Following my battle with Futakuchi-Onna, the Silent Hand had the other Seekers and I go through this healing course they offered at the Tiger Lily Hotel. It involved us going through various yoga-like exercises while occasionally stopping for aromatherapy and tea. They called it “Full Sensory Healing”, and it was driving me insane. Somnia and Archie seemed just as bored as I was, but Yugo and a few other locals were having a blast.
The most interesting part of this experience was receiving my Level Scroll. It’d been ready for a while, but I decided to read it during one of our many tea breaks. Archie had suggested that fighting Futakuchi-Onna would raise my level significantly, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t get my hopes up.
LEVEL INCREASED
35 > 45
UTILIZATION PERCENTAGE: APPROXIMATELY (9% of 500)
HP: 60
STR: 45
STM: 43
A-STR: 40
A-STM: 41
Wasn’t I at 9% Utilization during my fight with the Jikininki King, wasn’t I?
“YES, YOU WERE. SHOULD YOU CAST [REINFORCE] NOW, YOU WILL BE BOOSTED TO 18% UTILIZATION.”
I considered Yugo’s absurdly high expectations of me as Fallen Star’s words played back in my mind. Just yesterday, I was stuck at Level 20. Now, I was on my way to Level 50 with a max Utilization of 18%, meaning I could fight like I was Level 90 for as long as my body would allow. That thought would’ve scared me yesterday. Now? I wasn’t so sure. It made me nervous, no doubt, but it all felt necessary for what I needed to do. In fact, these Levels didn’t feel like enough. I could probably head back to Miyafokuu and make a killing, but compared to powerhouses like Shuten Douji, Yugo, and Futakuchi-Onna I was just a drop in the bucket. I needed to be much more than that if I was going to challenge the Horsemen.
When we finally finished that whole Full Sensory Healing mess we went the hotel’s main restaurant. Much like the rest of the hotel, the dining room was made of wood with blue accents and stone features. We were served by a red-sashed Oni woman wearing a vest-suit that fit a little looser than the other employees’ uniforms. She served us this expensive-looking regional food with “detox water”. It was alright.
Once we finished eating, the conversation shifted to my experience with Hana and Futakuchi-Onna. At first, they just wanted to know what it was like fighting her and how I’d managed to stay alive despite her high level. Yugo was the one who turned the topic over to Hana, though, asking me how I felt about the girl.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel something of a kinship for her.”
“Really now?” Yugo said, leaning forward with an expression that said he’d taken it completely the wrong way.
“Not like that,” I groaned. “It’s about our Rogues. Her Myth and my Curse. We’ve both been victimized by them; forced to watch as our bodies are made to do things we don’t want them to. It’s hard for me to see her as a villain when the two of us are so alike in that regard.”
“If Hana's just a victim," Archie began. "Does that mean we'd be in the wrong for killing her?" He grabbed. "This was easier when she was a villain."
”There was always the possibility this would be the case,” Somnia noted. “Shuten Douji said that Hana came into possession of a Mythical Weapon. If that’s the case, all we’d need to do is break that weapon to defeat Futakuchi-Onna, no?”
“Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple.” Yugo chimed in. He finished his cup of tea, handing it to our waitress who promptly replenished his drink. “Breaking her Mythical Weapon might have the opposite effect; forcing Futakuchu-Onna to take permanent residence in Hana’s mind. Our best bet at a relatively bloodless completion of the mission is convincing Hana to undergo a Contract Termination Ritual, but that'll be much easier said than done, though. Hana isn't anywhere close to Futakuchu-Onna. If those two came to blows...” Yugo trailed off, letting the truth hang in the air.
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The three of us exchanged looks as we came to the same conclusion. We had to kill Futakuchi-Onna, and Okita Hana would likely die in the process. I wasn’t someone who had an aversion to killing, but killing Hana for being like me felt hypocritical. There was no way she enjoyed living the way she did. I watched her struggle to keep me alive!
“Are you sure that the Contract Termination Ritual is impossible for her?” I asked.
“There’s no telling what Hana’s true Level is, Rui,” Yugo answered. “She could be Level 312 like Futakuchi-Onna, or she could be Level 10 and untrained in combat. If she isn’t strong enough to survive the Contract Termination, you’d just be killing her slowly. Our best bet is to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow. It’ll be easier if we make it quick.”
I… had nothing. I wanted to refute him, but unfortunately, he was making sense. If she felt the way about Futakuchi-Onna that I did about Fallen Star and her level was low, she’d just die. If we focused on our job, she’d die quicker. If we left her alone, though, far more people would die. There was no happy ending here, and I knew it. Still, I just couldn’t accept that. I knew I was projecting my feelings onto Hana, but I refused to accept that there was no way for her to come out of this alive.
“I agree with Yugo,” Somnia said. “We really need some sleep. Odds are, we’re gonna be fighting all day tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Archie yawned. “It’s been a long day.”
***
While my room at the Seekers HQ was nice, my room in the Tiger Lily was even nicer. The wall behind me was a hand-painted tree mural while across from me stood a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the moonlit garden at the back of the hotel. It took some squinting, but I managed to see just beyond the wall where my battle with Futakuchi-Onna had been. Other than that, the room had the same luxury wooden architecture as the rest of the hotel.
After a long shower, I found myself in bed staring up at the ceiling thinking only of Okita Hana. I was putting too much thought into this whole situation, but there was no way I couldn’t think about us and our similarities! I’d been forced into having Fallen Star at birth. I was used to him. As much as I hated it, he was part of me like my arms and limbs. Okita Hana, meanwhile, seemed to struggle just to stay upright. She looked so pained when she told me to go away, and she had to fight with all her strength to deflect Futakuchi-Onna’s attacks against me. I’d only experienced that kind of loss of control when Zelos and/or Ares were involved. For Hana, that was how she operated.
“Why haven’t you done that to me? You’ve controlled me before, but not to that degree.”
“IT MATTERS NOT WHETHER I CONTROL YOU OR YOU REMAIN INDEPENDENT. WE DO NOT SHARE A CONTRACT, WE SHARE A LINK. MY IMPULSES ARE YOUR IMPULSES. YOUR DREAMS ARE MY DREAMS. SHOULD I WRESTLE AWAY CONTROL OF YOUR BODY, IT WOULD BE TO ACCOMPLISH A GOAL YOU ARE NOT MENTALLY CAPABLE OF COMPLETING.”
I doubted the legitimacy of that. Futakuchi-Onna noted that Curses had only impulses, yet I was human. My thoughts and dreams were human. If she was correct, it’d be impossible for Fallen Star to share so much with me. That was, assuming she was correct about that tidbit and not just saying that to get under my skin. I was inclined to believe it, though. Those Jikininki didn’t operate on thought, nor did the countless others I’d encountered in my life.
Where did that put Fallen Star? What if we were linked as closely as he claimed? The day I separated from him, what would become of him? Of his dreams? His impulses?
“THAT DAY WILL NOT COME TO PASS. DO NOT WASTE YOUR ENERGY THINKING ABOUT IT.”
“…I’m too tired to go back and forth with you tonight. I’m going to sleep.”
“HMPH.”
It wasn’t long before I’d drifted off to sleep. The serenity of my outside view as well as the soft yoga-like music playing in my room made sure of that. As peaceful as my rest was, though, it unfortunately didn’t last long. The door to my room opened about two hours into my rest, and that same waitress from earlier stepped into my room. Still dreary-eyed, I managed to lift my head enough to watch her close the door gently behind her and make her way to the foot of my bed. I started to wake up now, only to find that where once stood an Oni woman dressed in a loose vest-suit now stood a familiar woman in kabuki makeup in a lavish white and red kimono: Futakuchi-Onna.