Yuu stared silently at the small symbol beneath the table, lilac scales appearing in a mimicry of goosebumps.
He tugged at the human’s arm as he pulled out a palm-sized disk with a small button atop it. He slapped his palm down on it.
***
Yugure wasn’t sure why the strange little symbol sent a thrill of horror down his spine. However, there was a reason he was a captain of the U.F.C, so he didn’t freeze. Instead, he gently pressed the little button in his hands and waited for his exit.
***
Hinode’s eyes snapped open, and he stuck his leg up before the pod’s lid had even begun to open. There was a loud crack and the lid snapped straight off the hinges.
“Get everyone out!” Hinode roared at the shocked men and women.
Aphelion was startled; he’d only ever hear Hinode raise his voice twice in his life and both times had been during dire circumstances. “Sugar, what’s wrong?”
Hinode ignored his brother and instead ran around the room, slamming his hand down on all the emergency exit buttons built into the pods and cursing when only five of them lit up green. He watched in horror when, six seconds later, the lights on the remaining pods turned red and the heart monitors above flatlined.
The green-lit pods opened with a hiss and Yugure, Yuu, Yuu’s human partner, Eyeless, and Smith all pulled themselves out of the pods, their faces set in grim—if confused—lines.
“What’s going on?” Eyeless asked, his one—remaining—eye squinting in suspicion at the humans. “Did they do something?”
“Don’t pick fights,” Hinode snapped. “Not now. None of us can afford this right now—so either give up the squabbles till the trouble is over or pack up and fuck off.”
He didn’t raise his voice, but everyone heard him. Dangerous, low, and full of predatory threat that Hinode could put to use if he so wished it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Hinode, what’s wrong?” Aphelion hissed, alarmed and more than a little worried.
Hinode barked an agitated laugh—literally. The sound from his mouth couldn’t be replicated with human vocal cords. It was strangled, guttural in noise, and sounding vaguely like a fox’s bark. “What’s wrong?” he asked hysterically. “You ask what’s wrong? You fool! What have you done, brother?”
“Veujg, Llcbvf, P vbc’a ecvfgrajcv. P’w cba j afifqjat—”
“Tbe rjlv sbe xliifv atja qfgrbc.” Cqtfilbc’r wbeat rcjqqfv rtea. “Cqtfilbc, sbe qgbwlrfv wf rtf kjr ubcf. Ljnf jii sbeg kbgvr fnfc alii atlr qblca yffc cbatlcu yea ilfr?”
***
In the past, before Aphelion, Hinode had had another sibling; a female kitsune by the name of Nikushi. She’d been the first Investigator to gain the codename of Sugar. She, unlike Hinode, had not earned the name because she had an insatiable sweet tooth.
Vkffais vfragemalnf. Gfragbslcu Jjrfr klat j vlwqifv rwlif jcv mgefi, mjimeijalcu fsfr.
She’d been beautiful, cold, and the best sister Hinode could’ve ever asked for. She’d smile and sneak him snacks when she wasn’t supposed to, she’d throw him into the air and play with him whenever he asked. That’s probably why it hurt so much when she began her descent… when she began to grow into something distinctly not Hinode’s sister.
The thing was, Nikushi was a cold soul, but she gave her love freely to those who she deemed hers. And Hinode was hers. She didn’t like to share.
Aphelion, Yugure, Yuu, and more. As they slowly entered Hinode’s life, Nikushi ended up… drifting. Hinode wasn’t sure what it was, even to this day, but the simple-minded Arcane would call it insanity.
In the end, what it was hadn’t mattered much.
“Aneue, please, come back,” he remembered begging. “We can fix whatever this is!”
He remembered the chilling gleam of silver and the heat as it sank into his chest. Remembered Nikushi’s soft smile as sharp claws tore out his throat. Hinode had awoken a month after that, Yugure at his bedside and Nikushi dead.
“I healed you,” Yugure had said quietly, his voice hoarse and eyes heavy. “All injuries on you should be gone now—even the most fatal ones. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Aneue?” Hinode had asked.
Aphelion had entered the room decisively at that moment and his face turned stony at the mention of Nikushi. “Dead. I killed her.”
At that time, Hinode had raged and screamed and mourned. His sister! His Aneue! Why would you kill her?! Of course, now, he could see it had been for the best. Nikushi had trampled lines no Arcane should cross, committed taboos that would have had the heavens kill lesser Arcane for, and even become a kin-slayer. Almost killing off all of humanity and the Arcane… the world would be better off with her gone.
***
Hinode felt numb. Why? Why was it that, all of a sudden, everyone from his past was converging in the present? Yugure, Nikushi, and the first Unsolved Case in a literal two thousand years since his last one. Hinode couldn’t do this. He couldn’t. Everything was supposed to be fine now, he’d been moving on, he’d been happy, Yuu was in his corner, the pain of losing Yugure had been fading and Aphelion had been getting better.
Someone was crying. A bird was twittering sadly. People were talking. The room was suddenly much darker than it had been three minutes ago. His knees hurt. A calm voice was whispering into his ear—
“—do that for me? Deep breath in, can you feel how I’m doing it?” Japanese. Calm. Old-fashioned. Familiar. Who? “Hinode, silly fox, I need you to open your eyes. You’re having a panic attack.”
“Don’t be preposterous. Arcane don’t get panic attacks like humans.”
“My brother is strong. His mind is not so weak—”
“Shut. Up. The Arcane are not infallible!” Familiar, the strangely calm part of Hinode’s brain insisted.
His ear was pressed uncomfortably against a firm plane, something thud-thud-thudding away dutifully behind it. The plane moved up and down slowly and unconsciously, Hinode timed his breathing to match it.
Gradually, Hinode came back into awareness. He realized three things all at once:
- He was on the floor
- He’d just had what humans called a ‘panic attack’
- His head was resting on a very concerned Yugure’s chest.
Oh. Damn.
A/N
Problems have been resolved! Updates should go back to normal, but please don’t count on it because I’m now entering senior year really soon (Australia doesn’t have middle school. We go straight to high school after primary, but years 7-9 are ‘juniors’ and 10-12 are ‘seniors’) and it’s gonna be… hectic. QAQ
Glad to see you back!
And thanks for this magnificent chapter 😌
Good luck at school and thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
aw shit, the sister sounds dangerous as heck!
thanks for the chapter <3
Oh dear.
Good luck in senior year!
Aww, a crazy sister who comes back from the dead. Looks like his brother has done a lot of bad things behind his back. 😥