Lunation

Mia had showed the picture she received from Nuiko's tablet to the coroner, and as she realized that their hearts were gone, she was sitting across from Kirihara in the latter's hotel room. Serena had retrieved Nuiko's bag with the now normal-sized painting, and standing off to the side.

As Mia relayed that they had died fighting a host, she thought of how she would track down their killer: a train of thought derailed by the reaction Kirihara had as she realized what Mia was saying. She laughed in a pitch that reminded Mia of a chihuahua her aunt had once owned, and this caused Mia to remember another memory, that of the stray cat she had wanted to adopt before finding it dead on the road, along with Jeanne & Nuiko's corpses whose image misted over her mind. She forced herself to stand and take some deep breaths, as Kirihara continued to grin up to her and say that she should have expected Jeanne to die earlier, given Jeanne's loss of experience due to her comas.

All further taunting triggered nothing in Mia: however much Kirihara was to blame for her own pathetic condition, Mia knew Kirihara was past any ability to feel guilt now. She was as predictable as a child, and as helpless.

"Serena, leave the bag here." said Mia.

Serena dropped the bag.

A scarab crawled over the painting inside and disintegrated it. "You can explain to the buyer why they won't have their fucking Monet."

Kirihara looked over at the bag and gasped. "Oh no no no no, bullshit, you're going to-"

"-I don't need the kills. You do."

(Mia was referring to a Urasaria rule: during an active contract, Revenant kills are recorded but not *imprinted* until the assigner or the student president verifies completion.)

Kirihara grunted some curses as her anger flared in her fingers. She rose up with a fist about to move and Serena saw it in time to lunge at her with an elbow that smashed her face from the side, sending her recoiling in to the headboard of the bed, clutching her bleeding nose, shouting: "-godDAMNIT, what a fucking bitch you are, I'll-"

-she looked over at Serena and seemed to realize who had struck her, as Serena yelled at her: "If you EVER try to hurt Mia again, I'll fill you up with so many razorblades they'll be coming out of your eyes. I remember when you told her she was a bad mentor, but you know what?! I'm glad I got Mia as a mentor instead of some psycho piece of shit like YOU. You're - you're an asshole to everyone and then cry about how nobody likes you!"

Serena stopped, breathing hard for a few seconds, then realized Kirihara's current expression. To see this face brought to her mind not a taunting narcissist, but of the time she had spent a week on a family tree project in middle-school and proudly turned it in, only to have it later used by her teacher as an example of why one shouldn't rush their work.

Another time she may have even pitied Kirihara; however much of a psychopath Kirihara was, Serena now realized Kirihara was the type of person for whom fate *did* exist: she had never decided to play anything but the hand life dealt her. Punching her was almost shameful to Serena now: it was like hitting a schoolgirl.

She felt Mia's hand on her shoulder, motioning for them to leave together. Mia led Serena as they backed out of the room, and as Kirihara sat up, Mia's fingers tensed and a blue flame burnt a hole through Kirihara's neck, causing her to slump sideways and cuss Mia out as they went down the hall.

"…thank you, Serena." Mia stood straight, and was stoic. "We need to avenge them and leave."

"Yeah."

Mia walked past their room.

"Um, Mia, we still need to get our stuff, right? Mia?"

"What-? -I'll tell them to hold on to it for us."

Serena rechecked she had her phone & card on her, then nodded as she followed Mia. As they left, Mia told the clerk to hold on to their possessions; they would come back for them later. She said as they left the building: "We'll go to where they were. The police will already be investigating it. They'll have a lead for us."

"Um, okay."

Mia was in a rush as they walked through the streets, frequently reminding Serena what they were going to do and without asking for her input. The scene was already cordoned off for investigation, and Mia quickly found one of the detectives. He turned to face her and seemed bothered she was taller than him.

"What's your progress?" said Mia.

"About-? -oh, the students. Well, whoever killed them took their Revenants, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Yes, I have his picture." Mia showed him her tablet.

He seemed to smile; or at least, Mia felt he did. "Well, at least it was a good shot. Hand it over, and we'll show it to our witnesses to confirm if-"

"No. I'll be questioning witnesses myself. Take a picture of it."

"There's no need for that, we already put out an APB for someone matching that description. He could be anywhere in the city. It's a far wider perimeter than just-"

"I know exactly where they were fighting. There's witnesses who won't talk to the police - they will talk to a student."

"Yes, and if the suspect finds out that another pair of students are on the lookout for him, then he might-"

"-goddamnit, I am so FUCKING SICK of people like YOU LECTURING ME! For the past two years, I have had to work with you fucking pigs, I have had to pretend that we are *equals*, even as you fucking despise us, that we are both 'officers of the law', and all I've received for it is narrow-souled men like you who wish they were a student instead of-"

-Serena grabbed Mia's shoulder. "Um, Mia, let's just-"

"Serena, take your fucking hand off of me and let me handle this." (Serena did, but was discomforted.) "And I am so fucking sick of having to argue with people like YOU so I can do MY job. You aren't a student, and you fucking despise that you can't be, because I remind you that without a gun, all you are is a bully with an inferiority complex. I could very, very easily prove this, and I..." She glanced back at Serena. "…and I..."

He gulped. "W-Well, i-if you're a-alright to w-wait a half-hour, we'll - we'll send you everything we find. A-As soon as we know it. There's - there's a hotel just a few blocks away, I-I'm sure, t-to wait at."

"…fine. Then I'll wait."

Mia turned and stomped off. Her breath was a little blue. Following her past the corner, Serena decided to stay silent as they went to the other hotel. As they approached the entrance, Mia placed her hand on the door handle, exhaled, opened it, then stepped inside and walked up to the counter.

"One room."

Noticing they were students, the clerk asked if they were planning on paying for it.

Serena quickly nodded. "Um, I'll-"

"-I'll pay for it." said Mia.

"Room 237."

Mia glanced down at Serena, making sure she was following beside her as they went up the lobby and to their room. She opened the door for Serena, followed her inside, and closed it. As Serena sat down on one of the beds, she turned to face Mia, who was still standing against the wall. She seemed to stare, not at Serena, nor the window that contained the end of afternoon, but at ideals Serena had no knowledge of the texture or provenance, as she apologized for how she was beginning to cry.

+++

An hour later, Mia & Serena stepped into his street. His home was at the end of the dead-end and 300ft away, backyard & forest behind: they already knew he lived alone.

"Let's go." grunted Mia, and Serena nodded.

"Yeah, let's fucking go."

The women came up to the front door of his home, scarabs already readied as they swarmed the front walls -

- and the entire house was plunged in to a white blaze, door and walls melting and charring in an instant; stepping carefully back, Serena threw her cup inside, ice scarabs protecting it until it was deep within -

- and a dozen explosions blasted the house's foundation -

" - COME OUT!" shouted Mia, house collapsing and burnt to ash around -

- and there, running out of the ruins, half his body charred black, was the fucking vermin, rushing in to the backyard and fleeing with a constant scream. With their anger and grief, the women rushed in pursuit, ice scarabs dousing the flames as their foe fled ahead - ahead, something in the grass caught Mia's eyes -

- and a floor of ice formed as they ran ahead, foe fleeing in to the forest, photographic traps catching nothing as they ran over them, ice scarabs freezing them muted as they rushed between the trees, foe still in the forest now. Mia swept her palms forward as she chased after him and saw him desperately weaving ahead, shouting for Worldwide's Frozen Ray as he passed more trees -

- and a frozen beam erupted from her palms, blasting and shattering to frozen bits the trees ahead, man panting and screaming as he ran faster than ever, desperate beam nearly reaching him as they chased -

" - Mia -" panted Serena as they ran, hurtling over brambles and roots, tentacle dragging through the dirt - " - keep, keep a tree near him alive if you can -"

" - L-Lunation -" panted the dead man running, aiming his camera back; a dozen photos erupted out of his camera -

- and a pillar of blue flame burnt every last; but in the next instant -

- a cloud of smoke erupted from each, shrouding and covering the two women as they ran direct in, losing their foe in their sight as they kept forward -

" - Mia -" - panted Serena, fog clearing the clouds, trees starting to erupt in to flame around - " - forest fires, um -"

- and a swift sweep of ice scarabs extinguished every fire around, the women's vision cleared, seeing their foe ahead and still running, fifty feet and still our of his range. His aim swept back again -

- and a dozen photos erupted towards Serena's feet -

- and the photos of nails pierced clear through in a burst of blood, trapping her with the strength of a thousand; Mia turned her eyes back as she ran ahead, seeing the protégé's tentacle dipped in to the grass beside -

- a gesture to one tree by the man, and the next scene was instant.

"Worldwide." said Mia, and a pillar of blue flame erupted ahead of Serena -

- and the tree beside the man exploded in to a hundred pieces, gunpowder Serena had filled via the roots erupting and bursting -

- and fifty pieces shot through his torso and exited out of his back, impaling a carpet of wounds who soon fell to the ground, with an outstretched & a photographic hand..

"I- fuck." winced Serena. "Sorry, I thought he would…"

Mia rushed over to the corpse and gave it a blue-kick that disintegrated a chunk out of it, then paused. As she looked back and saw Serena catching up with her, she gave it another three white-stomps that destroyed his Revenant and looked at Serena. "Go ahead."

Serena shook her head and streams of fog flew in to him. "Um, that's gasoline, just so you know. I'm not... really interested in doing anything now that he's dead."

Mia frowned and looked away. It was foolish to act her anger out on a carcass: she knew that, and she wondered why she had done it. No life puppeted his veins, and even had she left his Revenant, a bacterial colony was no more a person than a hand or scab was. To say otherwise would be spiritualism, but she knew better and that it was best not to compromise with reality.

As she stood there for a long while and listened to the crickets grow in the evening, she thought over something, then walked away and back to his home. She checked that Serena was following behind her as she went in to the living room, and was beginning to search when Serena said: "I'll go check in the other-"

"-I, Serena, no. Stay here with me."

Serena walked over to her and started checking through the doors. They eventually checked the kitchen and found a still-beating pouch against the fridge. As Mia opened the bag, revealing Shrink & Swell and Dream, she thought again of what Magnus had told her about Ryumi living on through her, then frowned. That had been too spiritual for a man of science.

She looked to see Serena wiping her eyes. "Um, is that it?"

"…I assume so." muttered Mia.

She scanned it with her tablet, which gave her a notification that it already matched a bacterial pattern in Urasaria's record. She took the bag and checked that Serena was still following her as they went outside to the garage. The electronic door was shut, but Mia crouched down and lifted it up with one hand, letting herself & Serena to the car inside. Streams of fog filled the ignition with keys, and Mia asked Serena if she would drive back to Urasaria for them.

Serena nodded, sat in the driver's seat as Mia did the passenger's, then pulled out. "Are we taking the train back?"

"…I- no, er. Kirihara might return by train."

"Okay. Lemme see if..." Streams of fog flew in to the vehicle. "Okay, we don't have to stop for gas. Coolio. Um... Can you set my phone for directions?" She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to Mia. "Wait, we still need to stop by the hotel and get our stuff, too."

Mia unlocked Serena's phone, wondered why she had an anime-version of Yuruko for a lockscreen, and set their directions. They went back to the hotel and got their stuff from the staff to stuff it in the trunk, then set out once more.

While they were on the highway, Serena said: "Mia, is it weird that I'm not feeling much?"

"…I don't think it is." muttered Mia. "It's probably your Revenant, Serena."

"It's not just that, I... I mean, I'm sad they died, because Jeanne was nice to me, and I liked Nuiko yelling at Kirihara, but other than that... I never really spoke to Nuiko."

"I don't think I ever spoke to her much, either, and Jeanne... Jeanne, there was the contract with the random and the artifact, but... did I ever tell you about the trip to France?"

"France-? -oh, yeah, you did." Serena rubbed her eyes. "Actually, this is kinda reminding me of when my dad died. I mean, not when he died, because I was too young to remember that."

"When you were younger?"

"Yeah, he died when I was a baby. But when I was growing up, my mom would talk about him all the time, and people from my family would always tell me about him, but... I just never really cared. My mom brought me to his grave when I was ten, and told me she was going to leave me alone for a few minutes, so I could, um, 'say what I wished I could say' to him."

"Did you say anything?"

"No. I just stood there and looked around until my mom came back. I've never gone back there by myself. And not because I don't think he would accept me being trans, but I just don't have anything but an idea of what he was like. He isn't real. Um, not even that, because I've cried at stuff like Attack on Titan, but I've never cried over my dad. The only reason I even remember it is because it's the only time my mom left me alone for a few minutes."

"Is she that protective of you?"

"Yep. I told you about when she called the cops on my ex-boyfriend, right?"

"For abusing you, yes."

"Yeah. He knew I was trans when we started dating, but he used to tell at me over stupid stupid, or threaten me in to...um. I don't really wanna talk about that stuff. I think his dad hated us dating, too, so he just dragged him out to the cops when they came. But I still dated my ex for a long time, and one time when we were cuddling, I remember I asked him why he still insulted me for being trans, even though he chose to date me. And he told me that he didn't really know why, and that he didn't like thinking about it because it made his head hurt."

"He didn't even try to excuse it?"

"No, it was pretty pathetic. But I didn't get what he meant until when I was talking to Yuruko, um, before we started dating, and I told her I hated how she was treating me like I was empty. A lot of people just expect me to do too much for them. But when we were walking back, um, I remembered something my ex said about how his family had this tradition where… every son had an -o name, right? Like, because they got cursed a hundred years ago, so every one was named Dino, Vito, Geno..."

"It sounds stupid."

"That's what I told him, and he just fucking exploded on me, that's why my mom called the cops on him. And I think it was because when I said it was dumb, he felt like there wasn't anything unique about him anymore. He was just some stupid tradition and he didn't know why."

"…Serena, were you thinking about that when I was stomping on that corpse?"

"Um, kinda." said Serena. "But you're way smarter. I mean, I bet you're gonna be president someday, and it's because you don't act like how a lot of other people do, right?"

As Mia considered this, she leaned back in to her seat, then turned to the window for the rest of the drive, whose streams of dew evaporated into the clouds from which they were borrowed.