Act 5:
A Fog of Gun Smoke
Alice cut the binding around a pile of books in the reference library. “That should do it,” she called to the maid. “I think this is the last bundle.”
“Right~! All the rest go to the incinerator, so if we just throw these in the vault, we should be all set~.”
Alice smiled. “Good work.”
Alice hadn’t expected to get so much exercise in the reference library, but a lot of her job boiled down to manual labor, considering all the books she had to lug around in her organization process. When adding a category, she often had to reshelf the entire collection.
And now she had to archive unneeded research publications. She tapped a fist on the pile in front of her.
“I’ve never been to the vault. Where is it? I don’t have anything to do after this, so I’ll take them.”
“Huh~? You’ll take them yourself~? You’ll spoil me~!”
“This is a small batch. Just tell me where to go.”
After the maid gave her directions, Alice clutched the books to her chest and left the library. She passed other mobsters in the hallway, but thankfully, none of them threw her suspicious glances.
She’d expected a worse attitude from everyone after her argument with Blood, but nothing seemed to have changed. Even Elliot and the twins acted normally. If they’d heard that Alice had been friends with their other-country versions, they didn’t let on.
Blood probably didn’t tell anyone what I said. She didn’t know why he hadn’t, but even now, when she thought back on their conversation, an unspeakable frustration welled up in her.
The weird dizziness had passed, thankfully. She didn’t know if her irritation with Blood or simple exhaustion had caused it, but she figured the various stresses had combined to take their toll on her health.
Still clutching the books, she walked into a section of the outdoor mansion grounds she didn’t normally visit. It was even more choked with weeds than the garden. As she walked the overgrown path, a sudden roar made her jump.
Voices—lots of voices—rolled through the air from nearby. It sounded like a frenzied mob.
“Huh?!”
She didn’t expect fighting, since the Survey Meetings were still going on. But when gunfire suddenly exploded elsewhere, her blood turned to ice.
There had been attacks on the main gate before, but now Alice stood right beside the mansion itself. She’d never heard of an attack this far into the grounds.
She needed a place to hide. She ran for the vault, hoping she’d find something to duck behind there.
When she finally arrived at the vault, she dropped the burden of her books to the ground and tried to catch her breath. She ducked down into the shadow of the vault and tried to keep as still as she could.
A moment later, footsteps crunched on the ground. “Who could that be?” someone murmured.
She expected it to either be one of the attackers, or someone from the mansion trying to head the enemy off. Alice poked her head out slightly to get a better look.
She was shocked to see that it was Blood. He gripped his gun in one hand, his gait surprisingly casual as his eyes roamed around the area.
Alice had no idea what he was looking for, but decided against calling out. She ducked back into the shadows just as Blood stiffened.
He narrowed his eyes and re-gripped his gun.
“Got you, Hatter! You’re dead!”
Men from all directions ran into Alice’s line of sight, their guns trained on Blood. He was massively outgunned.
“……”
Blood didn’t say a word. He just whipped up his weapon and fired a volley of bullets in a circle around him, creating a domino effect of falling, screaming men.
Alice smelled the sharp stink of iron and smoke that she’d never gotten used to. By the time the air cleared, the fight was over.
Enemy blood splatters stained Blood’s white clothes. Clearly unharmed, he rubbed a red drop from his cheek and dropped his eyes to the gun in his hand.
Alice breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t said more than a few words to him since their argument, but she still didn’t want to see him get hurt or anything.
When no more enemies entered the clearing, Blood shifted his gun back into its cane form. Unfortunately, the sound of gunfire in the distance hadn’t lessened in the slightest—which meant the attack on the mansion was still underway.
When he started to walk again, Alice stood up from her hiding place in the shadow of the vault.
“Bloo—”
Just as she was about to run after him, she froze.
The barrel of a gun peeked through a hole in a thicket, aimed at Blood’s back. Almost uncannily like the first time she’d been shot at in Hatter Mansion.
It’s Blood, so he probably noticed? Although…
She flashed back to a moment in Clover—when some troops waiting in ambush tried to attack Blood during the Assembly. Blood hadn’t even used his gun—he’d just beaten them off with his cane, complaining that he was bored with “incompetent assassins.”
But that Blood, who spat insults at men who had tried to kill him, wasn’t the man in the blood-spattered coat who walked away from her now.
Her usual assumption that he’d want her to protect herself flew out of her mind. She was afraid he didn’t see the hidden gun.
“Blood!” she cried, leaping out of the shadows. “Watch out!”
He whipped towards her, clearly stunned. But then his face darkened as he threw out an arm.
“Do you have a death wish?!” he shouted.
A heavy shot rang out behind her. Something burned across the flesh of her left arm.
“Rrgh!” Rather than change his cane again, Blood tore a gun from his breast pocket and fired past Alice’s shoulder. Alice heard a thump and a moan behind her.
Alice dizzily stepped back as Blood ran at her. Her gripped her left arm, which she realized, belatedly, had been shot.
He pressed his hand over the blood welling up on her skin. “You’re wounded,” he said quickly.
“Blood, um…”
“Do me a favor and shut up!”
Alice swallowed, her mind too cloudy to argue.
He was…yelling at her. And clearly frustrated. Her face fell despite her attempts to stop it.
I think this is the first time Blood’s ever yelled at me, she thought dumbly. The old Blood wasn’t the…yelling type.
And judging from his reaction, he had sensed the gunman and was trying to lure him out or something. She suddenly felt very stupid for jumping out into the open and getting herself hurt.
Her shoulders slumped, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Can you move your fingers?” he suddenly asked. “There isn’t much blood, but I want to check for nerve damage.”
“Uh…” Alice moved her fingers as ordered, then twisted her face at the stab of resonating pain.
But Blood breathed a sigh of relief. “If it hurts,” he said, “that’s proof the nerves are still working.”
“I-I guess that makes sense…”
As the shock slowly sloughed off her, she felt tears build up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away as the rumble of feet rolled in from nearby.
She turned to see a group of the Hatter mobsters, all dressed in their white suits, run up behind her. Elliot waved his gun at their leader.