9 - The Insomniac

[TOKYO; 2:00 AM]

Over in America, the sun was rising. In Tokyo, however, a purely starless night befell upon the soulfuls and soulless beneath. For those familiar with the patterns of a pitch black sky, they reconciled with the dark. One such soul was that of someone who couldn’t find within himself any desire to spend the night in slumber.

He was killing time. Mukawa, a soulful, who was playing a much deeper game than many others involved in soulful politics, had no business doing so in these critical times. But he killed time not out of boredom. He knew that at some point, a hunter would be appointed to track him down. He couldn’t do much when his mind juggled the thought of having to leave everything. All of his assets were evacuated, his comrades were spread across the world. All that remained was his insomniac self.

Zawadski walked through the night streets with confidence. He approached Mukawa’s residence without a hint of fear in his eyes. But he wasn’t the hunter, he was merely the bait. The one appointed to that role was his sister in arms.

Far away from the residence, beneath the idle moonlight, Jian took her position. She had no weapon with her. On the balcony of a tall apartment block’s 20th floor, she rested her elbows on the rusty guard rail and took aim. The finger gun that she made with her right hand was pointed at Zawadski, who was 400 or so meters away.

“Spearhead Four. Do you copy?”

“Spearhead Two. I’m online.” Zawadski replied into his earpiece. “Beginning operation.”

He approached the entrance of the building and carefully observed it. He lightly pulled on the doorknob. Quickly realizing it was locked, he went towards the side of the building. Since it was a multi-floor private residence, the easiest way to break in would be by using the windows.

“Spearhead Four. Maintain line of sight.” Jian said in a calm and cold voice. Her eyepatch, which acted as a powerful scope, was a part of her soul expression and allowed her to take aim at any distance with no issue.

“Convincing me to use these stupid nicknames because he wants to feel cool...”

“Understood.” Zawadski replied. “Entering through the window. Check.”

He smashed the window open and quickly got in. Unfortunately, the exact window he chose, and every window on the first floor, were trapped and littered with trip mines and homemade booby traps. Zawadski triggered the string, and the explosives were set off - launching right into him and blasting a hole in his stomach.

That’s why he decided to not pick that option. He signaled to Jian with his hands, and jumped up to the second floor - hanging by the outer windowsill.

“Spearhead Four. Hold still.”

“Copy.” Zawadski said. A few moments later, the handle of the windows was swiftly blown away. The darkened windows were now fully unlocked...

Mukawa himself hid on the third and top floor. He slowly sneaked around, equipped with an array of various grenades and a handgun for good measure. He took slow and deep breaths. No matter how prominent his ability would be, he wasn’t capable of handling the Heisei’s beasts on his own.

While Zawadski was exploring the second floor, Mukawa slowly approached the third floor’s windows. He pulled out a dark gray smoke grenade from his belt buckle and put it on the windowsill. The resulting cloud of smoke was a perfect blind spot for himself.

Jian didn’t even seem annoyed. She calmly took out a pair of binoculars, carefully tuning it to enable the infrared option. Looking through it, to her surprise, there was nothing in the smoke.

“Spearhead Four. Target still resides in the building.”

“Copy.” Zawadski nodded. “The second floor is clear.”

“Advance to the third floor.” Jian said. She sighed. It was a sign that now, she was completely focused.

Zawadski slowly walked in. The wooden set of stairs that led him up had no contraptions attached to any of its points. He took his time to observe all the possible openings and angles of attack, despite not considering any of them a problem. Until...

[BANG]

A powerful stun grenade was detonated almost right in Zawadski’s face. The latter managed to turn around at the last second, but the damage was pretty heavy. Due to the partial deafness, he couldn’t quietly relay comms to his comrade.

Jian also saw the spark. She turned her attention to the window, assuming that the smokescreen was not a bait, but a utility that would simply be used later. But once more, she saw nothing.

Mukawa, however, used the moment of blindness to quickly navigate right around Zawadski and rush to the room on the second floor adjacent to the staircase. It happened to be the very room in which Sakuto Hitori was held in during his “death”. Zawadski assumed that Mukawa was still on the third, and so he rushed up the staircase. Jian, seeing that nothing was outside, also turned her attention up top.

“Spearhead Four. Status report. Did the effect wear off?”

Instead of saying anything back, Zawadski opened the window that faced Jian’s line of sight and waved accordingly. Meanwhile, Mukawa, taking advantage of the intruder’s impaired hearing, slowly made his way to the first floor staircase.

“The backside of this house has no windows...”

“But it has an exit.”

“If I can just get to it...”

Jian, unfortunately, caught on to that idea. She already suspected that Mukawa might not even be on the third floor. At the same time, being on the first floor would be dangerous even for himself due to the many traps. Jian aimed at the right side of the second floor. With one shot, she broke the window’s handle and unlocked it. With another she blasted the window open.

“Spearhead Four. Flank to the right side from above and jump in.”

Zawadski noted. He climbed outside and jumped over, barely managing to nail the jump. After making his way in, he turned around and crossed his arms.

“Still not there?” Jian thought, aiming at Zawadski.

“Spearhead Four. Brace yourself.”

Zawadski showed a thumbs up. A few seconds passed, and a large axis with thick marking lines appeared next to him. Within seconds, the entire place was completely devastated - a large crater appeared in the wall. The entire house was in shambles, and Zawadski, in the few moments of his consciousness after having half of his body destroyed, saw Mukawa climbing down to the first floor.

With that in mind, Zawadski looked at Jian and pointed down.

“Going down?”

“You’re getting caught in your own webs.”

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“Spearhead Four. Jump out immediately, rotate around the building and secure the back exit.”

Zawadski did just that.

And Mukawa, who was aware of everything going on, was on his ropes.

“I only survived so far because I figured out which Heisei members are hunting me down. Zawadski isn’t an issue if I keep myself concealed and avoid confronting him or being detected by him. But Jian Fang...”

“The gunslinger herself is here...”

He carefully navigated around the maze of booby traps.

“I can’t hear any footsteps on the top floor. And the soul presence, no matter how well hidden it was, I could feel it. But the gunslinger is flaring her own presence up, as if trying to blind my senses. Is Zawadski waiting for me at the exit?”

“Ah, shit...”

“I’m stuck here. No matter what I do.”

“So...should I try fighting them?”

Zawadski had already grabbed a part of a street sign and used it to block off the exit. Simultaneously, Jian was on high alert, ready to gun down anything that tries to escape through any of the windows. It was a dead end.

“If I use my acclamation, I might have a chance.” Mukawa thought, leaning against the wall and trying his hardest to keep his heartbeat and breathing steady.

“God damn it...I knew this was gonna happen, didn’t I?”

“God...fucking...damn it!”

Whilst his heart experienced the apotheosis of despair, his eyes were blessed with the sight of salvation. Through the half-open window of the first floor, the solution to his current problem was presented.

A white oval portal opened on the wall.

Mukawa felt confused at first, primarily because he couldn’t recognize the person behind it. But soon the culprit revealed himself from the other side.

“Come on.” Dima said, signaling Mukawa to hurry up. Mukawa, still taken aback, stepped through.

“Where is this?” Mukawa immediately asked, looking around. They were on another balcony, unfortunately, from somewhere from which Mukawa’s house was visible.

“Closest I could get.” Dima replied.

“Then pick another place!” Mukawa yelled. Dima didn’t lose his composure and fired off another portal down below, in between two houses. The moment they went in to escape, the balcony they stood on was obliterated to pieces.

“Tch.” Jian seemed irritated and disappointed. “Spearhead Four, target escaped due to unforeseen external assistance.”

“Instant teleportation as well...”

“How lucky.”

...

“So, who are you?” Mukawa asked, as the two were in a completely different part of the city now.

“Name’s Dima.” Dima replied. “I’m surprised you don’t know me.”

“I know about the portals. I snoop around the combat records archive every once in a while.” Mukawa replied. “You engaged in combat with the elementals during the conflict. You’re allied with Hayk.”

“On the spot.” Dima said. They traversed the night street, keeping their eyes wide open for any potential intervention. Dima approached a vending machine. “I’ll grab you a drink.”

“Where’s the generosity coming from?” Mukawa asked.

“What, I’m not allowed to offer you something? You look dehydrated as fuck, you probably lost 50 years off of your lifespan from being scared so much.” Dima chuckled.

“How would you react if the Heisei hunted you down?” Mukawa asked. He caught the can of sparkling water that Dima tossed to him and cracked it open. “You’d hydrate your pants and yell for help.”

“So you’re known as a traitor now.” Dima said.

“You’re making me need to ask even more questions.” Mukawa said. “Why the hell would you care? Who are you really associated with?”

“With Hayk.” Dima said. “But at the same time, I’m associated with myself. I have things that I want for myself.”

“Hayk’s not kind enough after a chunk of his manpower died?” Mukawa asked, a bit more aggressively. “Tell me why you’re involving yourself with me.”

“I need answers.” Dima said. “And freedom. I want to help Hayk out with soulful matters before letting go of this lifestyle.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I no longer want to be entangled in the soulful business.” Dima said. “I want to live a normal, regular life with my girlfriend. Since she’s not entangled in anything, I don’t want to be either. I don’t want her to suffer through all of this.”

“She’s soulless?”

“I guess so.” Dima said.

“I see...” Mukawa said. “Still, I’m surprised. How did you even know where to find me or who I am?”

“I have a habit of sneaking around the GSC headquarters, specifically the archives.” Dima said. “Hayk asked me to get to the bottom of Sakuto Hitori’s resurrection. It led me to you.”

“Right.” Mukawa said after taking a sip. “So what do you want to do?”

“Uhh...”

“Really? You thought of saving me and telling me about your goals...but not what actions you got on your mind. And how do I know you’re not Kaito’s ally?” Mukawa asked.

“I'm not. They already know that you've being doing shady stuff in the background, and I certainly wouldn't save you from the Heisei if I was one.” Dima said. “And I genuinely do not want the GSC to exist any longer.”

“Hm...?”

“I realized that the world can’t be a peaceful place while the GSC is around.” Dima said. “If you’re fighting against the GSC, I want to join your side.”

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing. If you want that girlfriend of yours to even stay alive, you’d want the GSC gone completely.” Mukawa said.

“There’s also the issue of the Adler Group...” Dima explained. “Otto Richter, was it? He can copy soul expressions and get stronger. And right now, he wants to attack Hayk Nakama. But there’s room for compromise here.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Mukawa said. “You’re here to save Hayk’s sorry ass. Gotta say, pretty smart move. Using the fact that you saved me as a way to join my side, and getting me to go to Otto Richter out of all people and try and negotiate Hayk's death sentence.”

“That’s...not incorrect.” Dima said. “It would be the best case scenario if Hayk was alive. Look, I’m sure I can act as a mediator, I’ll get to reach Otto Richter through you and arrange a meeting between them. They’ll act on what is right.”

“You’re hoping for a fairy tale ending.” Mukawa sighed. “You don’t get those in this kind of game. And besides, why the hell do you think he will give me an audience? He probably doesn't even know who I am. Maybe Hayk explained to you how he has some personal matters to settle with Otto.”

“I see...” Dima said. A few moments later, he continued. “Hayk’s issue is that he’s an empath.”

“Hm?” Mukawa was interested.

“I hate that word. Otto decided to constantly use it to prove his shitty points.”

“He was too scared for us, despite our own strength. I guess his caring side got the better of him. He was subjugated by Kaito Kamiki.”

“I see...”

“...”

“How’s Sakuto Hitori?” Mukawa asked him.

“In America. He met up with Kaito Kamiki, went to America, and is hunting down a guy named Jackal Kagerr there.” Dima replied.

“Interesting...” Mukawa thought.

“You...knew that something like this could happen, right? That he might end up working for a side you don’t support.” Dima said.

“Yeah.”

“So why did you save him?”

“Dunno.” Mukawa replied. “It just felt like the right thing to do. Besides, I knew that he would do his part.”

“His part...?”

“I saved him so that he would kill Diego. His survival was a part of my plans. He hated Diego, I needed Diego dead, I helped him out and gave him a second chance. Come on, it all makes sense.” Mukawa continued.

“I’m not gonna tell him about Otto copying his ability. Or any of Otto's involvement.”

“Right.” Dima nodded.

“Anything else?” Mukawa asked. “Is my interview over?”

“I’ll get in touch with you if I need anything...or if you need anything. I hope I made my intentions clear.” Dima said.

“Yeah, yeah...whatever. Take care.” Mukawa said, walking away. “Thanks for saving my ass.”

“Who the hell does this guy think he is?”

“Maybe one day he will prove to be useful though.”

“But there’s no way I can turn his wish into reality.”