Junpei threw the door open when he unlocked it and saw a gruesome sight. There was a girl in a high crop top constricting Hanae. His sister's head was smothered by the attacker's busty chest. She was going to suffocate!
Junpei covered the short distance between them in a fraction of a second and with his fists high in the air. A shadow appeared out of the corner of his eye in an instant but he couldn't react in time.
His punch stopped half-way. It was if a statue held his arm in place. A hand had grabbed onto his forearm and held him back. He turned to look at whose hand it was.
Hikaru stared back at him.
'This bastard! I should have killed him when I had the chance!'
Junpei was about to smash him with his other fist.
"Stop it! You wouldn't to hurt your sister, here do you?"
Junpei saw the girl holding Hanae's shoulders.
"You came after my sister?" Junpei shouted. "Hikaruu!! you are the lowest of scums!"
"Brother stop!!" Hanae cried. "They weren't hurting me! Sister Hiromi was playing with me!"
"Sister?"
Junpei looked at Hanae closely and saw that Hiromi had only placed her hands on her shoulders and wasn't holding her hostage. He also saw some colourful strips of paper on her hair and shoulders.
'Party streamers?'
"What did you do to her..." Junpei growled.
"Nothing. We only came for you." Hikaru said stoically.
He would be a fool if them winning Hanae over meant he could let his guard down. He didn't know what stories they told to make Hanae trust them to get to him.
"What do you want with me?"
"We want to be friends"
"Friends?"
He was suspicious of Hikaru before because maybe he was a spy for Daichi and wanted to see if Junpei was a renegade. Now that they have found Hanae, they knew the truth. While Hikaru could be telling the truth, it was also equally likely that they were using Hanae as a hostage to make sure he wouldn't escape.
"What do you mean?"
"Specifically, I want you to join our attack force to fight the aliens."
"..."
Junpei went silent and squinted at Hikaru whose poker face was impenetrable. It was because he couldn't get any information from his face that made Junpei suspect him.
"Bahaha!"
Junpei burst into laughter. Hiromi and Hanae had an uneasy look on their face while Hikaru had a slightly amused smile.
"You come into MY house and mess with my sister and you - THINK, I'm just going to trust YOU?" Junpei said with a delirious grin.
Hikaru remained silent. He couldn't argue with him. Saying something like "I could have killed you anytime" or "I didn't threaten your sister" wouldn't be convincing for someone like Junpei. If things failed, he could kill them and move on.
He had cleaned up Hiromi's house to remove the reminders of her dead family and make her more compliant. It was also common courtesy.
However, it seemed that Hiromi was a better follower than he thought. He could tell she was willing to kill them both for him. It could be a front but he could feel that she would do ANYTHING for him.
Hiromi was waiting for his command. Just a snap of a finger and she would execute it.
"Jun... They are the good guys. Sister Hiromi played with me."
Junpei's eyebrows furrowed.
"Can't you see that could be a trick to make you think that?" Junpei retorted.
"Do you think the bad guys would bother doing that for a girl like me?" She quipped.
Junpei was speechless.
"The monsters you told me about; do you think they would do something that hard? They could have just captured me and killed us already."
Junpei couldn't underestimate his sister who was more mature than kids and himself when he was at her age. He had to admit it was strange when imagining that parasites who were sent to attack him and any witnesses would bother doing something tedious like playing with her. They could have surrounded the place and killed them.
But Junpei wasn't comfortable trusting them. He got the feeling that they were looking to benefit themselves and weren't interested in protecting him and his sister.
"They could still be up to something."
"... Isn't this good Jun? We don't have to be alone anymore. They want to stop the parasites too. My gut says we should trust them."
"Since when was your gut feeling better than mine?"
Junpei had always been right. Hanae always wanted to believe that there was good in everyone and even in the bad people. She was too naive.
"And you told me that there weren't any good people among them. But look in front of you. You're not the only one!" She snapped.
"..." Junpei clenched his jaw.
"We're humans who broke free from their control. Just like you." Spoke Hikaru.
"And I'm guessing just two of you are 'The attack force'?"
"... Recruitment is always slow at the beginning when the founding group is this small. I'm sure there are more 'liberated' out there."
"But there can't be that much of us compared to them. You're smart. You should know that. Why don't we just break through enemy lines and make sure the real military see what's under their noses?"
"Sure. That's part of it but we can't let the military handle this alone. It's better if a force like us is out there to help in the front or sidelines. Besides, a small faction like ours is extremely detrimental to their invasion force early on. The first wave of parasites is when their numbers are at the lowest."
Understanding dawned on Junpei's face. The parasites weren't on the offensive. Since their numbers were so small, they were equivalent to paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines. It was a stealth operation.
They needed to prepare to bolster their ranks before launching a full-scale assault. Although it seemed that if they could convert the humans one by one, they'd do that until the whole world is taken over. This operation was extremely delicate from the first wave.
This meant that there shouldn't be a debate on whether to establish a faction opposing the parasites. It was an essential stratagem in defeating the aliens. They needed to maximise their chances of winning the war.
However, Junpei was already inclined to joining the attack force. He just didn't feel comfortable jumping in so quickly without much thought.
Junpei knew one thing. He couldn't bear to watch his sister be eaten alive.