Chapter XXV—Aftermath

Shinjiro grunted as he helped Hans along, though he was extremely concerned that the smaller man’s ability and will to move was dwindling fast. “I must… get you to a... healer.”

The storm winds and the rain were beginning to put a chill in Shinjiro’s bones, and apart from his worry for Hans’ life, he wondered where Rokura was—what she was doing at this very—

Something crashing into the street, heavy and went and cracking like—

Like bones.

It was a body.

Shinjiro blinked, and when the sky alighted with blue blight, he saw what looked to be Daimyō Shōzu, his body a broken mass of limbs and blood from the fall.

The samurai swallowed with apprehension and glanced back as he tried to hold Hans up, but the little man’s strength was almost gone. “Hans—I need to put you down.”

The golden-haired blue-eyes fiend mumbled something unintelligible.

“Do not be stubborn, Cat Man,” said Shinjiro. “If you die”—he took Hans by the wrist and lifted his soaking wet body up and over his shoulder with a grunt—“Rōkura will be very sad—and I don’t want her to be sad, even if your death might mean she had a chance at a life unstained by pools of blood.”

He took several steps forward, realizing that Hans was quite light. Glancing about, the samurai decided to look for a healer.

Meanwhile, while the enraged oni stalked about, howling in the night at the thunder and the lightning, Suki Arinatto stood and rubbed her back with a grunt. Tsubaki joined her with a worried look upon his features.

He was far taller than her, even tempered and thoughtful. In his hand he held a torch. “Are you all right?”

“I’m—I’m fine,” she said.

“I feared the worst,” he said, reaching up to touch her cheek tenderly.

She touched his hand, but then her resolve hardened. “The daimyō. He’s missing!!”

“Where do you think—“

“I saw the oni throw him over the edge of the summit.”

“Then he is dead.”

Suki nodded. They were under the castle’s eves where the rain didn’t touch them. Even so, they were both wet, Suki much more so than Tsubaki. “I cannot believe what happened.” She strode out onto the tiled area and tuned. “Come—we must find his body.”

Tsubaki nodded. “Mm!”

Ahead of them lay dozens of dead samurai. Some of them moaned, wounded and unable to get up. There were a few who stirred and moved about, checking the others to find out who was alive and who was dead.

One of them shouted for a healer, and two more ran past Suki and Tsubaki toward the castle entrance with a hurried pace.

The carnage made Suki swallow with memory. It was like that one time when she had seen that raging beast from the Reconnoiters mercenary company in Momori Jinja—glowing eyes, rage and hate.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Tsubaki asked.

She nodded. “I think so. We have seen this before.”

“Hai.”

They made it down the steps and searched for a time in the pouring rain as warning bells erupted all around the sentry towers. Warriors and soldiers from the barracks throughout Chōdaira patrolled the streets.

“Here!” called Tsubaki.

Suki splashed across the flooded street to where her love had called her—to the corpse that lay broke and shattered. The remains of Daimyō Shōzu were hardly recognizable, save for the blood-stained clothes he wore.

She breathed out a sigh.

“Is this him?” she asked, feeling a doubt.

“It is him.”

“Then we must secure this body and take it back to Awara Castle.”

Tsubaki glanced about, barely hearing Suki’s words as he wondered where that terrible oni girl had got off to. Was it likely that they would find her? They hadn’t been able to find that Reconnoiters woman after she had gone into a similar rage.

“Tsu?”

He nodded. “The body. I know.”

The Taisho Six member wondered if Shōzu-sama had brought this upon himself. The events of the night had been abnormal at best, and the accusations the oni had made against him were hateful and rage-filled long before she attacked him in her altered state.

Coming into an inn, Shinjiro sat Hans down on a bench near the wall where he would be out of sight for the most part. He bought a room from the innkeeper, took the key and hauled the small man up.

He plopped him into the bed and covered him with the blankets, then set a blazing fire in the hearth to heat the room.

Despite the summer months and the usually hot weather, the rain was cold, and even Shinjiro while carrying the other man, had a chill in his bones. “I’ll be back soon.”

Hans moaned softly, his eyelids fluttering.

When he went back down, soaking wet, Shinjiro attempted to make a joke about drinking too much since there was nothing else to do on a rainy stormy night like this, but the innkeeper just looked at him with a narrowed gaze.

“Say, friend,” said Shinjiro. “If I was to be in need for some potions for tomorrow morning.” He smiled, alluring to the idea that he intended to get very drunk tonight.

The innkeeper directed him to a healer’s ship not far from where they were at. He left a coin with the man as a sign of tanks and headed out the door, pausing for a moment as a group of soldiers passed by.

Shinjiro worried that they would begin going door-to-door to ask questions. The daimyo of the Ginzuare district had just been murdered after all.

He found his way to the healer’s ship and managed to buy multiple potions. He had a few coins left over and decided to buy a new kimono—something less auspicious from what he had been wearing on the summit at Awara castle.

Once he was back in the room he had bought, Shinjiro forced Hans to drink all of the potions, the health potions to revitalize and mend his wound, the blue luminescent magic potions to bring back his energy.

Hans blinked awake and shook his head.

His cat-like narrow eyes, full of arrogant knowledge, focused upon him. “Shinjiro? Where is—“

“Rest for a moment,” the samurai broke in. “I am going out to look for Rōkura in a moment.”

“Then,” groaned Hans. “I am coming with you.”

“You should rest.”

“Don’t”—he grunted at he got out of the bed—“tell me what to do, Steel Swinger.”

Shinjiro grinned. “You took a beating. In fact, I am surprised you’re alive. Your body needs to rest.”

Hans put his hand to his head. Even after the potions, his eyes felt like they might pop and his head pounded like a drum. Everything swayed before him. “Oh… Oh I don’t feel very well.”

“As I said,” repeated Shinjiro, “stop being stubborn and rest. You won’t do Rōkura any good if you pass out in the street and are picked up by the guards for questioning.”

“Perhaps,” Hans said, groaning as he got back under the covers. “Perhaps you are right.”

Shinjiro nodded. “Of course I am, Cat Man. Stay here.” He stood up. “I will return once I find Rōkura.”

Hans nodded and the door was shut.

He lay there, remembered what had happened, how he had taken Kota’s sword strike. Is he still alive? He paused, watching the flames crackle in the hearth. The warmth was wonderful.

And then he lifted his covers and glanced down at his fully clothes form. “I am wet and dressed.”

He sighed, deciding to order up a hot bath so he could rest and recuperate properly.

“Come back with her, Steel Swinger…”