The next bomb was on a house that bordered a large section of pure trash. The house was made of sheet metal and had a thatched roof, something not completely unheard of in the Meeks, but rare. Inside the building was a fucking fortune of Sachi powder, fire invested. I took what I could, replacing the uninvested Sachi powder in the bag Hinote gave me. I ran out to take the others’ bags, but the bomb was already dead, and we moved on.

We caught no trouble for the next three bombs, and Suzume disarmed each one with ease. The sixth Sachibomb was right in the center of the Meek, inside of Alfrendil’s bell tower. The area was heavily guarded, and we acted like we were on patrol, passing by the building twice.

“Two captains inside,” I said. “Captains wear black versions of our outfits.”

“I know how they dress,” Hinote said with a bite to his tone.

“Just making sure. They’re usually equipped with Sachi gems and know how to use them,” I said. “How do we get in?” I looked for a moment at Suzume, though not so long as to look like I was breaking formation.

“I have no idea,” Suzume said. “Look, I can do Sachitronics, but this is your part, Nin.”

“My part?”

“You’re the Chudo,” Shun said.

“And you good at it,” Hinote said.

“I’ll go with you,” Shun said.

“Fine. Hinote, you back me up. Suzume, you come in behind Hinote and get to the bomb.”

“Got it. Any of you see how I did it?” Suzume asked. We passed by another patrol of four as we rounded the circle once again. Many jagged, black metal buildings surrounded the road that looped around the bell tower.

“Did what? We’d better get in on this next loop around, or they might suspect something’s up,” I said.

“The bomb. Did you see how I got the heart out?”

“No, I just leave that to you,” Hinote said.

“Yeah, I’m not sure,” Shun said.

“Well, like I said, one of these bombs will take out the whole Meek. This is the last one, and it seems we might actually run into some difficulty getting to it,” Suzume said. “If … if something happens, I want to make sure you guys can get it done.”

“I saw you do it,” I said. “Cut off the Sachi drip to the ignition through the blue tube first, then disconnect green and red charge wires to the heart.”

Shun said, “Nin, that’s impossible. I was with you each time; you couldn’t have seen it from where you were standing; you weren’t facing—”

“She … she’s right, Shun. That’s exactly how,” Suzume said. “Well, you all heard that, right?”

“What?” Shun said, unbelieving. “Nin, that’s impossible; the plate was facing you. You could not have seen inside.” She seemed … angry. Why was she angry? Why then, of all times?

“I think all that matters is she knows. Cut the blue tube. Any knife will do. Then, and only then, cut the green and red wires. I know you all saw where the door is on the bomb. Open it with a knife. Here we are, come on.”

We turned on the spot toward the opening of the bell tower, a doorway with no door and a stone stair leading up to two figures in black suits.

“Ready?” I said.

I heard a grunt of affirmation from Shun. It felt good to have her next to me. As we walked up, I sneaked a bump of the fire-invested Sachi. It burned like chili powder, filling my entire skull. Fire was always the worst, but the effects were worth it. I felt alive. I let the Sachiknives out of my suit’s forearms, and they slid between my Andalaf suit and Sachisuit into my hands. I quickened my pace as we stepped through the doorway, my heart raging with the fire, my eyelids retreating into my skull.

“Hey! Who’s your captain? Where—”

I didn’t hesitate. The captain, who wasn’t speaking, tapped a Sachi gem, and I could see the ice tendrils starting to form. My anger boiled, and I jumped at him, up four steps, ducking under the deathly blow of an ice spike. I sliced up with both blades, opening the stomachs of the two captains in a vertical line. They dropped, and their guts slid down the steps. I laughed, exhilarated. My vision was a red haze. I turned to face the others and saw that Shun and Hinote were bent over a mess of blue hair spread over a red uniform. A red hat lay outside of the bell tower on the ground.

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My exhilaration channeled into terror, and I jumped down the steps. The ice spike I dodged was lodged in Suzume’s chest. She breathed in loud, terrible gasps. She didn't say anything but looked at me with her mouth in an "o" shape. Then she went limp.

Hinote roared and rushed up the steps.

“Hinote, wait!” Shun yelled, but it was no use. There was nothing for it. I ran up after him. I liked Suzume. And the fire returned as a thick rage, nearly blurring my vision with a sense of rightness I can hardly put into words. All I can say is that any action I committed at that point—under the influence of the fire Sachi powder and the death of my crewmate and my … friend—would be justified.

A voice within said I must maintain some sense of lucidity: blue, then green and red, it said. I tried to hold onto this, though it kept attempting to escape my consciousness. I threw my anger at it as well, which helped me remember.

Fuck Andalaf. Fuck Morfran. Fuck the Sachi.

Hinote was still yelling. I didn’t remember seeing him pick up the endorphingun from the captain, but he was firing it, an automatic, at the top of the steps. He took fire, and I took the steps three at a time. There were two landings between us. As I set foot on the second landing, preparing to bound up the last set of stairs, I chanced a quick glance behind me and saw Shun was tailing me.

“Go!” she yelled up to me.

Taking comfort in her competent presence behind me, I ran faster up this set. Just as I approached Hinote, another captain kicked him down the steps toward me.

I caught him and he breathed in strained, ragged breaths. “Get up there, Chudo-girl … they waitin’. I need … a minute,” he said.

I looked to Shun, who nodded. I leaned Hinote against the wall bordering the stairs, ran up to the captain, and kicked him in the chest.

He smirked, tapping a red gem. Fire.

“Get back and stay back, Shun!” I shouted, going straight through the plume that came at me. The fucker didn’t know the veins of both my Sachiarmor and my body carried fire, and I was resistant to it. Though this would make the already short life of a fire-invested Sachi snort burn up quicker, I wouldn’t be hurt by the fire.

I took my burning hat off as I slit his throat, his eyes wide with surprise at his failed attempt at burning up nothing more than the red Andalaf uniform. I didn’t have time to check on Shun. I took fire and jumped, rolling along the floor. It was a wide, circular chamber with high ceilings and a giant bell in the middle. I was surprised none of the bullets had made the thing ring yet.

I threw my Sachiknife into a captain’s leg, then rolled away behind the bell as the other one fired. Two left. Shun came up the stairs, and they fired at her. I watched her duck back down, and I rolled out from my cover to the right to draw the captain’s attention. He fell for it, firing at me, and Shun popped up, running fast across the floor, jumping and kicking the man in his face.

“It’s over here, Nin!” Shun called, disarming the man and burying her fist in his nose. I circled the giant bronze bell, and the bomb was stuck to the other side. I used my knife to pop open the little compartment I’d seen Suzume open earlier. A ringing sounded in my ears. My vision went red, but not like the fire Sachi, this was different … like …

Before.

I went down to a knee.

“Nin!” Shun cried, rushing over to me. “Nin! What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Shun … Asahi … Morfran,” I muttered to myself, pressing fingers into my eyes. “Morfran … killed my son, tried to kill me, threw me … into the Sachi.”

The ringing stopped, and I shook my head. “Um … nothing, Shun. Fine.”

Hinote was next to Shun now, hat off, his expression confused.

“Blue,” I said, squinting, cutting the blue tube with my Sachiknife. A bit of yellow liquid dripped out onto the wires within. “Then green and red.” I cut the wires connecting to the red heart and pulled it out. I smiled, holding the heart and showing it to them, but they weren’t looking at me. I followed their gaze to the quickened yellow blinking of the Sachibomb. I had activated it.

A window across the room opened, and a black tube with a lens on the end of it stuck through. I heard a very nasally voice filled with feigned exuberance start speaking. A light flashed on me, and I shaded my eyes with a hand.

“As you can see, folks … the Sun-Seekers will stop at nothing to try and destroy the Meeks. We don’t know why, but this woman, Ningyo, an ex-Chudo soldier, has been caught in the act. A large, stolen Andalaf Sachibomb, big enough to destroy the entirety of Meek Alfrendil. Our team has to get out of here for our own safety, but you can rest assured that Andalaf is on the scene and is evacuating as many residents as possible.”

It was the same cameraman from before, in his endorphincopter which hovered just outside the window. It buzzed away.

“Nin, come on. We have to go,” Shun said.

A board from the rafters above the bell fell down, trailing sparks in its wake. When did the room catch fire? I wondered dumbly.

“I … I did it, though. Blue tube, then green and red wire. I know I did it,” I said.

“Maybe you did. Maybe you had it wrong,” Hinote said. “Maybe … Andalaf is fuckin’ with us to really seal the deal. My credits are on the last one. But we need to get the fuck outta here. Now. Come on!” He grabbed my arm, dragging me for a moment against the burning floor, but then I came back to myself.

We jumped over Suzume’s corpse as we exited the bell tower, her dead eyes staring up through blue hair in accusation.