Chapter 5: Episode 5

Harry watched as Suou took careful aim and fired, the sound drowned out by the construction work nearby. "Shot deviation: two centimeters," July said, removing his hand from the glass bottle.

"Two centimeters?" Mao asked, impressed. "That's practically a bulls-eye from this distance."

"Only three shells left," Harry commented as Suou pocketed the bullets and began to clean the rifle. "Does that mean you've got only three more times you can fire that gun before it's gone for good?"

Suou shook her head, her focus still locked onto the gun with a small smile on her face. "No. Next time I use it, there will be a round in the chamber, and five will appear in my pocket. But it doesn't repair the wear and tear from the last time I fired it, so I have to keep it maintained."

Harry blinked in surprise. Suou had never told him this. Was she… What else hasn't she told him? He bit the inside of his cheek. There was no need to get worked up. They haven't been talking very much recently. She definitely would have told him if there wasn't this damn tension between them.

"You seem like you're actually enjoying doing it," Mao said.

"Yeah, I do." She didn't elaborate, but Harry knew why. Papa taught her how to shoot. It was familiar. Safe.

Suddenly Hei, who had been watching from the shadows, stepped forward and threw some money down on Suou's lap. "Go get some lunch," he ordered gruffly, acting like he didn't care what she did. Suou grabbed the money and led July and Mao out of the gloomy shack. Harry was about to follow behind them when Hei grabbed his arm. "Not you."

Harry turned, an eyebrow raised challengingly. "Excuse me?"

"You want to protect your sister, right?" Harry nodded. "Then you have to learn to fight back if you're ever going to keep up with a contractor. You can't just run away anymore."

Oh, really? "You assume I don't already know how to fight." There were benefits to insisting on being homeschooled for 2 years and choosing what he wanted to study was one of them.

Hei stared down at Harry, his navy eyes staring into his soul. "Then prove it."

"With pleasure." And without any other warning, Harry kicked Hei back into the shack.

They were back in that restaurant from the day before, Noah's Ark. While Suou would rather avoid Norio, his father—Lebanon, she told her—was very nice. The food was good too.

"Something nutritious and tasty, huh?" Lebanon asked. "Hmm, come to think of it, I'm not really sure what contractors eat." She smiled slyly. "Maybe some raw meat?"

Suou felt her heart clench in fear, something it hadn't done since she'd become a contractor. "Did your son tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That I'm a contractor."

She shook her head. "Nobody had to tell me, sweetie. You see, my ex-wife turned out to be one."

"Your ex-wife? I see…"

"Believe it or not, but there was a time when I would've fit in just fine aboard Noah's Ark." She walked into the kitchen and came out with a picture of a young couple with a baby. Lebanon had a nostalgic look in her eye. "I figured I would give it a shot, mostly because I was terrified of disappointing my parents. So I married Michiru." She tapped the brown-haired woman in the picture with her pointer finger. "But she did love to bake, so that was nice.

"Norio was about three when it happened. She became a contractor. By the time I realized, she had taken off in the middle of the night. I do still wonder about her from time to time…" Taking back the photo, Lebanon went back into the kitchen and brought out to bowls of stew for Suou and July. 'All right, bon appetite." Gratefully, Suou picked up her spoon and began eating. "Is it good?"

"Mm-hm."

Lebanon smiled. "Make sure you eat all of it. Liver helps to replenish the blood, which you could definitely use right now." She pounded her fist into her hand. "You know what? I've got just the thing for you."

Suou tilted her head. "Hm?"

Once Lebanon was finished loading them both up with everything the woman thought they'd need, Suou thanked her and led July out. They started to walk back to the hotel when Norio's voice rang out from the roof. "My star is falling from the sky! My payment becomes an undying passion burning inside me as long as my stars falling from the Heavens! Falling in love with you!"

Suou didn't bother saying anything; she just rolled her eyes and continued walking.

"Hey! Wait!" Norio called out, scrambling down. He soon caught up with her. "So, did my dad tell you? My mom is a contractor. Can you believe it? We must be destined to be together. No wonder I love you."

"Why do you think you love me? Tell me," Suou ordered. "You don't know a single thing about me."

"Then tell me about yourself."

"But why?"

"Uh, well…" Norio's face turned a bright red, like Nika's did when he confessed to Tanya. Suou's stomach curdled. "Because I think you're more beautiful than any star in the artificial sky."

Clenching her jaw, Suou grabbed July's hand, leaving Norio behind. "Come visit Noah's Ark anytime!" He called out into the cold Russian night.

Everything hurt.

A groan escaped Harry's lips as he tried to suffocate himself in the snow. Hei had completely defeated him. Harry had been able to hold his own for a while, but that was hard to do when your opponent had seemingly endless stamina. Damn contractor and his stupid fighting skill…

Soon enough, Hei returned from wherever he had been. Harry didn't care. "Get up," Hei told him. Harry glared, but did as he was told. The two began to walk back to the hotel, Hei leading while Harry forced his body to trudge along. "Your fighting style…what was it?" Hei asked suddenly, taking Harry off guard.

"Uh…Caporia. It's technically a Brazilian dance, but it works well in a fight."

"Where did you learn it?"

"Papa hired a lot of physical therapists and teachers for me once I got better. He wanted me to learn self-defense and I chose Caporia."

Hei stopped and turned to look at him. "'Got better?'"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I was sick for a long time. No one could explain it. It was like all my energy was being drained out of me; I could only move around for about an hour a day, I couldn't create body heat… I was a mess. Then, two years ago, I got better without any explanation."

"The Hell's Gate Incident?"

"The very day of it. Papa suspected something, but… I'll never know now." Harry looked down and away.

"Harry, I—"

An explosion rang through the air and Harry saw smoke rising from…their hotel room. Adrenaline awakened his limbs as terror gripped Harry's heart. He pushed past Hei, finding the energy to spirit all the way to their room. Harry flung open the door and skidded to a stop, Hei almost knocking into him.

There was Mao, July, and Suou, all perfectly fine. Suou was still holding her rifle, staring at the new hole in the wall. "What the hell are you doing?" Hei barked at her, showing the most emotion Harry's ever seen from him.

"I borrowed a pot and stove from Ms. Lebanon," Suou said like it had something to do with the question asked. She dropped the gun and allowed it to disappear in a flash of pink light.

"Your point?"

Mao jumped up on the counter beside them. "She's a bit shaken up," he told them. "Just give her a minute. She opened the pot, and a cockroach came scurrying out. And boom."

Hei looked at her. "Explain."

"Because I hate roaches. Are you going to hit me now?" Harry's heart skipped a beat. "Just hurry up and get it over with, all right? But hit me on my left side this time."

Hei was apparently as confused as Harry was. "What?"
"The right side of my face is still sore from the last night, so you should probably balance it out." She waited for Hei to hit her, and then grew angry when he just stared at her. "Hurry, all right!?"

"You've got me confused," Hei said before leaving the room.

Harry glanced one last time at the contractor before going to comfort his sister.

"You're going to freeze to death."

"…A cockroach, huh?"

"Yeah. It's not surprising. Remember her friend? She's getting used to being a contractor, but I doubt she's going to shake that trauma anytime soon. Going by what she told me the other day, I think she might've been in love with that kid. Well, I doubt she likes a single person now."

"So I'm not any different than a cockroach."

"Hmm?"

Harry was just waking up, curled up beside Suou and July inside the bathroom tub. It was the 4th time he'd woken up; despite his best efforts, the tub was not comfortable. Blearily, Harry watched Hei barge into the bathroom. "Ever heard of knocking?" Harry asked, his mouth going faster than his brain.

"There's someone here."

Well that woke Harry up. He sat up, inadvertently waking the kids up. "How many are down there? Any contractors?"

"There's three total. Only one is a contractor."

As quietly as they could, Harry got the kids ready and their things together. Harry swallowed an anxious lump in his throat. They'll be okay. They had Hei here to protect them—

"I'll distract them," Hei said, unknowingly destroying Harry's illusion of safety. "You four stick together and head down to the lobby. Escape out the front door. We'll meet up at the usual spot."

Mao led them down to the lobby as the sounds of a battle began above them. Water gushed out of burst pipes and moved on its own. Fortunately it ignored them, but that did nothing to alleviate Harry's worry.

Soon the four of them fled out the door. They crept passed several people, Harry's heart thumping all the way, until their apparent opponents were out of sight. They then sprinted to the shack across town, sticking to the alleyways and relying on July's specter to led them and scout ahead.

Once they reached the shack, Suou collapsed onto the floor. Harry sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey. How are you doing?" Suou muttered something Harry couldn't hear. "What was that?"

"This is my fault. If I hadn't shot that hole in the wall…"

"No." Harry cut her off before she could finish. "This isn't your fault. And even if it is, no one blames you. Besides, if they managed to find us from something as small as you putting a hole in the wall, then they must have been searching the area already."

"He was a point, you know," Mao spoke up. "With all the resources the government has, it wouldn't have taken them long to find us anyway. I doubt we would have had more than another week there."

"I know that, but…if I hadn't freaked out…if I wasn't a contractor…"

"No," he said, cutting her off again. "It's not your fault. I don't care if you're a contractor or not; you're my sister and I'm not going to let you blame yourself for something you're not responsible for."

She looked at him and for one moment Harry could have sworn that he saw affection in Suou's eyes. They've been blank for days, emotionless mirrors. But now… She scoffed. "You're such a mother."

After waiting for about 20 more minutes, Hei finally arrived. The first words out of his mouth were, "It's time for more target practice."

Harry frowned. "Is that really the first thing you're going to say to us?"

Hei glanced at him, then at Suou, before pointing out across the lake at some cranes. "Same target as before. But this time…no excuses."

Suou stood. "There's no reason to kill them!" She argued. "That's why I can't shoot. You want me to practice with a moving target, but I don't get why it has to be alive. There simply isn't a reason for them to—"

"There is a reason. A good one—to finally get you behaving like a contractor."

Glaring at Hei, Suou did as he ordered.

The noise of a gunshot was swallowed by the constant construction work.

"Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," Suou whispered. "I really don't."

The plant was easily pulled up by Suou, adding to the small pile cupped in her hands. She studied them. This should be enough. Going back inside, she added the plants to the boiling pot of water and stirred.

"Don't tell me that's dinner," Mao complained. "You know those are weeds, right?"

"Yeah, but they're edible. My dad told me about them," she scooped some out into a bowl and offered it to Hei. She would have given it to Harry but he fell asleep not too long ago. "Here." Hei took the meal and started eating. Suou waited in anticipation. She'd never cooked before, that was Harry's job, so… "Well?"

"Taste doesn't really matter. It's full of nutrients."

"Well," Mao scoffed. "That sure is a winning endorsement. Let me teach myself not to care about taste real fast."

Suou served July and herself before Hei's bowl was shoved in her face. "Seconds."

The four ate in silence, each eating Suou's…meal without complaint. Finally, Hei spoke.

"You've been assigned a mission."