Tsukiko stood alone in one of Tokyo's many alleys, resting against an empty wall, with her head down. It hadn't been an hour since her fight at the arcade, but it was already a hazy memory in her mind.
An old vending machine, with warm white lights and whose corners were starting to strip their paint, hummed quietly at her side. The sky was still lit but the world below had gone dark, night's arrival signaled by the backlit sign above her powering on with a click and a hum.
Her crimson slate phone buzzed in her hands as she looked down at it, a notification signaling a new message from Shizuka.
"They're talking about you all over the net right now, what'd you do?"
"Somebody tried to pick a fight and I put him down." Tsukiko replied. "That's it."
There was a short delay between messages before Shizuka sent a link to a video online. Tsuki opened it and found a recording of the confrontation, taken from behind the arcade's glass door. Watching it back felt surreal, as the adrenaline of throwing a punch always numbed her to the world around her.
"People record my fights all the time, what's the big deal?" Tsukiko asked.
"You knocked him on his ass in a single punch." Shizuka explained. "Of course something like that's gonna blow up online."
"Is it really that bad?" Tsukiko grew a bit concerned.
Shizuka took a few minutes to reply and Tsuki got deeply worried that she'd done something gravely wrong. She watched the video over again, wincing a bit as she watched the young man tumble to the ground cold, his body going limp as she hit him.
"It's self defense. Gotta do what you gotta do." Shizuka gave her a nice non-answer.
"Any advice?" Tsuki asked. "Anything I should've done instead?"
"Ten years ago, I woulda told you to kick him while he was down to teach him a lesson." Shizuka replied.
"No way." Tsuki countered. "He didn't deserve anything like that."
"Following in my footsteps." Shizuka added an ironic smiling emoji.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tsuki typed quickly.
Shizuka changed the subject. "You been checking Tokyo Knights lately?"
"I thought I told you I don't go on those kinds of sites anymore." Tsuki scoffed.
"You're a shitty liar, even in text." Shizuka's message cut deep.
"It's better to avoid all the noise, or else you're just gonna let it get to your head." Tsukiko's answer was well rehearsed.
Shizuka countered skillfully. "So that interview Lily told me about isn't noise?"
"That was different." Tsukiko typed furiously. "I did it for her sake."
"Whatever you say." Shizuka mocked. "Your fight blew up online so expect more attention."
"Figures."
"That's the price of being famous." Shizuka sounded smug even in text.
"Maybe it's your turn in the spotlight for once, ya damn shut-in." Tsuki mocked her.
Shizuka's reply almost preempted her. "You're the one always making a scene, not me."
"Right."
"Take care of yourself, okay? I love you." Shizuka finished her message with a bright red heart.
"Thanks."
Tsuki put her phone back into her jacket pocket and kept to the wall, leaning back and staring out at the other wall across from her. Every idle moment felt like a moment wasted, but as much as it hurt her, she couldn't muster the strength to keep walking. Her body felt more tired than usual, and her mind was a haze of white noise.
She took a step forward to get back on her patrol and try to clear her mind, but stopped when the drinks in the vending machine caught her eye. Tsuki turned and browsed the selection before putting a coin in and picking one, listening to the machine whir before the aluminum can fell to the door below.
Reaching down to grab her drink, Tsukiko heard footsteps rapidly approaching to her side, and she was just able to turn and catch a glimpse of someone in a hoodie rushing toward her. As he lunged forward, she kicked him in the stomach, staggering him. His face was completely obscured, a black fabric mask covering his mouth and a hat casting his eyes in shadow.
As he regained his footing, Tsukiko's eye noticed something in his grasp, its metallic surface sparkling in the dim light. He clutched a switchblade in his right hand, holding it so tightly that his hand went white. His body rose and fell with each staggered, heaving breath he took.
Before she could open her mouth to speak, the man neared, sloppily forcing the blade at her abdomen. Tsuki backed away, saving herself but putting her back against the vending machine. Her attacker jabbed the blade forward again, and she could only dodge by dropping to the side, falling to the ground to evade him. Tsukiko dragged herself away, kicking her opponent's hand as he swung for her, the knife never slipping from his grasp.
"Get away from me!" Tsukiko shouted as she pulled herself back up.
The man swung wildly at her as all she could do was back away as quickly as she could, the blade whistling at it flew just centimeters away from her over and over. As she hit the opposite end of the alley, the man's knife finally slashed at her jacket. The feeling of the blade's edge pressing against her made her recoil, yet it merely skimmed over the fabric.
Just as the man raised the blade once more, Tsuki heard a hissing fly past her, then a deafening blast, accompanied by a blinding flash of white light. Her vision was reduced to a bright, burnt-in white and a few gray silhouettes, one of which being that of her attacker backing away. With no other options, Tsuki wound up and kicked her attacker below the belt as hard as she could.
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The man in the hoodie was doubled over in pain, but Tsukiko advanced blindly, kicking him again. When her vision finally began to clear, she reached out and grabbed his arm, twisting. He let out a yelp, but the knife wouldn't slip from his grasp, his free arm striking her wherever it could reach. Tsuki quickly overpowered him, pushing him to the ground and taking complete control.
"Don't make me break it!" Tsukiko hissed as she forced the man's arm to contort in an unnatural way. "Let go!"
Her attacker didn't reply, only grunting and groaning as he tried to wrestle back the blade. With his arm pinned, Tsuki used her free fist to start hitting him in the face but his grip stayed tight. She hit him again and again, until he finally went limp beneath her.
As Tsuki got back up, her opponent was left lying on the concrete completely blacked out. Unlike the teens she'd dealt with earlier, this man wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. She cursed herself under her breath for losing control again.
Tsuki reached for the knife in the man's now loose fingers and found that she still couldn't remove it. As she tried to pull the knife out of his hand, she only ended up lifting his arm off the ground. Upon closer inspection, a thick, plastic substance was embedded between the blade and his hand.
"What the hell?" Tsuki tried picking at the plastic on his hand.
"Are you alright?" A familiar voice to her side startled her.
Tsukiko turned quickly and ended up spotting something jarringly out of place. "Merlin?"
"Tsukiko. Are you okay?" Merlin repeated, more urgently.
"Y-yeah, I think so." Tsuki looked down, inspecting her jacket for anything red where it wasn't supposed to be. "...was that you?"
"Yes." Merlin looked down at the man on the ground. "I thought you could use the help."
Merlin was even more bewildering up close. From a distance, Tsukiko hadn't been able to gauge her size, but she realized just how small the girl really was. Despite that, Merlin seemed to carry herself with confidence and an upright, proud posture. A small domino mask was enough to completely obscure whoever Merlin might be. Her cape wandered a bit in the cool dusk winds and the feather on her cap fluttered, the light catching its iridescence.
"...hey."
Merlin approached the vending machine and kneeled down to grab the drink still inside. "What is it?"
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about Themis, would you?" Tsuki asked. "You've been dealing with them too."
"I have." The drink let out a hiss as Merlin opened it, then took a sip.
"Anything." Tsuki panted, still trying to catch her breath. "I'm at the end of my rope."
"Nope. I don't know anything." Merlin admitted. "No one does."
"Seriously?" Tsuki groaned.
Merlin took another sip. "If anybody knew anything, the Knights would've stomped 'em out a while ago, right?"
"Yeah." Tsuki started pacing. "...Goddamnit. Goddamnit."
"What?"
"It's all just a big waste of time!" Tsukiko cried out. "Goddamnit."
"It's--" Merlin tried to talk, then stopped herself.
"...he's spent all this time fucking with me and I haven't made a single step." Tsukiko lowered her head. "I nearly got killed by this jackass and I'm not any closer to finding that piece of shit."
"Who're you talking about?" Merlin watched the Knight pace back and forth.
"Masahiro!" Tsuki shouted as if it was obvious. "The bastard who runs Themis."
"...don't let him get under your skin." Merlin advised.
"He's already under my skin! What am I supposed to do about that?" Tsuki hissed. "He threatened my girlfriend, my family. I'm fucking angry. I'm mad as hell and there's nothing I can do about it."
"...you're just giving him what he wants..." Merlin's voice trailed off, thinking to herself.
"I know I am, and you'd be angry too if you were dealing with him. I have to stay strong for the folks around me, but I can't make any progress no matter what I do. You can't expect me to stay calm when he's hurting the people I love." Tsukiko balled her hand into a fist. "And when that piece of shit finally shows himself, he'll sucker punch you and run off. Not even the cops are willing to stop him."
"Huh? The cops?" Merlin repeated.
"They let him off." Tsukiko wandered back to the vending machine, leaning on the wall next to it again. "I caught Masahiro a while back. It should've been the end of it, but they let him go and everything went to shit after that."
"So you haven't seen him since?" Merlin asked.
"I did. I saw him once. He came to me asking for help and I trusted him, took him at his word. Then he nearly killed me." Tsuki sighed. "If Shizuka hadn't been there, I wouldn't be standing here. Hell, I'm barely standing right now. I feel so goddamn stupid. I feel useless."
"You're not useless."
"I am." Tsuki sighed. "What good's a Knight if they can't protect? What good am I if everything around me's falling apart all the time?"
"But you give everyone hope--"
"Yeah! Cuz they expect me to solve everything myself! All anyone ever sees is The Third Knight Himura picking a fight with a new street gang." Tsuki raised her voice, then realized what she'd done and spoke quietly once more. "No one knows about the work we put in, the patrols, the investigations, none of it. Everything was so much easier when all I had to do was punch the right guy. Times like this, I kinda miss Morgan..."
"You're not alone, though." Merlin tried to comfort her.
"Might as well be." Tsuki hid her face under her hat's bill. "The other Knights've got their own lives to worry about. Sylvie's gone, god knows where she is right now, and every time anyone says they'll help, they vanish. It's all a bunch of empty promises."
"...what if I helped?" Merlin offered.
"Sorry, I'm kinda overwhelming you, huh?" Tsuki blinked and wiped her eyes.
Merlin approached. "Are you giving up?"
"...no, never." Tsuki shook her head. "I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind but it's not like I can just stop. It's what I know, it's who I am."
"Why does it cross your mind then?" Merlin pressed.
Tsuki looked at her. "...I guess it's cuz I'm worried I'm doing more harm than good."
Merlin cocked her head. "You said yourself you do more work than people realize."
"...things haven't been going my way lately and somebody important told me I wasn't helping anymore and I guess I'm worried he's right." Tsuki sighed. "I just met you and I'm telling you all this."
"It's our secret." Merlin lowered her head. "That's not a promise, it's the truth."
Tsuki smiled. "You've got a good head on your shoulders. I'll say the whole Merlin thing worries me, but if you're like me, there's no way I'm stopping you."
Merlin shook her head. "Nope."
"...but I'll keep an eye on you anyway." Tsuki said.
The Knight stopped, looking at the unconscious man lying on the floor in the middle of the alley. Interrogating him was out of the question, since the knife in his hand made it so that any false move could lead to another attack, leaving her with another dead end. She looked at Merlin for a moment, then back to the man.
"Guess Shizuka's right about some things..." Tsukiko reached into her jacket and pulled out her phone.
"What're you doing?" Merlin asked.
"Taking a picture." Tsuki replied.
Carefully, the Knight maneuvered her phone until the man's entire body was in frame, the knife clearly visible. She raised her free hand, inserting her jacket's sleeve and glove into the shot before she finally took the picture. Her eyes scanned the image until she was satisfied with the result.
"And?"
"It's proof." Tsuki paused. "...evidence."
"...of course." Merlin nodded.
Without another word, Tsukiko opened the browser on her phone and checked into Tokyo Knights General and quickly posted the image with no text in a new thread.