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But killing Kufugaki didn't make me feel any better. I found some near the first rows of plum trees, but soon tired of lopping off heads. Slipping back into Cleanser mode, trying to pick up where I'd left off five days ago, now seemed as strange as trying to wriggle into a coat that no longer fit. Equally ill-fitting was the new mantle Satoshi had cast over me.
Your new leader: Renata Darkfell!
Loner to leader in less than a week? Man, I'd need more than one set of hands and feet to count all the ways that could go pear-shaped!
Of course, the refugees in the orchard applauded my kills, which made it safer for them to pick their evening meals. Attacking the shambling forms from the hoverboard made my efforts feel like cheating, however.
More than cheating—it felt like a betrayal. Death wasn't the fate Jo wanted for Kufugaki and now that I knew where they'd really come from, it wasn't the fate I believed they deserved.
Despite the gnawing ache in my belly, I declined all offers of fresh fruit from the grateful families. The fertilizer in the Repliterrium had made me wary of all produce grown in the holodome.
Leaving them to their feast, I soared over an expanse of apple and pear trees and hatcheries.
A heap of rubble was all that remained of the buildings near the Northwestern Paralaunch. Its opening, melted and misshapen by a barrage of laser cannon blasts, now looked out upon a fog-bound expanse, a murky dankness whose gloomy color matched my mood perfectly. As I turned away, unsure of where to go next, I heard a loud whooshing overhead. I looked up, just in time to see the holodome’s highest ceiling panels lift off, then fall back, creating an updraft that pulled the thickest smoke away. I watched the plumes curl upward, until the glow of imitation moonlight replaced true twilight and small lights stuttered to life in the broken windows of nearby, surviving buildings.
In the distance, the Shinu had set up camp outside Mazawa's house, their fuyu-kyu ringing it like a string of glowing beads. Camp meant food, fire, water. I couldn’t remember when I'd last had a drink and my throat ached from breathing so much smoke. But I wasn't ready to return to camp.
Not yet.
I kept to the holodome's outmost arc, flying blind, guided by only the fake moon's bluish haze, until the crowns of still-standing trees loomed beneath me. There, in the arboretum, I hovered, listening to the thunder as it rolled across New Edo bay, the muted roar of the surf and steady rush of rain.
Soon, fighter pods appeared. Two squadrons, three, then more, each driving a pack of Kufugaki out of the holodome into a hail of fireballs from the warships outside. Though each blast made me cringe—Jo wanted to quarantine them, heal them—we had so few phials, so little of the Idoron left! Unless Satoshi could decipher those notes, the Idoron, like Jo, was lost to us forever.
Lights flared again, throwing the Torii's shadow across the darkened courtyard and heralding the fighter pods' return. They'd brought help, too. Behind them, freight-shifters laden with supplies, Medi-Vac units, and enclosed hovercraft streamed through the blasted shell of Decon Central. The larger crafts soared aloft to guide the caravan, their powerful searchlights sweeping over deserted buildings and streets. As they entered the courtyard, groups from the Saisei Detention and Visitor complexes rushed out to meet them, all waving and shouting excitedly.
When a contingent of fighter pods and zephyr-chases approached the caravan from the Shinu camp, I flew off, preferring to watch the proceedings in private from the flat rooftop of a cinderblock building. Except for a bowed wall and a few heaps of smoking rubble, the building appeared to have survived the day's assault relatively unscathed and was high enough to deter any unwanted visitors.
The smoke here, which wasn't nearly as thick as it had been before, along with the building's proximity to another site, afforded me a good view—though one much closer than I would’ve liked—of the Spire Lab's still-smoldering ruins. I didn’t know how many Seismi-Shells the guys planted to affect a mini-quake or how many more in the storeroom had detonated, but now, all that remained of New Edo's tallest building was an enormous pit filled with twisted metal and heaps of glowering embers. Pulsating like the heart of an enormous beast that refused to die, the blood-red hunks sizzled and spat when struck by the rain that sifted down through the holodome's open ceiling.
I slid off the hoverboard and strode to the roof edge. Rain? It'd take a tsunami to wash Mazawa's taint clean. Even now, I could still feel his presence, a lingering menace that despite everything, refused to relinquish its hold. Maybe Tetsuo was right and there were such things as ghosts but entertaining even the thought of living with Mazawa's was as repugnant as the smoke wraiths that assailed my nose. But as New Edo's new leader, I'd be expected to live in Mazawa's holodome, sit at his table, even move into his house. A barn, a shack atop Sawagi, hell, even Jo's old hostel with a frozen Kufugaki in the basement was a far more agreeable alternative. I batted the smoke away with my hand. No, I decided, the holodome wasn't my home and it never would be.
Then, a thought occurred to me. Why not let Satoshi lead New Edo? With his new friends as advisors and Tetsuo to lend counsel, he'd make a wonderful Doctor! Older, more educated, Satoshi was a much better fit for the position, and if New Edo enjoyed a steady influx of females over the next few years, he was bound to fine a good woman. Someone crazy-smart but not batcrap crazy. Someone patient and kind and trustworthy. Someone who'd laugh at his stupid jokes.
Behind me, one of the rubble heaps sighed. Sparks crackled as its debris shifted and tumbled. Guess the fire wasn't out after all. If I didn't want to end up on a pyre, I needed to head back to camp.
Imagining Satoshi's reaction to my decision, along with my counterarguments (to be honest, I really wasn't anticipating that many), I turned to the hovercraft.
The naginata slipped from my fingers. I left it where it had fallen, unable to move, unable to breathe.
Standing amidst one of those rubble piles, hairless and nearly naked, skin blackened where it wasn’t covered in blisters—
"D-D-Dad?"
"Renata," he said, his voice as dry as powdered bone.
I ran to him. "I thought you were dead. There was no way, no way..."
He kissed the top of my head, pulled me close, and wordless, we clung together, oblivious to the rain, smoke, flames, or fighter pods whizzing past. When I looked up at him again, the last patches of stubborn eschar on his face split, then fell away, revealing pale, perfectly smooth skin.
"What did I miss?"
"We won. Mazawa's Kufugaki ate him."
"Not much of a meal."
When we stopped laughing, he said, "What of Satoshi and Tetsuo?"
"Both fine, except Satoshi thinks I should be New Edo's new boss. I was just going to tell him that he could have the job."
"Why, Renata?" he asked, his voice now regaining it former mellowness.
"Not interested." I shrugged. "Overthrowing Mazawa was enough. Besides, I've always been a better freelancer."
"Now that Mazawa's dead, I doubt there'll be much work for Cleansers."
Eventually, there wouldn't and maybe that was a good thing. "What about you, do you want the position? You have to admit, 'Doctor Yomichi' has a nice ring to it."
"I like the sound of 'Dad' much better." He pinched my cheek.
"Well, we should get you back to camp. Let's go...Dad."
Arms linked, we strolled to the hoverboard together. "Looks like we're going to have our hands full with them." He nodded at the Kufugaki who having dodged the firing squad outside, were slinking back into the courtyard.
After alerting the people below to the potential attack, I collected my naginata. "Too bad you blew up all the NX-7."
"It's easy enough to make. So is the Idoron, once you get the hang of it. I could teach you." He slung his leg across the craft's long seat. "I'll need an assistant and you're already familiar with the forest."
"You want me to go back to Aokigahara with you?"
"The Idoron can't be simulated, Renata. Besides, I like that lab."
"Yes, I'm sure Han must be missing you terribly."
He laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Hop on!"
"Uh, Dad, do you really think you should be piloting in your...condition?"
He looked down, flexed his fingers a few times, and then looked up at me. "Right as rain. After lying around so long, it's the least I can do." He patted the seat. When I eased in behind him, he asked, "So, was that a 'yes' to Aoki?"
Nodding, I wrapped my arms about him. As we drifted away, soaring high into the holodome, I thought of everything that had happened since I received that summons a mere five days ago. Though even then I knew, if ever I looked back, this day would forever stand like a monument, the marker that delineated my life's before and after.
Before today, I was Death's daughter. Death was my sole purpose, my closest companion and ally. Death raised me, fed me—death defined me. Slashing through days and years, blade in hand, blind to all but the foe before me, alternative possibilities a luxury I could neither attain or afford, I thought nothing of fate and little of destiny.
Then I met a man who couldn't die.
A man who changed everything.