4

“Captain! Captaaain!”

A scout ran up to the entrance of the prefectural bureau, out of breath. Pawoo was standing there with the rest of the building’s security, arms crossed and grim-faced at the current impasse. She gave an order to the deputy by her side before approaching the young vigilante.

“The footprints leading to the bureau were a bluff! Akaboshi is currently near the west gate! It’s like he’s lost his mind, ma’am!”

“What happened? What did you see? Somebody get this man some water!”

“I saw some guys with rabbit masks take him on, Kurokawa’s men. They outnumbered him, but they still didn’t stand a chance!”

Governor. Why are you getting involved…?

Pawoo clicked her tongue. As the other members tended to the scout, he continued.

“Ma’am. You need to hear this. I suggest you sit down.”

“What…?”

“I saw a huge mushroom go off in the shopping district,” he said. His teeth were chattering with fear, but he pressed on. “It was at the Panda Clinic! Where your brother…”

Pawoo’s blood surged, and her face became a visage of wrath. She clenched her jaw and pushed the man aside. When the deputy saw her striding off, he chased after her.

“Captain!”

“Lower the threat level for this area. Send squads two, three, and four to the west gate and squad nine to the north.”

“Are you going ahead on your own?! We’re dealing with Japan’s most wanted criminal here!”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” Pawoo seethed as she hopped astride her huge motorcycle. “You can try telling me what to do once you can land a single hit on me in training. Until then, follow my orders and don’t mess this up. Understood?”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Pawoo sped off on her white motorcycle at top speed without waiting to hear the deputy’s reply. Then she swung her metal staff, striking the ground with such force it launched her vehicle up into the air and onto the rooftops.

Milo…!

Pawoo grew impatient as she sped toward the towering mushroom, her bike a silver streak across the nightscape of Imihama.

From atop the roof, he surveyed the city. The majestic mushrooms stood tall and cast their faint glow on the streets below. The spores fell like powdered snow, gently brushing past Bisco’s cheeks. Following a fierce battle, the rabbit-headed guards had retreated en masse, leaving the bodies of their fallen comrades where they lay. Now, in the center of that bustling city, there was only an eerie silence.

I’m worried about Jabi. Gotta get back to the sewers. But where are the Vigilante Corps?

Bisco pondered his next move carefully, before sniffing and looking down at his feet, where a particularly petite rabbit-headed guard had been trying to crawl away for some time. With a thud, he brought his foot down on their back.

“Gyaaah!” came a high-pitched voice. Bisco grabbed the ears and pulled with all his might, arching the person’s back until the mask came off with a pop, and a flurry of pink braids flopped around the person’s shoulders. It was a woman with pink hair reminiscent of a jellyfish.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it, hold it, hold it! I…was against the whole thing—honest! Such a…kind and gentle man can’t possibly be our enemy, right? It was just, you know, the governor! He forced me to do it!”

The young girl looked up at Bisco meekly. Her smile twitched, and she was sweating bullets.

“Tell me. Who are you guys? Is this all of you? What about the Vigilante Corps?”

“Y-you wouldn’t kill a poor, sweet, innocent young girl like me, would you? Listen, l-let’s make a deal! I’ll quit the force, leave it all behind. I’ll join your side, just…”

“You hard of hearing or somethin’? Maybe it’ll help if I crack your skull open, huh?”

“Nooo! Please don’t! Not my skull! I need that to live!”

Suddenly, Bisco heard the faint buzz of an engine in the night. Straining his ears, he thought he could hear it coming from the direction of the shopping district and growing louder. Something was jumping over the rooftops, coming straight toward him.

A motorcycle…?

As soon as he was distracted, the jellyfish girl scurried away like a rat. Bisco started to go after her, when suddenly the sound of tires scraping on roof tiles grew much louder, and a huge motorcycle reared up into the dim light across the street. Leaping over the gap, it launched straight toward Bisco. No sooner had he realized a fight was coming than an iron rod came flying down toward him, smashing into the tiles.

Bisco leaped back at the very last second and avoided the fatal blow, but the shards of roof tile flew past him, nicking his cheek and drawing blood. Through the dust and rubble, Bisco spotted a glimmering crown of silver, and the woman’s murderous gaze fell upon him. Her curvaceous figure was entirely at odds with the way she swung her heavy iron staff, and she swiveled her motorcycle around to charge at Bisco again. He leaped back from her reckless charge, drawing his bow and loosing an arrow in one smooth motion. The arrow was dead-on, but suddenly her staff ripped through the air, and the arrow was gone. One swing, and she had knocked it out of the sky midflight. Bisco followed up with a second, and a third, but the woman deflected them all in a whirlwind of steel, leaving her without so much as a scratch.

She’s good…!

Seeing her strength and resolve, Bisco switched tactics, aiming his bow at the rooftop in front of him. As the motorcycle bore down on him, about to run him over, he fired his arrow, and a huge mushroom exploded with a Gaboom! out of the roof tiles, blasting the woman and her vehicle high into the air.

“…Grh!”

“Watch where you’re driving, lady! You should have your license revoked!” taunted Bisco with a smile. But his face went stiff when he saw her kick off the free-falling motorcycle to recover in midair and shoot toward Bisco with frightening speed. She spun her body like a whirlwind, her iron staff slicing the air like a knife as it drove into Bisco’s side.

“Kraaaargh!” she shouted. Bisco blocked the blow with his bow, but the sheer force sent him flying across the street and into the side of a building, leaving a large hole. There was a loud crash and a cloud of dust. The woman frowned, watching the crash site carefully for any signs of movement, and spun her staff around.

That blow should have destroyed him. Bisco Akaboshi…is that all you’ve got?

The woman looked somewhat disappointed…until her eyes went wide as something glinted in the neon light. She moved her staff to block, and there was a loud clang of metal piercing metal. A black arrowhead poked out of her hexagonal iron staff, stopping only a half dozen centimeters short of her eyes.

This draw strength… It’s not human…!

The warrior woman clenched her teeth as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Bisco sprang up, breaking through the thin roof of the building and landing before her.

“What was that? You’re pretty strong,” he said with a grin. “Where did you pick up those moves? They teach brides-to-be how to swing a staff in Imihama?”

The speed and power of Bisco’s shots were like bullets. No ordinary person could block them like she did. Especially not a woman.

“I am Pawoo Nekoyanagi, captain of the Imihama Vigilante Corps,” she shot back in a gruff voice, her anger plain to hear. “Surrender and await your sentence, Mushroom Keeper, or I’ll split your head in two.”

With her coat billowing behind her, Pawoo looked as majestic as a Valkyrie of Western myth. However, Bisco could plainly see the anger in her eyes. His curiosity piqued, he flashed her a glinting smile.

“Shouldn’t you have said that before you hit me?” he asked. “You look like you want me to die either way. What’d I do, kill your parents?”

“I warned you!”

Pawoo’s staff smashed into the ground beneath Bisco. Her hair was launched backward as she moved, revealing the Rust eating away at her beautiful face. As Bisco dodged her attack, he thought:

Damn, that Rust looks bad. I’m surprised she’s got moves like this when she’s about to kick the bucket.

He leaped across the rooftops, evading swing after swing, before arriving at Pawoo’s grounded motorcycle. With impossible strength, he lifted the bike above his head and swung it around like a baseball bat.

“Ryaargh!”

The bike protected Bisco from Pawoo’s descending staff. Moving it like a greatshield, he deflected her blows one after the other, until the vehicle was full of dents, and a plume of fire erupted from the engine.

“Kraaaargh!” With a yell, Pawoo delivered a fearsome downward swing that cleaved her beloved vehicle in two. Yet in this life-or-death situation, Bisco’s wit was quicker than ever. He threw the flaming engine toward Pawoo, pulled out his bow, and fired. The explosion shredded the air between them. Bisco was launched violently back toward the roof of a gaming hall, into the large signage depicting a mascot shaped like a bowling pin, which collapsed in a cloud of dust.

Pawoo drove her staff into the ground like a stake, tearing a furrow into the roof, glaring at Bisco, who stood defiantly opposite her.

Even the lightest of hits from her staff could break bones. Pawoo had never seen someone take this much punishment from it and live. Her hateful eyes were tinged with bewilderment.

“That’s some real bad Rust ya got there. I wouldn’t move around so much, or it’ll hasten the spread.”

“You shameless crook! How many cities have been crippled with Rust in your wake?”

“I’m getting tired of saying it, but mushrooms don’t spread the Rust. They feed on it. They’re the only way to get rid of it.” Bisco spat out a broken tooth, covered in saliva and blood, and turned to face Pawoo. “I’ve been traveling to wherever the Rust is the thickest, trying to cure it, and look at the thanks I get.”

Even as Bisco fought for his life, he spoke plainly, almost frivolously, with a smile. Pawoo looked a little taken aback as she responded.

“You think I’d believe a story like that?! Those mushrooms are nothing more than revenge! Your only purpose is to destroy as much as you can!”

“You’re wrong. I’m looking for the Rust-Eater.” Bisco looked Pawoo dead in the eyes and spoke calmly.

“The Rust-Eater…?”

Pawoo’s eyes faltered. Her opponent was wide open, and yet she couldn’t stop looking at his eyes. They burned, not with hate or malice, but with a fierce determination that forced her to stay her weapon.

“It’s a mushroom. One that can suck the Rust out of anything, man or machine. I’ve been searching for it this whole time… To save someone close to me. Drop your weapon and let me through; I’ve got no beef with the people here.”

“What rot. You think you can trick me? Draw your bow, Akaboshi, and let me strike you down where you stand!”

…Why is he so calm…? Is he trying to unnerve me? …No matter. With my next attack, I’ll end this!

Seeing her indecision, Bisco grinned. As she raised her staff against him, he took the moment to hit her with a sly remark.

“Well, I suppose I didn’t come here for nothin’. I did meet that doctor here. What a help he was,” he said, watching Pawoo’s face. “…Dr. Nekoyanagi, was it? He looks a lot like you. You know him?”

“You mean…Milo…?” Pawoo’s glare shattered as though a curse had been lifted. Suddenly looking very uneasy, her blue eyes quivered. “You… You bastard, what have you done to him?!”

“What have I done?” Bisco repeated, flashing a toothy grin. “What do you think I’ve done? You know what they call me, don’t you?”

Before Bisco even finished, Pawoo was racing toward him with fury in her eyes. Wrath incarnate, she raised up her staff and brought it down on Bisco’s head…

But Bisco didn’t so much as flinch. The iron rod only made it partway through his flesh before coming to a halt.

“Grh?!”

“You idiot.”

Something white and round, like an airbag, sprouted from the staff where it connected with Bisco, cushioning the blow. Then dozens more appeared all along the length of the staff, from the tip to the handle, growing out of the metal itself. Round mushrooms, their beautiful white skin glistening.

He infected my staff…!

The arrow she blocked head-on had been coated in poison. With each swing of her staff, the balloonshrooms within it spread their roots. Bisco was fighting defensively and throwing taunts because he was stalling for time, waiting for the seed he planted to grow.

While Pawoo was distracted, Bisco made his counterattack. He slid right up to her and plunged a kick into her gut, launching her high into the air.

“You can tell when they’ve sprouted by the white mycelium that appears along the surface of the metal,” said Bisco, grinning and drawing his bow to the limit. “If you hadn’t been distracted, maybe you would have won this one.”

“Akaboshiiiii!”

“It’s time for you to retire and get married,” he said. “It’s hard for me to hit such a pretty face.”

There was no way Pawoo could dodge Bisco’s shot now. She watched helplessly as the infected arrow lodged itself in her rusted shoulder, and the pain all but blanked out her mind.

Milo…! Spare him, please…! Please don’t take him…!

Pawoo gently closed her eyes and fell to the ground. Bisco hopped across the rooftop to catch her in his arms, before landing slightly off-balance.

“Man, she’s not as light as she looks.”

Holding Pawoo over his shoulder, Bisco dropped down into the backstreets and was about to set off running, when he saw her long, silky hair dragging against the ground. Unable to bear such a sad sight, he adjusted Pawoo’s body so he was carrying her hair carefully in his arms, before taking off like Hermes himself through the dark alleys of the city.