"Aki, I'm home."
As I called out her name, a girl with black hair and black eyes came out of her room.
As she rolled the wheelchair towards Akane and me, she greeted us with the purest smile in the world.
"Welcome back, brother!" she welcomed me excitedly.
As she came out, I could see that her expression shifted slightly as soon as she saw who I was with.
"Who is that with you, brother?"
"Oh her? She's a classmate that I've been partnered with."
"At least introduce me by my name!"
Akane yelled out in displeasure and smacked the back of my head.
"Ow."
"Hello Aki! My name is Akane Tanaka! I'll be staying here for a bit!"
"H—Hello…" Aki muttered shyly.
"She's a bit shy around people other than me," I said as I walked towards her and pushed her wheelchair towards the dining table.
"Aki, me and Akane are going to work on a project together, so we will be in my room. Call me out if you need anything."
Aki smiled at me and nodded.
I pointed towards my room and gestured Akane to come in.
When we entered my room, Akane made a sudden statement.
"She seems to be coping with your right arm pretty well. Did you tell her the truth?"
"Of course, I didn't, I can't make her worry about such useless things."
"You're considering your injury a useless thing…?"
"There can't be anything that can be done about it, so I guess not."
Akane stared at me with a worried expression that made me question the reason behind the concerned face.
"Anyways, let's just get this project over with."
We sat down around a small table that I pulled up and began our project until Akane interrupted with another question.
"Hey… if it's okay, can I ask you another question?"
"Huh? We just started, though."
"Ah, I see, then—"
"What is it that you want to ask so badly?"
She began fidgeting her fingers around as she contemplated whether to ask her questions or not.
Then, with all seriousness, she asked,
"What happened to your sister?"
I kept silent for a short moment as she asked the question.
So that's what it was.
"Y—you don't have to answer if it's something that you don't want to talk about!"
"It was nine years ago when Aki was still five years old," I began, "the day of the incident."
"I wasn't exactly there when it happened, so I don't know how she lost her ability to walk, but I know it wasn't just an accident."
Aki's incident wasn't that of a natural occurrence. It was an incident that involved the "otherworldly."
"I can't remember it clearly, but if I could recall that day, it was still when we lived back in Yokohama with our grandpa."
"Yokohama…? Nine years ago…?"
Akane seemed to be surprised by my statement.
"I remember I was separated from Aki in the city, and that was when I heard a loud noise and a strong gush of wind. I ran towards the source of the impact to find Aki, and a bunch of other people collapsed on the ground."
"When I tried waking Aki up, I noticed that she couldn't stand up."
I took a pause and resumed, recalling my memories.
"It was already strange enough for Aki to lose her ability to walk suddenly, but I noticed that Aki wasn't the only one that was affected.
As I was about to go on, Akane finished it for me.
"Everyone that were collapsed all suffered from individual disabilities."
—How did she know…?
"Reo tell me, did anybody remember the incident?"
"H—how did you…?"
"So, you're the only one that remembers…"
Akane looked conflicted as she placed her hands across her lowered face.
Did she perhaps know about the incident other than me?
"Akane, do you… remember the incident…?"
"…"
"After that day, no one seemed to remember the incident but me. Even Aki didn't remember the incident and treated her disabilities as if she were born with it."
"Tell me, do you remember the incident?"
"I do."
I looked at her in surprise as she raised her head from her palms.
"Reo, I'm really sorry."
—What was she apologizing for?
I could see that she hesitated to say something. Still, I wasn't sure what she meant by apologizing to me, especially when I couldn't recall anything that deserved an apology from Akane.
"What is the apology for…?"
She took a short pause and came out with everything.
"I was the one behind the incident."
2
I could see that Akane was having a hard time revealing her past. It was just a moment ago that I have learned of the incident's truth and why no one except for me could remember it.
Akane has told me that the incident nine years ago was her cause. Initially, I couldn't believe what she said. I hoped that she would remember the incident as she was the closest person I knew associated with the "otherworldly," but I could have never suspected that she would be the source of the occurrence.
"So, you're saying that all their memories were erased?"
"You're right. I still don't know anybody with such a tremendous amount of Rift Energy to be able to wipe out a large number of people's memory," she turned her head over to the window to look at the dark skies.
"I haven't gone on many missions after the incident. Still, I have heard the news that there were numerous times where regulars witnessed the Remnants, but they are still unknown to the public."
"What does that mean…?"
"It means that a person—no, possibly a group of people that can manipulate a person's memories, are erasing the existence of the Remnants from their memories."
As soon as she finished her sentence, she bit her thumb and muttered,
"But for a person to have that much Rift Energy to interfere with the minds of the people," she continued, questioning the possibility of such power, "I've never heard of such ability among the World Rift manipulators…"
"An ability that no one has ever heard of, huh…"
The only abilities that I have witnessed so far were Akane's flame manipulation, Hachiro's icicle, and the old man Minato's terrain and flame manipulation. Thinking of the old man's ability to manipulate two different elements, it brought up a question.
"Hey Akane, is it possible for a World Rift use to be able to manipulate multiple elements?"
She tilted her head to my sudden question.
She replied, "Among World Rift users, there are only a few of them that can manipulate different elements, as it requires more Rift Energy to have multiple 'Ripples.'"
"Ripples"? What were all these words that came out of nowhere?!
"May I ask what a 'Ripple' is, Akane sensei…" I asked her senselessly.
"How do you know terms like 'World Rift' and 'World Energy,' but not know what 'Ripples' are…?"
"I mean, shouldn't I be praised for even knowing what those two words mean, since I'm not part of your organization…?"
"With that kind of excuse, it makes it weirder that you know these terms…"
I scratched my head as I let out a small dry laugh as Akane sighed and began explaining.
"Ripples are little tears in the dimension that we draw out material powers from," she continued, "Since it's invisible to the human eye, we cannot see how much power we draw from them. But they say that the more significant Ripple you could manipulate, the higher energy you can draw out.
"So, you use your Rift Energy to draw out the power from the Ripple?"
She nodded in response and continued, "There are a total of six clans in Japan that can draw out elemental energy from their Dimensional Ripples. Firstly, the Satou clan expertise in drawing out wind element. Secondly, the Suzuki clan can manipulate water elements. Thirdly, the Takahashi clan are blessed with the ability to manipulate electric/lightning element. Fourthly, us, the Tanaka clan expertise in producing flames. Fifthly, the Watanabe clan, Hachiro's family, are skilled in sub-zero manipulation. Lastly, the Ito clan are mostly associated with earth manipulation."
So, the six clans all have different associations with the World Rift, huh…
That's when I realized.
Didn't old man Minato mention that there were seven clans? These clans with a strong association with the World Rift all began with the original seven World Breaker wielders. But why was Akane only mentioning six of them…?
"Akane, are you sure you didn't miss another clan?"
"I didn't. Why?"
It seemed that she didn't know the existence of the seventh clan, or rather, there was a possibility that the seventh clan never existed in the first place.
"Akane, have you met with other people from different clans…?"
"When I was young, I used to attend the meeting between all the six clans, so yeah, you could say that I met them."
That old man Minato mentioned that the information he gave me was classified, but what was he thinking telling me something that even Akane didn't even know of?
"One more question Akane, can you tell me more about Minato Tanak—"
As I was about to ask her an important question, a strident ringing filled the room.
"Sorry, I got to get this call."
Akane answered the phone, and as time passed, her expression began to shift anxiously.
She hung up after a short moment of talking to whoever was on the phone and stood up in a hurry.
"Sorry, I got to go right now."
"Did something happen?"
She stared at me as if hesitating to get her words out and then,
"There is an intruder in the Tanaka building."
3
As we ran at full speed out of the apartment, we arrived at the main floor and dashed towards Hachiro's car, stationed just outside the building.
A few minutes ago, Akane received a call alerting her that an intruder has broken in the Tanaka building to steal an artifact.
I had no idea what the artifact was, but I had a feeling that it was important, judging by how Akane was so alerted by it.
Just as we reached the black car, Hachiro stepped out and opened the door for Akane, but shut it right away before I could make any moves.
"Outsiders shouldn't peak their nose into our business."
As usual, Hachiro claimed as he returned to the driver's seat.
I looked over at Akane for a little help, but she had already turned her head away from me and said,
"I can't put you into any more danger, Reo."
"I've already been far too involved with you people for me to ignore such things!" I exclaimed loudly, banging on the window.
"I'm sorry."
The car left with Akane, leaving me alone.
I really couldn't ignore this.
"You think I can just let you guys go without me?!"
I looked over at the traffic and noticed a truck near Hachiro's car about to move out of the red light.
I threw off my arm cast cover for more effortless mobility and dashed towards the back of the truck, grabbing onto the handles.
"I won't let you guys dive into danger alone."
As I grabbed onto the ledge of the truck, I tailed the two of them into the unknown danger.