Shift

[Andromeda]

The nightlife of the city was unusually dark and empty as the convoy of Land Rovers roared through grasslands of streets. Street lamps and electric powered signs still lit, but with most business closed almost none of them were lit. The lack of other traffic made it feel like they were out in the countryside of Japan, despite the buildings that lined the sides of the passages.

Apart from the infrequent murmur from Tamotsu, Chiharu’s ride remained uneventfully quiet for her. All of her gear had been check ten times in her anticipation. After the tenth time she had been interrupted by Tamotsu, who was trying to calm her nerves. ‘We’re almost to the mission start coordinates…’ She turned her eyes towards the door’s window catching a dim reflection of her own face. ‘Can I do it this time? My test…’

A home passed by her gaze suddenly changing the image in the window to her grandfather. His wrinkled stern eyes stared back at her as though demanding something of her. ‘…grandfather…’ She swallowed painfully trying to hold herself together. The nearby street lamp washed its brilliant light over the darkness the car passed through momentarily blinding Chiharu. Once she focused back all she could see was herself once more. ‘I’ll show you, Grandfather! You can rest easy soon!’

The vehicle came to a sudden stop shifting everyone forward a little. Behind Chiharu’s Land Rover the others matched position filing in next to her. She opened the rear door and stepped out into the open night with only the moonlight as her guide. ‘It’s time…’ Chiharu moved forward to the front of the row of vehicles quickly taking in her men that flanked her. “Move out!”

Chapter 68 – Blood under the Wicked Moon

Their starting location was set nearly an hour out from the Higoshi Clan’s main compound. They could not afford to get too close to the grounds. It was Chiharu’s plan to go in through stealth rather than charging in through the front door. Using the cover of night and the confusion brought on by the new state of affairs in the country, she hoped to catch them off guard. She figured there would be an increased guard patrolling, but once through the patrol the inner compound would be lighter resistance. There were five teams of five men with her all moving through from different positions to keep the defenses thin once they recovered from the initial attack.

The Higoshi Clan was considered to be stronger than the Chinen Clan currently, but that was only due to the number of assassination missions that they received and completed. The overall numbers in both clans were fairly equal with direct family members held as the elite. So for Chiharu it was less of a numbers game and more of tactical one. She had a small strike force, but they were not interest in wiping out the Clan, but hitting the family itself. Doing so would cause the same effect. On her side, she knew that she had the burning passion of revenge in her men that would give them the strength to keep fighting on. She knew that she could complete the mission so long as the teams were able to make their secondary objectives.

A half hour into their mission Chiharu came to a stop. “…a forest…this wasn’t on the maps…” She looked over at Tamotsu to read his reaction.

Tamotsu remained quiet for a moment taking in the environment and calculating. “My guess would be that they had the same thing happen that we did at the estate.”

“Agreed, but this doesn’t change the mission.” The small microphone communication set attached at Chiharu’s neck and ear sent in notices from the other teams of encountering the same situation. “Continue the mission as directed,” she ordered to the teams. She pulled out her short sword taking two clean slashes at the overgrowth of plants in front of her. As the tanto returned back its sheath Chiharu gave a brief glance to Tamotsu as signal to proceed.

Traversing the forest slowed down their progress a little, but it still put them within Chiharu’s time table for the next stage of the mission. The approach to the compound was halted by a low perimeter wall. It was originally decided to climb over it, but with the forest there was a slight change in the plan. Chiharu and Tamotsu climbed up the tree closest to the wall up to the lowest branch for clearance. ‘Two guards and another two fifty meters away…poor lighting as well…’ She nodded over to Tamotsu giving him a sharp signal with her arm.

Tamotsu moved acting as an extension of Chiharu body dropping down behind the two guards. He jerked his hands back revealing two bloodied kunai. The kunai disappeared back into his belt as the bodies of the guards collapsed to the ground. He was already moving the bodies out of sight when Chiharu landed down on the ground holding in the dark shadows until the next two guards approached.

Chiharu pulled two kunai preparing to throw them once her targets were close enough to insure lethality. Her fingers slid a little and flexed around the handle as the seconds ticked away for her. She tried to keep herself from sweating due to nerves, but it was proving difficult to stay calm through her body. The mind was a strained focus as she beat down any hesitation that surfaced within her. ‘Another second and…’ Chiharu slowed raised up her arms as she prepared. Each moment pushed her closer to her test; building tension and sweat echoing the feeling of her pounding heart.

The images of the guards being struck by her played through her mind quickly. Feeling the blood from the blade dripping down crawled against her skin lighting up each nerve to heightened its senses. Knowing that it would be her first spun in her mind endlessly. It slowly began to tie down her muscles. She strained against her unconscious will to keep moving. ‘Got to—‘ A dark blur flew by her vision in an instant and before she could realize what had happened the two guards she had in her sights were down.

Tamotsu turned back and pulled away the guards. The way had been opened for them into the main grounds. It was open terrain, but they would only be exposed for a short time. Night easily had covered their approach to one of the wings of the mansion. Tamotsu leaned against the wall of the building slowly coming into sight of an open window. He barely tilted his head over to look inside. ‘Only one.’ His hand raised up signaling his findings back to Chiharu as she closed.

Chiharu passed by him going for the sliding door. She kept her shadow out of sight of the paneled door and placed a hand against it. Tamotsu returned to her side opposed of the door reading her body for the moment to strike. The door was hardly pulled back when Tamotsu sprung into action. He sprinted through the opening and dug his blade into the back of the man dropping him quietly to the ground. Chiharu walked inside closing the door behind her. “Status,” she quickly spoke low enough to keep her voice from passing through the thin walls.

“Team Two entry successful…proceeding to third objective…”

The other teams reported in quickly after with the same results. Everyone had made it inside the compound and began their individual objectives without any problems. “Mission is still on track…” She looked over to Tamotsu, already finished hiding the body. “Surprise is still with us, Tamotsu. Let’s start!”

“Yes, Lady Chiharu…”

She stalked over to the door for the interior pressing her ear checking for any noise. It remained still long enough that Chiharu was satisfied and slid the door open quietly. Her head fell into the hall enough to give her sight through the mansion. The hall stretched on empty for several rooms with no furniture. Only a few hanging picture scrolls decorated the well lit passage. Chiharu pulled back into the room and checked her watch briefly. ‘It should be time shortly…’ She checked on Tamotsu in her spare moments before returning to the door entering the hallway.

Tamotsu followed at her side passing through the hall quickly mentally going through the layout of the mansion in his head. They were soon reaching an obvious choke point in the wing of the mansion. As such it was expected that they were would several guards. It would be where they would be forced to fight and lose their surprise. The next minutes would determine the success of the rest of the mission. ‘…Lady Chiharu…’

An intersection in the hall brought Chiharu to her planned location. She removed a small mirror from her gear pack and stretched her arm out to the edge of the corner. ‘Four guards, about what I calculated…’ Being interior guards they were dressed in regular business suits. The unaware would easily mistake them for just being staff rather than well training bodyguards. Chiharu nodded to herself in reassurance.

Chiharu shifted her weight as she judged her path ahead of her. She pulled back tightening the muscles in her legs into a spring taking to around the corner and down the hall towards the guard post. “Die cowards!” Her tanto was drawn out from its sheath at the small of her back. Its blade shined from the overhead lights in the hall glowing with a thirst for blood.

The attention that she gained pulled in all four guards. They formed a wall across the gap closing it from her and reaching into their suits. Tamotsu had been watching from the corner immediately recognized what was happening and sprinted out for Chiharu. “Lady Chiharu look out!”

A split second was all she had to react in seeing that the guards were going for guns. She threw herself against the wall in the moment that they opened fire with pistols. “Don’t you have any pride? Using a gun!” Chiharu’s eyes burned fiercely as she taunted them. It did not change her situation as they fixed their aim for her. She was able to read them well enough to roll down to the ground just before they opened fire. “You’re too slow…” Chiharu leapt forward after the hail of bullets ceased a few seconds after her dodge. The swords blade rippled in the shining light as she sped towards the guards quickly gaining a lock on her.

The men were ready to fire with Chiharu still too far away and almost no time to dodge anymore. Tamotsu charged forward trying to cover the distance in the wake of Chiharu’s recklessness. It was quickly becoming clear to him however that he was not going to be able to make it time. There were no more options left.

Several steps away from guards, Chiharu stood up and came to a stop smirking. The men in front of her all collapsed to the ground trailing only small bits of blood. “The path is clear now. Good job, Team Four!” She returned the sword back into its home.

Tamotsu caught up to them a few moments later looking down at Chiharu ready to scold her. She gave him a glare in an instant that halted his intention dead. Team Four headed on to its next destination leaving the two of them alone once again. “Lady Chiharu, you’re being recklessness!”

“I can’t let you do everything, Tamotsu. How else will I be able to get real experience if my life isn’t on the line?”

“Your life is too important to be throwing it away, Lady Chiharu!”

“That’s enough, Tamotsu. We press on!” Chiharu turned away from him and focused ahead of her sprinting forward expecting him to follow her. The layout of the mansion had placed them near the central section where all of the wings linked together. It was a main pathway and expected to be heavily trafficked by guards. They slipped back outside into the grounds as they neared the main block. There were no guards in their way allowing them to return to the other wing unnoticed with their target nearly in sight.

Security in the new wing was light and nearly non-existent. It made Chiharu concerned, but she pressed on to the chambers of the head of the Higoshi Clan. The winding hall they followed ended in a widened antechamber like space, but it was too small to be considered a room. However, unlike the rest of the wing it was guarded by four men.

Chiharu lifted herself back against the wall facing Tamotsu. “This is the place and there’s four guards to deal with. It should be easy dealing with them and then our target.”

“Be careful, Lady Chiharu.”

“It’s all part of the plan. Nothing has deviated yet from my schedule.” Chiharu stepped out into the hall immediately drawing the guards’ attention towards her. They prepared to move out, but hesitated with the lights suddenly turned off. It cast the entire hall into a pitch black curtain. Her short sword came bore out glowing faintly as it picked up the slight bit of light that managed to exist. It gave it a white appearance with a menacing aura. Tamotsu joined her about to move out when a message came across their ear piece.

“Team One under attack!” Chiharu narrowed her eyes expecting it to have happened eventually. “What the hell?! How is that possible?! Team One un—“ The line was dead interrupting the broadcast. She took a glance over to Tamotsu not seeing him, but feeling his body’s presence nearby.

“Team Five under attack! Hey what are they using?! Retreat n—“ Her eyes widened in shock at hearing another one of her team going down.

“Team Thr—“

She was getting reports from all of the teams only to have them cut off abruptly. Sweat began to build up along the side of her face trying to understand how her plan was falling apart so suddenly. ‘What’s going on? I don’t understand what’s happening to my men!’ Chiharu staggered back in the dark suddenly feeling as though the walls were surrounding her. It was all closing in on her and crumbling away with no footing.

Emergency light flickered on renewing sight for everyone in the hall. However, there was a middle aged man standing behind the guards staring out towards Chiharu. He narrowed his eyes reading the situation and learning the intruders’ identity. Both Chiharu and Tamotsu’s faces were covered up with only their eyes visible leaving them in safe amenity. “Having some trouble little girl?” the man sneered.

Chiharu held her tongue as she tried to sort out the new development. The presence of the head of the family so close it made her job a lot easier. She did not hesitate in launching a kunai from her belt towards the face of the man. It looked like she was going to make it when it suddenly dropped in mid-air. ‘What happened? There was nothing for it to hit!’

“Confused, child?” The man signaled one of his guards to step forward looking ready to attack. “The world you knew is no longer the same. The rules have changed!”

“What are you blabbering about?”

“You’ll understand in a moment, child!”

The guard stood in front of the middle aged man and several steps from the rest of the guards. He raised his hand up to his suit and pulled at it sharply tearing the fabric. An instant later it was all removed and the man stood in black cloth, otherwise known as the traditional ninja garb. The man clasped his hands together before slamming his right palm into the floor. Blue light shined around the man’s body as it was succeeded by thin sparks.

Chiharu took a step back not certain what was happening. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was something impossible. Her mind went back to the radio broadcasts from her team. ‘Is this what they were talking about?! What nightmare have I walked into?’ She lifted up her tanto in reflex uncertain how she was going to defend against whatever the man had in store.

The light pulled away from the body of the man funneled into the arm and down into the floor. Sparks bounced from his fingers spreading rapidly out into the panels. Soon the walls were being engulfed in sparks that turned to electricity. Lightning jumped from the gathered spot charging at a deadly speed towards an unprepared Chiharu; her eyes widening in shock.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Chiharu stepped back as her mind went blank in completely confusion. She could not understand what was happening or how it was possible. It froze her body with her tanto falling slightly from its previous defensive position. The electricity was charging down through the hall at her slower than its natural counterpart, but still too fast to out run if Chiharu had been thinking. ‘…grandfather…’

An explosion of the lightning reaching its target blanketed the entire area in white light before fading into a dust cloud. The scene was unreadable, but the Head of the Higoshi Clan still pulled up a wide grin in expectation of a bloody sight. “I don’t know who hired you, but it was your mistake to think that you could take the Head of the Higoshi Clan!” He gave a brief laugh pleased with himself and the demonstration of their new power.

The thick dust in the air slowly began to settle from the ignited state the lightning had on the area. All that could be seen was a thick spread of blood on the mats and walls. Chiharu’s body still masked out by the stubborn cloud. It was enough for the middle-aged man to turn away in assurance that the threat had been eliminated. “Weaklings such as you can no longer exist in this new world!” He walked back into his room leaving the mess to be cleaned up by his men.

Chapter 69 – Blood Stained Shadow

Once everything had finally settled, the guarded ninja stood up straight from his attack. He had hit both of the assassins. The larger one was laid over top of the smaller child figure and blood thrown against the walls and floor. The man stepped forward moving to confirm his kills and if need be end their fading lives. There was not an immediate sign of life from the two bodies in his approach. However, he would not leave it to chance leaning down to check on the larger assassin. His hand reached out to the neck looking for a pulse, but an arc flashed in front of him taking him back. Another sudden arc lunged at him forcing him to jump away to safety. When he checked on his arm there was a thin line of blood from the initial strike. “Still alive…”

The body on top of the child began to move looking as though he was recovering. It pulled the ninja into a defensive stance watching the situation before making an attack, now questioning his options since it had not managed to kill one of the assassins. Soon his original assessment was changed seeing that the assassin was not so much moving as it was being shifted away by the child assassin underneath. The child pulled up resting the other assassin on their back and leaned over examining the body. “I see now…you were protected it by the other one…”

Chiharu spared a momentary glare for the guard that attacked them. ‘I couldn’t move…’ She internally chastised herself while trying to see if Tamotsu was alive or not. There had been no more signals from the rest of her men. The thought of another death choked her throat. ‘…Tamotsu, you protected me… I’m still so useless… Grandfather and now you…’

A dull cough shook through Tamotsu’s body harsh enough to increase some of the blood flow spilling out of him. It gave enough hope back to Chiharu to know that he was still alive. She stood up and turned to face the guard her eyes narrowed fiercely. “I’ll make you pay for that!” Chiharu’s tanto was born in front of her with the tip of the blade dripping blood that it had freshly taste.

The ninja smirked back becoming amused by the scene. “A child is threatening me? You should just run away now. This is no place for a child trying to play at ninja.”

“I’m no child! I’m a ninja!”

“Your words taint and dishonor its proud heritage. Stop now before you make me angry.”

“You can’t talk of dishonor after what you people did!” Chiharu was quickly getting the man just as enraged as she was currently.

The man gave her a questioned stared for a moment before snapping back at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about child! You’re really starting to piss me off!”

“You can’t deny it! I know the truth!”

“You don’t know anything, kid!”

Chiharu became dragged into the man’s denial. The thoughts of her grandfather only served to fuel her inferno that burned inside her heart. She would not allow them to forget or ignore his death. Chiharu’s body began to move on its own reacting to her emotions when something suddenly took hold of her ankle. She turned down to see that Tamotsu was straining his hand to get her attention. ‘…Tamotsu…’

“…it’s pointless…to…argue with…him…they’ll never…admit to it…” Tamotsu coughed through the cloth mask that covered his face. The pain from speaking was enough to send his body into convulsions.

Chiharu leaned down to Tamotsu trying to look more closely at how serious his injuries were for him. “Don’t talk anymore, just rest.” She placed a hand on his shoulder trying to keep him still to conserve what life he might have left. ‘I don’t know how bad he is, but I have to get him out quickly. I doubt that they’ll let me leave so easily though despite his attitude.’ Chiharu rose back to stare down the man with the strange powers lifting her tanto back up into a defensive stance. ‘I don’t know what strange tricks he’s using, but I won’t be able take another if it did such damage to Tamotsu… I’ll have to keep him from using it again…’

“So the child has a plan?” The ninja held a very confident tone that could easily be mistaken for arrogance, which it perhaps was a little. He mocked her more than humoring her stance by taking a very weak offensive position. “If he couldn’t take my Clawing Lightning what makes you think you can?!” His hands began to move to press together when Chiharu suddenly released a kunai at the man forcing him to dodge out of the way breaking his motion. Another attempt was begun by the man to initiate his attack, but Chiharu spirited to close the distance while he had been evading her first throw. ‘Kid’s fast and smart in reading my moves already…guess I can’t take the child lightly…’ He dodged effortless out of Chiharu’s thrust with her tanto.

Chiharu spun around expecting that her first attempt would fail and planned for the position that he would move to. The ninja came to a stop at his evasion, but was left in a momentary shock to see Chiharu fluidly following up her strike. ‘I’ve got him! I read him perfectly! This is it grandfather!’ There was a hint of a pleased smile that pulled across her face as her sword quickly came to striking. The blade left an arc through the man’s entire mid section still holding surprising across his face. Chiharu straightened herself up taking a measured breath while her eyes began to turn for her next target.

A flash of blood sprayed into the air as Chiharu staggered forward suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her shoulder. ‘What’s going on?! Is it the other guards?’ While she struggled to recover her balance she turned her head trying to analyze the situation. Across the hall at the doors to the Head of the Higoshi Clan stood the same three guards remained unmoved. ‘It wasn’t them? Who?’ Chiharu tripped her foot a little still caught off guard by the pain.

There was a swift breeze behind Chiharu that formed into a shadowed figured. “Confused, child?”

“What?!” shouted Chiharu spinning around toward the voice only to be too late. Another quick flash dug into her lower back knocking her balance off and almost bringing her to the floor. Blood was slowly dripping down her back gluing the fabric to her skin. ‘How’s he still alive?!’

The man appeared behind her once again with Chiharu having only a second to react to the impending blade aimed to pierce her though her back into the heart. His blade sank into skin drawing an annoyed disgust expression from him. Chiharu stumbled away from the man slamming against the wall for support as she painted it with her blood. ‘She’s got good reflexes shifting her body enough to avoid the fatal blow. No matter, she’s at her limit.’ He revealed his own short sword that he had been using with lightning speed and precision against Chiharu. “You thought if you could keep me from using my Clawing Lightning that you could win didn’t you? I don’t need it to take someone like you. My speed will be enough.”

Chiharu coughed in pain feeling the deep wound that penetrated into her back. She had been fortunate to have missed both her lungs and heart, but it still howled greatly. Her labored breathing fought with the pain that she felt to remain in control. “Speed? That another trick of yours?”

“No trick, child. It’s natural speed. We told you the world was no longer the same. Normal humans haven’t a chance!” He charged straight for Chiharu going for the final blow with his sword, but Chiharu rolled to the ground and out of the way. It did not sway his move as his eyes followed her movement and reacted quickly changing his line of attack.

An arch of blood sprayed from a shallow wound at Chiharu’s thigh. She forced down her shock at the ninja’s agility to keep herself going. All she could be allowed was a defensive position falling back with each swing made at her. Despite her best efforts every single attempt she made to avoid a wound failed leaving her littered with shallow wounds across her body. ‘I think…I’m starting to see his movements…somehow…’ Chiharu rested on one knee from the most recent of the vicious assaults.

The man narrowed his eyes as he was taking a moment to read the situation from what had happened. ‘I keep missing…how? It’s just a normal child! Even trained I should be faster, but my accuracy keeps getting worse!’ Confusion started to settle into his mind as he grew frustrated with his continued failure. It was starting to feel like the fight was becoming evenly matched the further he analyzed the movements. ‘This child can’t be my equal! It’s not possible! It’s just a kid!’

Chiharu tried to calm her breathing that had become out of control. She was concerned with how much longer that she would last at the pace she was going. The fights that she had been in had always been very one sided in her favor with the exception of her grandfather and Tamotsu. A prolong battle was not what she was accustomed to let alone real combat. It was going to have to end soon for her. ‘I have to end it, but I don’t know how. He’s too fast for me to even land a blow.’ Chiharu clutched the hilt of her tanto preparing for her final act.

The ninja noted the change in demeanor of Chiharu and lowered himself back into an attacking stance. He would not allow her to make a fool of him any longer. This would be the end of it. There was not going to be anything that he would hold back.

Both charged at one another with the man trying to use his speed to get around Chiharu for a back attack once more. Sparks flew from the clash of the two blades as Chiharu managed to catch up with his strike. He backed off and disappeared trying for her once again, however she was able to match him. It fell into quick and rapid collisions of metal sparking and chipping from the force being brought to bear with weapons not intended for such powerful strikes. Chiharu was keeping pace with the man and feeling as though she could do a little better. She went for an offensive strike, but missed him taken off balance by the increase in speed not having become accustomed to it yet.

The man turned about preparing to strike Chiharu, but could not find her where he was expecting. “What’s going on?” He searched around through the hall desperate to find Chiharu with sweat starting to build in the mounting tension. Even if Chiharu was moving quickly he knew that she had to come out eventually, but it concerned him that there had not been an attack yet. It felt as though she was nowhere in the hall. He started to back away trying to hold himself into defensive position for any direction that she might be coming at him from. “Something’s wrong here…”

Everything was black. ‘What’s going on? Where am I?’ Chiharu tried to look around the hall that she thought that she was in, but all she could see was endless darkness that was pure. It felt empty and yet too full for her to stay. ‘Is this another one of that man’s tricks?’ She tried to move and felt as though her legs were acting while it did not seem that she had changed her position. There was no way for her to tell if she was actually moving forward in the directionless space that surrounded her.

Chiharu blinked her eyes suddenly feeling like she was seeing a light. The light grew stronger expanding in front of her until an image appeared like a portal for her. She could see the man that she had been fighting with his flank completely opened to her. The feeling that she had at that moment as she reach through was one that could not have explained. It was like a reflex or instinct within acting on its own. Her sword hand stretched out to the portal and pressed through. The whole moment felt distant like she was a third party watching as the ninja jumped away holding his side bleeding. ‘He’s panicked? Bleeding, but how? What just happened?’ Chiharu tried to focus back on herself to break out of the disembodied feeling that she was having.

The view that she had of the ninja suddenly changed with her almost staring at his feet looking up at him like she was on the ground somehow. Her instincts took over again and reached out towards the image. Another arc of blood came off the man from his leg as he leapt back looking cornered. ‘Am I doing that? Is that me? How is this possible?’ Chiharu started to panic herself as she could not answer any of the questions that were flying through her mind. The strange magic that was being worked in front of her was threatening to destroy everything she understood. Her rational mind could accept what was happening. She tried to run towards the image hoping it was an exit.

“Is this that child’s doing? Does the child have powers too?” the man questioned as he frantically searched about for Chiharu still confused to how she was able to wound him without him seeing her. It had been all happening to fast that he afraid she might be far faster than he could imagine. As he turned to check his flank Chiharu appeared coming towards him out of the wall with her tanto held out. In his state he could not react quickly enough forced to take the sword’s blade through his chest. He slowly collapsed to the ground unmoving as Chiharu rested on him breathing heavily.

Chiharu turned her head up and looked around quickly trying to get her bearings. “I’m back! And he’s…” She looked down the hall towards the three remaining guards that appeared to be shaken from the sudden reversal in the situation. The sword jerked free unceremoniously from the man’s body echoing through the corridor snapping the remaining guards out of their paralysis.

“The kid took down Takeo!” stammered the guard on the left that appeared ready to flee.

The guard in the middle punched him in the face for his cowardice. “It’s our job to protect this door regardless of who it is!”

“Right and the kid’s already injured!” said the right guard. It seemed to be their signal to pull out a fully-automatic machine gun each. The clicking from the guns flicked Chiharu’s eyes up reading the situation. She disappeared the moment that the guards opened fire with a heavy stream of bullets that could only riddle the far away wall. In the seconds after their guns sounded off the directions changed as blood sprayed out from their bodies before collapsing to the floor from multiple wounds. The last of the bullet castings bounced on the mats as Chiharu re-appeared facing the sliding door.

Chiharu throw open the doors with her arms spread out. Her breath was heavily paced still and her body only held together by adrenaline. Across the large lightly furnished room sat in a meditative position was the middle-aged man that she had been seeking. “Yoshikazu Higoshi! I’ve come to take your life!”

“Hrmph!” he said barely opening his eyes towards her. The look of disinterest was heavily set in his face. “You, a child think you can kill me! Burn in hell!” His eyes suddenly glowed red sharply before the entire air in the room seemed to be blown out followed by massive wave of heat that burned across Chiharu’s face. She felt as though there was a force pushing her back struggling to keep her balance. A moment later everything ignited at once into fire.

The windows blew out with flames shattering them instantly. Immediately after, the roof over the room exploded upwards into the night sky destroying everything in the room. An enraged flame towered over the mansion pushing into high canopy of the forest itself. Even after much of the initial blast calmed, there was still a threatening force blowing out from the epicenter as Yoshikazu Higoshi appeared unharmed by the fire. He looked about the settling flames that began to recede from their unnatural ignition. “Escaped huh? Tch!”

Appearing out of the ground deep in the forest away from the forest was Chiharu with Tamotsu over her shoulder. She looked back at the fire that illuminated the dark trees. “I failed tonight… But this won’t be the end…”

Morning arrived for the Chinen Estates leaving a deafening silence through the mansion. The death of many of the men had left the remaining feeling uneasy. It was no longer certain if they would be able to defend from would be attacks. Their only comfort was knowing that their night raid had left the Higoshi Clan in disarray and at an equal loss of men, but there was still a third clan. The Kenkyusha Clan was the strongest of the three clans and with both of the weakened positions of the other clans the threat of attack from them was without question. A new ninja war was feared by everyone in the household.

“Tamotsu…” said a heavily bandaged Chiharu. Chiharu looked down at his body resting in his futon. She had managed to only get him out safety from the failed mission. All of the men that she had lost were running repeatedly through her mind torturing her last nerves.

Tamotsu stirred from his sleep and opened his eyes to see Chiharu next to him. “Lady Chiharu…you’re safe…”

She nodded stiffly back to him. “Yes, but the mission was a failure and I’ve allowed my men to die and you to become injured because of my incompetence as a leader.”

“Enough!” Tamotsu coughed sharply from the strain, but forced himself to control his body’s pain. “You have failed no more than I have in keeping you safe from harm.”

“…I’m still too weak to avenge my grandfather’s, but I’ll become stronger Tamotsu. Strong enough so that you don’t have to protect me. Strong enough so that I can protect my men!” Chiharu’s face hardened in determination as she looked down at him. There was an eased look that came across Tamotsu as he relaxed in his futon.

Out in the forest of the Chinen Estates, two figures stood out of sight of the mansion and the perimeter guard. “That’s quite the show you’re putting on, Tamotsu…” the man said.

Tamotsu looked up flatly staring at the man. “Those three are not the only ones to have discovered strange powers. I don’t know why it’s happened, but the stage has been set now. Both Clans are weak and ripe for invasion. War shall be coming soon.”

“Yes, the end of the Clans will be soon.”

“I’m concerned about the power that the Head of the Higoshi Clan displayed. It could still prove a problem to the plans. Be sure to investigate thoroughly any new powers that develop within the Higoshi Clan. We’ll need to know everything before the next move can be made.”

“Still being cautious… This is our trump card…”

“It’s not a trump card if everyone has one though… I will not allow overconfidence and arrogance destroy the plan that we’ve labored so long for.”

“Understood!” The man disappeared from the tree branch he rested on leaving Tamotsu alone once more.

Tamotsu looked back in the direction of the mansion. ‘I must see more of her power, it could be problematic… She’s still soft though…’ He thought back to the previous night from the hidden position he held watching the entire scene play out with his marionette. ‘She was unable to kill the men, still missing the fatal points on purpose… I’ll have to ensure I control her development…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

It had been three days since the search for Yuki had begun. Little in the city had improved from the chaos that he had brought upon it, but people were starting to become a little more accustomed to their new reality. People were no longer denying or hoping that they would just wake up from an illusion. It was not a dream and they were finally accepting that fact. There were still many that refused to do something, but as it was with most people the idea of doing nothing became too much to handle and so they ventured out into the unknown.

Police, fire and other emergency facilities were running once again at full staffing. Most were not even in their respective buildings due to the high volume of calls being made. The wild animal threat had been discovered leaving injures and fear to spread through many of the neighborhoods. They were ill equipped to deal with the matter, but it seemed in the desperate times that some were learning the dark secret to what happened. People were developing unnatural powers that seemed to be as impossible and fantastical as what had happened to the country. It spread a new panic through the city as there was no discrimination of who received powers. The wicked misused the new gifts while the innocent were left confused or in some cased tried to play local heroes in protecting against the unknowns. Change was coming quick.

The government did not even know how to respond to such problems. There was no one spared from the new gifts leaving even politicians to deal with the strange and weird. Those that had powers were viewed as possible threats. The entire system was being threatened to collapse as resignations were being thrown around, but with each new day and the reports of more and more outbreaks. The new reality was becoming clear.

For Ayumi, it presented an even greater concern for her than the assassins that threatened Yuki’s life. Those that were coming into new gifts fell outside of Ayumi and Yuki’s powers. The illusion powers that they possessed only created a reality within a space, but it was not the same for everyone else. They were the reality and could possibly be far more difficult to defend against. When it came down to it even with her abilities, she was still a normal human relying on her mental reflexes and physical training to survive. She could never surpass what was considered within human limitations, however everyone else was no longer confined by such limitations. She feared what that would mean for her.

Her search for Yuki had remained fairly uneventful. She had run into the occasional wild beast that tried to attack, but was able to defend herself without coming to harm. Ayumi hoped it would remain that way until she found Yuki.

Ayumi tilted her head up towards the sun overhead. It was a bit after noon and there was a sense of urgency in her step today. While she had been searching with urgency for three days, it was different today. ‘I’ve got to find Yuki soon… I’m going to be late…’ She had made a promise to Saki that she would find him today. It was not something that she was going to fail in keeping this time.

The brief moment of her wandering thoughts snapped as she realized her drifting. A whole block was awaiting her search. Yuki’s entire neighborhood had been covered several times each day, thinking that he might wander back in by habit. Afterward, the search expanded into different directions each day. Today was a distant park on the outskirts of the downtown district of the city. Ayumi had already covered the park and much of the surrounding neighborhood. She had one last block neighboring the park before her search expanded further. ‘I can’t believe we haven’t found him yet… I know it’s a big city, but even still… Doesn’t he know how much he’s making the others…worry…’

A thorough yet feverish pass on the street block brought her back staring at the park. The park, or what used to be one, was looking more like the wild plains of the country. Wild grass grew nearly as tall as Ayumi only to be out stretched by massive trees with seemingly impossible spans that should break under such length. In a few places green and brown were painted out by wild flowers normally seen in the mountains, also with some only possible in stories.

Ayumi began to turn back, planning to continue her search, when she noticed an elderly man sitting on a park bench at the edge of the wilds. He seemed to be unaffected or uninterested in what was surrounding him as though he had become used to its presence. If he had been any deeper in she never would have seen him. ‘Wasn’t he there in the morning when I first arrived?’ thought Ayumi trying to recall back into her mind as he seemed familiar to her. It took her a moment, but she nodded by herself in agreement that she had remembered seeing him before. ‘Why hasn’t he moved since?’

Curiosity and a bit of suspiciousness drew her in making her walk towards the old man. Her eyes turned to the ground for a moment while she approached before watching the resting man. Even as she came closer there was no reaction from him. ‘…hmm…’ Ayumi stopped and sat down next to the old man taking up the other spot on the park bench. She looked forward towards one of the houses waiting out a moment. “I’ve been looking all over town for you…Yuki…”

Chapter 70 – That Which has been Forgotten

The old man did not react to Ayumi’s statement. He simply continued to hold the distant nearly departed expression that he had before. It was as though nothing around him was of significance to him. While the man seemed gone her words had made it into his ears. “You seem to be mistaking me for someone else, child.”

A smile pulled up on Ayumi’s lips as she let out a momentary fit of laughter. “It seems you’ve truly managed to control that power of yours. It’s no wonder no one can find you, Yuki!” She tilted her head over her shoulder towards the old man. Her eyes held a deep piercing stare focused solely on the wrinkled tanned skin of the man seated next to her.

“I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong person,” replied the elderly man slowly.

“You can drop the act already, Yuki. I know it’s you.” She continued to stare at him intently even though he remained looking out in the distance. The delay prompted her to lift up her hand towards him. “Either you drop it or I’ll make you drop it!”

He finally looked back at Ayumi, his head sweating a little knowing that she would not hold back. “Alright! Alright! I already have enough brain damage from you and Saki! I don’t need anymore!” A flash of light burst from the top of his head expanding downward as a flat line that made a transition between the old man visage and Yuki’s real body. Once it was completed Yuki turned off his power. Yuki ran his hand through his hair checking to make sure everything was normal (had been holding the image for three days straight). He turned a little to face Ayumi. “So how’d you figure it out? I thought I had a perfect disguise.”

Ayumi pointed her index finger to the ground for her respond. “You still can’t control your field. So I could tell you were nearby with how much my own field was affected. Anyone other than me would have never been able to find you.”

Yuki let out an embarrassed laugh. “I guess I still have a long way to go still, huh?” When Ayumi leaned in suddenly glaring at him Yuki winced and then shut his eyes preparing for the verbal assault that Ayumi was about to whip him with along with any physical abuse that she felt like adding. However, when nothing happened to him and it was uneasily silent Yuki cautiously opened his eyes.

She was sitting back normally looking at him as though there was something wrong with him. “What’s with the look?”

Hearing her act as though she did not know nearly made Yuki fall over. Yuki straightened himself out quickly and stared back at her in disbelief for a moment. “Well I’ve been gone for three days without any word causing you and probably Saki to go looking for me because Momoko asked you and or she was really worried. And because of that you’re going to yell at me and other stuff for acting so childish to make you all worry.”

Ayumi was a little stunned by the accuracy of his guessing, but tried not to let it show. “Well if you understand all that then I don’t need to do anything then, right?” She turned away from him while was finishing her sentence acting casually with her eyes wandering about. The surprised expression from Yuki caught from the caught of her eye back her turned her eyes back to him. “Unless you want to me to hurt you?”

“No!” he said quickly waving his hand as well.

There was still a little something that she could see bothering him. It was confusion buried under the relief. “So what’s the problem then?”

Yuki looked away from Ayumi for a moment suddenly being put on the spot by her. The thing he was thinking was feeling a little afraid to say considering he knew how she might react. Unfortunately, Ayumi was leaning in at him once more glaring at the back of his head intensely enough that he picked up on her. When he looked back towards her he jumped a little taken off guard by how close she was too him. “W-Well…”

“Yes?” Seeing that her being so close to him was not helping him speak up anymore Ayumi backed off and sat back down.

He began to poke his index fingers together fidgeting as he seemed reluctant still to speak. After waiting another minute a fierce glare from Ayumi snapped him out and jump started his words. “W-Well! Uh…well it’s not really like to be so forgiving to me! I’m sorry!” Yuki quickly turned into a formal bow hoping to calm some of her wraith for what he was implying.

There was a very long minute that passed for Yuki as Ayumi stared at him while he was waiting to be receiving punishment from her. She waited until he finally dared to lift his head (a small hint of enjoyment at seeing him scared). When he finally looked into her eyes to see he could see that she was not going to do anything to him and she actually looked a little hurt by assumption. “I’m not a violent girl like Saki!” she insisted looking almost like she was pouting a little. She turned away from him for a moment feeling insulted, but caught the disbelieving gaze from Yuki. “Alright! Maybe a little...some…fine! I do, but it’s only because I’m trying to toughen you up!” Ayumi leaned over to him looking a little threatening as she insisted that Yuki accept her reason.

Yuki back off from the subject quickly agreeing with her. “Sorry! You’re right!”

Ayumi pulled herself away as though she was embarrassed by something that just came to her. She looked out forward so that she did not have to show her face to Yuki. He did not seem to pick up on her self-consciousness. Yuki’s silence did not help her though as she felt like he was starting to drift back into the internal world she had found him in. “I-I…I wanted to say…it’s okay…” She tightened her hands pressing them into her lap reflecting her internal struggle of whipping herself for being unable to say what she wanted.

The awkwardness coming from Ayumi’s words tugged Yuki to look at her. He had become confused to why she was suddenly having trouble speaking when it never seemed to be a problem. He knew her to be sure about everything she had to say without hesitation. ‘Why’s Ayumi acting so weird? It’s not like her?’ Yuki dragged in brief memories before of Ayumi when she seemed a little out of character as though he might be seeing a different side of her or possibly the real side under all of the training and order. “…Ayumi? What do you mean?”

Being pressured by Yuki did not help her any in speaking and only made her more flustered. She became frustrated with herself for having come to such a position. Eventually, it was Yuki leaning in closer to her that snapped her back to face him and nearly startled her in the process. “Well you see…I mean…” Ayumi could feel her heart starting to pound and her hands warming with sweat. She turned back away from Yuki. “Nevermind! It’s nothing!”

Yuki’s head fell down thinking that he was going to get an answer and came up with only more confusion after being strung about. He could see that it was troubling her deeply and it made him even more curious to know what was wrong with her. ‘What’s she having so much trouble saying to me?’ Slow seconds were leaving him with no progress forcing him to act a little more aggressive. Yuki stretched out his hand placing it on her shoulder to ease her nerves. “What is it that you wanted to say?”

She felt a little at ease from Yuki’s touch, but her body was still tightening. It seemed as though it was enough to ease her words. “I wanted to say…that it’s okay…” Ayumi realized that she was just repeating her rather than making progress. There was a moment of frustration with her before Yuki calmed her again. “I mean it’s okay…the way you must be feeling… I wanted to say that I’m not mad at you for running away. Uh…I was mad at first, but not anymore!” She could see that she was not making a lot of sense trying to sort through all of her thoughts and planned lines that she had prepared. Unfortunately, now that she needed them they were all falling apart. “While I was looking for you it gave me a lot of time to think and I realized something. I realized that I couldn’t think how I might react in your situation. I could try to say, but I think I realized how scared it must have made you. So I may not understand how it feels, but it’s okay. But no one’s going to blame you for what happened and they’ll understand how heavy a weight it must be for you. So you don’t have to hide away from us. Alright?”

There was a moment while watching an embarrassed and shy looking Ayumi that he wanted to laugh loudly, but restrained himself. ‘Is Ayumi trying to make me feel better? Is she feeling ill?’ Yuki was caught a little off guard by her words. All of it slowly began to sink to the reasons why she was having such trouble speaking to him. It had been so out of character for her that it was probably difficult for her try to comfort someone. Her typical reaction to a problem was to berate; this was so unnatural. However, him hearing it coming from Ayumi, as odd sounding as it was, gave him a little piece of mind. “Thank you…Ayumi…”

Ayumi nodded to him still a little off balance from spilling her thoughts to him. It took her a moment, but a warm smile managed to rise on her face that was neither from the Ayumi façade nor from the cold Ayumi.

“I just didn’t know what to do when I saw that news report,” began Yuki. Her words made him feel as though he could trust her with his thoughts and feelings. He could not explain it, but it was the first time that being near her made him feel at ease and safe. “I couldn’t believe it at first. I didn’t think that it was possible for a single person to cause so much damage, for me to be able to do that.” Yuki began to recall slowly the past days making the emotions rush back. He jumped up from the bench and stared off into the distance with his voice becoming a little empty. “None of it seemed real. I mean ever since you told me I had this power none of it ever seemed real. I just expected that I’d wake up sometime in class with the teacher yelling at me for sleeping. And that would be it. You know…”

A moment of pause came to him as his memories passed through the last couple of weeks. “Being attacked repeatedly and coming close to death. You think it would have set in, but it still didn’t seem to be real to me. I mean I live so much in a fantasy world already.” He turned around to look back at Ayumi. “I may dream of a fantasy world away from my own life, but even still…even still I knew it was false. I understand that fact and could accept it. But this power…this power how could it be real, you know? I could never make it work for me and because I…”

Ayumi saw the slow change that was coming over him as he was remembering something painful. She had a pretty good idea what it was. Acting without thinking Ayumi stood up and approached him. There was only centimeters between them as she was nearly inside his eyes feeling the overwhelming sadness that was welling up within them. “It’s okay…Yuki…” She reached out her arms cautiously at first, but seeing that he was accepting her, wrapping them around him letting her warmth comfort him.

Yuki had initially been a little caught off guard by Ayumi hugging him, but he quickly leaned his head against her shoulder holding her tightly. “He’s dead…he’s dead…I…” Tears had fallen before for Kazuhiro, but they had been in anger and rage. These deep sorrowful cold of the tears were different. He wanted to stay feeling Ayumi’s embrace that seemed to be the only thing that melted away the pain. It was only something that two that had experienced loss so strongly could understand and share the weight.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

There was a slowing of time for Yuki and Ayumi as they held each other. Raw emotions poured between them provide a measure of solace. It was Ayumi that broke first lifting her head a little allowing Yuki to step away.

He had not realized entirely what had happened until Ayumi’s movement snapped him out of the trance. Several dozen thoughts flew through his mind in the instant that he was staring at Ayumi still holding to her loosely. Yuki quickly turned deep red through his face with embarrassment along with a little blue for the fear that was creeping in. He was scared that Ayumi was suddenly going to hit him for touching her in such an intimate manner. If it was going to happen Yuki made his attempt to get out of range by jump away from her. “I’m sorry, Ayumi!

Ayumi’s eyes narrowed for a moment more annoyed by Yuki’s reaction assuming that she was going to hurt him over it. “I’m not going to hurt you, Yuki! But I will if you keep acting like that around me!” She leaned over towards him with a serious glare in her eye that made certain he understood her feelings on the matter.

Nodding quickly, Yuki tried to agree with her, but still felt awkward by it all. The time that he had known Ayumi might not have been long enough to see everything that was to know about her, but even still she had made it very clear to him how serious and calculated she acted. For him to see this side made him start to question what he thought he knew about her and where the real Ayumi was underneath all of the masks.

Yuki worked on improving his emotions so that he would stop offending Ayumi. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I’m not used to seeing you like this.”

She understood the problem, but it did not change the fact that it still bothered her. Her hands rested at her hips while she pressed forwards closing the distance between them. “Just becomes I’m a soldier doesn’t mean I don’t have emotions or empathy too!”

The situation for Yuki was becoming more stressful the longer he continued to make mistakes when he spoke. Sadly for Yuki, that was not going to be changing soon. “You’re right! You are a girl!”

An alerted ping went off from Ayumi as she picked up the last thing that Yuki said. It quickly turned her face dark leaving only glowing white eyes to pierce at Yuki. “So…because I’m a girl…I’m supposed to be weak? Is that what you’re saying?!” Ayumi was starting to fume which soon turned to burning flames as she pressed in towards Yuki making him look small.

The terror he felt from Ayumi’s presence was unlike anything he had experience before. She did not even need to hit him to make it feel as though he had been left a bruised lump of black and blue. Yuki was left a sobbing liquid mass in the dirt as she walked away. ‘…I liked other Ayumi better…’

Chapter 71 – The Farewell

After Yuki had recovered from the visually induced beating he joined Ayumi, who was looking a little more serious than before, walking away from the park. When they came to the former intersection of the neighborhood Ayumi took a different direction away from where Yuki lived. He rushed over in front of her when he realized what had happened. “Hey Ayumi, our houses are back that way!” he said pointing over her shoulder to the proper direction.

“I know, but we aren’t going home just yet.” She began to walk around Yuki resuming her pace until he caught back up to her once more standing in her way. “We’ll be late if you keep this up.”

“Late? Late to what?”

“There is somewhere we both need to be soon.”

“Which is?” Yuki pressed still confused by Ayumi’s vagueness. It seemed to be clearly intentional on her part, which left an unsettled feeling in his stomach.

Ayumi stepped around him continuing in spite of his interruptions. “You’ll learn when we get there. Now hurry up!” The deeper rough tone came out in her voice echoing it as an order that Yuki could not ignore.

The mysterious walk through the abandoned neighborhood streets of the city left Yuki plenty of time to think about what it was that they were going to be doing. None of it proved to be helpful for him, but since Ayumi had remind quiet the entire time there was little left for him to do. He was not certain if her silence was from what he had said as lingering anger or something else related to where they were heading. However, the confusion that Yuki felt suddenly became intensified the moment he saw where they had stopped. It mixed with uneasiness and a slow unwanted feeling of clarity.

Yuki looked over at Ayumi narrowing his eyes at her in a question. “Why are we are at a cemetery?”

“You’re smart enough. I think you can figure it out.” Ayumi took a couple of steps forward entering the threshold of the cemetery. She paused and waited knowing that Yuki was not following her.

It had been a while since the last time he had visited a cemetery. The images of the past from when his mother and father had died echoed through his thoughts. He could not keep the past away from him as much as he wanted to forget at that moment. This was a different cemetery, but it did not make a difference to him. The memories were linked. Yuki wanted to back away and run, yet the reason for what it meant today appeared. It froze him immediately from being able to retreat or even advance. “I’m sorry, Ayumi, but I’m not ready to see him.”

“No one is ever ready.” Ayumi kept her back to Yuki looking forward through the rows of headstones. “It doesn’t matter how much anyone prepares themselves for it…you’re never ready…never…” The fading echo in her voice was piercing as though it came from inside holding a deeper understanding of the word’s meaning.

There was a little that Yuki picked up, but he could only manage to step forward feeling his voice failing him. Ayumi reached back with her hand, still not looking at him, grabbing his hand and guiding him on. ‘…Ayumi’s hand…she’s shaking, but why?’ Yuki looked up towards the back of Ayumi trying to understand what he was feeling from her. Unfortunately, there was nothing that she was allowing him beyond her hand.

Several aisles of burials later Ayumi came to a stop abruptly. Yuki had not been paying much attention to his surroundings, having been solely focused on Ayumi. So he did not take notice of the company that fell in around him. “Why did you stop, Ayumi?”

“I brought him! As promised!” Ayumi declared releasing Yuki from her hold very quickly under the stealth of her announcement. The tone in her voice quickly covered up any of the subtleties that had been leaking through her.

Yuki took a moment to look at Ayumi, confused by who she could be speaking to, before examining those around him. It made him step back a little seeing that Saki, Hiroshi and Tatsuya were all standing in front of him. There was a long pause between them as Yuki quickly felt incredibly awkward and guilty. The depression and sorrow that he had thought that he had overcome began to overwhelm him staring at them. “…everyone…”

“Hey Yuki!” Hiroshi nearly shouted sounding a little too happy for the occasion. He stepped out from the others looking to greet Yuki back from his long vacation. A brief second waited while Hiroshi smiled at Yuki before his friend was greeted by Hiroshi’s fist. It was enough to send Yuki to the ground and sliding across the stone tile kicking up dust and dirt throughout the entire area.

Saki reached forward and grabbed a hold of Hiroshi wrist. “Hey! This is a cemetery! You can’t be making so much noise!”

“Don’t give me that, Saki! I know you were wanting to hit him just as much as me!” snapped Hiroshi as he stared back at her.

Ayumi ran off after Yuki to check on him. She found him on his back propped up against a headstone that belonged to a long deceased family. “Hey you alright?”

“Yeah…I think so…” said Yuki slowly trying to get his bearing still. He looked up at Ayumi and then back over at his friends. She helped him up off the stone and back to his feet. Yuki marched back over to Hiroshi once all of the feeling was back in his body. He tried to ignore the pain in his face. “What was that for? I thought we were—“

“I thought we were friends, Yuki!”

“Huh?” Yuki blinked back at Hiroshi a little confused for being interrupted by exactly what he was trying to say. There was a sense that he was expecting it to happen from someone, but Hiroshi seemed like the last person that was going to punch him.

Hiroshi moved forward closer to Yuki. “You’re not the only one that’s hurting because of Kazuhiro! You think it’s all your fault that it happened, huh?” Another step from Hiroshi moved him close enough to Yuki that Yuki backed away a little looking uncomfortable. “Don’t be so arrogant and self-centered. Kazuhiro choose to be there like we all did. It was that other guy that killed him not you! That Alex guy, right?” He was staring at Yuki under the expectation of getting a response from him. The expectation took a while for it to click with Yuki.

Yuki gave Hiroshi an uncertain nod not knowing where all the yelling was leading and not quite expecting the type of speech from Hiroshi. “…yeah…” The hesitation and confusion in Yuki voice was quickly picked up by Hiroshi causing him to lean in towards Yuki even more intently than before. Yuki leaned away no longer certain what Hiroshi wanted from him.

“Right?”

“Yeah?” Hiroshi did not seem any more pleased with Yuki response leaning in further at him. “Yeah!” Yuki tried again feeling as though Hiroshi wanted him to repeat himself until he was satisfied. Hiroshi had not backed off. “Yes!” shouted Yuki loudly back at Hiroshi which startled the others around him, but made Hiroshi pleased.

Hiroshi backed away and walked around to Yuki’s side looking over at him. “You thought that I would blame you for what happened. You thought we’d all blame you for what happened with the school and everything else.” He stretched out his arm around to Yuki’s shoulder grabbing him firmly almost as one brother would to another. “We’re all friends here, Yuki. It doesn’t matter what happens or what you do. True friends would never blame you. I don’t care what anyone else say about you, Yuki. We’re friends and friends support and look out for each other. If you’re not here then how are we supposed to support you and help you?”

A drawn out pause from Yuki allowed him to take everything in. He became a little reminded of what Ayumi had told him. It made him feel a little better knowing that there were friends that would stand by him. The worst thing that he had feared was losing them all because of the mistakes that he had made. Yuki felt like he could smile looking from Hiroshi over to Saki and Tatsuya. “Thanks, everyone…”

Hiroshi dragged Yuki over to the grave that marked Kazuhiro resting place. He looked down at his friend losing a bit of the cheerful glow that had been in his face. “Hey man… I brought Yuki here like I promised… We’re together again so you keep on him when we can’t, alright?” Hiroshi roughed Yuki up a little working up a smile again to lighten the air.

“Hey! This is a cemetery have some respect!” yelled Saki at him threatening to hit him.

“You’re being just a noisy, Saki!”

“Hiroshi you…”

Ayumi kept her distance from them watching merely as an observer now not feeling that it was her place to be. It was a comforting sight to see them looking in better spirits. In front of the yelling was Yuki kneeling down towards the grave with most of what he was saying being distorted by those behind him, however a little of what he said managed to make it to Ayumi.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I tried to protect you…”

A distant voice in the back of Ayumi’s mind playing from the past echoed painful memories. ‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I tried to protect you…’ They were far more recent memories than she wished to admit, but seeing Yuki before the grave unwillingly triggered them. She tried to ignore them and push them away, yet the emotions were too strong to be ignored. ‘Come back! Please come back! Don’t leave me alone!’ Ayumi turned her head down covering her eyes in dark shadows as she fought with her emotions.

‘I’m sorry! Please don’t leave me alone! I can’t…’ Crying between the shaking words was becoming clearer in mind. The unwanted past was filling her up. It was unavoidable for her. It was nearly two months before back in her homeland where she found herself in the same position as Yuki was today. Eudokia was knelt before a grave unable to keep herself from crying though she knew her training told her it was a weakness. The one man that had been her support and changed her life had died, her King. She had never feared being alone before because it was something that she had been born into, yet she had now come know the warmth from knowing that there was someone next to her. She had become comforted by that feeling that she was afraid of it disappearing on her. It was all slipping through her fingers the longer that she stared at his grave. He was gone, forever. All Eudokia would know once more was the emptiness of solitude. “I don’t want to be alone anymore! I can’t go on without you! I don’t want to… I’d rather wither and die here…” She hung her arms over the massive sprawling stone marker of her dead King.

Quietly approaching from behind Eudokia was an aging man dressed formally in the military uniform of the homeland. He came to stop at the grave not looking down at Eudokia trying to provide a sense of respect and dignity earned by her position despite her emotional state. “Such words are too harsh on yourself, Eudokia.”

Swollen and deeply red from tears her eyes only briefly looked back already knowing who it was before. “What are you doing here Demosthenes? Shouldn’t the General of the Army be at the assembly?”

“They are in recess currently.”

“So you’re with those jackals that didn’t even wait for his body to go cold before declaring the Ritual of Succession to begin.”

“It is the law. You know as well as I do without a new King our home will fall into ruin. Without an heir a new King must be found quickly if we are to survive.”

Eudokia glared over at him finally looking up at Demosthenes. She bore him great venom for his cold and rational thought over the death of someone so important to her. “He was your King too! How can you be so cold about his death! You sided so quickly with those politicians that have been trying to overthrown the King. You never cared for him! He never mattered to you!”

Demosthenes took her shouting with measure and gave pause before responding knowing how much she would despise him. “I’ve always followed the law. The law is what has kept us alive these years. Following it will ensure that we continue no matter the path.”

“Bastard!” Eudokia spat back as she stood up from the ground. She gave him a piercing glare up into his eyes. “You’ll never understand!” Eudokia began walking away from him leaving the cemetery that was filled with the Kings of the past.

“The assembly is requesting your presence since you were the Captain of the Royal Guard.”

She broke her step coming to a stop hearing the insulting words from him. “I will not indulge cowards and backstabbers in their games for a power play. My King is dead and I will serve no other King. Tell them that!”

“You have lost someone important to you, Eudokia. But remember it is the duty of those that live to keep those that have gone alive within. You’re never alone.”

“I don’t need to be consoled by an old man like you that has already forgotten his King that he has served for so long.” Eudokia marched out of the cemetery leaving Demosthenes alone.

Ayumi blinked briefly catching herself from her emotions that were carried to the surface from her memories. She shifted her legs and weight a little to loosen up the stiffness that was starting to set in from her unmoved position watching Yuki and his friends. ‘Perhaps…perhaps I’m not alone…’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Evening had already set in before Yuki had made it back from the cemetery. The distant rumbles of strange animals mingled in with chirping birds left an uneasy silence through the neighborhood. However, the uneasiness for Yuki had to deal with something more frightening than fantastical animals and super humans running about the dark corners of the city. It kept him in hesitation on the stoop of his house trying to get his hand to move to the door. Yuki had been in the halfway in between position for nearly thirty minutes while he tried to get the image of Momoko out of his mind. He shook in his head again trying to force it out.

A loud cracking noise burst from the door in front of him followed by flying pieces of wood splinters as an anger hand pierced the front door. “If you’re here come inside, Yuki!” shouted Momoko in a dark voice that easily penetrated through the wood. It was the only warning he had before he was pulled through the hole in the door as though it was alive and had just eaten him.

Chapter 72 – Rebuilding the Broken

Before Yuki knew what was going on he was dropped onto their living room couch very roughly. He quickly scrambled to right himself and seek out Momoko. She was standing before him casting a heavy shadow over him while remaining silent leaving him to start to shake in fear. Suddenly out of the shadows Jun and Ken appeared at Momoko’s side with equally dark expressions half blanketed by careful shadows. The permeating presence from his siblings made Yuki tried to stand up to explain himself in the best way possible.

Momoko did not grant him any words as she snapped her eyes to her sides quickly signaling Jun and Ken. Both of them leapt forward taking hold of Yuki’s arms and pinning him down into the couch. Their older sister still stared on at Yuki for a moment longer before she swiftly moved forward grabbing him.

“Momoko! I’m sorry!” began Yuki reflexively almost shouting in surprise before catching his volume. “I can explain…” He tried to continue until he realized what was happening was not what he was expecting.

Momoko was hugging him tightly along with Jun and Ken. The ominous air was completely gone from them. “I’m so glad you’re safe Yuki!” Momoko managed through battling her emotions.

Feeling exhausted from the stress Yuki did not argue with what was happening. ‘Why is everyone acting opposite of my expectations today? I don’t know if I can take much more of this…’ Yuki sank into the couch pressed by his family. It took him a bit to realize that he was having trouble breathing and tried to fight them off him. “I can’t breathe! Guys! Help!”


Once everything had calmed down for them Yuki explained to Momoko alone what had happened. She had some trouble believing everything that he was telling her at first, but with what had happened recently she did not have much choice in accepting it. Yuki wanted to keep his brothers out of the problems he was so they had been left out and Momoko agreed with him.

After he had finished explaining everything and Momoko accepted what she had been told, she remained silent for a while deep in thought. When she was ready she looked back at Yuki. “So what’s going to happen to Japan?”

“Huh?” Yuki said quickly not completely catching what she had asked him.

“Can you fix it? Undo whatever you did?”

Yuki held his reply not wanting to answer it. It was an issue that he had questioned himself in the three days that he had been alone. There had even been points he had tried to use his Kasou-ryoku to turn things back. He could make it like things had been before, but only within his field and even then it was only so long as his field was active. The power that he had used seemed out of his reach. Once he had come to that answer he tried to bury everything. He did not like the feeling that he found from the hopelessness. “…I don’t know…”

“Yuki?” Momoko began to step towards him away from the kitchen counter she had been leaning against. She stretched out her hand wanting to place it comfortingly on his shoulder.

There was a sharp flip of Yuki’s head up towards her when he saw Momoko getting closer to him. “I can’t! I can’t…”

The incomplete words had been more than enough for Momoko. She understood well enough from Yuki. Momoko finished closing in the rest of the distance putting her arms around Yuki. It had been too long since she had seen such honest emotions from him. She knew all she could do was be at his side. “…Yuki…”


“What am I doing here?” Yuki droned out flatly looking over at Ayumi. The night he had at home had not been unpleasant for him, but having his brothers following him everywhere he went made it difficult to relax. They were insisting on watching him so that he did not disappear on him again. Yuki had repeatedly told them that he was not going anywhere, but it did not seem to convince them. In fact, he could not leave the house without the escort of Ayumi or Saki. It happened to be the both of them today and unfortunately early despite there being no school.

Ayumi smiled back at him Yuki an innocent look on her face. “We’re here to help! I told you that before we came, Yuki!”

The unsettling warmth coming from Ayumi’s face left Yuki a little off. He was still no used to seeing her new act or whatever it happened to be. It seemed more honest, but it was so foreign. “Yes, but that was all you told me…” Yuki gave a long sigh finding Ayumi annoyingly chirper attitude grating on his still waking eyes. “And why are you wearing a hard hat?”

Reacting a little self-consciously, Ayumi grabbed the bright yellow hat catching it before it slipped off. She active her power without the field suddenly appearing in blue jean overalls and a white tank top with her hair tied up. “How’s this better image? Do I look cute now?” Ayumi spun around for him quickly to give a full her newly made costume.

Yuki nodded stiffly not sure what to make of it. “…uh…yeah…”

“Ah Yuki Hayashi. You made it,” called out a smooth voice from behind.

“Did she say cute?” There was a slow stunned reaction in Yuki that block him for a moment. Responding to the voice Yuki turned sharply finding a high student aged boy in street clothes. “Yes…I did, umm…” Yuki was still unclear about why he had been called out from his home so early to stare at his ruined school.

“I’m Student Council President Yori Mizuno. You probably saw me at the entrance ceremony.”

“Mizuno?”


“Yes, you know my sister, Yumi.”

“Sister!?” Yuki took a step back when he saw Yumi walking out of Yori’s wake and standing next to him.

Yumi politely bowed to Yuki in apology before even speaking to him. “I’m sorry I never told you, Yuki! I didn’t mean to hide it from you! Honest!”

Yuki quickly tried to catch Yumi’s overly apologetic manner. “N-n-no! It’s alright! Nothing to be sorry about! I was just surprised!” When Yumi finally stood upright again Yuki suddenly took note of many of the student body behind them gathered in a loose group. Confusion began to set in painfully for him as he looked around. “So…what’s going on?”

“We’re all very grateful for volunteering to help restoring our high school, Yuki!” Yori declared politely. It was difficult to tell whether he had ignored what Yuki had said or not, but he had left Yuki in little position other than to accept.

There was a quick moment where Yuki turned to look over at Ayumi next him. She simply smiled back to him looking like there was nothing wrong. ‘Manipulating little…’ Yuki sighed trying to adjust himself to the situation. “Right! Volunteering! But isn’t dangerous for us to be going near the school? We’re just teenagers and none of us know anything about construction.”

A light pat on his shoulders came from Ayumi as she joined the conversation. “That’s why we’re here!”

“Huh?”

“The student body won’t be approaching the building. I can’t risk the safety of them no matter how much they want to fix the school. I’ll be directing the efforts to cleaning up the school grounds and clearing away what debris is safe for us.” Yori maintained a very polite and even tone throughout his words. Speaking was something that suited him. “We’ll do whatever we can to make it easier for you.”

None of the words were helping Yuki understand what he was supposed to be doing. He was starting to tire of listening to Yori speaking without getting to the point related to him. “But what am I suppose to do? I don’t know how to fix the school. Do you Ayumi?”

“Nope! But that doesn’t matter!”

“You lost me.”

Ayumi gave a disappointed sigh to Yuki. She had hoped that he would have picked up on what she was intending for him. “It’s quite simple. We use our Meso Prosecho—“

“Kasou-ryoku…”

Trying to ignore Yuki she continued on. “…to create what we need to fix the building.”

“If you’re going to do that why not just make it all better with the field immediate.”

“Because our power doesn’t work that way and you know it. We can’t cause direct change to the environment, but we can cause indirect change.”

“Even if I made a crane and construction equipment I still can’t use it.” Yuki extended his flippant attitude out to his hand waving off Ayumi’s idea. He did not understand what Ayumi was thinking that they could accomplish without any expert knowledge of construction. It was an impossible project.

Ayumi narrowed her eyes at Yuki becoming annoyed by his simpleminded thinking. “I thought you had a creative mind. You should be able to figure it out. You’re thinking too narrowly. You need to broaden your scope.”

Yuki crossed his arms staring down Ayumi. He could tell that she was insulting him, though it was a little more indirect than he was used to from her. There was some comfort in hearing himself being put down by her even if he hated hearing it. “Too narrowly? I can’t do construction! What aren’t you understanding? The only way it’d work was if you used some highly advanced artificial intelligence controlling all of the machines so that they did the work for us instead!” A slow pause came out of his mouth as he retraced his words. All of it was starting to fall into place and Ayumi’s smug smile did not help him.

“See! Even someone stupid like you can figure it out with a little help! Think of it as training!” Ayumi slapped him on the back and skipped off towards the school. It left Yuki questioning the paradox that he saw from her and if he really wanted to bother trying to understand it.

After a moment he turned about to find the entire group of volunteers staring at him eagerly and wide eyed as though he was some animal in a zoo that was about to do a trick for them. The excitement in their faces became too much for him and he ran off for Ayumi. “Wait for me!”

Following the lead that Ayumi set for him, Yuki tried to mimic what she had created. The creation of Yuki’s had a very advance science fiction touch while Ayumi seemed a larger and more practical, but still both were equally functional. Due to the field range that Yuki had over Ayumi he could work over a larger area. She focused on clearing and support while Yuki managed the large scale physical work of actual construction.

While the two of them were focused on the school the rest of the student volunteers were fanning out under directions from Yori. Yori had already surveyed the entire block prior to the work and had come up with a schedule for their work. Everyone was in good spirits remaining enthusiastic about the work and saving their school. They all followed Yori’s directions without question and were starting to make some progress by the time that lunchtime was rolling around for them.

The group gathered together in Yuki’s grass field that removed everything out of sight while they ate. He was starting to feel like he was being used as a tool of convenience whenever something needed to be done. However, Yuki did not complain too much seeing how much everyone was getting along together and enjoying themselves.

Ayumi sat next to him catching a pensive look in his eyes. “Something on your mind?” She took a bite out of the sandwich that had been prepared for everyone working.

“I was just thinking that I had been only focusing on the negatives of what I did. Seeing everyone here today made me think that maybe what happened hasn’t all been terrible.”

“There are many sides to any problem. The more you see the better you’ll understand it.”

“I guess so! Thanks Ayumi for bringing me out here today!” Yuki started taking a bite into his sandwich eagerly. The dread and unease that he had been feeling all left him. When he caught sight of Yori moving his way, making his rounds to check on everyone, Yuki quickly swallowed his food so that he could speak to him. “Hey Yori! I was wondering something!”

There was a split second of subtle emotions in Yori that stirred deeply suspicious towards Yuki, but he covered it up quickly. The pleasant public face of Yori was shown to him as he approached. “Yes?”

“I was thinking for a while, but are we allowed to do this? Won’t the city get mad or something?”

“I’ve already settled the matter with the mayor.”

Yuki’s eyes widened and mouth opened in shock to hear that he actually could speak with the mayor of the city. ‘He’s just the student council President! How much influence does he have?’ It took a moment of him blinking before he could speak again. “You know the mayor?!”

“Actually the mayor’s son is a third year at our school. So I was able to get a meeting very easily.” Yumi suddenly arrived behind Yori pulling away his attention to his sister. They began whispering to each other.

The surprise in Yuki’s face began to recover. ‘That’s a little scary…’ Yuki had tried to continue with his lunch, but Yori and Yumi’s whispering were starting to become more physical as he grabbed her arm. She tried to plead with him to let her go making Yuki stand up. “What’s the matter?” Yuki reached out between them looking to stop Yori from hurting Yumi.

Yumi quickly turned to Yuki pleading to him with her eyes nearly in tears. “I need to go into the school!”

“What?! You can’t it’s too dangerous in there!

“That’s what I told her, but she won’t listen to me. Yumi please it’s not worth you getting hurt or worse.” Yori tightened his hand on Yumi’s wrist feeling her struggling against him. The strength of his hand began to make Yumi wince and shake. “Yumi, please!”

Yuki could see that he was starting to hurt Yumi and stepped between them. “Yori! You’re hurting her!” He reached out his hand taking hold of Yori breaking his holding on Yumi. Unfortunately with Yumi freed she turned away and ran off towards the school. “Yumi!”

“You idiot!” snapped Yori quickly losing his composure with Yuki. “I knew this would happen if you got involved!” He pushed Yuki out of his away and ran off Yumi hoping to catch her before she got into trouble.

Ayumi caught everything that was happened and saw Yumi running for the school. She jerked up trying to create her field to stop Yumi, but nothing happened. It was then that she realized that Yuki’s field was almost completely drowning her out. “Yuki! Your field!”

“Huh?” Still confused by what just happened Yuki was too slow to act putting Yumi out of reach for Ayumi. He took a slap to the back of his head as Ayumi put him back into gear with his thoughts and sprinted off towards the school. ‘She’s too far away… I can’t… Wait!’ Yuki dropped his field and focused his mind as he kept running. A wave of light darted out from his feet spreading grass out over everything and wiping away the school along with a very large portion of the neighborhood. “Yumi!” With the school gone it gave them the time to catch up with Yumi collapsed in the grass. Yuki panted a little as he came to a stop next to the siblings relieved that he was able to prevent Yumi from getting hurt. “…Yumi…”

She had been alone with Yori unable to console her. When she noticed that Yuki had arrived her eyes turned and flared up with anger. “Yuki!” yelled Yumi in rage so foreign to her that it took everyone back. She leapt up to Yuki grabbing him by his shirt. “Why would you take it away from me!? Give it back to me! Now!”


“…but Yumi…” Yuki did not know what to say to her stuttering on his own words surprised by the ravaging look that she was giving him. He felt as though he could see the deep sorrowed pain behind her eyes that was fueling her very strength. It made him want to give in, but knew that it would be too risky. “I’m sorry…”

“I don’t care about myself! I have to get! Nothing else is important!”

Ayumi raised a hand and placed it on Yuki’s arm. “Yuki, let her go…”

“What?! Ayumi, why?”

“That look in her eyes. Nothing we say is going to change her and unless we tie her up permanently she’s going to do this on her own. The very least we can go with her and make sure she’s safe.”

“Ayumi!” Yumi said hopeful as her demeanor slowly began to change back with the emotions falling out of her veins. She let go of Yuki quickly as her shy nature suddenly surface and checked her back into place. Embarrassment shined through the red that came up in her face as she looked away from everyone.

Yuki reluctantly agreed to Ayumi and restored the school. Yori demanded to go with them not wanting to leave his sister alone with Yuki. Ayumi and Yuki followed behind them keeping their powers at the ready for the moment that anything happened since activating their fields would have made it impossible to look for what Yumi needed.

Yumi rushed off into their broken classroom with Yori while Ayumi and Yuki remained near the entrance. Yuki looked over to Ayumi still feeling uneasy about what they were tempting. “You know if this was one of my manga this would be about the time the floor collapses underneath us burying us in rubble.”

Ayumi only turned her eyes to look at Yuki not wanting to give his comment too much attention. “Then be glad this is the real world and not your story.”

“I found it!” Yumi shouted raising her hand. A loud crack echoed around her snaking towards the door. Her eyes widened for a moment as she took in the last moment to realize what was happening.

The others did not have much of a chance more to react as the ceiling crumbled like dominos falling in a cascade. Weakening the structure even further the walls and floor broke up around them a second later beginning their three story fall. “I told you SO!” Yuki yelled before being swallowed up by rubble and disappearing out of sight of the others.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Smoke blasted out from the school as the rest of the third floor classroom rammed into a fragile second floor below. It was not enough to keep it whole and the walls exploded outwards under the sudden stress. Debris fell into the first floor covering everything in a mound under the mask of clouds. The blown out dust blanketed the entire school grounds alerting all of the students and washing out screams.

Saki ran through the gray veil disregarding the danger until she tripped over a large piece of rubble. Her collapse drew in the hopelessness that she was trying to keep back away from him. “Yuki! Yuki!” The particles in the air were drawn into her open mouth as she yelled bringing her to a painful cough bent over.

“Yumi!”

“Yumi!”

The voices that were calling out became muffled partly by the noise of the collapsing school. Saki tried to look through the layers of dust to find who else was nearby. There was still too thick of clouds masking everything out for Saki to know, but her sense of guardian over ran her immediate problem. All she could do was listen out for the voices hoping that she was getting close as they grew louder. Eventually, a slightly dark form in the smoke appeared to her and reached out for them. When contact was made she was able to confirm two girls and carried them out of the danger as well as her sense of direction could manage.

“Put me down!”

“Let go of me you pervert!”

Saki struggled through getting kicked and slapped by the girls. “I’m trying to help you! Stop fighting me!” Unfortunately, among all of their shouting Saki’s voice was drowned out. After another kick in her ribs Saki sighed heavily and just ignored them trying to get out as quickly as possible so that she could give them a piece of her mind.

The feet of the girls appeared first out of the smoke followed quickly by Saki and their screaming voices still insisting on being let go. Once Saki knew she was breathing normal air again she dropped the two girls down on the ground. “Damn it!” yelled Saki as she leaned in towards to the girls bending over nearly to meet them in the face not taking in who they were. “What happened to being grateful for being protected!”

“We didn’t ask to be protected!”

“Yumi still in there!”

“So is Yuki, but we can’t do anything right now!”

In the last exchange of words they all finally opened their eyes to look at who they were yelling at. Kaede raised her arm in surprise to see that it was Saki and Katsumi followed similar suit along with Saki. “You?!” they all said in unison.

A final collapse of the section of the school, that the lost students had been in, pounded out through the ground. It pulled the three girls eyes back to the smoke covered school filled with worry once more. Many of the other students began to gather around them uncertain about their fate.

“Yumi…”

“Will they be alright?”

“Yuki and Ayumi are with them…I hope…”

Chapter 73 – Dome of Safety

“…ugh…Yumi…” coughed Yori trying to find his sister in his confusion. He was completely covered in darkness, but there was the strange sense that he was not as badly hurt as he should. His head was still ringing from collapse making it difficult for him to focus. “Yumi?” Yori grasped around blind desperate to find his sister and praying that she was alive still. ‘Is she even around here?’ Not being restrained by debris he was able to search around slowly on his knees checking everything in his radius thoroughly before moving forward a little.

His hand ran into something on the ground that Yori scrambled to check quickly. “Yumi! Is that you?” A closer examination by his hands revealed it to be the flashlight that they had brought with him. The power had been cut in the school during the battle leaving the halls dark and the classrooms dim. He fumbled around for the switch to check to see if it still worked. When it flipped on he was suddenly blinded by the dull beam. Yori aimed it out into the darkness looking at his surroundings.

Towards the center he found Yumi lying face down unconscious. “Yumi!” He rushed over to her side thoughtlessly tossing the flashlight away. Yori lifted her up into his arms being granted a little light to check her for any blood or wounds. “Good no injures…” He let his back bend a little as he sigh relieving the tension that had built up.

Minutes slowly passed for him as he held on to Yumi and began searching around their room. The walls that surrounded them were the rubble from school, but he could not tell a distance or shape from them. It seemed to almost be going on forever while being the exact same. He was not sure if it was the headache that he had still that was screwing with his senses or not. As he examined the ground it began to come together in his mind. “It’s a perfect hemisphere, but how? It doesn’t make any sense. Rubble doesn’t just fall perfectly into a hemisphere…” Yori continued to take in his surroundings finding that he was at the center of the room.

The room soon exhausted itself of answers to the mystery leaving Yori to begin to question more about their situation. He had run another check on himself for injures as well as on Yumi, but found nothing. In fact, it worried him that apart from the ringing headache he did not feel any pain. “How’s this possible? We fell three floors and surrounded by brick and steel. We should be beat up, but I don’t even have a scratch or bruise! What’s going on?”

Yori sense of curiosity got the better of him. He gently put Yumi back on the ground and reached out for the flashlight. The first test he made was for the height of the space, which granted him plenty of head room and then some. It took him several steps to become in danger of hitting his head. Next, he tested the condition of the surface that could only be considered a compost of random debris from the school’s structure. There were even a few chairs that he saw mixed in that were bent under great pressure and flattened conforming to the shape that they were in. Yori took a very cautious move with his hand towards the dome retracting his hand several times before actually touching, afraid that even the slight pressure might collapse what appeared to be a precariously held together artificial dome. “It’s real…” he said measuring his words out carefully with his breathing still fearing the breakdown. “It’s almost like an arch where all of the pieces are held together by each other’s force, but removing one piece would make it all crumble away. We could’ve been buried if there had been one misplace stone…”

Boldness was found within the reassuring touch of the wall. Yori ran his palm down the surface taking in the feeling. It was completely smooth with the only gaps or bumps where pieces were joined together. He had never seen such a construction. The smoothness almost felt as though it had been pressed, pounded, blasted and smoothed to be created. ‘Something doesn’t feel right about this…’ There was a sudden uneasy feeling starting to build within him that realized it was impossible and had to have been created by someone. Yori feared who could have done it and for what purpose. ‘Is this Yuki’s involvement? Or someone trying to get to Yuki through us? Another one of those strange foreigners? Yumi!’ He rushed back to Yumi’s side starting to feel the stress of his own questions weighing on him.

“…sister…” Yori lifted Yumi back up into his arms checking on her condition once more trying to focus on what was more important to him. For the time it was working for him, but it just exchanged one stress for another.

As he focused his mind towards his sister thoughts from past began to be stirred. All of his concentration was on her that it almost felt natural. He became lost in the memories that sifted through his eyes. ‘Today was the first time I’ve seen her so determined, even angry. She’s always been shy and a crybaby never telling anyone how she feels until it was too late… It seemed to work very well when she was a child. So much that I couldn’t stand it…’

His mother stood up from the chair walking over to Yumi kneeling down to her a little confused for why she was getting so upset. “What’s the matter, Yumi? Why are you crying, dear?” She raised Yumi’s head to look at her seeing the tears that hung in her eyes. Then she looked down catching a paper in Yumi’s tiny hands wrinkled from her tight hold on it. She gently took the paper from Yumi to look at it and then set it aside. “Is this what’s got you upset? Don’t worry, Yumi. You’re still my precious daughter. Your grades won’t change how I feel!” Yumi jumped into his mother’s arms held out for her unable to stop the crying.

“…Hrmph…” Yori said turning his head away walking out of the room leaving them behind. He stomped off to his room leaving his little sister alone in the kitchen with their mother. “I do well and mother is happy. She does poorly and cries about it and mother is happy! Why does mother pay her more attention?!” Little Yori, age eight, fell down against his bed slowly sliding to the floor. His hands balled up into a fist of frustration the more that he thought and pictured Yumi with his mother. “Does mother like her better than me?!” The momentary realization in that instant froze him like lightning was shooting through his bones. It tightened his muscles and racked his chest as it lingered inside.

‘Perhaps it was just a phase, but it drove me to do better and better so that I could get our mother’s attention. But I eventually realized my mistake when I figured out what our father had been doing while he was at work.’ Yori walked out of the entrance of their house passing the kitchen as he was planning on heading upstairs to his room. He paused when he saw his mother sitting at the table with her head down resting against her hands. It had been a common sight for him to see her looking down in the last few months, but every time that he had tried to ask her about it she told him he was mistaken. “…mother…”

She looked up from the kitchen very slowly almost like she was dead. “Could you check the laundry before you go upstairs? Let me know if it’s ready to be dried, okay?”

Yori gave her a slow nod and silently continued not certain what else to do. The laundry room was a small attachment nearby the stairs buried by a closest. An even hum of the washer still running gave him the answer that he was looking for. He started to turn away when the sound of a phone ringing came muffled towards him. It was not immediately familiar, not being the house phone, but he remembered that it was his father’s cell phone. “Oh he forgot it. Someone from work probably needs to talk to him. I should let them know!” Yori leaned over searching out the ringing through the clothes until he found it and picked it up.

The phone was large enough that he had to juggle it with both of his hands. He found the call button and raised it slowly to his ear. Yori was about to speak when a woman’s voice came through. “Hey honey! Last night was great! You think you can get away again tonight?” It took a moment for it all to click with him, but the second that it did he dropped the phone in shock. Yori backed away from the phone not wanting to believe what he had just heard. The woman’s voice continued echo through the floor confused and haunting Yori’s mind.

He stumbled back towards the kitchen looking at his mother suddenly with new eyes. She turned up towards him a little confused. “Is the laundry ready?” Yori froze paralyzed for half a minute not certain what to say to her. He could not look at her the same anymore, everything was different suddenly. Nothing made sense anymore to him. All he managed in the end was a shake of his head. “…oh…okay…”

Yori left back to the corner by the stairs staring down at the phone. He turned it off and put it back where he had found it. Afterward, he forced himself to walk up to his room. ‘It was then that my entire world changed for me. I realized the pain that mother had been going through alone. I saw how empty and terrible my attention starved attempts were along with silent anger towards Yumi. I had no idea what I could, but I was determined to change things… I was going to make up for what I had done and felt towards Yumi even if she never knew… I was going to be the brother that she deserved…’


Yumi suddenly moved in Yori’s arms alerting him and startling Yumi a little. Reacting to the fall still, Yumi tossed about screaming for her life. In her flailing she hit Yori with the back of her hand. Eventually, Yumi was forced to open her eyes from being shaken by Yori. She pressed away into Yori arms taken aback that he was safe before realizing her own safety. “Brother! You’re alive still!” Yumi jumped up out of his arms hugging him tightly to assure for her own sake that he was real and partly out of relief. After a few minutes reality soon began to hit Yumi as she looked around in the poor light at their situation. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

Since his sister was feeling better and calmed down he let her go to stand on her own. He took another look around the room as he prepared an answer. “Best I can tell is buried under rubble from the school.”

“Buried? Are we trapped?” She choked the words a little when she begun to examine the surroundings with him. Being inside a small place did not worry her as much as the confusion that she was experiencing from strange walls that she saw everywhere. Her confusion felt like it was bleeding into her head making everything spin around her. Yumi tried to focus on her brother hoping that it would stop the lightheaded feeling that she was starting to develop. “…Brother…are you hurt?”

“No, nothing.” Yori turned around towards Yumi suddenly feeling something in the back of his head whispering to him. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes…” She tried to sound convincing for him, but her unsteady words were only the start of her failed attempt. Yumi felt her knees buckle and then everything in her body for numb for a second like her brain had been completely cut off from her body. She collapsed to the ground barely caught by Yori in time before it was too painful.

Yori could feel her limbs shaking as he pulled her close to him. “No, you’re not!” It felt like she had become heavier suddenly in his arms forcing him to sit down before he lost control. Fear was quickly creeping into his heart the longer he stared into Yumi’s pale eyes. “What’s wrong, Yumi! Where does it hurt?”

The flashlight’s beam seemed to be growing dimmer for Yumi as darkness began to blanket her eyes. Lightheadedness turned into a dull pain at the front of her head. Lines of wrinkles drew in around her eyes from the stabbing sensation that forced its way inside her head. “Brother?” Yumi tried to lift up her hand no longer able to see him.

He grabbed on to her hand so that she could feel him still. “I’m right here! Stay with me, Yumi!”

“Yori? I can’t see you…” She had at first felt him take hold, but even that feeling was starting to fade from her away. The numbness was returning leaving her whole body dull like lead. Panic gripped her fast as the last threads of reality seemed to be falling away from her. “I can’t feel you, brother! What’s happening to me?”

“Sister! Please!”

Yumi eyes closed slowly with the last bit of her strength faltering. “…brother…”

“No, Yumi! Stay with me!” Yori held on her tightly shaking her as he could no longer feel her moving. He could not stop for if he did he would have to admit his fear. “Stay with me! Don’t leave me alone again! Yumi!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Yumi!” screamed Yori holding tightly on to his sister too afraid that even loosening his hold on her would mean that she would fall further away from him. He dropped his head down as he felt his despair increasing its infection throughout his body. It was numbing him and the world seemed to fade away from his peripheral. “…Yumi…don’t…” The more she seemed to get away from him the further his head fell until his forehead was touching her’s. ‘…I should have done more to stop her…’

‘…I couldn’t lose it… I’m sorry, brother…’ whispered an echoing voice within Yori’s head.

He did not immediately recognize the voice that was speaking him. It was a different voice and almost instinctual that he had to respond. ‘No, I could have done something! Anything!’

‘…it’s not your fault… I made a choice, brother…’

‘But you’re gone because of me…’ Yori became still as he was buried by his own guilt. It made it impossible for him to think clearly. He felt like he was having a conversation with him as it mirrored his own doubts. In his condition there was no questioning arguing with a voice that he was hearing.

‘Yori…’

‘…sister…’ It had only been a reflex on his part, but that was all that was needed for him to open his eyes in confusion. The voice that was speaking to him suddenly became clearer to him and he knew that it was not his own voice. Yumi was definitely talking to him. He did not believe it completely at the moment. A test was needed. ‘Yumi? Can you hear me?’

‘Brother?! Why can I hear you in my head?’

Yori gasped and pulled away in shock to have heard his sister reply to him. There was no longer any doubt in his mind that he was talking to his sister. She was still alive. He did not know how or what was going on, but it was all he needed to know. He lifted her up hugging her tightly relieved. ‘You’re alive! I thought you died when you stopped…’ A long pause followed him until he realized that there was no response anymore. ‘Yumi?! Can you still hear me?’ Panic quickly overcame him as doubt filled him up. Yori looked around and shook Yumi some trying to figure out what had happened. The fear that he had been imagining it in a delusional state was becoming stronger the longer the silence lasted. “What’s going on with me? Have I lost it?”

Nothing seemed to be working for him and choices were quickly running out for him. Yori sighed loudly as he considered giving up. Hoping failing him he rested his head back down against Yumi at a loss. “I really have gone crazy now…”

‘Hey! Are you there?’

‘Yumi?!’ Yori drew back in surprise and panic having finally heard her again. However, once more as he waited there was nothing more. He slowly began to put it together and lower his head back down. ‘Yumi?’

‘Brother! I’ve been calling out to you, but you stopped saying anything… I was starting to worry…’

‘I’m sorry… It seems we can hear each other when we touch our heads together…’

‘Wah!!! Why are you so close to me?!’

Yori sweated a little hearing his sister reacting so embarrassed despite not actually being conscious. ‘It’s the only way… I’m just your brother…’

‘…I know… So what happens now?’

‘…I don’t know…’

Chapter 74 – The Sibling Link

Outside of the rubble noon had turned into early afternoon as two hours had passed since the students had become trapped. After the dust cloud had been removed there were many attempts made by the students present to try to look for Yori and the others, but the significant fallen debris made it difficult for them. Matters were only made worse by the fact that some of the pieces were too much for anyone to lift, even with help. Fear and despair was hanging over everyone, though they all refused to leave until a rescue was successful.

Kaede, Katsumi and Saki had tried to call the emergency numbers for help, but no one had arrived yet. Saki was becoming increasingly frustrated by her helplessness in the situation. She had frequently tried to help with the removal of rubble, but with the limited searchable areas it became impossible. Kaede was on the phone again after waiting an hour since their last call. “What did they say?” Saki inquired when Kaede finished her call.

Kaede pulled her hair back with her hands in a wide sweeping motions looking like she had reached the end of her rope. Patience for everyone was dangerously low; knowing that Yumi was trapped or dead made it worse on her. “They said that they’d send someone when they could, but that everyone is already out responding to calls due to the strange things going on around the city.” It had been the longest evenly tempered breath of words that Kaede managed. She tossed her cell phone forcefully back into her bag. The shaking in her limbs was too easily read in her condition. “Damn it! We can’t do anything! And Yumi! …Yumi’s… I don’t know…” Kaede turned to bury her head in Katsumi shoulder hiding the tears that were already starting to fall.

Saki narrowed her eyes feeling the same pain that Kaede had to be. She tilted her head back over towards the school. ‘Yuki, please be alive! I know you can save them…’


Still unconscious or unable to move, Yumi rested in Yori’s arms. The initial unsettled feeling that was from hearing his sister within his own mind was beginning to pass for him. He tried to remain guarded of his thoughts fearing what she might able to sense or hear them from him. It was not something that he was originally worried about, but as it became more familiar he realized the possible depths that could be reached. He had not been able to hear anything other than direct conversations from Yumi giving him the impression that it might not be possible to listen deeper. Despite that, he was not going to risk leaving stray thoughts if he could help it. Yori knew he had to find something to keep her mind off their dilemma until they were rescued.

‘Yori?’

‘Something wrong?’ he said quickly.

‘No…you were just…quiet…for a while…’ Yumi’s words were coming out slower and staggered as though there was something pulling away from her.

Yori’s arms tensed a little as he heard the fatigued words. ‘I’m here still! I won’t leave your side!’ He searched out the room considering trying to do something himself for an escape. “If I try to dig out I might collapse the entire thing on us… But Yumi…” Helplessness filled into his panic leaving him feeling crowded and conflicted. His eyes turned back to Yumi knowing that all he could do was keep her safe and stay with her. ‘So what was it?’

‘…huh?’

‘The school, that you needed to get from the classroom.’

Yumi was silent for a while like she was thinking or possibly hesitating on answering him. Only through words it was difficult to know for sure until she spoke again. ‘You’ll laugh…at me…’

‘No I won’t, Yumi.’

‘You will…’

‘If it was important to you I won’t. You can tell me.’

‘It was that…star pendant…that you bought me…’

An image of the pendant came to his mind as he recalled it. It was something that she never went around without carrying it with her either on her or attached to her bag. There was a bit of a childish gaudiness to it, but Yumi did not care. ‘I remember…’ Yori mind got carried back quickly having not thought about it in a while; it seemed almost willing or eager to do so.

It had been after their father had left them and their mother was forced to work multiple jobs to keep them supported. Yumi had become distraught by the loneliness and stress from having to pretend that nothing was wrong. When she had reached her breaking point Yori helped to cheer her up. The day after he had asked Yumi to wait for him at school until he was finished with his club activities for the day. ‘I had already decided before that I was doing whatever it took to become the brother she needed, but I never figured out what I could do. On that evening I began to understand. So I was determined that day to show Yumi I meant it.’

Yori came out of the hall towards the entrance of the school where Yumi had been waiting. When she saw him coming she jumped up cheerfully to join him. It had been the first time in a while that she had been able to walk with him, especially since he asked her. “Big Brother Yori! All done?”

“I am… You ready?”

“Yup!” she declared with a nod looking a little more honest in her happiness than before. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise!” Yumi acted a little disappointed to him that he was keeping it a secret, but he could see that she was just happy to be able to do something with him. She hung on to his arm following him every step of the way into the downtown district. He had been so used to keeping her at a distance from him that it had felt a little strange for him, but he maintained his determination. While they walked together he felt a warmth in his arm from her that spread through him that seemed to make him want to smile with her.

When they arrived in front of the jewelry store, that they always passed when going downtown, Yumi jumped up repeatedly bumping into Yori a little. Yori had known that she had always wanted to visit. She would stare at the display windows until she was pulled along by their mother. This was something that they could do.

Inside the store Yumi was already becoming glossy eyed at everything shiny that was throughout the store. She quickly leapt in front of Yori looking up at him. “Can I look around?” Yumi seemed almost surprised that she was going to be able to browse when her brother gave her a nod.

He watched her zip around the store entranced by anything that caught her eye. There were not too many customers shopping so her behavior was not too much of an interruption. Yori tried to calm her down a little so she was making less of a scene, but she had too much energy for him. However, the longer that he watched the happier it made him to see her looking more like her old self. When she seemed to have stayed in one place longer than normal he looked over shoulder seeing a cheap looking metal star pendant set on a short length of chain for keys or a bag. It was painted over with a lot of bright colors that seemed to clash with each other a little, but Yumi’s eyes could not seem to be pulled away. “You want it? I’ll buy it for you!”

She turned back to him for a moment a little stunned. “I couldn’t ask you to do that, big brother.”

“I have a little saved up. I can see that you really want it.” Yori picked it up off the display tray; it was in the fairly cheap shelves so there was no need for it to be behind glass like the rest the store’s jewelry. He handled it over to Yumi insisting that she have it. “Let’s go over to the lady and buy it for you.”

“You sure you can pay for this?” Yumi had hopeful, yet hesitate eyes staring at him.

He gave her another reassuring nod and pushed it a little forward to the cashier. Unfortunately, one of the adults in the store bumped into Yumi knocking the pendant out of her hands disappearing on the floor in the confusion. Yori had been able to catch his sister in the collision and glared back at the woman, who barely paid either of them any mind as she went on. He turned back to Yumi to see if she was hurt and found her crying. “Yumi? Where are you hurt?”

“The…star…it’s broke!”

Yori looked down to where she was pointing and saw the star pendant down on the store’s floor broken in two pieces. He knelt down picking up the pieces (very cheap plastic painted to look like metal). “I’m sorry, Yumi…” His hand hesitated in showing the broken star to her seeing how much she was already upset. Thoughts flew through him as he tried to figure out what he could do make her smile again. Then something came to him. “Come with me!”

“Where?” sniffed Yumi breaking through some of the tears. Yori did not give her an explanation. She got pulled up from the floor and dragged over to the counter by him. Her mind still focused on the star that she had wanted that she was not paying any attention to what he was doing.

“Thank you!” Yori said politely to the woman behind the counter as he finished paying.

The store clerk seemed a little reluctant to accept it. “Are you sure? It’s broke, we have something else to replace it.”

“No, this will be perfect. Thank you for helping me.” He turned back to Yumi holding out his closed hand towards her. “Hey Yumi could take a look at this?”

“Huh?” She looked up towards him confused until he opened his hand. In his hand was the broken star pendant the two pieces lying next to each other with a chain attached to the other broken half.

Yori handed one of the pieces over to her putting it in her palm. “Here this one is for you.” He held the other from his fingers suspending the broken half from its newly attached chain. “What do you see when you look at it?”

“…a broken star?”

He smiled back at her warmly. “I see a whole star without even the slightest hint of a crack. You know why? Because you have the other half. So long as I have this and you yours it’ll never be broken. No matter how far away I am it’ll always be whole because I’m your brother. You’ll never be alone.” There was a delayed reaction from Yumi taking in what he had said before she starting crying and thanking him for the gift. She promised that she would never let it leave her sight. ‘I made a promise with myself that I’d always do what I could to have her smile again, an honest real smile that she did not have to pretend to wear…’

Something tapped Yori on the head breaking his concentration of what he was thinking. He broke the link from Yumi to look around trying to figure out what had happened. It did not hurt, but he knew that there had been something that felt like it had fallen on him. “Just my imagination?” Once Yori decided to let it go he returned back to Yumi making sure that she was still with him. ‘How are you feeling, Yumi?’

‘…brother…I’m scared…’

Yori’s eyes had widened as he tried to keep his body from reaction too strongly and panicking. The fatigued voice of his sister was getting even worse than before. There was something wrong with her and he could not do anything. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘…I…feel…so…tired…brother…’

‘Yumi stay with me!’ He grabbed her hand tightly hoping that she might feel him. Another poke on his head turned his gaze up. Around the room there were several more light dull echoes of small rocks hitting the ground. When Yori focused on the ceiling of the room dust sifted through pouring across his face like sand. Yori shook his head trying to clear his eyes; however at that moment he felt a vibration through the entire room that made his whole body run cold. “The dome’s collapsing!” He turned back down to Yumi only able to think about how she was going to be crushed under everything in seconds if he did not do anything.

Yori squeezed on to Yumi feeling the hopelessness begin to replace the empty cold sensation. “I’m her brother and yet… Why does it have to be like this?! I can’t do anything for her… Yumi’s going to…” He could feel the distant glow from his sister that he had been able to sense before start to vanish. Larger pieces of rubble broke through crashing into the ground. Despair was the brush that painted the tears on his cheeks. “…Yumi…”

A light burst from Yumi’s hand trying to escape through the narrow slits in her fingers. From underneath Yori’s shirt a glow bathed the room in a pulsing red light. The two glowing sources began to resonance together shining bright enough to appear faintly through their shields. Two halves of a star could be seen burning out.

Yori suddenly felt as though he had a new inner strength within that pushed him to his feet. He could not explain it, but it gave him the sense that there was nothing that could stand in his way. The rocks before him were mere toys to be thrown about. “I can save you, Yumi!” He raised his hand free hand towards the wall in front of him concentrating on it feeling warmth passing from Yumi into him building in strength. “Ah—“

Everything stopped for him interrupted by the sun shining down on him. All was gone and he could see the students in the distance running towards him. He blinked confused feeling as though his moment had been stolen from him. Yori turned back behind him sensing something. Coming into focus was Yuki stepping out of where the school used to be, until he made it all disappear with his field. Carried in his arms was an unconscious and blood soaked Ayumi. Yuki was equally covered in wounds and blood staggering out of the epicenter towards Saki that sped towards him. He collapsed into Saki passing out almost immediately.

Yori had taken the time to move before the school and debris was restored. He stood next to Saki looking down at Yuki developing an annoying pang in his chest. It quickly disappeared for him when he felt Yumi moving in his arms. “Yumi!?”

Yumi slowly opened her eyes with her sight coming into focus. “Brother?” She blinked a couple times feeling confused about her situation, but soon relieved seeing that Yuki had made it out.

“Are you feeling better?”

“…yeah…much, but…” Seeing all of the students gathered around her started to make her a little self-conscious about being in the center of the attention (though a lot of was directed to Yori who looked very heroic walking out with Yumi in his arms). It was about the moment that she realized how close she was Yori and that he was holding her. She began to flail about in his hold trying to get lose. “Wah! Why are you so close to me?! Please let me down!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Time’s passage for Haruo had little meaning to him as it did for others. It was just another day to roll on through the path that he sat upon. He could see a long poorly managed tunnel ahead of him as he just sat in the grass on the bend of the road of his teenage years. The distance that he had traveled seemed fairly far, but now he simply sat. The tunnel was not something that scared him away; in fact he had no problem taking it. It was just that he had no interest in see what was on the other end of the tunnel. All he could see was a sheet of white no bigger than his thumb when he looked down it. Nothing was visible and when he could not see what it was it gave him no motivation to find out. He knew the area around him well enough that it got him by on what he needed.

The tunnel that faced him had remained at his side waiting for him. At first it had tried to call to him, but he ignored the summons. It had given up on making an attempt. Now it just existed as it always had with its arms perpetually open in a silent invitation. An invitation that it was not certain would ever be accepted.

Chapter 75 – Spent Days of Youth

Haruo had a fairly poor concept of days, which was only held together by the fact of school giving him an anchor point. However, since his school had been damaged during the strange events that surrounded the student Yuki all of that had been thrown off. There was no school for him to attend so he was not aware of the exact day it was any longer. The best he had was that it had been about a week since he stopped going to school.

In his case, it was also a week since he no longer had a home. While no one in the school knew it, Haruo was making use of the school for his shelter every night since he had started high school about two months ago. He was not certain how long he would be able to keep it up, but so long as he had shelter that was all that matter for him. There was a way in for him after he finished his part time job that no one else seemed to know. It certainly helped that he did not know anyone at school making it easy to avoid any questions. The school had some concerns about his address, but with the help he received he was able to keep them unaware of his actual living conditions.

The nights that he had to spend outside were not as bad as he had thought that they might be for being in the late spring time. He was not sure if it was the changes that had occurred or just unusual weather, but it had been warmer than normal at night. There seemed to be very little temperature drop at all making it easy for him to just lie in the grass.

Any of the monsters that roamed around seemed to be ignoring him. He was not sure why they were leaving him alone. It had not bothered him for long though as it meant that he had less to worry about. The new environment was enough of a problem to adjust to for him. Everything still seemed to be the same, but his senses felt off in a way that he could not fully explain. He did not let it be too much of a focus for him. Life still continued as it had and he could simply wait.

The morning routine for him remained the same regardless of the changes. He did not have the advantage of the school facilities any longer, but he made do with whatever that he had available. It started with a jog to the nearest open convenience store. His part time job gave him enough money to get food, though nothing too fancy for him. He kept things simple with a jug of milk and fruit. Both were finished both he had turned the block. After the light breakfast he continued his jogging until he made it around the neighborhood several times.

Haruo felt warmed up enough to begin his normal exercises. While he had a fairly large muscular body, which did not seem to require a great amount of effort to achieve, Haruo still felt that he should maintain his workout. It seemed especially important in the current days with the danger that lurked around the town.

During his morning exercises a few birds flew in perching themselves on his back while he was doing pushups. ‘Hmm…they’re still unchanged as well…’ They hopped along his back lightly chirping as Haruo made no interruption in his activities. A couple more small birds joined them playing around Haruo not fearing his presence. Even when he changed his position suddenly for a different exercise nothing he did would startle them. Eventually, the birds had played themselves out and flew away to their nests.

Haruo pulled himself back up at the end of his routine exhaling a long breath. ‘I guess it’s about time that they opened…’ He stood up and started to jog once more, however this time he was not sticking to the neighborhood. The path went out of the line of houses to a small little line of shops that had been sandwiched in together breaking up the pattern of homes. Most of the shops were two story makes all being family owned with their own homes above the store itself. The little area functioned as the local strip for the residences providing a small restaurant, clothing store, bathhouse, dry cleaners, laundry mat and a convenience store that was closer to a grocery if not for the size.

The first stop was the dry cleaners for Haruo. A wood slate at the top of the door announced his arrival to the family business. Behind the counter was a young woman with a white cloth wrapped around the top of her head keeping back her hair. In the distance were an elderly man and woman working with clothes that had been dropped off.

The black haired woman leaned forward into the counter towards Haruo with her apron folding a little on the wood surface. “Welcome back! Come to pick up your clothes?” Haruo gave her a short nod before she turned back into the racks of clothes. The store looked a little sparse from the decrease of customers. She quickly came back carrying one hanger in her hand with Monou High School’s uniform under the plastic.

Haruo accepted the hanger and handed over the money as though it had become a ritual for him. “Thank you,” he said briefly.

“You’re still wanting us to hold on to rest of your clothes even though they are cleaned?” asked the woman while she finished ringing up the bill. All she received was a silent nod from Haruo. “Well alright! We don’t normally act as our customer’s closet, but since we know you so well it’s alright.”

Since the school was no longer available to him he could not keep his uniforms with him. It had left him with the only option of leaving with the cleaners until he needed them. It did mean that he had to make daily visits, but without any other clothes to wear and no way to clean them himself it was the only option he had left.

The new uniform draped over his back as he left and walked a little further down the line of stores. He came to the bathhouse entering silently leaving the regular fee on the counter. A middle-aged woman came out from the woman’s bath as Haruo was making his way in. “Hey, Haruo! All done exercising for morning?” She picked up the coins that he left as Haruo disappeared into the men’s bath.

Never having his own bath available to him this bathhouse had become very familiar with his visits. It was nearby the school and so he had become accustomed to using it even with the school closed. During the morning hours there were not nearly as many people usually, but he seemed to notice a large crowd the last few days. He had come to the conclusion that with the strange events in the city people needed a place to reveal stress. It was never something that he asked or listened to during his stay, but it seemed to make the most sense.

A relaxing bath later, Haruo left the bathhouse in the fresh uniform and returned back to the cleaners handing in the one he had been wearing now wet with sweat. It had been going on for a week so they had accepted his new pattern. The chaos in the city had a lot of people changing and they just took it as something in his life had become difficult. They did not inquire to deeply knowing that he would probably not give them a full answer.

Haruo had finished his morning work and decided to sit down in the restaurant at the corner of the strip. He ordered another small meal to finish out his breakfast that would keep him full for most of the day depending on his activity. The part time job made it fortunate enough that he could maintain a modest life style covering meals out all the time. Cooking was not something he was very good at and there were no opportunities to make use of the school. He tried to keep his existence to a minimum. As a high student paying for all of his own living expenses it left him with very little every month, but he did not have anything else to spent money on. So it was not something that really bothered him deeply.

His breakfast finished and noon slowly arriving Haruo went out into the adjacent neighborhoods with little direction in mind. Every so often he would stop and allow the animals to visit him. A little of the food that he saved from his meal, for such an occasion, would be fed to them. He knew that they did not need much from him since they were making do on their own, but it was a bit of a habit he could not really break. Once they went back to their own routines Haruo continued his walking.

The lack of school had made him lose some of his focus. He had become very bored wandering the city, yet there was little else for him to do. Often he ended up at his job very early waiting for something to happen or allowing him to pick up a few extra hours. Haruo knew that he still had a long time to wait until he could even think about trying to go to work.

In the distance he heard loud noises that made him curious. ‘…it’s coming from that same area again…’ He had been hearing strange sounds the last few days, but much further away than it had been today. It was partially because he had been staying away from the school. When he came closer he realized that it was the school where all of the noise had been coming from. ‘Construction?’

Still up a street but with a clear enough view of his school Haruo could see several large machines working on the high school. The thing that confused him more was that he had never seen a couple of the machines. He was fairly certain that they were completely impossible. Haruo would have gone forward to investigate more, but noticed the very large pool of students around the grounds working on small tasks. ‘What’s going on? Are they fixing the school? A group of students?’ The sight surprised him the more that he stared on. He was not sure why they were all trying to work together.

Haruo turned away from the school and started to walk back. ‘It has nothing to do with me… I’ll just walk somewhere else…’ Unfortunately, his path was suddenly blocked before he even made it out. A line of six dirty and worn down high school age boys stood in his way. The peaceful neighborhood was a stranger to the dark figures that stared on. ‘This isn’t their turf…what are they doing here?’

A boy taller than the others in the middle stepped forward. His black hair was cut very short and spiked up with the ends bleached a little making it look brown to tan. If they were students it was unclear as they wore blue jeans and jackets with a few small chains or spikes accessorizing their otherwise falling apart wardrobe. “Yo boys, looky whose we’ve run in ta!” There was a low cackle and snickering from his sides as they all recognized Haruo immediately. “It’s Yoneda! I’ve been missin’ our daily warm-ups!”

Haruo slid his foot back watching the situation developing. ‘Takaoka’s band… He’s pretty fair from his gang’s territory… Thought they’d have enough trouble with the new situation in town, but I guess they’ve already adapted…’ For him this was certainly not their first meeting or even second. Their history went back to middle school as Takaoka’s friends regularly picked fights with Haruo, who they knew would never fight back. While Haruo would not just let them hit him, eventually he would become trapped with no choice other than to take the blows. It was something that he had become used to dealing with, but preferred to avoid it when he could. Unfortunately, Takaoka had a certain interest in finding and causing pain to Haruo.

Takaoka signaled to his friends starting to spread out and move in. It was typical of Takaoka not to make the first move, but wait until Haruo had been cornered. He was the strongest and most skilled in his band of street thugs that they followed him. “Let’s mark our new territory in Yoneda’s blood guys!” That seemed to get them excited as the five boys started flexing their hands readying for the fight.

Haruo stepped back again and check his rear sight. There was no one behind him, but the school was nearby. He knew that he had to keep the fight away from the school. He watched the two boys on the end of the line go after him first. They were out of sync with each other strike a few second apart. The first boy came fist raised going for Haruo’s head. Haruo ducked down stepping past the first boy so that he could dodge the second flying through with his leg. The opening round was his for the moment. The third charged in frustrated with the failure of the first two. He went to try to tackle Haruo, but failed to even touch his uniform as Haruo side stepped him.

The remaining boys stalked in a little on Haruo before joining together for a quick flurry of swings. Haruo backed away from their poorly executed tactic, but was caught by one of the recovered boys from before. He took a narrow sweep from the boy’s shoe leaving only a little stinging across his skin. There was no time to think about the close call as two more came in trying to close the circle in around him. Haruo was familiar with the strategy and saw it before they were able to start. He leapt back out of the three boys as the two others joined in. Thinking that he had made it safely, he took a calm landing. A sharp strike to his cheek buried into him and knocked him down to the ground leaving him staggered.

“Ya gettin’ soft without yer daily beatens?” Takaoka mocked staring down at Haruo in the grass street. He tried to follow up quickly, but Haruo rolled out of the way of a slammed down foot.

Haruo got back up on his feet and backed away a little from the school. Watching the boys resuming their stalk Haruo brushed the back of his hand over the sore spot on his face checking for blood. There was none. ‘There’s something a little different about them today… They seem a little more organized and faster… It’s harder to avoid getting hit…’ Haruo kept his breathing even monitoring the movements as they came closer to him.

The longer he stared at them the more he developed an unsettled feeling. It felt like the air itself was turning black from their menacing presence. He had seen the look in their eyes before, but never with the intensity that he had before. It was like they were starved. Haruo saw the next round of attacks coming at him even faster than before. He narrowly dodged an arm and leg only to be grabbed from behind by one of the boys. Another boy took advantage of his trapped state running him down with a series of punches. Laughter from the rest that of the band erupted with Haruo captured.

Takaoka stepped forward once the boy had finished his work on Haruo. He had a wicked smirk across his face. His index finger stroked the side of his jaw as his mind turned over one twisted thought after another. “What’s wrong Yoneda? Yer so weak!” He rammed his fist into Haruo’s stomach accenting his words at the end. Haruo coughed from the impact receiving a short round of bemused laughter. Takaoka gave up a few more punches into the Haruo punching bag before he let up and gave his buddies a chance.

Haruo struggled trying to break free, but otherwise remained in taking whatever they gave him never letting out anything more than a cough. He knew that they would eventually grow tired of beating him up and leave. It was just a matter of waiting it out. Escape seemed impossible today. The ravaging looks were oppressive.

“Keep it up boys! He’s still got that look in his eyes!” Takaoka continued to smirk at his entertainment finding Haruo’s face to always been very enjoyable to watch. He crossed his arms waiting for the moment that he savored. “I’m not hearin’ anythin’ break—“ Takaoka’s words were suddenly cut off as two feet were planted in his face knocking him over into the grass.

“Boss?!” a couple of the boys said turning when they heard a very painful crack. The others were looking back as a long shadow was cast that blanketed the figure in darkness. Burning eyes were the only thing that they could see as they started to tremble a little.

The figure stepped forward cracking his knuckles. “Sorry I got my party invitation a little late!” Yuki smirked darkly as he started towards the five boys.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Sorry I got my party invitation a little late!” Yuki smirked darkly as he started towards the five boys. He took his time in walking towards the five boys letting the presence speak for itself. It made all of their minds turn wild with fears and ideas of what might happen. They had just seen their leader totally utterly defeated in a single attack. Knowing that had happened was more than enough to paralyze them all in their step.

Yuki knew that he did not have to do much of anything with this type of opponent. He might have been past his fighting days, but street gangs were a very simple bunch for him to deal with. The need for powers was not required. Striking down the head and adding a little fear always had put what seemed imbalanced firmly in his corner. ‘This is almost boring…’

The grin on his face grew a little more painting panels of imagery in the boys’ minds as what Yuki might be thinking. In the last few steps Yuki broke into a full sprint taking down two boys with loud punch to their stomachs. Hearing their companions knocked down was enough to break them out of their paralysis and try to surround him from behind to rescue their unconscious friends. Yuki tilted his head a little hearing their footsteps closing as expected. He took his left foot up spinning behind himself to smash his dirty sneakers through the cheeks of the three remaining boys. The boys dropped to the ground sharply out cold.

A small sigh came from Yuki with a job well done. “You’re safe now!” he declared proudly before he turned away moving towards one of the boys. Yuki began to lift the teenager up like he was about to carry him when he stopped. He looked back over to the person that he had just rescued and blinked. The distance covered between them was in an instant putting Yuki, hauling the boy with him, staring face to face with Haruo. “Hey! You’re that guy from the ninja girl’s place!”

Chapter 76 – Repeated Words

Yuki stared on longer trying to remember his name (actually went to rescue someone without checking to see who it was that he was rescuing). Unfortunately, even looking closer at him did not seem make it the name come to him. When he pulled away Yuki’s features changed suddenly as it seemed that the name was finally coming to him. “You’re…really quiet!”

Haruo nearly fell over listening to how absentminded Yuki was being in front of him. It was not as though he expected him to remember him after only one visit. ‘Still as carefree and clueless appearing as the last time.’ He straightened back up easily ignoring the previous taking blows. There was a more pressing matter for him. “Why’d you do that?”

By the time that Haruo had actually begun speaking Yuki was already out of sight as were a couple of the boys that had only been visible by the flattened grass that they were pushing down. The quiet words were not enough for Yuki to hear and Haruo looked around quickly trying to find where Yuki had gone. He found Yuki behind him walking towards a property wall of a house with a boy in tow over his shoulder. ‘What’s going on? He’s speaking to me one second and then doing something else…’ Haruo followed Yuki out of curiosity when he picked up the next boy.

He watched Yuki drop the kid gently down propped up against the wall. Once Yuki went back he could see that there were three others from the small band lined up together all unconscious. Haruo looked back at Yuki seeing him lifting up the next one only becoming more confused by Yuki. He was treating them carefully and helping out those that he had just knocked unconscious. ‘Why’s he helping them? He just mercilessly wiped them out a minute ago looking like he was enjoying it and yet now he’s showing them kindness…kindness that they never would show… What’s with him?’

Haruo had to keep watching just to see what was going to happen next. Nothing that Yuki was doing seemed to match up with what he saw from a moment before. There were no words between them while Yuki finished his work. “Why?” Haruo had to know now that Yuki was no longer distracted.

Yuki turned his head a little looking a bit surprised to see Haruo next to him. “Huh?” said Yuki genuinely confused by what Haruo was asking him.

“Why did you help them?”

“Oh!” Once the question was made clear to Yuki he stared up into the sky for a moment. He pulled his head back down to look at Haruo directly. Yuki had a smile on his face as he spoke. “Because they’re people too! They might be bad guys, but that shouldn’t mean that they should be treated poorly just because they’re sleeping.”

It appeared to be an honest answer and oddly naïve for Haruo to hear. “But they’ll want revenge on you when they wake up.”

“Then I guess we should be somewhere else when they wake up!” Yuki said cheerfully as he ran around behind Haruo swiftly. He started pushing on Haruo to encourage him to move despite his own uncertainty and confusion.

Haruo tried to look back at Yuki while he was being pushed along to protest, but all he saw when he looked back was the same pleasant expression as before. It was enough to make Haruo decide to walk on his own letting Yuki join him on his right. ‘Because they’re people?’ The response from Yuki echoed in Haruo head as he thought about it. There was an undeniable fact in what he said, but Haruo was still having trouble accepting it. ‘It’s true I guess, but nothing is that simply defined… How can he treat it as such?’ He could not stop thinking it over repeatedly. Where he was became lost to him.

“Haruo!” Yuki shouted so loudly it was difficult to actually determine the emotions attached.

Determined or not, it was enough to rudely break Haruo out of his internal trance. The surprise shock drawn from it was nearly enough to knock him over if he had a frailer frame. ‘What’s wrong now?’ Haruo focused on Yuki having gathered his senses back after them being blown to the four winds a moment before. There were no words that he had to say, just a stare that clearly wanted an answer.

Yuki looked back over at Haruo picking up on Haruo demand. “I just remembered that your name was Haruo! It’s been bugging since I saw you. I was so relieved that I finally figured it out!”

A twitch developed momentarily in Haruo’s eye as he heard the empty excuse. ‘He yelled that loud just because he remembered my name?’ Haruo corrected his expression. It was becoming tiring for him to be around Yuki with his excitable personality. ‘Empty frivolities…this is why I prefer to be alone…’ He held his tongue trying to enjoy the scarce moments of silence.

After Haruo had been too quiet for too long (determined solely on a metric by Yuki) Yuki jumped in front of Haruo planning on getting his attention. “You’re a pretty strong looking guy, Haruo! How come you were letting them beat you up like that? I bet with those muscles you could lay them out flat easily!”

‘You wouldn’t understand…’ Persistence was Yuki’s only useful talent against Haruo. He was continuing to stare at him despite not returning an answer. Haruo had hoped that Yuki would just give up like those before him at done. Maintained silence would eventually give him the peace he desired, that was what he had learned. However, silence was not working on Yuki as he only seemed to be getting further in his face the longer that he held out. Therewere few people that could so easily break through into Haruo making him show emotions against his will and Yuki’s ability was starting to annoy him. “Why did you stop them?” Haruo finally replied back.

Another question was not what Yuki was expecting, but rather than demanding an answer to his own he moved with the flow of the conversation. “Do I need a reason? I did it because I wanted to help someone in a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you!” There was no thinking from Yuki as it easily came from his heart.

Haruo had nothing to say back to him and even his mind was blank for a moment. Such a selfless answer was not what he was expecting to hear. Yet it was not the reason that had Haruo empty. It was because they were familiar to him.

‘Do I need a reason? I did it because I wanted to help someone in a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you.’ They might have been Yuki’s words, but it was not his voice echoing in Haruo’s mind now. There was someone else that he knew that had told him the same thing a long time ago. He never expected to hear them once more.

The longer that the words hung in his mind the further back he was sent through his mind. He returned to a time when he was just entering middle school and alone. It was a common life for him that he had known for as long as he could remember. Being alone was something that he had chosen for himself, it was preferred over what he had dealt with before.

For him middle school was a crowded and noisy place that was even worse than what he had left. However, it was only a brief time in the day that he had to endure so it still ended up being better. ‘Middle school was supposed to be the start of my new life. That was what I had decided on doing when I left. I wasn’t going to turn back and return to that, but I was too young to know what to do. That didn’t stop me though. I was determined to do it alone and prove them all wrong…’

Haruo, age twelve, sat in his homeroom class. It had only been a week since the school year had begun. Spring was still very strong in the air as most of the young students talked with each other before class began. Haruo kept to himself and would have gone mostly unnoticed if it had not been for the fact that he generally looked to have come from a trash dumpster.

He was on his own for the first time so he was not able to do many of things that were considered standard maintenance. The school had only given him a single uniform due to how he had entered leaving him to make do with some hand-me downs that he had got. Their size was too large for him leaving it to hang poorly on him. Between the appearance and developing smell none of the other students wanted anything with him while openly mocking him in groups.

“Did you hear where he came from?” one boy said within earshot of him to the group. He ended up whispering it passing on the info to the rest.

A girl pulled back a little in surprise. “No wonder. They must all live in a landfill!”

“We should get a little further away. I think I’m starting to smell him from here again.”

“Shouldn’t be surprised being a welfare case!”

“Yeah!”

The door to the class slid open immediately silencing everyone. The small group that had formed quickly dispersed back to their seats. Mr. Asanuma, the homeroom teacher, set his notebooks on the desk before looking out into the children. He scanned the room making a mental note on the state of the room before speaking. In the back corner he could see Haruo sitting alone looking attentive, but totally isolated from the rest of the class by several desk spaces. Haruo’s desk was even further away today than it was before. No doubt it was the early arriving students doing it and Haruo would simply accept it without fighting or challenging. Mr. Asanuma narrowed grimly as he held speaking to the class further.

Eventually, the class began and the day passed on fairly smoothly. When the end of the day came and the students were starting to leave Mr. Asanuma appeared outside of Haruo’s class waiting, leaning against the wall. As he waited he could hear Haruo’s classmates picking on him again while never hearing Haruo say a word. Mr. Asanuma had had enough listening to them not wanting to see one of his students being abused. “Afternoon, students!” he announced clearly in a loud voice that made all of the students jump a little in surprise. “All packed up now?” He looked down over a couple of the boys.

Some of the easily swayed boys had already hurried away and the girls followed. The last couple of stubborn boys turned to look at their homeroom teacher glaring back at him surprisingly defiant. “Yoneda needs to leave. He doesn’t belong here, teacher!”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Mr. Asanuma said calmly, “Everyone has a right to an education no matter their appearance.”

“But he smells bad!” the other boy snapped back while pointing a finger over at Haruo.

“And I bet you do as well after playing hard,” Mr. Asanuma teased. “You should be going on along.”

The two boys were a little reluctant, but they could see that their teacher was not backing down. His insistent glare made it clear to them. Both hurried out the class leaving the two alone. Haruo stood up carrying his bag with books over his shoulder planning to leave. Mr. Asanuma put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Yoneda, you have a little time to spare? I’d like to show you something, if it’s alright with you.”

Haruo looked up at the teacher in silence with a pensive look that seemed impossible to penetrate. ‘I wasn’t sure why he had done all that for me. No one ever bothered and I didn’t think they should. I had planned to just turn him down and leave without a word, but there was something that made me a little curious. Perhaps I just wanted an answer, but I followed him.’

His teacher led him out of the school and a few blocks away to his house. He offered Haruo his bath to use to clean up while he had his clothes cleaned. After a bath, there was food on the table where they remained in silence. Once finished Haruo was considering leaving, but he still had questions. ‘Mr. Asanuma gave me these chances and yet I still was looking for a reason, an angle that he was working. I had to know.’

Haruo pushed the plate away from him. He stared across the table at his teacher. “Why?” There was a serious deep expression on Haruo that had never known simple kindness. It was so foreign for him.

“Do I need a reason?” his teacher quickly replied to Haruo. “I did it because I wanted to help someone in a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you.” He picked up the plates and put them over on the counter by the sink.

Haruo stood up from the chair refusing to believe it was so simple. “What do you want? No one does anything for nothing! That’s not the way it works!”

All Mr. Asanuma did was smile for a moment pleased by something that Haruo could not fathom. “I’m pleased to hear your voice. I think that’s the most I’ve heard from you even in class.”

“You’re weird.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think silence is your answer. You have strong mind and patience. There’s a lot you can do.”

“They aren’t worth the time. Everyone’s got selfish interests, it’s best just to ignore them.”

“I see…” His teacher became quiet once more thinking deeply. It was several minutes before he said anything again. “It’s decided then!”

“What is?” Haruo stepped back catching the look in the man’s eye as he had come up with a plan. The idea to leave came to him once more.

“I’m aware of your situation. So I want you to stay here!”

That was enough for him. Haruo narrowed his eyes and started to walk away. “It’s pity for you isn’t it? I won’t accept it. Everyone’s the same. I’ll do this alone.” He walked off back to the door starting to put his shoes back on.

Mr. Asanuma gave a sigh and entering the hallway looking down to the door where Haruo’s back was turned to him. “I guess I shouldn’t make decisions for you. How about this then? My door is always open for you to come and use my house whenever you need. If you need a bath it’s here. If you need food to eat it’s here. Come on your own terms, but you don’t have to be alone.”

Haruo did not say anything opening the door. He paused for a moment before leaving and disappearing into the evening veil of darkness. ‘I was determined. I thought he was doing it so that I owed him or for his own self satisfaction, yet he never asked or said anything. I found new uniforms at my desk in the morning that fit me. Eventually, I ended up returning insisting it was only for a bath since I had no money to afford it myself and he still said nothing to me. It was exactly as he said… He was…my support…’

Haruo shook off the memories looking back at Yuki. The words he had said still ringing lightly in his ears. He let out a small sigh still not convinced of anything, but there was something that he was certain about. “You’re weird…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki simply smiled back to Haruo. Being called weird was nothing new for Yuki and it was bit of something that he embraced at the point that he had reached. However, there was something else that he was feeling upon the words. It was subtle, but it seemed like there was a connection made. Yuki could be pleased with that for the time.

A wind blew through them echoing the silence. The windows of the house that they rested at rattled a little with its attention not reaching anyone. There was a large tree that had clearly sprouted up from Yuki’s imagination with it feeding around two of the houses and cement property wall. Its sudden growth had not cracked or destroyed the wall that it was being vivisected at the base of the trunk. The large extended canopy provided the two boys with ample shade from the unguarded sun.

Chapter 77 – Alone in the Crowd

Nearby around the stretch of houses Yuki could hear the distant murmurings of voices from the students on their lunch break. It made him remember that he had left in the middle of his food. It had only been chance that he had seen a group of boys ganging up on something that spurred his need to save someone. Up until then he had been getting used to being the one that was bullied with his refusal to fight back at all. The life of a fighting delinquent had been something that he had left behind. However, ever since he had cleared out the fog around his repressed memories he changed his decision. Fighting or taking the beating was not the issue for him any longer. It was that he had strength and the ability to do something, but he had been letting it be wasted on fears and uncertainty. He could help those in trouble and that had always been something that was paramount for him even if he had painted it over repeatedly with excuses and empty reasoning.

Now he was going stop hiding and move to the front on his own. The brief scuffle with the street punks had made him feel good. There was something new that seemed completely natural for him and yet not like what he had felt before. It puzzled him a little, but he felt grateful to Haruo even if it might seem like he had been used for Yuki to make his own discovery. ‘I’m going keep trying with him. I think I might have a chance this time!’ Yuki took a firm nod in affirmation before standing in front of Haruo. “I’ve decided!” Yuki exclaimed with excitement that only managed to get a long and questioning look of annoyance from Haruo. “We’re going to be friends!”

Haruo managed a bit of a twisted look of confusion as he became very still. ‘He’s decided?’ Familiarity in how similar the words were had not been missed on Haruo, yet it was something else that had him frozen. He understood Yuki less the longer that he listened to him. The only thing that seemed to be consistent was the unexpected. ‘Why?’

What had him numb was something far more subtle. It would have seemed fairly unimportant for most, but it was as unfamiliar to him as it was to know the love of a parent. ‘…Friend?’ The word hung in his mind like a haunting tune. It had almost seemed impossible for him to say at first. He had never considered anyone friends, even Mr. Asanuma he saw a teacher or at best an acquaintance. Haruo was not sure what to make of Yuki’s bold statement. He had wanted to snap back at him quickly with a response that send him away or even just walk off himself, but neither his legs or mouth were going to help him. There was something he could not explain that seemed almost curious. The sensation was beyond his words to describe.

All of the reactions had gone completely oblivious to Yuki. Yuki was distracted partly in his thoughts of what he was going to do with his newly declared friend. He was determined, unfortunately none of was getting through to Haruo anymore. “So you hungry? I know I am! I was starting lunch when I came out to help you. Haruo?” When he had figured out that Haruo was not catching anything that he was saying Yuki reached out with his hand touching his shoulder. “You in there, Haruo?” It had taken a moment for him to come around, but once eye contact had been made Yuki was pleased. “You want some lunch? We’ve got plenty back at school. I bet Saki will be surprised to see you!”

The only response that Haruo gave was silence. It became a little colder after Yuki had spoken about the school leaving Yuki a little puzzled. ‘Haruo is certainly a man of few words. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone this quiet before.’ Yuki was going to get an answer out of him, that he was certain. “You’re pretty strong looking. You could probably help out with the school if you want as well. I was a surprised by how many of the students actually turned out to help. What you say, Haruo?” Yuki stared over at Haruo with the expectation that he was going to get a reply.

Haruo thought to himself further having been broken out of his cycling trap. He had seen the school earlier and planned to avoid it. Yuki’s offer had not changed his mind on that matter. ‘Why’s he being so persistent about this?’ Haruo tried to move out of the way now that his legs were working once more. Leaving was going to be his answer to Yuki. It would have been if Yuki had not stepped around him quickly to get in his way. At each step Haruo was countered by Yuki.

Eventually, it came down to the two almost glaring at each other hardening themselves to the standoff. Both were refusing to give up their positions. Yuki wanted an answer and Haruo wanted to leave. No one had been so stubborn with Haruo. He was used to having patience to outlast others, but this was the first time it was seriously being put to the test. Yuki had already worn him down some from before leaving him short before this new faceoff began.

“…No…”

It was such a brief answer that Yuki had nearly missed Haruo even speaking, being caught up in being a roadblock. “Why?” Yuki held his ground making it clear that he was going to be satisfied with a simply answer.

Haruo refrained from speaking again figuring that it would be enough. It had bought him a little more patience, but seeing that Yuki was not back down made him frustrated. Explaining himself to anyone was not the way he worked. A part of him however was starting to feel like changing that after the way that Yuki was acting. Something reacted on its own nothing even going through his layers of filters usually held before speaking. “Because I don’t like being in crowds.”

“Huh?” Yuki questioned. He had an answer, but it was not what he had thought it might be. “But you’re school anyway during the week. It’s the same people!”

“I tolerant it while at school.”

“I see…” The answer was making Yuki come up with even most questions. There was more to Haruo that he wanted to understand. He was not sure if he would have another chance to talk to him as he was now. “How come you don’t like crowds?”

“It’s a long story…” Haruo replied becoming a little distant like he was being distracted by something.

Yuki looked around the grass street that they were standing in. There was nothing that he could find though. As far as he could seen were houses and grass kept in a natural chaos. The tree provided them with enough shade for it to be a decent spot in Yuki’s mind. A thin light ring spread out from his feet that produced two wooden crates each placed behind the two of them. Yuki sat down and looked up at Haruo’s questioning stare. “Thought you might want to sit. If you don’t like the crate I can come up with something else.”

A raised eyebrow was all that Haruo gave him after his comment. He knew what it was that Yuki was implying without having to ask him. He might have been a little too forthcoming with answers. Despite the feeling being cornered for the story, he was not really as reluctant about it as he thought he was going to be. The past was not really something he told to other people. Mr. Asanuma knew about his past, but that was only because he looked into it and not because Haruo told him. With fading reluctance Haruo sat down and looked across to Yuki. “This stays between us.”

“Yeah!” agreed Yuki leaning in a little looking a bit too eager for the story.

Haruo adjusted himself a little catching the bordering excitement from Yuki. “The reason comes from my time at the orphanage…” He had already been working on collecting his thoughts. It had been quite some time since he had left the orphanage, determined never to turn back to it again. When that had happened he buried everything down inside with the plan to forget it. Recalling it back to his conscious was a little challenging, but it seemed that once the door was opened everything moved quickly. The taste of fresh air had been enough to bring the memories alive on their own to crowd out his thoughts. ‘…I’d been in an orphanage for as long as I could remember back then. It had been that way since I was abandoned by my parents, left alone. I was so young then I can’t even remember their faces. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead and I honestly didn’t care. They’d left me alone.’

The orphanage that Haruo was put into was in one of the poorer areas of the city. It had very little funding to support the number of children that stayed. Often they had to steal and beg just to get enough food for the day. It caused the children to band together to look after themselves. Also, it meant that someone inevitably took charge of the gang of orphans under the pretext of protection.

Katsu was a teenage boy about the age of fourteen; Haruo was only seven at the time. He had been running the orphans since Haruo had been in the orphanage. All of them had no choice in following him since he was the oldest and strongest. The only other boys that were closest in age were four years apart and that ended up meaning a large gap in strength. Katsu ruled by force and anyone that did not obey his orders learned not to make the same mistake a second time.

Child Haruo came back one afternoon with several others of the boys his age. They were all wearing ragged pants and shirts covered in dirt, rips and stains. It was usually the only clothes that they had until they fell apart or out grew them by far too much. ‘Having good clothes wasn’t really something that we worried about. It was more important to be able to survive.’

As with all days before it, that afternoon was no different for them. They had come back with the day’s earnings as they were often called. It was like it was being called work even though they were just hand outs or stolen. ‘I stuck with just begging rather than trying to steal. I had seen what had happened to a few of the children that failed. It wasn’t something I wanted to tempt.’ The group that Haruo was in walked over to Katsu to hand in the money that they had begged off the street or found.

Katsu was leaning against the largest tree in what was considered the front yard of the two story brick orphanage. A fading brick wall surrounded the entire building with barbed wired on top. The front yard was big enough for the twenty-one orphans that stayed, but it was littered with dead plants and trashed materials. It proved to be an entertaining arena for the younger more imaginative children in spite of the danger.

One of the ten year boys, which was like the right hand man for Katsu, had stepped out of the small group of orphans gathered by the tree. He extended out a roughly patched together box meant to appear to be a chest. “The money from today, Katsu…”

The teenage boy looked over at the box and grabbed it quickly. He flipped up the lid and shook the contents a couple times to count up the money. The lid closed sharply with a whimpering dull slam. “This is even less than yesterday!” he snapped back at the boy. Katsu glared down at the kid using his height and build to easily intimidate him.

“B-b-but there w-weren’t many people out today!”

Katsu raised his fist without stopping to punch the boy for speaking back to him. “No excuses! You’re not getting any food today!” He hefted the box under his arm and walked away from the boy, who was knocked over into two of the smaller eight year olds. “Maybe hunger’ll give ya motivation to find a better location!”

Haruo had been keeping to the back when it happened having learned to stay out of sight as much as possible. Once Katsu was far enough away he helped the fallen up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Katsu walking up towards the main door of the orphanage. There was an adult coming out as though he was on a schedule. Katsu was meeting the head of the orphanage. The two briefly exchanged words before Katsu handed over some of the money earned. ‘Katsu continued to help line the pockets of the adults working at the orphanage while we saw no change in the condition. It took me a while to realize that the money was just being pocketed rather than getting us food or new clothes. It was just the way things were; everyone was selfish. It was the only way to survive.’

Night had finally fallen on the orphanage meaning that it was meal time for everyone. The meager servings were their second meal of the day. The only other meal they would receive was in the morning. If they ate anything else it was because they got it out in the city. Everyone was crowded together in a single large room on the second floor; the first floor was exclusively used for the adults and Katsu. It was Katsu that gave out the food and especially tonight to ensure punishment was dealt.

The crowded room fit everyone on the floor with barely enough space for their arms to move around. Only Katsu made sure that he had plenty of breathing room for himself. He watched everyone before starting to work on his large portioned meal that was still mostly just bread.

Thinking that it was safe being crowded out Haruo tried to give a little of his food over to the older boy. Haruo thought he had been secretive enough, but Katsu caught what Haruo was doing in an instant. He was standing over a seated Haruo looking two or three times his size. “Punishment means no food kid!” He quickly rammed his foot into Haruo’s stomach knocking the wind out of him as well as some of the bread he had been chewing on. Katsu did the same to the boy Haruo tried to help until he dropped the bread. “If ya givin’ it anyway ya must not be hungry, kid!” The little food that Haruo had left was taken away from him and Katsu marched away leaving both of them hungry.

Haruo nursed his stomach still feeling the stinging as he crumpled on the cold floor unable to move. The other boys turned away not wanting to make eye contact with Haruo. They understood punishment clearly enough. ‘When we slept we had to share the few rooms available. We were always crowded together and others just held on close. It was crowded where ever I went. Those were the lessons that I learned. I was young and naïve not understanding what the true nature of people were, but I learned.’

A twelve year old Haruo stood at the entrance of the orphanage that had been his personal hell for his entire life. It was spring and nearly time for the new school year. He looked back at the building in determination that hardened his features. ‘I was certain that I had to get out of that place. Up until that point the orphanage had been my guardian and paid what little it tried for my elementary school. I was determined to go the rest on my own so I didn’t have to return to that place. But there was one obstacle still in my path…Katsu…’

Katsu blocked Haruo’s way out into the city. It had only been on the last day Haruo had at the orphanage that he told everyone that he was leaving. When Katsu found out showed up to make sure that did not happen. After Katsu was old enough he left the orphanage, but used all of the orphans through the force of his small street gang to enforce his rule over them still. In Katsu’s mind Haruo still belonged to him. “Where’d ya think yer goin’?”

“I’m leaving…” Haruo responded almost empty of any feeling. The years had stripped him of most of his emotions and his determination was the only thing left. It removed any fear he had for Katsu. He stood up to Katsu ignoring the height difference.

“Looks like ya found a sense of humor, kid!” laughed Katsu as two other teenage boys showed up behind him, both at least seventeen. The rough and cold look in their eyes made it clear that they were not above breaking a little kid like Haruo to get their point across. “Yer stayin’!” Katsu threw the first punch that Haruo took head on. It was not enough to knock him down to Katsu’s surprised, but he did not stop. The other two boys quickly joined in the fun until Haruo laid on the floor a bruised and bloodied mess.

Eventually, Katsu believed he got his point across and left with his message given to Haruo. Haruo’s defiant eyes stared out at the cloudy sky as he lay on his back. ‘Nothing was going to stop me. I left that day and never returned. I was going to walk on my own. I needed no help any longer…’

Haruo looked back up at Yuki with his tale coming to a close. He was not sure why he had said so much to some he barely knew, but after he started he could not stop himself. “I don’t like crowds because it reminds me of the crowded orphanage and how selfish people truly are.”

It took a few moments for Yuki to take it all in. Once he had finished understanding it everything he felt a little heavier than he had expected from listening. ‘I thought I just asked why he didn’t like crowds. I didn’t think I’d get a life story out of him. Was all of that necessary to tell me? But it certainly explains a few things.’ Yuki stood up from his crate feeling his legs getting a little antsy. He stretched his arms and arched his back until he felt everything was worked out. “But you know not everyone is selfish, Haruo. It’s a little closed minded to make a generalization based on a terrible environment from your childhood.”

Haruo remained quiet after Yuki’s words. There were a few things he had to say, but knew already from what little he had seen of Yuki that it was not going to be an argument he could win. It was clear to him that Yuki’s view of the world was one not filled with the deep scarring that he had to endure. Yuki was never going to understand. ‘It’s time to leave…I’ve said far more than I should have…’ Haruo balanced level headed sense had started to return him back to his familiar ground.

“I found ya!” yelled a familiar voice laced with barely controlled rage. Takaoka stood half a block down the grass street with his boys from his gang along with several more shadowed figures behind them.

Yuki could tell immediately that the guy had eyes for him, probably revenge. ‘Seems they’re back and with even more this time. Not that’ll matter…’

A new figure much older than Takaoka stepped out from the group taking stand a few footsteps away. It was a young man in his early twenties with a slicked back hair style that ended at the back of his neck. He was dressed in a heavy leather jacket and dark blue jeans with a white and red shirt underneath. The way that the others in the gang acted he was important despite looking a little higher class than the rest of the mess. “Long time no see…Yoneda…” smirked the man.

Haruo tilted his head over his shoulder feeling that the voice was distantly familiar. It only took a single second for him to immediately recognize the man. “…Katsu…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

A standoff began to form across the grass street. Most of everyone’s legs were covered up in the sea of tall grass that billowed in the gusts that accented the developing scene. Clouds slowly moved into the sky dulling the sun’s view down below. Shade thickened the mood between Katsu and Haruo’s stare down.

Yuki barely heard what Haruo had said a moment before. He looked over the grass locking eyes with the adult of the group. “So his name’s Katsu, Haruo?”

Haruo gave a firm nod to Yuki. “Yes.” He turned his body to confront the new threat that was being presented.

“The one from your story you were telling me?”

“The same.”

“So it’s a reunion, huh?” Yuki smirked as he rubbed his hands together looking eager. There was no doubt in his mind that they were looking for a fight. He was already getting himself prepared for whatever they might have to throw at him.

A glancing eye over to Yuki had given Haruo all the clarification he needed. ‘He’s planning on fighting. It’s not going to solve anything. They’re here for revenge because they got beat. They aren’t afraid.’ Haruo stepped out in front of Yuki giving Katsu an intense stare to try to draw them to himself.

Chapter 78 – Breakdown of Words

Yuki leaned around Haruo becoming confused with Haruo’s action. ‘He’s planning on fighting? There’s an awful lot of them though. Too many for possibly even me and I can’t use my Kasou-ryoku on normal humans.’ There was some unseen tension that he picked up from the back of Haruo. It left him with a strange feeling. He had never seen Haruo fight before, but he had only seen him a couple of times. “There’s too many for you handle alone, Haruo!” piped Yuki trying to step around Haruo to be to his right.

Haruo lifted his right arm up to stop Yuki from coming forward. “No.”

“Hey, what’s wrong? You want to fight them by yourself?”

“I can see it in your eyes. You want to fight.”

A moment of confusion overcame Yuki as he tried to understand why he was being stopped. He tried to run through everything quickly in his mind to see if there was something that he had missed. There was nothing to be found for him. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t here for a social visit. I’m not going to start this, but I’ll finish anything they begin.” Yuki hoped that his determination would get through to Haruo.

“That’s not the point. They’re here because you fought back.”

Yuki thought a moment to himself looking a bit absentminded in appearance. His eyes blinked when he was finished and focused back on Haruo. “Yeah probably so.”

“It’s revenge that they want.”

“So?” The line of the conversation was still lost on Yuki. He was trying to figure out what Haruo was getting at, but it was obvious the two were not connecting on their thoughts.

Haruo closed his eyes to take a breath. It was not that he expected Yuki to understand what he was saying. As he had observed it was natural for everyone to fight back. However, Haruo knew it to be an empty act. “They only revenge because you fought them. If you hadn’t stopped them they wouldn’t be here now.”

The reason finally came to Yuki. The reason, however, was not one that Yuki was going to accept. When he listened to what Haruo it only made him annoyed. He had to keep himself from shaking in anger. The arm that stood in his way no longer was enough to stop him. Yuki pushed through Haruo and confronted him directly. His finger poked at his chest as he looked straight in Haruo’s eyes. “Listen and listen good! Those people over there were in the wrong!” Yuki threw his free hand back to point towards the gang of teenagers. “You don’t have to keep taking it from them! You’ve got the strength to protect yourself use it! If you don’t they’ll just keep walking over you again and again!” He turned back around feeling better having gotten that out of him. Yuki stared over at Katsu, who had been waiting while they were talking. “You said before that you were determined to leave that life behind you right? Well your past is staring you down right now. You going to let your past control you or are you going to control your past!”

There was a long pause from Haruo as he thought over what Yuki had said. ‘…maybe…my past is supposed to be behind me… maybe he’s right and it has been controlling me…’ Some doubt began to fill up inside him as he fell deeper into questioning his motives and actions. It had worked for him, but there might have been another way.

“So what’s it going to be?”

Haruo stepped forward putting himself back out in front of Yuki. A decision had not been fully made by him, but he was certain about one thing. “This is my problem. I’ll handle it.” He did not look back at Yuki’s smirk, but felt it a little. Katsu’s eyes continued to stare at Haruo intently waiting when Haruo met his gaze.

Yuki remained hopeful that it meant that Haruo was going to stand up to the gang. He had found him getting beaten up despite how well built he was. He knew that there had to be a reason for it. Yuki just hoped with the number of guys that they had Haruo would not fall back on that reason, whatever it happened to be.

The silence and surprising patience from their neighbors in the street had Yuki a little confused. He addressed the adult, Katsu, that appeared to be their leader. “You’re being awfully polite to wait until we’re done talking to start fighting.”

Katsu opened his arms breaking his stoic expression for a very casual feign at innocence. “That’s quite the assumption you’re making there.”

Being a little coy with the man, Yuki played along trying to get a read on him before he had to deal with his fists later. “So you and your friends over there are just enjoying a relaxing stroll in the afternoon to stretch your legs then.”

“Exactly! It’s so warm these days for spring. It’d be a shame to waste them trapped inside.” There was a sly grin crawling up on Katsu’s lips as he began to enjoy his banter with Yuki.

“I couldn’t agree more,” laughed Yuki. He was joined in bemused laughter by Katsu shortly after.

Watching the two entertain each other with pointless chatter was making Haruo a little annoyed. It seemed like the two were taking everything so casually. It was like they were so used to these situations that they had no uneasiness about what was about to happen. However, Haruo was becoming bored by their empty talk. “What do you want Katsu?”

Katsu turned his head back over to look towards Haruo, his eyes a little disappointed that he had been interrupted by someone that could enjoy a little idle conversation. “Same as always, kid. Never able to understand the fine subtly of foreplay.”

“If you want to talk then I’ll just leave. I have no interest in your talk.”

“My, my, you’re really are quite the talkative one,” remarked Katsu. He started to walk forward towards Haruo. There was still a casual step in his movements like he was not planning on starting a fight just yet. He was only warming up. Katsu towered over Haruo’s short stature. A wicked grin was still plastered on his face as he looked down at Haruo. “No warm greeting to an old friend that you haven’t seen in years?”

Haruo remained in his footing not being intimidated by Katsu’s presence. There might have been fear in him when he was younger facing Katsu, but not anymore. He knew that he had nothing to be afraid of when confront him. “You were never a friend. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Such sharp words, kid! You should be glad that your skinny friend over there got me in a good mood.”

“What do you want, Katsu? I’m tired of your indirectness.”

“And you’ve got an attitude to boot. My those years in middle school really must have changed you.” Katsu patted Haruo’s head before roughing up his hair a little rigidly to try to shake him. “I remember when you were just a little brat that feared my very voice.” He could see that he was not getting anything out of Haruo. There was not even a hint of anger for being mocked. Katsu was actually becoming more annoyed by how he was not getting any reaction out of Haruo. ‘He’s just staring back with those defiant eyes. He’s actually making me angry that he’s not doing anything!’

“I’m not the same child you used to know, Katsu. Nor am I the same person your friends saw a short while ago.” Haruo gave him a fierce look standing toe-to-toe with his previous tyrant.

Katsu stared back almost in amazement. He was not entirely sure what to make of Haruo anymore. ‘That’s not the same defiant look I beat down when he left. That’s not the same eyes that Takaoka gets his practice hits in on. What’s gotten into him?’ The sight of him only made Katsu more confused the longer he thought. It had set a fire to his anger tempting it to become a boil. There was no longer any room for him to joke around and make light. Pretenses had to be tossed aside with the way he stared back.

The air between the two suddenly changed as though their mere proximity was freezing the air. It was cold and empty leaving no room for anything else. Wind dared not to trespass around them. The casual mood from Katsu had utterly vanished with the intent being clear from Haruo. Katsu stepped to the side of Haruo like he was sizing up his prey. “Your scrawny friend over there is correct,” opened Katsu. He started his way back toward his gang of boys. “I’ve come here hearing that someone came to rescue you from my boys’ practice. That was something I had to see for myself.”

Haruo knew the attitude had changed, but followed his new line of conversation no better than the last. While he had complained of Haruo talking more; it was still Katsu being far more conversational than was in his character. This was especially in the case of someone that looked down upon as tool to be used. “What are you getting at? You came for your revenge on the one that beat up your gang.”

“That’s part is true as I said. However, I can easily send people to deal with a simple matter as that.”

Haruo’s eyes narrowed in growing confusion. Evasiveness was not a usual tactic of him. It had been years since Haruo had seen Katsu so he had to grant the possibility that Katsu had done some changing of his own. “So you didn’t come here to fight?” questioned Haruo still not clear on what Katsu true purpose for coming in person.

Laughter burst from Katsu’s lungs upon hear Haruo speak. He turned his head back over his shoulder to glace at Haruo. “No, I came to put your face into the ground. That you can be assured of. I wouldn’t come out all this way and not leave without making sure of that. But I have to admit some curiosity to see who this person is that came to your aid. You, the most anti-social, loner and pariah in the entire city, finding a friend.” Katsu turned around playing up the motion a little dramatically for everyone. “That!” He had pointed over to Yuki, who had serious eyes now. “I had to see. Just so that I knew what it was that I was going to be taking away from you. So that I might see those beautiful defiant gray eyes of yours finally fall into despair!”

Haruo remained quiet after Katsu finished making his proclamation. Yuki, however, could not remain still listening to the ravings coming from him. “Damn…you really see yourself as the villain don’t you? You’re nearly a cliché?” He stepped forward a little putting himself barely behind Haruo’s right side. Yuki had been quiet listening to the pompous man that seemed to enjoy listening to himself speak.

The comments from Yuki caught Katsu’s attention making him smirk a little to see some backbone from Yuki. “I know what I want. It’s simple as that, kid.”

Yuki could see that rest of the teenagers looking antsy. They looked really to start something with only Katsu’s word to be given. However it seemed that they were even reaching the edge of their patience. The taste for blood was in their eyes like a mad animal. Yuki knew he could not stand by and do nothing any longer. “We have to do something now, Haruo! The guy’s made it pretty clear what he plans on doing!”

“Enough talking,” bellowed Haruo. He took his position directly in front of Yuki to keep him to his back and out of the fight. This was not his matter to be dealing with. “You’ve come here because of me. So leave him out of this.”

“I don’t believe there’s ever been a point when you told me what to do, kid! And today isn’t any different!” Katsu motioned to his boys giving them the signal that he was letting them start. He had the patience enough to wait to beat up Haruo.

The boys that had not been beaten up by Yuki previously were the first move. They were fresh and undaunted by the stories that they had been told of Yuki’s fierce strength. Those boys that had been the receiving end of Yuki’s attacks were hesitant in making a move. Their waiting caused two groups to be unintentionally formed. In the attacking group, there were five boys all looking as rough and experienced in street fighting as the rest. They stalked in towards Haruo as he made sure to keep himself at the center of attention.

Haruo steeled himself to prepare for the assault that was coming for him. “Don’t you make a move,” called Haruo over his shoulder to Yuki. He knew what he had to do and though it was not what he was used to doing it was his charge.

“What?! You can’t be serious, Haruo! There’s too many for you deal with alone!” Yuki ignored what Haruo was asking of him and tried to work his way around him, but for being so large he was proving to be agile enough to prevent him for doing anything useful. “Haruo!”

“I don’t need your help. I’m doing this alone.” There was no more time for talk as the five boys broke into a charge once they had finished fanning out. Haruo firmly planted his feet into the earth trying to form the strongest balance he could reach with the first swing coming in. The number of fights he had been on the wrong side of gave him an eye for judging attacks, which helped when he was trying to dodge. However, he knew with Yuki making things difficult for him that dodging was not going to be an option. He was going to have to take the blow. Haruo lifted up his left arm to deflect the out stretched arm.

The group of boys were not able to take their swings immediately giving Haruo the timing to block each swing that came in at him. Frustrated by failure, the boys kept close to him taking turns with kicks or punches with little success. Haruo was managing to keep them from making any progress against him and slowly convince Yuki to calm down with his demonstration.

Once Yuki had backed away a little it gave Haruo even more room to work his defense. He blocked two high kicks coming in together that tried to throw him with coordinated attacks. While he was focused on the two boys in front the other three were surrounding him from behind. They came in sequence charging with their fists to his hopeful blindside. Haruo had noticed their absence and made the assumption that they had gone to strike from the rear. He came out his blocking the legs turning to meet the first boy head on grabbing his fist in his palm. The boy became surprised and taken off guard by the action that he painfully followed through with his body forcing his arm to bend at the elbow. It had become crowded with the boy in front of Haruo that the other two coming up after crashed into the boy causing more damage to themselves than Haruo.

Unfortunately, a successful block by Haruo was not enough momentum. The two boys that he had just stopped before were now behind him, since he had turned to face the other three. These two took advantage of Haruo’s weakened position to lay into his back attempting to drop him quickly before responding. One of the boys let loose with a flurry of punches to his shoulder blades and backbone while the other jabbed with his feet in the back of his knee.

Haruo’s well built body took the blows and buckled a little under the pain, but remained until he could escape with a well timed side jump. Their failures to do anything meaningful to Haruo only further enraged them forgetting completely that Yuki was still present. It worked out how Haruo had hoped and allowed him to stay focused on dodging their attacks. These teenage gang members were not nearly as used to dealing with someone like Haruo as Takaoka’s group. It gave Haruo the advantage.

Katsu watched in annoyance seeing that Haruo was holding his own against five of his boys. “Hey Taka! Thought you said he never puts up a fight.”

Takaoka jerked his head over to Katsu in surprise. “Yea, I donno what’s goin’ on with him, boss. The most he ev’ does is dodge us. I’ve ne’er seen him defend himself.”

“Hmm…” Katsu looked behind him down towards the end of the grass street. He lifted up his hand and snapped his finger giving a signal to unseen gang members. “Always good to have insurance.” Once they were in motion Katsu whistled to the group of boys trying to fight Haruo. The sharp piercing tune was enough to interrupt everyone bringing a pause to the fighting.

Yuki narrowed his eyes trying to figure out what Katsu’s plan was. In the distance, he could see a few figures walking towards them. He was half expecting some brute of a fighter that was supposed to turn the fight around for them. However, his guess proved to be misplaced when he saw a man in his late twenties or early thirties being escorted by three teenage punks. ‘I’m not liking where this is going…’

Haruo caught a glimpse of the figures walking up to the rear of the mob of boys. He eyes had immediately widened the moment he saw the man that was being escorted. “Mr. Asanuma…” he barely managed to speak.

Katsu allowed himself a wicked grin and brief laugh when seeing Haruo’s reaction. “Don’t think that I don’t know about you. You’ve might have thought you were free from me, but you never were. And now that weakness in you will be your undoing. I’d suggest ceasing your defense if you don’t want to see this man come to harm.”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

There was a drawn length of silence across the grass. A few cackles from the punks worked to punctuate the atmosphere. Haruo was held mute by the appearance of his middle school teacher being held as a hostage of Katsu’s gang. Yuki had no such intentions of being quiet while such underhanded tactics were being used.

Yuki stomped a foot forward, mostly missed by the crowd. “Bastard! You really don’t have a shred of honor do you?” His voice echoed through the narrow street. He had been mostly ignored once the fighting started with Haruo, but Yuki just became the center of attention. His body was shaking with him having difficulty keeping himself in control over what was happened. Yuki knew well enough that he could not make a move on them while they were holding someone.

The shouting in vain from Yuki tilted Katsu gaze over to him becoming amused. “Now who’s acting the cliché? Honestly, did you think this was a street fight or something like that?” Katsu cracked his knuckles a little as his ground his fist into his palm looking excited. “This is measuring out punishment and I make sure everyone deserving always received more than their fair share of punishment. I’m quite generous in that manner.” He smirked viciously as his eyes were making his intentions very clear to both Haruo and Yuki.

‘He still sounds like more of a cliché than me,’ Yuki stubbornly protested to himself. ‘I need a plan and fast! They’ve got the upper hand and going to make a push with the advantage…’ He searched around him for any ideas that might come to him to get him out of the situation. Unfortunately, the hostage prevented anything from being possible. If any move was made towards the teacher Yuki knew that they would not hesitate to hurt the man. It was becoming clear from listening to the way that Katsu spoke that he would do anything to ensure that he got what he wanted.

Yuki tightened his fists starting to rub the skin raw in his palm. He chastised himself for being unable to do anything. ‘If hadn’t listened to Haruo and acted I could have prevented this from happening…’

A signal to the previously hesitant mob belonging to Takaoka had told them to move out. The other boys that had paused in their assault on Haruo soon resumed with Haruo no longer blocking in order to comply with the demand. It became almost savage with the boys as they were enraged from their frustrations at failing against him. They were going to Haruo pay grievously for the insults. Dull echoes of flesh being struck and hard strikes hitting bone increased the tempo. Blood sprays were its metronome.

Looming shadows crawled up towards Yuki in the advancing boys that had picked him as their target. Being on the receiving end of a fist was certainly no stranger to him, but Saki was usually around to stop before it became too violent. Yuki knew that he was not going to have such luck. He was going to have to deal with it alone, somehow. ‘Can I use my power on normal humans? I don’t think I have any choice anymore…’

Chapter 79 – A Magician’s Trick

Yuki’s mind franticly tried to cover everything that he had available to him. His mind was cluttered with more ideas than he could sort through and he had never had to figure out his laws on the spot before. The time he used them in a fight he did not recall actually thinking about it. Everything that had happened with Demosthenes had been on instinct. But he knew it was not going to save the teacher. ‘Come on, Yuki! Think of something! They’re almost on top of you!’ His eyes glanced over breaking his fragile concentration. All of the teenagers were eagerly approaching him with no haste in their step knowing that Yuki would not be going anywhere for them.

Any fear that they had before of Yuki had disappeared. It was simply six street punks marching gleefully to a beating. Takaoka was leading the group looking like he wanted some pay back for being the first that Yuki had taken out. He ground his hands together as he came to a stop only a few steps away from Yuki. “Remember what the boss said…kid! Ya do anythin’ other pretend tah be a punching bag an’ the old man ends up in a worlds of pain.” Takaoka looked over to two of his boys. “Take his arms, I like clean shots.”

Laughter spread through their ranks at Takaoka little joke. “Yea, boss!” they both said in unison taking up opposite sides of Yuki. They pulled Yuki’s arms out straight from his body leaving plenty of room for taking shots at his torso.

Resisting was something that Yuki knew he could not afford despite how much he despised such tactics. There was no pride to be found in such hollow victories. Yuki tempted a rough smirk as he prepared his body. “Not man enough to take me alone?” He knew this was not going to be like the bullies that picked on him before. He could buy some time for his thoughts it might give him a plan. It was certainly a gamble and he knew it. Angering them too much was likely to cause suffering to the teacher.

Takaoka responded to his taunting with a sharp punch to his stomach. “I like seein’ spirit in my enemy. Makes it more enjoyable to take it away.” He threw several more punches into his gut that made Yuki buckle a little.

Yuki coughed roughly catching his meager lunch being rudely stirred up. He managed to pull himself back together and straighten his legs back out to meet with the kid, who was about the same age as him. “I see you’re taking lessons on how to be a villain from Katsu.”

The mocking tone from Yuki had renewed the grin on Takaoka’s face. He moved a little closer to Yuki taking hold of his shoulders for support as he rammed his knee into Yuki’s stomach. The impact quickly made him slump down against Takaoka. After Takaoka had returned his leg back to the ground he grabbed Yuki by his hair. He ripped his head back up by the hair to force Yuki to make his gaze. “Resist a lil’ for me. I’ve ne’er liked him when I was in school. Seein’ him rollin’ in pain would make me so happy.”

Yuki pulled at his head finding his leg’s strength to meet Takaoka’s stare back. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to suffer from depression then. I don’t grant wishes to my enemies.”

“Either way I still get tah beat that defiance out of ya!” laughed Takaoka as he resumed his assault.

Between blows Yuki continued to smirk back. “You’re going to have to work on that terrible punk accent if you want to be a real villain.”

“Still got plenty a talk in ya huh?” A silent turn of Takaoka’s head gave a signal to the other three boys that had been waiting in the wings for their chance to get back at Yuki. The three punks walked around behind Yuki and filled in around him. Each of them took up a different part of his body to take their frustration and revenge out upon. Takaoka grinned to himself before resuming his work once more.

The situation was of little difference for Haruo aside from having less talking going on and one less teen beating up on him. The years of taking abuse and not fighting back gave him more resistance than Yuki to the beating that they were getting. However even Haruo had his limits. He was eventually thrown back into a property wall of a house. A potted plant tried to fall over into the house’s grounds, but had become attached to the greenery growth.

Noise from the plant would have been on deaf ears regardless. There had been enough yelling and chaos from them that if any of the neighbors were going to act upon it they would have already. No, they were all too scared to do anything. If it was not strange monsters and frightening changes to their city that had them utterly scared they knew exactly what would happen getting involved in a gang fight.

Katsu took great pleasure in seeing his plan coming together how he had envisioned. The sound of Haruo and Yuki being pummeled sweetened his heart even more. It was a lesson that he took particular joy in teaching. In the case of Haruo, this was one class that he had long hoped to have and now it was finally coming true. He would steal from him that small light that he naively thought he had found. “I’m not hearing enough bone breaking from the kid’s friend, Taka!”

It was music to Takaoka’s ears to be told to go harder on Yuki. “I understand, boss! Sorry to disappoint ya!” He grabbed Yuki’s chin pulling him towards him after Yuki had a second of pause before taking several feet to his back. “Hear that, kid? Time tah show ya true pain!”

Yuki coughed and laughed a little while being cut-off by the three boys behind him. “Good, I was starting to get bored with the girly punches.”

“Still got that smart mouth on ya!”

“I can’t help it you were born with a girl’s body.”

A vein popped in anger on Takaoka’s forehead hearing the insult coming from Yuki. His smirk grew wide as he wound up his arm to put his full weight behind it. “I’m going tah enjoy this!”

“So I guess it’s because you used that girly body to seduce the rest of your gang that you’re the leader then.” Yuki laughed again only to feel several stronger strikes digging into his back. It was enough to break the wind in him and make his shoulders feel like they would pop from their sockets. He tried to keep the pain to himself to maintain his bravado.

Yuki watched in amusement as Takaoka grew even angrier listening to his taunts. It was nearly entertaining for Yuki seeing how easily he was getting under his skin. He knew it was only going to take a little more seeing how boiling Takaoka was already. Yuki turned his head towards his shackles and tried to look back a little. “So which one if you did he do first?”

“That’s it! Get back guys!” Takaoka was almost a face full of steaming blood and veins listening to Yuki. He took a step back to take in his tightening muscles in anticipation. The three teens quickly moved out of sight leaving only the two holding Yuki to remain. Once he could no longer hold back his rage Takaoka released it all in a scream as he charged at Yuki. In a surprising show of martial arts, Takaoka spun around his leg and leapt sending his entire weight into the kick.

The foot and a little of the leg had slammed painfully into Yuki’s chest. Both boys were unable to hold on Yuki from the force that was driven into him. Their grips scrambled to keep hold, but only managed to scratch at Yuki while they lost. Yuki was sent flying backwards into the air a little before rudely being dropped into the grass falling out of sight apart from the split in the surface where he rested. ‘Felt that one for sure…’

Mr. Asanuma struggled against his three captors when he saw Yuki being sent flying from an incomplete flying drop kick. “Yoneda! Can you hear me?”

Haruo was able to catch Mr. Asanuma’s voice amongst the attacks and yelling from the boys that enjoyed their work. He knew that he could not respond to him. Silence had to remain if he was to stay safe. ‘It’s better this way.’ He could not let someone else become hurt because of something that was his fault.

“Fight back, Yoneda! I don’t care what they do to me!”

Katsu reached out with his hand taking hold of Mr. Asanuma’s neck. His fingers firmly wrapped partly around his throat. “Showing some spine, Mr. Asanuma? But believe me when I say that I will cause you great pain if the kid does anything.”

The teacher managed a brief moment of fortitude to hold together while being threatened. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t let children be hurt because of something that’s my fault.”

“Got a noble streak in you, huh?”

“It’s nothing to do with being noble! It’s the right thing to do! If I have to be hurt so that Yoneda isn’t that’s fine with me.”

“So you’re self sacrificing huh?” He stepped away from the small group as ideas began to swirl around. A moment in pause had come to Katsu as he gave it some consideration. There were certain factors that he had to weigh against each other. He knew what he wanted so it was just matter of doing whatever it took to get the results. The thought was very tempting for him knowing that it would make Haruo suffer. He had just planned on beating up Yuki to make his point, but another example was worth it possibly.

Haruo tried to work himself around the teenagers that were assaulting him. He could do little, but he had to make his voice heard. ‘I can’t allow him to do this. It must only be me.’ In the brief lull between attacks he managed to get an opening. “Just stay still. I’ll handle this. This is my problem, not yours Mr. Asanuma.” Even in the urgency Haruo had difficult providing any emotion or volume to his voice. It barely was able to reach them.

“Two selfless acts, looks like you’re in a stalemate. Guess it’s up to me to break it.” Katsu turned towards the teacher and began to walk over to the three boys holding him still. He signaled the teens to give him a little room as he approached. There was well placed fear in the teacher’s eyes as Katsu grabbed him by his shirt collar.

“Katsu leave him alone. He’s not involved. I’m the only one you need to do anything to.”

Katsu held on to the collar, but turned to look over at Haruo. He grinned a little with a knowing look in his eyes. “So naïve still. The moment I grabbed him it stopped only being your problem. You should know that by now.”

“You said—“

“Yes I did, but it wasn’t a promise. I can change my mind at any moment I want.” He pulled back his free arm taking time to decide where he was going to make the first punch land. “And I’m changing my mind now!” Katsu had let his fist fly the moment he finished. The grin was still painted heavily on his mouth taking great pleasure from what was going to happen next.

A cracking of bone echoed around them as the fist plowed into the face. In the next moment it sent them to the ground laid out trailing a bit of blood from a split lip. Katsu looked very pleased as he pulled back, but that all changed when saw that Mr. Asanuma was unharmed. His expression instantly twisted in confusion searching for the person that he had taken out. Buried deep in the grass was one of the gang members that had been holding the teacher. “What just happened?” Katsu glared back at the pale looking man. “What did you just do?” Anger from having taken one of his own out charged his arm once more to strike the teacher.

“I did this!” mocked a familiar voice unseen like they were going about a demonstration.

One of the two remaining boys collided with Katsu fist once more laying the kid out quickly. Katsu franticly looked about becoming paranoid. “What’s going on?!”

“Just some restless spirits!”

A loud thud of a shoe hitting the remaining boy bounced from nowhere. The teen fell away leaving Mr. Asanuma freed. Katsu tried to make a grab for the teacher before he escaped, but felt an invisible hand take hold of his wrist. “It’s you the skinny kid! Isn’t it?!” He ripped his wrist free and stepped back trying to collect himself.

In front of Katsu appeared Yuki grinning to himself. “See this is why you’re the villain, you figure things out quickly. Now that the old man’s free we can get down to good old fashion street fighting!” Yuki shifted into an attacking stance staring down Katsu with anticipation.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The entire field ran still for a moment when Yuki revealed himself out of the shadows. The three boys that had been taken out moaned about in the grass. Mr. Asanuma ran off away from anything that threatened him or made more trouble for Haruo and Yuki. The stunning reversal of the situation had everyone confused.

Takaoka looked across the grass field utterly confused by what was going on. He could see Yuki smirking a few steps away from Katsu. However, there was Yuki at his feet bruised and beaten in the dirt. The other teens with him looked around at each other trying to figure out the two Yukis that were present. “Which one’s the real one?”

One of the boys kicked the Yuki lying on the ground. There was a groan from Yuki as he took the blow and coughed from the pain. “Uh, this one, boss?”

“He must be real!”

“Yea, he screams when hurt!”

“And we can kick ‘im!”

Doubt was building in Takaoka as he stared longer. “Then how’d he take out our boys?” He stared over at the other Yuki seeing their hostage disappearing out of sight. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Maybe he has a twin?” one of the punks suggested.

Takaoka reached out and whacked him in the head for such a stupid idea. “Idiot!”

“Maybe they’re both real, boss!”

“It’s a trick…I know it!” Takaoka clinched his fist in frustration for being made a fool of. He became so distracted in his questions that he did not immediately hear a punch being thrown behind him. It took him to the second punch and a groan from one of his boys to alert him. Takaoka turned around quickly to see what was happening. “What the—“ Yuki’s fist interrupted him before he could finish his stupid question forcing him back a few steps to catch his balance.

The Yuki that had been on the ground had taking the time spared him to recover enough to return to the fight. And since he was no longer restrained by the hostage there was no holding back. “You should talk less and fight more! It makes you look stupid!”

“Why you!” Takaoka charged back into the fray with Yuki. The remaining members of his gang regrouped to assist him.

Chapter 80 – Secrets Revealed

The standoff with Katsu and Yuki held with Katsu’s smug look having disappeared with his hostage. He was not enjoying the situation any longer. The kid was making a fool of him and his gang. It was a fact that started a slow burn in his body. Mounting frustration at his plan falling apart had him tightening his hands. He was very much beginning to hate the cocky arrogance of Yuki. “What sort of mockery is this?”

“Ouw! Mockery, huh? Pulling out the big vocabulary for me.” Yuki carefully watched the scene and taking in the surroundings, specifically Haruo. It seemed that once Haruo realized that his teacher was safe the beaten stopped. The fight had evened out. “Guess that’s why you make the big bucks as the villain, huh?”

Katsu ground his teeth together shifting his jaw in anger. The mocking tone from Yuki was only making Katsu angrier and he knew it. “You’ve got quite the mouth on yourself…kid…”

Yuki grinned looking like he was enjoying the moment. “I seem to remember you enjoying a lively banter!”

“So what are you?” Katsu demanded, trying to steer the conversation back. He narrowed his eyes trying to find any hint of what might be the truth behind what he did.

“Me? I’m complicated.”

“That was more than a simple illusion.”

“You’re right there.” Yuki raised up his hand with his index finger extended like he was checking the man a correct answer. “Do you want to know?”

It made Katsu think for a moment as he got a piece of the puzzle to Yuki. There was only one answer that he had and he was not liking what it could mean. “Are one of those people with special powers that I’ve been hearing about?”

The clapping of Yuki’s hands punctuated the tension building in the air. “You’re close. But if you think I’ve just gained my powers recently like everyone else than you’re mistaken.”

“Now you’re lying kid! It wasn’t until this city got turned into hell along with the country that people got powers.”

Yuki shook his head back and forth slowly like he was disappointed in the man. “You shouldn’t be calling people’s liars when you don’t understand everything.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s just say I was carrying the hand basket.”

“Huh?”

Yuki’s hand waved dismissively at Katsu. “It’s of little importance to you.” He might have been making light of the situation, but Yuki was struggling with the words. It was still too soon for him to forget what he had caused, however he needed to maintain his composure. A snap of his thoughts redirected his concentration to get his mind off the subject. “You wanted to know how I did that little trick, right?” Yuki read the grinding of teeth from Katsu to see that had the tension wound tightly. “How about I do it in the form of a flashback!”

Katsu eyes had widened in surprise. He was taken off guard by the sudden change in mood from Yuki. It felt like he was unable to stand any longer with all of the strings cut. The tension in his body had been so perfectly tuned. He quickly managed to recover though at the thought of a flashback. “No! Anything but that!” There was a moment of Katsu having broken out of his character looking unusually ridiculous, but he corrected himself. “Besides…it’d be a little strange to have a flashback of a minute ago.”

Pretending to be absentminded, Yuki had looked up to the sky to think about what Katsu said. He turned back down pulling away his hand that he was using to think from his face. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Who’d do a flashback of a minute ago, that is pretty silly. Well then guess we’ll just have talk to it.” Yuki grinned to Katsu like he was preparing something in his mind.

Yuki pointed across the grass street at Takaoka and his gang that were trying to fight the other Yuki. “It was because of your gang over there, you should thank them. You see they were really easy to get provoked.” He recalled the beating that he was taking from Takaoka before. Yuki had been taunting them wanting to be hit hard. “I had a plan, but in order for it to work I needed to create a lot of confusion so they weren’t concentrating too hard. I wanted to swap myself out with a fake, but doing it while being held down would have been very difficult to pull off unnoticed.”

Takaoka had become so angry with Yuki that he had been unable to see straight. He just wanted to shut Yuki up, exactly what he needed. “It happened when I was kicked by your villain wannabe over there.” When Yuki was being tossed backwards into the grass he activated his Kasuo-ryoku. During the beating he was able to recall what Demosthenes had done in his fight and knew he could make it work with the right setup. “So while I hit the grass and they thought I was just tumbling about I activated my power. I put a stand in for myself while I turned invisible.”

Katsu was not liking story time by Yuki. He had figured Yuki for being an idiot kid with talent in fighting. He did not like hearing that he was able to conceive a plan and execute it perfectly while being attacked. There was one problem though he had with the story. “Even if you’re invisible I would have seen the grass moving as you approached! It doesn’t add up!”

Another disappointed doubting clicking came from Yuki. He had let out a small sigh as he knew that he was going to have to explain even that part to him. “How disappointing, thinking so flat. Bet you’re used to fighting in dark alleys and large fields. So cliché…” Yuki moved his hand to point over towards the property walls that bordered the street they were in on either side. “It’s pretty simple to avoid being seen if you’re not on the ground.” After Yuki had made his switch he was able to break through the chaos and scale the wall. He used it as his new path and ran down it getting around behind everyone. “Can’t see things behind you very well. After that it was pretty easy to do the rest, especially with the good timing by the old man. Figured I was just going to have to take them out myself, didn’t think I’d be able to use you to take out your own men. But thanks for the hand!”

Having the answer had not made Katsu feel any better. He was having it all thrown in his face by a brat younger than him. His self control was the only thing keeping him from launching into a full rage-charged attack. “I don’t care if you make a fool of my boys, but making a fool out of me…”

“Is pretty easy to do!” finished Yuki, not letting up from his taunting of the gang boss. He adjusted himself a little for his footing and got into a fighting stance once more. Yuki wanted to finish this off and end their reign. “Done with the Q&A! It’s time to see if you’re any good with someone that fights back!” He charged forward quickly on Katsu over taking him stepping back to land a clean hit in the cheek.

The gang members in the street paused for a moment in shock to see their boss being knocked down by the kid they were trying to beat up. The reversal in the situation had shaken their resolve to continue the fight. Haruo was not making it any easier to land anything further hits. Takaoka’s group continued in confused frustration in their own uncertainty of who it was that they were dealing with.

Katsu began to recover himself from the blow he had taken. He was still sitting in the grass, but wiped away the little blood from his split lip that Yuki gave him. A healthy bruise had started to be colored in on his cheek from Yuki’s fist. “That the best you got kid?” He started to rise up getting to his feet to dust himself off. The punch had seemed to cool off some of the steam that had developed.

Yuki narrowed his eyes beginning to read the situation for his next move. “I see you’ve got your talk back. I’d be a little disappointed if that was all a big gang boss had in him.” He shifted his weight and moved his position keeping an eye on his target. “But don’t worry. That was only a warm-up. I haven’t even gotten serious yet!”

“Oh? I guess I’ll treat that as my good fortune,” Katsu said measuring his words out. His eyes darted to his sides quickly examining the surroundings. “But you really shouldn’t have.”

“Why’s that?”

Shadows from behind Yuki had burst out from the grass taking hold of his arms and applied pressure to his neck. It was the three boys that had been holding Mr. Asanuma hostage. They looked a little worse for wear, but still had plenty of fight in them. Their new hostage had become the real Yuki. “Because that’s why,” remarked Katsu,” You shouldn’t hold anything back in fight. You should go straight for the kill immediately without hesitation, kid!”

Yuki struggled against his captors, but it was the tight hold of the arm wrapped around his neck firmly that made it nearly impossible. Every move he attempted to make only caused him to cough and choke. The flow the battle reversed once more putting fight back in the gang members. “And only a coward needs to hold down their opponent to fight.”

Katsu laughed heartedly at Yuki for his spirit. “It makes sure cowards don’t run away.”

“You shouldn’t talk so badly about yourself.”

“Hrmph, still got that cocky attitude, kid. You need a lesson in knowing fear!”

A dark grin pulled up on Yuki’s face as he thought back to his past three weeks. “Let’s just say compared to what I’ve experienced this is a summer afternoon stroll on the beach.” He connected his eyes with Katsu feeding him the honest deep gaze that read volumes of what he had been through. There was only one look needed to see how serious and scarred they were.

“You talk a good game, kid,” the adult bluffed trying not to be unsettled by the glare that Yuki had given him. “However, I’ve got something to show you. My own secret.”

‘I’m not sure if I like the sound of that…’ Yuki worked on his arms to try to free them from the hold of the two boys. He had to prepare for whatever Katsu could be planning. They were past the point of boasting with empty threats. Yuki could tell that he had something serious planned.

Katsu took a step forward closing the distance between them. “You see I wasn’t entirely honest about something before.”

“I’m crushed…”

“When I said I had heard about those people with special powers…” Suddenly the wind picked up around Katsu and the area around him. All of the grass rolled over waving in the gusts that were coming out of him. A distortion in the air began to appear around Katsu almost like a haze from heat, but it was still cool. “I forgot to mention that I happen to be one of them!”

Yuki could only widen his eyes in shock as he felt a pain in his left shoulder burst. Soon a spray of blood arched into the air from the wound despite nothing having touched him.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“When I said I had heard about those people with special powers…” Suddenly the wind picked up around Katsu and the area around him. All of the grass rolled over waving in the gusts that were coming out of him. A distortion in the air began to appear around Katsu almost like a haze from heat, but it was still cool. “I forgot to mention that I happen to be one of them!”

Yuki could only widen his eyes in shock as he felt a pain in his left shoulder burst. Soon a spray of blood arched into the air from the wound despite nothing having touched him. ‘What was that just now?!’ The shock from the wound had Yuki paralyzed for a second. Blood was painted across his left cheek stretching to his eye and mouth. Even if he had been allowed to move he would not have budged.

His mind reeled through the events repeatedly. Each viewing did not give him anymore clarity than the last. ‘When did he attack me? I didn’t see anything!’ Yuki’s eye darted about trying to focus through the pain back on Katsu. ‘He’s one of those super humans I created!’ It was that realization that something of his creation was being turned back on him that sank in deeply.

Chapter 81 – Biting the Hand that Feeds

“That’s the look!” Katsu shouted with glee in his voice. A sinister laugh escaped his lips. It was a laugh that grew and feed off of the pain of Yuki. It had only seemed to get darker the longer that he continued reveling in the misery. “Yes, the look of despair is one I truly relish.”

‘…he’s playing his part well…’ Yuki forced his head up, which had been hanging low on his neck, to try to get a clear view of Katsu. He needed to figure out what power it was that Katsu had. All he could see was just the same haze surrounding him as before. A consistent wind seemed to be blowing against Yuki face. The cool air made the gash, which began in the front between the end of the collar bone and joint at the shoulder back stopping a little before turning down his shoulder blade, in his shoulder sting sharply making him wince in his left eye. ‘…have to remain focused…’

Katsu stepped forward nearly coming in contact with Yuki with his proximity. The wretched grin on his face seemed to have developed into a permanent feature. He grabbed Yuki’s face under the jaw to make sure they were eye to eye. “I see you weren’t lying when you said you had seen worse. A normal person would have been screaming tears after something like that. But you just grit your teeth and suck it up. Hearing your scream will be quite the pleasure for me.”

“I’m not interested…but I know a girly man that would take you…up on that.”

Another laugh ripped from Katsu mouth. “I’m pleased to see you’ve still got plenty of spirit left!” Katsu removed his hand from Yuki’s jaw. He pressed his thumb into the wound that he gave Yuki twisting it around waiting for a scream. The longer he was left not obliged the harder he pressed. A groan was pulled out of Yuki, but nothing more as he endured.

Haruo from across the street had seen the attack made on Yuki. He knew that he would have been able to do nothing to stop it, but it still frustrated him. ‘I’m can’t do anything to stop this… He’s become involved because of me… I need to do something.’ In between dodging attacks from the punks Haruo tried to get around them. He hoped that he could distract Katsu enough from Yuki to allow him to escape. Unfortunately, they were not making it easy on him.

Two of the boys made another attempt to take hold him, a tactic that seemed all too common for them. They seemed to be more accustomed to beaten someone up after they were grabbed. One of them managed to get a slight hold on his arm in the ensuing chaos of fighting. The boy looked pleased with himself, but it caused him to forget his hold. Haruo was able to easily slide out. It had left him open for the next boy though forcing him into a defensive block to brush away the soaring kick. Quickly behind the teen he had just blocked the other two were following through with swinging fists. Both were simply avoided and put Haruo in the position he wanted to escape finally. ‘Now’s my chance…’

Haruo broke from the group out of the opening left by the boys. It took them a few seconds to realize that Haruo was actually trying to flee away from them. However by the time that they could turn around Haruo was already well out of range of them to be able to do anything.

‘Just have to reach Katsu now…’ He pushed his legs as hard as he could to reach Katsu in time before anything more was done to Yuki. The torture was being increasingly sadistic with each second that Haruo watched. He was still too far away. It had seemed like the distance was getting further away from him.

‘Almost there…’ It seemed so close to him now.

A slightly muffled ripping of cloth alerted Haruo, but it was too for him to be stopped. He felt a shallow sharp pain rising up his leg as blood dripped from a sudden wound. Haruo stumbled over falling into the grass. As he feel he felt even more slices along the right side of his body. Pain washed over him from head to toe making it difficult to restrain. ‘What happened to me?!’ Haruo looked up from the grass trying to figure out what had happened and saw nothing. ‘Did Katsu see me coming and do something?’

The longer Haruo looked around the more he could see that Katsu was heavily engrossed in his torture of Yuki. An earthquake could had happened and leveled the entire place and Katsu would never have known the difference. ‘No…it’s not him…then what?’ Haruo kept searching, seeking his answer in the grass. It had felt like the grass was sharp enough to cut him, but he knew that did not make any sense. The grass next to him blew about gently innocent to all of the savageness occurring.

A single grass blade was blown against Haruo’s cheek leaving a thin cut. He had barely felt it, but the slowly dripping blood along his jaw made it clear to him. ‘The grass? But how?’ Haruo backed away until he realized that he was bumping into more grass, as it was surrounding him. However, this time it was not cutting him. He paused even longer trying to understand. ‘Only some of the grass… What’s going on?’

One of the punks that had been fighting with him appeared towering over his fallen position. He smirked at Haruo with a knowing look in his eye. “Boss, didn’t say he was tah only one with powahs!”

Haruo narrowed his expression feeling that this fight had suddenly turned much darker for him. ‘A second one with abilities…but what are they? Turning grass into blades? That seems a little too specific to be right…’

“Name’s Akihiro,” introduced the boy. The confident air about him was unmistakably thick. His entire attitude had changed from before. “I guess since tah boss isn’t holdin’ back a’ymore I won’t either!”

‘Holding back? But what is his ability?’

“I can see from yer dumb look tha ya confus’d.”

In the time that he was being given to recover by Akihiro, Haruo was able to stand back up. The pain in his leg was still stinging him, but it was not too deep to keep him from being able to run. It felt more like he had paper cuts that were increased in sharpness. ‘I should be grateful these guys enjoy hearing their own voice…’

“Ya see I can make a’ythin’ I want intah a razor sharp blade!”

‘So he can make grass sharp enough to cut. That makes sense, but with so many things for him to turn into blades I won’t be able to move…’

“And I dun have tah touch ‘hem either.”

‘Activated by sight…that’s even worse… I won’t know when he changes it.’

“An’ ‘cause tha ‘hole city fill’d with grass! There’s nowhere ya can run!”

Haruo stared grimly at his surroundings. ‘Hate to admit it, but he’s right…’ He had no certainty where there could be blades in the grass. The only fortunate part was that they had not been enough to seriously injury him. He knew that he could get past the pain with some effort.

Akihiro stalked forward with a hungry look in his eye that seemed eager for the next round of blood. They had been savage before with wounded pride, but it was different from before. The man wanted only blood anymore. It was the thirsty eyes of death. “So whacha gonna do?”

There was no way out for him that he could see. All he had left was just to defend himself and try to get out of his ability’s range. However, he had no clue to the range. He was going to have to endure until he figured it out. Haruo took a staggered step with his good leg before placing his full weight on his injured one.

In the break in the action, it had given the rest of the teens that had been beating up him the time to regroup around Haruo. There was little room left for him to go anywhere. ‘If they’re all around here though it’ll limit how he can use his powers… I just have to keep wearing them down…’

“Looks like he’s thinkin’ sumthin’,” joked one of the other boys to Akihiro.

“Nah! That’s just fear yer seein’,” another teen spouted ignoring Haruo.

“Whacha thinkin’ Akihiro?” questioned the third.

“I’m thinkin’ more blood less talkin’!”

“I like that, Akihiro!”

“Let’s have sum fun!”

Haruo tilted his head around trying to take in all of his sides. There was a punk just out of his sight to the left looking more than eager to take the first step. Reinvigorated the kid was by Akihiro using his power. When Haruo had turned back to focus on the other three and Akihiro the punk took the chance to charge. Taken out of his blind side Haruo did not have much time to react having only just heard the noise made by him running through the glass. Haruo was forced to take the fist to the cheek, but as the teen followed through with his arm he over extended the reach. The motion was easily flowed through by Haruo to send him off balance into the front line of the gang members.

The ranks were broken a little, but they simply pushed the stumbled kid aside to go after Haruo. He tried to back up to give him the room he needed to take them. However, when he shifted his leg back the razor sharp edge of the grass cut into his pants. ‘He’s made the grass behind me blades so I can’t move…’ Haruo changed into a hardened defensive position planning to take everything. The wave of attacks from them broke upon Haruo hard, but the most that they got from him was blood from his previous cuts. They could only manage dull thuds against Haruo unable to budge him. The boys figured out quickly that Haruo was not going to move and took the advantage of it to unleash everything that he to try to break through his defense.

Eventually, the pressure became too much for Haruo to with stand against his footing. He managed to push back a raised kick in his final efforts before completely losing his balance. His legs were the first to fall against the blades raking shallow cuts along his skin as the grass folded and brushed against him. He collapsed on his bleeding back seeing the teenagers coming after him to kick him while he was down. There was a moment of clarity for Haruo through all of the delayed pain. ‘He’ll have to turn it off with them coming after me… I can use that…’

“Dun think fallin’ and getting’ cut up’ll be enough for us!”

‘Have to move…’ Haruo waited until they were close enough that Akihiro would not have the time to react. He took the first kick to the ribs and used some of the momentum to get him rolling out of the way until he could stand on his feet once more. ‘I’ll have a few seconds…’ Haruo sprinted through the grass soon feeling the blades cut into him again, but he was already at his target. The property wall near them in the fight would give him safety. He mounted the wall quickly with his hands before getting his feet up out of the grass.

There was a moment that he could take to breathe and look at the situation. ‘I’ve got to do something about Yuki… This is my problem and I need to handle it alone. He’s involved because of me and I can’t let that continue.’

While Haruo was in thought he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his leg. “What?” He looked down to see a serrated silver blade protruding from cement shelf on top of the wall. Haruo jumped back to get the blade out of his leg only to see another appearing where he was landing. Several more blades of various design, size and shape burst from the surface at him forcing him to fall back into the property of the house. ‘I thought he could only make edges sharp.’

Akihiro stepped into the grounds of the house breaking the gate down with a sturdy kick. “Guess I forgot tah mention I can make blades fer a’ythin’ even if it’s just makin’ my own!” He had let out a low snicker as he took another step forward casting a shadow over Haruo. The other boys soon joined looking down from the top of the wall Haruo had just been on. They all looked like starved vultures just waiting for their meal to die.

‘…how do I survive against this…powers and abilities that aren’t human…’ The pain he had experienced in his leg from the real blade digging deep into his muscle was wholly different from everything else. He had been bruised and pummeled before even cut and bleed. However, they had always only been physical with him never bringing a weapon into the attacks. He figured he was fortunate that they never did. The feeling of the metal plunged so deep into his leg was only momentarily painful compared to the excruciating throbbing he was taking now. The fall he had taken only made the pain he was feeling even worse and distributed all over his body. ‘I have to do…something…’

Akihiro’s face darkened a little more as he grew more sinister. “I guess since tha cat’s outta bag I’ll have my fun!” He raised his right hand pointing it at Haruo like he was reaching or directing something. A moment later a large blade the size of a bastard sword erupted from the ground piercing Haruo’s leg. Blood sprayed up on the faces of the gang members making their hungry grins look even more wicked.

Haruo coughed and released a dull restricted scream as though his throat had never known a raised voice. The blade was soon gone from his leg the tearing from it being forcefully removed hurting even more. He was grinding his fingers against the sidewalk tearing the nails and flesh apart from trying to endure the pain. ‘…but what can I do…I’m powerless against this…savagery… It’s like they aren’t human anymore… Like they’ve been possessed by…the call of the blood…’ Haruo took another blade this time thin and narrow through his shoulder along with several short stabs in his back purposely missing vitals.

His breathing began to become ragged and drawn nearly exhausted from the unfamiliar pain he was forced upon. ‘I need…to do something…but how… I can’t move and the pain’s too… much to bear anymore…’ Haruo blinked his eyes seeing things looking blurry. He was not sure how much longer he could stay awake. ‘I’m going to pass out? Am I dying?’

Suddenly Yuki’s voice echoed in his mind from earlier. ‘You don’t have to keep taking it from them! You’ve got the strength to protect yourself use it! If you don’t they’ll just keep walking over you again and again! You said before that you were determined to leave that life behind you right? Well your past is staring you down right now. You going to let your past control you or are you going to control your past!’

‘I don’t want to…take it, but I…’ Haruo could not keep his body up any longer and fell flat against the ground. ‘I can’t fight back… It won’t solve anything…’ Yuki’s voice pounded in his head firmly again. ‘I…I…’ The blades penetrating his body were almost a distant feeling to him. Everything seemed to be dulled out to Haruo. He could only see the last images of Akihiro crazed face burned into his eyes. ‘…maybe… but I don’t have anything… I need… something… anything…’ Haruo struggled with his body to keep control as he fought with his resolve. ‘I…I don’t want to be beaten down anymore…’

Haruo clutched on to a broken piece of a pot that had shattered from his fall. His hand tightened around it as he became desperate for anything. He wanted to put a stop to what was happening. It was his fight to deal with his way.

Akihiro paused in his poking with his swords seeing Haruo beginning to look more lifeless. As he stepped forward to examine Haruo he felt a sudden invisible surge that pushed him back a little. He barely had a moment to look back at Haruo afterward when a light of pure white exploded from Haruo’s hand. The entire area was bathed in the light blinding everyone. “What’s goin’ on?!”

“I can’t see anythin’?!”

“Haruo?” Yuki said slowly confused through all of the pain he was forcing down.

Akihiro stepped back by reflex in the light trying to put some distance between him and it. Near him he heard a blood curdling scream followed by a wet splash. “What’s happenin’?!” There was another scream leaving him panicked and confused. Akihiro frantically looked about in the blindness trying to focus on the screaming. “Guys?! What is it?!”

When the light finally came to an end and Akihiro could see finally the horror that he saw made his eyes widened almost letting his eyes fall out. Two of the teens that had been on the wall were missing and a blood spray was left on the wall. The next moment a low growl permeated the air setting everyone’s hair on end. It was a primal growl that only knew the law of nature. A large transparent white tiger leapt over the wall and stood over Haruo in protection bearing its fangs at the boys.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

When the light finally came to an end and Akihiro could see finally the horror that he saw made his eyes widened almost letting his eyes fall out. Two of the teens that had been on the wall were missing and a blood spray was left on the wall. The next moment a low growl permeated the air setting everyone’s hair on end. It was a primal growl that only knew the law of nature. A large transparent white tiger leapt over the wall and stood over Haruo in protection bearing its fangs at the boys.

Haruo’s body remained still slowly bleeding into the ground. Above him the white tiger let a low growl seep through its teeth. It was pure white seeming almost divine. There was no hint on it that it had been the cause of the screaming and mostly the injuring of the missing two teens. Proof or not, Akihiro knew that it was the only one to have been able to do it.

Akihiro took an uncertain step back feeling an uneasiness in his skin. He looked at Haruo closer trying to see if he was dead or not. “What’s goin’ on?!” It was too difficult for him to tell if Haruo was alive and there was no chance of getting near with the beast hovering as his guardian. “It an’ther ability of tha kid?” He could not see over the wall at Yuki, figured he was not looking in the best shape to be able to do it.

The remaining two punks on the wall were able to get a look at their companions having finally recovered from the initial shock of what happened. Unfortunately, the moment that they saw their friends they fell backwards running away from the sight. “T-they’re…”

“R-r-ripped tah pi-pi-pieces!”

Akihiro narrowed his eyes trying to keep his composure. The fear was already attempting to creep into him. The mere presence of the creature was enough to crack his resolve. He could not let it do anymore to him. “If its fer ya I’ll just kill ya and it’ll vanish!” Blades were summoned up from the ground once more around Haruo’s body.

Chapter 82 – Emotional Control

The tiger took hold of Haruo’s uniform in its semi-opaque mouth and jumped out of the blades just in time to keep Haruo safe. However, blood was still dripping from him in the air draining his life away. Akihiro tracked the beast launching more blades at it from any nearby surface. “Damn! Tha thing’s fast!”

Across the property in the grass street Katsu had taken a momentary break from his enjoyment. He gave an unsympathetic glance to his frighten gang members and the blood that dripped eerily down the wall from where the monster had attacked. “Seems like Hiro’s having fun with the kid.”

Yuki coughed a little and focused his eyes through the pain that he had been enduring. He gave a rough smirk to Katsu. “Guess it’s time I gave up on this strategy…”

Katsu tilted his head to Yuki becoming a little curious what he might be planning now. “Oh? Still think you can get out of this?”

“Definitely!”

“You’re copy is currently occupied with my boys and turning invisible won’t help you here. You’ve nothing you can do!”

The teenager that was holding Yuki by his neck tightened his arm around in response to his confidence. Yuki coughed again grasping for air until he adjusted. He gave Katsu a very assured look. “I told you before…I’m complicated!” Yuki turned his eyes over to his copy for a moment. ‘I guess I can’t worry about what it’ll happen once it’s gone… Now or never!’

Yuki’s clone that was fighting with Takaoka and his gang suddenly came to a stop. He had let out a final grin before vanishing from their sight. The real Yuki gave a cunning smile as a thin ring broke from his feet unnoticed by anyone. A moment later the entire grass street became a massive pyre that stretched to the sky. The screams of those caught in the blast were nearly drowned out by the flames. Out of the wall of fire leapt Yuki completely unharmed by the fire landing on the bloody wall. He tilted his head back toward the fire feeling the heat whipping at his face. “That should be enough for now…”

He jumped down seeing the two bodies of the teenagers that he had heard screaming when the white light had blinded everyone. His face turned grim seeing their mutilated bodies. Yuki dropped to his knees trying to keep his emotions in check. “More deaths on my soul…I…” Suddenly one of the kids coughed shallowly alerting Yuki to him. A glimmer of hope returned to him as he checked the other boy as well seeing that he was barely hanging on still as well. “They aren’t dead yet!”

There was a distant roar that pulled Yuki’s face up towards the end of the property’s grounds. “Haruo!” Yuki eyes had grown wide the instant he saw how badly Haruo was cut up from the fight. The animal slowly approached Yuki. The fierce merciless stare of its eyes never left Yuki. When it reached him it placed Haruo down in the grass. The beast’s expression seemed to change almost understanding the kindness in Yuki. “You trust me?”

Haruo coughed painfully from his numerous internal wounds that were slowly killing him if it was not for the massive blood loss. It broke Yuki from any questions or concerns he might have had about the situation. “I’ve got to heal them, but I have to take down the other field. I guess they’ve suffered enough mental scarring. I hope I can do this in time.”

Yuki closed his eyes concentrating on what he needed to do. Behind him the bright wall of flames evaporated into the air without a trace of having even been there before. An instant later a pale green glow was already coming from Yuki’s hands as Haruo and the two punks were surrounded by the warmth. Wounds were quickly closing up and fixing themselves.

Katsu blinked as he had stopped screaming thinking that he had been on fire. The rest of his boys were collapsed on their knees in shock. Most were panting heavily from realness of what had just happened to them. “What’s going on?” He turned his head around with his body trying to get a look at the area. Everything was exactly as it had been before with not even a blade of grass slightly singed for the blaze. “It was an illusion?” It was the only explanation that he could come up with from what he was soon. He was not even burned.

“Boss? What happ’ned?” Takaoka asked being the first one to stand back up on their own.

“Not completely sure…” He examined his hands still needed to have that physical proof that there was nothing wrong. ‘The heat and pain all felt real! Is that another one of his powers? He some illusionist?’ Katsu tried to figure out Yuki from what he had already seen, unfortunately even being illusions the clone was not a fake. He could tell from the fighting that Taka’s group had it was certainly real.

When he started to think about Yuki more he realized that he could not see him anywhere. The harder he looked the less he liked the situation. There had been no sign of Haruo as well. “Something’s not right. Start looking for them!” He began ordering around the teens even though they were still very shaken by the illusion.

Still out of sight for the moment, Yuki was almost finished with the work on the three boys. He had been listening to Katsu and it was making him anxious. ‘I’m not too well hidden, but I don’t need much more time!’ The two street gang members were taking more time to fix than Haruo, who was nearly completely finished. The wounds that they had withstood from the creature were far more grave and difficult to fix than patching up Haruo’s cuts.

There were a few low groans from Haruo as he started to come around fully. The light that had covered him faded away. He felt a little stiff, but surprisingly well. Haruo looked at his hands and then clothes seeing all of the holes. ‘I know that I was hurt, but the pain’s all gone. How’s this possible?’ Once he could no longer find answers to what happened with himself he looked up. It had been in part to the green light that he finally noticed that pulled his eyes to Yuki. “What’s going on? Why am I not injured?”

Yuki gave Haruo a puzzled look for a moment. “You sound disappointed. Would you rather be on death’s door?”

“No, but how’s this possible?”

“Because of me.” Most of the work was working on its own at the stage that Yuki was at that he could afford a slight distraction. “My power allows me to do anything I need. In this case fast healing. I replaced the blood that you lost as well up to a safe point. Anatomy isn’t my strength, but I figured you lost enough that you make it difficult for you focus or function.” Yuki paused his words hearing some noise coming closer. They had been keeping their voices low, but it would not be enough. “You’ll need it to be able to survive this…”

“I guess I’ll have to accept that for now.” Harou tested out his body a little while still keeping seated to remain out of sight. He knew that even after what happened that Katsu and his gang would not give up until they found him. They would just hunt him down again and he would have to deal with it again. There was no longer any choice in what he had. ‘This has to be resolved…’ He turned his head to take in the area and found the transparent tiger lying down next to him waiting, somehow ignored by him through everything he had to absorb.

When he finally realized what it was that was next to him it making him panic almost. However, in the moments after there was an odd familiarity about the animal. He could not understand it, but there was something about it that he knew that he could trust. It almost felt like it was a part of him, distant yet connect through an invisible thread. “Is this…”

Yuki looked over at the tiger and nodded to Haruo as finished the last bit of the teens. “Yeah, I’m fairly certain that it’s your power. Though you’ve got me on how it works.” He shut down his field and moved the two boys out of the way near the wall to sleep off their time. Once they were taken care of Yuki moved to look around the wall trying to take in the surroundings. ‘Surprised we got this lucky…’ Yuki pulled back from the wall and approached Haruo. “They’re more spread out, but we shouldn’t have any trouble dealing with them. The one that I’m more concerned about is that guy Katsu and his power…”

Haruo stood up ignoring whether he would be spotted or not. “This is my problem. You’re free from his gang. I’ll handle this alone.” The tiger that had been looking like it was almost sleeping rose up sticking close to his side. Haruo began to walk for the gate of the house building his determination back.

“Hey!” Yuki reached out for Haruo’s arm, but the tiger that had been ignoring him up till that point turned on Yuki. It gave him a deep growl making Yuki back off. “They aren’t just planning on beating you up a little and calling it a day! They’re out for blood now! You need my help to deal with them!”

“Just stay out of sight and keep yourself out of their hands. I don’t need anyone’s help.” Haruo rebuffed him quickly and pushed through the gate of the property. While most of the punks that could still hold it together were scattered off looking for them Katsu was still standing in the middle of the grass waiting. “I’m here, Katsu,” Haruo said evenly. Haruo’s tiger walked up behind him staying at his side looking ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

Katsu picked up on Haruo and turned to face him looking a little disappointed while also pleased as well. “So it would seem. Though I’m more interested in that friend of yours than you right now. He’s made a fool of my gang far too many times already! Besides I’m still waiting for that expression on your face when I kill him!”

“You’ll have to settle for me. This between you and me.”

A sigh escaped Katsu’s lips listening to Haruo. He shook his head disappointed with him still not understanding what was going on. “You don’t get it. You can’t pick who is and isn’t involved! If they know you they’re involved! It’s simple as that and I will have my fun!”

“I guess it’s a good thing I’m so entertaining then!” Yuki inserted, appearing seated on the wall casually making himself seen. ‘I’m sorry Haruo, but I can’t do nothing! I can’t let you do this alone as much as you want too!’

“Still can talk back with that wound huh?” Katsu grinned deliciously in anticipation. It took him another moment to realize that Haruo was all better, since he had not actually seen most of what happened to him by Akihiro. “Thought Hiro sliced you up good, kid?”

“I’ve got a doctor’s touch,” shrugged Yuki in response.

“I’ve gotta scalpel ya can borrow then!” shouted Akihiro from across the property behind Yuki. A knife burst from the top of the wall near to Yuki speeding straight for him. When it was about to stab Yuki though the knife snapped in two flying away and embedding into the ground. The break caught Akihiro by surprise, but he insisted on trying again. This time he threw a dozen blades at him all the size of swords and yet none of them could touch Yuki. Each of the swords shattered just before impact and fell useless to the ground. “What?! That’s impossible!”

“Now there’s some stock dialogue!” Yuki cheerfully exclaimed jumping down from the wall. “You’re going to need to work on your goons some more. Even they’re sounding like a cliché now!” He bared a wide smirk seeing how they were still trying to figure out what Yuki had done.

Katsu had become further concerned by the abilities being displayed by Yuki. The things that he was seeing were no longer starting to add up. “You’re more than just a really good illusionist. What are you?”

“I thought I told you to stay hidden and let me deal with this,” inserted Haruo becoming annoyed by Yuki’s disregard.

A brief shift of Yuki’s eyes made it to Haruo when he spoke, but tried to stay focused on the real problem. He knew that he could afford to disappoint Haruo if it meant everyone came out of the fight alive. “Wouldn’t you like to know? As I said before, I’m complicated. So let’s leave it at that!” Yuki gave a secretive wink at Katsu to close the question off.

Being shut down had hardly fazed Katsu as he retorted with another one of his invisible attacks. The wind seemed to blow up with the attack pushing back their clothes just prior to Yuki’s left arm being slice through throwing blood behind him. Next to Haruo there was a shattering sound as the tiger suddenly turned into particles and disappeared from this side.

Yuki gasped briefly in surprise to see that Katsu’s attack made it through his defenses and Haruo’s animal was easily defeated. ‘He can still hit me?! How strong is he?!’

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki gasped briefly in surprise to see that Katsu’s attack made it through his defenses and Haruo’s animal was easily defeated. ‘He can still hit me?! How strong is he?!’ He knew that he had focused his defenses to block whatever that Katsu might have thrown at him. It may not have been as strong as he used against Demosthenes, but he did not think that Katsu would have been so strong. ‘I still couldn’t even see the attack! What am I supposed to do?!’

Across from Yuki out in the middle of the street unprotected was Haruo having become more concerned about his position. ‘The animal’s just gone… Was it my fault?’ He tightened his hands trying to find a way to focus on what he had lost. The empty feeling had filled in the strange connection that he had been sensing coursing through his body. It was clear that there was no calling it back. ‘How do I make this work?’

“Well if you’re both going to stand there like idiots…” began Katsu just prior to another attack.

Alerted to what was going to happen Yuki went into his backup plan that he had prepared. The problem was he did not know where it was going to be hitting or how wide of an attack. All he had to guess on was the previous unseen attacks. ‘I guess more than better than less!’ A thick concrete wall grew out of the ground splitting the grass and earth coming between Katsu and Yuki as well as Haruo. Just in time there was a solid thud against the wall putting a little crack in the surface.

The moment that he had bought for them gave him time to take a breath. “That was close!”

Chapter 83 – Working Alone as a Team

Yuki leaned against the wall in his break, however another pound of an attack from the other side restarted his drive. “How am I supposed deal with this invisible attack?” There were several more strikes against the wall causing cracks to appear on his side. A pebble from the developing splits dropped on Yuki’s head. ‘This wall won’t hold for long, but at least he seems determined to take it down rather than going around it…’

The cut on Yuki’s arm began to throb as the adrenaline started to fade a little. Yuki checked it to see how bad he was doing. “It’s pretty shallow, redirecting some of the energy should patch it up.” Soon the bleeding from his upper arm came to a stop leaving his bare arm with blood dripping down to his hand.

A sudden sharp but weak strike to Yuki’s head made him jump in surprise nearly clearing the wall. “I must have bad luck running across the girly boy!” grumbled an annoying high pitched voice that was unfortunately familiar.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Yuki shouted back at the fairy not even noticing that it was the fairy until a moment later. “Hey! You’re…” It was then that he became a little depressed knowing that he was going to have to deal with her again.

“Pathetic as always…”

Yuki grabbed the fairy quickly with his good arm and brought her close to his face to glare at her. “All you ever are doing is putting me down! I don’t have time for your attitude right now!” He tossed her aside back into the air no longer wanting to deal with her. The more pressing matter for him was figuring out a way to deal with the power of Katsu. It was made all the more necessary with another blast carving out a corner of the wall.

He stepped back to examine the wall. The last piece that had been taken out looked clean and sharp. It was the same feeling he had from the wounds. They were always fast and straight with a lot of control. There was still one thing that puzzled him besides not being able to see the attack. Yuki stared at the wall for a moment trying to understand it. “How can he break through the wall and my defenses so close to me? I know he’s no where the strength of Demosthenes. I should be stronger! How can his Kasou-ryoku be over coming mine?!”

“You really are an idiot,” commented the fairy again having never left. She floated over Yuki’s left shoulder letting her very long blonde hair swirl like she was underwater around her.

“Shut up! I don’t need to hear it from you!”

The fairy shrugged her shoulders at Yuki when he glared back at her. “You’ll never see it the way you are now…”

“What are you talking about?” The arrogance from the little girl was really starting to get on Yuki’s nerves. ‘I’ll never see it? What’s she getting it? What aren’t I seeing…his attacks? She can see his attacks?’ Yuki shook his head trying to focus and get the fairy’s words out of his mind. All she was doing to him was making it more difficult to concentrate as was made even more apparent by a large piece of the wall being cleaved away. “Damn! Stop talking to me! I can’t focus with your chattering!”

Yuki turned back to the wall to give it his full attention. ‘Why’s she have to show up now?!’ A restored focus had slowed down the wall’s destruction, but it still only a matter of time. He had to hide in small parts as Katsu was continuing to chip away from it. The fairy was still hovering around the area even in silence bothering him with mere proximity. ‘I thought I had more control over my powers! She’s only appeared when I couldn’t control it… So she’s here now? I know I didn’t put it into the laws…’ He tried to drop her out of his field like he would anything else that he did not need, but she was still present. It made it clear to him that she was not a part of his field. ‘She’s a part of the world now? So she’s just like all of the crazy stuff I brought into existence… It’s all real…’

“It’s all real…” The words echoed in Yuki’s mind as he spoke him. There was something that he had been missing. He could feel it now. “It’s all real!” Yuki jumped up looking at the wall and catching a small glimpse of Katsu on the other side. “It’s all real, even his powers!” He slapped his palm to his face in his grudging moment of clarity.

“Told you were an idiot!”

“Quiet you! I’ve been attacked by people with the same power as me up until now! I’m not used to this where it is actually real!”

“Sounds like an excuse to me…”

Another thought came to his realization in the next moment. “I’ve never fought anyone that doesn’t have a field!” There was a second where he feared that unknown realm. ‘But I guess if I think about it…it just means I’ll never have to worry about my attacks weakening from clashing fields! Though I won’t also be able to dampen his attacks either…’ The longer than he thought about it the more fears that came into his mind. He was already seeing the results of what could happen. It continued to mount in his mind.

Haruo was held down trying to understand his power through all of the confusion. The shattering sound that he had heard before when Katsu attacked his tiger played through his mind. None of it made a lot of sense to him, the supposed power he had or even what Katsu was doing. ‘Was it some sort of ghost or incorporeal animal? But if it was then how could Katsu destroy it and how could it interact with the physical world?’ There were just too many questions that he had unanswered. He needed it to happen again, but he could not remember how it had happened. He could not even remember when it happened. It was just a faded image in his mind when it seemed like was dying. ‘...I…I…was just…so…desperate…’

A faint voice or sound suddenly was calling out to him. He ignored in the mist of his thoughts not being able to discern it from his own voice. However, the beckoning continued until it became a feeling that turned into a dull poking in his head. It would not stop no matter how hard he tried to concentrate. Haruo looked around him sensing that there was something close by that was important. ‘What is it? It’s around here…’ Down between the grass resting shattered pieces in the dirt was a part of pot. He picked up the pieces looking at them in his palm. ‘Why is this familiar?’ Suddenly the pieces glowed faintly a pure white light before disappearing.

Haruo dropped the pieces sharply out of reaction, but an odd warmth seemed to persist in his palm from where they had rested. It had felt like it belonged to him somehow. He could not understand the feeling that he was having from it. ‘What was that? What’s happening to me?’

The concrete wall shattered even more from Katsu assault exposing steel that re-enforced it. Haruo had no understanding of Yuki’s powers, but it was pretty clear to him how little time that they had left. ‘I need to do something… I said I would do this myself…but without this strange power I can’t…’ He tightened his hands with frustration starting to dig his nails into his skin. Time was running out and he had nothing. ‘I can’t…I need it from before…please…’

Thin beams of light burst out of both of Haruo’s hands easily seen from the other side. It made everyone freeze in confusion to what was happening. Haruo stared down at his hands opening them up to see what it was that was causing the light to be created. However, the light was too bright for him to see anything clearly. Soon the light took on form growing out from hands expanding until a shape could be seen. ‘Is this my power? But how…’ As it great large and lifted out of his hand Haruo could see a faint shape within in it as the light was no longer as bright.

When the creation had been completed there were two animals transparent and bathed in pure white light as the tiger had been before. However, neither was a tiger this time. One looked like a dog, possibly a german shepherd and the other was a panther. They both sat obediently at his feet like they were awaiting an order from him.

Haruo stared at the two animals a little surprised having expected to see a tiger again. None of it was making any sense to them. It seemed to be reacting to his feelings, but he did not understand anymore than that. ‘…what is that in the center? All of the light surrounding it is making it difficult to see…’ There was a bundle of light that appeared to be almost woven tightly into a ball near to where their heart would be were they living creatures. Every few moments there was a gentle pulse from the light almost like a heartbeat. ‘None of this makes any sense…but…I must act now…’

After the next assault from Katsu Haruo rose to his feet. Both of the animals responded to him staying on either side of him. Haruo was short, but even being short was not enough to be protected by the crumbling wall anymore. He stared over at Katsu, who had taken a pause in his attacks.

“What do you think you’re doing, Haruo?! yelled Yuki, noticing that he was no longer keeping down from the attacks. His eyes shifted over quickly towards Akihiro recognizing the look in his eye. ‘There’s blades already coming out of the wall!’ All Yuki could do in time was remove the wall completely. The blades disappeared as with the wall as they no longer had a surface to be attached to. “What the hell do you think you’re doing give them a target like that?!”

“Stay out of this,” Haruo declared sternly.

Katsu grinned to himself watching the disagreement between the two widen the gap in their efforts. “Trouble in paradise huh?” He raised his hands towards the two of them with a look that said he was planning to settle everything with one attack. The invisible attack was unleashed quickly at the two. Two fragile walls erupted up from the ground that were shattered instantly, but managed to take the blow. “Still playing with toys like that huh?”

‘I’ve got to get in close to him…’ thought Haruo, trying to figure out how he was going to stop the attacks. He started running towards Katsu with his animals keeping up the pace. There were minor explosions of the grass and dirt as he could feel the attacks that Katsu was making narrowly missing him. ‘I’ve got to keep myself moving…’ As plans came to him in his mind the animals seemed to be reacting taking action mirroring his thoughts. The panther leapt up going for Katsu’s arm, but was knocked back as it came close to him but hit with an invisible force.

Haruo missed a step as he took a moment to see how the panther was after that. There was a strange white particle dripping out from its forelegs that had been cleaved off by Katsu. However, a second later both legs grew out of the stumps and the panther was standing back up charging around for another attempt. ‘It’s completely recovered… So it’s not wholly incorporeal, but not completely physical either… And one hit from Katsu isn’t enough to kill it like before… I need to learn more quickly…’ Haruo directed the german shepherd keep in Katsu’s blind side while the panther was distracting him.

Yuki was forced to watch one of Haruo’s animals get destroyed by Katsu in a failed attack. He had seen through the blindside strike that Haruo had tried leaving him only one left to work with against Katsu. His mind was working through everything that he was watching trying to analyze it all. Yuki’s eyes had widened in a moment when he stared at Katsu. ‘…I’m so stupid!’

It had surprised him that the rest of the gang was not doing anything anymore, but simply watching. He had to guess that as dumb as they seemed they were smart enough to know not to get in the way of Katsu’s attacks. ‘Haruo being too damn stubborn and with everything happening right now I can’t get into the fight… I thought I would be fight with my Kasuo-ryoku to go against Katsu, but the danger is fair greater than with the assassins I’ve been hunted by…’

Still keeping his distance from the fight, Akihiro kept waiting for his chance to attack. There had been too much movement and confusion caused by Katsu and Haruo that he did not have a clean shot. He also had to be careful not to catch Katsu in his attacks. The waiting had finally paid off for him as there was a moment snag Haruo and gave Katsu an opening to finish things.

Yuki had barely caught what happened as Haruo tripped through the grass. ‘It’s that Akihiro kid! He’s making use of the grass again! I can’t hold things back anymore!’ He closed his eyes focusing for a moment and he pushed away the final threads of hesitation that he had. ‘I wanted to avoid using my field and keep this as private as I could, but I can’t do it anymore…’ Yuki saw the panther take a shot for Haruo to protect him from Katsu’s attack and disappear from the sacrifice.

‘…Ayumi…Saki…sorry everyone…’ A brief white ring rippled through the ground from Yuki’s feet. Several more rings pulsed from his feet in anticipation. A massive wave then erupted from his feet that warped the ground and all of the territory around it speeding out passing through everyone harmlessly. Behind the wave all of the tall grass was being replaced by flat earth leaving nothing behind, but the gang members and neighbors, left frightened by their homes disappearing on them (again). At the center, Yuki was surrounded by a thick wall of dust kicked up by the exposed dirt.

Once everything else had ceased the turbulent wind around Yuki exploded away from him casting off the dark gray cloud. As particles came to settle Yuki stepped out walking into the earthen field he had created. All those around stared on in shock and confusion. “It’s time this ends!” shouted Yuki, now donning his white fighting clothes.

Katsu looked a little more serious in expression seeing Yuki stepping forward, but less than impressed with his display. He raised up his hand towards Yuki and fired another attack, however to everyone’s surprise it was visible and colored green. It looked like a crescent thin and sharp vibrating as it displaced the air around it speeding towards Yuki.

Yuki did not even try to avoid it as the crescent shaped attack sped towards him. It impacted on Yuki’s chest along his shoulder causing the loose dirt of the ground to be kicked up from the blast of wind. Everything happened so fast that no one was able to see what happened to Yuki after the initial hit. A second later Yuki marched out of the cloud completely unaffected by the attack. “Your wind attacks won’t harm me anymore…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki did not even try to avoid it as the crescent shaped attack sped towards him. It impacted on Yuki’s chest along his shoulder causing the loose dirt of the ground to be kicked up from the blast of wind. Everything happened so fast that no one was able to see what happened to Yuki after the initial hit. A second later Yuki marched out of the cloud completely unaffected by the attack. “Your wind attacks won’t harm me anymore…”

The effect of Yuki coming out unscathed left a deep and dramatic impact on everyone in the street. They had seen Yuki getting sliced up and running away from Katsu before, the sudden reversal of the situation so soundly left a silent void that drained away everything. He had already proven himself to be unharmed by Akihiro’s attacks and with Katsu’s invisible attack not even scratching Yuki the morale of the gang members fell apart.

Katsu was not convinced of Yuki’s declaration as it only made him more frustrated to see Yuki trying to feint his way through the fight. “It’s just another one of your illusions!” Determined to prove Yuki wrong Katsu raised both of his hands. Two green glowing crescent shaped forms materialized in front of his hands. The distortion around Katsu appeared to be shifting into a pale green hue that swirled and twisted around his arms feeding into the creation of the crescents. Even as he was fueling his attack wind was blowing out from him pushing down the grass and trickling out particles of green light.

Yuki was undeterred by Katsu building attack. He took a couple of steps forward even when Katsu launched the wind crescents at him. The visibility of the attacks made it significantly easier to dodge, but Yuki did not even bother with that. They sped towards him with razor edged sharpness and swirling with rapidly folding gales. Yuki snapped his hand up vertically slicing through one of the crescents causing its bound torrents of wind to be unleashed and blast the area with an explosion of gusts. The second crescent he allowed to simply graze off his shoulder and fall apart in the air behind him.

“Understand now?” Yuki firmly declared narrowing his features.

Chapter 84 – Growth

A grim thinly pursed lip had replaced the permanent smirk on Katsu’s face. Knowing that it was not a trick of Yuki’s made him start to run pale in the skin. “I understand that you’re a cocky bastard who’s seen too much anime! What did you do to my powers?”

The serious tone from Yuki had not changed. He was no longer acting carefree and cocky with the gang. “Once I understood you’re power it was simple enough to develop a countermeasure. Since wind is invisible I applied a law stating that wind you use will be colored. Rest is simply a matter of using equal and opposite force of wind to break apart your attacks before it can cause harm to me.”

“What the hell are—“ Katsu was unable to finish his question with Yuki having closed the distance between them the moment after he finished speaking. Yuki did not give Katsu a moment to react forcing him to take a direct punch into his stomach. Katsu stumbled backwards coughing up blood as he lost his balance dropping to the dirt. Even though Yuki had only punched him it had felt like his insides were being torn up and screaming in violent agony.

All of his boys ran forward to try to come to their boss’ aid, but Yuki stopped them all with a sharp glare. Katsu continued to cough hoarsely spitting up bits of blood intermittently. Everything seemed to be waiting as the grave condition of Katsu became darkly acute. Once he had managed to subdue much of the pain and involuntary coughing he turned his head up towards Yuki. His lips were coated with blood along with the sides of his chin. “W-what did you…do to me?!” Katsu received nothing but a deep stare that spoke of his defeat, but Katsu refused to give in.

He tried to form together his wind to mold into an attack with pale green threads appearing in mass. A faint shape of a crescent began to take form, but it was suddenly shattered to pieces to his shock.

“At this proximity I can completely neutralize your wind with my own. It’s useless.”

Katsu glared back at him feeling that defiant emotion that he had seen before from Haruo and Yuki. It was a bitter taste for him to accept. “What the hell are you?!”

Yuki was not about to answer the question, especially since it had been asked too much already. He was ready to put an end to the fight. Most of the gang members had already lost their will to stay. A few had fled from the scene while others were simply too paralyzed to react. Yuki took a hold of Katsu’s collar lifting him back up to his feet. The piercing stare from Yuki leveled at Katsu trying to break him down. It seemed the mental contest would have never been solved until Haruo broke them off getting between them.

“I already told you this is my problem to deal with. Stay out of it.” Haruo and Yuki locked eyes for a moment as Yuki was not about to back down after everything that had happened. It was a fact that Haruo quickly understood. He turned back towards Katsu, struggling to keep his legs straight. “Back down or I’ll bring out my animals again.”

There was a choking laugh from Katsu even while he barely was able to keep himself together. “You’ve got pretty…full of yourself…kid!” Katsu tried to grin, but the pain made it difficult.

Akihiro had been waiting and took the moment to make his attack on Haruo, knowing that he could do nothing to Yuki. A large sword blade burst from the earth, but as it reached towards the target it turned becoming horizontal with the ground. He stared confused at it for a moment only to realize that the ground that it had been attached from was bent over. Akihiro jerked back a little suddenly getting a sidewise glance from Yuki that made his blood run cold. It took him a second to pull himself back together and try again managing a stubborn streak somehow. Thinking it would be different a second time another blade thin and jagged reached out for Haruo only to fail to reach.

Katsu took the momentary distraction to force down the pain and make an attack. The desperation he felt fed into his power drawing on more than he had been before turning streams of pale green compressed wind around his body. A struggle for strength of the gales ensued between Katsu and Yuki, but with Yuki’s concentration being divided the balance was upset. Most of the buildup had gone unnoticed by Yuki or Haruo. It was not until it was too late that Yuki was alerted to the already developing attack. Unlike before, Katsu was not creating a crescent with the wind, but rather a sphere. When it had reached dangerous proportions Yuki had little options available to him.

In the final moments of the wind sphere being formed Yuki grabbed Haruo to shield him while throwing themselves away from the attack. Using a reckless thrust from his own wind, Yuki tossed them out of the immediate blast radius of the sphere launching. The target of the sphere had moved leaving it to explode on the earth. However, when it released all of the confined wind mini-crescents shot out from the center in a wide spray covering everything except for behind, leaving Katsu and his gang safe. The blades of wind careened around them and bounced off of Yuki’s wind. Despite the wind though, there were too many for him to stop leaving them to be cut up several places over his body with shallow wounds.

Yuki ignored the pain in keeping Haruo protected from harm. He was able to weaken the affect, but the wind was still quite sharp. The two slid over the dirt coming to slow and painful rest. Between Yuki’s wind and the force from Katsu they were sent a surprising distance away from Katsu. ‘Ugh…I knew I was going to regret that… my body wasn’t mean for such crazy stunts…’ He struggled to get his body back under his control, but it was having trouble responding for him. All of his senses were ringing still from the ride he had sent them on. It had left a numbed feeling throughout his body making it almost impossible to know if anything was working for him.

Numerous screams and murmurs echoed around the empty field from residents left in terror of what was happening. They were already too afraid to do anything about the gangs outside of their homes, but there was no longer any protection for them. Some had even gathered together for strength and support in numbers.

“You…in one piece…still?” Yuki asked slowly looking down to Haruo, who he was still laid over top of.

A pensive pause from Haruo delayed his response to Yuki. He had not been sure what entirely had happened. His back had taken the brunt of the force during the slid, but despite that he did not feel that he was injured. ‘What happened? Why did he protect me? What does he have to gain?’ Haruo pulled himself up from under Yuki. He knelt down next to Yuki, still face down in the dirt with his head tilted to the side. “Why did you do that?”

Yuki coughed as he tried to laugh. “I guess…I shouldn’t be surprised at this point…” He hesitated for a moment uncertain if he wanted to tempt to try to move his body again. The spare seconds had given him enough to push himself over to lie on his back. “I think Katsu’s got a point about you…”

“What did you say?” Haruo said leaning in nearly bordering on breaking his flat tone.

The nerve that Yuki had hit did not go unnoticed. “Guess there’s still some emotion buried under there after all. You really are quite naïve…”

“I had all of that burned out of me a long time ago. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I may not know you for years, but I’ve seen enough of you today to understand.” Yuki tested out his arms and legs while he talked trying to make the most of his time knowing that they were running out of time. Even with Katsu as badly injured as he had been they were not going to stop. “You’ve seen so much of the bad side of human nature that you’ve gone to the complete opposite end. You’ve gone so far to that end that you’re found your naivety in a new form.”

Haruo’s eye twitched a little feeling cornered by Yuki. He had seen Yuki as a simpleminded kid that was too inexperienced about the world to understand. However, Haruo could feel him piercing through all of his walls. All he could do was deny it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know me.”

“You’re cornered and just repeated the same defensive lines.” The feeling that had casted blinding hands over his eyes lifted. It meant that he felt the pain in full force and struggled to keep it from overcoming him. “I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that don’t understand when someone wants to help you. You gave me that same look the earlier.”

It was making Haruo’s body churn in frustration listening to Yuki, but no matter how much he wanted to leave it did not seem possible. He was not being allowed to ignore it. There was another will holding him. Haruo had found him curious before for saying the same thing as Mr. Asanuma. He did not like the feeling that he was sensing. “I think the fall must have scrambled your head.”

“No, I’m thinking clearly!” asserted Yuki firmly. He locked his eyes sternly on Haruo. “You don’t understand do you? You think you have to be alone and even now everything happening is re-enforcing that idea, isn’t?!” Harou did not reply to him; he almost looked like he had been pushed back a few centimeters by an invisible force. “You just don’t get it! You’re not alone! When you can’t do something alone your friends support you! True friends forgive and accept you! And they protect each other! You can’t do everything alone! You don’t need to be anymore!”

Haruo stared back at Yuki in silence questioning him. ‘Perhaps he really is simpleminded…’ He had heard enough of the ranting from Yuki and stood up. Even though he tried to shut it out from his mind the thoughts still managed to swirl around within him. It made him turn his back to Yuki looking over towards Katsu. He tightened his fists trying to push it out. ‘Support…friends… This is my way…’ Into his palms light grew suddenly responding to him. Once more white spirit like animals materialized at his side.

A hound stood at his right with a primal stare prepared to leap into action. Taking position on his left was a cougar exposing its teeth like it was ready for a meal. Haruo stepped forward feeling reassured by the company of his pets. It was a strange power, but their connection made him certain.

Katsu was collapsed to one knee after trying to make it over in range of the two of them still determined to finish what he started. The remaining gang members were surprisingly moved by their boss’s resolve and rediscovered their own fortitude. They stepped up around Katsu getting between Harou and him.

Yuki could not help but look a little bewildered by what he was seeing. ‘I guess they aren’t as cliché as I said…it’s a little weird seeing the bad guys attacking brave and heroic…guess the world really has changed completely!’ He stumbled to his feet attempting to shrug off his pain. The effort was starting to work, but he still had a long way to go before he was going to be able to do much more than stand. Yuki noticed Akihiro trying to make his attempt on Haruo once again, but he was able to thwart it quickly as before. ‘My mind’s still sharp…’

Haruo sent the two animals out ahead of him to clash with the group of six gang members that still remained. Among them Takaoka had elected to try to take the hound on while another two tried to do something about the cougar. The rest decided to fall back into familiar tactics and charged for Haruo. It was easily read by him and he fell into his defensive position to block them. Fueled by courage and duty they seemed more focused than before providing a tougher enemy for Haruo than before. He was able to still keep up with them, but they were frequently getting in shallow blows. The only thing he could do was buy the time that he needed for the two animals to finish.

The awkward fight between the hound and Takaoka was left with the dog having the advantage. It had managed to score a few bites on Takaoka’s leg leaving him bleeding, but still willing to challenge the beast. Takaoka breathed heavily sliding his foot back after the last exchange that he had with the animal. He was being cautious and managed to use his legs to keep it out of reach, however they were starting to lose strength from the stinging pain that was coursing through. The uncertainty of surviving began to rise in his head as another growl from the hound ran his body cold for a moment. ‘I’ve gotta protect tha boss! I can’t let this stupid dawg beat me!’

The pause broke with the dog leaping forward at Takaoka. He dodged the first attempt and took a swipe at it, but missed as it quickly turned and counter knocking him back. Takaoka put up his forearm in defense taking the full force of the fangs from the spirit beast. He fell to the earth holding his bleeding arm as the dog slid around recovering for a final strike. “Damn! This can’t be it!” The animal did not waste time charging for it final attack. Takaoka raised his uninjured hand up as a last attempt to hold off the animal. He closed his eyes fearing the worst.

Everything afterward for him seemed a blur. It was not until he heard a bit of a whimper that he opened his eyes. At his feet was the bathed white dog surrounded by a flame that worked towards its core. He widened his eyes in surprise and caught a glimpse of a few traces of embers from his hand. “I did that?!”

Yuki stared with narrowed eyes not pleased with the arrival of a third power. ‘Fire, can you be anymore cliché?’ He saw the kid throwing another fireball at the animal finishing it off. It had all seemed to be instinct. ‘Cliché or not, it still can’t be taken lightly!’ His time for remaining still was coming to a sudden end.

Takaoka turned his new found power on the cougar and managed to catch it in his flames with the first shot. He soon turned his hand on Haruo trying to keep his focus together. “I’ll end this!” yelled Takaoka as another fireball grew in his palm for an unprepared Haruo.

Haruo had been focused on keeping himself protected from the three he was dealing with that it had come too late for him to notice what was happening around him. It was not until there was a red glow that lit up his eyes that pulled him away. ‘Fire? I can’t…’ There was no time to move for him as he was forced to accept it, but at the last second the burning cougar leapt forward taking the fireball for him and vaporized instantly. ‘It protected me. Again…’

The sight of the animal giving its life for him forced Yuki’s words back into his mind. He tried to forget them and focus on standing on his own, but the echo only got louder. ‘I-I can’t… support…help…friends… No.’ Haruo struggled to hold himself against the three boys. They seemed to be getting even stronger than before. ‘The animal was a creation of mine. It only makes sense that it would protect me.’ It gave him a small sense of peace allowing him to deflect an incoming punch. The next kick was a different story though as Haruo was knocked off his feet and sent into the dirt. He had barely seen the opportunist fireball coming in at him as he lay defenseless. ‘Am I so helpless?’

The fireball roared towards him covering him in its fiery glow. It threw away loose dirt in its wake appearing even more intense than any of the previous attempts. Adaptive had proven to be a deadly ally for Takaoka already figuring out his power. There was nothing left.

“Giving up already?!” shouted Yuki over the roar of the fireball as it was impending. He stood between the fallen Haruo and the fire attack that sped towards him. It had only been a few seconds to spare, but it was enough for him to give Haruo a quick grin before being engulfed in the explosion as the fireball ignited upon impact.

Haruo watched stunned seeing Yuki disappear from sight. He did not know what to think. Everything was spinning around in his head so quickly for him to be able to react. ‘Why? Why did he do that?’ Smoke from the fire’s blast blanketed the area blocking out sight. ‘He seemed…almost happy… It doesn’t make any sense.’ Through all the clouds he tried to look for a sign of Yuki. He needed to know if he was alive still.

Inside Haruo’s head Yuki’s words replayed for him as though to answer he is own confusion. ‘You just don’t get it! You’re not alone! When you can’t do something alone your friends support you! True friends forgive and accept you! And they protect each other! You can’t do everything alone! You don’t need to be anymore!’

As the smoke slowly began to clear Haruo stood up slowly. ‘Friends support, huh? Protect… I don’t…’ He emerged from the blast straightening himself out. All of the gang members stared on at him looking ready to strike once more. However, Haruo turned his head up towards them locking eyes with them. The stare he returned made them all step back uneasy having never seen such a fierce look of determination and strength from him before. “I don’t have to be alone anymore… I don’t have to stand by myself…” He threw out his hands tossing dirt into the air that suddenly burst with light. A moment later six massive tigers appeared in a circle around him shining with a divine light brighter than ever had been seen before.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

As the smoke slowly began to clear Haruo stood up slowly. ‘Friends support, huh? Protect… I don’t…’ He emerged from the blast straightening himself out. All of the gang members stared on at him looking ready to strike once more. However, Haruo turned his head up towards them locking eyes with them. The stare he returned made them all step back uneasy having never seen such a fierce look of determination and strength from him before. “I don’t have to be alone anymore… I don’t have to stand by myself…” He threw out his hands tossing dirt into the air that suddenly burst with light. A moment later six massive tigers appeared in a circle around him shining with a divine light brighter than ever had been seen before.

Haruo took a brief second to think about Yuki and the sacrifice that he had made for him. The cloud surrounding where Yuki had been was being more persistent in staying around. “I’m sorry I was so stubborn. It took your death to open my eyes…” He looked forward at the gang members that were still left. A step from Haruo pressed him closer and making the tigers encircling him let out low roars eager for action.

“I’m not dead yet…” a weak voice from the cloud spoke. The dust around Yuki finally dispersed enough to reveal a burned and badly bleeding, yet still alive Yuki. Calling him worse for wear would have been understating how bad he looked. It was apparent that while still able to talk that taking the fireball full on caused significant damage to him. He let out a shallow cough that he tried to disguise as more casual like it meant nothing to him. “Though the way I’m feeling I think I wish I could be…” he mused, mostly to himself.

‘Still being so casual after everything that’s happened…’ There was no change in the situation though and Haruo knew that. The sight of Yuki’s condition was not going to do anything further for them. “Well just stay where you are and let me deal with this.”

Yuki became a little annoyed by Haruo bluntness that seemed like he had not changed at all. “So you’re just going to be a hypocrite after what you just said and try to do everything by yourself still?!”

“Hardly…if you could move I’d accept your help, but you’re in no condition to fight them. So just leave it to me.” Haruo marched out to meet Katsu and his gang determined to keep Yuki safe from anything that they might be planning on doing.

A stream of wind blew out from Yuki’s arm putting up a gale between the two sides, primarily aimed at getting Haruo’s attention. “My mind is the source of my power. I’m not as helpless as you believe.” Yuki gave him a serious stare when he finally looked back at him. Another confident grin appeared on Yuki’s face like he was ready to take on anything. In the next second his expression darkened and changed as a small fountain of sprayed out of his wounded shoulder.

No longer convinced by Yuki’s act, Haruo turned to plain disbelief as he faced back at his problem. “You’re not going to be of any help to me,” he declared flatly.

“I’m not useless!” Yuki retorted despite another fountain of blood spurting out from a wound. “Ack!” He fumbled around trying to patch it up with his energy field and making use of his hands even though it was unnecessary.

“They’re coming… Just protect yourself…” Haruo launched his tigers into action seeing the gang starting to come back together from their disjointed formation.

Chapter 85 – A Tiger’s Pride

There was a moment of hesitation from the teens seeing the massive tigers charging towards them. The animals were nearly as tall as Haruo when on all fours and the closer that they came to the boys the clearer it became how large the beasts truly were. When the animals approached nearer they released a bone rattling roar sending chills down their spines. If their legs had been working they would have all fled, but just stood sweating in fear.

Two of the punks were taken down by a tiger each in a swift motion. It had left the others too stunned to react. The tigers quickly mauled the boys and leapt away. They were left within a thread of death and bleeding out into the earth. The numerous claw marks left in them set the mood for the gang members still standing. The normal non-special powers members fled the scene immediately recognizing their mortality in front of the overwhelming strength. They were chased down by a single tiger while the others turned towards the remaining three.

Katsu stumbled to get back to his feet still suffering deeply from the effects of what Yuki had done to him. He twitched his eye seeing out everyone had been broken. Looking over at Haruo, he was able to detect a hint of confidence in what he was doing. It was an expression that he did not want to see. “Damnit…” He panted heavily trying to keep his body under control. One of the tigers charged for him having finally begun targeting the last of them. He fought to bend the winds to his will and launch a green crescent at the beast. A lack of control and size compared to the animal left his aim to only take off its legs dropping it to the ground sharply. “Don’t think you’re my better, kid!”

Takaoka summoned up his fire again presuming that it would be as affect against the spirits as it had been the last time. The tiger barreling after him was his first target. The wounds that he had taken made it difficult for him to move or even stand completely. All he could rely on was his powers to keep him out of danger. However, the fireball only managed to partially engulf the creature as it continued its charge for him. He was barely able to fall over to avoid getting burned by his own flame. “What’s it made of?!”

Akihiro was as much of a target as before and the healthiest of anyone remaining. He had two tigers hunting him coming together at him. “Ya won’t beat mah!” He began running away from the animals and summoning up as many blades as he could manage. His own fear had poured power into his ability creating far more swords than he had ever done before. A literal jungle of assorted makes of blades stuck out from the ground skewering the two tigers in their place. He stopped to see his success and grinned. Akihiro began to laugh at his victory until he realized that the two animals were still alive and ripping themselves free from their prison. “What’s with these things?!”

The tiger that Katsu had cut down was growing its legs back and stepped back up. It was joined by another tiger becoming a pair of hunters with eyes for Katsu. “You think two will make a difference?!” Katsu formed more wind blades to throw at the tigers. They were able to dodge most of the attacks while closing the distance. There had been a few that sliced into them, but any injury that they took was restored quickly. They were determined to take him down.

Burning slightly from Takaoka’s flame, the tiger turned about to come to face him once more. All the fire seemed to be doing was creating a more menacing appearance for the animal. Takaoka swallowed painfully knowing how little chance he stood against the threat. The fall that he had taken had left him in even worse shape with his leg not willing to respond for him. There was not going to be another chance to dodge. He narrowed his eyes and pulled down his eyebrows in anger trying to steel himself. “Ya want mah!? I won’t go down easy!” The next fireball that he created grew larger and larger as though it was feeding off his own life force to become stronger. It became so powerful that he could feel it burning him a little radiating its bright red light.

The beast snorted and accepted his challenge. It charged for him blowing out the remaining embers from its neck ready to take the punk down. Takaoka screamed as he released the fireball pitting his will against the spirit. The sphere of flame collided with the tiger only a few meters away. It disappeared in the blast as the ball erupted into a massive pyre. Takaoka stared on watching to see what happened becoming more encouraged as the seconds passed. However, the tiger suddenly burst from the flames completely dowsed in fire charging for him. He tried to turn away for any sort of cover, but the tiger was upon him. The animal slammed into Takaoka blasting him with the flames that buried the tiger. Takaoka was caught in the fires screaming from the burning skin as the tiger fell over on the ground slowly being consumed by the flames.

A flicker of fear seeped deeper into Akihiro seeing Takaoka taken down by the tiger. He slipped up his concentration on his two foes allowing them to break through his array of weapons. One tiger broke out ahead of the other taking a shallow bite at Akihiro’s hand as he tried to pull away. There was only a little blood dripping from a small set of tears and punctures left on his hand. The other tiger was too late and missed him completely. Their wounds that they had taken from Akihiro’s blades healed quickly and they prepared for another attempt on him.

Akihiro wiped the blood away from his hand and tightened his fists trying to hold himself together. He had never been forced to use his power so much at once. The toll that it was taking on his body had finally started to overcome his adrenaline. His breathing became ragged and heavy as it became more difficult to hold his shoulders up straight. The tigers growled lowly at him sensing the weakness. Akihiro straightened himself up quickly showing his defiance. “Ya won’t beat mah!” More blades shot up from the ground making the tigers leap into action. When it did not work he charged forward for the two beasts.

“I’ll show ya I’ve got mo’ tricks!” There was a brief flash from Akihiro’s arms as he passed between the two animals and ended his run a meter away from them. He tilted his head over his shoulder to see the two tigers. A moment later they split in two shattering into dust. “Told ya!” He smirked to himself and began walking away from the scene. The fifth step he took a massive shadow was cast over him before he was able to react and pinned to the dirt an instant later. The tiger that had been chasing after the runaways had returned and roared into his face with its heavy paw planted on his chest.

The tiger did not hesitate in biting down on his shoulders splattering blood through the earth. Akihiro ground his teeth together screaming in pain trying to move his arms. He was pinned down, but was able to free up his right arm in time to thrust a blade from his palm into the heart of the tiger. It slowly fell to pieces on top of him leaving him heavily fatigued and unable to move. Akihiro passed out within the next second.

Further away, nearby Katsu there was another shattering as a tiger spirit faded away. Only one tiger was left remaining to face off with Katsu. He had been barely holding himself together and keeping the animal at bay with his wind. His body was beyond fatigue or pain at the moment. All he was feeling was the urge to win and end it all. He had no care for anything else. “Just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re any better!” he taunted the other tiger as it stalked him. The entire time he had been holding his position. He sent out numerous mini-crescents that he had been using more frequently lately rather than his normal sized ones. The tiger was able to dodge most of them seeming to have begun to learn and adapt to his fighting tactics. Those few that did manage to break through were only leaving small slices in its outer layers of white fur. It managed to close in enough on Katsu that he tried to fire a wide spread arc that only cleaved a paw before it dug partly into his shoulder and arm. Blood trailed through the air as it leapt onward getting clear as Katsu unleashed a fierce round of wind attacks.

“Bastard! I won’t be beaten!” He clutched his wounded shoulder feeling the blood wrapping around his fingers and down his forearm. They were beating him. He was the boss and they were still beating him. The kid that had been his toy was beating him. It was wrong. “You’re mine! I will see your beautiful AGONY!”

Yuki and Haruo eyes had suddenly widened in shock as they felt what it seemed like a semi-truck colliding with them as an invisible force. It blasted away Yuki’s energy armor sending him tumbling backwards. Haruo could only dig his feet in as he was dragged through the earth forcibly until he was far enough away. “What’s this force and pressure?” While he struggled to keep his balance he focused back towards Katsu seeing his tiger being flung apart into dust at a swirling mass of wind that surrounded Katsu. In each passing moment it seemed to only get stronger and wilder growing into the sky. A tornado formed around Katsu responding to his rage lashing out with tendrils of wind that licked and kicked at the earth as they wove their way to Haruo. One of the green tendrils grazed passed Haruo and sent him flying through the dirt dropping him only a few meters away from Yuki.

The gale force winds did not cease with Yuki struggling to pull himself up. “His wind’s too strong! I can’t even dampen the force anymore!” Another surge of wind pushed him back further still holding on to what was left of his armor. “Damn! How’s he getting even stronger?! This isn’t supposed to be the way it works! Villains don’t get new strength in the middle of a fight! How are we supposed to beat him now?!” Yuki paused for a moment as he realized what he was doing. ‘Why am I doing the sideline exposition?! I’m supposed to be the main character aren’t I? Damn it!’

Katsu’s laughter could be heard through the freight train roaring of the wind as though he was finding the perfect frequency to broadcast his voice to be heard clearly. “So much power! Yes! Nothing can stop me now! I will see your suffering now!” Dirt exploded around the tornado as the wind shot out blasts of compressed wind from outer layers. The tendrils lashed out torturing Haruo with being throwing and tossed about like a doll. “No one can surpass my power!” Katsu began to laugh again enjoying the sight that he had of Haruo.

“SAKI DROP KICK!!” yelled a voice that nearly ripped the heavens in two.

Yuki could not help but sound embarrassed hearing that almost unable to believe it. ‘Saki drop kick? Seriously?! Have we lost all creditability already!?’

An instant later there was a streaking blur of color that rampaged through the earth leaving only a trench behind divided with such force shattering the wind. The tornado exploded into a faint breeze as Katsu was seen flying away with the bone crushing echo of the impact that he reached leaving everyone that heard it blue in the face. Even as the dirt was settling back down like rain Saki appeared before Yuki holding an annoyed and disappointed expression. She hauled him up by his robes so that they were face to face. “What do you think you’re doing fighting?! And why didn’t you tell Ayumi and me about it!?”

Yuki had lost all of the strength that was in his body and his power quickly faded with him restoring the neighborhood. They were fortunate enough to be in the middle of a nearby street a couple blocks from the school, but on the opposite side of where they had been. “I-I’m injured right now, Saki…”

She shook him a little throwing a bit of blood about frustrated that he was not taking what she was saying seriously. “I know you’re injured! You could have been fine if you had told us! I thought you agreed not to do things alone!”

“Slight miscalculation…they were just some normal street punks I thought… If I had known they’d have super powers I would have brought you… But oh…I’m feeling really lightheaded all of a sudden…” Yuki started to go a little limp in Saki’s hold.

“Yuki don’t you run away from me while I’m yelling at you!” Saki was forced to set him back down in the grass as she realized that he was in more danger than she first though. She turned about and grabbed Ayumi by the back of her dress and held her out in front of Yuki. “Heal him!”

Ayumi flailed about a little taken aback by suddenly being pulled like some tool from a bag. “I’m not a machine! I don’t treat me like one!”

“Come on!” she snapped like she was getting upset with a broken instrument. She absentmindedly jerked Ayumi forward and back trying to figure out how she worked.

“Hey!” Ayumi whimpered becoming flustered and embarrassed with how she was being treated. “ Stop that! Let me down!” She was dropped on the ground carelessly and nearly on her face. Ayumi rubbed her back side feeling a little shame for her pride being totally ripped to shreds by Saki’s rough tomboy attitude. However, she focused herself back on Yuki before her and summoned up her field to start the healing.

After a minute of healing Yuki opened his eyes and leaned up to look at the two girls. “Ugh…thanks…Ayumi…”

“…Yuki…” Ayumi had become very quiet in front of Yuki looking almost lost in thought. However, Saki soon interjected into the moment and picked up Ayumi once more. Her arms began to flail once more as Saki started walking with her. “H-Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“You’ve got another person to heal.”

“I can walk on my own! I told you before I’m not a machine to be pointed!”

Yuki could not help but sweat a little in embarrassment seeing the two. He forced himself to turn his focus back to what he had to do. A new field was released sending out a soothing and healing touch to everyone that needed it. He knew that Ayumi could deal with Haruo, but there were innocents as well as gang members injured that he would not be able to find on his own. ‘The very least I can do is give you back your health after everything that I’ve done…’

Once everything was settled by Yuki and Haruo was standing back on his own feet once more the four teenagers gathered. The fairy had returned only recently have been blasted away by the strong winds. Yuki stared at Haruo silently hoping that he would get something out of him before having to talk. Unfortunately, Haruo remained his usual quiet self. “Want to share some lunch back at school?”

Haruo turned away from Yuki and started walking away. He came to a sudden stop after a few steps. His head tilted back to Yuki. “Perhaps tomorrow…thank you…” The brief words were all that he had for Yuki and then departed down the street.

Saki stepped out in front of Yuki staring down at the disappearing Haruo. Her face narrowed and turned to a bit of a pout. “That was a little rude…”

“It’s alright!” smiled Yuki, “He’s got a lot to think about.”

“Huh? Did something happen?”

“Nothing much!” Yuki started walking back towards the school forcing Ayumi and Saki to catch up on their own. When they reached the school block and the students began to gather around with questions Yuki remained back. He grabbed Ayumi’s wrist to stop her from continuing on. His expression was serious and pensive like a heavy weight was placed upon him. “I’ll have your answer by the end of the week…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Afternoon at the school construction grounds was catching a little dust blowing out with the wind from the beams being drilled and pounded into place. The noise echoed through the blocks breaking the otherwise calm still that continued to permeate through the neighborhood. Construction on the school was coming along smoothly now that all of the debris had been removed and was being converted back into new supplies to rebuild the broken parts of the school. Nearly half of the school was forced to be knocked down according to the engineering intelligence that Yuki and Ayumi had created.

It was coming close to the end of the week and the progress on the school had everyone very hopeful. There were still several classrooms that needed to be given walls, being only beams and supports. Most of the classrooms further way from the damage had been the first repaired and were being finished up by smaller worker machines that Ayumi controlled. A couple days of work still remained on it until the school could be returned to working order, though the mayor still insisted on a city inspector to ensure the safety of the building before classes could resume. Which was certainly an understandable request given the unbelievable nature of their powers.

Since the clean up outside had been completed the number of volunteers had been reduced. Those that remained helped out in the opposite wing of the school that had already been fixed cleaning up all of the dust and debris that had fallen (they kept that a secret from the adults). There was also the mess that the earthquake had caused with anything that was on tables or shelves requiring a lot of clean up.

Yumi was still helping out, though against her brother’s will. He had wanted her to stay in bed and rest after the fainting spell that she had and how worried he had been over her nearly dying. She insisted on returning though after a day of staying at home but to compromise with Yori she kept to doing only small tasks that were not strenuous on her. It meant that she helped with cleaning and sometimes moving the odd broken item to the trash outside. It had just happened to be one of those runs that she was making to the dumpster to empty a box of shattered chemistry vials and beakers.

Chapter 86 – Longing Thoughts and Heavy Thoughts

She turned back around from the dumpster holding the box gently in front of her and looked over to the tent. After the first few days someone had donated a tent for the food and a place to rest. Since lunch was already finished all that was left was snacks and cups with canisters of tea, juice and water depending on the preference. “I haven’t had anything to drink for a while and brother might want something. He’s been working so hard.” It had been decide for Yumi then that she was heading to the tent before going back inside.

There were three girls and two boys running things helping to serve those that were resting. They were unable to help with the work so they offered their aid in what way they could to repay those working so hard. Kaede was one of the girls helping out and Yumi went up to her feeling a little more comfort speaking to her. Her approach was seen by Kaede before she even reached the protection of the tent. She waved out to Yumi calling her over. “Hey Yumi! Are you busy?”

It caught her a little off guard, but Yumi hastened her pace. “I’m free. Did you need something?”

“Oh thank you, Yumi! It’s been a while since we sent some water for Ayumi and Yuki and I’ve been trying to find someone.” Kaede looked exhausted and flustered from running around unable to find someone to help her. “You know someone that could…”

“I’ll do it!” Yumi said quickly losing her composure for a moment before she fell back into an embarrassed reserved stance. ‘Oh why did I just say that out loud so fast without thinking?!’

Kaede bounced up pleased and relieved to have found someone that would help her. “Oh thank you so much Yumi!” She grabbed a hold of her hands thanking her. “You’re a real friend!” After a quick round of gratitude she handed over the bottles that she needed delivered.

Yumi took them a little too delicately trying to overcompensate for her embarrassment early and tried to appear more natural. Unfortunately, one of the bottles did not make it fully to her hands as a result and dropped on the ground. “Oh no! I’m so sorry Kaede!” She bent down picking up the bottle that was dent and dirtied from the fall starting to worry over its appearance. “What am I going to do!?” She showed Kaede the bottle’s damage.

“It’s okay, we have plenty more!” Kaede swapped out the bottle and made sure that she had a good hold of it. “Thanks again!” She waved Yumi off and smiled a little to herself. There had been a little bit of an excited glow in Yumi’s cheeks that she had caught making her sigh a little.

“That’s pretty sneaky of you,” one of the other girls said coming up behind Kaede having watched the scene unfold.

Kaede returned her a mischievous grin of someone that was playing matchmaker. “Sneaky?!” she exclaimed feinting being offended. “I was just having my best friend deliver water. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The female student stopped to stand next to Kaede watching Yumi very eagerly heading off to Yuki, who sat in front of the school concentrating. “You accepted him pretty quickly.”

“He’s different from before. I can trust him with her now.”

“What’s the betting at for how long it takes him to realize?”

“He’s a boy, so we’re all say never,” teased Kaede grinning back at the girl. “We’ll probably have to do a little more meddling.”

“Definitely!”

Yumi rushed along towards the school until Yuki started to become very near and she suddenly became more self-conscious about her actions. She stopped herself immediately and tried to calm herself down before approaching him. ‘He’s right there! No! I need to calm down! I don’t want to be out of breath and unable to speak to him! Can I speak to him? What should I say?’ Her mind spun thoughts as quickly as they came to her. It had practically shut her down left stalled behind Yuki. The only thing that saved her was Yuki noticing her. ‘Oh no! He can see me and I’m just standing here not saying anything! I must look so strange to him right now! I should just leave before I embarrass myself anymore!’

Yuki had his eyes closed, but felt a sense of someone or something behind him. He had turned his head over his shoulder staring at Yumi expectantly waiting for her to talk. The longer that he stared the more it seemed that she was shaking and looking like she wanted something, but only seemed to confuse Yuki even more. Eventually curiosity managed to save Yumi from self destruction. “Were you needing something?”

“N-needing? Some-something?” The more that she stuttered the deeper she fell into regret for saying anything. Her face was turning red so fast it looked like she had suddenly developed a sunburn or fever. ‘I’m talking to him, but I can’t even say anything! What should I do!? What he must think…’ Yumi fumbled over her hands with the bottles becoming increasingly nervous. One of the bottles of water slipped out of her hand and slid down her leg. She quickly scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground making a reflex jerk of her leg that through off her entire balance knocking her on her butt, but managing to rescue the bottle in a very clumsy manner.

Each second that passed for Yumi felt like an eternity of being the absolute center of attention of everyone in the world with them only possibly thinking how stupid she looked at that moment. She had completely froze up sitting on the ground turning her face the deepest shade of red she could possibly muster up. Yumi did not think it was possible to feel as embarrassed and small as she did at that moment.

Yuki was not sure what happened, but got up to try to help her out. “Are you hurt?” He offered her a hand up.

‘Yuki’s hand! He’s staring right at me! What do I do!? What do I do?!’ Yumi looked down at her hands trying to decide her action. It was then that the bottle in her hand suddenly reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing. She quickly jerked her hand forward not even looking at what she was doing, so nervous still, trying to hand off the bottle. “W-water…bottle! I-I…”

The attempt to hand it over failed a little as it bumped into his hand and went to the side out of reach. He realized that she was giving it to him and accepted the water taking a short sip. “Thanks a lot, Yumi!” he said sounding a little overly excited by it. “Did you need help up?”

When Yuki started to move near to her again Yumi’s face, which had been starting to recover, turned back to red instantly. “N-no-no! I’m fine!” She jumped up on her own a little too quickly, trying to prove to him that she could do it. It left her a little lightheaded, but she stumbled away wanting to run away as soon as she could. “I’m sorry for interrupting your work!”

“No it’s quite alright!”

“I-I’ll be going then!”

“Thanks, Yumi!”

“You’re welcome!” Yumi hustled off quickly fearing already that she had over stayed her welcome with Yuki. She turned her head a little back to look at Yuki one last time. He had already started to focus back on his work with the school. There seemed to be something off with him. She could not tell what was wrong, but the way he was acting felt different than before. ‘He seemed so distant when he wasn’t talking to me…’ Her mind began to dwell on the matter even more as she lost focus on the world around her.

She could remember the last couple of days seeing Yuki. Each of the images that she could recall from memory had Yuki with a similar appearing distant look. It looked like he had a heavy weight on him always somewhere else in his mind. Calling it pensive did not seem to cover how deep it seemed at times. The more that Yumi thought about it the more it bothered her. ‘Should I ask him if I can help? But if he wanted help he would have asked me, right? Yeah, I shouldn’t intrude! But…’

There was a different image of Yuki that came to her suddenly. When she had been just talking him to he seemed happy. ‘He’s usually happy and expressive, but he seemed even more than normal…I think… What’s he hiding?’ Yumi started to feel as though he would not be acting as he was if there was not something he was keeping to himself. The behavior seemed to be trying to cover up for what was troubling him; that she felt she could be certain. ‘…but would he talk to me? Doesn’t he talk to Saki all the time?’

Yumi caught out of the corner of her eye Ayumi walking out to met with Yuki. ‘Ayumi! I’ve got her water! I can’t believe I forgot it! I’m so stupid…’ She began to walk over to meet her, but could see her already standing next to Yuki. When she saw them talking it made her hesitate not wanting to interrupt them. However, she could not turn herself away. There was something compelling her inside her to stay and watch. She became lost in the scene not realizing what she was doing.

‘I wonder what they’re talking about…’ The longer that she watched the more she could see that Ayumi looked like she had a brighter glow around her than she remembered. ‘Did she always look that happy?’ Yumi had suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest that forced her hand up to press against the pain to comfort and relief it. ‘What’s this feeling…why does it hurt so much all of a sudden?’ The pain seemed to grow stronger for her as Ayumi’s expression grew while talking to him. She thought that she could see Yuki look like he was starting to respond with a natural smile not pressed down by the thoughts that clung to him. It had reached a point that Yumi’s hand was tightening around the water bottle for Ayumi warping the plastic where her fingers pressed.

Eventually, they separated and it felt like she had just been released shackles that had held her suspended for weeks without rest. All the strength in her legs drained out of her dropped her to her knees. She still had no idea what to think or feel. The pain that had been stabbing at her chest seemed to have faded. ‘Why do I feel this way?!’

Yuki had been so focused on Ayumi that he never even noticed Yumi watching them. When she had left he returned back to concentrating on his work to keep it stable. From what Ayumi had explained to him before their powers were not meant to be used for extended periods due to the fatigue that would be caused to the mind. An individual would simply become so exhausted that they would no longer be able to stay conscious. So it had been a struggle for him to keep it going for hours at a time. He saw it as further training for him as he had realized that there was still a lot of refinement that he needed.

The work on the school had not left him very much time to think since he did not was to risk losing focus. However, his mind would wander from time to time. It had become increasingly more difficult to keep the thoughts out of his head in the most recent days. Yuki knew that it was not going to be a subject that he could avoid forever. It had troubled him when Demosthenes had arrived and as a result it allowed him to forget about it for a time. There was no more running away from the facts or the problems that he faced. He knew that he had to start facing them and accepting what he had to do. Yet knowing it did not making it an easy for him. Hesitation was still deeply rooted in his heart.

Late afternoon arrived for Yuki quickly giving him the end to his work day. He had released his field and began walking out to the tent to get a cloth to wipe away the sweat. It might not have been physical labor, but his body still seemed to get worked out as though he was doing exercise. Yuki looked around the school grounds taking note that most of the students were heading out as well. He waited for Ayumi and Saki to return before leaving to go home. Saki had insisted on traveling together after the fight that Yuki got into with the super human gang members.

Saki had been the first to meet up with him, which frequently seemed to be the case lately. Yuki did not understand it, but was starting to notice that she was finished faster than others and typically out pacing everyone else. He had not thought too much of it since he knew that she was part of the track team and her training made her more capable. There still remained a nagging feeling that he was missing something.

“Ready to leave?” Ayumi called out as she arrived a few minutes later. Saki and Yuki turned to meet her approach.

“Yup!” Yuki shouted quickly.

The walk back had remained fairly quiet between them as Ayumi and Yuki did not have much energy to hold a lengthy conversation. Saki became accustomed to the pattern and simply walked not saying anything until the intersection brought her to where she had to leave them. Yuki broke from Ayumi at his house watching her walk away. As he stared his mind started up with his hesitations and fears that had been endlessly replaying for him.

‘They aren’t your real family!’ shouted Ayumi’s voice in his mind recalled from the past.

Yuki’s hand tightened as he felt his chest squeeze in pain. He turned away from watching Ayumi hoping that he could forget what he had heard. His house was before him, but hesitation had become too strong for him. Yuki forced himself to walk to the door and enter. Jun and Ken greeted them cheerfully. He accepted their insistence to drag him out into the living room. There were some cards spread out across the table from something that they had been playing.

“Let’s play!” Ken said speaking up for Jun. Jun gave Yuki an affirming nod and matched Ken’s anticipating eyes.

A small sigh escaped his lips before he gave them an eager to please smile. “Alright, but I won’t go easy on you!”

“Yay!”

Momoko came into the room a few minutes later having been watching from the kitchen threshold. She stared across the table down at Yuki, who was seated on the floor playing around with Jun. There had been brief glances at each other and Momoko knew that he had been avoiding her. It had reached a point for her that she could no longer ignore it. “Yuki…we need to talk…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

A long silence fell over the living room with the eldest siblings staring at each other. After Momoko had spoken out she only held her eyes on Yuki. Jun and Ken gave the two a confused and puzzled look back and forth trying to understand. Jun tugged on Yuki’s dirty shirt wanting to trying to break up the tension, but only seemed to touch the line receiving a dose of what was going between them.

Abruptly, Yuki stood up from the table keeping eyes on Momoko. A moment later he realized that Jun was still attached to him at his shirt bottom. He looked down at his younger brother giving him a warm smile. “Why don’t you and Ken play a little! Big sis and I have some things to talk about quickly.” Yuki knelt down to Jun to reassure him that everything was going to be fine. There was still some hesitation from him, but Yuki was slowly allowed to be let go.

Picking their usual talking grounds, Momoko led the way to the kitchen. There was still plenty of unprepared food laid out for the planned dinner that Momoko had in mind. However, she had interrupted it when she decided to speak to Yuki. So nothing was currently cooking, but it did leave the table surface a little crowded. Momoko picked up the knife from the counter and began to chop the vegetables waiting.

Yuki stepped into the room and took up a position against the wall leaning with his hands behind him for a little stability. He waited in silence to see what Momoko had to say before he even dared a word himself. However, the air turned from tense to awkward and Yuki knew that she was waiting for him. He begrudged her an opening line. “What did you want to talk about?”

Chapter 87 – Unspoken Words

There was a bit of pause in Momoko’s chopping before she continued. “You know what I want to talk about, Yuki…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he shrugged making it clear that he was not going to be taking the initiative. “If you wanted helped with dinner you could have picked a less indirect method that didn’t scare Jun and Ken.”

Momoko tilted her head over her shoulders connected a piercing glare with him for being so casually cheeky with him on a matter that she knew was serious. She raised up her the knife letting the tip of the blade peak over her shoulder. “Don’t pretend with me, little brother.”

Yuki kept an innocent appearing face to mask out the issues that laid underneath for him. He knew well enough what she wanted, but it still had left him a little constricted on the inside. “Threatening your own brother to help you cook? That’s pretty bad for the eldest.”

There was a loud crunch in the vegetables as Momoko let the knife down hard. If she had not been cutting with the length of the blade it might have gotten stuck. She dropped the knife down on the cutting board and turned completely. “Enough! I know what you’re doing Yuki. You think you’re smart the way you’re trying to hide yourself, but you’re only making it more obvious. You might be good at disguising your face, but your actions are betraying you. So start talking!”

Another long silence fell upon the room as Momoko leveled out any continued deflections. Yuki judged his words as the thoughts that he had been trying to suppress for so long spun faster to the surface. The pressure that was building inside made him feel like he needed to say something to prevent himself from simply exploding. “What you want me to say? Seems like you’ve figured everything out for yourself already…”

Momoko was becoming tired of Yuki continuing to ignore the problem. She had been watching him the last few days. It had become very clear to her that he was avoiding and dwelling on a matter. The issues going on with the state of the country and Yuki’s involvement had her concerned that it was affecting him. She did not want him making a decision on his own that was going to have a major impact the family. There was the look that she had seen before two weeks ago when he was acting strange like he was planning on taking everything on by himself. She could not stand the stubbornness that he showed when it came to them. “Why do you have to always be so defensive when I just want to talk to you?! I’m your sister! Don’t exclude me!”

“…sister…” mumbled Yuki with a heavy amount of scoffing layered through his voice. He crossed his arms in front of him putting a little more of lean into his stance against the wall.

A narrowed gaze struck over at Yuki from Momoko when she caught the slight that he had made. “Yuki! If you got something to say then say it to me!”

Yuki was becoming tired of being the target, but had also reached his limit with Momoko. He quickly changed his balance and stepped forward nearly slamming his hands on the table top pressing towards his sister. “Like you don’t know already!” Even through his anger he paused not certain if he wanted to explain it to her. He knew that she was smart enough to know already what he was meaning. It was not as though it was the first time for them crossing paths in the kitchen, or somewhere else in the house for that matter.

However, Yuki did not get anything from Momoko. All she dropped for him was a long stare like she wanted to hear it from him for a change. He could feel her cornering him. She wanted the words to be said from his lips. His temper was rising enough from Momoko’s attitude that he lost his reason with her. He just needed to let it all out and it did not care any longer. “That’s rather naïve of you being so convenient with your position whenever you need it!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know!” Yuki took another pause in his words catching his breath for a moment feeling his heart pounding out of his chest from the emotions riding through him. “You play the mother for all of us and then expect to just play the big sister when it suits you! It doesn’t work that way!”

“What did you expect me to do?! Someone had to take care of this family after mom died!”

“Fine! But don’t force that on me! I made a choice and I’m not going to be their surrogate father!” He threw out his finger towards Momoko. “You have to choose! It’s one or the other!”

“I never asked you to be their father!”

“You didn’t have to ask! You rammed it down my throat!”

Momoko had become drawn into the emotions with the quick firing responses. She was not holding back anymore than Yuki at that point. She leaned into the table yelling back at him with equal veracity. “I just needed you to be responsible! Is that so much to ask for! Jun and Ken are too young still and they look up to you!”

“Did you ever think that I might to be too young as well!? And that I need someone to look up!”

Hearing what Yuki just said took Momoko back. It made her close up her mouth and step backwards to lean against the counter. She did not have a response for him. Everything that was running in her mind had shut down. There was nothing that she could think of anymore.

The moment that Yuki realized everything that he had said in the heat of the moment made him wish that he could take it all back. It might have been telling the truth, but it was never something that he wanted to openly admit. He pressed his back against the wall and slid down to the floor slowly. When he reached the floor he dropped his arms against his knees trying to think of anything to say.

It had taken a while for Momoko to recover enough for her to notice Yuki out of sight. She looked around the table finding him slumped over. There was still some hesitation in her step as she walked over to him. Momoko knew that they had their differences and after the death of their parent things only seemed to be harder for him. It felt impossible trying to have a normal conversation with him. Yelling had seemed to be the only communication for them. She could not help by sigh a little standing over him. “…Yuki…I…”

Yuki stood up and walked out of the kitchen in silence not even looking at her when he did. It had left her to stand alone in the kitchen feeling lost. She stood still for several minutes before making it back over to the counter. ‘I thought we were making progress…’ Momoko slammed her hands down on the counter in frustration. ‘…but he just keeps getting further away… and I still didn’t get to the current problem!’ She flung her hands across the counter throwing everything that was set neatly out around the room. “Sister or mother… Why can’t it be both?!”

The noise from the kitchen had been muffled, but loud enough for Jun and Ken to know that something was very wrong. When they saw Yuki marching out of the kitchen alone and with the serious, narrow expression on his face they knew to keep back. They had simply watched from the floor as their brother left the house.

Outside in the darkening sky, Yuki stiffly walked off into the grass street. He began moving slowly towards Ayumi’s house, still feeling the fatigue from the work at the school. It had disappeared from his mind while he was fighting with Momoko, but it became acutely pronounced the moment that he had left the house. He needed a place to rest. Yet when he came to the gate of her house hesitation filled his heart.

‘They aren’t your real family!’

“I wish it was that simple…” Yuki turned away from her house placing his back to her. There was no place that he could go. He started walking away feeling lost without a direction. Everything seemed to be barking at him to stay away.

Nearly thirty minutes of wandering aimlessly had found Yuki nearing Saki’s apartment building. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not realize where he had gone. His eyes were totally unfocused. It had been his feet that had managed to guide him around the obstacles. It was another minute before he finally looked up, having pulled out of his hazy long enough to want to figure out where he was currently standing. “…Saki…” he painfully drew out from his lips as he took note of her apartment.

Yuki started to turn around knowing that it was not a place that he should be standing out for too long. ‘…this isn’t her problem and I don’t want to make things any worse for her…’ He began walking back down the grass street thinking of where he was doing to drift to next before his thoughts could consume him once more.

“Yuki!”

It took a moment for him to realize that he was hearing a voice and that it was directed towards him. It was not until they called out to him once more that he actually stopped. He glanced back in the direction of the voice already knowing who it was, but still having to turn to see. ‘…Saki…’ Yuki resumed walking away not wanting to bother Saki with his problems.

Saki was not going to allow him to simply walk away after coming over to her home. She had her own matters that she wanted to settle with him. “Where’d you think you’re going?” she said appearing in front of him having previously been on the second floor of the apartment building several houses away from him.

The sudden appearance of Saki in his path made him stumble back as well as startled his concentration. “Saki?! What are you doing here?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious! Talking to you!”

A narrowed expression appeared on Yuki not pleased by the almost sarcastic tone that came to him. “That’s not what I mean! If your mom sees you talking to me you’ll get in trouble! She hasn’t forgotten you know!” There was a bit of a distant extension to his words as he finished as he reminded himself of the past.

“Like I care about that. She’s been hovering around everything I do lately anyway. So this won’t be any different.”

Yuki gave her a disbelieving stare that was not accepting how casually that she was act about her mother. He was not going to be cause of increased tensions with her family. He moved to walk around Saki trying to leave, but she grabbed him at the upper arm tightly to keep him from moving further. There were no words spoken between them, but a fast power struggle ran its course. Yuki tried to break free and quickly learned that Saki’s grip was far stronger than he could break. It had shifted sharply into a staring contest of intention with Yuki implying silently that he was determined enough to use his power to break free if necessary. While Saki countered him with an even more determined stare saying that she would break through whatever he did and knock him out flat if he tried anything. After only a few seconds Yuki had given up the flight seeing that he was not going to win against Saki, a point of irony that he remarked to himself. ‘I remember protecting her years ago and now I can’t even beat her…’

Since they had settled their debate Yuki gave a reluctant shrug to her fitting into his place. “So where you want to go to talk?”

“Since you’re so concerned over my mom finding us we can move a little out of sight.” She escorted him several meters down the street until the neighboring homes made it impossible to actually see that they were outside. Once Yuki had fallen into a place leaning against the property wall of the house they were out in front of Saki took the initiative. “Fight with Momoko?”

“That obvious?”

“Well I could say a line like ‘You always come to me after a fight with your sister’ or something like that, but I know that’s not true.” She could see the slight smirk on Yuki’s lips from her joke. “So what is it that you’re unable to talk to Ayumi about?”

“Huh?” said Yuki feeling genuinely confused by Saki suddenly bringing up Ayumi.

“I’m neither blind nor jealous. But it’s been pretty easy to see that you’ve been going to Ayumi more recently for your problems. It makes sense with her having the same powers. It doesn’t really matter to me who your girlfriend is.”

There was a quick blush of red in Yuki’s face before he protested Saki’s accusation. “She’s not my girlfriend! I don’t have one!”

Saki grinned a little to herself. “That’s a pretty fast denial. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other this week while at school. She understands what you’re going through better than anyone, it makes sense.”

“Stop saying that!”

She was the one shrugging now for him. “Whatever, the question still remains though. I’ve seen you looking pretty distant the last few days as though you’ve been thinking heavily about something. Considering the number of things that have been happening to you lately I don’t know which of them is the problem. But seeing how much you’ve been distracted by it I’m guessing that it was also the reason you fought with Momoko. And it’s important enough that you can’t talk to Ayumi either, but you can to me. So what is it?”

There was a long pause from Yuki as he took in what she had said. The intention had been the same as Momoko, but everything about the way that she spoke to him seemed so different from his sister. He could not understand it. Perhaps he was already done venting over the matter and the willingness to talk about it was no longer a point of needing to hide it. It could have been that it was his sister and he wanted to protect her. Whatever the case, he found himself ready. “Since when did you become so observant and convincing?”

“It’s part of becoming a woman,” she teased.

“Right…well I’m considering Ayumi’s offer that she made to me the first day that she showed up at school.”

“You mean when she talked to you alone? What did she tell you?”

“She wants me to go back to her homeland and become the King.”

Saki had widened her eyes a little with this new revelation to what had happened that day. They had told her about a lot of what was going on, but she had always felt that they had left out some details. The weight of what it would mean started to push down on her shoulders. “So you’re going to leave everyone behind?”

Yuki hesitated in his response to her as his mind swirled with thoughts that he had been tossing around for so long. The words that Ayumi had told him whispered to him as though trying to convince him that he was doing what was needed. Yuki looked up at Saki carrying deep sorrow filled eyes of regret. “…they aren’t my family…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Yuki hesitated in his response to her as his mind swirled with thoughts that he had been tossing around for so long. The words that Ayumi had told him whispered to him as though trying to convince him that he was doing what was needed. Yuki looked up at Saki carrying deep sorrow filled eyes of regret. “…they aren’t my real family…”

Saki could not believe what she was hearing from Yuki at that moment. She stood up in front of him and slapped him hard across the cheek without hesitation. There was so much disappointment and anger built up in her that she could not say anything to him. All she could do was to stare at him.

It took a moment for it all to sit in for Yuki. Even after that the stinging sore mark on his cheek was all he really understood for a while. He was not too sure what had happened. It had all been so foggy in his mind. He tried to shake it free from his thoughts and focus back on Saki. He comforted the sore skin wanting an answer. “What was that for Saki?”

“Why do I even need to answer?! You should know without me even telling you!” Saki snapped losing any restraint that she might have had for Yuki after that moment. Seeing the lost and confused expression on Yuki only made it worse for her. It was aggravated even more by the fact that it seemed to be genuine. “Are you telling me that your mother and father that loved you so much and that made you a wreck when they died are not your family?!”

Yuki would have stepped back if he could had he not been leaning against the wall. All he managed to do was straighten himself up at the accusations from Saki. He could not understand what she was getting at or why she was bringing up a sensitive subject for him. “Huh?! What are you talking about?”

“Don’t give me that!” yelled Saki taking Yuki up by his shirt completely lost in her emotions.

“Saki?! Why are you so upset?!”

“How can you!? You’re—“ The longer that Saki glared mercilessly at him the more her rational side started to resurface. ‘Something wrong!’ She could see that there was something missing from his eyes. It stirred an unbalancing feeling in her stomach that forced her anger back down. ‘He honestly looks like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about… What’s going?!’ Saki slow had to let him go becoming confused with each passing second.

Chapter 88 – Intrusion of the Uninvited

“You alright, Saki?” asked Yuki softly as he reached out to try to console her. He was not sure what had happened, but he was relieved that she had calmed down. “What’s wrong?”

“Yuki?” Abruptly, her breathing turned shallow and ragged like everything that had been let go had been expending every part of her body leaving nothing behind but spent waste. ‘…is this another part of his problem or something else? Doesn’t he remember what he said?’ She looked into his eyes cautiously trying to read him for an answer. There was little to be found; it had been different than before. Pausing any more was just going to be a waste. “What did you mean when you said they weren’t your real family?” It seemed like the best place to start for Saki.

Yuki shifted his weight a little suddenly feeling off balanced. He did not know why she was asking him such a question. The words, however, had still managed to dig into him stirring up the confusion that was swirling within his heart. ‘Why? How can I do it?!’ His hand pulled away from Saki and clung to his chest feeling the swelling pain that tortured him once more. ‘It doesn’t matter! I can’t… but if I don’t…’ Each doubt and incomplete thought only fed into his mental wounds that he had inflicted upon himself. They were angry and festering out of control. Yuki felt like he head was going to explode. He stumbled back into the wall desperately need the support.

Saki became startled by the sharp change in behavior from Yuki. He seemed to have lost control collapsing from the stable ground that he had had just a moment earlier. She did not understand why it had triggered something so catastrophe within him, but it made it clear to her that deeper issues that were buried. “Yuki…I’m right here. You can talk to me.” The roles became reversed with Saki consoling Yuki.

Words became like whispers to Yuki and whispers like ghouls that haunted him with suggestive thoughts. They compelled him and tore at his soul as he tried to grant everything while being left with nothing. ‘…Saki, but should I? Can I talk to her? No, I shouldn’t burden her!’

A battle was desperately being fought within Yuki’s eyes. Saki could dip shallowly into him with her gaze. Even without him speaking to her she had some understanding of him. The deeply conflicted feelings that were buried behind his layers of masks worried her. Despite his painful past, she had known him to be focused in removing everything from him that threatened the peace that he was maintaining. Yet there was a struggle inside that could not be covered up or buried. It was going to break him if he was not released from the torture.

‘I promised her a decision…’ Yuki felt surrounded on all sides by voices echoing in his ears ceaselessly. It left a numb feeling all over his body. ‘…but how can I choose?’ If they had all been real he was certain that he would have been deaf by this point. There was no end to it; all sections of consciousness spoke its voice. ‘I’m needed somewhere! They’ll be in trouble if I don’t go!’ Tides were steel walls unwilling to shift or turn to become flexible. ‘But I don’t know them, they aren’t my people! My family is here and friends!’

‘This isn’t good… I need to snap him out of it!’ Saki lifted Yuki up from the ground effortlessly. There was still no response or even a flinch from Yuki. She did not expect it to do anything, but she had hoped that it would have before she had to do anything further. “Yuki! Wake up!” Another fruitless effort that she knew she was wasting, but she was delaying herself. Saki’s hesitation reached a frustrated boiling point with Yuki. “Damn you, Yuki! Wake up so I can scold you!” She started slapping him across the face pausing between slaps long enough to know if she was getting somewhere. After both sides of his face were flashing red Yuki began to come around.

The first thing that he felt was the stinging in his face followed by being held up off his feet. He cautiously looked around him trying to figure out what was happening to him. “What’s going on, Saki?”

Seeing that she had finally reached through to him she set him back down on the ground. “Glad to see you’re back to normal.”

“Hey! You slapped me didn’t you?!” accused Yuki, when he began to put the pieces together.

Saki leaned in a little taking offense to his tone. “I wouldn’t have had to if you’d stopped being so selfish and keeping all of your problems to yourself! You know you might feel better if you actually told someone!”

“How can I tell anyone when it affects everyone I know?!”

“What are you so afraid of happening?!”

“I don’t want to lose anyone important to me!”

The two paused from their yelling to stare at the other. Saki had managed to get a little out of him and could see the pieces starting to fall into place. However, she could see that there were still things that he was holding back on. ‘So selfish…’ She had let out a heavy sigh starting to feel her heart and breathing return to her control. “Well I’m here as I said before and you’re already part of the way there. Besides, how long have I been with you now? We’re still friends despite everything that has happened over the years. You won’t lose me.”

“No you don’t understand what I mean—“

Saki raised her hand to his face to cut him. “I know what you meant. It wasn’t lost on me. I can watch out for myself.” Her hand changed into a single finger pointed at him demandingly sharply as the tone changed. “Now spill!”

Yuki gave her a crooked eyebrow looking a little surprised by the way she was acting. However, he knew that she was right in that he was already started and it would be wrong to stop in the middle. There was a certain comfort and release that he had felt just from the little bits that he had said. It was not much, but it seemed to give him the reassurance that things would be better in the end for it. “As I said before the matter is about whether I should go with Ayumi back. I had no interest in going back with her no matter how much she pushed me. My place is here and not with people I’ve never seen before.”

“But that’s changed now?”

“Yes… The attempts on my life had me worried and as I’ve been thinking about it more I realized that Ayumi was taking most of that burden upon herself. She’s said that she’s my guardian and that’s going to protect me, but I don’t want to see her hurt or killed because of me. I don’t want to lose anymore friends, one is too many…”

“So you think that leaving and going back to Ayumi is going to stop the attacks? They’ll just attack you there instead of here!”

“I know that! But at least you’ll be safe from them. They won’t try to use my friends to get to me!”

“But that’s not solving anything! We don’t need to be protected, Yuki!”

“But!”

“You’ve got to stop blaming yourself for his death! It wasn’t your fault!”

Yuki stepped forward at Saki throwing his arm out in an arch in front of him till it ran parallel with the wall behind him. “He’s dead because of me! Demosthenes came after me and went through him to get to me!”

“So you think the answer to leave your friends and family behind? Are you honestly going to just leave Momoko, Ken and Jun alone?!”

“No!” He flipped his head to his right. “Yes!” He snapped to the left in confliction. “I-I don’t know!” Yuki fell back against the wall seeking to retreat once more. Saki saliently reached out with her hand to interrupt him before he plummeted. It was enough to jar Yuki keeping him lucid.

‘So this is where the problem lies…’ Saki keenly remarked to herself. “So you hate your family that much you can easily just ignore their feelings?”

The accusations had spurred Yuki into anger to defend himself. He was not about to let Saki get away with thinking so coldly of him. “Never! How could you even think that of me?!”

“Then what? You’re planning on abandoning here!”

“I don’t want to do it! But…I’m not…” Hesitation had returned back to his lips. His mind was gagging his words to be filled in with heavy emotions. They were emotions that he could not lift from his heart still twisting it.

Saki knew that she had pinned down. The pieces were being dragged stubbornly out of him. She had to just keep pressing him not giving him ground to retreat or think. It needed to come out. “But what? If you’re not going to abandon them, what is it? What do you think you’re doing?”

“But I’m not their real brother!”

“So?! That doesn’t really matter!”

“Did you just hear what I said Saki?” he questioned incredulously. He had thought that she might have just not been listening with the pace that they were going at.

“Of course I heard you! It doesn’t matter!” Saki kept the room between them tight not giving him any quarter. “You’ve known them all of your life! They have been there for you the entire time. Who else are they but your family? Blood doesn’t matter!”

Yuki turned his head away from Saki having difficulty looking into her eyes. She had pressed against the wall penetrating into the deepest areas that he had refused to let go of. He wanted to keep a hold of the little bit that he could, but it was fading from his grasp. “…d-don’t…don’t you think I know that…why do you think it’s so…hard…” Yuki slid down the wall losing the strength in his legs.

Saki followed him folding her legs to almost kneel down at his side. “So what’s the problem?”

“It’s not…as easy as you make it sound! How can I leave them in a world like this?! But I’m needed… Ayumi says her people are going to suffer if I don’t do anything! I can’t let them be hurt because of me, but…” He dropped his head down into his knees. “…if I wasn’t their brother…”

She gently placed her hand on his shoulder having already seen the picture clear enough. “You thought that if you could convince yourself you weren’t their brother it’d be easier to leave them behind. But they are your family even not through blood. And in the end through all of the crap that’s in your head that’s one thing that you’ve never forgotten.”

“What am I supposed to do, Saki? If I go I don’t think I can come back…but if I don’t go…”

“Well if you’re the King as Ayumi claims then you can do anything that you want!” Saki gave him a warm smile trying to comfort him. “Right?” She helped him back up to his feet as he seemed to be feeling better. “Besides, do you have to be King to save your people?”

He looked back up at Saki a little surprised by her last question. The simplicity of it had completely gone over looked by him. He had been so focused on the problem that it never occurred to him that there were other options available to him. “I guess you’re right, Saki!”

“Right!” she punctuated, agreeing with him. “So when do we leave?”

A few thoughts ran through his mind for consideration. He knew that he was running out of time according to Ayumi. He did not even know where he had to go to reach the homeland or how long it was going to take. ‘It’s been about two weeks since she said I had a month left. So I don’t have much time left. I don’t know what happens in a month that’s going to cause the chaos that Ayumi foresaw, but I should probably go soon so that there’s plenty of time. They’ll probably send even more assassins after me before I do what I need.’ Yuki gave it enough thought and looked back at Saki. “I want to finish the school, but I think that’ll only take another day. So the day after tomorrow…”

“Alright! School’s still out for now so it’ll be easy for me to get away!” Saki had already begun making preparation in her mind for what she was going to need to do.

There was a brief nod from Yuki as he did not fully comprehend what she had said. “Yeah! I’ll—“ The moment had finally arrived that he realized what he was agreeing to with Saki. “Hey! Wait a minute! Why are you saying ‘we’?” When Yuki started to question her words Saki gave him a firm glare that said more than words could even manage. “B-But it’s dangerous, Saki!”

“I’ve already faced down an assassin with you! I can take care of myself! Besides, it is dangerous and you can’t go alone in to enemy territory with only Ayumi! I’m going too!”

He had wanted to protest further with Saki, but it was already a losing argument. Saki had already made the decision in her mind for what was going to happen and there was not going to be anything that he could do to convince her any other way. “Fine, but it’s just us. We leave in two days!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The marked day was hardly a long time away, but for Yuki it seemed to be arriving much faster than he had wished for it. In part, his work at the school made the time pass quickly. There was also the fact that he had finally brought some calm to his mind that he was not focused on forgetting and resolving the problem. The problem had been resolved within his mind, for the most part anyway. He still required the fortitude to actually carry it out. Everything that needed to be done was not going to be easy and it still made his heart tighten at times filling the dilemma surface.

He arranged with Ayumi to speed up the work a little so that the remaining construction would be finished within the day. The progress on the school moved along accordingly. It came together quickly bringing the final pieces of the wall up in the afternoon. From the exterior the school looked whole and unchanged from two weeks ago. The only sign that anything had really changed was that the building looked newer and the grass was completely gone from all of the construction work. All that remained for the school was interior work that was mostly being left to Ayumi’s machines. Even after all of their work there was still going to need to be smaller work done to make the place useable. But for them the work was completed.

Yuki managed keep his spirits high for his last day. Since he solved most of the troubles in his mind that made it significantly easier for him. Last night made it clear to him that how he had been acting was far more transparent than he wished. Changing back meant that he drew less attention and provided little concern to those that might be watching. He hoped it would blow over smooth enough.

Chapter 89 – Invitation to Gather

As the afternoon began to close giving leave to the volunteers the finished school stood as their achievement. Yuki had already left along with Saki and Ayumi, but Yumi remained behind with her brother, Yori. Yori still had a few things left for him to finish. So she waited for him at the tent.

On the main table sat several water bottles waiting to be picked up and thrown away. There were a couple of the volunteers for the tent still around, but they were out picking up anything that might have remained on the grounds. Yumi kept to the tent, mostly due to Yori continued insistence. She picked up a couple of the bottles in her arms before she found herself staring at one of them. Her thought back to yesterday with Yuki. ‘He seemed to be back to his usual self today…’

She walked the empty bottled over trash bin. Her mind hung around Yuki trying to sort it out for herself. ‘So did he solve his problem?’ Yumi dumped the contents of her arms into the bin. She paused unable to return back to her work. ‘But what was it? Why did he seem so troubled before?’

“Yumi?” called a familiar voice, one that had been trying to get through to her for some time.

“Huh?!” Yumi slowly spoke before jumping completely startled by Yori suddenly being next to her. The thoughts of Yuki still in her mind and her brother staring down at her made all of the blood rush out of her face. “B-Brother!? What are you doing here?”

Yori confused by her reaction took a step forward to trying to calm her down a little. The movement, unfortunately, had the opposite effect. She stumbled backwards knocking over of the trash bin in her frantic state trying to keep distance between them. “Yumi?! What’s wrong?”

‘I’ve got to stop thinking about him! Yori will figure it out soon!’ She looked around at the mess that she had caused and scrambled around trying to fix it. ‘Look at the mistake I’ve made!’

“Are you feeling ill again?” inquired Yori, thinking that the incident in the school was causing her to relapse. He was already on the ground helping her pick things up so that she did not over exert herself. “You don’t have to do everything yourself.”

“I-I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t…”

Once they had cleaned everything up Yumi rushed off to resume what she had been supposed to be doing before she had dazed out. Yori followed her still not satisfied with it just being an accident. “If you’re tired you should rest. You don’t need to push yourself. No one will think anything of it.”

“It’s okay!” she tried again to reassure her brother. “I was thinking about what dinner to make tonight and I got distracted. You just startled me.”

Yori remained unconvinced, but he was not going to push her. He figured that she would tell him she was ready. However, he stuck by her side to help clean up the rest of the area around the tent. All of his work was finished already so he was actually waiting on Yumi.

The walk home left her no better off on her internal issue. She kept away from the problem interfering with her too much so that Yori did not suspect anything. However, even while she cooked dinner her mind could not give up the idea that there was something wrong. ‘Does it have something to do with that man who attacked the school? Is he planning to go after him? But what about school and his friends?’

Dinner ended fairly quietly between the siblings and despite Yumi’s best efforts it was very clear to Yori that something was wrong. He continued to keep it to himself, but watched her carefully for anything health problems. When he found her outside of the house staring at the starry sky he knew that he could not hold himself back. “…sister…we need to—“

Yumi turned around quickly to face her brother. Her face revealed to be narrowed and serious, one that made Yori cut off his word. “We need to talk, brother…” She folded up something in her hands making it disappear in the pocket of her work pants.

‘What’s with Yumi? I’ve never seen her like this before…’

“I’m going to help Yuki. I know you don’t like him, but this is something I’ve decided on my own!”

Yori could see there was not talking her out of it. If she looked so determined about doing it there was not going to be anything he could say. “I’m going too then.”

“What?!” exclaimed Yumi. ‘I thought he was going say no and do whatever it took to make me stay!’

“You’re right. I don’t like Yuki. There’s something about him I still don’t trust. So I’m going with you. Wherever you go I’ll be there to protect you.”

While their mother was still out Yumi and Yori left their house together with Yumi guiding them. She held back on the reason that they were leaving, but insisted that it was related to Yuki. It left Yori to follow at a pace that Yumi set, an odd feeling for him. He was unfamiliar with seeing her taking such a proactive and assertive position on anything. It pleased and troubled him to see this side of his sister surfacing, especially since it was Yuki that was drawing it out of her. He remained uncertain about Yuki hung up on the rumors and how violence seemed to be drawn toward him. A fact that re-enforced his opinion that Yuki was a dangerous person to be around.

They drew out of their neighborhood into the evening air of the town. A slight scent of dread hung in the air. Ever since the city changed travel at night was strictly advised against by mayor. A fact that was not lost on Yori, but Yumi appeared uninterested in the unknown that might threaten them. The driven expression on her face revealed how together she was keeping herself. It was impossible to know if she was acting or every drop was real.

Yumi slowed her pace down once they arrived in one of the larger city parks. Considering the condition, being called a park became a matter of opinion and memory. Like the rest of the city, tall grass grew through with no care for order or design. Massive flowers sprouted throughout the field to provide color to an otherwise bland affair. A great tree that would have been considered ancient, if it had not been obviously grown two weeks ago, sat in the center pretending to be nature’s skyscraper. The tree managed to dwarf everything around it including the buildings with a trunk that was easily a thick as a city block and a canopy that covered more than four times the size of the park, which was substantial itself. Any of the remaining trees became intimidated by its presence looking like saplings in comparison.

The massive tree was the target of Yumi. She strolled up the roots quickly forced to treat them like steps and then cliffs to be climbed. When she came to a stop she found a small mound of grass that seemed to divide the roots creating a comfortable little knoll. Around the small piece of earth was a sourceless light that illuminated the area in a warm glow. Yori arrived shortly after her still not certain what was purpose of traveling so far away from their home.

He looked about the area trying to find anything that might have been of significance to them. “I didn’t know this was here…”

“Neither did I…” replied Yumi. She could not explain it, but she had a feeling since before Yori out of the house. The feeling told her where she needed to go and that it was important. It seemed so vague and soft, yet natural and instinctive. She understood without having to actually know.

“If you didn’t know about this place how did you find it?”

Yumi’s eyes became distant for a moment as she tried to recall, peering out over the park. “I didn’t know, but I still knew. It’s weird, but it was like there was a path laid out in my mind.”

“You’re not making much sense—“ Nearby scrambling and scraping underneath them interrupted Yori. He immediately placed himself between Yumi and the root foundation where the noises were coming from. “Stay behind me…”

“It’s alright, brother!” Yumi stepped out from behind him and moved out to the edge of the grass. She leaned out over the wooden cliff to see a darkened figure coming into reach. Yumi looked back at Yori to reassure him. “It’s safe. They’re friends.”

“Yumi!” he shouted grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back. “You can’t be certain that this time of day with the way the city is!”

“But!”

Another sound of fumbling on the roots bounced up to them. The uncertainty tightened Yori’s hold on Yumi pulling her back towards him. A struggling hand appeared up from shadows taking hold firmly on the roots.

“Damn it!” snapped a young, but rough sounding voice. “Why the hell it’d have to be like this?!” A few seconds later found the other hand to surface soon followed by the rest of the person. The faint unnatural light of the hill revealed the individual to be a young man, who was probably younger than Yori, but with a wild look about him. He dusted himself off and looked back down at the roots that he had climbed. The man knelt over casually examining his route. “I guess I should have taken the gentler sloop.” He threw off the concern and shifted his body back to face towards the siblings.

Yumi stretched out from Yori’s still solid hold to greet the young man. “Hello…did you receive a letter as well?”

“Letter?” questioned Yori loosening his hold on Yumi, becoming distracted.

The man nodded back to Yumi being cautious. “I’m guessing you too?”

“Do you know Yuki somehow?”

“Yeah…I knew him from middle school. Why?”

A letter slid slowly out of Yumi’s pocket. She held it in her hand showing it while keeping the contents a secret. “I believe the letter is related to Yuki in some way.”

The teenager took a couple of steps forward becoming drawn in with questions. Yumi’s declaration made him consider several options quickly. There still remained some skepticism at his heart. “Why are you so certain? The letter is pretty vague.”

“I know, but it’s a feeling I have.” Yumi’s hands tightened a little reflexively reacting to her acknowledging the doubt that others would have for what she said. Behind the self-consciousness, she stood firm in her belief that despite anyone suspiciousness and uncertain nothing would make her waver from her stance. “I can’t explain it. I just know.”

“I have my doubts as well, but I’m inclined to agree with her,” a new voice said out of the shadows. The voice carried a softer touch, one of a girl, but a slightly deeper in pitch than Yumi. She casually stepped on to the lit mound of grass joining the small gathering. The girl stood taller than the rest of them and appeared more mature in her face than the others. Once she reached the center, where everyone was grouped, she looked around at the others that she was joining. “I see that I wasn’t the only with a letter or questions.” When she came upon Yori there was a moment of recognition. “Student Council President Yori Mizuno?”

“He’s a student council president?” the other boy question for a moment before quickly accepting it. “He does have one of those pretty boy faces, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

The implication that Yori earned his position through looks struck him hard, but he kept it to himself trying to take the high road. He held his gaze to the upperclassman taking a second to remember her name, as he knew it was familiar to him. “…yes… you’re the head of one of the Literature Club branches, Terauchi, right?”

“I’m impressed that you remembered me,” she remarked a little surprised.

“I try to remember all of the club leaders.”

Interrupting the introductions, the rough edged boy placed himself between them to get the attention. “The whole warm greetings is nice and all, but are you all saying that you know Yuki and that’s why you got a letter?”

“It’s probably because that weakling needs protection,” joined another young girl’s voice to the party. The voice preceded the person by enough time to give everyone pause to search around. They found nothing despite it feeling as though the words had come from someone next to them. As though testing them the girl appeared suddenly behind the punkish teenager.

He swiveled on the heel of his feet providing force and speed to his outstretched arm to strike at the shadow. His arm was skillfully blocked, but the weight behind his attack could be seen compressing arm that blocked him. “A kid? Don’t sneak up behind me!” He held his arm against her block pressing into a power struggle not willing to back down.

The black clothed girl grinned with great interest in her discovery. “A worthy opponent. Perhaps my whim will pay off.”

“Worthy?! Kids playing pretend as a ninja should respect those older than them!”

“If one was pretending…perhaps…”

“That’s enough,” spoke a calm voice entering into the light of the hill. “You’re not here to fight everyone.”

“Yet another one?!” the teenager complained. “How the hell many people got called out here? This is getting ridiculous, not to mention conspicuous.”

“Oh, the muscle head knows big words.”

“You looking for a fight now, kid!”

Yumi watched the situation quickly fall apart. She did not know what to expect when people started to show up. It remained her belief that they all knew Yuki and it was about him. So she figured that they would have common ground, but she worried if they were already fighting with each other over small things. However, she had had enough. “Shut up, everyone!” she roared in a voice that seemed impossible from the demure shell that she kept.

To everyone’s surprise, it happened to be enough to quiet them all done. Yumi looked around at everyone fixing them with a stare to show them that she meant business. “We’re all here because of Yuki. We should be working together and not fighting!”

“I still have my doubts,” remarked the boy.

“This is a strange band, I’ll agree,” commented Terauchi.

“I’m more interesting in the purpose of this letter,” added the short boy that remained in complete control of himself.

“The love struck girl’s correct,” confirmed a very high pitched voice from above. Floating in the air, a fairy lowered herself down in the middle of everyone making her known to them all. Her presence held everyone’s further interruptions as she made it very clear in her tone that she spoke with knowledge. “It was me. Who sent you the letters. And yes, it does involve the matter of Yuki Hayashi…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“The love struck girl’s correct,” confirmed a very high pitched voice from above. Floating in the air, a fairy lowered herself down in the middle of everyone making her known to them all. Her presence held everyone’s further interruptions as she made it very clear in her tone that she spoke with knowledge. “It was me. Who sent you the letters. And yes, it does involve the matter of Yuki Hayashi…”

“Love struck?!” objected Yumi, while trying to avoid causing anymore doubt with a red face.

“So how does this involve Yuki?” the rough boy said stepping forward demandingly staring at the fairy, disregarding the odd case of being summoned by a fairy. “What trouble has he gotten himself into?”

The fairy spun around in the air to face him not looking too impressed. “Figured you’d be the first one to speak up when it came to the girly boy. But I doubt I need to explain too much to you, wannabe Yakuza Priest.”

“Yakuza?!” a few of the other whispered becoming concerned about their company.

“You’ve got quite the noisy mouth on you, a damn midget!”

“Easily provoked as well. You’re not going to last long against them…” The fairy hovered away from him having become bored. She planted herself towards the far end of the knoll, which managed to direct all of the attention towards her.

The easily angered boy was not finished and pushed through the crowd to get up in the fairy’s face again. He was not going to let something so small get away with mocking him. “Where you think you’re going? “I’m not letting you off so easily!”

Yumi rushed forward to stand flanking the teen while still partially getting between them. “Please don’t fight! You want answers right? This fairy seems to know us somehow and it would be good to know why she’s doing all of this. If you can calm your anger for the moment.”

“Tch!” He reluctantly dragged himself back in line with everyone else, taking more of a back seat.

Chapter 90 – Decision Time

Once the situation was adverted Yumi looked around to everyone. She felt that there still existed uncertainly and confusion among the group that would not simply be resolved. However, Yumi could not let it rest knowing that they were called together for a purpose. “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first and how you know Yuki. It might begin to shed some light on the reason. I’ll start…I’m Yumi Mizuno and I’m a classmate of Yuki.”

Everyone seemed hesitant to speak up. There was still some awkwardness in the air from the arrival of the fairy and trouble that she brought. Yori saw his sister staring at him after a few seconds getting the impression that she wanted him to pick up her lead. “I’m Yori Mizuno and I don’t really know Yuki, but through Yumi. I’m here because she is.”

“Fumiko Terauchi,” said the older student at Yori’s left. “I’ve only met Yuki briefly, but he saved my life.”

The black clothed ninja girl was stared down at by Fumiko with the expectation that she introduce herself next. She grumbled a little still considering it. A small sigh exhaled from her as she gave in. “Chiharu Chinen and I don’t want to know about that weakling.” She turned her head away in a huff having given all that she was going to give.

“Haruo Yoneda…classmate.” He had kept things brief considering what he felt like saying. The reasons for him coming still remained a little uncertain for him as well. So he did not feel the need to provide a long answer to explain himself.

After a long pause from Haruo everyone looked behind at the last remaining undeclared boy. The eyes locked on him made him aspirated. “Seiji Tsuji, an old friend.” Seiji looked back at the rest with annoyed eyes, still bothered by the fairy.

Yumi took in what she had heard, but did not feel that it really answered anything. It had at least given her names. The connections seemed to be as simple has having known Yuki at some time. They all needed more answers. Yumi joined the rest of the group and stared at the fairy in expectation.

“When then, I guess you’re wanting me to explain in more detail the purpose of this. You all know Yuki through some means and some of you even know the trouble that he is in currently. You may not understand it fully, but you know there’s trouble. Simply put, Yuki is leaving in the morning to confront what he faces. I’m giving you the decision on how you want to use this information, whether it is to give your goodbyes, try to stop him or join him.”

“Is he going alone?” inquired Fumiko.

“No, Ayumi Nishimura and Saki Furukawa will be going with him.”

“What is he confronting? Is it dangerous?” Yumi asked. She began to see the pieces coming together. Parts were missing still, but the way that Yuki had been acting recently could be explained. She had always suspected that the man that attacked their school had something more to do with Yuki. Even if it was dangerous, she was not going to change her mind.

The fairy lowered herself a little in the air. “Very dangerous. It’s likely that he’ll have many battles where’s going before he can resolve it.”

Yori took a step forward ignoring the feeling that he was the odd man out for not having been summoned. “If it’s so dangerous why’s he going?”

“Because it’s something that he’s decided he must do.”

“So did he send you to ask us to come with him rather than doing it himself?” demanded Seiji, still sounding uncontrollable with his frustration.

The fairy smiled a little smirking to herself. “No, he doesn’t know I’m doing this. It’s likely that he doesn’t even know that you all have powers as well. I’m doing this on my own.”

“Why are you doing this?” spoke up Haruo for once.

“Because I like to screw up what he had planned. Simple as that!” The fairy seemed a little rushed and cornered responding to Haruo. She floated back up a little putting some distance between them. “Well I answered your questions and gave you what you needed to know to make your decision. I’m leaving now!” The next moment the fairy flew up the massive tree disappearing out of the field of the light. The group tried to call out to stop her, but it was far too late. They could only stare around at each other feeling a little lost being given only twelve hours to come to a decision that would affect their lives possibly.

Yumi searched the sky a little trying to find the fairy before giving up the hope. She looked back around at the others. “I think it’s more than just trying to mess with Yuki’s plans. She must be worried about him if she asking us for help.” She knew nothing about the others, but hoped that she could convince them to seriously think about assisting Yuki.

Fumiko nodded in agreement with Yumi. “Considering how much of a mouth she had on her and antagonizing others. Showing weakness or caring what happens to others is not something that she would want to expose.”

“A denial to protect herself,” thought Yori out loud. “Even still, we don’t really know what he’s gotten himself into.” Yori looked over at Seiji recalling what the fairy had quickly thrown out during the brief conversation. He had not made much of it at the moment, but realized there was possibly additional information within the group. “You know something about the trouble is in don’t you?”

Seiji was still pretty reluctant to actually address anyone after the ordeal with the fairy. He kept looking away from everyone until it became clear that they were not going to take being ignored as a solution. “I don’t know much, just what Yuki told me when I asked him. It didn’t seem like he knew much about it, some girl named…Ayumi told him all of this.” When he caught the knowing looks of a few of them he realized that they actually knew who Ayumi was. “I take it you’ve met her. From what I understand Yuki is the heir to some place that lost their leader. A group that wants control of the country for themselves are sending assassin to remove Yuki from the picture so there’s no one that can take over. So I’m guessing that Yuki’s going to face them and more than likely take the position.”

Panic struck Yumi upon hearing Seiji’s words. ‘He’s leaving and not coming back!?’ She did not think that he would have made such a decision to leave everyone that he knew behind. He had not given any of them any sort of goodbye or explanation. Yumi took a step forward at Seiji with her eyes lighting up with fire light. “He’s planning on leaving us behind and everyone he knows and not tell anyone? How could he do that?!”

The demanding stare from Yumi set Seiji off balance a little trying to figure out what she making it seem like he was the cause of it all. “Hey look! I don’t know what’s going through his head! I’m just figuring that if he’s going there he’s probably going to be staying! There’s not a lot of point going there if he’s not planning on staying around.”

“Not necessarily,” Yori said stepping into the conversation. “If he stayed behind he’d still be attacked by assassins if they saw him as a threat to their power grab. So he could be trying to go to source to stop the attacks and hand off his position to someone else.”

‘Could he just be doing it to end the fighting? And he’s planning to come back?’ A hopeful light grew inside Yumi clinging tightly onto Yori’s hypothesis regardless of how possible if could be. She could not think about Yuki leaving them all behind.

Fumiko joined the group realizing that they still had a problem. “Regardless of what Yuki’s planning on doing we don’t know where he’s going to be leaving from or how he’s getting to wherever he needs to be. The fairy didn’t give us that information.”

“I know where his house is,” spoke up Seiji. “We can just get him there.”

“If he’s determined to go this alone without telling anyone then it’ll be too easy him to just lose us at his house.”

“We can follow him then until it’s too late for him to say no.”

“With this many people?”

The debating going on behind Yumi had finally reached her ears and broke through her own worries. She turned around to face them directly to settle their concerns. “I know where he’ll be! We just have to wait for him to arrive and force him to let us come!”

“How do you know? Did the fairy tell you earlier?” questioned Seiji leaned towards Yumi. He still doubted her after her early claim, despite the fairy having proven her to be correct. It was the fact that it was something so unreliable as a feeling. He could not trust it, even if she did speak with certainty in her voice.

She shook her head at him. “I’ve known somehow for a while. I can’t explain it, but I know where he’ll be. There’s still some time before morning. We should take care of anything that we need to before then and meet back here at five in the morning. It’ll take some time to walk.” Yumi figured that everyone was going to need to sleep and pack anything that they might for the trip. None of them knew where they were going and there remained much to consider.

Chiharu shifted forward unnervingly for everyone like a shadow just appearing when a new light is shined. “What makes you think we’re even going? You’re making assumptions that we even care about that weakling.”

The approach for the young girl made Yumi pulled her spine back a little surprised by how in her face she was being. There happened to be the fact that she was also acting very callous about Yuki as well, that she did not know how to take it. However, despite the confrontation Yumi stuck her ground. “You’re right. I didn’t mean to assume. There’s still time to make your decision on what you’re going to do about what we’ve been told. Anyone coming can meet here at five.”

A slight begrudged nod was returned by Chiharu before she stepped down. She had not expected Yumi to handle her so smoothly as to fix and avoid the conflict all in one sweeping motion. Chiharu did not like watching the frail girl acting like she was in charge. She hoped to expose the weaknesses that she saw in her as a poor leader, but found that she was forced to retreat to her corner.

Everything seemed to be settled with the group. No one else objected to what Yumi had set out for them. She nodded to herself mentally checking that all was right before joining at Yori’s side. “We should be going now before our mother finds out that we’ve been out!” Yumi gave a quick wave to the stunned group and disappeared out of the light pulling Yori along with her.

The rest of the party could not believe that she was worried about being out late considering what she was going to be doing. Once they recovered from their awe and pulled themselves back together they began departing company in their own ways.

For Seiji, the decision had been made for him. He was the last to leave the mound and the first arrive (he never left). ‘I had my suspicions before I left… This simply just confirmed it for me… Besides it’ll give me time away from the old man and that annoying ghost…’ Seiji pressed into the grass disappearing a little in its height and closed his eyes. The starry sky offered more than enough for him. ‘Yuki, are you going to start fighting again? I can’t see Saki being very pleased about that…’

“I didn’t think they would ever leave!” a young woman’s voice said cheerfully. Aoi, the ghost woman that had taken a likening to teasing Seiji appeared in the light of the earth. Her previous haunting attire was no more. She wore a pure white evening kimono that would have been worn either for bed or prepared for bed as covering for less modest clothing underneath. The case for Aoi would be whatever it took to get some fun out of Seiji.

Seiji’s eyes held tightly shut with his eyebrows shaking a little as he tried desperately to appear like he was sleeping and never heard a word from the ghost. The unfortunate matter of his fear kept it from actually being very convincing with the excessive amounts of sweat gathering on his skin.

Aoi’s lips caught a playful grin seeing the initial response that she got from him. Taking it another step further, she floated in passing through the grass silently to lie next to him. The mere proximity of her had him turning blue and red fighting over shades only to decide on a compromise of purple. She pressed towards his ear whispering delicately to him. “You don’t have to pretend for me!”

The woman’s voice sent a chill down his spine making him vibrate all around before his eyes shot open. If the tree had been closer to the ground Seiji would have latched onto it like a startled cat as he leapt into the air easily clearing his full height and then some. He managed some cat-like reflexes to land on his feet left staring at the ghost. “H-H-How-how…how…how…”

She giggled with glee in her entertainment before her. “You never get boring, sweetie!” Aoi gave the frightened teen a little more room, but that did not improve his speech any. All he could form in his mouth was ‘how’ and even then it was hard to understand at best. “How did I find you?” she finished for him, since he was unable to do so for himself. “That’s quite easy! I just followed you! You seemed so focused on your letter that you never even realized it!”

“Y-y-y-y…F-Followed?!”

“There, there… It’s best to stick to one word for now.” She patted him on the shoulder providing mocking comfort to him. Aoi could see the hint of the fear starting to bleed out of him and return him to balance through the sheer annoyance of being so openly mocked. Her tone changed quickly shifting the mood serious having had her fun, for the time being at least. “Are you planning leaving your family behind without a word?”

“The old man’ll be fine,” Seiji said soberly. He had been glad people were no longer visiting so frequently. If they continued he did not know how long he would have lasted, though a part of it was the cause of the ghosts showing up. Many of them could not trust going back to the shrine fearing it had been corrupted like everything else. “The business has slowed down.”

“What about Shoji? He depends on you!”

Seiji strolled across the small mound putting his back to Aoi. “It’s not like he needs a problem child like me around him being a bad influence on him.”

She could not believe what she was hearing from him. She quickly glided around him to look at him in the face. “You don’t honestly believe that crap that your Grandfather spouts? Do you?!”

“What the hell do you know?!” shouted Seiji leaned in at the woman. He was not about to listen to her talking like she knew him. “You’re just a stupid ghost that has nothing better to do than screw around with me!”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m a ghost or not! I can see well enough as I am!”

“It’s not like I’m going to be gone for that long anyway! I’m coming back and I’ll drag Yuki back with me if I have to! When I get back I can apologize to Shoji…” His voice trailed off as he began to look away from her. He knew what he had decided and could not let himself falter. ‘If I see him I don’t know if I could leave if he asked me not to go…’

Aoi read Seiji for a minute frustrated by his stubbornness. She wanted him to just say goodbye to his little brother. It seemed like a strange thing to her not to want to say something so simple to his family. She could see in him the determination that he had fortified and another reason behind his eyes. The look was not something that she could figure out, but it gave her enough to give up the fight. “…fine…” She began to float away no longer wanting to be around him.

“I can’t stop you from telling him anyway once I’m gone…”

The ghost paused hearing the words and the surprising subtext that was held within them. It made her grin a little feeling reassured. “You’re right… We’ll be waiting for your return!”

“It’s a promise!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Midnight seemed far too close, yet it was still hours away from arriving. In the altered Japan the nights came heavier and darker. It left a deep foreboding for anyone that traveled under the unusual sky. This particular night proved to be even more pitch, though despite that the stars poked through as vibrantly as ever, possibly even stronger than before.

Fumiko returned to her house trying to avoid being detected by her parents. Ever since the monster had attacked her there was no dealing with how oppressively protective they became. She understood why they worried about her, but it started to make it difficult to do anything out of the house. Since she had discover the magical powers that she possessed Fumiko forced herself to learn how to use them. Escaping the house to do so proved a challenging feat, more so than the training. Fumiko was not about to let her parents know that she had gained a strange ability. What little freedom she had left would have been smothered.

When she was in the hall nearing her room the next room down, her sister’s room called to her. Before she realized what happened her hand turned the knob and pushed the door opened. “Kimiko…” Fumiko slowly dragged herself over to the bed. She put the pillow in her lap and dropped her back into the corner.

Her mind wandered thinking back to Mieko, who she had rescued with her powers. She looked down at her hand while the other pressed the pillow against her chest. “I don’t know why I have this power, sister… But I was able to save Mieko with it. So I think it is a good thing…” After a little rest to recover from the trouble that Mieko had been Fumiko had escorted her back to her house. Fumiko could still see that day clearly in her mind. She etched it into her heart next to the deep scar that rested unhealed. “But it’s not enough… Sister, I’m sorry but I must go away for a while…”

Fumiko dug her face into the pillow trying to ignore the pain that ran through her arm. “I think I have this power so I can be of help to him, sister… He saved me even though I had misjudged him… He’s a good person… So I must help him. I don’t know if I can repay my debt to him, but I’ll learn soon enough…”

Chapter 91 – The Decision

Minutes turned to an hour before Fumiko could move from her sister’s room. However, she knew that she had to do something else still before going to sleep. “What should I tell our parents, sister? As much as I would like to just go without a word that wouldn’t be fair to them. They aren’t going to be very understanding…” Fumiko pulled herself up out of the corner and returned the pillow carefully back to the bed. She reluctantly shuffled out of the room.

The war room, as Fumiko had started to call the dining room for all frequent planning sessions by her parents to solve their numerous dilemmas, held a thick wall in the air making her approach tense. She did not like speaking to them while they were worrying over adult matters, but there really was no other time that she had left. The notice she had was so sudden. She was just going to have to make do with her situation. “Excuse me… Mom… Dad…”

Her father immediately turned his head to Fumiko already on edge. “Is something wrong?”

“What is it, Fumiko?”

“Well…you see…” Fumiko shifted her weight back a little as a counter to avoiding fidgeting noticeably. There was no idea in her mind what she was going to say and knowing how they would react to anything that she was going to say. She knew that she just had to say it straight and figure her way out of it as she went along. “I’ve got somewhere I’m going in the morning…”

Both of her parents stood up from their chairs suddenly. “What are you talking about?!”

“You can’t go outside! It’s too dangerous to be out there!”

“Remember how it was last week when you were outside!”

“I know the danger!” She felt like she had already experience the moment before. It gave her a strange disconnected feeling. “But there’s something important I have to do…”

Her mother staggered a step towards her with a confusion look on her face. “What’s more important than your life?!”

“I’ve got to help a friend… I just found out a little bit ago that they need my help!” Fumiko still did not know where she was going, but found that mixing in truth into the lie seemed to make it form easier. It was almost taking on a life of its own. “It’s because it is dangerous that I have to go!”

“But Fumiko—“ Her father tried to protest further, but was cut off.

“She my friend and she’s in trouble! I’ve already decided that I was going to help.” The lied continued to grow on its own and filled the answers without Fumiko thinking about it. “School still closed so I won’t be neglecting it. It’s out of town so I’m going to be gone for a little while.”

“What?!”

“You can’t be serious! That’s completely out of the question! You’re not leaving this house!”

“I’m going and that’s the end of it! I’m not going to be scared of this world like you two are! I’m leaving by four in morning so if want to say goodbye do it then!” Fumiko turned away from them and marched off to her room. She slammed her door closed and dropped to her bed feeling her legs shaking. Near the end it had felt like she was going to collapse at any moment. The strength in her body had been completely drained away. ‘I can’t believe I spoke to them like that… What sort of person am I?’


Sharp thuds against a wooden target wormed their way through the grounds of the Chinen estate. The forest covering did a perfect job of trapping and reflecting noise. It made it nearly impossible to approach the main house as every sound seemed to be amplified. It worked well as a protection against intruders, almost as though it was done on purpose.

Chiharu approached her tree target and retrieved the kunai that she had thrown. The spread of the blades was greater than she had wished. She felt that her timing had been thrown off. She planned to continue until it fit to her satisfaction. “What is it Tamotsu?” called Chiharu having picked up the slightest change in sound from his feet.

He had remained out of her sight, but pulled himself out of the shadows having been discovered. “Forgive me, Lady Chiharu! I didn’t want to disturb during your training!” Once announced he moved himself to be in her vision.

“Enough with the formalities!” She threw a kunai at the tree sticking deeply into the trunk. “What’s on your mind?”

“It’s none of my business, Lady Chiharu, but I was unable to find you on the grounds for twenty minutes. Some of the men started asking questions.”

“You’re right, Tamotsu. It isn’t your business.” Another kunai stuck into the tree, missing her desired target by a few centimeters. “I’m the head of this clan and what I do is my prerogative. I don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to do something.”

Tamotsu lowered his head a little trying lessen his position to her. “You’re right, Lady Chiharu. However, the men look to you for guidance and leadership. You can’t be the head of the clan if you’re not here.”

The third kunai hit shallowly and fell to the ground. A slight twitch from Chiharu was all she allowed even after she had tried to not show any reaction. “What good are men to me if they can’t think and react on their own? I don’t need mindless soldiers that fall apart the moment I’m not around to order them.”

“You’re right, Lady Chiharu. The men need more training.”

“…as do I…” she whispered to herself.

“Lady Chiharu?” Tamotsu questioned in confusion having not completely heard her mumbling.

“Leave me now!” she snapped having not what him to have heard any of what she said.

“Right away, Lady Chiharu!”

Tamotsu promptly disappeared back into the main house. Chiharu remained outside staring down at the remaining two kunai in her hands. The hand that held them was shaking slightly uncontrollably making her sweat a little. She flinched quickly and snapped herself back into a throwing position. Without even thinking she threw the two kunai together at the tree. They both had hit shallowly and dropped to the ground clattering against one another. Chiharu clinched her hand into a fist frustrated by her weakness.


The walk back to their house remained fairly quiet between the siblings. Neither of them had much to say to the other. Yori remained mute waiting for any moment that his sister needed him rather than trying to press any issue that surfaced in his mind. In the case of Yumi, she held fast to trying to fully grasp everything that she was doing.

The whole scene happened so fast for her that she was still processing it. She may have been acting consciously around the group, but it was not until after it was settled that it truly began to filter through her. The point that confused her still more than anything else was why the fairy had summoned her. She knew nothing about the others, but figured that if the fairy claimed they had powers it must be true. It was not the case with Yumi. She knew that she did not have any powers. Her presence felt out of place with the rest. Yumi wondered if there was some other motive involved, but all she had been able to do is second guess things.

Her confusion managed to fill up the travel time nicely so that she felt that a dead end was reached when she saw their house. When they arrived home their mother was already in the house. The hope to avoid suspicions welled up fear in Yumi. She became afraid of how much trouble it would be to convince their mother of what they were going to do. ‘…Brother…’

Yori saw the expression on Yumi and took the lead. He understood that he had a little more footing to speaking with their mother than Yumi. It was the continued case of him being the model child that was doted on. “Did you find the dinner, mother?” he began as he entered the kitchen.

“Yori! I was wondering where you were. I didn’t hear anything from you or your sister.” A moment later Yumi meandered into the doorway keeping to the back. “There you are dear! Were you outside?”

“Yes, the school is nearing completion and so I’ve had to meet with faculty.”

The middle aged single mother checked through the kitchen still trying to act her part even though she knew that her kids had picked up so many of her household responsibilities. She kept listening to Yori while examining the cupboards. “Oh? You must be so busy with all of that responsibility that they’re giving you.”

Yori smoothly transitioned to her side helping with the dishes that were from Yumi and his meal earlier. “Not at all.” They had dried already and needed to be put away. It made the conversation flow naturally that he did not have to worry about it seeming out of place. “I did volunteer for this. So I’m only doing what it expected.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’ve always been such a hard worker, dear.”

“The next week or more I’m going to be very busy though.” He handed off a dish to her to set up in the cupboard. “There’s still a lot of people I have to meet with to finish it. Considering how it’s a bunch of high school students doing this work they have their doubts and concerns. So I’m not going to be able to get back home as much.”

“Are you sure? What about your sister? She’ll be lonely in the house with her brother.”

“Hmm…” He made a pensive pause as though he was thinking about her. A minute later he came back with an answer for her. “You’re probably right. I can take her with me. It’ll be a good chance for her to get to know some of the faculty members and learn about something new.”

“You’ll keep her safe and watch out for her?”

“Of course! I won’t let anything happen to her, mother!”

“Alright. Please at least call me each night so I know you’re safe.”

“I will.” Yori stepped out of the kitchen with the choirs completed. Yumi awaited his return in the hall. “It’s done.”

“I’m sorry you had to lie to mom, Yori,” she said filled with guilt.

He placed his hand on her shoulder giving her a comfort smile. “It’s fine. I know this is important for you.”


The hour had become very late and morning threatened to arrive soon. Inside the Furukawa apartment everyone slept peaceful except for one. She tried to be as quiet as possible to not wake anyone up. Despite having decided that she would leave with Yuki, it remained a secret from her family. She felt a little sense of irony knowing that she attempted to do what Yuki had to her. However, she knew that there was no convincing her mother of anything. ‘I’m glad that I packed everything before I slept.’

Saki opened her door listening to the painful whining of the hinges and praying that it was not too loud. She returned back to her packed bag lifting it to her shoulder. A slow rolling yawn spilled from her mouth despite her trying to force it back. ‘I’m so tired… I hope wherever it is we’re going I’ll have a chance to sleep…’ She had only been able to get a few hours of sleep after making sure that everything she needed was packed. Saki tipped toed out of her room into the hallway eying the living room in sight.

“…sister?” called a young sleepy voice that was not sure what she was seeing.

A bolt of fear ran through Saki freezing her in her step. She appeared like a thief in the night that had just been caught in the middle of the act. Saki tilted her head over her shoulder trying to stay mostly in the shadows. “Noriko? What are you doing up so late?”

“I had a dream that you were taken away from us. That bad men had come for you.” Noriko rolled her hand against her eyelid trying to get sleep free so she could see clearly. “You’re not going anywhere right, sister?”

Saki hesitated giving her an answer. She hated the thought of having to lie to her sister. The time she had ticked quickly away from her. The longer that she held her reply the heavier her heart felt. ‘I can’t tell her the truth, but what can I say?’

“There aren’t any bad men are there, sister?” Noriko started to close the distance between them. She tried to reach out for Saki not wanting to be apart from her letting her dream drive her.

Saki bit her lip staring down at her younger sister from the shadow. The cold hearted approached was not going to work she had decided. She knelt down to meet Noriko. “It’s going to be alright, Noriko. I won’t let them take me away from you. But I have to deal with them, you see?”

“The bad men?”

“That’s right. But I’ll beat them up and come back. So don’t you worry.”

“Promise?”

“Of course! I’m stronger and tougher than any bad guy, right?”

Noriko nodded to Saki having some of the worry start to melt away from her face. The reassurance from her sister had warmed up her expression. “Right!” She gave Saki a little jump of support for her to show that she was with her.

“What’s going on out here?” echoed a new older voice that made Saki’s mind run cold for a second.

‘Mom…’

Not even thinking about it, Noriko ran back to their mother jumping with excitement. “Big sister’s going to beat up the bad guys!”

“What?!” she exclaimed incredulously. The older slightly graying woman looked down the hall at her eldest daughter with a questioning look. An exchange occurred between them without words and she knew immediately. “Noriko, you should be getting back to sleep.”

“…but…” Noriko tried to protest more, but could see the stare in her mother’s eyes telling her to stop. She silently agreed to return to her room.

Saki’s mother stiffly walked a meter down the hall waiting until Noriko was back in her room before starting. “This is about that troublemaker isn’t it?” The silence in Saki’s voice was all that she needed to know that she was right. “How many times do I have to tell you not go near him?! Don’t you remember what he did to you? Have you forgotten?!”

Saki could not take it anymore feeling something in her mind snap. “How can I forget when you always have to remind me?! You never let me! Yuki’s felt guilty about it for nearly two years even though he hasn’t said a thing to me!”

“Feeling guilty isn’t enough!”

“Then what do you want from him? He’s lost his parents, his friends and his place! What more do you want from him?!” She tried to keep her breathing under control, but her emotions were getting the better of her. Her mother seemed a little silent after the last barrage of words. Saki decided not to let the ground go and finish it. “I don’t care what you think. I trust Yuki and he needs my help. I’m going now. I’ll see you when I’m done!” Saki turned away feeling her legs shaking a little as she strode out of the apartment and into the night. She paused for a moment at the end the street to look back at the apartment building before continuing on.

One stop before meeting with Yuki was on her schedule and it stood before her. The hospital looked even more eerie than normal in the dark light of the night sky. “Takako…” She did not know how long she was going to be away and felt it was important to see her one last time before leaving. The feeling of responsibility for her had never left her for a moment.

At the nurse’s desk Saki inquired for a brief visit, but was shocked by what the nurse told her. “Miss Yamazaki was transferred out of the hospital a few days ago. I’m sorry!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

At the nurse’s desk Saki inquired for a brief visit, but was shocked by what the nurse told her. “Miss Yamazaki was transferred out of the hospital a few days ago. I’m sorry!”

It took a minute for Saki to completely take in what the nurse had told her. The same nurse that she had met before was not present adding to the collapsing feeling that she had. ‘I know I’m not family… I guess I just thought I would have been told…’ She did not even know if Takako had recovered or if they figured out what was wrong with her. If Takako still was left trapped within her mind she worried how confused or scared she might be of the change.

Saki shifted her legs a little feeling like they had become heavy. The air compressed around her feeling warmer than before. Anxiety built within her pressing her forward. Saki leaned into the desk to the nurse. “…um… Does it say why she was transferred?”

The woman looked through the papers for an answer to Saki’s question. “It seems that there was a change in her condition that required her to be moved to a different facility.”

“A change in her condition? What does that mean?”

The nurse read through the papers more thoroughly after seeming to not have a good answer for Saki. When she raised her head up there was not much of a change in her features. “I’m afraid there isn’t anything specific provided here. Miss Yamazaki was required to be moved at the request of Dr. Shiotani.”

His name alerted Saki immediately and recalled her meeting with him. ‘He was examining Takako for his work as a candidate. Perhaps she passed and he’ll be able to treat her…somehow…’ Saki tried not to latch on to her hope too much when she looked back at the nurse. “Did he say anything?”

“About what?” the nurse asked a little confused, having not been present when it had happened.

“About being a candidate?”

“I’m sorry, Miss, but I wasn’t here when the transfer happened. I only have the report to go on. It’s unusual not to leave more specifics when a patient is transferred, but I’m afraid it does happen if they’re in a hurry.”

Saki nodded a little to the nurse trying to pull herself back together. Her hope hung around inside her shaking her body, but she drew herself back. “Thank you for very much. I’m sorry for troubling you.” She bowed politely to the nurse and left the floor quietly. Any attempt to keep her thoughts under control proved to be futile. Focus became lost as she froze up in the hospital leaving herself a prisoner of her raging questions about Takako.

Chapter 92 – Second Meetings

In the intersection of the streets from Yuki and Saki’s homes, two individuals waited. They had been waiting for while under the expectations that the one that they were waiting for would arrive. The plan, which had only been briefly discussed, marked out a time and place for them to meet. It was not as though being delayed a few minutes meant that they missed their ride, but it was no longer a few minutes.

“What’s keeping her?” Yuki inquired out loud rhetorically, knowing that Ayumi had no answer for him. “She’s the one that insisted on coming. I didn’t think she’d be late.”

Ayumi watched Yuki pace for the twentieth time in a circle. She could see the grass that was flattened around where his feet had been. It became too much for her to patiently withstand any longer. She stepped out in front of his path so that he was forced to stop. “Yuki!” He nearly ran her down before she interrupted the spiraling thoughts that consumed him. “Finally…perhaps she changed her mind.”

Yuki shook his head furiously in disagreement. “No! Saki doesn’t change her mind once she’s made a decision! There’s something wrong!”

It became clear to Ayumi that it was going to be difficult to flatly convince Yuki. She saw that his mind was set. “I doubt that there’s anything wrong with Saki. She’s pretty good at taking care of herself.”

“But I can’t leave without knowing what happened to Saki! She could be in danger!”


Ayumi closed her eyes for a moment trying to find a way out of the stalling. The forceful options that she could take would only end up back firing on her later. She knew how Yuki was about Saki. “Are you forgetting that she did take out that gang leader? And she did fight one of the assassins. It’s more likely that something is delaying her.”

He had to give it a brief consideration when he remembered what she had done. However, Yuki remained at his previous decision. “Then we wait until she does show up!”

A sigh from Ayumi made her regret hearing those words. ‘This is just going in circles. We need to move…’ She reached into her large packed bag for something. Paper appeared along with a pen that she quickly made use of. “Then how about this?” Ayumi showed him the paper that had simple instructions to where to meet them. “When she shows up this will tell her where to meet us, okay?”

“But if we leave now how will she catch up to us? We’ll just have to wait there for her.”

Another sigh, though in disappointment, came from Ayumi. She searched around the area quickly for a safe place for the note before returning back to Yuki. “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”

“Huh?”

She pushed at his back to get him moving now that she had him more convinced. He held some of his stubbornness still, though mostly on confusion. “Trust me when I say that if she finds it before we get there then she’ll probably be waiting on us.”

Yuki looked over his shoulder letting his feet get walked by Ayumi. He stared down at her trying to figure out what she was talking about. “But you’re not making any sense, Ayumi!”

“Just keep moving! I’d like to be on our way before full light!”

“Hey! Stop pushing, Ayumi!”


Under the knoll of the great tree Seiji and Fumiko sat waiting for the appointed time. Fumiko left home quite a bit earlier than she planned with her parents still not understanding. She thought they would calm down if she gave them time to think about it. The sour feeling in her stomach had remained through the entire night as she tried to sleep. It combined with her parents repeated yelling making her leave. She had used her window and escaped with the aid of her magic. The ache in her stomach continued to persist as she waited.

She looked down at the bag that she had packed of clothes and a few other items that would have seemed like she was going camping. ‘I hope I didn’t pack too much or too little… I don’t know where we’re going…’ The closest idea she had of their destination was the assassin woman that had nearly killed her at the school. Unfortunately, the pieces that she remembered barely painted a picture for her. ‘I wonder if I should have brought anything, he didn’t…’

Fumiko adjusted the bag nervously a little before casting it aside behind her. The rough looking teenager that slept across from her, Seiji, made her hope for some more answers. He seemed to know the situation better. “Are you awake?”

“…sorta…” whispered Seiji not moving himself to address her.

Sensing a distant pushing attitude, Fumiko became more self-conscious of what she was doing. “I’m sorry for waking you up. I was just wondering if you might know where it is Yuki is going.”

“Nope.”

“I see.” The sound of shoes scraping over rough terrain pulled Fumiko attention away from Seiji. ‘Someone else has arrived…’ She stood up and approached the slope of the roots to help whoever came out of the darkness. Yori broke first followed by Yumi a meter behind him. “President Mizuno!” She sounded excited and relieved to see someone else, and someone that was more approachable.

Yori nodded to Fumiko and sat his small bag down. He turned back quickly to Fumiko. “We’re not in school so I’m not carrying my title. You can just call me Yori.” He was a little hesitant about having her calling him by his first name, but he knew that Yumi would have insisted otherwise.

“And you can call me Yumi as well!” Yumi cheerful declared standing next to her brother.

Fumiko gave them an uncertain nod of agreement. “If you’re sure… You can call me Fumiko then!”

“I’m sorry that we’re so late!” Yumi looked around the hill to try to see who else had arrived. The sight of only Seiji saddened her a little. She turned back to Fumiko to check. “Is this all who came?”

“Yes…”

Yori tilted his head over to Yumi. He knew that she hoped for everyone to come, but that ideal was unlikely. It had been clear to him from the meeting. “Considering how the little girl was acting towards Hayashi it’s unlikely that she would be coming. I can’t speak for the other one, but it is their choice to make.”

She lowered her head a little working out the disappointment. “…I know…” Yumi hefted her bag up and fixed it to a comfort travel spot on her shoulder. The determination and certainty that she had before surfaced in her face as she raised herself up. “Let’s get going then! We don’t want to miss him!”

“Right!”

“Alright!” piped in Seiji from behind suddenly. His appearance threw them all off balance thinking that he was ignoring them all. Seiji gave them all a confused look for their strange reaction to him being prepared. “What?”

“Thought you were still trying to sleep…” Fumiko flatly replied to him.

“I was just conserving my strength. Don’t know when we’ll be fighting so I’m not going to be wasting it.”

Yori and Fumiko leaned over to each other and whispered quietly. “So he’s not completely simpleminded,” remarked Yori.

“But it is still about fighting though.”

“True.”

Seiji broke in between their conversation sensing that they were talking about him. “What are you two saying about me?!” Fumiko waved him off like it was nothing to be concerned about, but he was not convinced. Even when they began to walk off the hill he chased after them not satisfied with them. “Hey, don’t just leave! You were talking about me! Weren’t you!?”

Yumi smiled to herself a little feeling like the group that they had was right. However, when she realized that she no longer saw them she panicked and ran down for them. “Wait for me! I know where we need to go!”


Early morning arrived at the docks in the east side of the city. The eastern part belonged primarily to another suburb, but in the end both were all part of a larger whole anyway. The industrial sector of the city saw just as much change and possibly worse off for it than other parts. Factories and warehouses may have still functioned, but travel and outdoor maintenance became nearly impossible. Until the area could be reclaimed it was effectively shutdown. No one roaming around made it easier for Yuki and Ayumi to navigate without dealing with unnecessary interruptions.

Yuki wondered why they were going into the docks. He inquired with Ayumi about their destination during the walk, but she remained very cryptic about the whole thing. Their arrival in the docks made the mystery all the more thick. He kept his pace with Ayumi, but shifted his eyes to her. “What are we doing in docks? We going to swim?”

She ignored him for several more paces considering her response. “You’ll understand soon enough…”

An annoyed scowl came from Yuki to reply to her vagueness. He dug his hands into his pockets keeping his bag firmly on his shoulder. Even for their trip she kept from him the details when he wanted to know what he should pack. He started to really hate being left in the dark about something that he was helping her. Yuki paused to check how far into the docks they had gone thinking about Saki still missing. “Shouldn’t we stop soon so that Saki can find us?”

Ayumi came to a stop being interrupted by something ahead of her. She kept her back to Yuki having become tired of listening to his insistent worrying over the safety of Saki. There held no doubt in her mind that Saki was safe, but there was nothing in all the languages of the world that could convince him otherwise. She counted herself fortunate to have convinced him to walk as far as they had.

She noted quickly to herself the obstruction before addressing Yuki. “She’ll be able to find us. Just like they have…”

“Huh? Who—“ He turned his head to look at Ayumi confused by her last words. However, she directed him with her finger pointing further ahead of them. In the front of them appearing to be blocking a very wide pathway stood four figures. It took him another moment to clearly see them. His eyes widened in shock and surprise while his mouth managed only confusion. “How?!”

Before any answers or greetings could be exchanged though, Seiji burst out of the line up and charged Yuki. Taken completely by surprise, he decked Yuki hard nearly dropping him if that had been his intention. “What’s the hell matter with you?!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Before any answers or greetings could be exchanged though, Seiji burst out of the line up and charged Yuki. Taken completely by surprise, he decked Yuki hard nearly dropping him if that had actually been his intention. “What’s the hell matter with you?!”

Yori and Fumiko managed to sweat a little surprised and stunned by his solution. “Guess he really does only think with his fists,” commented Yori.

“Yeah, after all that about saving his energy. He probably only was doing it so that he could punch him…”

Seiji snapped his head back at the two commenting on him. “Stop with your commentary!”

“He’s got good hearing…”

“Yuki!” screamed Yumi coming quickly to his aid. She tore him away from Seiji so that he could not be beat up any further. “What do you think you’re doing!? Punching him isn’t the solution!”

Seiji looked down at the girl’s pleading face, but held his ground. “I know him better than any of you do! I know what’ll get through to him!”

Amongst the arguing Yuki pulled himself back to reality. The sore throbbing pain in his cheek told him that something happened. In his confused state he tried to figure out why his face hurt so much. Eventually, he realized that Yumi and Seiji were standing in front of him yelling. The pieces quickly fell into place for him afterwards. Yuki pressed forward pushing at Seiji. “You hit me didn’t you! Why?”

Yuki’s voice pierced through Yumi’s yelling with Seiji. Seiji immediately turned to face him no longer interested in what Yumi had to say to him. “What do you think you’re doing here? Planning on leaving without telling anyone?”

Chapter 93 – Departure

The accuracy of his accusation made Yuki lean away from Seiji in hesitation. ‘This is what I wanted to avoid.’ Yuki remained quiet not giving Seiji a response.

“You got anything to say?!”

While Yuki held his lips shut, Yumi uneasily watched them. As the seconds passed for her it became more difficult for her to keep quiet. She understood the reason for why Yuki left without a word. She was certain that Yori and Fumiko knew as well. ‘There’s nothing going to be gained from forcing Yuki to say it. I’ve got to do something!’ Yumi stepped between the two boys locking stares with Seiji. He did not scare her despite the intimidating aura he was amassing around him. “I think it’s pretty clear why Yuki did what he did! Beating him up won’t change that!”

Seiji started to protest, but Fumiko and Yori appeared at his sides and started to pull him away. “Just give him some room. Pretty sure you’ll figure out once you calm down.”

“Stop patronizing me!”

Fumiko looked over to Yori and commented to him, “The little ninja girl’s right. He does know big words.”

“I have a name you know. I’d suggest you use it in the future,” Chiharu ordered lowly appearing behind Fumiko.

“You?!” shouted Fumiko stumbling away from Chiharu and Seiji. The sight of the little girl before her had stolen her breath and a year of life, she was quite certain. It took her a while to recover enough for words. “When did you get here?! I thought you decided against coming!”

Chiharu narrowly glared at the tall girl like she was trying to make it seem like the height made no difference, which considering her entrance managed pretty successfully. She did not even give an acknowledging glance to Yuki as she examined everyone that was present. A slight lowering of her eyebrow was all she gave. Once she finished she looked back at Fumiko. “It’s for me to decide what I do. An explanation to you is unnecessary.”

Fumiko recovered enough by that point to become offended by the little girl’s arrogant attitude. While she might have been using her height as an advantage, her perception of the ninja being small made her fear her less than before. “Now listen you!”

“See!” interjected Seiji seeing a moment to find a comrade against his obnoxious foe. “You understand why I can’t stand her!”

Haruo sighed to himself already starting to regret his decision to follow them. The idea of a group of noisy kids made him want to turn around. ‘Perhaps it would have been better to remain behind after all…’

Through all of the confusion, Yuki happened to glance around noticing Haruo keeping to himself. “Hey, Haruo!” he yelled out cheerfully, seemingly forgetting the fact that he did not want all of his friends around him. Yuki noticed the wincing Haruo, from being spotted, and he grinned.

During the greetings, Seiji had a surprising moment awareness and clarity. He threw his hand out pointing over at Haruo appearing to be accusing him. “How did you get here? Were you following us the whole way?”

A couple of the teens exchanged looks feeling equally curious to know how Haruo had found them. Yumi came out from around Yuki wanting to invite Haruo into the group, seeing out far away he kept himself. “Is that true? You were following us? You could have just walked with us.”

He hardly wanted to explain himself to them. Providing a reason for others was not one of the things that tried to give. It seemed more the case that they should just accept the outcome and not pry. However, when he glanced at Yuki he received a look from him that tried to encourage him. Haruo got the feeling that Yuki wanted him to take the opportunity. He remained reluctant, but gave into the request. It was in a fact a simple one. “I was following about a kilometer behind.”

“What?! A kilometer!” Seiji’s incredulous reaction drove him over to Haruo needing more of an answer. He peered down at Haruo with a demanding expectation in his stance. “That’s impossible! You couldn’t even see us in this darkness!” He pressed his position nearly invading the same footing with Haruo to get an explanation that made sense to him.

Lacking the height against Seiji did not make a difference for him. The rough exterior of Seiji had no effect over him either, considering his past. Standing his ground unaffected made more of an impression than words. “I tracked your smell.”

“My smell?” Confusion for Seiji dropped in first, but followed by something less expected. Rather than becoming angry for what could have been easily seen as an insult Seiji started to check himself. He wondered if there was something that he was missing and everyone else had kept to themselves. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because I slept outside doesn’t mean I smell! You some sort of dog?”

“No, I had my blood hounds track you.”

Seiji looked around Haruo trying to find the dogs that he spoke of, but failed. “I don’t see them. Where are they?”

“I released them. I don’t need them at this moment.”

“That’s enough. You shouldn’t keep pressuring,” interrupted Yumi. She saw that the half answers that Haruo was responding with finally starting to get on Seiji’s nerves. They had just begun to get along together and she did not want to jeopardize that so soon.

The priest-in-training begrudged her the request. However, he stomped back over towards Fumiko. It did not seem that he was finished yet. He had not forgotten about Chiharu. “And what about you? You keep popping in out of nowhere like you’re some sort of shadow! How’d you get here?”

“I tracked you by your smell,” she mocked. It did not matter to her how much it was pissing him off. She allowed herself a small curl at the end of her lips being certain that she could see his face turning red with anger. “You’re an easy one.”

“Why you…”

After one fire was fought off Yumi dragged herself in to prevent yet another one. She forced her body between them separating them. “Don’t fight again!” Yumi fixed them with a long glare each that actually seemed to work in making them back down.

Yuki managed some awe shocked looks watching Yumi handling everyone with surprising ease. He leaned over to Ayumi while Yumi finished up with them. “What happened to Yumi? I don’t remember her ever being this direct or commanding.”

“Perhaps she’s showing off for someone.”

“Showing off for who?”

She sighed in her own regret for thinking that Yuki would understand without her saying it directly. Her hand brushed through her hair taking a pause for consideration. It did not seem to be worth the effort. “Does it really matter? She’s keeping them under control. You should be glad.”

The sudden change in attitude from Ayumi took Yuki back a step. He felt like she was attacking him in an ever so slight manner. It made him stop to watch Yumi walking back to him. “Guess you’re right. She actually looks pretty cool out their putting Seiji in his place.” Yuki became drawn in a little by the changing that Yumi was creating before his eyes.

An interrupting glare from Ayumi broke him free. He worked to shake off the strange feeling. Yuki realized in the next moment that he needed an answer. “I’m glad to see everyone again, but why are you all here?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious! Same reason as me!” Saki shouted from behind Yuki, arriving late.

Yuki turned around surprised and glad to see Saki had finally come. A quick second of relief flowed over him before he ran over to meet her. “Saki! You were able to find us!”

She saw Yuki coming at her looking to give an overly excited hug. Saki took a swift side step, which blurred briefly, dodging Yuki’s tackle. As Yuki began to trip from missing her, she reached out to stop him. “You know I wouldn’t leave you to go off into the unknown without me!” Afterward, she positioned him back into an upright stance.

“Thanks…” Yuki said slowly hesitating a little after nearly being left to fall over. He looked back at the rest of his friends that Yumi had managed to wrangle in closer. Seeing how many that showed up left him a little surprised. He had not expected that people he had barely met, except under extreme circumstances, to want to help him. It certainly pleased him and worried him. The thing he feared the most if he had told anyone had happened. ‘I can understand Seiji, but everyone else? Why? When it’ll be so dangerous? Do they even know how dangerous it is?’

Yuki swallowed slowly still taking it all in. He checked back with Saki seeking some support. Unfortunately, Saki seemed to be fine with them coming and silently disagreed with Yuki’s giving into his fears. It felt like they were all backing him into a corner; however he could not let it stand. “You want to come with me? Do you even know what I’m going to be doing?”

Yumi made an acknowledging nod along with a couple of the others. “We may not know everything, but we do know enough to make a decision. You’re going to confront the people trying to kill you.” She held back on her fear that he would be planning on remaining. It was too early to try to start changing his mind.

“And those people are very dangerous. Look what one of them did to the school! There’ll be plenty more like that where I’m going. These aren’t the sort of people that you can handle with conventional thinking.”

“If a weakling like you managed to survive the assassins, then there shouldn’t be any problems.”

The attitude that Chiharu had did not surprise Yuki much, but he knew that she did not have any clue to what was actually happening. She was never around when he used his powers or any of the assassins. “Don’t underestimate them with a cocky attitude. They are nothing like the ninjas you’ve faced.

Chiharu attempted to bark back a quick retort, but Yumi cut her off. “We understand the dangers. Some of us have seen firsthand what they can do. We knew before we decided and we still came.”

Yuki took a step forward digging into his emotions for his counter argument. “Besides Ayumi, Saki and Seiji are the only ones to have fought them and Haruo is the only one with special powers. This isn’t something that you can do on determination alone!”

“I wouldn’t make quick decisions about us without understanding us,” began Fumiko speaking from the back and still being seen easily. She raised her hand up to the sky suddenly being covered in thin threads. Highly detailed and intricate writing glowed like ribbons in the area wrapping around her arm building to a red light. Small flames cracked through the developing orb until it was completely consumed. Once it reached critical mass the ball of fire exploded away from her palm sent into the sky. “We can look after ourselves and we are not without abilities of our own.”

It was Yuki that was interrupted then by Saki. “I think you’ve lost, Yuki. I think the only one on your side is Ayumi at this point. We’re all coming! Remember we can look after ourselves!”

Yuki sighed as he gave into their will. “…fine… Hope there’s enough room Ayumi.” He checked on Ayumi, who had held herself out of the debate. She looked mostly unfazed by the decision.

“Yeah, there’ll be enough room.”

Yori declared himself with a step out of the group and address Yuki. “Where will we be going?”

It took a minute for Yuki to think over it trying to remember before he declared cheerful, “I don’t know!” Everyone fell over to the ground suddenly completely taken off guard by the nearly enthusiastic declaration of ignorance. Yuki gave them all a confused look for why they were overreacting for him answering honestly.

“How can you not know where you’re going when you’re planning on going?! That’s the first thing you ask!” yelled Chiharu recovering before the others. “You’re not just a weakling, but you’re dumb too!”

A nod came from Yuki agreeing with her. “I guess I didn’t really think about it too much. Knowing where they are isn’t really going to change my decision on if I’m going or not.”

“Somehow that makes perfect sense coming from him…” commented Yori, joining Chiharu and soon the others.

Yuki turned excitedly and expectantly to Ayumi. A bit of a glow surrounded his eyes in eagerness. “So what is your homeland called?”

Sweat dripped down Ayumi reacting to Yuki’s energy. She held a minute longer increasing the suspense for everyone that waiting in anticipation. “Atlantis.”

There was a mixed reaction of confusion and awe (mostly from Fumiko and Yuki), while Yori seemed more calculating than anything else. Yuki took the stage fueled by his own excitement. “You mean like the legendary city of Atlantis? From Greek myth?”

“The city that sank into the ocean thousands of years ago?” added Fumiko.

“The same, though I assure you we are no myth.”

Ideas and theories ran rampant through Yuki’s mind. His reading selection provided him with enough material to come up with endless possibilities. The possibilities could not hold him. “So is it like in some other dimension or something? Why are we at a dock? Do we need a submarine to reach the city because you’re still living underwater?”

Ayumi did not know if she wanted to slap him or provide a legitimate answer to all of his overreaching questions. It required her to take a couple of breaths to settle herself down enough to deal with him. “We’re here for a boat. We’ll be traveling by boat to the homeland.”

Yori pushed into the conversation physically by stepping almost in front of Yuki. He grew tired of the childish questions and wanted a straight answer. “If we’re traveling by boat. Where is Atlantis located?”

“Antarctica.”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The Pacific Ocean breeze was stiff and cool for the morning. The further away from Japan the cooler it seemed to get until land was no longer in sight. Only a single luxury liner sailed the seas south that morning leaving behind everything. It remained skillfully undetected in its trip. Aboard the deck only a few strolled its polished wood floors.

Having such a large ship to travel in had left some of the guests a little uneasy for the trip. They stayed cautiously towards the interior, which was vast and grand. Each room proved to be far more than they would ever need for the journey. The grandiose vision suited a happier occasion, which was not weighed down so heavily by the somber aura that lingered underneath false joy.

Near the center of the over lit and sparkling dance ballroom sat Yuki in a semi-meditative state. The ringing clatter of shoes briskly walking towards him alerted his senses. He opened his eyes in the direction of Ayumi’s approach. “Hey Ayumi!”

The lowered brow and strictly controlled breathing made it clear that she was not pleased. “Must you always indulge your fantasies in such frivolities?” She came to stop in front of him crossing her arms. Calling her displeased understated Ayumi’s mood.

Yuki became used to her stricter hand from all of the training he had with her. He slowly rose out from his position unfolding his legs to stand up. “No greeting?” he began, trying to keep things light despite Ayumi glaring at him. A drawn out second hoped for even something. “I guess we have already seen each other today. So you don’t need to greet me.”

Her words became mingled with emotions that rattled at her control. “You think this is a joke?”

He leaned back a little from Ayumi’s pressing. It certainly had not been the first time that he saw a crack in Ayumi’s armor, but the frequency that he saw concerned him. “N-No! Of course not! I just made the first thing that came to mind that I thought would be comfortable for everyone.”

“This isn’t a pleasure cruise, Yuki!”

“I know that! You don’t have to remind me!”

“Do you really?! While you’re here there is an entire country of people uncertain living in fear not knowing why their king isn’t there! Not knowing if they’ll be saved in time!” Ayumi voice cracked and weakened with her words as though it was struggle just to talk about it. A slight shaking in her arms showed how much her discipline fought with her emotions.

Hesitation rose in Yuki as he watched her slowly fall apart in front of him talking about her people. He knew that they were in danger before from Ayumi, but he started to realize that she became like that every time she talked about the subject. ‘She really is worried about them… Even through all of that tough act, it’s eating away at her slowly the longer we take…’ Yuki did not know what he should do feeling almost like Ayumi could cry at any moment. He followed what his instincts told him.

He stepped forward looking into Ayumi’s shaking eyes feeling the deep pain that sat within them. Only centimeters stood between them as he waited to make sure he was welcome. Yuki slowly closed the remaining distance lifting up his arms wrapping gently around her. The fragile warmth of Ayumi overcame him. She reluctantly accepted his advance putting her shivering arms up against his back. It almost made him freeze in surprising holding her so close in such a defenseless and helpless state. He did not know what more to think just letting the moment hold for as long as it should. “Ayumi…I’m sorry…”

“…thank you…Yuki,” whispered Ayumi, her head resting on his shoulder not quite burying herself.

Chapter 94 – A Blue View

“I really don’t like this at all!” yelled Seiji over the deck as though he needed to be heard by everyone. Yori, Yumi and Fumiko all gave him the look that it was unnecessary to be shouting. Ever since they had left the docks Seiji held clamped tightly to the side of the railing. At first, it seemed as though he was just enjoying the youthful energetic pursuits of a free luxury ride at sea, one which he never would have seen before as a simple priest-in-training.

Yori reclined in one of the plentiful sun chairs appearing to be very relaxed. “I concur… This quite…unnerving…”

“Yes, I agree…it is quite unnatural!” added Fumiko resting on the wide banister with her back to the ocean.

Seiji pulled away from the railing in utter panic-stricken confusion. “How the hell can you say that with the way you’re acting!?” He threw his arms out shaking them a little incredulously at them.

“No, it really is!”

A cautious slit in his narrowed eyes looked at the two of them suspiciously. “You’re making fun of me again! Aren’t you?”

Yori dismissed the notion with a flippant hand jester. “It’s not as though you’re a tough guy or someone that tries to maintain a certain image.”

Two sharp strikes directly on target slammed into Seiji cutting him down quickly. It made it very difficult for him to fight back after Yori had been so piercing with his words. Bluffing his way through with bravado failed him already by complaining. He still managed to do depressed and dejected quite well though. However, it quickly changed when it thought that he heard them laughing at him. Angered fueled a second wind to stand him upright and glaring down at them. “How the hell can you not be freaked out by this dream crap?!”

“Yuki’s not dreaming. He’s just meditating,” Yumi boldly inserted.

“Don’t nitpick me! It’s real, but not real!” Seiji stumbled around his words still unbalanced by ship and further confused by what he was trying to say. He tried to figure it before when Yuki explained it and none of it really made a lot of sense to him. When he got a second explanation prior to the disembarking from Ayumi it made things only further convoluted for him. “None of it makes any sense. Just sounds like a dream to me!”

“You’re part right and part wrong,” echoed Ayumi’s voice from within the hall. Her undeclared arrival set Seiji on edge hugging the railing and the others looking more attentive than before. She stared at Seiji for a moment regretting the fact of what she was going to do. “As I explained before it is a type of illusionary power. We create what we want with our mind to make it real within the boundaries of our field.” The longer she went on the more it became clear to her that he was not getting it either distraction by irrational fear or too dumb to comprehend an explanation. Ayumi could only sigh.

“It’s like playing pretend when you were younger,” Fumiko translated, “Except what was pretend is now reality.”

Ayumi bit her lip a little holding back her frustration with her explanation being dumb downed so much feeling it as an insult. It became even worse though when she saw that Seiji actually seemed to understand what Fumiko reworded for him. She lost a moment of her composure in slack-jawed disbelief. It immediately followed up by the sting at her pride waking her voice. “I can’t believe you actually understand such a simplistic explanation as to insult our great tradition!”

Seiji shrugged to her a bit feeling a brief respite from his fear. “I can’t help it if your explanations are too complicated.”

“…too…complicated!? Complicated?!”

Yumi stepped in between seeing that she was needed to calm them down. “No one intended to insult your tradition Ayumi. You should be glad that Seiji understands now.” She focused on Ayumi seeing her at the one that was more in danger of completely losing her temper, even though she nearly had already. The different side of Ayumi had not been something that she completely adjusted to, since she had been used to seeing shy and happy Ayumi until a week ago.

The reluctance surpassed any expression she might have tried. They walked on her very core, much like Yuki repeatedly did as she recalled. She backed down though settling on Seiji not being worth it. “…fine…”

“I’ve got a question,” Seiji said, directed towards Ayumi in bold fashion acting like everything that happened a second before meant nothing.

“…What?” Ayumi responded curtly grinding the word through her teeth. She bore him a viciously narrow glare that had no room for wasting her time with pointless questions.

“If you’re so powerful why not just make a plane or some instant teleportation device to get us there faster than a boat?”

Yori sat up from his chair and leaned over his knees. He made a slight nod before re-enforcing Seiji’s question with one that had been spinning through his mind for a while. “I was actually wondering the same thing as well. It doesn’t seem like the most efficient method given what I’ve seen you do.”

The question turned Ayumi away from them slightly looking a little cornered and reluctant. Her hesitation only made everyone lean and press in becoming even more curious considering her reaction. When she looked back, prepared to talk, to find them all much closer than before her doubt increased. “It’s because…I’m trying to limit how much fighting we have to do while reaching Atlantis Going in from the air is going to get us spotted.”

Fumiko checked around with the others to see if it was just her. “That wasn’t a very convincing answer the way she said it,” she whispered.

“For someone so confident that was pretty weak.”

“…my boat…” mumbled Ayumi barely even audible to even herself. The sound of their whispers made her twitch. They already knew and were passing judgment. She was not going to let them. It embarrassed her, but she had to have it with her. She could not take their stares and looks of suspicion. “Fine! It’s my boat!”

“Huh? Isn’t it just a fake?” Seiji questioned leaning in around the others.

Ayumi shook her head. They did not understand. She was forced to explain it to them. “No!” she snapped looking almost insulted by insinuating that the cruise boat was her’s. “My boat is inside the boat.”

“Huh?”

The blank stare from Seiji made it impossible for Ayumi. She dug further down not wanting to tell them, but there was no other way for them to understand. It was important to her. “I make them, as a hobby. Well it was the only one I finished…” Ayumi turned away bringing herself up to the railing to rest her arms against. “It was the first time that I had been able to leave the palace. I never was able to do anything with it locked up in a secret room.” A look of nostalgia began to surface on Ayumi.

Yori and Fumiko shared confused looks with each other no longer certain where it was going. Seiji was even worse off than them and Yumi did the only polite thing she could think of by approaching the railing. Even if she said nothing Yumi could provide the sense that someone was listening to her.

A rare honest smile came over Ayumi taking in the ocean smell. She glanced over at Yumi noticing her and brought her into her world. “I always thought of the ocean when I worked on it. The feel of the breeze at your skin and salty taste through your nose and tongue. Open seas and boundless possibilities. I’d create little pools with my power dreaming of it, but no matter real it seemed I always knew…”

By that point in the reminiscing the others had joined in around hoping for a straight answer about the boat. No answer seemed in sight and Seiji planned the innocent victim. “Huh? What’s that got to do with no making a plane?”

Ayumi’s bubble broke and she turned back around to face Seiji. She tried to hold back her aspirated expression staring at him. “Fine, I’ll do the only that will get through to that thick skull of yours!” She marched off the decked leaving the others behind.

After she did not return they quickly voted on following her. In route a broadcast requesting all of them in the ballroom gave them their directions. They found her speaking to Yuki still confused about what was supposed to happen.

She spun around to confirm that everyone arrived in the room. “I wasn’t planning on doing this for several more hours, but we’ll be doing it a few times on the trip. So follow my instructions if you don’t want to drift out to sea.” Ayumi motioned Yuki back a little and placed herself at the point that seemed to be the center. A white oval appeared suddenly around covering almost four meters in length and a meter wide. “Stand anywhere within this white line I marked.” All she received was questioning and uncertain stares back. “Just do it. You’ll understand once we’re done.”

It took a minute for them to shuffle around in reluctance and feeling a little awkward. Once they finished though Ayumi looked over at Yuki. The white line disappeared and a strange weightlessness feeling over came all of them. “Do it. Remain as still as you can and don’t panic.” Suddenly, the cruise boat disappeared exposing all of them to the ocean below them with about ten meters to go before getting wet. Beneath them a small boat about the size and shape of a lifeboat fell into the water in anticipation like it was going to catch them.

As expected, no one held still starting to flail about helplessly suspended in the air. Yumi and Yori latched on to each other while Seiji and Fumiko wrestled for control of Ayumi as their life preserver. Ayumi coughed and choked on their struggling trying to hold her concentration. “I said…don’t panic!” Nothing was going to calm them down. “Fine! Just stop trying to use me as an anchor!”

Their landing in the boat was less than what Ayumi hoped for with most of them nearly being strung up by the edge of the boat. In the moments that they tried to recover themselves Ayumi closed her eyes and they were all suddenly rising again. The boat disappeared and wood planks appeared under their feet molding into a large room distinctly different from the one before, simple and unassuming.

Ayumi checked on everyone around her to see that they were all right, though quite shaken by the experience. She waited a bit before ending her explanation. “We’re traveling this way because when we have to switch would you want to be only ten meters over the ocean or ten thousand if a mistake is made? And we can use the real boat as a temporary platform between field changes. You understand now?”

Yori finally caught his breathe to look up at Ayumi. “You know you could have just said that without having to explain about your boat hobby.”

“Uh?! I-I…” Ayumi eyes widened when she realized everything that happened. Her mind played through all of the events quickly through her mind as it sank in. A depressed look shadowed over her as she collapsed to the floor. “I-I said all of that…why!? Have I become infected by his idiocy now!? What’s wrong with me…”

No one else said anything more feeling at a lack of words. They watched her quickly break herself down falling into a deep hole to try to run away from her embarrassment. They decided to do the polite thing and leave to let her be alone until she recovered from the shock.

Hours later Ayumi still mumbled words to herself left barely able to function enough to keep her field up. Everyone had found places to spend their remaining time until Yuki took back over. The boat was not nearly as fancy or over the top as Yuki, but it still functioned as needed.

At the rear of the boat Yuki leaned against the railing staring out into ocean. Saki arrived back having changed into a more summer wear, as the equator started arrive for them. She stuck to something comfort and certainly less feminine than the other girls were wearing for their summer. It was a simple long white shorts and pale blue tank top with an off white jacket. “Hey Yuki you going to get some sleep? Your shift starts in six hours.”

“Uh?” Yuki coughed absentminded. He turned back to look at Saki for a moment, but returned to the view. “Yeah, I’ll sleep soon…”

Saki stepped up next to him placing her hands out in the air playing casually with the breeze between her fingers. She tilted her head over towards him. “Thinking about it?”

“A little…” He shifted his weight on his legs suddenly feeling the awkward stiffness crawling up his knee. “…a lot… I feel like I’m just running away from all of the hell I brought down on them.”

“I’m not so certain it is hell to them. It might have seemed like that at first, but people are adjusting. I think it actually brought all of us together. We wouldn’t all be here now if it hadn’t happened. They have a way to be able to achieve what they want now because of what you did.”

Yuki thought about it having not considering Saki’s perspective. “So you think it’s a good thing that happened?” He saw her giving him an encouraging nod to keep going. “I guess it does depend on how you look at it…and things did seem to be settling down when we left. Yeah! By the time we get back life will be back to normal again and they’ll be living happily and normally!”

“Exactly! So don’t let it worry and weigh you down! They’ll be fine while we take care of this!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Late evening arrived on the ship. Yuki had already replaced Ayumi, who was sleeping mostly peacefully. The switch left everyone very much on edge and unable to sleep immediately. It was partly the reminder that they were not something real that could be easily lost with a single careless thought. The other half proved less plain and more racking on their bodies. None of them had ever been away from Japan before and some never even out of the town. They watched as they sailed away from their home and found foreign skies above them that gave less comfort to a sore soul.

Like the rest, Yumi wandered the halls of Yuki’s cruise ship unable to sleep. Her restlessness came less from the uncertainty of falling into the ocean like the rest. She trusted Yuki and that gave her strength against such fears. However, a different matter troubled her far more deeply. It kept her from being able to concentrate on anything. She tossed and turned before when she attempted to rest. Her mind stuck on one matter, Ayumi.

She could not escape the thoughts in her mind and the squeezing pain that wrapped around her heart. It tormented her steps as she strolled through another random hallway. ‘What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I stop thinking about it?’ Each time it rose within her images of Yuki and Ayumi flashed through her mind.

In the next hallway Yumi found that she approached the ballroom where Yuki focused on keeping the boat together. She did not know what had brought her to his door. Even if she left she knew that the thoughts would not stop coming. She needed a few moments of peace that perhaps Yuki could grant her. ‘Maybe talking to him would settle everything down enough to sleep…but what about?’

Yumi hesitated before the door not certain if she could make it into the room. Even her recently discovered strength was not enough to keep her heart from faltering upon the threshold. She had thought that she had changed to be able to not become nervous at the single thought of speaking to him. Yet it seemed that nothing had become different. It saddened her, frustrated even. She forced herself to look up into the room to find him, even if she might not enter. ‘I-I just need to see…Yuki…I—‘

A deep penetrating weight fell upon her heart dragging all of the air out of her. She had not been able to react. Yumi simply stood in the threshold frozen in a paralysis of her own emotions. There were no thoughts just the pounding in her chest that she heard making her go deaf from listening. Soon her arms began to shaking along with her legs. She felt ready to collapse at any moment. All Yumi managed then forced her to flee the scene until she made it to her room. In her room she fell to the floor still feeling every part of her shaking violently. A hot boiling sensation started to grow within that converted the shaking into spontaneous anger.

No thoughts controlled Yumi. Only simple emotions fueled her as she threw things across the room that decorated the space. Value or preciousness did not matter to her. She demanded a vent to release the consuming emotions inside. Yumi froze in the middle of throwing a glass statuette at the wall. ‘What am I doing?!’ She jerked back as she looked around the room to see the shattered pieces of what she had destroyed strewn everywhere. ‘What did I…’

As her mind traced backwards through the hazy it became clearer to Yumi. “Ayumi!” It had been far worse in implication than in the actual scene she saw. The image became etched into her mind left to fuel the aching that chipped away at her. “Ayumi was…she was sleeping next to him! Yuki was just letting her!” He meditated on his powers, but rolled up peacefully and defenseless was Ayumi on her side. She looked exhausted from holding together for half a day.

Yumi looked around the room again. It made her drop to the side of the bed hanging her head down. A tear streamed down her cheek prepared for the sorrow that welled up. “I’m losing…it… I-I…”

Chapter 95 – The Looming Fog

Near the front of the cruise ship the restless had gathered. Yori held off his uneasiness by focusing on problems that spun in his mind over the day. He had not asked for anyone to join him, but realized the continued company that he had throughout the day. Fumiko and Seiji frequently stayed nearby. Seiji reason became fairly apparently and he suspected that being alone was not something that Fumiko wanted. The others seemed to be satisfied with keeping to themselves, a poor quality for a group. He wondered how well they would do once they reached land where an entire boat was not available for them to distance themselves from the others.

Yori noted to himself how far that they had come. ‘The speed that we must be going to have already passed the equator in a single day… It’s very clear that this isn’t a normal vessel even if it does have the appearance of one. The flexibility that they have is staggering. Will they really need us to do anything with such overwhelming abilities?’ He looked back at the others that stuck nearby dwelling on the thought.

The fairy said that they all had powers, but Yori wondered what it was talking about when it had said that to them. He knew that Fumiko had at least the ability to create fire, but he had not seen anything else from the rest of the group. A little of deduction made him conclude that even without powers that Saki and Seiji could hold themselves in a fight if needed. The strangeness of the little girl claiming to be a ninja left him uncertain, but the mysteriousness of her made him feel like she might stand a chance. Haruo remained even more mysterious than the girl and he did not know if that would hurt them. The ones that he felt concerned about was his sister and himself. The ability to talk to each other was hardly anything useful. It was the most worthless ability to have when having to deal with someone that wanted to kill them. Yori knew that he would have to protect Yumi, but he knew that sounding brave to himself was not going to give him any more confidence to succeed.

Seiji shifted his weight against the wall of the deck. He looked frustrated and exhausted. No one said anything in the last few hours. He was left with only his thoughts and that could only sustain him for so long before he became bored. “Damn it all to hell! I can’t take all of this silence! Are you all just asleep or something!?” The moment after he yelled the other two stared at him with an annoyed expression that made him regret running off his mouth.

“Didn’t realize you were just a chatty individual,” remarked Yori.

“Thought tough guys were all silent types except when in a fight.”

Their critiques on him made him jerked back a little as though pushed. “How can you all be so quiet?! Don’t you have anything to say or talk about?!”

“This isn’t an afterschool hang out.”

“I know that, but—“ Seiji paused in the middle of his sentence. The words they had said before suddenly fully sat in his mind. He turned blue when he realized what was happening. ‘What am I doing?! I have an image to maintain! I can’t let this get to me!’ Seiji straightened himself back up appearing like he had shaken off his problems, but it only became more obvious to the others.

“Is the big tough guy getting scared?” whispered Chiharu into his Seiji as she appeared mysteriously hanging from the deck above. She gave him a wicked grin when he stumbled backwards startled by her entrance.

He wiped his ear trying to get her out of him as his feet danced about. “What do you think you’re doing? When did you get there?!”

“Only a moment ago. But I could hear your whining across the ship. It penetrates everything obnoxiously.”

“You really are looking for a fight!” Seiji charged for where Chiharu hung only to find his fist in pain for slamming into the wall. Anger washed over any pain that he might have felt. He started to search the deck trying to figure out where she disappeared to. “You too afraid to fight me head on? You’re just a coward!”

Chiharu stepped out of the shadows a few meters away from Seiji responding to his taunting. “I guess it would be boring to defeat you so easily.” She answered his fierce glare with a simple offensive stance that left too many openings.

He read her stance and smirked to himself pleased to see that it worked. The fact that she was younger than him like a child or even a girl did not matter to him. It became a matter of pride that she mocked him so often. Seiji charged for her ready a strike with his fists, but before he could even prepare his arm he found himself flying through the air. A moment later his back slammed against the deck. He blinked trying to figure what had happened and heard a muffled laugh from the kid. This fueled his anger even more setting him on his feet to hunt down Chiharu once again.

It did not take long for him to locate her as she stood in sight taunting him. The charge he made ended in the same results. Repeating the process started to become embarrassing and painful to watch as Seiji did not show any signs of achieving ground against her. It made him tired.

Chiharu shrugged her shoulders looking bored. “You can’t even give me a good exercise. Guess you’re as disappointing as the weakling.” The stance she had suddenly changed appearing to have had a new mood turned over with her decision.

“All you can do is talk!” Seiji charged the same as he had before for Chiharu. He went for a wide swing at her seeing leap away, but was prepared for it having seen her do it enough times while he was getting thrown. ‘Got her figured out!’ His hand grabbed her ankle and spun her around to her surprise. When he finished he left her denting the wall and shattering the glass of the porthole window. Chiharu fell down to floor having trouble moving. “Not so tough without your speed huh?!”

Seiji grinned in triumph down at Chiharu. She glared up at him with defiance. It took her a while to get the feeling back in her body after being thrown so hard. ‘He read my moves… After all of that he can keep going… Damn!’ Chiharu refused to bow to him and forced herself back to her feet. However, before she could do anything a person’s back filled her entire vision.

“That’s enough Seiji! How can you pick on a little girl like that?! I thought you were a better man than that!” Fumiko turned around to check on how Chiharu was doing. “It’s okay. I’ll protect you!”

Chiharu felt Fumiko hand on her shoulder and turned away from the tall teen. “Tch! I don’t need you…” After those words she disappeared out of sight.

“Chiharu!?” Fumiko search around the deck quickly and then ran off to hunt her down.

Seiji was left confused and puzzled trying to figure out why he had become the villain. “But…but…” The blow to his manliness took it the hardest.

Yori leaned at the railing knowing that there had only been two ways for it to have turned out. “That is why you don’t do that. You lose and you look like a weakling, but win and you’re a bully.” He pushed himself off and walked over to Seiji patting him on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay, eventually.” However, Yori stepped back in surprise seeing that Seiji was completely lost. It had been too much for him to handle. He sighed to himself. ‘How are we going to be able to survive like this?’


Travel to the south continued mostly uninterrupted. Ayumi swapped with Yuki in the morning and then again when evening came. It had already become very cold when the evening came and there were not enough winter clothes to go around. Ayumi had only planned on three and the others did not pick for everyone weather condition. It kept them inside where it was still warm, but it soon became more of a concern navigating the ice field that surrounded the continent.

The cruise ship pressed through cracking the ice along the surface proving again that it was not to be taken for appearance alone. Yori and Yumi stood on the bridge with a view of their destination ahead of them and giving directions to the voice activated ship controls. “If what I’m seeing on the monitor is correct actual land is only a few miles away,” reported Yori.

Yumi looked out the window into the thick void of the night where no civilization existed. Only the moon and stars provided light to see by. “Are there any lights we can turn on? Running into ice is one thing, but actual land is going to be too dangerous!”

“Would you like the search lights to be turned on?” replied a soft male voice, the computer that took their inputs.

“Yes! Turn the lights on!”

“Understood. Activating search lights.” Across the front of the ship thick beams of light snapped on casting out pools of light over passing icebergs and floating ice debris. A faint glow of reflecting ice in the distance signaled the land that Yori spoke about.

“If there’s someone out there they’re going to see the lights. I think it’s too dangerous to be alerting them.”

Yumi thought about it for a moment staring down at the flashing displays of information that she mostly did not understand. “If Ayumi’s Atlantis is out there then we’ve missed them. The coastline looks completely empty.”

“Ayumi’s people aren’t the only ones that I’m thinking about it. Antarctica is regularly used by scientists as well. We don’t want them to accidentally see us and then have to explain ourselves to them.”

She nodded agreeing with her brother. “You’re right, but we also need to be able to see. Can we turn down the brightness enough to see ahead while not being as easily seen?”

“The lights are adjustable. Reduce strength by 80%?” answered the computer.

“Yes!” The repeated questions in response to her queries started get on her nerves. She wished it would just act on her questions rather than second guessing everything. ‘I guess I should be grateful that it’s some science fiction computer that’s smart enough to interpret questions…still very annoying all the same…’

The door to the hall opened up letting in Ayumi. She took a moment to examine the horizon before speaking up. “How long before landfall is possible?”

“A few minutes would be my guess. So long as there isn’t any really thick ice to break through.” Yori flipped through the displays on the screen starting to become accustomed to the computer. He pulled up their targeted land to show to Ayumi. “You do realize that is over a kilometer high. There are other places we can go that are closer to sea level.”

“Height doesn’t mean anything. Keep us on course.” Ayumi walked out of the bridge returning to the hallway.

The siblings stared between each other a little surprised by how uncaring she was about the conditions. “She’s got ice in her veins…” remarked Yori trying to ignore the bad pun that he had just made. He saw out of the corner of his eye Yumi giggling to herself. It forced him back towards the monitor. “We’ve got two minutes before we run into the cliff!”

“I’ll let everyone know!”

Yumi sent out a message over the broadcast system informing them that they had nearly reached their destination. The plan had them gathering in the center where Yuki continued to focus on the ship. Revealed to them late, Ayumi retrieved arctic clothing that she had requested Yuki include in his ship. Once everyone was dressed for the weather they went out on the deck, Yuki included. His addition made everyone a little nervous, but Ayumi assured them very bluntly that Yuki had range (if nothing else).

“We’re going to hit the cliff soon!” yelled Yori looking around at everyone on the main deck in front of the ship.

Ayumi nodded in acknowledgement and nothing more. It had not been until the ship shook violent and nothing happened to them that they started to realize what happened. Unfortunately, their realization led to panic as they floated in the air. “We’ve got a long way to go. I’d suggest remaining calm.” Ayumi stared up at the faintly outlined cliff ignoring anything that might have been said to her or looks received. Minutes passed in almost complete darkness before anything could be seen. Then there suddenly was a glowing light that spread out in front of them from the moonlight dancing upon the snow and ice that stretched out for endless kilometers.

They found careful footing on the ice with their spiked boots digging giving them balance. Fumiko still managed to slip and fall, but there was enough padding that it was not as bad as she thought. She sat up not feeling certain about standing at that moment. “What about your boat?” she thought looking over the cliff.

Her answer came quickly as the previous field had already been dropped and a new one that made them feel very warm. After Ayumi prepared the field Yuki released his own field forcing their arctic wear to disappear, but then doubled up with Ayumi. Once Yuki carried her current task she released her field and focused on retrieving the boat from the ice down below. The whole process took nearly half an hour, but completed Ayumi had her boat and they were safe for the time being.

“Antarctica…” Yuki whispered to himself, scanning the foreign continent. He had always imagined that leaving the country would have taken him to somewhere a little more alive and warm. It left him feeling a little odd thinking about it. However, he knew that he had to focus on the problem ahead of us. “So where’s Atlantis? I sort of pictured it being along the coast…”

“We’ve got further to go inland.”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“We’ve got further to go inland,” Ayumi replied flatly. A completely brief and short statement left almost hanging with the expectation that there would be more added in a moment. However, the moment did not come.

Always the vocal one to bring up complaints, Seiji stepped forward working through the crowd to face down Ayumi. He looked to be in more control than usual when annoyed, but most of that was from having tasted the biting cold of the arctic. “I don’t see anything here. It’s just a bunch of ice. There’s nothing here!”

Ayumi refused to answer him. Her silence fueled the concerns everyone else had. Doubts grew among the group to question if it might all have been a lie. Yori took the time to speak up giving voice to the rest of the group in a calmer manner. “He does raise a valid point. Most of us have said nothing, but we’re here and there are no answers. Scientists regularly visit Antarctica and have reported nothing of civilization. Do you have a reason for this Ayumi?”

“Isn’t it a little late to be bringing up flaws in her information?” retorted Chiharu, being a surprising counterpoint. “If you have doubts perhaps you should have mentioned them while we were still in Japan and not half a world away.”

The slow breakdown began between everyone. Those that sided with their doubt held a stronger voice than the others that in their silence left themselves undecided. Fumiko straightened herself up wanting to give an explanation to their concerns. “You haven’t said too much to us about Atlantis or Antarctica. So all we’ve had to go on is our imagination. It seemed like we’d understand once we got here, but it is still just as mysterious. You don’t have to explain everything right now, but something for us to understand.”

“They’re right, Ayumi!” Yuki agreed. He had had enough of being left in the dark. The last month he left things go as they had been. He never planned on agreeing to go back with her so he did not think it matter that much. However, he was on another continent in the middle of nowhere. There had to be answers. Yuki leaned in with a step of his foot hoping that his time with her would open her up more than the others. “I’m tired of being in the dark. If I’m going to be helping you I need to know what’s going on here.”

Chapter 96 – Seeking Atlantis

The proximity of Yuki to Ayumi made her suddenly uneasy and pulled away. She tried to keep the red from filling her cheeks. “…a brief explanation…” she compromised. Ayumi stepped away and forced a stricter stance upon herself. She only blinked, but when she finished preparing her mind the entire scene had changed. Everyone gathered around her eagerly waiting to hear (except for Haruo and Chiharu of course). Ayumi pulled back even more rising to one leg as she leaned away taken off guard. “Out of my face!” yelled Ayumi, once she found her composure again.

Everyone fanned out further away from her while still keeping close to the center of the field. A definite difference in temperature could be felt the further away making it clear that the powers weakened in face of the strength of Antarctica’s frozen might. Ayumi cleared her throat forced to prepare herself all over. “My, our, homeland lies towards the very center of the continent. The borders of the kingdom are about eight hundred kilometers in, maybe more. We don’t exactly keep track since we normally stay inside our kingdom.” She thought on how much she could tell them. The previous problems with explaining complicated matters to Seiji proved to her that she had to pick her words far more carefully than she wished. She knew that the rest to be difficult to comprehend, even by those that lived in Atlantis. “The rest you’ll have to just trust me on. Atlantis is there, but is not visible to normal people. The world doesn’t know about what it can’t see. If I tell you anymore now it won’t make any sense. It is just something you have to experience to understand fully.”

Yuki held his hand to his chin appearing more thoughtful than was actually the case. “I think that is the most straightforward you’ve ever been with me. I didn’t think it was possible, even though it still manages to have your usual vagueness.”

“Are you making fun of me?!” Ayumi rumbled, raising her fist up in anger. “After I gave you an answer you’re going to be ungrateful about it now!”

“H-Hey, Ayumi! I’m sorry,” flailed Yuki, praying that he could calm Ayumi down. “I shouldn’t have said anything! I’m sorry!”

Before Ayumi grappled Yuki to the ground Saki stepped in to split them. “Alright! We don’t have time for this. Unless that boat of yours can transform into a snow truck or something useful. We’re going to have to start walking.”

Ayumi snatched herself back away from Saki. She calmed down her emotions and evened out her voice, surprisingly quick. “No it doesn’t transform, but we can make vehicles for travel. It’ll still be half a day or more to get the border, but it’s faster than walking.”

Once Ayumi told them the plan on how they were going to reach the border a small meal was laid out from the bits of rations and food that everyone brought. It seemed only natural that Ayumi carried the most, knowing better than the rest the length of the trip. However, her supplies did not have enough to support everyone. The others supplemented their food, but after two days it started looking very meager. They all knew if food was not found soon that fighting would be the least of their worries.

While the rest of the group laughed and joked around Yuki sat at the edge of the cliff with his legs tapping against the cliff’s sheer surface. The lateness of the hour did not matter much to him. Any exhaustion he might have had became drowned out by his thoughts. His eyes locked on to the distant horizon where he pretended Japan to be. ‘I wish I had said something… I just left without a word…’

Staring at the night sky made him think back of that night he left. It had a same feeling of darkness and cold like the one that filled him. He had fought with Momoko the night before he left. Even after he spoke with Saki he was left unable to finish his conversation with his sister. The weight of what he said and not knowing where to go with it cut off all of his thoughts. They both stumbled around words whenever they crossed paths in the house in the last day.

As he stood out in front of his house in the early morning uncertainty kept him company. It weighed his feet and tightened his legs. Yuki closed his eyes having heard the hundreds of questions in his mind already. ‘…Momoko… I will be back… Keep them safe until then…’ He thought that something more would have come to him. He hoped that Momoko knew and tried to confront him. There was no hope for him. Yuki turned away, hearing Ayumi calling to him.

Yuki tossed a piece of ice that broke off during their arrival. ‘I shouldn’t have left with us still fighting… What could I have done differently?’ He heard in his mind the fight replay through his mind. It remained as vivid to him as it had when it took place. ‘I can’t believe I said that out loud. I couldn’t even admit that to myself…’ Yuki choked up a laugh as he thought about it. ‘Saying it doesn’t make me feel any better though. It only feels worse knowing how much I buried it. Pretty pathetic that it’s such a barrier for me…’ A sigh escaped his lips.

From behind him, a sharp smack came to Yuki’s head. “Still moping around, Yuki?” grumbled Saki, leaning over the top of him a little with her hands on her hips. She bore down her piercing light brown eyes upon his head waiting for him to look up at her. However, he refused to meet her or even respond to the hit. Saki became annoyed quickly. “Enough with the emo act. What happened to keeping up your façade?” She waited until it become too aspirating to watch.

Saki ripped his hair back with enough force to lay him out flat. She stepped around him ignoring the fact that a cliff was only centimeters away from her feet. She dropped down straddling him around his waist getting a lock on his eyes. “You can’t ignore me now!” Yuki turned his head away from Saki frustrating her further. “What is it? I thought we agreed on the ship about leaving Japan?!” The lack of a response or even reaction made Saki lean and take hold of his shirt. “If it’s not that then what? Is it your family?”

A flinch in Yuki’s face gave him away. “I thought you were going to settle things with them before you left? What happened?”

“…I couldn’t…”

“Couldn’t what?”

“I couldn’t…”

“Repeating yourself isn’t helping me!” Saki saw that she was not going to get anymore from him. It forced it upon Sako to figure it out. She played through her memories trying to piece things together and remembered it. “Your fight with Momoko?! I can’t believe you, Yuki! You knew you were leaving and you didn’t make up with her before you left?! Now you’re acting mopey because you’re regretting it now!” She had had it with Yuki’s endless self pity. Saki hauled him up after getting off of him.

After Yuki returned to his feet she pressed her finger against his chest not shoving him with force. She pressed her position not giving him quarter. “You wait all this time to start worrying about it! When you need your head in the game! You made the decision and now you’ve got to live with it! Stop wallowing and man up!” Saki paused to catch her breath and became further annoyed by the stunned, confused look that she received from him. “Damn it Yuki! You’re worse than an irrational girl sometimes!”

Yuki did not know what to say until he heard the last line from Saki. Not too surprising, her comment that compared to an irrational girl struck the hardest and provoked a response. “I’m not being irrational!”

“He didn’t deny the girl part,” Yori commented from the background quietly amongst the others.

“I’m not sure what that says for him,” Fumiko replied back.

Chiharu stood in front of them and added her opinion, “Just goes to prove that he’s a weakling not being able to suppress his emotions.”

“You know arrogance is an emotion as well.” Fumiko did not receive a retort back from Chiharu, preferring to remain quiet.

“So prove it!” yelled Saki keeping in Yuki’s face.

Yuki made sure to lean in a little as well having become challenged by Saki. “I will then!” he replied not really considering his answer. It just came out of his lips as instinct.

“You’re going to do that simply? Saying it doesn’t make it happen!”

“I’m not just saying it. I’ll prove it to you!”

“Then stand on your own feet and keep moving forward!” Saki slapped him on the back jerking him forward into their gallery of friends. She knew partly that she drew an audience, but it still unnerved her a bit. She forced herself not to show that it affected her pushing through them now that Yuki returned.

Everyone saw that the show ended and tried to make themselves appear like they had something better to be doing. Yumi approached Saki from behind keeping in her shadow, but made her presence known. “Violence doesn’t solve everything. There’s a heavy weight on his shoulders—“

“I know!” Saki interrupted and on the edge of snapping. The pain within his heart was something all too clear to her. She watched him for years knowing. “But we don’t have the luxury of spending the time letting emotions and regret run their course. We need his head in the game and a good fist to the face is sometimes what guys need to wake up.”

Yumi tightened her hands out of worry. The fear of rushing him choked her and the repercussion it may have. “But we’re only delaying and it pushing it back. This isn’t resolving the problem. He’s got to have the time to sort them out.”

“When he collapses it’ll be up to his trusted partner to give him a shoulder to bare his feelings and support him. Until then I’ll make sure to keep driving forward to where he wants to go. That is my job as his friend…” Saki walked off having kept her back to her the whole time.

Yumi stared at her tall proud back and felt like she saw something deeper unnoticed by Saki. ‘Saki? Aren’t you the one he trusts the most?’

Yuki had found his focus and everyone finished their preparations. Since Ayumi appeared to have a plan, she took the lead. A large vehicle materialized in front of her looking like a snow plow. It had enough seating for five as arranged. The girls partnered with Ayumi while the boys stuck with Yuki. A ride on the trucks, through the snow and ice across a wasteland, hung over everyone’s mind. Trust in what Ayumi claimed became the continued point of concern for some. They barely knew her and her continued mysterious nature did not endear herself to them.

Everyone gathered up in their truck. In the distance on the horizon, dark shining mountains stood surrounding them with vast stretches of snow covered ice. Ayumi took the lead knowing where they needed to go and Yuki followed behind. He did not have worry too much about controls letting it do most of the work. The hours passed in solitude with only the rumbling of the engine and treads bleeding dully into the cabin. Most of everyone slept having not had the chance since arriving so late and unable to sleep prior. Some comfort in land beneath them gave them peace of mind, that and heavy fatigue.

The endless scenery continued to pass them by with no sign of anything. Plentiful rest consumed their time, but it reached a point where even sleeping was impossible. Seiji unsurprisingly awoke the last from a slight stirring in the truck in a patch of rough terrain. He yawned deeply before working on his surroundings. The windows held a little fog to lighten up the darkness. “Hey, it is morning or afternoon, right? Did I sleep through the whole day? I thought it was only supposed to take us half a day to get to her home!”

Yori leaned back from the front seat to address him. “It’s only been about half a day since we started.”

“Then why the hell is it night still?!”

“Because when you’re this far south during this time of the year it is almost always dark.”

Seiji looked a little ruffled, but crossed his arms leaning back. “This continent is annoying and weird.”

“Yuki! Make your field smaller!” ordered Ayumi through the radio.

Yuki glowered through the windshield at the back of Ayumi’s truck. “I’m trying to, but it’s not very easy as I said before!”

“Just do it unless you want to walk the rest of the way there!”

‘I didn’t miss the old Ayumi this much…I like the new her better…’ The last few hours had Ayumi frequently telling him to work on his field. The closer they came to Atlantis the more often that Ayumi yelled at him. Yuki grew tired of hearing her reminding him to something that was not possible for him.

Another hour passed with Ayumi berated his failures. However, on the last message Ayumi’s truck came to a stop. Yuki feared that her threats about walking turned serious. He stopped next to her vehicle and looked across towards the girl’s truck for answers. The doors to their truck opened giving them the signal that they did the same.

“I guess we’re walking the rest of the way,” Yuki tried to say cheerfully to the guys. He got a couple of uncertain looks back considering their situation. “Well let’s just find out what it is. We should be pretty close anyway.” Yuki hurried out of the truck not really wanting to face the looks further.

Ayumi stood out in front of the group of nine staring deeply at the endless abyss of Antarctica. She knew of their suspicions. Their answers would come soon enough. She turned back around finished confirming what she needed.

“So where is it?” demanded Seiji still holding his arm crossed. “I’m not seeing anything but ice cubes.”

“As I said before it’s not something that can be seen. But this is the land the Atlantis before you. Follow me and you’ll understand.”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

A barren wasteland of ice laid out for their view in every direction. The field of Ayumi protected them from most of the elements. Even still, the wind dug through like claws and fangs to grope at the teens. It managed a cool chill that left everyone feeling as though they had been splashed with cold water.

The words from Ayumi failed to provide any reassurance to the group. Seiji and the others that had strong doubts about the entire thing saw the lack of any proof to be suspicious. They went along with her vague explanations, but it seemed that every time that she came to a point that was expected to give them answers it failed. The emptiness they saw furthered their doubt.

Seiji spoke first, naturally, “You keep saying to go further and further, but each time there’s nothing! I’m thinking you’re just stringing us along.”

“But Ayumi says—“ tried Yuki before getting cutting off.

“She says a lot, Yuki! And we’ve yet to have any proof anything she’s saying is true!”

Yori kept to his spot still examining the situation. He found his own concerns about their progress. He wanted more information from Ayumi. The number of pieces missed prevented him from understanding. ‘It’s almost like she’s purposely keeping us limited and in the dark.’ He knew that left alone Seiji would not get them any progress. “I think we all have our doubts, but only a few more steps is not much too to ask considering the distance that we have traveled. I assume there’s a reason we can’t see your homeland from here?”

“I certainly don’t like being strung around,” Chiharu added, “So there better be something to good explaining things in these next few steps.”

“Seiji, if Ayumi says you’ll understand soon then she means it,” Yuki persuaded. “One thing I know to be true is that she tells the truth even to the point of being tactless.” The last word from Yuki gave him a chilling sensation down his back as though someone had just stepped on his grave. He refused to turn afraid to see the look that Ayumi gave him.

Saki stepped up slapping Seiji in the shoulder blade hard. “All you’ve been doing is whining all this time. Thought you were a tough guy, not some pansy.” She gave him a mean smirk taunting him with her last words.

He took the bait without thinking. Seiji leaned over to face Saki and got close enough to accidentally spit on her while he spoke. “Oh yeah?! I’m not letting some tomboy get away with that! I’ll show you who’s actually a pansy!” He shoved Saki aside into Fumiko and charged in the direction that Ayumi intended to take them.

Ayumi tried to speak up to stop Seiji, but she did not have enough time. She groaned to herself about dealing with children before throwing up a barrier. He smashed into it and nearly shattered it to her surprise. The barrier gave her the time to catch up to him and stand in front casting a heavy imposing shadow. “I’ll be going first. Follow behind me in any order that you wish. If you won’t want to trust me than you can leave your trust to Antarctica.” After her words she stepped forward and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Chapter 97 – Strangers in a Strange Land

The disappearance of Ayumi left the party stunned. It took them a while to react and approach the area where she stepped through. A few of them waved their hands through trying to see if part of them disappeared, but nothing happened. After the failed attempts they turned to exchanged stares.

Chiharu made the bold move to stand where Ayumi had been. She paused only long enough to check her surroundings one last time before diving into the void that Ayumi must have gone. Her body disappeared like Ayumi had before giving some certainty to the others.

Seiji kept quiet after seeing two of them vanish before his eyes. He had no room left to complain and the procession of the rest gave him a slight indignant look. The next few in the group went leaving only Seiji, Haruo and Yuki behind. He decided to take his turn to prove that he had no fear, though the muffled scream did not help his case.

“See you on the other side,” Yuki exclaimed with cheer to Haruo before going next. The moment that Antarctica became a black void he knew that he had entered the space everyone else had before him. His connection to his body seemed to stretch out until it no longer felt as though he moved. A great and gentle hand reached out pulling him forward as though the void itself beckoned him. The call summoned him as though to greet him home from a long journey grateful in his return for his absence was greatly missed.

‘I feel so warm and invited…’ It felt as though all of his worries and fatigue melted away in the warm embrace of his homeland. He had never felt something that made him feel so welcome. It forced out any thoughts in his mind. Only a blank sense of bliss stirred within the gaps. He knew of only one time before that made him feel as he did at that moment.

Yuki soon bathed in a bright light signaling the path. ‘Atlantis is beyond here…’ He reached out to take hold of the doorway. A yearning grew inside the closer that he came to the light. It felt so familiar. ‘Why do I feel like I’ve come home?’ The void shattered like glass as he broke through smiling wide. Excitement pounded in his heart. Atlantis stood before him. “Atlantis!”

However, all of the preparation and thrill seeking fell short of the magnificent vista that lay out upon everyone’s eyes. Even those ahead of him that had been there longer still stood in awe. A nearly cloudless sky of pristine blue hung veiled over boundless fields of grass and farmland. Warm soothing breezes comforted everyone. No sign of ice or the Antarctica everyone knew existed. It seemed impossible.

“Is this Atlantis?!”

“Impossible!” Seiji declared having appeared behind everyone.

“How is it possible for this to exist?!” Fumiko asked looking over at Ayumi.

Ayumi stepped forward and tilted her head over her shoulder to look back at them. “I’ll answer your questions later. Right now we have to move quickly.”

“Huh?” broke Seiji.

Yuki stepped forward to place himself in front of her looking for an answer. They had just arrived and already told to rush. He did not understand how a place that looked so peaceful presented a threat to them. The urgency to reach Atlantis for him still persisted, but a few minutes to gaze hardly seemed to be a problem. “What’s wrong, Ayumi? Why do we have to leave so fast?”

“I’ll explain later! We can’t stay here!” The sense of urgency in her voice mixed with danger. It made things clear that something was wrong.

“Why can’t we stay here? What’s going to happen?”

“We’ve entered the South Gate’s territory and they’ll know that we’ve entered.”

The rest of the group started gathering around them sensing the seriousness of Ayumi’s words. Ayumi led them away from where they had entered. Their view back held a strange mirage of ice that looked more like water that had been poured around the world. The water pressed back by only the mere strength of the world’s integrity. Further up away from the horizon filled the perfect sky becoming like a world trapped within a dome.

Yuki tried to keep himself focused on leaving, but the world held him in constant awe. Saki dragged at his arm to force him to keep walking. ‘We’re here…the place where I face my so called destiny!’

“I’m…really…sleepy…” Seiji managed before he collapsed to the ground in a peaceful dream state.

Yori looked back along with the others confused by what happened so suddenly to him. “He’s been sleeping for the entire ride and he’s still sleepy?!” He rushed over with Yuki to get a back look at Seiji. A few shoves and hits did nothing to change him, but redden his skin. The fact that he did not react to anything worried them. He fell too deeply into sleep to be normal.

Yuki shouted ahead to Ayumi needing an answer. “What’s wrong with him?! Is there something special in the air that makes it poisonous to outsiders or something?!” He worked with Yori to turn him over on his back for a better view.

“Nothing so hazardous or dramatic as that,” commented Ayumi. She stopped from her place and only faced them. The glare from Yuki demanded an answer and Ayumi sighed before relenting to his request. “Pick him up and carry him with us. I’ll explain as we walk. Time’s still of the essence.”

“…fine…” Yuki looked back to his friend relieved, but still worried. The attitude from Ayumi bothered him more at the moment. ‘It’s like she’s back to the way she was when I first met her. Why’d she change so much when we entered Atlantis?’ He cooperated with Yori to lift Seiji up to his back. Once Seiji’s sleeping body full weight pressed against his muscles he started to regret doing it alone. “Man, he’s heavy…”

Fumiko and Yumi approached Yuki seeing the state that he was in after trying to lift Seiji. “It’s too much for you to carry alone, Yuki,” pleaded Yumi to share the burden. She glanced over to Yori with the expectation for him to help.

“Yeah, Yumi’s right Yuki. You should let us help you carry him,” Fumiko added already trying to get Seiji off Yuki’s back.

Yuki raised his hand up to stop them. “No, I’m fine.” He tried to get to his feet again and failed. His knee jerked out stabbing his leg. “I could use some help getting to my feet though…”

Through stubbornness and reluctance they brought Yuki to his feet. He still appeared unbalanced and staggered to the side even on his feet. They hesitated to let him walk on his own, but he insisted. After a minute, Yuki seemed to improve finding his stride. A pace for everyone settled in pushing them away from the sky.

Once they marched enough to be considered brief stares began to pop up. Each of the pairs of eyes focused on Ayumi. She needed to give an answer that they would accept. Ayumi shifted her sights around to take it all in while she filtered through what she had. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning. Around Atlantis is a barrier in the shape a large dome covering the land completely.”

“Is that why we were unable to see it from the outside,” inquired Yori.

“Correct. The barrier has a number of purposes all meant to protect Atlantis from the outside world. The first is making it completely invisible and creating an illusion.”

“But that doesn’t prevent people from just walking in. There are bound to be scientists and explorers that have stumbled into here. And aren’t there bases within here as well?”

“That is the second part and is a little more complicated. It also creates a false sense of space. So people are further to the coastline than they realize.”

“Are you telling me that everything that science has done here is inaccurate?!”

Ayumi did not seem to care about the larger implications of Yori’s question. She answered him plainly as though it held no bearing for her. “Only when speaking of distance.”

Yori did not believe what heard from Ayumi. It made him sweat a little when she looked back at him confused to why he took it so seriously. The surprise he felt slowed down words. “So casual…”

“I don’t see the big deal. No one’s hurt and this is our land.”

“But you stay hidden from the world,” Fumiko commented. “Don’t you think it’s time that you show yourselves? This won’t last forever. Something’s going to happen.”

“Third,” continued Ayumi, ignoring what Fumiko said, “The barrier creates a sense of confusion when someone’s enters and followed by deep uncontrollable sleep. Which is the reason for his condition.” She pointed over her shoulder to Seiji peacefully sleeping on Yuki’s back.

“Why was Seiji the only one that was affected though? We all passed through the barrier.”

“That’s because my field protected you from the effects. The only way to enter is with someone that can negate the effects. He strayed too long inside the barrier realm before leaving. So he was affected while you weren’t.”

“What happens to the people that wander in here?” questioned Yumi.

“The last part of the barrier and the reason why we must leave. The barrier is connected to four gates set across the perimeter. Any entry is registered with the closest gate. Unscheduled entries are declared to be intruders until established otherwise.”

“What happens then?”

“A border patrol locates the intruder, wipes their memories and sends them back out.”

“But Yuki and you are Atlanteans. Shouldn’t you be able to get past the patrols with that?”

“No, Yuki is being hunted and as am I for trying to find him. All that would happen is getting captured.” A small forest and a brush ahead gave Ayumi hope for cover. She knew that the longer they remained in the open the more dangerous it became. She directed them into the bushes granting them rest for the moment. While they spread out, in such a disorganized manner as to throw away any sibilance of stealth, she peered out through cover to check their flank. ‘Their response time is ten minutes at best. But I don’t know how long we can evade them.’

“Is he awake yet,” Saki asked not watching her voice.

Yuki shook his head concerned for how long he slept. They had entered the lion’s den and he knew the dangers increased the longer they stayed. He knew Seiji would blame himself if he caused their capture even though it was not his fault. ‘I didn’t think we’d have this sort of trouble just trying to get to Atlantis.’

“What are we going to do if he doesn’t wake up?” worried Fumiko. She might have found him to be a little simple minded, but Seiji was part of the team.

“We just leave the deadweight behind,” replied Chiharu softly, “If they find someone they’ll probably not try to pursue the rest of us further. They probably aren’t expecting a group.”

“We can’t do that!”

“Quiet!” Ayumi snapped back trying to keep her voice from rising too much. Her fears proved to be stronger than her hopes. In the distance, the shadowed figures of the South Gate border patrol appeared. Time was running out for them. “The patrol is in the area. Keep down and silent!”

To be continued…