The next three and a half weeks passed in a frenzy of tense waiting. Emiko even felt as if a storm was gathering around her; dark clouds gathered more and more... only to finally turn into an ominous roar and terror at the ceremony in the Munich library.
From the day Karl and Lotte tried to set her up with Johan, she never met him directly again. The week before, she'd only managed to pick the brown-haired girl into the pastry shop, but otherwise nothing else had happened; the young Tenma made sure that nothing like that would happen - although she would run into the blonde on the University campus several times during this time, she was so careful in all places there, that she deftly avoided any confrontation. Besides, her head was busy with something else.
Mainly the nearest ceremony of handing over Schuwald's book collection.
When the day she had been waiting for, she packed the pistol she had long kept hidden deep in the closet, in her backpack, feeling that this situation would be the first and the last in which she would use its capabilities. She also took a small portion of food with her, at the same time, taking nothing to drink.
She looked around the room and thought she wouldn't be able to spend the next night here... she sighed. After that, she made sure she had everything she needed with her, and then left the apartment, locking the door behind her.
****
Loudspeakers at the library began to signal that it would be closed soon. Emiko quickly went to the very back of the room and looked carefully around.
'Where would be the most perfect place for me to hide?' She didn't notice any good nook anywhere, but... she remembered something. 'When I was a child, I loved climbing trees... So maybe if...' A satisfied smile appeared on her face. 'Of course...' She didn't hesitate anymore and climbed the shelves to the top of the bookcase, then laid her body on it. In this position, she decided to wait out all night and then most of the day, until the time of ceremony.
****
That night she was awake restlessly. She was unable to get a good night's sleep for several reasons. First of all - every now and then a night bodyguard with a flashlight walked around the building and carefully watched the area patrolling by himself; second, the bookcase was cold and hard, which made it impossible for the girl to find a comfortable position that she had to change from time to time. And finally, thirdly - she felt an incredible rush of emotions, because the next day was to bring a big finale...
These thoughts tormented her all night, so even though she managed to doze off several times, she still felt incredibly tired and sleepy. In fact, it wasn't until around noon that she fully woke up from her lethargy when she heard the sound from the pluggable microphone by the people who were preparing this place for the ceremony.
Slowly, she rolled over on her stomach and took a small muffin out of her backpack, then began to eat the last of the provisions she had left after the night. As she ate her little breakfast slowly, she began to observe the whole situation.
'Tests with the sound... They're running with these chairs pretty much...' Her eyes following all the people below, at one point darkened greatly. 'When it all ends... What will I do then?'
The girl turned her head slightly to the side and saw something that made her almost choke on her last bite.
Far away from her, but also on top of the bookshelf, Kenzo was laying on his stomach with a huge sniper rifle at his side.
'Thanks God that my bookcase is almost against the wall! Due to the fact that it is darker here than in other parts of the library, my brother shouldn't notice me...' Young Tenma finished her meal, which on that day seemed barren and tasteless, as if she were chewing sawdust. She only really feed herself as much as she needed to avoid fainting at the least expected moment of the day. Never before had eating felt like such an unwanted activity in her life... She laid her head on the wooden planks and mentally began the slow countdown to the beginning of the ceremony.
****
Finally, it started. In front of a fairly large crowd of guests, a Schuwald's trolley was bringed closer, followed by applause from those gathered there. Emiko stared at the celebrities, then noticed that Johan was standing on one side at a distance, by the lower bookshelves. She started to study his silhouette carefully.
"Today we would like to thank the head of the financial group, Mr. Hans Georg Schuwald, thanks to whom the library of the University of Munich was endowed with this wonderful collection of books. They are an extremely valuable asset. It can be said that it is one of the best collections in Germany. Thanks to it, we can say..." The speech was continued, and Emiko's eyes again began to wander around the shelves surrounding her, until she returned to her brother.
In that moment, her heart skipped a beat - Kenzo was aiming at someone with a rifle in his hands.
'God!!!'
She quickly followed the probable direction in which his barrel was directed... and it fell on the blonde, who was standing at the side of the shelves. As soon as she returned to the Japanese doctor, who was holding the trigger, she felt agony spreading throughout her body. After all, she couldn't come up to him or scream... because it would immediately seem that they were there as uninvited guests...! She nervously watched the scene unfolding in front of her for several more seconds, during which she made a new discovery - that her brother's hands are trembling.
In an instant, her eyes flashed open as she realized the reality - Kenzo was unable to shoot. This situation made her fully convinced of his innocence, and she felt her eyes slowly begin to be moist... but there was no time for that. Just moments later, she realized with horror that there was a sizeable man sneaking onto the bookcase where Kenzo was, whom she immediately recognized.
'He's... He's the one who wanted to kill Dr. Reichwein!! He...' At the same moment a sudden arrow flew into her mind, where it flew through all her memories of the last two years. The girl felt as if she felt incredibly dizzy in an instant, then a momentary darkness came.
This darkness, however, was quickly dispelled by the current emotions within her, and in an instant she remembered who this man was.
She met him on the first day after her arrival in Germany, sitting on a bench by the street when she was feeding a hungry pigeon...! Just knowing that she had been so close to such a dangerous man for that moment made her feel faint again. If only she knew then!
Kenzo was hit in the face by a man in a suit, then the man took the rifle from him with a quick movement and aimed it towards the stage, where a cart with Schuwald was brought to the podium ... Emiko immediately took her pistol out of her backpack, seeing that Johan also started to approach the stage.
The moment Tenma threw himself at his opponent and fell to the floor with him, everything was decided. The girl in one movement slipped off the bookcase and began to sneak towards them in order to somehow protect him.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened - there were several explosions at the bottom of the library; one after another. In an instant, all the people gathered there broke up with a cry of panic, and Emiko stopped for a few seconds in terror.
'What's going on here?!'
The fire started inexorably, and as a result, in a short time the entire huge room was filled with smoke, which choked in the throat and made it difficult to breathe freely. The young woman directed her steps decisively towards her brother, feeling that she had to save him first, from the danger. She realized that then she could become a target too, but it didn't bother her. She was ready to make such a sacrifice for the person who was most dear to her.
As she walked towards the two men invisible to her, she cast a few more glances down the stairs on the way, realizing that complete chaos had arisen. Screaming people ran in all directions, running as far as possible from the flames, which inexorably tightened their circle more and more and covered the whole area with smoke stinging in the eyes.
Amid all this panic, she suddenly heard a shot, followed immediately by another.
At the dull sound of metal, her heart almost stopped and she felt incredibly hot. In one move, she ran towards the source of the shots - behind the shelves, where she knew that Kenzo was now.
She stopped moving in near neighborhood of the windows.
Her brother stood with his back to her, a pistol in one of his hands. However, there was no trace of the big man anymore.
'No...'
She felt her heart leap into her throat.
'...he couldn't...'
She stood still, staring at the Japanese man in front of her, unable to collect her thoughts in any way.
'...my brother... couldn't...'
But there was no time even for such contemplation. Kenzo Tenma jumped up from his seat, then immediately headed for the stairs, which then began to run down to the other part of the library. For a moment, Emiko felt that her legs began to refuse to obey her, because they began to tremble under her shaking body. She bit down on her lower lip with all her strength to forcefully return to her senses. A trickle of blood seeped from under her clenched teeth, bringing her minimal sobriety. It was enough for her.
The girl tightened her hand on the pistol, then quickly followed her brother to prevent an even more terrible thing from happening.
As she ran down the stairs, she immediately realized that even on them were people suffocating from the smoke that was already present everywhere, whom were trying to get out. It blocked her field of view incredibly much, making it extremely difficult for her to locate the Japanese. Though she searched persistently, she couldn't find him anywhere.
At last she heard them - next shots. With her heart pounding, she turned and as the smoke thinned a little in one place, she saw that Kenzo had shot away the hinges, and then, with the help of several men, he began to breach the locked door. She breathed a sigh of relief.
'How lucky those shots weren't for Johan... I couldn't stand if...'
However, she didn't enjoy this fact for a long time. As soon as the door was forcibly opened, the Japanese doctor directed his steps back into the flames.
Emiko licked her bloody lip and quickly headed towards the stage, where she expected to meet the demon she had tracked over the last two years. She knew this was her only chance to end it all...
****
She saw him standing in the flames, shrouded in sparks from the remains of the burned to ashes books. With a slow step she began to move towards him, having in her eyes the meaning of the whole life of mankind, tinged at the same time with sadness, despair and the desire to save her dearest brother. She knew that the moment she'll pull the trigger, she would never be able to meet his eyes again, but... she had come to terms with this thought a long time ago and became close to it. She was ready for the greatest humiliation and fall, if that was the only way she could save him.
She looked around the area, which was submerged in clouds of smoke. On one side her brother stood aiming at the blonde-haired young man who was slowly approaching him from the side of the stage. Without haste, he loosened the hands he was holding behind, and one of them slowly walked with his index finger to the center of his forehead.
It looked as if he was just waiting for the final shot from the Japanese doctor, and an icy chill ran through the girl's body.
'He wants... my brother to...' She frowned. 'No... I have to... I have to stop my brother!!!'
Suddenly a loud female scream was heard, which immediately caught Emiko's brother attention. The scream didn't come out of her mouth, however. On the stage next to Schuwald stood a young, beautiful girl with a gun in her hand, in which Kenzo's sister recognized Nina Fortner.
"You can't do that, Dr. Tenma!!!"
"Nina?! Stop, Nina!! Stop it!!!"
The blonde didn't want to listen to him. In an instant, the room was filled with more pistol shots, aimed directly at the Monster, hiding more and more in the flames.
Even though Johan had disappeared from the sight of Kenzo's and Nina's eyes, obscured by the smoke, Emiko could still see his figure moving slowly. She began to breathe faster and faster, slowly lifting her hands up and aiming at the Monster with her own weapon. She knew that at such a distance she wouldn't miss.
'I'll shoot... I have to... shoot...'
Her heart was beating like mad, and the air was filled with fear, poured out on all the participants of the ceremony, who were choking with smoke. She knew that she wouldn't allow Kenzo to bear this burden alone... She knew that she wouldn't allow her brother to hurt himself even more.
****
The monster, walking slowly, slightly leaned over the flames. He carefully watched every movement and gaze, every scream and helplessness, all the fear that reigned in the library. How disappointing has Dr. Tenma's behavior become...
The whole scenery of Doomsday was reflected in his eyes. The heavy air burned from the rubbles burned to ashes, and the wisdom of generations, which so many people had preserved in books for centuries, was brutally destroyed and torn apart by the flames into nothingness...
****
This was what Emiko saw when his back was slowly walking away to the other side. She pointed her finger towards the trigger, then rested it on it and slowly squeezed more and more...
The monster paused in his walk and unexpectedly slowly turned towards her, a gentle smile on his lips. The girl realized with horror that among all these devastating flames, he began to look straight into her eyes.
Her legs and hands began to tremble again under the pressure of her inner emotions. In a few seconds, in the eyes of a young woman, great pain and helplessness mixed with faith in another human being so great that nothing could change it.
Emiko understood.
She finally understood it so well.
When Johan pointed his finger at his head again, the girl knew that she wouldn't be able to pull the trigger to end the life of another human. Even if that human is a Monster.
A Monster that had done hell to her brother, without hesitation.
From the internal flustration that began to devour her body, Emiko felt that although she had been striving for this moment for so long, she was unable to end it. She looked into the eyes of the demon, conveying to him all her emotions hidden in that one terrible moment, in the farthest pits of her soul. He, on the other hand, watched it all carefully, sneaking into its depths farther and farther, to the very end.
And then, the darkness came.
The monster didn't take his eyes off the figure of the girl, who unexpectedly slumped and hit the ground hard, blowing clouds of fiery smoke around herself...