~Tokyo, Japan. 2:26 PM GMT+9
Kuroi Hana High School.
Akira sat there silently, and dazed as he did through most of the day, until he was awakened from his thoughts by a curious Hikaru who enjoyed watching his unusual unguarded and dazed expression.
"Did you even hear a word I said?" Hikaru asked with a small smirk spread across himself knowing very well Akira probably didn't.
Akira stared at him as he tried to recall everything that had happened within the past half hour but could not recall anything of significance. He hadn't even been aware that Hikaru was speaking to him.
"Not really," He sighed, not bothering to lie about his listlessness.
"Of course you weren't." Hikaru sighed with a small laugh at the end. "I was saying how we should probably check in with the kendo and judo club after school today, since we'll be participating in them on sports day."
"Oh," Akira voiced, now remembering something he had completely forgotten. "Right."
His mind had been so muddled the past few days, that he had forgotten he had agreed or more like had been forced to agree to represent his class year in the martial arts competitions on sports day.
Even after hearing Hikaru out, his mind still wandered to the events that happened that day. The day he had unusually lost control of his innate, and the day of the fire.
//Tokyo, Japan; 10:11 PM GMT+9; 36 hours ago//
The Devil's Halo.
"Akira!"
Akira bit his bottom lip before muttering, "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."
He was incredibly embarrassed and ashamed. Even as an S-rank, the only holders who still lost control of their innates were late-bloomers and children. He could barely look them in the eye.
"Akira," Katri took it upon himself to start. "Do you know the Holder of that flame innate that set the building on fire."
Akira froze in his spot as he feared the loud thumping of his heart could be heard through out the room. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, but that he couldn't. Every time he tried, he would break out in a cold sweat, his heart rate would increase, and his speech would fade. Every time, he would go into aa sort of panic attack trapping him in a cycle of misery.
"Akira," Lucien started softly with a smile, drawing Akira from the mental hole he was falling into. "Why don't you sit down so I can take a look at you."
Hearing his voice, Akira calmed down and did as he was told, taking a seat on the stole closest to Lucien, allowing him to check his pulse and the state of his innate using his own.
"Your innate activity is a little sporadic right now," Oliver stated, using a H.A.D device to scan Akira's current physiology as Lucien used his electric induced innate to decharge Akira's over-hyper innate cells. Something only Lucien is known to be able to do.
"I would recommend not attempting to use your innate for the time being," Oliver continued, ending his statement with a small sigh.
"I understand." Akira muttered.
"Why don't you go home and rest for now," Lucien said with a gentle smile. "You can come in tomorrow to help with the reopening."
"... Okay," Akira agreed after a bit of hesitation, but since he wanted to get away from the tense air in the room, he did as he was told.
"Lucien," Damien uttered, after Akira had left the shop.
"What was that?" Jin asked, wondering why Akira suddenly went pale at the question Katri asked.
"Long story short, "Lucien began with a long sigh. "The owner of the flame innate, alias Baedrick Coleman, real name unknown, is responsible for the death of Akira's entire family."
"...!!"
Stunned and shocked expressions claimed their faces, as their gasps filled the silent room.
"A similar story with most of us here I suppose," Lucien continued, recalling the main reason he had chosen each of them to join his team when he first became a team leader in Halo. "The night Akira became a holder, was the night he witnessed the death of his entire family at the hands of another rogue holder."
The room fell silent as they pondered on the slight similarities between their stories, though even as holders, Akira's was harder to hear. Though most of their emotions were numbed now, it didn't mean that they were all gone completely. Just shallow.
"I see," Oliver said. "Then when you said what happened was a result of Akira's last remaining emotion..."
"Yes," Lucien answered, responding before Oliver had a chance to finish his train of thought. "Some of us have one particular emotion that is more deeply rooted than the rest. Just like how Natasha's is envy, and Lesley's is hatred... Akira's is wrath. And his happens to be more deeply rooted than normal, well, as normal is for us anyway. He's just really good at maintaining composure... until he isn't."
"And then he loses control," Damien finished, satisfied now that he finally understood what was going on.
"Aniki," Satoma muttered under his breath, a bit saddened at Akira's story. He now realized what had happened to him wasn't anywhere near as dreadful as most of the others in the room.
"Oh, Satoma," A string of thought popped into Oliver's head suddenly. "I just realized that we haven't had you analyzed and graded."
"A-analyzed?" Satoma stuttered, a little frightened with the how scary the word analyzed sounded, given that he had once been sold off to H.I.R.E scientists to be experimented on.
"Don't worry," Luck spoke with a laugh, placing his hand on Satoma's shoulder. "It's not anything creepy or anything like that. It's actually quite fun."
"Speaking of which," Oliver continued, checking over his calendar on his device. "It's about that time anyway isn't it?"
"Hm?" The group hummed in question.
"It's been a while since the younger members of the team have gotten their check ups right?"
As soon as Oliver's sentence was uttered, the expressions on Lesley's, Jin's, and Katri's faces grew dim, with only Luck maintaining his usual mischievous smile.
"Ugh!" Jin groaned.
"No thanks," Lesley grumbled.
"So you guys can accompany Satoma there as you stop to go to your own check ups as well," Oliver stated, blatantly ignoring their complaints. "I'll get started on scheduling your appointments."
"Agh! Seriously?!" They complained, clicking their tongues as they detested.
"Is... Is this something really bad?" Satoma hesitantly asked, afraid of an honest answer. "I thought Luck said it was fun?"
"Only Luck thinks that," Katri responded with a forced smile.
"Just look at him," Jin added, turning him so he could get a better look at Luck. "The kid's deranged. He doesn't know any better."
"Hey," Luck sang with a grin. "That's not a very nice thing to say."
"T-then, where are we going?" Satoma inquired, causing Jin, Katri, Luck, and Lesley to stop their actions completely and look at him with grim expressions.
Then, with a sigh, Lesley answered. "Halo Japan Headquarters. The most annoying place ever."