The trudge back to my apartment seemed the longest I had to take. In the midst of bartering merchants and their clients, giggling children and gossiping neighbours on the streets, I was finally alone for the first time today. And I hated it.

I hated how long it would take to reach Genkoushi, that every second which passed as I entered my apartment was one too many. When I packed my bag, making sure to bring along my research books, I despised how I’d manipulated everyone. My throat crawled with nausea. But most of all, I loathed myself. Loathed myself for keeping secrets. Loathed myself for wanting to follow the manga's plot, as if Kaede and the others were no more than chess pieces.

On the way to Dr Chiasa’s, I caught glimpses of swordsmen surveying the alleyways; one brown-haired man on a balcony three floors up, his hand clutching a sword; a woman wearing square glasses, looking this way and that as her blue insignia fluttered with her cape; and a girl holding daggers in both hands, glaring at anyone who passed by.

Ahio was already outside the gate when I arrived. He stared at the wispy clouds above, his sky-coloured headband keeping his spiky hair from falling into his frowning brows. A part of me ached to approach, to comfort him and bring him back to his loud cheerful self. But when he turned, the look in his eyes stopped me in my tracks. I had no doubt that if we weren’t on a time sensitive quest, he would beat me up right now. And I wouldn’t stop him.

My shoulders shook, and I swallowed something tight in my throat as I glanced away.

Two sets of footsteps sounded behind me. Daisuke and Tsubasa arrived, Tayo nuzzling the older boy’s neck. Maya came by soon after, followed by Kei with Cho beside him. We nodded in greeting.

Kaede’s family didn’t have a garden, their front yard carpeted with fine sand instead. A three-seater swing stood on one end, swaying empty with the wind. The door opened and the family stepped out. Little Kuri was shaking, as her father gripped her shoulders. His once tan face was pale.

Dr Chiasa hugged the girl, whispering something in her ear before planting a kiss on her forehead. Her husband clasped her hand, untold words passing between their eyes. Breaking the grip, Dr Chiasa strode to the gate, her gaze fixed on us third-grades. A blaze of determination burned in her brown eyes.

‘How was the patrol outside?’ She wrapped a hand around the hilt of the sabre hanging from her belt. Her green scrubs were now replaced by a dark-grey shirt and loose black pants.

‘A swordsman every street,’ said Daisuke.

Dr Chiasa nodded. ‘We’ll have to split up. You two.’ She gestured at Kei and Cho. They jumped to attention. ‘You’re in charge of distracting the guards at the North road. Don’t do anything stupid and make sure no one can trace whatever you do back to us.’

‘Wait.’ Daisuke glanced at Tayo, who was grooming his long ears. ‘I have an idea.’

We made our plan to get out of Heikisato as fool-proof as we could, then split into four groups of two. Dr Chiasa and Ahio took an alley to the left, hoping to blend in with the crowds along the markets on the way. Tsubasa and Daisuke chose the main road which led directly to the HQ, then went further North. A street on the right branched a few metres in, and Kei and Cho took the shorter route. My path was a series of cramped alleyways, and Maya strode with me. The musty smell of mold, gurgling pipes and peeling paint of the apartments around us reminded me of that last day I’d seen Kaede.

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I shook my head. This was no time to get distracted.

Halfway across our route, Maya stole glances at me a few times and I pretended not to notice. It was odd to see her without a notebook in hand, chewing her pencil as she gazed at the clouds. She’d known Kaede for only a few days, yet somehow she was coming with us in this vigilante mission. Had she realized that, being a Minister, her mother might be involved?

Maya cleared her throat and bit her lower lip. ‘Tahro...I don’t think I’d have done any different if I were in your shoes.’ She fiddled with her braid, glancing at the cobblestones beneath. ‘When— when she was kidnapped, I did nothing.’ Her voice cracked.

I drew in a breath, wanting to shake her shoulders and tell her that wasn’t true at all. ‘You’re not a fighter. You shouldn’t blame yourself for it.’ Something suspicious struck my mind. ‘Where was Rina anyway? And the team you were fighting with?’

‘We lost track of Rina— she was the one who told us another team was camping out just within the borders. They ran away before the man jumped in.’ She shook her head and sighed. ‘ I see the set-up. Cho was so brave— we wouldn’t have this knife if not for her. I wish you or Kei were there. You would’ve stopped him.’

Which side of me would’ve won had I been there? The one that would’ve jumped in to save Kaede? Or the side that would’ve snatched the knife and let her get kidnapped, just like in the manga? Or perhaps I would’ve stood back, too afraid to choose either.

‘I don’t know, Maya.’ I kicked a stone off the road, dust flying around my foot. ‘In reality, I did nothing.’

‘Not anymore.’ Maya grabbed my hand, turning me around. She locked her amber eyes onto mine, her round glasses glinting in the sunlight. ‘We aren’t going to wait in the sidelines anymore.’

I nodded. Manga or not, we were getting Kaede back.

We marched the rest of the way in silence, battling against our own deprecating thoughts. As we neared the North road, carts and carriages of all kinds, pulled by donkeys, horses and even a few small ones hauled by people, backed up on the street. Swordsmen kept them at bay, manhandling a few merchants who attempted to push through. Some screamed at each other to move, and others took it up with the swordsmen, begging them to allow them to leave Heikisato to trade.

Maya and I came to a stop between two horse carriages, so that one merchant would think we were the apprentices of the other. My heart raced as I looked at the nearby swordsmen, but none of them spared us a glance. Phew.

Tsubasa and Daisuke stood a few carts ahead of us, and to the right were Ahio and Dr Chiasa, having a mock argument. Cho’s blue dress fluttered further away, next to a horse cart that hid the rest of her. Kei should’ve been on top of one of the apartments, but I couldn’t find him. Perfect.

Tsubasa turned around, scanning the area before giving a nod.

The horses beside him reared up, neighing, their eyes wide with the whites showing. They sprang forward, knocking into the carts in front and spooking the other animals. The merchants screamed. They pulled on the reins, but the animals brought them down, stomping on the road and taking off every which way. An assortment of vegetables, clothes and several boxes of who knows what flew across the area. Shouting, neighing and braying filled the street. As I tensed my body, a blue arrow-head tail swished across the hooves of the horse beside us, setting it off in a gallop.

‘Come on, Maya!’ I grabbed her hand and rushed into the chaos.