Somnia and I, like most nights, fell asleep inside the training hall we practiced in. Lochness was normally there with us, biting us both to wake us up and start the day’s training. While today was no different, instead of biting us to begin fighting she instead led Somnia and me to the door of our training room where Archie and Yugo stood in wait. While Yugo’s face was as calm as ever, Archie’s was the face of a man riddled with anxiety.
“What’s wrong?” Somnia asked.
Lochness slithered to Archie’s side, shrinking herself and sliding up to rest around his neck. “We have a mission in Harrowstead. We’re leaving as soon as you all are freshened up.” Archie said in a dry, hollow tone unlike any Rui’d ever heard out of him.
Somnia and I shared a worried look before turning to Yugo.
“Archie got a concerning call from his parents and he went to the Silent Hand. Apparently, they haven’t been able to see into Harrowstead for a while and everyone they send there doesn’t make it home so we’re going there to check out what the issue is.”
“Do you think it’s the Horsemen?” Somnia asked.
“It could be. Limos’ method of attack is to go to weak cities and mentally manipulate and coerce the population into joining a cult. Pair that with Zelos’ ability to manipulate Rogues and this could be a fairly open-and-shut case of the Horsemen working together to overtake Harrow–”
Somnia cut me off, elbowing me in the rib and shooting me a dirty look.
“What?”
She chinned at Archie, whose hollow expression hadn’t gotten any lighter. Even Yugo looked down on me with thinly veiled disappointment.
Would you rather I lie? This is the real world. You need to be ready for anything.
Even still, I decided to play along. “But I could always be wrong. Maybe someone set an EMP off in Harrowstead at the same time your family happened to fall into financial trouble? No need to assume the worst.”
Archie snorted. “I ruled that possibility out hours ago. Your first one is probably the most accurate.”
“Well,” Yugo said, interrupting me from saying anything further. “We can discuss all of our theories on the way there. Nothing’s gonna happen standing in this doorway, don’t you think?”
With that, we split off to freshen up and meet up at the truck waiting for us at the start of the underground roadway that led directly to Harrowstead. Tired of the robes and hakamas I’d been wearing since Saikou, I changed into my familiar black t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots. Somnia, likely feeling as I had, wore her Galerose Uniform while Yugo wore the black suit combo I’d met him in. Archie wore the exact same outfit as me, interestingly enough. When I’d asked him, he simply said he put on whatever was closest to him in the changing room.
As I took my seat in the bed of the truck beside Somnia, I found myself focused more on Archie than I likely ever had been. His normally jovial expression was now glum and pained. His smile was replaced with a scowl, his laughter replaced by sighs. He slouched, staring at the black truckbed beneath him as he refused to speak to anyone in the truckbed, barely listening to calls from the two Oni preparing to drive us to his home. I’d gotten so used to the loud, extroverted version of Archie that seeing the anxious, scared version in front of me felt… wrong. Like he shouldn’t be like this. It bothered me, and I was surprised by how much it did so.
Since when was I so empathetic? What changed?
He’d been empathetic enough to help Hana out with Futakuchi-Onna, but not empathetic enough to shed tears over her grandmother’s passing. Fallen Star called him out once for having a bigger heart than he thought he did, but it’d been easy to ignore at the time. Now, in the face of his own empathy, he found that difficult to do again. So, he decided not to ignore it. He’d embrace it, doing his best to get Archie back to his old self. It’d be difficult, but Rui had an idea he felt could work.
“You know, in the end, I ended up losing track of how many Wild Men we took down. Which one of us do you think won?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Archie gave Rui an unamused look. “Does that matter right now?”
“It does to me. I can’t help but feel like you were keeping track, because why else would you try to one-up me and interrupt my fight with Shuten Douji?”
“Hey, now!” One of the Oni in the car called. “The boss wasn’t himself. If he was in his right mind, he would’ve killed you all before you could’ve called for help!”
“You aren’t even making sense,” Archie groaned. “Are you interested in how many Wild Men we beat, or who it was that took Shuten Douji down? Because in both cases, the answer is ultimately Somnia.”
“I just want to know what the final score was. I know you were keeping track because you wouldn’t have tried to show me up in the end if you were winning.”
“Everything doesn't have to be a competition. They're missions, not games.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. In that case, I'll keep that in mind for when we go to Harrowstead. I'll take care of the issue myself, and if it's a swarm I'll clear the city out. You all can wait here in the truck while I Level some more.”
That got a reaction out of Archie, the one I'd been probing for. He leaned forward, his dour expression shifting to one of open challenge. “Don’t forget that Harrowstead is my home. If anyone’s gonna save them, it’s gonna be me.”
I matched his expression with a challenging one of my own. “If you think you can outdo me, you’re free to try.”
Archie’s Burnish accent slipped. “I don’t think I can outdo you. I know Harrowstead like the back of my bloody hand! You’ll be finding your footing while I’m clearing the streets! You’d be better off keeping the truck warm!”
“You two argue like my brothers,” Somnia laughed. “It doesn’t matter what the situation is, it always has to be about who did more or who did it better. It doesn’t get tiring?”
“It’s a guy thing,” Yugo noted. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“No, it isn’t. My mother’s the exact same way. She’s where they got it from!”
“And where did she get it from? Her father?”
Somnia paused, visibly strained to come up with a counterargument, failed, narrowed her eyes at Yugo, then sat back in the truck bed. As Yugo sat straighter and reveled in his “victory”, Shuten Douji showed up through a side door dressed in nondescript black robes like the Silent Hand.
“Sorry for the delay. I’ve got Ibaraki handling combat training for the new recruits and I needed to work up a good training regimen with him. You all ready?”
“We were waiting on you,” Archie replied.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Yugo added.
Shuten Douji nodded, then jumped in the truckbed with us. The entire truck shook as he entered and took his seat behind the truck’s back window.
“HE SITS AT THE HEAD OF OUR ‘TABLE’. DOES HE THINK HIMSELF ABOVE US?”
We’re in his truck, riding through his tunnel network. He can sit wherever he wants, Fallen Star.
“WHEN YOU BECOME A GOD, YOU WILL NOT ALLOW THIS DISRESPECT.”
I didn’t feel like arguing right now. Whatever you say, Fallen Star.
As Fallen Star continued to give points as to why I should “reprimand” Shuten Douji, Archie sat a bit straighter, his eyes slowly returning to the familiar look they’d always carried. The Archie I knew was in there, and he wanted to speak.
“Thank you all for doing this for me. I don’t know what we were supposed to be doing, but stopping to come to Harrowstead definitely wasn’t it. Thank you for trying to cheer me up, and thank you for fighting alongside me. It truly means a lot to me.”
We all comforted Archie as the Oni in the truck revved the engine, called for us to sit tight, and then drove off into the dimly lit gray tunnel toward Harrowstead.
“Oh, it was always my plan to hire you all to check out Harrowstead,” Shuten Douji casually admitted. “I was going to ask you in the morning, actually. Well, during the daytime. I just hadn’t known it was so urgent.”
The comforting smile Yugo’d been giving to Archie slowly dropped, shifting to confusion, then realization, then indignation.
“You cheated me! I offered to do this mission for free”
Shuten Douji shrugged. “And no one told you to offer that.” He smiled and bowed. “The Oni appreciate your generosity, and your willingness to serve our people will not be forgotten.”
“So what if it’s forgotten?! I want my money!”
“Don’t we all.”
Yugo took a deep breath, then stared up at the gray ceiling.