After a brief mutual glance, and a silently agreed-to armistice, the two soldiers ran over to the young girl. A piece of the chain was buried in her delicate right shoulder, from which a blue fluid oozed.
“Sorry,” said Yakou, biting his lip.
“I am okay. It doesn’t hurt.”
“We should get you patched up as quickly as possible,” said Ryuuki.
“Move it, move it, move it!”
The third member of this party. Casting the chains aside, Tonbeau bent over to examine the wound. She sniffed. “No big deal. Swapping out of a few bones and reconnecting a couple of blood vessels should do the trick. A quarter-hour at most. The question is how you climbed off your sick bed and made it down here. No matter what kind of doll you are, getting hit by that old man’s qi should have hurt like the fires of hell. All I did at the time was patch you up here and there.”
“Would that old man be Kikiou?” Ryuuki asked.
“The same.”
“A splendid little girl,” said Ryuuki. “You should see to her at once.”
The small white hand rested on his knee. “We can’t go.”
“What are you saying?”
Yakou bent over. His face filled her deep blue eyes. “Are you concerned for my welfare?” In the face of such pluck, Yakou couldn’t help but nod.
“If she and I were to leave, you would start fighting all over again. I don’t wish for either of you to die. I brought myself down here to bring a stop to it.”
“But—this man is an enemy of my grandfather. He is an enemy of the whole world.”
“Ryuuki-sama finds such aspects of himself no less abominable. He should stay here. In this city, in this house, if we cannot destroy him, we can at least let him sleep—or live—forever. No matter how accursed and defiled an existence he might have led, here he may pursue life and liberty, if not happiness. Is that not the meaning of Demon City?”
The doll girl’s clear firm voice did not beg or plead, but only stated. But would it touch the hearts of these men in the grip of their murderous impulses—
“He loathes himself—I can believe that is true.” Yakou glanced at Ryuuki. “But what do you do when he lusts after blood? When he rises again to his calling as Princess’s servant?”
“At such a time, Tonbeau-sama and I—no, I alone—”
She didn’t have to spell it out for him. Yakou looked down at her with sad admiration. “All right, then,” he said. “What about you?”
“I could not ask for anything more.” Ryuuki placed his hand over the doll girl’s wound and then took it away. “How does that feel?”
“Much better.”
“You should take better care of yourself.”
“Well, come along. What are you two going to do?” asked Tonbeau Nuvenberg, scooping the doll girl up with one hand.
“I’m returning to the Toyama housing project,” Yakou said with an air of anxiety.
“We need to talk about that incident. The general will remain here. Sleep well.”
With Takako in her embrace, and holding the doll girl in one hand, Tonbeau left the room with Yakou behind her. Just before the door closed, through the remaining sliver of light she said, “You really came to the rescue. Much appreciated.”
The darkness wrapped around Ryuuki, followed by a long stillness. Then a heavy, heartfelt voice said, “I saved another person. Me, of all people.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The story Yakou heard from Tonbeau shocked him more than any of his disgraceful memories. Her account of the “Toyama District Nuclear Incident” left him pale at first, gripped by despair and then anger.
“Who is responsible?”
“Hard to tell. I heard it from that girl. I don’t know all of the details myself.”
“What about the survivors?”
“The official damage and casualty reports haven’t come out yet. No word on who lived and who was vaporized. Nobody is living in the ruins now. A restricted land filled with a blue radioactive glow.”
Yakou’s shoulders slumped. Tonbeau said curtly, “Save the despondency for later. Whoever tried to kill you all off did it because that woman and her gang showed up. They’re the bad guys here. Job one for you is dealing with them. As for the ones that actually pushed the button—revenge is best served cold.”
“You’re probably right.” Yakou’s body shook, but he quickly regained control. “But I can’t sit around here twiddling my thumbs. Once we have dealt with them, I will apprehend the criminals and punish them in the most appropriate medieval manner.”
“Good approach. That would be perfectly fine.”
“Where is the box?”
“Over yonder.” She jerked her chin past Takako’s cheek. “Doctor Mephisto’s got it.”
“Then that is where I shall go.”
Yakou got to his feet, for the time being thoughts of his colleagues dismissed from his mind.