Work Text:
“HARUKAAA” rang in the air as the desperate voice pleaded for the young ronin’s assistance. In a flash, Haruka jumped from a rooftop, using a nearby bush to break her fall and land in front of the distressed citizen.
“Yes!!” she exclaimed, panting furiously as she barely held herself onto her feet.
“Please, I've lost my glasses and can barely see five feet in front of me! I beg you for your help!”
Haruka kept exhaling and inhaling, wobbling a bit as she reached for the glasses resting neatly on top of old Miss Nanami’s head.
“Here.” her voice was horse and a faint crackle of static could be heard, but as she was about to put her the optics enhancers in Miss Nanami's hand, another voice called from afar.
“HARUKAAA”
She flinched, almost crushing the glasses in her hand, but quickly stopped herself, put them on the old drone's face herself and ran in the opposite direction with the speed of the wind, leaving a dust trail behind her, Miss Nanami left smiling now that she could see again. The second voice was about to call her name again, but Haruka stopped right beside them, barely avoiding slamming into a wall.
“Yes, Gozaburo-san?”
“Please! My darling climbed into that tree and can't get down!”
Looking at the tall tree he was pointing at, Haruka saw Mr Gozaburo’s granddaughter Iroha clinging with fear to a thick branch, shaking and not wanting to look down. Still breathing heavily and with tired eyes, Haruka created an AS hologram, focusing on the drone as she began glowing with a cyan aura. Iroha could feel herself being lifted in the air, slowly being brought down from the tree and next thing she knew she was besides her beloved grandfather once more.
“There. Now please stop trying to climb trees, you're really not good a-”
“HARUKAAA” once more could be heard, this time coming from further in town.
“Uuurgghhh.” she grunted as she spun the hologram, tearing a metal sheet off of a rooftop and using it as a hoverboard to ease her trek across town as she headed once more for another person in need.
Being the town hero, it wasn't out of the ordinary for various people to call for her assistance. She may have been a monster slayer, but she also had a multitude of other duties to uphold, one of them being to always help those in need. It wasn't a frequent task, rarely getting more than three or four calls a week at most, but today it felt like the entirety of Inoshima had some problem to solve and she had to be the one to fix all of them. From early in the morning all the way to late afternoon, she could feel her body coming apart from how exhausted she was. From somewhat harmless inconveniences like losing a pair of keys and being locked outside your house or not being able to find your glasses, to more serious stuff like falling into a well or holding on for dear life to not fall off of a ten story tall tower. But finally, after helping the Kasane family, she could rest, laying on a bench as she looked at the orange sky, arm dangling lifelessly in the air as she struggled to breath normally.
“What a busy day, oh my.” Aoi’s voice echoed in her head.
“If I hear one more person calling out my name, I'm twisting my head like a bottle cap.” she said between breaths.
“Haruka-chan!”
Biting down on her lips and her eyebrows lowering, Haruka rolled her head to her right, barely mustering the strength to do so.
“What is it, Megumi….” she let her words trail off as she stared daggers at the miko.
“Gomen, I know you must be very tired, but the Suzuna family is requesting your assistance.”
Letting her previous anger dissipate, her frown was replaced by a softer expression as she rose back to her feet.
“Is it anything serious or?”
“They didn't specify, Mistune-sama just approached me and said that they'd appreciate it if you visited them. They knew you were very busy today and that there was no way for them to speak to you directly, which is why they left me this message.”
Haruka’s lips perked a bit, contemplation clearly being displayed on her face, but eventually she let out a deep sigh, letting herself fall back onto the bench. One more request wouldn't hurt.
“Fine, fine. I'm going to their little ranch right now.”
An awkward minute or two passed as the two drones just stood in place, Megumi waiting for Haruka to lift herself up and go on her way.
“Haruka-chan, are you not going?”
“Eh? Oh sorry.”
In that moment, Haru created another AS hologram, the bench she was on starting to glow and shake, Megumi taking a few steps back in surprise. Next thing she knew, the bench was levitating in the air, her friend slumped onto it like a drunk mate after an absolutely wild party.
“Tell Mihono-san that I'll bring the bench back tomorrow, and if not, he'll know where it is at least.” she said as she headed to her destination, moving at a moderate pace, getting some weird and shocked looks on the way.
The sun was still shining bright, but the increasing deep shade of orange the sky was getting signaled to many that night time wasn't far away. If it were up to her, Haruka would just fall asleep right then and there, but she still had one more task to do and it'd finally be over and she also did not wish to crash into the hard ground below. The Suzuna family ranch was one of the few properties further out of town, not far away from the Ito family residence, but still separated from Inoshima by a small patch of forest. The location the Suzuna family chose to start their venture in the world of farming was quite perfect, one side of their property being enveloped in forest, while the other was just open field, with ample space for crops and animals to graze. Carefully descending and making sure the bench was on stable land, Haruka leaped out of her seat and sprinted towards the large house in front of her, almost tripping on some uneven ground, but managing to regain her balance. Before she could knock at the door, though, it had already begun to open.
“Haruka-sama!” Mistune said, a clear sense of relief in her voice.
“Konnichiwa, Suzuna-san.” Haruka said, waving, taking a bit to recover from the unexpected moment.
“I'm so glad you managed to arrive, I was worried that you wouldn't have time to visit us.”
“Yeah well, I'm not called “The Inoshima Legend” for nothing, I always come when someone is in need of help.” a faint feeling of smugness coursed through her core every time she said that title out loud to anyone.
“Is that Haruka?” another voice interject, coming from further inside the house.
“Yes dear!” Mistune said, rapid footsteps following afterwards as her husband, Mr. Suzuna, almost crashed into her from excitement.
“Thank the star you're here, Haruka-sama!”
Blinking in surprise, Haruka spoke.
“Seems like you guys really were desperate for my assistance.”
“Correct, and I imagine you have already seen the reason.”
Haruka cocked a curious eyebrow.
“Wait, what do you mean by that?”
“Haven't you seen how the land looks?”
Turning around, she understood what Mr. Suzuna meant. Her tiredness must've blurred her vision, but now wide awake she could see all the large holes and dirt mounds dotting the field, stretching closer and closer towards the house, even noticing the patch of ground she tripped on, now realizing that it was also a hole.
“It started a week ago.” Ms. Suzuna said.
“We thought that it was just some Feigura*, but then holes started to become bigger.” Mr. Suzuna continued.
“And then some of our animals began to disappear!”
This was another thing Haruka hadn't noticed at first, but now that she was property scanning the environment, she noticed that none of the usual animals a farm would have could be seen anywhere. No Roichikin*, no Sandhon*, no nothing, everywhere she looked, there was no sign of life.
“Did they all disappear or?”
“No, they're in one of the barns. We brought them all in earlier today after we found one of our Sandhon’s legs beside a hole.”
“It didn't take much effort, they were clearly scared out of their minds and being inside the barn calmed them all down.” Mr. Suzuna said with a mix of worry and surprise.
“Although there is one more thing we were worried about.” Ms. Suzuna said as she beckoned Haruka to follow her inside, her husband being right beside her.
Curious, she followed the couple into the kitchen and through the back door, leading them to the two large barns. She could hear the calls of all the animals inside the first one, but the second one was what caught her attention the most, as it was clearly newly made. Getting closer and closer, she began hearing a faint buzzing, which only grew in intensity as they stood in front of the large door. Her thoughts were cut short, though, as Mr. Suzuna opened the door, the barely audible buzzing now erupting in a cacophony of piercing static.
“Easy there.” Mr. Suzuna said, pushing the door all the way through revealing the secret of this barn.
It was something Haruka only ever saw either in videos or papers, often advertisements, something she never thought she'd ever see in person. It was a Handensha Queen Bee, and a pretty big one at that, its black eyes looking at her with curiosity, but also with a coldness she couldn't put her finger on. The giant arthropod bore huge honeycombs on its back with millions of workers covering most of them, only patches of the liquid gold being visible in certain spots. The bees were clearly agitated, having not taken a liking to their dark peace being disturbed, but Mr. Suzuna kept reassuring the queen that everything was fine.
“She's quite the sight to behold, eh?” he said, cocking his head back to look at Haruka.
“How did you…?” she asked, being absolutely bewildered by what she was seeing.
“It was a gift from up west from my husband's sister. Her family runs a Handensha raising business and she wanted to give her brother a gift for his birthday. We didn't really think that they were going to give us one of their Handensha bees, though.”
“You mean they carried this thing all the way from west Takamagahara to here?”
“Nope.” Mr. Suzuna responded.
“They gave us a juvenile queen and told us how to take care of her.”
“Seems like you're quite surprised by this beautiful lady, Haruka-sama.” Ms. Suzuna said.
“I mean, Handensha are not hard to find in the south, but they aren't common in this part of the region either. It's just crazy to me that I'm seeing one so up close now.” she said, not knowing if she should stay in place or try to approach it.
“But this is also why we were requesting your assistance.” Mr. Suzuna’s voice took on a more serious tone.
“Handensha are incredibly valuable, the dedicated breeders taking their jobs very seriously as they know how widely sought out their honey is.”
“And you want me to find out what's digging all those holes and eating your livestock so that nothing bad happens to her, right?”
“Hm hm, you're indeed correct.” Mr. Suzuna said with satisfaction in his voice.
“Although, and I hope you don't get mad at us for suggesting this to you…” Ms. Suzuna trailed off.
Haruka raised an eyebrow, exchanging glances between the couple.
“We wish for you to also supervise the house and animals.”
“W-WHAT!?” Haruka said, flabbergasted, taking a step back.
“We have urgent duties in Sinshei and we can't stay here for longer, which is why we wanted your help so much.”
Thinking back, Haruka realized how oddly quiet the interior of their home was, since the Suzuna family was known to be a pretty big one. They lived with their grandmother and three kids, the oldest one even being a worker at one of the stores back in town. Yet, no one besides them was home.
“We only arrived earlier this morning and had hoped that the person we hired to try and find the possible Feigura did their job, but when we arrived we only found bigger holes and the leg of one of our animals.” Ms. Suzuna said.
“We contacted the guy for answers, but he said that he hadn't managed to find anything and abruptly hung up on us. Which is why now we're asking for your help.” Mr. Suzuna stared into Haruka's eyes, clearly seeing that the man was dead serious about every word he said.
“I'd like to help, but I'm really not experienced with farm life.” Haruka said, still locking eyes with Mr. Suzuna.
“Oh don't worry you don't need to do much.” Ms. Suzuna interjected.
“You just need to feed the animals and make sure no one breaks into the house. Everything else we've already taken care of or it isn't really possible at the moment.” Ms. Suzuna looked back, clearly thinking of the holes all across the field.
“You won't stay alone for long either, we'll be back in three days. We just need someone to also look over everything while we're gone.”
Haruka began weighing her options. It was clear that the couple were in distress, but they also couldn't do anything about it since not only did they not know what was causing it, but they also had other things to attend to in the neighboring town. And she already said that she'd help anyone in need as her title demanded.
“Haruka, I really don't think that you can refuse them.” Aoi said, having ease dropped on the entire conversation.
“Fiiiine, sigh.” she said, shoulders falling down in defeat.
“We couldn't be more grateful, Haruka-sama!” Ms. Suzuna cheered in relief.
“We promise that when we come back we'll bring you something, ok?” Mr. Suzuna said with a renowned confidence.
Haruka just gave a thumbs up.
With that, the two departed, taking the shortest route towards Sinshei as Haruka waved goodbye, her expression becoming more and more pained. An hour or so later, the sun was beginning to set, darkness slowly creeping from the horizon and shadows engulfing every nook and cranny. Haruka knew that it'd be futile to search for anything today, so she'd dedicated all her strength for tomorrow, making herself at home in the Suzuna house. She had visited them in the past, but only with Megumi and her family and never just by herself. She did do a quick dash back home to grab her laptop and favorite sleeping shirt since if she was stuck here for three days, might as well make herself comfy. The couple had fed the animals before leaving so she had no business in the backyard anymore, but they did leave notes saying to feed them twice per day. Finally, night time was here and she had made her spot in Fuji’s room, the youngest of the three siblings. After such a draining day, she felt like she needed a proper break, which involved binging on anime until 3 am. But such a marathon also had to involve some snacks, which is why she headed downstairs to look through the kitchen for any possible crunchy treat. Inoshima was one of the biggest towns/villages in the southern area, so trading of a wider variety of goods was much more frequent compared to other regions, which meant the ever so elusive fried chips or popcorn being in higher circulation, things so common in the time of man, but now an almost luxury item in the world of machines. But as much as she tried, she couldn't find anything to her licking, eventually settling on a jar of fried wild nuts. She stared at the multiple types of nuts through the clear glass for a bit, each with their skin carefully peeled off and salt granules clumped onto them.
“I still wonder why you have a need to eat.” Aoi’s voice resonated in Haruka's head.
“Whatcha mean?”
“I was always under the impression that your core doesn't really need fueling and as such you don't need to consume anything to replenish it. At least, that's how I remember the few drones my father owned worked like.”
“Eh, beats me. I know our forefathers did some changes to our bodies after the mass production facilities were turned back online.”
Aoi kept listening in intrigue.
“What they were, I don't really know, but it allowed us to be able to eat more than just batteries and shrapnel. Also swim.” Haruka said as she threw a few peanuts in her mouth.
“In any case, let's head back up. Have any preferences you'd want to suggest for tonight?”
“Not really. I might even call it a night early.”
“Well if you want like tha-” Haruka suddenly stopped in her tracks, frozen in her place.
“Is something wrong?” Aoi asked worriedly.
But Haruka didn't pay any mind to her question as she looked down at her feet.
“Haruka?”
“Something….moved.”
“Wait what? What do you mean?”
“It's exactly like how I said it, I felt something moving under the floorboards, but it's gone now.” Haruka said as she paced around the kitchen and then the living room, trying to see if she could feel the same odd vibrations, but nothing.
“Are you sure you felt something?” Aoi asked.
“Positively. And I know for certain that it wasn't a Feigura.”
“How so?”
“I can't explain why, but whatever it was, it felt big, much bigger than one of those moles.”
A strange droning sound then came from outside along with something that sounded like earth being moved. Haruka rushed through the back door, entering the cool night atmosphere and looking everywhere she could for the possible source of the sound, but nothing was in sight. It was dead silence, even the barns were completely quiet. But then something caught her attention, a patch of ground that was unusually raised, cracking at the top to reveal the moist soil underneath. She tried finding some more out of the ordinary clues, but no dice. Crickets then began singing along with faint croaking coming from the forest. Nature let out a breath it must've been holding for a while.
“Whatever it was, it's gone now.” Aoi said as her hologram manifested.
“Guess we'll leave it for tomorrow then, huh.”
“Yep.”
With that, the two went back in, Haruka grabbing the peanut jar once more, ready to pass through the night and Aoi to pass out for the night. Yet, that strange occurrence nibbled at the back of her mind even while watching her shows. Something big had visited them, but she had no clue what it might've been. Feigura were definitely out of the equation, something their size wouldn't be able to produce that noise or the land raise she found. Something very strange was going on.
Haruka was jolted out of her sleep by a piercing crow as one of the Roichikin began their morning routine. Annoyed by her rude awakening, she checked the clock to see that it was 5 in the morning. She also noticed that she was slumped over her laptop, having fallen asleep while watching one of her shows. Not wanting to let a dumb bird ruin her morning, she wrapped herself in her blanket and put a pillow above her head, ready to fall back into dreamland. But just as quickly as she did that, she threw herself out of bed and rushed to the window. Who let the animals out? She remembered that the barn was closed shut, yet the Roichikin were out pecking on the ground, their rooster leading them to the fields in front of the house. Haruka practically flew down the stairs as she exited the house and went to see what had happened. To her shock, the barn door was pulled open, clear signs of stress being visible on it as the lock was laying on the ground broken. Something tried to enter the barn last night, but whatever it was there were no signs of it. She never counted the animals in the barn when she arrived the day before so she didn't know if any of them got snatched. As much as she wished to go back to sleep, she knew now that she needed to keep guard on them. It was clear, something was out there and was definitely trying to reach them, that much was obvious from the remains the Suzuna couple found, but whatever this was, it was persistent.
Changing into her usual clothes a few hours later, Haruka followed the instructions Mr. and Ms. Suzuna left for her, feeding the animals with all the marked grains and weeds. Things went pretty pretty smoothly for the most part, the Roichikin rooster jumping her and one of the Sandhon cows licking her visor and getting a bit too curious with her notwithstanding. She even got to hand feed some of them with marble carrots, until the same cow almost swallowed her arm.
“I think I would've liked to live on a farm.” Aoi said.
“You think?” Haruka said as she washed her sleeve of saliva.
“Getting to be so close to so many different animals feels so wonderful!”
“I get that you were never sent on a farm trip when you were younger?”
“Nope. My family only lived in the city, we rarely came to the rural side of the land.”
“Well, I don't know about you, but I can already tell that farm life isn't for me.”
Their conversation was interrupted abruptly, however, as a rumbling sound could be heard, the mirror dangling above the sink in the bathroom shaking a bit. A Roichikin then called out in desperation before it was snuffed out, all the other hens making a symphony of panicked sounds. Haruka was outside in an instant, using the running birds as guidance to the source of the crime. Stopping in front of the house, she saw that the number of holes on the field had significantly increased from yesterday. She then saw feathers scattered around, close to a very big hole. Hesitation kept her in place, but eventually she mustered the courage to inspect the opening in the ground. It was freshly dug judging by the still falling fragments of dirt, bending at a 90° angle not too far down. Whatever it was, it quickly sprung from below and retreated back. Not feeling safe out here like this, Haruka dashed back inside, making sure the fences were closed, even though seeing how this creature acted, they probably weren't going to be of much use.
The rest of the day was spent keeping a watch on all the animals, making sure that no more sneak attacks occurred. As dusk quickly came, Haruka had to painstakingly herd every single beast and bird back into the barn, having already filled all their feeding trays to make sure that they're distracted. Locking the door wasn't a problem, either, as the Suzuna kept spare locks. There was one other farm resident she neglected to give much attention outside of feeding her fresh fruit, though, and that was the Handensha queen. Opening the door to her barn, Haruka gazed at the oversized bug as it mindlessly nibbled on a ripe melon. Mr. Suzuna’s words echoed in her mind, how serious Handensha breeders were with their jobs and the value the honey they produced held. To even own such a creature seemed like a huge responsibility, but one that clearly ran through the family. She sheepishly tried to approach the queen, but the moment the insect locked eyes with her, her workers swarmed them both. Bee stings couldn't do a thing to a drone's metal chasing, but thought still caught her in a stranglehold, so much that Haruka bolted out of the barn and locked the door back, even though the bees hadn't followed her outside or even landed on her. A feeling of guilt washed over her for a bit before she left, making sure that everything was secured. The second night wasn't too special, except that now Haruka was keeping guard from the rooftop, scanning the environment below for any suspicious activity. It was well past midnight when she felt like she was slowly drifting away, barely keeping focus.
“Haruka, let's go inside, I don't like seeing you like this and potentially being at risk of falling off the roof.”
“I mean if I did, you would stop me from falling mid air, no?” drowsiness was palpable in every word she spoke.
“Of course, but I would also prefer it if we didn't get to that point in the first place.”
Rubbing her visor and letting out a deep yawn, she agreed to call it a night. But right as she was about to get off the roof, strong vibrations could be felt, this time through the house itself as something big was digging underneath and fast. She didn't need to see where it was heading to know that things were going to go haywire.
“NO! Aoi!”
On queue, Haruka was surrounded by a cyan aura, allowing her to levitate her way towards the barn, shooting through the air like a bullet. Landing in front of the barn, she saw the ground in front of her bulging and collapsing as whatever was underneath was closing the distance fast. Her sword, glowing an incandescent red, was ready to slice any fool that was about to surface. But just as the stranger was about to make its entrance, the ground suddenly rose, then collapsed, the vibrations and strange sound stopping, an eerie silence now filling the air. Haruka didn't understand what had just happened. Until a Sandhon cried out in terror, followed by all the other animals.
“KUSO!” Haruka cursed as she sliced the locker in half and pulled the doors wide open, revealing the scene inside.
One of the cows was being pulled underground by large tentacles, the poor bovine trying to hold on, but it was useless as whatever was underneath had gotten a good grip on her. The animal's fate would've been sealed, but Haruka acted quickly, severing the tentacles gripping the cow, allowing it to get back onto its footing. The mystery attacks clearly didn't like the gesture as three tentacles emerged from the hole and tried striking Haruka. But just like before, she effortlessly cut through them, the beast howling as it retreated deep underground, its bone chilling shrieks echoing as it ran away. With the coast clear, Haruka went to inspect the cow that was attacked, thinking that it was hurt, but when it began licking her, she knew all too well which it was and that it was definitely fine. Commotion then began again, however, as all the other cows backed away from them. Haruka didn't know what was going on, until she saw the tentacles writhing. And then they began to split.
“What the!?”
Next thing she knew, the tentacles broke apart into smaller serpent like creatures, their swollen, malformed heads screeching at her as they opened their eyes. Their glowing, amber yellow eyes.
“Oh nooooo…”
In a flash, the serpents rushed for her, but were quickly sliced by her blade, the sizzling flesh stopping them from regenerating. Haruka knew what she had to do, grabbing the serpents and throwing them outside, then taking a large canister of gasoline from the barn. She didn't waste any time, throwing the canister forward and cutting it with her now bright red blade, instantly igniting the flammable liquid. The serpents began dividing again, but the burning fluid covered them in a ball of fire, their death squills filling the air as they tried escaping, but Haruka would each time slice them in half, weakening them further as the flames consumed them. Finally, the things were dead, nothing but black char being left of them. Haruka looked at the carbonized mess with confusion, shock and anger.
“What even were these things!?” Aoi asked with the same mixture of emotions.
“I don't know, but it's clear that they're related to the Inugami.” Haruka looked at the collapsed trail of ground in front of her.
“And so is our mystery guest.”
“Do you think that it'll come back?”
“If it wanted a round two, it would've came for it by now. Seems like it called this night off. But at least we now know what we're dealing with.”
It was around 9 am when Mr. Takahashi got the call from Haruka, having woken up not even an hour earlier.
“Takahashi-sama! Ohayo and sorry for my abrupt call.”
“Oh, Haruka. Don't worry, there's no such thing as an unwanted call from you. I heard that you were at the Suzuna property.”
“Yes! I was entrusted with looking over the animals, but this isn't why I called you.”
“Then what is it?”
“We have a code yellow.”
Mr. Takahashi’s eyes narrowed, his previous disposition completely vanishing.
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I even have proof.”
Two photos were then shared on Mr. Takahashi’s HUD, showing the burned husks of the serpents, one of them carbonized mid-division.
“Then this isn't a joking matter. Are you ok? Are you in a safe position? Is there any Inugami activity?”
“Yes I am currently in a safe position, and no there's no activity. Which is what brings me to my main point.”
“Hm?”
“I need your help, but not right now. Whatever this thing is, it's not a normal Inugami and it's a nocturnal hunter. I need you all to arrive at the Suzuna property before dusk.”
“Are you absolutely sure you don't need our assistance right now?”
“Positive.”
“Haruka, I hope you know well what you're doing.”
“Don't worry, pops, I am.”
“Very well then. But the moment something starts happening, call me immediately, this is not a suggestion, it's an order.”
“I will.” and with that, the call ended, leaving a worried Takahashi.
“I sure hope you do…”
Back at the farm, Haruka was making the last preparations all throughout the day. She took all the gasoline canisters she could find around the property and placed them in easy to access zones, she secured all the fences, filled the feeding trays to the brim and locked all the animals inside after she filled the hole in the middle of the barn with dirt. All seemed ready, except for one more. A large bucket filled with ripe fruit sat in the kitchen, ready to be delivered to its royal recipient. Opening the doors to the second barn, Haruka was face to face once more with the Handensha queen, the interior being filled with bees. Some of them approached her curiously, others landed on the fruit, licking the sweet nectar that dripped from them. Haruka squirmed a bit, but she still advanced forward, more and more bees circling her as their buzzing became almost deafening. Eventually, she rested the bucket with fruit in front of the queen, expressionless, solid black eyes staring back at her, yet she could feel some kind of acknowledgement from them. Her two front pair of legs grabbed one of the bigger melons and she began eating, jaws chewing feverishly through the soft fruit. The workers also seemed to stop pestering her, now just hovering around her before going back to their honeycombs. Satisfied, Haruka closed the doors behind her, letting out a sigh.
“I didn't know that you were afraid of bees.” Aoi said.
“I'm not.” Haruka said. “I’m just not comfortable with small buzzers in general. I'm not sure why, I just don't.”
“Well I can't stand cicadas, so I guess we both don't like small noisy bugs.”
“Cicadas at least have a reason for you to dislike them, the sound they make is pure circuit grating.”
A loud crash then echoed from far ahead, followed by an all too familiar sound of ground rumbling. Haruka checked her HUD's clock, seeing that it was only 5 pm, the sky barely beginning to change color.
“There's no way that thing…”
The beast passed underneath the house, the entire structure visibly shaking. Haruka rushed towards the advancing beast, knowing exactly where it was heading for. Swiftly, she jumped high in the air, unsheathed her blade and dove it deep into the ground covering the creature, stinking half of the weapon into it and stopping its advance. For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence, neither party moving a muscle. Haruka didn't understand what had just happened, there was no way she could've killed an Inugami that easily. And she was correct as hundreds of howls could be heard coming from underneath, the ground erupting all at once as she was lifted into the air and swung which way and that. Her blade dislodged from the creature and in the thrashing she was thrown against the first barn's doors. Quickly recovering from a minor head spin, she could now see the entirety of the monster that haunted the Suzuna property.
It was a disgusting sight, a giant writhing mass of flesh and tumorous growths, hundreds of limbs, long and small covering the creature like spikes. Some of the stronger limbs were used to prop it up, but there was no symmetry to any of them, one side clearly having more disfigured legs than the other. But its head was the most ghastly part of it, a huge lump of twisted meat and teeth, barely forming a coherent jaw and long wet tentacles erupting from anywhere they could from the head, not just from around the “mouth”. And then there were the eyes, two large bulbous ones on top and many, many more all across its body. She couldn't quite tell because of the dirt that was still clinging onto it, but it was clear that its skin was made out of hundreds of writhing creatures similar to it, along with the malformed jaws of dogs, all hissing and gurgling disgusting sounds.
It was an absolute nightmare and nothing like she had seen before, yet it was clearly an Inugami. She didn't have much time to ponder further, though, as the Rotwurm descended upon her, its tentacles ready to tear her apart. Her blade effortlessly cut through the fleshy appendages, but this time the creature didn't retreat, instead it continued its assault, trying to also crush her with its body, but she was much quicker than it, rolling to the side. Not wasting a second, she dashed forward and cut deep into the beast, now howling like a thousand dogs in pain, quickly descending back underground. Haruka knew that she angered it and it was planning for a sneak attack. She ran for the fences, making sure every single step of hers was as strong and noisy as possible. It worked as the Rotwurm was following her, quickly reducing the distance between them. Haruka could feel the ground underneath her deforming as she ducked to her left, the Rotwurm emerging in an explosion of dirt and grass. It was once again upon her, this time trying to bite her with its flower-like mouth, but she wasn't going to let herself gobbled so easily, creating deep cuts on its jaws. She was prepared for another strike, but something hit her from the side. The beast's tentacles had regenerated into new instances and had also joined the fight. Haruka could handle a single big foe, but multiple smaller ones all at the same time was too much as was yanked into a tree trunk by the big Rotwurm. Back at the barns, all the animals were agitated from the commotion outside, not understanding what was going on. But one was clearly much calmer and focused than the rest, slipping by her enclosure’s doors. The fight was quickly turning against her as Haruka tried dealing with the smaller Rotwurms, but the big daddy was gaining the upper hand, using more and more sneak attacks to try and catch her, all while its spawns kept her busy.
“HARUKA! The Fire Brigade! Where are they!?”
Haruka looked at the horizon and it was clearly dusk, but she was the only drone in the area.
“Oh please don't tell.” she said as she was yet again flung to the side by a giant tentacle erupting from the ground.
Raising back on unsteady feet, she saw the many small Rotwurms trying to regenerate from their charred wounds, but just as many were approaching here. Things seemed dire until a swarm of bees descended onto the foul creatures. Looking behind, she saw the Handensha queen, all the honeycombs on her back baren of bees as her workers were busy stinging the serpents.
“How did you?” she asked, only to quickly remember that she didn't get to lock the second barn's doors.
“Oh. Right.”
Taking advantage of this opportunity, she rushed for one of the gasoline hiding spots, grabbing three of them. The Rotwurms were all gathered in one spot thanks to the bees obscuring their vision, so it was easy for her to encircle them with two of the canisters before lighting the third one on fire. The ring around the Rotwurms then also caught fire, closing them in an infernal barrier. Grabbing another canister, she doused every Rotwurm she could find in the flammable fluid and set them ablaze. Soon, there were no more serpents left that weren't barbecue, all of them sizzling and popping with the flames. Haruka let out a sigh of relief.
“Damn, I really owe one to a giant bee now, huh.” she said as she looked at the Handensha queen which….didn't seem too well.
She was wobbling on her feet and all of the worker bees were dropping from the air, flailing on the ground. It wasn't until she noticed the thick haze of smoke that had formed when she realized what was happening. She remembered that she read somewhere about bees being very weak to smoke and how it was used by human beekeepers to harvest their honey. Before she could assess the situation further, though, the ground began rumbling again. She was so preoccupied with lighting all the smaller Rotwurms on fire that she forgot about the big one. A huge tentacle burst through the ground and grabbed the queen, wrapping tightly around her before the beast tore the arthropod in half, throwing the front half away while it greedily consumed the other half.
“WHY YOU!!” she shouted, anger overtaking her as she swung her blade, but the Rotwurm retreated underground before she could hit it.
The thing was moving fast underneath her, looking for an opportunity to erupt from the ground once more, but the drone was far more preoccupied by the Handensha queen, laying against the house's wall unmoving.
“I'm going to make you pay for this…” she said, sheathing her blade as two AS holograms manifested at the same time.
She could feel the Rotwurm underneath, ready to strike, but she was welcoming it, as she began to glow an intense cyan, wire fences around the property also beginning to glow, moving back and forth like they were trying to dislodge themselves from the ground.
The next scene was almost like in slow motion, as the earth beneath Haruka began to rise, cracks forming as many tentacles burst forth, but she was faster, levitating high in the air and away from the jaws of the Rotwurm. In two fluid motions, she yanked all of the wire fencing around her, circling like a spiral before it twisted and curled itself around the foul beast, intertwining into a metal cage that also dug deep into the monster's flesh. Haruka then used the wire to pull the Rotwurm’s entire body out of the ground, repeating the same process of immobilizing it before throwing the beast in front of the house, the remaining fencing not affected by her powers following it. Two more finger motions and the wire once more intertwined with itself, forming a ball of crisscrossing metal that also contorted the Rotwurm’s body inside it. Hundreds of howls and yells burst out of the monster, but Haruka didn't care as she made sure the thing was tightly wrapped. Her anger began to dissipate as she slowly descended back down, the two AS holograms vanishing as she took in what she just managed to pull off, legs almost feeling like jelly.
“.....HOLY SHIT!” she exclaimed, seeing the beast writhing and trying to break free from its prison.
There was no time to gawk, though, as the thing could still break free at any moment. Haruka turned to get the canisters, but an ear splitting shriek brought back her attention. The Rotwurm was being consumed by flames, its cage preventing it from digging back underground as it was turning into a ball of fire. Confused, Haruka looked around and was relieved to see that the Fire Brigade drones had finally arrived, sinking all of their weapons onto the monster.
“Haruka!” Mr. Takahashi exclaimed from afar.
“T-Takahashi-sama!”
“Are you ok? Are you injured?” he said as he put his hands on her shoulders,
“Yes! And no I'm not, but did you see what we just pulled off!?” Haruka exclaimed excitedly as she pointed at the burning Rotwurm encased in a ball of wire, a lot of it still trailing off back to the unaffected fences.
“I see.”
“I know my powers allow me to affect metal based stuff, but I didn't know that I could control this much at the same time!”
“Well, it's a good thing you discovered it now.”
Haruka's excitement quickly dissolved, though.
“Btw…where were you guys? I thought I told you to come before dusk.”
“An unexpected problem emerged back into town and that's what caused our delay, I'm deeply sorry.”
“But then again, maybe you wouldn't even have needed to wait for us if we were here as soon as you called me.”
“Yeah maybe….” she said, looking on the side.
“In any case, you still did a great job here. You managed to immobilize the target and deal with the independent instances of it.” Mr. Takahashi said as he looked behind at the charred remains of the smaller Rotwurms, some still on fire.
“It also seems like someone's grateful for you.”
“Wait what do you mean by that?” Haruka asked, but a strange nudge forced her to turn around to see what the deal was.
It was the Handensha queen, having seemingly survived the ordeal. The remaining honeycombs on her were mostly intact and it didn't seem to mind missing 2/3rds of her body, looking at her with the same curious expression like nothing had happened.
Morning time had finally arrived, signaling the beginning of a new day. Most were still asleep at such an hour, but two figures chose to defy these rules, having traversed the road from Sinshei back to Inoshima, leaving very early in the morning.
“I really hope that Haruka-sama is ok.” Ms. Suzuna said.
“I'm sure she's fine, a little bit of farm work can't put down a warrior like her that easily.” Mr. Suzuna laughed a bit.
“I wonder if she found the source of all those holes.” Ms. Suzuna wanted to add more, but she was taken a bit aback by the sight she and her husband saw as they approached their home.
A giant ball of wire containing in it the charred remains of a hideous beast sat on the field next to their house, Fire Brigade drones surrounding it and trying to decide on how they're going to move it. Most of the hole around their property had also been filled, with Fire Brigade members either bringing sacks filled with dirt or using the surrounding material. Further back, other members were working on repairing and adding back the missing fences, this time with even higher quality wire than before.
“Oh there you are.” Mr. Takahashi greeted the Suzuna couple.
“We're sorry for the inconveniences, but we're doing our best to fix all the issues around the place.”
“Oh there's nothing to worry about, in fact this is only making my job easier.” Mr. Suzuna said.
“I see. In any case, the entity that was pestering you has been dealt with and now you can rest assured that things will return to normal.”
“And Haruka-sama?” Ms. Suzuna asked.
“She actually did most of the heavy lifting and made sure that your property was still in one piece.”
“That's very good to hear!”
“So where is she right now?”
Mr. Takahashi beckoned the two to follow him, bringing them to the second barn. Pulling the doors open, they all saw Haruka hand feeding the Handensha queen fruit, the bug happily eating everything she gave to her.
“Seems like you two are friends now, hm.” Mr. Suzuna said.
The remark caused Haruka to jump and recoil a bit.
“Mr. and Ms. Suzuna! I-I almost forgot that you two were supposed to arrive today.”
“And it seems like you woke up just as early as we did to make sure the place was orderly.” Ms. Suzuna said.
“Y-Yeah! I sure did!” a more guilty expression then fell onto her face.
“I also hope you're not mad at me about what happened.” she said as she sidestepped to allow the two to take a better look at the queen, her missing segments being very clearly visible thanks to the three pairs of legs she had left.
Mr. Suzuna did look a bit shocked and puzzled, maybe even a bit mad, but then he looked behind him, clearly in the direction of the cage holding their tormentor and putting things two and two together.
“Nah it's fine. Not everyone can always escape unscratched. But it's not like our little queen here is going to be like this forever.”
“....Eh?” Haruka asked, bewildered by Mr. Suzuna’s response.
“You said you only knew about Handensha from photos, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then I guess it's time to also reveal a special secret about these ladies. Which, you see, is the fact that they're three ladies in one!”
“What?”
“Handensha queen bees have a very interesting life cycle where the queen hatches not just fully metamorphosed, but also with two additional siblings! And these siblings eventually merge with her to form her characteristically long body.”
“And if any of these two new segments were to be lost somehow, then the queen can hatch another set of underdeveloped queens that merge with her and fill out the lost segments.” Ms. Suzuna continued.
Haruka looked like she barely understood anything the two just told her, but it didn't matter, at least she knew that the queen herself would eventually come back to normal in time.
“Now that it's all over, we can move back in the house safely. You should contact mom about that, dear, I'm sure the young ones are ecstatic for the news.”
“Right away, darling.”
“Oh, and Haruka-sama?”
“Yes?”
“This is for you.” Ms. Suzuna said as she handed Haru a jar of honey.
“It's part of the first batch of honey from our queen. We sold all of them back in Sinshei, but this one “mysteriously” managed to slip between the cracks and I'd like you to have it.”
“Oh, thanks a lot actually!”
“You're always welcomed on our property if you want more.”
While the three drones were discussing, Mr. Takahashi slipped by to follow the repairs.
“So do you have any possible ideas of where this thing came from?” he asked one of the drones supervising the burned corpse.
“No sir.”
Mr. Takahashi looked longingly at the remains, his mind trying to understand how a creature like this managed to infiltrate their region and no possible signs of it appeared.
“There is one possibility, though, sir.”
“And that is?”
“Two weeks ago, our team and Haruka disposed of a large Inugami that almost managed to reach Inoshima’s gates.”
“Yes, I remember that incident.”
“After the cleanup, a strange thing was noted.”
“What was it?”
“While body parts were counted based on the incisions Haruka inflicted on the Inugami, one had seemingly been left out.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Before inflicting the final blows, Haruka threw a metal sheet at the dog beast, resulting in a large gash in the front. And one of the last moves also involved decapitating the beast.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“During the collection of the remains, the lower jaw of the underdeveloped head that the beast possessed was missing. Most just assumed that it was carbonized with the rest of the head, though.”
Mr. Takahashi’s eyes widened.
“So you're saying that this entire thing might've originated from just a small jaw piece.”
“I'm not fully confirming it, sir, but taking into account everything that we've seen Inugami be capable of doing…”
The two drones just stared at the remains, neither being quite sure about the implications of this explanation if it were true.
“Regardless of its origin, it's yet another Inugami we were able to get rid of. A possible cautionary tale, as well, and a reminder that we need to take these monsters very seriously. They're a blight onto our land that must be exterminated.”
The creature's half melted face stared back at Mr. Takahashi, almost mocking him even in death.
“No matter what.”
