Chapter Thirty-One
There was a long minute of silence. Then Tsuzuki crumpled to the ground. Hisoka let out an alarmed cry and hurried over. He looked blankly at Takeshi as he knelt next to Tsuzuki. “Who are you?” he asked suspiciously. The man was making his skin crawl. He didn’t seem evil, like Muraki . . . just crazy.
“Who are you?” Takeshi countered.
“Kurosaki Hisoka,” he answered, and shook Tsuzuki gently. “Tsuzuki? Tsuzuki, wake up.”
Takeshi pushed Hisoka backwards and leaned over Tsuzuki.
“What the hell is your problem? You didn’t tell me who you were.” Hisoka got to his feet, leaving Tsuzuki where he was. His hands were itching for his ofuda, but he left them where they were for the time being.
“I’m his lover,” Takeshi said coolly. He got one arm around Tsuzuki’s shoulders and lifted him up.
Hisoka dodged in between him and the door. “Where are you going with him?” he asked, his voice cracking with panic.
“Away from you,” Takeshi said. “He’s mine.”
“He’s not yours,” Hisoka snarled. “You’ve been dead for eighty years and now he’s mine.”
Takeshi backhanded him, backed up with all the power of a kamui. Tsuzuki stirred in his arms as Hisoka went flying across the room to slam into a wall, and then slid to the ground.
“Takeshi,” Tsuzuki mumbled. “I dreamed that I saw Takeshi . . .”
“It wasn’t a dream,” Takeshi said, his voice surprisingly gentle as he set Tsuzuki on his feet. “It’s okay. I’m back.”
“But . . .” Tsuzuki’s eyes were wide with shock. He looked around for Hisoka, then turned back. “What did you do to him?” he asked, his voice trembling. He hurried over to Hisoka to make sure he was all right.
“He got in my way,” Takeshi said. “Now let’s go.”
Tsuzuki shook his head no, but whether it was denial, refusal, or confusion, Takeshi was unsure.
“Come on,” he said, holding his hand out. His voice was a bit sharper. “Don’t you want to go with me?”
“This isn’t right,” Tsuzuki managed.
“Because I’m dead?” Takeshi asked. “So are you.”
“This isn’t right,” Tsuzuki repeated, not thinking. “You can’t be here.”
Hisoka sat up, rubbing his head dizzily. “Tsuzuki . . .?”
Tsuzuki glanced at him momentarily, but said nothing.
Takeshi gave Hisoka a venomous glare. “I’ve heard about you,” he said, his voice filled with loathing. “I won’t let you have Asato.” He lifted his hand, energy crackling at the fingertips.
“You can’t,” Tsuzuki said numbly. “You can’t hurt him.”
Takeshi looked at him. “You care more for him than you do for me,” he stated.
Tsuzuki just stared at him.
“I can fix that,” Takeshi said, and the energy crackled more loudly. “I can end that.”
Tsuzuki shook his head.
“Get out of the way,” Takeshi said. Tsuzuki was too close to Hisoka for him to kill Hisoka without hurting Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki didn’t move. “Get out of the way!” Takeshi shouted.
“You can’t,” Tsuzuki said.
Takeshi dropped his hand. “You would sacrifice yourself to save him.”
Tsuzuki just stared at him. In reality, he was having trouble convincing himself that it wasn’t all one bizarre nightmare. The situation was beyond the realm of his comprehension. It was simply impossible. There was no way that Takeshi could be there, so what did it really matter what he did or said?
“I’ll let you think about this,” Takeshi said. “But I will be back for you. We’re going to do this properly this time. If the current Kamui of the Dragons of Earth is unwilling to end the world, I am not. I will see that it is ended this time.”
He turned and walked out of the room.
Tsuzuki sank to the floor, looking around, bewildered. Hisoka knelt in front of him. He swallowed hard. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.
Tsuzuki shook his head.
“How could he be back here?” Hisoka asked, his voice cracking again.
“He can’t be,” Tsuzuki answered, his voice hollow. “He can’t be here. That couldn’t have happened.”
Hisoka wrapped his arms around Tsuzuki’s shoulders. “Let’s go home,” he murmured into Tsuzuki’s shoulder.
“Okay,” Tsuzuki replied, as if he didn’t really care where he was or what happened to him. He allowed Hisoka to take them both back to the Meifu. They landed right outside the building, and Hisoka pulled him inside and went to Tatsumi’s office.
“Tatsumi-san?” he asked. “Do something with him.”
Tatsumi blinked, as Tsuzuki curled up in one corner of his office. “What happened?”
Hisoka explained the little that he knew. Tatsumi frowned. It looked for a minute like he would mention the impossibility of it, but Tsuzuki’s steady chant of ‘this can’t be happening’ was doing that quite nicely for him. So instead he walked over and knelt in front of Tsuzuki. “Tsuzuki-san?”
“Tell me this isn’t happening,” Tsuzuki whispered.
“I’m afraid it is,” Tatsumi said.
Tsuzuki shook his head.
Hisoka hesitated. “It is happening,” he said forcefully. “And I’m going to go find out why and how.”
“It can’t be,” Tsuzuki repeated. “I killed him.”
“Well, you killed Muraki, too,” Hisoka snapped. “That doesn’t stop him from -- ” he stopped short.
“What is it?” Tatsumi asked.
“Muraki,” Hisoka said with certainty. “Muraki is behind this somehow.”
Tsuzuki just looked at him. If the situation could possibly have gotten worse, it just did.
“Excuse me,” Hisoka said. “I’m going to go find out what’s going on.”
“You should bring someone with you,” Tatsumi said, “if you’re going to go find Muraki.”
Hisoka smiled coldly. “Oh, I will.” He turned to Tsuzuki. “I’ll be back in a little while, okay?”
“I love you,” Tsuzuki said.
Hisoka leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I know. I love you too, and I’ll see you very soon.”
Tsuzuki could only nod.
~~~~
Subaru was cooking dinner when Hisoka showed up on their doorstep. Seimei was doing his homework; Seishirou was in the kitchen ‘helping’ Subaru, which mostly meant that he was distracting Subaru terribly and almost ruining their dinner on three separate occasions.
Seimei answered the door and let Hisoka in. Subaru and Seishirou both looked up immediately; Hisoka was projecting anger at a volume none of them had previously experienced. “What’s wrong?” Seimei asked.
Hisoka looked at Seishirou. “I need your help,” he stated.
Subaru reached out and turned off the burners, realizing that this was going to take a few minutes.
“What with?” Seishirou asked, puzzled as to why Hisoka would be coming to him of all people.
“I need to go wring Muraki’s neck and I don’t think I dare do it by myself.”
“I’m up for that,” Seishirou said cheerfully.
“Uh, if I’m not interrupting,” Subaru said, “why? Besides the obvious.”
Hisoka took a minute to reply. When he finally did, it seemed unrelated. “Seishirou, tell me what you know about Nataku.”
Seishirou blinked, not seeing what that had to do with anything, but not wanting to piss Hisoka off any more. “He was originally a little girl, who died. Her parents knew she was supposed to be an Angel. Her grandfather was the president of a pharmaceutical company. They reconstructed a body out of what was left of hers, and her father substituted himself in where necessary. I think they also grew some new tissue; I’m not sure. Then they summoned up her soul and bound it to the body. Why?”
“And Muraki had access to all of Nataku’s information?” Hisoka pressed.
“You’d have to check with Fuuma, but I think so, yes.”
“Then he did it,” Hisoka said calmly. “Can I borrow one of your guns?”
“Uh, be my guest. What exactly did Muraki do?”
Hisoka paused. “This may come as a bit of a shock,” he said, not sounding as if he cared about shocking them in the slightest, “but the End of the World has happened before.”
“Well, shit,” Subaru said, after a minute of silence.
“Tsuzuki was a Kamui.”
Everyone blinked at him.
“He chose to be the Kamui of the Dragons of Heaven, despite the fact that he was shunned for his powers and everyone hated him. The one person who made his life bearable was his lover, guy by the name of Takeshi. That, of course, is who ended up being the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth.”
More silence greeted this.
“Tsuzuki killed him. Then, after a period of years, killed himself. His guilt -- and your stupid Tree -- ended up being the cause of him being a Shinigami.”
“That’s all very fascinating,” Seishirou said, risking painful death, “but what’s it have to do with Muraki?”
“Muraki created a body for Takeshi and summoned him up,” Hisoka stated flatly.
“Wait,” Subaru said. “He can’t do that. He’s not an onmyouji. Do you have any idea how hard it is to summon up a soul that’s seventy-five years dead?”
“Eighty,” Hisoka corrected. “And I don’t know. Nor do I care. Muraki is behind it; that’s all I needed to know. I’m going to go kill him now.”
“Oh,” Seishirou finally said.
“But first,” Hisoka said, “I’m going to make him fix this. Because Takeshi doesn’t care that he’s been dead for eighty years. He wants his position back, and he intends to end the world this time, come hell or high water, no matter what Tsuzuki wants.”
“Not to be cold-hearted,” Subaru said, “but isn’t Tsuzuki more than capable of taking care of him? He’s a Shinigami now.”
“Oh, he most likely is,” Hisoka said calmly. “And when I pry him out of the corner he’s curled up in, repeating ‘this can’t be happening’ over and over again, I’ll let him know you said that.”
“Never mind,” Subaru said.
“How are you going to find Muraki?” Seimei asked quietly.
“I can track him with my empathy,” Hisoka said. “He’s not hiding from me now. He underestimates me. Always has. Besides, once I get in close enough, it’s just a matter of hot and cold.” He pushed up his sleeve to reveal the curse marks, flaring red with his anger. “I’ve got a built-in homing beacon, thanks to him.”
“Don’t get yourself killed,” Seimei said. “That won’t help Tsuzuki at all.”
“I have no plans on getting killed,” Hisoka said. “That’s why I’m bringing Seishirou.”
Seimei turned to Seishirou. “Don’t you get yourself killed either.”
Subaru nodded. “I’m going to go find out who summoned up Takeshi’s spirit. Because that’s not allowed.”
Seishirou went to the cabinet and got out a Browning auto for himself and a smaller handgun for Hisoka. “Here,” he said, handing it over.
“Thanks,” Hisoka said, checking to make sure it was loaded with an ease that hinted at a lot of practice with guns. Then he smiled. “Now let’s go.”
~~~~
Kakyou was having the strangest dream. It had started out like all his visions of the Final Day, and he had chosen to continue Seeing it, not sure which version was going to play out. Lately, it had been the same, because Hinoto was no longer interfering. It hadn’t flipped to the ending where Kamui lost for a few weeks.
Something was different about this one, though. He couldn’t quite figure out what it was. When he finally got to the first shot of the actual vision, it was different. It had always, up to this point, showed Kamui ringed by five Seals -- five, not six, though Kakyou didn’t know which one was missing -- and Fuuma with three of his Angels.
In this, however, there were no Angels, and only two Seals. That was alarming on its own, but then Kakyou got a good look at Fuuma and nearly woke up just from shock.
It wasn’t Fuuma.
In his place was a tall man with long black hair, blowing back in the wind. There was a look of profound confusion on Kamui’s face. His mouth was moving, but Kakyou couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Kakyou didn’t understand. Fuuma was the Dark Kamui. No one could just waltz in and take his place. It wasn’t possible. There was simply no way, despite any of Hinoto’s meddling, that Fuuma could be replaced.
Was there?
The battle began. Kamui was getting his ass royally kicked. Kakyou waited until the end, waited until the two Seals and Kamui were dead, and the world started to crumble.
Then the vision disappeared, and he was left in his usual Dreamscape. Shaken and confused, he tried to wake up.
And couldn’t.
~~~~
Hisoka found Muraki within an hour. He didn’t bother to knock; he simply slammed open the door to the apartment Muraki was staying in and walked inside. Muraki was sitting at the table, calmly drinking coffee. “Yes?” he asked, apparently having expected this.
What he was not expecting was for Hisoka to walk over and punch him squarely across the jaw. He toppled out of his chair and ended up on the ground.
“You fucking bastard,” Hisoka spat out. “It wasn’t enough to try to ruin both of our lives; now you had to summon up a dead guy and ruin his too?” He drew back his foot and kicked Muraki squarely in the stomach.
Muraki rolled over and got to his feet. “Watch yourself, boy,” he said, his voice dangerously low.
“Watch your own self,” Hisoka said, and leveled the gun at Muraki’s face. “How did you get Takeshi here?”
Muraki smirked. “If you know that it was me, you know how I did it.”
“How did you know about him?”
“That’s for me to know and for you to wonder,” Muraki said. “Put down the gun. I know you’re not going to shoot me until you have your information.”
Hisoka continued to hold the gun level with Muraki’s face. “How did you know?” he repeated.
“There was a picture in the file I have, from when Tsuzuki was in the hospital,” Muraki said. “It must have been his.”
“That’s not enough. You knew that he was Tsuzuki’s lover. You knew that Tsuzuki killed him.” Hisoka paused. “You bugged our room. When you came over to pick him up for dinner.”
Muraki just smiled.
“You. Fucking. Idiot,” Hisoka said. “You know he was the Dark Kamui. He’s going to try to destroy the world.”
Muraki shrugged. “I’ll admit that wasn’t my intent. I didn’t know that his powers would come back when he was resurrected. The Dark Kamui’s are usually only present at the term of the battle.”
“This is the term of the battle,” Hisoka said through clenched teeth. “It’s just a different battle. How could you have taken such a risk?”
“Fuuma will deal with it.”
“Fuuma can’t,” Hisoka said. “You blithering idiot! If Fuuma does something to help save the world, he kinda tips his hand, now doesn’t he? And then Kamui won’t be able to kill him and the world will end.”
Muraki shrugged again. “Then Kamui will deal with him.”
“Kamui will get his ass kicked, and you damn well know it,” Hisoka said. “You’re sending an experienced twenty-year-old against a scared sixteen-year-old. There’s something you’re not telling me, and I suggest that you spill, right now.”
Muraki smiled. “Takeshi will be dead within a few weeks. I purposely built him with flaws that he cannot survive.”
“So what, your plan was to have him show up long enough to kill me?” Hisoka yelled. “That’s just great! A few weeks isn’t going to cut it, Muraki! He could kill a whole lot of people and destroy a whole lot of Kekkai within a few God damned weeks! And if he finds another fucking mad scientist, he’ll get those flaws fixed, now won’t he? What do you propose we do?”
Muraki considered it for a long minute.
“Don’t you dare suggest that we have Tsuzuki kill him,” Hisoka said, his eyes narrowed.
Muraki still said nothing.
“You have no idea, do you,” Hisoka said. “You’ve dug all our fucking grave because you want Tsuzuki. That’s great, Muraki. I hope you’re proud of yourself, because you still won’t get him. At the rate you’re going, you’re going to be lucky if he doesn’t kill himself.”
Muraki just shrugged.
“Just shoot him,” Seishirou suggested, from where he’d been quietly watching the whole affair. “He’ll come back. You can wring more answers from him later.”
Hisoka paused. Then he lowered the gun. For a minute it looked like he was going to put it away, but all he did was lower it to waist level and then fire. Seishirou actually winced when he saw where Hisoka had shot him.
“Will that grow back?” Hisoka snarled, and marched out of the apartment.
Seishirou shrugged and left him to bleed to death.
~~~~
Takeshi walked through the corridors leading to Hinoto’s chamber. He had taken a brief nap during the night, and been contacted by her. She seemed extremely interested in meeting him, and instructed him to come right away. She didn’t want any of the Seals to realize she was speaking to him, of course.
He remembered Tsuzuki talking about her. A bossy, overbearing bint, apparently. Blind and deaf but still a formidable opponent. Her skill in Dreamgazing was nearly unparalleled.
He didn’t knock on the doors. He just pushed them open and walked inside. “Hinoto-hime,” he said, with a very slight bow.
“Takeshi-san,” Hinoto said, and did something she hadn’t done for nearly a century.
She stood up to meet him.
~~~~
Fuuma woke up in the middle of the night. He felt something strange, and knew immediately that something was wrong, though he didn’t know what. He rolled over and kissed Kakyou’s cheek. “Kyou?” he asked, when the other man didn’t respond. His cheek had been cold.
Fuuma panicked almost immediately. “Kakyou!” He shook the Dreamgazer, gently at first, then not so gently when he still got no response. “KAKYOU!”
The door opened and Nataku poked his head in. “Daddy? What’s wrong?”
“Kakyou won’t wake up,” Fuuma said, still shaking Kakyou.
“Um . . . Daddy, maybe you shouldn’t shake him like that.”
Fuuma took his advice. Instead, he felt for Kakyou’s pulse. It was there, but slower than usual. “This can’t be happening,” he said. “He . . . he was fine when we went to bed. This can’t be happening.”
“Maybe you should call Watari-sensei,” Nataku suggested. “He’s a doctor.”
“Aa . . .” Fuuma said weakly. “Wait, maybe he’s just dreaming something important and won’t wake up . . . I’m gonna check.”
Nataku sat in the lone chair in the room and waited.
Fuuma put his hand on Kakyou’s forehead and tore his way into the Dreamscape the way he hadn’t since very early on. But what he found was unfamiliar. It was as if he were floating in space, high above the earth. It was very cold and barren; there was almost nothing as far as the eye could see.
“Kakyou?” he called. There was no reply except for the wind. “KAKYOU?!”
“He’s not here,” a new voice said. Fuuma spun around to see a long-haired stranger standing behind him.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asked.
He smiled. “I am ‘Kamui.’”
“Oh great, there’s a union of Kamuis now!” Fuuma shouted, frustrated. “You’re a Kamui, I’m a Kamui, Tsuzuki’s a Kamui . . . hell, even Kamui is a Kamui!” He stopped shortly, realizing what he had just said. “You’re Tsuzuki’s opposing star.”
Takeshi shrugged.
“What have you done with Kakyou?” Fuuma asked, his voice shaking from anger and panic.
“Me? Nothing at all.”
He hadn’t meant the comment to be informative, but Fuuma got the meaning anyway. “Hinoto,” he said. “That bubble-headed bitch.”
Takeshi shrugged again.
Fuuma raised a hand to tear his way out of the Dreamscape that wasn’t Kakyou’s, but Takeshi’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Get out of my way,” he snarled.
“I will, for now,” Takeshi said with a smile. “I just wanted to deliver a message to you. Do your job, ‘Kamui’ . . . or I’ll do it for you.”
He vanished.
Fuuma left the Dreamscape. “Do you have Watari’s number?” he asked without preamble, though he was unsure if Watari could actually help.
“He gave me Hisoka-san and Tsuzuki-san’s number and told me to call them if I needed him,” Nataku told him.
“Right.” Fuuma had written that number on the fridge, and called it now. It rang for what seemed like ages before he gave up. “They’re not there,” he said helplessly. He dialed again.
The phone rang for a long time before a sleepy voice answered. “Sakurazuka desu.”
“Seishirou? It’s Fuuma.”
“Oh.” There was a slight rustle of sheets as Seishirou propped himself up. “Fuuma, it’s three o’clock in the morning. What do you want?”
“I need your help -- Subaru’s help -- someone’s help,” Fuuma stammered.
“Daddy, maybe you shouldn’t panic,” Nataku advised him.
Fuuma ignored him. “Hinoto’s locked Kakyou into his own Dreamscape. I can’t get him to wake up.”
Seishirou considered this. “Okay, now don’t bite my head off for saying this, but when that happened to Hisoka, Kakyou was the only one who could help. So what, exactly, do you expect me to do?”
“I don’t know!” Fuuma yelled, frustrated. “I tried to get in and this guy named Takeshi told me -- ”
“Hold on,” Seishirou interrupted. “Takeshi?”
Fuuma paused. “Yeah. Do you know what’s up with that?”
“Yeah. He’s been summoned back from the dead by Muraki, using the information that he got from you to build him a new body, and plans on trying to destroy the world. With or without your permission. I was going to call you in the morning.”
“But that bitch is trying to kill Kakyou now, not in the morning!” Fuuma took a deep breath. “I need a doctor. To stabilize him. He’s going back into his coma.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, and I’ll bring my aunt, who’s a nurse. And a very formidable one at that. Other than that I can’t help you.”
“Have you seen Hisoka?” Fuuma asked. “Or Tsuzuki?”
“Hisoka’s asleep in my living room. Tsuzuki’s apparently back in the Meifu having a nervous breakdown from the sudden reappearance of Takeshi.”
“Tell Hisoka to get Watari for me, will you?”
“Sure,” Seishirou said. “I’ll be there soon.”
~~~~
Within an hour, Seishirou, Atsuko, Hisoka, and Watari were at Fuuma’s apartment. Atsuko and Watari made sure that Kakyou wasn’t going to die any time soon, but nothing either of them did could wake him up. Fuuma was storming around the apartment breaking things. But only things that Nataku didn’t like.
Seishirou observed all this for a minute, before taking hold of Fuuma’s arm. “We’re going for a walk,” he announced. “We’ll be back soon.”
He dragged Fuuma out of the apartment.
“You need to calm down,” he said. “And I know it’s going to be damn near impossible, trust me. I wasn’t any better when Muraki kidnapped Seimei.”
“That’s right, Muraki,” Fuuma said. “Can I go kill him?”
“No. Hisoka did that yesterday. He’s probably not back yet.”
Pause. “Back?”
“Yes, back. It’s complicated. He basically has innumerable lives and bodies. But he died in a very unpleasant manner this time, if that helps.”
Fuuma’s eyes narrowed. “How unpleasant?”
“Hisoka shot his dick off and left him to bleed to death.”
Fuuma considered this. “That’s awfully unpleasant,” he finally admitted.
“So,” Seishirou said. He lit up a cigarette and handed it to Fuuma, then lit up one of his own and took a long drag. “Takeshi is working with Hinoto.”
Fuuma exhaled smoke. “Yeah, seems that way.”
Seishirou examined that statement carefully. “We’re fucked,” he finally proclaimed.
“Oh no,” Fuuma said. “I haven’t done everything I did and given up all this just to lose now to that crippled cunt and some bastard who’s been dead for God knows how long. There has got to be a way to fix this.”
Seishirou sighed slightly. “All right. Let’s kill Hinoto.”
“We can’t,” Fuuma snarled. “It would be hard enough with Kakyou’s help; but now I don’t dare because she’ll take him with her. We have to get through her Dreamscape and get Kakyou out before we can kill her. I’ll need someone’s help -- probably Tsuzuki’s -- for that. And he’s off being traumatized, and I can’t even blame him!”
“Then let’s kill Takeshi.” Seishirou seemed bound and determined to go through all the options logically.
“Easier said than done,” Fuuma said. “He is a Kamui, after all.”
“And what are you?” Seishirou asked.
“Eighteen,” Fuuma snapped. “And what happens if I lose? He takes my position and beats Kamui’s ass into the ground. Hey presto, end of the world!”
Seishirou considered remaining options. “What about Kanoe?”
Fuuma blinked. “What about her?”
“She can see her sister’s dreams. Could she help you get through to Kakyou?”
“Maybe,” Fuuma said doubtfully. “I don’t have much faith in those walking breasts, though. But since I don’t have anything else, I may as well give it a try.”
“I’d advise you to let it wait until morning,” Seishirou said dryly. “I don’t even want to contemplate Kanoe’s nocturnal activities.”
Fuuma let out a brief laugh.
They had circled the block at this point. Fuuma looked up at the apartment building.
“I’m sorry,” Seishirou said quietly. “I know how much Kakyou means to you.”
For a long minute, Fuuma didn’t answer. In the end, he just shrugged and walked back into the apartment.
~~~~
Kamui woke up to an earthquake. It wasn’t that close to them, but it was still enough to knock a few things off his shelves. “What the fuck is this?” he asked, sitting bolt upright in bed. He jumped out and yanked clothes on, then ran out to the living room to find the others in similar states of disarray.
But by the time they got to the Kekkai, it was destroyed, and whoever had done it was long gone.
Subaru was already standing there, surveying the debris.
“Weren’t we supposed to know about things like this?” Sorata asked him, a bit louder than he should have.
Subaru turned to him, to all of them. “We’re in big trouble.”
~~~~
Hisoka was relieved to find that Tatsumi had not only taken Tsuzuki home and put him to bed, but he had also stayed there to make sure Tsuzuki didn’t do anything stupid. Tsuzuki was slightly more together when Hisoka got there. Still having a nervous breakdown, but no longer chanting.
“How’re you feeling?” Hisoka asked him. Tatsumi was busy trying to get him to eat something. He had even gone so far as to let him eat chocolate cake for breakfast, but Tsuzuki was only poking at it.
“Upset,” Tsuzuki answered.
Hisoka leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “Well, I found out how it happened, if that’ll help any.”
“I don’t know,” Tsuzuki answered.
“Well, I’d like to know,” Tatsumi said.
Hisoka pulled out a chair and sat down. He explained about Nataku and how Muraki had known about Takeshi, and how he’d know what to make the body look like. “And believe it or not, that’s the best of my news,” he said.
Tsuzuki just closed his eyes.
“Do you want to hear it?” Hisoka asked him gently.
“Sure,” Tsuzuki said, tugging on his hair.
“Takeshi has teamed up with Hinoto,” Hisoka said quietly. “She’s trapped Kakyou into his Dreamscape and Fuuma’s losing it. Takeshi destroyed a major Kekkai this morning so quickly that none of the Seals got there in time to even fight him, let alone stop him. And he’s told Fuuma that if he doesn’t do his job, he’ll kill him and do it for him.”
Tsuzuki looked up at Hisoka. “I can’t do it,” he said, starting to cry. “I can’t kill him again. I just can’t.”
“Shh.” Hisoka drew Tsuzuki into his arms and held him tightly. “No one’s asking you to.”
Tsuzuki just kept crying.
Hisoka looked wearily at Tatsumi. “Any ideas?”
Tatsumi blinked at him. “About Tsuzuki-san? About Kakyou-san? About the end of the world? About Hinoto-hime? To what, precisely, are you referring?”
Hisoka sighed. “Anything.”
“Leave Tsuzuki here, and I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Tatsumi said.
Hisoka waited for more. Eventually, no more appeared to be forthcoming. “That’s it?” he asked skeptically. “That’s your advice?”
“Yes. Try to wake Kakyou up first. He can see the future, which would be helpful right about now. Make sure Fuuma doesn’t lose it and kill Hinoto, because in doing so he may very well lose Kakyou forever.”
“I think he knows that,” Hisoka said.
“Is Sumeragi-san looking for the onmyouji who resurrected Takeshi-san?” At Hisoka’s nod, Tatsumi continued. “Good. If he can find him, he may be able to reverse the spell and lay his spirit to rest.”
“Okay.” Hisoka paused. “Do you have any idea why this happened? I don’t mean Takeshi being here again. I mean . . . multiple ends of humanity. It seems kind of silly. Does it run on a set schedule or something?”
“As far as I can tell,” Tatsumi said, “it occurs whenever mankind seems to be . . . shall we say . . . overreaching itself. Tsuzuki’s time, for example, was around the same time as world war one. Naturally, mankind was not behaving itself at that point. There’s been three in this century; it’s quite uncommon for them to be as close together as these are. The last one before Tsuzuki’s was during the Industrial Revolution.”
Hisoka frowned. “So how come it’s never succeeded?”
“It has,” Tatsumi said. “Noah and the flood. Sodom and Gomorra.”
Hisoka gave him a look. “I’m not Christian.”
“You don’t have to be. Noah wasn’t either. Legends are legends, no matter what religious book they’re written in.”
“But neither of those totally destroyed humanity.”
“The flood might as well have. In the case of Sodom and Gomorra, I think, the Kamui did eventually win and save humanity, but only at the very last minute.”
“So why Japan?”
“It’s been at different places at different times,” Tatsumi said with a shrug. “There was one after World War two, as well, by the way; that was in Germany. But there are only certain places where there are the Kekkai structures necessary for the battle to take place, and even fewer individuals who have the power necessary to be Kamui. At this point in time, one would assume that Shirou-san was the only one capable.”
“So why this time?” Hisoka asked. “What offense has humanity committed now?”
“Probably the Internet,” Tatsumi said dryly. At Hisoka’s look, he smiled slightly. “Or quite possibly the near destruction of the environment, or the threat of nuclear war . . . it could be any number of things, or all those things put together. The point is, it continues to happen, so it can be determined whether there is something worth saving each time . . . and someone who is selfless enough to sacrifice everything to save it.” He reached over at this and gently touched Tsuzuki’s shoulder.
Tsuzuki just blinked at him, with a sad yet wistful expression on his face.
“And of course, the dispositions of the Kamui have varied,” Tatsumi continued. “Some have truly wished to destroy humanity, as Takeshi-san apparently did, but others do not. They’re not given a choice. They can only choose how well they do their job.”