chaos with a body count."
"Perhaps." He didn't sound remotely swayed. "But even chaos can develop structure, given time. I'd like to see what structure emerges."
"Man... you're a lawyer, ain't you?" I looked at the badge he was wearing.
"A modern one, by your own admission. How do you square any of that with killing people so easily?"
"Simple." He said it without a flicker of hesitation. "I only kill those who've committed crimes."
"That's not how any of this works, and you know it."
"It's exactly how it works. I investigate. I judge. I execute the sentence myself, when the verdict calls for it." His tone never rose, never wavered — the calm, procedural cadence of a man reciting something he'd rehearsed a thousand times to himself in that bathtub. "I don't kill indiscriminately, Akindo. I deliver verdicts."
Yes, that's when I knew I wasn't just dealing with another weirdo. This man, he was driven by strong ideals. A longing to achieve something good, no matter how twisted his logic to achieve that was...
For some reason, that reminded me of Suguru Geto. Not Kenjaku, but the real Suguru Geto. I could feel it, they were similar in a way.
I tried a few more angles — pointed out the obvious flaws in a system where he was judge, jury, and executioner all at once, that "criminal" inside a colony where survival forced desperate choices meant something very different than it did outside — but he simply wasn't listening anymore, his expression settling into something patient and immovable, a man who'd already made peace with his own logic long before I walked in.
This one was a strange case. He wasn't bad enough for my morals to allow me to kill him. Not to mention he was a modern-day sorcerer; that complicated the matter even more.
"You also killed people, Akindo. Why do you think it's so different from what I'm doing?"
I didn't answer right away. How to explain this now?
That, apparently, was answer enough.
"Four or forty... I only judge criminals," he said, almost gently, like he regretted what came next. "And you stand accused of murder, Yami Akindo..."
A hammer materialized in his hand — heavy, ornate, entirely too large for the man holding it.
He struck the air once.
"Domain Expansion..."
'What... without any hand signs? And right off the bat...' My hands jolted into the familiar hand signs just out of sheer panic. But I was too late. That signless domain caught me completely off guard.
"Deathly Sentencing..."
xXx
A/N : Hahaha... that point announcement was really interesting, don't you think. And yeah... here we go again...
Would appreciate stones if you can spare any. Thank you.
If you want to read up to 10+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond