A day before the Katsami storage facility incident, 1 and the rest his group gathered once more to start progressing their plan.
2 asked 11, "have you found anything we could use?"
"It says here in the logs that there is a child, Yashiro Katsui going out with a teacher tomorrow for a meeting. Should we make our move then?"
1 walked towards the pair, then asked, "where is the meeting? And who is it with?"
11 sighed before checking again.
"It says Akanori Toshai"
1 paused for several moments. "We can't risk it. We'll make our move another day. We definitely do not want to end up on his radar"
"who is he?" 2 asked, as he walked away
"The damned guardian"
*
After the incident, while Yashiro and Zuno were still on the train, there were 4 unfamiliar men who caught Zuno's attention.
Although they tried to hide it, there was some hostile air around them.
Yashiro was too engrossed in his thoughts to notice any of this.
Zuno began to wonder if he was their target or if they had something or someone else in mind.
[I do not have my permit. So, if they have powers, I'd be at a severe disadvantage but I can't put Yashiro in any more danger]
He got out his phone once more and began to type a message: "Izume, if possible, could you meet me at the haven train station? I'm with Yashiro, I don't have my permit and it feels we are being followed, I saw these guys before we got on the train, and something feels off"
Izume saw the message about two minutes later. She didn't bother searching for Zuno's permit, she just hurriedly left the academy and rushed to the station.
Zuno and Yashiro exited the station and started walking down the road that led to the entrance of the station.
He tried his best to act normal, while looking around to see if Izume had arrived. She hadn't.
He also noticed that the four men had also gotten off the train and were quietly following.
He was starting to get worried but his mind was put at ease as he spotted Izume walking towards him.
After the four men spotted her, they dispersed, and Zuno breathed a quiet sigh of relief, mouthing the words, "you're a life saver"
Yashiro smiled and greeted her but didn't even bother asking why she was outside the Academy.
The men grumbled as they realised their plan had failed. One of them picked up a burner phone in his pocket and called the only number on it.
"So?" The voice on the other end said
"We couldn't get him. The teacher he was with must've spotted us somehow and called one or more of his colleagues for back up. Sorry 5, we failed"
5 hung up afterwards without saying anything.
While 1,2 and 11 were conversing the day before, 5 had overheard the name of student who was going to have a meeting.
The group had familiarised themselves with the names, looks and powers of the children. So, 5 knew exactly who Yashiro was, and because he was still pissed off about what happened at the academy, he made plans of his own without the knowledge of the rest of the group, to capture Yashiro.
He was angry this plan had failed, but kept his cool and started working on another plan.
As the three of them walked back to academy grounds, Izume noticed Yashiro was unusually quiet and tried to ask if he was good. He nodded, and smiled at her but she wasn't convinced.
As they got back into the academy, Yashiro thanked Zuno for the trip and headed straight to his room.
Zuno and Izume went back to the staff room and Zuno relayed the events of the day to the rest of his colleagues, including the robbery incident, and the encounter with the strange men.
Afterwards, they all agreed that it might be beneficial to give Yashiro some space. So, Zuno sent an email to Akanori, asking to reschedule the meeting because it had been a long day for Yashiro.
Later that evening, while Yashiro was in bed, Rando knocked twice before entering.
"Hey, I haven't seen you all day. You okay?"
Yashiro nodded
Rando sat on the bed and showed a video to Yashiro. "I was watching this video earlier and couldn't help but notice something. It was from the incident earlier today. Apparently there was a robbery"
Yashiro turned to look at the video. It was a civilian recording of the moment Akanori swooped in to stop debris from falling on the people below.
"The current guardian is pretty cool isn't he?" Rando asked
Yashiro shrugged.
"What's wrong, Yashiro? I thought you'd be more excited"
Yashiro sluggishly sat up before responding. "Look how high the bar is Rando. As it is right now, I-"
Rando cut him off before he could continue, "Yashiro don't overthink this, he has had a lifetime to train and perfect his ability. Comparing yourself to him at this stage will only have detrimental effects."
He paused for a moment to allow Yashiro to speak but he said nothing.
Rando continued, "think of it this way. You haven't even spent a year at the academy but look at the progress you've made. Now, assuming you carry on progressing in the same manner, who knows where you'll be when you're his age? I'll admit seeing that is intimidating but use it as motivation instead."
Yashiro laughed,"you sound like one of the teachers. Are you sure you chose the right career path?"
Rando laughed and Yashiro then explained the events of the day, including the police car that exploded in a more positive manner. He explained how frightened he was when it happened and how much he froze at the crucial moments.
Rando did his best to encourage and reassure his friend, telling him that it's natural for humans to freeze up or stay still when chaotic things happen for the first time.
They spent the rest of the evening playing video games and eating junk food.
Although he rarely said it with words, Yashiro appreciated Rando's company a lot. He felt he could open up to him at any time and over time, the two had established an unbreakable bond.
2 days later, the students were out on a trip again. It was a rainy day, and all 21 students and a couple of teachers were at one of the big history museums of their city. To make them easier to manage, the teachers split the students into groups of 5 and one group of 6 and teachers were assigned to manage the smaller groups.
Yashiro, Rani, Fukuma, Chibi and Rezu were with Zuno
Rando, Minako, Chino, Murake and Koda were with Hirowa.
Aibuto, Sando, Tanori, Takeyomi, and Shihata were with Izume
Lastly, Hirase, Takegai, Mika, Hayasato, Dota and Sezato were with Ichisuda and Tokiho.
The groups went into separate parts of the museum and things were fairly quiet.
The museum was empty as they were there during school/work hours.
About 2 hours into the trip, a few men entered the museum. Even though they weren't anywhere near him, this caught Zuno's attention as his recognised their aura.
[No way] he thought to himself, as he looked towards the direction of the entrance.
"Kids, I'll be back. Don't stray too far from this location" He said, to the group of kids he was assigned to.
He hurried towards the entrance, while wondering [what do these guys want with me?]
As he went there, he notified Izume and the other teachers that the "stalkers" might have followed him to the museum.
As Zuno got down the stairs leading to the entrance, the four men from the train station were waiting there, with security guards and some civilians unconscious all around.
"Who are you?" Zuno asked firmly. "Why are you following me?"
One of the men laughed, before saying "boys, shall we begin?"
Immediately after Zuno notified the teachers, Izume told everyone else to regroup so the other sixteen students and four teachers met up and formed one big group again.
Hirowa did a head count and realised 5 students were missing.
"Izume, Tokiho, Ichisuda stay here with the other students, I'm going to search for Zuno and the other students. I don't really know what's going on, or why we can't reach Zuno anymore"
The men had specific codenames; Black, Red, white and blue.
The four of them were all tall and muscular individuals who knew and were in a group with 5 before he joined the order of Blight so they all shared similar traits.
As Red said "boys, shall we begin?", Black smiled, raised his hands, causing himself, white and Zuno to disappear in a cloud of black dust.
2 more people walked in before joining Red and Blue.
"You know what we have to do. We leave here with at least one kid. Kill anyone who gets in your way" Red said, before the men marched up the stairs and split up.
As Hirowa searched further, calling out Zuno's name as he did so, he and Red crossed paths.
"Who are you?" Hirowa asked immediately.
Red shrugged, then said, "I presume you're one of the teachers?"
Hirowa was slightly surprised, "where are the kids?"
Red smiled, before creating beams of red energy like things in his fist and lunging straight for Hirowa, who moved out of the way as Red punched a wall behind him, completely destroying it.
Hirowa took a few steps back and realised what was going on. He picked his radio from his pocket and sent a message to all teachers saying, "Guys, something is wrong. Get the rest of the students out of here. Right now"
He faced Red and asked, "Where is Zuno?"
"Oh you mean the teacher?" Red responded, with a grin on his face "he's probably getting disposed off as we speak.
Izume turned around, "Hayasato take everyone back to the Academy please. Tokiho go with them please to ensure they do not do anything rash this time. Ichisuda and I will handle things here."
Tokiho nodded and the students began entering Hayasato's portal one after the other. Everyone wondering what was going on.
As Tokiho, who was the last person went through, the portal closed. Just in time as two men stood in front of Izume and Ichisuda, with menacing looks on their faces.
Ichisuda looked at Izume with a slightly worried expression on his face. She hadn't brought any of her guns with her because it was a school trip to a museum. So, naturally, guns would not be allowed.
With this in mind, Ichisuda took off his pinky ring and dashed at the two assailants.
As this happened, Blue told his partner, "Get the woman, I'll handle him"
Ichisuda's fist connected with his opponents chest but to his surprise, Blue didn't budge.
He smirked as a blue light emanated from the point of impact and spread to the rest of his body.
"My turn" He said, before punching Ichisuda, sending him crashing through the walls behind and into a different room in the museum.
Izume, seeing Ichisuda fly past her realised the enemy running towards her was probably just as dangerous. So, she braced herself.
Her opponent, given the code name Lance quickly closed the distance between himself and Izume.
She adjusted herself accordingly and dodged his initial lunge but before could counter, he smiled, bounced off the floor onto the ceiling, then off the ceiling and brutally kicked her head into the ground with the momentum he gained.
Blue laughed, as he walked into the room where Ichisuda had landed.
"Listen just stay there and tell us where the kids are and maybe you won't have to die"
Ichisuda remained quiet, as he now realised that it was the kids the men were after.
Meanwhile, as Hirowa fought off Red's onslaught of destructive attacks, Chibi, who needed to use the toilet turned the corner and saw her teacher pinned to the floor.
As Hirowa spotted her, his eyes widened with fear.
"RUN!" He shouted.