The crowd parted before Tsukiko, making just enough space for her to get through, before rejoining behind her. They'd erupted into cacophonous cheers, whistling and shouting, all in celebration of what she'd just done. Through it all, though, she heard the cries and tears, the moaning and hissing of the people who'd been hit the hardest, the voices of the few panicked ones scared for their loved ones who'd been taken away. It was the glares of the silent that stuck out the worst. For the millionth time, Tsukiko was aware that the mask didn't hide a damn thing. All it did was protect her dignity.

  Tsukiko felt cold without her jacket, but the mask kept her face warm. She'd gotten so used to wearing it that she often forgot it was there, and once it came off, the cold air hitting the sweat on her face made her shiver. It didn't seem to matter. The crowd cheered for her anyway. It didn't matter if she was a Knight or a Shakudo, Tsukiko or Izanami. The mask of the gang she'd once crushed with her own two hands was forced upon her like a brand, a burden she once feared now worn with confidence.

  Breaking through the thin, hazy edge of the crowd, Tsukiko finally escaped the protest. She took one last look back, to see the people watching her. A few lone cops tried to force their way through, but the protesters surrounded them, doing their best to protect her. The officers seemed to drown in the sea of people, their arms swinging and clawing at the air as they tried desperately to chase her, to no avail. Any of them that made it through got shoved to the ground and had their weapons confiscated.

  Tsukiko turned forward again, taking the first few quiet steps, then breaking into a run down the street. She ran in the hopes that if she followed their footsteps, she'd be able to reconnect with the Shakudos. The gang had moved like shadows, leaving behind not a single track or trace of their presence for Tsuki to follow, but she kept on running, passing block after block to find them.

  Deep down, she wished she'd stayed behind and kept on fighting. She was disturbed by what she had seen the police do, and she was disgusted by the savagery they'd inflicted on innocent people. She wished she could've grabbed each and every one of them and beaten sense into them with her own two hands.

  Her train of thought was broken as a trio of men appeared from around a corner, walking slowly and stopping in the middle of the street, like they'd been waiting for her. Tsukiko slowed down to a jog, then stopped completely, hurriedly putting the mask back on.

  At a glance, the men looked unarmed, but the stiff manner in which they held their arms at their sides made Tsuki nervous. They moved in formation, shoulder to shoulder, and all held their heads up high and cocked, looking at her down the bridges of their noses.

  Tsuki took a step back, narrowing her eyes and watching them carefully. The man in the middle reached into his coat's pocket and pulled out a folding knife, flicking it open. He ran forward, and Tsuki fell back, the man swinging the knife toward her. She stepped back further and further, avoiding his slashing and looking for an opening that never came. One of his comrades pushed past him, taking a swing at Tsuki's face that she couldn't avoid.

  The punch hit hard enough to knock the mask off her face, leaving Tsukiko dazed and confused. In a panic, she took a swing of her own, but she didn't hit a damn thing. The other men laughed at her as the one with the blade pushed her to the ground. Tsukiko managed to grab his wrist, twisting and pushing against it as the edge neared her chest, then her stomach. The other two kicked and stomped her exposed legs.

  "Quit fucking struggling!" The man shouted in her face.

  Tsuki recoiled as spit flew from his mouth, his breath smelling like iron and rot. If her adrenaline hadn't driven her numb, she probably would've vomited at the smell of him alone. Instead, Tsukiko lost any sort of restraint she still had.

  Tsuki reached up with her free hand and stuck her thumb into his eye, the man letting out a yelp. She then twisted the man's arm to bring his hand closer and bit down on his wrist as hard as she could. His blood streamed into her mouth and he let out a horrible pained scream. She bit down harder and harder till the other men ran over to pull their friend away from her.

  Finally free, Tsukiko got onto her hands and knees, spitting out a mix of spit and blood, desperately trying to catch her breath. In a moment, the three men all turned back to her, one of them running forward to kick her in the side. The bloodied man, the one with the knife, let his injured arm go limp, moving the blade to his other hand as he approached.

  "Oh you're so fucking dead now." He muttered.

  The former Knight came to her feet, her back against the shutters of a closed restaurant. The horrid sound of steel scraping against the asphalt tore through the air. Hotaru had arrived, with a chain in her right hand, whipping it against the ground. It screeched as it let out a blast of sparks, bathing them all in transient flecks of light.

  Tsuki's attackers all quickly turned to Hotaru as she swung the chain toward their legs, sweeping one of them off his feet. The chain swung faster and faster, halting the men's advance toward Tsukiko until Hotaru leapt forward, launching the end of the chain and hitting the knife-wielding man's shoulder. The blade tumbled out of his hand, and onto the ground.

  Hotaru ran forward, wrapping the chain around her knuckles, then punched him in the ribs. The man recoiled, stumbling to the ground as he grasped at his side, letting out a shout, then a low groan. Hotaru planted her boot on the blade before any of the others could reach for it.

  Tsuki stepped up to the man who'd so eagerly tried to kill her and started wailing on him. She viciously beat him down to the ground and kneeled on him just to keep swinging and swinging. She beat him till his face was nothing but red and blue lumps. His body reacted weakly to the beating, only limply raising his arms to defend himself.

  The last man, the only one of the three still standing, was frozen in fear. By the time Tsukiko stood back up from obliterating their leader, he had just enough energy to move his legs. He tried to turn and run away, but Tsukiko grabbed a trash can from nearby and threw it at him, slamming him down onto the asphalt. Tsukiko stomped over, grabbed the trash can and brought it crashing back down, crushing him beneath it.

  Before she could crush him again, Hotaru stopped her. "Alright, you've made your point!"

  Tsuki turned suddenly, still ready to strike.

  "Calm down!" Hotaru held up her hands.

  Tsukiko put a hand over her pounding heart, her whole body wavering and buckling under the weight of it all. She would've fallen to the ground had Hotaru not put an arm around her.

  "Let's get outta here, okay?"

  Hotaru kneeled down to grab the mask, then took a weakened, stumbling, and punchdrunk Tsukiko around the corner into a darkened alley, hoping to hide in the shadows. They kept walking and walking, from that alley to another, and then another.

  As they wandered further into the back alleys, Tsuki felt like she was going to vomit, gagging on the taste of fruity iron in her mouth. Her heart kept its pace, beating in her ear like a drum getting slammed over and over. With each step, her body ached more and more, and she felt weaker and weaker. Eventually, Hotaru couldn't keep her upright, and she fell to the ground.

  "C'mon, get up." Hotaru kneeled down and helped Tsukiko sit upright against a wall.

  Tsukiko let out the only words she could muster. "Goddamnit."

  There was a brief silence before Hotaru finally found her words.

  "What... happened back there?" Hotaru looked down at her. "You just about killed those guys. I've never seen you that angry."

  "They pushed me down, tried to stab me." Tsukiko shivered.

  "Are you okay?" Hotaru asked. "They didn't--"

  "I'm fine. They got pretty close, but I managed." Tsukiko lowered her head. "Things would've gone way worse if you weren't there. How'd you know where I was?"

  "I didn't." Hotaru said. "I was walking through the alleys, following the protest, when I ran into you."

  "Oh, right." Tsukiko muttered. "Shit. Where's Flowers?"

  "Flowers." Hotaru paused. "One of the Shakudos, right? I haven't run into any of them, sorry."

  Tsukiko tried to get back onto her feet, but Hotaru did her best to stop her.

  "Hey, slow down! Take a minute, catch your breath." Hotaru cautioned her.

  "I need to get back." Tsuki struggled.

  "Not like this. Not now." Hotaru lectured her. "You're still shaking."

  Tsukiko leaned back against the wall. "...I feel so weak. I should've been able to... to fight. I shouldn't have ended up like that."

  "It's been a long night..." Hotaru paused. "I heard about what happened with the cops. Maybe you pushed yourself too hard."

  "What the hell's happening to me?" Tsukiko's shaky breath finally started to even out.

  "You're panicked." Hotaru said.

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  "No, I just-- I saw the knife and I... I didn't know what to do." Tsuki lowered her head. "Then I got suckerpunched and I..."

  "What's wrong?"

  "I shouldn't have lost to them." Tsukiko tightened her hand into a fist. "I should've been able to fight back. I've done it a million times."

  "Performance anxiety?" Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "The yips?"

  "Don't even say that." Tsukiko started to get back onto her feet.

  "Hey, I'm worried about you, Tsuki." Hotaru said. "This is the first time I've seen you like this."

  "Like what?"

  "Cornered. Scared." Hotaru lowered her gaze. "If you push yourself too hard... No, I just wanna know if you're okay. If you're really okay, I mean."

  "I was a hair's width away from getting stabbed." Tsukiko looked her in the eyes. "...of course I'm scared."

  "I know." Hotaru stared. "And I also know it's not the first time. Not the second, either. What happened?"

  "I--" Tsuki tried to get the words out, then stopped.

  "Tsuki."

  "It's my own fault." Tsukiko shuddered. "If I hadn't stayed behind... If I'd left with the gang--"

  "No. You protected the protesters. You were doing your duty as a Knight."

  "I'm not a Knight." Tsuki shook her head.

  "No, listen. Nobody would've faulted you if you ran, but... you did the right thing. Don't start blaming yourself cuz of how things ended up. You wanted to protect people, and that's what you did. You did good."

  "...I saw what they did to the protesters. I saw all the blood and bruises. I heard them... kicking and screaming." Tsukiko lowered her head. "...and I don't know if they're in that situation cuz of me."

  "You're just as much of a victim as they are. Ishikawa betrayed your trust, just like he betrayed everyone else." Hotaru countered. "None of it is your fault."

  "Then whose fault is it?"

  "Not yours." Hotaru raised her voice slightly. "You're not the one setting the curfews or siccing the police on innocent people. They're not there to protest what you did, they're protesting what he did."

  Tsukiko struggled to find her words.

  "Please." Hotaru pleaded. "Don't let Ishikawa twist you into someone you're not. Don't let him get under your skin."

  Tsuki nodded slowly.

  "If you wanna keep going, then..." Hotaru paused to think. "Oh, I know. If you rejoin the protest--"

  "The protest? Is that a good idea?"

  "You should do anything you can to avoid fighting right now, and there's safety in numbers" Hotaru grabbed Tsukiko's still shaking hand. "Besides, just look at you. If you got caught alone like this--"

  "Alright, quit it." Tsukiko scolded her. "I'm not that weak."

  Hotaru held out the mask. Tsukiko hesitated for a moment, eventually grabbing it and putting it back on.

  Together, they left the alleys and returned to main streets, the both of them now heading back down toward where the protest had been. Though the city lights around her hadn't changed, Tsuki noticed the clouds that had formed overhead, stifling the glow of the stars above, and the cold wind that kicked up the trash and dust off the pavement.

  Tsuki's body still felt light and unstable, but she was finally able to put weight on her legs again. Hotaru kept a tense arm around the Knight to make sure she didn't stumble.

  "How far is it?" Tsuki asked.

  "The protest? ...it's kinda far. You ran a long way." Hotaru admitted. "But a little walking never slowed you down, huh?"

  Tsuki almost laughed.

  "I won't lie, it's a bit weird seeing you like this... all weak..." Hotaru's voice trailed off. "But in a way, it's comforting."

  "Comforting?"

  "Even you falter sometimes, don't you?" Hotaru said. "Even you've got your bad days."

  "My bad days can get me killed." Tsukiko muttered.

  "Mine aren't much better." Hotaru defended herself. "Why do you think I carry the chain?"

  "Right." Tsuki nodded.

  There was a moment of quiet in their conversation, only the sound of their boots and Tsuki's slightly labored breathing keeping them company.

  "I'm sorry." Hotaru said, out of the blue. "I'm sorry for... all of this."

  "Huh?"

  "You didn't need to go through all this." Hotaru lowered her head. "If we'd done more, if we'd done our due diligence... If I'd contacted you a little sooner or if the Ministry'd done a better job communicating--"

  "It's fine." Tsuki smiled behind the mask. "You didn't really ask anything of me in the end, anyway."

  "That..." Hotaru sighed. "Well, there were plans, before all this happened, but we kept you in the dark. Now, none of that matters."

  "And so, what?"

  Hotaru shrugged. "We're all just... waiting to see what happens. I'm their eyes on the street and they all want me to watch you."

  "I was worried, when I first met you, that they'd want me to be some... police stooge." Tsukiko struggled. "But... I'm thankful for everything you've done for me. It's nice to know that somebody has my back. Even if I haven't held up my end of the bargain."

  "Don't worry about the Ministry. You've done everything you can." Hotaru comforted her. "Besides, we're all in your debt, one way or another."

  Their conversation came to a close when someone ran past them, then another and another. Plainclothes civilians crossed their path, holding signs, banners, and cameras. Tsuki and Hotaru quietly followed them down that side street and discovered a strange scene at the end of the path. Protesters and police were clashing once again, but the balance of power had changed drastically.

  The protesters had grown stronger in number, forming a huge wall and pushing the police several blocks. The police at the other end were backing away slowly, letting the protest inch the line forward. The crowd pushed against their shields and stood strong against their batons. The officers on the police megaphones made their usual demands, but their voices sounded hurried and slightly panicked.

  Tsukiko and Hotaru tried their best to push through the crowds and hide among the crowd. Tsuki's mask stuck out like a sore thumb. She tried to keep her head down, but the quick glances and pointing fingers proved her efforts were futile.

  Looking around, Tsuki turned to her side and saw Asuka shoving her way through the protest to get to her. Tanaka followed not too far behind, aiming his camera at the crowd, the streets, towards the police, then finally at Tsukiko.

  "Tsuki!" Asuka shouted, her voice hard to hear among all the noise.

  "What's going on?" Tsuki shouted back.

  "C'mon, don't play dumb with me. Especially not with that mask." Asuka raised an eyebrow. "And don't even try to weasel out of another interview when this is all over."

  "No, I mean..." Tsuki looked around. "Did the cops just leave?"

  "No way, they're pushing them back!" Asuka pointed ahead. "After you left, a bunch more protesters arrived and the police got spread out too thin!"

  "Where'd they all come from?"

  An electronic voice bellowed. "Keep marching forward, don't let them intimidate you, don't let them divide you! Don't let them conquer you!"

  Tsuki looked all around for the source, as did Asuka and Tanaka, preparing their camera.

  "Don't let them take your freedoms, or your rights! Don't let them crush your dreams, don't let them crush the ordinary!" The voice shouted again.

  Tsuki looked up. The one and only Magicienne Musketeer Merlin stood above the protest, impossibly balanced on a thin, overhanging wire. Asuka tugged on Tanaka's shoulder and pointed up. Without hesitation, he immediately took aim with his camera and started taking shots of the Magicienne.

  "Terror and intimidation are their weapons! Do not fear them! Do not let these silver badged cowards hurt you!" Merlin shouted.

  Merlin had her Musketeer Umbrella under one arm and a pilfered police megaphone in her free hand, yelling down at the protesters below.

  "Don't let Izanami's act of defiance stand in vain!" Merlin's voice shuddered. "Together, you're just as strong as the Knights... No, stronger!"

  Her charged, idealistic war cries motivated the protesters to follow her lead and keep pushing forward. The people raised their hands and shouted back up at her, in full support of their new Magicienne idol. Tsuki kept her head down, just glad to see them all working together to resist the police.

  Asuka sighed. "Never a dull day this week, huh?"

  Tanaka nudged her. "But hey, these are some great shots! We can't back out now!"

  "I need a vacation..." Asuka muttered.

  Merlin and the protesters were pushing out of the alleys and small streets onto the main roads, probably out to find a new target of their pointed anger. Over their heads, Tsuki could see the police scrambling, falling back, with their defensive line becoming hazier and hazier as the protesters shoved them out of the way.

  In the distance, sirens screamed louder and louder, bringing with them more police, but it was too late. Somehow, the Magicienne Musketeer had formed a wall of people too big and rowdy to control. The police went from shouting out dispersal orders over the bullhorn to practically pleading with the protesters to stop.

  "Don't listen to them! Don't let them stop you till you have what you want in your grasp!" Merlin demanded. "No backing down! Let them know what you want and make them give it to you!"

  The crowd used its now immense mass to overwhelm the police. The protesters moved like a fluid down a pipe, squeezing down the road and washing their obstacles away with sheer numbers and motivation. With each marching step, the protesters chanted songs of freedom and of rebellion. The cacophony of it all reverberated through the streets, carrying an immense power through inner Tokyo's narrow alleys.

  The protest flowed down the narrow streets, its weight pushing down into an opening that led into a large, open park. As the protesters moved forward, a wall of screaming police vans and shouting riot cops cut off the protest, separating away and arresting the people who'd escaped the alleys.

  "Keep going, don't stop! Tread on them if you have to!" Merlin shouted from above. "They'll do everything they can to stop you, but you must keep going!"

  Merlin's protesters did as she said, pushing their way through the riot police, and utterly overpowering them with their combined might. They smashed the windows and windshields on the squad cars and police vans in their way, some staying to slash their tires and scratch obscenities into their paint.

  "We can't get caught up in this." Tsuki turned to Hotaru. "D'you see a way out?"

  "N-no." Hotaru's head swung from side to side, looking for an exit.

  "Damnit." Tsukiko started pushing through the crowd.

  "Tsuki, no!" Hotaru cried, but the wall of people held her back.

  As Tsukiko walked forward, the protesters once again caught wind of who she was and parted to let her through. They started cheering again, or maybe they didn't. Tsuki couldn't hear a damn thing over the battle of volume going on between the protesters, the police, and Merlin's megaphone. She pushed through faster and faster, the energy returning to her weakened body.

  When she neared the front of the protest, Tsuki caught a glimpse of golden light reflecting off of a black mask. Flowers was there, shoulder to shoulder with the Shakudos, fighting with all the strength she could muster to push the police back. They'd all put themselves in harm's way to protect the protesters, just as Tsukiko had.

  "Boss!" Flowers shouted back. "Thank god you're okay!"

  Tsukiko heard one of the cops yell out her new name, Izanami, and they all turned to her. She readied herself for a fight that never came. Though they tried to redouble their efforts, the Shakudos had already done a hell of a job fighting them off. Soon after, they were forced to retreat and regroup again, their vans kicking into reverse and speeding away with all the men they could carry.

  The crowd was free to move into the park and expand outward, with more people coming in from adjacent streets. It was the most people Tsuki'd ever seen in one place.

  "Boss!" Flowers ran over and hugged Tsukiko.

  The crowd started cheering a third time. Tsuki was starting to get used to it, but the mask made it all... bittersweet.

  FROM THE AUTHOR: I'll admit, I'm feeling a bit demoralized after this last chapter. Sometimes, it feels like the harder I try to get a chapter out faster, the worse we end up doing in regards to our scheduling. I don't wanna be writing this book for the rest of my life, y'know. I have other ideas I'd like to explore before I die. Oh well...

  At least this chapter has a lot going on for it. It's a whole lot longer than your typical chapter. I usually aim for around 2500 to keep things from running on too long, but this one is almost 1100 words longer. I guess we had a lot to say.

  This chapter is basically a combination of several different ideas into one, since I'd originally had a planned path forward that eventually had a wrench thrown into it. The part where Hotaru and Tsukiko talk to one another was originally an entire chapter of its own that led into... well, I can't really say cuz that would spoil Chapter 50, but it led into an initially more emotional part of the story that is now pushed back a bit as we try to fit in all the ideas I wanted to do but never found the time to fit in. The pacing might get a big strange cuz of that, but I really don't feel comfortable calling this a finished story till we see the return of the rest of The Knights Himura. I think most readers would agree.

  If you really want to keep up with me on an account that I post semi-professionally on (as opposed to the nonsensical wastelands that are my Twitter and Tumblr accounts), you can check me out on bsky at (though that @ may change some day, cuz I've got my own URL at too)

  EDITOR'S NOTE: "Hello everyone, thank you for your continued readership! And apologies upfront for the long, long wait for this current chapter.

  Full honesty, we had no ideas coming into this chapter initially, and we went through three different iterations before we started editing proper...and then we wound up pulling out ideas, from the prior drafts, to put into the chapter because it felt improper to throw them out.

  In the end, the process of writing this chapter was rather fun if somewhat messy. We can only hope that the fun of playing around with all these different concepts carries across in reading the final version...and we REALLY hope that it doesn't come across as too "all over the place"!

  Next chapter's general concept is already set in stone and there's already a working skeleton for it, so it should not take quite as long to edit. Thank you very much for your patience!"