Read Online Demon City Shinjuku: The Complete Edition by Hideyuki Kikuchi - Free Book Online

two-headed dog clambered down the stairs. Its two mouths gaped wide, red tongues flicking out like flames from between its fangs.
    Her aim was true but late. Struck by the animal’s body, Sayaka tumbled across the tiled floor, striking the back of her head. Her consciousness wavered. Before her eyes, the pair of mouths and their spiky fangs closed on her. And the head of a different creature behind them.
    Father—!
    As hope vanished from her thoughts, her father and the face of a young man sprang up in her mind’s eye. The raw breaths hot on her neck, Sayaka fainted.
    She was suddenly resting much easier. Along with the smell of burning flesh, the primal screams faded to silence.
    Someone patted her cheeks. “Hang in there, Miss.”
    Sayaka opened her eyes. Three men bent over her. Two of them wore leather jackets in the street gang style—they were human beings—and the other was a cyborg with a hairless metal skull, the heavy-duty interstellar type with especially wide shoulders. A space cyborg.
    The shorter and smaller of the two gangbangers helped her to her feet. Four two-headed dogs lay on the ground around them, their bodies all scorched, with one still smoldering. A strange smell shrouded the cramped ticket area that made her sick to her stomach.
    She was still a bit spaced out. She rapped the side of her head and said to her rather rancid rescuers, “Thank you very much.” She meant it from the bottom of her heart.
    â€œHey, no problem. Wanted to test-fire the little bugger. Turned out pretty handy for black market shit.”
    The short man held up the heater gun in his right hand. He had a kindhearted face compared to his companions. Though that could be because he wasn’t missing his eyebrows and nose like the other human. Their clothing and black market weapons identified the three as being with one of the many street gangs that ruled Shinjuku.
    Shorty’s big counterpart said, “Looks like the rest took off.” He glanced up the staircase. He looked a lot meaner and held a heater as well.
    Shorty added helpfully, “You gotta be careful about going outside. No telling what could be creepy crawling around out there. You should take a break in here for a while.”
    Sayaka followed the three onto the Marunouchi station platform. She recalled that the subway system was hit hard by the Devil Quake. This station, though, seemed to have come through relatively unscathed. Such were the whimsies of the Devil Quake.
    A portable stove sat in a corner on the Yotsuya-bound side of the platform. Beer bottles and pressurized food containers were scattered about. The fire from the stove lit up the immediate environment. The three must have bivouacked here for the night.
    â€œWant something to eat?”
    Shorty held out one of the food packs. It was illustrated with a generic picture of stew and had a tiny fork attached. Despite having just narrowly escaped being eaten to death herself, Sayaka was suddenly very hungry.
    â€œI appreciate it,” she said with a nod. She pulled on the ring. With a soft pop, the frozen, pressure-sealed synthetic meat and gravy began to swell and simmer as the chemicals in the thermal pad fused and heated. The pack expanded to the size of a dinner plate.
    The other two men eyed Sayaka suspiciously as she ate, but didn’t interrupt. When she was finished, she got out her wallet, and then realized that she didn’t have any cash on her.
    â€œUm,” she said apologetically, “is there an ATM around here?”
    The three blinked in surprise. Shorty grinned. “What, for the food? Naw, it’s on the house.”
    â€œNo, I really want to compensate you.”
    The big man leaned in and said, “In this city, keeping these heater guns of ours charged costs a pretty penny, you know. Fifty-thousand credits for the meal.”
    â€œHey,” Shorty said with a scowl. “Don’t give the little lady a hard