Chapter Thirty-Eight
Hardly anything was said the next morning. Everything that needed to be said had been said the night before. Everyone simply got up (or, in Fuuma and Kakyou’s case, had never gone to bed), prepared in whatever way they could, and left for Tokyo Tower. Everyone was gathered there at least an hour before noon.
It was a very calm, very beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly. It was bitterly cold, but no one was wearing a coat. It was as if nobody cared. Besides, the battles would take enough energy to keep them warm. Coats only got in the way.
They stood facing each other on the top platform of the tower. For a long minute, nobody said anything. Fuuma didn’t even indulge in any of his usual mocking comments. He just lifted the sword in a salute.
Kamui blinked at him for a second, then saluted back.
“There are three other Kekkai left,” Fuuma finally said. “Pretty appropriate, given that I have three Angels here.” He looked at Yuuto, Satsuki, and Nataku. Then he grinned. “Get to it, guys. They all gotta fall.”
They turned and went, even Nataku, without a backward glance.
The remaining Seals split up to follow. Sorata and Arashi went after Satsuki, Karen after Yuuto, Seiichirou after Nataku. Subaru hesitated, then decided to split his efforts between all three battles, helping wherever it was needed. He planned to make sure Nataku was unconscious by the time Fuuma died. If nothing else, for Fuuma’s peace of mind, but also to be sure his instinct didn’t take over and make him try to help Fuuma.
“So,” Fuuma said. “It is down to you, and it is down to me.”
A ghost of a smile crossed Kamui’s face. “My name is Shirou Kamui. You tortured my boyfriend. Prepare to die.”
“Gee, I could do this all day,” Fuuma said. “But I guess we really shouldn’t, huh? I mean, may as well get this over with.”
“Yeah, that’s my basic thought on it,” Kamui said.
Fuuma lifted his sword, and the battle began.
Fuuma knew that he couldn’t just throw it from the beginning. He had to look as if he was fighting as hard as he could. It would help if he were even winning for a while, so at the beginning, that was what he set out to do. He was bigger than Kamui, which gave him a slight advantage, but he had a feeling that Kamui had been practicing with this stupid sword, and he hadn’t. Strength was of no consequence; they were both using their telekinesis to help them manipulate the sword, so muscles didn’t matter.
“I feel like we should be throwing things at each other,” he said at once point, as he and Kamui were practically nose to nose, their swords locked. “You know, like in Star Wars, when Vader is fighting Luke.”
“Thanks for the idea,” Kamui said, and Fuuma suddenly found himself unable to breathe. He staggered back. It took him a few seconds to loosen Kamui’s telekinetic hold on his throat, but by the time, Kamui had knocked him flat onto his back.
“No fair,” he muttered, rolling out of the way of Kamui’s sword. He backed off a few feet and aimed a magical blast at Kamui. The younger boy used the Shinken much like a baseball bat, deflecting the force and sending it back at Fuuma.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Fuuma said, dodging hastily.
“Live and learn,” Kamui said, though in truth, he’d had no idea one could do that either. He pressed his advantage, but Fuuma leapt up to one of the tower supports. This time, he aimed straight up, collapsing part of the tower.
Kamui jumped out of the way of the falling debris. He was cursing his inability to put up a kekkai. Somehow, he’d just never learned how. Everyone else seemed to be able to do it so easily, even Subaru, when he had hardly had anything or anyone left to protect. Kamui thought if he tried hard enough, he might be able to manage it, but if he stopped and took the time, he was probably going to get his head lopped off.
He gestured angrily at the debris, sending it ricocheting off the supports and towards Fuuma. At first, all he had wanted to protect was Fuuma. That was why it had never worked; there was no way to do it. But now he had Keiichi. He tried to think only about him, tried to picture his face in his mind, tried to think about the burst of pure panic he’d felt when he’d realized Keiichi was in trouble.
“Nice,” Fuuma said, and Kamui opened his eyes to not only see Fuuma advancing toward him, but the golden walls of his kekkai floating down around them. “Thought you’d never get the hang of that one.”
“I never would have if you hadn’t tried to kill Keiichi,” Kamui said evenly.
“Now, now. All’s fair in love and war.”
“Don’t you ever shut up?” Kamui asked, trying to bash Fuuma’s head in with a handy nearby piece of concrete.
Fuuma caught the concrete one handed and tossed it at Kamui. “Not even in my sleep, or so I’m told.”
Kamui batted the concrete away. “Let’s end this,” he said coldly.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Fuuma said.
The battle went on for what seemed like hours. They were both exhausted. Fuuma started to worry that his joking comment to Kakyou was going to come true. He thought he was probably going to pass out at any second. Then, rather abruptly, he found himself with an unexpected advantage. Kamui tripped over a piece of concrete as he was going backwards and fell flat on his ass.
Fuuma shrugged slightly and walked forward. Kamui had knocked the wind out of himself; it would take him a few seconds to recover and get up, but he was still holding the sword in one hand. It was a perfect opportunity. Fuuma had seen movie villains make this mistake a thousand times. Hey, he wanted to die with style, right? He lifted the sword over his head with both hands.
Kamui didn’t have the room necessary to draw back and stab, so he swung the sword wildly instead. It hit right across his stomach, gashing at least an inch deep. Even expecting it, Fuuma was shocked at how much it actually hurt. He dropped his own sword and went to his knees, both arms crossing involuntarily over the wound. “Oh,” he managed to say.
Kamui was still holding the sword, scrambling to his feet.
“You actually did it.” Fuuma was rather surprised that he was still able to talk. “Wow.”
Kamui just nodded weakly. “I . . . I didn’t want to.”
“I know.” Fuuma felt himself going numb.
Kamui put down the sword and went over to him, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry.” Tears were running down his cheeks.
“Don’t be sorry.” The world was going really fuzzy, but Fuuma didn’t mind. It made it hurt less, and that could only be good. “You don’t need to be sorry.”
“I am anyway,” Kamui mumbled. He was cradling Fuuma in his arms, with Fuuma’s head against his shoulder.
“I think I should have cool last words,” Fuuma mumbled. “What would be some cool last words, Kamui?”
Kamui just stared at him.
“Tell Kakyou that I love him very much,” Fuuma said. And before he could think better of the idea, he leaned up and kissed Kamui firmly on the lips. Kamui didn’t pull away, but was too shocked to react. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Fuuma went limp in his arms.
Kamui was still just staring at him when he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He looked around and saw Tsuzuki and Hisoka behind him. It was Tsuzuki’s hand. He just blinked at them.
“Come on.” Tsuzuki gently lifted him to his feet. He was too numb with shock to do anything. “Hisoka will take care of it.”
Kamui went where Tsuzuki led him. He wanted to protest, but couldn’t quite manage it.
Hisoka knelt besides Fuuma and checked his pulse. Still there, though it was very faint and weak. Good sign. He scooped up Fuuma in his arms and flipped over to the Meifu.
Subaru landed on the platform just in time to see this happen. All the Angels had stopped fighting when they’d felt Fuuma die, not realizing that what they’d really felt was him being taken to the Meifu. Nataku, as Subaru had planned, had already been unconscious. Subaru was carrying him. He laid him down carefully on the platform and went over to Kamui.
Subaru took Kamui out of Tsuzuki’s grip and held him as Kamui started to cry. He gave Tsuzuki a questioning look, most likely over the disappearing Fuuma.
“We’re making the arrangements to take care of him,” Tsuzuki said. “I don’t think anyone else is up to it.”
Subaru nodded slightly. He knew Seishirou would be there soon, to help him take Nataku and Kamui back to their house. Until then, there wasn’t much he could do.
“Where’d the other Angels go?” Tsuzuki asked, glancing around. The other Seals were now starting to land on the platform, drawn back from their battles.
“They just . . . sort of left,” Seiichirou said, obviously a little confused by this.
“Crawled back into their little holes,” Sorata said. He had a very firm arm around Arashi’s waist. She wasn’t protesting.
Subaru shook Kamui slightly to get his attention. “You have to take your kekkai down, Kamui.”
Kamui nodded slightly. It melted away without his even giving it another thought.
“I have to go,” Tsuzuki said. “Hisoka might need my help.”
Subaru nodded, starting to steer Kamui towards the elevator. “Seiichirou-san, can you get Nataku?”
Seiichirou knew better than to ask questions. He simply scooped Nataku up and carried him downstairs. Seishirou was waiting there, and took Nataku from him.
~~~~
Seimei was home, trying vainly to distract himself with anything at all, when the doorbell rang. Seishirou hadn’t even tried to make him go to school, knowing that he would have been a nervous wreck. Of course, he was a nervous wreck at home, too, but at least he wasn’t trying to do math.
He was surprised to see Kakyou on his doorstep. He looked quite calm, despite the fact that Seishirou had called Seimei twenty minutes before with the results of the battle, and Kakyou had to know them by now as well. “Uhh . . . hi . . . did you want to come in?” Seimei stammered.
“No,” Kakyou said. He handed Seimei the box of photos, which had Fuuma’s paper on top. Then he gestured to the rabbit cage, which was sitting at his feet. “Would you please take care of him for us? His name is Bunny.” There was a sheet of instructions on his cage.
Seimei nodded slightly, feeling numb. He thought there were probably words of sympathy he should be offering, but couldn’t think of any. “Uh, I guess.”
“Thank you,” Kakyou said. He turned to leave. Seimei just watched him go. Then he took the rabbit inside.
~~~~
When Tsuzuki showed up in the Meifu, Hisoka was pacing anxiously around in the hallway outside the infirmary. “You look like an expectant father,” Tsuzuki told him, smiling slightly.
Hisoka gave him a slightly dirty look. “How is Kamui?”
“In shock, I think.” Tsuzuki gave the closed door a speculative look.
Hisoka caught his glance. “Watari kicked me out. He said Fuuma had bled an awful lot, but there didn’t seem to be too much internal damage, and he thought he’d be able to save him. I told him to hurry the hell up so we’d be able to get to Kakyou in time if Fuuma’s going to live.”
“Yeah,” Tsuzuki said, still staring at the door. Hisoka continued to pace.
~~~~
When Subaru and Seishirou arrived, the former still guiding Kamui and the latter still carrying Nataku, Seimei was sitting at the kitchen table with photos spread out all over it. He squeaked slightly when he saw Kamui and hurriedly scooped them all back into the box. He crammed the lid on it and nudged it under the table with his foot. He looked at the disaster and asked, “Is there anything useful I can do?”
Seishirou blinked at him, then shook his head slightly. “Hold on a minute while I get Nataku settled.” He disappeared into the living room, where he laid Nataku down on the couch. Then he came back in.
Subaru sat Kamui down and gave him a stiff drink.
“What’s with the rabbit?” Seishirou asked, blinking at it.
“It was dropped off earlier,” Seimei said.
“By . . .?”
“Kakyou-san,” Seimei admitted. He figured that Kamui didn’t want to hear about it. Then again, Kamui was looking rather glazed. Seishirou knelt in front of him and started examining the cuts and scratches on his arms and legs. None of them were serious; he could attend to them himself.
“Get the first aid kit from my room, okay, Sei-kun?”
“Right.” At last, something useful to do. Seimei fetched it with alacrity.
Seishirou got Kamui to take off his shirt so he could wrap the wounds and check for any others. “I need to check for broken ribs,” he explained to Kamui. “Don’t want you to think I’m trying to cop a feel.”
“Tomorrow, that might be funny,” Kamui told him.
Seishirou sighed and checked to see if any of Kamui’s ribs were broken. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be. Then he checked for head injuries, and also found none. Fuuma really had gone easy on him.
Sorata and Arashi had offered to pick up Keiichi and follow them there. This was when they arrived. Predictably, everything got very chaotic very quickly. Keiichi sat in one of the kitchen chairs and pulled Kamui into his lap. Kamui clung to him, crying.
“Is there somewhere I can take him, away from everyone else?” Keiichi muttered to Seishirou.
Seimei shoved them towards his bedroom and closed the door.
With difficulty, Seishirou managed to evict Sorata and Arashi, promising them that he would call later and tell them how Kamui was doing. Then he slumped into a chair in the living room. He hadn’t even done anything and he felt exhausted.
Seimei came over and handed Seishirou the box.
“What’s this?” he asked. Subaru walked in and sat down next to him.
“Look at it,” Seimei said. “It’s pretty self-explanatory, I think. I don’t know why Kakyou-san gave it to me, though.”
Seishirou opened the box and pulled out the paper. He read it quickly, then handed it to Subaru. Then he started to look through the photos. “Wow,” he said. “Here I was wondering why Kakyou was carrying that camera everywhere.”
“Look at the backs,” Seimei instructed.
Seishirou flipped one over. The caption read ‘Fuuma makes fool of self in amusement park.’ The next was ‘Kazuki at restaurant for first time.’ ‘Day at the beach #1.’ ‘Fuuma being sexy as hell.’ ‘The new apartment -- before.’ ‘Kazuki picking out dishes.’ ‘Fuuma trying on clothes.’
“I have no clue what to say to this,” Seishirou finally managed.
Subaru was peering over his shoulder. He stared at them.
“He was documenting Fuuma’s life,” Seishirou murmured, continuing to flip through. “I suppose he didn’t want him to die and be forgotten, or thought of only as the Dark Kamui.”
He glanced at a pile of rubble. The photo was labeled ‘home sweet home.’
“They’re probably here because Nataku is,” Subaru finally said.
“I suppose if they trusted us with him, they’d trust us with these,” Seishirou replied.
“He didn’t say much of anything,” Seimei said. “He just sort of shoved them at me and left.”
Seishirou glanced at his watch. It had nearly been an hour since Fuuma had died. “I’m sure he won’t be here much longer.”
“Where do you think he went?” Subaru asked. “Probably back to the apartment.”
“That’d be my guess.” Seishirou put the photos back in the box.
Seimei looked at them funny. When Seishirou didn’t say anything, he asked, “Why would he want us to take the rabbit? And Nataku, for that matter?”
Seishirou sighed slightly. “Because Kakyou never had any intentions of outliving Fuuma.”
“Oh,” Seimei said.
At this point, Nataku stirred and sat up. He looked around for a minute. “Where am I?” he finally asked.
“You’re in my house,” Seishirou said. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m not very happy. My head hurts.”
“You got injured in the battle,” Seishirou told him. “Would you like some painkillers?”
“I’ll be okay.” Nataku continued to look around. “How are Satsuki and Yuuto-san?”
“They both survived,” Seishirou told him.
“That’s good.” Nataku lay down again. He didn’t inquire about Fuuma and Kakyou.
Seishirou looked oddly disconsolate. “Is there anything you want?” he tried.
“We’ll have to go get my frog today,” Nataku replied. “Everything else can wait.”
Seishirou nodded. He made a mental note to make sure that Nataku didn’t find Kakyou’s body. “All right. We can do that a little later.”
“Thank you.”
~~~~
Hisoka and Tsuzuki practically tackled Watari when he finally emerged from the infirmary, looking rather bloody. “Well?” Tsuzuki demanded.
Watari bestowed them with his usual smile. “He’s okay,” he said. “Though he’s going to be bedridden for quite a while.”
“Good.” Hisoka was gone before another word was spoken.
Watari blinked. “What’s up with him?”
“Time crunch,” Tsuzuki said. “We need to save his boyfriend, but we didn’t think it would be right to do so unless we knew Fuuma was going to live.”
“Oh, okay.” Watari paused. “Well, he was lucky. Hardly any of his internal organs got hit. It was pretty shallow, given the size of that sword. He lost a lot of blood, but I’m replacing that now. He’ll probably sleep for at least a day or so. And he’s got a bunch of injuries he never healed very well. I don’t think he’s slept properly for weeks, if not longer.”
“But he’ll be okay in the end?” Tsuzuki asked, figuring he ought to double check.
“Oh, yeah. In a week or so, I think we’ll be able to transfer him to a regular hospital down in the land of the living.”
“That’s good,” Tsuzuki said.
~~~~
The door to the apartment was locked. Hisoka wasn’t about to waste time. He kicked it open. The apartment appeared empty, but he headed straight for Kakyou’s bedroom. The Dreamgazer was curled up in the bed, apparently sound asleep, but on closer inspection his skin was very pale and his breathing very slow. Hisoka sat on the edge of the bed and felt for a pulse. It was weak; he was almost too late. He took Kakyou’s hand in one of his own and closed his eyes, then let down his shields.
Kakyou’s resignation and depression washed over him. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to synch with him. Let me in, Kakyou. Please, let me in.
For a second, it felt like he was falling, then he was presented with a door. He didn’t get the rather bitter humor Kakyou was displaying. He merely reached out and knocked. The door swung open, and he stepped onto a beach. It was the exact same beach that Fuuma had taken Kakyou to, down to the last rock and seagull.
Kakyou was sitting on the blanket that Fuuma had brought with them, staring out at the ocean. He didn’t even turn around. “This had better be good,” he said.
“It is.” Hisoka’s voice was strained. “I swear. Please, just come with me. I need you to see something. If you don’t like it I’ll kill you myself just as a favor.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. I swear, if you still want to die after this, I’ll kill you.”
Kakyou stood up and headed towards Hisoka. “It had really better be good.”
Hisoka just laughed slightly. The Dreamscape dissolved around them. He found himself sitting on the bed, still holding Kakyou’s hand. “I’ve got to take you to the Meifu,” he said.
“Whatever you want.”
Hisoka closed his eyes and took them over. For convenience sake, he landed them right in the hallway he’d left from. Then he pushed open the door to the infirmary and went in, with Kakyou behind him. Fuuma was lying in one of the beds, sound asleep with a blanket drawn up to his chin.
Kakyou looked at him. “We’re in the land of the dead. He died. What’s your point?”
Hisoka shook his head. Oddly enough, he felt tears rolling down his cheeks, but he didn’t think they were tears of sorrow. He actually thought he might start to laugh. “He’s not dead.”
Kakyou looked at him. “Explain.”
“We took him to the Meifu before he could die,” Hisoka said. “Fate, you might say, took it as his death, so the battle ended. But Watari managed to save him.”
“So when he’s all better, he can actually have his life back?” Kakyou wanted to be sure he had this straight. He was running on very little sleep and very little oxygen.
Hisoka nodded. “Watari said he’d be able to leave the Meifu in about a week, and go home. Well . . . not home. I think you’d better avoid Tokyo. At least for a while.”
“Oh,” Kakyou said. He walked over and looked at Fuuma for a second, then leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I think I’m going to go to sleep now,” he announced, and immediately fell, half-catching himself on Fuuma’s bed before sliding to the ground.
Hisoka looked at him. “Uh.” He walked over and lifted Kakyou up onto one of the other beds in the infirmary. “Watari . . .?”
Watari bounced into the room. “What’s up?”
“Can you make sure he’s not dead or anything? He just collapsed.”
“Uh, sure.” Watari went over and checked a few things. “No, he just passed out. I think he must be suffering sleep deprivation like Fuuma. Probably worse.”
“Okay. Where’d Tsuzuki get off to?”
“Giving the report to Tatsumi.”
“Gotcha. Think I’ll go join him. Let us know when one of them wakes up.”
Watari saluted. “Aye aye, captain.”
~~~~
Seishirou was rather surprised to find the apartment empty. Wherever Kakyou had gone to die, this wasn’t it. He let Nataku in and the two of them silently packed up Nataku’s things. They didn’t touch Kakyou and Fuuma’s. They simply left them there. Nataku told him that the apartment was paid for for at least another six months. Seishirou simply didn’t know what else to do. He at least had the sense to throw away everything in the fridge that Nataku didn’t want.
They got Nataku settled into Misako’s office, and Kamui into Seimei’s room. Keiichi and his mother had also offered to take him in, but they weren’t financially well off, and Kamui didn’t want to burden them.
It was very late that night when he and Subaru sat with the pile of photos and the information about the bank account. “What are you going to tell Kamui about this?” Seishirou asked, holding up the paper. Nataku had already been told about his own. He seemed to have taken it in stride.
“Tell him that being a humanity savior obviously does pay off?” Subaru asked dryly. “I don’t know. How do you explain this kind of money? It’s not like I’ve never seen this much before, but it doesn’t just come out of nowhere.”
“How much is it again?” Seishirou asked thin air, glancing at the paper. “This could be written off as an inheritance from his aunt, I suppose.”
Subaru tapped the line where Fuuma explained the self-refilling bank accounts.
“Oh. Right. I suppose you can just tell him that it’s from Fuuma.” Seishirou shrugged and lit a cigarette. “He was deranged enough.”
“Very true,” Subaru said. “Given up on not smoking inside, have you?”
“Oh, hell.” Seishirou looked at the cigarette. “It’s too cold outside.” He stubbed the cigarette out and went to his liquor cabinet instead. “Want something to drink, Subaru-kun?” he asked, pulling out a bottle of vodka and making himself a screwdriver.
“God yes.”
Seishirou poured a second drink and brought them both to the table. “Here’s to the continuation of the world,” he said dryly.
“Sure.” Subaru toasted him solemnly, then drank down the screwdriver.
“I wonder where Kakyou went,” Seishirou said thoughtfully, drinking his a bit more sedately.
“I don’t know,” Subaru said. “I can’t think of anything.”
“He was probably afraid someone would try to stop him,” Seishirou said, reaching for the vodka. “Are we going to tell Kamui about these?” he asked, motioning to the pictures.
“I don’t know,” Subaru said, taking the vodka and pouring himself another drink.
“Sooner or later, if he thinks about it, he’s going to figure out what Fuuma was doing,” Seishirou said. “Maybe it’s better if we don’t lie to him.”
“I think he figured it out a while ago,” Subaru said.
“And just forced himself to not realize it?”
Subaru nodded. “What would you do if you were in his place?”
Seishirou tried to picture it, and shuddered. “I don’t know. I was just thinking about how Tsuzuki had tortured himself for eighty years, wondering. I don’t want Kamui to go through that.”
“I don’t think he will,” Subaru said. “At least not as badly. Tsuzuki had nobody else.”
“True.” Seishirou got a third drink and gulped it down. “I just think maybe someone should tell him the truth. I’ve learned that lying is never a good thing. And everyone knew except him. Even Keiichi had it figured out.”
“I think some of the other Seals were a little slow,” Subaru said.
“Maybe,” Seishirou replied. “But everyone that was really close to him knew, I think. Maybe some of the Seals were just better at hiding it.” He passed the bottle of vodka to Subaru.
“Seiichirou and Karen maybe,” Subaru agreed, taking a swig directly from the bottle. “Sorata’s a bit caught up in himself. And Arashi didn’t care that much.”
Seishirou sighed. “But you see my point. Sooner or later we’re going to slip, or he’s going to overhear something, and then he’ll be mad at us for lying on top of everything else.”
“I’ll show them to him,” Subaru said with a sigh.
“Have another drink, Subaru-kun.” Half the bottle was gone.
“Thank you. I think I will.”
~~~~
When Fuuma woke up, he was quite confused. He wasn’t aware that technically, he was supposed to be waking up. Dying hadn’t been quite like he’d thought it would be. It was just a rush of wind past his face and then everything had been very dark. He hadn’t liked it. It was like not existing at all.
And when the hell did Heaven get a hospital? He sure hoped he was in Heaven, in any case. He thought of Takeshi momentarily, and tried to remember where he had gone, but couldn’t. He glanced around to see an IV in his arm. He could feel bandages around his stomach. He also saw Kakyou in the bed next to him. Well, that was a small comfort in any case. Wherever he was, Kakyou was with him.
“Hey, you’re awake!” Tsuzuki’s face hovered into view.
“What . . . the hell?” Fuuma managed.
“We saved you,” Tsuzuki said with a mile-wide grin.
Fuuma frowned slightly. “From hell?” he asked. He felt very hazy. He didn’t hurt, though. He figured he was probably drugged up. Could the dead take painkillers?
“From death,” Tsuzuki corrected.
Fuuma blinked at him. “Huh?”
“You’re not dead,” Tsuzuki stated.
“Yes, I am.” Fuuma blinked at him. “Kamui ran me through. Sort of.”
“Trust me, you’re not dead.”
Fuuma blinked. “How am I not dead?”
“You were dying,” Tsuzuki said, “but we rescued you and brought you here. Watari patched you up.”
“Oh,” Fuuma said. Pause. “So I’m not dead?”
“No. You’re not dead.”
“And the world hasn’t ended?”
“Nope.”
“When is it?”
“January second, in the year two thousand, at about four in the afternoon.”
“Oh,” Fuuma said faintly. “You’re sure I’m not dead?”
“I’m sure.”
“Is Kakyou dead?” Fuuma asked, his voice very small.
“No.”
“Where are we?” This was a little belated, but Fuuma realized that he still didn’t know.
“The infirmary in the Meifu.”
“So I am dead!”
“No, you’re not.”
“But I’m in the land of the dead . . .”
“Yes, and you were in the land of the dead earlier, just walking around. You don’t have to be dead to be here. It just usually works out that way.”
“Oh. What’s wrong with Kakyou?”
“He’s asleep. Very, very asleep.”
“We hadn’t slept much.”
“I think it’s catching up with you.”
Fuuma paused. “Wasn’t I supposed to be dead?”
“Yeah, most likely.” Tsuzuki smiled at him.
“Just checking. If I go to sleep, I won’t die, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay then.” Fuuma closed his eyes. “I think I kissed Kamui.”
“Yes, you did.”
“That isn’t good.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Where are we supposed to go?” Fuuma asked. “I don’t think we can go back to Tokyo.”
“Anywhere you want.”
“Oh.” Pause. “That sounds good.”
~~~~
Chapter Thirty-Nine
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