The Broken Mirror

Coughing up blood, it felt like he had been dealt a lethal blow the way it hurt. He had no idea how much damage it did to his body, but it felt like she broke everything. His body crumpled up in the crater. ‘I can’t really feel my body… This isn’t good! Hiroshi…’

Saki stood back up to stare down at the shocked Tatsuya. “You never stood a chance against me. The little tricks that you had were just tricks, not real strength like what I have.”

He felt like saying something witty back to her that would just get him hit again, but nothing came to him. It might have been the first time in a while that he lacked a comeback, good or bad. ‘Dammit…this isn’t looking good. I can’t move…’ Tatsuya knew that nothing happened yet. Or at least that was what he convinced himself. He knew nothing of how Takako’s powers functioned other than their guesswork. So he worked under the assumption he would see a change. Which meant for him, he still needed to fight.

Moving his body appeared to be a futile effort. Nothing responded to him. The fact that he couldn’t feel his body didn’t actually scare him. He would have actually needed to put that together to have made that feeling pop up. Saki’s menacing appearance gave him more than he needed for things to think about.

Jumping down into the small crater she made, she stood next to the paralyzed Tatsuya. “After I’m finished killing you, I’ll hunt Hiroshi and kill him as well. Then your little rebellion will be over.” She delivered each word with clear measure intent. A lethal, deadly intent unmistakable for anything.

Death.

Chapter 344 – The Broken Mirror

Saki drew her hand back not even hesitating to make the act. The commitment left Tatsuya a little terrified that this was the same girl he knew. Unlike so many of the others he ran across that looked dead inside from Takako’s control, Saki looked completely aware of her actions. That awareness made it even worse. As though blind innocence somehow made mass murder better.

It was an unsettling side of Saki that he never knew existed. Even during the attack on their base, she focused on people that she knew rather than the murder spree of the rest of the group. Tatsuya never saw such a look from Saki.

Mustering his strength, Tatsuya found that he could move a little bit now, though mostly only his mouth. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

She paused. “That’s rather vague.”

“Right now.”

“I’m going to kill you. That’s pretty simple to understand.”

“Yes…” And he suddenly felt like he was talking to a child. One that really didn’t understand the weight of their actions. “You say that… But you realize what that means?”

“You die. This isn’t complicated. What point are you trying to make?”

He sighed as she still missed it. “What I’m trying-“ Pain suddenly revealed itself to him, which had been missing before. It was still numb and distant, but it sharply stopped him as his intensity rose. He drew himself back a little to keep control. “What I mean is this is murder. That’s what this will make you if you cross this line.”

“Is this supposed to be your effort to plead for your life?”

“I’m trying to stop you from doing something you’re gonna regret!”

“I kill Takako’s enemies, there’s nothing to regret.”

‘I feel like I’m in a loop now. It’s at least stalling her. So there’s that.’ Distracted a little, he turned back to focus on the bigger issue he was hoping to tackle. “You’ll be killing someone, Saki! It’ll make you a murderer.”

“I’m already one. Another death isn’t something that’s going to bother me,” she replied so casually it didn’t even seem like she realized what she said. It was too big of information to drop. So she clearly couldn’t have meant it. It had to be Takako’s doing.

Takako thought that way at least. “You only just joined Takako’s side! You can’t have killed anyone!”

“But I have.”

“We’re not talking about the others with her, just you!”

“Of course. I’m not taking credit for someone else’s work.”

“You haven’t been here long enough to have!”

“While that’s true. I’m not talking about having killed anyone for Takako.”

“What?!” Tatsuya wanted to draw back from Saki, but nothing in his body wanted to move. He didn’t like the direction things were taking. It hit him harder than he thought it would.

“We were fighting for our lives.”

“Are you talking about where you all disappeared to for months?”

“Of course.”

“But it was an accident or something right?”

“I did kill a lot of people by accident, but no I killed a man intentionally.”

“Saki?!”

“He was trying to kill Yuki. Yuki would have just let him live, but I knew he’d just come after us again. So I killed him.”

Tatsuya needed to let it all set in. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing from her. The meaning of the words hit him immediately, it was why he tried to question it. Yet it was the truth. She didn’t seem to be lying to him. ‘This means that before all of this. Before Takako, under no influence. She…killed…a man. She really does understand…’

She lowered herself down towards Tatsuya, her hand still hadn’t left its prepared position to kill him at a moment’s notice. “They figured out the final numbers after all of the fighting, but there’s no way to be completely certain how many of them I killed or Yumi might have. But it’s a very realistic possibility that I’ve killed more than anyone in Takako’s army. What’s one more when I already have killed thousands.”

‘She really is…’ Tatsuya found a little bit of strength in his body to move, but Saki grabbed his ankle with her free hand. She wasn’t letting him escape. ‘Thousands?! What the hell happened to change Saki?!’ He stuttered on his words feeling true fear seeping into his body. “Y-you’re—“

“Evil?” Tatsuya did nothing to respond to her question that finished his incomplete statement. She didn’t smile at him, her face lost the pissed off look. She just looked serious and committed to her action. It was as if it was just normal for her, business to handle. “That’s fine. It is what I am. Someone must stand in the darkness for someone else to be in the light. Now that Takako is here, she has become that person.”

‘Hell…she’s really going to kill me. I’m going to die!’

“Looks like you don’t have any more questions. It’s time for your death. I’ve entertained you more than enough.”

The moment had come. Saki’s arm tensed up once more, this time actually going for the kill strike. Preparation ended. Death approached.

Death.

Tatsuya found himself for some reason thinking about Hiroshi in his last moments. His thoughts rewound back. While he recalled the better times that they had when the world was still normal, it was recent times that came to him.

He recalled the day that Kazuhiro died. The scene with Hiroshi holding onto his body screaming at Yuki to bring him back. It was a time that he thought about regularly whenever he saw Hiroshi. It wasn’t something that he could easily forget.

The days after haunted him with the memory. A memory that he wished to forget on most days. And his only option became deflecting. It was only because of Hiroshi that he had managed the illusion that he overcame the memory.

Day after day from then, the sight of Hiroshi’s expression forced him to do everything. That was the only reason that he had. He was needed by Hiroshi.

‘Why am I remembering this stuff now? Is because I’m still guilt ridden by it all? Because I’ve been using Hiroshi as my only means of dealing with the grief? This isn’t how I imagined my last moments to turn out. Just filled with regret...’

All he saw was regret.

But the scenes continued to play over for him. They didn’t stop as though they wanted him to remember in his vain effort to ignore them. All of the effort came back at the end. Proof that troubles couldn’t be run away from no matter the effort.

Tatsuya kept seeing images of Hiroshi. It was all focused on his friend. The grieving friend that he forced to overcome his standstill by pushing him forward. His friend became so swallowed by it all that he couldn’t function. He did what he needed to continue on. He pushed him.

Progress.

Forward progression was all he could offer him.

‘Hiroshi!’ Snapping his eyes open, he caught Saki already in the motion of throwing her hand at his heart. He already knew their strength difference wouldn’t be enough. She had better skills and power than him.

His body fully responded to his desire. He slid down in the last moments causing her shaped hand to graze his shoulder painfully. Her hand embedded into the earth from the force. Tatsuya snapped his leg free from Saki’s distracted hold and immediately kicked her off of him.

He leapt away from Saki getting to the edge of the crater as she recovered. The blood dripping from her fingers reminded him of what might have happened. His hand clutched his wound. It was shallow and not enough to throw off his arm completely.

Saki looked over at him questioning his suddenly rediscovered strength. “Found the will to live.”

“More like I realized I couldn’t leave someone alone in this world.”

“I’ll be killing him after you, so you can die knowing that he won’t suffer for long.”

“Not the sort of encouragement I’m looking for at the moment.”

“I will kill you.”

Tatsuya wiped the blood away from his mouth. His body complained to him for standing up with his injuries. He couldn’t feel them too much and that was a good thing. Will was the only thing keeping him standing now. “Let’s see if I can avoid that fate.” He leapt over the crater going straight for Saki as his resolve became stronger than before.