Masayuki could only watch as Yuki left. He wao do something, but it was impossible. Without their powers they were just normal humans once mainst some superhuman. Even if Yuki left peacefully, he didn’t like the way it was done. ‘This could have gone differently. I o work on my team more. They’re too out of trol.’
Once Yuki was gohey found their powers had returned. He could see their eagero go after Yuki after his boasting. “We’re returning. They aren’t a problem we o deal with right now. The terrorists are the bigger problem right now. The bance of power iy has been upset and there will likely be even more bloodshed before it all es to rest.”
Umari leapt back as the team rejoined. “Which means more fighting,” she replied with aed tone. The rest shared her immediate assumption.
He sighed and hat it was likely. ‘This is the worst way to maeam, but they get results. And right now I heir power if I’m t stability to Japan.’ If he had to wield darkness for the sake of justice, he would do so. It was the necessary price for doing the right thing. Masayuki was vinced of that. He was doing right.
Chapter 312 – Scattered Pilrs
Yuki finished up tending to the injuries Seiji sustained. Seiji wasn’t pletely thrilled with the whole idea of just immediate healing. It seemed like they were cheating. However, he wasn’t really in a position tue it at the moment. There were bigger problems that they o handle and he o be in peak performanbsp; “That UN team was damn aggressive. How you be certain that they didn’t make the attabsp; They were all over the pce.”
“Mostly a gut feeling.” Seiji looked at him a little ahat he was following a gut feeling. “Mostly. I’ll admit that it looks just as incriminating with them being there. But I got the feeling that they were iigating. Especially the way their leader acted. I ’t see him su act.”
“Not everyone is going to be good and righteous in an anization, Yuki. There is darkness in all groups.”
It didn’t take long for Yuki to know that Seiji eaking from experienbsp; They all sort of knew how that worked. There would always be good and bad people in any group. They couldn’t all be judged by the acts of a few. However, the UN’s position, iion and as were still rgely new and unknown to them. St through their home naturally left everyoouchy. Even Yuki was bothered, but he couldn’t take a against them he knew.
“Regardless of the UN. It’s the same as before. We ’t openly attack them right now. It’s the world’s polig arm. Attag the UN is the same as deg war with the world. That’s not a good idea right now for Japan. Adding to the reasons to fear us is a bad mht now.”
Seiji slipped on the new shirt that Yuki made him. It wasn’t something that he was ignorant of. “I’m aware of that. Doesn’t mean I’m always going to hold back.” He rubbed his scarred arm thinking about his brief skirmish with the UN team. “We were only warming up, but I could tell they were hel powerful. When we face them again they’re likely going to be even stronger. Those guys only live fhting and fighting powerful oppos. They’re a very dangerous group.”
“I’m aware of that. For now, I have my trump card to keep them in line if they e after us.”
“Yeah, but that’s not going to vihem to stop.”
“I know. The only ill win in the end is to fight them and prove we’re stronger. It’s the only thing that they’ll uand. But that’s not something for now.”
“Right, we still o find out where the hell Saki and the others went. They wouldn’t have been taken out by something like that. Saki’s too stubborn to go down.”
Yuki smiled a little and ughed in agreement. Seeing it worried him about the fate of his friends. The arrival of the UN group shortged them oime to process a to what they saw. But Seiji reminded him now of what happened. A devastating attack like that had to have killed a lot of people. “We o iigate the site. They might be buried or something.”
“Yeah, but how the hell you pnning oing in there? The UN is all over the pce.”
“My powers should cover us.”
“I might be able to help ahat,” a new voice spoke from the shadows. It was a young girl probably about the same age as Chiharu, possibly a little older. She was dressed up in a hoodie and loose pants with a couple of mispced straps of cloth hanging down. Had this been a normal Japan, she probably would have blended in well with the sery. But in the ruins and grass, she stood out.
Seiji immediately jumped into a defensive position not certain about the new girl. ‘I didn’t even hear her approabsp; How long has she been following us?’ The girl’s bnk ay expressio him very uneasy. He knew how much Chiharu tried to be heartless and unfeeling, but this girl actually seemed to succeed where Chiharu failed.
Seeing Seiji all ready to act, Yuki stepped out in front. He didn’t want to fight anymore if they could avoid it. “Who are you?”
“Name’s Rin Morri. I work for Hiroshi.”
“Are you my tail?”
“Figured it out, you’re not as dumb as he implied.”
Yuki’s brow twitched a little. It was a lot of his own fault that everyohought he was an idiot. He sort of desig that way, as it kept people off him and gave him a peaceful life. But now everyone was assuming that he didn’t figure things out. “That’s right. From what I saw talking to Hiroshi. I guessed him being the practical person the way he was ag, he’d do something to keep tabs on me. I am a very dangerous element.”
‘So he’s aware of even that,’ she thought. She had only been watg him for a distance, so she never got a good read on him. Up close, he had a pletely different sort of presenbsp; An ued, but pleasant surprise for her to be sure. “That makes things easier to expin then.”
“Yes, what did you mean by that you could help with log our friends?”
“I’ve received no unications from the base beyond my st successful che six ho. Given the scale of what happened, my best guess is that they triggered the base’s self-destrud aba.”
“Self-destruct?!” yelled Seiji, “You’re tellihat massive ass crater was from them blowing up their own base?”
Rin nodded. “Judging from the scale that I saw, it meets the expectations we had if we blew it up. My only guess is that they were suddenly overrun by the enemy. They weren’t even able to get unications out to me, meaning—“
“It was a surprise attad a devastating opening move,” finished Yuki. He saw the look of worry e across Seiji’s fabsp; It was only natural given that su attack meant a lot of people probably died and it ossible some of their friends were caught in it. However, Yuki could give him some hope. “But if the self-destruct went off, that means likely that it was triggered. So someone survived the initial assault and possibly more.”
“Right, Hiroshi wouldn’t have used it without trying to evacuate everyone. The best pce to look for them is actually at the fall back point we have as a safe house if we lost the base.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s a bit of a walk, but it’s in a safe part of town away from all the fighting.” She turned around and started to point in the dire that they o head. “I’ll take you there. We’ll be able to find ahere.”
Seiji rexed finally, though remained very tense. The thought of their friends iack gave natural . He just hoped they were all alive and safe. They had only been bae day and their home already tried to see them dead. Not the homeing they were expeg.
Leaning over to Yuki, he asked, “Any ideas about their safe house?”
“Probably underground like their other base if I had to guess.” It seemed like a pointless question. He knew nothing about their setup, but Yuki figured that Seiji just o talk about something else. His mind was likely not in the best pce at the moment. The same was for Yuki, he just had to hold out on hope they were all fine. He couldn’t let himself fall apart yet, not without knowing.
The walk led them into town to a pce that Yuki started to feel familiar. He had been through it before and got a sinking feeling he knew what was going to happen. And when they reached their destination with the bizarre, yet cool store front it only firmed it for him. “Somehow I just k.”
“What you know this pce?”
“Yeah, I think I told you about this pce while we were doing our tour for a month. Saki, Yumi and a few others came with us.”
“What is this pce then?”
“That’s a little plicated and hard to answer. Best to just think of it as a business.”
Ha slid open the door seemingly deteg their approabsp; She immediately reized Yuki and got a smirking grin on her fabsp; “Well if it isn’t the smartass crybaby.”
“Keeping the rude, pyful attitude still I see,” Yuki ented while patting her on the head. He passed by her aered into the main lobby of the building. “We’ve e to see your Master.”
She pushed off his hand, annoyed with his attitude towards her. Though she also seemed ahat she elicited ion from him for her ent. He wasn’t here for business. “Yeah, Master is tending tuests. Boobless-with-no-brains will show you.”
Seiji took some time to enter and only after Yuki kept motioning for him. ‘This pce doesn’t feel right. Something’s wrong with it. And that girl too. All of them…’ He hurried alongside Yuki, who seemed to know what was going on. “What the hell’s with this pbsp; And that child? Why is she even w here?”
“The simple answer is that all three of them are sisters.”
“That’s impossible! There’s at least a fifty year age difference!”
“I see you’re still bad with judging ages. I think it’s more like thirty, but yes. The longer, more plicated answer is that they’re all illusions of their Master.”
It was all really starting to hurt Seiji’s brain thinking about it. He only remembered some of the details from when Yuki told him about it. The reminder from Yuki only made him admit that he really wasn’t paying much attention to Yuki when he was doing his storytelling. The tour retty b and especially the traveling. He slept most of it away. But he remembered one important piebsp; “Didn’t you say this was from before?”
“That’s right. Her powers don’t e from me.”
“Then she’s—“
“There’s an Atntean in here?” questioned Nerine, who they had all sort of fotten about until she spoke up. She had been doing a good job of staying out of their business as she promised. But the thought of antean woke her up. “If she’s here then she’s an exile.”
Nodding, Yuki recalled the vague details that the woman gave them. “Yeah, she expi that way. Something about a mark on her body that prevents her from returning.”
“The Mark of the Exile, it’s given to MPs deemed a threat to Atntis, but that their crimes aren’t enough to warrant execution.”
“But I thought it was forbidden for any of you to go outside?” reminded Seiji.
“It doesn’t happen often. I only know of it being used a few times in all of our history and under very special circumstances. The risk is too great to have us out in the world.”
“You’d be surprised how many of us are actually out here,” a new voice said ing out of an unmarked room. A familiar face stepped through the threshold. “The public doesn’t know about most of the exiles.”
Nerine gasped for a moment breaking stoiature for a moment before c it back up quickly. She settled bato her normal stance, opening with questions. “Are you saying that the cil and King lied to the people?”
“Of course, they are always lying. That shouldn’t be a surprise.” Phoibe fully came out of the room and offered them entry. “But I believe there are more important answers you want at the moment.”
* * *
Masayuki stepped into the temporary tent leaving his team behind. Inside, several h-ranking UN officers stood going over the details of the damage. They pnned out possible strategies. It likely meant their deployment again. However, his meeting was with a different man ient. The ohat looked out of pce, wearing a business suit and carrying a polite business smile on his face.
The businessman was Takeshi Shigemitsu. A man that if he wasn’t in the suit would have appeared more like a college professor or a librarian than someone w for a rge corporation. Part of Arihyoshi, a pany with their hands in a little bit of everything, he worked as a liaison to the UN. Thanks to some special teology that they had developed due to the sudden trywide ges, they were providing the tai cells for those that they arrested as normal prisons wouldn’t hold those that they captured. They o put them somewhere safe for both their prote and everyone else.
Since he was the liaison, it meant that he worked closely with the man. In fact, he roached by the man with the bag of the UN to put together his team. All of the people on his team were supplied to him by this man, Takeshi. Masayuki didn’t know how he mao trol or even have such wild elements, but it helped him keep the peabsp; So he didn’t ask unnecessary questions.
“Wele back, Captain Ayabito.”
“Mr. Shigemitsu.”
“I hear reports that you had an enter with aremely unique Powered.”
“Yes, he had the ability to pletely nullify any Powered within his range. To the point that we just became normal humans with even our physical attributes stolen.”
“That’s very distressing to hear for our peace efforts.”
“He said that he didn’t wish to fight. So I believe we’ll be fine. I don’t think he is a terrorist.”
“Is that so? It seems that you were able to talk to this man. What did you learn about him besides his power? Even if he is not a threat to our peacekeeping efforts. Someoh such pht be a possible ally if he disable Powered.”
“I had sidered it. He looked to be a teen boy, maybe first or sed year in high school, bckish-blue hair, 160-165 timeters. His name was Yuki Hayashi.”
“Yuki Hayashi, you said?” Takeshi suddenly started flipping through hat he had on hand. He paused and the going. Then he came to a stop when he found what he was looking for. “You’re certain?”
“Yes, that was the name he gave. Why, sir?”
“This is something we’ve been keeping private, but since you’re involved now I should tell you.”
“What is it?”
Takeshi showed him a special dossier created by the UN for special iargets. Ohat they deemed major risks or threats to the stabilization efforts of Japan. It was still a small list sihey only began a month ago. But it was his first time seeing a cssified target. “Yuki Hayashi is the most wanted man in Japan by the UN.”