CHAPTER 24 #2
“Please, turn yourself in. Let us handle it. Commissioner Horiuchi is the leader of the extractors now. She will get to bottom of this.”
Takeda tilted her head. “You’re placing your trust in the wrong person. Did you know that Horiuchi was at Ueda Atsuji’s extraction? She is the one who shut him up when he started rambling about you.”
A knot formed in Shinji’s throat and he swallowed, chocking on his own saliva.
“That’s not true…”
“Feel free to check the report,” Takeda said with a confidence that made Shinji realize she wasn’t lying.
“Do you know what your dear commissioner used to do? She was in the science branch studying anomalies of spiritual energy. Sounds familiar?” Takeda smiled.
“It’s no longer that big of a secret by the way. Not now that you involved her.”
Had Horiuchi known everything this entire time? She must have. That was why she came to the TMPD in the first place. She’d had her eyes on Teruo the entire time. He was probably just an experiment to her.
Shinji’s head pounded and his knees ached as he pressed against the pavement for balance.
Takeda’s reiryoku slithered through his skin, but only to keep him from moving.
The core of it was focused on extracting the woman’s energy.
She was gasping and squirming in his arms, the blood seeping through his suit jacket.
“Now you understand?” Takeda said. “They deserve it.” She grabbed his jaw again.
“You’re protecting the wrong people. No one was there for Hiroshi, so why does she deserve protection?
” Takeda’s eyes filled with tears. “Hiroshi had nothing but respect for these people. The councilor, the field agents, my own boss, his work partner. And what did he get in return?” Takeda hissed, her hand wrapping around Shinji’s throat and her reiryoku seeping menacingly into his veins.
“Tell me why I should have mercy for any of them.”
Shinji gasped for air as Takeda’s hand tightened. He tried to pull back, but his body was exhausted as the pressure of the spiritual energy weighed down on him. He lost his grip on the woman, and she slid on the ground between them.
“Withdraw your powers,” Teruo said.
Shinji sucked in a breath as he almost couldn’t believe he was hearing Teruo’s voice. Takeda’s hand loosened. Teruo was holding her wrist tight. But with Shinji’s spiritual energy in a fight for its life under Takeda’s relentless power, it put Teruo in grave danger.
“You can’t be here,” Shinji rasped.
But Teruo squeezed hard and pulled Takeda’s hand away from Shinji. “I said withdraw your powers,” he repeated.
Takeda snorted. “You’re a non-supernatural. I can drive my energy straight through your heart, and you won’t even feel it.”
“You won’t do that,” Teruo said. “Draw back your powers.”
“I like your confidence.” Takeda grinned, but her eyes were bloodshot, and her whole body trembled with fatigue.
“However, you severely miscalculated. I have nothing left to lose because they already took everything.” Her expression turned feral.
“If I’m going to hell, I’m dragging you all with me! ”
Takeda’s reiryoku exploded in a final violent surge. Shinji held his breath, preparing for the inevitable extraction. The woman at their feet convulsed as Takeda’s green tendrils of energy drew in the last of her powers. He was next, and he looked at Teruo to see his beautiful face one last time.
But the flow of Takeda’s energy suddenly stopped. Seals lit up on her body: from her wrists up to her shoulders and a circle over her heart. The words were invisible through the clothes, but Shinji knew by their purple glow that they were Kawasaki Mariko’s seals.
And then he saw her, further behind Teruo, her palms pressed together, and her purple reiryoku floating around her. She was sobbing but kept closing every seal until Takeda Fuyumi’s spiritual energy vanished.
“Mariko…” Takeda muttered.
“I’m so sorry,” Mariko said. “Hiroshi wouldn’t want you to do this.”
Teruo waited no longer and handcuffed Takeda, then pulled her away.
More officers arrived—non-supernaturals—and Horiuchi with them.
They took Takeda away and Shinji wondered if they were taking her to the TMPD instead of the castle, but he was too tired to care right now.
Horiuchi called for a team of supernatural agents since the danger was gone.
Keiko flew toward him from behind Mariko and gave him a tight hug. “I feared the worst for a moment…”
“You and me both,” Shinji said.
Teruo kneeled and gently caressed Shinji’s cheek. “Are you all right?” He seemed to want to give him a hug, but Shinji’s reiryoku was still out, the tendrils lashing. Shinji forced himself to draw it in, but it felt painful with the sensation of Takeda’s power still pulsing in his veins.
“Not really,” Shinji answered, his voice still coarse.
He wiped his sleeve over his eyes and was about to beg Teruo to just leave, but his attention switched to the woman on the ground. The extraction had been interrupted, but it didn’t make a difference. Her ghost was slowly drifting up from her body until it floated above her.
“She’s dead,” Shinji said. “Keiko, can you take care of her? I can’t properly use my powers right now.”
“Of course.” Keiko went to her and muttered a few unintelligible words. The ghost seemed confused, but he knew he could count on Keiko to handle her.
Horiuchi walked to the woman’s body and turned her over.
A shadow crossed Horiuchi’s face, but she said nothing.
Then she checked the dead man, too, and hovered over him, lost in thought.
Shinji glared at her. Knowing the full story, he wasn’t sure he wanted to trust her with fixing Teruo’s soul anymore.
But he also didn’t know whether Takeda had just taunted him or not.
Her words were a little too believable to be just a game.
As if feeling his eyes on her, Horiuchi looked at Shinji. “It’s over. I’ll get a team to help you.”
“Is it?” Shinji retorted.
“Pardon?”
“Is it over? Because it doesn’t feel like it.”
Horiuchi paused for a long moment. “We’ll handle things one at a time.”
“Yeah, I noticed how you like to handle things.” Shinji left it at that despite Horiuchi’s confused face. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with her.
It took all his willpower just to hold his spiritual energy inside his body and he groaned as Teruo helped him up, his joints aching. Teruo worriedly checked him for injuries, holding onto his hand like he feared he was going to lose Shinji.
Several teams of supernaturals arrived, one leading Mariko and her father into a car, the other taking the body of the councilor and the other man away. The third team was waiting on him.
“Go back,” Shinji told Teruo. “You cannot be near me. I’ll go to the castle and heal.”
“I told you, I’m all right,” Teruo assured him.
But that wasn’t true. Shinji noticed the way his reiryoku behaved, sapping Teruo’s soul so it could replenish itself.
Shinji pulled away. “Please, go back to the HQ. As much as I want to hold you right now, it’s dangerous.”
“He’s right,” Horiuchi said. “I’ll handle it from here.”
But Teruo held Shinji’s hand again. “I don’t want to leave. I thought she was really going to kill you.” He pressed Shinji’s hand to his chest. “I was so scared… I was…” He slurred his words, then collapsed.