Corpse March

Chapter 15

“Species?”

“What?”

“Species. Human or Papilio.”

“Oh, uh, human.”

“First name?”

“Haru.”

“Last name?”

“Hamamoto.”

“Middle name?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Pick one.”

“What, like, right now?”

“Your middle name is ‘Right Now’?”

“Uh… no?”

“We’re going to have to start over.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m just doing my job, ma’am.”

The faceplated border guard shakes her head and rips up the paper she was filling out in her hand. “Deathless” Tsumugi called them, they’re Gleam's personal army. Every student councilor commands a fighting force with the expectation that they’re going to use them to rescue more Papilio. Doesn’t matter how minor the office, they always have at least fifty armed and trained people at their beck and call. In Gleam’s case, she has about two hundred. Each one armed with weaponry, salvaged and restored from only the finest junkyards. And faceplates salvaged from Monarchian corpses– trophies of their first kills. If Haru looks closely, she can even see a smidge of dried blood still on the edge of the girl’s mask. They’re even more ill-equipped and tribalistic than Girls’ Won’t Cry. She respects that, almost. 

To both her left and right are these titanic metal walls the size of  skyscrapers. A last line of defense against the Monarchs should the worst come to pass. The only way in or out is through this heavily guarded gated checkpoint to keep out potential spies, and immense bureaucracy to waste as much time as humanly possible. The guard nods to one of the girls in her squad and she promptly hands her another piece of paper. 

“Species?”

“Human.”

“First name?”

“Haru.”

“Last name?”

“Hamamoto.”

“Middle name?”

“I can pick any I want?”

“Yes.”

“Marshall.”

“Your middle name is Marshall?”

“You said I could pick any I want.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen.”

“In numerics.”

“17.”

“Date of Birth?”

“October fifth.”

The girl shakes her head and rips up the paper. 

“We’re going to have to start over.”

“Wh– what was that for?”

“We use the Day/Month/Year format.”

“Tsk.”

Haru rolls her eyes. 

“Species?”

“Human.”

“First name?”

“Haru.”

“Last name?”

“Hamamoto.”

“Middle name?”

“Marshall.”

“Your middle name is Marshall?”

“You asked this already.”

“Age?”

“17.”

“Date of Birth?”

“Fifth of October, 20XX.”

“20XX?”

“Just write it down.”

The girl shrugs and just writes it down. 

“Civil Status?”

“Single– I mean Married.”

“We’re going–”

“Please–”

“–to have–”

“Please don’t do this I’m so tired–”

“–to start over.”

“FUCK–!”

“Species?”

“...”

“Species?”

“...Give me a second I’m wallowing.”

“Species?”

“Human.”

“First name?”

“Haru.”

“Last name?”

“Hamamoto.”

“Middle name?”

“Marshall.”

“Age?”

“17.”

“Date of Birth?”

“Fifth of October, 20XX.”

“Civil Status?”

“Married.”

“Spouse’s first name?”

“Tsumugi.”

“Spouse’s last name?”

“Tsubame.”

“...”

“Are… huff… are we done?”

“...yes, everything seems to be in order.”

“YES. Finally, Goddamn.”

Haru pats the guard on the shoulder as she passes her by. 

“Thank fuck, I thought I was going to be here foreve– what’s with the handcuffs.”

“Arrest her.”

Before she can react, one of the deathless, who she assumes is the most touch-starved of the pack, promptly tackles her to the ground.

“HeyheyHEY–“

“Haru Marshall Hamamoto, you are under suspicion for being complicit in the murder of Kagami Kentomi.”

“Where’s the evidence?! I demand to see the evidence?! Right–Right, Tsumugi?!”

“Hmmm… as I thought, we can’t set foot in academy territory.”

“Tsumugi?!”

Tsumugi looks on at the situation with a cold calculation on her face. Though, if Haru squints, she can make out the slightest twinge of amusement. One that seems to be shared by the Elites beside her. 

“Y-you’re not going to just let them take me, are you?! I can’t go back to prison!”

“No, of course not.”

“Stop resisting.”

“Help! Police brutality! Police brutality!”

“Alright, alright. That’s enough of that, officers.”

“Forgive me, Lady Tsumugi, but you are currently under suspicion for the murder of Lady Kentomi. Lady Gleam has specifically requested for us to investigate your involvement in the incident. To that end, we will be taking this girl into custody.”

“Hmmm. That is a serious accusation. Has this been mandated by the council?” 

“Yes, my lady.”

“Very well. Then you may now unhand my wife.”

“...”

The Deathless holding her down looks towards the one manning the checkpoint, who gives her a slow but purposeful nod. 

“At once, Lady Tsumugi.”

The girls bow as they unlock the handcuffs off of Haru. 

“What… just happened?”

“Spousal privilege. It protects spouses from testifying against each other.”

Tsumugi has that sing-song know-it-all timbre in her voice again. Haru can’t help but roll her eyes. 

“In English.”

“The mandate was only to investigate me, Tsumugi Tsubame. They have no grounds for taking away someone who can’t tell them a thing.”

“Forgive me, my lady. We were not aware you were wed to Lady Tsumugi.”

“Yeah, I bet you weren’t aware of this either.”

Haru cocks her fist like she’s about to punch the Deathless in the face but pulls back at the last minute. The Deathless does not flinch. 

“Sike.”

She spits on the ground as she walks away from the checkpoint and back towards Tsumugi, Kikimi, and all the other Elites. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, peachy.”

“Sorry about that. You were the only one who could pull off that stunt without getting arrested.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Just tell me when you’re going to do shit like that next time, aight?”

“My apologies. I will keep your feelings in mind next time.”

“Okay good. I’m glad that’s settled.”

Haru places her hands on her hips and takes a deep breath. 

“Maybe we should have waited till we were inside Takakumo before we broke the news to them?”

“Not reporting the death of such an important person would only make us out to be more suspicious.”

“Good point.”

“My guess right now is that the student council’s shaken up. It’s the only way they would agree to Gleam.”

“What? They got some beef with Gleam or something?”

“Sort of, it’s less of that and more that it’s just so obvious that Gleam’s trying to shift the blame to someone else. It makes sense that she would pick me… but to reveal her hand to me before I even step foot in the city… well, it’s just plain and simple stupid.”

There’s a vicious sheen in Tsumugi’s eyes as she dissects the situation. Just looking at her sends shivers up Haru’s spine. Haru has to admit, even though she’s not exactly her type, she jumps up to a 5/10 when she’s like this. Still dresses like a nerd, though.

“Yowch.”

Tsumugi shrugs.

“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. She’s my mother’s disciple, a legendary fighter, and a wonderful friend, but politics was never her strong suit. She’s just… stupid like that.”

“Noted. That sounds like bad news but noted. Any other weak points–”

Haru stops. Electricity courses through the air as a kind of miasma leaks from the gem on Tsumugi’s staff. All is silent in the face of barely contained fury.

“Tsumugi… are you alright?”

“It’s just… so stupid. So so stupid.”

She’s clenching her fist. There’s blood dripping from her palm. 

“I thought that we were friends but I guess not, huh?”

There’s frenzy in Tsumugi’s pupils, though her mouth remains stiff. She smiles a spite-filled smile and shrugs. Haru claps her on the shoulder. The whole time, it feels like her hand’s moving through molasses. Haru gives her a wry smile and a nod, like she’s about to bite her fingers off. 

“Listen, Tsumugi. I know you’re going through it right now but you need to remember that I can’t say for sure why Gleam’s doing the things she’s doing and neither can you. But I–... we do know that we can’t let her get away with killing Kagami.”

Haru clamps her hand on Tsumugi’s other shoulder. 

“Look. If it’s any comfort, right now, we just have to get to Gleam. We can decide what to do after that, okay?”

“...okay... okayokayokay…”

Tsumugi takes a deep breath. Haru feels her shoulders begin to relax. Slowly, surely, Haru takes her hands off of her shoulder. 

“Better?”

“Yeah. Better.”

“Aight. Cool. So… what’s the plan?”

“Well… first thing’s first, I think that Gleam’s little gambit is turning out to be a bigger problem than I thought. Politics aside, there’s the problem of actually getting into the academy.”

“Hmmm. I know there’s probably no point asking, but I assume just letting ourselves get questioned is a no-go?”

“Of course not. Even though it’s just questioning for now, there’s no telling what Gleam’s going to pull or who she’s going to pay once we’re under Disciplinary Committee custody. At the very least, we’re going to get held up for weeks while Gleam passes what legislature she wants without our say in it, and at worst, we’re looking at life sentences for a crime we didn't commit. And… Well, I’m not proud to admit it, it’s not like Takakumo’s police force is the cleanest.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mother was a firm believer in guilty until proven innocent. There’s been no progress towards fixing the corruption problem.”

“So don’t get arrested. Got it.”

“Hmmmm… we’re in kind of a bind.”

Tsumugi sighs. 

“I suppose we don’t have a choice. Haru, you’ll have to legally represent me in front of the council.”

“Wha– me?!”

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t think we have a choice. I… can’t trust my forces to handle something this sensitive.”

“You can’t trust them?”

“Nope. Not with something like this. They’re just not… cut out… for this. Agh, it’s hard to explain. Plus, they’re still out on an exercise mission in the mountains. I don’t want to disturb them.”

“And the rest?”

“We recently decentralized the duty of guarding Takakumo’s borders. In plain terms, I have a few former Deathless under my command. They’re reliable, but I don’t know if I can trust them with something this sensitive. I can probably call up a favor with them, though, make sure you have a guide so you’re not completely lost.”

“Cool. I, an outsider, am going to have to go meet with the leaders of the Neo Magical Academy, a place I know nothing about.”

“Listen, don’t panic. I just need someone to convince the council that we’re a non-threat and they should have Gleam stop the investigation as soon as possible. Simple as that.”

“Uh-huh. And how do I do that?”

“You’re a girl with reasonable charisma. I’m sure you can figure something out.”

“...”

Haru gives Tsumugi a long, hard stare. The type she gives a friend right before they talk her into doing something stupid.