K SIDE:RED Chapter 2.1

-The Golden Cage-

Anna was watching Suou silently from the shade of the counter.

With her small hands and feet folded and sitting while hugging her knees, the lower half of her body was hidden behind the counter as she softly peeked in Suou’s direction. It appeared as though Suou was using all of his power to ignore the little observer.

“Hey…” Suou’s deep voice filled the air. Kusanagi, who was cooking behind the counter, feigned an innocent smile.

“Yeah?”

“What’s up with that?”

“What do you think, she’s interested in you. Aren’t you popular. Isn’t it nice, bein’ watched by a cute girl.” When he said that cacklingly, Suou glared bullets at him.

Normally, Suou doesn’t care about other people. He was of course used to being payed attention to, having people try to gauge his expression, and having his every move scrutinized. He’d accepted it as a matter of course. 

But, when it came down to it, being stared at by a little girl with only half her face peeking out made it incredibly difficult for him to relax. Anna looked away in a manner that seemed very intentional, Suou moved his legs around irritably while leaning on his elbow, and Anna continued watching him as though it were deeply interesting. 

Kusanagi’s expression softened. It wasn’t a terribly funny situation, but…

“Hahah, this is great. Been a while since I’ve seen you act so straightforwardly annoyed.”

“Shut up." 

Recently, Suou had been seeming to wear away at his emotions in order to keep the balance between his power and his mind. To Kusanagi, seeing that Suou make such an immature face because of a child was delightful.

Before anyone realized, Anna, who had been hiding half of her body in the shadow of the counter, had moved forward a little. She was still balling her small body up as usual, but she was a bit closer in Suou’s direction, and now she was watching Suou from behind a chair. Suou’s face screwed up.

"Hey, what happened to Totsuka and the others? Make them take care of her.”

“Ah, Totsuka’s off with Yata-chan to clean up some outside business.” From that alone, Suou seemed to understand. ‘Hmph’.

Then, a red marble fell from Anna’s pocket. Anna started, watched the marble with her eyes, and stood up. The marble rolled along to Suou’s feet. He leaned down slightly and picked it up. 

He had heard from Totsuka that Anna may have clairvoyant abilities. Kusanagi and of course Suou had figured that the red marbles were likely the medium for the girl’s powers. Suou, in a way that implied it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say he was interested, looked into the marble.

Through the red gla.s.s, Suou looked at Anna. When he felt that their eyes had met through the marble, Kusanagi’s whole body shivered.

…They connected.

Without understanding why, Kusanagi felt that. Through the red marble, two different people named Kushina Anna and Suou Mikoto were set to the same channel and /connected/.

Suddenly, Anna’s body shuddered and twisted. Her small body then fell.

Before she hit the floor, Suou, who had kicked his chair aside and stood up, grabbed her in his arm.

“What!?” Kusanagi hurried out from behind the counter. While being held up by Suou, Anna twitched a little several times as though she were having convulsions, and then she went limp.

“I guess… we’ll need to call an ambulance, right…?”

“Yeah.” Kusanagi slowly let the strength escape from his tensed up body. He felt a cold sweat on his back.

“…what was that just now?”

All Suou had done was look at Anna through the marble he picked up. But at that moment, Kusanagi had felt that the two of them “connected”. 

Suou clicked his tongue.

“That was careless.”

Kusanagi frowned, and looked between Suou and Anna’s white face.

“What happened just now?”

“Probably, this one’s /too sensitive/.” Suou gestured at Anna, and then looked at Kusanagi to question what he was going to do. Kusanagi wordlessly replied by indicating the ceiling. Suou obediently carried Anna up to the second floor, and put her on the bed he usually used. 

It was hard to tell whether Anna, having lost consciousness, was even breathing or not without looking closely, and one would be concerned about whether she was really alive. Kusanagi properly covered Anna’s body with a blanket before turning to Suou. At the same time, Suou threw the red marble he had had clenched in his fist at Kusanagi.

Barely catching it, Kusanagi held the marble up to the light. Looking through the red gla.s.s, the world was stained red. He remembered Honami saying that Anna was only able to sense the color red. Perhaps Anna looked at the world through this marble. 

“This is…”

“That’s just a normal gla.s.s ball.” Suou threw this statement out and sat down on the sofa. 

“But, to that brat, it’s probably a key for the sake of connecting to the world.”

“A key, huh… then, that was…” Suou pulled some cigarettes out of his pocket and put one in his mouth. He then spoke around the cigarette in a slightly m.u.f.fled voice.

“She probably accidentally connected with me.”

Totsuka said that perhaps Anna had the power to “see” and “feel” something. If that power were to extend to a human’s inside and memories, then…

There was no way a seven year old girl would be able to look at Suou’s insides and be fine. Kusanagi sighed deeply, and also pulled out a cigarette.

“What should we do…”

Thinking of what would happen to the little princess their former teacher had entrusted them with, Kusanagi let out another sigh along with smoke.

The Nanakamado Scientific Research Center. 

-Is the inst.i.tution Anna was hospitalized in. Up front, it was just a medical research center. There was a hospital attached to it, and it was a general hospital that many civillians went in and out of.

But in truth, its real main goal was to treat those who had been harmed by incidents involving supernatural powers, and the research part of it focused on the research and education of Strains. It was a place like a combination of the golden king’s public and underground sides. 

“It’s really fishy, how they’re secretly grabbing Strains from the shadows.”

Totsuka smiled wryly at Yata, who was already raring to invade enemy territory.

“Well, even if you say it like that, most Strains don’t know why they’ve got their powers. In order to keep civillians from finding out about powers and panicking, and to educate Strains and hide them from society, that kind of thing is needed… or so they say.” He’d been told that by Kusanagi. However, Totsuka was also not able to shake off his suspicions towards this “Center”.

Ever since the incident the previous night where Yata and Kamamoto came in contact with the blue clansmen, Yata had had blood rushing to his head. Last night, Yata and company hadn’t known that Anna was a Strain, but when they were about to explain, Yata jumped to the conclusion that “those guys, I bet they’re doing human experimentation on Strains underground!” and even Kamamoto was going “that’s right, Yata-san! Let’s go deal with those guys!”. But what they were supposed to do today was examine the Center. Definitely not barge into it.

Totsuka was, in a way, Yata and company’s supervisor, but it was worrysome with just Totsuka who was a noncombatant, so they were dragging Fushimi along. Fushimi obviously didn’t want to be there, but in the end he came along without objecting.

Totsuka, Yata, Kamamoto, and Fushimi, the four of them, pa.s.sed through the general hospital’s wide entry hall. With the reception counter patients went to in the corner of their eyes, they went further into the hospital. Totsuka and Fushimi, in their comparatively normal clothes, were one thing, but Yata who had a skateboard at his side and Kamamoto who was portly, had blonde hair like a textbook delinquent, and wearing sungla.s.ses, stood out and drew stares.

“…Is it okay that we’re being really conspicuous.” From diagonally behind Totsuka, Fushimi said that softly. It wasn’t okay, but, well, it couldn’t be helped.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’ll all work out somehow. More importantly, Saru-kun, this is the way towards the research area, right?”

“…please go up the staircase further in.”

Fushimi replied as he looked down at his own terminal. Before coming here, they had had Fushimi using hacking to get ahold of the Center’s outline. Of course, the hospital side’s map was normally posted on the walls, too, but nothing about the research side was made public.

Following Fushimi’s directions, they continued through the hospital which was so big it would make a first-time visitor think it was a maze. After going far enough, the presence of other people got smaller all at once, and the staircase Fushimi had mentioned had a “authorized personnel only” sign on it, but they ignored it and went on by.

Going up to the forth floor and exiting into the hallway, silence hit their ears. Pa.s.sing by places without much human presence, and after the hallway had turned several times, that door was there.

“Past here should be the roofed pa.s.sage to the research area.” Said Fushimi as he looked at his terminal. Yata suddenly put his hands on the locked white door, and tried to open it forcefully. Fushimi kicked him from the flank, on the flank. 

“Ouch! What do you think you’re doing!" 

"As if it’ll open from just that, stupid.”

Yata looked sullen at Fushimi who looked exasperated, dropped his skateboard to the ground, and put one leg on it.

“I’ll just break this thing into bits.” As he said that, a red aura spilled from inside Yata’s body. Totsuka hurriedly held back his shoulder. 

“Now now, hold on!”

“What!”

Fushimi sighed ostentatiously from behind Yata. He then went in front of Yata, held down the nose of the skateboard with his foot, and got in the way so Yata couldn’t rush forward.

“Cut it out, dolt.”

“Wha!”

Being told that by Fushimi, who looked completely fed up, Yata turned red. In that opening, Totsuka dragged Yata away from the board.

“Kusanagi-san said not to make a fuss, right? Stop it with the 'if there’s an obstacle, break it apart’ approach.” Being told that by Totsuka, Yata frowned like a spoiled child. 

“Then, what are we going to do? Give up?”

Totsuka shrugged his shoulders in a droll gesture.

“Nope. If we went back here, there’d be no point in having come. But, there’s also no point if we make a fuss and people gather around. I’ll do it.”

“Eh, can you?”

Yata showed his surprise so straightforwardly it was rude. Totsuka smiled and stood in front of the door. He put his hand on the door, pulled back a bit, and confirmed the places that were locked. Fortunately, the lock itself appeared to be something simple.

Totsuka stared closely at the gap between the door and the wall- the part that was locked. Then, he filled his gaze with power. At that moment, Totsuka’s body shined faintly red. His head heated up, and he felt like the insides would burn up. He endured that pain by clenching his teeth, and just focused his power in his eyes. Straining out his body’s power thinly, sharply, imagining something like radiating heat from one’s eyes into a physical object. 

Like that, for tens of seconds. He continued to concentrate despite Yata getting tired of waiting and starting to fidget at his side, and filled his gaze with all of the thin power within himself. With a sharp noise, sparks flew from the part Totsuka had been staring at. After that, strength left his body as though the strings holding him up had been cut, and he wavered slightly. But, he stopped himself after only stumbling back half a step.

“It was a success… I guess?”

Totsuka smiled while breathing a bit harshly, and put his hand on the door to try pulling it. It appeared as though the lock part had been cleanly cut, and the door opened easily.

“…this doesn’t count as wrecking it?” To Yata, who said that in an exasperated way, Totsuka replied dully. 

“It’s okay as long as we wreck it quietly." 

As he stroked the cut lock with his finger, Kamamoto growled in an admiring way,

"But man, you sure are talented." 

Totsuka ended up hearing the same thing from Kamamoto as he had heard from Kusanagi that morning. In the red clan, Homura, most of the members have destructive powers. Within that, Totsuka was extremely weak combat-wise, but in place of that he was able to use his powers in strangely "delicate” ways instead of destructive ones. 

The bird of flames like a magic trick he had shown Anna that morning, and cutting off small objects with high heat. Of course, not only did they require an environment to quietly concentrate as well as time, and an extremely small amount of power, making it almost useless in battle but, well, it was pretty useful.

“But now I’m tired out… sorry, lemme take a break…” Letting some complaints spill out in the face of the lethargy that came after using his power, Totsuka kneeled down.

“We haven’t even started anything yet, you know.”

Even while making an exasperated face at the already exhausted Totsuka, Yata waited a little while. He gave Totsuka a hand when he got his breath back and tried to stand up again. 

After entering the research area through the door with the broken lock, Yata rolled his shoulder, Kamamoto folded his arms above his stomach, and Fushimi pushed up his gla.s.ses.

“Now then, let’s go uncover some evildoing!" 

Along with Yata’s yell, the four of them stepped into the Center’s research area corridor.

It was the usual, tiresome dream again. 

Suou was standing in the middle of a burnt wasteland. It was a vacant lot with only the remaints of crumbled buildings and such to be seen vaguely, with thin smoke rising, and a burnt smell permeating. Suou stood alone in the center of it. There wasn’t a single person other than him who was alive.

…no.

"Don’t come into someone else’s dream.”

Saying that lightly, Suou turned around. Behind him was a doll-like girl wearing lacy blue clothes. At a single glance, he understood that it wasn’t just an existence brought to life by his own dream. The girl standing in front of him existed as a distinct, different 

personality that had nothing to do with his will or unconsciousness. The girl- Anna tilted her head with her expression still blank.

“I’m sorry.”

She said that without a shred of apologeticness. Suou breathed in lightly, pulled out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth.

“…s'okay. In fact, sorry for showing you something weird." 

This was probably a result of Anna ending up "connected” with Suou using her power and the marble. They were sharing dreams. Anna slowly looked around the wasteland with smoldering burns.

“Mikoto.”

Suddenly, Anna called Suou’s name. His eyes widened slightly. He shouldn’t have introduced himself to her yet, but then he thought that Honami must have told her for just a moment, before immediately realizing that that train of though was idiotic. He and Anna were “connected”. Not only his name, it wouldn’t be strange if Anna knew everything about Suou’s past.

“Did Mikoto do this?” Even though she spoke in such a halting way, Anna said this strangely maturely. Suou didn’t reply, sat himself down on some remaining rubble, and breathed out some tobacco smoke. Come to think of it, this may have been the first time he had heard Anna’s voice.

“Do you know about the Kagutsu Crater?”

Anna tilted her head at Suou’s question.

“It’s something that happened before you were born, but in the past the lay of the land was a bit different. One day, the southern part of the Kantou region went flying, leaving just a crater.”

Anna silently looked up at Suou.

“Apparently, that thing was caused by a single human’s powers going out of control.”

To be specific, it was the power of the previous red king. Ones who become king have powers beyond human knowledge, but once they lose the balance needed to control their powers, the powers go berserk, and the king is disciplined by the “Sword of Damocles”. That discipline doesn’t only destroy the king, but also causes huge damage to what is around them. The falling of the Sword of Damocles is the one thing that must be prevented at all costs.

“…will that happen to Mikoto, too?”

In response to the small girl’s straightforward question, Suou smiled self-depreciatingly.

“Who knows.”

Honestly, there were moments where he thought that wasn’t bad. Moments where he thought he would want to just use up all of his power.

But the sight waiting after that is what’s shown in this d.a.m.ned dream. This was Shizume City, having been completely destroyed by Suou’s power. And that, to Suou, was how the future would be. 

Anna was silent for a while, looking straight at Suou. And then, she slowly opened her mouth.

“You have something you can’t throw away, don’t you.”

Suou frowned at her words. What a cheeky brat, he thought. Sometimes, he was a.s.saulted by urges to destroy that were difficult to control. Sometimes he wanted to let loose the aching power within him, taste a moment where his blood could boil, and throw away all the shackles binding him. 

However, Suou was aware of the things that he would lose if he were to end up doing that. And so, whenever he was a.s.saulted by those urges, in order to kill them, he would chip away at his feelings and ambitions, becoming like a living corpse. 

That was a way to protect the people around him from himself. 

“Mikoto.”

Suddenly, Anna spoke.

“Mikoto is pretty.”

Being called something he had never been called in his entire life, Suou made a questioning face. Come to think of it, he remembered that Anna was only able to see red, and that she was able to see the red color of his powers. He sighed lightly.

“You’re a difficult brat, too, aren’t you.”

Upon opening his eyes, Suou saw Anna, who was sitting up on the bed. Still lying on the couch, he turned his face to look at her. After carrying Anna who had fainted to the bed, Suou had nothing to do and dozed off on the sofa. And then, they accidentally shared their dreams, most likely.

“…Are you feeling okay?”

Anna no longer had a white face like she did when she fell. To Suou’s question, she nodded a little.

“I see.”

What a weird kid, Suou thought as he closed his eyes again.

Fushimi’s gla.s.ses reflected light from the monitor as he faced the computer. From behind, Totsuka and Yata peeked at what he was doing.

Yata and company had successfully invaded the Center’s research area and were breaking through the security of a computer to take a look at the data within. 

“Hey, how much longer? If you don’t hurry, someone’s gonna come.”

“You’re annoying. Be quiet.”

Fushimi replied in an annoyed way to Yata, who was irritably rushing him. Kamamoto was keeping watch at the door to make sure no one would come. Several times, someone would pa.s.s through the hallway and make them nervous. 

“…this, huh.”

Along with Fushimi’s small whisper, a search window opened. In it, Fushimi typed 'Kushina Anna’. Along with blinking words saying one had been found, Anna’s face appeared. Her doll-like photograph and profile were shown first. Within that profile was the matter of the day her parents died.

Kushina Tetsuya and Ayuri died in a traffic accident. They crashed due to a malfunction with their breaks. They both died instantly from cerebral contusion. 

Yata scowled at the facts written. Remembering Anna, who was so expressionless despite her age, he almost started feeling bad, and quickly shook his head. Fushimi scrolled down more. What continued down the article was written in a difficult, jumbled up way, but even Yata could tell it was talking about Anna’s abilities as a Strain.

Anna’s abilities were 'high level empathic powers’. On top of that, it was labeled 'danger levels high. observation required’. Yata frowned. 

“Is that kid’s power really something that dangerous? It’s just that she’s seeing lots of different things, right? How is that bad?" 

To what Yata said, Fushimi snorted a bit as he ran his eyes down the screen.

"In other words, either there’s a danger that it’s not just something like clairvoyance, or they want to be able to use 'because she’s dangerous’ as an excuse.”

When Yata looked like he was about to question that, Kamamoto moved. Jumping back from the door he had been watching out of, he whispered 'someone’s coming!’. Fushimi clicked his tongue, closed the window with Anna’s information in it, and forcibly shut off the computer.

The four of them hiding themselves in the shadow of a desk and the room’s door opening happened at almost the same moment. Opening it loudly, a man in a white coat came in. 

“Hm? Who left this mess out?” Saying that in a suspicious voice, the man approached. While the computer was turned off, they had ended up leaving a bunch of files open on the desk. 

Watching the man’s face from the shadow of the desk, Yata thought. Should they run across the floor and escape? But if four men moved, then surely they’d be noticed. There wasn’t any choice but to use force. 

When Yata began to stand up, having decided to beat the guy up and shut him up, Totsuka noticed it just in time and held him back. Without actually saying anything, they gave each other looks that said 'What are you doing!?’ and 'Calm down!’ silently, then Totsuka while still holding Yata down gestured at Fushimi with his other hand. 

Fushimi sighed slightly, moved along the floor, and when the man came up to the desk he swiftly got behind him. Fushimi hit the back of the man’s neck with a chop. It was light, but the man in the white coat fell without a single sound. Yata looked indignant and turned to Totsuka who was holding him. 

“Why’d you let Saruhiko do it even though you stopped me?”

“You were just going to beat him up like usual, right? I keep telling you it’ll be bad if we make a fuss.”

Yata looked away feeling sulky when Totsuka said that. That was true, so he couldn’t complain, but as it was, he felt like Fushimi was more trusted than him, so he didn’t like it. 

“Though, now that this has happened, it’s only a matter of time until they find out we’ve sneaked in.”

Totsuka, who looked unconcerned about Yata’s sulking, folded his arms and said,

“If we had to say what else we wanted to check out, it would be…" 

He looked at Fushimi, who said with a bored look,

"Of course, the place where they’ve actually got the Strains, right.”

It was a surprisingly peaceful scene in the place they reached by following the map of the Center Fushimi had hacked. 

Rather than a facility, it had an atmosphere more like a school dorm, and people who appeared to be Strains were loitering around. Coming this far, the four of them looked less out of place than they did in the hospital. If it was within the Strains who walked around freely, then there wasn’t a need for Yata and company to hide, and it was surprisingly simple for them to mix in.

“Things look unexpectedly free, don’t they. I thought it’d be a place more like a lab or something." 

Said Kamamoto as he hurriedly looked around the area. Yata shoved Kamamoto’s head down with one hand.

"Don’t look around! They’ll think something’s up!" 

"You’re noisy, too.” Fushimi said as he looked at Yata dully. Looking down at his terminal, Fushimi whispered like he was talking to himself.

“…the reason why this place is so open is probably just because the only Strains here are ones without particularly great powers. Guys with more important or dangerous ones would be more properly isolated… looking at this, that’s probably underground.”

Fushimi looked to the side at Totsuka.

“What do you want to do? If you want to get in there, then not making a fuss… I think it’ll be impossible.”

In response to Fushimi’s heatless, indifferent words, Totsuka smiled away in an unconcerned way. 

“That’d be bad. I guess we can’t go that far. We need to do our best to stay out of trouble this time.”

Without going in any deeper, then what they could do to get as most information as they could would be…

As Yata folded his arms to think, someone spoke to them from behind.

“Hm? I haven’t seen you all around. New guys?”

The one who spoke to them was a friendly-looking Strain boy of about seventeen or eighteen. Just what they needed. Yata put on a smile. With an expression so bright it was fakey, he went up to the boy and threw an arm around his shoulders like they were good friends.

“Hey, sorry, but could you talk to us for a sec?”

The Strain boy’s face was drawn when Yata’s smile suddenly invaded his personal s.p.a.ce. 

“Sooo, basically, we came to check and make sure you guys aren’t being treated unfairly. Got it?”

In the deserted hallway they had taken the Strain boy to, Yata was saying that to him in a threatening way, arm still around his shoulders. 

At a glance, it looked like they were in the process of shaking him down.

Yata who completely had the taste of a thug who was acting under the guise of friendliness, the huge-bodied Kamamoto who wasn’t saying anything but just standing there to the side, Fushimi who was boredly leaning against the window and looking outside with an unreadable expression, and finally, Totsuka whose thoughts were impossible to read under his smiley face.

The Strain boy was totally nervous.

“…um, no… there’s nothing particularly unfair… the food’s actually pretty good…”

“There’s something, isn’t there! Getting forced into human experiments called "check-ups”, or being treated like cows, or getting beaten up when you disobey at all!“

"No… not really…”

The boy scratched his chin with a completely troubled face as he looking from side to side as if to find a way to escape.

“In fact, since you can get some compensation if you cooperate with the examinations, some people come just because they want to… I mean, I’m one of them…”

“Aah?” Yata ended up letting out a threatening voice at this situation, where it seemed like the theory about the Center being the bad guys wasn’t matching up.

Strange. Even though the blues who appeared in front of Anna last night showed a bad atmosphere. 

“Even if that’s true for you, do you know anything about how the Strains with stronger powers are treated?” Totsuka asked with a smile.

“Not really… well, there’s lots of weird rumors, though." 

Yata leaped at what the Strain boy mumbled immediately.

"Hey, hey, there IS something! Try telling us.”

“No, but, it’s just a baseless rumor… that in the bas.e.m.e.nt, there’s Strains who were caught committing crimes and they’re being secretly experimented on to turn them into something like living weapons…”

“That, that, that, that!” Yata got excited and his eyes shone. In contrast, the Strain boy got less and less excited.

“…it’s seriously just a rumor. There’s not many guys who take it seriously.”

“No, they’re totally experimenting on Strains. My intuition says so.” Yata folded his arms and nodded to himself.

“Have any other weird things been going on?” When Totsuka asked, the Strain boy tilted his head in a troubled way. 

“Even if you say that, what’s weird and what isn’t… I’ve even gotten used to stuff like the 'Rabbit’s’ inspections even though they took me by surprise at first, so…”

“The rabbit’s inspections?” Yata frowned at the weird-sounding word.

“You don’t know about the 'Rabbits’? They’re the guys with the weird masks. They wear a creepy mask that’s got something like rabbit ears sticking out, and they wear something like kimono… they come at certain times and look around the center. It’s super creepy. Since they’re all wearing the same masks and kimono so you can’t tell them apart at all. Instead of a group of people, they feel more like different creatures…”

“…They’re personal guards." 

Totsuka spoke.

"They’re a group who never show their faces and their ident.i.ties are unknown. They wait on the golden king, and if they receive orders they’ll do anything… the reason why superpowered kings are able to exist without causing much of a fuss is thanks to the 'Rabbit’s’ information control unit. They show up when something happens that could cause a panic in society and make the memories people have related to dangerous things vague, apparently… I guess the 'inspections’ are them coming to check and make sure everything’s being run properly." 

Yata went 'hmph’ as Totsuka spoke while looking off into s.p.a.ce, trying to recall. 

"If the personal guards’ examinations are that exaggerated, then even if this facility is under the Golden King’s reign, it doesn’t seem like he trusts them all that much.”

Totsuka nodded. Watching Fushimi and Totsuka’s conversation, Yata went 'hmm’ and let his voice spill out. 

“Not being able to trust his own comrades or whatever, that golden king guy’s a weirdo.” He thought it was the kind of thing that would be unthinkable in Homura. Suddenly, he realized that Fushimi was looking coldly in his direction. 

Totsuka smiled wryly as though to intervene.

“Well, the golden clan is so huge compared to everyone else you can’t compare them, so it’s completely different from us.”

“You guys, you’re red clansmen… huh.” Said the Strain boy as he looked at Yata and the others. Kamamoto stepped forward, cornering the boy.

“Don’t tell anyone about us, 'kay? …Anyway, when those 'Rabbit’? Guys come to inspect things, do the guys here act like they’re trying to hide something, or anything like that?" 

The boy looked like he was desperately trying to think.

"Aah… well… the Center guys look kinda nervous before the 'Rabbits’ come. Come to think of it, Mizuchi-san also-”

Partway through what the boy was saying, Yata felt a chill run down his neck. Before confirming the situation, he followed his instincts and shoved the talking boy away before jumping back.

Where Yata and the boy had been standing a moment ago, along with a sharp cutting sound there was a silver flash. Yata’s cheek hurt. He turned around. To the side, he saw Fushimi get out several knives and get ready in the corner of his eye. 

Behind Yata and company, there was a guy in blue holding an unsheathed saber. Thin eyes looking out from under a long black fringe, and thin lips. Cheeks that looked smooth.

“You…” Yata glared at the blue guy. He felt blood run down his cheek. His skin had surely been cut slightly. He had been cut at from behind with no warning. 

“I didn’t think we’d meet again so soon.” On a face that looked like a Noh mask, the guy in blue wore a slight smile. It was the blue clansman Yata and Kamamoto had come in contact with last night.

“I said that the next time we decide you’re in the way of our mission, we’ll kill you, right?”  From behind the black-haired blue guy, another blue guy with light brown hair and the exact same face appeared, saying this while mixing glee into his smooth voice.

“…Yata.”

“These guys are the creepy twins we met last night.” Yata said in response to Totsuka’s quiet question without looking away from the twins in blue. He had a cold sweat on his back. He had only just recently become a clansman and didn’t have much experience, but he was blessed in power. And yet he (and, as far as he could tell, Fushimi) hadn’t noticed the blues at all until the moment they attacked.

“Haha!” Laughed the black haired guy in blue.

“Fufu!” Laughed the brown haired guy in blue as well.

“You’re intruders, aren’t you?”

“You’re who we’re too elimate, aren’t you?”

Totsuka looked between the blue twins who spoke alternatingly with a smile that was starting to look a bit nervous. 

“…if we surrender quietly, would you listen to what we have to say?”

“It’s no good, Totsuka-san. You should get back.” Yata dropped his skateboard to the ground and put on foot on it, getting into position. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like they’d be able to negotiate peaceably. They had killing intent leaking out.

Totsuka obediently took a few steps back.

“I’ll follow your warning, but in truth, we’re the ones at fault here, so don’t do anything rash. Our goal is to retreat." 

"If it were possible, I’d like to do that.” Said Fushimi in a quiet voice. The brown-haired guy in blue slowly drew his sword. The two of them took a stance with their swords pointing at their opponent’s face together. 

“Scepter 4, Minato Hayato.”

“Also Scepter 4, Minato Akito.”

“We will advance with sword in hand.”

“For our cause is pure.” The twins in blue said that in turn, in voices holding no emotion. 

“…for future reference, can I ask what you two’s 'cause’ is?” In response to Totsuka’s question, the two of them lifted the corners of their mouthes more. 

“The punishment of those who would break the rules.” The twins spoke in sync. 

Yata and Fushimi stood forward as though to confront the twins, while Totsuka and Kamamoto were behind them. If they hadn’t been like that, then Totsuka may have been the first targeted.

The black-haired guy in blue- Hayato move. He ran in Yata’s direction. To avoid his sword, which came down from above their heads, Yata slipped to the side on his skateboard. At the same time, he collected power in his right fist. The power in his right fist shone red, and right after the sword was lowered he tried to bury that fist into Hayato’s stomach.

But, right then, he felt a presence behind him. All of a sudden, the brown-haired guy in blue- Akito was behind Yata. Yata, who had been distracted by Hayato’s attack, had a sword soundless slashed at his back. 

…Shoot. 

These two aim for one person together. 

This was something he had learned last night. As he was about to click his tongue at his own carelessness, a knife surrounded by a red aura came flying. Akito’s saber, which was about to cut Yata’s back, immediately changed direction to intercept the knife.

The clanging sound of blade on blade resounded.

It was Fushimi. Fushimi was holding knives that shone red with the power he had filled them with. With eyes one couldn’t imagine from his usual unmotivated form, he was looking dangerously at the twins. 

“…is it your style to attack the weaker guy and take him down together?”

Yata was offended by Fushimi’s way of saying it. He had already experienced the fact that these guys wouldn’t fight fairly one-on-one, but he couldn’t accept the 'weaker guy’ part.

But, the twins smiled.

“That’s right.”

“Hey, hold on! Whaddya mean?! Are you trying to say I’m weaker than Saruhiko!?”

“Totsuka-san.” Ignoring Yata’s howls, Fushimi called out to Totsuka in a cool voice. 

“Protecting you is a pain." 

Totsuka nodded immediately. Understanding that he had been told he’d be holding them back, he grabbed the arm of the Strain boy who hadn’t been able to get up after being thrown away by Yata, pulled him up, and started to escape from there together.

"Saru-kun, Yata, what’s our aim?” Even while moving away from the sudden battlefield, Totsuka spoke. Fushimi replied in an annoyed way.

“To escape from here, right.”

“Right. Don’t get done in!”

“Please hurry up." 

Smiling wryly at how annoyed Fushimi sounded, Totsuka ran off. 

"Kamamoto, you go too!” Yata said as he glanced to the side at Kamamoto.

“Yata-san…” Kamamoto looked worriedly between Yata and company who were confronting the blues, and Totsuka who was leaving, while not sure what to do.

“There might still be other blues around. Go with Totsuka-san!”

“Ri, right!”

At Yata’s words, Kamamoto was finally able to decide, and went after Totsuka who was already running ahead.

“Now, then." 

With a bulging vein, Yata glared at the twins in blue.

"I’ve been reminded of the unfair strategy you guys use. Fine, come at me together!" 

Putting one foot on his skateboard, Yata let out a red auro that seemed to flow from his entire body. The red aura gained heat, and the room’s temperature rose abruptly. The aura in his right fist was realized and took the form of flames. The ends of the flames crackled. Yata turned his blazing eyes on the twins. 

"Don’t show off alone. Even though I had to help you.”

“Shut it! Don’t say something patronizing! I could’ve dodged it myself!”

“Hmm… well, I don’t mind letting you off with that. But since it seems like it’ll be too tough with just Misaki, I’ll help out.”

“I keep telling you not to call me by name! I’ll help out just because of that, too!" 

In front of Yata and Fushimi, who were quarreling, the twins tilted their heads together.

"Are you done talking?”

Turning back to the twins, Yata and Fushimi kicked off together.