Hyakki Yagyou

Chapter Twenty Two: Crimson, Passing

There’s a sound inside of me. tick tock tick tock, it says. Telling me to hurry. The sound inside me that says something will soon be over.

-        Mika Ninagawa, Helter Skelter

January 15th, 10:30 pm

He knew he had to do something. If the two were dead serious about their intentions – and they were – Keita sure as hell was not going to let anyone, not even these two demons, harm his sister. She was caused enough pain already. The lie, or rather secret, he had been keeping from her, was enough. He had come clean with it weeks ago but the pain was still there.

Emi was too important for him. Truth be told, he never showed or told her that ever since they parted eight years ago, but it did not mean that she was a nobody. There were times when he wanted to shake off the family name, ignore the rest of the family (including her) and start a brand new life. There were times when he didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Because of this, they parted too much and for too long.

But, deep inside, he still cared for his little sister. She was still the child that smiled brightly every time he came back home with popsicles or ice cream in her favourite flavours. Today, just like he did as a youngster, he was going to protect her, no matter what. And the perfect person who could see right through his intention would be Abe.

Man, that woman was sharp. And as soon as their eyes met, she had figured it out. It was hard to miss his moving fingers, slowly but surely counting down from five to zero, but still! As long as he knew she was following his unspoken ideas, it was all good. Yes. Even if it meant sacrificing himself for Emi…As long as she lived, he would have no regrets.

When his hand counted down to zero, he jumped quickly. A small pocket knife, which was all he needed. Luckily for him, and for everyone, he always carried that around. Aoyama knew that and ever since the creature’s identity was revealed, he was worried Aoyama would tell them to leave all their weapons aside.

But then again…

He almost chuckled. They were human weapons. Neither of them expected these could do any harm. Frankly, they could not and he too knew that. But, it had to be enough for a diversion. It simply had to! And it did.

Keita was surprised by how successful it was. When he jumped on Aoyama…On Falsehood, he corrected himself, the creature had no idea what was happening. Their eyes widened and before they could react, he had shoved the pocket knife into the neck. At the same time, Abe shot several times from her gun, making Hara’s body dance in the air as if it was carried by strong wind and then finally it hit against the wall and fell down, leaving a red trail.

Falsehood screamed, eyes going completely black and wrapped her hair around his neck. He looked at Abe who was making sure everyone ran away. The last one he saw leaving the house was Emi. She was screaming his name and each hysterical sound she made hurt him like a dagger to the chest but it was for the best. Ryu did not allow her to go back and quietly, Keita thanked him for that.

He could not say it, because there were no sounds that he could possibly make. The thick, black hair was wrapped around his neck so tightly that he could barely breathe. Falsehood threw him back and hurled herself on top of him, her eyes bewildered.

“Why the hell did you do that?!” She screamed, tightening the grip around his neck even more.

His face was slowly becoming blue.

“Why?!” She glared back, making sure Hara had not awoken from the sudden shock. Then, she looked back and said “I could have spared you. But, now you will die.”