"Here we go." Klara and Iko stand at the foot of the Minaminagi spirit realm gate. She holds her hand out to the half-broken seal. "I knew I smelled something off about this place."
"The body in the taxi is about eight hours old." Iko states it without remorse. "What do you think happened?"
Klara takes a puff from her cigarette. "Looks like the work of a spirit."
"A spirit?"
"Hell if I know. I just know they're like yokai but… not, I guess. They used to be top secret until the ICMG figured out how to tame spirits and use them to do their bidding."
"What changed?"
"New blood in the ICMG offered new ideas. The unstoppable march of progress and all that."
"The Lady of Tokyo?"
"The Lady of Tokyo." Untold resentment bubbles behind the way she says that name. She quells it with another puff from her cigarette. "One of her few successful experiments. This, along with second-stage incubation are the most successful."
"...I see." Iko places her hand on Klara's shoulder. "Papa will fix everything. I promise."
"Maybe for you."
"..." Iko looks down at her feet. "Maybe a magic trick will cheer you up?"
"Really? A magic trick?" Klara sighs, letting her grudges sink back to the bottom of her mind. "I just can't say no to you, Kolya."
Klara looks down at her former colleagues. Though they galavant around with their black suits pretending to be peacekeepers, she knows their true faces. Soldiers enslaved by some misguided ideal of justice. Perhaps they truly were heroes of justice but that was once upon a time. All that remains are these caricatures.
"Be reduced to ash," Klara whispers under her breath before flinging the two balls of concentrated black lightning at the I-C's. Dark tesla arcs out from within their cores to rake the ground as they pass.
"Klara! It's us!" Isaka conjures another sword in her off-hand, throwing both her blades to intercept the lightning before it can reach their targets. The sabers cut through the electricity with a satisfying buzz. However, instead of being dispelled, the fragile balance keeping them in the shape of spheres breaks and a thousand bolts of lightning explode outwards.
"Isaka!" Ryukko pushes Isaka behind her and raises her hand. A wall made of interlocking diamonds manifests in front of the pair. Again and again, lightning bolts crash into the rock-solid defense in rapid-fire succession, eroding it more and more with each blast. Then, just as the wall is about to give, the battlefield falls silent.
"Don't you remember us?" Isaka's voice is weak, all the pep and energy taken out of her. "It's me… It's Isaka. Don't you remember?"
"..."
"What happened to you, Klara?"
"..."
"What happened in Tokyo?! What did the Lady do to you?"
"..."
"Talk to me!"
Klara silently raises her hand to her head and tears off the mask she calls a face. The illusion comes undone and her true form comes out to play. Her body is similar to that of the two I-C's, but at the same time completely different. Her cogs and gears are larger, bulkier, less elegant. Her skin is made of cracked, half-rotting wood rather than any kind of beautiful porcelain. To call her a 'monster' would be inaccurate as it implies she even approximates the calculated design of the two I-C's. Compared to that, she's merely an aberration of oak and brass.
"Klara…"
"You never questioned how the Lady of Tokyo learned about first-stage incubation, did you?" She splays her arms out, showing what the ICMG did to her in full. "The answer is bodies. Our bodies. She took a dozen and one before turning them all into corpses. "
「Klara Anatolyovna Volkova」- The First I-C.
"I was the only one who lived."
"Why… why did…?"
"Because I fought and was punished for pursuing what I thought was right!" Klara starts walking towards the I-C's, the lightning fizzling from her fingertips being replaced by a mounting, crackling helix of pink and blue flame. "I fought as hard as I could and what did you all do? Nothing."
"..."
"NOTHING!" Klara raises her hand and unleashes a torrent of pink and blue hellfire, one that Ryukko stymies by adding several more layers to her wall.
"BE REDUCED TO TINDER!" Klara raises her other hand and doubles her firepower. Righteous, unending fury blazes against a desperate last-ditch defense. It's clear which one triumphs over the other. The sheer overwhelming heat melts through and obliterates everything behind it, leaving behind nothing but the yokai.
"Hmp–!" Klara waves her hand, summoning a gust of wind to clear away the smoke. Judging from the significant lack of corpses, they managed to use the cover of the flames to escape. "Shit. I got overexcited."
"Seems like they got away."
"Ever helpful, Iko." Klara sighs. "I didn't expect those two to be involved. This makes things a little more difficult and a lot more personal."
"Let's not lose focus next time. Our target managed to get away as well."
"That was close." Kasai states the obvious.
"Yeah." The Batter wipes the sweat from her brow.
"Too close."
"Yeah, I got that."
Both Kasai and The Batter are hunched over, winded from running so far so quickly. The light from the lanterns outside the alley seeps into the shadowy corner. The pair make sure to stay in the darkness, away from prying eyes.
"What's your status?" The Batter raises her head to look at Kasai. It's only now she realizes she's so pale.
"I'm fine." Kasai tries to stand to prove her point but immediately stumbles and falls to her knees. Little by little, she forces herself to get back onto her feet. "Dammit."
"Let's take a quick break."
"Like I said, I'm fine–"
"No, you're not. Look, if you get back out there looking like that, you're just going to end up getting yourself killed." The Batter raps the tip of her bat against the floor. "Now sit yourself back down."
"But Yuki–"
"Both your sister and mine can wait fifteen minutes."
"..." Kasai grits her teeth like she's about to say something but eventually decides not to and sits down next to The Batter. "Fine."
"What's the deal between you and your sister anyway?" The Batter lies down on the ground. "Last checked, it seemed like you were the one avoiding her."
"We made up."
"Uh-huh…" The Batter lingers in the silence for a moment. "And then?"
"What do you mean 'And then?'"
"I want to hear your side of the story. All I got from Yuki is you're a lousy deadbeat sister who abandoned her after both your parents died."
"Wow." Kasai scoffs. "I mean, I am, but it's complicated, alright? I did something… bad. I accidentally killed our parents. No, not accidentally, I murdered them. In cold blood."
"...Oh." The Batter stares at the ground. "That is pretty bad."
"I still regret what I did but I regret running away even more."
"..."
"What about you? I haven't seen you actually speak a word to Shosuko. Matter of fact, if I remember correctly from the meeting way back when, you were trying to kill her."
"It's… complicated. I didn't realize she was my sister until afterwards."
"Hah." Kasai scoffs. "Some sister you are."
"I did something… bad, alright?"
"It can't be that bad."
The Batter looks at Kasai as if saying 'Really?'
"Fair enough." Kasai raises her hands. "If you don't want to share, I can't force you."
"Nah, it's fine. I can tell you this, though. She's the only family I have left."
"What about your parents? What about the rest of the Kuze Clan?"
"They're blood. That's all." The Batter's face darkens. "I'll never forgive them or the yakuza for what they did."
"Why's that?"
"Because it's in their nature. You can't regret something written into your nature."
"Have you ever given them the chance?"
"Like how you oh-so bravely ran away instead of giving Yuki the chance to forgive you?"
"I did. Eventually."
"Then I will too. Eventually."
"That's…" Kasai sucks in air through her teeth.
"Look." The Batter claps her on the shoulder. "You don't need to worry about the mess that is my personal life. That's my job, alright?"
"Fair enough."
"Still, I'm glad you asked."
Kasai takes a deep breath. "Alright, I think I'm ready to go."
"You sure?"
"What? You concerned about me?" There's the tiniest of smirks on Kasai's face.
"Nope, just worried you'd drag me down," The Batter fires back.
"Ha. We'll see about that." Kasai finally manages to get back on her feet. She doesn't even sway this time. "Let's get going."
"Going where exactly?" The Batter tilts her head.
"Hell." Kasai points her sword's pommel at a sign hanging above the front door of a towering bathhouse. Printed on the sign is a single word. 'Hell.' "Apparently."