Story time over, Yuki had a few things to ponder. Yuki stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof. He stared out at the city with nothing particur in mind. “So you expect me tive him after just listening to this story?”

  “Yuki?!” Tatsuya excimed with surprise. He jumped up to hurry over to Yuki’s side. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he turned Yuki to look at him. “This is Hiroshi, we’re talking about. He’s a good guy in a terrible situation.”

  “And you think I didn’t already figure out most of that on my own? I put the pieces together well enough on my own to guess what happened. I’m still not going to help you kill people. Paint all the melodrama you want, I’m not giving you justification for your as.”

  g his free hand up, he hoped that Yuki would have seen reason. The urge to punch him was very strong. He tried to be reasoh Yuki. “You weren’t here! You haven’t had to live through what we have! What gives you the right to think you’re above all of us, when you haven’t had to experience what we have!”

  “I tell you I wouldn’t allow myself to kill my friend!”

  Tatsuya grabbed up Yuki and lifted him off the ground by his shirt. “Damn you, Yuki!” He had lost his patieh him as well.

  Seiji immediately leapt into the se taking hold of Tatsuya’s arm to try to free Yuki. “What the hell’s wrong with you two?! I thought you guys were friends!”

  Staring unfazed by it all, Yuki looked down at Tatsuya. It was the same sort of eyes he saw in Hiroshi. In fact, the look he saorse than the ones in Hiroshi. “My friends are dead. That much is clear.”

  “Dammit, Yuki! You ’t just e back whenever you want and think you look down on us! You left us to up after your mess!”

  “Then you should have left it alone for me to up.”

  Grinding his teeth together, he wao throttle Yuki for his blind y. The situation was impossible for them. He didn’t uand, but it was being clear to him that Yuki was never going to uand. They were too far apart now. “They were killing people! We did what we had to save lives!”

  The look in Yuki’s eyes suddenly ged. In that moment, he forced Tatsuya’s hands free from himself with just a light push from his hand. He then started to float away. “No amount of justifications will ge my mind. You’ve taken the wrong path and I will fix it all.”

  “He hates it! Every time he has to kill someoays by them until the end! He’s not the man you think!” It was a te ditch effort. He k was fruitless. Yuki was already vinced of their guilt. Even though he did nothing to a it. He stayed looking at them as though he was the judge. He was so different from who he remembered. ‘You’re right, Hiroshi. The Yuki we knew was a lie…’

  Chapter 317 – Parting Ways

  Forced to py catch up, Seiji hesitated a little looking at the aftermath. He was with Yuki in the agreement that they shouldn’t be killing anyone. However, he didn’t know any of them. They weren’t his friends. They were Yuki’s friends and he knew how much he valued his friends. ‘Yuki? Are you fih this? They are in the wrong, but they’re still your friends. Are you just going to abandon them?’ Hesitation or not, he didn’t want to stay with them anymore than Yuki did. He didn’t like the feeli from the pce.

  He jumped over the rooftops to catch up to Yuki. Using the air time in his jumps in h o Yuki, as he floated away, he stayed within talking distanbsp; “You sure about this? They’re assholes, but they are people you know.”

  “Yes, I’m more certain now. They ’t be allowed to settle this. It’ll just mean more bloodshed. I’ll put ao this fighting the right way.”

  “But isn’t that pce set up like a damn fortress or something the way you described?”

  “No fortress is impregnable, even more so when you have someone like me.”

  Seiji stared at Yuki, getting an odd feeling from him. ‘It’s good to be fident, but there’s something different about him. Is all of this getting to him? I o keep an eye on him.’ The whole situation was a damnable one. He could swear until the sun rose and it wouldn’t make him feel aer. ‘This is worse than Atntis and I didn’t think that ossible…’

  Tatsuya walked bato Phoibe’s shop. His blood still boiled from talking with Yuki. ‘Damn, I’m supposed to be cool headed one now. I got all caught up in it.’ Sighing, he drew in a deep breath trying to calm himself. His heart still pourongly even through his exercises. ‘I o be the support that Hiroshi requires…it’s the only way he still be himself.’

  Passing by the three women keeping the shop manned, he walked iheir temporary housing. He looked around for Hiroshi. It only took him a few moments to find him going around helping with the survivors. Tatsuya remained silent, while he helped an injured man with his bandages.

  “Well?” he asked Tatsuya, not blind to his presence or iion.

  “I failed.”

  Hiroshi paused for a moment and then finished putting the sling on. “How does that feel, sir?”

  “Much better, thank you very much.”

  “I’m gd to hear it. The doctor, she’ll be around to look at you when she . Things are pretty hectic right now, so just wait.”

  “I uand. There are others still worse.”

  “Yes…there are…” Hiroshi stood up and began to walk away. He moved with the expectation that Tatsuya followed. “He’s too na?ve. Did he leave?”

  “He doesn’t know what the real world is like.”

  Hiroshi grabbed out a couple of crates of bottled water. He started moving around the room handing them out to those in need. “It’s very true. The bigger problem is going to be how he reacts when he’s uo use his o hide behind. With his powers, we could be in for an even worse situation.”

  “The st attack wiped out a signifit amount of hting forbsp; Very few actually survived.”

  Taking a moment to think, Hiroshi leaned against one of the support pilrs that ran throughout the chamber. “Yeah, they killed a lot of us, but mostly just those that could fight. They seemed to kly who to kill. I wonder if this is something that they’ve been pnning this whole time.”

  “A little hard to believe all of their random attacks have been pnned for this.”

  “Regardless, the problem is Yuki is headed straight into the lion’s den.”

  “And we don’t really have the mao stop him or Takako anymore.”

  “We never had the o take the fight straight to her as much as we would have liked.” Haruo and Yori suddenly approached the two of them. Hiroshi looked over his shoulder at them. They likely heard their versation, not that they were trying to keep it private. “What do you two want?”

  Yuki finally came to a stop. The school returned in view of him, though still a far distance away. They were in dangerous territory now. Any further, they risked getting into an unwanted fight. It wasn’t something that they could go into without a pn.

  “So what are you thinking?” Seiji asked, since he already khat Yuki had something cooked up. He got that firmed before Tatsuya interrupted them.

  He crouched down on the roof behind a broken air ditioner unit. “It’s a twofold pn. The first is ralizing Takako’s powers.”

  “Do you know what they are?”

  “I have a pretty good guess based on what I’ve learned.” A ripple came out from his feet, but didn’t seem to ge anything. Then a strange shaped mae appeared nearby him. It almost looked like a microwave, but with more circur shapes that twisted around oop and sides. Ihe mae, through the clear panel, something took shape. “This should e her powers.” He poio what was being created.

  Seiji leaned in trying to figure out what was being cooked up. “What are her powers?”

  “Mind trol.”

  “Are you sure? That seems a little simple.”

  “Based on what I’ve heard on what happens to people, it makes the most sense. It’s a pretty cssic setup in stories, using mind trol or brainwashing to turn friends against friends.”

  He had to py Saki’s role, since she wasn’t present. The answer made Seiji’s face go a little ft that he would bring up literature as his reasoning. “Yuki, this isn’t a damn book. This is reality.”

  “Yes, but remember I also gave everyoheir powers. So whatever people got came from my mind. It makes the most sense.”

  “Yambling a helluva lot on your belief that this is following one of your stories.”

  Yuki looked up at him with a little bit of surprise. “You’re being oddly hesitant for someohat doesn’t like to think about things.”

  “When everyone else going in has been turned, I want to be able to keep fighting for the right side. We’re going to save Saki and the others, not to bee one of them.”

  “And if I didn’t feel certain about this I wouldn’t be doing it.”

  Staring at Yuki, Seiji read the resolve baked into his eyes. That was all he o see. He could believe in what he saw in his friend. “That’s good enough for me.” Accepting their fate, Yuki handed him the pleted creation. He recalled when he made something ba the inn that they were staying at for Yori and Fumiko. “This is what?”

  It had thin wires around it with a pstic material that stretched out ft. On the ends and segments there were small discs like metal caps. The whole thing didn’t hold a shape well, but had a clear design i.

  “It’s what will keep you protected from Takako. If she’s got mind trol powers, then this will keep your mind pletely isoted. It doesn’t matter if she does it through mental telepathy, optical invasion or touch, whatever method your mind is safe from invasion.”

  He stared down at the device getting a better sense of what he was supposed to do with it. “So we put it on our head? Won’t that mean this shit be damaged or removed?”

  “Anything I make is going to be able to be damaged. I don’t know what sort of effeanoteology or medie would have on our bodies. So this is the safest way, even if there is a risk. Just don’t go headbutting things.”

  “Right…” Seiji looked down at it a little cautiously. It looked unfortable, not to mention stand out. “You sure this is the right way to go?”

  Yuki affixed it to his head quickly and then just shuffled around his hair. He nodded back to Seiji to do as him. “Of course, just rough up your hair a little and it should blend in. I made it with some optic stealth features so it takes on the color of its surroundings. So as long as no one goes running their hand through your hair they’ll never know it’s there.”

  He really could only just put it on. While he was doing that, he focused oher part of the matter. “So what’s the rest of the pn? We storm the school?”

  A holographic model materialized between them. The soft blue lights lit up their bodies. “Sort of, it’s a little bit more plicated than that. But still pretty straightforward.”

  Pns discussed and agreed upon, Seiji was ready for it. They still had a little time before making their move. Yuki o make some final arras with the pn. So Seiji went off to scout around to make sure there was nothing to surprise them. At least that is what he told Yuki. Once he was out of sight, he ged his course.

  He nded on the ground after leaping through the city. It was a strange way of navigating, but something about it seemed natural. Not to mention, it kept most of the trouble from following him. He didn’t have any time for the strange mohat liked to e out during the night.

  “Sorry, Yuki.” He walked into the building and barged straight in. “Where the hell is the one called Hiroshi?” Seiji was in no mood to searbsp; Time was short and he o take care of things quickly.

  His shouting dragged out the one he sought along with Haruo and Yori. Everyohat Seiji wanted resent. Hiroshi looked suspiciously at Seiji. “What do you want here? I thought you left with Yuki.”

  “I’m here to help you.”