Shift

[Andromeda]

“Afraid of his sister?” Saki teased.

“Damn right!” He caught Yuki from slipping off his shoulder in all of their arguing. “And you’re not?”

She backed a step away from Seiji with her face turning a little blue. “Well—“ Everything in her face went pale suddenly. Sweat started to build up over her face.

Seiji leaned forward trying to figure out what had Saki so frightened. He just lightly mentioned Yuki’s sister and did not expect to get such a reaction for him. “Saki?” However, she was not answering him. Approaching her more, Seiji tried to get her voice working, but all she did was point at him. “The hell’s wrong with you?” She just kept pointing with her face getting worse and worse.

Then Seiji felt the presence. The ominous over bearing presence that seeped into every pore. The one more frightening than any of those that he fought in Atlantis. It made his whole body sweat and lock up. Seiji turned as if he was rusty behind him towards the door. The door was open and filled with the most terrifying image any of them had seen. “Oh crap…Momoko…”

Momoko stared at them not even saying anything. The fact that she held silence only made the scene worse for them. It was as if they were thieves in the night caught in the act. Everything aimed directly at them.

Not certain where things were going, Seiji took a step back. “Now Momoko, this isn’t what it looks like.” He looked over at Saki for some support. “Hey, Saki! Back me up here!” Unfortunately, she was useless. Neither of them were good at handling Yuki’s older sister. She always had a huge protective streak even more so than Saki, if that could be believed. It was why they tried keeping her in the dark about a lot of the trouble that Yuki got involved in.

Unfortunately, there was no hiding what they did. In fact, it actually looked worse than it was or perhaps it did not look as worse as it should. Seiji had to reconsider Yuki’s reality, the one that Momoko could not know about. If she knew, none of them would make it out of their house alive. ‘Damnit Yuki, why’d you have to pass out? Only you would have gotten a yelling at…’

Chapter 288 – Family

Stepping backwards a little in progress, Fumiko stood in front of her house. The lights were not on. It was the late evening by the time they got through all of the trouble at the docks and back to their neighborhood.

She was not sure what she expected from the house. Or even her parents for that matter. They did not come rushing out to see her. She did not even know if they knew she returned. ‘I didn’t exactly leave on the best terms. I just yelled at them before I left. Am I even welcome?’ Standing before her house, it almost seemed selfish of her. She expected nothing to be different. She expected everything to just return to how things were before. She could start her life back up.

That was how it should have been. Yuki’s quest was over. Her involvement in things ended. While she did not feel like she repaid him for saving her life in full, she did all she could for him. There was nothing left she could do. Her part in things was over.

A normal life was all she had to return to now. A home waited for her, maybe. It could have been that she demanded the home be waiting on her instead. It was a complicated feeling. ‘What do I do now? Everything just goes back to the way things were before? I return to being a student like nothing happened?’ She could not move her body forward. Was such a notion even possible for her?

In the distance, a loud noise erupted, shattering the peace of the neighborhood. For Fumiko’s enhanced hearing it almost sounded like it was near to her. She immediately flipped around. Magic circles spun out over her arm quickly with flames hovering off her hand. ‘An enemy?! Where?’ Sweat built up over her face in uncertainty. Her eyes darted around to locate where they hid.

Nothing.

The noise never came back. All she could hear was the wind. Her entire body had tightened up to the point it felt like she could snap at any moment. ‘Relax it’s nothing…’ Fumiko tried to calm herself down, but the anxiety already took over for her. She pressed her back up against the property wall before she fell down. Her body could not stop shaking.

It took her forever to actually calm down. All her mind could do was race thinking about all of the possible ways the enemy could come at her. She did not feel safe even though she should have. It was her home. It was not Atlantis. The threat was over. She did not have anything to fear from sneak attacks.

She did not know when it happened, but as she finally came down from her panic attack, she heard some familiar voices. They started out as distant, something she thought she had been hearing the entire time.

“Fumiko? Can you hear me, dear?”

“Fumiko!”

Fumiko stared a little confused for a moment. She saw them, but they looked out of focus to her. “Dad? Mom…”

They helped her up to her feet when they saw she could finally acknowledge them. Perhaps it could just returned to normal. Maybe a happy ending was possible, even for someone like her.


The meeting for Yumi and Yori was not so dramatic. In fact, it did not even happen. When they opened the door to their house and announced their return, no one met them. Yumi went around the house quickly to check to see if their mother was asleep. When she entered the kitchen, she found Yori. “She’s not here.”

Yori agreed with her quickly and produced a paper. It had her writing on it. “Seems that she’s already working tonight.” He pointed to the trash bin in the corner noting few other papers looking very similar to the one he held.

They had been gone longer than planned. She stared at their mother’s handwriting for a minute. It might have only been a paper with ink, but she felt how important it was. The feelings from it bleed into her hand. “We’re finally home, Yori.”

“It’s over now.”

Yumi dropped the paper to the table. She approached her brother. Her hand wanted to reach out for him, but it still shook. It was something that became more manageable, but her mind still had trouble forgetting the nightmares. All she really had done was improve how to hide her feelings from him. It made her feel awful that she could not even feel comfortable around him anymore. He was her brother and the most important person to her and yet she could not even look at him without fear crawling down her neck.

Despite it, she had to keep appearances up. It was nothing he could do for her. In fact, all it would do was put distance between them.

“Thank you for putting up with my selfish requests.” She had never really actually apologized or thanked him for going along with Yuki despite the dangers. It was worse on him given what happened to him. Because of her insistence, he had been captured, even interrogated. He had to fight as a result of her. “I’m sorry, Yori.”

He dropped a hand on her head to ease her concerns. “You don’t have to Yumi. We both made choices. Everything worked out in the end.”

“You’re right…”


“Lady Chiharu, you’ve returned,” spoke Tamotsu sliding the doors open to Chiharu’s room.

She had just popped out of the shadows and barely even set a foot into her room. Chiharu stared at the older man for a long time. Her mind went through numerous responses for him. However, she simply just walked forward. He made room for her as she came to the threshold.

Following behind her with still no response, Tamotsu tried to determine what happened to her. However, he was not making any progress against her stonewall. It seemed her expression had improved in her time away. “You’ve been missing for a month, Lady Chiharu. What have you been doing? The men—“

Chiharu came to a stop. Her head tilted over her shoulder to look back at Tamotsu. “Are you so incompetent to not be able to handle the morale of the men in my absence, Tamotsu?” The look in her eyes suddenly became very demanding. She expected a lot from him.

‘She’s changed quite a bit in her disappearance, what happened to her?’ It was a little trouble for him. He thought he had her under his control, but when he could not stop her from her leaving she left his grasp. However, it was nothing he could not handle. “I merely am a single man. While I can keep the men together, you’re the Head. They look to you and a missing Head only invites disruption.”

Her eyes narrowed a little watching him longer. However, there was nothing to be found. All she could see was his loyalty and concern. He was useless. He just followed her and waited on her action. He did nothing on his own. “That’s why I’ve returned, Tamotsu.”

Chiharu threw open the doors to the main hall. The small numbers of what remained of her clan’s men loosely gathered about. They looked unmotivated and even lost. It annoyed her to no end to see how empty her men looked. “What the hell is wrong with all of you?!” she yelled, announcing her arrival in the most thunderous way possible.

The sound of her small, but barking voice was all they needed to jump up. A moment later, they all charged after their tiny leader hardly acting the part of cold-blooded killers. Chiharu pushed them off her trying to get them under control, but they were impossible to deal with. They had not seen her for so long. “Damnit! Are you all babies? Children!”

“Lady Chiharu!”

After she fought them all off and put them into their place, she had them lined up in front of her. ‘Though small we maybe, the Higoshi won’t be able to stop us. It’s not about the numbers, but the individuals.’ Chiharu saw all of the fierce loyalty in her men’s eyes. They might have been pathetic, but they were her men and they looked to her. ‘This is mine to accept…’

Taking a step forward, she took up a strong position before them all. “Now that I’ve returned, I’m not going to be letting any of your slack off! The Higoshi Clan thinks that we’re weak and open for attack. We’ll show them how wrong that they are! Starting today, you’re all getting my special training!” Chiharu bunched up her hands together in a familiar excited look she borrowed from someone else. “Prepare for hell!”

Tamotsu watched from her right flank. He saw the fire that Chiharu lit in all of the men. ‘She was nearly crushed by the weight of leadership before, what’s changed about her? This is going to be more troublesome than I expected. I may have to advance things sooner that I planned. The time for Chiharu Chinen to die might be sooner than I foresaw…’


“…and you show…Yuki…wrong with…”

All he could hear from yelling or more like lecturing. The volume was consistent, but never actually made it painful to hear. It just did not seem to stop. His head was still fuzzy that he could not catch everything going on. However, he did recognized one thing. “Momo?”

It was enough to stop the endless battery from Momoko. “Yuki!” She immediately turned around to look at Yuki, laid out on the couch. Despite what seemed like never taking a break for a breath and she still managed to hear his soft voice. “Are you alright?”

He still tried to get his baring on everything. “Yeah, I think so…” His eyes turned about the room starting to recognize things. It was his house, the living room and across the table was Seiji and Saki. He got up with a little help from his sister. Though his body did not have any pain it still felt like he was fatigued like someone ran him on a treadmill for hours without even water. “I’m thirsty…”

“Right!” She immediately jumped up to her feet and bolted for the kitchen.

Yuki still trying to figure out what was going on. He could see his friends more clearly than before. They looked like they had been through hell and seen death itself in the face. “What’s the better with you two? I don’t know what I look like, but I’d almost say you look worse than I feel.”

“You’re not far off,” answered Seiji.

Saki could only muster up a ‘yeah’ in a very halfhearted way.

It did not really make a lot of sense to him, but his little brothers did not really give him much opportunity really to understand them before they were all over him. He did not even have the energy to fight them off. They completely had their way with him.

Momo returned with a glass she handed to Yuki. “Come on, you two!” She glared down at Jun and Ken grabbing them off Yuki. “Your brother’s very tired right now. I know you’re excited to see him again, but give him some space!”

“Yes, Momo…”

Amongst the chaos of reunions, the disciplined two tried to sneak out of the house. They wanted to avoid another hour of Momoko telling them everything that they did wrong. Neither knew how she had enough to say for so long without actually repeating herself, but she managed it still. However, she appeared behind the two of them as they slipped on their shoes. “Where are you to going?”

“Ah, didn’t want to get the way now that Yuki’s awake,” Seiji quickly replied. He stared at Saki who tried to use her speed to leave with the door already wide open. He did not want to be abandoned to Momoko, she had more problems with him than Saki.

Momoko grabbed the both of them by the neck. Either through fear or a real source of strength, neither could escape her. She leaned her head between them. “Thank you.” They stared at her in a little surprise not expecting to her that from her. It was not another lecture. “…for bring him back to us…”

Saki and Seiji both stared at Momoko needing a moment to take it all in. They could see that she was almost on the verge of tears. She was happy to have him and not any worse than he left. They could only smile a little with deep guilt sitting in their chests. While already individually agreed upon, they made a personal pack between them never to tell Momoko the truth.

It was the only thing that they could think to do. Cruel as it was to do, it would have far more cruel to know the truth. It was not the right answer, but it was the best answer.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Yuki’s house fell behind them into the background. All they could think about was the look on his sister’s face. She had relief. Even though she was likely upset with Yuki leaving, she was glad he returned. She had no idea what he was doing. Yuki made it pretty clear to them that he left them in the dark on what he was planning. He in a way just left without a word. The return of her brother could not have made her any happier.

Yet it weighed on the two of them. They knew what Yuki had to do and the future he had in store for himself now. His fate or destiny, whatever people wanted to call it, had already been locked. It might have been forced on him even if he made the choice himself, a choice of circumstance. Yet none of it changed the eventuality he faced like all Kings before him. Atlantis’ dark secret kept from them until the end.

It seemed far too cruel to say and even more heartless to explain. It was a horrible situation where there was nothing good to be had from it. Seiji and Saki hoped, believed, prayed they took the right course.

For such a family, it was a terrible curse.

Chapter 289 – Uneasy Night

It was not as though Saki need the company or even the protection back to her place. Seiji just did not feel like immediately returning home. Part of it did come from the fact that they both had similar thoughts and emotions on the mind. So it came as part of a weird licking each other wounds as they both knew the feeling. All of it played out in silence.

When Saki reached her home, she departed without a word. Not even a wave, but it was not something that bothered Seiji. He just acknowledged her disappeared up the stairs to the apartment.

Seiji came to a stop long after she disappeared. He turned around looking at the complex. His eyes stared off in the distance seeing where Yuki was. Everyone of their friends returned to someone, to family. It got him thinking about strange things that he had not even thought about for years. ‘…I wonder if she’s… Even though she left so long ago…’ Seiji shook his head needing to focus. It was not the time to get distracted.

The thoughts lingered for a little while, but he turned away to focus on the road. Or at least what served as a road, since grass and nature covered everything. The change was actually not that big for him, since he had been used to Atlantis for so long. However, the unusual clash with nature and civilization made the homecoming a little less meaningful. It was not the way they remembered, even if it was how it was now.

Saki stood in front of the door for several minutes trying to come up with a plan. She did not exactly leave on the best terms with her mother. ‘This is actually worse than the way Yuki left. He just disappeared mostly. Mom actually knows I left and for Yuki’s sake. She’s never gotten over the past…’ The thought of all sorts of scenarios went through her mind.

Hesitation got her nowhere, as she expected. It only dragged things out. She did not have an answer to her dilemma. She wondered if she would ever have an answer to it. Standing around outside of the door was not solving anything.

At the end, all she could do was just open the door and deal with things as they came. No plan was probably the best thing. Though she feared how many mistakes she would make as she fumbled. ‘I’ll just have to live with it. Weird how I’d rather take on two Rheia’s than my own mother…’ The thought made her laugh a little as she opened the door.

It ended up happening a lot sooner than she expected. Bad timing could not have come at a worse moment. She had no preparation for actually confronting the situation so quickly. “Hey…” Saki greeted, weakly to her mother standing slack jawed at her daughter’s return. “I’m home.”

Her mother stood in mid action, trying to help Noriko to the kitchen for something. A wash of emotions ran through her face. The most noticeable was anger, powerful anger.

However, it was stunted quickly by Noriko realizing that Saki had returned. “Sis!” She broke free from the directed motions and sped over to Saki. “You’re back!” Noriko jumped up quickly to greet her big sister. “Did you beat up all of those bad guys?!” She made tiny little fists to try to illustrate her words.

Saki immediately turned down away from her mother. Half of her did not want to deal with it, but the rest could not ignore her little sister. She knew her mother wanted to get into it over Yuki, but it was not the time. Not in front of Noriko.

Bending down, she reached eye level with Noriko. Saki caught her fists that she tossed about. “Yup! I stopped every last one of them. Now you don’t have to worry anymore!”

“Really?!”

Saki picked up Noriko and walked into the living room past her mother. The glare was stronger than the one that she felt from Momoko. It followed her wherever she went. She felt sweaty already from just entering the room. All she could do was keep a happy smile on her face for her sister. ‘Is this how Yuki does it every day?’ She was not used to making it natural, she was not sure how well she was doing.

Noriko jumped around on the couch getting excited to hear about the stories that Saki had to tell. She never really had the chance meet Yuki before everything with south between their families. She was too young to remember when Yuki came over. It did not stop her from asking for stories. Saki wondered how she heard anything about Yuki, since his name was taboo in the household. Perhaps the mystery of him made her more interested in learning about him. But she always pestered Saki for tales of Yuki and Saki’s adventurers, as Noriko liked to call them. She seemed to treat them as though they were a fantasy that happened in some other world.

However, it did not take long for Noriko to want to include their mother. “Did you hear, mom? Saki beat them all up!” She bounced off the couch with surprising agility to run over to her mother. Noriko tugged on her to bring her into the living room. “She did it for us!”

The little sister completely obvious to the drop in temperature in the room, Saki could feel the changes as their mother stepped into the same space. Noriko kept pulling on her ignoring all of the signs. The look on her face was hard not to miss, but Noriko was too excited to see it.

They stared at each other coming to a silent conclusion that they would make nice for Noriko. Saki still found it a little surprising how stubborn she was being over Yuki. She almost felt like the adult was being the most childish one in the room.

Faking a smile as well, their mother sat down on the couch far opposite of Saki. “Come on up here, Noriko,” she invited. It put her between the two of them.

“What sort of fights did you get into?” the little sister asked still just as clueless.

Saki glanced over at her mom for a read. She hesitated in telling her about anything that happened in Atlantis. It was not exactly the fairy tale to spread around.

“Yes, I’m curious as well,” insisted their mother. The look of her eyes made it clear she judged her on every word. There was no enthusiasm that Noriko shared, even if she pretended to have it.

Put on the awkward spot by both of them, Saki did not really have much choice. ‘Damn, mom’s just looking for anything to tighten her hold on me and place blame on Yuki.’ However, even knowing that she was not getting out of it. Noriko wanted a story. “I guess I have a story or two…” she began.

Saki could not remember the last time she felt so awkward in doing anything. It like being naked giving a presentation in front of her entire classmates and all they could do was stare at her. She really did not want to be on that couch. Worse was that the atmosphere only became more oppressive the longer it went.

An hour passed before Noriko released her from her bondage. She did everything she could to try to skip around details that would be too incriminating for either of them. There was plenty that her mother would not approve of her doing, not that society approved anymore of it.

“It’s getting late,” their mother reminded, trying to get Noriko out of the room. While it was night, it was hardly that late for Noriko.

“But mom! I don’t even have school!”

“No buts. You need to get to sleep. I won’t have you ruining your sleep just because the rest of the world is falling apart.”

“Yes…” She pouted and started to walk off. However, she came to a stop and grabbed Saki one last time. “Since you beat up all those bad guys, are you going to do the same here now that you’re back?”

Saki turned in confusion towards her sister. She was not sure what she talked about. ‘Is she meaning the UN forces? How bad have them been here?’ The questions made Saki lean in a little more wanting to know more. “What bad guys, Noriko?”

Before her sister could even answer, their mother intervened again. “Noriko,” she reprimanded.

The feeling that she got from Noriko left her a little uneasy. She wanted to know what she was talking about. It felt like an ill omen. Saki stood up wanting to know more, but that was not going to happen.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The anger returned without a missed beat. It was as though it actually increased intensity having been plugged up for so long. “You’re not going back out there.”

Saki had it with her mother. She was not even sure if this was about Yuki anymore. “You planning to stop me?” she dared her mother, stepping up. Any sort of uneasy or fear she might have had in confronting the woman disappeared. All she had was emotions burning through her blood.

“I won’t allow you to leave this room, Saki!”

“What do you think you can do to stop me? Huh?” Saki vanished quickly from her mother’s eyes and appeared a short distance away. “Can you do anything, really?”

“What’s gotten into you? It’s that boy again!”

“You’re going to bring up Yuki again! Leave him out of this! This isn’t about him!”

“All he has been doing is twisting your mind!”

“Is that what you think?! There’s people out there hurting and in trouble!”

“You seemed to have gotten it into your head that you need to be some hero! It’s that boy’s doing corrupting you!”

Saki stepped up her mother’s face. Her eyes narrowed harshly. They were yelling already at each other. It was nothing but emotions flying between them. “This is who I am! It wasn’t him doing anything! These are choices I made! I don’t give a damn anymore! I don’t need your approval for what I want to do!”

Her mother did not back down anymore than Saki even with the intimidating stare. “You aren’t my daughter! I don’t even recognize you!” She stared longer into Saki’s eyes and saw something that she did not expect to see in her daughter, darkness. “What the hell did he do to you!?” She grabbed onto Saki’s wrist demanding.

Slapping her hand away, Saki stepped free. “You’re just seeing what you want to see! You don’t care about me, just blaming everything on Yuki! What gives you that right?!” Saki turned away and walked towards the door.

“Saki if you walk out, you’re never coming back!”

“That a threat?” Saki tilted her head back over her shoulder with a fierce glare. Their stares matched increasing the atmosphere. She did not plan to back down. She had been pushed too far by her mother to stop.

“You’re not my daughter anymore!”

“Is that how it’s going to be, mom?” It became very clear how things would turn out. The worst case scenario happened. Saki did not plan to stop anymore.

Their mother could see Saki calling her bluff. She pressed her into action. It was completely rash and quick without any thought. “Get out of my home! You’re not welcome back here anymore!”

“I was tired of living here anyway! Maybe I can find someone that isn’t so blindly prejudice!”

“I only have one daughter!” she shot back as though needing the final word and the final nail. Everything was sealed with those words.

Saki walked out of the apartment and sped away. It was mere moments, but she stood in front of Yuki’s house. She was still across the street with no plans on approaching. She did not even know why she came to him. All she could do was stare.

She leaned up against a tree finally taking a pause. ‘This is how it’s meant to be…now I can watch Yuki’s back…as I promised…’ It was not the way she wanted it to go. It just turned out that way. She had to accept it. But even accepting it, she could not help but find tears falling down her face. Sadness covered her face through a determined pair of eyes.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

When Seiji and Saki left, Momoko had disappeared out of sight for only a few moments. She saw the two out. That was all it took for Ken and Jun to take their opportunity to disobey their big sister and jump back on Yuki. He did not even fight them.

It was an odd feeling for them. They expected him to fight them or toss them off. Anything to get away from them, it was his routine, their routine. Yet it played out nothing like it was supposed to for them. It made them a little uncomfortable. Their movements slowed tried to understand why things felt so strange.

In their pausing, Momo returned to the living and found them hanging off Yuki, even if they were not doing anything. “What did I tell you two!? Yuki is tired!”

Ken dropped off more obedient than she expected. “Yeah…” He plopped down on the couch with a little distance between the two brothers.

It took Jun longer to listen. He just hung tightly onto Yuki’s arm not comprehending what was happening. Blank eyes stared up at Yuki in search of what he could not find.

Chapter 290 – Awkward Moments

Silence filled in the gaps between the family. Ken and Jun did not know what happened. They found Momo just staring at Yuki never say a word. Even judging from her face, they could not tell if she was angry with him or happy to see him as they were. It was not even that it was impossible to read. It was just that she had no expression. She just simply stared at Yuki. Almost like, she waited on him to do something.

While opposite of it all, Yuki did not completely seem present in the room. He was awake, but even when he came to from his sleep he did not really seem to be with everyone else. The distance between them was further than it seemed. As though beyond their reach with all ties cut. No bridges could be found to connect to him.

It continued in strange eerie silence for minutes. All that could be heard was the creaking of the house. It seemed unusually loud. They never realized how old it sounded or in pain it must have been. Everything had a weird life to it as though it was trying to make for up for the lack of it elsewhere.

It had to come to an end eventually. It was Yuki that made the first move. They waited on him and he acted. Unfortunately, he did not act how any of them wanted. It fell into their expectations, but that did not mean they wanted it.

Yuki simple stood up and bowed to them in an oddly formal manner. Without a single word, he just left the room. He made it clear that he wanted to be alone. All they could do was stare, trying to figure out where their brother had gone.

Upstairs and in his room, Yuki slid down against his door as though he needed to enforce it against something dangerous trying to break in. He let out a painful sigh. His heart pounded in his chest and his head ached like nothing he ever felt before. ‘Is this what a migraine feels like?’ It was the only explanation that he had. He never knew a headache to be so painful that it actually seemed to affect his body physically.

It took him a while just to catch his breath and calm down. Even a little more at ease, his head still felt like someone was taking an ice pick to it and pounding out Beethoven’s 5^th with nothing but a bell. The urge to throw up was powerful.

Yet, even with all of that affecting him, that was not even the reason for his attitude with his family. It was much more simple, as it often was.

He could hear the footsteps of his brothers. They paused at his room for a few seconds. But continued on, likely Jun stopped wanted to try to see him again, but Ken pulled him along. Ken was a little more mature than Jun in understanding the way things worked.

Yuki hung his head down. He thought it might improve his pain. It did not. ‘…sorry…I don’t know what I should say to them…’ The entire boat ride back he thought about what he was going to say. All the time in Atlantis he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Demosthenes had him so busy at times it was pretty easy to ignore or forget. The countrywide tour was important to him, he was the one that purposed it. So he always was meeting people, complete strangers. They all looked at him with hope in their eyes. They saw a future in him. Everything was placed on him. He did not even need their reminding and grateful words to tell him how much they dumped on him.

The weight alone from the citizens was painful enough. It was worse than the migraine currently inhabiting his skull that played his bones like an out of tune xylophone. ‘I bet those old bastards are laughing and grinning at the thought of me being crushed on the weight of the responsibility. They probably think I’ll end up running back to them for help and they’ll have me right where they want me. Damn bastards…’

Determination alone fueled partially by spite kept him going at times on the long days. He planned to see them all eat crow before the power he gave stole all of his life. Things had to change, he would see to that. He just did not expect to be the one faced with trying to rewrite and overcome thousands of years of fear and discrimination. It was an impossible task.

A task passed upon him. ‘…is this the right thing to be doing?’

Yuki dug into his pocket retrieving something that was given to him. It was a simple device with just a single button on it. He stared at the worn metal that started to go dull with dust and age.

“Take this,” said Demosthenes, as he pulled Yuki aside from his friends. They were just about to leave the barrier and return home.

Yuki stared for a moment at what rested in the old man’s hand. He did not know what to make of it. It was far too simple to give any real sense of what the purpose of it was. A simple saucer shape out of metal. A thickness just a centimeter and diameter of a few centimeters, it fit perfect into the palm. “What’s this?”

Stepping forward a little to insist on giving the gift to Yuki, Demosthenes did not let him back away. “This is the last thing I have for you. I told you before all this that there was more left to tell.”

“So it’s information or a message for me?”

“Correct, it’s the last gift from your father.”

Those words had Yuki’s attention finally. He sort of saw it coming with the line of dialogue. It only made sense with the flow. A departing gift left to him to explain everything. “Something from my old man...” He picked it up in acceptance. The simple design made it hard to figure out.

“View this in private as it is meant only for you.”

“…right…” Yuki thought about whether to honor that part or not. But he did not know if it was a personal message to him or actually something helpful. For now, he just pocketed it away. He started to leave.

“And please excuse any sort of eccentricities,” asked Demosthenes.

“Huh?”

‘Eccentricities?’ thought Yuki, thumbing over the surface of the saucer. He waited until he got home for it. There really was not a good time for it at any other point. ‘I guess I’ll see what he has to say. If it is something useful to his plans then I’ll share it, but if he’s just going to be embarrassing about father-son stuff then I’ll keep it to myself.’

Yuki pressed his thumb on the top. He had figured out while on the boat what he needed to do with it. All he really had to do was think over his stories that he read to figure out what made the most since. And it worked out, as he saw a light come from the perimeter.

A light then came from the top. Moving his thumb, he saw an image of an elderly man loosely pieced together by blue particles of like. They bounced from the saucer surface and rose a small distance before falling, all while holding a form.

‘…this is my father…’ It was the first time he had seen the man before. He thought if he saw him that maybe he would remember him. Like he was some stranger that his parents introduced as a friend or something. But nothing seemed familiar about him.

“Is this on?” Not exactly the opening greeting he expected. “I’m pretty sure I made this thing right. It’s on right? Well I’ll just go with it, if it’s not I’ll record it again.”

A bit of sweat slid down his head as the awkward opening. ‘This was the King of Atlantis?’ It suddenly seemed hard to believe this man kept the council on edge and was a threat to their control. He seemed too carefree. ‘I guess it does sort of fit with the images of the stories I got from Eudokia.’

“If this is not Yuki then shut it off right now! I’m warning you! If you touched this thing it will kill you! I’ve set it up so only my son can use it! Anyone else this will kill you! So go away!”

‘…wha? What a terrible bluff…’

Coughing a little, he finally seemed to look a little serious. “My son…Yuki. If you’re watching this it means that I’ve died and I wasn’t able to tell you this in person as I had hoped. I’m taking it also that you’ve met my daughter Eudokia, who I’ve asked to bring you here to Atlantis. She’s very loving, but can be a little too serious at times, a trait I fear she picked up from Demosthenes.”

‘…that’s an understatement… You’re the reason she went nuts to begin with…’

“I hope you will be able to work with the both of them as allies. They both believe strongly in my dream.”

‘It’s a little late for that.’ Yuki still had so much anger for what they both did to him. He managed to settle most of it with them, but they were not feelings that would just disappear immediately. He worked with Demosthenes in an uneasy fashion. It was only through others that he did not finish to act upon his desires. In time, he knew that he would thank them for it, but until that day came he would be controlling the boiling emotions. He resolved not to kill. A resolve that was tested every day and every moment.

“However, there is much that neither of them know. Eudokia at the moment is in the dark about what I’ve done. She has her entire future ahead of her. I wanted to spare her from the darkness of my past for as long as I could, as I wished for you as well. I wish I did not have to drag you into my world, but the world is not a kind place like it should be. I want to see it better, but I’m unable to achieve my dream as I’m dying now and already dead for you.”

Yuki could tell that he was finally getting to the heart the matter. Demosthenes explained quite a bit about what was going on behind the scenes in Atlantis and the King, so it surprised him to hear there was still more to learn. ‘How big is this secret that he kept it from even those that he trusted the most? And he’s telling me.’

“I imagine that Demosthenes has explained some of what is happening to you. I’ve pulled my dearest friend into the darkness along with me for too long, but I did not have a choice. So he knows much about what is happening. He should be able to answer questions you have after this. But I need to tell you what I’ve told no one else.”

Such an ominous atmosphere came from the words. He felt like he was about to revealed the entire secret to the universe. The one that the ancient societies conspired to hold to themselves so as to manipulate the world in their palm.

“Years ago, I discovered the Komatsuzaki. At first, I thought that they were just fanatical group wanting to learn about the past. They seemed to have an unnatural fascination with history, specially Greek history. But that was only a front, while they were started from something so simple, it’s stopped being anything but the devil’s work. And I tread on such work where only gods were meant to walk.

“Even the King of Atlantis is just a mortal. I did not belong there, but it was necessary. I’ve done many things I’m not proud of in my time, but everything I did while with them makes all of the mistakes I made before or after pale in comparison. I warn you now, never trust anything they say no matter how many sweet words they feed you or hopeful promises. These are all men and women completely devoid of any shred of humanity with a singular driven self-serving focus. Unfortunately, in all of my digging I never learned what their true purpose actually is, but such inhumane experiments can only beget further evil.”

Yuki had to swallow for a moment. His father was laying on it pretty thick. He already got a warning from Demosthenes and told how they were on the hunt for him, even if they were not currently. The way they sounded from his father, they were evil taken human form. Almost absolute stereotypes of evil that he expected to see from a classic manga of heroes against an ancient conspiracy that threatens the world. While he did not want to doubt either of them, they seemed to be over blowing things. ‘I find it hard to believe there is someone that is pure and completely evil with no shred of humanity in them.’

“Yuki, because of my assistance in their research they’ve advanced decades faster than they could have without me. Though I’m no longer presence, their work will continue. They’ve already cleared Phase 1 of their plan, the research phase. By now, they’ve no doubt moved into Phase 2, experimentation. I never saw what their plans were for Phase 2, but I believe they were going to be practical applications of their research in order to prepare for Phase 3. I’m sorry I can’t answer anymore about what their plan is or what to expect, but this is a group that’s been silently researching for more than a century. They have patience and connections in every known corner of the world. It is only because we made it more trouble than they were willing to deal with at the time that kept you safe. The day that they come for you may be closer than you think.”

‘Yeah, I know Demosthenes told me the same thing. Damn, this is getting worse and worse by the minute.’

“The last thing I leave to you is this device and the knowledge of everything I’ve done in my life to achieve a free Atlantis. Because I did not want my personal research to fall into the Komatsuzaki’s hands I hide my research back in Japan in multiple locations. Alone one piece is completely meaningless. Together they will become the light of Atlantis. So please, I beg you as a citizen of Atlantis, not as the King save our people from the shackles we have placed on ourselves and protect them from those that would seek to do us harm.”

The image then disappeared. Yuki just stared at it with the expectation of having something more. “The hell?! You don’t just leave saying that you hid them without giving me the coordinates or clues! Anything!”

As though to respond to his complaint, his father popped back up. “And if you’re yelling right now about me not telling you where I hid my notes, I’m not going to tell you. It’ll be a journey! Like in those manga from Japan where a group of friends go off to save the world and have adventures and form deep bonds of friendship! So go take Eudokia and Demosthenes with you and your friends and have fun!”

“Damn you old man!” Yuki started to throw the device, but a final message popped up.

“The only hint I’ll give is that you need this device to find them. It’ll signal you when you’re in the area. Good luck!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

A long night finally came to an end. It was a rough one for Yuki, still fighting his body. It did not seem to be recovering the way he thought. He was still very tired and his body ached when it should not have. Every back corner thought had worry plastered everything in his subconscious. The biggest worry that could never be avoided. He wondered if it was making it seem worse. If he just ignored it maybe, he would get better. Maybe it was just in his mind.

Morning came strangely quiet. He expected to find Jun and Ken smashing into his room and yet they did not do anything. He was not even sure if they were awake. ‘It is Thursday, right? A school day…’ A look out his window reminded him that their world was not the same, but things seemed more alive than when he left. He expected things to be running again and normal life to have resumed. Even with the overgrowth.

Yuki snuck around the upstairs quietly checking on his little brothers. As he thought, they were asleep. ‘Is school canceled? I know things were crazy when I left, but I know our school was planning to reopen soon.’ It was part of the reason he was up. While he had no plans on actually attending, he still wanted to find out the state of the city.

Downstairs, he found that Momoko had left something for him to eat. The note mentioned it being for dinner, but he went asleep immediately after the message. He grabbed a riceball and started to munch on it while looking around.

He was not sure if it was because he was used to the Palace or just the Atlantean architecture perhaps, but the interior felt very small and a little off. Wandering around, he looked around at the different corners and surfaces with a light inspection. He just needed to know it was still the same. And to refresh his memories a little.

It was his house and his home. The longer he stared the more depressed he became staring at it. Unspoken thoughts popped up to corrupt his experience. They were poor reminders. He did not need to be reminded about the reality. His reality, the new reality.

Pushing the last of the riceball into his mouth, he pulled out the device that Demosthenes entrusted to him. ‘Look for your legacy, huh? This really is turning into a quest. We’ve already got super powers and a vast organization of evil and the dying wishes of a wise old man granting vague clues on how to beat the organization. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I really was inside one of my shounen manga. Far too classic of a setup…’

Flipping the device around in his hand, he picked up the last riceball and made for the front door. He already changed out into his school uniform almost out of habit. It was as if his body was trying to give him some normalcy, but it was impossible anymore.

Yuki clutched tightly onto the device and buried it into his pocket. He glanced back at the rest of the interior. ‘I still have time to tell them… I won’t be done here until I find everything he left behind… I can do this later…’ Leaving the difficult dilemma behind for some other time, he stepped outside.

Chapter 291 – Regretted Actions

The massive amount of grass that panned around in his full view reminded him how complete the capture nature had over the city. It looked like a post-apocalyptic setting almost, if the buildings had actually been run down. Around, he could see some of the lines of vehicles tearing through, but man struggled to reclaim dominance.

It was no more than half a block down his street that Saki appeared next to Yuki. The way she effortlessly popped up not leaving anything disturbed or even disrupting much of the air around her was almost unnerving to Yuki. She had already started to refine her talents. ‘The time in Atlantis really improved her skills. I’m not sure if I’m any sort of challenge for anymore the way she is.’ Multiple considerations on how he might try to fight Saki ran through his mind. All of the strategies he came up required him knowing that she was coming or always being paranoid that she would do something. She was just too fast for him.

However, none of that really mattered to him. He had a different thing that he brought up. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Eh?” Saki questioned, playing a little dumb despite knowing what he was hinting at. She did not plan to tip her hand to him. It was not his problem.

“It’s quite the coincidence that you just appear after I just left. You waited long enough to not make it seem like you were stalking me, but still you didn’t just happen to leave at the same time as me.”

She was not going to get out of it without some sort of an answer. ‘He was easier to deal with when he was acting more ditzy. He’s always been smart and observant, he just hid it in the past.’ Pressed into a corner for an answer did not change her tactic though. “Five minutes or so. I had a feeling that you’d be wanting to check out the school. With the UN running around here, you’re probably wanting to see the situation.” The direction moved back to him skillfully pushing the subject away from her. She could see him staring at her with a little surprise to see how far she saw. “Already thinking of what you might be able to do to help the people here?”

“Am I so transparent?”

Keeping them walking forward, Saki focused her attention forward. In the distance, she saw a UN APC enter her view, far beyond Yuki’s sight, and then disappear down the block. It was not her city anymore. “Even if it wasn’t so transparent, I’ve known you too long to know how you’re feeling. Besides, you’re not alone in that feeling.”

He smiled a little as he stared at Saki before looked down the street as well. It was not as though he did not believe that he could not count on her help, but it still gave him reassurance. When they returned home, he sort of felt as if they were all going their separate ways. “You’re right. But this is not like Atlantis. We got away with quite a bit since they were hidden and we had connections high enough up to help. This time is completely different. The whole world is watching us and likely fears us. Just randomly charging in isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Not giving up or losing your nerve are you?” she teased a little to lighten the mood.

“Hell no! This too is my problem. I aim to fix what I’ve done. I just know don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

“You’re not alone. I’ll help.”

“Thanks, Saki!”

On their walk to the school, the trip started to feel a little nostalgic. Yuki almost thought he could see how things were before. Images of other students running through the streets to get in early passed by. Further ahead, small groups merged into the street.

However, it all ripped out of his mind suddenly when he found debris in the street. Yuki searched for the source. To the right, the house was completely destroyed. Only a single corner of the wall in the far back still stood up. The property wall surrounding the house was pulverized by some blast. It all spilled out into the street. “Is this the UN?” He changed his course to walk into the ruins of the house some.

Saki moved as a blur ahead checking around for signs. She appeared back in front of Yuki blocking his path. Shaking her head, she did not want him going further.

“What did you find?” He tried to get around Saki, but she grabbed him to keep him from moving further. Yuki pressed his body to struggle in her hold, but there was nothing he could do. She had more strength the world’s strongest bodybuilder tightly packed inside her thin athletic build. “Come on, Saki! I’m not a child!”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Don’t just hide things from me! I don’t need you to protect me!” A ripple came out of his feet and suddenly Saki’s hold no longer felt like the god’s hand pressed upon him. He broke free and ran ahead, while she fumbled in confusion at the loss of her strength. ‘What was it that she saw?!’

Then he saw it. It turned him white at a sheet and nearly made him throw up on the spot. It was not even the sight, but rather than stench. He turned around quickly, immediately regretting his decision to look.

Yuki rushed back out to the street needing to sit out. “What the hell was that?!” he shouted to himself not understanding what happened. Saki joined him quickly, as she recovered from the loss and figured out the situation. “They’re…dead…” Just saying the words made him shake. “I knew them! Mrs. Mazawa gave me homemade dumplings when I was going to junior high sometimes despite my attitude then. Why?!”

“…Yuki…” She did not know what she could do for him. It was the reason that she did not want him to see. ‘He doesn’t need to see anymore death… Why’d he have to be so stubborn…’

“Was it them?” He stood up looking out in the direction of the ocean, though he could not see it. The place where the fleet watched them. Where the world stared with fearful eyes upon them all.

Saki could see the thoughts spinning in his head. “We don’t know anything yet! There’s more than just the UN here remember. Wild animals also roam now too.” They had already talked about taking it easy and not rushing into the situation. She could not let him go flying off the handle only a minute after making such a resolution.

He stared for a while in the distance with his eyes not focused on anything in particular. Saki’s words ran through his mind as a calming agent. She was right. “…yeah…but I want to know! I need to know what’s going on!”

Calmed and a little redirected, the relief gave her a moment to sigh. ‘I can’t remind him that most of them people here also have super powers like me. The possibilities are far too big and dangerous.’ She did not want Yuki staying around the area much longer. It was not going to do him any good. “We won’t know anything from just hanging around here. There’s still the school, someone might know something there.”

“…yeah… You’re right.” Even Yuki did not really want to stick around. Just the image of them made him want to throw up again. He was weak, but at the moment he did not really care about it.

Progress continued to the school with them finally leaving their neighborhood and getting into sight of the school. In the distance, they could both see it. “It’s still standing,” said Yuki with some relief and excitement. He admittedly was not sure what might have happened to it. It would have been ironic if some disaster occurred after they left to ruin all of their work.

“Yeah…” agreed Saki softly. Her sight drilled in the distance almost caught in a trance.

“Saki? What’s wrong? You see something?”

“Maybe…” Saki did not have a good answer him. She did not know what was going on herself. It did not make any sense.

“What do you see?”

“Smoke and strangely dressed people. And a destroyed building nearby…”

“The UN?!” asked Yuki, already jumping the gun. They suddenly became the easy source for everything to blame on the troubles that they found. He started to sprint forward wanting to know what Saki saw. She quickly snapped forward and slowed him down, grabbing his arm. “Saki?”


Shaking her head, she disagreed with him. “They don’t look like the same soldiers I saw on the ships. These are different. But the whole area doesn’t look right.”

“Doesn’t look right?”

“You’ll see,” replied Saki cryptically. She released Yuki and took point as they marched deeper into the area.

The further they went the more things changed. Windows were smashed and more debris fell around the path. Then they came to a stop finding a makeshift wall in the middle. It forced them around it. However, hidden on the other side they found craters and burn marks. Even traces of blood and the unsettling smell they started to quickly recognize.

Yuki and Saki quickly stuck together. He took up her back watching their rear. “Something really doesn’t feel right. It’s like we’re being watched.”

“You felt it too?”

“It’s unnerving.”

Slowly working around the street as it became an eerie obstacle course of debris and forced walls, they came in reach of the school. However, the closer they came the more certain that they were that what they would find was not going to be the school that they knew. The whole neighborhood was completely changed. They knew homes and shops that they passed every day, now abandoned or in ruins.

Only a block away from the school, they pressed up again one of the walls created in the middle. Yuki could only see a loose sense of what was in the distance. There were two people standing out front of the school’s gate. The gate was closed, but there was heavy re-enforcement on them metal. It did not even look like the gate anymore. Massive spires and plates covered up the whole entrance. All along the fence line was tall mounds of earth and stone almost like it was natural. “What the hell happened to the school?” Yuki pulled back from his investigation to look at Saki. “What do you see?”

“I think they’re students, but I don’t know the uniform that they’re wearing. It sort of looks like ours, but like someone modified with new colors and altered the length. It’s weird. Doesn’t look welcoming and I don’t really want to go up to the front door and ask to go inside.”

Nodding in agreement, if they were students Yuki did not really want to get into a fight with them. They seemed like guards and he did not understand what happened. “We already have a habit of jumping in without understanding the situation. I’d like to avoid making the same mistake and starting fights that aren’t needed. Let’s look around for some answers.”

“Right!” She stood up and guided Yuki away to an exit that she knew. An alley, or former alley if the adjacent building still stood. The ruins still put them between the guards, so they were safe. However, the path dumped them out in a place that they did not expect.

“The hell?!” exclaimed Yuki, the moment he stepped out from the alley. He nearly fell into a massive crater that wiped out easily the entire block. It was only Saki’s quick reflexes that kept him from a nasty trip. Everything was starting to wear on Yuki. “Someone tell me what the hell is going on here?!”

“Yuki?” answered a voice in the distance on the opposite side of the crater.

He did not really expect to get an answer from someone else other than Saki. It surprised him enough to shut him up and look around for the source. “Yumi?” She waved over to him so that he could narrow in on her.

Saki picked Yuki up and leapt the distance of the crater with ease coming to a pinpoint landing just on the other side of Yumi. “What are you doing here, Yumi?” inquired Saki as well.

It was then that they both understood that Yumi was not waving to them out of excitement to see them. She wore a heavy expression on her face. “You should see this.” Yumi pointed them out to where her brother stood before guiding them away from the crater.

The mysterious answer left them more than a little curious until they regretted it once more. It seemed to be the theme of their day. Laid out all around them before they knew it was a mass graveyard, one that never existed before. The land used to belong to a supermarket that they visited after school sometimes for a snack. However, now it was just ruins of tile, stone and metal with broken earth everywhere. Makeshift tombstones fell in lines.

“Wha…I…dead…” Yuki was speechless unable to form a sentence.

Saki had a little more together and looked over to Yumi for some answers. Yori popped out from the corner of the graveyard taking up the answers. “We found this on our way to the school. I’ve counted more than fifty graves and they’re all fresh within the last few days.”

“Who did this?”

“We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on,” added Yumi. She pointed out to the surrounding ruins and rundown buildings. “Fighting has been going on around here, but we don’t know with whom or why.”

“I want to know who’s doing this,” demand Yuki, finally recovered from his stun. He looked around at the others already setting their course for them. Though it was not as though they did not have the same things planned out. But it seemed that they were teaming up once more.

“A better question is what side you’re on,” shouted a new voice from the distance. Everyone turned around trying to locate the source only to discover that they were suddenly surrounded. Many of the faces they recognized as students in their class or other classes in the same year. Even a teacher or two as well were in their ranks, but they all looked worn and tired.

While some bore weapons others had powers on display making it clear that they wanted compliance. They looked ready for a fight. However, Yuki did not want to get involved in something that he did not understand. He stepped out only to draw all of their attention and have threats of attacks aimed at him. The sign of attacks hardly fazed him after everything in Atlantis. He just wanted answers. “What’s going on here? And who is your leader?”

“Like I said before, the question I have for you is what side are you on?” It was the same voice once more. However, this time a shadowed figure stepped out from the second floor of the ruin building.

It took Yuki a moment for his eyes to adjust to the distance, but he recognized them immediately. “Hiroshi?!”

To be continued…