Maohden Vol. 2 Read Online Free PDF

person at the hospital , Azusa had concluded. The midwife had said that when the seal awakened, signs and omens would show the way. Setsura’s father, Renjo Aki, had been present at the birth and had told her as much.
    If the seal was a human being, it stood to reason that those signs and omens should manifest themselves in a psychological or physiological form. If the seal did not realize what was happening, a hospital would be the logical place for it to end up.
    Setsura must have gotten word from a hospital informant that such a thing had indeed happened. A patient with a most unusual ailment.
    That’s why he had proceeded to Kikuicho with Azusa to a small bar. The place was swarming with cops. A bystander said that the manager of the place and her lover had been murdered the night before. Their daughter should be around, but she was nowhere to be found.
    Rumors were the daughter had done the deed. Other rumors said she’d been kidnapped by a biker gang. After that, Setsura made a call and they’d proceeded to the gang’s crib in San’eicho, in the ruins of the old Shinjuku Technical High School.
    That call had been to one of his informants.
    In the face of Setsura’s wire-wielding martial arts, the gang members turned on each other before confessing that the girl had been sold to the organizers of the Death Match at the Shinjuku Coliseum in Shin-Okubo.
    Setsura left things in East Gokencho in her hands and soared off to Shin-Okubo. The hems of his black slicker flapping like the wings of a bird, he’d disappeared into the night sky.
    Leaving Azusa here, standing on the diagonal of an almost perfectly square lot between the mortuary and the convenience store in the midst of the Tohan ruins.
    The way Azusa saw the situation, Setsura hadn’t said it out loud, but whatever the deal was with this Gento Roran chap, something was buried here that was damned important to the both of them. The employees of the convenience store had been tasked with digging it up.
    Otherwise, no way would he have left her behind to keep an eye on things.
    It was time to do a little detective work on her own. The question of what it was piqued her curiosity. She also wanted to stay in Setsura’s good graces. And was additionally intrigued by the mystery of what was going on between him and Gento.
    Azusa bent over and pressed her ear to the ground. She couldn’t hear a thing. Wherever they were digging, it must be deep underground. And the earth had to go somewhere. Probably to the mortuary.
    That was a lot of work and a lot of wariness. Why all the secrecy? What were they keeping secret? Azusa quickly tired of theorizing. It was time for a little breaking and entering. She got to her feet.
    Something moved behind her.
    She whirled around. It vanished without a sound. The night was hot and heavy and deathly quiet.
    And again.
    Azusa seized a small stone and flung it square at the center of the target. Whatever had been there wasn’t. The darkness flowed back undisturbed.
    A foe who could manipulate its “presence” possessed a most frightening ability. An intrigued smile rose to her lips. The challenge of a good fight stirred her blood. She reached for the Smith & Wesson Model 29 tucked into the holster fastened around her hips.
    She didn’t cock it. No sense in showing her cards too early. She estimated the distance between herself and the street buggy. About forty yards. The question was whether she could make it.
    Her arms and legs reacted before her brain answered the question. She sprang away, weaving between the mountains of rubble. That presence appeared on her right. She glanced in that direction. There was nothing in her line of sight.
    She looked down.
    There he was. A small shadow on the ground. At first, she thought it was a wild dog. He was dressed in rags, long hair fluttering in the wind. Human. His hands dragged on the ground aside his feet as he galloped along like a great ape.
    More than fear, Azusa felt an almost