CHAPTER 25
Shinji
Shinji quickly caught Teruo before he hit the ground. His head fell against Shinji’s shoulder, his breath shallow and his complexion ashen.
“Teruo?” Shinji gently shook him. “Oh god… Open your eyes. Please!”
Keiko grabbed onto Shinji. “You need to get away from him.”
“No!”
“Look at your reiryoku!” Keiko pointed at this spiritual energy that was hovering around Teruo, covering him in its tendrils.
Shinji felt it being replenished. His hands trembled and he stared at Teruo, knowing he needed to let go, but unable to bring himself to do that.
“Take him to the castle immediately,” Horiuchi ordered and two agents started walking toward them with a gurney.
“Don’t touch him!” Shinji yelled, holding Teruo tight to his chest.
“What are you doing?” Keiko said. “Let them take him.”
“No! I don’t want you anywhere near him!” He snarled at Horiuchi.
The agents stared from him to Horiuchi while she frowned in confusion. “Then it’s a good thing I don’t plan on being near him right now,” Horiuchi said. “Listen, I have no idea what your problem is, but now is not the time for this nonsense. Look at him. He’s dying. Is that what you want?”
Shinji drew in a sharp breath, his arms tightening around Teruo.
The words of Takeda Fuyumi floated in his mind: You’re placing your trust in the wrong person.
Was she right? Or just taunting him? Kazuya trusted Horiuchi, and Shinji trusted Kazuya.
She didn’t want to hurt Teruo, did she? Fuck, he couldn’t get his thoughts in order.
“Shinji!” Keiko snapped him out of it. “Let him go. Come on.”
Keiko unclasped his hands from Teruo and he reluctantly moved aside. The agents put Teruo on a gurney and then into the Onmyōryō’s ambulance. Shinji stared at the whole thing feeling like he was having a bizarre out of body experience.
“What is wrong with you?” Horiuchi snapped. “Pull yourself together.”
“Leave him alone!” Keiko said. “He almost got killed.”
“And he nearly got the chief killed, too. What was that reaction?”
Shinji didn’t answer, just pulled himself to his feet, and rushed back toward where Teruo’s car was parked. Keiko followed, the ghost of the councilor beside her, and he could hear Horiuchi’s steps behind him.
“My car is closer,” she said. “Will you listen to me?”
Shinji stopped, biting his tongue to keep himself from saying something nasty again. He looked over his shoulder at Horiuchi who pointed to a white Toyota left askew on the street. After a brief hesitation, he hurried inside along with Keiko and the ghost of the councilor.
Horiuchi sped toward the castle. “Call Kazuya,” she said. “I haven’t had time to inform him and we need him.”
Shinji quickly pulled his phone and dialed. Kazuya answered on the first ring. “I heard,” he said without preamble. “I’m getting everything ready.”
“Thank you.” Shinji let out a breath of relief. “Commissioner Horiuchi and I will arrive in about five minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Shinji hung up, and squeezed the phone in his hand.
He was scared Kazuya wasn’t ready. Did he even have enough time to read everything from his mother’s journals?
What if it all failed? What if this was the end?
His breathing wouldn’t slow down. In times like these, Teruo would hold him tight and help him calm himself. But he was on his own now.
“You need to try to settle yourself,” Horiuchi said, gentler this time.
Shinji glared at her, but she was unfazed as usual. It pissed him off.
Horiuchi nodded at Shinji’s reiryoku that had engulfed the entire car in a freezing mist. “Try not to exhaust yourself more than you already are. I know it’s easier said than done.”
“Yeah…”
Keiko wrapped her arms around him through the seat and the frantic pounding in his chest eased.
“Care to explain what the hell was that earlier?” Horiuchi asked. “What did Takeda tell you?”
Shinji hesitated for a moment. “She said you were at Ueda’s extraction. That you shut him up because he started talking about me.”
“Okay…. And?”
Shinji shifted in his seat. “Why did you do that?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Horiuchi arched a brow. “To stop him from blabbering about you. He was yelling about you and Hayashi, and how you were telling Hayashi things about our world.”
“Why not let him snitch? He was right after all.”
Horiuchi sighed. “Because I happen to disagree with some of these rules. Keeping all non-supernaturals in the dark is counterproductive. Our current situation proved it. But it’s obviously a controversial subject that needs a delicate touch and a slow adjustment if we change the laws.
And while I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, Ueda was rotten to the core and vindictive.
I wasn’t going to let him mess things up. ”
Shinji’s shoulders sagged in relief. “That’s it? You didn’t have an ulterior motive for joining the TMPD due to Ueda?”
“Oh, I did have an ulterior motive. I needed to keep an eye on you two.” Horiuchi smiled. “You’re not a subtle as you think you are.”
Shinji’s cheeks flushed. “So, you joined to experiment on Teruo. Takeda told me you used to be part of the science team.”
Horiuchi rolled her eyes. “Sergeant, the science department is the Onmyōryō’s largest department. It handles the research of our very powers, so lots of supernaturals have been part of it at some point.”
The blush on Shinji’s cheeks crept down his neck and he slumped in his seat feeling stupid. He knew that, obviously, but he’d been too scared by Takeda’s words to think straight.
“However, I won’t deny that I have an interest in the chief,” Horiuchi continued.
“From the moment I joined the TMPD, I noticed your peculiar powers. It was gradual and I only fully understood what it was after Kazuya’s protective wards weaned off.
” She glanced at Shinji. “Just so you know, the chief gave his full consent for the Onmyōryō to analyze his soul, so once we’re done fixing it, that’s exactly what the science department will do. ”
“And we’re back to treating him like a guinea pig,” Shinji snarled.
“Consent is the keyword here,” Horiuchi said.
“You gave him no choice.”
“I’m not trying to hide my interest in his peculiar soul,” Horiuchi continued.
“I want to study it and you two want to fix the situation. We all get something out of this.” She raised her index finger to stop Shinji as he was about to retort.
“And,” she added, “this isn’t about my interests or your hatred for me.
This is about the fact that Hayashi wants to overcome this obstacle and continue to live—not just for himself, but for you, too.
I don’t think you want to be the one to stand in his way. ”
“Of course not!”
“Good. Then we’re on the same side,” Horiuchi said. “Besides, I don’t plan to strap him to a table and torture him.”
“We’ve reached this point because an innocent man was strapped to a table and his reiryoku torturously extracted,” Shinji shot back.
Horiuchi pressed her lips in a thin line, looking like she was losing her patience with him. “And I intend to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” She shook her head. “I’m not the villain here.”
“You’re not exactly transparent either.”
“Neither are you,” Horiuchi retorted. “You’ve been breaking the Onmyōryō laws for a while now, so maybe you need to get off your high horse.”
Before Shinji could argue about that, the car reached the castle and Horiuchi parked with a screech.
“We have other priorities right now,” Horiuchi said. “Let’s go.”
On that, he absolutely agreed and rushed inside the castle grounds. Horiuchi called Kazuya to find out in which room Teruo was, and they entered the elevator for the hospital wing.
Horiuchi addressed Keiko. “While we’re doing this, you and the councilor cannot be in the same room.”
“Not a problem,” Keiko said. “I can handle her on my own. But…” Her worried eyes found Shinji’s.
“I’ll be okay,” Shinji lied. Truthfully, he wanted Keiko with him, but he knew the ghostly aura could be dangerous while Teruo was in such a vulnerable state.
Keiko pressed her lips in a thin line, then gave him one last hug. “You’ve got this. After today, everything will be back to normal.”
“I hope so…” Shinji choked on his words.
“I know so.” Keiko smiled.
Shinji looked at the councilor, who had a vacant look on her face ever since she became a ghost. “Get someone to interview her and find out how much she remembers.”
Keiko nodded and grabbed the councilor’s hand, then floated away.
Shinji jolted as the elevator came to a stop and followed Horiuchi.
He was still so disoriented and scared, that despite what Takeda said, he felt grateful Horiuchi was here and focused.
He wouldn’t have been able to do this on his own.
Horiuchi pushed open a door and they entered a windowless medical room.
Inside, the only source of light was Kazuya’s fiery spiritual energy that engulfed the bed Teruo was on.
It emanated an enormous amount of heat. The anesthesiologist sat on a chair beside him, monitoring the screen with Teruo’s vitals.
There were some low values on it that Shinji didn’t understand, but figured they were due to Teruo’s condition.
The anesthesiologist told Horiuchi everything was ready and she could proceed.
Shinji stared at Teruo and a horrible panic overwhelmed him again. The last words he’d said to Teruo was to leave. He should’ve told Teruo how much he loved him. Shinji’s eyes blurred with tears and his body shook with fear.
“I will need you to stand aside for now,” Horiuchi said.
But he was unable to move and Kazuya walked to him, gently holding his shoulders, then steering him to the opposite side of the room. Shinji’s reiryoku remained around Kazuya’s barrier of energy, struggling to get in and failing.
“Your reiryoku is greedy,” Kazuya noticed.
“Tell me about it,” Shinji muttered, painfully forcing himself to draw it back.