Choices & Chains

A Zombified Yokohama

That evening, Kath understood what Dazai meant by the city would be razed to the ground.

One would think reality suddenly got swapped with one of those zombie calamity movies, and it was, to a certain degree.

It didn't help her temper at all that Kunikida was affected as well and had to be tied up in the office so he wouldn't harm himself or anyone else with only Dazai by his side.

With no knowledge of how it started and how to stop it, the other Agency members were left with no choice but to evacuate unaffected civilians into shelters before the situation could even worsen.

Could it even get worse than this?

Kath doubted as she had her birds search for survivors, from there, Kenji and the rest took care of transporting them.

Suddenly her extended sense caught sight of something else, blonde hair, a black suit, and a gun weapon... Higuchi was dealing with a bunch of those zombified individuals.

Not only Higuchi, despite them not running into any of the Detective Agency, Port Mafia was also engaged in the rescue efforts.

It was then that Dazai's words hit her again. " Despite what it seems, I still care for this town as much as any of you does."

They must be the same too.

" Tanizaki-kun, Kenji-kun! When you're done there pull back and take refuge as well! It seems the situation is getting tense."

" What about you?" Tanizaki's voice came from her comm.

" I've got something to confirm first. I will be back soon." She then shut her comm off before running in the direction in which she had spotted Higuchi. Wherever that woman was, Akutagawa was sure to be nearby.

However, the last thing Kath expected was to find Higuchi cornered. " Duck down!"

Higuchi did. Using a thread, she manipulated a fox to plushie to hop at the huddle around the woman

It breathed out a ball of fire that forced them to back.

" You alright?"

" Why are you here? Why are you helping?"

" I'm here for Ryuu. And I'm helping because that's my job as a detective," she told her, her fox still keeping the infected people at bay using its fire. Higuchi was rather taken aback by what the small stuffed animal could do.

" It will run out of gasoline soon! Get up, we need to get away!" She pulled the other woman to her feet and ushered her to a side alley while the fox kept covering their back using its fire.

" How do you do that?" Higuchi asked, panting from the effort to keep her speed.

" The fire?" Kath tugged at her fire, retrieving back the doll that landed in her arms. " It has a built-in mechanism that allows it to breathe flames."

" Not your ability?"

" Nope, the most I can do with my ability is..." They rounded a corner, only to be met with more zombies at its end. The footsteps of the ones that were chasing after them could be heard not far behind.

" Shoot! Grab on!" She flung her hand up, launching her wires at a nearby light pole, and, as she retracted them, they were both pulled off the ground and towards the nearest rooftop they could reach.

Kath kneeled, cradling a bloodied and disfigured hand in her other one, grunting in pain. The weight of two people and the quick draw of the strings curved their marks on her hands, breaking her middle and index fingers altogether.