CHAPTER 24
Shinji
Sweat dripped down Shinji’s back, pooling uncomfortably in the fabric of his shirt where it was tucked in his belt.
With a trembling hand, he shared his location with Teruo. His feet felt like lead weights, but he forced himself to take another step and round the corner.
Takeda Fuyumi stood in the middle of the street, one hand in the air, controlling her spiritual energy. Stretched on the ground was a man, gasping and groaning, his limbs contorting from pain. His hands scrambled for purchase on the ground, but there was no escape from an extractor’s reiryoku.
The green, glowing tendrils of Takeda’s energy dragged the man’s golden reiryoku out of his body, bit by bit, each twist taking him closer to agonizing death.
“You need to run,” Keiko whispered.
But Takeda had already seen him, so Shinji walked slowly toward her.
Keiko grabbed onto his suit jacket. “Don’t!” she hissed. “She can kill you!”
Takeda’s oppressively hot reiryoku mixed with Keiko’s icy mist was giving Shinji a painful headache, and his lungs screamed for air. He kept walking slowly, knowing Teruo had likely left with a team of officers and would be here at any moment.
“Shinji, you can’t help that man. Let’s leave!” Keiko pulled at his sleeve.
“There’s someone else,” Shinji said.
Further on his right, a woman lay on the ground in between a house’s fence and the main gate. Her spiritual energy was still intact, so Takeda hadn’t done anything to her yet. Shinji didn’t know whether she was just collateral or Takeda’s target, but either way, he wasn’t going to leave her alone.
Shinji turned toward Keiko and whispered, “Go find Mrs. Kawasaki.”
Keiko shook her head. “I’m not gonna do that. I’m staying here to protect you.”
He gave her a little smile, then walked toward the woman on the ground, keeping his eyes on Takeda. The man’s groans turned to screams as his reiryoku left his body. His back arched from pain, and the veins on his face were red from torment.
“Please, stop,” Shinji said while he knelt next to the woman. She seemed to be in her late fifties and still wore her house clothes, along with slippers. She’d likely been dragged out of her home. “You’ve done enough. He’s not going to recover.”
He looked at Takeda, who regarded him with an impassive face.
Her hair was slick with sweat, and her face was pale with exhaustion.
Her shoulders hitched, the rhythm of her breathing uneven.
The spiritual energy faltered, becoming interrupted here and there.
If Takeda still had enough power to take two people at once, she would have already reached for the woman at Shinji’s feet. But she hadn’t.
When Takeda looked away to refocus on her victim, Shinji’s hand slid slowly toward his gun. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do since it was no match for Takeda’s reiryoku—even depleted as it was.
Before reaching the gun, Takeda’s head snapped back to him. A sharp arrow of energy shot from her, striking right through holster and the barrel, leaving a hiss of steam curling from the hole.
“Don’t even think about it, unless you have a death wish,” Takeda snarled.
Shinji raised both his hands in defeat. Beneath him, the woman was bleeding on the pavement.
She had a gash on the side of her head, and based on the streaks visible on the upper side of the fence, Takeda must’ve slammed the woman against it.
Since Takeda could no longer extract the power from two people at once, she made sure the second victim couldn’t run.
“Please, let me call an ambulance,” Shinji said. “She’s bleeding heavily.”
Shinji weighed his options. He could easily grab the woman and make a run for it, but he wouldn’t get far before Takeda was done and possibly killed him too. Neither Teruo nor Mariko were anywhere nearby, but sensing Mariko’s energy proved difficult with Takeda’s powers looming over him.
“Do you even know who you’re protecting?
” Takeda asked, her voice shaking. The reiryoku around her flared, its green tendrils absorbing the last of the man’s energy.
“She is the councilor who accused Hiroshi of theft and murder. She and the extractors’ leader worked together to cover up their little business of distributing seals.
That’s who you’re protecting right now.”
Shinji stared at the woman and bile came up his throat knowing she had sacrificed an innocent man for money. “I understand the pain you’re going through, but please, let’s stop, okay? An investigation has started. There will be a trial—”
Takeda burst into brittle laughter. “Do you even believe your own words? Hm? And what about Hiroshi? What honest investigation and trial did he get?” She pointed toward the street Shinji had come from.
“The leader of the extractors was Hiroshi’s judge and executioner.
All of those who contributed to my boyfriend’s death are guilty. All of them!”
“The team of field agents didn’t know,” Shinji said. “They were in doubt about the whole thing.”
“Being in doubt wasn’t enough. While Mariko and I were struggling to make them understand Hiroshi was innocent, those very field agents were dragging him to be murdered. They had no mercy for Hiroshi, so I have no mercy for them.”
The man’s screams faded into ragged breaths, and his reiryoku thinned as the last tendrils were absorbed by Takeda.
Shinji looked down at the woman beside him.
Her spiritual energy pulsed within her, still untouched.
Deep in his heart, he understood Takeda’s pain.
She was right about the corruption and the lies.
But he still couldn’t just step aside and watch her kill another person.
Keiko floated beside him, her aura pulling his energy toward her, and her hand pressing against his. Their eyes met, she gave him a small nod, and he understood.
Before Takeda could regain her composure, Shinji brought all his spiritual energy out, connecting it entirely to Keiko and taking a hold of her. He hadn’t let himself control a ghost in a long time, and his body vibrated with the pressure of holding onto her.
With a powerful push from Shinji, Keiko launched herself at Takeda, and slammed into her hard, shoving her on the ground. Takeda gasped, and thrashed, but Shinji made Keiko grab her again and spill ghostly mist to keep Takeda from using her powers again—at least until help arrived.
Takeda roared, struggling to get free, but it seemed his power combined with Keiko's kept her in place. He knew it wouldn’t be for long, so he picked up the woman in his arms and ran. But he sensed Takeda’s reiryoku behind him, fighting to get free.
Keiko yelled behind him, then suddenly passed right through him as Takeda pushed her away. The sudden sensation of Keiko’s ghostly body tripped Shinji, and he fell on his knees.
Shinji pulled Keiko back and around Takeda, pushing Keiko into a partial possession of Takeda’s body, her ghostly form locking around Takeda like ice.
But he felt Takeda’s pressure through Keiko, who was holding on with all her might.
Shinji barely made a few steps when a warm tendril of energy wrapped around his leg. He twisted sideways, so he wouldn’t fall on the woman in his arms, and groaned as pain sliced through his shoulder.
Keiko shouted, and Shinji sat up just as Takeda pushed her away with a powerful burst of energy. He withdrew his control and pulled his reiryoku back.
“Go!” he yelled at Keiko.
She stared in horror at him for a moment before darting away.
Takeda walked toward him, her green energy floating lazily. Shinji could sense she was extremely low on power after fighting Keiko. But it was likely enough for two more extractions. He hated himself for not running from the beginning.
Takeda kneeled beside him, her energy slowly reaching for the woman. “Don’t stop me, or you’re next.”
“We can interrogate her. If you let her live, we can get information—”
Takeda grabbed his mouth, her fingers digging into his cheekbones hard. Without another word, she directed her reiryoku toward the woman and started the extraction. Shinji felt it reach deep within the core and pull out her energy. She twisted in his arms, groaning in pain.
A whimper escaped Shinji, and he shook his head at Takeda, quietly pleading.
Little wisps of her energy entered his skin, its warmth like poison in his veins. It seemed like a warning rather than an intent to kill him, but it sent Shinji’s heart into a panicked beat.
A tear trailed down Shinji’s cheek. Bile went up his throat again, and he was close to vomiting. This was how it felt to die by extraction.
Unbidden, the last memory of his ex went through Shinji’s mind. He’d drawn joy from threatening Ueda with extraction and almost went to see it. Perhaps this was punishment for it.
Takeda took her hand away from his mouth and spoke, “Why do you oppose me? You of all people should understand.”
Shinji’s eyes widened, and he stared at her for a long moment. Her complexion was white with exhaustion, and her gaze filled with desperation.
“I know who you are,” Takeda said. “I was a spare at Ueda Atsuji’s extraction.”
Shinji froze. That was not at all what he thought she’d say.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Shinji whispered. “I don’t care about him.”
“I think you do. I think, deep inside, you wish you saw it yourself.” Her face suddenly twisted into a grin. “He was a screamer. Roared the entire time until his last breath.”
“Stop…” Shinji said.
“But the difference is that your boyfriend was a criminal who nearly got away with it. My Hiroshi was innocent and was framed for it. You understand, don’t you? What it’s like to watch an innocent person die and their murderer walk free?”
Shinji didn’t reply. Couldn’t reply. Back then, his heart had been filled with such dark thoughts, but he never acted on them.
“I think you wish you’d have killed him yourself,” Takeda said. “To see him squirm as he drew his last breath.” She looked down at the woman in Shinji’s arms. “It’s worth it.”